For those who are writing their own missions and campaigns. What kind of conflicts do you throw in front of your crews?
My red shirts (command) often take to piloting the ship around obstacles, inspiring the crew, and deciding what course of action everyone is going to do.
My gold shirts are often repairing broken equipment and performing security actions.
However I struggle with my blue shirts. Scanning to reveal information has been most of what I give them to do, but it isn’t as sexy as firing the phasers or piloting around debris.
How does the forum make the science division more exciting? Also what are some other obstacles you challenge all your crew’s divisions with? Thanks!
For the science division, they might take up the task of providing the right course for the pilot in reals pace or at warpspeed.
They keep the crew sane throughout long time missions (Counselors / Doctors and Nurses)
My most fun adventure was a part of my crew leaving with a danube to scan a black hole consuming a star with nearly the same weight.
(we have an Astrophysicist in our group)
You could throw in problems for the red uniforms (phenomena, anomalies etc.) that require the gold uniforms (or other blue uniforms) to modify the stuff the red uniforms are using (or red/gold uniforms themselves) in a way the blue uniforms found out the problems would be mitigated/solved.
Also, with the Extended Tasks and Scientific Method systems, there are two mini-games for your blue uniforms to discover what red red uniforms should inspire the gold ones to do.
i would find this discussion much easier to follow if the divisions were named rather than colors (we play TOS era only and the changes in uniforms always confused me)
In my campaign, my crew consists of: Security Officer, Engineering Officer, Flight Officer (Specifically, Ship Operations path for the Academy), Medical Officer, and a Command/Flight Officer. So far, we have completed the Rescue at Xerxes IV from the core rule book, and then they arrived at the Starbase they are lower ranks at, where some of them participated in a ship combat simulation with the Executive Officer.
One of the next things I am going to have them do (to introduce the supporting characters mechanic) is have them repair the Runabout they damaged, and ‘fabricate’ another one using the plans they delivered to the Starbase. This would require them to play mostly Engineer/Operations, Flight Officers, or Command Division Officers from the Quartermaster/Supply office. I am still trying to decide how to do this exactly, without simply making it an extended task where they roll and don’t really do any RPing.
I could also introduce the supporting characters mechanic by making them all play some science division personnel while investigating space near the Starbase.
I really like the idea behind this mechanic because it makes it easier to toss challenges at the players that don’t require you to tailor it so that it challenges every single character. You can create a challenge for a specific type, and have the players that don’t have a character suited for that type of challenge either stand by, or take charge of a supporting character in order to contribute to solving the problem.
Here’s a thought: When a scientist scans an alien rock, instead of simply progressing the story with the realization that this is proto-dilithium and likely the cause of the pirates’ attacks on the outpost, offer more ways to progress the story: Porto-dilithium can be refined to power the outpost’s defenses, but it is also susceptible to gravimetric resonance that can render most of it inert and unusable. Now the players can decide if they want to exploit a new resource, at the cost of escalation with the pirates, or render the outpost’s valuable resource unusable but defusing the situation.
The same principle applies to any situation where the crew have gathered information: There is not just a single way forward, but instead there are hard choices.
Local law says the smuggler should be jailed, but his cargo can help suffering refugees, even if sold at high cost on the black market. How does the security officer exercise authority?
The replicator can either produce Bolian lagh or Betazoid chill stew, but not both. Which culture on the starship does the engineer help or offend?
The patient has suffered severe burns that can be treated, but only with a transplant from a mortal enemy of his culture. How will the doctor balance the preservation of life against the freedom of choice?
(we play TOS era only and the changes in uniforms always confused me)