The infamous adventures of U.S.S. Reserve…
May 2, 2017 22:40:22 GMT -9
okumarts, scarecrow, and 1 more like this
Post by shep on May 2, 2017 22:40:22 GMT -9
So, my regular RPG group had an all-weekend-game last weekend. We played STAR TREK ADVENTURES, testing out various stuff. First of all, we tested the character creation rules of STA. Modiphius provided all game testers with two sets of rules, the "Lifepath System" and the "Creation in Play System". While the first gives you a highly detailed character with career events and a pre-academy background, the second leaves you with the needed core information, and you can add traits, values, talents, and focuses on the go while adventuring.
Both systems have their ups and downs, but the guys decided to use the Lifepath System for their characters. We actually created the core crew of U.S.S. Reserve (along with the ship) a fewweeks ago, when the character creation rules were sent out by Modiphius. My group first decided upon which era they wanted their characters to belong to. Choosing from ENT, TOS, and TNG, they decided for TOS, since we had access to the Lexinton's adventure from the playtest.
On another note this made several other things easier, since I planned on using okumarts minis and his great modular Starfleet corridors. Even though, we could just as well have used some of the modded minis, the choice of the guys reduced the work needed to individualize their minis to near nothing.
Creating the characters together was loads of fun, and instantly generated various connections between the Tellarite engineer, the Vulcan doctor, the human helmsman and the Andorian commander. The only character created in secret was the very young (and yet quite old) Trill security officer fresh out of the academy. The player was absent during the creation session and also couldn't make it to the weekend. So, this is still going to be a little bit of a surprise for the group, especially, since the Trill symbiont inside the young officer is the same that belonged to the (more or less) recently lost old captain of the ship, and also the symbiont of the same players character from the very first round of the playtest, when the group played characters stranded on Xerxes 4 during an ion storm.
The group decided to play overly experienced veterans, with the captain being younger, still experienced, and yet a "mere cadet" compared to the rest. The Vulcan even took »Starfleet's First Class« as a defining value, meaning he graduated from Starfleet Academy in 2165, the first integrated training programm in Federation's history.
While creating their characters, the group also created – as a side effect – their ship. They did not want to play aboard the Lexington, as they felt a Constitution Class starship might be a little bit too big and powerful for their liking. They decided on a smaller ship class, even though they had no idea what this class should be. I gave them various option, regarding the adventure being set in 2268 and the class possibilities that year suggested. I first offered them an early Miranda Class, and an early Oberth, but they did not want either. Presenting various other ships of the timeframe, they finally decided on an Archer Class ship and christened it U.S.S. Reserve, the most run-down ship in the fleet…
Back home, I had a look at the adventure, realizing that an Archer Class ship would never work. Where would they put the 26 passengers on a ship with a hotbunking crew of 14, for starters? So, I informed the group and offered them an Ares Class, a Daedalus Class, and a Bonaventure Class ship instead. The guys checked all classes on Memory Alpha and Memory Beta, and finally decided to go with the Ares. And this was how U.S.S. Reserve, NCC-1674, came into existence.
With the characters and the ship created, I could start preparing the adventure. First, I chose some minis for the crew and some for the most important supporting characters. For the rest of the crew, I tested scarecrow 's Star Trek mini app, and created about 40 more minis to use in the scenario. Then I tweaked David's corridors to my needs and added a floating wall depicting the warp core. I also built the great bridge playset that had been posted lately, but on the weekend decided that I will re-do the bridge and add a transporter room and a turbolift (and perhaps quarters, a sickbay, and a shuttle bay) in the style of the corridors, so everything looks like it belongs together. Finally, I created two versions of the ship as 2.5D minis, one regular and one tilted, since the adventure is called »Adrift«, and the ship is drifting through space for at least half the time.
We've been playing RPG-weekends for almost 30 years now, always as bonus events to our usual game night every friday, and always in our church's youth center. Now, said youth center being a wooden cabin in the church's backyard, it is soon, after being in constant use for some 40 years, going to be taken down and replaced by a new and modern building. So, this weekend could very well have been the last, we've played there. To commemorate this, I designed a mug for each player with the ship, the ship's logo, the individual position, and the date of the event, and had them printed on white mugs with colored (according to the individual crew shirt colors) handles and interiors. My own mug is white and green and has "game master" included in the design.
I also put together a soundtrack for the adventure from the scores of the original series, created a cover, and burned CDs for everyone in the group.
Finally, I used up my discount points from an internet trading platform called Rakuten – kind of an online mall for small to medium German businesses – to buy 5d20 (1 yellow, 2 blue, and 2 red) for each of the guys and myself.
While the dice and CDs were surprises, every player paid for his own mug. So, everyone got a nice little "convention goodie bag" in the end…
BUT, what happened during the game? Just read on (includes photos)…
Both systems have their ups and downs, but the guys decided to use the Lifepath System for their characters. We actually created the core crew of U.S.S. Reserve (along with the ship) a fewweeks ago, when the character creation rules were sent out by Modiphius. My group first decided upon which era they wanted their characters to belong to. Choosing from ENT, TOS, and TNG, they decided for TOS, since we had access to the Lexinton's adventure from the playtest.
On another note this made several other things easier, since I planned on using okumarts minis and his great modular Starfleet corridors. Even though, we could just as well have used some of the modded minis, the choice of the guys reduced the work needed to individualize their minis to near nothing.
Creating the characters together was loads of fun, and instantly generated various connections between the Tellarite engineer, the Vulcan doctor, the human helmsman and the Andorian commander. The only character created in secret was the very young (and yet quite old) Trill security officer fresh out of the academy. The player was absent during the creation session and also couldn't make it to the weekend. So, this is still going to be a little bit of a surprise for the group, especially, since the Trill symbiont inside the young officer is the same that belonged to the (more or less) recently lost old captain of the ship, and also the symbiont of the same players character from the very first round of the playtest, when the group played characters stranded on Xerxes 4 during an ion storm.
The group decided to play overly experienced veterans, with the captain being younger, still experienced, and yet a "mere cadet" compared to the rest. The Vulcan even took »Starfleet's First Class« as a defining value, meaning he graduated from Starfleet Academy in 2165, the first integrated training programm in Federation's history.
While creating their characters, the group also created – as a side effect – their ship. They did not want to play aboard the Lexington, as they felt a Constitution Class starship might be a little bit too big and powerful for their liking. They decided on a smaller ship class, even though they had no idea what this class should be. I gave them various option, regarding the adventure being set in 2268 and the class possibilities that year suggested. I first offered them an early Miranda Class, and an early Oberth, but they did not want either. Presenting various other ships of the timeframe, they finally decided on an Archer Class ship and christened it U.S.S. Reserve, the most run-down ship in the fleet…
Back home, I had a look at the adventure, realizing that an Archer Class ship would never work. Where would they put the 26 passengers on a ship with a hotbunking crew of 14, for starters? So, I informed the group and offered them an Ares Class, a Daedalus Class, and a Bonaventure Class ship instead. The guys checked all classes on Memory Alpha and Memory Beta, and finally decided to go with the Ares. And this was how U.S.S. Reserve, NCC-1674, came into existence.
With the characters and the ship created, I could start preparing the adventure. First, I chose some minis for the crew and some for the most important supporting characters. For the rest of the crew, I tested scarecrow 's Star Trek mini app, and created about 40 more minis to use in the scenario. Then I tweaked David's corridors to my needs and added a floating wall depicting the warp core. I also built the great bridge playset that had been posted lately, but on the weekend decided that I will re-do the bridge and add a transporter room and a turbolift (and perhaps quarters, a sickbay, and a shuttle bay) in the style of the corridors, so everything looks like it belongs together. Finally, I created two versions of the ship as 2.5D minis, one regular and one tilted, since the adventure is called »Adrift«, and the ship is drifting through space for at least half the time.
We've been playing RPG-weekends for almost 30 years now, always as bonus events to our usual game night every friday, and always in our church's youth center. Now, said youth center being a wooden cabin in the church's backyard, it is soon, after being in constant use for some 40 years, going to be taken down and replaced by a new and modern building. So, this weekend could very well have been the last, we've played there. To commemorate this, I designed a mug for each player with the ship, the ship's logo, the individual position, and the date of the event, and had them printed on white mugs with colored (according to the individual crew shirt colors) handles and interiors. My own mug is white and green and has "game master" included in the design.
I also put together a soundtrack for the adventure from the scores of the original series, created a cover, and burned CDs for everyone in the group.
Finally, I used up my discount points from an internet trading platform called Rakuten – kind of an online mall for small to medium German businesses – to buy 5d20 (1 yellow, 2 blue, and 2 red) for each of the guys and myself.
While the dice and CDs were surprises, every player paid for his own mug. So, everyone got a nice little "convention goodie bag" in the end…
BUT, what happened during the game? Just read on (includes photos)…