Good afternoon,
I have a group starting Monday, Pen and Paper. Any tips and tricks I should look out for? I grabbed the charter off of Starfinder Infinate and I need to figure out a Hex Map it appears.
Hey Ueter glad to see another group taking this up and a face to face as well, NICE!!!
I'm in 3 games on Roll20 VTT, 1 as a player and 2 as a GM so far.
I grabbed that PDF as well from Infinite as well :)
If you were running it on a VTT I could help ya out with a map, sorry bud
I'd note to skip the pre session 1 and the pre pick the party sponsor and such and just start session 1 on the Star Settler in transit aand about to hit the planet orbit.
I used a couple of the NPC's to "wake up" some of the party members just before to "gather the new Admin team and make plans " before Esrand wakes em up and calls on them to the bridge to make those decisions. Hinting they can make a good impression on your sponsor leazon if they already have this all figured out. Just leave the specific map hex starting location til last when they get to the bridge.
Worked wonders on getting some early NPC vibe interaction with the party and bonded the team more before hitting dirtside!!
I'd also note to get some pre determined encounters figured out and pop them on some of the empty Hexes.
If there's anything else free free to PM me here or post up as needed bud
Cheers and good luck with your game
Tom
PS,
Cash and loot is a bit light as well so add some extras for that in there as well :) Esrand can give out bonuses for good discoveries made and reported to him (WINK)
Awesome, thanks for the ideas. The hexmap in the AP has certain event locations revealed A, B, C, D, etc. Did you start with those locations known or use a blank map and let the players find them?
Blank as thats the point of Hexploration in SPACE!!!
Now we are Discored up and you have a workable map now :) looking forward to how your new campaign goes bud!!
More than glad to help a fellow Starfinder GM out
:)
Tom
Use the ooze encounter on the table as often as you can. They are just an amazing creature. In fact, I have been rolling them so often that my group is adamant that this planet is the source of all evil ooze related because the oozes are just dominating them (and breaking their mechanic's truck).
LOL, NICE, I'll have to remember that when we get to that part
Tom
Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
On that note...the Vracinea random encounter (in both of the first 2 books), and the Glass Serpent (in book 2) are quite tough for the level players are when they are encountered. We came very close to a TPK against the Vracinea at level 2.
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Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber
I don't spend a ton of time on the forums, but I am loving this AP so I thought I would add a few thoughts.
I'm running three Play by Post tables of this currently.
Here are some things I have done.
Before we started, I showed the players a list of other characters in the charter while they were building their characters (not the actual list from the AP as there are spoilers there) so they could choose to create characters with possible relationships to the NPCs.
One example is I have a player playing an older Nuar that has known the Hardhoofs for years. Another table, a player wanted to play a Drow noble that has fallen from grace on Apoostae and is using this expedition as a chance to restore their reputation. He asked to have the Engellos sisters be a family in service to his house, which has caused all sorts of fun as the first book plays out.
Read ahead as much as possible and pick up on character traits or possible hooks from later in the AP to bring the charter characters to life. Play up the Hardhoof bickering from the outset, mention Ta-Yeta's sweet tooth etc.
On a table that chose to share the information on the Stone Needle with Plaustov, in the spirit of open sharing of information, Oskanna called to mention the anomaly within their territory they intend to explore once they get through their first winter. This is table setting for Book 3 once we get there, but has been mentioned very early on so it will feel more organic than Threl showing back up out of the blue.
Good luck with this, it is a very fun AP
Matt --
What forum are you playing on? I would love to read your APs as they progress!
Hmm
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Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber
Hilary Moon Murphy wrote: Matt --
What forum are you playing on? I would love to read your APs as they progress!
Hmm
(I really need to stop by the forums more often)
I am playing on Discord on the Find the Path server.
There's a great group of people over there
I also rolled polyphonic oozes a lot for random encounters. I turned it into a story arc with Sheylyn worshipers arriving and communing with a polyphonic chorus (which was the 3rd random encounter).
I tell you, the amount of times they have run into the oozes, they are adamant that they are breeding underground and are endemic to the planet, causing mayhem and destruction. They pop up at random times when they camp for the night, sometimes "stalking" them.
Paranoid much? =)
This has been going really well and I have appreciated the suggestions. The players are pretty organically making interesting choices in running their charter and I have been adding some touches of my own to make sure they can make appropriate credits as needed. The ooze encounter was a good call. Getting a map was really helpful and I gave them cheap stickers to place on the map when they explore or add things like resource nodes.
Have fun Stickering, it really makes the map come alive, and their settlement area as well :)
Tom
Even though this is an older post, as someone about to start this AP I wanted to lay out what changes I've been making to see whether I'm creating pitfalls for myself in the future.
The first thing that caught me was the limit to level 4 items available to the shops on New Harmony. It makes sense for story purposes, as they have to "live off the land". Since they still have interstellar communication and the AP mentions that ships will swing by to deliver supplies and colonists, I wanted to give them option to "go shopping" in a way that felt appropriate to the story.
What I came up with was they could order anything higher than level 4 from Absalom Station with a 10% inflation in price due to administration, shipping, etc. Using Drift travel times any order made would take 1d6 days to arrive at Absalom Station, while their credits/UPBs would be held for collateral. Upon receipt of the order it would take another 1d6 days to acquire the item, fill out the paperwork for export, etc. At that point the item would be ready for transport. When the regularly scheduled freighter then leaves for New Harmony, it would take 5d6 days of drift travel to arrive (with a 25%-50% chance of delays due to the Vast.)
Another thing I found strange about the adventure was that the characters are administering the charter (likely) for a sponsor, yet there's nothing in the book about being paid to do the job. Usually I wouldn't think much about this, but given loot in the adventure is rather light (shockingly, bear-stags don't carry 1000's of credits on their person) I wanted to implement a system to compensate the party for fulfilling their duties as explorers and effective administrators.
Given they'll be short of many amenities until they build them, I gave each player a 500 credit "signing bonus" to help with their starting equipment. Next, I developed a bounty system for their exploration activities. Each time they Recon a hex they earn 20 UPBs, every new flora/fauna they identify/catalogue earns them 100 UPBs per CR of the creature, and any information they learn about the planet's mystery may be rewarded on a case-by-case basis.
Finally, I developed a system wherein the characters are compensated for their effectiveness in running their charter. Each month the characters earn 5 UPBs for each hex that makes up their charter, 5 UPBs for each settlement project completed, 10 UPBs for each charter project completed, and 50 UPBs for each settlement established. This final total is then adjusted by the charter's Unrest score, with each point reducing their monthly income by 5%. This should give them some economic freedom to customize their characters without gaining so much wealth early on that it breaks the game. I've drafted an Excel workbook that handles the math for me.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1p5UXy1THjYW30yded3WAUJQuuWfSA-HA/ed it?usp=drive_link&ouid=104115254735209047936&rtpof=true&sd=true
I'm probably making work for myself, but this is such an unusual adventure and I'm really excited to see where this all goes.
Lenswyn wrote: The first thing that caught me was the limit to level 4 items available to the shops on New Harmony. It makes sense for story purposes, as they have to "live off the land". Since they still have interstellar communication and the AP mentions that ships will swing by to deliver supplies and colonists, I wanted to give them option to "go shopping" in a way that felt appropriate to the story. For myself I'm considering that their own shopping center (when it will be constructed) will be able to provide anything within the level of their smaller charter trait score. Also, Celestene goes real quick with the installation of its "Riverside Market" which is only a transport away.
Lenswyn wrote: Another thing I found strange about the adventure was that the characters are administering the charter (likely) for a sponsor, yet there's nothing in the book about being paid to do the job. Usually I wouldn't think much about this, but given loot in the adventure is rather light (shockingly, bear-stags don't carry 1000's of credits on their person) I wanted to implement a system to compensate the party for fulfilling their duties as explorers and effective administrators.
Given they'll be short of many amenities until they build them, I gave each player a 500 credit "signing bonus" to help with their starting equipment. Next, I developed a bounty system for their exploration activities. Each time they Recon a hex they earn 20 UPBs, every new flora/fauna they identify/catalogue earns them 100 UPBs per...
I consider that they "Earn a living" as per the Profession skill ability while they are adminstrating the charter (or their Organisation chapter, since I'm also using the Organisation's rules in Galaxy Exploration Manual), and get paid by their patron in credits for it. I'm considering profession skills and another applicable skill (with a basic explanation) applicable for making their money. Survival is very applicable at the beginning of the game!
I find your "payment per hex explored" idea interesting, though I will raise up the paiement.
If you are pulling a drift crisis early on, you could make credits "unofficial" unless you are AbadarCorps or have a Bank.
UPBs should not be easily available since you need basic level of technical component. They can exchange credit for UPBs with passing starships, or harvest other tech, but until you have all the required components (e.g. ressources nodes and a factory) you could limit this.
Dargoth876 wrote: Lenswyn wrote: The first thing that caught me was the limit to level 4 items available to the shops on New Harmony. It makes sense for story purposes, as they have to "live off the land". Since they still have interstellar communication and the AP mentions that ships will swing by to deliver supplies and colonists, I wanted to give them option to "go shopping" in a way that felt appropriate to the story. For myself I'm considering that their own shopping center (when it will be constructed) will be able to provide anything within the level of their smaller charter trait score. Also, Celestene goes real quick with the installation of its "Riverside Market" which is only a transport away.
Lenswyn wrote: Another thing I found strange about the adventure was that the characters are administering the charter (likely) for a sponsor, yet there's nothing in the book about being paid to do the job. Usually I wouldn't think much about this, but given loot in the adventure is rather light (shockingly, bear-stags don't carry 1000's of credits on their person) I wanted to implement a system to compensate the party for fulfilling their duties as explorers and effective administrators.
Given they'll be short of many amenities until they build them, I gave each player a 500 credit "signing bonus" to help with their starting equipment. Next, I developed a bounty system for their exploration activities. Each time they Recon a hex they earn 20 UPBs, every new flora/fauna they identify/catalogue earns them 100 UPBs per...
I consider that they "Earn a living" as per the Profession skill ability while they are adminstrating the charter (or their Organisation chapter, since I'm also using the Organisation's rules in Galaxy Exploration Manual), and get paid by their patron in credits for it. I'm considering profession skills and another applicable skill (with a basic explanation) applicable for making their money. Survival is very applicable at the beginning of the game!
I find your "payment per... Its been a while for this post, But I am running this now. I like your ideas for the pay. I was working on something similar . Would you still have that sheet available ?
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