Artificial Alliances- A Starfinder PbP (Inactive)

Game Master GM-Gathrix

Ehron finally feeling his head clearing somewhat as the door is finally defeated looks down. "Perhaps I could stretch down there holding the top with a small drop..." he muses. "While standing on the ground below I could give aid to any who climb down the last twenty feet. The gravity here pulls, but I may brace against the wall." He then climbs/drops down and offers aid to those who may need it.

climb: 1d20 ⇒ 17

Duanimon attempts to clamber down the wall. If successful, they wait with Ehron to aid those still coming down.

Climb: 1d20 ⇒ 7

"Such a young gracious man," Lakoon'ta will accept the aid down offered by Ehron. Even with his aid, though it might be a rough landing.
1d20 ⇒ 2

Getting up and brushing her self off, "So we have some people who know how to make that thing fly, what about getting it started? I barely ever left Akiton in my life."

It's going to be sad if we all have broken ankles and the ship flies off without us. :)

It's going to be sad if we all have broken ankles and the ship flies off without us. :)

The ship flies away, the guards appear and execute us all! So much for that previously established bond.....

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Kov'i looks around for some boxes to dive into and have them break the fall. "You should get down Ehron. I don't want you to be hurt."

Perception: 1d20 ⇒ 1

Jump: 1d20 ⇒ 16

Didn't know that about the Sarcesian wings I will have to read them again.

Falling doesn't hurt, but it is not quiet either. 1d20 ⇒ 20 And you have gained notice of several guards approaching from a hall to your left. There seems to be only one ship, and luckily it looks like it was just recently unloaded so the hatch is still open. You will have to disable the mechanisms locking it to the dock and open the force field before the guards reach your location or you are going to be in trouble. There is a control panel present that will probably aid in this.

Initiative
Robotic Guardsx3: 1d20 ⇒ 530 yards away down a hall to left
Kov'i: 1d20 ⇒ 9
Garland: 1d20 ⇒ 16
Zetara: 1d20 ⇒ 3
Lakoon'ta: 1d20 ⇒ 14
Duanimon: 1d20 ⇒ 18
Ehron: 1d20 ⇒ 4
Scera: 1d20 ⇒ 10

I guess Duanimon took Improved Initiative. :)

"Would someone with some piloting ability hop in that shuttle and start turning it on while we get it unlocked?" Duanimon asks before running to the control panel and attempting to open the clamps holding down the ship.

Use Technology: 1d20 ⇒ 8

I'm last in initiative, so these can be aid another rolls if necessary:

hack the space clamps: 1d20 ⇒ 11
hack the force field: 1d20 ⇒ 11

Removing the force field isn't going to expose us to vacuum, is it? If it is, it is good I am last. :) I wait until the very last second to make sure everyone is aboard before doing that part if it is dangerous like that.

Im more worried about the guards being ahead of Zetara and myself on init. Waiting and seeing.

"Would someone with some piloting ability hop in that shuttle and start turning it on while we get it unlocked?"

Garland nods and jumps through the hatch as hears the guards approaching. Shoulda taken a quieter route down. He searches for anything that will get the ship started and ready to move.

Pilot stuff: 1d20 ⇒ 10

If turning off the force field does expose us to vacuum, Duanimon could do it as they do not need to breathe (At least, I'm assuming that's the case. I couldn't find an actual ruling on whether or not androids require respiration.)

Rising from her spot on the floor with a groan Scera looked around and saw the roboguards about to head their way. Knowing she wasn't going to be much help in this fight she rose and began to run towards the ship. Her goal was to get inside and help try to start it up.

"Here, take this" shouts Kov'i at Scera as he tosses her the crystal. "I'm going to see a robot about forgiveness."

I am going to wrap this up with some narrative because there will be no post tomorrow or the next day and I want you guys to have some time to have a discussion about what kind of characters you want to play after this with each other and any likes/dislikes about my style so far.

Garland and Scera get the prisoner transport up and running.
Duanimon and Zetara are able to release the locking mechanism and force field, which does expose the dock to vacuum. The robotic guards are swept out into space, but not before shooting down the other Vesk, Human and Lashunta that followed you The NPC Prisoners. With deft maneuvering by Garland and Scera they are able to scoop up the team with the large ramp onto the ship.

Why were you imprisoned, and what did they do to you? The answers seem to die with the station.

This is the end of my little scenario. Please post in the discussion until the AP is out. We will begin play again as soon as I get my copy of Starfinder and the AP! I will post character creation specifics once I have both those items too. There will a small bonus of some sort regarding this incident for your characters (something like a trait though my understanding is that traits have been replaced) and more to discover about your ordeal here.

Hi, discussion is up.

There is a post in recruitment talking about a few people that want to play familiars or other types of companions. If I chose a drone instead of an exocortex, would I be allowed to have a separate player run the drone? I think it would be an interesting thing to try, although of course it is GM choice.

I don't know how well it would work myself, but perhaps we could try it out in the sandbox/prison yard to see how it goes? If it doesn't work, no worries, but it might be cool.

If you are up to trying it... what would have happened to my drone when I was imprisoned? Would he still be with me, or in a separate cell, or -- stuffed in a spare parts bin somewhere? :)

If not, I'll just stick with exocortex. :) Really no pressure... just if you think it would be an interesting thing to try as well.

Hmm. That is an interesting concept, but I will have to think on how to implement it.

Looks like it's a non-issue for this game since they don't know the system well (who does?), but if you ever want to try it out, they are all collecting volunteers over in the other thread.

I appreciate you considering the idea anyway. Would be weird, but maybe cool to try sometime.

Could you give a quick run down as to what in the prison is made of energy besides the bonds?

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General dimensions where important are handy too. I have been assuming Ehron is good to stand up and walk around at 12' tall.

I have added the dimensions of the halls. In gameplay I have a link to an image of what the prison sorta looks like. The service tunnel is 3'wide and 10'tall, but could expand beyond that once inside for those that have a mechanical background.

So not to clutter gameplay. Its the general NPCs go now prior to all of us, except the stunned guards?

So not to clutter gameplay. Its the general NPCs go now prior to all of us, except the stunned guards?

The ones in this courtyard, yes. Mostly just for narrative purposes and to speed things up.

I have many errands today, expect a post late this evening.

Just wanted to pop in and say I love this game so far. It's so weird not having skills or bonuses, but it's also *awesome* ... everyone working together, just trying to get things done and find a way. :D

Same here! It's been a lot of fun.

What ideas in character that work then how much the d20 likes you. :)

I appreciate you guys playing along. I think this will make a more cohesive unit as you all suffered from a similar experience and will enrich your back stories some.

Yeah, totally. It's somewhat more imaginative because we don't really have limits on what our characters "can" do (no rules yet)... so it's more improvisational, and the bad rolls kind of force you to do sort of dramatic/desperate things sometimes, because the more rational things aren't working. :)

I'm hoping some of it will carry over into the "real" game even after we get the rules. :) ... Still thinking outside the box, even after they deliver the box. :D

I know should I get selected, I'll be aiming towards Kov'i being a face character (depending on how the solarian and envoy are written, I might multiclass, assuming such a thing is even possible).

I've actually started (kinda) putting together his backstory and will get it written up upon selection.

Yeah, totally. It's somewhat more imaginative because we don't really have limits on what our characters "can" do (no rules yet)... so it's more improvisational, and the bad rolls kind of force you to do sort of dramatic/desperate things sometimes, because the more rational things aren't working. :)

I'm hoping some of it will carry over into the "real" game even after we get the rules. :) ... Still thinking outside the box, even after they deliver the box. :D

I do appreciate creative solutions and if you go outside the box a bit as far as mechanics so long as they make reasonable sense for your character I am pretty open. I believe there is something like Hero Points built into each character that adds to that too and I will lay out how exactly that will work once I read the material.

Enjoying this so far and look forward to teh campaign. Getting leery about the changes to the Lashunta though, not sure I like what I've read about the so far. I think the original version was just fine myself.

As far as build I'm definitely looking at a caster/face character if I can but we'll see what there is.

I listened to the Know Direction podcast episode where they had the Starfinder writers on, and I'm really excited to learn more about the themes aspect and which ones are available. It all sounds really interesting.

Yeah, having no specialties or abilities certainly forces more creativity, rather than simply doing whatever your character is best at in every encounter.

Once I get the rulebook, Duanimon will probably be quite focused on technological skills and knowledge, with some ranged combat ability. I'm assuming they will make a good engineer or science officer for a starship, but I'll have to actually look at those rules to be sure.

From what I have been reading of operatives they are very flexible and we could easily make multiple ones with different focuses.

I lost my post to the internet monster, so apologies. I do not have time to rewrite it at this moment so it will be later

Thanks for playing along. I see no reason to break up a good team so I am inviting you all to play in Dead Suns when it is available. Please take this time to further talk about the type of character you want to play and ask any questions of me or provide and critiques you have of the game play so far.

Via First Contact the Sarcesians dont look unbalanced from what has been spoilered if you are planning on continuing with the same basic characters. Large can be a hindrance as often as help and native space going isn't much in a place of cheap space suits.

Ehron was planning on being an operative explorer or scout type maybe with a CHA bent (thus the playing appealing to the crowds). As mentioned up a bit operatives seem to have quite a few options of specialty and if we have more than one aren't likely to overlap entirely.

Yay! You rock GM! I'm not sure yet what class I'll have Scera be. Until I get a look at the classes and such I'm thinking I will probably go with either the Mystic or Envoy class.

Thanks GM. That was a blast. :) Looking forward to continuing, and glad everyone gets to come along. What an escape. Sad we couldn't save any of the other prisoners, but glad I didn't die when the dock was exposed to vacuum. Assuming Duanimon saved me. Thanks, Duanimon. :)

...

I'm still planning on playing a cyborg as well as I can. Depends on what modifications are available and how much they cost, and might switch the base race to something else depending on what is available, but planning on sticking with my core background... just might have to tweak it.

Not sure if I will stick with Mechanic... depends on what it looks like when it comes out, and what everyone else takes (if we need to fill holes). I don't really want to be a pure fighter type, but open to caster-type, healer-type options.

Yay. :)

That was so much fun! I can't wait to continue on when it finally comes out officially.

I've been keeping up with the blog posts and the discussions being had by those lucky few who have the pdf already, and I think you're right about the traits. I might switch away from mechanic if Duanimon wants to stick with it as a class. I was looking at Envoy, it might fit better with who Garland is anyway. Though we'll probably need someone more focused in combat, in which case I can tweak things around to make him more appropriate for a soldier.

The themes sound really fun too! I heard there's an Outlaw theme which sounds perfect.

My friend subscribed, so I have been able to take a look at the PDF. There are no traits (themes took their place, which are neat in their own right, and have scaling benefits at 1st, 6th, 10th, and 16 or something like that.)

I'm going to play a Solarian. They are a full bab class, and get to summon either weapon or armor (I'm leaning towards armor, but I didn't see anything that let them modify it, unlike the weapon, which gets crystals to do so). Also, their abilities are pretty interesting: they get either fire or gravity themed things, including at first level the ability to either pull all enemies towards you or set anything in a radius around you on fire.

The levelling system on gear is pretty interesting. basically, if you have a longsword, there are more powerful version of that longsword available at higher levels (so you might have longsword available at level 1, molecular sword at level 10, and gravity sword at level 20), all of which function the same but the higher level ones either change damage types and/or increase the damage dice.

As far as armor goes, there are only light and heavy armors now (Well, I guess power armor is a thing, but I only glanced at it so I don't feel like I can really comment).

The last thing I noticed that really stood out to me is ability scores. The rules say you flat out CAN'T start with a score higher than 18. The other thing about stats is the adjustment for levelling, which increase at fifth and every five levels. However, when levelling, you pick four ability scores and put either two points into each (if they are less than 17) or 1 point in each (if they are 17 or higher). Seems like they are trying to promote well-rounded characters, as opposed to characters with massive single stats.

Sorry about the rambling post, just wanted to share what the things that had caught my attention. Also, many thanks for running and I look forward to the actual campaign!

Managed to get a look at a friends copy and also of note when it comes to ability scores if you buy them you start with 10 in everything, apply your racial modifiers, and then you have 10 points to spend on a 1-1 basis to increase your scores to that cap of 18. Obviously you could use various numbers of the extra points based on how powerful you want the PCs to be.

Cool. Thanks for the extra information. Interesting. I like the higher level weapons thing, and sounds like the point buy system building at 1 for 1 will be great... costs less to be good at something, which is nice. :)

Very excited to actually get my hands on the rules at some point. This is a great group. We're going to have fun. :)

I haven't had a peak at the final product that it seems some of you guys have had. I pretty much plan on keeping Lakoon'ta as an operative, with emphasis on stealth, hopefully. We will see what happens when I have the book or pdf in front of me.

Thank you very much GM. That was surprisingly fun for a game with virtually no rules, and I am looking forward to playing in your Dead Suns campaign (though I suppose a bit of adjusting will be necessary to compensate for our being a party of seven).

While I haven't seen the rulebook yet, Duanimon will almost definitely be a mechanic, as having an exocortex is integral to their character concept. They will be quite intellectual, with the mechanic class' technological abilities and the scholar theme's broad knowledge, but obviously won't be great in social situations. Also, I get the impression from what I've read on the forums that having an exocortex makes you somewhat martial, so Duanimon should be able to provide some decent ranged firepower in combat.

I just watched the video that Ask A Pathfinder made on facebook about starships. I highly recommend it if, like me, you haven't had the chance to see the actual rulebook. It seems to me that building starships will probably be the biggest challenge for a group in a play by post setting.

We get to build starships? :D

Yeah! Check him out, he had a video detailing character sheets too. The starships are pretty complex though. You get build points depending in your average party level and you can buy weapons and armor and shields and special rooms. He doesn't list everything, but it's really neat and exciting.

Yeah, it does look like designing a starship by forum post will be difficult. Perhaps we could each submit a design and then vote on which to use? I feel like that might be the fastest and simplest method, but I'm open to other ideas. What do you think?

I can't watch it yet... at work, but is it something we can do together in a Google doc maybe?

Yeah I had seen that too, part of the reason I wanted to start you guys out with a basic ship to get us started. Then you can upgrade it incrementally as we go.

I did hear the first AP gives you a starship pretty early on too for the same reasons. :)

Some information is leaking out more. The Pathfinder to Starfinder thread here and I found a nice Google docs automated character via Reddit that contains quite a bit of race/class info. Albeit the names and levels granted if not the descriptions.

Now I have the PDF. :)

Are we generating via the standard point buy. Also are we starting standard credits or using the scenario as we left it above with being escapees with nothing but that we found upon that ship we just stole?

I also have the PDF. Been reading through it and I'll have a build for Kov'i posted tomorrow most likely.

Let the banners be unfurled! Let the trumpets sound! Let there be rejoicing throughout the land, for I now have the Starfinder Core Rulebook PDF! :)

Stats for Duanimon shall be forthcoming shortly.

It took several hours but I also finally have the pdf downloaded! I'm going to write Garland up as an Outlaw Envoy. Same questions as everyone else about point buying and starting credits for equipment.

Downloading now. Won't be able to read till after work, but very excited. :)

Duanimon's stats are up. I'll add descriptions of their abilities later today. If we don't begin with equipment, Duanimon's gear list is just what they will buy with their first 1000 credits.

My local store just got my copy in. Game will be up in 48hours.

Dead Suns Discussion I got the book in finally. It will take me some time to digest it all so please wait until I post the character creation guidelines before finishing your characters. I am just as excited as you to do this so I will complete it as soon as possible.