Alternatives: A Tale of Too Many

by Charlie Plaine, Director of First Edition

14th October 2024

"Jonathan, please, sit down. I'll answer all of your questions. Today is a very important day. I have a great deal to tell you. What's the last thing you remember?"
- T'Pol, "Twilight"

In 1995, the very first expansion for First Edition - Alternate Universe - was released. It explored some of the "alternate" universes of Star Trek: The Next Generation and laid some of the foundations of the game we still use today. Today, I'm overjoyed to announce the newest First Edition expansion: Alternate Universe: Twilight. This 29-card spiritual sequel to Alternate Universe is a virtual expansion exploring alternate realities of Deep Space 9, Voyager, and Enterprise. These alternates will be yours to explore starting on Friday, October 25th and legal one week later on Friday, November 1st.

However, there is no universe in which we don't extend thanks to all the hard-working volunteers that helped bring Alternate Universe: Twilight to fruition. So many designers, playtesters, creative volunteers, rules team members, artists, proofreaders, and writers have worked on these cards or on content adjacent to them. Without our volunteers, there would never be any First Edition products for you to enjoy. Please make sure to share your appreciation as you discuss these cards, for they wouldn't exists without the hard work of dozens of volunteers.

Let me introduce the team of designers that worked on Alternate Universe: Twilight:

Charlie Plaine [MidnightLich], Lead Designer
Designer Profile: Charlie Plaine
I love alternate universe stories, so I wanted to make sure I could put in some time on this expansion. While it's true that most of the time I work on design teams now I work to make other people's work better, I also put forth a ton of cards for this project. Too many in fact, but that's a story for further down in the article.

James Monsebroten [Orbin], Designer
Designer Profile: James Monsebroten
James is as big of a fan of the infinite alternate universes of Star Trek, so was a natural choice to work on this project. His work as a designer and tester makes sure the cards are as polished and clean as possible, and it's very much appreciated.

Dan Hamman [SirDan], Designer
Designer Profile: Dan Hamman
Dan is one of the most prolific designers inside of all First Edition. He came to this project from The Trial Never Ended as many of the cards cut from that project were pulled into this one.

Brian Sykes [Armus], Designer
Designer Profile: Brian Sykes
Brian earns his 3rd design credit with Alternate Universe: Twilight. Brian remains a practical, realist designer who is very in-tune with both high level and casual play. Brian was pulled away due to real life obligations more than he would have liked during this expansion's design and development, but still found ways to be impactful nonetheless.

Mathew McCalpin [Professor Scott], Designer
Designer Profile: Mathew McCalpin
Hot on the heels of his debut, Mathew returns as a designer for his second expansion. His niche as a designer that considers how a card could be misinterpreted or abused grew during his work on this expansion. I'm so glad to see his work seeing the light of day again.

Again, big thanks to all of our volunteers working in the Department of First Edition. Without you, we wouldn't be here at all.

Overproduction
When we started working on Alternate Universe: Twilight, we made a list of all of the stories with alternate universes, timelines, dimensions, or anything even vaguely adjacent. That should have been our first clue we'd made a mistake. After all, when Project Mandalorian was first conceived, it was as a spiritual sequel to both Alternate Universe and Q Continuum. We'd imported a good number of cards from The Trial Never Ended (mostly Q-related) and immediately got to work producing ideas for non-TNG alternate universe stories.

While we kept pitching more and more ideas, fleshing them out, and making cards to go with them, our testers were working incredibly hard on the expansions that would become Paradise Lost and Nemesis. The former just had some complex themes that needed a lot of time, while the latter was attempting to cast a wider net than most of our virtual expansions. The end result of both projects was massive amounts of time. Our testers worked hard, and worked consistently, but there was so much in those expansions that needed attention (and repeat attention as they were revised) it was a herculean effort.

As the Project Mandalorian file grew to over 70 cards, then 90, then 100, then 120... we knew we couldn't send the whole thing to testers. It would just be too much work to do, and hot on the heels of some tough work. It would take years of testing and tons of work to produce that many cards at once. We made the decision to turn 1 expansion into 3 - Project Mandalorian would become Alternate Universe: Twilight, and the rest of the content would fall into 2 other groups. We'll talk a lot more about those in the future, when they come up for their turns, but let me give you a brief overview:

Project Bo Katan will be the spiritual sequel to Q Continuum in the same way that Alternate Universe: Twilight is the spiritual sequel to Alternate Universe. Lots of Q cards and Q-related mechanics are sitting in this file awaiting their day in the sun.

Project Grogu would be come our home for the weird and wacky. The cards in this file have a "What if...?" theme and an enigma-icon theme. It's the truly oddball and bizarre that will appear in this project.

I tell you all of this not to tease you with information from the far future, but to help explain to you why there is so much that isn't appearing in Alternate Universe: Twilight. We made, tested, and developed so many cards that we could have filled an entire Decipher-sized expansion and still not touched on all the content that's out there. With only 29 cards appearing in this expansion, a lot had to be left for another day. That's why you won't see "Yesterday's Enterprise" or "All Good Things" in Alternate Universe: Twilight. It's not because we didn't want to make them - we do! We did! They just fit better in other places. The battleship and crew of "Yesterday's Enterprise" would be right at home in a battle-themed expansion, while the Q-connection with "All Good Things" made them a perfect cycle to hold back until Project Bo Katan.

We know how much you want to see Battleship Enterprise and Professor Data. We will keep working on them and bring them to you when the time is right. We hope you'll understand why that time isn't in Alternate Universe: Twilight and join us in celebrating what is here instead of lamenting what isn't.

Belly Up to the Buffet
With that all said, let me tell you what you can expect to see in Alternate Universe: Twilight:

• New cards from "Hotel Royale"
• Cards asking "What if Voyager had stayed behind on The 37's planet?"
• Cards from Cardassian-occupied Bajor - and Terok Nor
• Cards from the Dominion's simulation of their invasion of the Alpha Quadrant
• Cards from the alternate reality where the Xindi destroyed Earth
• And a few cards just for fun!

Here are a few highlights from the above, and a few short stories or details to whet your appetites for the rest of spoiler season!

One Night's Stay
The Royale Casino cards first appeared in Alternate Universe, and we know that we couldn't do a "spiritual sequel" expansion without a nod to the contents of AU. Nobody was looking to turn Royale Casino dilemmas into a powerhouse of Modern 1E, but we thought we could offer a little more to players that wanted to have fun with these dilemmas. Plot Twist is a fun little interrupt that can help you rig those casino games right when you need them. After all, what good is someone like Mickey D if you can't get him where the opponent is playing the games? Now, you can. And if your opponent tries to take him out so they can play fair, you can use a 2nd copy to protect him. Now I wonder why it lets you move 3 personnel... especially since Mickey D and The Bellboy don't play well together?

Mi Casa Es Tu Casa
In "The 37's," the crew of Voyager faced a choice to continue the long journey home, or stay and build a life. In the episode, they all chose to head back to the Alpha Quadrant. A New Earth answers the question, "What if they hadn't?" Seeing this incident - on a new mission that appears in Alternate Universe: Twilight - allows you to get a OUTPOST to use as your very own. You even get a free personnel each turn, though you trade the free personnel from Home Away From Home for it. What kinds of new decks will this card enable? And what other "What if..." scenarios from Voyager get cards in this expansion?

Benevolent Oversight
Basso Tromac, a collaborating "pimp" from "Wrongs Darker Than Death or Night," makes his First Edition debut in Alternate Universe: Twilight. He appears in both Bajoran and Cardassian colors, allowing you to use him in decks of both affiliations. There are a handful of other cards based around "Past Terok Nor" in this expansion, including a Bajor time location, allowing you to play around with the possibilities. This cycle of cards is part of a new design philosophy we're occasionally embracing, where we give designers a few pieces of a deck and let their minds run free. What will you do with your Comfort Women?

This Experiment Definitely Isn't Ethical
I'd wager that Dominion wouldn't be atop anyone's mind when listing affiliations with lots of card opportunities. But if you squint just a little bit, you can justify the Vorta-designed scenario from "The Search, Part II" as an "alternate universe" story. After all, Decipher did when they made Garak. We follow in (some of) their footsteps with a new Admiral Nechayev from that same story. This "virtual player" provides a icon, V.I.P.-classification, and an opportunity to deny the opponent some attributes. She's one of 2 new personnel, and there's yet another card for players to enjoy as well. I wonder what kinds of shenanigans our talented players can cook up?

MacGyver It Up
One of the most "alternate" of "alternate" episodes in Enterprise was "Twilight," from which this expansion gets both its name and expansion icon. In the story, the Xindi destroy Earth and a ragtag fleet of survivors settles on Ceti Alpha V hoping to evade destruction. Jonathan represents Archer from this story, unable to form new long-term memories. He gets you a card every time you play him, but goes back to the top of your deck when he's stopped. That's fun! But he's just the tip of the iceberg for "Twilight Starfleet." There's a truly unique deck you can make with all of the new toys you'll find in Alternate Universe: Twilight - one of which is our very first Time Location. But more on that later... did you notice Jonathan is not a version of the Jonathan Archer persona? I wonder what you can do with that?

Have a Little Fun Every Day
And last, but not least, a personal favorite story. We were looking for some alternate-adjacent stories that we could feature on dilemmas when designing cards for this expansion. We made a big list of stories that qualified, and "Time's Arrow" from TNG was on that list. It had the advantage of being another story that featured in the original Alternate Universe. I threw the episode on as inspiration, and found myself really drawn to the phrase "Help Out a Forty-Niner?" I drew up a card to match the title, put it in the file... and was shocked as it made it all the way through design, development, and production relatively unscathed. There were tweaks, but Rules Manager James Heaney (BCSWowbagger) and Creative Manager Paddy Tye (KazonPADD) let me keep my silly little joke intact!

That brings us to the end of the announcement article for Alternate Universe: Twilight. The 29 new First Edition cards will be releasing next Friday, October 25th. Every day until then, you can find spoilers on this site or on the various social media platforms. We can't wait to see your thoughts as you discuss these cards over the next 2 weeks. Thank you for reading!

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