Holodeck Adventures (LUG)
Cover
| Series | Star Trek: The Next Generation Roleplaying Game |
| Released | Jul 1999 |
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Any Place, Any Time, Any Where
The boundaries are set only by your imagination as you enter one of the most amazing inventions in Federation technology — the holodeck. It's a roleplaying game within a game, as your Star Trek characters take on from other times and places. They can even become your favorite characters from other RPGs! Holodeck Adventures provides the perfect way to get other roleplayers into your Star Trek game, or to give existing Star Trek gamers a refreshing change of place.
This book includes:
- How to take on the role of a fictional character, and enter a world of fantastic adventure — all in the Star Trek universe!
- A complete description of how the holodeck works.
- Information for Narrators on using the holodeck in their games, and creating their own holodeck programs.
- Information on the Icon System on tommy guns, Duesenbergs, cannon, pirate reavers, and more.
Three complete adventures:
- The Case of the Golden Serpent plunges Dixon Hill and friends into a mystery involving an ancient Aztec idol.
- The Doom That Came to Korath presents a story of supernatural horror set in Alpha Centauri's past.
- The Falcon's Gold provides an adventure on the bounding main, and includes rules for pitched naval battles, flintlocks, and pirate mayhem.
Dixon Hill and the Case of the Golden Serpent
San Francisco, 1941. Harry Goodwin, a prominent English archaeologist and expert on Aztec culture, owes considerable gambling debts to San Francisco crime lord Mr. Fatmann. On a recent trip to the Yucatan, he uncovered a fabulous statue of the Aztec god Quetzalcoatl carved of pure gold. About a foot and a half high, it could easily be smuggled into the country—and was worth more than enough to pay off Goodwin’s debts. He brings it to San Francisco, intending to hand it over to Mr. Fatmann as soon as he can.
His wife, however, has other plans. Katherine Goodwin recently learned Harry was having an affair with their maid, Annie Cassidy. She wants him dead, and sees the Golden Serpent as a way to do it without getting caught. Confronting Annie with evidence of the affair, she threatens to take everything from Harry unless she hides the Serpent for a few days. The terrified Annie agrees, but can’t find the Serpent. So she hires P.I. Dixon Hill to find it for her. Enter the Crew.
Hill (and his friends, if there are any) finds the Serpent easily and turns it over to Annie. Unwilling to give it to Mrs. Goodwin right away, she hides it in the basement of Dixon’s office building and tells no one of its location. Mr. Fatmann, angered at his missing payment, orders Goodwin killed. He then begins combing the city in search of the statue. Her initial goal accomplished, Mrs. Goodwin now wants the Serpent back; she hires Dixon Hill to find it, revealing that Annie lied to him.
Meanwhile, the Serpent has drawn other parties’ interest—including Fatmann’s rival Nicki the Nose and Jorge Villa Lobos, the corrupt Mexican official who allowed the object into the country. Dixon must sift through these elements to discover the truth and find the Serpent before anyone else does; how that happens is up to the Crew. They must put the clues together, interview the right people and stay tough when the heat turns up. If they can do that (and hey, this is Dixon Hill we’re talking about), they’ll finish the adventure with flying colors.
The Crew achieves victory by recovering the stolen Serpent and returning it to the proper authorities (the police or the Mexican government). They must also prove Mrs. Goodwin’s involvement in her husband’s murder.
Katherine Goodwin, Mr. Fatmann and Nicki the Nose are all trying to get the Serpent for its pure value. They win (and the Crew fails) if they can walk out of a scene with the object in their hands.
Poor Annie Cassidy was trying to protect her lover, and now just wants to stay alive. She’ll do anything anyone says as long as they protect her. Unfortunately, her chances of making it through the adventure are slim....
Harry Goodwin is dead, and doesn’t have goals anymore. For the big turkey who started this whole mess, he gets off easy.
| Astrometrics | |
| Chronology | LUG Timeline; |
| Culture | |
| Education | |
| Food | |
| People | |
| Politics | |
| Science & Technology | |
| Ships & Vehicles | |
| Xenology | |
| Miscellaneous |
The Doom That Came to Korath
The Doom That Came to Korath is a tale of horror and isolation. Its feeling of dread is best evoked by a single participant, alone against the other forces of the tale's gothic world, with all other parts played by the computer. As with any holonovel, the computer can alter its basic parameters at your whims — if you wish for other participants to play supporting characters such as Racius and Morea, the mood will likely change from horror to supernatural adventure.
The participant assumes the persona of Korvos, a distant heir to the throne of the mist-shrouded kingdom of Korath. Korvos was raised in a sunny and peaceful neighboring land, where he still resides as the action of the story opens. When he is unexpectedly called upon to assume Korath's throne, he returns for the first time to his haunted homeland, where he falls in love with a mysterious, veiled woman. Meanwhile, someone or something murders all who try to help him. To destroy the force of evil that hangs over his land, Korvos must learn the secrets of his ancestors and understand the role his new love plays in them.
This story takes place in a pair of neighboring kingdoms on Alpha Centauri during a period called the Pre-Evanescence. For those unfamiliar with Centauran history, here are the distinguishing social, cultural, and technological developments of the Pre-Evanescence:
- In the eastern part of the continent of Vældæs, where this story takes place, authoritarian rule by kings, supported by nobles, remains the main form of government.
- Most people are ruled by superstition and guided in their spiritual affairs by a caste of priests supported by the kings. A few educated scholars discovered a new ideology called rationalism, which will soon lead to a scientific and technological revolution.
- The stirrup has been invented, but gunpowder and firearms are several centuries away. The fastest mode of transportation is the horse-drawn carriage.
As the story opens, the sunny, peaceable kingdom of Ælberoth is ruled by the enlightened monarch Marwand, who encourages his young nobles to study rationalism, as long as it doesn't go too far. The people revere Marwand; he supports the arts and sciences.
A king named Oacon rules the stormy, troubled kingdom of Korath, where priests treat rationalism as heresy and nobles oppress the peasantry.
| Astrometrics | |
| Chronology | LUG Timeline; |
| Culture | |
| Education | |
| Food | |
| People | |
| Politics | |
| Science & Technology | |
| Ships & Vehicles | |
| Xenology | |
| Miscellaneous |
The Falcon's Gold
The year, 1653. The place, the Spanish Main. The gallant Captain Beauregard and the crew of the feared pirate ship Atocha have plied these waters for years, taking prizes from Spanish galleons and fighting off the Spanish Navy. The vicious pirate captain Ironface poses the greatest threat. When Ironface tries to disrupt the exchange of a beautiful hostage for ransom, he sparks a chain of events which leads Captain Beauregard and his men on a quest not only for final revenge, but for a legendary, long-lost treasure.
The Falcon's Gold opens in media res with a battle between the Atocha and the crew of a Spanish flute bound for Spain with a cargo of New World gold. Soon the captain of the flute, Ricardo Delgado-Ruiz, realizes the situation is hopeless. Hoping to save his life, those of his crew, and most importantly the life of his beautiful daughter Estrella, he surrenders to the bold Captain Beauregard.
After looting the ship, Captain Beauregard takes Estrella captive so Captain Delgado can later pay ransom for her. They agree to meet in Port Royal in a month to exchange her for a thousand pieces of eight. Treated with all reasonable courtesy, Estrella soon develops an attraction for the dashing Captain Beauregard.
A month later Captain Beauregard and his crew meet Captain Delgado at the Zaragosa, a tavern in the infamous pirate haven Port Royal on the island of Jamaica. A smooth transfer of gold for girl soon turns into a swirling barroom melee when Ironface and his crew attack! Somehow they found out about the exchange and hope to obtain the ransom and Estrella for themselves (and no doubt all of the two captains’ other treasure, too). Captain Beauregard and the crew of the Atocha, aided by Captain Delgado’s crew, finally manage to fight off the bloodthirsty corsairs, who flee back to their ship and set sail for parts unknown.
Grateful for Captain Beauregard saving him and his daughter (for Ironface would surely have killed them), Captain Delgado tells Captain Beauregard he's heard a rumor that Ironface plans to attack the ship Nuestra Seforade Guadalupe, which soon departs New Spain for Europe laden with gold and silver. With this clue to guide him, Captain Beauregard pursues Ironface.
When he spots the pursuit, Ironface abandons his plan to proceed toward New Spain. He turns tail and sails through the Yucatan Channel and around Cuba to the Bahamas, where he has a secret haven on a tiny isle not far from Caicos Island. The Atocha follows him there, finds the haven and engages Ironface's men in a bloody land battle. After fending off Captain Beauregard's blade, Ironface escapes.
A survivor of the battle — who claims Ironface press-ganged him and that he never wished to serve with such a bloodthirsty crew — tells Captain Beauregard that the Guadalupe's gold was not Ironface’s main target. Instead he wanted a sea-chest full of shipping documents providing clues about the course of the almost legendary ship Falcon, which the famed pirate Tredegar Jones supposedly waylaid and sank many years ago. Shortly after capturing, and hiding, the Falcon's treasure, Jones's ship foundered in shallow water and was destroyed by a Spanish naval galleon. Since then every Caribbean pirate has dreamed of finding the Falcon's gold.
Knowing how much good he could do with that treasure, and how much he would enjoy angering the Viceroy, Captain Beauregard sets out to take the Guadalupe. After a fierce battle, the Atocha captures its prize. To Captain Beauregard’s delight, the Viceroy himself is aboard the ship! Following a few rounds of taunts and jibes, Captain Beauregard frees the Guadalupe to limp home to New Spain while he sets out in search of the Falcon's gold.
By reviewing the documents and making a few deductions, Captain Beauregard figures out where Tredegar Jones probably hid the Falcon's gold: on the tiny island of Magnolia Key in the Florida Keys. The Atocha immediately sets sail for Magnolia Key. Meanwhile, Viceroy Septilveda, intent on revenge and recovering the gold for himself, hires Ironface to kill Captain Beauregard.
The Atocha arrives at the island and drops anchor. Captain Beauregard and his men go ashore in small boats to recover the treasure. Just as they finish digging it up, Ironface and his men arrive! Captain Beauregard and his crew must defeat them in a ruthless ship battle followed by a bloody boarding action. Depending on the outcome of the fight, the Atocha may escape fully laden with gold, or may have to fight one last battle to claim the ultimate prize: the Falcon’s gold!
| Astrometrics | |
| Chronology | LUG Timeline; |
| Culture | |
| Education | |
| Food | |
| People | |
| Politics | |
| Science & Technology | |
| Ships & Vehicles | |
| Xenology | |
| Miscellaneous |
Authors
Robin Laws (Holodeck Programming, The Doom That Came to Korath), Steve Long (The Falcon's Gold), John Snead (The Holodeck), Rob Vaux (The Golden Serpent), Ross Isaacs
Development
Peter Schweighofer, Ross Isaacs
Additional Development & Contributions
Christian Moore
Star Trek: The Next Generation Line Developer
Ross A. Isaacs
Editing
Bruce Harlick
Graphic Design
Anthony N. Vayos
Layout & Typesetting
Alvaro Riet
Art Direction
Matthew Colville
Maps & Cartography
Charles Ryan
Original Art
Steve Kurth, Ashe Marler, Terry Pallot
Product Development, Paramount
Chip Carter
Proofreading and Fact Checking
Bill Maxwell
