The Best-laid Plans

I've decided that the campaign I will be running will be an early Federation starship, circa 2166, that is assigned to a planet seeking Federation membership. The mission is basically to "troubleshoot" for the Cultural Evaluation Team that is sizing the planet up.

As such, there is plenty of room for arc, since the ship is basically staying in one place for a long time.

The planet, Akaria IV, is a seemingly idyllic planet. Ruled by an efficient and equitable planetary democracy, every citizen seems to have an equal voice. However, as the Crew will find out, there is a growing minority among the Akarians: genetic Variants that possess unusual traits (specifically Psionic powers and the like). Federation science shows that these Variants may be the next step in Akarian evolution. However, the mainline Akarians discriminate against the more obvious Variants and fear the more covert ones; Variant rights are routinely violated as the Akarians refuse to accept them as equals.

The Variants are quietly forming a support network called the Variant Movement. Devoted to nonviolence and civil disobedience, the Movement's goals are admirable. However, voices are growing within the movement that are urging for more forceful revolution.

The Federation, young and idealistic, decides to stay and try to solve the social problems on Akaria, coaxing them toward the Federation dream. The Akarian leadership is uncomfortable with the Variants, but their desire for Federation membership is far stronger than their prejudice.

In planning this campaign, i've already outlined three complete 10-episode seasons. About half of each season will be arc, and half will be stand-alone episodes.

What I want to know is how far in advance you all plan your series. Do you plan grand story arcs and hope the PCs cooperate? Or do you improv the majority as the players change campaign directions?

I tend to do a little mixing in my games. I plan an over-reaching storyline that will run through the entire campaign (I'm partial to epic stuff, myself :) ), and then use that as a guide line for writting my episodes. As for the individual episodes themselves, I use three types.

1. Story episodes. These are episodes that forward the over-reaching story of the campaign, and often are the majority of episodes in my games.

2. Character episodes. These are episodes that allow individual or a couple of characters have the spotlight. Often, these are used when only a few players can make it to a game, and will sometimes be used in conjuction with Story episodes. The least used of the three.

3. Random episodes. These are episodes that have nothing really to do with the main plot. It's a good idea to sometimes get away from the driving storyline and do something different every once in a while. :)

Over all, however, I only have the main over-reaching plot outlined, and am one or two episodes ahead of my players. This allows me to be more flexible when my players invariable take a different course than I had expected. :)

I take sort of a 'Buffy' approach, and plan out sort of one season story arcs (about 1-2 years real time, depending on how many sessions we play). Sometimes they run longer, depending on my mood, and the actions of the players.

I'm just plotting out my next arc at the moment, while waiting for the NG, which involves a distant, sparesly-populated sector, a (soon to be) erratic and randomly 'jumping' subspace corridor, the Vaadwaur, and a slowly introduced very, very ancient evil :D

I love ancient evil :D

I'm also planning to tie it into my Motion Picture era Starfleet and civilian campaigns. A little like the Invasion novel series (though it will be a lot more subtle in the TMP era campaign, and only loosely tied in).

Hey you can't go wrong with "ancient evil." :D I'm thinking the same thing for my Romulan forum game.