Plotting Meme
2014-May-09, Friday 07:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ten_fwd_modsOpening day is one week away! We hope everyone is as excited as we are. To get things started, we thought we'd kick off our first ever plotting meme by updating you on the details of our opening plot, and then turn things over to you to tell us what you're hoping to accomplish. Everyone is encouraged to participate; we're here to answer questions.
001. Stardates. We've decided to stage things roughly in the middle of The Next Generation's timeline, but let's repeat the disclaimer on our profile page: we're not a hardcore Star Trek game, so we're not planning on replaying the events of TNG linearly. There's lots of room to skip around, borrow the most interesting plots, and make up some of our own. If you're planning on bringing in a Star Trek character who appears later in canon, that's okay. We'll even work with you to establish how much the crew knows about your character, or shift events around. In-game stardates are just to give your character an idea of how time passes while they're aboard; if you don't understand how they work, we'll also use the Gregorian calendar. No need to memorize episodes or difficult charts!
002. Crewmembers. The Enterprise is sailing with their full crew in-game, but behind the scenes it's all being mod-run for now. What that means is we'll be playing most ship-related things through the 3 TNG crew characters on the cast list, but we can make any other crewman available as an NPC if they're specifically needed. (IE: If you'd like to work in sickbay, you can arrange to have a mod play out a conversation with Dr. Crusher welcoming you to the staff.) We'll only be playing these characters to further along plot, as ultimately we'd really love more players to app more crewmembers. If you're from another iteration of Star Trek, you can absolutely be part of the crew (with the understanding that you can't outrank Captain Picard). If your character needs to talk to a crewmember but it doesn't have to be one of the main characters, you're allowed to NPC a low-level crewman, such as an ensign, to get what you need. (IE: if you need directions, are being waited on in Ten Forward, or any small matter like that, nothing that would affect ship operations or an actual canon character).
003. Lost in spaaaaaace. We promise you won't be stuck for long! To briefly repeat the FAQ, the reason we're disabling the engines and keeping everyone on board for the opening plot is to give everyone time to adjust. That includes the crew. They'll be just as confused as everyone else at the beginning, and therefore are going to be the worst at comforting and explaining things. We're, uh, really sorry. Once the crew has found their feet and all the new passengers feel reassured, we know we can travel to the next port without worrying about anyone getting dumped off the ship or left behind. That doesn't mean things have to be boring while you wait to visit your first alien planet, you can avail yourself of anything on the Enterprise. We'll periodically make posts explaining how different areas of the ship work, like mini-plots. Your characters can learn how to use the replicators, the holodecks, the computer, enroll in school, check out the labs, and so forth during this time. Have fun. Go nuts! Remember, the Enterprise is now your home.
004. Rooms. We'll start assigning rooms once the game opens. If your character has a family, they can all room together. Otherwise, we strongly encourage you to request a roommate. A mod will assign you randomly, giving you the perfect opportunity to interact more with a new character and player. Get to know who you're playing with, it'll create so many more opportunities for unexpected plot.
005. Your ideas. Now that we've given you some of our ideas, we want to hear YOUR ideas. Are you looking for something or someone specific for your character? Are you going to need someone from security present to keep your character calm when they arrive? Are you looking for a job, or to provide a service? Do you want to be a crewman, or just a visitor like everyone else? Leave a comment, let us know if you're looking for a mod or if anyone can help, and offer to help other people as they comment in. We'll run plotting memes during each apping period, so if no one can help now perhaps someone can next cycle. Let's make some connections!
000. The Inciting Plot. The stardate is 43289. While en route to a scientific outpost, the Enterprise is waylaid by Q, a powerful alien lifeform. For those familiar with Star Trek, this will be timed between season 2's Q Who?, and season 3's Déjà Q (more on timelines to follow). Q will present the crew with a test, or "game" if you prefer. Suddenly, people from all different times and places start to appear on the ship (it will look a little something like this [video]). As if this wasn't enough, Q then cuts the engines to the Enterprise and vanishes, leaving the ship afloat to deal with the repercussions.
We expect some mayhem while everyone works out what's going on. During this time, the crew will be obliged to help all newcomers by answering questions, issuing missives, assigning living quarters, and making sure everyone visits sickbay to ensure no diseases were carried aboard. And, of course, there's the matter of getting the engines back on-line and continuing on their initial mission: bringing a relief crew of scientists to their outpost, where the previous crew has been working tirelessly for half a solar year. There will be some mighty unhappy scientists around until things are back underway.
The timeline for this plot is to remain flexible. Initially we thought it may last the first two months of gameplay, but as our cast of players is still growing we'll adjust it to meet the needs of how many characters we end up with, and gauge it by interest. If things feel stale, we'll move forward to the science outpost, where characters can disembark and explore, and the next leg of plot will begin.
001. Stardates. We've decided to stage things roughly in the middle of The Next Generation's timeline, but let's repeat the disclaimer on our profile page: we're not a hardcore Star Trek game, so we're not planning on replaying the events of TNG linearly. There's lots of room to skip around, borrow the most interesting plots, and make up some of our own. If you're planning on bringing in a Star Trek character who appears later in canon, that's okay. We'll even work with you to establish how much the crew knows about your character, or shift events around. In-game stardates are just to give your character an idea of how time passes while they're aboard; if you don't understand how they work, we'll also use the Gregorian calendar. No need to memorize episodes or difficult charts!
002. Crewmembers. The Enterprise is sailing with their full crew in-game, but behind the scenes it's all being mod-run for now. What that means is we'll be playing most ship-related things through the 3 TNG crew characters on the cast list, but we can make any other crewman available as an NPC if they're specifically needed. (IE: If you'd like to work in sickbay, you can arrange to have a mod play out a conversation with Dr. Crusher welcoming you to the staff.) We'll only be playing these characters to further along plot, as ultimately we'd really love more players to app more crewmembers. If you're from another iteration of Star Trek, you can absolutely be part of the crew (with the understanding that you can't outrank Captain Picard). If your character needs to talk to a crewmember but it doesn't have to be one of the main characters, you're allowed to NPC a low-level crewman, such as an ensign, to get what you need. (IE: if you need directions, are being waited on in Ten Forward, or any small matter like that, nothing that would affect ship operations or an actual canon character).
003. Lost in spaaaaaace. We promise you won't be stuck for long! To briefly repeat the FAQ, the reason we're disabling the engines and keeping everyone on board for the opening plot is to give everyone time to adjust. That includes the crew. They'll be just as confused as everyone else at the beginning, and therefore are going to be the worst at comforting and explaining things. We're, uh, really sorry. Once the crew has found their feet and all the new passengers feel reassured, we know we can travel to the next port without worrying about anyone getting dumped off the ship or left behind. That doesn't mean things have to be boring while you wait to visit your first alien planet, you can avail yourself of anything on the Enterprise. We'll periodically make posts explaining how different areas of the ship work, like mini-plots. Your characters can learn how to use the replicators, the holodecks, the computer, enroll in school, check out the labs, and so forth during this time. Have fun. Go nuts! Remember, the Enterprise is now your home.
004. Rooms. We'll start assigning rooms once the game opens. If your character has a family, they can all room together. Otherwise, we strongly encourage you to request a roommate. A mod will assign you randomly, giving you the perfect opportunity to interact more with a new character and player. Get to know who you're playing with, it'll create so many more opportunities for unexpected plot.
005. Your ideas. Now that we've given you some of our ideas, we want to hear YOUR ideas. Are you looking for something or someone specific for your character? Are you going to need someone from security present to keep your character calm when they arrive? Are you looking for a job, or to provide a service? Do you want to be a crewman, or just a visitor like everyone else? Leave a comment, let us know if you're looking for a mod or if anyone can help, and offer to help other people as they comment in. We'll run plotting memes during each apping period, so if no one can help now perhaps someone can next cycle. Let's make some connections!
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