Star Trek: Perdition's Flames (Inactive)

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I'll post first thing in the morning, having technical difficulties tonight.

I was reading an excerpt from the upcoming Beta Quadrant book and it mentioned that Andorians love hockey and have a big annual hockey game vs Klingons. That got me to wondering about whether our Andorians enjoy hockey, and what other sorts of pastimes our officers enjoy. TNG got a lot of mileage out of poker, DS9 had various holo programs and baseball. Any thoughts?

Pegira is a MMA afficianado.

Jalla certainly enjoys hockey, and has been known to play Parrises squares, but aside from her more athletic endeavors, she's a writer of historical fiction, and, as is common to the writing-breed, an avid reader as well.

I can't find any indication of how many doctors should be on a starship, but since the crew numbers of a Constellation are similar to a Constitution, and they only ever had McCoy, I'm guessing there is just the one doctor and probably some nursing/PA staff. It would be reasonable for one of them to help out with the fixing up of our good doctor.

[joke]If our doctor is going to be such a fighter, maybe we should look into getting an EMH.[/joke]

You're not wrong.

There was the recurring character of Dr M'Benga from the original series. Only two episodes but there was talk of him getting a spin off which is why I remember him... and he slapped Spock once.
http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/M%27Benga

They have a few other ones occasionally named like Dr Sanchez but they might be non medical doctors like physicists. Nurse Chapel is a doctor in the movies too.

But it is war time so things might be stretched more thinly.

Is everything ok? Haven't seen much going on in a few days.

I'm updating tomorrow, had an exhaustingly busy day today :)

Sorry for my absence. For those who don't know, I am a teacher, and my wife is also a teacher, and we live in Kentucky. It has been a crazy few days for us, and this is the first time I've sat down at a computer since last Wednesday.

I can see why that'd keep you guys busy!

As science/first officer any pointers on how I can be most effective in starship combat?

I'm not sure if we ever officially divided up positions.

Commanding Officer: Dell

Helm: Currently Ensign Nami

Navigator: Also Nami?

Sensor Operations: th'Chiaqis

Security Oversight: zh'Qjaqir

Tactical Systems: zh'Qjaqir

Communications: zh'Qjaqir

Internal systems control: ?

Main Engineering: Hill

Sickbay has its own things to do, offering departments rerolls as detailed on page 225.

I would recommend that th'Chiaquis handle Internal Systems, which would give you access to those Tasks as well as the Commanding Officer Tasks. He doesn't seem like the kind of guy to pull a Riker and take the helm.

As for what would be most effective, I don't really know. Probably scanning for weak points early on and handling regeneration/damage control tasks later.

It was pretty satisfying to use create advantage to deal with complication I'll admit.

Yeah, that is cool. It feels exactly like what would happen on the show. In fact, I was watching an episode of Voyager yesterday where the ship suddenly changes course and they don't know why. Janeway has Kim transfer helm control to his station while Paris does a diagnostic of his station.

As much as I am struggling to get all of the rules together, they do continually seem to facilitate the kinds of things that happen on the show.

That said, I'm going to need to work on some sort of ship tracking combat sheet. The stat sheet we have the ship on is fine, but I need something that keeps track of all of the breaches and systems for each ship. I keep losing track of all of those numbers. I think I also lost Ensign Nami's stats, but I can remake them pretty easily.

Perhaps Hill could have some background experience in one of the other roles on the ship, so that in the event that someone is incapacitated, he can step in? Hill would definitely want to make sure he is pulling his weight.

Are you feeling like you aren't pulling your weight? I feel like narratively Hill has found plenty to do. As combat goes on, he should have lots to do. Don't miss Power Management, Regenerate Shields, and Damage Control on page 224, all Tasks that you can undertake. Also Assist and Create Advantage can help almost any Task that you can justify.

No no, I mean in terms of ship's assignments in specific situations. I'm definitely "present" in the narrative, it's just for extra RP purposes.

Oh, that makes sense. Hill has been around the block, so I'm sure he has had a wide variety of assignments.

@GM SuperTumbler

I wanted to check with you before posting. Gareb has the talent,

Can I use this to get an extra dice when rolling to regenerate their shields. I'm thinking of his saying some technobabble. "Remember that phase variance in the shields that let them transport through? I've got an idea, if I rotate the frequency just a little I can reinforce the shield in an area but make it look weak, encourage them to hit us in a not so weak spot. Have them keep punching us and not those transports."

But I amn't 100% so wanted to check with people as I dont just want to be taking unjustified D20s.

I'm having a bit of trouble thinking of what to do, but I'll hopefully have a post up at some point tonight.

It seems like that falls under the definitions of the Talent. I am having a somewhat hard time remembering that these characters are supposed to be highly competent and successful. I think those Talents are designed to be broadly applicable.

Tobin, note on page 221 that you can use the Override Task to attempt at Task from any other role other than the commanding officer and increase the difficulty by 1. I think it is safe to flavor that as you simply telling people to do things. Of course, you can also just Create Advantages or use Rally to generate Momemtum.

Ah, thanks! That helps a lot. I have tabletop in just a minute, but I will post something after.

I'll be travelling from Wednesday afternoon until Sunday morning with a group of students. I'll post when I can, but Thursday and Friday are unlikely.

Have a good time!

@Tobin What details were you hoping Gareb to dig up? Give me somewhere to start.

Mainly, life signs, did they steal any cargo yet, etc. But, go from there wherever you like. :)

@GM Supertumbler I'm not in the sensor's position, can I switch over due to the Captain's request temporarily? I don't want to just idly assume I can flit about in starship combat.

Ack, I thought you were at science. I lost track, sorry.

Moving to an empty position is a minor action.

Hey all, delaying my daily post today due to extreme exhaustion. Just thought I'd let everyone know. Back tomorrow! :)

What I'm hoping will happen here is that we transition from a combat scene to an investigation situation.

Sorry for the lack of posts, I'll be getting one up ASAP. No problem coming up with what to post now, I just messed up.

Questions and comments about storytelling conventions:

I've watched a lot of Star Trek in the last 6 months. All of DS9, 3 seasons of Voyager, all of Discovery, and intermittent viewing of Enterprise, TNG, and TOS. That started out as just a fun thing to do, but now it has also become game research, which I enjoy just as much.

Star Trek is obviously a dramatic storytelling form (in the sense that it is written in an objective point of view for the most part). I've tried to replicate that to some degree in our PbP. For example, when the Enterprise encounters something strange, Data or Spock fills the captain in and the audience gets the details at the same time, providing the necessary exposition. So I give you things out of character and you have to provide your character's perspective on whatever you are seeing on the sensors or etc. This could lead to a certain detachment, however. In a typical PbP, I tend to write very descriptively about what your character is seeing, but here I might be just conveying raw info and counting on you to filter it through your character.

This doesn't seem out of place to me, but I can see where it might be offputting.

So, I guess my question is, having been together for a few weeks now, do you like that style, or is it not the best? Do you need more or less?

Also, at this point, feel free to push the plot in the direction of your choosing. Having set up the situation, it can be pretty sandboxy. Chase Jem'Hadar, interrogate Klingons, probe the Cluster, fix Klingon ships, head to Stellar Cartography...

Any other comments or critiques are welcome.

I am actually enjoying the game so far. It's been interesting not having to be one of the characters that drives the plot forward.

This time, when we face the mystery plague on an abandoned ship/colony/station you'll be taking the lead!

I'm enjoying it. I can see using the sensors working better around a table but I'm definitely getting that star trek vibe. I've been pushing things a lot with Gareb so am happy to step back a bit if needed.

I'm having a great time!

I'm loving the style, it feels very much like Star Trek. I was having a little trouble wrapping my head around the combat, but that was to do with the rules rather than anything you're doing. :-)

And no complaints from me, Gareb. :-)

I'm enjoying it too! I do think that due to the genre, giving us raw info so that we can explain it to the party is probably more appropriate, but of course if you've got a piece of writing you can't bear to leave off the page put it in!

You guys think we should bring Meetch on? I think we could use a pilot, but I'm also fine with what we have going. Feel free to PM me if there are thoughts you want to share in private.

I don't mind.

I'm cool with it.

Go for it. Also:

Posting this to all my games: Sorry for the lack of posting. For the second time this year, I got the flu, and the internet is out at my house right now (where it has been for the last two days). It should hopefully be resolved by Monday, and if not I'm going to switch ISPs. Please feel free to bot me until I am back up and running, and if I am running your game, I haven't forgotten about you!

Works for me.

Also, I'm happy to run the scanner, but I think others are better suited to the task.

I made this using the beta character creator, so please let me know if there are any errors!

Eliza Cunningham
Female Human

Attributes:
Control 11
Daring 10
Fitness 9
Insight 8
Presence 8
Reason 10

Disciplines (Focuses):
Command 3 (Figurative language/code)
Conn 4 (Starship recognition, helm operation, shuttlecraft operation, evasive action)
Engineering 3 (Flying on damaged engines)
Security 3
Science 2
Medicine 1

Stress: 15
Damage Bonus:

Traits: Human

Talents: Resolute, Fly-by, Push the Limits, Untapped Potential

Values: A starship is a home, a crew is family, The Federation is a just and good organization, gotta go fast, be the best, no matter what

Lifepath Choices:

Species: Human
Environment: Starship
Upbringing: Starfleet (Accepted)
Starfleet Academy: Command Track (Conn)
Career: Young Officer
Career Events:
Special Commendation
Learned a unique language

I'll fill in more details as I have time later, but here's the logline of her background:

Starfleet brat, father (Lt. Commander Douglas Cunningham) was an officer who served on multiple starships. Grew up living on Starfleet ships, mostly scientific missions (Lois Cunningham is a xenoanthropologist). Spent her teen years on the Enterprise after her father was transferred to the flagship. The Cunninghams stayed on the Enterprise until the crash on Veridian III, where her father was killed.

Eliza entered Starfleet academy as soon as she turned 18, following a command track. Her first day at the academy was her first time setting foot on earth. The Dominion War began while she was still a cadet, much to the consternation of her mother. She first served on the U.S.S. Santa Cruz and was promoted to Lieutenant (Junior Grade) after her deft maneuvering kickstarted an otherwise inoperative warp drive and allowed the badly damaged patrol ship to retreat from a doomed battle without casualties.

Prior to the crash of the Enterprise, her mother extensively studied the Tamarian language after their captain was stranded on a planet with Dathon. Lois taught Eliza the language and Eliza is one of the few humans who can speak it fluently. She's used the experience to develop a series of human-culture based idioms to serve a similar purpose, and those who know Eliza well can speak with her without outsiders understanding the full extent of the message.

Ask anyone to describe Eliza and the first word they'll use is "Eager", though the tone of their voice hints at how they feel about her determination to be useful and to excel.

Generally speaking, you guys are welcome to a access Memory Alpha for technobabble. I can't imagine anything on there getting too spoilery, since we are near the end of established canon and I'm ignoring Star Trek Online continuity. Obviously, some things are going to be classified, and anything Voyager is unknown at this point.

I'm trying to keep things making sense for tech, though of course even the shows don't always manage that.

Just popping in to say I'm back now.

Would it make sense for my engineering crew to bring the dead Jem'Hadar bodies to sick bay, Doctor?

Feed them straight into the replicators!

You could certainly do so. As I mentioned previously, I'm fine with holding down a position that allows me to engage in the game but doesn't have to be in the spotlight all the time.