Star Trek: Guardians of Forever
“Are you machine or being?” – Spock
“I AM BOTH AND NEITHER. I AM MY OWN BEGINNING, MY OWN ENDING.” – The Guardian
–The City at the Edge of Forever (Star Trek 1967)
The City at the Edge of Forever was is one of the most remembered episodes of the iconic Star Trek original series. Beyond simple time travel, the story provided a basic, yet effective tale of reconciling ethics with love and attachment. The Guardian itself remained enigmatic, with no explanation of how it works, or why. While the Guardian did not have a lot of screen time in the episode, the implication of its existence provided a wealth of possibilities in the storytelling universe. Unfortunately, the Guardian never reappeared in the live action series, only reappearing in the Star Trek universe once in the animated series.
In our story, The Guardians of Forever, a 24th century, swashbuckling crew aboard the U.S.S. Phillip K. Dick is brought back to the Guardian’s planet where Kirk, Spock and McCoy visited a century prior. This time, however, the crew find the Guardian in distress, having been damaged and allegedly coerced by the only being that could possibly do such a thing…himself. (!?) The crew must travel through space and time, with aid from the Guardian, to discover how and why this has happened, and to thwart the insidious plans of whatever, or whomever started it.
The crew of the P.K. Dick are…tired. This adventure takes place in the latter days of the Federation’s war with the Dominion, and most ships and crew during this period are on the front lines in the Alpha Quadrant pushing back against the Cardassians and Jem’Hadar. But the Federation’s day to day operations did not simply stop while the war was going on, and certain logistics still need attending to by Starfleet, including bare-bones, semi-occasional patrols through Federation space. The crew are battle hardened (mostly) and on short respite from the front lines to get their wits back. Many normal niceties enjoyed aboard a Starfleet vessel have been dropped on the P.K. Dick, and the crew feel more open to express themselves in creative ways (i.e., this role-playing adventure is meant for individuals 18 and over, and will accept use of profanity and sexualization, within acceptable story-telling bounds. If you’re a fan of the Orville, you’ll be fine).
This four-hour role-playing adventure uses the Star Trek Adventures system of play: Easy to learn, with a minimum requirement of two 20-sided dice, and three to four 6-sided dice for damage and extra effects.
