Companies have been giving players the opportunity to sit in the captain's chair ever since 1978, with everyone from Heritage Models to the RPG publisher FASA trying their hand at game design. While 'Star Trek Adventures' is the newest 'Star Trek' RPG, it's not the first by any means.

(Image credit: Marshall Honorof/) The basics Typically, players roll two dice and combine with their stats to determine whether an action succeeds, but a 'momentum' mechanism lets players buy extra dice to improve their odds. RPGs are a form of collaborative storytelling, with game systems in place to keep things fun, unpredictable and fair. The rules dictate the general actions you can take, like firing a phaser or piloting a starship, but how you tackle challenges and interact with your fellow crewmembers is up to you. In short, tabletop RPGs are half board game, half improvisational theater. In other words, the players are like the star actors, while the GM is like the writer, producer, director and supporting cast, all in one. It's his or her responsibility to narrate the story, adjudicate actions, act out nonplayer characters and structure the overall adventure. The final player is called the Game Master. Perhaps one of them is an inquisitive Vulcan science officer, or a hardened Bajoran freedom fighter, or an even-tempered human captain the rules allow for almost any kind of character you've seen on the shows, and then some. (Pizza and beer are optional, but highly recommended.) Three to five players take the roles of characters on a Federation starship.

You and your friends gather together around a table, armed with some paper, pencils and dice.

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