Star Trek Adventure

[Water Bob]

I recently bought the entire DC Star Trek series from a comics dealer. I bought them in single issues because I've heard how good they are from other Trek fans, and I'm tired of waiting for DC or IDW or some other publisher to re-publish and re-master the entire series.


So, now, I don't have to wait any more.


There are two series from DC. Both have been touted to me as being "good", but I understand the second series is supposed to be some of the best Trek ever written (in any form). I can't comment on that as I bought the first series. I figure, I'll read these 56 issues then I'll go and get the second series.


Bam! Right there with my reading of the first issue, I knew I had not wasted my money. THIS TRULY IS SOME GOOD TREK.


And, my GM eyes began to glow. The first story, spanning a couple of issues, would make a fantastic, action-filled basis for some Star Trek gaming. So, what I'm going to do is write a sparse outline of the major events in the story. You imaginative GMs out there can take what I write and make it your own, customized for your particular Star Trek lovin' roleplaying group.


This DC comic series is set right after the events depicted in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, but I don't see any reason why this adventure could not be used with just about any era of Trek. GMs, pick your favorite Trek flavor--from the old series (my favorite), to the Next Generation, the Captain Archer/Enterprise era, or even in the new movie universe--and have yourselves a grand old Trek time of it.


Ruleset? Use whatever you want. The FASA rules or some of the later Trek edition game rules--or use some conversion from your favorite system. YOU are going to be taking the outline, altering it, adding to it, creating something different and unique out of it, by harnessing your own GM creativity. This should be like you creating your own adventure from scratch--with just a little bit of help (that you can disregard with a snap of your fingers).


The format of the adventure is, of course, set around the USS Enterprise and her famous crew (sans Spock, as he has just died in TWoK), but you, as GM, need no heed this story type. This adventure can be extremely flexible. Your players can be members of Section 31 or Starfleet Military Operations, for example. And, you can make the main characters as crewers on any size of ship, from the flagship Constitution class cruisers to the small Archer class scouts (crew of 14).


You are the GM. Design the game for maximum enjoyment by yourself and your friends.


Many times, in rpgs, players play only one character. That can be done with this adventure, easily. But, when I used to run the FASA Trek game back in the day, I learned to give each player two or three characters. I'd give each player a "main character," which would be his character if he only played a single PC. Typically, this character is one of the Department Heads on the ship (the Captain, First Officer, Science Officer, Chief Engineer, Security Chief, Communications Officer, Helmsman, Navigator, or Chief Medical Officer).


For a players' secondary character, I'd give out important characters that were not taken the first time around. For example, if I had three players, where one was playing the Captain, another was playing the Helmsman, and the third was playing the Security Chief as their main characters, then I'd allow the secondary characters to be some of the other department heads. It's not necessary to make sure each position is covered. All you need is the ones that the GM thinks is important to the adventure.


As a general rule, I'd try to give each player a character that will not be in the same place as his other characters. The whole idea of assigning different characters is to be able to cut back and forth between situations and keep all of your players interested and participating in the game all of the time.


For example, there is a part in the upcoming adventure that I am going to outline for you where the Enterprise is damaged while and Away Team is elsewhere, off the ship. The main action happens with the Away Team, but the GM can cut back to the ship from time to time and see how the other characters are getting along fixing the ship's destroyed systems. Sometimes, action takes place on both fronts, and it can be quite fun to play a bit with the Away Team, then cut to the ship to see how it is faring in the space battle.


Players may also get NPCs assigned to them to play. For example, let's say the Captain character calls for the First Officer and the Medical Officer to join him on an Away Mission, with two or three Security Guards along as well. As GM, I would generate the Security Guards and give one to each of my three players. This breaks my rule of not allowing a player to have more than one character to play in a scene, but sometimes that rule cannot be helped. Besides, the three Security Guards are usually quiet and do not participate as much in the plot. In this circumstance, I would focus on the players playing their main characters, and only when it is logical and necessary do the Security personnel have any input. Typically, the redshirts stand in the background taking sensor readings or stand in one spot guarding something the Captain has ordered protected.


If you are not used to players playing more than one character, then go the usual way by only allowing players to play one character. You can run any other necessary characters as NPCs. Just try to make sure you don't spend too much time away from a player who is not involved in the action. For example, if the Helmsman is in charge of the ship while the Captain is away, make sure you have enough for the Helmsman to do to keep that player interested. Most likely, all of your players will want to be members of the Away Team, leaving you to play the people left aboard the ship as needed.


It can be quite rewarding, though, to play the game with one player playing multiple characters. And, as long as you keep the Command power balanced (don't allow one player to play the Captain, First Officer, and the Helmsman), and try to keep players playing only one of his characters at a time (with the rest "off camera"), you'll probably have a blast running the game with cutting from action scene to action scene, just like the Trek shows.

 

[Water Bob]

-- A Star Trek Adventure --






IDEA: The story in the comic opens after the Enterprise, fresh from her encounter with Khan and the Reliant, returning to Earth. Kirk is at Starfleet Headquarters, meeting with Starfleet Grand Admiral Stephen Turner, where Kirk convinces the head of Starfleet to return to him the command of the Enterprise.


If you are starting a new Trek game--possibly even a campaign--your first scene might be along the same lines. Crafty GMs can turn this into a roleplaying encounter, maybe including social persuasion rolls, where the PC Captain is trying to convince the Grand Admiral to get his first command. Or, maybe the Captain is attempting to step up and gain command of a Constitution class for the first time. Or, maybe, the GM just wants to gloss over all of this and use this scene to introduce the player characters to each other.


Maybe you will want to skip all of this and just do a quick scene where your PC vessel, already in deep space, receives orders from Starfleet Command. You can have the Comms Officer relay the mission orders to the Captain or just do a quick roleplay over the viewer with Grand Admiral Turner in the Captain's ready room or cabin.


As you create this mission, add scenes that you think will be fun or necessary. Do something completely different and tie it in. Be creative.


What about, in order to start the game off with some roleplaying and some dice-rolling action, designing a recreational game and setting this scene in the ship's gym (or holodeck). For example, using whatever rule set you decided upon, make up some quick rules for the Terran game of basketball. All the main characters are playing. This could be quite a fun and engaging scene where the GM can show off some important NPCs and the player characters can all get to know each other. Then, when timing is right, there's a whistle from the wall comm (or comm badge...customize to your Trek era) where the Communications Officer on Duty alerts the Captain that the ship's return to Earth (after a patrol) will occur within the hour. Or, in deep space, the message is from Grand Admiral Turner at Starfleet Command....


Be creative. Make it cool. Make it fun!










THE MISSION: The Klingons are always testing and bending the Organian Peace Treaty. Recently, though, the incursions into Federation space has become quite frequent. The USS Gallant has been ordered to show the flag near the Klingon neutral zone, but she's gone down, presumably with all hands.


Idea: The Gallant did jettison its log buoy before its destruction. In the comic's story, this buoy is not shown being picked up by a Starfleet vessel. The reader just assumes that it is, and the Enterprise is sent to investigate. What if, as background to his character, the PC Captain found the log buoy, is ordered to Earth after reporting it, then the game moves into a scene where it is decided that a ship must investigate. This is where, as described above, the Captain asks to be given command of the ship that is sent to find out what happened.


Of course, a GM that didn't want to play around with all this background could simply start the game with the player's ship finding the buoy, alerting Starfleet, then being sent on its mission of discovery--just like in the pre-credit teasers of the TV shows.


What's on the buoy? That depends on how informed the GM wishes his players to be. A full record will show the Gallant on its patrol at the edge of the neutral zone. Science Officer Bryce thinks he's detected a strange energy wave that passed by so quickly that---


BOOM! The ship is pounded! FOUR Klingon Battlewagons appear out of no where--as if the were cloaked. Torpedoes and disruptors tears the Gallant apart. Stations blow up with feedback energy on the bridge. Crewmen go down. Captain Bearclaw orders the release of the log buoy upon hearing someone yell, above all the noise, that the ship is dead in space.


Then, GM, give your players an exciting exterior view as the buoy is launched, through crackling energy, explosions, debris, and venting hull, through the screen of Klingon starships, out into deep space. Then, stump the PCs as they watch, with the Klingon ships simply disappearing. The ships wink out of existence as quickly as they appeared, and all that's left are the tiny particles of the Gallant after the Federation ship has exploded.


That's one way to set the tone of the adventure and give the players an idea of what they are up against.


Another way is to set the game as more of a mystery. Make the information obtained from the log buoy damaged. Without giving too much away, show just tantalizing bits and pieces from what I've described above. Give the players enough so that they can work it out on their own, but leave it up to the PCs to put the entire story of the Gallant's demise together.


Roleplaying games should shy away from passive situations and strive to place the PCs in active roles. You might get more bang in your gaming session if Starfleet has placed the damaged log buoy in the ship's hold. On the way to the neutral zone, the players can make throws in trying to repair and gain information from the buoy. The better the outcome of their throws, the more information they have before getting to the Klingon border.


The GM can make a list of information obtained from the buoy. Maybe something like this--


1. Science Officer Bryce detecting the strange energy wave before the Klingon attack.


2. The Klingon vessels appearing out of nowhere, quickly. This can be obtained from the sensor logs. The vessels immediately bombard the Gallant.


3. Captain Bearclaw, upon hearing that the Gallant is dead in space, orders the launch of the buoy.


4. The exterior shots taken by the buoy as it is launch, showing the destruction of the Gallant, the Klingon vessels attacking her, and the sudden vanishing of the attackers.


Depending on well the players did on obtaining information from the damaged buoy, the GM will give them the indicated information by describing the scene associated with that data point. For example, it could take four repair throws to gain all four points of data. If any task is failed, then the players will not get that data point. (Or, you can do one throw and base the results on how high the attempt is made.)


It will then be up to the players to piece together any information that is excluded due to a bricked repair throw.


See, this type of thing makes the Chief Engineer active and crucial to the success of the scenario.










BONUS: An exceptional roll on the log buoy analysis, or maybe a perception or knowledge check by one of the PCs, will recognize one of the Klingon ships to be that of Captain Koloth, a Klingon that has shown up in the tribbles episodes of the original series, the animated series, and in Deep Space Nine. It is by no means necessary that the players have this information, which is why I suggest that it be a reward for a high throw or a good piece of roleplaying on the ship before arrival at the neutral zone. Think of how positive it will be for your game if you reward a player's moment of awesome roleplaying with this bit of data, making it extremely clear that the information was by no means automatic--that it has been earned through great play. That kind of stuff is gold in a roleplaying game.

 

[Water Bob]

THE NEUTRAL ZONE: The actions of the Captain and PCs will probably be heavily influenced by how much information they have. And, how much information the players have depends greatly on how the GM has chosen to start the adventure (see the previous posts).


What will happen is that the Klingons will detect the arrival of the PC ship, but the PCs will detect nothing but empty space. The PC ship may or may not have its shields raised, again, depending on how the beginning of this adventure is played (and a cautious PC captain may raise shields anyway).


Sensor checks are appropriate to start off this scene--checks that do not reveal any information unless the PCs know about the quickly appearing, vague, energy wave that preceded the attack on the Gallant. If the players know about that piece of the puzzle, then quickly tell the sensor operator (if his roll isn't a failure) that he's picking up a quick, there-it-is-whoops-it's-gone energy signal and give the player a moment to piece it together with what he saw on the ship's buoy. If the player playing the sensor operator acts quickly, he can tell the Captain and get the ship's shields up (if they are not up already). Don't telegraph the meaning of the signal. Let the players put it together. This is an opportunity to raise the ship's shields, barring all else.


Regardless of what happens with the shields, the Klingons appear out of nowhere, surrounding the ship. The enemy begins pounding the players' ship with weapons, quickly taking the players' ship to the same place the Klingons sent the Gallant.


If you're using the FASA Star Trek rules, this is a spectacular time time pull out the awesome bridge command rules for the battle. The Captain will be in his chair, barking orders. The Helmsman will be firing back at the enemy. The Navigator will be adjusting shields per the Captain's commands. The Science Officer will be making Sensor checks, acting as the ship's 'eyes', informing the Captain of as much information as possible. The Communications Officer will be managing damage control. And the Chief Engineer will be making Engineering checks in order to repair downed systems.


Whatever game rules you use, this should be a dangerous fight. You've got four Klingon battle cruisers against one Federation starship. It needs to put the fear of the cosmos into the players. The PC ship is outgunned. Period. If the ship had its shields up, then they'll certainly be down soon.


This is a golden opportunity for the PC Captain to shine. He's got to come up with a command that will save all of their hides. Let any reasonable idea work and allow the player to have his moment in the sun. But, be harsh on ideas that would not obviously work. You may even have to blow up the PC's ship! If you do this, then have some logical way of continuing the game. The penalty will be that the PCs are greatly hampered (not dead, having failed the mission completely). Run a desperate scenario where the PCs are rushing to the escape pods as the ship begins to disintegrate. The shuttle bay--the aft end of the ship (depending on which ship class you use)--blows off in one chunk. The players, in the life boats, have to don thruster suits, travel from the pods to the hangar section. Do some makeshift repairs to get it air-worthy ("Captain, the hangar bay is not only double shielded but is equipped with its own, separate emergency power system. If we could get that working...".) And then run the rest of the adventure from that floating piece of debris that used to be the ship's hangar.


Hopefully, that will never happen in your game. But, if it does, roll with it and keep the game not only moving, but interesting. Always have contingency plans for something like this.


In the comic, the Klingons use a systematic attack. First, the aft cruisers attack in a one-two punch, then the fore cruisers mirror that attack on the bow. One-two, aft. Then three-four, bow. One-two, aft. Three-four, bow.


You can describe this and see if alert players catch on, or you can make this the result of a good Sensor check. Then, see if the players can quickly come up with something to counter that type of attack.


The Klingons, all four vessels, will first attack the ship's warp nacelles so that fleeing is not an option. Still, don't make this automatic. Maybe a quick thinking Federation Captain will be able to get his ship out of the center of the gauntlet quickly, before his ship is too far gone. If the PC ship does flee, then the four Klingons will pursue. The starship battle will continue.


In the comic, Kirk reacts to the Klingon pattern attacks with his own patterned answer. He throws double power into his shields when they are facing attack so that the aft of the Enterprise is not shielded when the bow is being attacked, then the aft shields are reinforced to double strength to take the damage from the aft one-two hits.


Scotty increases power to the weapons, and just after the Klingons fire, Kirk lets them have it with everything the Enterprise has. Thus, as the bow Klingons fire, their attack is met with double shields while, simultaneously, the Enterprise fires double strength phaser and photon torpedoes at the aft enemy ships.


Give the ship's Chief Engineer a roll to be able to mirror this tactic of gaining more power in your game. If he succeeds on the throw, then the Chief Engineer is a hero. If he fails, then the players will have to find another way to get out of this mess (or continue the game from an escape pod, as I mention above).


Two Klingon vessels are destroyed this way. The Klingons, given their ambush attack, are taken by surprise if anything like this happens in your game. If any of their ships are destroyed or seriously damaged, then they will retreat, re-think, then attack again if the PC ship is still around.


Destroying the players' ship is not an optimal decision, but the players should never feel safe in thinking that the GM will keep this from happening in order to keep the game going. If it comes down to it, then do it. Blow the hell out of the players' ship. It can be quite interesting seeing how creative the players will have to be from that point on. Give them something to work with--the destroyed hangar section, still relatively intact, spinning away from the area. The PCs will have to steer the escape pods, while hiding from the Klingons (which will not be that hard as the Klingons will simply disappear again, thinking that the escape pods might draw in some more prey or allow the surviving crew to die slowly with no Class M planets in range), to rendezvous with the hangar section.


Maybe, most of the crew is killed, leaving only the PCs and a handful of NPCs. In the hangar section, once it is jury-rigged for a few days worth of life support, the players can board a large shuttle with an attached warp sled. That'll be their way out.


Or...if you think the damaged hangar section too unbelievable, then just allow the PCs to get to the shuttle and warp sled to begin with--and continue the game from there. (But, I think the Klingons would notice an escaping shuttle and destroy it--you'll have to account for this by maybe hiding the shuttle in the debris of the PC's ship.)


Regardless, in this bad situation, there may be encounters where the ship's Chief Medical Officer will shine, especially if the CMO is a player character and another PC is hurt during this engagement.


In the comic, the Enterprise takes serious damage with the warp energizer knocked off-line. Scotty needs time to fix it, and the ship has no power for warp. She's dead in space, and at any moment, the Klingons can re-appear to finish the job.


If the players never had the information on the Klingon vessels just appearing out of nowhere, then re-appearing, they certainly do now. They've just lived through the experience, whether that be from their own damaged ship or from the escape pod or hangar section debris.


At the end of this fight, regardless of its outcome, the players should feel the full weight of the danger presented with the Klingon's new technology.


And, this should raise a lot of questions.

 

[Water Bob]

RECOVERY: At this point in the adventure, whether the PCs are still on their own ship or trying to survive among the debris of it, they're going to start trying to answer some questions (With no ship, the task of jury-rigging a sustainable habitat or making it to the shuttle in the hangar bay debris to attach the warp sled is paramount, of course.)


I'm sure one player will proffer the idea Cloaking Technology, but the ship's Chief Engineer can debunk this idea quickly by explaining how Starfleet has cracked that problem wide open years ago. (If playing during the time of the original series, then it was Kirk who stole a cloaking device from the Romulans in the Third Season episode, The Enterprise Incident. This may still be top secret knowledge that one of the PCs know.)


In time, the players will come around to the only real clue to be had from the log buoy--which is the Gallant's Science Officer catching the vague and strange energy curve just before the Klingons attacked. If the PCs check, they will see a matching curve in their own sensor logs just before the attack the Klingons made on them.


This might require an Engineering check, but someone (probably the engineer, but maybe the Science Officer, or a character with a science background--an NPC if the players are stumped) will recognize the signature of a wormhole.


The Klingons have somehow harnessed wormhole technology. Their ships exist in or travel through wormhole space (which is not the same as a ship in warp), pop into normal space, attack, then retreat back into wormhole space. Starfleet knows little about wormholes. In fact, one of the main missions of Deep Space Nine was to study the Bajoran wormhole that seemed to open and close randomly (and if your game is set during TOS, this is a long time in the future). Kirk ran into a wormhole while traveling at warp in Star Trek The Motion Picture. Base your data that you give the PCs on the time period that you've selected for the game.


"If the Klingons have found a way to stabilize the wormhole flux, they could enter and exit at will--and we'd be unable to tell."


It's a serious problem for this Starfleet crew (and could be for the entire Federation if this mission is a failure).

 

[Water Bob]

GOING BEYOND: Once the players figure out the problem, they are going to have to figure out how to deal with it.


In the comic, Scotty rigs the transporter to beam two crewmen, in thruster suits, into wormhole space, and he uses the data taken from the ship's sensor logs (on the recent encounter with the Klingons) to figure a way for a shuttle, using a warp sled, to also enter wormhole space.


This is all theoretical, but now the Enterprise crew has hard sensor data on four ships doing what the Starfleet personnel thought was impossible. In your game, you may want to use these results and revelations as the subject of dice throws or as rewards for great ideas and great roleplaying on the part of the players.


Once this is all figured out, the PCs will be able to travel to wormhole space, to the exact point where the Klingons retreated. Now, communication between wormhole space and normal space is possible, once communication is established from the wormhole side. And, sensors can be used, from the wormhole side only, sensing into normal space.










CRAZY: One aspect of wormhole space that is touched on but not elaborated upon in the comic is that wormhole space has a sickening, disorienting effect on the human psyche. I think this is a great excuse for the GM to have fun. Vulcans, and possibly other aliens, would be good choices for this part of the mission (the two who are beamed to wormhole space--the shuttle is shielded from this effect). Make a Vulcan cry. Give him visions. Describe how extreme his emotions are--that he can no longer hold them in check.


Even if a human goes, this is the GM's license to bring in LSD-type lasting effects on the character (they can eventually fade). Visions. Sweats. Periods of inaction ("What do you mean I just stood there, staring, for five whole minutes!") Have a blast with this excellent roleplaying opportunity.










THROUGH THE BREACH: Most likely, the PC's ship is damaged. While the two (have enough places, between the shuttle crew and those in thruster suits, to accommodate each of the PCs, one character each) in thruster suits are beamed into the wormhole, keep flashing back to the players' ship from time to time to make repair checks.


You can end this part of the adventure as the first issue of the comic ends, with a cliffhanger: Kirk and Ensign Bryce (the daughter of the Gallant's Science Officer, in a sub-plot from the comic) successfully beam into wormhole space. After a moment to fight the disorienting effect, they are astounded at what they find.


Massive. In front of them. With docking ports for several vessels, is a Klingon space station.


A space station, hidden from normal space, armed to the teeth with battlecruisers.