Starship combat which doesn't bore PCs other than the Captain!

[Mazza]

In the last episode of my campaign, my crew's ship had to fight its way back through enemy territory to friendly space after being flung 32 years into the future to find the Federation at war with the Breen. In the past the space they were in was unclaimed, distinctly non-hostile space at the frontier of the Federation - so it was quite a shock when that first Breen battlecruiser de-cloaked off the port bow.

I have three PCs, the captain, the ship's counsellor, and the ship's doctor. All of them were thoroughly engrossed for the first two acts of the episode. There were a couple of starship combats involved, but I think the dramatic tension kept the counsellor and doctor involved even though they didn't have much to do in combat.

The third act, however, which was an absolute nailbiter for the captain (whose player kept on standing up and pacing the room he was so on edge from the all or nothing fight to get to safety), saw the total withdrawal from the game of the other two players, who eventually left the table to read sourcebooks even as the ship was almost destroyed.

Now, I'm not planning on there being too many episodes of which starship combat will be such a prominent component, but it might happen (I don't want to limit my options in the war story arc we're currently in), and it will almost certainly happen in episodes for which it isn't a primary theme. I'm curious as to how other Narrators avoid the players other than the captain simply tuning out - what do you give them to do during combat? And by giving them something to do, I don't just mean rolling a few dice, because that didn't work very well in a previous campaign - players not in command of the ship were still bored, they just paid attention to what I told them to roll and when.

[Tobian]

In my campaign I actually have a very simple solution to that problem that is probably quite unorthodox.. the ship is really small with a crew of only about 20 EVERYONE is involved in Starship combat no matter what.. half the time the Doctor seems to be piloting the vessel

That's my odd solution, but it's not always practical if you're flying round in a space city, like the galaxy class. A possible option would be for there to be either a pool of NPC's or secondary 'fill' characters for people to play. You do have a medical-heavy group of players.. meaning 2 out of 3 players are't going to be involved in Bridge operations.. always a problem!

You could always try and re-orient the starship combat more to the ethical, moral and tactical side.. Have them sit and plan out manouevres more, and talk about what is the consiquences of it.. Could prove just as exciting as the combat Also - keep having things explode on the bridge, meaning that a) the doctor has a reason to be there and b) if you're caught short he can temporarily man a station, till the backup personel arives.

You also have the option of a siege style Starship combat.. where it happens on the inside rather than outside.. what if the Breen disable the ship with mystery weapon X, then board it.. it involves everyone then, in a fight for their lives!

Obviously such episodes need to be carefully crafted, but it could work!

[IceGiant]

As a bit of a side track, what ship are you useing Tobian?

[Tobian]

Homegrown It was formerly a pirate raider ship, which the PC's managed to confiscate, and subsequently use it much like a low-tech and crappy Defiant out of the run-down on the edge of the Federation station I set the game-verse around.. Still they have managed to upgrade a few systems, and have a few tricks up their sleves.. like the much (over)used Stealth transporters

[UFC465537]

I have three PCs, the captain, the ship's counsellor, and the ship's doctor. All of them were thoroughly engrossed for the first two acts of the episode. There were a couple of starship combats involved, but I think the dramatic tension kept the counsellor and doctor involved even though they didn't have much to do in combat.

The third act, however, which was an absolute nailbiter for the captain (whose player kept on standing up and pacing the room he was so on edge from the all or nothing fight to get to safety), saw the total withdrawal from the game of the other two players, who eventually left the table to read sourcebooks even as the ship was almost destroyed.

Now, I'm not planning on there being too many episodes of which starship combat will be such a prominent component, but it might happen (I don't want to limit my options in the war story arc we're currently in), and it will almost certainly happen in episodes for which it isn't a primary theme. I'm curious as to how other Narrators avoid the players other than the captain simply tuning out - what do you give them to do during combat? And by giving them something to do, I don't just mean rolling a few dice, because that didn't work very well in a previous campaign - players not in command of the ship were still bored, they just paid attention to what I told them to roll and when.

Well, i hope you're using Decipher or something, because if you're a FASA player, the combat BECOMES your game...otherwise, maybe give the PC's some NPC's to play during combat situations to keep them occupied, insert an internal problem that prevents the ship from winning the combat, or maybe some GM/NPC dialogue between shots that entertains the non-combatant characters. Moral dillemmas are always fun, too. I must admit that you have a different mix with a Captain, doctor and counsellor...good luck with your campaign!

[Pericles]

If the ship was as badly damaged as you say, there should have been a lot for the doctor and counselor to do...namely the casualties. The doctor should have been working his butt off trying to keep the wounded alive. The counselor could have assisted the doctor if they had any medical training at all. If not, then the counselor would be very busy helping the wounded deal with their injury, especially if they lost limbs. "Now I know things look bleak right now, but once we get you back to Starbase 341, we can get younew legs and your career will stay right on track." Or if they injuries are too severe, having to help them cope with their injuries or loss of their career. And finally the counselor will have to help the survivors cope with the loss of comrades or family members.

[Phoenix]

Along what UFC465537 said, having the other PC's play as some bridge based NPC, or you could just alter your game style. From what it sounds like you have one player for one character, and there's nothing wrong with that. I my game we as a group decided to run a troupe style game. In other words every player has three (or more) characters:
1 Bridge or Department Head character
1 Lower Deck type officer or enlisted character
and 1 other character normally assigned to away teams or as an assistant to another character (example- PC nurse as an assistant to the CMO PC).

Now this has led to some minor issues in the game like me the GM asking ahh...who are you playing right now? or calling someone by the wrong rank or name. There also has been a few occassions where one player has been overwelmed with activity or has had two of the same player's characters interacting with themselves alone.

On the plus side, the players always have something to do, on the negitive side there is a lot more work for the GM, you need to remember information on 15 player characters, have possable side stories for any one of them, etc.

[Jem'hadar]

Yours is an interesting experience. I GM a Decipher Star Trek campaign but haven't played out Starship combat yet. There are only 2 PCs and neither are senior bridge crew but junior officers. I also use NPCs which I allow the players to roll for but not control. This keeps them busy when an NPC has a necessary skill that neither of the PCs have.

At this point in my campaign, I probably would just narrate starship combat since neither PC captains the ship (Intrepid class) or is the ship's tactical, ops or flight control officers. Instead, I would give the PCs something else to do while combat is going on around them, perhaps damage control or attending to casualties.

Even though starship combat is controlled from the bridge, I imagine that on a Starfleet vessel, like a real-life Navy vessel, every crewmember has a specific duty/station during combat or other emergencies. Perhaps you need to figure out what that emergency duty station is for all of your PCs. If the vessel engages in in combat again, the non-bridge crew PCs should know to report to their duty station & what is expected of them.

[kridenow]

My campaign has 3 regular players : security officer, doctor and counselor characters, none being senior.

(and my current game is a "ship under siege" story, with the ship running silent with several hostile vessels looking for it. Basically, a submarine story ported to Star Trek).

My tricks to get players involved in the space combat :
- looking at secondary skills, the ones some characters know without being expert. The characters may replace a key crewmember at the bridge (casualty or simply missing). The most obvious and possibly common solution.

- get the medical characters run to heal casualties. However, to not only end at saying at the player "and now you're there, do a medicine roll, please", add unexpected problems. If the fight is difficult (there are casualties after all), it may also be possible navigating through the ship become a problem. Disable the lifts, the transporters, punch holes through the hull, plasma conduits leaking etc...
You can then put in some technical (fixing something, opening a jammed door) or physical skills (jumping over/through, climbing). Actually, the character scene then becomes more a "get there in time" than just "roll medicine skill and wait for the next".
When critical casualties happen in the engineering room, the Doc has to go there.
You can also "chain" events. A engineer squad (maybe led by a character) has to make quick repair on a system somewhere on the ship, the ship is hit once more in that area, the engineers are wounded. They must be healed on the spot as their abilities are needed here and now.

Or, just consider the medical stations are now powerless or disabled and look at the Doc trying to manage things without his regular technowizardry.
It can turn with the Doc trying to fix his station (tech skills) or find another way to heal (cleverness).
You can then also chain a damaged med station event with the opportunity for a pure engineer to come by and try to repair it while the wounded are coming. The two characters (doc and engineer) facing the same situation with different views.

- data analysis can be a critical element of the fight. With the bridge crew busy fighting, someone can be ordered or initiate by himself a parallel analysis of the surroundings, or the ennemy attack pattern, technology, comm' channels. You can also use telepathic abilities (depending how you manage the range of telepathic contacts. Even if the rules are clear, telepathy is not really that defined in the TV shows. Troi being sometimes able to do marvelous things and others simply helpless). The "Telepath" role is a bit more difficult as once the player get an idea on how to contribute in combat, he may want to use it each time. That can turn to a problem ("No ? I can't read the ennemy captain mind like the last time ?"). And emotion reading is less effective for combat. But people are inventive.
Data analysis can lead to an immediate edge in the fight or may be a story element later.
A counselor can give practical advice on how to win the fight, or stop it : identifying a Klingon-like honor, foreseeing a Jem'Hadar suicidal behavior (however, the counselor role may be tied to previous interaction with the enemy, unless protagonists still talk while fighting). How to offer a surrender, or accept it properly, may be critical for the counselor. Not a direct combat action but related. If hints are also given during combat, it may be interesting. Identifying a slightly weird behavior from the ennemy can become the way to realize they are offering peace, surrender, cease fire etc... More effective when dealing with unknown species.
We also got some "psychological" analysis in the shows. Trying to figure the personnality of a known ennemy from the StarFleet database to predict his behavior. If I recall correctly, that was used in VOY Equinox to pursue Ransom ship (Ransom being known to hide when in trouble). There must be a couple of other examples but I am unsure about them

Technical officers (or having technical skills as secondaries) are easier to involve : a sensor sweep can give a temporary edge by using the astronomical bodies around (I tend to use planets, moons, nebulae, asteroid belts and such as "cover" during space battles, to avoid a dull, simple duel in open space), a comm' officer can break into the ennemy channels and give a temporary edge on the coordinated ennemy tactics by analyzing signals.
As a whole, adding electronic warfare type events can give work to the technical type characters, even if they are not holding key positions on the bridge.

I just often consider the key officers are really busy enough piloting, firing, managing the ship and let the secondary tasks not tied to combat and immediate survival aside. Those now secondary tasks can be done by a character and prove being useful.


When I am thinking about adding space combat in an episode, I choose between making a quick easy to run combat, a combat where the non bridge, non key officers are kept away, but which will be fast to run. A handful of minutes, not more.
If I choose to make combat an important element of the story, to be longer, I am preparing it, to give at least one personnal scene to each character.

That's similar to other scenes, actually. During a brawl, the more physical characters may be shining while the other ones just cover to avoid getting hurt. Here, some players find logical they can't influence the brawl that much.
Same for a social interaction where, maybe, the counselor will get all the glory while the security officer and the engineer just stand by.
So space combat is also the same. Pilots and ship experts have their hour of glory.
I don't exactly see any reason, gameplay wise, to make them less critical in their field of expertise because other players happen to depends on them (story wise, it's a different thing). Indeed, the whole player group may depend of a phaser shot from the security officer on an away team mission...

As long as it doesn't become a major element, a turning scene, an important plot event...

And like I would turn a simple bar brawl to something more complex to get all players involved when it's no longer "a simple bar brawl", I can turn space combat to something slightly different too.

In a few words, to me, it mainly depends of the purpose of the space combat.
Preparing it and give everyone soimething to do is kept for major space battles, notably long and painful ones because of the dramatic intensity. Otherwise, I would let the "spacer" crew shine. It won't last that long anyway.

Pierre

(typos)

[Tobian]

Very good points Kridenow..

Yes I think a Counselor has allot of potential uses other than the use they most often used her for: Either a dumb blond who we had to explain all the 'technical bits' too (I.e. the audience really!) or the person who repeats the computer, as in Galaxy Quest The counselor would be fantastically useful as a psychologist in terms of tactical.. Troi occasionally used her empathic powers (when they remembered she had them for anything other than saying..." The crew is tense captain".. of course they bloody are, the ships been knocked in two ).. reading the emotions of the other side, revealing hidden information, and even finding cloaked ships Sometimes it's easy to forget, when you are using your l33t Type XII Phaser..that you can simply chose to diffuse a situation, not just shoot at it! This is an often overlooked tactical advantage that Starfleet ships have over more powerful adversaries!

As a roleplaying game.. sitting on a clean bridge, casually firing your phasers from your comfy sofa-like armchair, and occasionally rocking on the set might make for good TV, but its uninvolving for an RPG.. Grittier fights, behind the scenes make it much more exciting.. Don't forget.. when a ship is hit by a phaser.. something got destroyed..now for budgetary reasons they can't show that, except in the featurefilms (which they did) people die in explosions, hull breeches, and nasty things squirting-in-your-face-explosions Having a medical team run to that location, having arguments with the technical staff (I.e. "The hell you're going in that section, there's a coolant leak.." "But Ensign 'Hispanic' is going to die?!" ) should make it exciting and give you allot more excitement than just rolling your manuevres, and marking off hitpoints from the ship!

[kridenow]

Another way to handle space combat I used once was to hide the actual combat resolution and informations from the players, totally.

Just picture a space battle where your ship is fired on but you are not on the bridge. You get only indirect reports about what is happening.

The TV series occasionnaly show non-bridge characters suddenly giving a keen advice on a particular problem during the battle (it's a show anyway) when I always wonder how they got enough accurate infos to provide any advice. Seems as if they are all eavedropping what happen on the bridge, do their regular battle work at the same time and build theories as their mind is not totally used yet.

However, out of the bridge, perception of the battle can be limited to computer warnings, emergencies procedures and the sound of blasts.

The duties and challenges will be battle related but players are not directly able to influence the combat.
Cut from accurate information, they can suddenly be left alone. No more computer warnings, no more bridge orders. You can then turn your "regular" battle to something more scarying.
As Tobian stated, we can all imagine moral decisions to be taken by senior officers like... "well, I know Ensign X and Lt Y are still in section B but... seal it nonetheless otherwise the entire deck may collapse" (*start dramatic music and zoom in to worried faces of the main characters*)
Now, just imagine Ensign X and Lt Y are the players. Ok, the moral problem is a common occurence in Star Trek but what about being the main subject of that question ?

The possibility of being "abandonned" by the rest of the crew can lead to a frantic race for survival. Supposedly, bypassing the sealing procedures shouldn't be possible... Or why not after all. Then the moral question fall now on the player shoulders : "Now you are sealed inside the deck, which will soon collapse, you have an idea how to bypass the energy field and exit the place but it will endanger the whole deck, if not the ship".
Or, the players can have to find a way to ensure their own survival on the deck, as long as necessary for the rest of the crew to suddenly realize they are not dead and can be rescued (after the battle probably).


Mixing everything, you can do a space battle where players get little information, in a stressful environment where they actually can be "sacrificied" by the senior officers in the name of the ship safety.

It works obviously with Lower Deck adventures but even senior or regular bridge officers can be trapped in a similar situation.
Players are resting, entertaining, then suddenly come a couple of blasts and red alert. They need to go to the bridge but cannot for various reasons and situation is deteriorating quickly around them.

Like starting with, apparently, a Holodeck adventure with characters enjoying the program, until it shut down following a huge blast, red alert and then left by themselves to figure what is happening or even survive.

You can manage to run two parallel stories at the same time : players on the bridge doing their regular duty, players trapped somewhere facing problems related to combat.


Pierre

[Tobian]

With regards to how non-bridge crews know what needs doing where I think this is for a number of reasons...

Master system displays are located in most important locations, such as the Bridge and Engineering which would highlight any problem areas.. According to the TNG technical manual information is constantly updated through LCARS.. so it would be a simple matter to pull up any information neccessary.

Allot of what is known is invisibly gathered.. For example.. Worf can simply go "We have 33 injured" from his console.. this must mean either the computer is monitoring (or can be made to) life signs or medical staff's tricorders are uplinked to the ship central computer (which they can do as a simple function, especially aboard ship) which is keeping a database of what is going on. What we are seeing as dialogue on the bridge will only be a fraction of what is actually happening on a ship.. At red alert, on a Galaxy class ship, all crew are on duty.. that's at least 1000 people all running around, doing their jobs, connected by a huge computer network!

Taking a small portion of the drama will be dramatic for most locations.. The tactical officer casually reading out casualties and injuries might represent the work of several hundred people running round the ship with tricorders and body bags! Any one duty station, especially medical, Engineering or OPS is going to be exciting from that perspective!

As you mentioned about the decks sealed off.. Now if you happen to be on one of those decks.. most Starfleet vessels have hazard suits stowed in those equiptment lockers built into the walls.. So it would be a race against time to run to one, pull out a shapeless white suit and get it on before there is no air, or the temperature gets too cold/hot

[kridenow]

I agree but I had in mind exactly "how" the battle is doing being not available. I suppose most of stations will give you general or specific data.
I always considered raw reports like "33 injured" are a synthesis of computer data and departments reports.

But actual maneuvers, position of the enemy ship and its condition, etc... ? Then comes the capacity of being able to understand and analyze data. A damage report, even detailed, is good but give by itself not all infos about how powerful the enemy is, which can be used as a stress element when you look at the decks all turning "red" one by one.

However, I don't have extensive knowledge of Starfleet technology, notably the one coming from tech manuals, that I don't own.


Anyway, the motive force behind this idea is the fact the players will be cut from information and subject to stress. An attack can disable some key systems, at least on their deck or even only their section.

most Starfleet vessels have hazard suits stowed in those equiptment lockers built into the walls.. So it would be a race against time to run to one, pull out a shapeless white suit and get it on before there is no air, or the temperature gets too cold/hot

I do expect and hope that Being sealed inside a deck should lead to interesting situations, not unavoidable death.

Pierre

[Jem'hadar]

It would be interesting to hear from real-life Navy personnel about how the modern Navy handles combat situations & what crew & officers are expected to do during combat & other emergencies. Maybe you can analogize to the real-life Navy & figure out what non-bridge officers can do when in starship combat.

Of course, you may have a problem finding a real-life analogy to Starfleet's ship's counselor.

Personally, as a GM, I would discourge players from choosing Counselor as a profession in STRPG. I know that on TNG, Troi turned out to be very useful at times, but mostly for her Betazoid empathic powers. As counselor she did help crewmembers deal w/ ordinary & extraordinary situations, but it seems her most important contributions came through her Betazoid abilities, rather than her professional skills. I also know she did eventually pass the Bridge officers test which made her more useful to the ship.

In the first couple of seasons, I often thought all Troi did was tell the captain the obvious, such as if someone was angry or hiding something. But I was able to tell that already just by the person's tone & body language. Later on, of course, she started doing more than just read emotions & I grew to value her contribution to the Enterprise.

In my experience GMing a Star Trek campaign, I've found that the most useful professions are those involving engineering, starship or technical skills. In most of the scenarios I've played (which were all published ones), there seemed to less use for "social" skills, than say flight control or hacking a computer or combat skills. In any event, a skilled player could roleplay social tests w/o rolling dice.

But other GMs may have different experiences & find that the social skills are very important in their scenarios.

[kridenow]

But other GMs may have different experiences & find that the social skills are very important in their scenarios.

Actually, I have more problems to imagine "interesting things" for engineers and notably security officers.
My games are more about cultural/alien discoveries, with a heavy "Prime Directive" underlining.

In any event, a skilled player could roleplay social tests w/o rolling dice

Well... I have to admit I run most of piloting things without rolling dice

Maybe you can analogize to the real-life Navy & figure out what non-bridge officers can do when in starship combat.

That's a good suggestion but real life military ships are... military ships.
I agree that Navy stories/elements can be good to create an atmosphere in Star Trek but, as you said about analogy, most of the non combat duties of Starfleet have no similar officers on real ships.
A Navy shipboard doctor is vastly different from a Starfleet exobiologist. While the exobiologist can act as a regular doctor under combat situations, the player might feel his skills are useless, unused, turning to a situation as extreme as " saw the total withdrawal from the game of the other two players, who eventually left the table to read sourcebooks even as the ship was almost destroyed".

That's the analogy problem. It can work perfectly well for combat officers but would give little suggestion about non combat ones, be they on the bridge or not.

Pierre