Unused mission idea clearinghouse thread

paxfederatica

This is a thread for Foundry mission concepts that, for whatever reason(s), you don't expect to develop into actual missions anytime soon, so instead you'd like to share them with other authors looking for inspiration.

I do have a few that have been stuck on my back burner for quite awhile now as other more appealing (to me) story ideas have leapfrogged ahead of them.

• "To The Four Winds" (Fed): Deals with an alien civilization that's recently developed transporter technology, but instead of the dramatic improvements in quality of life you might expect, it's mainly used by the planet's authorities to break up protests and get rid of undesirables (criminals, dissidents, the homeless, etc.) by beaming them randomly to hostile unpopulated areas of the planet where they're expected to (and usually do) die.
• Untitled 2- or 3-part campaign concept (Fed): After responding to a distress call from a civilian transport, your ship and crew are caught in the middle of a Cold War-type conflict between a socially backward society on one planet and a colony of forward-thinking dissidents on the planet's moon (or another planet in the system). Think Ekos and Zeon from TOS "Patterns of Force" but with any allusions to real-world history or events being merely allegorical.
• "Slash And Burn" (Fed): One of two parody ideas I have. You and your ship take an unexpected detour into an alternate reality where two of your BOffs have coupled up while a third is in a romance with you (hence the "slash" part of the title, a nod to "slash fiction"), all while the galaxy goes to hell around you (the "burn") as you try to get back to the reality you know.
• "Too Many Cooks" (Fed): My other parody idea, a satire on STO's player progression scheme which results in a Starfleet with tens (hundreds?) of thousands of Fleet Admirals. (You could also do KDF and Romulan Republic versions, of course.) Inspired by the Adult Swim short of the same title.
• "Unsanctioned" (KDF): Based on the "Compete In Unsanctioned Combat Arena" DOff assignment. The premise is that the DOff you sent on that mission never reported back in afterward, so you have to find him, and naturally end up having to compete in the arena yourself.

duncanidaho11

I've only had two projects that've truly fallen off the back burner (first and second below), but I've let go of a few in favor of the missions I ultimately ended up building (third and forth below). I developed those to the point of having a full plot (provided), but seeing everything planned out might still help inspire other ideas. The fifth one I may still end up using if I ever decide to "retire" from serious mission work (ie. simply give up), but I can't see that happening in the foreseeable future (so anyone else is free to have a go with the general concept).

Edit: dang it all, forgot my crazy KDF TOS mission discussed on Roundtab. Added that at the bottom.

• Refraction [SSF-2.5] (title later given to SSF2-4): You arrive at an associated FED world for tricky business dealings only to find the man you're to negotiate with murdered. Starfleet Security takes up the investigation with you as their prime suspect. Between Orion and Ferengi skulduggery, you find a nest of Salt Vampires who were being exploited by the murdered man to manipulate his rivals. One of them (who has thus far played the telepathically projected part of an assistant) did it, but in arresting him you find an accommodation for the rest (ie. transfer off world to an appropriate, humanoid-free ecology.)
• Magellan: travel to the clouds of Magellan in the name of peaceful exploration. However, once there you discover that another galactic power has its eyes on the region: the Borg. Help the locals fend off assimilation, and heal some deep internal political divides while you're at it as well.
• Epitaph [AEI] (idea evolved gently into Apex [AEI]): Portal from the derelict ship leads you out into a domain setup by an Ancient-Iconian era species. There you find a number of species at war with one another, and you try to reconcile their differences while also trying to do something about the murderous Prometheus and getting home. However, as you proceed through the mission a decay spreads through the domain. By the end, everything's in disarray and you enter the spire to escape an army of Prometheus clones. There, you find one of the creators who explains that the domain is a virtual one, an epitaph to the species lost in that war (giving them some existence across deep time.) Prometheus is an infectious agent, quarantined long ago who now threatens to overrun everything in that domain (Agent Smith style). You hit the reset button, wiping everything but allowing a fresh start on the project.
• Star Trek: Sierra (premise evolved drastically into upcoming Temporal Investigations series): You come across a Federation Starship (U.S.S. Sierra) under attack by pirate raiders. The captain informs you that they're carrying an asylum seeker to FED space, and that the pirates have been hired by those she's trying to flee. In the next encounter the Sierra makes a break for it, leaving you behind to deal with a large group of raiders. You contact Starfleet for support, but they tell you that the Sierra should not be assigned to that sector. You contact the alien government, and they tell you that the "asylum seeker" is an individual who they wanted transferred off world for "undisclosed medical reasons" that they felt the FED was best equipped to deal with. You find the Sierra again, and with the help of their Chief of Security (the android Frank) confront the rogue captain. His interest: transfer the alien to Section 31 for "research." The pirates intercepted those communications and were trying to secure the alien for themselves. She, meanwhile, escapes, hijacks a pirate raider (fearing Starfleet) and returns to her homeworld. You find her there in the wreckage of a miniature Whale-Probe. She's an artificial life form designed to gather information on humanoid species. Her species knows that, and deeply fears her continued presence. You reconcile with her nature, offer a place in the FED, and leave.
• Super Action Security Force: GO! [SSF]: Giant-Robot anime parody of the Starfleet Security Files. While on routine business you find Ji'Goro in the holodeck. It (in keeping with the First Law of Star Trek) malfunctions and sends you on a psychotic ride through what turns out to be Admiral Quinn's program.
• Untitled KDF/TOS mission: Go back in time to prevent a 23c conference from being interrupted by Na'Kuhl terrorists. The catch: you have to play a part in that conference as a representative from that era. Mission built around completely separate mission paths for Klingon, Orion, Nausicaan, Trill, Gorn, and Unidentified Alien/Lethean/Talaxian.