Imagine the Star Trek universe turned dark. For a long-time fan of the TV series and movies this idea would be, perhaps, anathema. Yet, in our gaming group, this is an idea that I am toying with for our forthcoming Sunday Special game in September.
I remember watching the most recent Star Trek movie, the eleventh in the series (if I am not mistaken), and being struck by how exciting and cool this old and respected setting can be in the hands of a skilled storyteller. Talking to my players, it’s also a setting that is recognised and familiar enough to try some gaming within.
Why Dark?
The main challenge with Star Trek roleplaying, at least for me, has always been the innate optimism of the earlier series. Images of Kirk, Picard, and Scott suffuse the setting and can easily overtake a “serious” game and lead it into the realms of parody.
More than the challenge of running a group with a command structure, more than the challenge of creating new stories in a setting so familiar, the real challenge is for the players to take it seriously enough to create some drama.
Dark allows us to tread outside of the familiar into new, dramatic and exciting tales. JJ Abrams has proven this with his re-working of the original Star Trek time period into an alternate storyline. The alternate, combined with a little dose of darkness, can take us to new realms.
What is Dark Trek to be?
Good question. It’s always my preference for the settings we game within to be as much a collaborative work of the group as my own ideas alone. That being said, I have some preferences that can act as starting points.
Klingons have long been a standard and source of inspiration for my own imaginings of Star Trek. My setting would encourage the inclusion of Klingon characters and conflicts. This would lead to a slightly more martial feel, perhaps, but it would not need to be a purely Klingon warrior affair.
On top of that, the Borg are a great antagonist for any group, especially if the heroes are unfamiliar with the Collective. I am tempted, in this alternate Star Trek universe, to shift the Borg into an earlier timeframe and see how that would influence the setting… although I admit it would probably be for the worse.
Thirdly, I would be tempted to give the mental powers, Psionics as they are termed in Trek, a larger space in the setting. The idea of mind-operatives circulating in the Star Trek milieu is tempting indeed.
Without a shadow of a doubt I would also build on the elements of conspiracy and doubt that so intrigued me from the Deep Space Nine and Enterprise series. Heroes tackling the great mysteries of their own apparently benevolent societies would be a lot of fun. Perhaps you may say that this is not so original, given the plethora of conspiratorial games on the market, but at our table we still enjoy a mysterious threat.
What would you bring?
So, dear reader, what are your ideas? To build our setting it would be great to hear suggestions from you.
At what point would you choose to divert the timeline? What variations through the history of Trek would you bring alive? How would you mould the universe to a darker, more exciting end?
Drop your suggestions into a comment. You never know… I might just be tempted to use it.
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I suppose I should preface this with an apology for both its length and my limited conversance with the Star Trek mythos. I’m certain I’ve gotten elements of the Trek fluff wrong or have omitted and overlooked stuff that has already been covered in grim detail elsewhere. The commentary is hopefully a seed for thought and a tool for development… like any seed, should be freely spat out before it breaks a tooth.
One of the things that always struck me in the Trek universe is how in spite of being ostensibly a military, or hybrid military-civilian, organization security has always been on the light side. Effectively any crew member, regardless of their actual function within the organization, can go basically anyplace on a starship… how odd. This reflects the trust the Federation places in its citizens but is completely suicidal in military terms. Hybrid societies, like the Federation, that are culturally extremely diverse will not always behave in harmonious or homogeneous ways. I think that the openness is relatively confined to Starfleet but its a bit exaggerated even there. This is is highlighted by the admitted existence of smugglers, unscrupulous traders, and actual criminal elements. Security, where it exists is antiquated and ineffectual (ex.. a couple of redshirts standing outside an unlocked door) unless its in the actual brig or dedicated containment areas.
In a surprising way Starfleet works like the Old Wehrmact in some respects. In WWII the German Army used a technique of command control wherein ad-hoc Kampfgruppe could be assembled out of any available elements. The operational plan was distributed very far down the chain… often all the way down to the NCO level to ensure that mission objectives were durable; which enabled the mission to survive the loss of key leaders. In this way the openness really worked in the field. Interestingly the exact opposite phenomenon occurred outside the Army itself and the German military and political situation and goals were zealously and fanatically hidden in a labyrinthine web that crippled unified war efforts all other areas.
In this light it may be an interesting exercise to explore the potential darkness of the Federation outside the insulated playground of Starfleet. Exactly how does the absence of money work in regards to criminal elements? What do they collect? Are there organizations within the Federation that deal with interstellar internal disorder and crime that are not under the auspices of Starfleet? How do these rank in status and happiness comparatively?
The Klingons have long had an ISF (Internal Security Force) with a fairly detailed support and resource base. Houses keep their own military assents in easy reach to deal with the primary threat to the Empire… Internal Strife or outright rebellion. One might wonder what effect the long association between the Federation and the Empire might have had on the inner workings of the Federation and if, in the aftermath of the collapse of harmony and alliance between the two societies, either side adopted methods from the other. Perhaps especially in the border regions. For example one might see the addition of Political Officers with their own dedicated resources and on-board facilities added to Starships, (especially non Starfleet Starships… and some conflict could exist between Starfleet and the ISF/Coast Guard equivalent as Starfleet actively resisted efforts by the government to add the political officers) to insure compliance and loyalty.
In many ways I’ve often viewed Starfleet as the Equivalent of the Turkish Military. One of the historic duties of the Turkish military since the days of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (The first president of the modern Turkish state) has been the defense of secularism. To that effect the military has overthrown several civilian governments that have drifted too far towards theocracy. Starfleet, while often at the enigmatic mercy of their civilian government on a daily basis, are the guardians of the open society and the primary advertisement for the Federation’s way of life. Where would Starfleet (or elements) align in the advent of a charismatic demagogue being elected leader? What if that charismatic leader was autocratic and self aggrandizing? Especially during a time of external distraction or conflict? What if this leader needed the external distraction and so manufactured it to extend the power of the executive? One could imagine Starfleet having some insulation from this effect due to its traditions while the ISF equivalent might be more prone to back the ideology of the new Leader. This might result in the strengthening of the Political security functions that contaminated the Federation as a legacy of the old alliance with the Klingons.
Keeping in mind that no organization is monolithic and that play might be generated either as loyalists to their service (overt or covert) or as adherents (overt or covert) of the new ideology.
On top of all that Psionics could be dropped in. One of the things that B5 did reasonably well was to create Psi-Corps which functioned in a very Gestapo-esque way. I liked the parallel organizations that existed within the government at large with their own secret agendas and nebulous but scary authority that had plenty of plausible deniability. This sort of organization thrives by providing clandestine services to people who should not be using or needing such services and then blackmailing them ever after.
In this setting paranoia will tend to permeate everything and the players might have affiliations and secret allegiances that might lead to intra-party strife. In such situations I’ve often assigned the role of mole, or secret antagonist/enemy, to one of the players so that, at the end of the day, they are playing a role rather than just spoiling in general. I work closely with this mole to limit the impact. For example A Starfleet member might be secretly reporting on indiscreet comments made by his team mates to a covert agent of the political office. Most likely remotely. The player is not really aligned against his mates but derives some perk or advantage by continuing to betray their minor infractions or indiscretions. This perk or advantage may actually be to the great benefit of his mates but the source of it should remain shrouded. In this fashion the group perk requires both small individual betrayals and robust secrecy for its continuing benefit. This may develop into a storyline of its own are may go no farther at all, other than to cultivate the paranoia.
This approach has all the usual risks of any “Dark” format game so you have to be careful to manage the paranoia and mistrust and channel it in productive ways. Playing in this sort of setting also has some of the risks associated with playing Diplomacy! (A great game and a great convention game but not one that gets a lot of play between people who wish to remain friends!).
A new name for such a dark Star trek, could be Stark Trek! Abandon all hope, as the light in the universe has gone out!
I like the mentioning of B5 and the Psicorp – mix this in with Political Officers that think or do have more power than the Captain of a ship, and sides are drawn up. I did like B5′s use of the Psicorps – very Gestapo as mentioned about. Even though most people thought it, and The Psicorp knew about it, nothing ever was voiced against them, unless you risked going missing.
I would say the Psicorp became the Political Office, monitoring the soul of the Earth’s forces, until it became more than a police force – managing it’s own affairs, and controlling other departments.
In a situation, do you follow the Captain, who runs the ship, or the Political officer, who could ship your family off to a Work camp, deep in the Federation, where ore is mined – for the good of the Federation.
Is the Federation a ‘good’ Communist state – a place for everyone, and all ‘profit’ shared fairly. it would be quite easy to move this to somewhere darker, where power corrupts, and the state becomes more important than it’s people.
Would such a organisation feel the same need to give the same rights to ‘sub-races’ than humans get?
In Space: Above and Beyond – a business was the cause of many of the troubles that Earth were suffering in the war with the unseen enemy. It was this evil business, hell bent on profit, that cuased issues that started the war.
If the Federation was all light and nice, would the same be said of Terran Companies – Would they still be set on a chase for profits?
In Star Trek – especially in DS9, they have come across a dark Trek, where Terran is a military force. It might be fun to play conqueror in the ST galaxy.
And if you drop in Psionics, in a society who fear individuality from the masses, what would happen? Thought police, Screening of children, to make sure they do not stray from the norm in Society, etc.
Would it then become a requirement to join the Federation party, to agree to the ideals of the Federation – or be classed as 2nd class citizens – no vote, or access to the correct schools, etc.
Scarry place, unless you happen to be in the ruling party!
Cheers,
Ian.
Stark Trek! Tasty!
Wow – some great ideas in posts longer than the blog entry… which is ACE!
I’ve clipped out a few of those ideas for consideration, so many thanks indeed. It does seem like you two would like some particularly dark Dark Trek.
I want to keep the three core axioms of Star Trek (People Solve Problems, Heroic Competence, Triumph of the Human Spirit) involved, but I certainly can’t see a problem in integrating some of your ideas.
Any one else got any suggestions? Keep ‘em coming!
I imagine the Q continium will be a personification of the GM. Enabling, where appropriate to the plot, the characters move onwards. Personally, I would deviate the timeline from where Captain Picard picks up Riker from Farpoint. Though a mutiny would be useless aboard Picard’s ship, we could always choose to be Klingon and in a negh’vah class ship
. Though I definitely wouldn’t like to cause a war with the federation, they may be a peaceful faction but oh boy could they hand anyone’s asses to them if they chose to mobilise for war.
Hi, I have limited time (and haven’t been able to read the other posts – sorry), but what I thought was that instead of encountering the Vulcans, Zephraim Cochrane encounters the Romulans after the first human warp drive experiment.
You could then take it one of two ways, the humans become a subject species to the Romulans, and the Tal Shiar have an elite corp of psi agents in charge of maintaining order (and who systematically recruit and train humans who are psi sensitive), or Romulans immediately gift humans with a great deal of tech and embrace them as co-founders of an alternative Romulan-human based Federation/Empire. Perhaps this is driven by either an uber-race attacking the Romulans (allows for the Borg early), or a desire for revenge against the ‘hated’ Vulcans, or both.
Hope that helps.
D
I like the Romulan twist – different sides of the same coin, and Federation history changed forever!
Romulans are now spirited warriors on the side of humanity, and the Vulcans are the cold fish of the universe!
Nice solution on why the trek as gone dark.
I do like the idea of playing Trek in September – always liked the setting, but we don’t seem to have played it fully. And joy on joy, we could use the star fleet battle rules for the ship battles!
Cheers,
Ian.
Crikey – you guys really do like things dark, don’t you!?
I’m not sure I am going to go all the way to having Earth as a subject world within the Romulan Star Empire… but I do like the reminder of why I love the Romulans, and to include the Tal Shiar.
I liked Oliver’s comments too, although I am still tempted to change things earlier. I know that, given my age and love for TOS, this might seem odd to a younger chap like Oliver, but the options are greater.
All in all, my darkness will be a lot more subtle than Derek’s suggestions, but perhaps not so subtle that they leave you wondering what changed.
Any more ideas, anyone?
I suppose you could run with the alternate universe appearing in DS9 – A more militant Trek.
I do like the postings above, and would like more involvement with the Romulans.
Would such a darker settin mean less working together by captains and 1st officers – both trying to prove themselves against the other? Most of the shows seem to show a team of officers willing to help eash other out, even at their own expense – with a darker feel, would this change?
And if it soes, would this allow junior officers (PC) to try to take over a ship, or actively work against a despot captain?
Cheers,
Ian.