Revision as of 01:18, 20 September 2014

Boldly, We Go... is a proposed Star Trek themed RPG set in the time immediately following the end of Star Trek: Enterprise, in an as yet unnamed area of space. This game would use the Constitution NX-04 ship as its vessel. The crew interaction and motivation will be what sets this game apart from others. This game is a slightly altered version of Coming Of The Federation.

The Premise

After the end of Enterprise, the Federation was being formed. The Humans, Vulcans, Tellarites, Andorians and many other races banded together for mutual advancement throughout the galaxy. But in the beginning, as was evident in Enterprise, the peace was at the very least tense. Each race, while desiring a truce and cooperation above all, also had personal agendas that colored their desires in the early days of the Federation.

When the Federation announced the launch of the Constitution, and its mission of exploration into the unknown, each race vied for the most important appointments aboard the ship. The best negotiators in the galaxy got together in a room and developed a plan to staff the ship, as well as ensure the safety and success of the mission.

The Plan

The senior officers would be appointed by the Joint Council of the Federation. This would ensure a multiracial representation, which would convey the Federations message of peaceful cooperation between member worlds.

The core line officers would be chosen via an open competition. The Joint Council would prepare a list of tasks, tests and interviews to choose the best candidates. The results would be judged by the Joint Council, as well as a mixed representative board consisting of minor worlds and races which were not represented in the Joint Council.

The junior officers would be chosen by the senior officers, with input from the core line officers and a strong suggestion to abide by racial quotas. The junior officers will also be invited to participate in an open competition similar to the above, but they will also be allowed to be chosen from those who do not attend these tests, and also their service records and accolades will be more heavily weighed.

Characters

Since all of the roles are filled in the given ship, any proposed PC will take the place of a pregenerated character on the roster. The races should be preserved, given the premise, unless another player is willing to 'trade' races with you. In other words, if the player who wishes to be captain has his heart set on being a Tellarite, then he must get consent from the player who will be the chief engineer to be a human instead.

Goals

Each character (and possibly many NPCs) will have goals assigned to them by their government. These goals will be the primary goal of the race on the mission besides the success of the mission itself. In other words, no player should interpret these goals as an excuse to sabotage the mission. All of the races want the mission to succeed above all else, for the glory gained by completing such an auspicious endeavor will easily outweigh potential gains made by individual races in the collaboration. These racial goals are ostensibly secret, but will likely be easily gleaned during play. Characters should strive to never directly reveal their ulterior motive, for fear of losing face.

The purpose of these goals is to give an extra level of politics and intrigue for characters and players to enjoy, and hopefully to enrich the interactions. This can find an organic means of differentiating the characters while also keeping them on task. I would like for the characters to develop camaraderie, while also often feeling tension toward one another.

System

I am strongly considering either one of the two Fate Star Trek writeups, or HERO for this game. I would like to also find a way to 'reward' goal achievement in game. There are obvious carrots, such as fate points, experience points etc, but I am not sure they are the appropriate currency. This will be up for debate among the players and GM.

Setting

The game will be a multi-branched, pseudo-sandbox, where there will often be multiple mutually exclusive choices for the next mission. This is deliberate, to give the racial goals an opportunity to be an important story driver. Choices should have consequences, and risks should deliver rewards.