Narrator In Need: Help me develop my second season

[Joe Dizzy]

Hello.

I'm planning to run a second season to my NX-01 campaign soon, and if you don't mind I'd like to bounce some ideas off of you here.
(Ripley, in case you are reading this.. I have to ask you not to and to avoid this thread. )

First some background information:
It's the NX-era, whatever year... in my game FutureGuy and the whole Temporal War don't exist. So instead of the events of "Broken Bow" propelling Archer and his crew into space, the Vulcans managed to postpone the start of the first human Warp-5 ship for a couple of years, and thus an entirely different crew (the PCs) was sent out on the Enterprise.
The Vulcans are a little more hands-on in my game. So the first mission of the Enterprise consisted of them exploring territories the Vulcans had considered "safe", i.e. following in the footsteps of the Vulcan space exploration.
The season ended with the first two casualties on Enterprise, one of them the Vulcan science officer.
After that Enterprise was called back to Earth. As the crew arrives, they are informed by Starfleet that Vulcan has removed all of its representatives from Earth and have retracted all their technological, scientific help and support from the Space Program (including maps of chartered space, information on known species near Earth, etc.).
The space exploration program has been put on hold indefinitely.

The second season will consist of only 5 sessions and I have a few things in mind for it.

Session 1 will be the re-introduction of the crew to the Enterprise and their new mission. Earth has established trade routes to its colonies and a few alien homeworlds along the way, but recently there have been attacks on freighter ships and traders. The Enterprise will have to deal with these space pirates.
I'm toying with the idea of having the Orion Syndicate responsible for it.

Session 2 will take place a few months later. Earth has decided to build the first deep space station near those trade routes. Enterprise along with two brand-new Warp 5 ships (Dauntless and "nameless-as-of-yet") will have to make sure it gets build and not sabotaged by forces not interested in secure trade routes. (like whoever was left from session 1)

Session 3. Deep Space One has been build and is working. Trade routes are more or less safe. It is time to have a closer look at the alien homeworlds the colonists and traders have made contact with.
I'd like this to be the pre-Prime-Directive episode. But I can't think of a plot hook to get things going.
I'm also toying with the idea of having one of the planets with which the colonists have been in contact with be associated to the Andorians. Maybe even introduce the Andorians this way.

Session 4 & 5. I have only very vague ideas for the end yet. What I want to include are some kind of attempt to reconcile with the Vulcans who have apparently severed all ties to other species in the Quadrant.
The reason being that they have information that an alien species plans to conquer Vulcan and all its allies. Instead of wasting time and resources dealing with aliens, they are preparing for war. The episode should tie up whatever loose ends have piled up during the first few sessions and end with a cliffhanger.
Something cool like:
"They are coming..." (cue dramatic music)

You can probably guess who "they" are.

What I need are some plot ideas, plot-twists etc. anything to give the episodes some shape. I usually improvise 90% of the game when I GM, but since I have a definite time limit here, I'd feel better if I had some kind of plan I could steer towards. Especially the last three episodes are very vague.

Any suggestions, tips even.. criticism.. (but not too much ) would be very much appreciated.

Joe

[tmutant]

I wish I lived in Germany so I could play in your game.

I guess Romulans.

Perhaps have the PC's have a run in with the mysterious aliens, gaining information vital to the defense of Vulcan. The Vulcans may then reconsider their withdrawal, as the importance of allies is made clear. Nice little morality play, in the tradition of TOS. Also leads towards Federation.

[Morticutor_UK]

dude, I like...

Here's an idea I was going to use - two planets, either nearby or in the same system, each with a different species. One is tall, skinny and fairly physically weak (but maybe capable of psychic projections as camouflage). The others are built like GW Space Marines. The weak ones are using the strong ones as warriors to protect them in their local wars (and have encouraged them to construct a small Empire) by appearing to them as gods. The Crew meet the warrior race first and only meet the second race when they come to 'escort' them away from their dirty secret.

Essentially the Games Workshoip thing of religious warriors (teh Legionnaires Astartes) Space Marine thing, the use of religion to create armies, (the Hashishim, Crusades, ad infinitum), the conflict of the provision of an armed force to another species for varous favours (the armies like Spoo, only found on the other species' world? and the weaker race is using them to grab power, or beat of some threat (the Borg, maybe, or someone equally harsh if you want to muddy those moral waters a little and up the survival stakes - how desperate would you get?

Anyhow, just a thought.

[Morticutor_UK]

Ok, i just read my post and it's a little incoherent. And badly spelt. Below is a spoiler, so players turn away now to your Goatsin Bondage site, or whatever







Basically, what was on my mind was the question of exploitation and what level of exploitation is morally acceptable.

The story works on a number of levels as below


The Crew meet the warrior race, perhaps while exploring. At this point they seem paranoid and violent.

Then the other race steps in, realising that the Crew are intelligent, not harmful, whatever makes them step in. As the Crew maybe find out more through discourse, maybe, or observation, maybe they're allowed to pass through their space and suffer a talkative Sargeant. At this point they realise that the warriors are bound in service through trickery.

Naturally they want to do something, but the other race steps back in (maybe in a face-off over the administrator's desk) and points out that their exploitation is necessary to unite local worlds (and their resources) and fend off the Big Gribbly X. Again, another little twist, to get those Prime Directive muscles working...

I know I'm being vague here, but I'm trying to leave space for personal variation...

ANyhow, whdaaya think?

[tmutant]

Hey Joe, how's it going? Still need help, or is everything working out?

[Dan Gurden]

Session 1 will be the re-introduction of the crew to the Enterprise and their new mission. Earth has established trade routes to its colonies and a few alien homeworlds along the way, but recently there have been attacks on freighter ships and traders. The Enterprise will have to deal with these space pirates.

OK, so you want Orions. Thats a good link. Perhaps you can help build the close of the season by having one of the freighters (or the episode focus) be a Vulcan freighter, thus allowing humans to aid the Vulcans and build a good contact?

Session 2 will take place a few months later. Earth has decided to build the first deep space station near those trade routes. Enterprise along with two brand-new Warp 5 ships (Dauntless and "nameless-as-of-yet") will have to make sure it gets build and not sabotaged by forces not interested in secure trade routes. (like whoever was left from session 1)

This is easy. As the most experienced ship out there, the crew is broken up to crew these other new ships... Name the third Eros, and let it be destroyed doing omething heroic (metaphorically flying too close to the sun - that was Eros wasn't it?) thus when the reshuffle comes those players that want new PC's can swiych and theres still justification to bring attached characters back...

ession 3. Deep Space One has been build and is working. Trade routes are more or less safe. It is time to have a closer look at the alien homeworlds the colonists and traders have made contact with.
I'd like this to be the pre-Prime-Directive episode. But I can't think of a plot hook to get things going.
I'm also toying with the idea of having one of the planets with which the colonists have been in contact with be associated to the Andorians. Maybe even introduce the Andorians this way.

OK, pre-Prime Directive... Well at that point Starbases are far less autonomous than later tech allows, and so it is constructed in orbit of a friendly planet. However its construction has led a subversive element to believe that they are now under occupation (put the DS9/Terek Nor boot on the other foot). On investigation this elements seem to be influenced by an outside element theselves (possibly the Romulans in disguise - thus tied into the finale)...

But during the mission, while events will leave the situation in a good place, as all stand-alone episodes should, events should help guide the definition of the Prime Directive, ie; in this case a hands on intervention in events on the planet for its strategic location for the Starbase...

And of course the agent should manage to escape by the skin of his teeth, leading to...

Session 4 & 5. I have only very vague ideas for the end yet. What I want to include are some kind of attempt to reconcile with the Vulcans who have apparently severed all ties to other species in the Quadrant.
The reason being that they have information that an alien species plans to conquer Vulcan and all its allies. Instead of wasting time and resources dealing with aliens, they are preparing for war. The episode should tie up whatever loose ends have piled up during the first few sessions and end with a cliffhanger.
Something cool like:
"They are coming..." (cue dramatic music)

OK, so for some reason they need to get that message. Maybe chasing the unknown agent from episode 3 they track the agent to the talks that are occuring between Earth and Vulcan. There they have to foil the plot that would assasinate several key diplomats and implicate the other side (thus sparking a war)... the Romulan agent is no longer in disguise, as he is now able to pose as a Vulcan...

Foiling the plot and stopping (actually force them to kill him to preserve continuity - shouldn't be difficult, simply engineer a 'him or thousands of lives situation) this gives two seperate focuses for the episodes... and gives them a moral dilemma with he death of the agent. leaving a comms Terminal and an incoming signal from X coordinates...

"Forces are in place, ensure all operations are prepared. they are coming..."

And there is your cliff-hanger...

[Joe Dizzy]

I was busy the last couple of days doing some work on presentations and the like for my courses at Uni.

Now that I have a couple of days of free time I'll go over my notes again and will probably include most of what was suggested, in one way or another.

So thanks a lot. The game won't get started for some time, so keep those ideas coming. I'll post an improved outline of the season soon.

Joe

[Lancer]

Originally posted by Dan Gurden
This is easy. As the most experienced ship out there, the crew is broken up to crew these other new ships... Name the third Eros, and let it be destroyed doing omething heroic (metaphorically flying too close to the sun - that was Eros wasn't it?)

It was Icarus, son of Daedalus.
Eros is another name of Cupid, god of love, son of Venus (at least according to my copy of Bulfinch's "Myth & Legend").

Why not name the 3rd NX-class ship Intrepid or Excelsior?


As for a pre-PD idea, IMHO there isn't much difference to an adventure being pre-PD or post-PD. What counts is that you show the players the consequences of their actions. If they broke some rules isn't that important if they managed to plunge a planet into global warfare.

If you are short on ideas try the one I am running in my game now:
Escape pod from a freighter makes planetfall on a world that has about the same technology as Earth ca. 1870-1900. There are several nations, many of them with a heavy-handed military pulling the strings. Crew is assigned to retrieve the escape pod and the crewman who was in it as quietly as possible.
They find the landing site of the pod (near a large city), but neither the pod nor the freighter crewman are there anymore. The site is in a mountaineous region with lots of technobabble-ore that is mined by the natives but scrambles scans, so they have to search the city the "old fashioned way".
When they find the pod and the pilot both are in the hands of a guy who tries to unravel the technology of the escape pod to start a revolutiuon against the oppressive military.

How do the players react? That's up to them of course, but the (IMO) important thing is to revisit the same planet some time later and show them the consequences of their actions. If they acted in a clever and stealthy way the consequences should be more or less positive, but if they messed things up there should be either a bloody civil war or an equally bloody oppression of the revolutionaries.

However it ends, at the end of any pre-PD adventure with a "primitive" culture the result should be something that makes everyone think:
(A) We need something like the Prime Directive right now or
(B) some of the things we did should become standard procedure, hey why not call it "Prime Directive" or somesuch.

[Joe Dizzy]

Thanks for the answers. This is my slightly re-worked season outline. I'm just writing down the essentials of the episodes. Now all I need is a good plot hook for the finale and I'm ready to go.

Session 1 -
Attacks on freighters. Crew is send to investigate. It turns out a number of ships attemt to bully human freighters into giving up their businesses. Classic western set-up. Meaning the Orions won't back down without a fight. Should satisfy the old-schoolers among my gaming group.

Session 2 -
Construction on Deep Space One has begun. There are rumours that somebody will attempt to sabotage and possibly destroy the station before it can be brought on-line. The captain of the Enterprise will be in charge of defending and securing the Station, with the Dauntless and the Intrepid under his command. This obviously calls for a low-profile operation to stop the sabotage. The crew will find themselves at odds with the captain of the Intrepid who advocates a more aggressive and pro-active stance (i.e. attacking the Orions before they can attack DS-1) to intimidate whoever might be out to harm Starfleet.
The investigation will reveal that the saboteurs are in fact former members of the Orion Syndicate, who'll get killed by their own people as a message to Starfleet that the Syndicate had no interest in meddling in human affairs in this area.
While I like the idea of having a ship go out in a blaze of glory, I think it's too early for that. I might use it in the finale.

Session 3 - The PD-problem will probably tie back into session 1. One of the repercussions of the conflicts between Orions and Freighters has led to a radicalization of a planet's society, who prior to having contact with the merchants considered themselves to be alone in the universe. Now that they've realized that the Universe can be a pretty dangerous place, the gov't has gone all out paranoid and is arming itself with everything they can get their hands on.
This of course upsets the neighbouring planets in the area, who start buying weapons as well, thereby starting an arms race. The crew has to try to stop this development, before an interplanetary war breaks out.

Session 4 & 5
I'm sticking with the ending.
The Vulcans are preparing for war and haven't told anybody. Since they expect to be the only ones under attack by the "unnamed romulans", it would have been illogical to pull others into the conflict via alliances.
The problem with this set-up is that there's no real reason why the crew should think otherwise and insist on fighting alongside the Vulcans.


Comments? Suggestions?

Joe

[Dan Gurden]

Originally posted by Joe Dizzy

The problem with this set-up is that there's no real reason why the crew should think otherwise and insist on fighting alongside the Vulcans.


Comments? Suggestions?

Joe

As you say. This is the serious problem and you cannot simply railroad your players into this, the suggestion should come from them... So what you need to do is to cause the group to sympathise with the Vulcan cause...

Or maybe with just one Vulcan/Crew.

You need an episode where they can work alongside and get to know a Vulcan crew, working well and complimenting each others abilities. So that when your cliff-hanger episode opens you can have them coming to the aid of an SOS beacon from their Vulcan friend, thus getting involved and saving the day against the initial wave of Romulan scout-ships.

This puts your crew in the middle of things, and in the loop for what the Romulans are likely to do. As well as offer an explanation as to why the Vulcans did not want to force this alliance.

Of course the Romulans are far less obliging, the crew and Starfleet are now involved. Like it or not. Now the crew have both an imperative, a vested interest and even orders from the Leaders of Earth as they get involved.

All because they came to the aid of their Vulcan friends.

Without adding a reason for the crew to support the Vuilcans, dont be surprised if, when told the Vulcans dont want help, your crew agree and fly off, to destroy 30 years of canon Trek universe... Besides, the alliance and Federation has to start somewhere. And as you are creating your own non-canon background to support the later trek, why not here with your own crew?

[tmutant]

You could try a dry, political approach. A threat to Vulcan may well be a threat to the entire sector. Better to help the devil you know than risk the devil you don't.

[Joe Dizzy]

@Dan - This sounds like a good way around the motivation problem, but I want to use Romulans very sparingly, i.e. only hint at them in a very general non-descriptive way.
While the players might suspect the Romulans behind this coming attack, I want to play up the unknown and unseen aspect of the war with the Romulans.

I really want to build up a sense of impending doom, without establishing what the unknown enemy is actually capable of. I want the Rommies to be this looming, inscrutable menace that strikes fear into people by sheer mention of their name.

I think that's what I'll go with. Maybe the Romulans try to destabilize the Alpha Quadrant via psychological warfare. If all major players are so scared and paranoid that they alienate one another and can't work together, the Rommies will have an easier time just picking them up one after another. "Divide & Conquer" - if that's not classic Romulan warfare, I don't know what is.
The only way to avoid the Conquest of the AQ is by sticking together, this way one could even explain why the humans of all people are so esssential to forming the Federation.

Now.. how to scare the inhabitants of the AQ out of their minds, without them catching on that they're being manipulated?

[Liz Not Beth]

This message has been removed on request by the
poster

[Dan Stack]

How to scare the AQ folks out of their minds without them knowing the Romulans are involved... Have the Romulans secretly intervene in low-level conflicts between AQ species.

For example, suppose the Andorians and Vulcans are having a big dispute over mining rights and the Andorians swear there will be a reckoning. The next day a cloaked Romulan ship destroys a Vulcan freighter.

Humans set up a scientific outpost against Vulcan advice. The next day the outpost goes boom. Destroyed by Tal Shiar agents. Be neat if one of them gets spotted just before escaping...

Stuff like that is what I would go with.

[Joe Dizzy]

I don't know. I think random acts of violence and unexplained attacks will most likely frustrate and anger the various species in the AQ, pitting them against each other. Thus turning the Enterprise's mission into a simple diplomatic one; acting as mediators between opposing forces.

But what I'm going for is fear. This idea of crippling despair that has to be overcome in order to succeed against the Rommies. The crew would have to unite the various species, or at least convince them to fight instead of accepting their conquest by the Rommies as inevitable.

I want the humans, and in this case the Enterprise, to play a pivotal role in organizing some form of resistance, and by doing so laying the basis for a United Federation of Planets.

If you've seen Firefly, the Reavers are what I'm going for. In Firefly everybody is scared of Reavers. We never see them actually do anything, but the Reavers are the darkest and scariest kind of horror to the characters.

How do I explain or create this kind of fear and escalating paranoia in the various species in the AQ?

Joe
"It's all in the mind, you know?"