Hello and welcome to the final month of Tuesdays at Quark’s for 2018! This month we’re doing something a little different by teaming up with Generating Threat to bring you all things Gorn! These guys have got to be feeling pretty crummy this time of year with the cold and all so let’s cheer them up by shining a nice, warm spotlight on them. Look at those adorable little monsters squirm.
Obviously I’ll be trying to push the envelope with Gorn here but to start off with I wanted to make a mean, tough Gorn warrior who can threaten your crew. You know, the classics. This bounty hunter has a bit of a Star Wars vibe to him that I won’t apologize but he’s more than just a Gorn version of Bossk. First off, he was born and grew up on Drozana Station so if you are utilizing anything from Star Trek Online you can find lots of fun connections there. Secondly, he used to work for the Orion Syndicate and now has a tenuous relationship with them so if your campaign involves the Orions at all you can use Zrabas as an enemy or a seedy ally.
One aspect that I wanted to switch up is the portrayal of Gorns in Star Trek as clunky brutes. Sure the one originally fighting Kirk was a lumbering jerk and maybe that’s the default attitude for the species but a lot of them must have different approaches. Zrabas prefers the lying-in-wait approach to the kick-in-the-door approach and that may very well catch player characters off guard as well.
There are lots of directions to take this character but here are a few plot hooks to get you started.
- After tricking the arms merchant Soloc on a previous mission, many of the bridge crew take a much-needed break on Risa. While there, though, they find themselves the target of Zrabas who is supposed to bring them alive (but not necessarily intact) to the Ferengi. This shore leave is taking a pretty rough turn.
- Starfleet Intelligence needs someone to infiltrate the Orion Syndicate and gain knowledge of a Romulan plot that could threaten the quadrant. With the stakes so high they’ve taken an unusual step: hiring the bounty hunter Zrabas to act as a guide for the infiltrating agents.
- While near Deep Space Nine, the crew’s ship encounters a damaged Gorn vessel limping its way towards the station. Onboard, Zrabas tells a desperate story of a changeling agent from the Dominion ambushing him on a job. He claims to have inside information on the plot the changeling was working towards, but can the crew trust a thing this low-life says?
Click on the image below for the PDF.