Just got done re-watching “Prelude to Axanar”, and was thinking this would be a great intro to a campaign. Space combat would be easy enough to do, but I am having a hard time coming up with non-combat things to do. Other than “filler” character “episodes,” what task could be done that would tie with the main story what are not directly combat related?
Diplomatic missions to seek out allies for support in the war?
Survey missions to find more resources that can be used in the war?
Mapping missions to find out new supply routs that might be less vulnerable to raids.
Scouting missions to find enemy bases/ supply routes, manufacturing facilities.
Espionage missions to infiltrate klingon controlled worlds where you might be able to get the locals to start a resistance movement, or supporting a resistance movement that already exists, either by bringing supplies or information or whatever they need.
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You know, when you say it like that, it does seem quite obvious.
Oh, one other idea, maybe starfleet command has a branch of research that has gone really deep into studying the religion and culture of klingons, and has come up with a plan to use propaganda that appeals to strong aspects of these parts of klingon culture to diminish support for the war? So maybe the missions for your crew would going behind enemy lines and spreading this anti-war propaganda. Just another idea. Hope I helped and I hope you have fun with your game.
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Missions to research new technologies to win the war.
Missions to escort caravans/supply lines.
Missions that question ethics (we could win the war by doing X, but it would kill innocent civilians, etc.)
Missions to establish new command bases/starbases.
It seems like the Klingons have issue with the expansion of Federation territory. You could have a diplomatic mission to a resource strong planet that the Klingons intended to conquer next. However they have to rethink their plan when Starfleet is around. There could be a faction of the planet’s population that is Pro-Klingon and your crew has to decide if they’re going to get themselves involved in the planet’s politics. You could have a show down with a Klingon conquest fleet at the climax, which could be resolve diplomatically or with combat.
All good ideas, althogh I know how the it will end… its the stuff in between that i was having issue with.
You also have internal counter-espionage. Your crew have to track enemy infiltrators through Federation space.
They could be using a cloaked ship or civilian transports.
All the usual spy tropes as well as moral issues around due process versus stopping the enemy in a civilian environment.
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I’d really love to see a humanitarian mission campaign. Particularly under a civilian command, having to negotiate with starfleet peacekeepers (we know how much captains love pernickety bureaucrats), manage refugees (save them from Orion slavers), deal with breaches of the rules of engagement on both sides. Klingons may not sign treaties (or do they?) but a lot of war crimes would also be dishonorable. Plus star fleet captains have a rather high chance of losing their minds in the TOS era.
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You know, I was trying to come up with sessions that could be run with one GM and one player, similar to Night’s Black Agent Solo Ops or 5E Duets. I think this is perfect list. I prefer games that don’t rely on combating the opponent unto death and would rather emphasize puzzles and clever problem solving to get the job done. STA is not a game that rewards with loot and XP (like most RPGs do) so there isn’t an inherent reward to fighting unless death is a reward, which it isn’t (caveat: haven’t read the new Klingon book yet 
). Thanks for posting this. I don’t think you intended to answer the question I had, but you did so superbly.
There’s also all the more routine things a starship might get tasked with: responding to natural disasters, bringing medical supplies to a colony suffering a plague, dealing with pirates, answering distress calls, etc.
90% of the things that he happened in TOS could still be non-combat missions in your game.
The difference is that with most combat-capable ships off fighting or on combat patrol, there’s no hope of support if your crew runs into a bigger problem than they expected. And if they’re assigned to non-combatant duties in the first place, they might be serving on an older or less capable ship (because otherwise that ship would be on the front lines already). So that will make otherwise simple missions potentially harder.
In the original FASA depiction, the Constitution-class ships were explicitly kept out of the fight for most of the war. They remained performing their usual exploration missions on the frontier.
(And in the Disco Klingon war, the Enterprise was so far from the frontline she wasn’t able to return in time to take part.)