Commendations and Promotion

Alrighty, looking for advice and help on the two above subjects. I really don't want my players to beable to buy promotions and commendations so I've decided that those two will take all 5 advancment points, if they wish to buy them, but I reserve the right to hand them out as earned.

Now heres the dilemma, I know alittle more on the military then the average but I'm not really sure what actions will warrent promotions so any advice here will be welcomed. Commendations are usally pretty self explanatory but...this is tough for me to admitt...but what are the various medals, awards and commendations that are common in the federation?

Honestly I know several but I don't know them all and the ones I do know I really don't know as well as I'd like to admitt. Any help would be appriciated.

Kyle...who knows almost everything about Star Trek but obviously not everything.

Commendations
Grankite Order of Tactics
Kragite Order of Heroism
Preantares Ribbon of Commendation 2nd class
Space Exploration Medal
Starfleet Citation for Conspicuous Gallantry

Minor Awards
Gold Palm
Grankite Order of Tactics (Class of Excellance)
Legion of Honour
Palm Leaf of Axanar Peace Mission
Preantares Ribbon of Commendation (1st class)
Service Award
Silver Palm
Intelligence Cross-Award used one of our games. Given to members of Starfleet Intelligence who act above and beyond.

Major Awards
Gold Palm(w/ Cluster)
Silver Palm (w/ Cluster)

Special Awards
Medal of Honour (w/ Cluster)
Christopher Pike Medal of Honour
Star Cross
UFP Medal of Valour

Andorian

Minor Awards
Andorian Ribbon
Meritorious Service Ribbon
Thensar Tloneeth (Blue Star)

Major Awards
Andorian Medal of Honour
Citation of Bravery
Hurati Atlirith (Silver Eagle)

Commendation
Andorian Crest of Valour
Lor'vela Medal of Distinction
Shuralan Atlirith (Golden Eagle)

And just because I am a completeist:

Romulan

Commendation
Imperial Falcon
Ribbon of Distinction

Minor Award
Service Award
Imperial Star
Award of Belek N'Rel

Major Award
Imperial Medal of Honour
Praetorian Ribbon
Senatorial Award of Merit

Special
Order of the Ra'Tar

On a more general note the way commendations and promotions are handled in the modern and historic militaries has changed over time.

Currently in the US promotions are not typically given as "rewards" per se. You do something really good (or heroic) and you get a medal - now getting the medal will likely increase your promotion chances but the promotion will still come through "regular channels" not as a reward for a specific action.

Historically that has not always been the case. Esp. in wartime someone who does something great might be simply promoted on the spot.

So - don't feel that you have to promote your characters when they do something good (or at least not everytime). Give them one of the medals above and a pat on the back from the skipper and send them back to work :)

I too disagree with the playres purchasing further promotoin... However consider this.

The Promotion aspect in both ICON and CODA are under advantages... Both of which require GM approval before a playre can purchase. So you are quite correct, a player can buy it with XP, but only when the Narrator feels it has been earnt.

I still run ICON, and I still disagree with this, which is why Promotion, Department Head and Commendatoins can only be purchased during character creation. As such those advancements are player rewards, In-Character, for actions taken above and beyond the call...

I also run an active promotion system that isn't based of department heads or ranks, but instead on expanded responsibilities and junior crewmen under the players direct commmand... Positions such as Officer of the Watch, deputy depatrment heads (1 per extra shift), Team leaders and Mission Specialists really carry weight in my universe. As it is possible to receive these promotions almost weekly (with little or no XP cost), while advancing in rank has to be far slower in advancement, as nobody will get promoted to captain within a couple of months of graduating Academy. :D

There was a thread about real-world navy ranks... And it seems that by far the most common ranks are those of Lieutenant and Lt. Commander, so it seems reasonable to hold little or no bar about advancing to that point for the standard player character, and quicker for the far more common exceptional player character... Its rising above that to full Commander and Captain, or higher, that should be a little more difficult.

As an aside, and a rule of thumb, I also dont require that a player character matches the required renown levels for their rank (starting at Lt. Commander) during character generation, however they are unlikely to advance further in rank during game time, until they build their renown as per the guidelines in the rules. This I feel represents officers that are relatively unknown... I say unlikely, as if they stick with it long enough, any amount of promotion is possible... Just dont expect it to happen quickly... ;)

All of that said, as Narrator, I reserve the right to ignore even my own guidelines when it comes to promotion and placement... After all its my game and i the NPC chief engineer dies and there is a capable Engineer that has been taking a secondary role... I see no reason why the CO might not sponsor the PC rather than a new NPC... There has to be perks of being a player... even if that means you beat the 'official' system...

In my game promotion is based on two main restrictions;
1) Does the character have the qualifications? Now, the game I am currently running is a Romulan one so promotion is different. A Romulan officer recieves promotion when his Glory rank is high enough to put him in the next rank, to do this you have to be visible, up front in a battle for instance.

But if (and when) I run a SF game promotions would be based on training (ie proper skill levels) and 2) IF a postion is open. I'll hold a character back until some is transferred and frees up a post.

I'd make field promotions very rare, and only allow them if the character does something really remarkable while displaying exceptional leadership ability.

Even then, all field promotions will only be brevet promotions (wear the rank, perform the duties, but SF Command still considers you to be your original lower rank). Brevet promotions look very good on your record, and will definitely count toward a Below The Zone (earlier than normal) promotion.

<< I'd make field promotions very rare, and only allow them if the character does something really remarkable while displaying exceptional leadership ability. >>

Much akin to Lt. Picard taking command of the Stargazer after her captain was killed in a cardassian attack and then being given command of the Stargazer?

Kyle

I think the commander of the fleet Stargazer was attached to ought to give Picard a brevet promotion immediately. The Starfleet promotions board would review his records and quickly confirm the promotion, changing the brevet promotion to a real promotion.