USS Carter Season 2 Pre-Game Notes

[subplotkudzu]

And here's the view from 5000 feet, developed before the first game session. This was my rough blueprint for the following 8 game sessions. 

USS Carter Season 2: pre season notes

The focus of Season 2 is on the Klingon disruption of the Alpha Quadrant in the area around Betazed, but I don't want to stiff the Slowboat or Silicon Empire plots. This means that the slowboat plots will focus on Terabia or other colonies being manipulated by the Klingons and Silicon Artifacts will all have tactical implications. My goal is to have a big battle in episode eight with the Federation and Betazeds against the Klingons and their Orion agents. This will draw the attention of the Tholians, a silicon race that are inherited the Empires tech, to be a menace in Season 3.

Karen was a great help in some ways in her PC creation. She came to me with the idea of playing a Human/Klingon hybrid who was unaware of her Klingon heritage and was also Cmdr. Funk's right hand. The idea came to her when she read about Funk's deep hatred of Klingons and thought it would make a nice surprise later in the PC's career. Karen had learned that she likes characters with secrets (her favorite is Captain Fasaad, the Arabian woman masquerading as a man) - she has a drama background and feels that gives her a better understanding of the character. From a GM perspective this is ideal. She's picking up a recurring NPC, Chief Warrant Officer Xi'an Coy Mahn, already established as security chief. Red Shirt!

Her secondary PC, Fujita Daiki, is the one I would have preferred to see as her primary - an Engineer. I had thought that she might play the new Chief Engineer (since at the moment that's an NPC), but she just played a techie in Stephen's Space Marshal's game. This means that I still have an NPC chief engineer and two PC lieutenants, as well as T'Prin's rival. This means while the other departments are calm & organized engineering is a hall of arguments over process, species and seniority. Things will be interesting, and should limit players' ability to treknology their way out of problems as they won't have a central miracle worker.

Her PCs mirror Stephen's (security & engineering) which means I'm hopeful that Stephen will mix things up, getting T'Prin into the action and stopping Funk from being so dominant a character. Given the nature of the group I'm not too worried about niche protection, though I am going to keep an eye on it to make sure Karen isn't sidelined.

I have many adventure ideas in place, subject to change.

Nine: The Icarus Incident

The Carter gets a distress call from a Betazed vessel that is falling into an unstable star after an ambush by Xenocrates and some Klingons. The problems are the engineering of the rescue, the threat of another attack, the touchy diplomacy with the Betazeds and the subspace anomaly destabilizing the star. (There, nailed all three main plot points!) It's very much a re-introduction to the setting and the main plots.

Ten: Packages From Earth

The Carter hooks up with the US Yosemite, a terraforming ship that was Daiki's last posting and now carrying Funk's ex girlfriend and her marine xenologist husband. He has a new ocean seeding process that would speed terraforming and the Carter is supposed to support him - naturally something will go wrong, in this case a slowboat colony living underwater on an ocean-covered world. Meanwhile, Captain Sakhet gets a letter from Benjamin and flood of proposals from a mother-arranged dating service while Bernie is both made an ensign and gets a plea for help from his Academy singing group. This one lacks Klingon or Silicon Empire plots but it's meant to be both a funny and angsty re-introduction to the characters. 

Eleven: Dreamtime

Description Redacted, moved to season 3

Twelve: What evil lurks in the hearts of men?

That Damned Orion has been meddling with a slowboat planet currently at 1930's technology - specifically uplifting and directing their criminal elements. The Carter crew must go undercover to locate the source of the tech before a space -faring kleptocracy explodes into Alpha quadrant. An homage to A Piece of the Action, it has the crew disguised as nightclub entertainers (with the vocal stylings of Ensign Bernie and Dr. Mark) while Funk, Coy Mahn & Rossad use telepathy and high tech to become scourges of the underworld. It's heavy on the humor elements.

Thirteen: Passion and Honor

A voyage through the Burning Nebula has the Carter find crippled Andorian trading vessel carrying Deltan 'starship companions'. Holy Mudd's Women Batman! Passions flare as the psychic Deltans wreak havoc on the crew's emotions, the Andorian's hair trigger honor leads to duels and the Deltans' skill as navigators lets the Carter locate the hidden Klingon fortress in the nebula. This is another one that will be played for laughs right up to the second plot twist; that's when the season changes gears and goes to a wartime footing.

Fourteen: The Children are our Future

Description Redacted, moved to season 3

Fifteen-Sixteen: Battle of the Burning Nebula

I'm figuring the last two episodes are a two-parter about the recruiting of the Betazed fleet in the battle against the Klingon fortress, but I don't want to plan too much into that.

I'm obviously hopeful that Jason will be more reliable this time as I need Rossad for at least two episodes and his presence would really improve two more. Assuming Jason can't make it I have four episode ideas to fall back on - entitled With the birds and the bees and the cigarette trees, From each according to their ability, Look upon my works ye mighty and despair & Diamond Mirror - that really belong in the Silicon Empire season, and three more - The Second Mouse, The Prime Motive, and one I don't have title for where giant floating brain aliens test the crew with their nightmares and heroes - that can slot in anywhere. I may ultimately end up having more episodes than I have sessions in this, but I'm already noodling around the edges of the Captain Liefson Carter as the TNG era spinoff so they won't go to waste.