Forum based RP

[Klythe]

Who would be interested in exploring thier inner Klingon and excersizing thier writing and creative skills by having a Klingon roleplaying game inside this forum?

    What I am thinking of involves a good deal of work amongst participants.   Basically, it will be much like the forum Neverending story, but each person will control a character, and thier contributions will be largely limited to the capabilities and understanding of thier character.   Each character will need have a fairly well defined background, to prevent people from suddenly discover they have a background in ... say molecular biology, when there is a sudden urgent need for those sorts of skills.

     We will not be operating under a restrictive game format, no dice will be used to resolve game actions.  In the end, it will be just the players and the characters that drive the plot.   I can post more guidelines and examples if enough people are interested in making this happen.   Actually, I have made a pretty good story with just one other player, but I would hope we can get a couple more players than that.

    There won't be any time limits, or anything, but let us know if you aren't interested anymore, so the rest aren't waiting on you for a new post.  

[qoSagh]

I am interested. I have played this type of game before, but as a Klingon character on a Federation vessel. I also briefly played a romulan disguised as a vulcan on that same ship. It would be refreshing to get back to Klingon for Klingons sake.

[SoplaHtaHwI']

We will not be operating under a restrictive game format, no dice will be used to resolve game actions.  In the end, it will be just the players and the characters that drive the plot.

    There won't be any time limits, or anything, but let us know if you aren't interested anymore, so the rest aren't waiting on you for a new post.

I've had a short pleasurable time writing in such a "cooperative writing project" on http://www.unityfleet.com
I would be very interested in this from a pure Klingon point of view

[Kesvirit]

Interested indeed! But you are right -- it involves a lot of work, and I do not think that overall postings are frequent or numerous enough to keep such a story going. Even the much simpler and less demanding Neverending Story contains few posts, especially considering how long it has been there.

(Come to think of it, I am once again eligible to post. Unless someone beats me to it. Which I  hope they will, because I am having difficulties accessing the comnets. Take my turn. Please!)

The settings of the hypotherical RPG should be one of a diplomatic nature and not combat-oriented. This will reflect the unique natue of the KIF. Think of the potential for rivalries, intrigue, and assasination attempts!

There alerady exist too many combat-themed sims wanting for players, and I have yet to see one that is not unidemensional boom-boom and hack-&-slash. If anyone knows of one, please post the URL.

In addition, I think it would work best if the RP avoided canon events and characters. In such cases the plot becomes fait accompli and the characters redundant.

I would be very interested in this from a pure Klingon point of view.

Which pure Klingon point of view? Classic or Neotrek? Whose version of Classic or Neotrek? Klinfolk rarely agree on anything. If they did there would be no point in these boards' existance. Those whose concepts of Klingon societies are not compatable with those established for the RP will refuse to participate on that alone, further diminishing the player pool. Who sees a way around this?

-=- Kesvirit

Note: The preceeding views are those of the individual poster and do not necessarily reflect those of the management.

[Klythe]

Interested indeed! But you are right -- it involves a lot of work, and I do not think that overall postings are frequent or numerous enough to keep such a story going. Even the much simpler and less demanding Neverending Story contains few posts, especially considering how long it has been there.

    RPs are often much earier to post in, because you do not have to worry so much about ruining the story for someone else, or guessing which direction they want to take it.   There is more setup beforehand, but that initial set up guides the players.   There is much less guessing.   The tone, general direction and the characters are defined from the beginning, but the course still cannot be predicted.


  You are welcome to play or spectate as it suits you.

In addition, I think it would work best if the RP avoided canon events and characters. In such cases the plot becomes fait accompli and the characters redundant.

    Is not a favoured tactic of scifi writers to take a known situation, perhaps from history and ask, "What would happen if I changed a few of the details see what could have happened if ....".   I see no reason to take those kinds of ideas off the table.   Of course there really can't be any interaction with the canon characters.  But there is plenty behind the scenes to keep Klingons on thier toespikes.
 
    I haven't decided what type of story we will have.  Maybe it is not me who will decide, maybe it will.
 

Which pure Klingon point of view? Classic or Neotrek? Whose version of Classic or Neotrek? Klinfolk rarely agree on anything.

   Which is exactly why every person has thier own character and thier own background to define for themselves how much of the old and how much of the new their character embodies.   The collision of the Classic and Neotrek viewpoints is pure Klingon.  And conflict is the fuel that drives stories.
}}=D

[tmk1000]

I would be VERY interested!!!I enjoy roleplay.

There alerady exist too many combat-themed sims wanting for players, and I have yet to see one that is not unidemensional boom-boom and hack-&-slash

I agree.

I would like to join in,but also something to think about,how would one kill another?In the ranks of klingon's if cowardis is shown then one klingon
can challenge and kill another klingon.How would that work?
'BAM your dead'?  'No i am not i dodged it'
Or'I don't like your face'shoots and the other guy dies
I think there should be some kind of rule for killing another members person
 :unsure:  Just a thought

[qoSagh]

I was in a RPG like this once where there was a peace conference (Post Dominion War) There were Federation, Klingon, Cardasian, Romulan and a few other delegates. Withing a few posts this diplomatic event lead to two people fighting, and the Klingons & Cardasians betting on who would win. While everyone was distracted by this, the Romulans kidnapped the Federation Delegate.

I would think that if we are looking for a diplomatic role playing scenario, it would largely be an in character round table discussion about some topic of imperial interest. There would of course be sde discussions and alliances made that would shock all but the strongest stomachs.

As for whose view of Klingon will be considered pure, what is more important is what will be considered game canon? Will for instance FASA stuff be allowed, or events from the IKV Gorkon books? Some of these could be defining moments in a characters history, but not be recognized by other players.

[Klythe]

I would like to join in,but also something to think about,how would one kill another?

   Quite simply you do not, can not, under any circumstances, kill another player's character.   You shouldn't want to kill someone else's character.  You can try all you want, but you will want them to be able to survive, if for no other reason than you enjoy RPing with them, and if you kill them, you can't do that any more.

    In particular, your right to swing your fist extends through the place where I am currently keeping my head, but I get to decide if and how I block, dodge or take the blow, and if I take it I decide how badly it affects me, within what makes most sense in the situation.   Someone might decide that there is good reason for thier character to die in the story, but that decision is only the owners of the character to make and not anyone else's.

      Anyone who writes that something happens to another player's character is exceeding thier role...   Remember, you can only say what your character does "Thorkmak squeezes the tiggerpad of his disruptor in a short burst".   You generally can't even say if you hit or miss, or even if the beam fires, because that isn't entirely up to your character to decide.  

    The think to keep in mind here is that what we are doing is creating a story.  Trying to have your character 'win' comes second to creating the best story you can.

    Consider what glory is there in saying, "I take my disruptor and shoot him." when all you succeed in doing is removing a character form the story in a painfully boring way?   Now if the story winds up that your character and my character have an epic hand to hand, tooth and claw battle to decide the course of the story and after quite a few posts back and forth you have beaten down my guard or catch me off balance and finally manage to deliver a blow that (I decide) kills me...  How much more glorious is the battle, how much more prowess and skill is displayed for the reader, not only the combat skill of the characters, but the writting skills of the players.

    Obviously this kind of RP requires a lot of trust and collaboration amongst the players.   Even though I may oppose your character's ultimate goals, having your character as a forceful opponent makes my character look that much better, and adds a great deal of interest in the story.

As for whose view of Klingon will be considered pure, what is more important is what will be considered game canon? Will for instance FASA stuff be allowed, or events from the IKV Gorkon books? Some of these could be defining moments in a characters history, but not be recognized by other players.

    Game canon will be exactly what the other players allow based on plausibility, flavour and how it affects the story.   There will be times when people will disagree with something in your last turn and part of the game will be on hold until concensus is reached.   The Klingon Empire is vast.   Odds are that in some part of the empire is compatible with what you want to do, and therefore should be allowed, unless it prevents someone else from doing something they want to do, then you will both have to work it out, and if necessary seek an arbitrator who is not involved in the dispute.  In my experience this has almost never been necessary as most players are willing to allow your character to have any background you are willing to write for them (as long as it is generally realistic. e.g. even though you can go up in rank by killing your superiors, you still can't reach the rank of Captain by age 20 that way, or really any way)

    One of the more difficult skills is learning how and when to push back and ask your opponent to reconsider thier turn, because it is unrealistic, out of character, or otherwise spoils the story.   Don't be afraid to ask them to reconsider, but try to do it in a polite and constructive manner.

[qoSagh]

I am glad to see that most everything Klingn will be allowable. I once played a 112 year old Klingon character. That was a big adjustment for soem folks who had been raised on FASA to accept, since in game Imperials only lived to about 65. Of course DS9 changed all that for us. That is where I was going, about what will and will not be allowed. I've also played in a game where sentient Tribbles were allowed and Jedi like characters were allowed into the trek universe, but Kzin and my beloved glommers were not. I think this game is shaping up into something really cool, but I'd hate to see efforts to be inclusive end up becomming limitations.

[Klythe]

Even TOS had Emporor Keth the Centegenarian...   Even in a TOS setting I would let you play a 112 year old....  If you explaned how he managed it in an interesting and balanced way, and played the character consistantly with that in mind...

    But you raise a darn good question, how are going to allow for differences between the varous types of Klingons?   Are we talking about genetic variations in one species, seperate defined subspecies, or fully different species?   Personally I perfer to have more than one species of Klingon.   During TOS the political winds favoured the shorter lived species(Perhaps there was a huge war or famine the previous generation and the shorter lived, faster reproducing races recovered faster), but soon thier after their fortunes reversed and they started becomming less and less dominant.   Since we are ignoring canon characters(wherever possible) we don't have to worry about Kahless, Kang, Kor and Koloth changing species.  

    If we include K'zin, should we use Trek K'zin or Niven's K'zin?  And how much influence and power should they have in the galaxy?

    Sapient tribbles and Jedi, are generally pretty unbalanced.   Anyone wanting to play a custom species will have to define it to a level that the other players can anticipate fairly accurately what individuals of that species are capable of.   Sapience takes quite a bit of metabolism and supporting structures to pull off, so a player who wanted to play a sapient tribble will have to explain the how and whys of how the tribble species became sapient when they were doing just fine with thier high birthrate, high deathrate survival strategy.   Characters with Jedi like abilities, will have to explain exactly how they work using Star Trek science (or normal science even) and also have some weaknesses to balance the character so they are not to powerful.   Perferably the weaknesses will be somehow related to the strength.

    I do have a custom species of my own...  I wasn't planning to bring them into the first RP...  Maybe a future one...   But I could post the details to see what you think...  Custom species should be subjected to a lot of scrutiny, especially if they have some particular advantage.  And let's be honest, you wouldn't bother to define a new species if it didn't.   Custom species will have fairly small populations to explain why they've been overlooked in canon.  

    Neither players with characters of a custom species nor stock species will be allowed to spring any sort of surprises that the other players would have know way of knowing.  "Discovering" convienent capabilities is horribly unsporting and ruins the story.

[qoSagh]

I think alot of differences could be largely ignored. As long as members don't do things that directly contradict each other. If someone stated that a certain kind of character did not exist, despite having a few in the game, I'm sure that post could be corrected, it would however be nice not to get into such snafu's. I would also guess that the game would be cleaner without custom races or non-trek races, simply because of the floodgates that would open up.

As for differences in Klingons, I think the oportunity for interaction between the variations would be spectacular. However in the comming weeks as paraborg finally enteres into the debate, this may all be a moot point. I just wouldn't want to see one player do a 200 year old character and another do a 64 year old on his last mission before he like all other characters die at 65. Think of the confusion that a 31 year old would cause in Logans Run (or 22 if you read the book). Same general concept.

[Klythe]

There is a bit of a difference between an enforced end of life ritual at a specific age, and reaching past the end of your nominal life span.   I never heard that TOS characters always expire in thier 65th year of life, only that for most purposes the few remaining warriors who reached that age would seriously be considering retirement, grumbling "I'm too old for this..." while they hiked thier belts up to thier nipples.   That is if they hadn't already retired or been killed.     I think people in that group may have been taking the 'rules' in the gamebook too literally...

    I think there is more than enough diversity in genetics and in habitats Klingons live longer on some planets than others, to which they may be less biologically adapted)

[Kesvirit]

I would also guess that the game would be cleaner without custom races or non-trek races, simply because of the floodgates that would open up.

Agreed. At least until the players have a few joint RP marks on their scabbards.
To any who have designed custom Klingon races to post the specifics on the boards for discussion!  The feedback may help you to further develop them in a plausible and realistic fashion, and to help you fill in the gaps.

As for differences in Klingons, I think the oportunity for interaction between the variations would be spectacular. However in the comming weeks as paraborg finally enteres into the debate, this may all be a moot point.

Khest Paraborg. You have not allowed them to constrain your concepts of Klindom so far, have you? Why start now? Especially after they have played so coy in *not* addressing the question for the last 27 years?

I think there is more than enough diversity in genetics and in habitats Klingons live longer on some planets than others, to which they may be less biologically adapted)

I would like to see some of the more ambitious and/or experienced players incorporate some of this diversity into their characters. I intend to do so with mine.  Another term for science fiction is speculative fiction. Come on, Klinfolk, speculate!

-=- Kesvirit
 

[qoSagh]

OK, so we know we have some aspiring players, pretty much anything Klingon goes, now all we need is a scenario and rules and lets play.

I know I made it all sound too easy, but lets start thinking about what kind of scenario could involve Klingons, deal more with thinking and speaking and less with fighting.

Some ideas I had were:

The sucession of a new Chancellor (complete with chalengers)

The internal debates that must have come out of the Praxis explosion

The status of long forgotten disident movements like the Imperial Klingon States

 

[Klythe]

Sorry I haven't been driving this as much as I'd like to.  My work levels have spiked the last week or two, and I've had to put in a lot of overtime.

   The first idea (one I had myself BTW) would be far easier for some of the less experienced players to jump in.  My biggest concern with this is that unlike the others, this kind of RP goes against the idea that the point of RP is not to 'win', but to tell a good story.   This kind of story encourages people to try to 'win' and become Chancellor.  It is easier for new players to start, but also tends to give them the wrong idea.  I'd recommend against it.

    The other two, are excellent ideas (I am jealous).  They both allow anyone to pick any number of sides or even create thier own side as before, but the characters aren't personally winning or losing, thier sides might be(and some characters may even switch sides in some cases)...   But they are higher risk because they are so open, it is possible some might find themselves at a loss...

    We should all decide on what scenario we want to play.

[Kesvirit]

but lets start thinking about what kind of scenario could involve Klingons, deal more with thinking and speaking and less with fighting.

Some ideas I had were:

The sucession of a new Chancellor (complete with chalengers)

This I would ammend to the succession of a new Emporer/Empress. (NO CLONES.) I fear that anything involving the succession of a new chancellor will quickly degenerate into a rehashing of the Gowron/Worf/Martok debacle. To quote a student whose quarters are not far from mine: “It’s been done, y’know? Anyone who wants to see that happen can catch it in reruns on cable.”

The internal debates that must have come out of the Praxis explosion

My personal favorite, though it may be a bit ambitious for a trial run. Would it not require someone to write at least one Romulan NPC (non-player character)?

The status of long forgotten disident movements like the Imperial Klingon States

This, too, sparks my interest. But like the above it may be to ambitious an undertaking for a group with multiple beginners, and source material from which to work is scarce. My FASA Klingon manuals mention it... Does anyone have the original Triangle briefing book?

I hope other potential players will offer further opinions and suggestions.


I now hand the RP over to zan Klythe to administrate. As a founding member of the KIF and a long-term moderator of another RP board, he knows whereof he posts. At least where RP is concerned.

I would like to join in,but also something to think about,how would one kill another?In the ranks of klingon's if cowardis is shown then one klingon can challenge and kill another klingon.How would that work?
'BAM your dead'? 'No i am not i dodged it'
Or'I don't like your face'shoots and the other guy dies
I think there should be some kind of rule for killing another members person
 Just a thought

To elaborate on Klythe’s answer following the abovementioned post and hopefully to give tmk1000 a simpler answer to his questions:

The lines “BAM your dead” and “'I don't like your face'shoots and the other guy dies” both involve writing the actions of another player’s character. You can’t do that. You can only set up circumstances for the other player’s character to react to. This is what Klythe means when he says:

Remember, you can only say what your character does: "Thorkmak squeezes the tiggerpad of his disruptor in a short burst". You generally can't even say if you hit or miss, or even if the beam fires, because that isn't entirely up to your character to decide.

(emphasis added)

I recommend that all intending to participate in this RP read The Guide to Free-Form Online Roll-Playing. Among other things, it says:

Character Interaction: Avoid "unblockable" and "forced" actions. If you are playing a character who is attacking or otherwise chasing another character, give them ways to avoid capture. Try to give the other player breathing room. The same goes for playing the defensive character: there should be few (if any) forced actions. Forced actions are, in effect, writing the other player's character without their consent. This is known as power-playing/power-gaming, and is generally not appreciated. The only time forcing actions is acceptable is with the consent of the other player.

Power gaming is beyond obnoxious, and those who persist in it generally get frozen out of games because no one wants to play with them.

But do not let that stop you from trying this RP! Beginners are welcome, and this is supposed to be a learning experience in both RP and writing. GM Klythe has standing orders to be patient and helpful to newcomers.

-=- Kesvirit

(corrected the Chancellor's name- Klythe )

[qoSagh]

The Praxis story line would be an easy one to deal with for newbies, as the main source material is a readily avalible movie. I imagine that before Chang did what he did, he and others tried to convince the chancellor not to pursue peace talks. Were there more than one such group? What changed between the original refusal of help and Spock initiating the conference? I imagine that must have been one of the most interesting council sessions ever.

While I favor the Triangle themed story, some of the source material is hard to come by for those who have not been in Klindom as long. My own copies of most of the FASA stuff were from someone who was cleaning out his apartment and decided to give them away, many were out of print by that time. The Triangle theme I had in mind would be where these various areas are in the 24th century, after the empire has probably expanded into the areas that they had originally claimed way back when they were uncharted frontiers. How does the Empire deal with these groups or thier remnants/decendants. Were they put down as a rebelion, or do they have some form of autonomy? Do they cling to a maquis like existance?

As for the Chancellor story, we have seen at least two changes both quite different. When K'Mpek was killed and the arbiter had to decide between Duras and Gowron it was quite different than when Worf betrayed Gowron and handed Martok a throne he had not rightfully won. But none the less we know that the chancellors seat usually involves some kind of contest, either out and out battle or the recitation of ones victories, ect.

From what we know of the Emperors seat, it is at least somewhat hereditary. In Pawns and symbols in went from uncle to nephew. I don't remember how the K'Tinga was chosen. But even if it was a father to son throne, the only way it would be in question is if someone tried to challenge the entire royal family, which would likely lead to a civil war and exactly the kind of combat rich scenario we are trying to avoid.
 

[Kesvirit]

The Imperial throne is at least somewhat hereditary. Whether the throne is passed from A) Uncle to nephew, B) Father to son, or C) Other, the heir apparent may not necessarily come to wear the crown. An heir cannot expect to rule without at least the tacit consent of the Imperial Council and/or the Thought Admirals.

I have seen precedents for C. If such a scenario is chosen a route of succession will have to be established before beginning. What that route is may depend at what point in history the game is set.

-=- Kesvirit

[qoSagh]

Even if there were no Precedents in place, I would think that no Klingon be he a councilor or just a citizen would allow a weak or dishonorable Emperor. Should the heir prove to be someone inappropriate, I would expect a coup to be required. I think most Klingons would see that as a responsibility under nal komerex khesterex. Of course usually only those highly placed would be aware of such deficiancies in an heir, so the likelyhood of a grassroots revolution is pretty slim.

I can also see someone supporting another for the throne not only to court favor, but to avoid having to pass the throne onto an undesirable relative. Supposing that you didn't like your heir, and you were a highly placed council member, you might support another candidate, to court favor and prevent you family from loosing a throne after a single generation.

[Warfina]

this would interest me also let me know what the story is going to be... :blink:  

[Klythe]

Warfina, it isn't for me as game moderator or any other single person to decide the scenario.  It is up to the people who want to play.   If we can't get a player concensus on which scenario to play, it will probably be too hard to keep everyone playing nicely during the game.   As long as discussion is still happening, I don't want to try to force it.  Once discussion stops, we'll put it to a vote.  I'd rather leave it as a voice vote, but if necessary we could create a poll.


    The Succession scenario, as Kesv points out could happen in any number of eras.  Many of which, I would add, would have no encumbant ruler or heirs.

0) Pre-Molar  (also called the Bi-cuspid Bienium, where warriors fight for tooth and honor)
1) After Kahless/qeyleS abdicates and disappears leaving a power vacuum.
2) After the Hur'q/Karsids/Old Kings are overthrown, and the Klingons struggle to rebuilt their empire in the wake of inferior people with superior technology.
3) Early stellar expansion era-  The Klingon empire controls a handful of colonies and maybe a conquered world or two, with may more worlds to conquer.
4) Young stable Imperial era- ST:Enterprise and The Final Refection would take place in this era.   The Klingon Empire is boxes in between other large space powers, the Federation, Romulans and perhaps also the K'zniti and/or Kinshari and others
5) TOS Era
6) Neotrek Era
7) Post Dominion War Era

   Personally, I'd recommend a setting where everyone is on the same page, because the page in question happens to be pretty much blank.  Options 0-3 are almost entirely undefined, so it is a lot harder to say someone screwed up because they missed an obscure episode that had one obscure line that said XXXX, and so you are wrong.

    The other two RP scenarios are already tied to when they happen, but the problems are much more loosely defined offering a different sort of flexibility.   So what kind of freedom do you perfer, freedom in the problemspace with more familiarity in the setting, or freedom in the setting, with a more familiar problem?

[qoSagh]

I will likely pl;ay in any of the scenarios, or for that matter any other one that comes up. I actually like the idea of different time periods, because they are not as dependant on known information.

I think post Kahless is an interesting time because as te first great Emperor, when he left the governmental system was still new. This means in addition to any heirs apparant, there would likely be those who want to return to the old system.

Post Hur'q is interesting for the much the same reasons. There would be those who wanted to bring back small fuedal lords, those who wanted one strong Emperor, there may even have been those who want an elected democracy.

I also think that the post Martok period would be interesting, Paraborg had the chance in the Post Gowron era but didn't take it. When the Chancelor is replaced there was/is likely to be a faction that wants to reinstall the Emperor. Remember that most citizens do not know he is a clone.

Of course there are many more stories to tell other than who sits in the throne, I just think that gives us the best chance of internal diplomacy, without having to involve other races all that much as main characters.

[Kesvirit]

Personally, I'd recommend a setting where everyone is on the same page, because the page in question happens to be pretty much blank. Options 0-3 are almost entirely undefined, so it is a lot harder to say someone screwed up because they missed an obscure episode that had one obscure line that said XXXX, and so you are wrong.

Agreed. Also remember that the players are coming from the perspectives of different series and different periods in history; few Klinfolk are fluent in all of them.

Of course there are many more stories to tell other than who sits in the throne, I just think that gives us the best chance of internal diplomacy, without having to involve other races all that much as main characters.

Also agreed. I think it would be best to keep the first story relatively simple: no other spieces, possible no other worlds as well. Strictly intramural. A beginner such as myself is going to have enough problems competing with seasoned veterans... That may rule out Early Stellar Expansion for our first go-around as well.

0) Pre-Molar (also called the Bi-cuspid Bienium, where warriors fight for tooth and honor)

1) After Kahless/qeyleS abdicates and disappears leaving a power vacuum.

2) After the Hur'q/Karsids/Old Kings are overthrown, and the Klingons struggle to rebuilt their empire in the wake of inferior people with superior technology.

3) Early stellar expansion era- The Klingon empire controls a handful of colonies and maybe a conquered world or two, with may more worlds to conquer.

What sorts of technologies would these different settings give us to work with?

The pros and cons I see with the above:

0) Pre-Molar:
+ : To my knowledge, next to nothing is known about the social structure of this period. Except for the odontology thing Klythe mentioned.
- : It is likely to turn into fanboy hack-&-slash

1) Post Kahless:
+ / - / ? : Wouldn’t they continue to choose leaders however they had done so before their messiah manifested, only on a larger scale?

2) Post Hur’q/Karsid:
+ : Chance and Lady Luck play at least as large a role as cunning and “survival of the fittest”. The pace will likely keep moving right along.
- : I forsee a rerun of the sacking of Europe by various Goths after the fall of Rome.

3) Early stellar expansion (my personal favorite)
+ : New worlds; growing pains of expansion; debates over how to use these new worlds
- : Non-Klingon spp., aliens to contend with. Breaks that intramural thing I mentioned earlier.

If we go with one of 0-3, we will need a map of the Homeworld and possibly its immediate environs. Every map of the Homeworld I could find was derived from the FASA version; the cleanest copy I could find online is here. It is a TOS era map, so as long as we do not play in that timespan the names do not matter that much. If we decide to go with a planet-bound scenario I can scan in a cleaner copy and probably dig a copy of the Klingon astrocartographical neighborhood out of Google.

Regardless of the setting, I am eager to get started.

-=- Kesvirit

[Klythe]

- : I forsee a rerun of the sacking of Europe by various Goths after the fall of Rome.

    I can just see a bunch of 'medieval screwheads' fighting over the limited supply of purple and red hair dyes, black clothing and body piercings present in the roman loot...

Anyway...

     Option three does not require non-Klingon species.  We can all agree that no other intelligent life besides Klingons (and possibly scattered groups of Hur'q who were marooned).   The existance and relevance of colony worlds would make an interesting political contrast.   Perhaps the last ruller and his entire regime was so corrupt and dishonorable, that no one from the homeworld who would seek to lead would be trusted.   Or maybe the colony worlds as a whole have gained enough power and influence to wrest control from an Emporer who does not grant the colonies what they are due.  

    This is sounding better and better all the time.  Is there any reason whe shouldn't pick this time?

[qoSagh]

Not that this is a requirement, but the idea of colonies gaining independence actually might explain a piece of ever changing canon. Remember Klinzai? How about Kling? Then all of a sudeden we have Qo'noS. Perhaps this is because the terran translation "Homeworld" really means something more like Capital Planet. Perhaps Klinzai was once the homeworld, and due to a political shift in the early colonization days, Qo'noS became the homeworld.

Just a theory, but it could be worked into the story, as an interesting element.