Proposing A New Direction for Season 10

Geekyfanboy · May 26, 2009, 09:19:52 AM

Hey Everyone... sorry about my delay.. been a crazy weekend with the house and all.

Honestly I wasn't thrilled with this story idea when Jen mentioned it to me a month or so ago, but the idea has grown on me. I think this will open the door for some great story telling. We will be creating our own Trek universe in which our characters will live. I think it will be a lot of fun.. besides Jen has never lead us astray.

Bryancd · May 26, 2009, 09:38:47 AM

Quote from: Jen on May 26, 2009, 08:22:12 AM
Something that just hit me that would really throw a wrench in my character and others, is if we go with the movie era (TOS or whatever you want to call it :) ), is that Spock is the only Vulcan in Starfleet. For reasons I can't say at this point, Sevryll has to be in Starfleet too. It not only messes with Galdar's availability to join the fleet (because Ferengi first contact doesn't happen until TNG), but it limits the abilities of people wanting to play Bajoran, Klingon or Vulcan officers in this game. A setting in the future opens the door to more possibilities. If people want to go that route we have to step all over what the movies are coming up with by including characters we want to play in this game.

I don't recall if in the JJ movie they did say Spock was the only Vulcan in Starfleet. That also applies to the other races, we don't know they are not part of Starfleet or the Federation and we could just say they are, previous canon is out the window, we don't have to adhere to any of those constructs. The only race that seems the most problematic are the Klingons, K'arath would likely not be there but it would make Wraiths K'Tan an interesting case!
I'm just pointing that there could be a lot of flexibility that would allow for participation of our characters without having to imagine a future. We make the currnet movie time allow for everyone to be there. The next movie is 2-3 years away, and who's to say there won't be a Bolian in it! Just a thought. :)

I thnik it's just I am having a problem getting my head around a post destruction of Romulus timeline which occurs in the JJ universe. Like Rico said earlier, wouldn't they have moved because they know it's coming. I see how it could effect Vulcan's and even Klingons like my character, but we have a lot of blanks to fill in, 150 years of history to make up. If we start in the current movie era, it's all established already, no? What am I missing? ???

billybob476 · May 26, 2009, 10:08:00 AM

I haven't read the book yet, but from what Chris (I believe) said in the Skype call, "mother universe" makes things happen the way they are meant to. Like getting the crew together in the movie.

Perhaps "mother universe" requires that Romulus be destroyed, so no matter what we try and do, it dies either way.

Maybe in the new timeline whatever is done to stop the supernova fails. Maybe the supernova occurs in a way that can't be detected. Maybe the Romulans are working on a new weapon and the project goes awry and destroys the planet. Maybe they have a nuclear (or antimatter?) holocaust and while the planet is not destroyed, it is rendered uninhabitable.

Either way, now that I think about it, it's an interesting situation. It kind of makes a case for karma. The Romulans (well, A Romulan) destroyed Vulcan, but in the end they still suffer the fate that they destroyed Vulcan in retaliation for/to prevent.

The universe sucks sometimes, doesn't it?

Meds · May 26, 2009, 10:10:37 AM

Got to love Karma Joe, got to love it. :)

Bryancd · May 26, 2009, 10:12:47 AM

Quote from: HawkeyeMeds on May 26, 2009, 10:10:37 AM
Got to love Karma Joe, got to love it. :)

yep, it's a b#tch! OK, Joe, I see, i didn't get Chris' refrence either, he speaks in Trek code somethime. ;)

But if we are willing to be that flexible, how is my idea too hard to make fly?

X · May 26, 2009, 10:30:27 AM

It would require more work that what we are doing because it will need a new history and a new ship designed.

I also like jen's idea better and if i had to choose which one to invest into it's that one. I love that idea. Not even mildly interested in going for the movie era.

Bryancd · May 26, 2009, 10:43:18 AM

Quote from: Just X on May 26, 2009, 10:30:27 AM
It would require more work that what we are doing because it will need a new history and a new ship designed.

I also like jen's idea better and if i had to choose which one to invest into it's that one. I love that idea. Not even mildly interested in going for the movie era.

I'm just asking so I can be more clear about this, so please indulge me. :) We don't need to design a ship, what's on what deck isn't what makes the RPG stories good. Isn't the history arleady there? It was in the movie. Aren't we creating a whole new history by working in their future? I suppose that's where I get confused.

Feathers · May 26, 2009, 11:12:19 AM

Do we really have any information on what's what in the JJ era? Other than a single film and a book that tells the same story, there isn't an awful lot to draw on is there? With the parallels proposed for the future idea we at least have a lot more stuff to raw on from the Prime universe at that point.

What would worry me about going back in time would be the tendency to try and invent anything we didn't have yet. Enterprise went down that route a couple of times to the detriment of the show.

billybob476 · May 26, 2009, 11:16:38 AM

So to clarify (not that my understanding matters but it may help others) the universe would be as such:

We would be in the timeline created by the new movie.

The 'present' time would be shortly after the destruction of Romulus which occurs despite foreknowledge of the event (as described in my last post)

Tech-wise and politics wise the universe would be similar to the prime timeline except Vulcan is destroyed and now Romulus is as well.

Am I right?

Bryancd · May 26, 2009, 11:18:14 AM

Quote from: billybob476 on May 26, 2009, 11:16:38 AM
So to clarify (not that my understanding matters but it may help others) the universe would be as such:

We would be in the timeline created by the new movie.

The 'present' time would be shortly after the destruction of Romulus which occurs despite foreknowledge of the event (as described in my last post)

Tech-wise and politics wise the universe would be similar to the prime timeline except Vulcan is destroyed and now Romulus is as well.

Am I right?

Well put, Joe, even I can understand that. :)

Jen · May 26, 2009, 11:34:34 AM

Yes Billybob. I'm sure I've said that in the outline and other posts, but you summed it up nicely in an abbreviated way. :)

I'm not asking people to rewrite the history of Trek. I was proposing that what we've written about our characters, can change as a result of the movie. The people, not the history, is what carries our RPG. Readers and writers of the RPG like the individual stories. Like Galdar for instance, everyone fell in love with the character... not the history or politics of his people. It's interesting to know what would be different about them if the timeline was messed up.

As I've said before, the game has always operated in the future (just beyond Nemesis). We are picking up at the point where the Romulan Star empire is devastated by the destruction of their star. The fun comes in imaging a slight variances in our RPG's history that would occur as a result... We would be imagining the affects of an altered past, from the opposite end of the timeline. It's like our Mirror Universe season, only tied to the film.

We would be tweaking some of the details of our RPG's history (like the Lucas virus), but not necessarily the outcomes; Tiberius is still gone. But what happened as a result? That's just one example, but it's only backstory. The altered history of our RPG is only a basis for the rest of the Seasons. We're not dwelling on the past, we're continuing with what we know of Trek, but giving it a twist based on what we saw in the movie.

We all know the Romulans are backstabbing, politically charged 'ticking time bombs'. It's not difficult to imagine what would happen if they were scattered because of the tragedy that befell their star. That's the plot, which few people have commented on so far. All we have to focus on is this plot, other than what we want to do individually with our characters.

Bryancd · May 26, 2009, 11:39:27 AM

I like the plot very much, that I did read and get. I almost want to play a Romulan now. I want to be one of the guys out there causing trouble....kind of like me here! ;)
Maybe I will make one. :)

Jen · May 26, 2009, 11:41:42 AM

Quote from: Bryancd on May 26, 2009, 11:39:27 AM
I like the plot very much, that I did read and get. I almost want to play a Romulan now. I want to be one of the guys out there causing trouble....kind of like me here! ;)
Maybe I will make one. :)

That would be awesome. :)

Geekyfanboy · May 26, 2009, 11:42:50 AM

I don't understand why this is being discussed. In the past when Jen and I came up with ideas/storyline for the RPG, that was it. We went with that story as Jen and I are the moderators who run the RPG. Of course we don't rule with an iron fist and always include others when making decisions about storyline.

Jen posted what our next storyline will be and I think she laid out a pretty detailed storyline. What is great is it's set in a alternate Trek timeline. We know very little about this new universe. We can do whatever we like (within the realm of Trek). This is going to allow the writers to really be very creative.

Be it set right after the movie or 150 years in the future that doesn't really matter as we know very little about either time. But Jen and I have chosen the future alternate time line and that is where the story will take place. So start putting on your thinking caps.. how will your character change or will they. Maybe they will be exactly the same as the other universe.

I hope no one take offense to my comments, as none was intended. Just trying to figure out why folks are confused or questioning the upcoming storyline. It seemed pretty clear to me.

billybob476 · May 26, 2009, 11:52:29 AM

It's possible that the title of the thread may have thrown people off a bit.

"Proposing A New Direction..." seems to imply that this was a potential idea to be discussed, not a decision that has been made.

Again, I'm not a writer so I don't want to get too involved but I seem to be good at clarifying things in this thread. :)