Potential One on One Game

[Dan Stack]

My regular gaming group is quite happy with D&D (as am I) but I still have an urge to do a Trek game every once in a while. My brother recently moved to Massachusetts (about a half hour from where I live) and expressed an interest in an occasional one on one game beyond the bi-weekly D&D game.

We bounced a few ideas back and forth and the setting that seemed to capture the most interest for both of us is Star Trek. So what I'm thinking is how best to narrate this.

We are both big fans of the original Star Trek. He also liked TNG quite a bit but was't too crazy about most of the other spinoffs. I'm ok with TNG and love DS9.

While I know espionage and trader games can work well for one on one games, I'm not too crazy for that idea. What we're currently toying with is a game where he will play the commanding officer of a small ship, with a crew of no more than a hundred or so, possibly quite a bit lower. The idea would be to take advantage of the one on one aspect by emphasizing the loneliness of command - being the one to make all the big decisions. Our current default idea is a game set in the 2240's aboard a scout type vessel - make the Antares or Kremlin class from The Starfleet Museum, playing a Lt. Commander in charge of the vessel. It would be very much in the spirit of TOS - the captain beams down to every planet, seduces the alien ladies, gets into fist fights with klingons, etc.

However, I'm open to other suggestions and am curious what opinions people might have.

Just to plant some seeds, here are some alternate ideas -

• Keeping on a scout vessel but changing the time period - 2260s are one obvious period. Also thinking about possibly the 2350s focusing on the frontier near the Cardassian border or the 2370s exploring the Gamma Quadrant after the Dominion War. And from my Exploration Games thread the Daedalus in the 2170's is also an option.
• Playing a science officert assigned to Deep Space Nine around Season One - the character will tend to spend a lot of time making jaunts to the Gamma Quadrant in a runabout. If the campaign progresses may wind up getting stranded behind enemy lines come the Dominion War...
• A Klingon commanding a bird of prey, exploring from a Klingon perspective.
• A Bajoran rebel during the Cardassian Occupation.

[mactavish]

- Edited for content 'cause I'm an idiot! -

Just a thought.

mactavish out.

[Tobian]

With a one person game 'pretending' to have dozens of other people is going to seem a little silly, so playing a lower decks character, where you aren't bossing round 50 invisible people, or a lone trader would probably work better as that format.

The small vessel idea could work, and I like the 'behind enemy lines' concept.. The character could be on a runabout in a period where (almost) all Alpha (and Beta) quadrant races have been expunged from the Gamma quadrant.. So as a lone ship they have to survive, perhaps gethering inteligence, in case anyone comes to get them, and even do the regular Startrek things, such as first contact and exploration.. it's abig quadrant and a slow warp drive ! perhaps they run into Dominion enemies who aid them on their travels, or they have to figure out a way to get past that Dominion sensor grid they've detected.. as a small ship with only 4 or 5 crew it should be allot of fun! Losses REALLY count! An early plot you could do is have the vessel covertly scan the Omarion nebula for Dominion activity.. and then perhaps, once they realise they are stranded (maybe they intercept communications from the dominion or Starfleet vessels in the area) they think... how about we scan the wreckage for a Cloaking device... not THAT effective agains the Dominion, but an edge, and it's a tiny vessel

Perhaps you could play a small Starfleet force assigned to an ambassador on the fringes of Federation space, in an unfamiliar localle. You have small missions for the staff, which could rapidly expand in to huge machinations and machiavelian schemes.. and with little support from Starfleet because of distance you have to act cleverly on your own.

Yes espionage and trader type games don't really fit if you want pure trek, but perhaps you can blend them a little, because as you get smaller crew, you'd have to do both of those more.

[Sho-sa Kurita]

To start, how about very small? Like the Drs. Hansen's ship, the Raven. It could be a civilian or Starfleet, scientific or courier vessel. It could be a lead-in miniseries focused on a specific mission, or mission-type, which then leads to a larger command of the type you discussed. Ideas along these lines are:

- JAG office (or Temporal) investigators, hopping from case-to-case.
- Colony site scouts, checking out planets in a newly opened sector, and getting into trouble with the native flora and fauna.
- First contact specialist...I mean carousing with the alien ladies.
- The merchant/rogue thing is always good. How about focusing it a little bit, and making him one of those specialists in hard-to-get items. You know, the kind Kivas Fajo wants. Bound to get into some trouble there.

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To get really wacky, how about getting off-ship entirely, and playing a TOS-period Klingon governor like Kor. Nothing like putting down a rebellious population to make you feel the loneliness of command

[Owen E Oulton]

How about a traveling rogue or merchant? A ne'er-do-well traversing the spacelanes, carrying cargo from Cardassia Prime to Romulus to wherever.

You mean besides the fact that he explicitly rules out that type of campaign?

[mactavish]

I guess that'll teach me to read <b>entire posts</b> from now on, eh?

mactavish out.

[Dan Stack]

When I refer to the loneliness of command, it does mean changing the story structure a bit - less like an ensemble cast and more like a novel or movie with a single protagonist. For example, when one reads the Horatio Hornblower series, it is clear the story is about Horatio Hornblower - everyone else is just supporting cast. On the other hand, a show like Deep Space Nine makes extensive use of all its cast members, from tailor to commanding officer.