[Provisional RPG] Star Trek: Athena

[CaptainCoffin]

Introduction

In the year 2355, the political structure of the Alpha Quadrant was undergoing unprecedented changes. The Romulan Star Empire was engaged in a strict self-imposed period of isolation following the Tomed Incident of 2311 and the signing of the Treaty of Algeron. Relations between the Federation and the Klingon Empire are improving, in part thanks to the heroic actions of the Enterpirse and her crew at Nerada III. These improvements culminated in a lasting peace agreement just three years ago in 2352.

The Ambassador Class of starships, the most advanced Federation Starships in space, are now reaching the middle of their operational lives and the time is coming when a new class of starships will emerge to take over the front line of Starfleet operations.

The USS Galaxy is slated for completion next year, and could be commissioned as early as 2357. It will be hailed as the most advanced starship in the fleet and will leave to the commissioning of the Galaxy Class. A class destined for many great things.

There are surely many stories related to the development of such a powerful and eventually distinguished class of ship. However, there must have been other concepts under consideration. In this story we will present a ship that had the potential to become the premier class of starship in the galaxy. This is the first and only voyage of the USS Athena; an advanced prototype, ahead of her time, the only real rival to the Galaxy Class.

Note: This RP is a refugee from where we started. I'm moving it due too the fact that there simply are not enough Trekkies on that forum to keep things lively. Old RP discussion and story links follow:

http://forums.megatokyo.com/index.php?showtopic=1734076&st=0
http://forums.megatokyo.com/index.php?act=ST&f=27&t=1734210&st=0#entry4958389

[CaptainCoffin]

Now here are the specifics of the game.

The storyline will be Episodic. I'll start us off with the first episode, it'll mainly be about the gathering of the crew and the USS Athena's first mission. Something simple to get everyone involved and try things out. At the end of each episode I fully expect players who have ideas for the next one to present them.

Episodes will be played out by a combination of single posts(written by one author) and co-posts(written by multiple authors). We can experiment with that and the old action/reaction style if we need to. It'll depend on how fast things move. I'd like to implement a degree of episode planning before writing them out in RP. All players should be involved and we'll come up with a general outline of events before writing the Episode.

The level of writing is going to be high. I'm looking for detailed description, dialogue, character development, and at least a medium level of technical knowledge. But we'll try to stay true to the spirit of Star Trek, where the specifics of the technology can be left to the imagination and the real focus is on the stories of the characters and events. Of course, we'll try to stay within already established canonical limits.

The Stardate System: We'll be using the system used by the writers of Star Trek Chonology. In this system 1,000 stardate units are equal to one standard(Gregorian) year. To simplify things, I've found what appears to be a good calculator for stardates. It's the second calculator under the heading "Next Generation Stardate Calculator". http://trekguide.com/Stardates.htm

Character Sheets: Come up with your own or follow my example once I post my own character here. I can't see the sheet format being all that important as long as it covers the important specifics on a character. If you don't have a solid history for your character right now you can write it out later or reveal it throughout the RP.

Characters: The crew is composed largely of young officers and numerous cadets, many of whom have been involved in the development of the Athena, even her captain will be younger than usual. Their reasons for being there will vary, whether they found out about it and volunteered, were involved from the beginning, or got picked because of exceptional skills or some other reason. By the way, the Captain will be played by me.