Star Trek: Divergence, TOS Series Idea

[Doug Burke]

Ever since they started airing the Remastered Star Trek, I've been itching to run an Original Series era Trek game, but couldn't find the right hook to make it interesting. Until yesterday...

I was going through some old game notes and came across an adventure I ran back in 1999 or so called "Starship on the Edge of Forever". It involved an alternate timeline where Kirk, Spock and the rest of the landing party in "City on the Edge of Forever" werte killed before they could beam back up to the Enterprise. This timeline had some fairly obvious differences from the mainstream timeline, including the fact that one of the PCs had never been born. Obviously, they fixed it and moved on.

A couple years after that (2000 or 2001), I re-introduced the timeline and brought a PC over from it (do a search on "Pentis" on these boards and you'll get at least part of the story).

And now, I plan to use it again. But this time, I'm going have the Players (who are, as yet, unaware of my plan) playing as the crew of the the Constitution-class USS Yorktown when it is announced that the above-mentioned landing party was killed by a mysterious explosion.

From that point on, they will be replaying selected episodes of the Original Series, forging the altered timeline first encountered by my players almost a decade ago (and by their PCs over 100 years in the future)...

[The Tatterdemalion King]

Oo cool.

[Hugh Casey]

THIS is a GREAT idea! I wish I was in YOUR game!

But how do you keep the players from just using the same solutions that they did on the show? "Oh, that's the Doomsday Machine! We'll just drive a starship down it's gullet and blow it up!"

[Doug Burke]

I'm lucky that my players are really good at controlling their Player vs. Character Knowledge. Plus, they'd have to come up with a good in-character reason to find those solutions (or make some good rolls).

Also, I'm blessed with having a gorup that likes Trek, but doesn't have the almost-encycolpedic knowledge of it I do...

And, to be fair, there are a few episodes I may let other ships handle off-screen, just because the Enteprise was freakin' everywhere in TOS...

[The Tatterdemalion King]

So which episodes are you looking at re-enacting?

[PGoodman13]

And, to be fair, there are a few episodes I may let other ships handle off-screen, just because the Enterprise was freakin' everywhere in TOS...

Yeah, someone else should definitely do "Spock's Brain" and "The Enterprise Incident." God knows the Enterprise shouldn't have....

[The Tatterdemalion King]

What would happen if the Eymorgs intercepted a Klingon vessel? Presumably they only send the probes in case of imminent need for braaaaaaaaaains.

[Doug Burke]

So which episodes are you looking at re-enacting?

It might be easier to say which ones I won't be doing. The campaign will technically begin during "Errand of Mercy," with the Yorktown taking part in the aborted hostilities of the Orgainian Conflict, then having Starfleet update the captain on the loss of the majority of the Enterprise command crew's deaths and inform him (or her) that, as a result, the Yorktown will be taking over the Enterprise's scheduled mission to Deneva.

Unused episodes (at current count, this may change) are:
Friday's Child (USS Exeter handles it, badly, the Klingons get the mining rights and Capt. Tracey dies in the process)
Amok Time (Spock-centered)
The Doomsday Machine (Capt. Morrow of the Constellation is the crazy one and Commodore Decker of the Enterprise still dies because someone of Scotty's skill with the transporter wasn't there to beam him out in time)
The Changeling (USS Potemkin destroys unknown probve responsible for the destruction of the malurian system)
The Trouble With Tribbles (Garin still poisoned, but not revealed thansk to the heightened security instituted by Capt. Bennet of the Enterprise)
Gamesters of Triskelion (No real, reason, just didn't really care for the episode)
The Immunity Syndrome (Leave this one to the Enterprise, who loses the pilot, Ens. Chekov) in the amoeba)
The Omega Glory (Can't happen because Capt. tracey died in "Friday's Child")
Assignment: Earth (Left with the Enterprise)
The Enterprise Incident (USS Hood fails this mission rather spectacularly, leading to the hurriedly drafted Treaty of Algeron to ban Starfleet cloaking technology)
Spock's Brain (Spock-centered)
The Tholian Web (USS Enterprise lost while looking for the Defiant)
The Mark of Gideon (Kirk-centered)

Like I said, though, there may be more cut...

[The Tatterdemalion King]

Which ones are you looking forward to? : P

EDIT: And are you using any of the Yorktown characters from the TOS book?

[Doug Burke]

Which ones are you looking forward to? : P

Top 5? (In no particular order...)

1. Who Mourns For Adonais?
2. The Deadly Years
3. A Private Little War
4. Day of the Dove
5. The Ultimate Computer

And are you using any of the Yorktown characters from the TOS book?

hadn't planned to, but just might now that you mention it. Of course, the differtence between the Axanar and LUG's Axanari prevent the use of any of them, but the others might be good...

[The Tatterdemalion King]

Top 5? (In no particular order...)

hadn't planned to, but just might now that you mention it. Of course, the differtence between the Axanar and LUG's Axanari prevent the use of any of them, but the others might be good...

The Axanari in the CODA Aliens book kept the LUG backround and just used the Ent appearance. You could make a new backround for the purple aliens if you want.

[The Tatterdemalion King]

Who Mourns For Adonais?

Are you setting up a similar Palmas character? If there's a non-Vulcan alien in the group, they might recognize Apollo as another, alien equivalent to the god as well.

The Deadly Years

Do you have players who photoshop their own character portraits? If so, making aged versions of them might be kinda cool.

A Private Little War

Will one of the crew have a similar connection to the planet as Kirk, or are they going in unfamiliar with the culture?

Day of the Dove

Rar swordfighting! Leaving the Klingon ship somewhat intact but without long-range weapons might be cool–swordfighting boarding parties on shuttles! Or maybe there's another angrier Starfleet ship involved as well.

The Ultimate Computer

Interesting choice. Is it for the historicalness, or is there another reason you like it?

[Doug Burke]

Who Mourns For Adonais?

Are you setting up a similar Palmas character? If there's a non-Vulcan alien in the group, they might recognize Apollo as another, alien equivalent to the god as well.

Honestrly, haven't decided yet. Most likely, yes...

The Deadly Years

Do you have players who photoshop their own character portraits? If so, making aged versions of them might be kinda cool.

Nope, I don't. Wish I did...

A Private Little War

Will one of the crew have a similar connection to the planet as Kirk, or are they going in unfamiliar with the culture?

Again, haven't decided. most likely will have one of the crew familiar with it, just to help the story along.

Day of the Dove

Rar swordfighting! Leaving the Klingon ship somewhat intact but without long-range weapons might be cool–swordfighting boarding parties on shuttles! Or maybe there's another angrier Starfleet ship involved as well.

I'm going to play this one pretty much as-is. Although i'm planning on Kan g being an established rival/enemy for the Yorktown's captain, so that should make it more interesting...

The Ultimate Computer

Interesting choice. Is it for the historicalness, or is there another reason you like it?

I just like it, really. It'd be interesting to see how it plays out for the PCs.

[Alex]

I'm really curious how this will play out. Given that these events took place in the TV show, how faithful will you be to the event? What if one of the players knows the TV solution? Are you prepared for the inevitable players-never-chose-the-GM-favored-path? How do you prepare alternate events for a TV episode when the players don't follow the show.

I've had interest in trying a TV episode reworked, but I fear the players' out of character knowledge and I don't know the best way to cover alternate solutions players try. Just knowing the TV episode, it guides my thinking too strongly.

[The Tatterdemalion King]

Any neeeews?