I need guidence and input...

[AslanC]

Hey there.

Yup it is me again.

I have hit a stumbling block in my Star Trek: Genesis campaign design.

I have a killer backstory.

I have a killer forestory.

I have killer players with some killer ideas for characters.

I have killer NPCs and sub-plots.

But I am running into a stumbling block. 2/3's of my players have a reason to work together (2 Starfleet, 1 Klingon Captain, Station Doctor), but last 2 not so much (Betazoid Torch Singer, Ferengi Bar Owner). This leaves me in an awkward spot. I have this scary feeling that 2 players are going to get left out, or be ham fisted into stories. Eep.

So I thought to myself, I need to introduce a local race that has requested Starfleet's assitence. Something like the Bajorans, but more unique. Have we seen any one shot races that look cool, aren't bugs or anything too weird.

I figure with the backstory, they will have been a servitor race of the light side. The ones who hid the ultimate weapon on their sister planet (the devastated one).

Help.

Any ideas would be cool.

I will take suggestions from any sci-fi, so long as it is film or TV so that I can use a visual reference. You know me and my images

I hope to find something in Star Trek (since I don't use Voyager, any Delta Quad races would be cool suggestions as well).

Thanks in advance

[AslanC]

Oh oh oh!

I had an idea!

Ocampans and Talaxians! Yeah!

With some tweaks they could both be cool races.

Now imagine the dead planet under the station is Ocampa. In the past their planet was devastated and refugees fled to another planet in the system, Talax.

The Talaxians had long had dealings with the Ocampa and welcomed the refugees, giving the an Atlantis-like Island to live on.

Yeah, and f the Ocampa were the ancient race that served the light it would explain them calling their gods "Caretakers".

I can use the Ocampan station from "Cold Fire" as the PC space station

[AslanC]

So this way, one of the players plays an Ocampan mystic who has begun having visions from the Caretakers.

The other plays a Talaxian advisor assigned to the station as a liason or ambassador of sorts.

What do you guys think?

[Sho-sa Kurita]

Having fun conversing with yourself there Aslan?

Really, it sounds fine to me. You just needed to think "out loud" didn't you?

-- Daniel

[AslanC]

::Guilty As Charged::

Yup Sho, apprently I needed to. I am so silly sometimes.

I am thinking I should change the life-span of the Ocampa in the end, maybe into their 20s or so?

The idea being that they used to live only for 9 years and then the Talaxian medical technology and diet etc contributed to them living longer.

What do you think?

[Dan Gurden]

Originally posted by AslanC


I am thinking I should change the life-span of the Ocampa in the end, maybe into their 20s or so?

The idea being that they used to live only for 9 years and then the Talaxian medical technology and diet etc contributed to them living longer.

What do you think?

I think that this makes the Talaxian medical and scientific accomplishents greater than that of the Caretakers people...

However Ocampans do live longer... Look at Tanis. Once removed from their natural environment into the 'big bad universe' tm. They not only have reason to further devepop their psionics but in doing so extend their lifespans. I believe that Tanis was in his late teens...

[AslanC]

Originally posted by Dan Gurden
I think that this makes the Talaxian medical and scientific accomplishents greater than that of the Caretakers people...

How so? I mean I never got the impression that the Caretaker was trying to improve of advance the Ocampa, only maintain them out of guilt.

Originally posted by Dan Gurden However Ocampans do live longer... Look at Tanis. Once removed from their natural environment into the 'big bad universe' tm. They not only have reason to further devepop their psionics but in doing so extend their lifespans. I believe that Tanis was in his late teens... [/B]

Yes he was and IIRC he made mention of someone being in their 20s. Is this a result of their living conditions or the result of Susperia tampering? I can't recall if they mentioned it in "Cold Fire", which I have only seen once.

[Dan Gurden]

Originally posted by AslanC
How so? I mean I never got the impression that the Caretaker was trying to improve of advance the Ocampa, only maintain them out of guilt.

Yes he was and IIRC he made mention of someone being in their 20s. Is this a result of their living conditions or the result of Susperia tampering? I can't recall if they mentioned it in "Cold Fire", which I have only seen once.

Fair Point. However, with a slight rephrase, it still makes the Talaxian science and medical achievements more advanced than those of the Federation (who never tried despite being close to Kes)... So I still think that the science route is wrong, and that it should simply be an evolution (which implies several generations... Not difficult at 9 years of life...)

As for there being no mention of 20 year olds on Tani's crew, thats also True... But I do recall that while late teens was common, it was by no means the end of his life...

[Don Mappin]

Ha! A people said there was no reason for having those species in the Player's Guide! Aslan is living proof. Carry the torch, brother!

(For the record, I was against both species being included, and I was the Voyager developer.)

[ghosty]

Originally posted by Don Mappin
Ha! A people said there was no reason for having those species in the Player's Guide! Aslan is living proof. Carry the torch, brother!

(For the record, I was against both species being included, and I was the Voyager developer.)

Well at least one of the mysteries of the Player's Guide has been solved .

[AslanC]

Thank you, thank you, thank you

I struggle to do my best, especially since I was one fo the nay-sayers of the races as well

[ghosty]

Originally posted by AslanC
Thank you, thank you, thank you

I struggle to do my best, especially since I was one fo the nay-sayers of the races as well

Forgive me for sounding like a total ignoramus but maybe I missed it but how did two races from the Delta Quadrant manage to find their way to the Alpha Quadrant. I missed the plot somewhere didn't I?

[Joe Dizzy]

Can't you see the fnords?!

It's so obviously a conspiracy... I mean sheesh... how much more proof do you need?!

....ooh.. bright colours!

[AslanC]

Ignorance forgiven

I am not using Voyager as Canon, I don't like it over all, but like certain parts of it, so I will steal them.

One of them I am considering stealing is the Ocampa and the Talaxians.

The idea being that they are from the same system and a thousand years ago something happened to destory the biosphere on Ocampa. Those that survived fled to Talaxia, where they were given an uninhabited continent to colonize. Over the next thousand years they grew stornger and began to live longer The change in environement seemed to be very good for them.

The Caretakers are their name for the ancient gods who watched over them, but left them at the time of the Cataclysm.

[AslanC]

Originally posted by Dan Gurden
Fair Point. However, with a slight rephrase, it still makes the Talaxian science and medical achievements more advanced than those of the Federation (who never tried despite being close to Kes)... So I still think that the science route is wrong, and that it should simply be an evolution (which implies several generations... Not difficult at 9 years of life...)

I think we are miscommunicating here. I am not saying that their advancements were so great it radically changed the Ocampa. I am saying that simply the change in environement, availability of quality health care and such is what did it. Not a concentrated effort, just a by product of their new world and life.

Same way that Asians who are born and raised in North America tend to grow taller and stronger due primarily to the change in diet.

Or take the fact that North American children are getting bigger and bigger every generation. Or Austrailian children.

My point is that it is simply the change in environment and other conditions that lead to them living longer than before.