Bravo Fleet
‘The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born: now is the time of monsters.’ – Antonio Gramsci
On April 12th, 2401, Starfleet will come together to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the launch of the Enterprise NX-01, the spiritual birth of the organisation. Festivities will be held across the Federation, with the largest to be held at Sol, where an armada of representatives of the major fleets will come together. Admirals will make toasts. Commanders will pour champagne. Ensigns will serve canapes.
The Borg will ruin everything.
As our timeline reaches the day of those fateful events, we prepare for the stories we can tell of what will likely be a defining moment of the 25th century. This will not be a campaign in the traditional BF manner. Running for only three weeks, the fleet-wide BFMS Mission gives guidance on the sorts of stories you can tell – where they’ll be set, and what they might be about. From there, it’s down to you to figure out what, if anything, you want to do with your ship or characters. I cannot reiterate this enough: Frontier Day is not a time for heroics. That’s reserved for the crews of the Enterprise-D and the Titan. Bravo Fleet characters trapped in these horrific events are in a struggle for survival, where victory is about avoiding death, not the heroic overcoming of the enemy. If you do not want to tell stories of helplessness and desperation, the Mission briefing makes it very clear that Borg signal triggering the Frontier Day attack does not reach everywhere.
This story is opt-in, not opt-out. Buckle up for horror stories, people. Starting on July 17th, the terrors of Frontier Day are unleashed.
Click here for the Mission briefing with full details.
Avalon Rises
Very soon – very soon – Bravo Fleet will launch its second sandbox. ‘Sandboxes’ are RPGs open to any fleet member, different from traditional RPGs in that they are persistent, staff-run, and focus on member-led personal storylines rather than major missions akin to Star Trek episodes. Starbase Bravo launched eighteen months ago and has been a great success, and I am pleased to announce we will soon be opening Avalon Fleet Yards – set, as you might imagine, in the Fourth Fleet’s massive fleet yard facilities.
Avalon is not like SBB, which offers a ‘Lower Decks’ experience and is an excellent way for anyone of any experience level in Bravo Fleet to get stuck in. Instead of predominantly junior officers on a starbase, the PCs of Avalon are commanders of construction teams and dockyards, science facilities and stations, research teams and institutes all based in the expansive Avalon System. IC rank is tied to a member’s fleet rank (or below), with some opportunities to progress into more and more prestigious roles through engagement. However, just as the lowly Midshipman can join as an engineering specialist in a construction team, so can a Commodore jump in to lead a research institute or even just sit on the administrative body of the Avalon Yard Board.
More information will be released soon on how Avalon works and how you can get involved.
Avalon Fleet Yards is also going to be the main site of the Bravo Fleet Frontier Day story. We know how events unfold at Earth. But the Jupiter Signal is also going to reach the Avalon System. And the Avalon System is where so many of those battered, damaged starships of the Fourth Fleet will be sent for repair and maintenance after the ravages of their campaign against the Lost Fleet. Joining the Avalon RPG is not a requirement for getting involved – but AFY makes a setting, a backdrop where you can write the events on your BFMS Command as you normally might.
We intend to launch the Avalon RPG very soon, allowing members to get characters set up and established before the catastrophe of Frontier Day begins.
Changing of the Guard
For the last year and a half, Starbase Bravo has been under the authority of the Intelligence Office, with responsibilities shared between members of the BFSS. In that time, it has become not just a hotbed for general activity, but a vital early step for many of our newest members as they enter the Bravo Fleet world. Joining it can be a promotion criteria, and until members reach the rank of Midshipmen it’s one of their first opportunities to write in our group. It is not just a welcome wagon, as many experienced members have joined and enjoyed SBB over the past eighteen months, but it is one of the most welcoming and suitable activities for our new cadets.
As such, going forward, SBB will fall under the direct authority of the Academy Department. This doesn’t functionally change SBB – established members are still welcome to write and participate, and the format of the sandbox won’t change in any meaningful way. But it means that new members, when they come to SBB, are interacting with the same staff whose responsibility it is to teach them the ways of Bravo Fleet. This should make it easier for them to get stuck in and receive the support they need, including how to team up with experienced members to write together!
It’s worth noting that with all of the Frontier Day activities coming up, Starbase Bravo will not be hit by the Jupiter Signal. There will be stories around the day on SBB, so keep your eyes peeled for upcoming missions and opportunities, but it is not a setting for all that carnage.
Which means you all have choices! Where will you be on April 12th? In the midst of the bloodshed on Earth, trying to stay alive? In the chaos of Avalon, fighting to avert complete catastrophe? Or is your ship beyond the Jupiter Signal, with your crew stood before their screens, watching in helpless horror as disaster unfolds?