Newbie

[LtYar]

Hi,
I'm putting stuff together to run my first game. My friends decided of all the games we have I should run Star Trek, I'm gonna start them off in their last year or so in the Academy but beyond that I have no idea what I should do. Any body mind giving a newbie ST some advice? I am quite familiar with Star Trek so that's not really a problem it's just the story line it's self. Much Thanks-
LtYar

[Uruz]

LtYar,

Go with what you know! You should have at least the following outlined, if not on paper, then in your head:

1) The duration of the series (how many episodes, or, how long in Real Life you plan to run it)
2) The types of characters your players want to play
3) The general theme of the series
4) The NPCs you're going to be playing on a regular basis

The way I always come up with a new series/chronicle outline is to get a sheet of paper, and brainstorm. Write short idea blurbs that pop into my head, either one word, or one sentence at maximum. Then, check off or cross off the aspects that you've brainstormed based on what appeals to you, and get another piece of paper. Start writing the words and/or sentences that you haven't crossed off, and try to come up with new ideas along those veins of thought. Keep doing that till you have a firm grasp of the type of game you want to run.

Good luck!

[LtYar]

thanx, that actually helps because I am some what addle brained.

[ghosty]

Welcome aboard Newbie. You're in for the ride of your life. Trust me on this one.

First things first, sort out the premises of the series. There are basically two:
[list=1][*]Exploration - Basically TOS, TNG, VOY[/list=1]
[list=2][*]Space Station - Basically DS9[/list=2]
The basic premises will determine many of the other decisions you'll have to make. For example the adventures you want to run, the recurring NPCs and most importantly the story arcs.

Now, a good idea is to lay out in advance the individual episodes you want to run for a particular season, this will give you an idea of how the whole game fits together. It'll also allow you the ability to foreshadow future events.

Trek is very story driven, its not about combat monsters but story and if the players are Trekkies you'll have to make it as close to TV as possible (or at least a reasonable fascimile thereof). My advice, watch as many episodes as you can and get a feel for the ambieance, the set designs, the costumes (it'll help add flavour text) also pay attention to such things as how various bits and pieces of equipment work it helps the narrative.

Story ideas

Well if you wander around these boards long enough you'll find every type of weird and wonderful story you can think of. If you think of something different let us know please. This is all about sharing.

I'd start them off easy without any of the multi-layered story-arcs with deeper implications on long established PCs and even TV characters.

Look up the Adventure Seeds thread, many pages of ideas some good, some bad, some ugly (cue weird whistling theme music ). Read 'em and think about them and see if you can fit the PCs into it in any way.

Player Characters

Its important that the PCs build some synergy even before the series begins. Trek is not about dark secrets (although some may exist) so it'll be a good idea for everyone to create their characters together, in the open. I see you intend to start them off as classmates, good that means they'll know each others habits and personalities well so discuss how they all fit together and why they're friends. Also make them write out a background, it'll help game planning - many an adventure has been based on some throwaway line in some PC's background. Exploit their idoicicracies, they make for great games.

But most importantly, have fun...if everybody's not having fun then you're doing something wrong and should re-think you style, your premises etc. If you can't figure it out. Talk to the plyaers and get their input and their views. Never disregard their views.

You'll find that these boards contain a wealth of ideas and they change everyday with new ideas, new thoughts etc. Most importantly its an open forum for ideas, if you have an idea and don't know how to develop it, post it here and we'll help you turn it into a fully fledged storyline.

SO GO OUT THERE AND HAVE FUN!!!!!

[Modem]

Seems to me you over-simplified.
How about some of these:

An Intelligence campaign: You don't have to train to be an agent, or become a part of SFI to be an agent. Look at Bashir; he’s a doctor, who came within an eyelash of being recruited by Div. 31. How about L. Y.’s players?
Could: a doctor, an engineer, a command staffer, etc. be able to keep their heads, their observational ability, and other qualities while facing: political upheaval? A ruthless criminal element? And, topping these: no back-up/safety-net and no ‘massive’ resources (no true starships, best they get is a specially equipped Runabout).

Hostile Frontier/Border Patrol: Pick an opposition (the Feds got more than it share), place the PCs in ship on that species borders. Skirmishes, re-supplying colonies, escorting ‘their’ dignitaries/prisoners to/from the sector…possibilities run rampant.

SF R&D PTT: Congrads; you just became part of a proto-test team (a PTT), your job: test the latest and greatest equipment from SF R&D, ranging from star-drives to medical apparatus. And when things go incredibly right or horribly wrong (and they will ), the players will be at the front line to see it (but good or bad)(“What do you mean ‘we’ve traveled 18 days max warp, in 2 minutes?’”)

These are just a few ‘specific’ campaign ideas, more generally:
Mix-n’-Match: These are what usually happened on TNG and DS9: the general idea was Exploration (TNG) or Space Station (DS9)…but wasn’t always the case. Murder Mysteries, Diplomacies, and other ‘distractions’ kept both crew on their toes. And how many times have we seen ‘the swerve’; where we start with one story, and end with another. The best things about these kinds of campaigns are: Variety, and each time out different players should/will get the chance to shine.

Guess what I’m saying (though cliché) is, “it’s not the destination, it’s the journey”

[Lt.Khrys Antos]

Welcome aboard Lt.Yar!

The posts above are all very good, they bring up excellent story arc ideas and series plot lines. A question does come to mind, does your group know the rules of ST RPG? If so thats great, if not maybe you should go ahead with a more simpl exploration on the new frontier type mission.

I'd also recommend you look at the series idea thread on this board and the episode thread on this board. Both are excellent sources of ideas brought to you by fellow narrators who may figure out something others could not.

Enjoy!

[Lancer]

Welcome Lt.Yar !

If you start your game during the characters last year at the academy I suggest you give them a reason to stick together after graduation, as soon as you can.

I am not talking about group synergy here, as ghosty did.
It seems unlikely to me that cadets from several different Starfleet departments all get posted to the same ship for their cadet cruise and stick together after that.

If you have the characters make a contact (or even an ally) of a starship captain this get's much more likely, with that captain requesting them all to be transfered to his ship after graduation. If this character is suitably impressed with the players this approach would give you the added benefit of having some NPC who can 'fast-track' the PCs up the ranks, should your players get tired of playing Ensigns for the rest of their adventures.

[Michael Barratt]

Originally posted by Lancer
Welcome Lt.Yar !

If you start your game during the characters last year at the academy I suggest you give them a reason to stick together after graduation, as soon as you can.

If you have the characters make a contact (or even an ally) of a starship captain this get's much more likely, with that captain requesting them all to be transfered to his ship after graduation. If this character is suitably impressed with the players this approach would give you the added benefit of having some NPC who can 'fast-track' the PCs up the ranks, should your players get tired of playing Ensigns for the rest of their adventures.

They could also be a part of "Nova Squardron," or, later, "Red Squad." The team of cadets considered "top rate" by the academy - who might even "get their pick" of assignments (sort of like Bashir could have lost DS9 to the Valedictorian of his class if she'd chosen DS9). Thus, the number of them who form their close bond during the Academy (ie: the players) could choose their assignment together (including maybe having one of their rivals *also* choose said ship... ).

The Doc

[Captain Zymmer]

First off let me say welcome.

Second, decide on an era.

Thirdly, watch as much Star Trek as you can, it helps. After a while of narrating the game, little moments you see on screen will provide you with inspiration.

[Admiral Wolf]

From what you've told us so far, I myself would go with the cadet cruise to start off your game.

I would plan a 3 to 5 episode (games) story arc, I would have plenty of ship/lower decks/crew interaction the first game...get everyone familier with their jobs and life on a star ship.

Perhaps you could have the CO and department heads be some old time star fleet hard cases who demand a lot of the cadets.

You could pehaps have the ship involved in Star Fleet war games in the second or third episode and give the PC's a practice run at combat.

You could have the PC's get "picked" to go on there first away mission (of course somthing will have to go wrong once they beam down, and they get forced to deal with a problem on there own)

Near the end of the story arc, you could have the famous "Where-The-Only-Ship-In-The-Area" emergency pop up and perhaps have the newbies run into a real situation such as a Romulan ship raiding Federation shipping near the RNZ.

I've always found that starting a new system with new characters it's best to play it a bit loose and let the PC's find there "nitch", lot's of NPC and character interaction at the start of things is always a good way to go.

My .02