Introduction

The Federation is deeply embroiled in the Dominion War, and they're losing. Allies are needed from any quarter. But why didn't the Romulans take this opportunity to launch their own invasion and end the Federation threat? The official records place all credit for the Romulans joining the Alliance on Captain Benjamin Sisko and the crew of Deep Space Nine. Little is mentioned of one starship, one group of people, who were instrumental in bringing the Roluman-Taurhai War to a close, who stopped the warmongering machinations of Senator Morror Kassus, and who almost single-handedly did more to improve Federation-Romulan relations than the past 100 years had done. This is their story.

Welcome to Of Gods and Monsters, a six-episode series designed for Last Unicorn Games' Star Trek:Next Generation Role Playing Game. In it, the characters will become embroiled in Romulan politics, be captured by the mysterious Phobians, and participate in a climatic battle to bring peace to this small section of the galaxy. It is designed to be run as a complete six-episode arc either coming at the end of a series or at least not at the beginning of a series. Specifically, it is designed as the seventh and final season of my Star Trek campaign and it builds on elements introduced in throughout my campaign.

Since it is highly unlikely that anyone else's campaign has the same elements that mine has, there will be Continuity Notes to help you start seeding the characters and elements that will appear in this series. The episodes are designed to be run in a specific order with each one immediately picking up from the previous one. For those of you who just want to run one or two episodes as part of your campaign, there will be Standalone Notes to help you decouple the episode from its arc roots. Finally, I will include some Narrator Notes to give you an idea of why I did things a certain way and maybe give you some ideas to use in your own campaign.

Episode Teasers

Episode 1: Revenge of the Mutant Camel

Telan Merek, Romulan Tal Di'an agent and sometimes ally of the characters, has come to them for help in a serious matter. The whole of his home sector has been ravaged by the Phyrox Plague and it's only a matter of a few weeks before a crisis point is reached. The characters have the cure and Starfleet Intelligence has detached them from their regular duty to help Telan get the cure to his father, Senator Jollen Merek. And they must do it secretly without letting the cure fall into Senator Kassus' hands. To top it all off, Section 31 doesn't want the Romulans to get the cure and they've hired mercenaries to stop them one way or another.

Episode 2: A Mind Forever Voyaging

The characters wake up in a non-descript island village without any memory of how they got there. The villagers are both mysterious and not at all helpful nor friendly. While the characters try to figure out how they got there and what secret the villagers are hiding, island natives attack and now they everyone must band together for survival. Of course, even when the characters think they have it figured out, all is not as it seems and the rules of the game are suddenly changed.

Episode 3: Murder on the Zinderneuf

The RSE Zinderneuf is the epitome of Romulan luxury yachts, intended to ferry the rich and powerful in comfort and security throughout the vast reaches of the Empire. The characters are invited by Romulan Senate as their guests on the maiden voyage -- perhaps heralding a thaw in the Federation-Romulan Cold War. As the characters mingle with the likes of Senators Merek and Kassus, they become involved in their political power games as they try to represent Federation interests. But they'll have to deal with more than that when a key figure is found murdered and evidence points to one of the characters as the murderer.