u/MattBridger35777

Hi there good folks,

I'm looking to run the episode "Viral Battlefield" from the "Shackleton Expanse Campaign Guide" and would like some help/suggestions on a system I want to try and employ in order to give a real sense of tension to what could otherwise be a rather onerous set of combat encounters paired with an Extended Task.

My idea is this : the medical team have an Extended Task to try and find a solution to the engineered virus the Dominion have unleashed. However, I would also like to have a countdown for the number of allied forces that dwindles as the virus kills them. But, in order to give the non-medical PCs something to do, the Jem'Hadar will be conducting attacks to take advantage of the dwindling allied forces, so the PCs get to do things like rally troops, help repel attacks, and repair defences. So, I would like some kind of system in place to represent the attacks and the allies' defensive actions, which itself gets affected by the number of casualties inflicted by both the Jem'Hadar and the virus.

I'm taking a look at the Command Division supplement to see if anything in there can provide inspiration, but you lovely people have often come up with creative and ingenious solutions I hadn't thought of, so I thought I'd also throw it out to yourselves to see what clever ideas the Star Trek Collective comes up with.

As ever, any and all assistance given is greatly appreciated,
~M@

Hey there folks.
Over the last few years my players have been turning their humble Intrepid-class explorer ship into a warship. Makes sense when they have a half-Klingon captain. So I gave them a big starship battle in the pre-written scenario of Convoy SE-119 from Shackleton Expanse Campaign Guide. Messed their ship up a bit, but they managed to take out an entire fleet of Klingon ships on their own, mostly by virtue of their Phased Polaron Beam Spinal Lance and the Command Action "Direct" allowing them to essentially fire twice each round.
Now they have a brand new ship they designed themselves using the Utopia Planetia Starfleet Sourcebook. And it is a beast. It dismantles enemy ships with seeming ease.
They have an encounter with a Borg Cube coming up. Even using the Borg's ability to quickly repair Breaches and potentially adapt to each weapon that causes a Breach, I fear the PCs getting out of this encounter having suffered no Breaches and having full shields by the end, and becoming insufferably cocky as a result.
How can I make the Borg Cube encounter scary for them without over-correcting and potentially destroying them?

Any and all assistance is greatly appreciated,
~M@

Hi all,

I have a player who has made a Minotaur Champion who seems to be trying to combine sword-and-board, having reach, and using Double Slice. They seem to want to be able to wield a melee weapon in one hand, a shield in the other, whilst also being able to use a melee weapon and their horns as a Double Slice attack. Also using Defensive Advance as another feat. All with reach.

Is this possible or are we confusing 1e rules with 2e rules? I don't seem to be able to find a comprehensive "yes" or "no" on this.

Any and all assistance given is greatly appreciated.

~M@

... has anyone tried expanding on either the Denevan Neural Parasites from the TOS era, or maybe even M'hanit and the Shepherds from Strange New Worlds?

I'm getting whisps of ideas, but I'm also interested in what other people might have come up with.

~M@

Hi folks. Oddly-framed title yes?

I've been GMing STA for +counts+ five years now. Turns out I also have ADHD, which I didn't know when I started this. I mention this latter point because as time has gone on, I've fallen out of love with creating episodes for my players to play in, I think, mostly out of the frustration of having to trawl the Web for images for Maps and player Tokens (I use Foundry VTT) to use during sessions. And of course, the published episodes/adventures can and do use non-canon alien species. There are AI +spits+ tools to use, sure. But you can spot those a mile away, and they don't tend to look exactly like one wants. And trawling Pinterest for something, anything, close to what the episodes describe becomes a chore eventually.

The ADHD part becomes the issue because spending lots of time on something without a payoff becomes exhausting very quickly, and gives my brain a negative association with the action, which it doesn't like to repeat (if that makes any sense?)

So, my question is, besides venturing into Theatre of the Mind, which always seemed like a cop-out to me(and my ADHD brain goes full-on about how I have an obligation to my players to produce something they can see), how do others manage with this limitation to playing/running such a niche, IP-specific game?

Yours in curiosity,
~Matt

Hi folks,

I was wondering what people used for maps for the encounters in Mustang, and also whether or not you all had links to share those resources as well?

My thanks and regards,

~M@

Hey guys,

I recently started running Delta Green, and my players are already buzzing about it. I have the ambition of running Impossible Landscapes somewhere down the line after we've played a good few other scenarios. But something has me wondering...

I'm a Brit, with no real good grasp or interest in geography. I don't know American history very well. With all the other things to prep in a Delta Green game, does this hamper me, especially when it comes to improving stuff to do with IL?

Yours curiously,
MJ