Traveller’s Low Berth

Cryoberth Travel is a staple of most ‘harder’ science ficiton settings. In Traveller, insterstellar journeys by popsicle are looked on in-universe as the preserve of the destitute and desperate. The most common understanding of why low berths have such a low reputation, however, is perhaps misplaced. Allow me to elaborate…

Most canon designs for “adventure class starships,” the vessels below 1000 dTons that Player Characters will be operating for themselves or Travelling aboard, are equipped with between a half-dozen and a score of “Low Berths.”

One might then readily assume that the Low Berth is a Staple of Traveller play, seeing player characters selling trips by popsicle, and perhaps even choosing to forego a few weeks or months of watching Netflix, playing ping-pong with the wall, and eating the ship’s life support systems’ textured Kelp patties…in favor of a long, dark nap.

In spite of the Low Berth’s lower price, whenever anybody asks about Low Berths in Traveller, there’s a plurality of voices replying that find the Low Berth a laughable afterthought, the province only of the truly desperate.

Why is that?

Early editions of Traveller carried explicit text that ‘surviving the thawing process required a Medic roll’ from a technician. Furthermore, in early editions, the target number (TN) of the roll was always 7, with only Dice Modifiers (DMs) affecting the probability of success.

Hence if every low berth revival required a roll, the probability of survival in the hands of an average Tramp Freighter’s medic was merely 83%…or worse. From this assumption sprang a great deal of implied and explicit worldbuilding, that a ship carrying Low Passengers was effectively carrying one or more future corpses.

This worldbuilding even fed back in upon itself, and by the time I was learning about Traveller in the late ’90s by ways of the GURPS rendition of the setting, the idea of a gallows humor ‘lottery’ among a PC starship’s crew, placing bets on if all the Low Passengers would survive, was very nearly canon in the Original Traveller Universe.

(Opinion) this all started with a gross misunderstanding of the rules (or of the norms of Role-Playing Games).

You’ve probably heard a few maxims about when the GM ought to call for a die roll in a role-playing game. In some RPGs this question is rephrased into something different, like in Powered by the Apocalypse when a Player ‘triggers’ a move by doing the thing. In 2d20 system games, the game-master is asked to evaluate an attempted action based on ‘If it would be challenging for the protagonists of this genre.’ Nevertheless, there’s a central tendency of the maxims to say things like,

• “If the Player Character has the skill, they are competent. Only prompt a roll when their actions find them imperiled.
• “rolling for getting out of bed leads to a farce, turning a heroic or tense RPG into a game of personal misfortunes.

And the most commonly repeated maxim goes something like,

• “Only roll the dice if both success and failure are interesting.”

Now I’ll come out and say it: I don’t hold 100% to these ideas. In some systems, my reading of the rules tells me that the ‘task engine’ is also a ‘fiction generator’ that can plot some of the peaks and valleys of difficult days for the player characters. Margins of success and failure on a ‘routine’ difficulty level roll can sometimes tell a tale of how well things are under control, and in some dice engines can interject details about the ‘connective tissue’ between important moements of play.

Notwithstanding my own thoughts, which are very specifically grounded in systems that generate more data than pass/fail, there’s an even more compelling case that these assumptions about the Low Berth are misplaced.

The Gospel of ’70s Gaming

Tales are whispered of a time of yore, when outside of combat, players narrated the actions of their characters, and GMs interpreted those intents, narrating back the progression of events, even as difficultures arose. Nowhere were the dice to be seen during these conversations. It was only when a truly perilous moment arose, or the player reached beyond their assumed competence into feats of daring that the the GM required a “throw.”

(Hence the name, “Saving Throw”)

This Post unpacks the explicit language of 1977’s Black Book Traveller to suggest this was the assumed mode of play, that Traveller was Not a game with a ‘task system,’ but one with ‘Saving Throws.’

I think it’s a pretty compelling case, given that Travellers can spend 8-12 years in a profession, using a skill daily, and they can be lucky even then to emerge with a +1 DM to their skills. Having the Skill at all is the distinction in this paradigm, which then allows a character to attempt and complete any non-perilous tasks without resort to the dice.

Seems legit.

The exact same paragraph about “Saving Throws,” however, is likely the basis of the “Grim Reaper” rendition of Low Berths:

• “That Dice roll Required to Achieve a stated effect.”
• “that number or greater must be rolled”

Emphasis mine, But I feel pretty comfortable rendering the opposite accusation: that many folks picked up this manual, read ‘reviving lowberth passengers requires a medic roll,’ jumped to the fixed TN, then told the player to roll, because the Book says it right there: Required and Must. They might have been wrong to do that, but it’s clear they were doing it in droves, at least when it came to low berths, to the point it became a part of the game’s world, if not wholly canonized.

Notwithstanding, this conception of a Saving Throw over a Task system does suggest spheres of player and GM control, and that playesr have an envelope of control they’re acting within (in Traveller, it’s character competence).

And I don’t know about you, but I’m not keen on gambling with other human beings’ lives with those kinds of odds. It’s in my envelope of control to say ‘ill make my living another way.’ Likewise, as a GM, I’m not sure I want to Role-Play the kind of people that are in such desperate straits to roll dice with their lives simply to survive. It seems to communicate a universe with a lower regard for human life than far more grim RPGs like SLA Industries or Alien.

Regardless, the game was played this way for enough years by enough players that it has left its mark. Does it make sense? How can we re-conceptualize low berths within the setting to make sense? Once we step away from a mandatory roll for survival every time, how can we integrate the old lore of Cryoberth travel as risky and desperate move?

It’s inconsistent with the volume and the investments made in Low Berths

Beowulf free traders, the most ubiquitous short- and small-haul vessels come equipped with 20 low berths as standard. These workhorse vessels are described as both marginal and aspirational. against the pressures of instable freight volumes, the risks of piracy and other hazards, and uncooperative planetary governments, It can be hard to keep a Beowulf in good repair, its crew paid and making headway to pay off its mortgage.

And yet, rather than extra cargo or a faster maneuver drive that might increase her profitability, she devotes space and cost to bundling 20 low berths aboard. New Beowulf hulls are laid down in the year 1105 at shipyards across the imperial frontiers according to this template-

somebody thinks 20 low berths on a Beowulf is a good investment.

One could easily also read this as was a good investment, but conditions have changed. But with a free market and without dogmatic orthodoxies, the Third Imperium isnt’ the kind of place we’re given to think has held on to something stupid for centuries past its prime (unless there’s a specific someone that’s giving away stupid money…which is interesting to contemplate. See below.)

We are given to rationalize this in one of several ways:

• In some regions or circumstances, There is a reliable or lucrative volume of Low Berth Passengers. Filling the ship’s low berths can improve her margins and provide a steady baseline of income or occasional high-margin pickups. The ‘somebody’ is the future owner/operator of the ship. The 20 low berths represent a means toward either modest income and self-sustenance, or a latent opportunity. Either way, a plurality of Owner-Operators or the subsiders/guarantors of their loans think it’s a good investment.
• a reserve capacity of low berths provides valuable utility to intersellar governments, NGOs or megacorporations. Low berths and/or their maintenance are subsidized by these actors.
  • incentives to the shipyard (tax breaks for installing a quota of low berths-like Mileage Per Gallon requirements for auto manufacturers are spread across different models in their lineup, the Beowulf becomes the ‘dumping ground’ for this capacity.
  • low berth installation isn’t subsidized, but they’re maintained next-to-free-of-charge, perhaps by Traveller’s counterpart to the Red Cross, as a means of moving people in need of medical care to the systems where they can receive it. Maybe this is the ‘stupid money,’ and individual actors or government dysfunciton is at play for the glut of low berths, hanging like a millstone around the neck of the poor owner-operators of Beowulf free traders.
  • the subsidizers/underwriters of the loans on Beowulf free traders mandate the ships have 20 low berths in order to qualify for the loan or tax break. Shipyards naturally oblige by shoving 20 low berths into the ship…this is another form of “stupid money” or governments and corportations pushing for a reserve oversupply.

It could be the case that the latter reason is dominant, in spite of a known high rate of lethality. Big actors are (or were, and then forgot what they were doing) looking to take advantage of folks with very little choice in the matter, either out of financial hardship or actual duress. Or maybe big actors are looking at a big picture, saving as many lives, hoping to turn casualty figures from wars and disasters from millions of deaths into tens of thousands.

But on the individual level, human beings are too loss-averse to accept the kinds of odds that ’77 Traveller mandates for low berth survival, if one toes the line roll every time for every passenger. Something smells smells off.

But let’s do an extended exploration here: what would it mean if there was an expectation only 83% of cryoberth passengers survived: and nevertheless the Cryochambers aboard Free Traders were full as often as not? What kind of human cargo would that be. Who would be paying…and who would stand to profit from that much death?

A Warrant for your Arrest…

What about people that don’t have a say? Like the incarcerated or enslaved? Well, 83% survival chances simply for riding the bus to jail (pre-trial even…) would certainly rate as ‘cruel and unusual’ punishment according to our own first-world ideas of human rights. Dire exigencies on the frontier of the Imperium might bend these rules. Maybe low berths are subsidized as a means of reducing the incentive to shoot wanted men dead in the street, and do defray local govenments incarcerating and executing prisoners out of convenience?

Bounty Hunting

It could be the case that there’s a raft of interstellar criminals, really ‘bad hombres’ that need to see justice before a central authority rather than doled out from the barrels of bounty hunter’s snub revolvers.

Getting the prisoner to trial for political theater purposes, and preserving the opportunities for interrogation and rehabilitation (if they have valuable skills) seems to work at cross-purposes to low berth travel.

Thus, if Bounties are a major component of Low Berth business, either the volume of bounties is so high that bounty hunters often opt to roll the dice toward ‘dead’ in ‘dead or alive’ as economically viable,

Or the bounty hunting market is so competitive that hunters are poaching bounties from each other before they have the security/ability to take bounties in alive,

Or bounty hunting is an amateur pastime, and Free Traders and their ilk are opportunistically taking on bounties themselves, but can’t risk keeping prisoners fed and under guard.

In all three cases, there’s a huge moral hazard leading to cases where the hunters are ambivalent to if they have the right person. Better to snatch the mark away from competitors…damn the torpedoes if a few innocents get swept up in the meantime. Are the spacelanes of the Imperial frontier really so unsafe for Travellers that they might be shanghaied at any moment?

Maybe it is this unsafe…but we also know that at least some Travellers enter play aspirationally, as Journalists, Scholars, or Idle Rich . This level of danger tells us that our wide-eyed new characters are in for a rude awakening to the rough-and-tumble frontier. The glamorous ‘wild west’ is a mere fantasy if this is so…The revelation of this reality (if the setting is run in this way) to the character would mark a major milestone of a Traveller’s time in play. Traveller Doesn’t have ‘Character Levels’ so it’s valuable to note turning points like this.

Sentenced to Transportation

The jails of 18th century England and Wales were rife with disease. The destitute found themselves incarcerated in ‘poor houses’ working off their debts in little better conditions. Driven to crime by poverty, ignorance, and (at least to some extent) a culture that romanticized the picaresque lives successful criminals like Tom Jones, men and women both found themselves sentenced instead to deportation to the far side of the world–Australia. The fate of this colonial project also meant the displacement and undoing of the indigenous people that already inhabited that Island continent. It was made possible by way of the British Empire’s preponderance of maritime and military power in the Global South. And yet, it began with shifting notions of human rights in the popular culture

Like the Britain of 1800 committed itself to ending the global slave trade, the Third Imperium makes membership and self-governance of member worlds contingent upon a basic observance of sentient’s rights. Like the British Empire, it’s also easy to imagine that those rules are frequently bent or broken in the name of greed. Interstellar Corporations might be ‘contracted’ by local systems to handle their prison system. Bankruptcy could mean deportation or exile on other worlds…facilitated with the help of Delgado Incorporated, that will help you begin your new life on an agricultural combine world…

So perhaps the ‘lethal’ low berths find their market from paying customers that are willing to pay a modest fee to ‘make a problem go away.’ …They won’t go so far as murder, but an 83% survival rate isn’t their problem any longer. This gets into very rough moral waters as planetary governments might use this as a tool for marginalization or purging undesirable factions.

IF the low berth is primarily an instrument of TRANSPORTATION, POGROMS, “PRIVATE PRISONS” and their ilk, the player-character Travellers become a privileged class, no longer subject to the whims of a world government, but invited to be instruments of the hypocritical system flying two points from the wind on ‘sentient’s rights.’ Which is interesting…a bit villainous for my tastes, and certainly a far cry from the scrappy and enterprising Space Truckers that make up the iconic bedrock of the game.

The Organ Grinders

What if the demand for low berths wasn’t a legal one at all? There was a grim time in Earth’s history when humans were sold into bondage, and it would be fortunate indeed if only 1/6th of the human cargo of a slave ship perished on the Transatlantic voyage. While Slavery is illegal within the Empire, the fact that we’re told this explicitly means that it’s likely a rule that is known in its breach as often as not. Could it be that human popsicles, warehoused upon sleazy tramp freighters skirting the boundaries of law, is really the personality of the Third Imperium?

We definitely have reason to believe that the more fly-by-night Tramp Ships that have ‘broken bad’ take on work like this, either in the employ of organized crime (perhaps turning a blind eye) or

Other possibilities

Let’s consider another possibility: maybe low berths aren’t just used for transporting people. Can they move livestock? Biomachines? The deceased, whose dying wish was to arrive home as more than a skeleton? Things start to get weird when one imagines the prospect of sliding into a chill bath of propylene glycol moments after Cow disembarked from the same pool. There are some references to Livestock in Low berth, and perhaps that’s the standard freight. If the cows die on the way, they turn into meat in the starport deli.

However, if meats, future meats and “biofactory” organisms made up the primary frieghtage in Low Berths, I think we’d hear about it. It is possible that this was a dominant cargo in the recent past, when the Traveller’s ships were laid down, but a shift in food culture across the Imperium or the rise of a new food production technology squashed the demand. Hundreds of thousands of Cryotubes across the Imperium were suddenly without a use-case, and have been hastily and haphazardly rebranded for human transport.

In this scenario, this new, cheaper form of travel has yet to gain a mature customer base, and may never get there if the survivability issues aren’t worked out. Take ‘new’ with a grain of salt here: Cryogenic Travel is millenia old in the Traveller universe, and might’ve been considerably more reliable in past eras. Centuries out of favor, the medical acumen, technical knowledge, and economic instruments necessary to make it profitable and safe haven’t yet been realized. If we imagine this to be the case, Low berths are a kind of ‘Wild Frontier’ of small Merchant Shipping. Yes, all of the above morally grim things can and are taking place aboard tramp ships, but it’s also a new avenue of enterprise, and the players are invited to be on the front line of the tense situation of human cargoes.

As social media apps like Twitter, Telegram, and Discord are used as command and control for protesters in unfree countries…and also as clandestine refuges for fascists, used as a venue for parody accounts…used as a replacement Play-By-Post Forum RPG play…We live in a time where new technologies and products come on the market with only the vaguest idea of what their use cases will be. It’s up to the users to discover them.

This is perhaps the most intriguing interpretation of the ‘unreliable low berth,’ the most interactive one as it invites players to improve the survival rate with their own efforts. It brings a sense of dynamism to the millenium-old Third Imperium and its economy that is often missing from the aesthetic of the Original Traveller Universe.

Back in 2021…

Mongoose Traveller 2nd edition sets up a robust paradigm for variable target numbers on a skill roll, each of which is named. The circumstances that allow a boon die, like assistance and good equipment, are known to both the players and the GM. Even if one rolled every time for Low Berth Revival, a routine roll, done while at a starport, with a crash cart at the ready and the Starport infirmary on Speed dial…we could easily be looking at TN 4 or 5 with a boon die.

After all, the operation is “routine,” right? (unless its not and mostly dead people travel in low berth to their funerals.) These odds start to improve enough that there’s lots of sane people in our universe that might be driven to use Cryoberth travel. Migrant workers. ‘On-Call’ gig workers, put on ice and sent to a general work area, where they can be dispatched and thawed to reach their next job. Destitute Families moving together to greener pastures, trying to save as much money as they can for the difficulties ahead in their new home. A person might opt for cryotravel to get the best medical care worlds away at a specialist cancer institute. A touring band might have a huge geographic gap in their itenerary, but a a block of gigs a sector or more away pulling them onward.

The human stories…of people on the counterpart of the Greyhound bus….this sounds like a much more rich canvas for roleplaying, eh?

and we needn’t rule out any of the above or change much about the Low Berth’s reputation…we can acknowledge simply that it is reliable, it does get used. …and yet, people fear it. Cryotravel is looked down upon and sneered at by high society as dangerous, risky, and the reserve of the desperate.

All of the above:

In a modern interpretation of the Third Imperium, drawing upon best practices from 45 years of the Roleplaying hobby regarding when to roll the dice and when to let it ride, and in consultation with Mongoose’s Splendid, Concise modernization of the Traveller of 1980, we can rationalize all the above guesses about a paradigm of ‘deadly low berths’ to inform a congruent imagining of a Third Imperium with “reliable” low berths.

• Low berths are reliable, when the thaw is initiated at a good starport.
• Thawing outside of the expected travel duration (early or late) might be more dangerous. The drug cocktail is administered specific to the duration of Travel, and with the patient’s metabolism on ‘pause,’ it’s hard to change that after the fact.
• Going into the Antifreeze bath means entrusting your life, limb, and kidneys to others. One might wake up in a slave labor camp beyond the Imperial frontier, or sold to a debauched noble for use in their secret hunting games…or harem. Holovid horror stories and folklore about nightmare scenarios like this run throughout the culture of the Third Imperium. And every so often, the stories turn out to be true.
• All kinds of agencies exist that are apt to pay for a Traveller’s Low berth fare…some out of largesse or charity, some as a means of recruiting a workforce, and still others with nefarious intentions.
• Brokerages exist allowing Tramp ships to place their Low Berths ‘on call,’ like Uber/Lyft, allowing Player Characters to ‘set and forget’ the low berths
• The act of Star Travel is romanticized in the culture of the Third Imperium. Many Player characters, after all, arrive at the table with a desire to turn Travelling into a full-time lifestyle. In cases where the choice between cryotravel and middle passage is under economic tension, many folks opt for middle passage simply out of a desire to experience for themselves an ‘elevated’ part of Imperial culture. Travelling by low berth is an opportunity cost: you could have shared nights with receptive strangers in your bunkroom, passed the days playing boardgames in the mess, and binge-watched your favorite holovids away from the world? Why wouldn’t you?
• Getting into a low berth means getting into a slushy bathtub that not long ago had a criminal in it…perhaps worse, a household pet or a farm animal. Of course, they clean the things…
  • There’s possibilities for product differentiation, as different berths can be set aside for (men’s), (women’s), (pets), (the faithful of my religion…) After this many thousands of years, there may taboos about who can get
• “Do not use Low Berth Travel if you are nursing, pregnant, or may become pregnant…” arresting the metabolism might have serious consequences to fetal health. Likewise, the growth and maturation of the human body and mind might have risks.
• Waking up from a coma IRL, it’s sometimes reported folks feel like ‘they’ve returned a different person’ or their loved ones observe personality changes. In the far future of humanity, there’s probably drugs and therapies to recover from any post-cryberth psychoses, but that doesn’t make them any less undesirable.
  • The world of psychoactive drugs and their users IRL tells us some folks are willing to risk losing their minds in order to arrive at a location…while others are less inclined. Cryotravel may be a matter of taste, and there’s lots of sneak previews available. Everyone has heard a story from a family member about the chill of the bath, the mask tight over their nose as the tranquilizers took hold…just as it’s as safe as a trip to the dentist, Cryotravel is at least as unpleasant as a trip to the dentist.

Traveller’s Low Berths are a fourth arm of enterprise for Player Starships to engage in. They’re another place where the ship can have a mundane, everyday business that runs itself in the background. They’re another place where commerce can turn into adventure, as the Traveller’s shout anxiously into their communicators, “Send Lawyers, Guns, and Money…”

“Transplant” Act I

Start of mission: 8 threat. (2 per character)

Log: “after an arduous six weeks retrofitting each and every reactor on the Delta Pavonis VI colony, my engineering team is finally returning to the Farragut. She’s a sight for sore eyes.”

 

I: Homecoming

SCENE: Shuttle on approach, completing a “welcome back” exchange with the officer on watch on the bridge. (NPC).
Traits in play: “relaxed atmosphere” and “need some rest” (personal complication on all returning crew)

Characters present: Chief Engineer, Flight Controller, CMO (returning frontier doctor), possible Science Officer and/or Counselor. (Attending to other details on the colony. Cratefuls of biological samples for lab study might be on board) Supporting Cast can be members of engineering team or aides to other MCs present.  Give some dialogue for a likable Notable gold-shirted NPC crewmember who was along on the mission. Bring to light that any previously introduced deck officer is assisting the landing from the shuttlebay control room.

Allow a task to complete the landing of the shuttle (difficulty 0, fatigue increases complication range (and difficulty, if pilot is a species that gets tired easily–Humans…) Provide assistance from the deck officer and the ship die of the shuttle (these will only complicate on 20). Use complication to boost threat, spending 1 threat to create a momentary feeling of danger, sensed by telepaths more acutely. (Only telepathic species can attempt a task to gain intuition about what is “about to happen.’)

An NPC friend might be waiting behind the red line with refreshments and a warm welcome; any MCs that chose not to activate SCs and be out of the scene have the opportunity to enter the scene with “the cake 🍰”

Empty the threat pool as the away team debarks. Spend 3 threat for a scale 3 vessel of unknown origin, possibly an energy based life form, materializing, just visible through.the closing shuttle bay doors, having “tailgated” its way inside the shields.

Attack (difficulty 2) with the energy arc from the vessel against the PC’s ship. The energy arc has versatile 3, spread, high-yield, and the equivalent of the Targeting computer ship talent, and otherwise attacks as a phaser cannon (scale+2 damage, close range). Attack structure, and prioritize devasating attack spend. Use the injury from structure hits to injure (lethally) one PC and one NPC (notable) in scene. (The NPC will not avoid, and will need medical attention)

(It is okay to miss this attack. The ship will be close to crippled or reeling. Remember to keep emptying any threat as soon as you can after you receive it, to show another sucker-punch is not coming)

The creature, as it is threatened, then attempts to flee. (See below). Describe a phaser bolt arcing toward the creature from the bridge and the deck playing rattling underfoot as the ship moves away from its assailant. Was it a creature at all? Who just attacked us? (see sidebar, Discovery: Did Our Vigilance Lapse?) Spend threat liberally to Create Problem for any tractor beam locks or other attacks on the creature the PCs may attempt. (The Shuttle Bay’s dedicated tractors may be within easy reach).  Use the group challenge rules (1 task/assist per character, then difficulty increases for each additional task after the first) reckon when the creature moves off or the PC ship gets safe. The scene is not necessarily over. (See below)

“Meanwhile…”

Spend 3 threat for a fire to break out or dangerous cargo to topple over and need immediate intervention, possibly as a result of evasive action from the bridge (especially if the initial attack missed). For and alternate cost of 4 threat, one crewmember is “attacked” by the deadfall or fire 🔥, requiring a Base difficulty 1 Fitness task to dodge a 5CD (Intense) attack. Anyone lingering near, or -ending a task adjacent to- the Hazmat Spill/fire takes 5 stress per minute. (They will have to avoid injury or pass out; apply chemical burns or smoke inhalation for avoid-by-complication). A clever player might use cover or a shield to reduce this damage (that is okay).

Spend 2 threat for the lights to go out, triggering emergency lights. Increase difficulty of most tasks requiring vision, except for low-light species like Tellarite. Increases complication range of delicate operations (like first aid). Requires a base difficulty 1 engineering task to manually override and restore lights.

The focus of the scene is on the returning engineering team, and none of them are on the bridge. Attending to injuries, and rushing to any urgent damage control on the warp core (if engines were breached) is likely the next step.

II: Settle The Wreckage

In this scene, the Captain awakens to her ship being rent apart. It is her responsibility to put the pieces back together and respond. If the captain was at the welcoming party in the shuttlebay, frame the scene with the XO. Optionally, you may keep the damage status of the ship secret, to be revealed by the captain’s inquiries.

SCENE TWO: ANTICIPATED: ZERO TO THREE THREAT
SKIP THIS SCENE AND JUMP TO “BRIEFING ROOM” IF THE ENERGY CREATURE FAILED TO SEVERELY DAMAGE THE SHIP.

If necessary, attend to (but don’t closely lock in, as there are no enemies) the action economy of combat in this scene, if there are urgent matters of damage control to attend to that are time-sensitive. This is a “Walk and Talk” scene that will follow the characters to different locations as they move about. This is the captain’s chance to capture data about the creature, see to the wounded, respond to damage in crisis, call for help, or mount a pursuit of the the creature. The captain begins the scene in an Information Vacuum.

Option: If there are no urgent breach effects, begin the scene up as a timed challenge (4 Intervals). If there is a chance of recovering the sensor logs from the computers (which may be breached), this is the moment. If the captain wants to get ahead of the ball, or make sure the wounded are tended to…there is still some difficulty in getting to where she wants to be. If Intervals run out before she arrives at her intended destination, Add 4 to threat.

If this scene begins to affect pacing, AND threat is ballooning, consider using a reversal with an EPS breach and a cliffhanging moment (if this option is exercised, cut to scene 3.2 ‘sickbay’ with the characters from this scene being treated for minor plasma burns).

Location: Captain’s or XO’s Quarters
Characters Present: Captain/XO + (Chief of Security OR a Security SC). optionally:

• another 1-2 security SCs for a total number of characters up to the # of players.
• Option: Run this as a solo scene with any player that was not present in scene 1 (Counselor, CMO, Flight Controller, Science). Focus on the two ‘basic challenges’ below, and don’t hesitate to use the reversal option below. If you do use the option, Use the timed challenge option below. When the intervals expire, strongly consider activating the reversal to sickbay.

Traits in Play:

Situation Trait (Complication): “Evasive Maneuvering”
Location Trait: “Door Lockout.” The captain’s quarters have gone into an emergency lockdown, and the electronic door has deactivated.
Character Trait (captain): “Relaxed Attire OR Reverie”

Open the scene on the captain, asleep or engaged in some sort of self-care activity (like reading a book or meditating). In the split-seconds of the creature’s attack on the ship– and the ship’s subsequent wild maneuvering — the Captain is rolled out of bed.

OPTION: Spend 1 threat to have the captain roll out of bed to a violent ‘thud.’ apply 1CD (vicious) stress.

The Security team is outside the captain’s door. Have one of the security team PCs open the scene, shouting to the captain through the bulkhead.

BEFORE INITIATIVE: Note the effects of all breaches upon ship systems (there will be 2, 4, 6, or 8 breaches across between 1 and 4 systems). Internal Communications, Computers, and turbolift movement may be disrupted. The warp core may be threatening to explode…

BASIC CHALLENGE: Retrieve the Captain

opening the door and removing the ‘door lockout’ trait.

Difficulty 2. suggested attribute/discipline Fitness+Security.

There will likely be two assists on this task, and likely attempted without Create Opportunity. If you Create Problem (possibly a good way to push threat back down below reversal threshold), describe it as a sudden tilt of the ship distracting everyone just as they heave.

Complications: Pulled Muscles, Pinched finger, sprained wrists. Alternately, apply 2CD damage (knockdown) to any character rolling a complication (Or just add to threat–“that was a close one”).

The ship will be maneuvering evasively in whatever capacity it still can after the attack, increasing the complication range of any movement tasks by 2 as the deck suddenly cants, throwing the captain and the team into the wall). Anything requiring urgent action (or that the captain wishes to be acted upon urgently) will be up to the characters in this scene.

WALK AND TALK to the Turbo-lift. The corridor is showered with sparks from dangling conduits; at the end of each ‘beat’ of movement, characters will take 2CD of stress. Give the security officers the Situation Report play aid so that they can brief the Captain with In-Character Dialogue.

If using combat initiative, the turbo-lift is 3 zones from the door to the captain’s quarters.

If communications are online, the captain may wish to just walk to the lift while speaking to various crewmembers by way of her combadge. Each round of ‘walk and talk,’ apply 2CD stress to all characters from the sparks. Any leadership tasks or DIRECT actions by the captain over comms will consume intervals if using a timed challenge mechanic. It is possible for the security characters to use a recover task or to simply move carefully near the doorways and bulkheads to gain 1CD of cover (can be improved with recover). Allow any single recover task to improve the cover of all other characters in the scene. (this is a ‘cute’ idea and should be affirmed, but I wouldn’t suggest it as it consumes intervals. Remember, characters recover all stress between scenes.

BASIC CHALLENGE: Sprinting down the hallway is Difficulty 2 (rocking deck plating and showering sparks). Only call for one task, to be led by the security chief. Offer: Success at cost: the security chief is injured (avoidable). Momentum spends for information (shouting into combadges for situation reports) or additional distance, per combat rules.

As the captain gains an understanding of the state of the ship and the circumstances of the attack, CONSIDER the Captain’s Values and propose a complication fitting with what she believes to be urgent in the moment (if the captain’s player has not already).

If there is urgent damage control to be done (like the warp core, or another system the captain ‘makes’ urgent), then SPLICE the scene to cut away to the crewmember the captain taps to respond (likely the engineering team from the prior scene). The captain can continue to assist and advise over comlink, following the first responders. The captain or security team may arrive after one task at the damage control location. (See Scene 3: damage control)

MEANWHILE:

• Spend 1 threat for a minor NPC crewmember of family member to be frightened or pinned by debris. The Security team may be compelled to stop and help, or to proceed with the captain. (Security crew may have suitable values for complicating here). Even if the PCs don’t act, The NPC is Not going to die. Removing the pinning object, or helping the character come to their senses, is a Difficulty 2 Task (Fitness+Security, Presence+Command, or Insight+Medicine). If the character is a child or otherwise especially helpless, you should spend 2 Threat to introduce them to the scene
• Spend 5 threat to rupture an EPS pipeline in the team’s path, requiring a Difficulty 2 DARING+SECURITY task from one character to quickly avert the team’s progress.
  • Offer Success at Cost: one character in the scene of the task leader’s choice takes 4CD (Vicious 1, Intense) plasma damage. (2 assists are possible; inflict 2CD (Vicious 1, Intense) as complication).
  • True failure (@cost delclined) at the task inflicts a ‘plasma burns’ complication on all characters in the team, and 3CD Vicious 1, Intense on all team members. (a failure with complication presents an opportunity to separate one character on the far side of the plasma flare)
• Spend 3 threat for the Turbolift to be off-line, requiring a Jeffries tube detour, requiring a brief Difficulty 2, Magnitude 2, Work 12 extended task to navigate the Jeffries Tubes to reach the Captain’s destination.

(if you did not splice) END THE SCENE as the captain arrives on the bridge, in main engineering, or sickbay.

Likely next scene is in main engineering, sickbay. If time/pacing is a concern cut to Scene 5: BRIEFING ROOM. After this scene, you will begin to find occations where “How did this happen” sidebars will find their way into scenes. (Be sure to consult Sidebar: “What just happened?”)

Scene 3.1: Damage Control

In this scene, main engineering is aflame. There are many wounded. Chaos regins, and the EPS grid is losing power. Some Breaches may require urgent attention (engines, sensors).

ANTICIPATED: BETWEEN 0 AND 4 THREAT. SKIP THIS SCENE IF THE ENERGY CREATURE FAILED TO CAUSE SEVERE DAMAGE TO THE SHIP.

Characters Present:

• (C.Eng or Ops)
• (Captain or XO, Security Chief from scene 2)
• (any characters from the opening scene in the shutttlebay).
• This may allow the Ops or CO/XO’s MC’s player to control two characters in the Scene; this is okay. In fact, the assist dice from SCs may prove important, and if Players want to activate an SC as an assistant and second character to play in the scene, it is appropriate. Ask the players which is the primary character and which is the secondary (difficulty zero tasks only) after describing the scene opening and traits in play.

  Two notable NPC engineers, Lt. Saparagus and Crewman Samson, are here, but are non-lethally injured. A *Treatment* task can revive them

TRAITS IN PLAY:

• “Air of Chaos 2” (situation). This represents the blindsided engineering crew, bereft of their leader, in a state of rout. Lone crewmen hold the line at consoles and dashing in an out of Jeffries Tubes to put out literal and figurative fires. This trait increases the complication range for almost all tasks in the scene, and the difficulty of engineering tasks (including damage control) by 1 for each level of trait. See “QUELLING THE CHAOS” below.
  • As a character moves toward attempting an engineering task without confronting this trait, be very clear that the difficulty will be increased. Blood is caked with broken glass onto the LCARS panel they look to operate. A panicked Crewman runs about, senselessly blasting a fire extinguisher at flares. Remember that most Damage Control tasks require a team to undertake (baked into the “Engineering Department”advantage the Chief Engineer carries with him.
• “Triage 3” there are *many* casualties throughout main engineering. A number of minor NPC engineers (preferring those introduced and named in prior episodes) equal to “Triage’s” value will be found in a state of lethal injury…they will be discovered at inconvenient times and In inconvenient places. This trait is reduced by medical action. It doesn’t affect difficulty by itself (but see below). You don’t need to disclose this trait overtly until the first first aid or treatment task attempted by a PC. As an added effect to whatever original intent for their successful task, also explain that the “Triage” trait has been reduced by 1. When inconvenient, lethally injured NPCs are discovered, disclose this trait and reduce its value by 1 (or don’t, if your table prefers to maximize in-character role-playing).
• “It’s hot in here.” The fires and plasma venting have overwhelmed the environmental controls. Characters take 5 stress from the heat every 10 minutes unless their species is from a hot planet. Reduction of the “air of Chaos” trait will reduce this damage by 1 for each reduction (to a minimum of 3). (Don’t announce this when Air of chaos is reduced-just have a team member or NPC hand PCs a water bottle or cold towel as they’re about to take damage)
• Power Drain: Spend threat at any time to reduce power by 2 for each threat spent. (This is in addition to any ongoing power loss from breaches that have not undergone damage control.) This is partially due to the fractured EPS grid, and first order hypotheses (like from Obtain Information spends). When power reaches 0, add a complication (darkness 2) to the scene. Allow the characters to feel scared and sad about the dangerous circumstances. Remind–as necessary–the possibility of using opportunity spends to acquire flashlights. The truth of the power Drain’s magnitude is related to the creature–see the “Discovery: out of phase” sidebar.

Open the scene

on Saparagus and Samson, nodding off under a console as they succumb to heat exhaustion.

(Yes, open the scene on 2 NPCs and then have them fall unconscious. Supply concisely dire or concisely comedic dialogue as the mood requires.)

Explain that they just took 5 stress from heat and were injured–this should prompt the Ops officer (already present) (probably) to act; if not, have the party from scene 1 arrive, closely followed by the captain, enter the scene.

Give the Ops character one opportunity for a task before the shutttlebay party or the captain/XO arrive. If the captain contacts engineering in scene 2 and you activated the SPLICE option from scene 2, skip the NPC opener and describe the scene, keeping pacing brisk.

The focus of the scene is on damage control (which may be urgent). The wounded are intentionally throughout the scene as a distraction, a source for value complications (and determination), and as an outlet for medically-inclined characters.

QUELLING THE CHAOS: Reducing the “Air of Chaos,” trait requires someone to grab the reins of the situation and get things under control. This is first a matter of Narration and in-character dialogue…that then leads toward a command task. If attempted in a conventional manner, this is a Presence+Command task, though through 1 to 1 interaction and team-building it could be done with insight, or with by leading by example (Daring). The difficulty is equal to “air of Chaos”‘s value (2 to begin). It can reduced by more than 1 with additional momentum on the task (-1 per momentum spent)

MEANWHILE:

• Create Problem (2 Threat) on any task to quell the chaos, as an insubordinate or routed crewmember rambles to themselves during the speech.
• Create Problem (2 Threat) on Damage Control tasks. This place is a mess.  The debris and fires actively confound an task.
• Describe Complications as NPC crew succumbing to heat exhaustion. Alternately, inflict 2 stress on a character for rolled complications.
• Offer success at cost (non-lethally injured, avoidable) on Damage Control tasks.
• Create a complication: (location complication) “Replicators offline.”. The ability for cold drinks to stave off exhaustion and recover stress (when the replicators are working) allows recover tasks (allowed at GM discretion) to recover an additional 1 stress with each momentum spent beyond normal.

The scene ends when the ship is “out of the woods” on matters of urgent damage control. This scene is intentionally difficult and is anticipated to be the climax of act 1, and will likely add some threat back to the pool.

Scene 3b: Sickbay

Estimated: between 4 and 6 Threat (The circumstances of this scene will differ based on if the Energy Creature severely damaged the ship. This presentation prefers the damage scenario–see “If things aren’t so bad…” for how to revise this scene)

In this scene, the wounded stream into sickbay in an unending river. Across the ship, the EPS system breached in dozens of places, and the crew working up close with the system are hardest hit with fourth and fifth degree burns. The inertial dampers’ fickering as the ship’s evaded has brought in all manner of walking (and not) wounded—breaks, sprains, concussions, and spinal injuries, people thrown against bulkheads and down corridors that suddenly became elevator shafts. Amid the chaos, one of the casualties has information pivotal to discovering the creature’s nature. Ensign Harris is also severely injured, and amid the constant triage, he might die for lack of care before he can fully explain what he saw… This scene is meant to conclude Act I and set up the main conflict by closing the loop of the creature’s attack and its aftermath. While the tension and urgency of the attack’s aftermath are still holding on, the conclusion of this scene is the pivot point into act II– where the nature and motives of the creature, rather than the life-or-death moment-to-moment– becomes central to the episode.

CHARACTERS PRESENT:

• CMO
• Any character (s) nonlethally injured in Scenes 1-3 awaken amid the chaos.
  • This can include characters awakening from a reversal of scene 1,2, or 3.
• “You should get that looked at” Any characters that avoided-by-complication in earlier scenes, now arriving to sickbay, behold the dire scene. As “walking wounded” they will be passed over entirely for Triage, but they may be able to assist the Medical Staff or improve conditions in Sickbay.
• (option) an SC chief aide to the CMO. This doubles down on creating an “ER” aesthetic feel to the scene, and may notably increase the time this scene takes. If a player proposes bringing in a head nurse type SC, this proposal is welcome, but be aware of pacing.
• (option) Any player can activate a ‘lower decks’ style SC from among the wounded. They begin the scene in a state of lethal injury, and are on the edge of consciousness. These characters will not cost Crew Support
• (option) Any characters from previous scenes–regardless of role–can be ‘pitching in.’ As you frame the scene, stress that the triage situation is In Medias Res and everyone is off in different corners, taking vitals, changing IV bags, succoring the wounded with sips of water, etc.
• (reminder) Activate the EMH as an NPC– if a Player doesn’t. (if available, and it’s not going to crash the mood with comedic relief). As an NPC, his presence will provide assists to many of the high difficulty tasks for the medical staff. Unless very explicitly delegated to his own duties out of frame, he will insinuate himself into every medical task the players attempt, lending an assist die for medical tasks even on the second assist, where he will increase the complication range.
  • If playing in a pre-EMH era, create a suitably plucky or good-looking minor NPC medical crewmember who will behave similarly (if less abrasively).

Before the Scene, write down 2 NPC crew–choosing 1 notable NPC previously introduced crewmember and their injuries, and one anonymous NPC. A third NPC crewmember will be an urgent case carried in on a stretcher or beamed in unnanounced (see below).

This scene makes abundant use of the IRL Medical concept of Triage. The players should have some understanding of this principle before the scene begins. A VERY SHORT TLDR is “you put out the biggest fires first, and some of the little ones you may have to let burn.” It is unlikely that a player would choose to be the CMO would be unfamiliar with this concept to some degree; in any case, here is a Wikipedia link omitted because I guess Wikipedia is reported as ‘abusive’

Likewise, keeping this scene ‘in the fiction’ and not an mere exercise of sliding tokens and dice around will require you to be able to present believable descriptions of severe injuries and medical crises. Watch some YouTube channels about Emergency Medicine to prepare you as a GM. ChubbyEmu is a favorite of mine. Your fallback for imagining these things is “Oxygen is Life.” If the lungs aren’t working, if too much blood volume is lost, or if red cells aren’t there to carry Oxygen, people die.

IF YOU OR A PLAYER IS SQUEAMISH or has past trauma associated with gore, DIAL BACK or ABRIDGE THIS SCENE to suit your group. Consider using something like the X card or Luxton technique if you feel it will make play more satisfactory. YOU KNOW YOUR GROUP BETTER THAN I DO.

TRAITS IN PLAY:

(so long as either of these traits remains in play, the Ship assist is unavailable in this scene)Overwhelmed (complication, situation). There are simply too many wounded for sickbay. Some are being attended to on the floor, others are leant against the bulkheads. The dead are covered with blankets and left where they expire. This trait will increase the difficulty of all Medical tasks, INCLUDING attempts to remove ‘Overwhelmed’ by ‘pitching in.’ Pitching in: One or more characters can attempt to turn the tide and relieve some of the pressure on the Medical staff. This is naturally a Difficulty 2 Task to remove a complication, +1 difficulty because the character is removing it with Medicine. (don’t forget to increase the difficulty for the task leader’s own injury complications). EPS Mains Disconnected (complication, location). The catastrophe shattering the ship’s EPS systems has spared sickbay, but a great deal of the more sophisticated medical equipment–medical transport, forcefields, and organ resynthesis–are too power-intensive for sickbay’s own backup generators.

• This trait increases the complication range of all medical tasks by 1
• While present, this trait adds 1 resistance to the Triage extended task, below.

— “as you reach for the treatment of first resort, you realize the power is offline.” Characters with the Frontier Medicine Talent ignore this trait in tasks they lead, and allow the task lead to ignore the trait when they assist. This trait can be removed with an Engineering task (Difficulty 2).

BEGIN THE SCENE

On a previously injured PC awakening to a hypospray from the EMH. They’re just coming to–and glued to the hospital bed until the stimulants find their full effect. Their neighbor is the deadly-injured Ensign Harris. Recognizing a superior officer, Lt. Harris pulls himself into awareness momentarily, and speaks (seemingly) aphasically:

“Plasma out of phase…Plasma in phase…double the volume–shock the lines…”

A Character can recognize Ensign Harris and his duty assignment with a Difficulty 1 Insight+Command Task (remember to increase difficulty for characters with injury complications that impair their cognition). This may help in contextualizing What harris means. If you don’t have a Player Character to “wake up in a hospital bed,” Instead begin the scene with Harris uttering these words to the Nurse or EMH SC (if activated), or another character already “Pitching in.” They overhear Harris as they assess his Triage state; while badly burned, his SpO2 isn’t critical and his treatment can wait (for now). If someone wants to try and drill Ensign Harris right now for answers, Spend 1 Threat to have the first “Red Tag” Patient go critical, signalling the beginning of Triage Challenge, below.

Group Challenge: Triage

The core question (and drama) of the scene is ‘will Ensign Harris live long enough to explain what he saw?’ This is an Extended Task, using Limited Attempts (page 283 CRB) equal to the magnitude minus 1. 3 attempts before “Consequences.”Each Patient is described with a “problem” which you can invoke to increase It is assumed the player of the CMO will be the task lead on all the attempts for the extended task; other PCs can attempt one other task or assist in the time for each attempt, if they do more than one (barring Surge of Activity), the difficulty is +1 for each additional task beyond the first assist/task. (You can only assist once in each ‘group challenge.’Reminder: The EMH Will Assist on each attempt. The Ship die, from the Medical Department, is unavailable so long as either of “overwhelmed” and “EPS Mains Offline” remain in play.Reminder: If the task lead scores no successes on their dice, the assists to not count into the total.Base Difficulty: 3

• Remember to increase the difficulty by 1 for the ‘Overwhelmed’ Trait
• Complication range is +1 from ‘EPS Mains offline’
• Complications, Create Problem, and Resistance from “Unforseen Problem” Complications will preoccupy the later attempts. “unforseen problem” can be a lack of stem cell cultures, a shortage of plasma or RBC, or simply the absence of an orderly or a nurse where one is needed

Magnitude: 4. Each breakthrough represents one patient on the edge of death. As one Breakthrough is achieved, another patient goes critical. Describe each medical crisis in turn as it escalates, Referring to the patients you noted in “Before the Scene.” The “4” magnitude as the task begins should be enough to make the Magnitude seem abstract, representing the scores of casualties, but you as the GM know it’s about the “red tag patients.”

• The Triage talent will trigger “triumphant”
• Frontier Medicine talent will allow 2 points of resistance from lack of technologies to be ignored.

Work: 20. “there is no end in sight.”When a breakthrough isn’t achieved on an attempt, a patient dies. This may be a good opportunity to propose a value complication for the CMO…something like “In desperate times, a Doctor is King Solomon” or “remember me.” This complication will increase the difficulty of a later attempt (*you will need to frame this as a Sophie’s choice situation that makes it hard for the CMO). The Determination CAN be used as ‘surge of activity’ to gain an additional attempt on the Extended task before consequences, or the ‘surge’ could be used by the CMO to create an advantage that could allow Triumphant to trigger.

• Case 1: Compound fracture of the leg threatening compartment syndrome. Head Trauma req. cortical stablization and a frantic series of hyposprays.
  • possible problem: patient has a genetic clotting factor threatening stroke. (+1 Difficulty on this attempt)
  • Success at cost: open the leg with a laser scalpel. The gore is unusually unsettling, and covers the CMO’s surgical apron. This is mostly ‘grossout,’ The CMO is bereft of one assistant. for the remainder of the scene–the assistant finds somewhere less bloody to lend a hand.
• Case 2: Sp02 crashing from burnt lungs. Fifth degree burns and shrapnel in burns, exacerbating fluid losses.
  • Possible Problem: Normally, the transporter would make quick work of the shrapnel, but the power outage means this has to be done ‘the old fashioned way.’
  • Complication: Patients like this require sterile technique. Apply “Unforseen Problem,” +2 resistance to the task.
  • Success at cost: “This one is Too far Gone.” Apply 5 nonlethal mental Stress to the CMO. This will inflict an injury, which, when avoided becomes “Feet Sore…Sweat in Eyes” as a complication that will add difficulty to all later attempts.
• Case 3 is carried in on a stretcher. Spinal injury from evasive maneuvering and internal bleeding. (the native difficulty will be low by this time)
  • Possible Problem: Patient is beamed in, unannounced. Owing to their flagging life signs, their pattern was weak…and a peice of volatile debris materializes with them, threatening to ignite something dangerous, or kill them outright.
  • Complication: “Stabilization Fields unavailable.” normally, force-fields will immobilize a patient with an SCI. Any movement of the patient will exacerbate the injury, possibly leading to permanent paralysis. Apply unforseen problem, +2 resistance
  • Success at cost: “no time for this” The patient isn’t really red-tagged after all. He may have a long term Brain Injury, but can anything be done about that RIGHT NOW? (the CMO takes a “doing no harm?” complication that will escalate medical tasks. this complication will last the episode unless a ‘heart to heart’ counseling task removes it.
• Case 4 is Ensign Harris. He came in too hot from his burns (skin can’t adequately cool him down anymore), and as he goes into shock from the pain of the burns, his suppressed breathing leads to his Sp02 crashing precipitously. He needs transfusion and cooling.
  • Complication: “death of a thousand cuts” the CMO takes 2d (vicious 2) mental stress. (allow stoic species Resist 1 or 2)
  • Success at cost: Place Ensign Harris in an induced coma using drugs normally used with a statis field. “what Ensign Harris Knows” will come later and isn’t available for the “How did this happen” Sidebar.”

“EPS System was nominal, until it wasn’t. Saw a little spike on my tricorder in the theta band, and then the pressure in the lines shocked. It’s as if there was suddenly More plasma in the tubes than there was a microsecond before. Then they exploded.”

END THE SCENE panning out from the boody mess. Perhaps the CMO commisserates with another crewmember and congratulates themselves for the lives saved. If the captain is present, a call from the bridge comes through. A excelsior class ship, the Nelson, is responding to the Player Ship’s distress. The captain may have a brief exchange with teh Nelson’s captain, T’Nar. If the captain isn’t present, the officer on watch on the bridge decides–in the best interests of Morale, to pipe T’Nar’s voice over the shipwide:

This is Federation Starship Nelson, to the *PLAYERSHIP*. We are monitoring your position and are en route to assist. We estimate 2 Hours at Warp 9 to your present location.

“Discovery: Out of Phase,” and “Discovery: Where did Our Vigilance Lapse?” may begin here, with Ensign Harris, or it may begin in Scene 4, “BRIEFING ROOM.”

Discovery: Did our Vigilance Lapse?

It is likely that from the moment the Energy Creature attacks, and throughout the ship’s crisis, many questions about the sucker-punch attack will preoccupy many players–and their characters. Value complications compelling inquiry might have already come into play, and are especially likely to play as the episode moves into act II. (as the gm, you may wish to propose them. This Sidebar sketches the incremental revelations characters may discover- the what, where, when, how, and why of how the creature sucker-punched the ship. For an overview of the creature’s point of view and an objective outline of the ‘truth,’ see the Adventure Sketch sidebar.

This sidebar contains advice on handling the process of discovering the basic facts of the incident. Many of these questions and answers will be sought in Scenes 2, 3a, and 3b, and if they are not, they will be sought in the Act II opener, Briefing Room.

This Sidebar is not a tell-all. It is a tool for arriving at the baseline for Act II, in which the ship will be preoccupied with investigating the attack. This sidebar is here to allow the discovery process-including doubts-to unfold as naturally as your group prefers while minimizing railroading and allowing the information to be recieved in-character.

DATA: Discovering the facts below will come from the character’s first-person experiences, from the sensor logs, and from reports from and interviews with the crew who witnessed the attack. If an avenue to discover the information has been closed by events–an NPC has died, or the Sensor data logs were destroyed outright (possible if Computers or Sensors were badly breached in the attack), simply note this as a Missing Data trait, increasing any of the post-mortem tasks below by 1 until the data is recovered. Use an NPC crewmember to remind PCs that even as one avenue of inquiry is closed, another may remain open.

WHAT: The creature discharged a massive potential difference from its locality (“body” is a poor term). The surge grounded in the ship’s EPS systems, forking into many junctions–which is why it was so devastating and widespread.

This can be discovered easily from sensor logs, and the officer on watch in the Bridge and his subordinates will verify this. In any case, damage control parties and repairs (which may be underway from PC action in Scene 3: Damage Control) will verify this. In short, this is ‘free’ information. You can feed the PCs this data by way of an Obtain Information spend;

• if PCs are especially suspicious if this is really what happened
  • (that an energy creature–not Romulans, Ferengi, Borg, etc. attacked),
• then allow any ‘doubting Thomas’ a task to analyze of the data (difficulty 2 Reason+Science) which will grant an advantage “Verified Truth: an energy Creature Attacked”

WHO: Is it really a creature, or a natural non-living phenomenon? This question is sticky, and if PCs pursue this question, there are strong “Star Trek” feels to veryifying with experiment whether there is a creature, or just a “hurricane.” Empaths among the crew will report a surge of wild, natural intent: like the running of salmon or the rutting of bulls.

In scene 1, an empath that can see the creature (through the shuttlebay door) as it attacks can make a difficulty 1 Insight+Science to discover information:

• (basic success, available at cost) Is it alive? Yes
• How many are there? It is one mind–not many.
• What does it want? to satisfy some urgent instinct.
• What kind of instinct? a reproductive instinct–to mate, to nest, to spawn, to brood, to sing a birdcall, to joust other males–it is impossible to tell more…

This empathic information is only available in the moment, but the basic success level can be discovered through recollection (Obtain Information on a task in a later scene) or through natural conversations with NPC empaths in the crew (a Difficulty Zero task).

A Difficulty 1 Reason+Medicine task inquiring if the creature is really alive will reveal from the sensor logs (or crew interviews, if the logs are lost)

WHERE: The creature slipped inside the ship’s shields just as the ship came in for docking. Using whatever cloak it possesses, it was able to move along the same vector, or possibly ride, the inbound shuttlecraft. Once inside the shields, it discharged its energy arc post-haste, wasting no time in doing so. As the ship evaded and raised shields, the creature also evaded the ship’s return fire, and the PC’s ship was able to get safe. The creature has since dissapeared from sensors (see Discovery: “Out of Phase”)

WHEN: As noted in WHO and WHERE, the creature attacked the instant it was inside the shields. Either in response to the ship’s evasion and retaliatory fire, or because the creature had accomplished its intent, the creature withdrew–though not with any immediate haste–not until pressed.

WHY?

There are likely two questions, which will want for answering, but whose answers are elusive:

• one of the creature’s motive (some beginnings can be discovered with Empathy, see WHO, above)
  • Why us? Why did the creature single out the player’s ship, given that it’s a formidable starfleet vessel? Does the creature not know better?
• How did the creature cloak itself so closely? Why didn’t the Shuttle’s sensors, if not the ship’s, detect its presence? Was the creature somehow attached to the shuttlecraft?
  • If so–Where did the shuttle go, what did it do, and why did the creature trail the shuttle?

These questions will likely become the focus of Act 2, Scene I, “Briefing Room.” GMs should be intimately familiar with (re-read) The sidebars, “Discovery: out of phase” and “Clues and Breadcrumbs” as you move into Act II.

STA Talents in Focus: WEEK ONE

I’m on a bit of a writing kick lately.  the keys are clacking like they haven’t in a while.  I’ve started a series on Star Trek Adventures Talents, ranking them in tiers and analyzing their utility in play, with some comments on how to effectively use them and synergize them with other components of STA characters.

This week the talents are Resolute (Human), Spirit of Discovery (Human), Veteran, and Joined (trill)

Text: human species only. Increase your maximum stress by 3.

In game— Resolute will only come into play and speak to your Characters “talentedness” when nearing 0 stress. This seems obvious, but I bring it up to frame that we are playing with the “hits zero stress” injury threshold, rather than the “take 5 damage” threshold. In the vast majority of situations, characters will be injured by 5 damage rathen than by reaching 0 stress.

Notwithstanding this talent, It is easy for all characters to regain stress-it refreshes every scene, and there are several ways to get stress back with actions in the scene. So we cannot consider stress to be a scarce resource that we are trickled out. The extra from Resolute must matter *in the moment* for this analysis.

However, there’s also the deadly “two injuries at once” where you take more than 5, AND fall to 0. In a full health situation with a massive damage danger in play, (like a large creature or phaser rifles) you are less at risk of double injury, so you’re less bound to stay near cover in order to push 14 damage down to 10. If you have Resolute, your stress is 15 instead of 12 and you don’t have as much worry about double injury.

As another positive, Resolute will give you one more time cycle in an environment where Characters are taking stress-per-tick from radiation, cold, heat, etc. I have learned with time that 1 or 2 stress every 10 minutes, for example, is a great way for a scene trait to speak for itself in an away team scenario (it’s also suggested, tucked away in the book somewhere). If everyone is taking 2 stress every 5 minutes, and you have 15 stress instead of 12 because you have resolute, you will last 5 more minutes.

Ultimately, however, this talent will go sessions without seeing play, because combat and personal peril are relatively uncommon for STA Characters. (Tier II). In the situations where it does shine, other similarly situational talents would be more helpful (tier III).

However, it does say something different about the character which can change how they do things and what happens in those situations if mortal peril. Resolute is for the Rescuer going into the blazing breach. Resolute is for the field medic running across open ground to save a companion. Resolute is is for the explorer that wants to stay alive when personally confronting the most suddenly deadly foes–to save the foe’s life, and the redshirts.’

RESOLUTE: CGA RATING: TIER III

(talent text: human only: You may spend 1 point of determination (normal restrictions apply) to add three points to the group Momentum Pool.

To Start, let’s just acknowledge that this Talent does something vanishingly rare in Star Trek Adventures and 2d20 in general. It’s hard to get the ability to do this anywhere: to add Momentum without a task.

A task you must roll for (tasks of at least difficulty 1) is a ‘challenging’ undertaking for a 2d20 protagonist. As I’ve remarked elsewhere, outside of Encounters (combat scenes), 2d20 is a wholly narration-based game. The players say what their characters do, and at some point what they’re trying to accomplish passes a threshold and becomes a task. Challenging tasks are difficulty 1 and require a roll (difficulty 0 tasks are rolled for only at the GM’s discretion).

So there are situations where the crew may be in danger or the need for answers is urgent–the Momentum Pool is empty, or Threat is already looming large– where using this talent can fuel the group pool and allow Harder tasks (difficulty 3, 4, 5) to be attempted without resort to adding threat with Immediate spends.

This talent can also power other spends besides Create Opportunity (+dice). You could use it to pay the opportunity cost to pull out special equipment without costing time. “I’ve got this gravimetric scanner in my engineering kit right here…I was hoping I’d get a chance to study one of these up close.”

This talent relies on well-conceived values that you can spend determination on. Of course, values based on exploration and curiosity will work handily in many situations. “Something exciting is always around the next corner” could inform a spend that then powers the group into a dark system of tunnels to understand a newly discovered life-form.

“Everyone remember where we parked” is a value of the Security officer in Runeslinger’s campaign. She’s always trying to keep everyone safe and she does this with preparation. In conjunction with Spirit of Discovery, this value could be spent to pull in defensive equipment, or even a security team (the trait advantage) in the moment.

Another value to spend on Spirit of Discovery might be “all life is precious.” Your opponents seem committed to a zero-sum conflict where one of you will go down. But that isn’t your way and it isn’t the Starfleet way. You need the Momentum to create an advantage that will allow a nonlethal strike on the opponent so they can be neutralized harmlessly. Then you can work to understand them from safety later.

It’s important to think of Spirit of Discovery beyond what its name suggests. As a human talent, it’s about the strength of their convictions and the way that the Moxie of Earthlings gives them intertia towards their goals that the other species are suprised by and put on the back-foot. “how could they possibly be this far along already?!” is what the OpFor’s peanut gallery is cursing to themselves when Spirit of Discovery’s gains are reaped.

Spirit of Discovery is ‘always on.’ with the right values (and you could use any of your 4 with it), it can be activated in all manner of situations. There’s no episode or scene where (with the right values) spirit of discovery won’t be able to find its place. (tier I)

Spirit of Discovery has synergy with Veteran, as you can spend and recover Determination to keep a cycle going.

It also synergizes with First officers, who can spend 3 (immediate) momentum to get you back your determination. In this fashion, spirit could be used in a more ‘throttled’ way, adding 1 to momentum and 1 to threat, 2 to momentum and 2 to threat, etc. –while retaining your determination.  Make sure to role-play this and ideally to have all players and the GM grok this more complex combination of rules before it is invoked…otherwise you’ll be speaking in Math instead of the language of Role-Playing. Still, I think it’s pretty cool and worth mentioning.

If a talent or ability you’re keen on requires momentum, and you’d like to use it early in scenes and episodes, but you don’t want to balloon threat, consider adding spirit of discovery to your character along with a suitable value.

Spirit really captures a lot of the qualities associated with the Human Species trait. If the Human trait is making a task easier or harder, or making a task impossible or possible, what better time to spend for spirit? Maybe even propose a value complication as you spend and earn a new point of determination, as you are resolved to explore.

This talent represents some of the best game design in STA. In Role-Players and Role-Playing, it pushes the game state to cleave to the moxie on display in the players acting in-character. From the ‘power’ or ‘roll’ or ‘optimization’ perspective, it’s so good and so unique in its power that it pulls optimization-minded players toward Values and Determination, where role-playing and in-character feeling can be discovered.

SPIRIT OF DISCOVERY: CGA RATING: TIER I

Talent text: when you spend a point of determination, roll (1CD). If you roll an effect, regain that point of determination. Minimum Rank: Lt. Cdr

Let’s get this out of the way: I’m going to be talking about how Veteran is one of the best Talents in the game. Now let’s also remind everyone this: only 1/3rd of the faces on Challenge Dice are Effects. So on the face of it, (puns) the claim is facing (puns) an uphill climb.

The next thing against us in the claim that Veteran is teh sauce is that its usefulness is contingent on using determination Early enough in an adventure that the point it then recovers will also find occasion to be used later in the same Adventure.

In other words, Your character has to use determination twice, or at least once plus a palpable feeling of ‘safety net’ afterwards for Veteran’s effect to come into play. And this is after facing down the 66% chance it will do nothing at all.

My reply is threefold:
1) look at what determination spends do to the game state. On a difficulty 3 or 4 task, where threat might balloon by 4 or more with Create Opportunity dice buys, determination keeps threat flat by adding 2 successes. Re-rolling the d20 pool can avoid a serious consequence on “a task to do and avoid.”. A swift task can happen without any momentum and without increased difficulty. Impossible tasks become possible or Difficulties are lowered in a lasting way (Make it So: create advantage). Your “early” determination spend moves the needle on the game state in a big way that will affect pools (if nothing else) down the line.

TLDR#1: Determination spends can’t really be “premature,” as the pools allow the wide success to reverberate into later in the episode

2) as you spend “Early” determination, the first officer (role power: 3 Immediate: a crewmate in contact recovers a just-spent determination) and captain (role power: spend Captain’s Determination to give a point to a crewmate) have your back. The points you don’t get back from Veteran, if they are so important, can be recovered.

3) This concern for being “stranded” without determination actually pushes you to get a second and third point of determination with challenged and complicated values. Role-playing your Character is a Good thing. Once you have two points of determination, if Veteran does start to redeem itself, you get a “snowball” effect that lets you continue to spend as your confidence builds up that the episode is reaching its climax and denouement. If you’re the captain, you can always pass on what you’re picking up from Veteran.

You’ll be spending determination (or have occasions to, that you really should seize upon) in every episode. The moments you’re spending determination are some of the most important moments in the game. What Veteran does give you, if you take advantage, matters a lot (not a little). Tier I.

From a role-playing perspective, Veteran and the “stranded without determination” risk it begets as you look to the CD to give their gift, combined with the rank requirement of lieutenant Commander, lead to a resonance with what we see on the TV shows. The Veteran Characters lean in, move into the forefront, and expose themselves to risk on the strength of their convictions (spending determination is tied to values, after all). The captains are profuse fonts of support, yet often have an inner strength left over for themselves to pull things together when things are at their worst.

Veteran synergizes with talents that involve determination (like Follow My Lead, which almost requires the Character also have Veteran to become worthwhile—and Spirit of Discovery, or Former Initiate). Veteran synergizes with being Captain (as noted above).

VETERAN: CGA RATING: Tier I+

Talent Text: Trill Species only; GM permission required; once per mission, you may declare that a former host had expertise in a relevant field of study; you gain a single focus for the remainder of the scene. Additionally, you gain a trait, ‘symbiont,’ reflecting the potential advantages of joining the ability to perform rites and rituals to awaken past host’s memories…and vulnerabilities inherent in the condition. (Mutually incompatible with Former Initiate.)

In play, the idiom of using ‘Joined’ will closely mirror how Jadzia and Ezri called out their past hosts and how it assisted them. it didn’t move the needle on whether Jadzia or Ezri were able to get any traction at all–instead, it deepened their understanding, or let them dig in deeper than they otherwise would with the confidence those old experiences gave them.Notwithstanding Trill Characters with Joined, Let’s chat for a moment about how ‘focuses that apply’ shape the amount of Momentum all characters generate on tasks, and their overall probability of success. When you are rolling fewer d20s, and versus lower difficulties–the closer you are to playing ‘2d20’ without created opportunities–the more that having a focus in play is merely changing how *well* your character will do it, rather than *if* your character will do it.That’s because a die that fails cannot also roll within the focus range. In order to fail a difficulty 1 task, *all* of your dice must roll in the failure range. If you have a focus, it will generate higher margins and more Momentum, but the focus doesn’t change your change to succeed. (in STA, 2d20 rolls vs. difficulty 1 have about an 85%+ chance of getting one success when the character has an average attribute and discipline. I’ll talk about the math I’ve done on this topic elsewhere).Of course, versus higher difficulties, focuses certainly start to shine. And in any situation where you get to re-roll d20s or add bonus d20s, the value of both the focus and the bonus is amplified. This is all to say: Joined, or any focus, cannot save you from that basic question that all difficulty 1 (“challenging”) tasks are asking : are you up to the challenge?Now let’s examine how you’ll use Joined. For it to matter, you need to be, or to become, a character that will be attempting tasks in the scene–the single assist die can take advantage of focus, but that’s small enough to be written off as ‘de minimus.’
Many scenes- even important ones–in episodes can often be the sort of scene where some character roles are in the background: if your character won’t be attempting several tasks in a scene, it will be hard to get value out of activating Joined. The focuses you already have mustn’t be applicable to your tasks. So that means that the ‘summon memory’ component of Joined is pretty situational–

1. Just baked in, it will only work one scene in an adventure (Tier II: situational)
2. It can only really bite in and make a difference where your other focuses *aren’t* finding home.
3.  When you do add focus, it still doesn’t change your success chance on difficulty 1 tasks.
4. The scene it is activated in has to see multiple throws of d20s by the Joined character to see value. (Tier III)

One thing arguing in Joined’s favor is that you will have fewer occasions to spend your milestones to swap foci. This means that sometimes your milestones can be banked for use as determination, or used elsewhere to shift your attributes and disciplines (possibly informed by the memories of prior hosts…)The ‘symbiont’ trait is like a second species trait–it makes some tasks possible, others impossible, some harder, some easier, etc. It’s hard to plumb how having a second species trait will affect your character, but we do know that joined Trills often find themselves in hot water when badly injured, and the life of the symbiont (and the Trill with it) oft becomes the object of a medical crisis. It’s a roleplaying thing mostly, but it will also introduce beats to the story and possibly challenges.

Joined Synergizes with Supporting Characters. SCs begin with fewer focuses, and thus more occasion to activate Joined…and who are likely to be in fewer scenes, and thus suffer less opportunity cost once Joined is ‘spent.’ SCs with joined will be able to progess in other areas faster because they’ll have less occation to spend advances adding focuses.As noted above, adding focus to tasks is more likely to help with margin of success and thus bring in windfalls in momentum. Talents like Studious and Starship Expert that bring new efficiencies to spending momentum ‘pair well with’ Joined (I wouldn’t go so far as to say ‘synergize’)At the end of the day, though, if you want to play a joined Trill this talent is the thing that will get you there.

JOINED: CGA RATING: TIER III

“REPATRIATION” – Scene I

The adventure begins with 2*Players Threat.

The high profile diplomatic nature of the mission, and the morale of Starfleet are at stake.  The following Mission Directives are in Play:

• What you Do reflects on All of Starfleet
• None Left Behind

The rendezvous with the Klingon emissary takes place just at the threshold of the Klingon/Federation border, amid the fringes of a nebula.  Wisps of purple, cerulean, and pink gas fly about the void.  Konath, the Klingon emissary, intends this location to interject drama and bombast into his arrival.

 

Begin the scene on the bridge.  The Player’s ship is approaching the designated rendezvous  at the appropriate time–but there is no sign of the Klingons.  The Chief Medical Officer, Engineer, and Counselor might be present as it is a momentous occasion.

If there are any particularly bellicose or dovelike individuals among the PCs, propose an  appropriate value complication (as +difficulty) associated with peaceful (or hostile) tasks.  Regardless, provide 2 NPC crew to man the Helm and Communications stations if no PCs are in the chair.  If you wish, treat this portion of the scene as a timed (gated) challenge “behind the screen.”  Don’t show the players the interval track but do keep track of it, and perhaps prompt Momentum spends to reduce the time taken.  (6 Intervals; when the last of the intervals expire add two to threat)

Regardless of if the scene is treated formally as a timed challenge, the logical order is:

• Scan for the Klingons.  Have we missed anything?
  • OR Reassure the Crew that the Klingons will arrive in due time.  (if neither of these is achieved, add 1 Threat to represent the apprehension.  Call out the “Cold Wartime” Situational complication.
• The Klingons arrive.  If the players attempt their own “Dramatic Entrance,” this is an opposed task.  Otherwise, treat it as a difficulty 2 task to create a complication on the Player’s ship.  (see below).
• Contact is established with the Voth’Drang. (open hailing frequencies; respond to hail.)  Allow both of these tasks to generate threat and momentum.

If the players scan ahead along their course to the rendezvous, Apply +2 difficulty to Sensor sweep, and (at your discretion) up to +2 complication range from the emission nebula clogging up the sensor panel’s receptors and messing with the ship’s acuity.  Positional or orientation sensors could be affected by these complications, adding +difficulty to Conn tasks.  A successful sensor sweep will reveal the presence of a vessel approaching through the dense part of the nebula.  (Obtain Information will be neccessary to positively identify it as the Klingons, but basic success will reassure any anxieties)

Failure Note: Failure at the Scanning/Comforting segment of this task will add a trait to the scene: “Tensions Running High” which should add difficulty only to actions to Inactive Supporting Characters and NPCs (note this may raise difficulty to above 1, and thus inactive SCs won’t be able to do it without a Direct task or an advantage), and will increase the complication range on the Ship die by +1 representing errors made belowdecks by anxious crewmen and ensigns.

Success at cost: Feel free to offer success at cost as a complication “fumbling at the controls,” which Konath may call out in the second half of the scene as he mentions the conduct of the ship and “whoever was at that station must have been fumbling to do his duty…”  Feel free to skip the complication and instead add 2 to threat for Success at cost, if accepted.

The Captain, XO, or Flight controller may wish to make a dramatic and ship-shape entrance.   This is already Konath’s plan.

If the players wish to make “polished coppers and holystoned decks” entrance, this is a Presence+Conn test, with applicable assists from those knowledgeable in Klingon culture or ‘diplomatic form.  The difficulty of player’s test will be 1, BUT you might escalate the complication range by 1, especially if the players resort to bringing the ship to full battle readiness.  Use complications to create issues with NPC crewmen anxious on their trigger finger.

If the players attempt their own dramatic entrance, treat this as an opposed task between the Flight Controllers aboard each vessel: Difficulty 1 for the Player’s ship, and Difficulty 0 (from the nebula’s drama–this could be negated by an advantage created by scans.) for Kolath’s vessel, the IKS Voth’Drang.  Konath’s vessel, however, has been traveling through the nebula for a protracted period, and will suffer 18-20 Complication range as it won’t have recovered from the wear on ship’s systems.  You should either waive these complications by spending 2 threat (the Klingon’s gambit was less intimidating) or applying them to the Klingon’s attempt to hail.

The Azure Nebula is a set of Zone(s) that the IKS Voth’Drang is approaching from.  Treat the Nebula as Class II Nebula per p. 154 of the rulebook, increasing complication range by 2 (18-20) for tasks involving a Ship’s Sensors, Weapons, or engines.

If unopposed, Konath’s intimidating entrance will be a task (D2, by the crew of the D7) to create an advantage relevant to his social tests moving forward in the scene–he’s a wildcard and this courtesy to the Federation is a formality and a nuisance to him–but his ego is happily sated by the bombast of the occasion.  I call this advantage/trait “Bigly.”

 

 

 

Art (probably) by David Metlestis–I can’t remember whose render I used to make the token–apologies–if yours, let me know.

Finally, contact can be established with the Voth’Drang.  If using proper Starship Combat rounds, move the Klingons by Impulse into the same zone as the Player’s ship before hailing.  If the Voth’Drang’s communications systems are suffering complications (suffered during the Helm task), spend threat to create a complication or problem (momentary) to increase the players’ difficulty to respond to the hail.

This ballet is a test of nerves–both for the players and the characte

Credit: From Star Trek Phase II: “Kitumba”

rs.  Don’t be surprised–indeed, be happy–if values are challenged as this unfolds.  The Determination will be valuable later in the adventure.

 

When the ballet ends and the Captains are face-to-face, it’s not Konath, but instead his wife B’enar, that the players will see through the main viewer.

 

“This is the IKS Voth’Drang.  Prepare to receive our emissary aboard your vessel; we are lowering shields now.”  B’Enar is familiar with her husband’s plan–to seize the initiative in this diplomacy and to gain as much honor and respect as possible from a day vacant of bloodshed.  She is unwilling to converse further (per the social conflict mechanic) and will require inducement to consider further talk (evidence, negotiation).  If the players agree to the transport, allow the scene to flow from the bridge to the transporter room for a reception.  Note that unless one of the player characters is Chief of Security, a Security team is an Advantage that can be called up like equipment, at an Opportunity cost of 1.  The security team WILL count as an advantage in any social tests in the transporter room at first meeting.

During the turbo-lift ride to the Transporter room, or the walk-and-talk through the corridor, consider inserting a short exchange with the ship’s cook or a yeoman about considerations of hospitality.  This is the moment to consider furnishing the Klingons with fresh game or seafood (likely from biological study labs).  Requisitioning this from ship’s stores and ensuring adequate quarters is a Difficulty 1 task, which a crewmember can perform themselves, or create an Advantage so that an NPC or Inactive SC character can complete it.

SCENE BOOKMARK – AFTER THE TRANSPORT

Credit: Phase II: “Kitumba”

(Treat the transport as a Difficulty 0 task, with roll waived – the Klingon’s cooperation & the reduced difficulty from transport at the Transporter Room Console will reduce it to 0)

Konath, for all his bluster, believed fervently in a strict and rules-heavy version of Klingon Honor.  there is a right and a wrong to every action in his book, and Dishonorable and Honorable individuals are made by the cumulative presence and action they present as they go about their life.  That’s Konath’s Value: “In a man’s conduct lies the Soul of his Honor.”

Konath will linger on the Transporter pad, arriving with two aides.  He won’t introduce himself and will hold the dais, in silence, waiting for the players to break the ice and make the first move.  Let this go on as long as you like, but feel free to add TWO threat to the pool rather than the usual 1 for inaction, representing the Cold Wartime Trait in action.  Increase this to THREE if Konath successfully created his “Bigly” advantage from the dramatic entrance.  (keep in mind–you don’t have to discuss all this abstraction at the table, if it will break the flow of play–just let it inform your GMing. (See KONATH’s NPC WRITEUP, below)

The characters may choose several methods to “Get acquianted” with Konath while learning as many of the facts of the USS Vostok’s foundering.  Possible locations for the rest of this scene may include:

• As a reception Dinner – in Captain’s Quarters, or more public in the officer’s mess.
• As a conference
• As a walk-and-talk to Konath’s quarters.

  

  A bowl of Gagh. (credit: Malibu Comics)

Konath is receptive to any proposed meeting location by the PCs, but is on watch for any “dishonorable/Honorless” conduct that might allow him to stonewall the Players.  Konath will be forthcoming with individual facts on a per-question basis, as requested until one of the following “insults” is proferred, at which point he will cease to volunteer information (See WHAT THE KLINGONS KNOW, below)

See SOCIAL CONFLICT WITH KONATH for advice about handling situations once Konath has “shut down” (which is likely)

“Insults” that will shut Konath down.

• Inadequate hospitality, or the impression of inadequate hospitality (lack of food or quarters ready for Konath and his Aides)
• A lack of trust in his Parole – undue restrictions on the movement of Konath and his Aides.  Konath will tolerate an “honor gaurd” as an escort if it is a high-ranking officer (at least Lt. Grade, created as a Supporting Character) or someone specialized in hospitality, like a yeoman, but will shirk a bodyguard or a security team as not befitting his place.
• Thoughtless Hospitality – No attempt made at all to cater to Klingon tastes – fresh game or fresh seafood are a must.  Aboard a TOS-Era vessel, this is unlikely without a “make it so” spend of determination at this point, unless consideration was made eariler (see above).

  

• Weakness: Konath may make veiled remarks about weakness, lack of cunning, or ‘less evolved species’ with reference to the crew; if these insults aren’t challenged by the insulted crewmember or their superior, then Konath will determine that both the crewmember and any ranking officers present are ‘weak.’ (because defending your vassals is honorable, after all…).  Task failures or complications from success at cost during the initial meeting of the ships (above) are sure to be called out.

In clinical game terms, any of these situations will tag the PCs with a personal trait “without honor,” which is transitive to their superiors being “without honor” as they allow their underlings to conduct themselves without honor.  This is then transitive to the whole crew as they allow themselves to be led by a commander that is “without honor.”

(Note that not all Klingons are so litigious with their honor, especially in the TOS Era.)

During this portion of the scene, It is assumed the PC’s goal is to discover as much about the fate of the Vostok as possible; if they made adequate preparation earlier, or created their own ‘grand entrance’ advantage, there’s nothing wrong with justly rewarding them with information from WHAT THE KLINGONS KNOW, below.

If Konath does, ‘Clam up,’ however, refer to the SOCIAL CONFLICT WITH KONATH section for guidance.

KONATH AND HIS AIDES: NPC NOTES

Konath: Use the stats for Moq’Var, Son of Koloth from the STA Rulebook, Pg. 319, with the following substitutions:

• Replace Values with
  • “In a man’s conduct lies the Soul of his Honor”
  • “It is a Good Day to Die”
• Command 04, Security 03
• Replace Focuses with Diplomacy, Ridicule, Hand-to-Hand Combat, Starship Tactics
• TOS-Era Klingons don’t wear armor (resist 0)

Aides: use the Klingon Warrior Minor NPC’s. (pg. 317)

B’Enar: use the Klingon Veteran (pg. 318) with the following substitutions:

• Value: “Without Sharp Weapons, Honor is impossible”
• Disciplines: Command 2, Security 2, Science 1, Conn 2, Engineering 3, Medicine 0
• Focuses: Shipboard Tactical Systems, Damage Control

The IKS Voth’Drang: Use the Stats for the D7, unless in the TNG or later timeframe, instead using the Vor’Cha class.

WHAT THE KLINGONS KNOW

Each of these entries is provided with ample hint to how Konath and the Klingons percieve each of these facts.  Feel free to include or leave out the cutting jabs as you see fit.

• The USS Vostok was clearly on a stealthy mission of infiltration when it foundered within the Azure Nebula.  Only those without honor or Peta’Q accept such missions. (Konath will enter the coordinates into a PADD)
• The Vostok was irradiated and her crew absent.  Only those without honor would abandon their vessel.
• The Vostok had been repurposed by lowly (pacifistic) aliens that were now living within it when the Klingons arrived.
• Records from the period of warfare with the Federation show that a scoutship was conducting signals intelligence near Praxis, but patrol vessels never located the cowardly craft (assumed to be the Vostok)
• The aliens in possession of the Vostok were the Pentarians, a non-humanoid species that inhabits “cold worlds” with atmospheres of Ammonia and Methane.
• (this will only be volunteered if the PCs are considered “Honorable”) Several Klingon warriors perished in a boarding action with the Pentarians and their remains lie aboard.  (Their weapons and Heilooms, however, could be returned to Konath–which would not go unnoticed (a Difficulty 2 observation about Klingon Culture).

SOCIAL CONFLICT WITH KONATH

Shorter versions of this rubric will appear during later scenes, as many actions by the PCs and their ship are likely to raise the ire of both Konath and the Empire.   Remember that the point of this scene is to roleplay and experience some of the skilled diplomacy that makes so many encounters with Star Trek adversaries so satisfying.  Don’t get caught up in making everything into a roll if that isn’t your group’s style, don’t get caught up in keeping meticulous track of the traits if that isn’t your style, but also don’t flounder and flubber with in-character dialogue and roleplay endlessly if that isn’t your group’s style.

(Refer to pages 164-168 of the Rulebook where the Social Conflict framework is outlined)

QUESTIONS: Asking different things of Konath is met with differing levels of information volunteered.  The following rubric is for if the PCs are currently “Without Honor”  In this military context, Konath views the players as a unit for considering if they are worthy of Honor or not.

• TRIVIAL REQUESTS: What do you think of me?
  • “You are without Honor because of X inraction.”
• EFFORT/RISKY/UNUSUAL REQUESTS:
  (Difficulty 1, escalated by +1 difficulty from “cold wartime” trait):
  • How do I prove I am honorable/ what would change your mind about us?
    • “Prove you’re worthy of Honor through strength and thoughtful conduct”
  • Where is the Vostok? (hopefully, at least this is resolved before Konath concludes the PCs are “without Honor,” however the “Cold Wartime” trait establishes this as a diplomatic obligation (-1 Difficulty), and thus a base D0.
    • See “WHAT THE KLINGONS KNOW,” above.
• Contrary to Normal Activities (refused automatically):
  • any special assistance or accommodation by the Voth’Drang or the Empire, beyond passage directly to the Vostok, and back to the Federation Border
  • Any further information from “WHAT THE KLINGON’S KNOW.”
• Can’t Do/Can’t provide:
  • Any data associated with original incident where Vostok was discovered by the Klingons.
    • (players must first request Konath contact High Command for these records.)  Requesting military information for foreigners without  honor is Contrary to his Normal Activities.

CHANGING THE CIRCUMSTANCES

Essentially there are two traits that are already in play, “without Honor” and “cold wartime.”

• “Cold Wartime” makes Konath uneasy and less receptive to the requests that he will grant The “risky/unusual” requests.  There’s little to be done about this trait, besides convincing Konath that relations are headed in the right direction with the Klingon Empire.  This is a matter of presenting Evidence–presenting to Konath that providing more information and assistance is in line with already de-escalating tensions.  After all, Konath is loathe to dishonor the dictates of his superiors.

  The likelihood and difficulty the PCs can affect this trait is largely colored by which era you are playing in.

  • The evidence of declining tensions is high in the TNG- & post Narendra-III era.  (Difficulty 1) Tensions are rising during the DS9 & TOS eras.  (Difficulty 3) The baseline difficulty here is set to just after Star Trek VI, following the Khitomer Accords; likewise, the Empire has yet to make up its mind about Starfleet during the Enterprise era.  (Difficulty 2).  If affecting this trait is rolled as a task, allow the talent Defuse the Tension to add its bonus d20.

    

• “Without Honor”  places much desired information out of reach for the player characters.  Individual PCs might be able to shake this trait with brags or anecdotes about their own exploits or experiences (a value informed by a career event is probably something to call out here, perhaps a value complication proposal to a player: “Share your story of honor.”) These anecdotes and exchanges will fleetingly let a lower-ranked PC shake the trait for long enough to ask a single question about the Vostok.
  • To completely negate this trait, once it arises, would require the PCs prove their “Strength,” likely through a contest like a sparring match with Konath (he is receptive to testing his skills with D’k Tagh against the Ushaan-Tor as a bit of ‘friendly competition.’)
    • (Note that in this case this “Strength” trait will apply to this scene only; if Konath or the PC involved suffers an un-avoided injury this will be for Naught–however, if the highest ranking officer engages in the fight, Konath will answer questions from the rest of the crew as the “Strength” trait “trickles down.”)
    • (As long as the Character manages one blow inflicting stress, grant one question; if Konath avoids an injury, he will yield the contest and answer all questions for the scene)
    • (DO spend threat to avoid injury to Konath – this perfectly reflects that for Klingons tensions cool down after a catharitic skirmish)
  • A game of brinksmanship may arise later in the mission, which–if handled well by the players–will grant an “honorable” trait that makes the “without honor” trait cease to be true.
  • If the players succeeded at the “Grand Entrance’ contest in the first half of the scene, and created their own ‘bigly’ advantage, allow it to negate “Without Honor” for the remainder of this scene (“an Uneasy Meaning”) only.

SOCIAL TOOLS

DECEPTION: This is dangerous territory.  “What you do reflects on all of Starfleet” is a directive for the mission, and playing devil-may-care with the facts, like suggesting the federation is about to go to war with the empire at a moment’s notice (difficulty 4 for player, D1 for Konath), about to forge an alliance with the Romulans (d2 player, d1 Konath), etc. are likely to become challenges to that directive.  Deceptions are likely most effective as forms of Intimidation, as Konath judges the crew based on the actions he witnesses himself.

EVIDENCE: A strong Service record that includes conduct in battle will negate “Without Honor” on a PC, and if the Captain manages to also prove that he continues to be “strong” (resisting upstarts and not tolerating honorless conduct), then the PCs in general could acquire the “Honorable” trait, which –if retained– will make social conflict with Konath for the remainder of the mission less acute.

A tour of the ship and her readiness for battle, like the Security chief lining all the corridors from the Transporter room or from Konath’s Quarters to the reception dinner, will suffice to create the “strength” trait for the scene.  Later in the adventure, creating a “weapons lock” advantage is an example of the sort of evidence necessary for brinkmanship and a show of “strength.”

An appreciation for Klingon Culture – Opera, Weapons, Customs, and Cuisine – is also worthy of respect, and will create rapport that can reduce the difficulty of individual Persuasion Tasks, or reduce the difficulty of tasks to prove that one is “honorable” or “strong.”

In each case, for Konath, the Evidence speaks for itself.  No further demonstration or conversion into a tool for negotiation or intimidation is necessary, except for the Brinkmanship paradigm discussed in Intimidation, below.

Intimidation: Konath doesn’t believe hollow threats.  Given the “Cold Wartime” trait, he doesn’t require a full “Vulcan Hello” (See the inagural episode of Star Trek: Discovery…) to be convinced of the Player’s earnest to violence, but he does require evidence that a PC’s threat is real.

There are three kinds of Intimidation outlined in the Star Trek Adventures rulebook: Fear, doubt, and uncertainty.   Fear of death or combat isn’t going to work on Konath: “It is a Good Day to Die” is a value of his, after all.  Fear of dishonor, fear of unimportance, and fear of loss of position are what will intimidate him.  The neccessary evidence is likely a show of earnest to contact Starfleet Command with regard to Konath’s lack of cooperation.  However, later in the adventure, as the players may go “off reservation,” this threat isn’t likely to believed.  Instead, effective threats from the players may take the form of “Perhaps we should keep this between us both, for the sake of out mutual reputation…”  More notes about how to intimidate Konath into cooperation will be provided in later scenes.

Negotiation: 

“Negotiation involves offering compensation in exchange for granting a request.”
–Star Trek Adventures Rulebook, Pg. 168

Konath is not a businessman, and isn’t interested in material wealth (“In a man’s conduct…” value).  However, recovery of the heirlooms and weapons from the Klingon corpses aboard the Vostok in Scene II is an offer of compensation, and will provisionally grant the “honorable” trait to a PC.  If the players manage to hypothesize that there are Klingon corpses aboard the Vostok and propose their return before scene II, Konath will accept the proposal, and will be receptive to an exchange (requesting further records from High Command, etc.

One alternate path of Negotiation is “We can all get this over with quickly.”  Konath dislikes the company of Peta’Q, and this offered advantage will decrease the difficulty of persuasion tasks by 1.

Additional note:

In the ensuing hours and days, routine contact with the Voth’Drang will be common.  If a player contacts Konath’s wife, B’Enar, aboard the Voth’Drang for anything outside of protocol, the breach will mean that the first evidence, deception, or intimidation necessary to continue the exchange will need to be proof that the exchange is worthy of the risk, or would create convenience for her. (she would like to be reunited with her husband).  Generally, any such exchanges will serve as additional Intimidation (a Klingon man can be intimidated by violence from his wife) or Negotiation (a less angry or happy wife).  Konath makes up his own mind about things, however, so His wife’s opinion on something will not serve as evidence on its own to change his mind about that thing.

CONCLUDING THE SCENE

Konath will poke at individual PCs beyond the captain.  Call out their species trait and position as inspiration for questions; feel free to develop each of his aides if you’d like more complexity to the encounter.  Ideally, however, your first session of “Repatriation” should also include Scene II, “Dead in Space,” where danger and adventure await aboard the Hulk of the Vostok.  

End the Scene when discussion with Konath becomes fruitless, with his retiring to quarters, or even beaming back to the Voth’Drang  if particularly incensed.  If players have achieved gotten all the questions answered and the reception has moved on to niceties, propose a toast from Konath to a swift and honorable end to this mission.

 

“Repatriation” – Overview

In this adventure for Star Trek Adventures RPG by Modiphius, Starfleet Command has tasked the PC’s ship with recovering USS Vostok, a reconnaissance craft thought lost years ago during a period of escalated tensions with the Klingon Empire.  Klingon High Command has notified Starfleet that they have found the wreck of the Vostok within their space, and offered an opportunity to recover her as a ‘courtesy.’ 

The Adventure assumes the Default mode of play for Star trek Adventures – PCs as Bridge crew.  The ship-scale challenges are set up for a scale 3 or 4 vessel.  The Federation-Class Dreadnought and larger, slower vessels of the era would likely not be tasked with the mission, nor would a Scale 2 Archer– class, as it would be too small to tow back the Vostok, which is presumed to be an Archer-Class Scale 2.  Most challenges benefit from a mix of crew roles, though without some Engineering expertise, Supporting Cast or alternate approaches will be neccessary

The default setting of play is TOS- or TMP- Era,  and acknowledges a war between the Federation and Klingons that took place between 10 and 30 years ago.  With minimal adaptation, the Adventure can work in the TWoK “Monster Maroon” period, the “Lost Era” of the Enterprise-C, or the TNG Era.

What follows is an overview of the Adventure.  Each scene will be developed in its own post, with full stats and guidance for play, as well as my own reflections on running it.

Beginning with their meeting with a Klingon envoy, the players discover that the Vostok and her crew may have strayed too close to regions within the Empire that the Klingons “do not discuss with outsiders.”  Diplomatic tensions between the Player crew and their Klingon liaison will be a lingering concern.  His vessel that may shadow the players (as a Threat Spend) as the adventure unfolds.

Within a nebula just over the Klingon border, the players investigate the irradiated hulk of the Vostok.  Within, they discover the vessel was repurposed by a heretofore-uncontacted species from within Klingon space, before a violent encounter by a Klingon boarding party.  The Starfleet crew appear to be long gone, though they left behind scattered logs and effects.  To the Klingons, Vostok proved an unworthy prize, as the players discover her hull has been permanently irradiated by an encounter with a pulsar’s magnetic field.   Working against time to reconstruct what happened aboard, the players must survive the radiation, eerie atmosphere, and the dangers of an interrupted melee between the Klingons and aliens.

Back aboard their ship, clues reveal the Vostok’s crew passed the vessel on to their saviors, who were immune to the radiation.  In exchange, the aliens provided the Vostok’s company passage to a safe haven in a remote region of Klingon space, there to wait out the period of intense conflict until peace returned between the Empire and the Federation.

The Players are now faced with the diplomatic choice – to race with haste to the Vostok’s company, or to work through diplomatic channels, hoping to be allowed passage to rescue the Vostok’s crew.

Arriving at the haven, the players behold a mega-structure of planetary scale, perhaps linked to legends of Klingon ancient history.  Manifold pre-warp cultures inhabit the structure, protected by a minefield that the players must circumvent or clear.  In a desolate region, a Starfleet transponder faintly chimes.  In an effort to cleave to the Prime Directive, the Vostok’s company chose an incredibly remote region of the Structure as their hermitage, adjacent to an ancient site of scientific interest that they hoped would preoccupy them while in hiding.

As the following scene unfolds, the Klingons may initiate a standoff in orbit above, attempting to keep secrets and their ancient past hidden from outsiders.  The Klingon’s arrival is a possible threat spend (4 Threat- K’Tinga Class Arrives) to add excitement to the adventure.

Investigating the site with an away team, the players discover that the hermitage was in fact unsafe, stalked by a predator that dogged their every move.  With effort, perhaps after a combat encounter with the predator, the players discover that the castaways retreated to within the ancient site, cannibalizing their survival gear — to build a haphazard transporter.

Within the site, the players behold a civilization that has turned inward, to exist within a computer simulation.  The castaway’s device lies still connected to the computer, but without means to scan for the Vostok’s  crew inside the computer, the Players may decide to beam in one of their own to recover their comrades.  

Within, the logic of an unreal realm proves an existential challenge to the player character within.  Once overtures are made, the machine civilization materializes an ambassador, happy to return the Vostok’s crew, who have been preserved in stasis.

Returning to reality, the wounds of the survivors become real again, requiring immediate medical attention.  The Klingons may send their own landing party to investigate the Player Character’s activities–the indigenous predators may complicate this encounter.

 

In the ensuing standoff,  the Klingons may be impressed by the Player’s bravery in rescuing their comrades, (or fighting the predator) and will agree to an ‘accidental’ erasure of the Player’s sensor data, or a pledge of secrecy, once the PCs demonstrate their own honor.

A BEGINNING

ALL HANDS

 

Welcome to ALL HANDS, the landing Pad for the Complex Games’ Apologist’s writings which expand and support his presence on YouTube.

For the coming year, most of what’s here will focus on

• Techniques-in-play (AKA ‘how to be a good Player, ‘how to be a good GM’),
• Musings and Analyses of mechanics, with an eye toward understanding the design intent, and leveraging that intent;
• Coverage of Star Trek Adventures RPG new releases;
• Serialized Campaign notes and write-ups of the CGA’s game into ‘module form’ where the course of play suggests it’s possible.

To begin, I’ll be publishing in serial form my TOS-Era Introductory Module for STA, “Repatriation,” with design notes and reflections on my own run of it, and how I could’ve done it better.

Coming down the pipe is a full-scale six episode campaign, with a lot of the particulars to be determined Collaboratively in Session Zero, tentatively titled “Star Trek: The New Generation,” floated as a parallel series that would have been airing contemporaneously with TNG on the BBC.  Occasional posts and reflections on this may occur.  Session Zero is happening on 1/16/2018 with DarkAge, Jim, and Eloy.

After many years away from Blogs, I’m back, with an eye toward using the medium as an appendix and support to the rest of what I do online.  I look forward to discussions here, and especially on YT and the other places I haunt!