Streamed rpgs, the final frontier…
I’ve decided to run a mini-campaign of Star Trek Adventures to stream on my YouTube page. I ran a couple online games this summer using the playtest rules but stopped when the final rulebook became available so I could familiarize myself with the finalized game. Having run four sessions with finished rules and having read the entire core rulebook cover to cover, I think I’m ready to dive back into the streaming world.
I’ve recruited five players, and I’m planning to run one session a month from December through April. I’ve put together some setting info below and I’ve got a good idea of what will happen in the initial session. Beyond that, I’m planning to let the players take the campaign where they wish.
I decided to set the series on a starbase near the Romulan Neutral Zone. That way, I figure I can work in a lot of the political intrigue and drama that I find compelling about Deep Space 9. A starbase setting will also give me a different sandbox to play in than my home game, which is set on a starship.
The first session is scheduled for Dec. 9. Can’t wait to get some dice rolling. Here’s the setting and background information I’ve provided the players to help them with character creation.
SETTING OVERVIEW
Starbase 23 is a Spacedock-type starbase located near the Romulan Neutral Zone in the Beta Quadrant. Its position also places it near to the Klingon border, making it one of the most strategically important starbases in Starfleet and a hub of all manner of interstellar intrigue. It houses a wide range of personnel and services, including a Federation diplomatic mission, a judge advocate general’s office and engineering facilities capable of completing extensive repairs on Starfleet’s most advanced starships. Several major trade routes pass near the station, creating a steady influx of civilian and commercial traffic as well.
Its mushroom-shaped top module, perhaps its most distinguishing feature, contains four sets of space doors granting entrance to up to six starships at a time. Ships that dock inside the main bay may undergo a huge range of repairs, from regular maintenance to major refits. Starfleet Command emphasizes operational readiness this close to the Romulan Neutral Zone, and the starships that patrol the surrounding space receive the most advanced defense and sensor technology available.
LOCATION AND NEARBY FEATURES
Starbase 23 remains stationery at a point near the Romulan Neutral Zone in the Beta Quadrant. Starships docked at Starbase 23 could enter the Neutral Zone within minutes at high warp. The Unroth System lies just on the other side of the Neutral Zone, a planetary system that hosts a Romulan colony. Slightly further away lies the point at which the Klingon Border meets Romulan space, a perennial point of friction and gamesmanship between the Klingon and Romulan fleets.
The Paulsen Nebula, where the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D hid from a Borg cube in 2367, lies slightly rimward of Starbase 23 in Federation space. Its dense gaseous content renders sensors nearly useless, making it an ideal location for raiders, rogues and renegades to evade patrolling Starfleet vessels. The region once boasted a Federation colony known as New Providence, but the colony fell victim to the Borg during the 2367 incursion shortly before the disastrous Battle of Wolfe 359. Today, the site that was once New Providence is little more than a vast crater, but a Starfleet science team continues to study the area for valuable intelligence on the Borg threat.
PERSONNEL
Starbase 23 hosts a crew complement of around 700 Starfleet officers and enlisted personnel. This includes strategic personnel who oversee Starfleet’s monitoring of the Neutral Zone, a fully staffed judge advocate general’s office and security station, separate engineering teams to maintain both the starbase and visiting starships, a team devoted solely to the administration of the starbase, a medical team and a group devoted to scientific research.
The commanding officer of Starbase 23 is Fleet Admiral Behl Ch’Tharris, an Andorian with a long and storied career at Starfleet Command. Admiral Ch’Tharris’s duties require her to spend most of her time overseeing fleet deployments and strategic operations along the Neutral Zone. She maintains a full support team in her office to help her with these decisions. An officer with the rank of commander oversees the day-to-day operations of the starbase, though he or she still reports regularly to Admiral Ch’Tharris.
TIMELINE
The year is 2371. The USS Enterprise-D was recently destroyed in a crash on the planet Veridian III. Starfleet has begun exploring the Gamma Quadrant by traveling through the Bajoran Wormhole, where something called the Dominion awaits. Starfleet Command soon will dispatch the USS Voyager to the Badlands on a mission concerning the Maquis resistance group. And tensions along the Romulan Neutral Zone have reached a fever pitch after several incidents over the previous decade show the Romulan Star Empire plans to destabilize the political balance of power in the Alpha and Beta Quadrants.
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