I need some useless news

[C5]

Time for me to tap into the collective creativity of this forum...

My ST RPG games are about to restart now that we've switched to CODA, and I'm about to start a rather ambitious campaign of mine (I may post more details later if it turns out good).
I intend to start every game session or mission by handing them a list of news, relative to their department (for instance the discovery of a new vaccine for the Medical Officer, the name of a wanted criminal for the Security Officer, etc). Of course, hidden amongst them will be some clues about the ongoing mission (and more...).

What I need are just ideas of the type of news I could use, and maybe some sample news, to avoid having my Medical Officer learn that a new vaccine is discovered every week, since so far I'm lacking a bit of variety in my ideas. I guess this could also be useful for other GMs.
My players are Medical, Science, Security, and Flight Control (and the game happens in 2369).

Thanks in advance for the ideas (and comments)!

[BouncyCaitian]

The Newsies my Players Read are the Olive Branch (Starfleet News Site), VIN (Vulcan InfoNet), and the Stations Local news publication (The Falling Star) (A Deliberate pun on the Stations Unoffical Designation 'Mir'.

Medical news: Outbreak of (insert your favortite Viron here) or Safety updates or articles on Chemical/Biologicals that are recently discovered or used by Enemy empires.

Security: Latest security techniques, Security breifings or concerns about various species, as well as infobop on what not to do with certain species, weapons, drugs, and other things that are lucrative for the criminal element.

Command: Staffing changes, various symposiums and speeches to be given. Command techniques and other beauracratic rubbish. Political infobop from various planets to keep those comamnders apprised of what they might be running into.

Science: Random tech and science updates, comparisons of various enginnering and science packages for general use.

[Tobian]

Hey you could always resurect 'a briefing with Nelix' LOL

that sounds like the kind of thing that I'd try and do, then fail because it's mind numbingly hard to make reams of trivia out of your head.

it might be more pointed to draw up articles that the crew can 'research' when they are looking for anomolous pieces of information, and have the computer churn them up at them. This goes slightly against what they show youcan do on the Startrek show (since the computer will usually write you a report and put a ribon on it) but it can add that 'investigation' element you are looking for.

Pehraps you are looking at it all wrong too. perhaps you can make up a news sheet, where every signle story is actually embedded clues BUT not all for that adventure.. So basically each week they get a sheet, and they have to backtrack through them every time and check to see if they have some information on it in the old sheets.

EG: "The E909 deep space probe has picked up an emergent prewarp curlture testing it's warp drive in the lambda Pi 991 sector. The USS gryphon has been sent to investigate this previously un-noticed species"

Then next week you write, "The Klingon War lord Chu'mta has escaped the Rura Penthe prison facility (Picture included) and was last seen heading for the lamda Pi 994 sector. Stafleet officers have been asked by the klingons to watch for the Rogue as he is a highly dangerous Tyrant and has strayed in to Federation space"

Neither of these stories have ANYTHING to do with their current mission but...

Then 3 weeks later you tell your players they are going to investigate the dissapearance of the USS Gryphon...

Then they may notice a pattern, if they read them!

[Sea Tyger]

Other medical things would include new techniques for wound regeneration, controversial new surgical techniques, physiological reports for newly discovered species, etc.

[StyroFoam Man]

This message has been removed on request by the
poster

[Balok]

Generally:

<strong>For medical officers:</strong>

Outbreaks of illness. Unusual illness. Discovery of new medicines (including vaccines). Reports of treatments not effective on certain races. DNA studies of new races; effective pharamcology of new races. New drug interactions. New treatment protocols.


<strong>For engineers:</strong>

Variant approaches to solving common problems. New system modifications. New tools. Old tools used new ways. Technical observations of allies/enemies (things to expect in battle or when interacting). Life support modifications necessary for new races. Equipment protection necessary from new races.


<strong>For command:</strong>

New tactical/strategic studies. New tactical/strategic observations of friends/enemies. New leadership ideas. New diplomatic initiatives. Failed diplomatic initiatives.


<strong>For security:</strong>

New tactics. Tactical observations of threat races. New wanted individuals. Captured wanted individuals. Legal updates. Legal considerations when dealing with newly discovered races.


<strong>For any:</strong>

Proceedings from professional conferences. Announcements of discoveries in related fields. Announcements of disasters in related fields. Entertainment news (flagged according to interest) -- which could be new holoprograms, new books, new music. Discoveries of new cultures. Updates on old cultures.


Much of this information, of course, would be downloaded into the computer automatically during the periodic update -- but your officers have probably "flagged" the computer to feed them items of interest to their profession. And, of course, there could be some overlap between professions.

I don't know if you were looking for general help, which this is, or specific items. If the latter, post again and I'll try to make some up...

[Setvenharis]

How about creating a thread.....or use this one and invite people to post "news reports" so we can use them as and when we see fit?

It'll be a great play aid

[Sarge]

The Winter Olympics of 2368 are all but over. Tonight will see the final medals being awarded, followed by the closing ceremonies.
The Andorians, hosting the games on their homeworld, have a record-breaking runaway lead in points and are now completely uncatchable. Most of the planet is celebrating their victory with typical Andorian passion. Traffic is at a standstill in most major cities as citizens join for parties in the streets. Workers at the orbital spacedocks poured in on their off-shifts, and Starfleet personnel were amazed to discover that the Andorians had painted the USS Bonaventure blue overnight.

[Arnold Rimmer]

1. Try to find a copy of the PC game Tachyon: The Fringe. Not only is it a great space shooter, but there is always news posted at the stations you visit. Some useful, some useless.

2. Give them useless news, i.e. the "Ramming Ships" course by Troi. If you make it sound like it might be useful, it will keep your players guessing as to what's usefull and what's not. Just like real life.

[toadmage]

Federation News Network

The Vulcan Sceince Vessel reported the discovery of several robotic outposts in the Loin Six Star System . The factories were scanned at long range do to the present of 50 ships in orbit over the outposts. The Vulcan Sciene Vessel Shawtria reported no life forms , no warp cores and only “J” class planets around the blue star .

[C5]

Thanks all of you for the input, guys! All of this is quite helpful!

Tobian: Actually, I already had in mind the idea of having the news form a pattern - or more specifically, slowly drive attentive players to some ideas (for instance, a news report about a possible spy in StarFleet science division, then another one a few week later about a threat to Utopia Planitia, then some time later again the players learn their science officer will leave the ship for Utopia Planitia...). But I still want to have useless news with that, just to confuse the players (and I can still resurrect an useless news in a later scenario). And I'm ready to provide info to the players when they look for it, but right now I want them to have all of this without asking.

Setvenharis: This was what I had in mind when creating this thread. I guess I'm not the only one needing such ideas.

Sarge: Nice one, I really hadn't thought about sport news. Including some news related to the players hobbies can be interesting too ("Climbers : never forget your handy Vulcan friend with anti grav boots when climbing").

All the others : Thanks again, there are very useful advices and ideas here. Keep 'em coming!!

Oh, and just to contribute a bit to the topic itself: amongst the news can also be info tied to events from the shows - like a report from Doctor Bashir about Founder physiology, or a Federation-wide warning from Captain Picard about a new threat discovered in the Delta Quadrant...

[Tobian]

Some amusing samples

Well if anything, in the context of story threads, you can just add them as need be. It could be that everything you write about is actually just fluff and full of red herrings, but then you might like to expand on a story and use it as the basis, so you add a follow up story and voila you have a rather nifty continuity.

Of course, if your players are based in and around a Starbase, then you can reflect the local news. Give them a flavour of what's going on in that sector, and even have news stories based on what they did a few weeks ago, (which handilly can serve as a nice synopses of what they've been doing) - that way you can focus more on local issues than try and come up with something describing the WHOLE Federation and surrounding areas. Also, if you do that then the red herrings are all the more fun, because of course they are so close to the real thing it makes it harder to work out which is and which isn't.. after all if it's describing something on the oposite side of the federation and something 2 sectors away, then the players already have a clue !