Star Trek:Cerberus

[Phantom]

I am currently thinking of running a TOS forum based game (LUG rules) in the near future.

Interested parties please post here or at

http://pub31.ezboard.com/bstartrekcerberus

Right at the moment I am testing the water, to see what the interest level of such a game is. I am still in the planning stages.

Thanks.

[Thierry]

Interested party here.

[Phantom]

Great! Like I said it is just in the planning stages, and I have a few theings to clear up first. I should have something set in the next few weeks. I'll keep you posted, keep an eye on here.

[silverthorn]

Another interested party here.

[AslanC]

IRC or PBEM or Forum based?

[Phantom]

Forum. I am (slowly) putting campaign info on the site mentioned in the first post of this thread. I will be adding to it over the next few days.

If there are any preferences of what type of character you want please leave a notation on the above mentioned board.

http://pub31.ezboard.com/bstartrekcerberus

[Phantom]

Ok, I am currently at the point where I can start thinking about characters. For those who showed interest, I hope you are still around, please send character ideas to

windridge@recorder.ca

I will also post postions available at the above ezboard address.

[Phantom]

Just a quick message to;

Thierry
Silverthorn

Just posting again that I am accepting character ideas for the Cerberus Forum Game. Are you still interested?

Please let me know.

And if anyone else is interested, just leave a notation here.

Thanks.

[silverthorn]

Yes, I'm still interested.

Unfortunately, at the moment I'm completely rushed off my feet with about a week to go before I'm going to be able to think about starting playing another game.

I'll get back to you then.

[Phantom]

Bump to top.

[Phantom]

Ok not sure how this will work, but I'll give it a throw and see what sticks.

The idea for ST: Cerberus was a part of a larger game that I had in mind for my table top group, before they went to the four winds. My thought was to do a game that would eventually encompass a timeline from TOS to TNG/DS9 (roughly 2269-2376.) My original idea was to set it in a unexplored sector in the TOS era and watch how, through the interaction of the characters, politics and other "external" factors, it grew from a rather insignificant area of space (in TOS) into an important trade/strategic sector in the late 2300's.

The original idea was to tell the story in yearly (real time) segments that would take the crews from TOS to Movie, to the era just before TNG, and finally finishing in the TNG era. Now, this would eventually lead to the PCs having to make multiple characters as time goes on, basically when the TOS characters have achieved the rank or posts (or have passed on) that don't facilitate missions of exploration. I thought that a Vulcan character would be interesting to see played out, as he/she would have the life span to see all the eras and how they would have changed.

I know this is not an "original" concept, I'm sure many have played or are playing a similar game.

Over the last month or so I have been thinking of the possiblity of trying it in an on-line medium. So what I need from you is;

1) Opinions on the idea.
2) Is there anyone inteterseted in such a game?
3) What type of on line medium would be best to use?
-Forum
-PBEM
I don't have the facilities or time for ICQ (or whatever it is called )

I have a few other questions to ask, but these three will give me an idea on the interest level.

Thanks.

[Capt. K. Vaughn]

I've done something like this and would be interested in this but at this point in time I seriously need sleep as I need to be up in five hours.

So now that I have subscribed to said thread, I will answer your questions Phantom later today based on my experiences.

Regards,
CKV.

[Capt. K. Vaughn]

Medium: Either forum or PBEM though I've really taken to using mailing groups given their ability to archive.

Makes it easier to check if the net-gremlins ate a post.

Interest: Assuredly. However, this type of campaign as a message-based game would be a very long term project and require a fair amount of committment.

Opinion: Many on here in the past have heard me talk about the Challenger campaign. That campaign will soon be wrapping up and another will follow.

My timeline which some have seen incorporates the FASA one and almost all campaigns I have either played in or run since 1984.

The original ship of the original campaign was the USS Exeter set in 2271 using the FASA rules. When that campaign ended, approximately 2287, the science officer, a Vulcan and another PC were moved to another ship, the USS Galacta.

That campaign followed up on some pivotal events discovered in the previous campaign and while some PCs came and others went several completed that campaign. in 2312. They opened up many new territories and created a few messes that are still around in the campaign timeline to this day.
The science officer had eventually been given command of the Galacta.

By this time, TNG had come along and had seriously influenced the game...so the Captain and a number of the PCs from the Galacta were transferred to the USS Ambassador. Well they had many adventures and it covered quite a number of years but once again, some of the consequences of the previous campaign came back to haunt them. They were even responsible for bringing Betazed and a number of other species into the Federation. The Ambassador served a stellar 55 years before being retired in 2367. The same Vulcan captain was transferred with some of the newer PCs to the Galaxy-class Intrepid for its short but memorable career until its destruction in 2371. The survivors were transferred to the USS Challenger and have been going since to the current year 2376.

Each campaign has generally had two major plots. One dealing with some fallout from the previous campaign and a major arc fresh to that particular campaign. If a sector or planet was explored in one of the earlier campaigns, there has been a snapshot adventure worked sometime in the future where they return there and see how things have changed. While many of my original players have moved on, one is still aboard all the way through from 1984 and FASA Trek to the conversion to LUG-Trek a few years ago with their original character the Vulcan. The majority of the players have been with the campaign since 1991 and have been through three campaigns and two are still using those characters.

I'm in the process of designing the next mini-campaign to follow up on some major fallout from the Challenger game but unfortunately most of the group will be fresh players this time as Real Life has made it hard for the Challenger players to game together.

Now, on to some of the issues that I can see arising especially from my own experiences:
***********************************************

a) Length. Even if you only cover one pivotal episode per year and have a fast-paced game, an episode completed play every six months covering a hundred year timeframe year by year is still quite a committment.

I'd switch it to perhaps five year increments with X number of experience awarded to simulate the PCs experiences during the uncovered time with each episode having a prelude to cover the time that has gone before it ... the major events in the galaxy and the player characters' lives. This last will require some player input on behalf of their characters' goals.

Even with this switch, it is still a number of years real time to cover a century game time.

b) The majority of player characters will not be appearing throughout the timeframe but the few that do should not overshadow those that are younger. The Vulcan that has witnessed it all in my campaign is now an Admiral and while he still influences things he quite often is forced to stand by and let the younger generation jump into the breach only offering his advice or guiding them through ... when this campaign ends, he will become a major NPC that will occassionally be brought back for a spotlight.

With your own Vulcan or other long-lived race, after his career in Starfleet during the TOS era and the discovery of this sector and the major contributions there...perhaps he becomes a sector commander as Starfleet establishes a base there. He is still in play but now he has to deal with things on a more diplomatic level while the younger generation does the grunt work. Eventually, he retires but becomes an ambassador to the major power in the region for the Federation. He can now give the other PCs the benefit of his experience but unless absolutely needed he lets the younger generation shine as he needs to maintain some distance due to his current responsibilities...he can no longer go ramping around space using cowboy-diplomacy.

I could go on for ages but this is getting long and late...so I will end it here and if you have any specific questions..fire away.

Regards,
CKV.