Must be jonesing ...

It's been a while since I have played a game. This time of year, adultitis kicks in and all my gaming buddies begin to have a lot of work and family obligations that deeply cut into game time.

Today, I bought a pot pie for lunch in the cafe' at work. I began cutting little hex maps in the landscape of the pie crust with my fork!

I'm currently reading Betrayal (Star Wars: Legacy of the Force, Book 1). I'm spending most of the time I'm reading with thoughts like "Hmm! That's a neat Jedi trick!" and "Oh! I'll have to use that move in my next starship dog fight!"

It's very sad how a gamer can be reduced this low - all from lack of playing!

The adultitis has gotten so bad that I proposed putting together a game with a group of friends - most of whom don't have a regular group. They had to be jonesing worse than I!

They didn't seem very interested. I thought it was a fun idea. So, I thought I would share with you all - feel free to steal.

I gave the group a tease along these lines:

The Federation lost 40 ships at Wolf 359 to the Borg cube.

Eleven thousand crew were presumed dead or assimilated.

What if a few crew survived?

If you are a fan of Star Trek the Next Generation and a Role Player - I figured this would get you ready to stand up and cheer. No such reaction from my would-be players!

My thought was that the players would have been masked from the Borg, and later the Enterprise, by warp core breeches or radiation or some such. Eventually, the players could reestablish contact with each other and begin to rescue one another and gather someplace they could establish life support.

At this stage, pirates would show up to raid the remains of the fallen ships - some good hand-to-hand combat would follow. *Cue Amok Music!*

Next, the PCs would probably try to resume communications with Star Fleet. Between the radiation from the wreckage and other issues - they would have no luck.

I was figuring that someone would start looking at the fact that they were not going to get rescued - but, there might be enough bits and parts in the field of wrecked ships to allow them to assemble a ship and escape.

I was willing to give them all the time in the world to do this. I came up with a list of bits; saucers, nacelles, engineering sections, etc. I figured I would make up a set of funky photo copied pieces and allow the players to puzzle together what ship they wanted. All the the bits have strengths and weaknesses, one saucer had a working computer core but non-functioning phasers, etc. Some of the bits also had surprises. A few bits had deactivated Borg who were there to gather intel and act as booby traps. One computer core had gone insane - all kinds of fun!

I figured the next challenge would be to drop some Ferengi into the area. They would want the salvage rights to the ruined ships - even if they had to take it by force. If the crew had built a simple ship, they could choose to fight or simply warp out. A more complex or heavier ship would have to rely on whatever it had ready to go at that moment to defeat the Ferengi - who probably wouldn't put up much of a fight anyway.

Once the ship was finished, or finished enough, they could warp to a new area and call Star Fleet. Star Fleet would inform them that they had been declared dead. They would also tell them that they didn't trust them to not be a trick by the Borg. If pushed far enough, Star Fleet would tell them that their signal was corrupted and looked like a Borg comm signal. The only way they could prove they were not dead would be to show up in person for a full medical exam.

At this point, the players could choose to do as the Federation requests or go rogue. I imagine they would stay with the Fed just because it's easier. But, I'd leave the option open.

Next, I'd drop a couple of Klingon Birds of Prey on them. The Klingons think they are Borg. The group will either have to talk their way out or fight.

Once they get to a Fed base, they are checked out and confirmed to be alive and they are reinstated with promotions all around. They will need those promotions as they will be given back they're refitted "Wolf Class" starship and given missions appropriate to that ship's capabilities.

Not a bad little plot, eh? Well, it's your plot now - my potential players didn't bite!