Reaper Chronoscope #50016 Rosie, Chronotechnician

This is an early figure in Reaper's Chronoscope line. The name is likely a reference to Rosie the Riveter - best known from the "We Can Do It" poster, but also featured in song, film, and a Norman Rockwell cover for the Saturday Evening Post. The headset gives Reaper's Rosie a slightly more hi-tech look than the World War II cultural icon. The heavy boots, tool belt, and goggles are timeless necessities of manufacturing work, though.

Rosie and her attitude adjustment tool.

The paint scheme is inspired by Rosie the Riveter's denim overalls and a character from the video game Starscape (Moonpod, 2003). Jenna Johnson ("JJ") served as Deputy Engineer on the exploration ship serving as a home base in the game. JJ favored red overalls and pink hair. I knew that the hair would work fine, but I didn't want that much red on the figure. The red was restricted to the figure's shirt. I considered painting the overalls a military color like olive drab or khaki before deciding on denim. I might revisit the idea later when I paint the Bones version of this figure.

Denim

With a bottle of Reaper #09285 Denim Blue on hand, choosing a base color for the overalls was pretty straightforward. The color is a good match for new denim. I used Reaper #09057 as a highlight and to add a little wear to the overalls.

Leather

Reaper #09284 provides a rich brown good for somewhat distressed leather. I brushed on Reaper #09110 Oiled Leather to further simulate the look of worn leather on the boots, gloves, and tool belt.

Skin

I decided to experiment with using Formula P3 Menoth White Base with Army Painter Warpaints Soft Tone Quickshade for the bare skin. The result is serviceable and I might choose it for painting a squad or army in a hurry. I just need to find something better for single miniatures.

Details

The hair is Reaper #09183 Cloud Pink with a layer of still viable Citadel Baal Red Wash. The shirt is Reaper #09004 Fire Red. The scarf is painted with Reaper #09011 Leaf Green to stand out from the warm colors around it.

Wash

I switched between Army Painter Warpaints Quickshades between different areas of the figure. A layer of Dark Tone brought out the details on the denim and headset. Strong Tone added to the dirty and used appearance of the leather.

The asymmetry of this specific base is a good fit for this figure.

Base

The base is from a batch I ordered from Champ Industries several years ago. There is a good variety of base designs in the batch I received and all fit the generic sci-fi appearance I tend to favor. The Champ Industries website is still up. I'll have to see if they are still taking orders when my supply eventually runs low.

Closing Notes

The photos from the last couple of posts were taken with my new camera. For this post, I started experimenting with the aperture and ISO settings rather than simply using the automatic or close up modes. The majority of the photos ended up getting deleted, but I learned quite a bit from the process.

This figure has been in my collection for longer than most. I made the purchase when I was getting back into tabletop gaming - roughly the same time that I started this blog. Maybe it's a sign that I'm making progress on my pile of unfinished projects?

Reaper Bones #77041 Harpy

This is another one from Reaper's first Kickstarter - Reaper Miniatures Bones: An Evolution Of Gaming Miniatures. The rewards from that Kickstarter alone amount to a couple hundred figures. I don't expect to be done anytime soon.

Feathers and bat wings? Well, she's a fantasy monster. Forget about biological plausibility, I guess.

One goal I set out for the Reaper Bones Harpy was to experiment with some of the washes I've purchased over the last couple of years. My older stock of washes are either used up or are drying up in their containers. Trying out the newer stuff lets me cycle it in and get used to how it works.

Washer Base

I borrowed a trick from Chris Palmer's All Bones About It and glued the figure to a one inch steel washer. Reaper Bones miniatures are light enough that they tend to fall over easily with the extra weight on the bottom. I spray primed the washer before gluing it to the figure.

Primer/Base Color Coat

FolkArt Tile and Glass Medium mixed with Formula P3 Menoth White Base. A post on Reaper Miniature's forums recommends preparing Bones miniatures with FolkArt Tile and Glass Medium. Formula P3 Menoth White Base works well as an undercoat for lighter colors like white and flesh tones. I tried laying on washes directly over this coat, but the results were so disappointing that I abandoned that approach. Fortunately, mistakes like that can simply be painted over.

Flesh Tones

A coat of Reaper #09047 Fair Skin went over the previous layers. I tried a layer of Secret Weapon W005 Flesh Wash to bring out the details, but I didn't like how it turned out. It might work better applied over a white coat.

I next applied a layer of Army Painter Warpaints Soft Tone Quickshade. This is the wash sold in dropper bottles, not the dip sold in cans. Many of the washes I've used work by darkening the overall color of the surface and bring out details by flowing into recesses. Army Painter Warpaints Quickshade doesn't coat the way that I'm used to - it flows off raised areas more easily. The result is less of a change to the overall color of the surface it is applied to and more pooling in the recesses. I'm pleased with how it worked on this figure, but I may try diluting it next time to reduce the contrast between the raised and recessed areas.

As a final touch, I used a Silver Metallic Sharpie over certain bits to represent the minimal armor worn in those areas in the fantasy genre.

I like how the sculptor captured the figure in the middle of a banking turn.

Feathers

I'm not sure why this figure is sculpted with bat wings and feathers, but harpies are fantasy creatures and I'm not gonna lose any sleep over it. The base color is Reaper #09017 True Blue. I lightly brushed on Reaper #09288 LED Blue over the True Blue, being careful to allow the True Blue to show through in the recesses. This gives the feathers some depth under the brighter color.

Legs and Wings

I used Reaper #09088 Stormy Grey as a base color and a lighter grey for highlighting. A layer of Army Painter Warpaints Dark Tone Quickshade brought out the details. I considered yellow, orange, or tan as more realistic for bird legs, but I felt that the brighter colors might stand out too much from the rest of the figure.

Hair

Reaper #09070 Mahogany Brown is a good color for reddish-brown hair. I applied Army Painter Warpaints Strong Tone Quickshade over it. I considered making the hair the same color as the feathers, but I wanted more variation for the top of the figure.

Cloth

I wanted a relatively bright color to make this detail stand out. Reaper #09004 Fire Red tuned out to be just a little too bright. A layer of Army Painter Warpaints Soft Tone Quickshade brought down the color just enough.

There's always that one mold line that only shows up after painting and photographing.

Basing

Some glue and sand provides texture and a couple of earth tones simulate dry soil.

Closing Notes

I noticed an odd smell when I was using the Army Painter Warpaints Quickshades. It's not an issue that is unique to Army Painter products - some other washes produce a similar odor. Maybe it has something to do with the specific pigments or medium used?

The paint job on this figure turned out darker than I expected, but I'm happy with it. The harpy is a monster - something that will only be on the tabletop as long as the players permit it to be there. Heroes, boss monsters, and other significant figures need to "pop" on the table, but monsters can be subdued in appearance.

The "Makuda" Class Klingon Battle Cruiser Background

Awhile back, Michael Okuda shared a tale from his time working on Star Trek: The Next Generation to the Facebook page that he shares with his wife. The post includes a single photo of his suggestion for what would become the K'Vort-class. The photo shows a kitbashed model using what appears to be a K't'inga model kit as its base. He reinforced the model with a brass rod, installed lights, and attached various greebles. Rick Sternbach added weathering and battle scars. Unfortunately, the model was not used and the ILM's Bird-of-Prey became the (much larger) K'Vort.

I'm thinking about using the design whenever our Star Trek Adventures campaign starts back up. The Klingon fleet, even in the 24th century, could use a little more variety. I wrote up a quick history of the class and gave it a name inspired by its creator. Stat-wise, I'm planning on just using the K'Vort from the book.

The Makuda-class battle cruiser was originally conceived as a response to Starfleet's Excelsior-class starship. The design is a modified K't'inga-class with enhanced systems and a reinforced hull. The Klingon Defense Force ultimately rejected the design. Although the Makuda would have set new standards for battle cruiser performance, it was far more expensive than simply keeping the K't'inga-class in service. Upgrading existing K't'inga-class battle cruisers to the Makuda-class design was considered, but the estimated cost was comparable to new construction due to the additional hull bracing and upgraded structural integrity fields needed to support the improved systems and performance.

The Makuda-class design was revisited on three occasions.

The first was in response to Starfleet's introduction of the Ambassador-class starship. To save time, a new team took the existing Makuda-class design study and updated it with the technologies that had been developed in the interim. The design was well-regarded, but lost to the K'Vort-class - an uprated and expanded Bird-of-Prey design based on the B'Rel-class. Again, the deciding factor was cost. The K'Vort could be more economically produced in the numbers the Klingon Defense Force needed to protect the Empire. On the other hand, a few Houses took a liking to the design, preferring "proper battle cruisers" to "overgrown scout ships" and it entered limited production to replace older battle cruisers. Most were never deployed outside Klingon space, but a few saw action against the expanding Cardassian Union.

A proposal to expand production of the Makuda-class was put forth after the reemergence of the Romulan Star Empire along with their fleets of impressive D'deridex-class warbirds. However, the Vor'cha-class battle cruiser was entering service to glowing reports from their first crews as they shattered performance records. Another factor was the latest refit for the K't'inga-class - one that would enable the venerable battle cruisers to serve in the brief Federation-Klingon conflict just prior to the Dominion War. With brand new battle cruisers joining the fleets and plenty of freshly refitted older ones around, the Klingon Defense Force rejected the proposal and even orders from the Houses began to dry up.

The desperate early days of the Dominion War was the third and final time production of the Makuda-class for the Klingon Defense Force was seriously considered. It was pointed out that there were some slipways too small to build a Vor'cha, but not suitable for a K'Vort or B'Rel either. Most of these slipways originally built D-7 battle cruisers and had been retooled for civilian production as the Empire tried to restore its economy after Praxis. It had always been possible to use them to produce Makuda-class battle cruisers, but the direct cost of retooling and the indirect cost to the Empire's economy was always deemed to be too high. Questions of cost disappeared as the Dominion proved to be an existential threat to the Federation-Klingon Alliance.

The Makuda-class plans were once again updated, but there were limits to what could be done with the aging design and progress was slow. Only one slipway was retooled and limited production began by the time the Romulans entered the Dominion War. With the tide turning, the Klingon Defense Force halted plans to expand production further. The single slipway continued to produce Makuda-class battle cruisers - at a rate just enough to replace losses - until the end of the war. The slipways that were to be used to build Makuda-class battle cruisers were instead retooled to produce troop transports to ferry Klingon warriors to take planets in Cardassian space instead.

Homicidal Warbot Trash Bash WIP

I was going to spend my free time this weekend on Kaladrax Reborn, but I got distracted by a shiny new idea. It occurred to me that certain bits from my collection of random junk could be assembled into a sci-fi defensive emplacement or robotic weapon system. I did put some paint on Kaladrax, but that was in between prepping and assembling this brand new project.

Someday I'll figure out how to make a plan and stick with it.

This figure is built around the plastic spigot of a liquid laundry detergent container. I noticed that the spigot appears vaguely like part of a turret awhile back, but I wasn't sure how to complete that look. Everything started to come together while I was rummaging through my bits bin for something else. The "barrel" - actually the hub of the feed roller for a printer - fit snugly into the spigot. An old pull tab fit around the barrel, evoking some kind of barrel shroud or sensor system. The big discovery was that the orange base part - originally a screw-on cap for a bottle of something or other - fit nicely under the "turret" piece. The rest of the parts were selected to add details to suggest various functions - communications, venting heat/fumes, etc. I have multiples of all the parts, giving me the luxury to experiment.

Initial bunch of parts used for this project.

Next came the test fit. On a practical level, this step confirmed that the parts could actually be assembled into a completed figure. Parts on builds like this often need a little "convincing" to fit. Test fitting also gave me a better idea of what the assembled figure would look like on the tabletop. I used a little mounting putty to hold everything together during this step.

Initial test fit. Some of the parts moved around for the final assembly and the side parts haven't been added yet.

The test fit revealed no assembly problems, but another issue appeared. The long barrel unbalanced the figure. It tended to fall over even when resting on a table or desk and was almost hopeless on terrain or felt. Possible solutions included weights, adding more parts, and gluing the figure to a wide base. I decided to plow ahead while I mulled it over.

Preparing the parts involved an abrasive sheet and a little elbow grease. Many plastics tend to be too smooth for glue and paint to "grab" - resulting in weak bonds. Roughing up the parts produces more surface area and allow glue and paint to bond properly. All parts were then washed with soap and water. No telling where these things have been.

Close up of newest bits.

While waiting for everything to dry, I found a couple more parts that fit on the sides of the figure. I have no recollection of what these parts are, but they are visually interesting and I have plenty of them. These parts counterbalance the barrel and the "legs" stabilize the figure. I'm still planning on putting this figure on a base, but I feel better knowing that it will rest on a flat surface on its own. The latest parts were prepared using the same techniques as the rest.

Rear view with various parts added to provide detail.

Assembly was straightforward. Test fitting provided good practice. All parts were bonded using cyanoacrylate glue.

The assembled figure looks like a cross between an astromech droid and a Dalek. I'm thinking less "static defensive emplacement" and more "homicidal warbot" for the future of this project. For now, I'm setting it aside for a few days. I don't want to get a bright idea on some new part to glue on after I've already primed and started painting it.

Reaper Bones Kaladrax Reborn WIP Part 3

Time for an update! Progress has been slow and steady. See Part 1 and Part 2 to see how slow and steady. I'm still hoping to get this project done by Halloween.

Test fit of what's been painted so far.

My goal last month was to get the main body ready for assembly. I decided to go for broke and paint green necrotic glowing effects on the figure. My inspiration for the idea can be seen here. This meant getting the brown and off-white layers down on the skeleton and the green layers on the areas in between. I also made a first pass at the glow effects on the main body.

Test fit (front). Long tail is long.

Getting that bright "glowing" green was a challenge. My research into achieving a glowing effect turned up a couple of essential points. Much of it involves color theory and thinking about how light moves around. The area generating the glow should be the lightest tone used. "Light" in this context meaning as close to white as possible. The areas lit by the glow should shade darker as they get further away from the source. This required multiple layers and several passes to get right.

Close up of the glowing areas. I might need to knock back the glowing effect on the ribs.

The base color for the green glowing areas is Reaper 09294 Alien Goo. I applied a mix of it and FolkArt 869 Glass & Tile Medium directly to the white plastic to act as a primer. Next I drybrushed on some FolkArt 644 Grass Green on the edges of the glowing areas and on the surrounding bones. Unfortunately, this darkened the glowing areas too much. I thinned down some more Alien Goo to lighten the glowing areas, but this turned out to lighten the overall appearance too much. I went back and forth between the Grass Green and Alien Goo until I found a balance that I could live with. Finally, I highlighted the innermost glowing areas with some thinned down Reaper 09287 Neon Yellow. Despite the name, Neon Yellow does contain enough green to blend with the other colors used. This achieved the gradation that I was looking for.

Brown base layer on the head. Reminds me of chocolate. Why did I type that? Now I want a snack. 

I started on the head and wings this month. The skeletal areas received the FolkArt 231 Real Brown / FolkArt 869 Glass & Tile Medium mix used on the rest of the figure. The coverage is uneven, but my main concern is getting the color down to the recesses. The raised areas will be covered up with the off-white I've been using for the bone color. Painting in the green areas are next.

Close up showing a couple of issues. Note the color differences between the pieces and the patchy coverage in some of the recessed areas.

Taking the photos for this post seemed as a good a time to take stock as any. I assembled the painted parts on the base. I once again realized that this thing is going to take an enormous amount of space to display. I also noticed a couple of issues with the paint job. The first was expected - the colors of each piece don't match precisely. This is a consequence of mixing my own paints and doing each piece over a period of time. Some color variation was going to happen. The second was that the brown areas on some of the pieces are looking patchy. I'm not sure what caused it. However, I am planning on applying a wash to the entire figure prior to detailing. The goal is to mask any color variations. It should also fill in the recesses.

Kaladrax Reborn will be on the prowl for adventurers soon enough.

I should have the head and wings painted to the same level as the rest of the figure by the end of September. With a little luck, I may also have the wash layer down. After that are any other corrections, applying the green glow effects on the rest of the figure and base, sealing in the paint job, and deciding where I can store this thing.

The next post in this series will be out in October.

Pegasus Hobbies Hexagon Construction Kit Review

Let's look at the Hexagon Construction Kit. I've posted about this product before. None of those posts are proper reviews - more like a couple of early impressions and a project that made use of this product. So what's in this kit? And is it worth getting?

The Hexagon Construction Kit "Large Box" and contents.

The Hexagon Construction kit has been around for awhile. The manufacturer is a Russian company named Tehnolog Limited (copyright 2003). Pegasus Hobbies distributes the kits in the United States. These kits were once a popular choice for 15mm to 28mm scale sci-fi wargaming terrain and used to be available from many online retailers. Either the supply of this product has dried up or the demand declined in the years since then. The kits are still available, but they are harder to find these days.

The "Large Box" Hexagon Construction Kit holds a dozen sprues of parts and a set of instructions. There are three different sprue designs and each sprue holds a variety of parts. Expect to spend some time with a hobby knife cutting away mold lines and flash. The most useful part of the instructions are the notes on how the five different connectors work. The rest of the instructions describe how to build the structure pictured on the box. I couldn't find any reference to anybody actually building that structure. Most folks seem to use these kits for building custom sci-fi wargaming terrain.

The connectors used to hold the parts together take up a significant amount of real estate on each sprue, but they are a necessary component to assembling the parts as designed. The connectors fit tightly enough not to require glue. That stated, I'm not going to judge anybody who uses a little superglue to make sure everything holds together. There are gaps between the parts when using the connectors, but they don't stand out at tabletop distances. The connectors can break during assembly, but the sprues supply plenty of them.

The sprues are made from a hard plastic. Each part has different greebles on each side. The details are sharp - the vents, bolts/rivets, and ribbing on the cables are all clearly visible. The parts take spray primers and paints well. Some highlighting and a wash is recommended to bring out the details.

The look of these parts is fairly generic, but they aren't universal. They might work for steampunk, but not for more traditional fantasy. They slide seamlessly into the grimly industrial look of darker sci-fi settings, but might not fit a sleeker sci-fi aesthetic where rivets look out of place.

The sprues with the titular hexagon parts (front and rear views) and my current storage solution for the connectors - medicine pill bottles (cap not shown).

This is the most common sprue - six come in each "Large Box" kit. Sprues like these were the basis of the Sci-Fi Landing Pad and Shelters project. Before that project, I considered using the square and rectangle parts to assemble some 28mm scale sci-fi cargo containers as scatter terrain. I decided against the idea after considering the number of 28mm scale sci-fi cargo containers on the market.

Sci-Fi Landing Pad and Shelters. The hexagonal parts make up the top of the landing pad. Note that seven hexagons were needed - I had to use parts from a pair of kits.

 Shelter details. Square and rectangular parts were used for most of the shelters, the landing tower, and the elevator structure. An earlier version of the landing pad incorporated a couple of rectangles for a ramp.

The sprues with the large rectangular, various triangular, and ladder parts (front and rear views).

Each "Large Box" also contains four of these sprues. I planned to use the large square parts as part a security barrier scaled for 15mm, but I had a better idea when I started a Star Trek Adventures campaign. Note that at least two kits will be needed for a complete cube. The ladder parts are a little large for for 15mm, but should work for 28mm. I'm reserving those for my next electrical box or trash bash terrain project. The small equilateral triangles can be combined into an additional hexagon part. I assembled them as the opening doors of a missile silo for an abandoned project.

I'm thinking of calling this one "Techno-Pyramid". I'm also thinking that "Techno-Pyramid" sounds like the name of a Synthwave band.

The "Techno-Pyramid" was the result after tinkering with some of the triangular parts. It will probably appear on the table as an alien artifact or something. I just need to decide if I want to paint it metallic silver or some neon color.

The sprues with all the railings (front and rear views).

The "Large Box" only has two of these sprues. Most of these parts were intended to be used as railings. The open design works well for structural supports as well. There are also a couple of rectangular parts with integrated ladders.

These elongated right triangles? I have yet to use them for a project. I've played around with connecting them to the other parts, but inspiration hasn't struck. They are most likely going to end up glued to an otherwise flat surface on some kitbashed terrain piece.

Much of the utility of this product comes from being able to assemble the parts into structures, but the parts themselves are an excellent way to bulk up a bits box. I have a small pile of parts left over from previous kits and will have more once I take my cutters to this one. They have been a handy way to add details to trash bash terrain, a kitbashed spaceship model, or the base of a large figure.

These kits have gotten harder to find, which may be a turn off for those interested in a reliable long term supply. The full retail price for a "Large Box" kit from Pegasus Hobbies is $32.99. That works out to about $2.75 per sprue. That's a good value considering the number of parts that come on each sprue.

Back from a Blogging Break

I made the conscious decision to take August off. Things at work have been changing non-stop since my place of employment changed hands a year ago. 2020 has been weird and stressful for everybody. Putting paint on plastic and metal figures seemed a little meaningless. I couldn't focus enough to put words on the screen. I took a month off blogging and hobby stuff to recharge a bit.

During my blogging break, I realized that I need a plan. In March, I started posting more regularly to this blog. My goal was modest - two posts a month. I achieved posting twice a month in March, April, and May. June and July each saw an increase to three posts per month. It was going well. Then I hit a wall. I had been dusting off old projects, reviewing a few things, and sharing thoughts about tabletop games. But just doing whatever came to mind could only go so far. Without direction, I drove off a cliff.

I still don't have a solid plan. That's coming together. Right now, I want to continue to gradually increase the number of posts I put out per month until I find a comfortable and sustainable pace. I've barely put a dent in my mountain of miniatures, so slinging more paint is in my future. My reviews seem to be well received, so I'm happy to offer up more opinions about the products I purchase. I can discuss tabletop gaming all darn day, so more posts about whatever game or gaming topic that catches my attention seems like a good outlet. I'd like to experiment with more tutorial posts. I did a post on electrical box terrain quite a while back and I've been thinking about revisiting the idea in more detail. Finally, I have almost as many old projects that need finishing as I do unpainted miniatures, so that's a bunch of stuff that needs doing.

It's not a plan, but it is a direction to go until I come up with one.

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.