Star Trek Adventures: Gamma Quadrant Sourcebook
Though Star Trek: The Next Generation is probably my favorite of the Star Trek series, Deep Space Nine comes a very close second. It expanded and developed actual life in the universe beyond the Federation and told long story arcs about faith, determination, family, and standing up for noble ideals.
I dove into the Alpha Quadrant Sourcebook with delight and excitement, getting to see some of my favorite characters and locations rendered into the Star Trek Adventures Roleplaying game. Now, Modiphius has released the Gamma Quadrant Sourcebook, taking your games beyond the wormhole of Bajor and into the territory of the tyrannical Dominion.
Disclaimer: This title has been provided for purpose of review.
While there are guidelines throughout the book to use the contained information in any era or year, the default setting is advanced to the year 2374, and the peak of the Dominion War.
The writing is good – clear, detailed, and to the point. The setting is evoked through the usage of sidebars composing personal diaries, ships’ logs, and messages between new and established characters.
The Gamma Quadrant is the region of space home to the Dominion, possibly the strongest empire in the galaxy. They subjugate worlds, exploit them for the greater aims of the Dominion, and move on – always seeking new worlds to conquer. What’s most interesting is that this isn’t because they delight in conquest for the purpose of their own gain, but because the Founders (the leaders of the Dominion), are driven by fear.
The Changeling species, also known as the Founders, transcended solid form long ago, but their newfound power caused others to become fearful and wrathful. The friendliness of the Changelings was taken advantage of and they fled this new persecution. This instilled a coldness in their people and they resolved to control the universe by instilling order through fear. I think I knew some of these details before reading the book (sometimes it’s hard to remember with licensed material), but I still loved reading it as it’s very interesting history.
The various species of the Gamma Quadrant receive a good amount of detail, either in their own writeups or in context of their homeworlds. It’s fun seeing elements of early seasons of the show connected to the Dominion and the Quadrant as a whole. I had forgotten (or never knew) that the Drai Hunters and Tosk were members of the Dominion and even the genetic source of the feared Jem’Hadar warriors. Other peoples and places from the series are highlighted, including the Wadi gamers and the cursed Penal Moon.
In terms of rules and mechanical options, 12 new Gamma Quadrant species receive Lifepath options, among them the Changelings (with advice on how to use them in a game). The Vorta and Jem’Hadar aren’t included, which I believe I understand, as they’re so committed to the Dominion as to not make them viable PCs. For Starfleet Battles and Larry Niven fans, the feline warriors of the Kzin are mentioned, but only in passing, with no major detail. My only complaint would be that not all the species receive artwork. The majority have rough descriptions (and I suppose I could always Google them), but it would be nice to see them on the page.
Statistics are provided for a good number of Dominion and Alliance starships. All the necessary Dominion ships are present, along with their devastating Polaron and Isolytic weapons, and Starfleet receives entries for the Multi-Attack Vector Prometheus-class ship (among others), and rules for the “Frankenstein Fleet”, kitbashed ships brought out of retirement and fitted with parts that don’t belong to the standard layout.
There are a lot of story seeds and hooks for gamemasters to use throughout the book, both scattered among the geography and cultures and most prominently in the Dominion War section. The history and events are covered elsewhere, so they can zoom in on running a Dominion War game. It provides story hooks for games involving intrigue, politics, exploration, and of course, brutal military conflict (though it emphasizes that not all Dominion War missions have to be made up of starships blasting away at each other). It’s an incredibly useful section as it contextualizes the rest of the book around this major conflict, showing how the established factions and peoples will act, and highlights the terrifying efficiency of the Dominion war machine. Writeups for plenty of Dominion NPCs are provided, along with major characters like General Martok and Gul Dukat.
The Gamma Quadrant Sourcebook is a great read for fans of Deep Space Nine and incredibly useful to any Gamemaster wanting your provide new horizons for their crew to explore. It’s essential to any Dominion War series, with plenty of information that could be used in any military conflict in the Star Trek universe.
You can purchase it at the Modiphius Webstore or from one of the below Affiliate links to help support this site!
DriveThruRPG (PDF)
Amazon (Print)
Noble Knight (Print)
The Tabletop Almanac 