Assuming he stuck with positions that played to his strengths, I'm going with Science Officer.
I'd agree, with the caveat that Command draws from all fields (Kirk was a Helmsman, Picard and Janeway were Science Officers, Sisko was an engineer), although specialist officers tend to lead missions related to their specialty (so a Science Officer turned Captain would likely lead exploration or research vessels, etc.)
Re: Solo RPG: Star Trek Captain's Log - Title TBD
Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2023 8:24 pm
by Kasey Chang
hentzau wrote: ↑Thu Aug 24, 2023 12:05 pm
he was serving as a security medic (I don't think they've ever stated that they have medics in the security details...but it seems to make sense.) During the battle, a contingent of Klingons beamed aboard the Edison when their shields were compromised. Hentzau helped to both fend off the Klingon boarding party (helping to justify his focus on phasers) and get wounded personnel to the escape shuttles and treat them while waiting for pickup from surviving ships. For his bravery in action he received a commendation and promotion to his next assignment...which I will determine shortly.
Mind if I rewrite this a bit?
During the battle, a Klingon boarding party beamed on board, and RH, due to battle damage and emergency forcefields, became the ranking officer in the section after death of X. He not only rallied the the crew into holding their position, but also lead a counterattack to collect the wounded, engaging in both phaser and hand-to-hand combat, where he sustained multiple wounds, but kept rallying the crew to defend until relieved. For extraordinary heroism in combat, he was awarded blah blah blah and promoted ahead of peer.
Re: Solo RPG: Star Trek Captain's Log - Title TBD
Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2023 10:05 pm
by YellowKing
After watching a few YouTube vid playthroughs I folded and ordered the hardcover. Who am I kidding, I want to holds it in my hands, precious.
Also one of the writers (@scribe_ineti on YouTube) has some videos on adapting Star Trek Adventures standalone missions and missions briefs into Captain's Log, which might be fun to try.
hentzau wrote: ↑Thu Aug 24, 2023 12:05 pm
he was serving as a security medic (I don't think they've ever stated that they have medics in the security details...but it seems to make sense.) During the battle, a contingent of Klingons beamed aboard the Edison when their shields were compromised. Hentzau helped to both fend off the Klingon boarding party (helping to justify his focus on phasers) and get wounded personnel to the escape shuttles and treat them while waiting for pickup from surviving ships. For his bravery in action he received a commendation and promotion to his next assignment...which I will determine shortly.
Mind if I rewrite this a bit?
During the battle, a Klingon boarding party beamed on board, and RH, due to battle damage and emergency forcefields, became the ranking officer in the section after death of X. He not only rallied the the crew into holding their position, but also lead a counterattack to collect the wounded, engaging in both phaser and hand-to-hand combat, where he sustained multiple wounds, but kept rallying the crew to defend until relieved. For extraordinary heroism in combat, he was awarded blah blah blah and promoted ahead of peer.
Kasey, that's great. Love it.
Re: Solo RPG: Star Trek Captain's Log - Title TBD
Posted: Fri Aug 25, 2023 1:27 pm
by Blackhawk
This thread has proven a challenge. It's actually be tough balancing throwing out Trek lore with not being obnoxious.
I'm not even close to being as much of Trekkie now as I was 25 years ago (good lord, was I obsessed for a few years), but a lot of that info stays with you.
Re: Solo RPG: Star Trek Captain's Log - Title TBD
Posted: Fri Aug 25, 2023 2:04 pm
by hentzau
Blackhawk wrote:This thread has proven a challenge. It's actually be tough balancing throwing out Trek lore with not being obnoxious.
I'm not even close to being as much of Trekkie now as I was 25 years ago (good lord, was I obsessed for a few years), but a lot of that info stays with you.
I’m always down for corrections or flavor help if I get stuck. I do at least a minimal amount of research before I post anything, but there are years (decades?) of conflicting data from books, games, shows…
I will absolutely not be offended by corrections. I may ignore them for the story’s sake, but I won’t be offended.
Re: Solo RPG: Star Trek Captain's Log - Title TBD
Posted: Fri Aug 25, 2023 3:38 pm
by Blackhawk
hentzau wrote: ↑Fri Aug 25, 2023 2:04 pm
I’m always down for corrections or flavor help if I get stuck. I do at least a minimal amount of research before I post anything, but there are years (decades?) of conflicting data from books, games, shows…
You can safely ignore anything other than the films, the shows (including the Animated Series and Lower Decks), and a couple of technical manuals that aren't likely to come up unless you really need detailed description of how the antimatter magnetic containment works. They've always been clear that anything else (including novels and games) is non-canon.
Since you're the first to share a Log, I just saw this free oracle deck that was created specifically for this game.
Re: Solo RPG: Star Trek Captain's Log - Title TBD
Posted: Sun Aug 27, 2023 4:39 pm
by YellowKing
Got my copy in today. Went with the TNG cover because for some reason it was $2 cheaper and that's the era I've watched the most content from anyway.
However, I'm definitely far from being a Trekkie. I've watched about half of the original series, about 4 seasons of TNG, and I've seen all the movies, so I'd say I'm a casual fan at most. So chances of me mucking up timelines and lore are extremely high.
The game has inspired me to get my Star Trek creds, though. Just for fun I recently started a chronological (Star Trek timeline, not TV air date) of all the series, starting with Enterprise.
Re: Solo RPG: Star Trek Captain's Log - Title TBD
Posted: Sun Aug 27, 2023 6:54 pm
by Blackhawk
Here's your Enterprise advice:
It gets a lot better. Except for the theme song. That starts bad and gets worse.
Re: Solo RPG: Star Trek Captain's Log - Title TBD
Posted: Sun Aug 27, 2023 7:16 pm
by Punisher
Blackhawk wrote: ↑Sun Aug 27, 2023 6:54 pm
Here's your Enterprise advice:
It gets a lot better. Except for the theme song. That starts bad and gets worse.
I actually love the Enterprise theme song and think it fits perfectly. It's the only intro I don't automatically fast forward.
Re: Solo RPG: Star Trek Captain's Log - Title TBD
Posted: Sun Aug 27, 2023 7:20 pm
by Blackhawk
Choke. Cough. *Poor man's Rod Stewart*
Re: Solo RPG: Star Trek Captain's Log - Title TBD
Posted: Sun Aug 27, 2023 9:35 pm
by YellowKing
I think it's a great theme song........ for a show from 1985 about a high school football player trying to make it to the NFL.
Re: Solo RPG: Star Trek Captain's Log - Title TBD
Posted: Sun Aug 27, 2023 11:58 pm
by Punisher
YellowKing wrote: ↑Sun Aug 27, 2023 9:35 pm
I think it's a great theme song........ for a show from 1985 about a high school football player trying to make it to the NFL.
I just have always felt that the theme completely fit the theme of the show.
This is the start of preStarfleet. The vulcans have been actively trying to hold back humanity for a long time and humanity finally said enough. Tough titties, we are heading out anyway.
It is easily my favorite theme from ST.
Re: Solo RPG: Star Trek Captain's Log - Title TBD
Posted: Mon Aug 28, 2023 3:14 pm
by El Guapo
I'd say make him Captain. Seems like a more fun adventure that way, since you'd have more control over the big picture events.
Alternatively, you could make him First Officer and say that the ship had more of a Picard / Riker approach to away missions than a Kirk approach.
Re: Solo RPG: Star Trek Captain's Log - Title TBD
Posted: Mon Aug 28, 2023 3:57 pm
by Blackhawk
This system has Hazard Team written all over it.
(Despite the Hazard Team being non-canon.)
Re: Solo RPG: Star Trek Captain's Log - The Victoria Chronicles
Posted: Mon Aug 28, 2023 5:07 pm
by hentzau
I decided to call this series "The Victoria Chronicles" and have the focus on the ship through the eras of the show (I know, ambitious plans for a guy that is like a butterfly flitting from game to game) and follow a captain through a series of adventures and then advance it forward through the timeline, get some ship upgrades/changes. and then get a new captain and start over again. So captain it is.
Our next step after character and ship generation is to generate our mission type. Let's see what we're supposed to be doing out here. Our roll of 14 for mission type is Research and Development. Interesting. A roll of 12 on the R&D table is New Polymer. Well, this is exciting. We're working on plastics. Gripping stuff, this. Let's see what our Them and Incident are.
Re: Solo RPG: Star Trek Captain's Log - The Victoria Chronicles
Posted: Mon Aug 28, 2023 5:21 pm
by Blackhawk
hentzau wrote: ↑Mon Aug 28, 2023 5:07 pm
follow a captain through a series of adventures and then advance it forward through the timeline, get some ship upgrades/changes. and then get a new captain and start over again.
Lore warning: After the TOS period, you're looking at a 95-year jump. You're taking wooden, masted ship up against the Bismark. Kirk's Enterprise could sit comfortably between the nacelle's of Picard's, with enough room for the Millennium Falcon left over.
An alternative might just be to see what the Victoria C is up to.
Re: Solo RPG: Star Trek Captain's Log - The Victoria Chronicles
Posted: Mon Aug 28, 2023 5:25 pm
by hentzau
Next Step: Theme and Incident, Advantages and Complications.
Incident: Rolled a 20, which is roll twice and combine. Yikes. 11 is Rescue, and 17 is Transform.
Theme: Rolled a 9, which is a...Nest. Interesting.
Advantage or Complication: I rolled an 8, which is even, indicating that I have an Advantage. The roll of 2 gives me Surplus Components, we have more supplies than usual that can be used to help out with a task that we encounter.
Re: Solo RPG: Star Trek Captain's Log - The Victoria Chronicles
hentzau wrote: ↑Mon Aug 28, 2023 5:07 pm
follow a captain through a series of adventures and then advance it forward through the timeline, get some ship upgrades/changes. and then get a new captain and start over again.
Lore warning: After the TOS period, you're looking at a 95-year jump. You're taking wooden, masted ship up against the Bismark. Kirk's Enterprise could sit comfortably between the nacelle's of Picard's, with enough room for the Millennium Falcon left over.
An alternative might just be to see what the Victoria C is up to.
I was thinking smaller jumps. Starting off right now in the Strange New Worlds timeframe, then moving up to Kirk-era TOS timeframe, then up to the movie-era Timeframe.
(But when I was researching, if you go by Memory Alpha, they state that there were Miranda-class ships still in service well into the 24th century, including serving in battles like Wolf 359...)
Re: Solo RPG: Star Trek Captain's Log - The Victoria Chronicles
Posted: Mon Aug 28, 2023 5:44 pm
by hentzau
Next Step: The Encounter.
A roll of 7 gives us a Deep Space encounter. A roll of 12 gives us Galactic filaments drift close to an inhabited world. Filaments...hmm.
So now we have the the basic idea behind our first adventure. Tomorrow I'm going to generate some details on the people, places and things to populate this, and then try and come up with a suitable Captains Log to start this thing off.
Re: Solo RPG: Star Trek Captain's Log - The Victoria Chronicles
Posted: Mon Aug 28, 2023 6:34 pm
by Blackhawk
hentzau wrote: ↑Mon Aug 28, 2023 5:44 pm
A roll of 12 gives us Galactic filaments drift close to an inhabited world. Filaments...hmm.
Captain's Log, Stardate 1286.4
We've entered into high orbit around Pernicus III, a world with an agrarian society that corresponds technologically to Earth's early 17th century. Their primitive state creates a conundrum, as there is a cloud of galactic filaments that their planet is due to pass through in 11 days.
Meanwhile, I've authorized a scientific away mission, as sensors have shown another lifeform, a winged aerial species that the exobiologists are calling 'dragons' after their resemblance to the creature of legend...
Re: Solo RPG: Star Trek Captain's Log - The Victoria Chronicles
Posted: Mon Aug 28, 2023 6:49 pm
by Blackhawk
Lore point with no intent to alter your trajectory.
hentzau wrote: ↑Mon Aug 28, 2023 5:30 pm
(But when I was researching, if you go by Memory Alpha, they state that there were Miranda-class ships still in service well into the 24th century, including serving in battles like Wolf 359...)
True, but they were mostly downgraded from core fleet duties to performing support duties by then (like the way old warships might get repurposed as transports.) The Battle of Wolf 359 was a last-ditch, oh-shit defensive line when the Borg were right on our doorstep with very little warning and very few ships close enough to provide reinforcement. They pulled in everything with a phaser for that one, half of them still smelling like mothballs - it's like Russia using T-54s in Ukraine. The battle resulted in massive losses, and then they went straight in to the Dominion War, resulting in parts of the mothball fleet remaining in service for a while longer.
Re: Solo RPG: Star Trek Captain's Log - The Victoria Chronicles
Posted: Tue Aug 29, 2023 3:42 pm
by Kasey Chang
Incident: Rescue + Transform
Theme: Nest
Advantage: you / surplus components
Location: Deep Space + Filament
The setup seems simple: while the ship tries to deflect the filament minutely so it glances off the planet, an away team is down on the planet trying to convince the colony to take some actions to ensure their survival. How each part does... will be up to you.
Spoiler:
The colony has a religious faction, who insist that the incoming filament is a test for the faithful and refuse to leave, no matter how persuasive the argument was, even if they are only leaving temporarily, and the equipment was able to setup a forcefield that can make the colony itself livable in a few days, but not during the filament's glancing blow. The away team was at least able to convince religious leader and his followers to hide in a natural cave system, as the ship was only be able to partially deflect the filament. The rest of the colony accepted that they are only gone for a few days and beamed up with their valuables and got crammed into the ship's every available surface, then they dodged around the filament. They went back to the colony, which was MOSTLY intact, and decon is possible. They went to the cave and found it had collapsed. They immediately started digging but it was too late, everybody inside was dead. But as a result, they found a new resource they weren't aware before. The victims were buried as tragic heroes that allowed the resource to be discovered, and now, the colony, instead of scraping by, will likely prosper due to this new resource buried deep, transforming the colony.
