Modiphius has been on a roll with their Star Trek Adventures line since brining out the 2nd Edition rules set. Over the last year, there’s been four sourcebooks that have dropped. We already looked at the Technical Manual released in April 2025, which was followed by the Exploration Guide in October, then the 23rd Century Sourcebook around Christmas time, and the PDF for the Species Sourcebook just dropped yesterday.

The Exploration Guide feels like it was peeled off from the Technical Manual, and feels like these could have been a single book. As it is, as 144 pages it’s a nice size to peruse or do a quick reference. The production values are good, and have been consistent across the 2nd Edition line, so far. It comes with a smallish folding map with Alpha and Beta Quadrants, c. 2259 on one side, and a 2401 version on the reverse. They are the same maps as seen in the frontpiece and backpiece the inner cover of the book. The maps are nice enough, but a bit small, compared to the old setting map that 1st Edition had from the old Geoffrey Mandel Star Charts book, and isn’t as easy to reference. The 25th Century map is especially mutes and hard to reference at the table.

The layout is consistent with the new look of 2nd Edition: bright, clean, and easy to read. Like the Technical Manual, the artwork is all new — I didn’t notice a reuse of prior artwork from first Edition or even the new core book. The cover is by the same artist as the prior book, and the artists used look to be the same. It gives a consistent flavor from the core book, to these two sourcebooks.

There’s new lifepaths, the Independent Archeologist and the Outpost Researcher, and about a dozen new career events, new talents, and the addition of civilian awards you can buy with advancement. It’s a new civilian focus that cuts throughout the book. The other chapters cover sector design, star and system design, and planetary design for your setting. I banged out a couple of worlds and systems — and it works well. Prior to this, I had been using the system creation rules from the Alien RPG’s Building Better Worlds sourcebook, with tweaks. The last chapter deals with specific biomes — ocean, jungle, etc. — and how to design specific features, plant and animal life. There’s also encounter tables for those that was random encounters.

So, is it worth it? The guide is pretty useful for putting together material for your game — especially if you are planning a campaign in a particular region (hence the sector design), and is a good follow-up to the Technical Manual. At 144 pages, it feels a bit thin for the $60ish bucks for the hardcover book, but if you are like me and prefer to work out of a physical resource, then yes — it’s worth it…maybe more so than the Technical Manual. If you’re good with PDF, the price point is certainly more forgiving.

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