Starfleet Academy series?

[erhershman]

I would like some help starting a series where characters are first-year starfleet cadets- particularly adventure ideas, since I lost the Narrator's Guide that came with the SFA boxed set :-]

[SIR SIG]

Alot of people seem to make cadet PCs as a part of the full ensign they become on graduation.

Ie: They start with less development points and over the academy series you build up their xp to make a full fledged ensign by graduation.

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'...The Borg have stopped at deck 10...'
'...Deflector Control, no vital systems...'

Not a vital system! What the heck do you think stops the ship going 'poof' every time it goes to warp?

- ST:First Contact; Lt Hawk

[Arithon]

ok.. dumb question..
you start a character year one at the Academy, won't the character by the time he/she graduates be more overbalanced then a starting character just out of the Academy?

[SIR SIG]

Thats why you do the math and make it so the cadet earns 2-5 xp a year for his 4 years that all up will equal what a starting character (ensign) would have points wise.

Or some other variant depending on how many missions you wish to do at the academy.

------------------
'...The Borg have stopped at deck 10...'
'...Deflector Control, no vital systems...'

Not a vital system! What the heck do you think stops the ship going 'poof' every time it goes to warp?

- ST:First Contact; Lt Hawk

[Dan Gurden]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Arithon:
ok.. dumb question..
you start a character year one at the Academy, won't the character by the time he/she graduates be more overbalanced then a starting character just out of the Academy? </font>

Thats true. But to use a series example, I would have imagined both Weasel Crusher and Nog as 'player character' cadets to emerge with a stronger ensign than your average graduate.

For another example. I would also imagine that a character is likely to far surpass the 10 (or 5)DP character creation amount for a tour of duty, during play. Thus if the cadet is being played rather than glossed over in character generation then it should indeed emerge with a far stronger character...

This can become a problem if the rest of your players have created new characters to form the ships command crew, and will require a fair handed advancement all round to avoid the 'Mary Sue' feel to this super ensign being far more capable than his superior officers...

[Captain Blake]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Dan Gurden:

This can become a problem if the rest of your players have created new characters to form the ships command crew, and will require a fair handed advancement all round to avoid the 'Mary Sue' feel to this super ensign being far more capable than his superior officers...</font>

Ok forgive this being off topic, but I've seen this term "Mary Sue" bandied about in several places, and I am not sure exactly what it means and where it was derived from.

Help!

[Dan Gurden]

Off Topic.

'Mary Sue' is an old Fan Fiction term. It is the equivalent of a fictional power gamer...

Basically 'Mary Sue' is a new character, the invention of the author who is introduced amongst established characters. ie; Lt. Parks aboard the USS Enterprise NCC 1701, under Kirk and Co.

During the course of the story the established heroes come across a problem that even they cannot solve and defeat, and yet here comes our 'Mary Sue' and with the flick of a switch the day is saved and the character earns the respect and adoration of said established characters...

Thats its most basic terms...

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Dan.

"A couple of thoughts from a random mind!"

[Captain Blake]

That was my guess. Thanks heaps and bunches.

[Paul]

(Back On Topic...)

My players are starting off in the Academy. I'm not running an Academy series, rather I'm using the Academy as a starting point for the characters...they go through the Academy, graduate, Cadet Cruise, First Tour, etc, etc...

If you'd like a copy of the Character Creation And Advancement notes I made for myself for the game I'm running, feel free to email me...

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How do I set a Laser Printer to stun?

[SIR SIG]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Paul:
(Back On Topic...)

My players are starting off in the Academy. I'm not running an Academy series, rather I'm using the Academy as a starting point for the characters...they go through the Academy, graduate, Cadet Cruise, First Tour, etc, etc...

If you'd like a copy of the Character Creation And Advancement notes I made for myself for the game I'm running, feel free to email me...

</font>

Yours Paul; was the example I was using in the top post.

Good way to do it without holding yourself back at the academy to long!

------------------
'...The Borg have stopped at deck 10...'
'...Deflector Control, no vital systems...'

Not a vital system! What the heck do you think stops the ship going 'poof' every time it goes to warp?

- ST:First Contact; Lt Hawk

[Evan van Eyk]

Well my first ST Cmpaign was set at the Acadamy it was oriented on the PC Game, although set in the TNG-Era. As as that time there was no LUG Trek, I used the Masterbook system by WEG. We handeled it that way: Most of the time, there is only study and simulator missions. We only played the adventurous parts.
When we recognized our characters to be quite good we graduated after two episodes. In the boxed Set it is explained that characters get 64 DPs. So you should give them 16 DP per year. this points you can devide to the different episodes. When the characters do extraordinary good you could give them an extra point making them more heroic characters and more famous.

[Fortunae]

I am still running a game that started at the Academy but has moved well past that, maybe the approach I took will be helpful, maybe not.

I had them make their concepts, take the species template and their early life package, tack on the Academy 5 point mix and match personality archetypes then started play with their arrival for orientation at the first year of the academy.

I ran one "adventure" a semester, but didn't award them XP. Rather, as each semester passed I let them add skills from the Career templates that coincided with the courses they took that year, and the first two years you will note are pretty much focused in required courses. It worked out that they usually got 9dp a semester, or three "skills".

During the "summer" period, I took them on "field trips" or whatnot,like a cultural tour of Andoria to coincide with some of their courses that year.

When we reached the junior year they had declared thier majors and weren't in nearly as many shared courses as they began to fill in the template skills for thier career template.

The last semester of thier senior years they pursued advanced schools or internships that accounted for the Academy Schools from the templates of character creation.

When they finished the Academy, they were a *little* like a skill (3 development points) or 2 (six development points) ahead of where they would have been had we just skipped all that...but that was okay because they were the "heroes" among heroes of thier time there. I took thier accumlated renown and shaved it by a divisor of 4 and left that permanant, so they were a little more famous then the 1 free renown point, but not overly so.

Then I sent them in one solo adventure each that matched the Tour package they picked, once again, just giving them the DP for the tour, not xp.

Essentially, all they really earned aside from a few bonus points here and there is what they would have got if we had just started them out as finished characters...I just made them play through earning the points you get "free" if you go right through the process.

But really what they "earned" was a deep understanding of thier characters, their interaction with each other, shared history, shared rivals, enemies and so on.

When I brought them back together to be the senior staff on a starship they had all developed outside individual contacts, history, and so on as well -- but that original "chemistry" they forged at the academy remained. They started in 2362, graduated in 2366, came back together in 2373...and it played, still plays, like they had known each other for years.

Having tried a game that was commenced the "standard way" with an entirely differant group of fine players, and then this method with my current table top group, I have to say the second method was *way* better.

I promise you, if you don't spend *too* much time at the academy so that it gets boring, you will find it a fabulous spring board.

For us it was:
Roleplayed "Adventure" session(s)
Game Mechanics, adds skills, intersperse personal scenes session.
New Semester, repeat until graduation.

They *really* appreciated how "skilled" they were at the end as compared to how they were when they started -- and to where they are now with a tour or two under their belts and some additional schools along the way.

I've also noted that when they deal with new officers on their ship or etc, they often have a good idea without wanting to hear skill numbers, of how skilled they might expect an NPC to be based on Tours and time in Starfleet.

Well, maybe that wouldn't work for you, only you would know. Peace. =)