Occupation Series

[redwood973]

Some of my most liked Pocket Books were ones which centered around the Bajoran Occupation before the Cardassians pulled out of the system.

I think that setting would be a lot of fun for a series. A mixed group of Cardassian and Bajoran PC sounds like a lot of fun. A proplem I could see would be falling into the same story lines session after session (the Resistance doing everything they can to upset the occupation, the Cardassians always trying to counter the Resistance).

Dont get me wrong. . .I think those would be fun. The hate and contempt between the two species would provide great backdrop for exploring our own humanity. The adventure of the cloak and dagger sessions would be great fun. But lets face it week after week would get old.

I dont see the Cardassians as much of explorers. And the Bajorans are too oppressed to do much of anything (well except for maybe the collaborators, but having a bunch of those in the series would wreck the whole Bajor/Cardassian tension to a point).

Anyone ever run a series like this, or have any ideas on how to keep one going without the weekly spy vs. spy rut? (I have been scanning through the Adventure/Series Seeds but have yet to find anything really touching this topic. If you know of one in either of those posts will you please point it out to me?)

Thanks everyone.

[erhershman]

Originally posted by redwood973

I think that setting would be a lot of fun for a series. A mixed group of Cardassian and Bajoran PC sounds like a lot of fun. A proplem I could see would be falling into the same story lines session after session (the Resistance doing everything they can to upset the occupation, the Cardassians always trying to counter the Resistance).

Perhaps the Cardassians in the game sympathize with the plight of the Bajoran people, and are working against the occupational forces... there is a Cardassian dissident movement after all, and I think one of their key aims might be helping species that have been conquered by the Cardassian Union. The "icy truce" between the two groups can be interesting- they're working for the same cause, but many Bajorans still paint all Cardassians as being brutal conquerors.

Well, there's my 1/25 of a cent...

[Dan Gurden]

Unfortunatly erhershman, it was made painfully clear in 'Duet' that even if the Cardassians were sympathisers, the Bajorans wouldn't have cared...

Rather than find a way to force the Cardassians to merge with the Bajoran group, have you considered running two games, or getting a second Narrator, to enable the Bajoran and Cardassian games to go head to head (maybe on special occasions?)

Alternatively, give people seperate agendas, and letting that do the job of tension and conflict for you?

1 Bajoran is fighting for revenge, all out gung-ho to the point of endangering the group...

1 Bajoran is fighting for ideals, and is not a killer (by choice), perhaps an ex-vedek. But his ideals make him appear suspect as even Cardassian lives are sacred?

1 Cardassian is disguised as a Bajoran and trying to infiltrate the resistance cell, alternatively a Collaborator in this role.

1 human is representing Starfleet and trying to supply aid and pass messages to Earth, under orders to not get involved, meanwhile you play to get their involment deeper!

1 former collaborator is trying to prove his worth, and not be murdered by his comrades as he tries to atone for his past...

And so on...

[Owen E Oulton]

I don't see this working at all well with both Cardassians and Bajorans as PCs.

Playing a Bajoran Resistance cell could be a lot of fun - it could be played very dark'n'gritty, or for laughs, or something in between - for instance, a Bajoran Resistance cell on Terok Nor during the Occupation could be played like Colditz or like Hogan's Heroes, where the heroes make Gul Dukat look like a buffoon.

Or, you could play a sort of commando campaiogn, with the Bajorans pulling off hit-and-run raids on Cardie outposts...

[Dogsoldier]

Maybe you could do a 1914 Sarajevo like mission were the players have to kill a Cardassian who is actually sympathetic to the Bajorans like Franz Josef was to the Serbs. The player would have to come to terms that there actions will mean harsh reprisals but that the people would stop believing that the Cardassian are there firends and will support ther resistance more. Of course this will be an early Occupation setting for best results.

[redwood973]

Thanks for the input guys. Man it looks like this kind of a series could be way too much work to keep going. I am gonna have to ponder over this one.

[Jabara Eris]

Originally posted by redwood973
Thanks for the input guys. Man it looks like this kind of a series could be way too much work to keep going. I am gonna have to ponder over this one.

Too much trouble? Actually, I found it pretty easy to run for awhile.

Have you ever run a Star Wars campaign set during the rebellion years? Then you can run a campaign set on Bajor during its rebellion against the Cardassian Occupation! Piece of cake!

So your characters don't want to stick in one area? Fine! Not only are there a multitude of places on Bajor, but they can also set up a base off planet.

Think all of your scenarios have to be based around blowing things up? Think again! When we played, any sabotage was usually just a subplot to a bigger picture. Check out my scenario at http://remember-forever.tripod.com/s.../scenario1.htm for an idea of what types of situations you can put your players in if you think outside the box.

One of my other scenarios had the players infiltrating a fancy diplomatic party held by the Cardassians on Bajor as an attempt to convince other Alpha-Quadrant powers that "all was fine and proper, and nobody is being mistreated, so just ignore that genocide thing you keep hearing about." During the party, the players attempted to get a message to the Klingon ambassador that all was NOT fine and proper, and the Klingon decided to temporarily join the group as an observer. By the end of the adventure, Cardassians attempted to murder the Klingon by blowing up his shuttle, which the players stopped, earning good honor points with the ambassador (and gaining sympathy from the Klingon High Command).

Another scenario had the players trapped in a city sealed off by the Cardassians because of a threat of a deadly virus. The Cardassians planned on using orbital lasers to flatten the city, killing Bajorans and Cardassians both. The "virus" was actually an experimental mind-control drug created by the Obsidian Order that was found and sold as a pain-relieving drug by a Ferengi (who was also trapped in the city). The players had to find out what was happening, find the Ferengi, find the antidote, distribute it to the populace and convince the Cardassian Central Command what had happened within a tight deadline.

Another scenario had the players travel to the mirror universe (and I pulled it off in a way that it didn't conflict with established continuity!). Another scenario, entitled "Call of the Pah-Wraiths", was sort of a sequel to the scenario posted on my Web site.

Speaking of which, you really should check out my site ( http://remember-forever.tripod.com/ ), because I've put EVERYTHING canon that ever was mentioned on any Star Trek series about the Bajoran Occupation years. I hope you can use it as a good resource.

So don't give up! Running an Occupation campaign can be a wonderful change from the typical Star Trek stories! I know from experience.