Reaper Bones Kaladrax Reborn WIP Part 2

It's been a little over a month since the first post in this series. I haven't gotten as much done on this project as I hoped. Life outside of my hobbies has been more active than I expected. On the upside, slow and steady progress is better than no progress.

The hip and remaining leg pieces.

I was pleased with the color scheme I tested previously, so I'm using the same combination of paints and techniques on the rest of the skeleton. The hip and remaining leg pieces were done within a couple of weeks. I noticed that the initial pair of legs doesn't quite match the color of the later work. There's just a shade of difference - not even enough to really show up on camera - so it shouldn't be too much of an issue. I'm planning on applying a final layer of wash after assembling and highlighting the whole figure. The additional layers of color should cover up any small inconsistencies.

The tail pieces. I estimate that's enough plastic for at least a dozen regular 28mm miniatures.

Next came the incredibly long tail. I wanted to get the lower extremities done while I pondered my options for the rest of the figure. The assembled tail pieces combine to a length of about twenty inches. The only difference in materials or techniques from the leg and hip pieces was the amount of paint/medium mix I had to make. The colors match the second batch of leg and hip pieces, so I've got the formula consistent at this point.

Starting the main body means making a decision - use the green, necrotic glow effect that inspired me to start this project or go with painting the fleshy parts of Kaladrax Reborn as rotting carcass. The necrotic glow is more of a challenge - I've never painted a glow effect on this scale and my past attempts have been hit and miss. The rotting flesh approach should be quicker and easier.

On the other hand, Kaladrax Reborn is going to end up as a centerpiece of my miniatures collection. The piece is going into the display case when completed. The reason is purely practical - I have no other place to store it. Why not go for the more ambitious version? Figuring out how to paint a necrotic glow will expand my skills and come in handy for future projects. Progress may slow even more, but I've got time before my self-imposed deadline of Halloween. Besides, I always have the rotting flesh approach as a backup plan. One of the things about this hobby is that it is forgiving of mistakes. Paint goes over a failed color scheme as easily as it goes over primer.

Kaladrax Reborn's backstory.

As a little bonus content for this post, I noticed that Reaper printed a backstory for the figure on one of the inside flaps of the box. Kaladrax Reborn is basically the boss monster of a vast graveyard full of other undead creatures. Just the kind of thing to use as a highlight for a F20 campaign. Now I'm tempted to use Kaladrax Reborn in my next 13th Age game. The connection to the Lich King is obvious. Maybe Kaladrax Reborn could be the campaign's big bad guy?

Three New Worlds for Star Trek Adventures

Here are some more unused ideas from our still-in-hiatus Star Trek Adventures campaign. These are three unusual planets and possible adventure seeds for each one.


Biswell IV

A planet resembling Earth during the Hadean period of four billion years ago. The Biswell system is late in the process of planetary formation. Large numbers of asteroids and other debris are moving throughout the system. The risk of collision can be mitigated with close attention to sensor readings, careful navigation, and - if it comes to it - a strong deflector system. Biswell IV is under constant bombardment from impactors of all sizes. Conditions on the planet's surface are unwelcoming. Molten rocks cover a barren, geologically active landscape. The surface temperature is over 200 degrees C (over 400 degrees F). The atmospheric pressure is over twenty atmospheres and composition is mostly carbon dioxide - utterly unbreathable. Ship's sensors can predict magma displacements and imminent meteor impacts, but only with enough advance notice to transmit emergency warnings to Away Teams on the surface.

Why would anyone come to this literal hellhole? A bright spark hit on the idea of putting an independent mining colony on the planet. The colony is located underground and is composed of a large processing facility and attached habitats. Mining teams venture out to the fresh deposits of minerals that arrive with every eruption and impact. A position in the colony is highly profitable, but the risks and hard work discourage most from volunteering. Automation is used as much as possible to minimize the workforce required to keep the colony operating and to simplify any possible evacuation.

Adventure Seed: Our Starfleet crew has need of minerals available on Biswell IV to either make repairs or fabricate equipment needed for their current mission. The colony's administrators are happy to make a sale or trade. The Complication: The Biswell IV mining colony broadcasts a distress call just before the player characters arrive in system. The garbled transmission mentions something about the automated systems going haywire and all personnel evacuating to emergency shelters on the surface. Our Starfleet crew must rescue the colonists, figure out what happened to the colony, and get the minerals they need.


Ardan V

A paradise planet in a conflict zone. This lush world is mostly ocean except for a couple of small continents and extensive island chains. The average climate is mild and the equatorial region is a tropical paradise marred intermittently by summer storms. It is an ideal colonization candidate, but every attempt on record was quickly abandoned. Ardan V is far from any major galactic power. The small interstellar governments in the area around Ardan V are in constant conflict. Pirates and other criminals take advantage of the political instability to operate freely. A fledgling colony on Ardan V would be a tempting target. The beginnings of several colonization efforts lie in ruins at various locations across the planet. However, only a few of them were abandoned due to direct attack. Everyone attempting to set up shop on the planet - even scavengers looking for salvage - find themselves packing up and leaving after a month or two. Every interstellar government in the area has given up on claiming it for a variety of reasons. Those aware of its existence consider Ardan V to be "cursed" and "unlucky" or even a "haunted" place.

Adventure Seed #1: Ardan V is an ideal hidey hole for those willing to ignore its reputation. Any group that's been a thorn in the player character's sides - the leadership of a renegade Klingon House, an "off the books" Tal Shiar or Obsidian Order operation, or a ruthlessly pragmatic mercenary company - might see Ardan V as a good place to lay low for awhile. Ardan V could be the end of a thrilling chase or a methodical investigation and the outcome could be a search for a base hidden somewhere on the planet or a siege against a fortress built in the ruins of an abandoned colony site. The Complication: Whatever caused everyone before them to flee the planet - predatory life forms with a talent for traveling around access tunnels, a strange energy field that causes paranoia, innocuous life forms that have a gremlin-like effect on technology - starts acting against the group that the player characters are after. They send out a call for help, preferring capture by Starfleet to whatever is on the planet. How does our Starfleet crew respond?

Advenure Seed #2: The Federation Council is entertaining a proposal to sponsor a colony on Ardan V. The planet is unclaimed, an ideal candidate, and those wishing to establish the colony are quick to dismiss its reputation as superstition. The player characters are to transport a small team of would-be colonists to Ardan V and assist them in surveying potential sites for the initial settlement. This involves a fair bit of work for the Science and Medical departments - they must identify and find ways of dealing with any potential dangers on the planet. The Complication: Naturally, a member of the civilian survey team disappears. Is it one of the nearby governments interfering to prevent the Federation from expanding into the area or does it have something to do with the mystery of Ardan V?

Adventure Seed #3: The indigenous people of Ardan V are powerful telepaths that find the presense of other minds to be painful. They wish no harm to those who come to their world, but broadcast telepathic suggestions to deter efforts to explore or colonize the planet. However, the surrounding governments are expanding into the system to exploit the resources of its asteroid belt and outer planets. They are carefully avoiding Ardan V due to its reputation, but they are still close enough to unsettle the planet's population. Even worse, the competing mining operations are each sponsored by different governments and they are coming into conflict. The miners are calling for military intervention while their governments request Federation mediation. Our Starfleet crew meets with representatives of the mining companies. Accusations of sabotage soon ring loud across the table. There have been constant reports of black outs, lost time, and accidents among the miners. The inhabitants of Ardan V are seeking to drive away the mining operations through more direct telepathic influence. The player characters must keep the situation with the miner from escalating while figuring out what is going on. The Complication: Any overt violence in the system will trigger direct intervention from Ardan V. Can our Starfleet crew make contact with the telepaths of Ardan V and establish a peaceful compromise between the miners or is evacuating the system the only practical response?


Kumarax III

A temperate world hosting an independent colony that recently celebrated its three year anniversary. The colony was established over the objections of experts who recommended a more detailed long term survey. The indigenous life forms all display adaptation for surviving a low pH environment not in evidence on the surface of the planet. This suggested a hidden danger to any colony placed there. The private group who proposed colonization pressed ahead, but were rebuffed by both the Federation Council and Starfleet. The colonists purchased the necessary supplies and leased several ships to transport everything and everyone to their new home. The colony then declared itself independent of the Federation. Kumarax III is far from major trade routes and the colony sees few visitors.

Adventure Seed: It turns out that there is a reason why all indigenous life is able to survive low pH levels. Torrential acid rains begin to scour the colony. The initial surveys missed the danger since the acid monsoons only occur once every several years. Forecasts indicate that the storms will last for several weeks. The colony structures start dissolving after a few hours of exposure. The colonists reluctantly send out a distress call. Starfleet dispatches the player characters to evacuate the colonists. Communications are intermittent due to acid damage to the colony's subspace antenna - it will fail before much longer. The colonists begin to retreat to better protected parts of the colony infrastructure while they await rescue. The Complication: Some of the colonists are refusing to leave their home behind, believing that they can somehow hold out.

The Listening Post - A Star Trek Adventures Mission Treatment

Our Star Trek Adventures campaign is on indefinite hiatus due to the ongoing situation. I've decided to share an unused mission* idea in the hopes that somebody will be inspired by it. I'll dust off my notes and post more ideas on a periodic basis.

This treatment sets up a basic scenario for a Starfleet or Klingon crew. It then examines that concept through the lens of various eras of Star Trek.


The Listening Post

The Romulan Star Empire has recently established a listening post in a system near both the Federation and the Klingon Empire. Starfleet Intelligence and Klingon Intelligence have determined that the listening post is an indicator that the Romulans are expanding into the area. Romulan reinforcements may already be on the way. Both Starfleet and the Klingon Defense Force send a ship. Starfleet Command would prefer that the Romulans remove the listening post themselves after negotiations. The standard rules of engagement apply - force is only to be used as a last resort. The Klingon captain has a freer hand - the KDF's orders are simply to remove the listening post by any means necessary. The Romulan commander is trying to hold out until help arrives - the listening post is outgunned, but the Romulan commander knows a trick or two.


ENT
Starfleet Command doesn't know why the mysterious "Romulans" set up a listening post so close to a United Earth colony, but they do know that the situation demands a response. The arrival of a Klingon ship claiming that Klingon interests in the area are also threatened is an unwelcome complication. The Klingon captain's belligerence may make a peaceful resolution impossible.

Canon concerns can be addressed by keeping the Romulans firmly out of sight of any humans or Earth allies. Any communications should be limited to audio only transmissions translated from the unfamiliar Romulan language. The listening post could be completely automated with no Romulan crew present and any communications relayed from within the Romulan Star Empire. As a last resort, a nuclear self-destruct charge is not out of character for the Romulans and would destroy anything that Earth humans aren't supposed to know about until "Balance of Terror" in TOS.


TOS
The cold war tensions between the Federation and the Klingon Empire and the Klingon-Romulan alliance of convenience means that nobody trusts any of the others involved. Everyone is seeking an advantage for their own side. If the Klingon captain believes that the Romulan listening post will ultimately hurt the Federation more than it does the Klingons, they may leave it alone. The Romulan commander will play the Starfleet and Klingon captains against each other. The Starfleet captain could do the same to the Klingon captain and Romulan commander. Three clever leaders with opposing goals is a situation that could turn nasty.


TNG
The Federation and Klingon Empire are allies, but their interests and approaches don't always align perfectly. Starfleet strongly advocates for a peaceful solution. The Klingons can present the argument that the Romulan listening post is a clear threat to both Federation and Klingon interests in the area and that using force to remove that threat is regrettable but necessary. The situation could develop into the two allies each trying to convince the other while the Romulan commander wonders why their reinforcements are taking so long.

Complication: The Klingon captain fought for the Duras faction of the Klingon Civil War. The Romulan commander could reveal this fact to sow distrust. Alternately, this could leave the Klingon captain with something to prove - ridding the area of the Romulan listening post might settle any questions of their real loyalties.


DS9 - The Federation-Klingon War
Depicted in the middle seasons of DS9, the second war between the Federation and Klingon Empire ranges from periods of heightened tensions to open battles on the ground and in space. The Tal Shiar established the listening post to monitor the conflict and see what opportunities it offered to the Romulan Star Empire. A Starfleet and Klingon captain might be able to convince each other to join forces against the Romulan listening post during a quiet period of the war. On the other hand, the two ships might come in shooting at each other if their captains' blood is up. The middle road is for the situation to play out like it might have during the TOS era, but with all sides armed with more advanced weapons and an extra century of familiarity with each other's cultures.


DS9 - Early Dominion War
The misunderstandings of the recent past are swept aside as the Dominion tests the mettle of the newly recreated Federation-Klingon Alliance. The only two ships that can be spared from the front - one Starfleet and one Klingon - are sent on a joint mission to deal with a listening post set up by the opportunistic Romulans. The two captains might try a "good cop, bad cop" approach to negotiations, but their goals are aligned perfectly - the Romulan listening post has to go and there is little time for games. Unfortunately, a third party shows up to throw off everyone's calculations. The Romulans have been allowing Dominion ships to raid through their territory for months. Such a Dominion raiding force appears to pick off the pair of Alliance ships. Can the Romulans be convinced to join the fight or will they sit back and wait to see what happens?


DS9 - Late Dominion War
The Romulans may have joined in the war against the Dominion, but that doesn't mean they can be trusted. If they were counting on the war to distract everyone from noticing their new listening post, they were mistaken. Both Starfleet and the Klingon Defense Force has sent a ship to make their displeasure with their new Romulan allies known. Starfleet can't allow the Klingons to destroy the listening post, even if the Romulan commander is going out of their way to provoke the Klingon captain. Negotiations promise to test the patience of everyone involved.


*I'm using the term "mission" to mean "adventure" since "a Star Trek Adventures adventure" just doesn't look right to me when I typed it out.