Being winter and the start of a new year, it’s the perfect time to put together a new group to play Star Trek Adventures. There are a couple of things to consider when reaching out to the fandom.
First consider whether you’re running at a comic book shop or FLGS… or if you plan to run online.
For running at local businesses, it’s best to ask the staff if it would be okay to post a flyer advertising your game. Also, many businesses have Facebook pages. Perhaps they would be interested in posting a digital version of your recruitment ad on their page.
When putting together the information for the flyer, be as brief as possible while being eye-catching. You’re going for Star Trek fans, so using cool art of the Enterprise from Deviant Art will immediately catch the attention of a Trekkie. I’ve had great luck with basic Photoshop work putting together a thematically appropriate flyer with artwork related to the source material.
On the flyer, be brief. Tell it’s a roleplaying game using Star Trek Adventures. Tell it’s being run at this store. Tell the date and time. Also tell if this is a one-time event or a repeating event, perhaps even a campaign. People need to know how big of a commitment they need to make. Be sure to state this game is for all levels of experience with the system and with roleplaying. You’ll teach the game as you go along.
Posting in online forums, such as d20radio.com or the Modiphius community forum, there are other things to keep in mind. Tell what language you plan to run the game in. I never thought about this until I got a request for my campaign from a Star Trek Adventures game master in France. His English is very good. However at times his accent can be difficult to understand. Be patient and willing to ask the player to repeat himself. Related to language, tell what time zone you plan to run the game at. My player in France is so excited to be part of my campaign he gets up Saturday morning at three am to log in and join the crew. That’s dedication worthy of a Starfleet medal.
When running at conventions, you don’t have as much of an opportunity to select the players who participate in your game, unlike when you post online or hang a flyer in a FLGS. The first time you meet your convention players will most likely be minutes before the game begins.
It’s vital to establish trust with your players. The best way to do that is to use your common bond. Talk Star Trek. Find out what they enjoy about the franchise, which programs or movies they like best and bond over recent releases.
The Star Trek Adventures Gamemaster’s Guide suggests beginning convention sessions by reviewing the core principals of Starfleet (if running with the Federation) or the Klingon Defense Force (for Klingon games).
This could be superfluous if everyone at your table has established they’re big fans of Star Trek and have watched the program in many of its forms. However, if you have a player or two who never got into Star Trek and signed up for the game because it sounded cool… or they signed up as a way to get into Star Trek… then it would be helpful to give a brief summary of what the Federation is about, how crews behave on Starfleet vessels and what the group goals are.
This way you are less likely to have players running their characters more like Han Solo than Captain Picard.
Potential players might be curious about your thoughts on canon and how that will or will not come into play over the course of your game. Some players do not want their stories to interfere with the tales they’ve seen on screen. What happens on screen is gospel, and there should not be chances of another crew interfering with the continuity or stealing the spotlight.
Some players might be very interested in playing games where the characters are on missions that intersect with pivotal moments from the television shows and movies. They might relish a chance to talk to a canonical character. The important thing to keep in mind in these circumstances is that hero worship is appropriate. Captain Sisko worshipped Captain Kirk, even asking for an autograph. However, in your stories the spotlight should always be on your characters. Canon characters should not be stealing the spotlight from your crew.
By taking a few things into consideration, you can advertise your new game and begin your own crew’s journey to strange new worlds.
