Series seeds

And now for one of the odder ideas on this thread, a little campaign idea I call 'Voyager Redux' that I'll never be able to use..

This campaign is, essentially, Star Trek Voyager - the USS Voyager, on it's first mission, gets transported deep into the Delta Quadrant by the Caretaker, and is forced to return home the long way. The difference from the TV show is that the major characters are replaced.. by the PCs of your choice. Alternate between episodes of your own design and modified versions of the actual episodes, and you've got an interesting campaign with an immediate connection to the TV shows.

Either a good idea, or a really really horrible one, depending on your group and your tastes. As always, your mileage may vary.

(I would imagine that a similar idea could work set on the NX-01, and possibly, if you loosen up the plotlines a little, DS9, though both TOS and TNG were probably too episodic for such a concept to work to full effect)

This idea would work well IMHO with players who haven't watched much the series. You could use every plotline from the show with no problem ;)

Star Trek: To Boldly Go
Era: TNG or later would probably work best
Partially inspired by the Star Trek: New Worlds computer game

The Great Void was a large region of space, completely devoid of anything except subspace anomalies.. until about three weeks ago, when - in the span of an hour - the subspace anomalies vanished and the Void was turned into what seemed to be a completely normal region of space - nebulae, stars, planets.. even subspace emissions characteristic of warp-capable civilizations.

Understandably, Starfleet Command is more than a little worried at the sudden change in the status quo and sends in the nearest starship - that'd be the one with our intrepid PCs on it - to explore this unorthodox new frontier, make contact with the locals (as far as is permitted by the Prime Directive), and solve the mystery of just what happened to this area of space.

Star Trek: Wanderer
Era: Post-DS9
Inspired largely by Wikipedia and Voyager

This one is much like Voyager - a starship gets drawn into a spatial anomaly and deposited far away. It winds up closer to Earth than Voyager did... but, in a sense, much, much farther away - specifically, the Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy, twenty-five thousand light years from Earth. The ship, unable to travel thousands of light years in the near-complete absence of stars - and, further, risk crossing the Galactic Barrier- is forced to begin exploring it's new surroundings, hoping to find somebody or something able to help them return home.

Star Trek: Aurora
Era: Any would work
Inspired by the Star Fleet Universe

Borrowing a page from the former, this one is also similar to Voyager, in that a group of people get stuck a long way from home. Unlike Voyager (and the Wanderer), this isn't just a single starship, or even a small fleet, but an inhabited star system, complete with a SF outpost (or full-fledged Starbase), torn from its normal position in space by a massive anomaly (in the Star Fleet Universe, it was an incredibly strong, system-wide, ion storm) and tossed deep into unexplored space. Unable to do what Voyager did, and set a course for home, the colony and those elements of Starfleet brought along with it are forced to make a home in this new region, cut off from logistical support, and surrounded by unknown elements.

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Originally Posted by TorItara

This campaign is, essentially, Star Trek Voyager - the USS Voyager, on it's first mission, gets transported deep into the Delta Quadrant by the Caretaker, and is forced to return home the long way. The difference from the TV show is that the major characters are replaced.. by the PCs of your choice.

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Or each one gets the Voyager character they hated the most, and get to redefine their characters as they see fit...

I like the Aurora idea; even more than Voyager, you could see how FED citizens react to non-FED situations: Do they hold fast to the PD, at the risk of making enemies of the new locals and/or running out of resources? Depending on their new situation they might even need to hide themselves from said locals, to avoid being attacked.

A neat series hook would be an older model ship, used for something mundane (transport, system defense, or maybe even a training ship) pressed back into service to support this lost colony. It's crew a mix of SF officers and civillian specialists trying to figure out what's happened, search for materials to help run the colony and check up on the locals.

As for an enemy in this new region, you could go several ways: DQ style fragmented territory with no real major powers, a TOS with a couple of major powers and some smaller ones vieing for favor, or have one monolitic culture that holds sway over everything in the area (this would be bad for new arrivals...).

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Originally Posted by TorItara

Star Trek: Aurora
Era: Any would work
Inspired by the Star Fleet Universe

Borrowing a page from the former, this one is also similar to Voyager, in that a group of people get stuck a long way from home. Unlike Voyager (and the Wanderer), this isn't just a single starship, or even a small fleet, but an inhabited star system, complete with a SF outpost (or full-fledged Starbase), torn from its normal position in space by a massive anomaly (in the Star Fleet Universe, it was an incredibly strong, system-wide, ion storm) and tossed deep into unexplored space. Unable to do what Voyager did, and set a course for home, the colony and those elements of Starfleet brought along with it are forced to make a home in this new region, cut off from logistical support, and surrounded by unknown elements.

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Space Trek: 1999?

Intergalactic Space Ship.
Time: Post Dominion War
Concept: Exploration of Outer and Inner space.

Following the Dominion War, the Federation makes a proposal to the governments of the Klingon Empire, Romulan Empire, Ferengi Alliance and the Cardassian Union. The proposal? Now that the war has ended, a joint venture to explore the Gamma quadrant unhindered by the Dominion. Star Fleet offers up a starship, (I'm thinking Intrepid class) re-christened USS Unity. The ship was scheduled for a severe overhaul following damage sustained during the war and thus is still being reassembled, but now, each of the governments offer equipment that they specialize in to be installed aboard ship. Since this is a joint venture, for example, the Romluans agree to nullify the Treaty of Algeron for this one vessel (as they did with the Defiant) and install a cloaking device. (I'm not certain of the other races' contributions yet. I'm open to suggestions.) The crew is also an amalgamation of members of the different governments. The concept is that of the international space station done in Star Trek style...

The Klingons contribute the replicators. The Cardassians do the interior decoration. And the Ferengi install pay toilets in waste extraction.

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Originally Posted by The Tatterdemalion King

The Klingons contribute the replicators. The Cardassians do the interior decoration. And the Ferengi install pay toilets in waste extraction.

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Klingons would probably be involved in weapons and defensive systems. Maybe a combination Phaser/Disruptor, with some advanced randomised modulations (just in case of any random borg activity in the Gamma quadrant direction??? Large numbers of the Security/Tactical detachment would be Klingon's.

The Cardassians will probably supply advanced sensors and data taken during their membership in the Dominion, which should sort out star charts, local political information and relevant technical data. Their input would likely be crew based, say some 'diplomatic' specialists, perhaps even a real diplomat too. Their ability to provide input is very limited here after the war with few materials and few personnel to spare.

Romulans would likely be Cloaking device, maybe additional weapons. Its likely that they will want the XO role on the ship as well as their own engineering team/tactical specialists, as well as a diplomatic aide. They may even supply a cloaked Theta class diplomatic runabout for the shuttle contingent.

The Ferengi. Would probably not be interested, even under Grand Nagus Rom. So its possible that there would be a limited precence, but most likely it would be personel only, maybe a barkeep to run the rec facilities (try to catch him out now the holodecks are free, apart from certain 'specialist' programs, and a trader representative/diplomatic aide.

Basically such a mission would probably need a larger ship, I think that an intrepid may be a bit too small when you get down to it, possibly a larger vessel, maybe an older Ambassador class... Although there is no real reason that the ship has to be Starfleet? Or that it has to be the only mission out there in the Gamma Quadrant, what if all the governments capable of doing so sent a ship each (Federation, Romulan and Klingon), each with a combined crew from the 5 groups and upgraded with similar technologies...

My thought on the Star Fleet vessel is that the Federation would want top of the line stuff to best serve the mission and the other races would be wary of letting the other races get hands on experience with their most sophisticated equipment. Although now that you mention it, perhaps a Galaxy class vessel would be more appropriate to accomodate the mission. Also, I'm actually thinking that the Klingons would provide personal combat weapons (d'ktaghs, bat'leths, etc.) to the mission, as Star Fleet phasers are more versatile than disruptors and I don't believe Klingon torpedoes could compete with quantum torpedoes. Conversely, the Cardassion spiral wave disrupters might be of use, as they can punch through shielding more easily (I think I read that somewhere). The department heads I envision would be as follows: Captain: Star Fleet. XO: Romulan. Chief Tactical Officer: Klingon. Chief Engineer: Star Fleet. Chief Medical: Ferengi. Operations Manager: Cardassian. Flight Control: Star Fleet.

Heh. USS Nimbus.

An Intrepid class ship is not designed for long-term deep space exploration. Go back to your Voyager season 1 disks. No, they'd need to use a Galaxy class starship which is designed for long-term deep space exploration. The hodge-podge fleet idea isn't bad either. But the biggest road block to this series working is, why are the other governments even interested in doing this? You are sending out a joint mission to do something that only Starfleet has ever shown interest in doing in all the different series. Before this idea will take off, you need to provide strong motivation for each of the involved parties.

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Originally Posted by Captain Macek

Chief Medical: Ferengi.

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Private healthcare.

Sure its a stereotype, but hardly my first choice. I would still go down the route of Ambassadorial Aide/Trader mission specialist...

Maybe as Accountant/assessor attached to Quartermaster, seeing as they will need some trading capabilities and monetary skills out in the Gamma Quadrant, and in this there are many Ferengi who might excell.

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Originally Posted by Alex

An Intrepid class ship is not designed for long-term deep space exploration. Go back to your Voyager season 1 disks. No, they'd need to use a Galaxy class starship which is designed for long-term deep space exploration. The hodge-podge fleet idea isn't bad either. But the biggest road block to this series working is, why are the other governments even interested in doing this? You are sending out a joint mission to do something that only Starfleet has ever shown interest in doing in all the different series. Before this idea will take off, you need to provide strong motivation for each of the involved parties.

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The deal is simple, and one I have used myself.

Starfleet motivation is as simple as you say, to spread peace and love around the universe one female alien at a time, of course the captain needs the crew to take him out on his dates and map the route.

Klingons. Have a long-standing alliance with Starfleet, and now Martok is in charge with Worf as his right-hand man, this alliance has an opportunity to grow closer. The Klingons are the easiest fit in here.

Ferengi. Its a 2 edged sword, while Nog is very pro-Federation, I cannot see the changes being overnight. I imagine that Ferengi input would be very limited, small numbers of personnel, but mostly data/intelligence. The reason that I see an 'Ambassador/Trader' here is mostly because I cannot see then claiming affiliation, when neutrality is far more profitable, but neutrality with protection and free transportation, better still, and likely to be supported by Starfleet with only a few caveats.

Romulans. This is the best one of all. The pro-federation group supported by Spock are all for it, a chance to work together towards unification, a chance to prove their peaceful intentions, built upon the foundations of the War Alliance. Those in favour of isolation however are vastly weakened thanks to Shinzon, and so they are likely to bid their time and go quiet, and collect intelligence and see where it will take them. This of course means that the Romulans on the crew might be entirely on-side or only following up-to a point and no further...

The Cardassians are massively weakened, bordering on crippled, they need the Federation/Starfleet to help rebuild and to stop Klingon/Romulan occupation from becoming permanent, of course they don't want Starfleet either. So they would go along with this to keep Starfleet sweet, and like the Romulans will be borderline allies of convenience, with some of the crew being more in favour of the joint op than others.

The result is a ship with lots of internal politics, as each side tries to keep its own secrets, police its own crew and somehow STILL work together towards a common goal, although each group is likely to have its own priorities.

You know that whats left of the Obsidian Order and Section 31 will have put people aboard, as will the Tal Shiar and Starfleet Intelligence. Its possible that the main intelligence people from Starfleet, Tal Shiar and an Obsidian Order will be open representatives and working together, but secretly supporting their small network amongst the crew too, monitoring each other as well.

You do of course realise that this is just B5 with warp engines. ;) And with so much internal politics that nobody will ever get bored on long duration missions, overly paranoid, yes, but never bored.

OMG Dan, I hadn't thought of the B5 angle at all... I don't know how I missed it. But, to elaborate on what you've said, I wanted to remind everyone how many members of other races that have strong stereotypes have had examples that stand those stereotypes on their head. Scientists in particular are portrayed as always willing to fly in the face of their peoples' conventional wisdom.