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Thread: "Q" and Trelane-type scenarios. . .

  1. #1
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    Question "Q" and Trelane-type scenarios. . .

    Please tell us about your sessions featuring god-like NPCs and what happened.
    "These are the voyages of the starship Bretagne. Its standing orders: To maintain off-world peace; to expand science and test out new innovations; to boldly go where all men have gone before."

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    Haven't had one, but I'm looking forward to hearing other tales....
    Patrick Goodman -- Tilting at Windmills

    "I dare you to do better." -- Captain Christopher Pike

    Beyond the Final Frontier: CODA Star Trek RPG Support

  3. #3
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    Seventh Fleet Spoilers!!!!!- Tico crew stand well clear!

    For our monthly visit to the U.S.S. Ticonderoga on Friday, the crew and I are preparing a light-hearted April 1st mission featuring
     
    Generalissimo Don Jaun Giovanni Gothos y Trelane.

    Having suffered at the hands of the crew of the Enterprise, a slightly wiser Trelane is ready for a rematch- and this time the object of his obsession isn't the macho-military mindset, but the quintessential Latin lovers!

    Trelane has decided he is now the galaxy's greatest lover and romancer, and is determined to pursue and seduce all of the Ticonderoga's lovely lasses- including her female captain.

    This is going to be (over) played, with an extraordinary amount of corn and over-the-top cheesy dialogue.
    Points will be awarded for in-character play and for "imported" movie dialogue.

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    Many years ago, I ran a FASA Movies-era campaign. The Sherriff of Gothos was a scenario published in a short-lived RPG magazine - essentially, Trelane had gotten hold of John Ford westerns.

    So, the crew of the USS Constellation found themselves in Gothos City, about to have a showdown with the Clinton Gang, a worthless bunch from over the border. Trelane had grabbed a Klingon crew to join in the 'fun'...

  5. #5
    Portfolio | Blog Currently Running: Call of Cthulhu, Star Trek GUMSHOE Currently Playing: DramaSystem, Swords & Wizardry

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    Thumbs up

    Quote Originally Posted by The Tatterdemalion King View Post
    Yeah, that was great. I'm liking all these scenarios.
    "These are the voyages of the starship Bretagne. Its standing orders: To maintain off-world peace; to expand science and test out new innovations; to boldly go where all men have gone before."

  7. #7
    Of everyone, Trelane (or Charlie X, or is probably the easiest to use, since he's emotionally immature and has understandable human motives. Q or the Organians or less obviously crazy powerful aliens usually just show up to mess with you 'as a test...' and I'm not sure most players would go for the Kirk ('...What does God want with a starship?') or Picard ('Q go home.') responses which are most classically Trek, since it's pretty much daring a godlike entity to smite them into dust. Most RPG players have a hard time putting aside the survival instinct long enough for that!

    That said, I have some episode ideas for the Olympians and another Traveller I should post...
    Portfolio | Blog Currently Running: Call of Cthulhu, Star Trek GUMSHOE Currently Playing: DramaSystem, Swords & Wizardry

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    Quote Originally Posted by The Tatterdemalion King View Post
    and I'm not sure most players would go for the Kirk ('...What does God want with a starship?') or Picard ('Q go home.') responses which are most classically Trek, since it's pretty much daring a godlike entity to smite them into dust. Most RPG players have a hard time putting aside the survival instinct long enough for that!
    Yes! Very well-put. This is probably the only reason why I'm holding off on running an episode on this subject.
    "These are the voyages of the starship Bretagne. Its standing orders: To maintain off-world peace; to expand science and test out new innovations; to boldly go where all men have gone before."

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by The Tatterdemalion King View Post
    Most RPG players have a hard time putting aside the survival instinct long enough for that!
    I know what you mean -- Way back when I was a player, not a GM, I took part in the local gaming club's D&D sessions. The Dungeonmaster delighted in annihilating us wholesale. I suppose his homebrew dungeon complex kind of gave it away with level titles like "Blood Boulevard" and "The Meat Grinder". Once, it took us 3 hours (and 37 characters) to explore one small room and a 30-foot stretch of corridor.

    Still, getting wiped out by monsters that level 15 characters could barely handle when all he allowed you to have was level 1 novices really was grinding rock salt into the wound...

    In my GM career, I've veered away from the "God Mode" situations as a result.

  10. #10
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    I had used a female Q once as a sort of meta-plot device. We were converting from ICON to CODA, so I had the players being abducted by this Q into a bubble universe, where they were able to change a little bit of their past and live the result in a pocket universe (basicallly, convert their characters to CODA, while being allowed to tweak them here and there, and play a sample game to get the hang of the system).
    Had we kept playing, I intended to have this Q return once or twice, mainly to offer the players some temporary and very tricky boons (like becoming temporarily changelings in the middle of the Dominion War, or being offered 1 free time travel each). But our last game was a few years ago, and I don't think there will be another one.
    "The main difference between Trekkies and Manchester United fans is that Trekkies never trashed a train carriage. So why are the Trekkies the social outcasts?"
    Terry Pratchett

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    Quote Originally Posted by C5 View Post
    But our last game was a few years ago, and I don't think there will be another one.
    I posted a reply to this thread a few minutes ago, and even saw it go up on the board, but now it is gone. Very, very weird. Let's see if this one sticks this time...

    I wanted to say that it's sad to hear your Trek game wont be continuing. It sounds like you had a great idea for how to handle the transition between systems, and any changes that might effect the characters during the conversions. And also an interesting way of injecting your female Q into the plot-lines.

    In my post that disappeared I also made an observation - perhaps a bit of a silly one - but if you have a Q character who turns up ever so often to give advice to the crew do you call those moments of Q-wisdom "Q-Tips" ?

    Sounds like something Jack O'Neill would come up with !

  12. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by Nuclear Fridge View Post
    I know what you mean -- Way back when I was a player, not a GM, I took part in the local gaming club's D&D sessions. The Dungeonmaster delighted in annihilating us wholesale. I suppose his homebrew dungeon complex kind of gave it away with level titles like "Blood Boulevard" and "The Meat Grinder". Once, it took us 3 hours (and 37 characters) to explore one small room and a 30-foot stretch of corridor.

    Still, getting wiped out by monsters that level 15 characters could barely handle when all he allowed you to have was level 1 novices really was grinding rock salt into the wound...

    In my GM career, I've veered away from the "God Mode" situations as a result.
    Our Narrator has a strong dislike for trying to Narrate for novice, or "low level" characters. Ergo we have a rule - no PC starts with fewer than 7 advances. And it works - imagine TNG if Data, Riker, and Geordi are trapped in a small room and some Cardassians are filling it with poison gas. And Neither Data or Geordi can hot-wire the door open. Picard would be looking for a new XO, and Chief Engineer.

    Tamanny (our Narrator) creates very elaborate plot-lines and stories, and likes to see them played through. She doesn't like ending an ep at what (on TV) would be the 20-minute mark, or first commercial break because some novice PC failed his dice-roll.

    We actually played out one episode where a group of novice-characters were sent into a dangerous away-mission. No more experienced characters were allowed on the mission (all the PCs had to have fewer than 3 advances). All the novices got themselves killed, or severely injured and the mission failed.

    And we held a court-martial for the CO NPC who sent the greenies in - because he endangered the lives of those youngsters without sending in at least one experienced leader as part of the team who could have held things together.

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