Player's Guide
When Decipher hired former Last Unicorn Games employees to develop their new Star Trek RPG, many believed the result would be "Icon v2.0". While there are elements of "LUGTrek" in the new game, the Coda system is a major improvement over Icon.
First, the game moved away from Icon's Core book for each series, instead presenting a rule set that covered everything from 2151 to 2378. Coda also moved away from a Starfleet-centric character creation system to a broader one where Starfleet officers are just one of many kinds of characters. Want to run a Merchant Marine campaign? Go right ahead. Want to have Federation archaeologists and Vulcan and Bajoran mystics search for ancient artifacts that would prove or disprove the theory of the Preservers? The rules are ready made to do so.
Using the familiar "die/dice roll-plus-skill level-plus-attribute bonus" skill resolution formula that has been popularized by the success of the d20 system, Coda should be easy for gamers to pick up and learn right away.
The Player's Guide is very well put together and is aesthetically pleasing, beginning with a short treatise on the history of the Star Trek franchise before the reader jumps into character creation.
Once you understand the character creation process, it's really easy -- I can put a character together in a little under 30 minutes. However, as presented in the PG, it can be confusing and requires some clarification before you can jump in and create your favorite character. I recommend visiting the message boards at TrekRPGNet (http://216.40.212.6/forum/index.php?s=), and look under the Coda System and Mechanics forum.
The first thing a player does is choose her character's species. Coda provides all of the major races of the first four series in the Player's Handbook, including the Delta Quadrant races Ocampa and Talaxians. This is something that I don't agree with, but I at least understand the reasoning behind the selection. Three more races (Romulans, Andorians and Orions) are presented in the Narrator's Guide, and even more will be developed in a later aliens supplement.
Rules are also provided for mixed-species characters, although they do seem somewhat prone to munchkinism and may require active Narrator control to prevent an overpowering character. Note that while the rules are available, nothing says that a mixed-species character has to use the rules; Spock, as presented in the Narrator's Guide, is written up as a full Vulcan (with no discernable in-game human traits).
Characters then choose a basic profession: mystic, warrior, rogue, merchant, diplomat, scientist, or starship officer. Starship officers further specialize in a starship officer elite profession, allowing them to become helmsmen, communications officers, command officers, etc. Later, a character can choose to join an elite profession (including characters of non-starship officer professions choosing a starship officer elite profession, i.e., "joining" Starfleet). Coda even provides rules for enlisted characters, should a player wish to create one.
Within each profession, characters can purchase professional abilities. Similar to feats in the d20 system, abilities provide situational bonuses and (sometimes) free levels or specializations in profession-related skills.
From there, the player rolls up (or picks) the character's attributes and chooses skills and edges/flaws. The skill list is broad and diverse, and characters end up knowing a little of everything, mastering a few skills. This mirrors what we see on screen, where the main characters always have some tidbit of information tucked away on some ancient cult or historical figure.
Edges and flaws are advantages and drawbacks, adding extra flavor to characters by making them bold or competitive, slow or dim-witted, or just downright not liked by the Breen.
Using another apparent lesson-learned their time at Wizards, the Coda team included save-like statistics called "reactions." Stamina, Savvy, Quickness and Willpower allow characters to dodge that incoming attack, run that extra kilometer, see through that con or resist that Cardassian's interrogation. These reactions are derived from attributes.
Another departure from Icon is the advancement system. Instead of providing points to spend after each adventure, Coda uses a level-like concept called "Advancements." For every 1,000 experience points gained, a character receives a number of "picks" to advance skills and attributes, purchase specialties, add edges and buy off flaws, and improve derived statistics (like health). While the merits of levels and level-like advancements can be debated from now until eternity, I feel that this is a clean and concise way of advancing characters that allows two characters of the same profession to be very different in skills and abilities.
The second part of the PG provides player resources, from equipment lists to starship descriptions, and adventuring tips for each of the main eras of play. The Federation chapter gives players excellent information on how the organization works and what it means to be a Starfleet officer.
While the PG explains skill use and task resolution, it doesn't provide everything a player needs to know about playing the game. It covers the basics of Action, Combat, and Injury and Healing; you have to get the Narrator?s guide to fully understand how the system works.
The only other real knock on the Player's Guide is the character sheet, which is set on a black background and doesn't leave enough space to write down skills and specialties. You're better off designing your own character sheet.
Overall, the Player's Guide is an excellent introduction to the Coda Trek RPG, if sometimes a little unclear.
Narrator's Guide
The Narrator's Guide is the best RPG book that I have ever seen (and this comes from a 20 year veteran of role playing, back in the old 1st edition AD&D days). This book takes the Narrator from series concept to creature creation in a smooth and understandable manner. It explains each of the five existing series (yes, including Enterprise), and then guides you through the creation, establishment and running of your own, from start to finish.
In the Playing the Game chapters, the NG provides helpful guidelines for creating and running episodes, with excellent tools that help generate a Star Trek feel to the adventure. From there, the book details the game mechanic and answers many questions left open in the Player's Guide. Personally, I think this chapter should be in the PG, but it is clear, concise and well presented nonetheless.
One thing I'll add here is that I like the idea of phaser combat being extremely lethal. It makes the characters think a little before they act when they know that the Klingons (or Cardassians or Romulans) aren't setting their disruptors on stun, and provides for a less hack-and-slash game.
Rules for starship operations and combat are presented separately, and the combat rules look fantastic. Starship combat gives everyone on the bridge something to do during the fight, without forcing someone to keep track of power output. Although it's not a simulation by any means, it's not designed to be, and fits the cinematic feel that the RPG tries to present.
The Narrator's Resources section is where the NG shines, in my opinion. Rules are provided for starship design (I have spent hours and hours in this section alone); planet, system and sector design; species design (using advancement rules from the PG -- you can make your favorite race in no time at all); and creature design. This book has everything from the big picture to the smallest minutiae.
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