Day 5-Can you tell us about the campaign's history?
The campaign began as a one-shot of The Star Trek Roleplaying Game by Last Unicorn Games I ran at a New York CIty gaming convention called RECESS back in 2014. You can see more about that here. My players and I consider this the first 'Pilot Episode' (it's not counted as being among the 9 seasons of the series).
This was followed by a host of one-shots with the same 'core cast' and a rotating series of supporting players. Eventually, after a bit of reworking and a conversion from LUG's Star Trek RPG to Modiphius' Star Trek Adventures, we firmly established Star Trek: Prosperity as an ongoing bi-weekly campaign that is still active [as of this entry].
"Computer, access Memory Alpha Historical Archive Records on USS Prosperity, NCC-1587. Display Historical Synopsis with Highlights."
"...WORKING..."
The Ventura Class Light Cruiser first entered Starfleet service in 2228, roughly 12-15 years prior to the launch of the Constitution Class. When launched, it was touted as one of the most advanced, dependable, and durable designs of its day.
The USS Prosperity itself was launched in 2230. Prior to Captain Anne Fletcher taking command in 2266, the vessel had an if unremarkable run.
A year and a half into Anne Fletcher's captaincy, Starfleet decided to use the vessel to test out a Rear-Facing Photon Torpedo. The ship was overhauled and fit with the device which turned out to be very effective in battle but not without its drawbacks.
This is where our ongoing campaign [truly] begins.
Season 1
How it started.
Captain Anne Fletcher is the Commanding Officer. Commander Solok is First Officer and Chief Science Officer. Lt. Commander Tha'ar Bhoth is Chief of Security. Lt. Commander Rhys (pronounced Reese) Carr is Chief of Communications.
Other PCs include Ross as Chief Medical Officer, Lt. Commander, Dr. Jemm Paker and Saul as Chief Helmsman, Lt. Stephen LeBrock.
Many of the major Command Crew NPCs are established as regular supporting characters, such as Asst. Chief Engineer Lt. Gravph (a Male Tellarite), Asst. Chief Science Officer Lt. T'Sora (a Female Vulcan), and Asst. Chief of Communications Lt. JG Hitomi Kikaeda (Female Human).
Most missions are following up on prior endeavors of Constituition Class starships and Starfleet Scout vessels. This leads to a series of adventures that all deal with Precursor Artifacts, including the Light Dams of Hesparagorta and a Doomsday Machine. The PCs unravel the mysterious connection between all these objects and gain knowledge about the Precursors, their language, and their iconographic writing.
Conflict occurs with Romulans when they team up with Prosperity to stop the Doomsday Machine but double cross them to take advantage of the situation. The Romulan Sub-Commander forcefully relieved her superior of Command when his actions endangered their ship. Going forward, this Sub-Commander would be a re-occurring Romulan character the PCs could actually reason with.
Season 2
Bhoth switches to Chief Engineer.
Melissa joins as Lt. Anara Datiri, a Female Deltan Helmsman. Lt. LeBrock is gone. Ross departs but Dr. Paker is now an NPC.
Additional Prosperity personnel are fleshed out, particularly a good number of those serving in Engineering. An NPC member of Dr. Paker staff is Lt. Hanover. Her role, doctor or nurse, isn't clear.
Captain Fletcher develops a friendly rivalry with Captain T'Sada of the Science Ship USS Algol. Fletcher is able to obtain a Sensor Suite Upgrade originally intended for the Algol. The Algol went back on the waiting list and does eventually get her upgrade.
There is an encounter with a massive, spaceborne organism or 'cosmozoan' at Ludugia (Rho Coronae Borealis). The situation was epic and the entity of the Cosmic Horror sort. The adventure features the first named character death in the game, Warp Drive Specialist Calvin Bishop.
It is revealed that firing the Rear Photo Torpedo shakes the starboard Warp Nacelle and knocks its Warp Coil out of alignment. Bishop tries to crawl into the Warp Nacelle to manually adjust the Warp Coil and is vaporized by a plasma discharge.
This death significantly effected Mr. Bhoth and helped the player to further develop his character.
The Ludugia Entity would return/reappear in future seasons.
Players get to improve their PC's stats.
Season 3
Melissa/Lt. Datiri exits and Erica joins as a new PC Chief Helmsman, a Female Andorian Lt. JG Teela Rill.
Doctor Paker replaced by new NPC Chief Medical Officer, Lt./Doctor Margaret 'Maggie' Hanover. She has an unusual bedside manner and a fascination with all things Vulcan. She enters into a romantic subplot with Commander Solok at some point [a little off camera]. It eventually becomes a known quantity.
Captain Fletcher discovers that Captain T'Sada has been temporarily issued a small Cochrane Class Scout Ship. Fletcher manages to get one for the Prosperity which they christen the 'Rockwell'. The Prosperity gives up two of her standard shuttles but keeps two (the Mondrian and the Rothko).
We first meet members of the core PCs' families, most notably Mr. Bhoth's father, Andorian Imperial Guard General Barath Bhoth (very likely my favorite NPC to play and use). Further development of Bhoth's background and relationship with his father and the Imperial Guard is showcased. We also meet Solok's older brother Selar, a [cool, Vulcan] Test Pilot.
First Time Travel adventure. PCs 'Quantum Leap' into the lives of people from Prosperity's past and future. Inspired by but quite different from the Star Trek: TNG Series Finale, 'All Good Things...'.
We delve into Lt. Commander Carr's background for the first time, revealing he previously serviced with Starfleet Intelligence decrypting coded messages, primarily from the Rulans and Orion Pirates.
After meeting with an old flame and fellow spy, Carr gets the Intel necessary to thwart a Romulan/Orion Alliance plot. The group's previous sympathetic Romulan Sub-Commander is now a Commander and we give her evidence on the Orions' plan to double-cross the Romulans, earning her favor even though the overall operation was a failure.
The USS Prosperity is overhauled and the Rear Photon system better intergrated. Based on design improvements by Bhoth, the Starboard Nacelle issue is fixed. The ship is upgraded from the Mark II to the Mark IIB.
Season 4
Lt. Commander Carr becomes Chief of Security.
Erica moves out of town and Lt. Rill becomes an NPC.
Shae is first encountered in the mid-end of the season as part of a larger adventure featuring new aliens, a lost Romulan ship, and Time Travel.
Romantic subplot develops between Bhoth and Shae.
Starfleet announces that aside from five Ventura Class Starships, the rest of the remaining active vessels will be mothballed. If the remaining five are badly damaged they will also be decommissioned. Resources are being diverted to the further construction and development of the Constitution and the newer Miranda Class. Mr. Bhoth furious.
An encounter with other Cheronian survivors prompts Capt. Fletcher to defend her charge and Shae decides to take political asylum in the Federation.
The Prosperity's successes have given the Federation more information of the Sierra and Tango Sector Blocks, as well new allies in these regions. This opens up the opportunity for a new permanent Starfleet base. Plans are made to establish Deep Space 5.
PCs improve again, each adding a new Focus and a new Talent.
Season 5
Season opens with a party celebrating Deep Space 5 going fully operational. Admiral George Bankroft, former Captain of the USS Colin Powell, is given command. Bankroft met Capt. Fletcher when she was a Lieutenant and knew she'd go places. He is happy to have her and her ship assigned to DS5 as their 'port of call'.
At the party we also meet Solok's younger sister and Bhoth's 'Blood Brother'. They are engaged and in a later adventure inspired by 'Amok Time' they marry after their chosen representative champions, Bhoth and Solok, fight to the death! In the end everyone rejoices and Prosperity's odd couple are now technically 'related'.
USS Prosperity assigned to new area close to the Kzinti Patriarchy and not far from First Federation space.
Carr's spy skills come in handy again in order to prevent the Kzinti Patriarchy from invading the Kasheeta Matriarchy. Captain Fletcher negotiates with the Martriarchy and they submit a request to join the Federation.
Mr. Bhoth and [NPC] Mr. Gravph attempt to save the Ventura Class by analyzing its strengths, weaknesses, and updating its design. Capt. Fletcher submits propsal to Starfleet. Starfleet not only approves, upgrading all Venturas to the Mark IIB configuration but considers making Bhoth's changes a Mark III and perhaps building new Ventura Class vessels of the Mark III type. Ventura Class saved!
Season 6
This season is focused on horror themes, with inspiration and influence from the scarier episodes of The Original Series and the Twilight Zone.
An alien mad scientist tries to prove he can resurrect the dead by first destroying himself and having a coffin-like medical pod bring him back to life using the Proto-Matter in the Accretion Disk of a Black Hole. One of our best episodes ever!
The Ludugia Entity returns and wrecks havoc on a colony world, forcing Captain Fletcher and her team to eliminate it once and for all by trapping it in a Wormhole Anomaly and then collapsing the Anomaly on the creature.
First Contact and numerous dealings with the draconic looking Knuckrians. Initially quite hostile, they are revealed to be a deeply spiritual and honorable people fooled into believing the Federation was their enemy by a third party.
Season 7
After a three month refit, the USS Prosperity emerges from the Utopia Planitia Shipyards completely rebuilt into his Mark III configuration.
The Vault War - The Khelayans, a former subject species of the Klingon Empire, suddenly go on the offensive. They started by acting like pirates but quickly escalated their efforts towards sieging UFP colonies and outposts. As it turned out, after decades of being bullied and having to kowtow to the Klingons, the Khelayans had discovered a fortress and extremely high technology buried beneath their homeworld. This fortress, 'The Vault' as they called it, had been built by a militant offshoot of the Precursors known as the Janissaries.
At some point, the Prosperity came to the rescue of a Starfleet expedition to a possible Janissary site who did not report back. Eventually, the PCs discover a secret space inside a large blue-gold crystal structure wherein they encounter a Vulcan Science Officer who has been merged with the blue-gold crystaline mineral. His name was Sunut and he was linked with a hive mind of long dead Janissaries, all their thoughts uploaded into the ancient formation around him.
Commander Solok mind-melded with Sunut and was able to communicate with the original young man. There Solok obtained key intel that would aid the crew later (see below). He also transfered Sunut's Katra into his own mind, promising to return it to Vulcan in the future.
The situation ended in a large scale fleet operation against the makeshift Khelayan fleet, led by Captain Anne Fletcher and the Prosperity. At the same time, Mr. Carr and Mr. Solok snuck down to the surface of the planet and used intel obtained earlier in the season to infiltrate the Vault site. As a battle raged in space, Carr covered Solok while the First Officer focused the psychic resonance of Sunut into the Vault's 'mainframe'. The union of Solok-Sunut overrode the Janissary's systems and more importantly, the Khelayans control over it.
It was both a spectacular and very personal ending. The leader of the Khelayans surrendered to Captain Fletcher and the forces of Starfleet. Solok made the decision that life is too chaotic and short to not live it to the fullest. He decided to ask Doctor Maggie Hanover to marry him. She said yes.
The Season Finale saw the entire gang travel to Vulcan for the big event, held at Solok's family's estate. We see everyone in his family; his parents, his older brother, older sister and her family, his younger sister and Bhoth's blood brother. We also meet Hanover's parents who are basically Archie and Edith Bunker [of All in the Family fame]. Before the marriage itself, the group goes to a sacred site near Vulcan's only sea in order for Solok to release Sunut's Katra.
Following this, Solok and Hanover take a temporary leave of absense from Starfleet.
Season 8
How it's going.
Bhoth is promoted to full Commander and becomes First Officer. Lt. Commander Carr is made Chief Science Officer.
Leo (who played Solok) brings in a new character, a young but very talented Helmsman named Charlie Wilder.
We received a few new (NPC) crewmembers including a new Chief Medical Officer, Doctor Richard Osgood. We also see a rival for Mr. Wilder in the form of the female Andorian Shuttle Pilot Lt. Kepna Theph.
Longtime Asst. Chief Science Officer T'Sora is transfered to the USS Persistence, the first new Ventura Class in 44 years. There she is given the position of Chief Science Officer.
Season 8 introduced our newest Player Character as well as revisiting some elements that have persisted throughout the campaign. The biggest event was the culmination of every Andorian Imperial Guard story we've ever had, as numerous dignitaries assembled to finalize the dissolution of that group. This prompted a renegade faction within the Andorian space fleet to attempt a coup. The high stakes action was equaled by the philosophical and heartfelt conversations between Bhoth and a potential traitor, Bhoth and his father, and the Captain, Bhoth's father, and the renegades.
We also had our very first Mirror Universe episode - a two-parter!
Great stuff.
Season 9
The PC's improve again this season with a stat raise.
Ensign Shae comes to the forefront once more as the colony of New Cheron tries to establish a mutually beneficial relationship with the Federation, offering some of their advanced technological knowledge for some humanitarian aid. Prosperity visits the colony to observe whether or not they've overcome their prejudices and uncover one nihilists attempt to make sure the Cheronians go extinct as fate intended.
We're only a few episodes in so this retelling has essentially caught up to the present.
"...HISTORICAL RECORDS SUMMARY COMPLETE..."
Sorry this one was so late and so long. I really didn't know how to summarize 12 years of [usually] consistent bi-weekly gaming. There is just so much material and there were so many golden moments!
Hopefully I didn't overdo it too much.
AD
Barking Alien
No comments:
Post a Comment