Gorn Campaign Part II: Heat Exchange

A Gorn from classic Trek

Yesterday, I shared a framework for a TrekCore campaign set on the interstices of Gorn and Federation space in the Original Series era. The campaign conceit is that the two parties agree to a Heat Exchange. More temperate border worlds claimed by the cold-blooded Gorn will be ceded to the Federation; worlds that are uncomfortably warm for humans will be ceded to the Gorn. The two polities will police the sector together, and where possible, engage in trade and other collaborative activities. Meanwhile, Section 31 has developed a secret and possibly genocidal just-in-case plan in the event that a modus vivendi established by treaty turns out to be unsustainable in the real world.

The Campaign Aspects that I proposed in the last post were:

1. Current Issue: A Fragile Peace
2. Impending Issue: Section 31's Sinister Plans

The next question is what vehicle for the campaign? I could see an interesting campaign happening on either a space station (giving the campaign a bit of a DS9 frontier fort feel) or on a Federation starship. 

If a space station is to be used, an abandoned or ceded Gorn station seems in order. Solidly build, probably better armed and defended than most Federation bases, but perhaps too bright and hot to be a really pleasant place for humans. And maybe with a Gorn hatchery that needs to stay right where it is!* Reproductive rights as stipulated by treaty and all that. So there'd be a constant stream of Gorn visitors to the station's hatchery, as well as a contingent of Gorn Birthmasters who are assigned to guard and maintain the hatchery.

A key question is whether the Federation and the Gorn would pursue a strategy of relative disarmament on their shared border, or one of peace-through-strength. In the former case, PCs  assigned to a Starfleet vessel as opposed to a station are likely to be on something along the lines of a Class I Destroyer (Saladin class) or a Class I Scout (Hermes class). But if the border is going to be highly conflicted, then perhaps a real show of strength in the form of a Class I Dreadnought (Federation class) is in order. I have always wanted to run a campaign set on one of these classic ships from the Star Trek Technical Manual.

The setting would also need other kinds of aliens and antagonists. Some human-seeming humanoids perhaps, as well as some reptilian cousins of the Gorn. If there are a lot of mining opportunities in the region, there might be a sizable contingent of Tellarites stirring up trouble over mining rights on different worlds owned by both the Federation and the Gorn. Add some Orion privateers and Romulan pot stirrers skulking about in the sector, and you'd have a fairly complete setting. 

But perhaps an enigma or mystery of two would also be in order for this sector...

*I like the idea of Gorn as egg layers, rather than viviparous as Star Trek Into Darkness implies.