And So It Begins

Thursday, August 17, 2017

It's about time we wrap-up our previews for the Starfinder Society Roleplaying Guild Gen Con 2017 releases. Moving away from the quest pack and special we previewed in our last blog post, today we're going to talk about scenarios #1-01, 1-02, and 1-03!

I've previously gushed about Eleanor Ferron's work on Starfinder Society #1-01: The Commencement in some of our faction blogs. This scenario follows in the footsteps of many Pathfinder Society "evergreen" scenarios, like The Confirmation and the venerable First Steps (wow, now I feel old). Like those well-known introductory Pathfinder scenarios, The Commencement is a repeatable scenario for characters in Tier 1-2 where the PCs partake in some missions for four of the Society's primary factions—sorry Second Seekers, but you get a whole season metaplot dedicated to your missions! The Organized Play team agreed that The Commencement would be an introduction to the Starfinder Society and our initial factions, so we knew we wanted someone who could really take the skeletal outlines of our faction leaders and run with them. If you've been reading the faction blogs, you can get a sense of these faction leaders. When you play The Commencement, you'll see exactly how superb a job that Eleanor Ferron has done in bringing each of these major NPCs to life.

Illustrations by Tawny Fritz and Tom Ventre

One scenario we haven't had a good chance to spotlight, at least until now, is Starfinder Society #1-02: Fugitive on the Red Planet. Let me be blunt: this adventure takes place on Akiton and is our first attempt at telling a "space western". Jim Groves, a longtime friend and longstanding Adventure Path and organized play freelance author, took up the challenge of writing this scenario. I knew Jim had really nailed the theme when I found myself humming a tune during my development pass—a tune about "a hero from some place" and "a man they call something". Beyond these obvious homages to western stories, there are some strong connections to the greater Starfinder setting. This is our first view of Starfinder's rendition of Akiton, as well as the introduction of some key Starfinder Society issues brought forth by the disastrous Scoured Stars incident. My favorite aspect of Fugitive on the Red Planet is the introduction of a particular shirren NPC. I have noticed a lot of fans referring to Keskodai as "bug dad" in conversations; well, this new NPC quickly became known as "business bug" during my development pass.

Starfinder Society #1-03: Yesteryear's Truth is our final Gen Con 2017 Starfinder Society release. I have a strange professional relationship with the author of this adventure, the incredibly talented Jason Keeley. It seems that over the past year, Jason and I have been leapfrogging on developing each other's work. Since Jason had just recently finished developing some of my text from the Starfinder Core Rulebook, I figured I needed to return the favor and offer him one of our launch scenarios so I could get back in the development seat. The result is a scenario that I think a lot of people are going to be talking about for quite some time. In Yesteryear's Truth, the PCs set foot on a previously unexplored world wracked by a nuclear war. This scenario has it all: starship combat, exploration, social encounters with alien species, and even some archaeological discoveries with some hefty moral quandaries. On top of all those things, this is our first scenario with a special faction opportunity (denoted by the Faction tag on the adventure's credits page). The Wayfinders, being a faction about exploration and peaceful first contact, understandably have some vested interest in the PCs' success!

That's it for Gen Con previews! I'm now in Indianapolis and getting ready for "the best four days in gaming." If you spot me at the convention—likely in the Sagamore Ballroom—please feel free to say hi! Otherwise, we'll be back soon to talk about the Starfinder Society its base of operations, the Lorespire Complex.

John's Note: Need more playable Starfinder Society content? We've also finished sanctioning the first volume of Starfinder #1: Incident on Absalom Station! Take a look at its product page for a link to download the sanctioning document. We (okay, admittedly it's more Thursty) will be sanctioning subsequent volumes closer to their respective release dates.

Thurston Hillman
Starfinder Society Developer