Lemurs & Lies v1.

2b
A Star Trek Mission for the Fate Accelerated Tabletop (FAE) Roleplaying System

By Mark Tygart

Play testers: Michael Palucki, Ric Battaglia, Josh Iverson

Introduction

“Star Trek typically isn't focused on action and combat. The nice thing about Fate Accelerated is that its
conflict rules work just as well for phaser blasting a cadre of Romulans as they do for talking a group of
robots to death using logical paradoxes. This here is just a long string of Flashy social attacks...So yeah,
FAE is perfect.”

---Josh Burnett (Bernie the Flumph Blog)

Josh Burnett is right, of course. There are a respectable number of Star Trek rules conversions for Fate in
all its various flavors but you can’t go wrong with Burnett’s brilliant example of how you can simply play
Star Trek with the FAE rules. So much so that when my normal gaming group’s GM had to miss a D&D 5e
session I was able to beam them over to the Star Trek universe for an adventure using Josh’s trek blog
entries as a basis for our ensuing space opera.

Josh Burnett’s Fate of the Federation

Character Creation

http://bernietheflumph.blogspot.com/2017/07/star-trek-with-fate-accelerated-part-1.html

Starships

https://bernietheflumph.blogspot.com/2017/07/star-trek-with-fate-accelerated-part-2.html

Bad Guys

http://bernietheflumph.blogspot.com/2017/07/star-trek-with-fate-accelerated-part-3.html

Setup

The players are the crew of the USS Prometheus, a starship which closely resembles the USS Archer in
the Star Trek: Strange New World pilot. It’s a small scout ship intended for scientific missions within the
Federation with a very minimal crew (2-6) and a high degree of automation. The onboard ship’s A.I. can
perform almost all the ship’s functions at the crews’ command. It has unusually comfortable crew
quarters to cater to a possible civilian scientific staff, advanced sensors but no photon torpedoes or
shuttlecraft.

One of the players should be given command and a higher rank than the other officers although the
culture aboard Federation science vessels tends towards the informal. Another item to note is the
absence of a shuttlecraft and dependence on transporters can easily help strand the crew when
dramatically necessary.
The Prometheus is something of a plum assignment, given it has the latest equipment, comforts and
crew cabins for both the small crew and any passengers. However, this entire ship class has been given
the derogatory nickname of the “comfortable coffins” for it perceived lack of combat ability. More than
one barfight has been started by envious officers asking about crewmembers “funeral plans” when
learning they are serving aboard this class of ship.

U.S.S. Prometheus

Classification: Marco Polo class science vessel

Assets: Scientific Sensors, A.I.

Weakness: Doesn’t carry torpedoes or shuttlecraft

Reputation: A.I. is the best the Daystrom Institute can currently supply

Stunts

Because the Prometheus has an advanced sensors, the crew gets +2 on all ship sensor rolls

Because the AI is so advanced it can run routine operations, maintenance, and repair with minimal crew
input, but receiving a -3 penalty on all combat roles. Over time the A.I. will develop a personality of the
GM’s choosing and after multiple missions could even become a liability or even dangerous at the GM’s
discretion.

Refresh: 3

Stress: OOO

Mission Briefing

(Wherein our brave crew learns its mission)

Wherever the crew of the Prometheus is currently occupied they receive urgent and updated orders.

The crew of the Prometheus has been at once tasked with checking on a small scientific outpost on the
only moon of Palucki 3 (Palucki 3a), an M class planetoid with conditions like Earth during its Ice Age
(think Endor or Pandora with Hoth’s climate). Despite the system’s proximity to the Klingon Neutral Zone
its chief attraction to the Federation is scientific. In the snowy forests of the moon’s equator live a
peaceful race of small, sentient humanoids that strongly resemble Earth’s lemurs (if on Earth lemurs
were the size of young children and had snowy white fur, with black stripes and soulful blue eyes). The
appearance of this sentient species on the planet contradicts the three most currently popular theories
of sentient evolution and a pair of scientists (Andorian female and male Human) were dispatched to a
small and carefully camouflaged base (nicknamed “New Siberia”) to study the situation. Recently the
Federation has lost contact with scientists and the Prometheus is ordered to leave at once to check on
their welfare. All the restrictions of the Prime Directive are to be fully enforced with the possible penalty
of court martial.

Godspeed, Prometheus!
Actual Situation

The moon’s inhabitants (called Snow Lemurs, Ice Lemurs or simply “Lemurs”) are the products of
bioengineering experiments of an ancient, alien manufactured entity known as the Crystal Probe.
Dispatched eons ago by its creator race it has been manufacturing both life and eventually sentient
lifeforms all over this section of the galaxy ever since. To aid it in its work it also uses psionic cloaking
technology and manufactured servant Biological Probes from its former bioengineered polar base on
Palucki 3a.

The Crystal Probe is ancient and arrogant, holding both the Klingons and Federation in contempt. It
originally simply ignored the Federation scientists and successfully cloaked itself and its base from them
as successfully as they avoided the Lemurs. It was detected by the nearby Klingons due to fact that it
radiated a signature form of temporal displacement like the Klingon world of Boreth’s time crystals. A
cloaked Klingon ship (ISS Horrifying Death) was dispatched to covertly investigate and promptly engaged
in a brutal conflict (Klingons being Klingons) with the Crystal Probe. This resulted in a deeply damaged
Crystal Probe being captured, its polar base largely destroyed and its Lemur friends being traumatized.
The Federation base was destroyed mistakenly by the damaged and malfunctioning Crystal Probe and
the Human scientist killed. A wounded Andorian female scientist was captured by the Klingons who
decided to frame the Lemurs for the loss of the Federation base. Unaware they were slowly being driven
mad by the vengeful psionic attacks from the captive Crystal Probe the Klingons decided to hide and
repair their damaged ship in the upper layers of the Palucki 3 gas giant. There, under the prisoner Crystal
Probe’s malign influence most of the crew has lapsed into a psychotic delirium. Their ship is now badly
malfunctioning and descending slowly deeper into the gas giant. Within a few days it will reach a crush
depth and everything and everyone aboard will be destroyed unless the Prometheus intervenes.

Act 1

(Wherein our brave crew may be freaked out by one of the many obligatory strange alien probes
inhabiting both the Star Trek Universe and this adventure.)

This act is entirely optional and may be omitted by the GM to reduce session time if needed.

A confused and malfunctioning Biological Probe survivor looking to protect its master will pull the
Prometheus out of warp and look to scare the ship away by manufacturing harmless illusions it intends
to be terrifying. This can be played seriously or as a comedy. Any decent Sensor Roll (+1) will reveal the
illusions are unreal and any successful attack will destroy the probe or cause it to retreat. It will in no
event use its powers to in any way harm the Prometheus or her crew. A good Sensor Roll (+2) will reveal
it is quite small, defenseless, and completely organic. If the crew can somehow perform a brilliant Sensor
Roll (+4) the probe’s DNA will be revealed to be related to that with life from Palucki’s moon.

GMs are encouraged to consult the Star Trek: TOS episode The Corbomite Maneuver for more
inspiration.

Scenarios for the Biological Probe encounters include:

*The probe pretends to be huge, silent, and scary

 *The probe pretends to be Darth Vader aboard the Death Star and threatens to use the Force

*The probe pretends to be Count Dracula in a giant floating castle and announces it wants to
come aboard for dinner unless the ship retreats

*The probe pretends to be the Devil and tells the crew this is the road to hell

*The probe pretends to be a giant, interstellar Abraham Lincoln and orders the crew back to
Earth

*All the above

Act 2

(Wherein our brave crew gets to play detective amid snowy landscapes amid terrified but cute Lemurs,
hopefully not forgetting the Prime Directive)

Depending on the time allowed to complete the adventure this Act can be abbreviated or even
eliminated. Ships scanning the Palucki gas giant can detect the Klingon ship on a roll of +2 and an
investigation of the devasted former science outpost (an earlier version of the one in the Next
Generation episode Who Watches the Watchers) reveals a wide variety of clues left by Klingons affected
by the Crystal Probe that the Lemur attack was staged and a +4 scam will add clues that the badly
damaged Crystal Probe was responsible. The corpse of the human scientist is present at the New Siberia
site, pierced by multiple Lemur spears added after his death and replicated from wood not native to the
planet.

A +4 scan of the planet can also indicate the former site of the destroyed organic base used by the entity
to bioengineer the planet, but little of it remains after the devastating Klingon attack. The friendly
Lemurs can provide a great deal of information about the “Sky Demons” (Klingons) as they call them, but
unless the party can avoid breaking the Prime Directive, they may face court marital for their actions.

Eventually the players will be psionically contacted by the Andorian female scientist (who is half Aenar) if
they do not board the Klingon ship to investigate. She is wounded, terrified and being held against her
will in the Horrifying Death’s brig.

Act 3

(Wherein our brave crew attempts a rescue of a captured scientist aboard a malfunctioning Klingon ship
sinking to crush depth in a gas giant with a mostly comatose but largely demented crew of murderous
aliens).

There are a few active Klingons in both the brig and control room. At this point the Andorian will be
unconscious.

The players will need to beam over to the Klingon ship without being detected or the Klingons will
attempt to attack them. This is quite possible as the few remaining Klingons aboard the ship are suffering
from delusions brought upon by the captured Crystal Probe and no ship’s shields will operate within a
gas giant.

Promptly after beaming over the ship will suddenly descend due a delusional Klingon pilot to near crush
depth and the transporters will be inoperable. The players will have to seize the bridge and pilot the ship
out of the gas giant to survive unless they bring pattern enhancers to improve their transportation
chances. GMs wishing to expand the adventure can additional delusional Klingon attacks or various
forms of Klingon “food” from the galley escaping deciding to make the Starfleet officers lunch. Star Trek:
Enterprise’s first season episode Sleeping Dogs can be a useful source of inspiration for this entire act.

The Crystal Probe is kept in a cloaked energy cell in the hold, but it is simple to detect +0. If freed (+1 roll
required) it will apologize for mistakenly destroying the Federation base while malfunctioning and depart
the system for a hidden location to regenerate itself fully before establishing a new bioengineering base
on a new planet. The remaining Biological Probes will stay behind to care for the peaceful Lemurs as they
begin to form a basic agricultural civilization. When recovered the Andorian Scientist can fill in any gaps
the players may have in understanding the mission’s events.

Players that solve the mystery, recover the scientist, and salvage the Klingon ship without breaking the
Prime Directive will be commended by Starfleet. Players that break the Prime Directive will possibly face
court martial with the outcome to be roleplayed in a future session or decided by the GM. Successful
players will find that they are given the honor of officially naming Palucki 3a and its new expanded
Federation camouflaged science facility. War is avoided as Starfleet officially accepts that this was a
“rogue” operation in exchange for several important Klingon diplomatic concessions.

Klingon Warrior (Delusional)

Kill the Monsters!

Good (+2) at: Violence

Bad (-2) at: Impulse control

Stress: OO

ISS Horrifying Murder

Classification: D7-class cruiser (Klingon Bird of Prey)

Assets: Burly workhorse of a ship

Weakness: Weak belly plating

Bridge Positions

Captain: +2, Tactical: +3, Helm: +1. Engineering: +2, Communications: +1

Stunts

Because the Bird of Prey also has a cloaking device, it gets +2 to sneakily create advantages related to
stealth or invisibility.

Because the Warbird is powerful and well-built, it has an extra stress box.

Because the Warbird is bristling with weapons, It gets a +2 to forcefully attack another ship under a
“Focused Fire” aspect.

Refresh: 2
Stress: OOOO