Star Trek Hyperion

A Star Trek Adventures 2e game about the USS Hyperion.

The Pitch

The year is 2382. After the Dominion War, after the Battle of Sector 001, after the Nemesis incident. Starfleet is finally catching its breath and shifts some focus back on what it mostly wants to do: peaceful exploration.

This includes looking over some older reports that got ignored during all the mayhem, just gathering dust on the isolinear shelf. Cross-referencing and comparing those, there are hints that there's something going on with ancient ruins all over known space. A stray subspace signal from an ancient device in one sector of the Alpha quadrant, a door opens in the ruins somewhere in the Beta quadrant. And more like that. Much more. Seemingly random events from malfunctioning ancient machines. But if you put them all together and compare the timing… It all just seems a little bit odd.

Somehow, it seems as if several unexplained phenomena across the Alpha and Beta quadrants are linked. But what for? How? And why does it appear to be increasing in frequency?

These were the kinds of questions a team of researchers asked at the Daystrom Institute. Initially their questions were dismissed by their superiors. We live in a very weird universe. Look at enough data about space phenomena and you'll find coincidences. Just because some ruins display residual activity doesn't mean there's something big going on.

But the reports kept coming. And when a Tal Shiar attempt to steal the team's data was only narrowly thwarted, it became clear that this was a matter they could not afford to keep ignoring.

After investing a lot of political capital and dealing with obstructionist admirals (aren't they always?), Starfleet dedicated a vessel for the purpose of looking into the matter, serving as the eyes, ears, and hands of the Institute.

To explore strange old worlds; to seek out extinct life and ancient civilizations; to boldly go where no one ever thought possible.

Game

Recruitment Thread
IC
OOC

Player Characters

• Dealu Konir, Betazoid Science Officer (Naphthalim)
• Denria Valencia, Trill Captain (Falkus)
• Jukrop Buucesig, Betelgeusian Flight Controller (TorielPadme)
• Kerani Kostelic Hoshino, Human Chief Medical (suedenim)
• Lem Anaphis, Bajoran Chief of Security (strange behaviour)
• Sevek, Vulcan XO (BVrtis)
• Shehl D'ghonsarvi, Klingon Liaison (Seandemonium)
• Tolor, Orion Archaeological Expert (Archer)
• Valarei Chervan, Romulan Chief Engineer (Kittlefish)

NPC Crew

Lt-Cmdr Andrew Roque, Operations Manager Cost: 2 support Male Human Operations Manager, Lieutenant-Commander Faith of the Heart: When you use one of your values to spend or gain Determination, you may also add 1 Momentum to the group pool. Value: Measure Twice, Cut Once Attribute Discipline Control 11 Command 2 Daring 8 Conn 4 Fitness 9 Engineering 4 Insight 10 Security 1 Presence 9 Medicine 2 Reason 10 Science 3 Talents Diagnostics Electro-Plasma Power Systems Shuttle Maintenance Transporters / Replicators

Lt (JG) Velyse zh'Iroso, Tactical Control Cost: 1 support Female Andorian Tactical Control, Lieutenant (junior grade) Intense: When you succeed at a task where you purchased one or more d20s by adding to Threat, you generate 1 bonus Momentum for each d20 purchased. Bonus Momentum may not be saved. Attribute Discipline Control 11 Command 1 Daring 10 Conn 2 Fitness 9 Engineering 2 Insight 7 Security 4 Presence 9 Medicine 1 Reason 8 Science 3 Talents Anti-Physics Starship Beam Weapons Starship Engagement Tactics

Other Characters

Professor Muraski
Female Violacean
Daystrom Institute researcher

Richard Biessman
Male Human
A lab assistant to Muraski.

Game Info

WIP

NCC-80120 USS Hyperion Click pictures for larger version Summary Registry: NCC-80120 Service Date: 2376 Frame: Luna-class Mission Profile: Multirole Explorer Traits: Federation Starship, Luna Class Disciplines & Systems DISCIPLINE SYSTEM / BREACHES Command 2 Comms 10 0 Conn 2 Computers 11 0 Engineering 3 Engines 10 0 Security 2 Sensors 12 0 Medicine 2 Structure 9 0 Science 4 Weapons 8 0 Stats Scale: 5 Crew Support: 5 Shield Resistance: 5 Shield Damage: 0/11 Breakthroughs: 6 damage and 9 damage Hull Resistance: 5 Hull Damage: 0/17 Breakthroughs: 9 damage and 13 damage Weaponry Phaser Array: 6 Damage, Medium Range (Area or Spread, Versatile 1) Antiproton Banks: 7 Damage, Medium Range (Piercing (Hull), Versatile 1) Quantum Torpedoes: 5 Damage, Long Range (Calibration, High-Yield, Intense, Kinetic) Tractor Beam: Strength 4 Glossary of terms Area: When you succeed at an attack, additional targets in the same zone may be hit by spending 1 Momentum for each additional target (Repeatable). This attack may Succeed at Cost (see page 259). Calibration: . The weapon cannot be fired unless a Prepare minor action is performed before the Attack major action in the same turn. High-Yield: If the attack inflicts one or more breaches to a system, it inflicts one additional breach (or steps up the Potency of a breach inflicted by 1—attacker’s choice). Intense: When making an attack with this weapon, you may increase the damage by 1 by spending 1 Momentum, rather than 2. This is Repeatable. Kinetic: When this weapon damages the target's Hull, but the target does not become Shaken, you may spend 1 Momentum to have them become Shaken. Piercing (Hull): An attack with this weapon ignores half the target's Hull Resistance (rounded up). Spread: This weapon gains access to the Saturating Fire minor action. Saturating Fire (Tactical Minor Action): You prime your weapons for an overwhelming barrage of firepower. Select a single enemy vessel within Long range. On your next attack with this weapon against the target, increase the weapon's damage by 1 and you may re-roll a d20 on the task. Versatile X: If an attack with this weapon is successful, it gains X points of bonus Momentum. Bonus Momentum cannot be saved. Talents ADVANCED EMERGENCY CREW HOLOGRAMS: The ship has several holographic supporting characters equal to half the ship’s Computers score (round up); their appearance and personality are determined when the ship is created, though the supporting characters have a species trait of Hologram. These can be activated or deactivated as a minor action, and they do not require any Crew Support to appear. They cannot operate outside of the ship, and they do not improve when introduced in subsequent adventures. However, if any character advances are used to improve these supporting characters, all the supporting characters granted by this talent receive the advance. (Note: Post-2380, this replaces the Luna's standard Emergency Medical Hologram talent.) ADVANCED RESEARCH FACILITIES: The vessel is equipped with additional laboratories and long-term research facilities. Whenever a character aboard the ship succeeds at a task to perform research, and they are assisted by the ship’s Computers + Science, they may ask two additional questions, as if they had spent Momentum to Obtain Information. ADVANCED SENSOR SUITES: Whenever a character performs a task roll assisted by the ship’s Sensors, the ship may roll 2d20 for assistance rather than only one (if Reserve Power is rerouted to Sensors, one of these dice is set to a 1). This talent cannot be used if the ship is suffering one or more breaches to Sensors. IMPROVED HULL INTEGRITY: The ship’s hull has been reinforced to better endure stress and damage. The ship’s Hull capacity is increased by 5 (already included). HIGH-RESOLUTION SENSORS: The vessel’s sensors can gain large amounts of accurate data, though they are extremely sensitive. While the vessel is not in combat, any successful task assisted by the ship’s Sensors gains 1 bonus Momentum. Bonus Momentum may not be saved. VARIABLE GEOMETRY WARP FIELD: A ship with a variable geometry warp field can adjust its subspace field in highly turbulent spacetime and can continue to provide propulsive force even then. When you attempt a task to go to warp, you may select one trait in play which affects the task roll, and ignore its effects. MISSION POD: Sensors Launch Bay Small Craft Readiness: 4 The Hyperion carries standard Size-1 shuttlecraft only.

Houserules Starship combat is unfortunately too deadly in STA 2e. Beam arrays with the Piercing quality (easily obtained through the Scan For Weakness action) can destroy a starship in a single attack. The following houserules are extensive, I know, but are in my opinion necessary to restore game balance, to keep things fun for all involved, and to bring the game closer to the source material. Shields & Hull Instead of giving starships a single Shields track, ships have two tracks. Shields: Equal to Structure + Tactical Hull: Equal to Structure + Engineering Ship Resistance is still calculated as normal and applies to both Shields and Hull. Some talents and effects can modify these values separately though (e.g. Ablative Armor will improve Hull Resistance but not Shield Resistance). Starship Damage Change the damage steps on page 309 as follows: Step 1 Keep as it is, but make you sure apply the correct kind of Resistance. Damage is first applied to Shields. If Shields are at 0 then apply it to Hull instead. Step 2A (SHIELDS) APPLY DAMAGE: Reduce the target ship's shields by 1 for each point of damage (after applying Shield Resistance and other modifiers). If the ship's shields were already 0, skip to Step 2B instead. SHIELDS AT 50%: Any task to Regenerate Shields (page 303), Modulate Shield (page 305), or otherwise use shields, has its difficulty increased by 1 for as long as this Breakthrough point is crossed out. SHIELDS AT 25%: The difficulty increase to use shields worsens to 2. SHIELDS ARE DOWN: If the damage reduces the ship's shields to 0, the shields are down, and any remaining damage is applied to Hull in step 2B. The ship is Shaken. Step 2B (Hull) APPLY DAMAGE: Reduce the target ship's hull by 1 for each point of damage (after applying Hull Resistance and other modifiers). If the hull reaches zero, or was already at 0, apply a Breach. HULL AT 50%: The ship is Shaken and suffers a breach. HULL AT 25%: The ship is Shaken and suffers a breach. HULL DAMAGE CRITICAL: The ship suffers a breach. Starship Breaches If a single system on your ship suffers a number of breaches exceeding the ship's Scale, the system has been destroyed. When a system has been destroyed, any task which would be assisted by that system automatically fails. If your ship suffers a total number of breaches equal to double the ship's Scale, then the ship has suffered critical damage and can no longer function. If the ship takes any additional breaches, it is destroyed. Miscellaneous Changes The Devastating Attack Momentum spend (page 307) now reads: [1 Momentum] If your attack deals 5 or more damage to the target's Hull (after resistance), you may inflict a Breach. The Modulate Shields action (page 305) now reads: This cannot be attempted if the shields are at 0. You try to tune your shields to resist enemy attacks. If you take this action, then until your next turn, increase your Shield Resistance by 2. The Regenerate Shields action (page 303) now reads: Requires Reserve Power. You reroute Reserve Power to the shield emitters, attempting to restore their strength. This requires a Control + Engineering task with a Difficulty of 2, assisted by the ship’s Structure + Tactical; the Difficulty increases by 1 if the ship’s shields are at 0. If successful, the ship regains shields equal to your ship's Tactical department, plus 1 more by spending 1 Momentum (Repeatable). There is a new Emergency Repairs major action, which is only available to the Engineering position. It reads: You direct emergency teams to quickly seal and repair damaged sections of the ship. This requires a Daring + Engineering task with a Difficulty of 2, assisted by the ship’s Structure + Engineering; the Difficulty increases by 1 for each Breach the ship's Structure department has suffered. If successful, the ship regains hull equal to your ship's Engineering department, plus 1 more by spending 1 Momentum (Repeatable). Starship Weapon Qualities This describes changed or new qualities. If a quality is not listed here, it works as described on pages 226-227. DAMPENING: This attack drains the target's reserve power, causing widespread disruption. If the target has Reserve Power available, it loses Reserve Power. If the target doesn't have Reserve Power available, the difficulty of the Regain Power task increases by 1 for the rest of the scene, just as if they had attempted to use that action. DEPLETING: Removed from the game, but see Piercing below. DEVASTATING: Reduce the Momentum cost of Devastating Attack by 1. Tasks to repair breaches caused by this weapon increase in Difficulty by 1. JAMMING: Until the end of the current round, the target increases the Difficulty for all tasks assisted by Communications and Sensors by 1. KINETIC: When this weapon damages the target's Hull, but the target does not become Shaken, you may spend 1 Momentum to have them become Shaken. OBSOLETE X: When applying damage (after accounting for Resistance), reduce the damage by X. Note that this can fully negate the damage. PERSISTENT X: When this weapon hits, you may spend up to X Momentum. At the end of each round, the target suffers half the weapon's base damage rating, twice. The first application is normal and the second has the Shield Bypass quality for free. This effect lasts for a number of rounds equal to the Momentum spent. PIERCING (SHIELD/HULL): An attack with this weapon ignores half the target's Resistance (rounded up). SHIELD BYPASS X: The weapon is effective at bypassing enemy shields. On a hit, you may spend X Momentum to ignore the target's Shields, applying the damage directly to Hull. SPREAD: This weapon gains access to the Saturating Fire minor action. Saturating Fire (Tactical Minor Action): You prime your weapons for an overwhelming barrage of firepower. Select a single enemy vessel within Long range. On your next attack with this weapon against the target, increase the weapon's damage by 1 and you may re-roll a d20 on the task. Starship Energy Weapons Antiproton: Piercing (Hull) Disruptor: Intense Electromagnetic or Ionic: Dampening, Jamming Free Electron Laser: Obsolete 1 Graviton Beam or Kinetic Beam: Kinetic Phase/Pulse: - Phased Polaron Beam: Shield Bypass 1 Phaser: Versatile 1 Proton Beam: Persistent 1 Tetryon Beam: Piercing (Shield) Cannons Close Range / Ship Scale +2 Damage / Devastating quality Banks Medium Range / Ship Scale +1 Damage / Versatile 1 quality Arrays Unaltered from core Spinal Lance Long Range / Ship Scale +3 Damage / Cumbersome, High Yield qualities Torpedoes Chroniton Long / 3 Damage / Calibration, High Yield, Kinetic, Slowing Gravimetric Long / 5 Damage / Calibration, Cumbersome, High Yield, Kinetic, Piercing (Hull) Neutronic Long / 4 Damage / Calibration, Dampening, Kinetic Nuclear Medium / 3 Damage / Calibration, Intense, Kinetic, Obsolete 1 Photon Long / 3 Damage / High Yield, Kinetic Photonic Long / 2 Damage / High Yield, Kinetic Plasma Long / 5 Damage / Calibration, Cumbersome, Kinetic, Persistent 3 Polaron Long / 3 Damage / Calibration, Kinetic, Shield Bypass 2 Positron Long / 5 Damage / Calibration, Cumbersome, Dampening, Kinetic Quantum Long / 4 Damage / Calibration, High Yield, Intense, Kinetic Spatial Medium / 3 Damage / Kinetic, Obsolete 1 Tetryonic Long / 3 Damage / Calibration, High Yield, Kinetic, Piercing (Shield) Transphasic Long / 4 Damage / Calibration, Devastating, Piercing (Shield and Hull) Tricobalt Long / 6 Damage / Area, Calibration, Cumbersome, Kinetic Talents Ablative Armor The vessel's hull plating has an additional ablative layer that disintegrates slowly under extreme temperatures. Increase your Hull Resistance by 2. Reduce this by 1 for each Hull Breakthrough point reached. Adaptive Shield Modulator When the Modulate Shields action is taken (page 305), improve your ship's Shield Resistance by an additional +1, and a further +1 for every 2 Momentum spent. Further, the ship may have its shields raised when operating in silent running (see sidebar opposite). Backup EPS Conduits When the ship loses Reserve Power, roll 1d20; if you roll equal to or under your ship's Structure, regain Reserve Power. Improved Hull Integrity The ship's hull has been reinforced to better endure stress and damage. The ship's maximum Hull Capacity is increased by 5. Rapid-Fire Torpedo Launcher The vessel's torpedo launchers have been designed to allow the ship to fire multiple torpedoes much more quickly and accurately. When the ship fires a torpedo salvo (page 229), the character at Tactical may either: If they choose to gain the Area quality, they also gain the Spread quality. If they choose to gain the Spread quality, they may use the Saturating Fire minor action for free. Rugged Design Increase your Shield Resistance and Hull Resistance by 1 each. Covering Advance Add the following to the end: "… or the difficulty is +1, whichever would be higher." Glancing Impact This counts for both Shield and Hull Resistance. Piercing Salvo When you make a Torpedo Attack, you may spend 2 Momentum (Immediate) to gain either the Piercing (Shields) or Piercing (Hull) quality. NPC Starship Categories Major Starships These are for extended fights, probably the culmination of a season or a "movie climax." Examples: The Reliant, the Scimitar, or any Borg cube outside of Voyager. Use the rules for starships as described previously. They have 6 or more Personal Threat (page 346). If you have the GM Toolkit and use their optional Breach effects, also use them for Major starships. Notable Starships These ships are often the focus point of a single episode and unlikely to make repeat appearances. Examples: A single Romulan warbird decloaking to question your presence in the Neutral Zone, a smuggler trying to evade capture, or an Orion pirate vessel. Reduce Shields and Hull to 75% and give them only a single Breakthrough point in the middle. When the ship has suffered Breaches exceeding its scale, the ship is defeated – either destroyed, surrendering, or retreating, as appropriate to the story. They typically have 3 Personal Threat (page 346). If you have the GM Toolkit and use their optional Breach effects, don't use them for Notable starships. Minor Starships These ships might be part of a larger attack wing or small fleet. They pose little threat individually. Most minor starships are of scale 4 or lower. Examples: See those swarms of ships in any of the major battles in DS9? Those are minor starships. Reduce Shields and Hull to one-half but remove the Breakthrough points. When the ship has suffered any Breach whatsoever, the ship is defeated – either destroyed, surrendering, or retreating, as appropriate to the story. Reduce the number of actions the ship can take each round to one-half.