I'm unfortunately stuck on the plot for my STA round.
Somehow I can't get past the very rough skeleton and the task.

Background:
The plot is a bit Voyager-like - i.e. ship stranded in nowhere and on the way home.

Plot Idea:
There are two races - one is a race of traders, helpful, peace-loving, sophisticated... sort of the good likeable ones.

The other race is very alien and also repulsive. I thought of an insectoid race which consumes their own deceased as part of a ritual. Regarding the reason for the war I consider it a communication problem.
While both species use noises to transport information the insectoid species also uses smells for transmitting emotions (a bit like the Elcor in Mass Effect).
And the peaceful species smells to the insectoid species of incredible danger and high aggression. When they are confronted with members of this species they have to attack.
Also their leaders decided to go to war to get rid of the assumed threat.

Now the good folk have had enough and want to end things once and for all with some kind of planet-killing bomb.

Of course, allowing that to happen wouldn't exactly be in Starfleet's best interest.

My problem is that I can't get any further than this point. OK, the captain is kidnapped by the "evil" species on an away mission earlier (player is absent) and has to be rescued.
But that's as far as I get.

I need ideas to expand the whole thing and also to find one or more solutions

I'll try to help you think of some things to expand the area of this campaign. I'm going to spitball some sentences and questions that are meant to make you think about things you could answer to fill out the setting a bit more.

Are these the only two species in the area? Or are either of these the "ruling" species of a larger block of aliens that are grouped together under single governments? (Klingons being an example of a "ruler" species, they rule the klingon empire, but there are other aliens living in the empire as subject species)   If one species is kind of like "traders" then what other species/groups exist that they trade with? It would be kinda weird for them to be traders and only trade with themselves.  If there are other species in the general area, do they have any experience with the "bad guys" ?   Are there any species that the "bad guys" are able to co-exist with? Or have the "bad guys" fought with other species in the past? Is this the first time the "bad guys" have gone to space and so they are dealing with a "first contact crisis" where they don't know how to deal with other species because their culture hasn't had to deal with it before?

You say the "good" aliens want to blow up the insect aliens home world? I know it is sci-fi and fantastical things can happen, but you don't need to blow up a planet to kill everything on the planet. Did you know that photon-torpedoes are basically anti-matter bombs?  A single starship with photon torpedoes has enough fire-power to destroy every city on a planet and possibly kill everything on that planet, without having to blow it up.

Have you thought of any details on skirmishes that happened between the two?  How do the insects attack? Smells can't be transmitted when you're talking via radio or communication screens or anything, so do they only attack in person? or do their space ships start attacking whenever they see the "good" aliens? What kinds of attacks have happened? raids on the planet? starbases?

If there are other aliens in the general area, have they offered diplomatic help?  Are the insects smart enough to know that other aliens can't control their smell to communicate emotions?  Are there perfumes or something else that other aliens have adopted to change their smell when they deal with the insects?

Have you thought any about the ships that either of them use? How they compare to the starfleet ship your players have? How they compare to each-other? Are there any resources the insects would like to have more of? Are the "Trader" species able to help them get more of that resource by the connections they have made?

Thanks Banjo!
These are some darn good questions.

First of all a clarification: I need to keep it simple since this will be a mere adventure for one to two sessions. The more factors I add (e.g. different alien species) the more complex it will be and the longer it will take to get to a satisfactory finale.

Regarding first contact I considered that the insectoid species after first contact took over the technology of the "good" traders. They were reclusive and didn't have much contact with other species.
Their ships are ramshackle barges and totally inferior to Starfleet technology. The traders on the other hand have only light armed ships (even if) and have next to no experience in warfare.

Oh, that brings up a good point: The insectoids will try to get their claws on Starfleet tech.

Regarding communication via ship-to-ship when the situation is already being messed up and after a few plundered and destroyed colonies and boarded ships (after peaceful communication) the situation escalated and now no side is willing to talk.

Regarding the planet killer I thought of biological or chemical weapons. The issue is that we switch GMs and when I am not running the game I play the doctor who is specialized in WMDs.
So I want to avoid making it look like my character is getting spotlight.

Thanks man! While I write some of these things I make them up and can use them later thanks to your questions.
I want others to shine.

Quote from: Coffeecup on October 26, 2023, 11:26:42 AM
Regarding communication via ship-to-ship when the situation is already being messed up and after a few plundered and destroyed colonies and boarded ships (after peaceful communication) the situation escalated and now no side is willing to talk.

Regarding the planet killer I thought of biological or chemical weapons. The issue is that we switch GMs and when I am not running the game I play the doctor who is specialized in WMDs.

Here's my take -- I'd suggest as the planet-killer a neurological weapon that causes the insect-people to kill each other --  working on the same fight-or-flight instinct that the smell is based on. That ties it into the cause of the conflict in the first place -- the instinctual seeing of the other as enemy.

First, the PCs have to rescue their captain from the insect people.

Then they get information about where the planet-killer is being developed. It's up to the PCs to try to stop the planet-killer from being deployed, and possibly to suggest working on the opposite development -- an instinct-neutralizing effect that could de-escalate the situation. However, the scientists might say that is more difficult and risky.

If you need to throw in a twist, have a zealot among the peaceful race who is now determined to use the planet-killer, maybe because of trauma from seeing the insect-people eat his family after some of them were killed. (Note that the insect-people have no taboo against eating the dead, to them it is more civilized to eat one's opponents than to let them rot.)

Ideas on possible outcomes, hopefully they inspire you to have some other additional outcomes or options.

Players fail to save their captain, they die in the rescue attempt, or the weapon gets activated/used and the players all die on the insect planet in their failed attempt.

Players fail to save their captain, (captain dies or something), and they continue on in the mission, but they fail to stop the weapon and the insectoids die.

Players succeed in saving their captain, but they fail to stop the weapon and the insectoids die.

Players succeed in saving their captain, but an extremist changes the weapon and turns it on to the trade-species and they all die.

Players succeed in saving their captain, they stop the super weapon, but they don't broker peace and somehow the insectoids kill all the traders.

Players succeed in saving their captain, they stop the super weapon, but the war continues and both sides continue to lose many people.

Players save captain, they stop weapon, klingons come in and broker a deal to be allies against the federation with either the insects or the traders and the klingons help kill off the one side in favor of the other.

Players save captain, they stop weapon, they help bring peace between the two.

Good points so far.

My favourite solution (at least the best solution) would be to broker peace between the two species who are both not aware that the issue is communication.
So it will be up to the PCs to uncover the problem.

And it is a great idea that at least on one side (I will take the traders here) there are people who want to kill off the other side.

As an intro I wanted to start with a diplomatic mission:
The PCs are being contacted by the trader race. And having friends who know the sector and who can also help out with useful things (e.g. Deuterium for the warp drive) are always good.
Of course they want to show off and travel to a nearby colony.
Either by arrival or just before that this colony is being attacked. The captain and the PCs who accompanied him are being kidnapped since the insectoids have no clue what to do with them.

So the group is being split (fortunately no issue with STA due to the rules for supporting characters).

The part then will consists of rescuing the captain
The second part will be about analysing the cause of the conflict.
The third part will be about negotiating peace and to stop the deployment of the doomsday weapon (currently I think of something which burns the atmosphere of the planet. At least this way raw material can still be mined).
The last part (and the finale) will be about stopping the ship with the doomsday weapon which is being controlled by mother/father/family/close friend/... of someone who was killed in that colony.

Really really good questions and points being brought up.

Let the players investigate the situation then try to come up with solutions to the communication problem. Perhaps they could work with the insectoid race to develop a pheromone type substance that the traders could use to counter their danger scent?