Game Idea 10-27-2017 Be A Good Gabra

A place for TrekCreative and other SF offerings
Post Reply
User avatar
jayphailey
Posts: 442
Joined: Tue May 29, 2018 7:50 pm

Game Idea 10-27-2017 Be A Good Gabra

Post by jayphailey » Sun Jul 08, 2018 10:04 am

Game Idea 10-27-2017 Be A Good Gabra

The Gabra are a race of humanoids who have been building a trade empire on the edge of known space. The PCs are sent to investigate them and make a diplomatic overture.

The Gabra have warp drives and equipment fairly primitive by modern standards, but seem to be improving.

Do the PCs meet merchant ships engaging in trade? Patrol ships keeping people safe and defending Garba territory? It's up to the GM. But they react well to the idea of new visitors and making new friends.

One thing the PCs quickly notice. The Gabra enjoy their video entertainment and education. Sprinkled among their video presentations are messages. "Be good citizens" and "Obey the Law" These seem like hamfisted PSA's and after school special type things.

They are always preceded by a weird display of colors and sounds.

When these colors and sounds are shown, the Gabra stop and look. Afterwards they seem a little distant and distracted but quickly shake themselves out of it.

When questioned about their government, the Gabra seem to be running a sort of meritocratic technocracy. They are governed by panels of experts, chosen from the smartest people and educated in specific fields to be experts.

Panels of such experts set policy.

The idea of democracy strike the Gabra as sort of dangerous "Why would we want people who don't know anything about it sticking their fingers into it? You don't do surgery or engineering that way! Leave it to the experts."

There are weird PSAs to this effect "Trust the experts and leave it to them." Also "Do your job well, and everything else will work out right."

-*-

The punchline is that some time ago, some folks discovered a selection of colors and sounds, that, when played momentarily shuts down the critical thinking mode of the Gabra brain. Show the colors and sounds in the right sequence (I.E. the weird opening to the Gabra PSA's) and for a few moments, the Gabra will believe anything you tell him or her.

There is a super-class of Gabra people. They are recruited from the smartest and most capable Gabra, and, as advertised, they form various committees of very smart people who are educated in various topics. They live in enclaves where they are wealthy, live a high end life style and are usually not subjected to the PSAs.

They have created a fairly happy and good-natured Gabra society, mainly by occasionally triggering this weak minded mode and encouraging good behavior.

There is remarkably little corruption because cops and bureaucrats have "PSAs" that tell them not to and encourage them to report such incidents.

The Gabra are generally optimistic and hopeful about their society. There are PSAs to this effect, too.

-*-

Gabra has encountered three other worlds with intelligent life on them. But these worlds were primitive, pre warp flight cultures. The Gabra have taken them over. On the one hand, these colonized people have been given the advantages of modern Gabra culture. Advanced medicine, food production and life style technologies that make things pretty good. But they are not allowed warp drives.

For the Federation, this looks like a terrible violation of the Prime Directive. Currently the colony worlds and colonized people are working out just how they feel about this.

-*-

The Gabra elites will happily form a "Diplomacy" panel and meet with the PCs. If the Federation is willing to set up trade relations, they'd be happy to. They are interested in learning about the Federation and seeing how well the Federation holds up it's treaties. They'd like to make diplomatic relations regular and set up mechanisms for solving problems by talking.

Behind the Scenes, the Gabra elites are worried. When they met their first non-Gabran life forms, they discovered that either there is no such "Mental weakness" button for them, or if there is, it's devilishly hard to discover.

So the Gabrans took control in order to keep this new species from running loose all uncontrolled. They did this two more times. Their goal is to keep the non Gabrans happy, but in a state where they can't harm Gabra society.

This means there are Gabran cops on these worlds whos job it is to ferret out rebellions and uprisings and stop them. Right now, they have local help, because the locals on each of the three worlds are not yet unified enough to realize they're being kept down. So Joe Local will happily take a job with the Gabran "Order Police" and keep order in exchange for a pay check.

Meeting a whole Federation of people who cannot be steered by mind control techniques is quite a concern for the Gabrans.

What is the appropriate Federation response to the Gabrans?

-*-

If the GM needs to action this up, then the Gabrans are discovered by a band of Pirates. The Gabrans don't have the technology to fend off the Pirates. Will the PCs help them? The Gabrans are able and willing to fight to defend themselves, but are technologically behind the curve.

-*-


The GM will need to make up Who it is that the PCs first encounter.

Koji Gabalputi and company - a small trade ship on its way from Colony Green-Cups to Station 17.

Station 17, a trade and support base. Mekka Turblo-machy is the base commander. Nice lady, very direct and all business. Refers the PCs to the Gabran Homeworld.

Cruiser Fekkatorn - a Patrol cruiser with the latest in particle beams and guided hypervelocity missiles. Their shields are actually shields, but just barely. Has the top of the line search and rescue and medical response technology for the Gabrans. Looks like a flying Museum to the PCs. Escorts the PCs to Gabra-Yoyo, the Home world.

Bleeka-Torma city, a huge sprawling city of 10 million people. PSAs show at the tops of the hour and half passed.

Krenna-boki, liason from the Contact Committee. Sets up meeting schedules and support for the PCs.

The Contact Committee has seven people (always odd numbers to prevent tie votes)

If asked about the PSAs and their effects, after about a minute, most Gabrans will shrug it off. "meh, they want us to be good people. What's wrong with that?"

A few might say "They do seem sort of creepy, don't they? But Honestly I don't see anything objectionable."

If the PCs point out that the colors and sound at the beginning make Gabrans suggestible and act like brain washing, they'll be skeptical at first. That's tin foil hat stuff. As it turns out there are PSAs about how people who distrust the PSAs are lunatics and irrational.

If the PCs persist, they'll eventually get visits from high level Gabran "Order Police" (Gabrans in Black) Who ask the PCs to stop. The effect is deliberate and considered necessary to the orderly running of Gabran society. If the PCs persist in being disruptive, the GIBs of the Order Police and the Diplomatic Committee will ask them to either stop of leave Gabran space.

On the Surface the Gabran Order-Police use weapons that are primitive, to the Federation, but very effective. They start off with Sonic stunners, but if that doesn't work they can turn to particle bolt blasters, needle guns, masers and even old fashioned slug throwers depending on which unit is at hand.

-*-

The brain washing effect is both short lived and long lived. A Gabran hit with the effect will be credulous and suggestible for about a minute afterwards.

Over time, if the message is not contradicted, it will become incorporated subconsciously. So a message to "Buy Slurm!" will create a short lived desire for slurm. If the affected Gabran doesn't like slurm, them in a minute the desire will be gone.

But messages like "Be a good citizen" or "Do your job" or "Trust the government" form workable habits and ideas in their current environment, so after a while a Gabran will think these are good ideas anyway.


-*-

So the question for the PCs is - how should the Federation relate to these folks?

As a more action driven plot, should the Federation protect these folks from pirates who clearly outclass them? How far should the Federations assistance go?

Post Reply