As I head towards wrapping up my latest STA campaign (the TOS link-in from Shackleton), I am turning my eye towards checking things out from the Other Side of the Hill so to speak. Time for Klingons!
I have already run the full Shackleton campaign (a 3 1/2 year real time endevaour!) and as mentioned, am finishing the TOS tie-in. So I cannot use the Shackleton as a campaign basis as all my plyers have been there, done that. Are there any other campaigns or adventures linked into even a loose a campaign out there in the wild?
I do have the small handful of Klingon pdf adventures that have been released, but they do not really form anything like a coherent arc, although I will probably mash them together to make such in some fashion. I have the Federation-Klingon War book, but I am aiming for a TNG/DS9 timeframe and do not want the whole campaign to be based around endless warfare. I also have the 2 books of adventures and will be mining them for the few adventures I have not already used previously, but that will not be many!
My rough idea is TNG/DS9 era (so some of the cool events from the shows can be worked into the campaign) with the crew manning a D7 (K’tinga) class (my personal fav Trek ship!) with a handful of upgrades and coming from a House Fleet so the crew will be from the same House, giving them common goals.
I think any “heroic” Klingon campaign needs to go for either wartime or a quest-based approach (D&D style). But there is definitely a lack of non-political Klingon scenarios to work with.
That said, Continuing Missions just posted a nice little “crossover” idea with Dune Chronicles of the Imperium, using the rules from that to build up the history and political situation for a House. You could use that to inspire political stories to pad out the more traditional adventures.
If you need an ongoing external enemy, then it’s worth investigating the Kinshaya from the old FASA era Klingon setting. (I think they got revamped and added to the books, but I’ve not seen the results.)
I’d like to try something like this myself, but I’m a little wary, a Klingon campaign could easily turn “murder-hobo”.
Hmm, Robin Hood as a “noble” Klingon? That’s definitely a new one on me - I’d have put him down as an Orion freedom fighter opposing Klingon conquerors (or Bajoran vs Cardassian).
A heroic Klingon campaign could also revolve around Narendra (the colony) or Khitomer (again, the colony). Both were attacked by Romulans (in 2344 and 2346, respectively). Such a campaign could start as a rescue mission (caring for survivors) and turn into an investigation (who was behind this, who betrayed the empire and collaborated with the Romulans?), only to later end as a story of just revenge.
Strictly speaking, this is about two or three decades before the TNG/DS9 era. But if you cut the immediate rescue mission, you can set the campaign far into the 2370s, maybe following the revelations during Worfs rehabilitation of his father, Mogh during which the treason of the Duras became publicly known.
Someone did the deep dive! I run Dune and think the House system plays quite well in that. Mixing the two…hmmmm…mayhaps! I have a bunch of the old FASA stuff, guess it is time to dig back into the archives on the shelf! I too, am wary of the murder-hobo thing, but I think I can steer it with some deeper looking into the culture and aim towards differing solutions besides hitting things. Some problems cannot be solved that way for instance. House politics can be another area to explore with less hitting and more thinking.
I definitely want to bring in incidents from the past to provide a richer backdrop for the players so Narendra or Khitomer are good touch stones that at least some of the players will know about. I was also toying with doing the odd flashback style adventure to see these things in action (playing an ancestor or relative).
The Players noble house has to track down lower class Klingons committing piracy, murders, and raids on the common peoples. This obviously tarnishes their honor and cannot go without being avenged.
Reconnaissance in force, your players have been tasked with gathering hard intelligence on a enemy of the Empire. This requires they penetrate deeply into enemy space to capture top level scientists and bureaucrats for their knowledge. To bring back samples of the enemies technologies and their limits. To bring back what you can of the culture/literature/spirituality for the High Councils strategists to build their planning upon.
The Honor is Mine! Your players are called upon for a desperate mission to stop a disaster that will kill the local Klingon populace and poison their lands for generations. The likelihood of completing the task is good, though surviving the mission is not. A chemical industry or a dormant fission plant has failed most of its containment. Life is short, honor is forever.
A rescue mission of another kind. Your House is aware that an enemy of the Empire has taken prisoners of another enemy of the Empire. What a coup it would be to take them and release them. Humiliating one and forcing the other to be grateful to you. The exploits will be made into song! The Romulans have sequestered some Starfleet Officers and Federation scientists captured in a cross border operation. Seize the moment!
The House your players belong to has been sitting back too long, out of the way, watching. The rumours have become to much, too pointed, too deliberate. You must strike! To not show martial prowess is to invite treachery! A minor enemy of the empire has left a gap in their defense! The goal is not to strike deeply or inflict heavy damage, only to demonstrate that you can! Your PCs ship is to strike deeply into the enemy in areas lightly defended. Damaging or destroying ships in the enemy Reserve Fleet. With Great Actions comes Greater Glory! For the Empire!
The Empire grows stronger, not just with military strategy, but with diplomatic and trade strategy too. Your players become aware of the discovery of strategic resources of Dilithium and strategic metals like Iridium and fissionables like Cesium.
Military might gets your seat at the table, but everyone has a disruptor. Your player must be the most reputable buyer! When you say 100 bars of Latinum, you must deliver 100 bars of Latinum! Every House has a stake, will your negotiations for the resource mean you remain a minor House?
I’ve been running a TOS-era Klingon campaign that largely takes the standard TOS tropes and tweaks them as necessary to suit the Klingons.
You could do the same with TNG. Just pick your favorite episodes, making sure to avoid any that lend themselves to “today is a good day to die” as the obvious first solution.
“Where No One Has Gone Before” - works basically as-is. The PC ship is selected for a new propulsion experiment. What happens when the thoughts of a shipful of Klingons become reality a trillion light years from home?
“Datalore” - the PCs encounter an android that’s stronger, faster and smarter than anyone on the crew; and also a giant, deadly spacegoing monster that might be more powerful than their ship.
“Conspiracy” - members of the High Council (and maybe the head of the PC’s own house) have been taken over by mind/controlling parasites with a sinister, possibly Empire-shattering agenda. What can one ship do to save the whole Klingon Empire?
I have also toyed with the idea of pulling a ‘ST: Voyager’ on a Klingon crewed K’tinga. Firing them off to the Delta Quadrant and having them trying to get back to the Empire. Might save that idea for later in the campaign though once they have an established background etc. and have had a chance to play a bit.
“Why should we return the the Empire, anyway?”
“Because they’ll still be singing songs about our journey in hundreds of years!”
(Bonus, if the next campaign takes place in DISCO’s future and there actually are Klingon bards telling (hilariously exaggerated) tales of the adventures of this K’Tinga. )
Just a weird idea.
Because of the SNW musical episode Klingon Pop has became a trend.
The House of the unfortunate ship is on the path of vengeance against Federation.
Klingon Opera Fundamentalists will also want to kill the crew for their sin on Klingon Music
Maybe at the end they can realize that it has done some good for Klingon image in the universe.
Maybe some people will discover Klingon opera after listening to K’Pop.
Maybe they will change their House goal in the end
And of course they will need to organize a big concert for the Grand Finale.
I’ve run a Movie era Klingon campaign for over three years now. The players serve on a ship in the fleet of House Kruge, the Stingtongue class (a FASA design) destroyer IKV Trigak.
We began with the adventure from Starter Set with the players hijacking the Starfleet ship, in my game it was fitted with with experimental transwarp drive. During the campaign they’ve test flown Kruge’s Bird of Prey and stolen the Genesis files from the Regula space lab. They had the chance to face Khan and change the course of history, but they chose to avoid that encounter.
Now, after the death of Kruge, the vassal houses are scheming over control of the House. They’ve run into Captain Styles a number of times, and it has always gone badly for him. (He rolls poorly.) One of their standing orders is to capture Kirk and bring him to the Empire for a trial.
Soon I have to convert ST5: TFF into a mission for them…
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