So, I spent the Invasion Day long weekend having a mini vacation with my wife and as usual on a vacation, I collapsed. I slept most of the first day as is traditional, then slept badly the second night and barely slept at all the last night. My emotions are all over the shop (I don’t normally almost break down crying when reading Princess Bride memes, but it happened), my concentration is frequently… something, and I still can’t quite mesh the two competing/contrasting themes together for my Pheno event I’m planning. However, I’m going to try to talk about good stuff that emerged from my brain over the time, and a lot of that involves brainstorming ideas. Dinner on the Thursday night was a feast of ideas old and new. The creative process is a wonderful thing, and getting to do so with my wife just makes it all the more wonderful. I know I’ve talked about how she has a wonderful knack for taking my bizarre over the top ideas, shaving off the dodgy bits and sculpting them into the pieces of glorious nonsense they are. And she’s only gotten better at it. So, let’s go.

Resistance is *static noise*
The Borg. The most implacable enemy of Starfleet. You’ve likely fought against them, or run away from them, but what happens if you are one? As far as you can remember, you’ve been part of the Collective, travelling the galaxy adding other creatures biological and technological distinctiveness to your own. Resistance is futile. And then one day, you wake up, and there’s nothing. You can’t hear the Collective, you remember nothing of your name, or past, or even what species you were/are now. (“Hey, my forehead’s lumpy, means I’m not Human!”) The Cube you travelled on is now a shattered barely functioning wreck, but there are others who have shared your fate. Some newly assimilated drones may still be wearing scraps of uniform, but for most there seems to be no trace of who you were or are. For now, survival is key – can you restore power and life support to the vessel, let alone navigation? You’ve no idea what part of the galaxy you’re in, and with no idea how this has happened to you. So, what’s next? (I have to say this was part inspired, at least for me, by memories of an old RPG called Zero, that I found for $5 at a convention decades back, but never actually ran.)

Today is a good day to die, but the day is not yet over.
A few posts ago I mentioned the Klingon Empire version of the current Star Trek RPG, and an idea popped up. What if, instead of a ship full of proud warriors, you had the misfits and screw ups? Those who would create rather than destroy, a ship of Alexander’s rather than Worf’s. It would be dishonourable to kill them, so they’ve been assigned to an old Bird of Prey and sent out into the galaxy, to find their purpose or die in the attempt. Do they embrace their warrior heritage, or attempt to find a new path, one that could perhaps revolutionise Klingon culture? (Yes, I’m very much reminded of the Orion’s in the Strange New Worlds crossover) As much as the whole macho Klingon aspect appeals to me (Yes, I’m aware I have issues), I do enjoy the idea off turning all that on it’s head.

Wait, what would Picard do?
Lastly, this is another space one, and was begun by my wife. The idea was for one of the larger space settings like Traveller, but I’m sure it could be adapted to a lot of other settings. So, the standard group of characters in those sort of games seems to be a rag-tag group of smugglers or scrappy revolutionaries, aka space murder hobos. Case in point, the 1st Edition of the Star Wars RPG where the characters were… Rebel operatives. And that’s it. It wasn’t till 2nd Ed that ideas opened up. So, what if instead you were the command crew of a military vessel? None of you have met before – it could be your first tour, or your last. How do you deal with the responsibilities, deal with the crew, and cope with orders you may disagree with. When you can stand those orders no longer, what do you do? Work within the system and hope for change, or mutiny? And how does that mutiny go? Have you made friends with the crew, or are you more of the iron fist captain type?

That last idea slightly mutated into thoughts inspired by a Stargate campaign I’m playing in. So, the default player group in the game is that of an SG Team, a perfectly sensible idea for it. But the idea for other options came to mind, and there’s more than a few in that setting. NID spooks back on Earth, a group of To’kra, members of the Free Jaffa movement or former Go’auld who’ve had the snake removed. To quote my wife, “there’s no point playing one as Claudia Black did it perfectly”, but you could try, I guess? (Also, the range of Big Finish Stargate audio plays is now back on sale and well worth a listen.)

So, yeah. Feel free to use them, as I, it feels weird to say can’t, but I’m not the GM for them. Maybe the Klingon idea, but the Lower Decks wackiness is closest to my skill set. Coming up with ideas that aren’t in my skill set as a GM is a blessing and a curse. It’s good to have an outlet for them, as not all of them work for LARPS I Will Never Run. Speaking of LARP, I’ve booked my ticket to Ravenswood Institute and completed my enrolment submission form, asking my likes, dislikes and any red flags. I like drama (Desperate last stands are one my thing’s), I loathe snails and slugs (Out of character) and need IC romance to function. OK, not quite, but I’ve had a lot of fun with it and want to do more. I think I’ve got my character idea bashed out, and I’m currently in the throes of costuming options and a suitably over the top entrance to game. The two leading ideas are ‘in character’ as the evil wizard he’s best known for playing, or post fan convention very hungover. Either way, I’ve plenty of time to work on options.

Lastly, I’ve been watching Nemesis on iview. It’s been a rage-inducing documenting of Australian political chaos, or to quote The Bugle Podcast, “a Human Centipede of backstabbing.” There’s been plenty of things I’d managed to happily forget from those times, such as the smug look of entitlement on Bronwyn Bishop’s face, or Wyatt Roy. All of him. The whole ‘Knights and Dames’ thing. Hearing Christopher Pyne’s, I want to say, ‘human’ speaking voice will haunt me for years to come and if I never hear or see Michaelia Cash ever again, I won’t miss her one bit. I’d dearly love to see footage of a just overthrown Tony Abbott swearing bitterly at Malcolm Turnbull, to say nothing of the exchange between the two from a committee meeting:
TUNRBULL: “If you’d let me finish.”
ABBOT: “If you’d let me finish my Prime Ministership…”

High School levels of pettiness doesn’t come close. And I haven’t even gotten to Barnaby Joyce, and I try not to at the best of times. Why was I watching this? Morbid curiosity and schadenfreude mostly – watching the Liberals tear each other to bits does warm my heart, even as the rest of me is being warmed thanks to their shitty climate policies.

Well past time for bed. Goodnight all, sleep well. I’ll most likely kill you in the morning.