Tabletop publisher Beadle & Grimm’s will launch a new Kickstarter campaign on April 13 featuring two Star Trek-themed interactive experiences: Deep Space Nine: Holosuite Homicide and Lower Decks: Chaos Protocol.
The upcoming titles follow the company's 2025 releases, which include a Picard-themed murder mystery and a Strange New Worlds escape room. The new campaign allows players to investigate a death on Deep Space Nine or navigate the chaotic energy of the Lower Decks crew.
“For all four of these games, we had we had to come up with a story that was interesting and compelling and understandable, no matter how much or how little you knew about Star Trek,” Beadle & Grimm’s co-founder Bill Rehor told Polygon.
Immersive props and augmented reality
In Holosuite Homicide, players act as Starfleet Command junior investigators tasked with determining if equipment failure at Quark’s Bar led to a death. The designers intentionally avoided assigning specific character roles to allow for flexible player counts.
“Assigning specific roles to people might become limiting,” Recont Rehor said. “It seemed better to leave it a little bit less defined.”
The game utilizes high-end physical props, including wearable badges that can be scanned with a smartphone to trigger augmented reality elements. The investigation unfolds through three envelopes containing various clues and physical items.
Co-founder Jon Ciccolini noted that the Deep Space Nine game features a promenade map that is directly tied to major puzzles. Some challenges will even require players to use props to play music or physically manipulate their badges.
“We have so much fun creating materials that were coming from Odo, Captain Sisko and Quark,” Ciccolini said. “We’re coming up with things that we’ve never done before for any of our D&D stuff.”
The second title, Lower Decks: Chaos Protocol, focuses on solving 10 puzzles to rescue the Lower Decks crew from a malfunctioning security system. The game uses the character Q to provide digital hints if players become stuck.
Rehor believes these interactive experiences can serve as an entry point for fans interested in tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs) without the heavy preparation required by traditional gaming.
“Nobody has to DM it. Nobody has to prep,” Rehor said. “I think that a big part of the popularity of these kinds of games is that it’s giving you a lot of those same experiences, but with a much lower barrier for entry.”
Backers who pledge to the campaign within the first 72 hours will receive a free Deep Space Nine Pack for Star Trek Online.
