Four D&D Tips from Star Trek TNG's Best Episode | TNG The Inner Light

This is Season 5, Episode 25, which originally aired on June 1st, 1992. It has an impressive IMDb rating of 9.4 and is titled “The Inner Light.” A probe from an ancient culture causes Captain Picard to live an entire lifetime in a matter of minutes while in a coma on the bridge.

I’ve been pulling D&D tips from the worst-rated episodes of TNG to prove it can be done, but I decided to jump ahead and cover the best episode. Mainly because I wanted to put off rewatching “Violations.”

“The Inner Light” is truly a great episode of Star Trek. It’s not my favorite, but it was a pleasure to rewatch it. Patrick Stewart’s performance is outstanding, as are the performances of the supporting cast. The episode is well-directed and has several powerful emotional moments. It deservedly won a Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation. If we don’t want to just gush over the episode, there’s a silly moment where we learn that Starfleet has named the planet of an extinct unknown culture with the same name the culture used. It seems improbable, to say the least. It also seems the TNG cast doesn’t share the fan appreciation of “The Inner Light.” During promotion for Star Trek: Picard season three, I saw a clip of Jonathan Frakes, Michael Dorn, and LeVar Burton saying they do not understand this episode and have no idea why fans like it.

Dungeon Master Tip Number One: Life in Another World

Four D&D Tips from Star Trek TNG's Best Episode | TNG The Inner Light

Captain Picard lives at least 40 years in his mind in a few minutes as a completely different person. We can do this in D&D as well. For a session, the characters could be transported to a different world or into different bodies. In D&D, this is easy because of magic. Keep in mind, the episode only focused on Picard. We always have to include all of the player characters. Also, this is an opportunity to even switch RPG rule systems. When the characters are transported to another world, they could be turned into bears, and the DM could use the Honey Heist RPG for that session, for example.

Dungeon Master Tip Number Two: Severe Drought

In the episode, the planet Kataan is dying and experiencing a severe drought. Drought, while not earth-shattering, is always a great story device. The characters could need to search for water or try to discover the cause of the drought. This leads to all kinds of adventures.

Dungeon Master Tip Number Three: Culture with Different Technology

The civilization Picard lives in has different technology. It’s a mix of some high-tech elements and low-tech elements. We should remember in D&D that other cultures could have different technology as well. It could be magic-infused or simply just different. Maybe crossbows have a different design, or perhaps all doors are opened by pulling ropes. This keeps players engaged and curious about the world.

Dungeon Master Tip Number Four: The End of the World

Kataan is facing a nova, and the civilization is facing its destruction. The end of the world often figures into epic D&D campaigns, usually when the PCs are tasked with stopping the apocalypse. However, a change could make things fresh again. If the end of the world cannot be averted, that changes everything, and it could be worthwhile to experiment with that in a campaign.