Need Ideas for a campaign

[Chabit Rane]

I need a little help for a campaign. The setting is 200 years after the Nemesis. What I need is ideas for the politics. Maybe even new bad guys too

[toadmage]

What about a start of time war ? The basic theories of time travel are well understood . A minor power is trying to build a Time ship(s) . The PC follow trail of clues to ship yard .

[The Tatterdemalion King]

As the Federation utilizes their own transwarp network to establish outposts across the galaxy, the Founders of the Dominion sequester themselves away from exopolitics, leaving the Vorta and Jem'Hadar to jointly rule the Dominion. The different strains of Borg and the Federation negotiate over who gets what in the Delta and Beta quadrants, deciding the fates of thousands of civilisations in what many regard a callous and cowardly solution to the 'Borg problem.' Civil war rages in the last enclaves of Romulan traditionalist culture, as they try to slow the exodus of their populace into the Federation and the reunified Vulcan and Romulan culture, while traditionalist Vulcans decry the corruption of their values brought by the emotion-ridden Romulan expats. The Bajorans continue their quiet and unstated policy of making sure the Cardassians get the short end of the stick at every opportunity, angering many of their fellow Federation Council members. The Tholians request Federation help rooting out the renegade Romulans and Bajoran imperialists hiding in their annexes.

This would be a good opportunity to introduce other Dominion and Federation-level civilisations across the galaxy, like an AI civilisation or an empire of the neural parasite thingies.
I'd resist having recurring 'evil guys' in the same way that most shows do. Find ideas for cultures which are difficult to deal with, and who may tweak our assumptions or prejudices (is becoming Borg really worse than death? What if people decide to join the Collective willingly?).

[C5]

I expect that in the 26th century, the Federation is able to reach the whole galaxy (either by transwarp, or ships reaching warp 9.999999, or anything else), so races from any quadrant are now available, plus a lot of new ones. It might not be delusional to guess that most of the powers from the Alpha and Beta Quadrant have now been absorbed into the Federation - maybe as protectorates or alliances - and that the Federation, by becoming bigger, has strayed a bit from the Federation we know.
After that, the question is, which tone do you want for your campaign ? Do you want one centered on internal politics ? Exploration ? War (be it covert operations in a cold war or big battles ?
As we can shape pretty much the future we want for the Federation, it could help to know what you sort of setting you want in order to lead the future in that direction.

[Tricky]

I'd lean toward the what the rest of the posters are saying: A bigger FED, with the Klingons as full fledged members, A Romulan Republic sliding into the Klingon's former role as an ally ( a shakey, potentially unstable one though).

As for the Cardassians.....well, perhaps they are a more neutral power now, having been almost wiped out as a result of your power grab tends to make a gov't reassess their values.

Bajor would be an independent ally: they have become very prosperous now that Wormhole traffic is going well. (or, if you do have Transwarp available to SF/FED vessels, they might be in dire straights, as their major trade partners pass them by...)

Depending on how much exploring you want to do, I wouldn't go as far as having the entire galaxy as FED/FED ally territory.

And I totally agree with TK about not having "Bad Guys" per say: I've wondered on this board quite a few time on how the FED would react to a group that was pretty much like them, but didn't share similar beliefs (like no Prime Directive), or suddenly had to face some intrernal issue, like a predjudice (AI, Borged or Gene-enhanced people, or maybe newer members aren't treated as nicely as those from the 'core worlds'!)

[Tobian]

I guess it depends on what cylce you want to set it in. Bottom line it appears the Federation goes through cycles of all out war and peace.

I do think it entirely possible the Klingons would have been almost completely absorbed into the Federation, as with the Bajorans (once the Dominion war issues were settled) The Cardassians have either re-founded their empire OR been subsumed by the Federation. Likewise the Ferengi.

The Romulans, hmm that's a tricky one. I tend to see them under the premise that 1) they are singularly driven in their aim to be the premier species and 2) they have no reason to fear or go to war with the Federation. I can't see them joining up, so yes I kind of see them in the position the Klingons were in: fiercely independent, but at the same time, they have lost their urge to counter the Federation, and works with it.

While definitely there will be heavy interpersonal stories among the expanded Federation and it's member worlds and chafing with known quantities (such as the Founders and perhaps a reborn Borg) but really the problem and challenge with this era will be designing a new threat, and not have it be a cheap imitation of the threats we've seen before.

Yeah internal politics could we ll be the new threat to the Federation, but the downside of that is the heavy and wordy aspect it'll bring to the game, and the setting, and suck some of the fun out of it for those who want to 'shoot the bad guy' hehe.

[Alex]

Following the events of Nemesis, I see the interim Romulan government grovelling to keep the Federation from declaring all out war. With the Senate and Emperor wiped out all at once it created a lot of instability, likely a civil war, but those that gain power will surely want to keep the Federation off their backs while they gain total control within their borders. So flag the Romulans as reticent members of the Federation after 200 years. I can definitely see them as the TNG Klingons (Grand Alliance version) where they grudgingly become members but maintaining their own fleet and handling their internal affairs out of the light where the Federation can't see they are still doing their own thing. The Klingons are fully integrated into the Federation. Bajor has made just about everyone's least wanted list (as in they cause too many problems and can't let their grudge go, so drive away all their potential friends and allies).

The Federation, Dominion, and Borg have each expanded at prodigious rates, with the three encompassing almost the entire galaxy. The Borg have been held at bay by both other superpowers, but not having any need for subtleties such as diplomacy they shut their borders and stop communicating. Who knows what they are attempting inside. Anything approaching Borg space is assimilated, so there is no information at all coming out, like a communications black hole. The Dominion is satisfied with holding their 20% of the galaxy.

During exploration the Federation meets a few new organizations. One a Federation that gives out tech to any friendly who does what they want, artificially advancing primitive worlds to the tech of the 24th century or later! Many Federation worlds are in negotiation with them and there have been rumblings from some of the members of leaving the UFP to join this new Federation where they don't have all the restrictions. This presents a mystery (what is the new Fed's secret motive?) and a collection of diplomatic problems for the players. Another world that is met is an entirely AI society. Not androids, but conciousness in the Net without any physical form. This is so alien to the players that it could present lots of fun. The machines of this world can be reassigned to any AI at any time, so when something happens with a machine the players can't easily figure out who wanted it to happen. The final major power to be met is also like the Federation, except that everyone in the systems that are members are genetically engineered to perfection. They surpass the players in every aspect, but they are benign and benevolent. This presents problems because it is flat out forbidden and considered vile to tamper with genetics in the UFP. No reason they can't be friends, but good roleplaying should present a lot of difficult hurdles to friendship.

And if you want conflict, the Kelvin invasion fleet has finally arrived from the Andromeda galaxy (a TOS reference), hundreds of years ahead of schedule.

[Tobian]

Only 2 problems with that Alex. I don't think either the Federation nor the Dominion could actually maintain a 20% hold on the WHOLE galaxy. the actual space the Federation encompases might be physically large, but it's not homogenous, held space. Likewise if the Borg held more than a few percent of the actual galaxy, mostly everyone would be doomed

[Tricky]

I wonder about the future of the Dominion: the Founders received almost slavish devotion and worship from their Vorta and Jem'Hadar. Then, they all got sick, and then beaten, by lowly solids! And a disgraced Founder (Odo), who had betrayed his own people many times before, was the one who saved them. Most of the Founders were on their planet, healing and recovering from the loss.

So, what of their holdings. I wonder if there might have been a collapse of the Dominion, especially as it seems both of their main servent races were becoming very independent (Vorta that put themselves ahead of the Domion, and Jem'Hadar that didn't want to be slaves anymore), and you have to assume that Odo's actions might have changed the Founder's perceptions about solid life a little. So maybe the Domion isn't so 'evil' anymore. Not as 'shiny happy' as the FED, but maybe closer to it.

Or, maybe it's worse: a Balkanized Gamma Quadrant, with sectors controlled by Founders, Free Jem'Hadar, Vorta Cabals, and little republics/federations formed by races that threw off the chains of changeling oppression!

Imagine a campaign trying to fix all that! (ok, that would by like Iraq:The Next Generation, but it could be cool. maybe)

[Evan van Eyk]

You might also try something totally different. Some kind of regression, technologically, etc. Maybe after the Dominion War the major powers have begun to wall themselves in which resulted in slow down of exploration and the development of new technology. Maybe some technology was even lost, production facilities, etc.
The character might be the first ship to began exploration again. Reconing the situation of Cardassia, Romulus, Quo'nos etc. might reveal some interesting changes in their culture. Maybe one of them has extinguished large portions of their empire during a civil war?

[JALU3]

I hate to say it, but being a little darker, all major powers whether empires or republics, or what have you . . . wax and wane overtime . . . the go through periods of great strength and obsurity . . . here on earth the cycles, the time between peaks of the major power at the time (not necessarily the same power), appear to be decreasing slowly. However, how does one work this on a galactic scale.
I mean the romans no longer control the majority of the med and western europe; the mongals don't control the vast stretches of asia; the british down control 1/4 of the landmass of the world; etc. etc.
So what of the federation and other major powers . . . when do they reach their peak . . . what causes their downfall . . . when does the balance between the ideals of the "paradise" fail to cull the implosion pressures of internal + external forces. What of the aftermath? What of other major powers that experiance the same type of events . . . how do they impact each other.
What of new technologies, making it easier to travel and the galaxy appear to be smaller. The increase speed of technology and culture spread, and the negatives that that bring with it (where as in the past a deadly virus may take decades to move across a sector, it could now move across a quadrant in a matter of days before it becomes active). And what about those quirky accidents that no one expected that mess up the political works of a region for decades if not hundreds of years to come. Just because communication is instantanious doesn't mean that what was ment to be said will be understood that way.
What of the meglomaniacs with that much technology at their disposal.
What of physical galactic forces that tend to mess up a large neighberhood (like black holes, supernovas, and all those other unknown things)?
What of exogalactic beings and travel? How does that effect the milky way galaxy?

So many things . . . but depends on your take of the future . . . I mean the world of the modern US would take someone from the end of the colonial era by suprise.

Wait wait . . . you mean the second largest population center . . . and the fastest growing population centers are built on deserts? what are you nuts?!?

[Tricky]

I know this is totally, totally against Rodenberry's vision of Humanity of the future, but I've always wondered about what the opinion of 'John Q. Public; Federation Citizen, Earth Native' is about the way the FED is heading? (all of this assumes that FED, being a good and fluffy Gov't, tells it's Citizens everything)

I mean, look at recent (NG-Nemisis) FED life.
New Flagship of FED Launched: Humanity judged by near-omnipotent beings, almost denied spaceflight. (later, almost denied existance, but only Picard knows that)

Flagship offends same being, ends up encountering the Borg, who have made several incurrsions into FED territory to assimilate Earth, causing massive casulities.

Alien parasites almost take over FED, defeated by ENT.

After repeated visits to the Gamma Quadrant, Dominion declares war on Fed. Earth attacked, almost taken over dy failed Coup, and Klingons become enemies again for a time.

I know that that is not a complete list, but i think it would be enough to foster an isolationist movement on Earth.

[The Tatterdemalion King]

I know this is totally, totally against Rodenberry's vision of Humanity of the future, but I've always wondered about what the opinion of 'John Q. Public; Federation Citizen, Earth Native' is about the way the FED is heading? (all of this assumes that FED, being a good and fluffy Gov't, tells it's Citizens everything)

Or that they have a media industry that isn't a bunch of sycophantic, pandering pussies.

I know that that is not a complete list, but i think it would be enough to foster an isolationist movement on Earth.

These kind of movements are probably fairly common, and likely have been since the Federation was formed. The obvious downsides to such a policy–like, what happens when the Borg come knocking and we don't have Starfleet–seem to be convincing the majority of the population that it's not a wise course of action.

Besides, if there wasn't a Starfleet, some drunk nutter would just build a warp ship by themselves and get humanity into all sorts of trouble.

We know that anti-technologists exist in the UFP. Picard's family, for instance, and even on Earth they're allowed to operate with what appeared to be little more than we have right now. But instituting a definitively isolationist policy, or widespread technological restrictions would likely be seen as infringing on people's right to explore and expand their knowledge of the wider world, a pursuit which appears to be one of the biggest drives of Human society in the 23rd and 24th century. Scientists are the rock stars of Star Trek. Starfleet is where the Erik the Reds and the Zheng Hes and the Yeagers and the Gagarins go; it's a society driven by the best and the brightest forging ahead to new horizons, and sees itself as being that. Suddenly deciding to be an ostrich is totally out of character.

[JALU3]

And what of all those who are not the best and brightest? Where do they fit in the world. Sure, they have all this technology to provide for their basic needs (and I wonder how, they don't have a large obesity population) . . . but what of them? Who strives to be a postal carrier, when you have Exobots to do it, and instant messaging via their form of the internet? Who strives to be a humanoid waste technician and deal with 24th century plumbing? Who strives to be a used terrestrial transport salesperson? Who strives to do all those menial jobs which could surely be automated?

Imagine, with the access to technology, what those unfulfilled masses would do. How do you give them a driving sense of accomplishment or fullfillment?

Do they persue other goals such as family, entertainment, or other smaller, less galactic forming goals?

Not everyone can be king of the hill . . .

Sorry off topic . . . But boomhauer in the 24th century . . . how would that be like . . . or worse Gribble!

[The Tatterdemalion King]

And what of all those who are not the best and brightest? Where do they fit in the world. Sure, they have all this technology to provide for their basic needs (and I wonder how, they don't have a large obesity population)

Because they don't have cars? Because they're not sitting on their asses all day in some lame-ass corporate busywork job and going home to TV dinners and doughnuts?

. . . but what of them? Who strives to be a postal carrier, when you have Exobots to do it, and instant messaging via their form of the internet?

Nobody? Who needs mailmen?

Who strives to be a humanoid waste technician and deal with 24th century plumbing?

Rom?

Who strives to be a used terrestrial transport salesperson?

Tellarites? Would you buy a used subway, anyway?

Who strives to do all those menial jobs which could surely be automated?

Who strives to empower the menial worker? Who tries to preserve the class hierarchy which divides those who make decisions and those who enact them–the division between interior designer and janitor?

Imagine, with the access to technology, what those unfulfilled masses would do. How do you give them a driving sense of accomplishment or fullfillment? Do they persue other goals such as family, entertainment, or other smaller, less galactic forming goals?

Boomhauer never seemed particularly... unfulfilled.

Gribble serves in animal control–if he doesn't like it, I'm sure he could talk to someone from the Bureau of Vocations about what he wants to do. Probably go to Rigel VII and learn telepathy from the evil centipedes or whatever.

Trek presents a world in which, essentially, social structures have gotten the hell out of the way of preserving social institutions for stability's sake, or abandoned quick fixes and blame, and have instead focused on actively helping the basic quality of life. It assumes that human beings, freed from fights against oppression and suffering, are capable of finding fulfilment themselves, naturally, and that a healthy society is made of mutual interactions of the free. Take Crusher–when he finally says "Starfleet isn't fulfilling to me, I want something else," everyone supported him. Likewise with Jake.