So as I develop my Star Trek scenario for Year Zero Engine, I had to change the way it interacts with the setting.
There are three main ways the player characters influence and affect the scenario.
First is the role or niche the PC has in the group or party. This is usually dictated by the archetype, rank, bridge station, species, and even name.
Second are the PCs’ agendas for each act that will determine how they will act, react or respond to the events in the scenario or how the actions of the other PCs influence them. The agendas will be individual to each PC so not covered here.
The third way is how they tackle or resolve conflicts, obstacles, or interact. That is using their stats and abilities. In Year Zero Engine there are four main Attributes each having three skills associated with it. It is these that will infer the setting and genre flavour during play.
The four Attributes I have chosen are Physical, Agility, Intelligence, and Empathy. Physical covers the more active skills and will determine the character’s ability to withstand bodily injury and extreme conditions. Agility are the skills that cover movement and quick responses. Intelligence is the attribute that involves skills relying on mental acuity. Finally Empathy covers the more social and psychological skills.
The first skill is Engineering, this allows the characters to use, engage, repair, and modify Starship systems and other devices. This ability is needed to manipulate or manage primary power, propulsion, communication, sensory systems or any other secondary systems of any craft; whether a small shuttle craft or up to a full sized starship.
Resistance (Physical) (I couldn’t resist this one!) is the ability to physically endure any adverse conditions. It is required to push through any physical endurance such as outrunning opponents, suffering torture at the hands of an enemy, or surviving arena combat. It will also allow the characters to survive any hazardous environmental conditions encountered on a starship or in space, such as extreme temperatures, radiation, decompression, or even Borg incursion!
Force (Physical) allows the characters to exert their physical strength to push or pull through any obstacles. From wrenching open turbo lift doors, lifting fallen girders off crew members during space combat, or leaping out of danger as a Klingon Targs charges at them. It also covers melee and unarmed combat with opponents, especially if the characters are fighting for their lives.
Security (Physical) is for characters who need to protect starships, computers, devices, or personnel from malicious harm or attack, whether physically, technically, or even verbally. Characters will have strategic and calculated knowledge of how to protect, use, or by-pass security systems. It also covers skilled melee with opponents such are repelling enemy boarding actions with either impromptu weapons or their own personal weapons such as knives, swords, rapiers, or even a bat'leth!
CONN (Agility) is needed for control all Starship operations from either the CONN, Operations, or Helm stations on the bridge. It is also the skill needed to pilot the starship, shuttlecraft, or other ships, as it traverses interstellar space, star-fields, nebula gas clouds, or even planetary atmospheres.
Tactical (Agility) allows characters to use the Starship’s offensive weapons, such as phasers, photon torpedoes, and tri-cobolt devices, as well as defensive shields, force fields, and defectors from the Tactical station on the bridge. It is also used for personal combat using modern weapons such as phasers, phaser rifles, Klingon disrupters, personal shields, and even Varon-T disruptors. It also allows characters to make tactical decisions in combat, whether a firefight in a starship corridor, engaging in planetary bombardment, or evading a crazed enemy inside a nebula.
Navigation (Agility) is used to work out where you are at any given time and what course and bearing you are on. If you are at the Navigation station on the bridge you can calculate the starship’s position precisely within the galaxy and assist Helm in plotting courses through star systems. Navigation also covers the characters own spacial awareness and perception.
Science (Intelligence) is the use of the scientific method to analyse interstellar phenomenon, anomalies, or even mundane planetary surveys, or scanning weapon systems on an enemy starship. From the Science station on the bridge the characters have access to all starship sensors, direct feeds into the ship’s computer, access to a huge range of databases, and all starship logs.
Communication (Intelligence) covers all visual, audio, text, signal, and code transmissions as well as nonverbal, and verbal communications in person. It also allows the use of many different types of communicators, universal translators, and other such devices. Starfleet Officers are trained in a variety of linguistics and languages, both human and alien. All communications and transmissions are controlled from the Operations station on the bridge of a starship.
Diplomacy (Empathy) is the art of dealing, and therefore convincing, another person in a peaceful and tactful way to see things your way. This can be used to encourage peaceful negotiations in First Contact situations with a new alien species, or to convince an enemy to lower their weapons, or to charm an Orion pirate to give you a better deal. The intent can either be heartfelt earnest or completely malicious.
Command (Empathy) is crucial to a Starfleet Officer when the situation is grim and your backs are against the wall. Successful issuing of commands to fellow crewmen not only gives them confidence in their own abilities, it also ensures their conduct is that expected of a Starfleet Officer, and it safeguards the combined capability of the crew is greater than the sum of its parts. Commands can be issued from the Captain’s chair on the bridge via comms, out in the field under a heavy barrage of fire, or ensuring full cooperation between crew members during starship operations.
Medicine (Empathy) is the practice of the diagnosis of weird ailments, treatment of injuries, and prevention of alien diseases. With a fully stocked Sick Bay on a starship anything can be treated even pulling characters back from the brink of death. In the field, medics can still perform medical procedures with the use of medical kits, medical tricorders, and emergency medical packs.
I hope that should cover everything that player characters can do and I hope it has that Star Trek flavour.
If you think I’ve missed anything or you want more clarification please let me know. Or even if you just want to chat.
I think the Year Zero Engine will work well in this setting as it is quite a robust and adaptable system.
Some might ask why I don’t just use Star Trek Adventures by Modiphius? Well I have never had the chance to play it, either at conventions or on-line, and I do like to have some game mastery with the games I run. I am very proficient with Year Zero Engine with Tales from the Loop, Vaesen, Alien, and Blade Runner.
