Deep Space Despair

Game Master Umbral Reaver

You are passengers on the starship Hope's Peak, a luxury civilian cruiser on a leisurely voyage between each of the Pact Worlds. Your trip has been pleasant so far, having begun at Aballon and stopped at each of the worlds thereafter and has just left the vast city-ship, the Idari. You retire to your cabins as the crew prepares the ship's Drift Drive to carry you safely on to Triaxus (nobody wants to go to Eox on a luxury cruise).

When you awaken, something feels different. Something feels wrong. You exit your cabin into silence. The ship should be full of the bustle of crewmembers serving passengers and readying the ship for dock. It is silent. It is empty.

You find others still present, all other passengers. Not a single crewmember can be found. You make your way to the bridge. All of the controls are unresponsive, and the ship's viewports reveal a dark vista. This is not the Golarion system. This is not any system. You are adrift in the vast emptiness between the stars.

Once you have all gathered on the bridge to discuss what to do, an image flicks onto the main viewscreen. A sinister figure, one eye empty and black as the void itself and the other blazing with the light of a dying red star.

She cackles, her voice sounding through every speaker on the ship. It is bone-chilling, supernatural in timbre.

"This is your captain speaking. Ah, now that you're all here, I can tell you about tonight's shipboard activities and amusements. I took the liberty of arranging a fun little diversion I call 'The Mutual Killing Game'."

She smiles, displaying wickedly sharp teeth.

"Oh, and I suppose you're wondering what happened to your previous captain and crew. Don't worry. They won't be experiencing nearly as much despair as all of you. In fact, they've found their unexpected spacewalks so peaceful that they decided never to return. How delightful!

Let me introduce myself. I am The One Unhued. Is that a bit too grandiose for our exciting entertainment? Well, then. You may call me Captain Umbra!"

She puts on a captain's cap. You recognise it as the one that your former captain wore. Umbra looms close in the viewscreen, her one red eye flaring with the somber plumes of an aged sun.

"I bet you're dying to know what the rules of the game are. It's very simple: Some amongst you are my friends! You've already helped me so much by disposing of the crew. Now you get to start murdering the passengers! But alas, you are dreadfully outnumbered and now they're on guard. You'll have to be sneaky about it.

The rest of you probably don't want to be slaughtered mercilessly, so it's up to you to figure out who the attackers are and kill them first! If you kill all of my friends, I'll graciously reactivate the ship's Drift Drive and you can go home! If you all die, well, at least you got to participate in all this fun. It's win-win!"

-

This is the recruitment post for a game of Starfinder Mafia! Once enough players have signed up, I will randomly assign roles to each of you. The game is divided into the DAY PHASE and the NIGHT PHASE.

The game begins with the DAY PHASE, with all of you standing on the bridge right after the deadly announcement. You may spend this time roleplaying, getting to know each other, and making wild accusations and/or terrified gibbering.

A few of you will be DEVOURER CULTISTS. You know each other and must mingle with the other passengers to avoid being detected. Each night, you collude with each other and decide to murder one passenger. The cultists win if they are the only ones left on the ship. The game then passes to the DAY PHASE

The rest of you will be PASSENGERS. You don't know the true identities of anyone else on the ship and your goal is to eliminate the cultists. Each day you (and the cultists in their guise as passengers) will vote on who you think is a cultist. The one with the most votes will be killed.

Depending on how many players we end up with, some of you will be assigned SPECIAL ROLES. Which roles are present in the game and what their special abilities are will be announced when the game begins, but the identities of each role is secret.

-

You may start making characters and submitting them under this post. You don't need stats or a character sheet for this game, just an identity that you wish to roleplay as a passenger on the Hope's Peak.

Do not begin roleplay in this thread. It's just for recruitment!

Hello! I'm interested in playing. It's been a while since I've played a good mafia themed game and trying one in the Starfinder setting sounds super cool. Trixielle will be a human schoolteacher from Absalom Station who won her ticket on the cruiser in a contest.

Zakary will be a recently unemployed Science Officer, traveling on the Hope's Peak to emotionally recover after narrowly escaping a tragedy that killed most of his former crewmates. (Looks like that didn't work out very well for him...)

Will the night phase stuff be PMs?

Zakary will be a recently unemployed Science Officer, traveling on the Hope's Peak to emotionally recover after narrowly escaping a tragedy that killed most of his former crewmates. (Looks like that didn't work out very well for him...)

Will the night phase stuff be PMs?

Yes. Players with night actions PM what they wish to do during the night to me. In the case of the cultists, they are allowed to PM each other and decide on who to kill, then PM me. Anyone that does not have a secret allegiance should not use PMs to communicate with other players regarding the game, as it is key to the atmosphere and workings of the game that passenger are unable to collude secretly (note that some passenger roles MAY allow them to PM each other as a special ability; one example is 'the lovers'. The lovers count as passengers and win if the passengers win. They also secretly know each other and can PM each other. However, if one of them dies, the other also dies.).

The results of the night phase (who was killed and what their secret role was, any other events) will be posted in the announcement of the subsequent day phase.

Yay! I'd like to be a ysoki mechanic!

I'd like to play a verthani pure one who was once a famous actress in Verces' Ring of Nations. She left at the height of her career to make it big in Absalom Station and throughout the galaxy. Now a washed up, middle-aged drunk she's all but forgotten, even on Verces. She recently accepted the only job she could get: a place on a full-immersion cruise ship where all staff are expected to remain in their assigned characters at all times. Hope's Peak is getting her to her destination.

When she wakes up to the empty ship and Captain Umbra's flamboyant introduction, she believes she's already arrived at her destination (she's not unused to blackouts...), and is undergoing an intense audition for the job. She's likely to think this is the case for the first day, at least, before the reality of her situation finally sinks in.

Also, she's a horrible actress.

Mafia/werewolf resurgence!

Mafia chat has been aware. I can't speak for all the members, but I'm down!

I'll start thinking up a suitable character persona. Should I be channeling Danganronpa for this?

/drywashhandsmaniacally

I know what the inspiration is from... and I am totally down with playing as a PC! Good to see another Danganronper on the interwebz!

Oh man I'm totally interested in this idea.

I'm thinking of an Android who is on the ship because they're trying to keep a low profile. Some kind of outlaw or bounty hunter type character.

How many people are needed to get this game going?

My character concept is a normal, everyday guy on the vacation of a lifetime with his sweetheart. He recently won the setting equivalent of the lottery/won it big in a casino and is now practically ecstatic with his life and how happy he is. Surely nothing could put a damper on his newfound happiness... right?

Oh man I'm totally interested in this idea.

I'm thinking of an Android who is on the ship because they're trying to keep a low profile. Some kind of outlaw or bounty hunter type character.

How many people are needed to get this game going?

16 would be ideal. If we can't get that many in a reasonable timeframe, I could start with as few as 12. Mafia/Werewolf games, especially on forums, work best with a larger group.

Mafia/werewolf resurgence!

Mafia chat has been aware. I can't speak for all the members, but I'm down!

I'll start thinking up a suitable character persona. Should I be channeling Danganronpa for this?

/drywashhandsmaniacally

The release of DR3 may or may not have inspired me to do this. :P

As much as I'd like to run a more Danganronpa-like scenario, I haven't found a good ruleset. So we'll be using Mafia/Werewolf. I may throw in some twists along the way, but it depends on how many players we have and how the game goes. I haven't decided on special roles. I'll do that when the game starts, as it depends on the number of players.

Should I go ahead and create my character's dossier or should I wait?

Go ahead! If it turns out that you're a cultist, then some or even all of your public identity may be false. :3

You might end up with a passenger-aligned role as well. You might be a devotee of Iomedae, with the ability to 'detect evil' once per night. Obviously, the cultists will want to eliminate someone that can identify them as soon as possible, so it may not be in your best interest to tell everyone about your faith!

Or you could be a follower of Zon Kuthon. You had no idea this vacation would turn into some kind of horrifying killing game, and honestly it sounds great. Still, you are on the side of the passengers. Your flaw is that you detect as evil! Uh oh.

I'm thinking about various Starfinder-themed adaptations of the classic Mafia roles. :)

I'm imagining a shirren empath, travelling to Triaxus to take a position as a biologist with some research foundation.

I haven't used this alias in forever! I've missed these mafia games. :)

Hm. I can see Ryxis being re-imagined as an unusually fat and lazy vesk, that got exiled for being a sad excuse for a soldier. He has been trying very hard to find a way to make Damoritosh proud so he can return to the Veskarium... but not too hard.

Viradius Zambraskyo is a 34 year old private investigator. One of his great aunts was able to get a great group discount for the cruise so the Zambraskyo family reunion was convened. Onboard with his younger siblings, cousins, uncles, aunts, grandparents, and parents, Viradius has spent most of the Pact World cruise attempting to spend as little time as possible with the forty-seven members of his extended family.

In game terms he’s a human Operative (detective) with the bounty hunter theme.

Eight so far. Let's see if we can double that!

Meows and Leoian may be interested, but I make no guarantees. I know Meows was feeling like she needed to bone up on Starfinder lore before submitting or committing.

Before I commit to a concept, how serious would you like us to play this? Real characters trying to solve a real problem, or does over the top and exaggerated work fine? I feel like that is definitely a style choice that needs to be discussed ahead of any mafia/werewolf game. :)

Lore knowledge shouldn't be too essential. As for mood, I was thinking similar to Danganronpa. The set pieces and characters can be quirky, but they should recognise the gravity of a forced life or death situation.

Lol, how does the Ultimate Android Butler sound then?

Sorry, but I'm going to have to cancel my submission. I recently got accepted into two other pbps and will have my hands full for a while.

Have fun, guys!