Working Backwards

[Doug Taylor]

In preparing my upcoming session, I've considered doing something a little backwards in my preparation.

So many of the Professional Abilities in CODA (both Rings and Trek) are so cool, but we don't see them coming up a lot in the middle of adventures.

I'm thinking of finding a couple of really cool ones and then building the story around those, more or less.

Anybody else ever try this approch?

[Fugazi Grrl]

I think our Narrator has come up with scenes based around certain professional abilities to give a character a chance to use them in-game.

Especially those for flight-controllers, since our "star" PC is a flight controller.

And one could argue that since spell-use in LotR comes from a pro ability, allowing a sorcerer to pick which spells they can cast, then any scene or adventure built around spell-casting in Rings could be said to be built around a professional ability.

[Doug Taylor]

Good point about LotR! Sounds like I'm not the only one who has considered this approach.

There's been mainly one character (the team doctor) in our episodes so far who hasn't seen as much focus or attention as the others (especially the combat experts). So I'd like to spotlight him a bit, and figured this would be a great way to do that.

[Tomcat]

I have built a few of my adventures around the skills that would be necessary to achieve the goals. I first create the challenge and the target numbers, and then build the story outward from there.



In Lord of the Rings it was primarily:

Search and Knowledge - to learn where a flower grew, so as to stave off the effects of the plague

Weariness and Survival - the physical challenges it takes to travel long distances in sometimes harsh environments and be able to find rest and food



In Trek, it has always been about the primary skills that the PC's will have to achieve in whatever sequence and number of times.

Sys Ops and Investigate - to discover a Romulan-planted, invasive parasite that had infected a space station chief of security so that they could influence her behavior and glean strategic information about the Federation

Medical and Computer Use - to surgically remove the parasite from the space station Administrator, who had been subtley infected by the COS - or - to figure out an antidote from a mind-influencing pheromone excreted by an alien race (which was another one of our episodes)

Engineering and Repair - this was a fun bit of challenges, the primary one was that the starship's electronics/computer core had been locked up by what was essentially an EMP. The PC's needed to re-boot the ship and so systems slowly came back online as the ship's computer re-initialized the millions of lines of data that controlled everything. All the while, they were being hunted by a pack of three Klingon B'rels. I enjoyed this episode. Anyway, I designed the TN challenges on the re-boot, challenges for having no systems (ie gravity, environment, etc.), and so on, and kept an elapsed time chart that the PC's had to work within (and DOS could lengthen or shorten the time intervals) that showed what was available at any given time.

[Tomcat]

It is funny, but here is an example what happens when you don't build your episodes right... our latest episode, which takes place near a cluster of stars where the PC's find the wrecked USS Merrimac.

The story was about discovery of a new sentient luminous being that swam within the radiated light of the star cluster like whales in an ocean. Like whales, they were passive, intelligent, and graceful but unable to communicate with the PC's - at least not until later.

These beings had found the Merrimac and its crew who were looking at a terrible death due to radiation once the ship's shields were lost. The creatures constructed a physical object/gateway that enveloped the Merrimac and protected it from the radiation. Now, only starvation was the worry - but the crew of the Mac did not know the objects purpose (or that these creatures were even there), which was to allow them to pass through and change their physical state to that of their saviors and become luminous beings themselves (and also to join the collective mind that these creatures shared).

Some of the Mac's crew went willingly, others did not. Those that went through with anger, fear, sadness, etc. were foreign to these creatures and so they instead became beings of darkness due to their dark thoughts and feelings.

Along come the players in their starship and... it fell apart.

Point is with all of this... I put this all together in my mind. We started playing, and I never organized the skills and challenges on how to defeat the dark presences, how to effectively communicate with the beings of light, and so on. The whole episode blew up on me and I had to shelve it until I could re-work the PC's challenges and skill tests. We have yet to go back to Star Trek since then, and so it hangs out there.

[Doug Taylor]

I have built a few of my adventures around the skills that would be necessary to achieve the goals. I first create the challenge and the target numbers, and then build the story outward from there.



In Lord of the Rings it was primarily:

Search and Knowledge - to learn where a flower grew, so as to stave off the effects of the plague

Weariness and Survival - the physical challenges it takes to travel long distances in sometimes harsh environments and be able to find rest and food



In Trek, it has always been about the primary skills that the PC's will have to achieve in whatever sequence and number of times.

Sys Ops and Investigate - to discover a Romulan-planted, invasive parasite that had infected a space station chief of security so that they could influence her behavior and glean strategic information about the Federation

Medical and Computer Use - to surgically remove the parasite from the space station Administrator, who had been subtley infected by the COS - or - to figure out an antidote from a mind-influencing pheromone excreted by an alien race (which was another one of our episodes)

Engineering and Repair - this was a fun bit of challenges, the primary one was that the starship's electronics/computer core had been locked up by what was essentially an EMP. The PC's needed to re-boot the ship and so systems slowly came back online as the ship's computer re-initialized the millions of lines of data that controlled everything. All the while, they were being hunted by a pack of three Klingon B'rels. I enjoyed this episode. Anyway, I designed the TN challenges on the re-boot, challenges for having no systems (ie gravity, environment, etc.), and so on, and kept an elapsed time chart that the PC's had to work within (and DOS could lengthen or shorten the time intervals) that showed what was available at any given time.

Great ideas, Tomcat; I like how you did this! I've got an idea that should be interesting (and fairly new to Trek) - where a virus gets continually worse and worse, turning much of the crews (but not the PCs) into zombies!

[Fugazi Grrl]

Tomcat - your story sounds really good. Your idea sounds so much like the kind of TNG episodes I really love. You wouldn't happen to have an Alien species write-up on those creatures would you ?

Doug - Your episode sounds great too. I would love to see the stats on the Zombie Virus !

[Doug Taylor]

Sounds like a great story concept, Tomcat! Great idea, and I hear you about figuring out the implementation beforhand. I try to prepare eveyrthing beforehand, but sometimes real life and/or procrastination causes me to "wing it" a bit, which can lead to similar problems. The concept sounds really cool, though, so I'd encourage you to detail out some solutions to the dillemas and try to finish it up someday.


Fugazi Grrl, I'm pretty sure none of my players are reading this, so I'll articulate some of my ideas (a lot of it has just been formulated over the last couple of days, so it's not very concete yet):

I'll likely have the PCs go off the ship for some diplomatic meeting or somesuch. Then something will happen onboard their ship so that the rest of the crew will get infected. I'm thinking of having that 'something' be nefarious and Romulan in design. They're the main antagonists for the campaign, and another wrinkle will be hopefully added in when and if the other PCs discover that the crew's Vulcan Medical Doctor (the PC I mentioned who hasn't shined as brightly as the others) in truth has two Dark Secrets (he's been genetically resequenced and is also a Romulan). The character is truly good, but might have a tough time convincing the other characters of his good intentions (the other players know the secret, I'm pretty sure), especially if they suspect Romulan subterfuge.

My hope is to make this virus super tough (he's a really good Doctor) to make it a serious challenge to overcome, and I don't actually plan on having it actually turn the crew into truly undead creatures. Rather, I'm hoping to give them the look and feel of zombies (rotting bodies, desire to eat human flesh, etc.) without them actually being deceased and unable to be saved. Hopefully the players won't let too many zombie preconceptions creep into their characters' decisions.

[Fugazi Grrl]

Remember the DS9 ep where a device was planted in the station replicator system that spread an aphasia virus throughout the station ?

Maybe something like that, Romulan in origin, could be the cause of the Zombie Virus ?

[Doug Taylor]

Remember the DS9 ep where a device was planted in the station replicator system that spread an aphasia virus throughout the station ?

Maybe something like that, Romulan in origin, could be the cause of the Zombie Virus ?

Ooh, I like it! I'm thinking I will make this virus pretty insidious, too. It will probably have a first stage that will be quite curable/easily solved. Then - if the PC doesn't really look deep and thorough - the underlying disease will fester and lurk.

I'm not sure how I'll do that, exactly, so ideas are welcome!

Mwa-ha-ha [insert evil GM laugh]

[Fugazi Grrl]

You could have it where, if the test to diagnose is not a superior success, then Stage 2 goes unnoticed. And if the test fails as a Complete Failure, stage 2 is triggered and comes on more rapidly.

Here's an attempt at game-stats. Feel free to toss or tweak...

Tal Shiar "Zombie Virus" (I'm sure they have another name for it in Romulan). Invented by Romulan geneticists in the mid-2350s, and perfected by testing on Reman subjects, as well as captured Klingons.

The Virus is spread by being ingested through food or drink and can only survive in certain substances (explaining why only certain members of the crew are effected - the lead PCs, by sheer luck, didn't replicate or ingest anything the virus could survive in); and delivered by a device installed by a Tal Shiar agent.

Onset: 2d6+Vitality mod / hours
Potency: +7 TN
Diagnosis: +7 TN
Treatment: +9 TN
Effects:
Stage 1 - the victim becomes "zombie like", and suffer a -5 to all Intellect attribute tests, and all tests with Intellect-based skills. The same penalty is imposed on Perception tests, and skills based on that attribute. At this stage the virus survives in the host by feeding off of oxygen in the blood, causing a cyanotic condition in the host, making them have a very "undead" appearance.
Stage 2 - The virus begins to take its toll, reducing the victim's Wound Levels at a rate of 2d6 per day. At this point if the victim's Wound Levels drop to 0 he will slip into a coma, and die.

That's just off the top of my head and very heavily influenced by DS9's Aphasia Virus, which is detailed in the Narrator's Guide (page 224).

Use any, all, or none as it suits your adventure

[Doug Taylor]

You could have it where, if the test to diagnose is not a superior success, then Stage 2 goes unnoticed. And if the test fails as a Complete Failure, stage 2 is triggered and comes on more rapidly.

Here's an attempt at game-stats. Feel free to toss or tweak...

Tal Shiar "Zombie Virus" (I'm sure they have another name for it in Romulan). Invented by Romulan geneticists in the mid-2350s, and perfected by testing on Reman subjects, as well as captured Klingons.

The Virus is spread by being ingested through food or drink and can only survive in certain substances (explaining why only certain members of the crew are effected - the lead PCs, by sheer luck, didn't replicate or ingest anything the virus could survive in); and delivered by a device installed by a Tal Shiar agent.

Onset: 2d6+Vitality mod / hours
Potency: +7 TN
Diagnosis: +7 TN
Treatment: +9 TN
Effects:
Stage 1 - the victim becomes "zombie like", and suffer a -5 to all Intellect attribute tests, and all tests with Intellect-based skills. The same penalty is imposed on Perception tests, and skills based on that attribute. At this stage the virus survives in the host by feeding off of oxygen in the blood, causing a cyanotic condition in the host, making them have a very "undead" appearance.
Stage 2 - The virus begins to take its toll, reducing the victim's Wound Levels at a rate of 2d6 per day. At this point if the victim's Wound Levels drop to 0 he will slip into a coma, and die.

That's just off the top of my head and very heavily influenced by DS9's Aphasia Virus, which is detailed in the Narrator's Guide (page 224).

Use any, all, or none as it suits your adventure

Awesome stuff, Grrl!

I plan on using most of this, as it very much captures what I was looking for!

[Tomcat]

Tomcat - your story sounds really good. Your idea sounds so much like the kind of TNG episodes I really love. You wouldn't happen to have an Alien species write-up on those creatures would you ?

I have some notes on the alien creatures. I called them the Kaytons, as they resided within the Katiyon Cluster.

Anyway, I have opened my boards to guest perusal if anyone wants to look through our previous episodes, chapters, and campaigns.

There is limited function allowed to guests, save to view things and the registration function is still turned off due to spambots trying to invade our site, but should anyone be interested in joining, just contact me here and I will set you up.

[Fugazi Grrl]

Tomcat - I'd love to see anything you've worked up on those aliens because they sound really, really cool !

Doug - Feel free to use, or tweak anything I posted so that it fits your scenario. And I'm glad to help.