What kind of Terran Empire Campaign are you in?

[Herolover]

I thought this question had been asked, but now I am not sure.

 

What kind of Terran Empire campain are you in or have plans of running?

[Hermit]

Warning: Long (apologies)

 

Currently I am GMing for a Pirate TE campaign. "Mad" Rodrik Bonny was the NPC captain of the "Last Chance". Enter some of the PCs... Skyler is the human child he found, who has since grown into a stunning beauty and effective pirate in her own right. Indeed, she even replaces the former first mate Arno Benny, a Heavy Engineer who often wants perhaps more than his fair share. Still, Arno seems to accept the promotion with good grace...perhaps too good for a pirate.

 

Right outside the Hegemony, the relations and long line of the Ingaldi (The nobles of the Kalshari) continue their exile. Enter Cahira, roughly 157th in line to the title of Ingaldi herself.From a precoucious child, she has grown into a skilled pilot for her people. Even if she has an unfortunate tendency to send her own ships into spins just to "make the stars dance." She also grows restless with the exile, and wishes she could strike back at the Hegemony. Tales of pirates frustrating even the mighty Thorgons brings a pleased green glow to her skin.

 

In the Terran Empire itself, a young Fex V'croa (sp?) doesn't believe the tales of humans treating Fex like second class citizens. He follows in his father's paws and joins the Imperial Navy. Thanks to a lifetime around weapons (His mother is a weapon's designer) he becomes a rising star gunner... hampered only by the tendency of some Empire officals to favor humans first. He discovers that some of his mother's 'rejected' designs have some how made it on Vice Admiral Victor Cromwell anyways. Confused, he brings this up... only to find the Empire is willing to accuse his mother of espionage rather than pay her the now considerable due for her work. Rather than simply try to get out of this outfit, he spouts meaningless words of loyality for the empire and dismay for his mother's betrayal... but secretly, this is NOT a happy cat.

 

Vice Admiral Cromwell is a young and cruel officer in charge of bringing the pirates of this sector to heel. His chief thorn is Bonny. A new ship, an Orca class (Yup, borrowed the design from another thread) is built to do everything pirates can do, but better. Cromwell is first going to use it against the pirates in battle, but then he gets a better idea... to use it as bait.

 

 

Back to Cahira....staying at a dome pocked planet where many nobles are gathering, they are ready should the Thorgon's cross in. To their surprise, it is a fleet of the Terran Empire that approaches. At first offering to 'help' these renegade Kalshari, when the Ingaldi does not immediately agree to be 'escorted', Cromwell's ship and a few others begin attacking the plaent. Fortunately, Cahira was already boarding her ship (She didn't trust this odd offer of help from the start)... and many others get up in the air as well. Once deeper in space, she launches a shuttle with a copy of the Ingaldi's transmission, hoping to lead the ships away from the real one. It works, but when a master gunner in Cromwell's ship blows out the back of her shuttle...she's ready to die!

 

Enter some fairly good piloting by Skyler as Rodrick brings the Last Chance to the fray. He doesn't know what's in the shuttle, but if the Imperial Navy wants it, so does he. The Kalshari get away with minimum losses, and Cahira ends up being rescued by the likable madman, and joins the crew.

 

In the mean time, a certain Imperial crew with a fex in it recieves word that 'officially' these Kalshairi were pirates. Cromwell is frustrated, the deal he had cut with the Thorgons for their assistance in clearing out pirates in the netrual zone has gone to put because he could not deliver the Ingaldi to them as he promised. V'croa is disgusted by the lies, and his own part in the attack on an the colony of exiles. He's also confused as a clearly top secret ship soon becomes the talk of the town.

 

Mean while, the "Last Chance" is on it's last legs... fearing "it's luck may run out" Bonny hears tale from Arno of a top secret ship that is state of the art about to be moved, and decides it's time to get the crew a new home. Insured by his own engineer as well as some rumors abroad (Unknown to him, carefully leaked) he decides to go for it.

 

Which is just what Cromwell and Arno wanted and planned for. As the Last Chance makes it's hook up to the Orca... there is an explosion in its engine room... cutting off power. A life pod goes out, as Arno heads to the Constellation, the ship of his NEW boss, Vice Admiral Cromwell.

 

The Last Chance has just run out of luck. Bonny offers to 'surrender' himself... buying time for Skyler and Cahira to slip out of an air dock in space suits to try to commendeer and start up the Orca now cabled to the Last Chance so they can save the crew. For a brief moment, a certain Fex gunner has both ladies in his sights (And the GM began to wonder if one player was going to blow away the characters of two others) he fires...blowing open a hatch for them to get in to. He's unsure how he'll get out of here though to join them.

 

The Orca starts up, breaks free, and fires at the Constellation, taking it off guard for the first time. The explosions and unexpected fire gives a certain Rodrik Bonny a chance to break free long enough to stumble onto a certain Gunner. Both rush towards the Constellation's escape shuttle, but there's only one time to get through the door. Deciding his luck has run out, Rodrick shoves V'Croa ("Tell Skyler Bonny sent you!") through, and then races to turn the lower guns on the constellation itself.

 

And so V'Croa ends up in the hands of Pirates (Who he joins) and Skyler retrieves as much of the old crew as she can ... the explosion in the lower parts of the Constellation tells her what Rodrik has done to delay their foes. She orders Cahira to fly them out of there now!

 

With Rodrik dead, Skyler takes the name Bonny as her own to honor the fallen father figure. As for the stolen Orca ship? They dub it Bonny's Pride.

 

While he finally killed "Mad" Rodrick Bonny, Cromwell has lost a state of the art experimental ship, and gained Arno. Who is made a Captain of the Imperial Navy and given a ship of his own... 30 coins of silver no longer enough for most acts of betrayal.

 

Both recieve a coded and seemingly untracable transmission a week later from Captain Skyler...it's a simple black spot.

[Ben Seeman]

In my campaign, the players are basically cargo-runners for hire. At least, that's how it started.

 

They reside in the on Venwordien IV Vorsan Expanse within the borders of the old Xenovore empire. They are currently leaving VenIV after naroowly escaping the clutches of some Mind Police bent on revenge.

 

At this point I'm going to take them further into the old Xenovore territories where an hidden evil lurks... an evil with plans to not only take over the entire Galaxy, but the Universe itself.

 

Or something like that.

[ParitySoul]

I've been itching to do a mixed marine unit game based in and around the Terran Navy. Mostly ground pounders from Starship Troopers with psi/heavy weapons/speedy foot trooper units. A tight little group of say 5 or so squadies dealing with a number of shall we say, mysterious issues.

 

Like running headlong into the Navy's intel units messing around with artifact tech. No bugs right away, but lots of native gurilla warfare. Then mix it in with a good old fashion murder mystery.

[Chuckg]

The plans were nixed due to unavailability of players, but I was planning on running a 'start strong and built up to epic' Terran Empire campaign where the PCs start out as semi-outcasts and end up saving the Empire. We'd even gotten character generation done before scheduling intervened.

 

The plan starts with a senior figure in Imperial intelligence/counter-intelligence who decides that in order to best get the job done without higher levels of corrupt oversight, he needs his own Suicide Squad. And with that many planets full of people to go through, and that many prisons, finding suitably dependable candidates shouldn't be that hard.

 

Edit -- the whole point of the campaign was that all of the PCs (save two) were people who were in prison but *weren't* bad people -- a little selfish, maybe, a little impulsive, maybe, but not callous criminals.

 

No cortex bombs, no shock collars -- just a promise of good pay and an eventual pardon... or life without parole on the worst prison moon in the universe if they skip out and are later found.

 

And Colonel Mendoza would've made damn sure they understood, they *would* eventually be found.

 

The player characters would have been:

 

 

* "Red" -- a former corporal in the Imperial Army, Red was serving a life sentence for murder due to a death in a brawl. It was all done wrong... he was actually saving a girl from being assaulted, but the guy with the gun who's neck he had to break had powerful friends. If you've seen "Con Air", you've pretty much seen the origin story. Red was the group's STR 25 (with cyberware) combat specialist.

 

Reason picked -- military training and discipline, and psych profile indicated he wasn't the criminal type at all and would do anything to clear out his record.

 

* "Lisa" -- Allegedly in prison for unlicensed possession of psionic powers and fraud, 'Lisa' was actually an undercover Mind Police officer. A talented detective and an 8d6 Telepath (Empathy Only), she was there both to contribute her expertise, and to make sure the group didn't run. Lisa would have been the group's detective and psion.

 

Well, Colonel Mendoza *did* say he'd find them.

 

Reason picked -- heh.

 

* 'Dr. Shannon Forrester'-- According to her prison records, Shannon was an Exploration Corps scientist, serving fifteen years for unauthorized access to *very* classified records.

 

Actually, she was an experimental AI -- a computer brain implanted in an organic human body -- undergiong final testing. A minimum-security prison had been chosen as the perfect controlled, limited, and heavily monitored social environment for the first socialization run, and a phony background had been made to match.

 

Problem is, nobody had told Colonel Mendoza. So she was yanked out on an Intelligence priority and given the offer before her own controllers knew what was going on.

 

Note -- not all of the above is true, but it's what the player was told. Dr. Forrester was a GM-created PC, and the player who took her knew they were volunteering for a 'Mystery PC' plot.

 

Reason picked -- computer hacking talents combined with (according to records) a very pliable nature and a perfect behavioral record.

 

"Zack" -- the typical hot-shot pilot, Zack was in prison for 20 years' on pretty much every smuggling charge there was.

 

Reason picked -- he's damn talented, and damn desperate to get out of the box, and has a record of not killing people or using unnecessary violence. Also a bit of a coward.

 

"Sadie" -- think '27th-century' catwoman. This daring thief and con woman was one of the slickest in a dozen systems, as well as being a talented martial artist.

 

Resaon picked -- a very impressive resume, and a high confidence in the abilities of Detective Lisa to keep her from oozing out the window first chance she got.

 

 

 

 

The plot would have come in three stages...

 

1) Intro action/spy adventures, working for Colonel Mendoza. Gradual foreshadowing of phase 2, as well as high-level corruption in the Empire.

 

Discovery that "Dr. Forrester" is in fact some type of android.

 

2) Their Patron is disgraced/imprisoned. They're cut off, out in the cold. It's fugitive time.

 

As they run, they discover signs that a horrible conspiracy is slowly taking over the Empire. Whether they want to deal with or not, this conspiracy sees them as a threat (due to something they apparently picked up in phase 1).

 

Eventually, they'll discover that "Dr. Forrester" (if she's still alive -- if not, run in an NPC) is one of many 'Daryl'-type organic androids with computer brains seeded in various positions throughout the empire. These androids work for the master villain. A programming glitch had freed Dr. Forrester.

 

3) The PCs, by this point, should have enough motivation to do the right thing and go in to save the Empire and the Empress, because by this point the conspirator has made his move and placed the Empress under the control of his enslaver nanites.

 

And then the curtain goes up, and in the style of the 'Great Darkness Saga', the curtain raises to reveal...

 

... Dr. Albert Zerstoiten.

 

Who had cryogenically preserved himself in the early 21st century and has arisen, weakeend but still horribly dangerous, to try and enslave the 27th.

 

*WHAM*

 

And the good Doctor drops the hammer on them, Darkseid style.

 

4) I was still writing Phase Four of the campaign, aka 'the heroes make it all the way back and finally wipe Dr. Destroyer's behind', when the scheduling conflicts folded the campaign.

 

[Ah-nuld]

"Remember when I said there vere only three stages? I lied."

[/Ah-nuld]

[KawangaKid]

Frontier Campaign

 

I've been thinking of a Terran Frontier-based campaign, probably on a Fleet ship that's got a bunch of Marines and Navy folk on it that's sent to patrol the area.

 

Initial adventures:

- pirate skirmishes (introduce different races and trade routes)

- Aackalian skirmishes (introduce major alien presence)

- security for Imperial explorations of Mandaaran worlds

- putting down a few localised rebellions against the Empire (mostly unjustified, but with some basis)

 

Next set of adventures:

- saber-rattling against the Aackalians

- instituting Draconian measures against troublesome worlds in the sector, some even the higher-ups in the military are uncomfortable with.

- discovery of a link between the Mandaaran flight and the Xenovore statuettes.

 

And on from there.

[BobGreenwade]

I think this is a good thread to have around, since it gives a "snapshot" of some of the actual (and hoped-for) Terran Empire campaigns for anyone who wants to write up stuff for the STKO, or author a further supplement to the setting (assuming Steve decides to produce one). This way we can know what people are playing, and write new material to fit.

 

I'll get back to that in a bit.

 

My campaign plans are on hold for a bit while I get adjusted to the new schedule imposed by my new job (an "Information Assistant" for the US Forest Service, gathering research papers).

 

However, what I'm planning will center on a team of field agents for the Terran Diplomatic Security Service. This agency, having roughly the same function as the United States Diplomatic Secret Service (an agency of the Department of State), is responsible for security and criminal investigation at the Empire's diplomatic missions (embassies and consulates) and governing facilities on Imperial worlds, including acting as bodyguards for senior diplomatic personnel when off diplomatic grounds. The team in question will be the senior team at the Imperial embassy on Mon'da, where they may, both on the world and during their frequent travels elsewhere, deal with anti-Terran terrorists, religious fanatics, pirates, escaped wild animals, Ackalian aggressors, and various other problems.

 

Which brings me back to what I was talking about earlier...

 

I've noticed that three of the campaigns spoken of here involve space pirates. This may be something to focus on for a future book -- especially something covering the Vorsan Expanse. (It's just a thought....)

[Hermit]

Originally posted by BobGreenwade

I've noticed that three of the campaigns spoken of here involve space pirates. This may be something to focus on for a future book -- especially something covering the Vorsan Expanse. (It's just a thought....)

 

It's kind of surprising how popular the concept is.