22nd Century Game Ideas

I've been contemplating setting my next Trek game (which might not be for a few months owing to a little movie coming out this summer with Jedi Knights and stuff...) during the time period of "Enterprise". Just sort of an idea right now, but anyways...

One thing which is obviously an obstacle is the fact that all it takes is one episode from Paramount to totally destroy major campaign assumptions. For example, set the game on NX-02 which you name Challenger only to see a Lexington as NX-02 after playing for five months. Put a Tellarite on an early Federation ship only to discover that the Tellarites weren't founding members of the Federation - indeed, they wind up being at war with the early Federation...

Obviously it's the group's game, but I always prefer sticking to the shows where possible. So what follows are random ramblings while I wait for a build to finish at work...

Time - While it is very tempting to set a game right after the founding of the Federation, that period is so unknown that "Enterprise" might do something big to contradict assumptions made abou the early Federation. So it would seem best to make the game concurrent with "Enterprise" - maybe start it early in season 1 - I'm thinking just after "The Andorian Incident" to allow the use of Andorians in the game. :D

Ship - I like the Enterprise but it occurs it might be better to use a different type of ship to avoid contradicting what "Enterprise" says about other NX ships. The Daedalus is also tempting, but it might become invented in the course of the show. So inventing a new ship seems a good way to go. I'd say take an older ship and say she was refitted with similar Warp 5 engines like "Entrerprise" has. I notice that there seems to be a tendency of older Earth ships to look like rockets - Phoenix, Valiant, those funky ships during the credits, etc. so it might be neat to change the orientation of the ship to be vertical instead of horizontal - i.e. instead of flying "forward" the ship would be flying "up". This is a great excuse to steal deckplans from the defunct Star Frontiers and Buck Rogers: XXVc roleplaying games.

Tech - The tech of NX-01 Enterprise would represent an upper boundary. I'd actually go a little lower tech - perhaps no transporter at all, or one just not plain safe at all for living beings. Also, it might be neat to not outfit the ship with phase pistols, instead using lasers as indicated in Coda Trek.

Player Characters - Earth Starfleet by default. However, there is room for other species. Vulcans are obvious - another liason officer like T'Pol. And it makes for a good chance to play a butt-headed Vulcan. :D Indeed, this is a great opportunity for non-Starfleet types, as humans seem strarved for guides. You could have a member of an alien species which just likes cruising the galaxy and thinks it'd be fun to hang out with these humans for a while. Other than Vulcans, the known Trek races may be a little dangerous. Orions are probably safe, since I have a hunch we won't be seeing them on Enterprise, though that is just a hunch. An Andorian could be very interesting, but also dangerous - there is sure to be more information regarding them as the show progresses. Klingons should probably be avoided.

Bad Guys - Klingons make for great "space vikings". Andorian and Vulcan ships would make for good adversaries.

Misison - Obviously to explore. :) I'd lean towards having the ship fly in the opposite direction of Enterprise and tend to avoid first contacts with species that appear in later shows since "Enterprise" will most likely do that. So a lot of species to invent. Also, conflict with Boomers, Nausicaan Pirates, Klingon Raiders, etc. all make for good additions to adventures.

Just a few ideas. Others feel free to chime in.

Dan,

Maybe you could make it a "proto-Federation" series.

The ship could be made by an alien species (like the Andorians) or even a joint species program. THis would allow you to avoid problems with canon as the ship wouldn't be an Earth/starfleet vessel. The ship could have a interstellar crew in an effort to promote cooperation amonst the various species.

If the Andorians decided to work with Humans, the Vulcans would probably want in just to keep an eye on things (and they wouldn't be the only ones).


Basically, a demo porgram for what will become the Federation. You could even use UESPA.

If you go with an Alien designed (or codesigned) ship you could skirt all sorts of tech issues by saying--"it's alien tech, Earth hasn't figure it out yet".


I'd suggest wirting up some orignal species for dealing with, including an original baddie. Maybe even a factionalized group where one side want's peace, but another want's war and is trying to instigate it with incidents. (this could help to explain the Federation's later insistance on a "one world unified goverment" for membership).
They could be small enough not to have been mentioned on Trek, but could still have been a significant threat in the 22nd century.

Orions could be a good choice, both as baddies and as allies (maybe even selling a ship to the humans/alliance).

On the phase pistol question, just say they couldn't get a shipment of them in time for launch... "Sorry, guys...you're stuck with the old shit." Typical military.

Another ship class might work. Is it slower? Maybe they just slapped the arp 5 drive into an older hull and are praying the thing on't fly to bits. "Warp 5? But that'll shake the ship to BITS!"

Another workable idea would be to have a ship that follows in Enterprise's 'foot steps'. It's kinda logical if you think about it. Archer and crew discover something. Earth surely would send someone to 'do' something about later. :)

Of course, new stuff would need to be added from time to time, else it would become redundant after a while.

Just as an aside...in that time frame there is no Federation. The federation isn't founded untill 2161 so you have a good 10 years to go. Starfleet, is ofcourse ok, because as I've come to accept, it isn't the Federation Starfleet but the Earth Starfleet :cool: .

As for my suggestions on what to do. Maybe a modified freighter, we know from the show that there are lots of them floating around and theres nothing saying they could have upgraded to warp 5. Use old weapons...I never liked the PHASE weapons myself, lasers would have been more appropriate so use those or use projectile.

And also remember, there is NO romulan contact untill 2156 (5 years from the start of Enterprise) when they attack the USS Endeavor near Cheron IV.

Kyle

Also, you would use NX only if it was a new ship design. If you use the same ship class as the Enterprise it would be USS or if you go ahead and use a freighter it would most likely be SS. Hope this all helps :)

I, too, have given thought to trying a campaign in this era. Personally, I like the "joint expedition" idea, perhaps with either the Andorians, the Vulcans, or perhaps a new alien race that hasn't appeared in Trek before (like Phlox's race, perhaps).

I don't recall, but I don't think that we've seen an Andorian ship yet on Enterprise, but it would seem that they are probably on a tech level comparable to the Vulcans, given their longstanding conflict.

Also, as an aside, any ship that would follow Enterprise would be registered NX, as the ships are NX-class. Additionally, I'd presume that the NX-02 already exists, as mentioned in an episode noting the USS Shenandoah, captained by a man named Duvall, had recently been launched.



Greg

Did they mention the Shenandoah as an NX-class? I got the impression that there were more on the way but I don't recall them explicitly calling Shenandoah as one.

Hmm, maybe I can make NXF-01 Icarus, a "fast" NX class... :D

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Originally posted by Dan Stack
Hmm, maybe I can make NXF-01 Icarus, a "fast" NX class... :D

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Or the Wells . Heck, it could even be the same ship (so that's how the temporal cold war got started). :D

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Originally posted by tonyg



Or the Wells . Heck, it could even be the same ship (so that's how the temporal cold war got started). :D

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:eek:

Oh dear. I have no idea how to use that, but it sounds too sinister not to be used....

22nd century starship desgin-

Let's see, take a Saber-class,
paint it grey
put the nacelles on top, make them round.
Half TNG warp factors and convert to TOS scale
Eliminate shields, but add some armor and a "Polerized hull"
Reduce the weapobnnry and other systems by a similar amount, and..


Voila, 22nd Century Escort ship.

They mentioned Shenandoah under CPT Duval in one of the shows; they don't say it's NX-02 -- but I like to think so. the name is appropriate (means 'Daughter of the Stars'.)

Well, I don't think that they come right and say that the Shenandoah is the NX-02, but it seemed to be implied to me. I can't imagine that someone getting promoted to Captain of some freighter would make news on the Enterprise.



Greg

So what is our valiant crew going to do while avoiding being contradicted by "Enterprise"?

Obviously there is exploring strange new worlds (tm). Sometimes to secure a trade treaty with Earth, sometimes for curiosity. Oddly enough, a lot of these worlds will be suffering from civil wars, control of a super-computer, or alien invaders.

We want to avoid major wars, but there can certainly be skirmishes with other powers. Klingons are good for random acts of violence. Could also invent a new power- maybe a dying empire trying to hold onto power as its worlds slip away. Nice place to explore. "Look, we have no interest in your civil war." Blish's Vegan Tyranny may provide some inspiration if I ever get around to reading Cities in Flight.

We want to be a little careful around the known species. For example, first contact with the Orions may be a bad idea given "Enterprise" may show that. Might want to hold off a little on the Andorians as well. But Vulcans would remain fertile ground for adventures. Perhaps a visit to a Vulcan colony and a chance to learn about their warlike heritage. Which Starfleet would no doubt be forced to sweep under the rug... A visit to Vulcan itself could be in order, though I wonder if any humans have ever been to Vulcan. Nausicaans could make for great fun as well.

Not able to do many Federation colony in distress adventures (no Federation and all) but a Boomer ship in distress could work well. Perhaps a trader arrested for violating some oddball law and the crew has to arrange for their release. Or perhaps traders caught in some religious war and declared infidels.

There's always opportunity for the occasional time travel adventure, as there is in any Star Trek.

And those dead worlds with fallen civilizations always can be used for adventures. Though the crew cannot come to the rescue of some poor science team - instead they are that poor science team... :D

Doubt I'd use the Suilban too much, perhaps the occasional episode.

Followups to episodes of "Enterprise" would also seem to lend themselves. "Terra Nova" (revisit the lost Terran colony), "The Andorian Incident" (evacuate the monks before the Andorians attack), "Civilization" (further develop the aliens who were mucking around on a pre-warp planet, perhaps a return visit to that world), and "Detained" (non-Cabal Suliban Concentration camps - perhaps run into some Suliban refugees) all seem great material for sequel adventures.

I was thinking-one way to avoid any conflicts with Entperise would be to keep things on a small scale, with new species.

For adventueres it might be good to create a sector and popluate with several new species. By using the "tempest in a teacup" philosophy you could have all sorts of things happen without thier being of much obvious sinificance to the future of the Federation. Using a real world parrarel, not many people today talk much about the US conflicts with the Barbary pirates.

This could have pelenty of oppurtunities for a long term campaign. With the PCs supporting a fledling outpost or colony.


As for a Time Travel adventure- I waslway thought it would be fun to put the show on the other foot and have NPCs come from the future. It could be a nice way to have someone from TOS or TNG make a guest appearance.

Kirk is the obvious suspect, but TNG ships coul;d be good too.

TIME TRAVEL IDEA
Ship from the future accidentally picks up a distress call from the past and followes it though a temporal anormality. Whuile resucing the distressed vessel they inadvently cause a problem that could alter the time line. For example, viloating Klingon space (which wouldn't be a problem in the 24th century, triigering an interstellar war.

I was thinking that a ship that doesn't look like an Earth design (with embeeded naceelles) would be nice-and it would be mistaken for an alien starship of advanced design, by the 22nd century starfleet characters.

Ideally, the ship from the future helps the 22nd century PCs to undue the damage have caused, probably through the use of superior tech.

An idea we seem to have forgotten, what about doing a non-human game- having an Imperial Andorian Fleet ship, a Vulcan Explorer, or if you really want to get out there without rules an Orion priveteer type explorer (you could put a human observer on the first two). Why limit yourselves to Humans?

I really like the idea of an empire in its last stage before the complete extinction of its people. Perhaps the few remaining inhabitants of the core world of a once massive interstellar empire, technologically advanced, seriously jaded regarding the universe (due to their swiftly approaching extinction) could make them extremely dangerous. After all, what do they have to lose? They're already a dying race!

Perhaps the K'relk Sodality, once a powerful empire spanning tens of light years, has fallen on hard times. The remnants of their shattered civilization - perhaps decimated in a terrible civil war - can be found throughout the quadrant on various deserted or failed colony worlds, in the form of derelict ships, or even on computer media discovered floating in space/in a subterranean chamber/in a fallen temple/etc.

The civil war saw the creation of a terrible plague that not only killed victims outright, but sterilized the survivors. Initially released on a single colony world, fleeing victims carrying the dreaded disease carried it to K'relk worlds throughout the region. Despite the efforts of their remaining scientists, the disease has mutated beyond their capacity to find a cure. The scant tens of thousands of remaining K'relk citizens are the very last of their kind, and, due to the insidious genetic infiltration of the disease, even cloning cannot create viable replacements.

Such a campaign could revolve around the collection of their civilization's records for posterity, discovering new/lost technologies, locating a lost, uninfected colony (and then having the PCs unwittingly deliver the virus to the untainted K'relk, accidentally condemning them), or even the [futile] search to discover a cure for the disease that has destroyed their civilization.

Not only is such a scenario rife with possibilities, but it is nearly completely free of elements that contradict canon Trek (if you're careful)!

This could even be played up for a future Trek game in which the few remaining K'relk were frozen in the 2150s and stored until Starfleet Medical could find a cure. In the late 2370s a cure is discovered, the aliens are thawed and cured, and they are then aided in rebuilding their civilization, perhaps as a member of the Federation!

mactavish out.

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An idea we seem to have forgotten, what about doing a non-human game- having an Imperial Andorian Fleet ship, a Vulcan Explorer, or if you really want to get out there without rules an Orion priveteer type explorer (you could put a human observer on the first two). Why limit yourselves to Humans?

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If your player's willing to go for it, sure. I'm guessing that, with the possible exception of Klingons, most players would prefer to play humans. It's certainly a lot easier, especially in the 22nd century when cultures such as the Andorians and Vulcans are still much more distinct from humans (there being no Federation to bring them together). Just a couple of things to bear in mind.

I do like that dying species idea. Reminds me a bit of the Dilgar on Babylon 5.

As for a non-human vessel, I'd prefer to keep it on a human ship - this era is different enough for my tastes, I think it might get a little overwhelming having a non-human vessel. That said, I'll certainly be allowing non-humans on the vessel - not the majority of the crew, but a few observers, like Phlox and T'Pol.


One other adventure idea... supplies. When working out my Daedalus deckplans, once you take into account quarters, labs, life support, engineering, hangar bay, etc. there's not a lot of room for cargo holds. A 22nd century ship, even with a lot of recycling, isn't up for a 5-year mission without resupply. Might be interesting to have the occasional adventure for the gathering of needed cargo - a little do-it-yourself mining or hunting, a little trade with a new species. Could make for a good humor episode as the characters find the planet of junkfood...

At the beginning of Enterprise, there is a vessel shown from the aft just before Enterprise herself makes her first appearance. Perhaps that ship (should one be able to identify her) would be a good 22nd-century starship choice.

As for the "race swiftly approaching extinction," I'd considered that very concept myself (though I've never watched Babylon 5). I figured that such a species - particularly if they were very "human-like" in some way - would certainly play at the humans' heartstrings and have the PCs desperate to save them (regardless of the futility).

The image that I had was of the PCs having a violent encounter with a K'relk warship, but one that has a quick resolution leading to open communication between humanity and the K'relk. This contact leads to the PCs returning to the K'relk colony where they discover the nature of the K'relk species' predicament.

I'm also picturing a grounside encounter with a child in the final stages of her degenerative illness that really polarizes the crew regarding saving the species. I'd say really play this up. Play up the humanity of the K'relk, the fact that they were once very similar to mankind, and perhaps even the development of a close working - perhaps even personal - relationship with some of the aliens.

I'd definitely not let on that the race is doomed regardless what the PCs do, but instead encourage them to attempt various solutions, doing everything in their power before finally telling them that the situation is hopeless.

I know that this sounds cruel, but it also serves to prove that not only should the PCs not always help, but that they are not always able to help. Perhaps this even serves to develop Starfleet policies regarding contact with alien species.

mactavish out.