Civilian Scientist or Researcher NPCS, 23rd century, 2261

[Qoltar]

Greetings,
In my last game session my group of players 'rescued' or retrieved a bunch of scientists off of a secluded Asteroid research base....afterwards the asteroid blew up. Okay, that was an intentional explosion to block or force away a Klingon battle cruiser.

So, I now have 12 Scientist NPCs on player group ship as passengers. They may have to pitch in to help out - because the crew 12 to 14 casualties that are severely wounded and are induced comas. (The Doctor was determined to save everyone)

Anyone have good character suggestions or 'quick character sketches' of civilian scientists circa the year 2261?

My next game session is this Sunday afternoon the 14th

EDITED: If you post full characters they should be built on between 160 and 210 points. Also, they should be from known Federation races of the time period, the 2260s. That would be : Humans, Andorians, Caitians, Denobulans, Orions, Saurians, Tellarites, and Vulcans.


- Ed C.

[ericthered]

character sketches for NPCs... sounds fun!


The guy who is unexpectedly into sports and other athletics. He's a scientist, alright, but these are military folk, so he's got to live with them, so he'll be sure to bring up the latest game and see if he can join in the exercises.


The scientist who points out a trivial mistake in any sentence they possibly can.


The brilliant kid who never pays attention that's not put directly in front of him because he's always distracted.


The one who is protective of two or three other colleagues.



The one who is always right and stares down anyone who dares to contradict them. If necessary, backs it up with big words and insults you don't understand.

[whswhs]

The "political" scientist who doesn't do much research themselves, but arranges funding, recruits young productive scientists, and makes sure to get their name on the list of authors for every publication. Skill in Administration, Public Speaking, and perhaps Writing may exceed skill in the actual science.

The field researcher who is happier wandering around on an unexplored planet than doing lab work. Might be a bit of a claustrophobe.

[fwcain]

While many of the scientists may be established, respected elders in their field (with PhDs galore), about half of them should actually be graduate students who are assisting their more senior colleagues. These interns won't necessarily have the higher science skill levels as their more senior colleagues, but may have a wider variety of non-science-y skills.

An intern may be a brown-noser, always kissing up to whomever may get him the best chance of advancement.

Two interns may be having a secret romance, which they have to keep secret as their respective mentors are rivals with one another!

A more quiet intern is actually aware of everyone else's habits (and more than a few of their secrets, such as the tryst, above), because she is actually very observant.

Hope these ideas help. And good luck with your game!
Franklin

[Donny Brook]

An on-the-spectrum savant who has an onboard AI that walks him through social interactions.

A glib scientific generalist who is covering up his lack of sufficient specialization.

A nasty jerk who is so highly qualified that everyone has to put up with hir anyway.

A person almost crippled with addictions or other hang ups but who somehow manages to function within the professional context.

[Qoltar]

Originally Posted by Donny Brook

An on-the-spectrum savant who has an onboard AI that walks him through social interactions.

That won't work in the 'Star Trek' setting of 2261 - if you watch the second season of "Star Trek: Discovery" you will see why.
A Big chunk of that season takes place in 2258.

- Ed C.

[TGLS]

A snooty theorist who's quite upset that his life's work has been blown up by the PCs. It doesn't help that he sees scutwork as beneath him.

A guy who realized that what he was researching is unprovable nonsense and is thrilled his work was blown up because that means he gets to start over again from the beginning and do even less work.

A guy who plays up a lack of social skills to get out of chores and social conventions that he doesn't want to deal with.

A medical researcher who has experience as a physician, but also tends to see "treatment" and "experiment" as semi-interchangable.

[Pursuivant]

Originally Posted by Qoltar

Anyone have good character suggestions or 'quick character sketches' of civilian scientists circa the year 2261?

Take a look at Captain Joy's Science Division templates.

Those, plus the Scientist template from GURPS Space should be a reasonable start.

The big issue is how competent do you want the scientists to be?

Are they Starfleet personnel or civilians?

Do you want them to be an aid or a hindrance to the PCs? (E.g., obnoxious pedants squabbling with each other and getting in the way of crewmen trying to do their jobs, or junior versions of your typical omnicompetent SF officer who all pitch in because It's the Right Thing to Do.)

Are the scientists all working on the same project or are they in different teams?

Personally, I'd define the scientists in general terms, then let them "magically" have whatever skill set the players happen to need. ("Luckily, Dr. T'Var happens to be an expert in Romulan physiology . . .")

Alternately, pull in a minor character from one of the TOS era franchises, if you think that your players will get the reference and appreciate it, e.g., Dr. Carol Marcus.

[Pursuivant]

You could always play to species stereotypes:

* The Andorian with a grudge that borders on Obsession, who insists that life support in their section of the ship be set to 0 *F. (Thus adding a whole new meaning to the term "frosty demeanor.")

* The Caitan who sheds fur everyplace, insists that no food aboard the ship is fit for hir to eat, and who tries to turn the crew into personal servants.

* The blatantly non-Starfleet Deltan who is determined to bed every member of the crew.

* The Denobulan who's entirely too curious or entirely too cheerful about some sensitive topic. (Think of a less skilled and more clueless version of Phlox from Enterprise.)

* The Human militant pacifist who thinks that because humans gave up war Starfleet should unilaterally disarm, and that SF personnel are little better than bloodthirsty barbarians.

* The Orion who's Obviously Up To Something, or who tries just a bit too hard to convince people that they're on the level. As the all too obvious Usual Suspect, they make a great opposite-of-red herring if there's skulduggery afoot.

* The Saurian in the process of shedding hir skin (making hir bad tempered, as well as leaving a trail of dandruff from hell.)

* The Tellarite who treats even the most trivial decision as an excuse for games of intellectual one-upsmanship. Even worse, make them an administrator with just enough power to make life difficult for the ship captain, and have them insist on the perquisites due their rank. ("Never mind the fused warp induction coils, you still haven't installed my mud bath!")

* The Vulcan scientist who treats members of "emotionally immature" species as if they're something that got stuck to the bottom of hir shoe. (They will insist on a private room and material to synthesize at least 100 pillar candles so that they can meditate. Inevitably, they succumb to explosive Bad Temper and racial Intolerance under severe stress.)


Dramatically, Star Trek scientists fall into five categories.

* The overconfident administrator who pulls rank and generally makes the captain's life hell.

* The obsessive, but misguided, genius doomed to be killed or forever disappointed by their grand project.

* The calm professional who has sworn blood vengeance against a bridge crew member For Reasons.

* Not Actually What They Claim to Be (e.g., Romulan sleeper agent, Klingon assassin, Section 31 counter-intelligence operative, Suliban refugee, polymorphic alien life form, 27th century Temporal Agent). This sort of character could be an extra complication to the PC's lives or a deus ex machina.

* The Scientist who insists that the ship return to the site of the destroyed base/divert to an obscure planet For Reasons. If balked, they will either hijack the ship or steal a shuttle to get there, possibly kidnapping people or taking hostages along the way. Effectively, a plot complication or a side quest generator.

There's also the cogent metaphor for the human condition, the trenchant symbol of a contemporary social problem, and the love interest, but those probably aren't as appealing to gamers.

[Qoltar]

If Anyone wants to post full characters they should be built on between 160 and 210 points.
Also, they should be from known Federation races of the time period, the 2260s. That would be : Humans, Andorians, Caitians, Denobulans, Orions, Saurians, Tellarites, and Vulcans.

Thank you,

-Ed C.