The Sheperd with roleplaying the prologue

Star Trek Adventures
1

In my organized play campaign…

Spoilers ahead for These Are The Voyages Vol 1

We had the worst result possible in Signals, and Starfleet volunteered to relocate the mining colonists to Stallas II. The crew got to know the principals theyd meet in Shepard but at an earlier time, with different problems, including someone trying to hire thugs to rough up Anthony and drive him off planet. At the end of all that, they repaired the broken drills and the events from the Shepard prologue happened. The chief engineer tried to steal the shepherd but he was caught, swarmed, and the crystal was taken from him. The Helm officer was on the surface having lunch with the sculptor, Jasmine, when this happened. Being an empath, she felt the call of the Shepherd and felt the energy of the colony as they raced to where the crystal was uncovered. She believed it was the most important thing in the galaxy. The captain tried to get the chief engineer to get his priorities in line. The engineer said he would as soon as he acquired the Shepherd. Then, he turned one of the drill machines into a remote bomb and announced he’d blow up the entire colony if the Shepherd wasn’t turned over to him.

Two questions.

  1. How did this not happen or be assumed to happen in the module?
  2. Where do I go from here with this story?
    Garrett
2

Let the Engineer blow up the colony, have Starfleet Command recall the crew for court-martial and reassignment, and have them all make new characters?

3

That is the easy answer, isn’t it?
Garrett

4

Yes, it is… :stuck_out_tongue:

My suggestion would be to have someone (preferably the commanding officer) attempt to talk the Engineer down into surrendering, and if that doesn’t work, send in a Security team to apprehend him before he blows it. He’ll spend time in the Brig, possibly face a court martial and demotion, if not dishonorable discharge and prison time. You can try making at least part of a session be the Court Martial.

I haven’t read that module so I don’t know all the details, but try to adapt and get the story heading back in the direction it should be, or abandon that particular one and go on to the next mission after the Engineer’s trial and punishment.

5

And the guy who played our security chief just had to drop out of the game. He would have had so much fun.
Garrett

6

Ouch. That sucks. The group I am in has had 4 people join since the start of December. All seem willing and excited to try playing Star Trek.

7

I think, to answer the questions:

  1. the modules assume that the characters will be somewhat typical Starfleet Officers who wouldn’t consider mass murder as an option. That said, is he serious or just bluffing?

To answer 2), I’d say play it out. Give him a roll to see how intimidating the threat is, contested by the will not to hand over the item and roll with it from there. Rpgs are always best when the unexpected happens, and this certainly gives the rest of the crew some thinking and consequences to deal with!

8

He’s playing possessed by the joy of the Shepherd and is afraid it will be taken from him.
Garrett