The Return of Usenko's Star Trek Adventure Game (TM)!

philip_hughes · Post by **philip_hughes** » Sat, 3. Jun 17, 06:26

Shakira when the top fell.

Morkonan · Post by **Morkonan** » Sun, 4. Jun 17, 06:40

Usenko wrote:Hey, just had an idea.

What if the whole metaphor-as-communication idea was one that enabled the two crews to communicate with the Planet-sized Computer? Not necessarily to get any useful data, mind you - it operates on time scales that carbon based life forms cannot fathom - but enough to exchange friendly greetings and some sort of "I shall watch your species' development with interest."

I don't know if you want to pull back that curtain, just yet. It's why I suggested that this computer/entity remain enigmatic, even after the mission is over.

Picture this:

A few sessions later, the players start talking and they think that maybe they could use their knowledge of the intelligence of the "computer" to achieve some other goal. Worse, they make jokes about something the computer said or make light of it, simply because they are able to label it as "something we know."

OR

A few sessions later, the players are discussing the current mission and one of them mentions "Hey, maybe we can do something with our knowledge of that big system computer" and the rest say "F that, I'm not going within 10 parsecs of that scary piece of tech", "Yeah, who knows what the heck that thing is really doing? Let Starfleet sit and stare at it forever, I say!", "If you guys want to go back there and poke that thing with a stick again, I'm quitting this game and will just go play My Little Pony Adventure Island." Further, there's nobody who feels entirely safe even thinking about that "machine" or what its capabilities are, since nobody really knows what its intent is. All they ever know is that they are insignificant to it and that, other than just simple "error correction" and what appear to be normal countermeasures that only took a very small portion of the computer's power, the machine was completely unconcerned for them and their mortal struggles.

IOW - Maintain distance, don't let the players get into a situation where they can think they can treat this thing as any more than the really big, really power, really freaking scary and really unknowable thing it is. It's dangerous, they only ever end up knowing just a tiny bit of how it works, and never figure out what it is really, really, doing and certainly never get the impression that anyone could ever, ever, "reason with it."

In this case, the more enigmatic, dangerous, powerful and incomprehensible that huge intelligence is, the more the players will consider their accomplishments special and memorable. It'll be like they were drawn into a maelstrom and survived against all odds, coming away with a new respect for the sea.

You could figure out a way to use metaphors and combined skills to "do something" with the computer. But, it has to be really small, really insignificant, and doesn't give anyone any of the real power that this system could bring to bear.

For instance - They figure out that through pictographs, a form of metaphor, they can get "data" into one of the Towers. How? They find an "observer" species, one that has big eyes and basically just flies around and stares at stuff. They get one's attention, draw a pictograph of a blocked cave then of an enclosed sub-control hub then the same cave, unblocked and open. If they do this enough times, they might get one of the towers to manufacture a creature, or order one, to open the sub-control hub, so they can access it and do "something." BUT, they'll only have limited time, since other error-correction mechanisms will register any deviation from planned computing operations, like whatever it is they players want the sub-control hub to do... "Things" will be sent to "correct the error."

Usenko · Post by **Usenko** » Sun, 4. Jun 17, 08:29

My thought was mainly if they approach it right, they can get the message across "Sup dude, we're living things too!"

And the computer might go "Oh hey little guys. Cool. Steer clear, k?"

Quite apart from the whole satisfaction of actually communicating with it, making positive contact with a powerful, enigmatic alien (and then being told to bloody well leave it alone) seems, well, Trek.

Morkonan · Post by **Morkonan** » Sun, 4. Jun 17, 18:57

Usenko wrote:My thought was mainly if they approach it right, they can get the message across "Sup dude, we're living things too!"

And the computer might go "Oh hey little guys. Cool. Steer clear, k?"

Show vs Tell, right?

So, you can "tell" the players these things with direct interactions of communication or you can "show" them these things by demonstrating them happening in the environment/setting.

Your players should have enough "show" demonstrated to them that they will figure out for themselves it's a giant computer. It's important to give them that sense of achievement by allowing them to figure out on their own as much as possible, IMO.

In order to have it confirmed, to give them additional satisfaction that their "game world" agrees with their point of view, you can even rely on third-party confirmation. For instance, Starfleet could demand an report on their situation and their findings and they could tell SF that "it's a giant, powerful, computer." SF could scoff at such claims and then, after awhile, contact them again with confirmation that, after further examination, Starfleet concurs with the Team's findings or some such.

Quite apart from the whole satisfaction of actually communicating with it, making positive contact with a powerful, enigmatic alien (and then being told to bloody well leave it alone) seems, well, Trek.

When you have a "Big Bad" that you want to really build up into a really big, bad, nasty, antagonist, but without reducing its looming malevolence by having characters actually interact with it, directly, what do you do?

You make it very clear that other characters who very powerful, very scary, characters are afraid of "Big Bad." In Lord of the Rings, we never meet Sauron. But, we see his handiwork and everyone is afraid of him, even characters that are viewed by the protagonists as being extremely powerful or maybe even malevolent entities, themselves. Sauron controls the Ringwraiths, co-opted Sauraman, destroyed Denethor's mind through the palantir, the elves lived in fear of him and he was so feared everywhere else that nobody would even mention his name. Heck, even his language, the language of Mordor, held a malevolence that couldn't be countered even in the heart of elvish power...

But, we never met him. We never witnessed any direct interactions with him. Only once did we catch a glimpse of him as a giant hand stretching across the battlefield in his final moments as the Ring was being destroyed.

Sauron's power was made nearly supreme even though he really never appeared in the books. In the movie, he got a great deal more screen time than the books ever attempted, and that wasn't really accurate, but it was deemed necessary by Jackson to embody him in some sort of weird eye, I suppose.

In short- You can do a great deal by... doing what appears to others as "nothing" by simply working outside of the box and showing something's characteristics through indirect means.

Up to you, of course. If you think your players would want a direct interaction and that it would make it a better experience or you have a good experience planned as a result of that, then that's good, too. At the end of the day, it's about what works for the players.

edit - example: Imagine this - Just before the players are about to hit the "send" button on an email to this system-wide computer, Q show up and exclaims "WTF are you doing? For goodness sakes, please don't do that! Holy crap, it's dangerous! We are Q and even we wouldn't consider doing something so foolish as to try to talk to this darn thing. There are things in the universe that you simply do-not-f-with... Leave it the F alone!"

That's an over-the-top, Jump-the-Shark sort of approach, though. Instead, maybe another powerful race or something else the players see as being powerful in its own right happens to chime in and offer them advice. Maybe the Klingons admit that they are afraid of this thing? Maybe the Organians make an appearance and tell the players that they're blindly fiddling with the dials of one of the most powerful things in the galaxy?

Usenko · Post by **Usenko** » Fri, 9. Jun 17, 11:22

So T-12 days and counting before the game goes live.

Starting to work out the first episode. Current plan:

* Admiral Picard gives briefing. 5 minutes[1].

* Travel time. Red herring side plot[2]. 15 minutes.

* Study time. PCs are learning their Tamarian language. A 20 question test ensues; PCs who score above a certain level receive a Tamarian Language proficiency, and get a bonus to their Rapport skill. 20 mins.

* Enter the Tamarians. 10 mins.

* Dinner party with Tamarians. 30 mins. During the dinner party, each PC has a chance to tell a story. Very successful stories will receive a fate point. These stories will be built into the game - the Tamarians will use them as new metaphors. This will also allow us to use the mechanic I have worked out for language:

--
Mechanics digression.

Talking TO Tamarians: Player creates a metaphor - e.g. wanting to describe a fight, they might say "Montagues and Capulets at Verona." The GM looks at the metaphor. If it seems to be pretty clear (as the above case), then it might be an easy roll; the GM adjusts the difficulty accordingly. The Tamarian (either the PC or the GM) rolls on the "Rapport" skill. If they succeed, they understood the metaphor, and that metaphor may now be used in that context[3] without rolling on it.

Being talked to BY Tamarians: GM gives a metaphor. Player character tries to understand the metaphor straight out. If they immediately understand the metaphor, they automatically succeed. If they do not understand it fully, the player gives their best guess as to its meaning; the GM dermines that the roll will be easy or hard depending on how close they got.

Again, a roll on "Rapport". If they succeed, the GM tells the player the actual meaning.
-- End mechanics digression.

Tour of the ship. PCs attempt to determine which of the Tamarians is their own counterpart, based on the names we previously discussed. 10 mins.

So far so good. I am thinking that my players may well be capable of stretching all that out into a full session of RPGing. However, a few other items could be good. What do you think?

[1] All times are highly speculative. My players are adept at crossing purposes. . .

[2] Not really a red herring. The Azure Being from the last episode is still aboard the ship, and I don't want the crew to forget their resident ghost/highly-evolved-energy-being/ Deus Ex Machina. But unless something staggering happens, he won't be taking much part in the story. But the PCs may well go off on a windmill-chase anyway.

[3] If the PCs wish to use the same metaphor in another context, they need to go through the process again.[/b]

Morkonan · Post by **Morkonan** » Fri, 9. Jun 17, 19:36

Usenko wrote:...

* Study time. PCs are learning their Tamarian language. A 20 question test ensues; PCs who score above a certain level receive a Tamarian Language proficiency, and get a bonus to their Rapport skill. 20 mins.

* Dinner party with Tamarians. 30 mins. During the dinner party, each PC has a chance to tell a story. Very successful stories will receive a fate point. These stories will be built into the game - the Tamarians will use them as new metaphors. This will also allow us to use the mechanic I have worked out for language:

Outstanding choices! Your giving the players the chance to develop tools they can use along the way, plus giving rewards that are meaningful for the module! Nicely done.

.. If they succeed, they understood the metaphor, and that metaphor may now be used in that context[3] without rolling on it.

Good! Eliminates unnecessary complication/repetitiveness. It will also be funny as the players try to avoid having to make skill checks by turning "known" phrases on their heads.

Frustrated player 1: "The metaphor about opening a door is too exactly like a metaphor for firing a laser while riding a rabbit! I shall explain..."

Being talked to BY Tamarians: GM gives a metaphor. Player character tries to understand the metaphor straight out. If they immediately understand the metaphor, they automatically succeed. If they do not understand it fully, the player gives their best guess as to its meaning; the GM dermines that the roll will be easy or hard depending on how close they got. Again, a roll on "Rapport". If they succeed, the GM tells the player the actual meaning.
-- End mechanics digression.

What about not telling them if they fail?

In other words, you just tell them that they understand it to mean something... wrong or nonsensical. Then, they just have to muddle through. Might be appropriate for a really bad failure so that the failure has consequences, but the players won't know that until the consequences are evident in actual gameplay.

ie: "You think he means that he wants you to open the airlock." (Actually, he means that there's a monster on the other side of the airlock and the players should never, ever, open it.

)

You could give a clue that they player failed, but that the players should continue as if they had succeeded. That way, they have a slight chance to avoid a serious problem, but they have to do so by justifying their character's actions in the context of "understanding" the message.

"OK, uh... I open the airlock. BUT, since we're in unfamiliar territory, I'll have my phaser ready."

So far so good. I am thinking that my players may well be capable of stretching all that out into a full session of RPGing. However, a few other items could be good. What do you think?

Looks good to me.

Have you thought about introducing any unusual cultural or social dynamics, either between the Tamarans and crew or, perhaps, amongst the Tamarans?

Things like rivalries, marriages, rank idiosyncrasies, religious/ceremonial behavior, protocol, etc? Things that sort of give an impression of the Tamarans as individuals. For instance, once of the could be a drunk.

Or, perhaps one is sexually attracted to one of the players? (Might be too distracting, there.) One could be very clumsy, another very quiet with two-word responses (further complicating communication with that one), etc.

Usenko · Post by **Usenko** » Sun, 11. Jun 17, 15:12

New provisional title of the module:

Combining your original title with a Tamarian style, we get "Ardriel, working his Abacus."

Cryptic enough that the crews won't guess any plot points from it, but when the penny drops it will make sense.

Morkonan · Post by **Morkonan** » Mon, 12. Jun 17, 00:16

"Adriel" (The name of a particular angel in JudeoChristian folklore, not sure if it is Abrahamic-wide, encompassing Islam as well.)

Or, is "Ardriel" significant?

Usenko · Post by **Usenko** » Thu, 15. Jun 17, 15:55

The name "Ardriel" was cobbled together from random syllables in my mind. Perhaps the angel's name was somewhere in there, but if so I'm not aware of it!

I have the concept of Ardriel as being roughly equivalent to "God" in Tamarian culture. I'm trying to find a way to work the word into a metaphor at some point. I was thinking perhaps "Ardriel, after creation", meaning "Rest". . . .

Morkonan · Post by **Morkonan** » Thu, 15. Jun 17, 18:27

Usenko wrote:...
I have the concept of Ardriel as being roughly equivalent to "God" in Tamarian culture. I'm trying to find a way to work the word into a metaphor at some point. I was thinking perhaps "Ardriel, after creation", meaning "Rest". . . .

Gotcha.

Hmmm... "Ardriel, his Great Work complete." Something like that, maybe? Or, more gender neutral, "Ardriel, the Great Work(ing) complete(ed)." *(alts)

Usenko · Post by **Usenko** » Fri, 16. Jun 17, 17:13

Just thought of something. Mashing two things together - the "Red Herring" visit of the Azure being and a sense of forboding.

So the Azure Being is supposed to be an ancient, no-longer-corporeal entity. THat means he knows about "Ardriel's Abacus." He could turn up whilst they're travelling to deliver an ominous warning, perhaps by a minor act of sabotage to the warp drive (followed by messages on the screens). . . .

Morkonan · Post by **Morkonan** » Sat, 17. Jun 17, 00:17

Usenko wrote:Just thought of something. Mashing two things together - the "Red Herring" visit of the Azure being and a sense of forboding.

So the Azure Being is supposed to be an ancient, no-longer-corporeal entity. THat means he knows about "Ardriel's Abacus." He could turn up whilst they're travelling to deliver an ominous warning, perhaps by a minor act of sabotage to the warp drive (followed by messages on the screens). . . .

If it were me, I'd keep "Heavies" not directly associated with the module out of it. At least, directly. But...

The warp drive malfunctions, causing a cascade of dangerous engineering problems that require the players to intervene to solve. Finally, the anti-matter reactor is sabotaged by a crewmember and the players have to keep it from blowing up. (Core ejection has been sabotaged as well. Players can enlist the being currently inhabiting the ship to help with diagnostics and some small things, but they have to do the rest themselves.)

The crewmember sabotuer is killed while being caught in the act. (Hopefully by a player.) As they die, they speak "The xxx system is forbidden to you. Attempt no contact, there."

Crewmember body is examined by medical staff. Strange "energy" readings are detected, but they're dissipating, evidencing that they're only latent. If analyzed by a skilled player, they can detect energy readings similar to the "Azure Being" or some other "heavy" in their lexicon.

Note: I can't remember if the Azure Being is what you're calling the current inhabitant of the ship. If so, then the above is fine as long as the Azure Being isn't something they can directly communicate with. That it would be willing to destroy itself, in essence, to prevent the ship from getting there would be pretty ominous, so you may want to have a different cause for the crewmember attempting to sabotage the ship. Some secret, powerful, cabal in the Federation, likely of an extraterrestrial source, some religious group, some other powerful being that doesn't mind treating sapients as mobile voice-mail... etc.

Usenko · Post by **Usenko** » Sat, 17. Jun 17, 14:24

Yes, the Azure being is the non-corporeal entity that has joined them since the last adventure. Mainly because of boredom. We've established that it is friendly, and has worked out that humans (and other carbon units) are squishy, so it knows to be careful of us.

It can communicate via screens (at extreme cost to itself in energy - non-corporeal life isn't really designed to interact with the physical universe), so I'd have to come up with some excuse for it doing something more severe (and also explain why it's not just telling them everything).

Using a crew member as a disposable message delivery service would seem a little extreme. However . . the PCs did bring a weird robot aboard last adventure, which actually was physically how the Azure being came to the ship, so maybe the robot suddenly comes to life and tries to shut down the warp drive. It does so in a clumsy and potentially dangerous way (e.g. puncturing a conduit, releasing warp plasma into Engineering). The robot is wrecked again in the effort of doing this, and when the crew try to talk to their god-like friend, they just get messages along the lines of "Too much . . Cannot. Do not!"

(Expanded version: I have expended too much energy to make it possible for me to talk to you. I can't keep going like this, and for the moment I won't be able to spare the energy to talk to you. Just don't go where you're going, it's dangerous.)

Does that work, especially since we're talking a 20 min diversion rather than a complete submodule?

Morkonan · Post by **Morkonan** » Sat, 17. Jun 17, 20:53

Usenko wrote:...Does that work, especially since we're talking a 20 min diversion rather than a complete submodule?

Hmmm....

Got an empath aboard?

If not, you might want one. You can use it later, too, if you want, to communicate with the Azure Being. I assume that the rest of the crew, the NPCs, aren't aware of the AB.

If you don't have a full-on empath aboard, just make one of the crew go nuts and try to shut down the warp drive. It's just one clue removed from the AB that can be quickly solved by the players after talking with the crewmember, once they're restrained and calmed down in Sickbay.

It may also add a bit of uncertainty for the future. The robot is fine if that's what you'd rather use, but it's very direct since it's intimately associated with the AB. What one may wish to avoid is the players looking at the robot as the AB's immediate surrogate, though that could be useful in some circumstances. The idea behind my suggestion is just to keep the AB as something that is partially outside of the player's reach and understanding, but still an asset from time to time if they can figure out how to persuade it in certain circumstances. There's also the added shock-value of some sort of possession or, in this latter case, empathic coercion, to serve as a bit of added drama and uncertainty. In the case of the robot, if they get too scared, they may think they can just space the robot to keep the AB "under control." But, if the AB could potentially coerce/control one of the crew.... There's no escape if it decided that benevolence is underrated.

Usenko · Post by **Usenko** » Sun, 18. Jun 17, 16:59

Okay, a quick test:

Here's the Captain's opening speech when they arrive aboard. It uses Tamarian phrases from "Darmok", one line from a Tamarian in a novel, a Star Trek Galactic History reference, a Shakespeare reference and a Bible reference. See if you can translate it!

Rai under two moons. Rai and Jiri at Lungha.

Harath, the Sun blazing.

Picard and Dathon at El Adrel.

King Richard III and the Swallows’ Wings.

The Klingons and the Federation at Khitomer.

Sokath, his eyes uncovered.

The tenth Leper at Samaria.

Translation:

Spoiler

Show

Greetings from the Children of Tama to you.

We are pleased and excited

To have made successful contact.

We hope

To begin a new era of cooperation

And Understanding.

Thank you.

Morkonan · Post by **Morkonan** » Mon, 19. Jun 17, 22:11

Usenko wrote:Okay, a quick test:...

That was tough. I don't think I could have fully comprehended it. I think I could have gotten some simple associations, more from grammatical construction and symbolism than direct translation.

I wonder at how to simply it, to make more easily translatable. Nursery rhymes and children's stories? After all, the Tamarans may have started to learn languages by using children's books. (I have no idea how languages are used in ST Roleplaying games, whether or not a "universal translator" is the answer to all such conflicts or if there's actually some sort of language skill involved.)

The key point, I think, is the Klingons and Federation statement. You may want to insert "after Kitomer" rather than "at Kitomer" so it's more clear? (IIRC the events that too place there.)

I presume they may have access to Google or some sort of Lexicon you can provide them?

Usenko · Post by **Usenko** » Tue, 20. Jun 17, 15:00

I've created a wiki with all the phrases from the episode on it. Several of the guys are highly tech-savvy, and therefore I thought I'd use that. One habitually takes notes on a computer, so I'll give him control of the wiki so that they can add material as they go.

As it happens, it won't matter that they won't be able to understand some of them, because of the language dynamic:

Player understands the phrase completely: Automatic pass.

Gets the general idea (i.e. right general concept, if not the correct context - e.g. says "Alliance of some kind" rather than Cooperating): Roll on Rapport. Passes with a fair[1] roll.

Close but no cigar (e.g. "Something about working with someone else"): Roll on rapport. Passes with a good roll.

A completely wrong idea (e.g. "Good intentions, maybe?"): Roll on rapport. Passes with a Great roll.

No idea at all: Roll on rapport. Passes with a superb roll.

In this case there are no consequences, so as a demonstration of the system, if they roll well enough I'll tell them the actual meaning. If they don't get it, I'll just give something like "You're not sure you had the Captain's meaning", or "You are completely lost."

[1] The "Fate" system we use has specialised dice (D6s with +, - or nothing) and a system of words to describe how good the roll is, ranging from "Disastrous" to "Epic".

Morkonan · Post by **Morkonan** » Tue, 20. Jun 17, 21:34

Usenko wrote:...
As it happens, it won't matter that they won't be able to understand some of them, because of the language dynamic:...

Ah, gotcha! OK, I can see how that works, now.

As an aside, I used to love creating all this sort of stuff in preparation for the next story the players would find themselves within. And, if they never encountered some of it because they went off on a different track that was actually more funnerer to explore - I didn't mind. I still knew what was there and was proud of it, regardless.

The materials I created for the longest "campaign", several years of weekend playsessions, would fill a large crate. That's a good bit of stuff, considering we used paper back in those days...

Heck, just creating all of this stuff is a joy, in and of itself, which is exactly why you love doing what you're doing, right now.

Who doesn't enjoy making fun stuff for their friends? Or, just making up fun stuff, for its own sake?

Usenko · Post by **Usenko** » Wed, 21. Jun 17, 15:55

Well, the first session was tonight. I estimate that it was approximately 86% successful.

By which I mean that 6 of the 7 guys present had an absolute blast - but one guy absolutely HATED the language dynamics of the night.

Okay, so now I need to work on session 2. We didn't get to the story time part of the game, and I think that we've already done enough of the language, so I'll be telling the players to cut it WAY short.

Meanwhile, the player who didn't have fun was the chief engineer/first officer. So this presents a problem - I don't want to make it all about him, but for him to have as much fun as everyone else will mean that he needs to have a rewarding and meaningful role in the next session.

The next session will begin with arrival at the planet. I'm thinking that I will be suggesting that he should lead the away team to visit the planet.

Under normal circumstances, the Exec would naturally lead away teams, but since he's doubling as the Engineer that may not be as automatic.

He has the following character aspects:

* Impish Rogue - a tendency to be playful and fun-loving.
* Just saying - Likely to speak his mind.
* In tune with his ship - can often sense disturbances to the ship's running, especially the warp field, before the instruments pick them up.

I'm thinking that the first and third would be useful.

The Player finds the linguistic side of the game tiresome. Well, with his permission, why not build that into the character? A dynamic I've used before with some success is giving PCs a card with some secret information or instructions. So he and the Captain would BOTH get one.

His card would say something along the lines of "I can't stand these people and their ridiculous language. I don't want to work with them. But . . . I REALLY want to be on the away team."

The Captain's card would say "He's the perfect person to lead the away team - the scientists have picked up something like a warp signature, and with his intuitive understanding of warp drives, he's the person we want investigating it."

The way that both characters can get what they want is for the Captain to basically say (in a very Star-Trek line!) "I understand that you don't want to work with them, but you're the perfect person for it. If I have to I can get someone else to lead the team, but I'd rather have you. Can you find it in yourself to work with these people?"

The other thing I'm thinking of is fleshing out what the team will find on the planet-sized computer. One thing on it should be its power source. The other should be its processing components.

Idea: The chief engineer beams down with the team. Because he is an impish rogue (and doesn't like the Tamarians much) he pulls some kind of prank on one of them, and as a result finds himself involved in a cave-in of some kind. He and an injured Tamarian are out of contact with the ship, and have to somehow work together to escape. In the process, (Because of his wizardry with warp drives) they discover the power supply of the Computer, which actually works a lot like a natural warp engine (They shouldn't know yet that it's artificial!

So what do you think?

Morkonan · Post by **Morkonan** » Wed, 21. Jun 17, 20:03

Usenko wrote:Well, the first session was tonight. I estimate that it was approximately 86% successful.

That's great!

By which I mean that 6 of the 7 guys present had an absolute blast - but one guy absolutely HATED the language dynamics of the night.

That's still 86% though...

Okay, so now I need to work on session 2. We didn't get to the story time part of the game, and I think that we've already done enough of the language, so I'll be telling the players to cut it WAY short.

Just don't leave out anything important, like where the magic key to the magic door is located... or something stupid like that which can happen to even the most experienced DM with decades of experience when he's trying to cut some time so the players keep having fun and forgets to give them the clue so he has to figure out how to do it before the players have to actually open the magic door in order to survive and IT WAS LATE AND WE RAN OUT OF PIZZA AND ZOMGZ IT WAS A MARATHON SESSION AND YES A BEHOLDER CAN TOO BE COLOR BLIND ...

... So this presents a problem - I don't want to make it all about him, but for him to have as much fun as everyone else will mean that he needs to have a rewarding and meaningful role in the next session.

Remember this.

...The Player finds the linguistic side of the game tiresome. Well, with his permission, why not build that into the character? A dynamic I've used before with some success is giving PCs a card with some secret information or instructions. So he and the Captain would BOTH get one.

His card would say something along the lines of "I can't stand these people and their ridiculous language. I don't want to work with them. But . . . I REALLY want to be on the away team."

The Captain's card would say "He's the perfect person to lead the away team - the scientists have picked up something like a warp signature, and with his intuitive understanding of warp drives, he's the person we want investigating it."

Let the major communication hubs for the planetary computers use something like warp fields to communicate with the off-planet assets or something like that. They detect some weird warp-signature thingie, but it's a weak signal. Try to lead the players so that they, themselves, suggest his character goes along, but try not to use anything heavy-handed, like notes, if at all possible, else the players will read too much into it. It's not like you can just tell them "I'm trying to help player x have fun", right? They'll think there's some key clue they're missing and reread those notes until you demand them back and burn them in front of them to show that they were not important.

Then again, passing a nonsensical note that has no significance at all to a player can be a bit of fun, too.

..The other thing I'm thinking of is fleshing out what the team will find on the planet-sized computer. One thing on it should be its power source. The other should be its processing components.

Whatever the power source is, make sure it's beyond the player's ability to effect. (Planetary core field rotation coupled with some sort of nuetronium/unobtanium shell/field) Disrobing the power source is like showing players an enemy's "fatal flaw" - If they get into conflict with it, their first solution might be just to use that knowledge to attempt to destroy it instead of thinking cleverly and coming up with something inventive.

Idea: The chief engineer beams down with the team. Because he is an impish rogue (and doesn't like the Tamarians much) he pulls some kind of prank on one of them, and as a result finds himself involved in a cave-in of some kind. He and an injured Tamarian are out of contact with the ship, and have to somehow work together to escape. In the process, (Because of his wizardry with warp drives) they discover the power supply of the Computer, which actually works a lot like a natural warp engine (They shouldn't know yet that it's artificial!

Just don't isolate him too much. Some players don't like being in the spotlight, but prefer to bounce their character off of other player characters or interact in other ways. If he's fine being a loner, then that's ok. His dislike of the language dynamic might come into sharp focus being isolated with a Tamaran.

As a result, though, his character could develop a much more precise understanding of the Tamaran's language. In gameplay terms, that would mean he didn't have to fiddle so much with trying to figure out the language system in the future, which would make the language system a bit easier, and less troublesome and annoying for him.

So what do you think?

Remember when you said you didn't want to make the next session focus too heavily on his character?

Give him stuff to do and prepare a number of special tasks for him, but ones that you can cull out of the play session if he appears to be satisfied. ie: Things you can take care of with simple skill checks, if necessary, without having to pile on too many detailed tasks on his character just to get through the session.

On "prank" - Not sure how the system works, but if possible, tell him to think up the prank his character plays. ie: They explore a cave, you tell him his character wants to prank the Tamaran, he has to figure out the prank, the whole group can join in and have some fun making suggestions, if that will work for you, you then figure out how it makes the cave collapse and trap them both, but make sure they have little clue that is what you wanted to happen. A bit of thought in preparation, like what the Tamaran would do in certain prank situations that would help make the cave collapse, etc, might be in order.

A couple of notes: My crew(s) usually learned that splitting up was a bad idea, unless I made it necessary. When it happened, it meant that each individual group would always get some good fun/excitement - Nobody got left on the sidelines for any appreciable amount of time and, importantly, nobody was singled out for death when separated unless they made a really, really, dumb decision. It's group play, so players should face as many struggles together as possible. Each also usually had parts of a common goal to achieve, like "defend the building", "rescue the others" or the always present "don't do anything stupid, so wait for the smart-guy to show up... or hit it with a rock, whichever is more funnerer."

If you focus the session on everyone having fun, a player that isn't having as much fun will, eventually, start having fun. A few pushes, here and there, a few bits of special attention, etc, is usually all that is needed. The most important is just getting them in positions to interact with the players and the game in meaningful ways, as you point out. A tiny bit of those sorts of things is usually all that is necessary.

I know you have player separation built-in to this module, so that part is fine - You've already compensated for that in your design. Just be careful when adding player-separation dynamically, in order to solve a problem, lest one run afoul of unforeseen consequences.

An observation, upon thinking on past experiences: The times that have been the most dire for a player's character have usually been the result of them becoming separated in some way from the group/other players. In thinking on this, I think that it's not uncommon for a player to "push back" against that when threatened, sort of like an amplified response they'd have while in a group. So, they may make hasty decisions or even suicidal ones with the excuse "well, that's what my character would do." Then, they look at you like "well, you got me into this mess, so now it's your fault if my character dies."

With the advantage of being able to fudge some rolls or rely on other characters to help save the unfortunate player having been taken away, it's a heck of a lot more difficult to keep a player from offing themselves... Look, there's only so much I can do when a captured elf cleric insists on spitting in the face of a Drow while she's strapped down to a sacrificial alter. I'm just a DM, not a god!

Thinking on some "deaths due to separation" -

Killed by jackalwere because he could actually run faster than the rest of the players in the party and became separated from them while fleeing.. He just couldn't run faster than the jackalwere.

Eaten by dragon after player insisted on trying to argue with it

Killed while having sex with succubus, despite warnings of the woman wearing "Brimstone Perfume"

Possessed by evil magical artifact player had pickpocketed away from group loot while still with the party, which then told the player they must murder the rest of the party in their sleep

Killed by demi-lich - the player decided to poke it with a stick (Literally... yes, the player decided to poke it with a stick. A real "just a stick", not something safe like a much safer "magic demi-lich-poking-stick")

Killed while provoking lifelong party-wide feud with the most powerful mercenary company in the region

Captured and killed while solo-scouting, for nearly no reason at all, a Drow fortress

I'm sure there are more.

The point is, separation from the group is dangerous. It's also sometimes necessary. But, if it is necessary, try to not make it a major factor that would demand the death of the separated character or the failure of the group to achieve a necessary goal.

Unless, of course, they do something stupid.

PS - All "stupid" decisions must be completely the fault of the player. They can never, ever, be coached, hinted, forced, lead or coerced into making a stupid decision. But, you are allowed to lie....

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