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I need to plot the arcs of the various plot hooks I've laid out at least one session in advance. Right now there is major interest in the Alexei arc and the Bioweapons arc. I feel like the Alexei arc is the one I want the group to run with, because that's more local and limited in scope than the Bioweapons arc, and the latter will be considerably more potent if there are reports on the effectiveness of the weapon at Alarion when they reach the research facility. Alarion gets bombed in April of 3069, about a year downtimestream from the current campaign date, but after that they can chase that lead as they see fit. I just need to make sure I don't give them adequate clues to pursue that arc sooner than that, which should be pretty easy.

The characters, led by Simon, seem to be setting out on a classic "Chase" scenario -- both TerraSec and the party want to find Alexei, and the pursuit provides me with something I can build story around. In addition, the party investigating various resistance hideouts as they come across them give me a good way to provide more or less any supply I can think of from MRE's to tactical nuclear weapons. Them running in this direction makes my life considerably easier.

I haven't given much thought to what the rest of the Terran Resistance looks like, but now I'm considering how Alexei would fit in. It makes little sense for him to be a major leader, but he could certainly work for a cell with grander plans. What I'll likely do is have him linked to a criminal organization, in which he was serving as a spy for the anti-Word groups on-planet. This allows me to set up a hierarchy the characters can read about in the TerraSec reports they'll retrieve next session. The resistance cell can serve as a half-ally, a third faction in what until now has been a fairly clear ComStar/Resistance vs. Word of Blake/TerraSec split -- a group with a vested interest in seeing the Word of Blake out, but alternative motives that may not entirely jive with the party's. That may or may not be obvious coming out of the gate.

Also, a factor I'm coming up against is mitigating the speed of the campaign. As previously noted, the campaign is supposed to average one session every 6-9 months of Game Time, with obvious bunches at the beginning and end. I need to come up with a variety of reasons that particular leads can't be acted on for months or years. Ideally I should come up with limiting factors that allow the players to collect information but only be able to take direct action during specific times. I think for the Wyrm plot I can give them a hook for an adventure in which they can join a TerraSec tour of the ship sometime in late 3069 or 3070. In my vague mindset, it will launch in 3074, and there will be another session in that arc then.

Alexei's arc is simpler -- he can disappear and the party be unable to find him until he pops up again. It feels like a cheat, though. I would rather find a more elegant solution to limiting that arc.

The Bioweapons and Sarna arcs are both very difficult -- they both involve static facilities that party could theoretically travel to at any time after they discover their location. I would like the Sarna arc to be one of the first pursued for timeline reasons, but so far only Alex is really keen on that. Also, I have no good idea for an intervening session in the Sarna arc -- each arc should be three to five sessions, and I only really have one for Sarna so far -- discovery and investigating the HPG in California that has been weaponized. The Bioweapons arc is equally tricky -- I can interpose a university mission or somesuch, but stretching that arc is going to have to come from player action.

I'm planning on giving the players information on the Alexei arc through a member of his organization who is being held at TerraSec. The Bioweapons arc will come out of an officer who has been corresponding with the Montana TerraSec headquarters about a curious incident involving some Denver residents who went missing while camping in the Montana Badlands. The Wyrm arc is on the Chief's computer. The balance of the hooks are simply in the station's computer. Still need to write those all up...