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Thread: Getting past the Borg

  1. #1
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    Getting past the Borg

    Tonight my players will have the thrilling conclusion to their encounter with the Borg. I've rough-sketched out the "hive", have a good encounter chart (with much thanks to many of you), and last night spent a couple of hours adding a bunch of cool Borg markers/counters (and numbering each of them; I now have 38 different, unique markers which will help when keeping track of which one is which).

    The corridors of my Borg "hive" are approximately 2 meters wide. I've clustered the alcoves in groups of 3 or 4, and added appropriate power nodes and other apparatus, too, to help it have the appropriate 'Borg feel'.

    My question has to do with how I imagine the characters will try to get past the Borg once they've stirred things up. In other words, after they blow up the Iconican gateway or do something else that brings the Borg attention onto them, I figure that they'll try to rush past them and up and out (the installation is deep underground).

    The Borg have the Flaw of "Slow" (-2 to Quickness), so moving before them (going first in a turn) will likely rarely be a problem. But if enough drones clog up a passageway, and assuming the PCs can't blast their way out (due to the Borg adapting to their phaser fire), I would think it would be tough to get past them.

    I'm thinking of keeping things simple, where if there are 1 or 2 drones in a passage then any PC can maneuver around them and slip past them. If there are 3 or more clustered together, then it will require the characters going to Hand-to-Hand combat to pass.

    Does that sound reasonable?
    Doug Taylor
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    Currently running The One Ring RPG. I also occasionally run Villains & Vigilantes (our campaign is in year 25) and WEG d6 Star Wars (both games are mostly on hiatus) and an annual game based on The X-Files (using Conspiracy X).

  2. #2
    Thoughts:

    •Everybody has air ducts. Even the Borg.

    •There's probably a lot of power running through those wall conduits. Hitting those instead of the drones might clear the hallway in front of you, if you're willing to jump through a plasma fire to avoid certain assimilation. Pulling those cables out of the wall and using them as improvised weapons is also an option.

    •This might not be a factor in your outpost, but if this was a Cube, the first thing I'd be trying is to think 3-dimensionally. There's huge open spaces inside criss-crossed by giant, rickety, dramatically-dangerous beams and cables. Borg only use grates for floors, usually, which means with a phaser you really can shoot out the floor around you.
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  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by Doug Taylor View Post
    My question has to do with how I imagine the characters will try to get past the Borg once they've stirred things up. In other words, after they blow up the Iconican gateway or do something else that brings the Borg attention onto them, I figure that they'll try to rush past them and up and out (the installation is deep underground).

    The Borg have the Flaw of "Slow" (-2 to Quickness), so moving before them (going first in a turn) will likely rarely be a problem. But if enough drones clog up a passageway, and assuming the PCs can't blast their way out (due to the Borg adapting to their phaser fire), I would think it would be tough to get past them.
    I am playing Star Wars Saga right now, but the rules for that game allow an Acrobatics (Tumble) to try and roll through an enemy occupied space and not provoke an attack. The target number is 15 in the Saga rules. It takes 2 movement to make the action. And finally, you need to be trained in the skill.

    Maybe you could house rule an option for the players to try and tumble, dodge, or whatever through the growing Borg drone horde. This gives them another option besides having to rely on phasers that might become ineffective. And who knows, the Borg may even be able to adapt to this kind of maneuver, as well, and stop the players, but it gives them time.

    Use the Gymnastics skill in Star Trek, and make it either an opposed roll or set the difficulty based on the number of Borg in the corridor, or whatever. Set the prereq's how you want.

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  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by The Tatterdemalion King View Post
    Thoughts:

    •Everybody has air ducts. Even the Borg.

    •There's probably a lot of power running through those wall conduits. Hitting those instead of the drones might clear the hallway in front of you, if you're willing to jump through a plasma fire to avoid certain assimilation. Pulling those cables out of the wall and using them as improvised weapons is also an option.

    •This might not be a factor in your outpost, but if this was a Cube, the first thing I'd be trying is to think 3-dimensionally. There's huge open spaces inside criss-crossed by giant, rickety, dramatically-dangerous beams and cables. Borg only use grates for floors, usually, which means with a phaser you really can shoot out the floor around you.
    Excellent points, King. I was looking at interior shots of Borg ships/vessels today and noting the massive amounts of space in some shots, and how they have grates for floors, too.

    Excellent ideas, and great ways for the crew to improvise, if they think of such things!

    Oh, and I think eventually this facility will end up becoming a Cube (once they've assimilated enough stuff), so it has some similarities.
    Doug Taylor
    Member of Decipher's Hall of Fame
    Currently running The One Ring RPG. I also occasionally run Villains & Vigilantes (our campaign is in year 25) and WEG d6 Star Wars (both games are mostly on hiatus) and an annual game based on The X-Files (using Conspiracy X).

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    Quote Originally Posted by Tomcat View Post
    I am playing Star Wars Saga right now, but the rules for that game allow an Acrobatics (Tumble) to try and roll through an enemy occupied space and not provoke an attack. The target number is 15 in the Saga rules. It takes 2 movement to make the action. And finally, you need to be trained in the skill.

    Maybe you could house rule an option for the players to try and tumble, dodge, or whatever through the growing Borg drone horde. This gives them another option besides having to rely on phasers that might become ineffective. And who knows, the Borg may even be able to adapt to this kind of maneuver, as well, and stop the players, but it gives them time.

    Use the Gymnastics skill in Star Trek, and make it either an opposed roll or set the difficulty based on the number of Borg in the corridor, or whatever. Set the prereq's how you want.
    Another really good idea that I hadn't thought of, and that I totally agree would be another possiblility (if the players think of it). Thanks a bunch, Tomcat!
    Doug Taylor
    Member of Decipher's Hall of Fame
    Currently running The One Ring RPG. I also occasionally run Villains & Vigilantes (our campaign is in year 25) and WEG d6 Star Wars (both games are mostly on hiatus) and an annual game based on The X-Files (using Conspiracy X).

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    Thanks so much for the fine ideas here, people! I love having a few options for the PCs, especially since the last time I went for a bit of a 'zombie feel' (with the Tal Shiar Undead Virus, with the crew) it didn't really work as I'd hoped (phasers clear other crew out too easily).

    This time the Borg will adapt to the phaser fire (eventually), and Borg have specific defenses against two of the more powerful attacks the PCs can muster (the Vulcan Nerve Pinch and Mind Control).
    Last edited by Doug Taylor; 10-28-2011 at 05:11 PM.
    Doug Taylor
    Member of Decipher's Hall of Fame
    Currently running The One Ring RPG. I also occasionally run Villains & Vigilantes (our campaign is in year 25) and WEG d6 Star Wars (both games are mostly on hiatus) and an annual game based on The X-Files (using Conspiracy X).

  7. #7
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    Here's how I've spelled out some of the potential ways out (note that I don't have my books handy, so I'm not sure about the possible specialties on Engineering or Gymnastics).


    Possible ideas for the characters, besides fighting their way out:

    Using air ducts (accessed by making an Engineering: Structural test at TN 10).

    Shooting the power conduits lining the walls (which will do 4d6 damage to all within 2 meters, possibly causing a plasma fire); after this is done some of the cables would work as improvised weapons (contact causing 3d6 damage for 1d6 turns).

    Shooting out the floors (simple grates) and escaping via the crawlspaces underneath.

    Making a Gymnastics roll to get past the drones (TN dependent on how many are present in a passageway)


    Advise if you think the numbers for the power conduits are too much/too little, as I was completely guessing (I have no idea what would be appropriate).
    Doug Taylor
    Member of Decipher's Hall of Fame
    Currently running The One Ring RPG. I also occasionally run Villains & Vigilantes (our campaign is in year 25) and WEG d6 Star Wars (both games are mostly on hiatus) and an annual game based on The X-Files (using Conspiracy X).

  8. #8
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    I was able to use lots of the ideas that I got here (again, thanks!), and we had a great time finishing our fourth episode last Friday night.

    Our devious Cardassian Ops Officer (who our Klingon First Officer is convinced is an Obsidian Order agent!) cleverly packed an anti-sensor belt with him, which the PCs used on a home-made explosive. They found a Romulan disruptor (on a Romulan who clearly took himself out rather than be assimilated) and set it to overload, but also packaged it with the anti-sensor belt so that the Borg couldn't find it.

    The group was just about to escape the facility without conflict when I rolled another "6" (the third one, I think) so the Borg attacked them. This resulted in a few thrilling rounds of combat as they escaped the deadly adversaries. The Ops Officer was the only one who ended up getting hit (with tubules, thus the process of assimilation began), but our Medical Doctor was able to stabilize him and cure him upon return to the ship.

    As the characters tried to get out, they tried a number of the things mentioned. They fired at the ceiling (which worked similar to firing at the walls, but with some debris falling down on Borg as well), and tried to acrobatically go past them, too. Thanks to the suggestions and advice here, I was prepared for their various choices.
    Doug Taylor
    Member of Decipher's Hall of Fame
    Currently running The One Ring RPG. I also occasionally run Villains & Vigilantes (our campaign is in year 25) and WEG d6 Star Wars (both games are mostly on hiatus) and an annual game based on The X-Files (using Conspiracy X).

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by Doug Taylor View Post
    I was able to use lots of the ideas that I got here (again, thanks!), and we had a great time finishing our fourth episode last Friday night.

    Our devious Cardassian Ops Officer (who our Klingon First Officer is convinced is an Obsidian Order agent!) cleverly packed an anti-sensor belt with him, which the PCs used on a home-made explosive. They found a Romulan disruptor (on a Romulan who clearly took himself out rather than be assimilated) and set it to overload, but also packaged it with the anti-sensor belt so that the Borg couldn't find it.

    The group was just about to escape the facility without conflict when I rolled another "6" (the third one, I think) so the Borg attacked them. This resulted in a few thrilling rounds of combat as they escaped the deadly adversaries. The Ops Officer was the only one who ended up getting hit (with tubules, thus the process of assimilation began), but our Medical Doctor was able to stabilize him and cure him upon return to the ship.

    As the characters tried to get out, they tried a number of the things mentioned. They fired at the ceiling (which worked similar to firing at the walls, but with some debris falling down on Borg as well), and tried to acrobatically go past them, too. Thanks to the suggestions and advice here, I was prepared for their various choices.
    A romulan killed himself rather than be assimilated? That sounds familar!!!
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  10. #10
    You should write up the notes for BTFF.
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  11. #11
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    I should (put the notes in the next BTFF), as I've already detailed much of the adventure.

    And yes, Tricky, thanks for the awesome idea. I almost forgot about that one, and inserted it as we played. I had no idea they would end up utilizing the Romulan disruptor found there!

    I'm posting a brief recap under the thread "Star Trek: Neutral Zone".
    Last edited by Doug Taylor; 11-02-2011 at 11:49 AM.
    Doug Taylor
    Member of Decipher's Hall of Fame
    Currently running The One Ring RPG. I also occasionally run Villains & Vigilantes (our campaign is in year 25) and WEG d6 Star Wars (both games are mostly on hiatus) and an annual game based on The X-Files (using Conspiracy X).

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    Remember, going hand-to-hand is only good for the first attack or two - the Borg adapt to HTH attacks quickly. The characters in the shows never used prolonged physical attacks and usually did a blitz manoeuvre as a last resort. After all, these guys are essentially robots in nature.

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by Owen E Oulton View Post
    Remember, going hand-to-hand is only good for the first attack or two - the Borg adapt to HTH attacks quickly. The characters in the shows never used prolonged physical attacks and usually did a blitz manoeuvre as a last resort. After all, these guys are essentially robots in nature.
    I never realized that, as I thought even the Aliens sourcebook spelled out that they adapted only to energy attacks (with those nifty little mini-force fields as shown on the shows).

    In any event, my players didn't do repeated physical attacks. The only one who even attacked them twice (IIRC) was my Vulcan Security Officer, who used his key trait to essentially throw them down (with Vulcan martial arts, in a very Judo-esque use of their own momentum against them).

    I don't recall any of the Borg ever adapting to HTH attacks before. Data lashed out at one a few times, as did Worf and others, and I don't ever remember them adapting to it. Does anyone else?
    Doug Taylor
    Member of Decipher's Hall of Fame
    Currently running The One Ring RPG. I also occasionally run Villains & Vigilantes (our campaign is in year 25) and WEG d6 Star Wars (both games are mostly on hiatus) and an annual game based on The X-Files (using Conspiracy X).

  14. #14
    'Adapt' as in energy shields, or just beating up people? They're generally pretty physically capable, and Crosis (I think) was able to rattle off a list of instantaneously-killing maneuvers. I'd give them a cumulative Defense bonus from predicting how someone is going to attack them; tossing someone across a room seems to be a fine response from the Borg, since the characters can run away after.
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  15. #15
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    I would say going HTH with the Borg is like going HTH with a zombie: Good for short term, one on one or "my weapon's out" moments, but a bad idea as a your main battle tactic, since contact with a zombie or Drone could result in you becoming assimlated. Or eaten, depending on your opponet.
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