Help Dan Make a New Campaign

[Dan Stack]

This probably won't be until the autumn, but I like planning and am almost as flighty as AslanC (everyone needs a goal.) Players in my group, feel free to read and comment if you like.

Now that the Decipher game is out and my group is no longer playing out of a playtest notebook I'm contemplating a new game.

Here's the group dynamic...

The narrator (me) loves the classic Star Trek and Enterprise - explore strange new worlds and do flying drop kicks on Klingons. His favorite type of campaign is a starship-based but he has discovered he likes smaller vessels and lower levels of technology.

Of the three main players...

• Always must play a goody-two-shoes Starfleet officer. (Or a Jedi Knight in Star Wars). Likes to do the right thing.
• Not too crazy about Starfleet characters, but works well playing characters working with Starfleet. Has done a good job playing a Klingon warrior and Cardassian smuggler in the past.
• Loves to play people with pointy ears, be they elves, Vulcans, or Romulans. His portrayal of Vulcans tends to be a bit less friendly than those seen in later Star Treks - a bit on the cold, "I hate you but I'm not emotional about it" side.

I'll leave it at that. I have a few ideas, but I don't want to influence anyone so as to widen the possibilities.

[C5]

If you want to avoid playing during one of the series, you could play in something like the 2180's. The Federation is barely formed and consists mainly of an alliance between Humans, Vulcans, Denobulans, maybe Andorians (and Tellarites if you want to stick to LUG continuity), plus one or two races of your choice.
The crew could be onboard a new prototype of a much smaller ship as the NX 01. For instance, a ship that would be to the NX 01 what the Intrepid is to the Sovereign : crew of 20, rather fast (let's say warp 6 TNG scale), designed for shorter missions than the NX 01. Starfleet being on its beginnings, the Crew would include a proto-StarFleet officer, a Vulcan observer (maybe the officials found it was a good idea after T'Pol's experience), and an exchange officer like Phlox.

OR

If what you like in ENT and TOS eras is mainly the exploration and lack of technology, an interesting challenge would be to try reproducing them in a latter era.
Let's imagine a rather old space station, dating back to TOS, used in the 24th or even 25th century as a vacation facility. While the PCs (a SF officer, some rogue and a Vulcan scientist or even a Romulan renegade) are enjoying some well deserved holidays here, some technobabble phenomena occurs and the station is sent in another Quadrant, or maybe even another galaxy. There, the PCs, who happen to be the most skilled in this area , try to rig a ship from what they can scrap of the space station (along with some shuttlepods and the like, maybe the engines of an old Miranda class docked here as an attraction), assemble a crew from the most skilled tourists on the station, and try to explore their surroundings and find a place to settle (since the old space station is slowly decaying), and maybe find a way to get home.

Hope you'll find this interesting

[qerlin]

C5's ideas were in the vein of what I was thinking.

I'd go with something between the Enterprise era up to the April or Pike era. Either boomers with one of them maybe as a Federation Intelligence Service plant.

Or a Starfleet campaign on the just-released Constitution-class with an 'observer' from a race looking to join

[PGoodman13]

I'm kind of with C5 in that I think you should try to "play in the spaces," which is what I'm doing. My campaign is set after ST6, in 2295. The first Khitomer Accords have taken place, but we're not the kinder, gentler, more politically-correct Federation yet. The Romulans haven't quite gone into their isolationist phase, so they're still a good bad guy to use. The Klingons, while we've signed a treaty with them, aren't a homogenous bunch of people waiting around looking for a new homeworld. The Federation and the Klingons are still leery of each other, and there are still renegade factions on both sides who'll have a chance to cause trouble.

But if you like older-school than that...there's a good chunk of time between ST:TMP and ST2:TWOK that you could play in. There's also a wide space between Enterprise and TOS that you could exploit if you wanted.

The characters in my game are going to be the crew on a heavy escort (basically a way-scaled down Remora class from the FASA game; I love the look, but it's bigger than I need for my game). You might try coming up with the stats for a Saladin-class destroyer from the old Franz Joseph Tech Manual and use it as your ship if you go into the TOS era, or the space in between TMP and TWOK.

The guy who doesn't want to play a Starfleet officer could play a civilian advisor or some such thing. I know that in my game, I've got a guy who wanted to play a Klingon. With the setting I'm using, I reasoned that the starbase their ship would be assigned to would have a Klingon consulate aboard, since they're close to the Neutral Zone. With the Khitomer Accords in place, Ambassador Sarek proposed to the Federation Council that the Federation re-institute some of the inter-species exchange programs that the Vulcans had set in place before the birth of the Federation. Therefore, the Klingon that this guy wants to play is a part of that exchange program, and is assigned to the PC's ship as a security "advisor". He won't be chief of security, but he will have to opportunity to tell her what she's doing wrong on a semi-frequent basis.

Do you have any clue when you want to set your series? I know you said you liked TOS and Enterprise, but that's still a fairly broad expanse of time. Knowing that would really help me to get a grasp of what you might want to try.

[Capt Daniel Hunter]

Originally posted by qerlin


Or a Starfleet campaign on the just-released Constitution-class with an 'observer' from a race looking to join

Funnily enough, this is what I'm planning to do with my TOS era campaign shortly. I always thought the TMP period was a fertile ground for a campaign.

[Dan Stack]

Actually, I've got quite a few more details in mind, to be revealed as the time is right...

My current leaning is a game set actually concurrent with Enterprise season 1 - I'm a little weary of post-Enterprise given the show may do some funky things which could invalidate my game. Current thinking is a fast, nimble, though smaller scout ship, though I'd really like to be able to show what she looks like. Starfleet player could be captain, Vulcan observer, and an Andorian observer. Nice level of tension. Negatives include knowing so little about Andorians of that period and the danger of getting "stomped on" by Enterprise. A minor variation of this would be TOS-era Starfleet, with the Andorian and Vulcans still being very alien to the almost all-human Starfleet.

An alternative would be a post-Star Trek VI game with a Starfleet ship and a Klingon observer. If you think a Vulcan in Enterprise brings tension...

For these TOS-era games, I really think the right ship is important. As much as I love the Constitution I'd like to find a nice tiny scout vessel for a TOS-era game - like a Federation Bird of Prey...

[qerlin]

I'd go with a pre TOS, post - Enterprise series, then; set on a small ship. Play up the problems with food differences between the humans and the Andorian (cobalt blood...there's got to be some compatibility probs with the food). Maybe a first realease Larson or EARLY Constitution (April era -- the ship're still pretty weak.)

[Capt Daniel Hunter]

Originally posted by Dan Stack
A minor variation of this would be TOS-era Starfleet, with the Andorian and Vulcans still being very alien to the almost all-human Starfleet.

An alternative would be a post-Star Trek VI game with a Starfleet ship and a Klingon observer. If you think a Vulcan in Enterprise brings tension...

Either of those would be a fun game. Though much as I'm not a big fan of the Wrath of Khan movie era, your post TUC game actually sounds the most interesting. A Klingon observer could be very interesting in this time period.

[AslanC]

Dan I would love to put some ideas in here, but since I don't watch Enterprise anymore, I am sort of out of the loop.

But that said, I like the core idea you have presented. Andorian observer cosntantly bickering with the Vulcan one could lead to some graet moments. Until fate intervenes and one has to save the other.

[mactavish]

I personally have developed an affection for the era of the <i>Enterprise-B</i>. Why? Three reasons:

1. It's not <i>TOS</i> (which I loathe)

2. The technology is in place but is still limited compared to <i>TNG</i>

3. It is a largely untapped part of <i>Star Trek</i> "history"

This is the period between 2295 and 2315 (I think). The frontier is no longer quite so daunting, but neither is it completely gone. Sure, the Klingons don't still want to wipe out the Federation... well, some of them don't... but there's still enough tension to make them a good choice for villains. On top of that, Tuvok is a young crewmember on the <i>Excelsior</i> (is that right?).

There was a comic that I picked up a while back that has Sarek getting remarried to Perrin. It also involves the negotiaions with an aquatic species which the Cardassians - a relatively unknown race - attempts to disrupt so that they can lay claim to the aquatic species' planet's rich dilithium deposits (or something to that effect).

This is a good period for setting the stage for later problems with the Cardassians, particularly since so little is known about them. In the comic, Spock disagrees with his father (there's a surprise), stating that the Cardassians should be welcomed into the fold. Sarek, on the other hand, urges caution (an astute observation, and a correct one... I guess more than a century spent as a diplomat and an ambassador really DOES teach one a thing or two about reading people!).

This is the era of te <i>Enterprise-B</i>, a period in which the Klingons are no longer enemies, per se, but neither are they allies. The Romulan are fading into the background, soon to leave the galactic seen for several decades.

This is a period WITHOUT THE BORG! Much as I like the Collective, it is important to remember that there was a time when enemies other than the Borg and the Dominion existed.

At this point, the Federation and Starfleet have been around the block a time or two, but they are still very small in the scheme of things. <i>Excelsior</i>-class starships are top-of-the-line, and the Bajorans are nowhere in sight.

What else is going on during this period? It's kind of an RPG version of <i>Star Trek: Captain Sulu's Adventures</i>. Again, while I have never been a fan of 1960s sci-fi (including the original <i>Star Trek</i>), I like most of the characters and a great many of the concepts and precepts set forth by <i>ST:TOS</i>. Truth be told, I just really didn't like Kirk; the rest of it wasn't total crap.

So what are the other elements of this era? Were there Betazoids yet? What about the Gorn? The Tholians? What was the top Warp speed of Starfleet at this time?

Anyway, that would be my vote for a new Series.

mactavish out.

[AslanC]

mac you are talking to my heart

I love the idea of the inbetween Movie Gen, right after Generations. The Ent-B is the new gold standard for Starfleet. Constellation starships are the new Grand Expirement.

Oh yeah, when Genesis wraps up, I may do a game set in this era

[Chris Blanchard]

You know, that is a fantastic idea, Mac! This era is totally untapped, you could do almost anything in it! You could even have your PC's be the Crew of the Enterprise-B. You know, I may go with Aslan on this, and steal this idea for my next campaign.

[PGoodman13]

Y'know, I coulda sworn I said something about this era not too long ago....

[AslanC]

Originally posted by PGoodman13
Y'know, I coulda sworn I said something about this era not too long ago....

My bad, I just went back and saw your post. I missed it the first time. Sorry dude...

So Mac and PGoodman are the shiznit!

[PGoodman13]

Originally posted by AslanC
My bad, I just went back and saw your post. I missed it the first time. Sorry dude...

So Mac and PGoodman are the shiznit!

Don't sweat it; I just thought I'd give you guys a hard time about that....