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Request: Suggestions for Foundry Missions for RSE characters
gawainviii
Member Posts: 328 Arc User
I'm working on a series of Romulan missions, as an alternative, for people who want to RP as RSE officers, rather than the default Republic story-line.
I'm starting by mimicking the RRF tutorial: civilian gets thrust into the middle of things and ends up with an officer's commission and his/her own command. You begin as a civilian, working as a supervisor at a supply depot in the Imperial capital of Nova Roma on Rator III. A last-minute supply run in preparation for the Khitomer Conference (Turning Point) uncovers a joint Section 31/Republic Intelligence plot to sabotage the conference and frame Sela/Hakeev, thereby guaranteeing the Republic's alliance with both UFP and KDF. The player is unable to prevent the sabotage, but his actions ensure that the Empress is not directly implicated (laying the brunt of the blame on the Tal Shiar)...
Beyond that... I'm not sure where to go with the story. Please, if you have any ideas that might make a good mission to follow this story, feel free to post.
I'm starting by mimicking the RRF tutorial: civilian gets thrust into the middle of things and ends up with an officer's commission and his/her own command. You begin as a civilian, working as a supervisor at a supply depot in the Imperial capital of Nova Roma on Rator III. A last-minute supply run in preparation for the Khitomer Conference (Turning Point) uncovers a joint Section 31/Republic Intelligence plot to sabotage the conference and frame Sela/Hakeev, thereby guaranteeing the Republic's alliance with both UFP and KDF. The player is unable to prevent the sabotage, but his actions ensure that the Empress is not directly implicated (laying the brunt of the blame on the Tal Shiar)...
Beyond that... I'm not sure where to go with the story. Please, if you have any ideas that might make a good mission to follow this story, feel free to post.
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Comments
There's a lot we haven't seen on Rator for instance, so that's a good starting point. But changing the in-game STO canon isn't going to get you a lot of playthroughs.
I wouldnt suggest trying to portray the concept of the Tal Shiar being anything other than the completely corrupt, moustachio twirling, brainwashed drone villains, as EVERYTHING else STO has them as just that. Similarly I'd avoid an immediate connection to the nascent RR, perhaps the plot is Klingon Intelligence's instead. The Klingon Empire did invade the Star Empire so showing the Romulans as dishonorable to'ba trying to sabotage the conference would work for the Klinks, giving them reason to expand further into RSE space. Remember, its not really until nearly the end of the RR plot that D'Twerp's minions are genuinely organized and effectual. Prior to that the Player is the nearly singular reason for their successes.
As for developing the plot more, perhaps begin gathering evidence of the Tal Shiar's involvement with the Elachi and uncovering the truth that they are selling out Romulan colonies to these aliens as food and breedstock. Toss in some efforts to counter the new Republic's recruiting among stations and worlds in the Dewa Sector. Perhaps have the PC broker the privateer contract with the True Way for them to hunt Republican vessels and turn them over to the Imperial Navy.
A good RSE plot, imo, would involve a lot less "go here blow that up" and more skulking, politics, investigation, and even purging of corruption. I'd also leave Sela very tangential to the majority of your plot. Likely most Imperialists will be loyal to the Empire not the incompetant half-breed emo, and seeking to restore integrity, pride, and strength unto it. This also allows you to craft your arc to function easier after Sela is kidnapped.
Good feedback. Thank you!
Regarding Civilian vs Cadet: I wanted to mirror the Republic tutorial (more of an Easter Egg, really; it won't be a copy-paste job) to illustrate that there are "normal" imperials too, they're not all military drones. Also, while you definitely make a good supporting argument, I hate the JJ-inspired, hand-wave super-promotion. A merit-based commission, not unlike historical Roman appointments, feels more realistic to me (which is why the PC will be identified as a manager/supervisor in his pre-military life, to justify an immediate command assignment).
RE: Tal Shiar. Yes, definitely. I'm thinking an IA-like assignment where you have to cut through the red tape just to get the run around. I do want to keep Section-31 involved because, well... 31 is pretty friggin' shady. Of course they'd want to make Sela look like the bad guy, because it'll give them a puppet Romulan to fill the void... and if they didn't, the Klingons would likely have remained neutral (if not outright support the Star Empire--J'mpok does have ties to Duras and through them, Sela, after all; for all we know Sela arranged for J'mpok's ascension). But you do make a compelling argument for leaving RR out of the plot. I'll consider it.
About Sela, I agree. She'll likely have a cameo, at best (we have the Foundry model for her, so why not use it?), but the commander of the Romulan Imperial Navy, Fleet Admiral Velal, will be the PC's primary mentor/mover-and-shaker.
Your mission ideas are golden! Consider them stolen.
My primary goal (after creating an entertaining story) is to play devil's advocate: the "official" point-of-view is not the only point-of-view. So much more is happening than the default-story-PC ever sees. I'm not trying to re-write the story--just tell the other side of the same story.
As far as post-abduction Remnant... Yes, there will be internal political intrigue and inter-faction squabbling with a half dozen self-declared Praetors and Proconsuls, eventually ending in some manner of cooperative compromise facilitated by Velal and his star pupil, the PC. But in reality the chaos won't be quite as bad as the Fed-Rep alliance intelligence agencies think it is.
My main is an RSE Star Navy character. His main motivation for not defecting to the RR is duty. Not to Sela or the Tal Shiar, but to the forgotten people on the colonies of the Star Empire. They still need protection/supplies etc., and between the external enemies like the Klingons, Elachi and Borg preying on them, and the Tal Shiar preying on them, they need all the help they can get. Loyal officers of the Star Navy are virtually the only hope they have.
So my suggestion (after you get things started) would be to consider some missions of that ilk - protecting/supplying/investigating-weird-happenings-at Romulan colony worlds within the Empire. Of course, political games in Nova Roma would be great, too.
Again, many thanks for doing this! I sincerely look forward to playing your missions.
Don't get me wrong, I love the republic as stark contrast to the political skullduggery, but the Republic is... well... an idealized version of rome pre-Ceaser. A power that has its pride and honor and has been bloodied enough that it understands the value of speaking plain. However the Empire should still exist. I don't want this to be ascension to the throne, but more showing that in spite of the politics, sela's wedding the Empire to the Tal Shiar under Hakeeve, there are still people on the line that haven't bought D'tan's concept but feel bone deep it is their duty to the romulan people to go out there and defend what can be, and avenge what cannot.
Advice i have is to not outright put the Republic as 'bad' as a faction so much as it feeling like Section 31 is at play here to try getting Romulan technology, and a power that will supplant the Empire, thus nullifying the Khitomer accord that forbade development of cloaking technology amongst other things. I'm very much of the mind of 'the boots on the ground are just defending their home' type. Republic? Empire? Romulan is Romulan. So any implication of a Republic manipulation should feel very much like a select ew inside, and even then it should come as a surprise that Tamar took a bomb blast. After all he was their highest ranking navy officer so they wouldn't throw him away lightly.
Idea I have is up until the point were Sela washes her hands of the Tal Shiar they're tolerated, but only barely, and there's this nagging fear you recognize many of the rank and file but can't quite pin down why. Then after Sela washes her hands of Hakeeve there should be a sense of 'FINALLY, we can wash ourselves of this infection and maybe gain ground their meddling has lost us.'
That said... if anyone has some ideas of their own, feel free to make your own missions to accompany the ones I'm working on. I only ask that, if you do, you follow a few details to keep things in-line with what I'm doing:
* Prefix the mission title with [RSE] tag
* Build your missions as Klingon-allied (reserving Rom-Fed missions for Republic PCs)
* The PC is a Romulan Star Navy officer--NOT Tal Shiar
* In your mission intro/description, specify to the player that this series is for RSE officers, and suggest that characters use ships with the IRW prefix to maximize player immersion into the story.
Once I've finalized my Rator III Capital City map, I'll post a spreadsheet detailing props & coordinates, so that others can use the same map and maintain continuity between missions.
Emphatic NO to "RSE are all KDF, RRF are all Fed". My Roms are not.
What I do is making a mission and copying it to the other side, so regardless of the Romulan toons affiliation, they can play it. The downside is that it takes a mission slot.
I'd also avoid telling players what they should do. Not only many ships do not offer the IRW prefix, many players (me included :P) do not like to be dictated how to play. You're taking me for a ride, or bossing me around, mm?
As for branching paths, there are some tricks that can be used, but I don't know how far they could go. I played a mission that had two alternate endings, depending on the player's choice, but doing that can be tricky and many things can go wrong. Foundry isn't built for that kind of complexity.