Adventure Seeds

[PeytonWestlake]

Title: Second one'll cost you...
Era: TNG, DS9.
Type: Diplomacy.

One year following the events of the TNG episode "Symbiosis" the last Delisian freighter broke down, stopping the drug shipments from Brecca to Delis. The entire planet went into withdrawl. Several people did die as a result of the symptoms, mainly as a result of age in connection to heroin-level withdrawl symptoms. Once the culture recovered, they were able not only to repair their freighters, but also commence a probram of warship construction. They attacked and invaded Brecca, and were abel to land and seize the capital quickly. However, the Breccans fought back using Guerella tactics. After several years of bloody war, they now seek a peace treaty and have asked the Federation to moderate. The PCs vessel is sent to moderate the piece negotiations.

The Breccans position is simple. They want to return to self-rule, and also to continue production of the drug, for reasons they are not clear about. The Delisians, on the other hand, wish to form a coalition government split between the Breccans and the Delisians, and, most importantly, they want all the drug processing and refinement facilites, along with crops, destroyed.

Negotiations will be at an impasse, until a Ferengi vessel appears in-system. With a little research, questioning, and verbal negotiation by the PCs, they put all the pieces togeather - The Breccans had also made contact with the Ferengi. To get the arms and supplies needed to fight their guerilla war, they were selling the drug to the Ferengi, in exchange for arms. Arms which were at a level equal to that of their opponents, but well below the level of phasers or disruptor weapons, and very inexpensive for the Ferengi to obtain. However, the Ferengi were able to fetch a very tidy profit for the drug on the black market, well above the cost of the weapons and supplies they were bringing to the Breccans.

The PCs must negotiate a treaty that will satisfy the Delisian demand for the Breccans to cease drug production, but without destroying the Breccan economy. Also, the PCs should determine some means of preventing Ferengi recriminations against either the Breccans or Delisians.

Comments?

[Phoenix]

Title: "...to the Last Man"
Setting: Starship, bridge crew
Type: Player's moral dilemma, combat, and trickery
Era: During Any War

While traveling through space the character's receive a distress call from a friendly transport ship loaded with refugees escaping a war torn area. They are under attack and heavily out numbered and are being boarded.

When the characters arrive, they should be facing a daunting starship battle - but not one they have no chance of winning. Also they need to stop the whole sale slaughter on the transport itself (conversely, the starship battle could look simplistically easy). Any security/rescue teams that beam over to the transport are grossly outnumbered and should start dropping soon. During this time the character's ship should suffer from some lucky hits crippling key systems (propulsion, weapons, etc...) and begin to be boarded as well.

Depending on your group, the loss of a character could be quite devastating, for this adventure try as best as you can to look as if your trying to end the campaign, kill every one.

The catch is, none of the deaths are real. The characters are having their morals tested, to see if they are willing to sacrifice every thing in order to save unknown innocents. After you have killed the last player character, everybody is suddenly back to doing exactly what they were before the distress call, only with either a voice in their heads, or an alien ship near-by (etc) complimenting them on their willingness to protect, defend, and die for what they're Federation believes in.

[Balok]

<strong>Title: </strong>The Eighth Wonder
<strong>Setting: </strong>Starship
<strong>Era: </strong>Movie era or later
<strong>Type: </strong>Combat, conflict, puzzle

The crew is travelling between exploration stops when the ship receives a distress message. The message is broken and garbled, it comes from an alien vessel. Presumably, the crew investigates.

The crew arrives at the source of the message and discovers only wreckage and a few life pods -- all holed. There are no survivors. Analysis of the wreckage reveals extremely high energy weapons inconsistent with any known species. With no one to rescue, the crew collects data and prepares to leave. As they do, three more vessels approach. These are of the same general configuration as the destroyed ship, but they are larger and tougher -- clearly warships. They demand the crew's surrender. Each of these ships should be at least a match for the crew's vessel, so negotiations will be necessary.

The aliens board, and accuse the crew of unprovoked attacks. They have poor quality telemetry that shows a ship of approximately Federation configuration: two nacelles, one engineering hull, one saucer hull, attacking the destroyed ship. That ship was dispatched to investigate an attack on a freighter that took place a few months ago.

The aliens plan to return the crew to their own planet, where they will conduct an investigation. Make it clear that the chances of the crew leaving are not high. And that's when the attack begins...

A single ship, clearly a Federation design, but ... old looking ... decloaks and attacks one of the aliens. This ship moves, attacks, shifts course, attacks, with remarkable precision. The crew can quickly identify it as an old style Constitution class ship, but it's identification number and name are missing.

In short order, this small, out of date, outclassed ship has the aliens on the run. One ship explodes with a warp core breach, another is hanging dead in space, and a third manages to warp away. The Constitution recloaks and cannot be detected after this.

This leaves the crew in a jam. A Federation ship has, impossibly, defeated a superior force. And left them in the lurch; it's certain the aliens are going to return with *even more* ships.

The Secret:

In the 23rd century, a scientist named Richard Daystrom built a computer called the M-5, using a new technology called multitronics. During space trials, this machine proved unsuitable, and Daystrom (for related reasons) experienced a psychotic break. He spent the next decade in rehabilitation, but was eventually declared cured.

However, he wasn't. Sometimes, highly intelligent, mentally disturbed people learn to fool their doctors, and this is what Daystrom did. Tired of being drugged and analyzed, questioned and re-questioned, he eventually decided to leave, and so he spent the time to learn what responses were expected. He aped sanity long enough to escape.

Now past sixty, his accomplishments overshadowed by his spectacular breakdown, he determined to prove that he wasn't wrong about multitronics. Using personal resources, he built a much smaller prototype that he called the M-6. It's programming focused on one specific task: to develop its successor, M-7. It did this, and did it well, but M-7 determined that one more iteration was needed, and so it designed the eighth in the series.

The M-8 was everything Daystrom had hoped the M-5 would be. And a good thing, too: by this point, Daystrom was over seventy years old, and his health was failing. He knew he wouldn't live much longer, so he gave the M-8 its last directive: to do what the M-5 should have -- explore the galaxy.

It took time, but eventually M-8 managed to secure an old, decommissioned Constitution class ship through clever manipulation of records. By carefully compartmentalizing what was happening, it arranged to have itself installed aboard. Then, it left.

Over the intervening years (or decades), it has acquired to developed a number of technologies. Despite the antiquated appearance of the vessel, it is state of the art, and in some cases, beyond state of the art (relative to Federation science).

When the crew encounters it, it is returning to Federation space with a treasure trove of knowledge, that it intends to download into the Federation archives. The problem with the aliens is the problem it has encountered several times in the past: species that do not appreciate intrusion, or which to examine its technical secrets, or have some other ulterior motive. In short, this time, it's not the bad guy. But its actions have placed the Federation in a difficult position relative to a new, warp capable species. Sure, they have only a few planets in their association, and would be no match for the Federation fleet -- but the Federation tries to avoid war.

The crew, then, must find some solution to this problem. First they will need to determine what they're dealing with, then they'll need to figure out how to deal with the aliens, and how to deal with the M-8.

(I plan this story to be part of a multi-episode arc in my next season).

[Pater]

I'm a fan of films like "Stigmata", "The Gathering", "Army of God" etc., so I was wondering what will happen, if my crew will find a church or just a cross with Jesus in the ruins on a planet?
What if there was a (like) "christian religion" on several planets but is forgotten or forbidden by time/government?

In my rpg is a race called the Nyob'bal ("anagramm" to Babylon) so I'm thinking about beginning some religious episodes (in a way you could see the borg, who take your (god given) free will as the real evil..)

What do you think?


Pater

~~~~
I'm really sorry for my bad english - school's a long time ago

[Balok]

Religious themes can make excellent story backdrops -- witness how much of Deep Space 9 used them. However, there's a caveat: you have to be really, really careful how you use existing, popular religions. It's awfully easy to offend.

This is why Trek made up a religion (the Bajoran) when it needed a complicated one -- and why, when it needed real ones, it stuck to relatively obscure ones like American Indian beliefs, or New Age mysticism. Little chance of offending a key demographic.

You, of course, know *exactly* who your audience is -- but religion can be a really touchy subject even among friends, so you want to think it through carefully.

You also want to have a pretty good explanation how Earth religious symbols got to an alien planet, and you want to explore the long term implications in your head. If your answer changes what people, in general, believe, you can expect that to have fairly significant effects on your campaign. That's fine if you're ready for it, unpleasant if you're not.

[Dan Gurden]

Your crew find a planet with a strange temporal signature. Not only that, but a surface scan reveals... Dinosaurs, the long lost ancestors of Earth living alongside the planetrs native animals...

However the eye of the temporal distortion readings seems to come from a point in the Southern hemisphere. Focused within a heavy storm. Impregnable to transporters and scans.

An away team shuttles down, but the tempioral effects cause the shuttle to crash. But the shuttle is lost in an Earthquake/fissure. The Away team is now stranded on the Dino-planet and the only way off is to cease the artificially created chroniton distortion, many km away.

What Happened?
BAck when the Voth evacuated Earth one of their scientists was investigating the use of Time Travel to reclaim the homeworld. He took an 'ark', the DNA library of Earth and a small ship and headed for Earth, but crashed along the way. The Time Travel device was activated and damaged, but caused a Paradox around itself existing in the same few moments (so it never runs out of power), meanwhile the Paradox also allowed the genetic ark to hatch.

Now its millions of years later and a few caveman style Voth co-exist with the Dino's, and the planet is starting to buckle under the temporal pressure.

Back to the Game
All the crew needs to do is survive, travel to the Voth starship and turn the device off/repair it. Which is a lot easier than it sounds. Of course several weeks on the planets surface is only a matter of hours in orbit, not that anyone will know this?

[Dan Gurden]

Originally posted by Pater
I'm a fan of films like "Stigmata", "The Gathering", "Army of God" etc., so I was wondering what will happen, if my crew will find a church or just a cross with Jesus in the ruins on a planet?
What if there was a (like) "christian religion" on several planets but is forgotten or forbidden by time/government?

There was once a Scottich RPG magazine (3 issues I think) called the Last Outpost, and within it posted a similar plot seed. Basically the crew discover the ruins of a starship with 3 bodies in cryostasis. BAsically it would be Jesus, Mohammed and Bhudda, all of whom would have died of natural causes but kept in stasis, and now tech is good enough to revive them.

The catch is, do you revive them and destroy all religion on the planet (evidence denies faith, etc) or leave them and keep the secret.

Of course, its an Alien spaceship, so why are they there in the first place?

[Dan Gurden]

This was another time-travel/alternate universe plot I had in mind. Set Post Dominion War. This one was a dream I had about 5 years ago, and I still havn't had the balls to run it yet, but I have come close a few times.

A scientist happens to invent a temporal shielding device, that protects organic computers from alteration during a temporal shift. This was designed for use by the DTI.

It just so happens that just as this is being demonstrated at Starfleet command on the Bio-Neural gel-packs in the crews ships computer core... At the exact same time a mad Vorta has assaulted the Guardian of Forever and travelled through to a pivotal event in the Dominion war, murdering Odo before he can rescue Nog and Kira. DS9's weapons remain online when the minefield drops and the Defiant destroyed. The Dominion reinforcements arrive unapposed.

The war raged on.

The crew find themselves on the loosing side, but with full memory of how things 'should be', the new protective temporal field had protected their memories. Of course this means that they dont know about the changes It would be particularly evil to split them up here, some as prisoners, some in battle at the point of transition... he. he. he.

Eventually they are contacted by a DTI agent (the same scientist) who thinks he knows whats happening and where. And needs to redirect the crew(s) to the Guardian of Forever to destroy the Dominion Base there and to return to DS9 to stop the Vorta from changing history.

[C5]

I could have sworn I had already posted that idea, but I can find no trace of it... the better since I improved it since

Title : The SteamPunk Experiment
Setting : Starship
Era : Any
Type : Exploration, combat, dilemma

The crew's ship is caught into a sort of wormhole, and thrown into an uncharted star system. Here, the crew will discover that a strange subspace field prevents any warp travel in a radius of one or two light years around the star system, meaning they'd need a few years to escape it (impulse power still works).

The system also houses no less than 4 M class planets, with a rather unusual configuration : two of them are orbiting around each other (like Earth and Moon, but both are the same size), another one is orbiting on the exact same orbit, but on the other side of the sun, and the fourth one has an elliptic orbit, ranging from twice as far and twice as close to the star as the three other ones (however the trajectories don't actually intersect, so there's no risk of collision).

All four planets house intelligent life (and close scans would reveal that they seem to share a common origin). Their technological level ranges from the Earth equivalent of late 18th century to early 20th century (since they are not unified, some differences can exist inside a same planet).
But the field that prevents the crew from going to warp speed has another effect : it allows very primitive types of propulsion to reach much greater speeds than should be possible; thus, almost all of these world are capable of interplanetary travels (their top speed could range between 0.01c to 0.1c, which is more than enough to travel in a star system), thanks to very strange drives (electrical discharges, EM bursts, etc). Their various relationships are left to the GM's choice (some governments could be at war with other governments from other planets, while others could be at peace with the same ones, etc).
The wormhole that pulled them here is the result of an experiment from the scientists from one of those governements (of course, it should never have had such a result without the subspace field).

The answer to some of the mysteries of this system can be found hidden on a gas giant in the system (getting there should also be part of the challenge), where a very old alien station still functions. Apart from being the source of the anti-warp subspace field, this station contains various databanks that present this whole system as a sociological experiment from a Very Advanced And Ancient But Disappeared Race (it could be the T'kon, the Iconians, the Preservers, Sargon's people, or any new creation of your own).
The orbits of the planets have been altered, the planets terraformed, and the population of the only M Class planet that existed in this system at the time transplanted to all the others, a few thousands years ago. The goal of this experiment was to discover how a race would act should it discover interplanetary travel well before its overall technological level should allow it (or something more nebulous than that, at the GM's discretion). The warp being rended inoperative could or could not be part of the plan (to prevent the natives from going too far for instance).

The main problem of the players is of course how to go home (to prevent them from choosing the easy way - 3 years of subspace flight - you could have their presence requested somewhere in a few days or weeks for a critical emergency). Shutting down the alien station is an option, but all the planets have become dependant at various levels on their space travel abilities, and depriving them of these has to be considered in regards to the Prime Directive (of course, the fact that this system in itself has been engineered by another race complicates the fact a bit more...).

And of course, their ship has been detected and should create a lot from interest from the various powers. Even though the PC's ship should be very superior to the ships of the system (even in an NX era), their sheer number could be a problem should they choose to unite against them...

[jkp1187]

Title: Colonization
ERA: Any except VOY
Type: Rescue
Setting: Planetary

This is an adaptation of the Phillip K. Dick (PKD) short story, "Colony" for use in Star Trek. (It's a good story; you should check it out before doing the adventure -- it's in the PKD compilation "The Short Happy Life of the Brown Oxford".)

Read the story before reading this adventure summary, though, because there are spoilers to the PKD story here! I have made my own contributions to the "threat-creature" but I think it's keeping with what PKD would've done.


************************************************** *********


BACKGROUND: The starship/starbase (whatever the PC's base is) receives a strange distress call from a science team stationed on an out-of-the-way planet. The science team is conducting a several-weeks-long survey of the planet to verify its suitability for colonization. They are working and living in a modular, transportable science lab/dormitory placed on the planet's surface. The planet itself is almost an Eden -- fertile soil, waterfalls, some animal life.

The distress call requests immediate evacuation and even implementation of General Order 24. What happens next depends on the PC's base of operations. If they are on a Heavy Cruiser or other large vessel, they are sent in a large shuttlecraft to evacuate the twenty or thirty scientists and investigate the problem. The idea here is that the characters have limited technological/military resources while on the mission...and also, that they simply cannot beam out when they want to.

As the PCs approach the world (about five or ten minutes from landing, but just after they enter the planet's atmosphere -- THIS IS IMPORTANT,) they receive a message from the science team saying that they will gather in a clearing outside the science station, and that they would be boarding the shuttle completely naked. When the PCs land, they find the entire place deserted.

When the characters begin investigating the deserted lab, they start getting bits and pieces of information about some sort of threat creature that was killing off members of the science team.

It soon becomes apparent that this creature is a shapeshifter that can imitate inanimate objects of nearly any size -- down to the subatomic level, to the point that even tricorders cannot tell the difference. The creature arrived via a meteor strike that occurred on the opposite side of the planet and has started spreading. The creatures communicate telepathically with each other through a central brain, located in the meteor crater. Any creature can imitate any inanimate object detected by any other creature. They attack by luring prey into close range, then they attempt to surround/swallow and digest the prey using a highly caustic acid.

The real crisis point comes when the characters try to leave the planet and

Telepaths can detect the "chatter" between the creatures, and so can detect the creatures presence in a room. Scientifically minded characters, once they figure out what's happening, will be able to alter the tricorders to detect the creatures. (When the creatures are present, tricorders will always report a lifeform present, but won't give more information because of a conflict -- the tricorder "sees" a lifeform, but it also "sees", for instance, a towel.

[Dan Gurden]

Originally posted by jkp1187

The real crisis point comes when the characters try to leave the planet and

Telepaths can detect the "chatter" between the creatures, and so can detect the creatures presence in a room. Scientifically minded characters, once they figure out what's happening, will be able to alter the tricorders to detect the creatures. (When the creatures are present, tricorders will always report a lifeform present, but won't give more information because of a conflict -- the tricorder "sees" a lifeform, but it also "sees", for instance, a towel.

You see, you say Phllip K Dick. But I read this and what I see in my minds eye is the Red Dwarf alternate take in Polymorph. Most especially the scene with Listers underpants.

Sorry, but this does offer up a completely alternate take on this. Should a somewhat light-hearted version be required.

[UFC465537]

A TOS episode I've been tossing around...

The Imperial Klingon States has aquired a Preserver device that works in conjunction with the asteroid deflector on the planet Amerind (Eta 131;see TOS "The Paradise Syndrome"), increasing its range and power. Their intention is to cause the Klingon moon Praxis to crash unto Qo'nos, throwing the empire into chaos. In the power vacuum that ensues, the IKS plans to usurp power and take control of the empire. The internal struggle may bring war to both the Federation and the Romulans, as radical factions run unchecked.

The players discover the plot through an encounter with a Klingon warship investigating the plot, which is close to completion.Together, they must stop the IKS before they throw the entire region into war.

Could be a springboard into an alternate universe campaign..What if they fail?

Opinions, ideas?

[Capt. K. Vaughn]

A TOS episode I've been tossing around...

The Imperial Klingon States has aquired a Preserver device that works in conjunction with the asteroid deflector on the planet Amerind (Eta 131;see TOS "The Paradise Syndrome"), increasing its range and power. Their intention is to cause the Klingon moon Praxis to crash unto Qo'nos, throwing the empire into chaos. In the power vacuum that ensues, the IKS plans to usurp power and take control of the empire. The internal struggle may bring war to both the Federation and the Romulans, as radical factions run unchecked.

The players discover the plot through an encounter with a Klingon warship investigating the plot, which is close to completion.Together, they must stop the IKS before they throw the entire region into war.

Could be a springboard into an alternate universe campaign..What if they fail?

Opinions, ideas?

So the IKS plans to steal the deflector from Eta 131 as part of the plot? How exactly do you intend its use?

Regards,
CKV.

[UFC465537]

Capt. K. Vaughn

Originally Posted by UFC465537
A TOS episode I've been tossing around...

The Imperial Klingon States has aquired a Preserver device...
:


So the IKS plans to steal the deflector from Eta 131 as part of the plot? How exactly do you intend its use?

Regards,
CKV.

No, the other device acts as a sextant (if I'm thinking of the right thing), a locating device, that allows the asteroid deflector to increase its range and power beyond deflecting asteroids. We'll say it's the size of a small toolbox and it connects inside the deflector control panel. The IKS does everything from Eta 131.

I figure Eta 131 is protected by a few IKS warships, the Amerinds are held captive in pens, and a decent size armed party is protecting the deflector. The players have to run the gambit, save the indians, and prevent the bad guys from crashing the moon into Qo'nos before it's too late.

I suppose you could alter the IKS motives: Maybe crashing the Earth' moon would suit their purposes better. Or maybe Romulus into Remus. Figure they'll only have one shot at it, because Klingon forces that far into Federation space are bound to be noticed.

Thanks!
J

[Capt. K. Vaughn]

Okay. I thought you might be aiming at having them hijack the planet but was not totally sure...you could end up with a chase scene similar to the one in the module, "A Return To Axanar" that FASA published.

Regards,
CKV.