Are You Ready? It's The Next Generation!

by Jordan Leung, First Edition Brand Manager

26th March 2012

“...to boldly go where no one has gone before.”

The Continuing Committee is pleased to present The Next Generation, our fourth full First Edition virtual expansion. The Next Generation will be released online at www.trekcc.org on Friday, April 13, 2012. However, The Next Generation is not the average expansion; just as Star Trek: The Next Generation marked the dawn of a new beginning for the Star Trek franchise, this set lays the foundation for an exciting new “beginning” for First Edition.

With ninety-nine cards, The Next Generation earns the proud distinction of being The Continuing Committee’s largest virtual set, from any edition. This ninety-nine card set is also the first of the three expansions that comprise Block One: The Next Generation for the new block format. Block format will essentially allow new players to come in and play for the first time without the baggage that comes from playing a game that is nearly two decades old. More insight on this can be found in our Chairman’s article.

The previous full First Edition virtual expansion, Shades of Gray, encouraged use of the PAQ (Premiere, Alternate Universe, Q-Continuum) era verbs, giving new life to what many considered “binder fodder.” The Next Generation picks up where Shades of Gray left off and promotes the use of PAQ era nouns. This is also the beginning of expansion blocks that will be closely tied and linked together by themes.

Its Continuing Mission...

At the heart of The Next Generation is this Incident, Continuing Mission. Whether making a diplomatic intervention to resolve conflict between cultures, settling a matter of honor in glorious battle to expand the empire, or springing a Ferengi ambush to create a new commerce operation, Continuing Mission will the the one card that allows this to happen. It also gives players a reason to play with the Finest Crew in the Fleet! The crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise and many of the other PAQ nouns may once again be the best choice to get it done, all with the help of Continuing Mission.

If you want to Seek Out New Life, this is only possible with the new icon. It is important to note that this icon is not found printed on any personnel or ships currently. This includes any Second Edition backwards compatible cards; the Second Edition icon is separate and not interchangeable with the new icon.

Can’t We All Just Get Along?

Another exciting new theme that can be found in The Next Generation is that of new ways of allowing a player’s personnel to work together. While a treaty is the typical way to get personnel of different affiliations to work together, this set introduces new ways to do so. Some new versions of personnel may even find their way into some old decks. William T. Riker may be a very popular Klingon for Second Edition players and now I would guess that he will be showing up in many First Edition Klingon decks. There may even be a few other personnel that appear in a new affiliation color...or perhaps even with a new property logo!

Running Interference

One of the more interesting “new mechanics” created by The Next Generation design team is one meant to encourage interaction: rewarding players for being at opponent’s missions. Each of the three TNG affiliations in this expansion gets an objective that scales in power for each opponent’s mission where you have a personnel. In addition, you will find other small reasons to be at opponent’s missions - be it that you’re just passing through, or that you’re up to something more nefarious. It’s a fun theme, and one that you can expect to see explored more in the rest of the block.

If It Ain’t Broke...Wait, What If It’s Only A Little Broke?

As in sets before, there will be some conversion cards, as well as a bit of hate for the Delta Quadrant. First Edition is also famous for the “broken links” that exist when a card refers to another card that does not yet exist; The Next Generation also introduces a few broken links, just a little tease of things to come.

Much like our previous expansions, there are countless people who have been involved in the development of The Next Generation. As we’ve expanded our staff in the past year and because the scale of this project has been so much larger, there are even more people who’ve left their mark on the final product. Special thanks to our design team, supporting design staff, play testers, Creative staff, Art staff, members of the First Edition Rules Committee and more. We are proud to bring you this expansion and hope you will appreciate everyone’s dedication and hard work!

The Next Generation will be available for free digital download on Friday, April 13, 2012, and will be legal in all of The Continuing Committee's sanctioned events one week later on Friday, April 20, 2012. For more information about this upcoming expansion, be sure to check back at www.trekcc.org. Now...let’s see what’s out there!