Valeros

Darius Silverbolt's page

Goblin Squad Member. Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber. ********* Venture-Agent, Virginia—Hampton Roads 697 posts (741 including aliases). 10 reviews. No lists. No wishlists. 35 Organized Play characters. 2 aliases.


RSS

1 to 50 of 697 << first < prev | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | next > last >>
Dataphiles

Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

In the Noma section of the book it has location names and descriptions but no coordinates on the map. I am looking just to make my own key. Anyone else figure something else out.

When it came to the hologram fight, I turned it into a live gambling event. Just before the Party gets their own chips. Force Fields go up at all entrances and around employees and all the screen starts showing off the crowd from other rooms watching the party and the current odds on the party per round are scrolled on the screen as they were the lucky Customer #1313 of the day. I made it a tad harder but non lethal.(party didn't know the non lethal part until they won.

Dataphiles

4 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
Paulyhedron wrote:
It's good enough for me, coupled with JB response on the GCP discord and Mona's recent reply on the reddit.

links to those please.

Dataphiles

Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Make that 31 Oct 2021 just to avoid confusion that I do not want any NOV product please from the above lists.

Dataphiles

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Please cancel the following subscriptions.

Starfinder Roleplaying Game
Starfinder Maps
Starfinder Accessories
Starfinder Society

Effective date Nov 2021

Thank You

Dataphiles

Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

I have ran this AP for two groups. I would use Romi / Indigo deaths to fill in any extra data / info the party missed or something the helps them connect the dots some. (using Romi's datapad).

One of my groups had a really hard time with the exploration checks down there and I use the Romi encounter earlier so they could "lock on" better to the signal to get a better check to not get lost in the exploration phase of that section in the book.

Dataphiles 5/5 5/55/5 Venture-Agent, Virginia—Hampton Roads

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Paul Rees wrote:
What is page 23 all about with the 3 digit codes?

Nevermind I have since been told. The are codes to the Map Pack tiles.

Dataphiles 5/5 5/55/5 Venture-Agent, Virginia—Hampton Roads

What is page 23 all about with the 3 digit codes?

Dataphiles

3 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
Ixal wrote:
Darius Silverbolt wrote:

I really think SF isn't your game and you may need to look elsewhere. Shadowrun / Rifts maybe a good fit for you.

When you suggest Rifts as a more sensible alternative to Starfinder you know that something is seriously wrong.

I enjoy both system and many others. You need to find something that suits you.

Dataphiles

Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
Ixal wrote:

Sadly you are quite right with your assessment of Dead Suns and Starfinder APs in general.

The plot is basically 4 hillbillies hunting Bin Laden in their pick up truck. Makes an okay comedy b-movie, but you can't take it serious.

The idea that a group of heroes need to save the world works in fantasy because of the limitation of such a setting. Lack of instant communication, lack of organized military and police, lack of general education which makes it a bit more believable that the PCs are indeed exceptional and reliance on very rare, sometimes even unique magical items. And even then Paizo APs are often stretching believability (although mostly because of the frequency a small group of persons have to save to world)

In Starfinder though all those limitations do not exist, yet the adventure insists that still the PCs must follow up on anything that happens, that they are somehow exceptional and that no one else has the ability, (mass manufactured) equipment or interest in preventing the apocalypse.
The usual response you will get here is
1. Don't think about it
2. All those things do not exist in Starfinder!!11! When you point out a modern/scifi setting would not work without them you are pointed to 1.

Its really sad that all Paizo seems to be able to do is to copy-paste fantasy plots.

I really think SF isn't your game and you may need to look elsewhere. Shadowrun / Rifts maybe a good fit for you.

Dataphiles

Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

It has happened!

Dataphiles

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
C4M3R0N wrote:


That's very fair. Again, I don't dislike the rule. I'd even be willing to run it like that myself. But I'm not currently the GM for our game lol. For 2 upgrade slots, it certainly seems fair for it to be always on, or at least turn itself on after the first hit. Which that might be how I run it, you can turn it on as a reaction. So then there's still some advantage to CIc and whatnot.

You just made me think of another option. Force field can just take one slot BUT operate as per the book.

Dataphiles

Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
C4M3R0N wrote:
While I don't dislike this, this effectively invalidates a fair bit of usefulness of the computer interface, and consequently the new voice-command modules. At our table, the people that use force fields have went through the cost of hooking then up to one of these to free up the action cost.

For me in the 7 AP's I have run force fields are just not used. I had one guy in Aeon Throne slot it as he had the free space and never turned it on.

So to me it is a house rule worth trying out as the idea of Force Field in a SCI FI game make sense that fact no one uses them from what I can tell, says something about how useful people find them.

Dataphiles

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
WatersLethe wrote:
I think his rule does stop them at 16, if I'm interpreting it correctly.

You did :-)

Dataphiles

Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

I do a 12 point buy for PC's but a one additional limit. At the end of creation no attribute can be 17 or higher. PC's are allowed to use the standard 10 point buy if they wish to go 17+ higher on a stat.

Dataphiles

Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
Ellias Aubec wrote:
I have forcefields active constantly and only drain charges once hit and begin regenerating the temp HP. Otherwise it never gets used in my experience.

Consider this house rule officially stolen :-)

Dataphiles

2 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
BigNorseWolf wrote:
Maybe it should have let the biohacker use their int bonus on the check. Because being injected with 20 ccs of dihydrogenmonoxide certainly SOUNDS dangerous.

LOL deadly stuff...to hang overs.

Dataphiles

Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
Erik Mona wrote:
Starfinder is doing fine.

Great now can we talk about get some planet stories back? :-)

Dataphiles

Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

I have a question for the module line that doesn't need to be answered right away.

How do we plan to integrate these into the Organized play? I LOVE the modules of PF1 era including the one under Gamemastery.

I would like to request that we treat the upcoming new Starfinder modules like we did with Dragon's Demand and have campaign mode as an available option.

I can't wait to get this in my hands.

Dataphiles

Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Designed for 4 or 6 players?

Dataphiles

Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
CorvusMask wrote:
Yeah, but I wouldn't call "burning" an "internal affliction" either :'D

You got me there. I just noticed that one stopped burning from that , don’t know how I missed it. Ugh.

Dataphiles

Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
BigNorseWolf wrote:
I don't know if later APs fixed this, but with dead suns characters were pretty much dead broke. If you weren't looting it off an enemy you were getting your stat boosts and thats about it in cash.

Yeah it really didn't improve. Both my AP games have 5 players and to get around gear loot issues I tend to add "mooks" vs adding levels to the big bad as it tends to get more equipment / isk in game. I also tend to add more UPB's credit sticks as well for small gains.

I also ask at the end of each AP book get PDF's of the PC"s sheets or if they have herolab they tell me what there gear / cahs values are and compare to the dreaded wealth by level chart to make sure I keep them in the ballpark.

Dataphiles

Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

I mean they already have a spell to remove this called Lesser resistant armor. In this case I understand why it isn't a condition as the source of damage is external which isn't really a type of affliction in general.

Dataphiles

Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
BigNorseWolf wrote:
Well, my obozaya tokens just got a serious upgrade

You and I think alike. Lol

Dataphiles 5/5 5/55/5 Venture-Agent, Virginia—Hampton Roads

Cast thread NECRO!!

OK reading up and I got a question about the trap in D6.

Low Tier
2 aurora shock casters +17 ranged (2d12+2 E each, explode [15 ft.])

There isn't a DC listed for the explode property but as the weapon is tier 10 I am going with DC15 and just assume a DEX Mod of +0.

Sound about right?

Dataphiles

Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
BigNorseWolf wrote:
There is some non quantifiable value trade off to that. You want to point your big guns at the other ship (usually the front) but you also want your most damaged shields aimed away from them. Which one you prioritize more matters a lot depending on your and their remaining shield/hull points.

With this system it seems best to put your big gun in the turret preferable non missile weapons so in the case of losing initiative your gunners (Fire-Control types for us Navy people) can still get best weapon on target and punish those evil NPC's.

Dataphiles

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

LOL accurate. Starships is something best left to a team who are going to be together for a while like in an AP. Trying to sort the variable on a new player Tier 1-4 SFS scenario makes this all the fun with the new options.

I love the game but this aspect is hard with new players and challenging to GM's to keep all players interested while we sort WTH is happening in this part of the game.

Dataphiles

Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

I survived Shackled city (we couldn’t hurt the end of FA,Paige boss) and I ran Age of worms and the PC completed with half the party down (rather epic 8 hour fight)

I loved dungeon magazine and I still steal ideas from them all the time.

Dataphiles

Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

The credit card update system is poor here for sure but disputing. I usually call or email and get good service myself. Posting here for service doesn’t seem to be the best approach. Best of luck.

Dataphiles

4 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
Jason Tondro wrote:

My favorite AP before this month was Against the Aeon Throne. It's 1st level (so you can dive right in with new characters), it's only 3 volumes (so it's less of a commitment), it's got great bad guys and set pieces (the colony world of volume 1 and the prison break in volume 2 are especially good), and it's in print and supported on Virtual Table Top. Now Fly Free or Die has come out, and I've been working on that for a year, so of course that's my favorite. But you will have to decide for yourself! Dawn of Flame is also a long time fave, as I like the supporting cast and the effreet adversaries a lot.

I have really enjoy the system so far. I really enjoy the AP’s. I have completed dead suns 3 as a GM , Aeon Throne twice and running 2 sets of signal of screams now. I find the system fun and enjoyable. I needed a break from fantasy RPG

I rub SFS games as well but I too, a break from scenarios for a bit to push more of the AP play. Aeon Throne is my favorite so far. I made a few changes as a GM to book one to make the bad guys really bad....and it worked great for the story. My PC in each campaign were hooked to the end and wanting more.

Yes I agree starship side could use some love but no system is perfect. I house rule things as I see fit but honestly I haven’t needed to really change anything to much.

In signal of screams I have added the some elements from shadowrun , I mean why not , the players are in pursuit of an “evil corporation” and its fun.

I do think the math in SF is tighter than it was in 3.5/PF1 and that is good and bad in some ways but once you understand the math you know how to manipulate it and that is what a GM does. You massage things so the math, story, and players all come together and forgot the worries of the real world a few hours at a time.

Paizo delivered a solid product and I appreciate the efforts.

Dataphiles

Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

It was a very challenging fight for both parties that I had go through and out of 9 total players (2 parties) one operative died in 3 rounds to the poison but they took her down just as fast.

The cost of raise dead was surprising to learn.

Dataphiles 5/5 5/55/5 Venture-Agent, Virginia—Hampton Roads

2 people marked this as a favorite.

Also I go to Taiwan for work and will be there next few months. I will be working mostly in Kaohsiung. I am a Venture Agent for SFS play and have ran a lot of starfinder. If you wish I can help with things once I am in country if you happen to be on the south side.

Send me a private message here and I will send you my email and we can work things out.

Dataphiles

Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Just looking at the roll20 marketplace and wondering if we will see more AP release or more token packs ? Not sure if this a paizo thing or roll20 thing.

Either way I love to see more of it as it saves my a lot of time.

Keep up the good work.

Dataphiles 5/5 5/55/5 Venture-Agent, Virginia—Hampton Roads

1 person marked this as a favorite.
BigNorseWolf wrote:

It felt more than a little bait and switchy to have pages of hand outs about the NPCs we're supposed to interact with, only for all the importance to suddenly be on the beacons PCs may not discover before it's too late.

Unless the expectation is that the party isn't doing the interactions one at a time, you could easily have a party of 5 go socialite socialite socialite engineer socialite.. and then need to make 4/5 checks in the next round.

Slight necro. I am finding the same when it comes to social interaction vs beacons. I try reminding the players to keep their eye on security as that was the main focus in the brief but the amount of interactions can be a slight bit tight if you have PC's with some social skills wanting to role play some and that is something I like to encourage.

Dataphiles

Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
Cellion wrote:
@Darius: Note that the initial ship the PCs use for the first encounter is never used again in the AP. There's no starship content in book 2 and in book 3 they get an entirely new ship with special properties. You can freely have your players choose/construct whichever ship they'd like. A large ship tends to be impractical for BP reasons.

That is great to know. I am setting it up on roll20 now and haven't got passed book one. I am just used to the prior AP's the PC's keep the ship and moving on.

Dataphiles

Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

So which hull did you have you players choose at the start of the AP? IN Dead Suns they had a Explorer class (Medium) and in Aeon Throne and Signal of Screams they have a Light Transport Hull (Medium).

Anyone have them choose something other than Medium sized? This AP is silent on this selection.

Dataphiles

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
Cellion wrote:

*raises hand*

I can offer one of my own Character Creation comments:

I think character creation is very stingy on ability scores. You get effectively a total of +5 to distribute between your ability scores, and with a cap of +4 to each stat, you end up with many characters that max their primary stat and add +1 to one survivability stat and then have to make do with 10s everywhere else. Even if you drop your primary stat to +3, you don't get much more wiggle room.

I liked PF1 point buy better since you could trade a little bit off your highest ability score for a 13 or 14 in some tertiary one that you felt like your character would have. "I want a technomancer that's a suave rogue" is a very tricky 1st level concept, since a 16 or 18 INT leaves you with very little for CHA or any survivability ability score like DEX or CON.

PF2 just offers far more ability scores in general (+9 total in terms of bonuses), so you don't feel so constrained.

IN my Starfinder home games which I run the various AP's. I give an house rule option that players can get 12 points to start but at the end of creation no stat can be 17+. Or the can use the standard 10 point buy. This has allowed more player choices and less min maxing so I can run more of the AP's as is vs buffing things up as the players get stronger. This allows at lv 5 for the PC to get the +2 bumps in any stat and the players like that. At level 10 the primary and maybe secondary stats only get the +1.

So far through 7 AP's this has worked really well.

Dataphiles

Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Yes I think MAP E needs a little fine tuning. If doing this on a VTT I would say cut up the map and I would double the scale of floor 4 myself but the map gets a little fuzzy when you do that and lining it up gets a tad tricky but I needed to do it as I have people play large wither with power armor or just the race itself is large.

Dataphiles

Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

I am a VTT user and maps are a extra important issue with me. When it came to the triple map using the The Blue Room /The Lizard's Lounge/Scuttle's Shop I think you need to make them separate maps cause you get some wonky feels about locations when you have to "work around" the other locations when you are on scene in one location especially with the The Lizard Lounge as it is in a skyscraper.

No the map doesn't align perfectly but I did make it work for the grid.

If I was running this at a table I would would have drawn these completely separated on flip mats.

On the issue of fighting in these location vs the various ambushes and how the public reacts is the function of the GM wishes on how they want to add a tad of realism and extra role play chances. The PC's are not in a real authority situation and that extra layer of social interaction and moral question can add some real fun to the game in mu opinion.

I was not confident I could run this AP with he "horror" component but I am having a blast running this AP for two groups.

Dataphiles

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Can we get sub-forum for the Devastation Ark AP?

Dataphiles

Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
Garretmander wrote:
Darius Silverbolt wrote:
Spamotron wrote:
John Mangrum wrote:
OK, here's my "audit" of a wide collection of published starships so far. I'll organize them by source, but I'm not including any potentially "spoilery" ships in here. (No Azlanti Star Empire, no grays, no outsiders, no species intended to be discovered during an AP, etc.)
This post looks useful enough that if I were you I would seriously consider posting it in its own thread rather than have it buried in this one.
There are flak weapons, limited fire and players can run away and force rerolls as desired. DO you think it justifies the amount the cost went up?
I find point weapons to be less than worthwhile, limited fire to never run out in a fight, and enemies to be hit the same round a tracking weapon is fired, so...

You and I have very different experiences. I have seen limited fire run out shots nearly every fight.

Dataphiles

Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
Spamotron wrote:
John Mangrum wrote:
OK, here's my "audit" of a wide collection of published starships so far. I'll organize them by source, but I'm not including any potentially "spoilery" ships in here. (No Azlanti Star Empire, no grays, no outsiders, no species intended to be discovered during an AP, etc.)
This post looks useful enough that if I were you I would seriously consider posting it in its own thread rather than have it buried in this one.

There are flak weapons, limited fire and players can run away and force rerolls as desired. DO you think it justifies the amount the cost went up?

Dataphiles

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

I am not a fan in general of the weapon BP cost redo. I do think coilguns were too cheap but I think the tracking weapons price increase to the levels they went up has basically cost themselves out of the game.

I am running my 7th AP and so far my players Don’t want tracking weapons. There is to many drawbacks as is and they slow down game play if they don’t hit in the first round. I have seen the players just straight up out run tracking weapons or make sure they have to lock back on.

This revamp was extreme in my opinion and I will now just house rule the changes to something else.

Dataphiles 5/5 5/55/5 Venture-Agent, Virginia—Hampton Roads

"Dr." Cupi wrote:
Also, there is a non-multitable special on the horizon. So, problem solved.

That gives me hope. :-)

Dataphiles 5/5 5/55/5 Venture-Agent, Virginia—Hampton Roads

I am not a fan of the rubric myself but I am never really going to be able to earn a 5th Sun as the special requirement takes me right out of it.

In the old PFS1 days you had other specials in the season that were limited release and only able to be ran by VO's or high star GM's which allowed me to qualify.

Now its running multi-table specials which I have two issues with.

1. I just don't like them too many bad experiences and now I have no longer a desire to run them.

2. Convention play for me is at a point I can't do it to the level I like to perform at with my hearing issues. I now running mostly online as where I can work around my hearing loss.

3. My local VL's and VC have played at my tables many times over the years and could write this all up now I only run starfinder (mostly just needing the SCIFI feel vs running fantasy non stop for 2+ decades) and only my VC plays starfinder which means a 2 hour drive for someone to / from Richmond or getting a an online VO which is more likley but possible.

Overall I think this add more work on volunteers who are tasked enough.

Dataphiles 5/5 5/55/5 Venture-Agent, Virginia—Hampton Roads

If the PC's cast a spell into the horde , what is the horde saves values? I am defaulting to the fanatics values at the moment.

Dataphiles 5/5 5/55/5 Venture-Agent, Virginia—Hampton Roads

Kwinten Koëter wrote:
Also, to comment on what's been said earlier: I like the idea of the arrivals being randomised, but it does indeed lead to a lot of flipping back and forth. It's a kind gesture for the GMs who run this scenario back-to-back, but maybe it would've been easier to give a randomised option in an appendix? Now there's DCs on page 5 (though easily fixed with a post-it), individual descriptions of the pillars on pages 7-11, and the randomised factions on pages 6 and 7. At least having the faction on the same page as the description of the pillars is a lot easier for looking up which skills to use and such: Pillar 1 has faction X with skills B and C for the talky team, and the hazard/skills for the exploration team are D, E, and F.

I do my randomized rolls prior to game and have all the data filled in on the sheet before the first player sits at the Virtual table but I would do the same thing for a CON. At a CON I would use the same random setup for the entire CON for ease of prep but next CON/Event I would change it up.

Dataphiles 5/5 5/55/5 Venture-Agent, Virginia—Hampton Roads

Hmm wrote:

Is it the same one that I am prepping for, Con of the North?

Hmm

Love your handouts! I am using them for my game tomorrow night.

Dataphiles 5/5 5/55/5 Venture-Agent, Virginia—Hampton Roads

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Flutter wrote:

We're all safe as long as Urgothoa doesn't branch out into computer viruses...

How to get started with roll20 If you can do this, you can start playing in 15 minutes.

How to make a roll 20 table .. and run a game with it. Play a few games first.

That is really good stuff here. I am going to share that on my discord and give proper credit.

Dataphiles

Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

I am getting a debit card declined again.

This seems to be the same issue as for order #8079560 which Ms J. Hong worked yesterday.

This issue has been active for the last 3 orders.

I have deleted the debit card and Credit Card on the account and re-added them.

Thank You for your assistance with this.

Paul

Dataphiles

Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
BPorter wrote:
Aunders wrote:
Getting ready to run this adventure for a group of mine. Any notes that anyone might have to a DM about to run this adventure?

Reach of Empire has great story hooks and a cool concept and pays homage to some classic Star Wars style imagery and action. I like it quite a bit. If you check out my review, however, you can see that I do think it has some structural and plot problems. I feel pretty strongly that these issues were inflicted upon it by Starfinder AP’s lower page count.

For my playthrough, I had read the adventure but my group wanted to play early so I ran it pretty much as written. A lot of the issues that I have with the adventure could be modified or removed with a bit of additional prep. We had fun but I feel it was a missed opportunity. It could have been much more memorable with a bit of tweaking.

KEY POINTS TO CONSIDER
The list below deals with most of the issues I have with The Reach of Empire.

1. Azlanti Communications Capability – This is detailed in the module, though much later in than it should be. However, there is little discussion of how the Azlanti forces coordinate or respond. This reinforces the dungeon-design that is applied to the colony. Give thought to what/how the Azlanti would communicate status reports, alerts, and under-fire scenarios. Which Azlanti know what and when should matter.

2. Pacing – Being an adventure where PC-injury is wildly variable, it’s unsurprising that no specific timeline is established. However, the story in RoE work best when taking a speed-of-plot approach of an action movie. The internal logic of the story breaks down quickly if significant periods of time go by between the PCs arrival and the colony’s liberation. Starfinder’s Stamina system already mitigates a lot of short-adventuring day issues but if you want to adhere closely to the adventure as-written it has to be a really tight timeframe. After that, you’ll need the suggested additional prep or improve because...

This is gold.

1 to 50 of 697 << first < prev | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | next > last >>