Ship Logs - Additional...

[Dan Gurden]

... Or how to integrate stuff from other Sci-Fi.


I know that many of us use bits and pieces from accross the sci-fi genre, and utilise these elements outside of their own canon. This thread is a nice lpace to start including and discussing these ideas and concepts and 'trekking' them.

Rather than using stats and game systems, this would be better served as a more generic concept and description, and futrther input between us can focus them to better serve the Trek universe. Individual Narrators can apply stats as required for their own game and system.

[Dan Gurden]

... Allow me to present a concept I like from 'Firefly', slightly adapted for Trek;

Reavers.

Over the centuries, literally thousands of Spacefaring cultures lost their explorers to the cause of scientific advancement. Some of these brave pioneers died in accidents or simply to pursue the boundaries of their knowledge, their noble sacrifices helping advance the cause of space exploration. Others were far less lucky. Everybody acknowledges that space is dangerous, that even a minor occurance can have repurcussions that ripple outward and affect a mission, and just because modern science is better capable to detect and avoid some of these threats, does not mean that they were not there before their discovery...

And the will to survive at any cost can be a powerful driving force.

Not all Space Explorers were killed when they were lost, a very small few were scattered, either by malfunctioning Drive Systems, Wormholes, Sub-Space anomaly... All these things, and more, have proven a threat to a top of the line Starfleet Vessel, and Starfleets past is littered with ships lost, never to be heard from again. Only a few have been rediscovered over the centuries, and the disappearances solved. But a few, a small few remain lost, their fates unknown, this is equally true of all the other Spacefaring cultures.

Rumours exist on the frontier that some of these 'lost explorers' have formed their own culture, gathering in small tribes and doing anything they can to survive, these rumours are only a recent phenomenon, either indicating a collective paranioa on the frontline or indicating that several small groups have only recently returned to known space. But these rumours are terrifying. Telling of Bestial creatures, barely sentient, falling on small colonies like a plague of locusts, destroying, raping and devouring everything in sight. Arriving in cobbled together ships, built from wrecks of ages past, they fall upon a colony murdering many, taking a few... Some say they have witnessed the aftermath, but none claim to have survived an attack...

Upon the frontier, their name is whispered in fear... Reavers.

[Sarge]

"They'll rape us to death, they'll eat our flesh, and they'll sew our skin into their clothing. And if we're very very lucky, they'll do it in that order."

I've thought about using Reavers, too. If they're described right, they could be terrifying.

[Dan Gurden]

Thats pretty much the idea... But what seems to occur to me is that its like the Voyager B-squad. Lost in space for decades or centuries even, and only recently returning to known space, driven by the same order that started their journey...

With all semblance of civilisation gone, they would be a particularly nasty adversary. But conversly a good one for an RPG session.

After all, with little more than animal instinct and a desire to cause pain, even Starfleet would have to adopt far stronger tactics against them. the use of 'Phasers on Stun' and disabling warp drives would be rather irrelevant... Forcing Starfleet officers to set phasers to kill and take stronger actions (which should be against all Starfleet indoctrination, but be a last ditch option), and thus offer plenty of andst-ridden roleplay resulting from that!

Although I can imagine several RPG groups from my own experience that might consider that a lighter game session with low body-count!

They would however suit perfectly in a Klingon campaign, a nice re-occuring adversay that your warriors can cut loose Bat'Leths on... (semi-pun intended).

And in the longer run, their past can be revealed, and perhaps tentative steps taken to help them, after all, their background leaves them a sympathetic option, after all its not their fault they are what they became...