Series seeds

[Sundowner]

For anyone who's interested, i've compiled a PDF of all the posts here & on the Adventure Seeds thread.

http://forum.trek-rpg.net/showthread...659#post151659

[plassis]

Era: Post-VOY
Type: Adventure, mystery and ocasional diplomacy
Setting: Small ship. Special Forces HQ (from time to time) and alien planets, bases and ships for the missions

I really liked the idea presented in the Elite Force game. It gives me the chance to give a low rank crew their own ship while keeping them subordinate to a superior officer that can put them back no track easily.

The cast should comprise a medical officer, a command officer, an ops and a tactical officer, as well as a pilot/helm.

The episodes would be a mix of ST, SWAT and other action settings, with the opportunity of adding as much or as little combat and diplomacy as the players want. I especially like the chance to throw in tons of mystery plots, with a lot of conspiracy.

I'll elaborate on it soon and would apreciate if you have any ideas to add to it.



Live long and prosper.

[Sho-sa Kurita]

Title: Will of the Prophets
Era: Bajoran Occupation
Type: Military, Espionage

Not terribly original, but the PCs would play Bajorans under Cardie occupation. They could be resistance fighters, apparent collaborators, even sympathetic Cardassians. It would be a dark series, but could have a lot of great drama, and even some big guest-star possibilities depending on exact time-frame and group inclination.

[Loki]

Working Title: The First Years
Era: Beginning in the early stages of the Dominion War
Type: Exploration, Military, Survival, Humanitarian

A Series focusing on the adventures of a group of SF Cadets (Final Year) who are drawn into the Dominion War during its early Stages.

So far I just made up some Ideas for the first season, which will certainly require some more refurbishing:

The PC Group consists of some SF Cadets (Final Year) along with their Tutor (Ensign or Lt. jg.). At the beginning of the series they are travelling in a Danube Class Runabout, enroute to a long term field assignment onboard the USS T'Pol, an aging Oberth-Class Science Vessel. They are to meet the T'Pol at a remote supply outpost (a civilian deuterium refiney or something like that somewhere between Betazed and the Cardassian DMZ).
Upon arriving there, they learn that the T'Pol has not yet arrived, and shortly thereafter receive a distress call from it. Travelling there (perhaps accompanied by a small civil freighter who opted to help) they find the wreckage of the T'Pol. destroyed by the advancing Dominion Troops. The next Starfleet Capship is several days away and the PCs return to the supply post to warn the civilians and help in defending the station until they are finally evacuated.
While SF struggles to put up a defense perimeter against the advancing dominin fleet, the PCs are caught between the lines on a small hodgepodge fleet of SF and civilian ships trying to reach a save haven within the UFP. Along their way, they have to help in the evacuation of colonies, come to aid ships in distress etc.

In the end of season one, the fleet eventually reaches safe territories, the cadets receive field promotions to full SF Officers and are assigned to a small ship, ready for more action as season two takes them into the now ravaging war...

Overall the series would not have that full blown military campaign feeling, as SF would not sent freshmen directly to the front lines (at least not in the early stages of the war), with episodes focusing on the scientifical/medical/humanitarian aspects of the war: M*A*S*H duty, salvaging and analyzing of enemy equipment, etc.
Perhaps the later seasons would lead the SCs closer to the front line, maybe even dropping them into a "guerilla war season" at some time, as their ship crashes on a dominion occupied planet

[IceGiant]

Star Trek: Farthest Star

Era: Early TOS, late 2240’s
Type: Exploration, First Contact, Conflict

A series based along the lines of PT Boats/Traveller Type S scout fleet.

Based out of a K type station on the edge of federation space, about a dozen “Mission” class scout ships explore large areas of space outside the federation. With crews of 9 and with deck plans available from Owen’s site, it would have a very personal type style. The ships comes with 2 shuttles giving the pc’s access to alternate transportation when the ship invariable runs into a phenomenon that renders the transporter non-operational. The PC’s would be in command of one of the mission class ships and do the usual type of Star Trek Adventures. The station would be the home port and R&R facility. Missions could last up too a year, with a bit of time off at the end of each “tour”.
Commanding officer would be a lieutenant, while the other pc’s being officers and the rest of the crew enlisted. I’m aiming for a low-powered campaign, with characters building names for themselves.

[black campbellq]

STAR TREK: NEW ERA
Era: 25th C.
Style: Politics and espionage

The campaign would revolve around a rapidly changing Federation. Daystrom Institutes have cracked the android problem, and with the Data v. Starfleet decision, they have the same rights as normal sentients. The androids have been 'breeding', creating new androids that learn much like humans -- through mimesis and directed self-exploration -- or through the merging of 'mind-states', the memories and personalities of their 'parent' androids. They have become indispensible to Starfleet and increasingly do the 'heavy lifting'. Sentient starships are increasingly the norm and make the fleet more adaptive and powerful. These machine lifeforms evolve at the speed of life; new models come out in increasingly fast waves, each smarter and more life-like. Worries over biological obsolescence are ont he rise.

The Federation is expanding rapidly, at the same time. The ROmulans and Cardassians are either allies, or in the process of absorption. The Klingon Empire is fractured between the progressives, who have stuck to the alliance with the Federation, and the conservatives, who have sided with the increasingly powerful Ferengi-Orion Trade Confederation -- a free trade zone with increasingly potent technology, savvy advertisement, and a cleaned up image (the Ferengi not as drooling perverts, but as canny businessmen with some scruples...unless the profit margin is right.)

The Federation has expanded over much of the Alpha and Beta Quadrant and is constantly encountering new races,but the real challenges are in keeping the UFP together...the leisure class of the Federation, always large, is now beginning to collapse under its own ennui. Colonies are now being formed to escape the crush of bureaucracy and sloth, and are more apt to ally with the Ferengi and Orions. The core worlds are paradise, with long life and comfort the norm, but a strange trend -- suicide and a rise in extreme (read suicidal) sports is on the rise. People are literally bored to death.

Starfleet is the elite, as in all the shows. These are the people with the smarts or connections to get into the organization that more and more runs things.

Run with it...

[Eponymous]

STAR TREK: NEW ERA
Daystrom Institutes have cracked the android problem,
<snip>
The Federation is expanding rapidly, at the same time.<snip> The ROmulans and Cardassians are either allies, or in the process of absorption. The Klingon Empire is fractured between the progressives, who have stuck to the alliance with the Federation, and the conservatives, who have sided with the increasingly powerful Ferengi-Orion Trade Confederation -- a free trade zone with increasingly potent technology, savvy advertisement, and a cleaned up image (the Ferengi not as drooling perverts, but as canny businessmen with some scruples...unless the profit margin is right.)

<snip> The core worlds are paradise, with long life and comfort the norm, but a strange trend -- suicide and a rise in extreme (read suicidal) sports is on the rise. People are literally bored to death.

Starfleet is the elite, as in all the shows. These are the people with the smarts or connections to get into the organization that more and more runs things.

Run with it...

Love it, add that you can digitise human memory and you have Richard Morgan’s Altered Carbon meets ST, (something I thought would never happen ) Very different tone then reg Trek up some times this type of thing is exactly what is needed. You don’t want to retread the same old ideas over and over all the time. You get points for originality.

[The Tatterdemalion King]

This would be a great campaign springboard -- "White Knight" Starfleet attempts to clean up and take down "Black Ops" Section 31 Starfleet intelligence.

Of course, the 'white knights' are really tools in an inter-factional war within section 31 after the conclusion of the dominion war. Bonus points if there's a Prisoner-planet somewhere in it (Talos IV?) and a mind-ripping into an insane Vulcan's psychic dreamworld.

You could spin this into a whole Illuminated Trek campaign–the Borg and the Federation competing creations of the Old Ones (or their minions), or the Guardian of Forever giving Section 31 access to anytime, anywhere, to the Federation's benefit. Was Flint the only immortal human? What don't the Q know? What don't the Q want to know? Were Sargon's people and Exo III's Old Ones the same people? Did the demons of air and darkness really die... or did they open a gateway to somewhere else? Where is Tau Alpha III, anyway?

[Sundowner]

Series Seed Ideas…

Type: Political/Espionage/Telepathic
Era: TNG+
Location: Anywhere, but would work best if the players are reasonably mobile.

Based on an idea I had a long time ago after reading the ST Novel ‘The Patrian Transgression’ by Simon Hawke.

Spoiler for the novel…
The basic premise for the novel is Kirk and the TOS crew visit Patria, the ruling party has developed a means by which they can artificially alter the brains of certain police officers to give them fairly potent telepathy.
These police officer for the core of a thought police, (much, much worse than B5 PSI corps) they have no restrictions, and can arrest/kill based on telepathic evidence alone… ‘Thinking’ about a crime can get you killed.

Kirk & his TOS mob figure out with their usual panache what’s happening, plus the side effects, and dutifully go about altering the social order of a whole planet… Again…

Anyway… Moving on… Many years later, after a suitable amount of research has been done, someone (Just who is up to you and your plot, Section 31 is getting to be a little overused I think, they’re bad, but they’re not responsible for ‘all’ the ills of the Federation, for my plot I was going to be using a branch the Federation government itself, (something akin to Homeland Security)) someone has devised a means by which one or two species in the Federation not normally gifted with Telepathic powers can be enhanced using a similar method.

Now the Patrian method had side effects after 5 or 10 years, whether this one does is up to the GM, but the Patrian version was usually fatal unless the procedure was reversed immediately after symptoms started manifesting themselves (Blinding headaches/blackouts/temporary paralysis etc)

I was looking at modifying Humans, Trills (Host, not symbiont) and Bajorans…

This agency who have figured this out then start modifying agents to create a force of officers who are loyal, and shall we say possessed with a flexible morality.

From here is where the PC’s get involved.

My plan was to have then based on a ship or base, and for one of these agents to be assigned there. Said agent will go about their duties, but will obviously be looking for something, or just keeping an eye on key staff if this is an important ship/facility…

For instance... If this snoop was to be assigned to DS9, then they would hopefully be put in a position where they could stay close to Kira/Vaughn/Ezri/Bashir/Ro etc However, Nog, as senior staff would be a concern to them (Ferengi being hard for most Telepaths to read) and this is where your PC’s would hopefully start noticing things, somewhere there will be someone the snoop cannot read, so more conventional; snooping means will be needed and hopefully someone will pick up on it… ‘Why bug this guy’s quarters’

For a while your PC’s may wonder why pick on this guy, is s/he up to something, but after a while they might actually find out who’s doing it, and hopefully how… (This will depend on how many hints you drop, this is intended to take time during the course of other plots/investigations etc)

What happens next is up to the PC’s… Who do they tell… What do they do… How do they defend themselves against a P15 who can read them without breaking a sweat.

An interesting twist I plan to introduce one day is to let them find out ‘how’ it’s done, if they need to defend themselves (2 Humans, a Bajoran, a Trill and a Klingon) would some of them contemplate undergoing the procedure to ‘level’ the playing field.

This is intended (for me anyway) to be a long term ‘A’ plot arc, something that will basically take up one or two sessions in ten, until crunch time and then it settles down to be the main plot. Something that will be there in the background worrying them for a while.

For an added twist though, what if this new telepath group are simply trying to chase down someone like Section 31… Okay, they’re not following established procedures, and they’re breaking a ‘ton’ of rules, but do the ends justify the means?

If the players are doing the investigation, what do they decide?

Add a dollop of confusion and chaos, stir, serve & have fun.

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Type: Political
Era: Post DS9 would be most suitable I feel.
Location: Starship or Starbase

After the Dominion war certain elements within the Federation have decided that a somewhat more ‘Political’ approach to certain situations would be appreciated by many on the Federation Council. To this end a new branch of the council has been created. The Political office.

These officers travel around from ship to ship, base to base and just sit there, watching and listening, then they start talking after they’ve quietly become part of the background.

Their mandate, to make sure the current political situation in the Federation and the wishes of the Council are represented properly.

This is the sort of character that can be insinuated into just about any aspect of ship board life, questioning command decisions, annoying staff, and waving their orders like a shield when people complain, plus throwing weight around like the whole government is right behind them and will do as they wish.

Or, on the flip side, this could be someone who could be an invaluable asset, someone who could help out when political help is needed, someone who doesn’t interfere much, but makes very polite suggestions as to alternatives.

Either way it could add a political aspect to almost any situation when the character sidles up and says ‘Are you ‘really’ sure that what you want to do?’

Something with long running fun possibilities.

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Type: Any
Era: Any
Location: Starship

And another… Something for a little light hearted fun… Possibly

For some obscure reason someone in the upper echelons of the Fleet have granted the FNS (Federation News Service) permission to allow a reporter free access to a starship.

For anything but the most sensitive of subjects s/he is to be allowed to watch/ask questions/take pictures etc, generally, to make a nusinace of themselves.

The idea is for them to show the Federation what life is really like on a starship, what do these ‘brave’ people actually do, who are they. The reporter would be putting together a (Weekly/Monthly) package which would go out to the Federation at large (via a censor office of course, but I would suggest minimal censorship) and then everyone gets to see themselves on the FNS reports, special reports, hourly segments whatever.

I think you get the idea

[marty4286]

"Task Force Campaign"
Type: Any
Era: Any
Location: Any

This campaign can be anything from exploration in the TOS era to the Dominion war. The premise is that instead of players controlling single characters on a single ship, they each control all the crew of different ships. All of the PC ships are then attached to each other in a task force or fleet.

The players would generate the commanders of their ships, and any others that they would like to be their "primary" characters. The rest of the crews will be generic, but be directly controlled by the player that commands the ship.

The characters that are used could be permanently named and noted down somewhere for future use (all characters player controlled should advance after each session, like regular PCs).

Examples:

TNG-era Beta Quadrant Exploration Squadron (7-year mission, circular route beyond Klingon space)
- One big explorer-type ship as the flagship -- you might have this ship GM-run at first. The ship is commanded by a Captain, and from here a GM-controlled Admiral runs the group.
- Two or more medium-large ships that can operate independently of the main group. Commanded by senior Commanders and junior Captains.
- Two or more medium-small ships that can operate independently of the main group for a short time (measured in few months). Commanded by senior Lieutenant Commanders and junior Commanders.
- Many small ships that can't operate independently from the group for more than a week or so. Commanded by senior Lieutenants and junior Lieutenant Commanders.
- One or more ships that are for group support -- they have the best industrial technology to replicate supplies for the rest of the group.


DS9-era Task Force (single-sector front-line theater)
- Four or more ships of more or less the same type and size, with one as the lead ship.
- One or more tenders -- for frontline resupply and repair.

[LUGTrekGM]

Star Trek: Infinity
Type: Exploration
Era: Year 4000+
Location: Starship GSS Milky Way (NCC-12306)
Ship Class: Magellan Class Battlecruiser Refit

Series Description:
In the far future, The Federation as we know it from the various Television series is a distant memory. Stable Speeds near warp 10 have been achieved, allowing travel to other galaxies. The GSS Milky Way, one of the 4 ships of the Magellan Intragalactic Class is on a bold mission of exploration, and first contact. Meetings with alien intelligences on the level of the Q, races that can shape their own systems, construct ringworlds, dyson spheres, and harness the power of black holes are met, including many humanoid / other-oid races that were seeded among the Universe millions of years ago, and the decadent descendants of those races. Some are engaged in wars, most are peaceful, some are so far advanced as to be beyond comprehension, with the ability to alter space and time at will, making the Universe their own private holodeck, or changing, or creating parallels at will. The upshot of this is that the crew realizes despite all the advances of the past our race is the new kid on the block, and is still in its galactic infancy.

Note: I'm not sure if this could be played, because it might be too much change or lots of Phillip K. Dick style philosophy per session, but I've often thought it would be fun to make a try of it. The challenge would be to keep it from being too fast and loose with the setting itself, but I could see whole sectors changing in the blink of an eye, to fit the whims of godlike intelligences.

Qeustions: How to keep the characters from feeling powerless? No idea.

Perhaps they are given these powers, that ability to create, at a whim, anything they wish, through mere thought. Realizing, they had this power all along, in limited form, as imagination. It might work with a setup where every player is also a referee.

It asks the question, what does a Godlike being do with spare time.

This kind of concept is important to me, but I am sure I am not expressing it adequately, and would appreciate feedback.

One day, in the far future, there will be people with this kind of technology, I am certain. What will they do with it?

Perhaps this won't work for Trek, but I really enjoy sci-fi novels with this kind of setup.

[jayphailey2006]

Name: Star Trek -- the Present
Era: 2001 CE
Type: Odd
Location: This campaign is set RIGHT NOW. The characters are the crew of an Orion pirate/merchant ship, who have to make their way from Rigel to Antares and back. Along the way, they get to visit locations like Aldebaran, Altair, maybe one or another Andorian colony, Vulcan, and, who knows, perhaps an unsuspecting Earth. Enemies would include the Vegan Tyranny, and a lot of other Orions. Player races would include Orions, Rigellians, Kaylars, and Chelari amphibians.

That sounds very cool Indeed.

Jay ~Meow!~

[TorItara]

Star Trek: Othan Sector
Time: Post-DS9

Summary: The Othan Sector (detailed in both The Way of D'era and excerpts of the Klingon sourcebook posted on the web) is a region of space along the Romulan-Klingon frontier. with a neutral Klingon-like species (the Othans) currently in the process of being absorbed into the Romulan Star Empire, the Klingons covertly aiding the Othans, and the potential for lots of goings-on. So, therefore our intrepid players get to play the crew of a Romulan or Klingon vessel - alternately either conquering the Othans and putting down rebellion, or attempting to aid the Othan resistance without getting drawn into an interstellar incident over the matter. Gives, as with most of the ideas in this post, a chance to explore what makes these two great species 'tick'.

I.K.S. K'mpec
Time: Post-DS9
Borrowing a page from the IKS Gorkon novels, which I have recently begun to explore, this is, in many ways, a 'standard' Star Trek campaign, only played from the Klingon perspective. The Chancellor (or Qang, if you prefer) class K'mpec, one of the newest and most powerful vessels in the Klingon Empire, has been charged with exploring uncharted regions near the border of Klingon space opposite the Federation, and bringing the new worlds there under the Klingon flag - usually through military action, but occassionally diplomacy or some other method. How would Klingons react to many of the situations that faced the Enterprise during her journies?

Star Trek: Shattered Empire
Time: Immediately Post-DS9

In the aftermath of the Dominion War, the Cardassian Union lies in tatters, it's once proud fleet in ruins, around a billion of their people dead, their resources drained to the point of near-depletion.. this much is plainly obvious by the ending of the series. I've seen a number of campaigns - and a number of Trek novels and stories - focus on the Federation response to this humanitarian crisis.. but what do the Cardassians do to solve these myriad problems? The crew of one of the surviving Galor class vessels must face these problems, navigate the disaster zone the Union has become, and deal with internal politics in an ongoing attempt to restore the Cardassian Union to it's former glory.

Star Trek: Rigel's Shadow
Time: Early 24th century

The Khitomer Accords shattered the once strong bands of Orion pirates that threatened the trade lanes by freeing up Starfleet to act against them. But the Orions are, if anything, a group of survivors, and turned their crime underground, forming the Orion Syndicate as an underground criminal syndicate. But the reborn Syndicate is not without competition, not the least of which is from the Asfar Qatala, one of the most powerful criminal syndicates it's known space. The crew, formed up of a large cross-section of the galaxy's riff-raff, will eventually prove to be a key factor in dislodging the Asfar Qatala's position on top of the underworld, and allowing the Orion Syndicate to move on up... assuming they can survive the challenges a devious Director/GM can throw at them.

And last, but not least, I'd like to re-iterate an earlier suggestion that there's a reason the classics are classics, and every once in a while, setting a series on a major starship, assigned to boldly go where no-one has gone before, can be a worthwhile experience.

[C5]

And last, but not least, I'd like to re-iterate an earlier suggestion that there's a reason the classics are classics, and every once in a while, setting a series on a major starship, assigned to boldly go where no-one has gone before, can be a worthwhile experience.

Read post #8 on the first page of this thread . Apparently, great minds think alike.

Good ideas by the way. I especially like "Rigel's Shadow", as it could allow for the oddest crew, and "Othan Sector", since it reverses the traditional roles of Klingons and Romulans, with Klingons covertly helping rebellion while the Romulans are the invaders.

[The Tatterdemalion King]

Read post #8 on the first page of this thread . Apparently, great minds think alike.

Good ideas by the way. I especially like "Rigel's Shadow", as it could allow for the oddest crew, and "Othan Sector", since it reverses the traditional roles of Klingons and Romulans, with Klingons covertly helping rebellion while the Romulans are the invaders.

The opportunity for a mixed Othan/Klingon group might give a cool opportunity to examine all the ways in which Klingon society is totally fucked up, too...