"Captain on the Bridge!" Rolling the Dice in Rome
I'm Randomly Rolling up a Star Trek: Captain's Log Character
Right now, we're soaking up the Italian sunshine, which—unsurprisingly—doesn't leave much time or energy for diving deep into my solo TTRPG hobby. But hey, when in Rome!
After a day spent wandering the city, taking in its sights, sounds, and, let's be honest, some rather memorable smells, I finally sat down with a d20 and my trusty *Captain’s Log* book.
My plan was simple: just get started. Maybe jot down a character concept and ease into things. But before I knew it, I was completely hooked. Two hours vanished in the blink of an eye, and not only did I have a fleshed-out character, but I also had my very own starship to command.
Ottimo lavoro! Not too shabby, right? If nothing else, that tells you just how engaging character creation is in this system.
Going in, I’d already decided to embrace randomness—letting the rolls of the dice shape who my character would become. I only stepped in to reroll or tweak things when they didn’t quite make sense, whether because they contradicted themselves or clashed too hard with established Star Trek lore. Other than that? I just let the universe work its magic.
The first big decision was setting the era for my story, and the dice landed me squarely in the Next Generation era. Talk about perfect timing—I'd just wrapped up a full rewatch of all seven seasons of Picard-era Trek, so this felt like fate.
Next up: character race. I rolled a twenty, and sitting at the very bottom of the chart was the Zakdorn. Cue a quick scramble for my laptop—because, honestly, I couldn't remember them from the show. Turns out, they had a brief but notable appearance in The Next Generation when Sirna Kolrami, a Zakdorn, managed to outplay both Data and Riker in a futuristic strategy game. Aside from a “blink-and-you’ll-miss-it” cameo in Season 5 and a few background mentions in novels, that's pretty much all the canon material out there.
Now, according to Memory Alpha, the script for Episode 2.21 describes the Zakdorn as "a slender weasel-like creature." And, well... playing as a weasel wasn’t exactly sparking joy for me. But I was intrigued by their reputation for strategic brilliance—that had potential! Maybe not all Zakdorn had to be as smug and insufferable as Kolrami, right?
And then—light bulb moment.💡
I hadn’t even considered gender yet. What if my Zakdorn was a woman? One roll of the d20 decided it: 1–10 for male, 11–20 for female. Sixteen! And suddenly, I had a female Zakdorn character on my hands. Imagining her backstory, I saw a patriarchal society where Zakdorn males bask in their supposed superiority, relegating women to the sidelines. But what if some Zakdorn women refused to accept that fate? What if one of them ran away, joined Starfleet, and rose through the ranks to command-level?
And just like that, my character took shape. Arise, Starfleet’s first ever Zakdorn captain, the female Delka Solkiri!
So much rich backstory to dig into—but that was only the beginning of the character creation journey…
The next step was rolling the d20 to flesh out Delka’s backstory—and what a journey it turned out to be!
She grew up in a vibrant, cosmopolitan environment on Zakdorn, always longing for adventure beyond her homeworld. Her natural talents led her into diplomatic training after school, but when her career hit a dead end, she took a bold leap and joined Starfleet. As part of the Diplomacy track, she immersed herself in history, philosophy, politics, persuasion, and even the art of cold reading—laying the foundation for a character with both intellect and cunning.
Two pivotal events shaped her path. First, the devastating loss of a close friend during a diplomatic mission in the Beta Quadrant—a tragedy that shook her to the core. Then, during her training, she found herself in a moral dilemma where she was forced to betray her personal ideals in obedience to a superior officer. Both of these moments add layers of complexity to her story, ripe for exploration in future adventures across the Star Trek universe.
One of the most entertaining parts of character creation is crafting values—those defining statements that shape how a character thinks and acts. I had a blast with these! When imagining a female Zakdorn defying the racial stereotypes of her species, I couldn’t help but recall a moment from Stargate SG-1’s pilot episode, where Colonel Jack O’Neill is surprised to find his new colleague is Samantha Carter. She famously quips, “Just because my reproductive organs are on the inside instead of the outside doesn’t mean I can’t handle whatever you can handle.”
And then, a fun little thought struck me—what if, in Zakdorn physiology, it was actually the females who had their reproductive organs on the outside?
That would certainly put a unique spin on things! (Is anyone worried about my bizarre thought processes yet?)
So, one of Delka’s values is “I might have my reproductive organs on the outside, but I can do anything you men can do!”
Ok, probably more Farscape than Star Trek (or Stargate, to be fair), but if I can’t make THAT part of some crazy story in Captain’s Log, then I ain’t really trying!
For reference, Delka’s other guiding values are:
“It’s time for the Zakdorns to rise and take out place in the Universe.”
“I’ve learned that I get my way almost every time… somehow!”
“The other races have much to command them, even if they are inferior to the Zakdorns”
After an enjoyable hour of rolling the dice and making choices, I moved on to the next big step—creating my ship. A few random rolls landed me with an Intrepid Class (Scale 4) vessel, and naturally, that meant a little Googling to learn more about this sleek starship.
What I do know is that it boasts an enhanced tractor beam, improved shield recharge, and an advanced medical bay—pretty handy for whatever deep-space adventures await.
And the name? Well, this one was personal. I live in the region of the UK where the explorer James Cook was born and raised, and last year, I had my cancer treatment at the James Cook Hospital. So, really, there was only one choice—USS Endeavour.
That’s as far as I’ve gotten for now. Next up: assembling the crew! Time to roll up some command-level officers to bring the ship to life. Then, I’ll dive into mission tables, uncover an inciting incident, and begin sketching out the first thrilling encounters in the vast unknown.
And finally—the moment where it all starts to feel real—I’ll write my very first Captain’s Log.
Interesting you got the one race with barely any screen time. Looking forward to the crew and first mission.
That was an enjoyable read. :)