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Thread: Higher-Powered Beings.

  1. #1
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    Higher-Powered Beings.

    Given a discussion in another thread prompted me to start wondering how often various uber-beings or races show up in everyone's campaigns.

    In the twenty years I have been running Star Trek RPGs, I have used the Organians once, the Borg actively twice both times being significant end points for each campaign, the Q once and the Pah-wraiths and Prophets once.

    How about the rest of you?

    Regards,
    CKV.

  2. #2
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    What about Apollo? Or the aliens from Catspaw? Or what about Daouwd? Or those golden guys who pitted Kirk against the Gorn captain?

    Basically, to answer your question though, I use them as a form of "sentient scenery." They don't really have stats applied to them are not completely infallible (ego and arrogance are wonderful weaknesses even if they are cliche), each race has its own motives on a species and individual level, and finally, they are often used only to refelct back what the crew is.

    So I consider the uber-sentients to be mirrors of the human condition, pointing out the foibles and strengths of humanity (Vogonity?) only to be "thwarted" by those very strengths and weaknesses faced head on that defeat the uber-sentient.

  3. #3
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    I want to use Species 8472. I am not sure why but I have a certain infatuation with them. Possibly the concept of fluidic space. I just don't know.

  4. #4
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    Originally posted by Trinity Zeldis
    What about Apollo? Or the aliens from Catspaw? Or what about Daouwd? Or those golden guys who pitted Kirk against the Gorn captain?
    Those apply as well to this discussion. I have never used any of the above myself though I consider them among the better uses for uber-beings seen in Trek as they show up essentially once and are done.

    Regards,
    CKV.

  5. #5
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    Originally posted by Trinity Zeldis
    What about Apollo?
    Apollo...and other Greek deities, will be turning up in out series in the not too distant future. The characters will be trailing the missing expedition of Caroline Palamas, who with her son went serching for Apollo. Starfleet has tried to hold the boy for study, but they managed to slip out.
    "War is an ugly thing but not the ugliest of things; the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feelings which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."

    John Stuart Mill

  6. #6
    Originally posted by Lt Cmdr Matt
    I want to use Species 8472. I am not sure why but I have a certain infatuation with them. Possibly the concept of fluidic space. I just don't know.
    Watch this space...

    Amongst the species I am writing for ICON in my Psionics sourcebook are base levels for Species 8472, as well as Medusans, etc.

    Unfortunatly, this is not going to be a Player Species. But as a CODA player, you will probably get more from the collected information, interpretation and plot seeds than the stats anyway!
    DanG/Darth Gurden
    The Voice of Reason and Sith Lord

    “Putting the FUNK! back into Dysfunctional!”

    Coming soon. The USS Ganymede NCC-80107
    "Ad astrae per scientia" (To the stars through knowledge)

  7. #7
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    Medusans as NPC's?

    Does anyone remember what FASA said happened to the Medusans for TNG?

    They were supposedly put in that overhead dome of the bridge (if you look carefully, you can see it).

    But then Counsellors were supposedly to keep an eye on the burgeoning self awareness of the ship's AI.

  8. #8
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    I too am working on an 8472 sourcebook...for CODA though.

  9. #9
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    I created a race that i called Titans, which I drew from the pages of the Palladium RPG. I tweaked them and made them highly psionic and gave them this high tech armor that gave them other abilities equal to a small ship. Of course they couldn't go to warp and stuff, but they could do a decent impulse speed. I gave them the names of the ancient gods of the Greek and Roman Pantheon so that I could connect them with Apollo. They were a wonderful plot device. I made them very helpful and kind. They had been helping two other races keep the lid on an interstellar evil that finally gets free. Once the players had made friends the great enemy broke free and destroyed the Titans homeworld in a suprise attack that decimated all but one of the giants. His name was Ares.
    Like anyone is actually reading this.

  10. #10
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    I've used Q (the John DeLancie one) once in my USS Dauntless campaign. In line with the character in the TV series I used him primarily as a means of moving the scenario forward, while at the same time using him as a great comic outlet - my PC Captain quickly adopted a Picard-like relationship with him (especially after Q's comments about Starfleet sending its "second string" crew to investigate).

    Oh, Trinity - the 'golden guys' you mentioned in you post were the Metrons.

  11. #11
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    Thank you Hadley.

  12. #12
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    With the proliferation of all these uber beings, has anyone considered the possibility that they are all one and the same?

    Only ever one at a time is interacted with. You don't see Q showing up with Douwd. You don't see a Metron having tea with an Organian.

    True you do see many of one, but never more than one race. And if the beings are that uber powerful, what if it is still just one being dividing perceptions and going a bit MPD? Squire of Gothos actually seems to fit this bill.

  13. #13
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    It could be TZ but I think I would keep them separate and use them sparingly, if at all.

    It would explain the Q though.

    Regards,
    CKV.

  14. #14
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    I tend to view them as separate beings (not pieces of a single being), although that is certainly an interesting theory.

    I also assume there simply aren't that many of them. Organians -- there could be a few dozen. Q -- we've never seen more than a few dozen (and that only once). We've only seen one Metron. Only three of whatever race Trelane belonged to. And so forth.

    I further assume most of them spend time elsewhen/elsewhere from this universe. Spock stated that the Guardian of Forever was a time portal, and it acknowledged that function, but qualified it by saying that it was "as correct as possible -- for you". This suggests that there are levels of reality Federation science does not even suspect, much less understand. Powerful beings might find these to be frontiers, and might spend time there.

    They might also contend with each other, or with threats that transact at their power levels. This would keep them too busy to interfere with "lower creatures" (i.e. humans) except occasionally.

  15. #15
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    Well, Organia had a few thousand, but otherwise, you're right.

    Do we bother with every little dog fight, or monkey we find?

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