Woo, finally made it onto the discussion boards! And only a few months after [trekrpg] stopped transmitting, too. I love my organised life. Still, it's nice to be playing Trek again.
The Trek in question... next semester, after the summer break, I'm going to be running a Trek campaign with the avid new bunch of roleplayers that I've found here at university. I managed to pilfer quite a good idea, shamelessly ripped from the Star Trek: New Earth series (which I haven't read, so any consistency breaks are not my fault ).
The campaign will be set after the Dominion War. A colony world will have been devastated in a Jem'Hadar attack, to the point where the biosphere is now uninhabitable. Instead of re-establishing the colony in the Alpha Quadrant, however, the Federation have decided to use these experienced colonists to set up the Federation's first permanent colony in the Gamma Quadrant. (If ST canon says that there is already a Federation colony in the GQ, GM canon quietly erases the planet from stellar cartography.)
This provides some useful boundaries for the campaign:
1.) We recapture some of the old TOS exploration feel. The PCs ship is by itself on the frontier, almost out of contact with the Federation, and with strange new species all around, including what's left of the Dominion if they're not lucky. They've got to rely upon themselves.
2.) There's plenty of exploration to do. Current projections state that the PCs will scout a few planets out first, find a suitable one soon, and the campaign will be temporarily fixed upon that world and the logistical problems of getting a colony set up - surveying, scouting local hazards, dealing with flora and fauna...
3.) PCs will have the option to play either crewmembers of the Starfleet vessel or the colonists themselves, who under the circumstances will have to interact to survive (thus satisfying my awkward player who is bound to want to play the Klingon/Ferengi/Jem'Hadar/Q/other species inappropriate to Starfleet).
At the moment I'm doing preliminary planning, working out some of the details. Due to the fixed nature of the campaign, a lot of the fun will come from the NPCs the players will interact with on a regular basis, so I'm writing up a roster even now. However, some input from all those fine minds out there would most certainly be appreciated.
1.) What kind of ship would be suitable for carrying the colonists/Starfleet mission? I'm thinking of a Nebula-class; nice, versatile workhorse. Would a single ship be capable of at least setting up the initial basis for a colony (buildings, power amenities etc.), or will a small convoy be needed?
2.) How many colonists do you think would be suitable for those initial stages? 100+? If it's more than 150 or so, I'm going to need a second ship...
3.) What kind of equipment would you need (insert useful Trek devices for colonisation here) and how much cargo space would the initial-stages-worth take up?
4.) Any comments, suggestions, seeds, hooks or whatever to throw in?
Oh, and a brief shot for those who know what they're talking about in Spacedock (which I don't... yet ): How many SUs (roughly) does a Nebula's cargo module contain, how many would I get back if I pulled out the enhanced sensor array (to, say, fill it with more crew quarters and cargo space), and what sensor package would the ship have without the enhanced sensors?
Whew, a lot of questions... I hope you can answer a few! Of course, now I expect I'm going to be thoroughly interrogated in return. Ah, me.. better think up some answers!
Right, back to the periodic insomnia.
Sleep... is for the... weak... [zzzzz]
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David Mowatt
el_narrador@yahoo.com
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"Ray, when someone
asks you if you are
a god, you say YES!"
- Ghostbusters
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