PbP Gameday VI; Starfinder 1-00: Claim to Salvation [4] (Inactive)

Game Master Revvy Bitterleaf

This is where the out of character stuff happens

Looking forward to seeing what the pregens are.

And just waiting for my shipping notice to see the actual rules.

The pregens are out, so you can decide amongst yourselves whom you're going to be playing.

The mystic individual files all open up as Quig (the mechanic). The all level file has Keskodai.

I'm thinking I'm most interested in Obozaya, though if someone else has their heart set on her I can go in a different direction.

I'm thinking maybe Quig the mechanic or Altronus the solarion. I'm open to play anything though.

I'm most interested in the Envoy or the Operative.

Also, just out of curiosity, how do you get added to the "Players" and "Characters" tabs here? I've never actually played a PBP game at paizo.com, and digging around for docs has proved less than enlightening.

You have to post in the gameplay thread (I often dot it with an OOC comment), at which point it will also appear on your personal campaigns tab.

Also, a few links I highly recommend if you're new to PBP (not sure if it's just this site you're new to doing them on or not):

Doomed Hero's Guide (a basic intro, detailing when/how to use bold, OOC, etc.)

Painlord's Guide to Better PBP (the gold standard about what people should do in PBPs to make it the best experience)

Painlord's Guide to Better PBP (another Painlord guide aimed more at GM'ing, but with useful info)

Anyone else having issues getting the pregens to download? I'm thinking that there are a bunch of people at GenCon all about to try out Starfinder Society - as well as lots of curious folks around the world - and it's just choking the server. But I want to make sure it's not just me.

Edit: never mind, it's everyone, per this thread.

I didn't, but I also did it a few days ago. I'd also guess it's probably Gen Con related.

Hola, companeros. Sorry for the late check-in; just dawned on me to check the recruitment thread again.

I can't download the pregens either, so I'll try again tonight.

I'm a little more interested in either Operative or Mechanic, but I could also do Mystic (and anything, really; I'm going to be GMing the AP so I get to play everything!).

Finally got them downloaded. At PaizoCon I played the envoy, soldier and mystic, so I'd like to try the operative or the mechanic. With a slight preference for the operative.

Hey sorry for the late check in busy week, but I'm here now. I will take the day and read over everything, excited to get into this.

I'd love to play the Solarion, but they all sound really fun so I'm happy to let someone else play that over me.

Here's what everyone mentioned with a possible solution bolded:

motteditor - soldier
Tundran - mechanic, solarion
rooneg - envoy, operative
Snowheart - operative, mechanic, mystic
Khelreddin - operative, mechanic
Ictoo - solarion

Does that work for everybody? Especially Snowheart since you are the only one who wouldn't get their first listed choice.

Absolutely fine by me! (Unless you're saying that as a lawyer I'm the best fit for a giant space cockroach... then I might be offended. But yeah, no problem.) ;-)

When we create aliases, is it okay if we use a different name for the alias than for the iconic? I imagine a lot of people will be trying to get variations of the same iconics' names. But I'm also not sure what the requirements are for SFS characters (first time with organized play for me, so please be bear me for any stupid questions).

Link to Alias with Stats

That list works for me - thanks for giving me a shot at the operative, SnowHeart. I'm working on building one and it'll be good to see it in play.

On the alias question - at least in PFS, you can actually name the pregen anything you want during play, and I imagine that applies to SFS as well. I usually call my pregen aliases something like 'Ezren the Pregenerated' or something else that adds a bit to the name, so it's less likely to be taken. At the risk of speaking for the GM, that should be fine (and, as you say, probably necessary) in this case.

As long as it's clear which character it is I'm fine with most stuff.

I think I even have a character called Revvy's Pregen because I got a bit tired of making new aliases for each pregen I made. And most names tend to be taken at some point, so you need to get creative with what you call them as some point. So now I just copy the new stats into that one and use it each time there's a scenario that used a pregen.

I have the scenario, but not the rules yet..so I can post the introduction once the game officially starts and you can start with some RP if you want and we'll start slowly picking it up from there..the first week will most likely be a bit of a slow pace as I'm getting used to being multiple pbp's again and finding out how Starfinder works

This is Ictoo, checking in with my character.

I believe I'll be traveling Sunday and Wednesday to visit my folks. I expect to have time to update Monday and Tuesday, though am not 100 percent sure I will.

Revvy - when do you think you'll get this game started? I know you said it would be a bit later than the official start, I'm just wondering if you know when that will be. I find that the easiest way to learn the rules is to start playing and figure it out, and since we'll all be doing that together, we can help each other with things.

Learning the rules was just part of it, I also expected to be a bit overwhelmed with starting to play in a bunch of gameday games myself and since I couldn't effect the start of those game and was able to push the start of my own games back a week that's what I went with.

I've put them on September 1st on pbpgamesday.com so that's the day we'll have lift-off.

The rules so far seem to be mostly figuring out what's different from Pathfinder, the only thing that might cause some issues from what I can tell right now are the spaceship battles

I'll put up the opening post in gameplay so you guys can start some in game roleplay if you want, but the "real" scenario won't start will the 1st of September.

Also so that you know what you are getting yourselves into with me;

For those new to pbp (or at least new to pbp with me as GM)

I will generally post once a day if you haven't posted in roughly a 24 hour period I will skip your turn/NPC you in so we keep the pace of the game going if you are the only one who still needs to act in combat.

For non-combat I'll move the story forward if enough (which might mean just one of you in some cases) have chosen on what to do next.

I will roll initiative for everyone (and sometimes some other dice rolls on a case by case basis, like perception to determine surprise)

Since it is possible for you to delay until some other player has done something I'm fine with you taking turns in the order in which you post. If you don't want to do something until something else happens mention in in your post and we'll fit it in when it happens. If you ready an attack (or expect an attack of opportunity to happen, please roll your own dice for to hit and damage already..they might get used, but if it does come up we don't have to wait for you to respond..or I don't have to roll for it..which means you can't blame me when you miss ;)

For example a turn might go something like this

init
Player A, B
enemy 1
Player c
enemy 2

Damage enemy 1; X, blinded

Bold is up
Player A wants to have flanking, so he delays
A will move next to enemy 1 as soon as he flanking and stick his dagger into 1's back [dice=To hit 1] [dice=damage vs 1]
Player B will do something (like cast a spell)
Enemy 1 will do something
Player C will then move up to an enemy and attack it..after which Player A's turn triggers
I'll take enemy's 2 turn

If something messes up the flow (like enemy 1 knocking player A down) we'll just have to flexible and adjust..I'll try to use my best guess if you haven't altered your own action by the time I post again.

I'll use googledoc maps for combat, you can move your own character around, but please be careful to not move the map itself since it will mess stuff up.

I will sometimes use spoiler blocks with a listed skill and DC, if you make the DC you are free to look at the spoiler and act on the information provided.
This will most of the time include (but not be limited to): (Monster) knowledge checks [If I didn't provide one, you can still roll for knowledge checks..I might just forgot about it or only had time for a quick update]
Some hidden stuff needing perception checks to be found, you can still search for stuff when you feel like it it, but for example looting a room after combat it helps speed things up.

Like this:

Great, thanks! I hope I didn't come across as pushy in my question, that was not my intent. I appreciate the thorough reply.

Nah, like I said. If you have questions ask.

That all sounds good to me Revvy, I really like the use of googledoc for maps I've found it to be the easiest way of using maps.

Just an FYI to people who are starting to post in the gameplay thread, at this stage in the adventure we are not Starfinders, we're mercenaries who are about to be hired by the Starfinder Society.

Thanks! I'd just assumed at level 4 that was a done deal but clearly didn't read closely enough. Updating my post accordingly.

On a different note: Any thoughts on how to visually set apart telepathic speech? The usual convention is bold with quotation marks for "Vocal" and Italics for internal thoughts... For now, I'm just going to use italics.

I think italics work best for now..until we get more colors or something to that effect.

You could try telepathic speech like this: "Can you hear me, Keskoday? I understand all shirren can speak this way."

Looks like speech because of the quotes, and like a mental process because of the italics.

Just a reminder that we are still go for launch tomorrow

I think with the exception of Tundran and Khelreddin everyone has checked into gameplay with the pregen they want to play?

And as far as I can tell all 6 of you are on the discussion tab, but I'll send out a reminder to those who haven't posted in gameplay this weekend

Sounds good. Looking forward to getting started! :)

Awesome. Folks might not realize we're close to start if they haven't checked in on the gameplay thread. (I think checking in on discussion doesn't put it into your campaigns list so you won't see updates.)

I'm here. Haven't had a chance to get my character registered and stuff yet. I will do it tonight though and be ready to go tomorrow! :D

Hmm. That just made me realize... I guess rather than a typical alias I should set this up as a Society character and post using that instead. Anything else I need to do with it?

motteditor - I'm really enjoying the way you're playing Obazaya! It's giving me a whole new take on the Vesk and their love of glory.

I always say there isn't enough feedback amongst players in a PbP, or at least not the same kind of feedback you get at a table, when everyone can laugh or groan or whatever - so there's some feedback!

Thanks, Khal. Much appreciated. I'm still trying to figure her out exactly -- a little tough since she's not actually my character, but I think she's coming together.

And, yes, often not enough feedback in PBP. I try to remember to favorite posts that I really like, but don't always do so. :)

I meant to ask about this: The copy of my character sheet I have lists Quig's Cha as 11 (+1). Is that true for anyone else? If not, which number is fixed, his base score or the mod?

I might not understand the question..but I think the answer is;

For example; Your strength could say 14 (+2), which is your strength score 14 and the modifier it gives on strength checks +2, the same goes for wisdom, etc.

If you mean something else please let me know and I'll try to provide a different answer

Except you don't get a +1 from a score of 11, so I think it's an error on the sheet.

Starfinder is just like Pathfinder in the bonuses you get from ability scores, so you only get a +1 bonus if you have a 12 or 13 in a given ability.

I'm not sure whether the error is in the ability score or the bonus, though you could figure it out by looking at the point buy.

Take a look at the Starfinder SRD to figure out the point buy, which is different from Pathfinder.

@Iseph; thanks. I should have realized that..but for some reason it made perfect sense in my head that 11 gives you a +1..math has never been my strong suit.

I also just noticed that the sheet lists a 16 int as a +0..which is even weirder.

But only for the lvl 4 version, the lvl 1 and 8 versions have the correct modifiers for the stats.

And the lvl 4 version under the all levels one has the right int mod..but still has cha wrong.

So clearly there are some issues with the pregens.

Sorry if this has already been linked somewhere, but I thought it would be useful to have the stats for our ship handy, so here they are:

STARFINDER SOCIETY PEGASUS TIER 4
Medium explorer
Speed 10; Maneuverability good (turn 1); Drift 1
AC 13; TL 14
HP 65; DT —; CT 13
Shields light 60 (forward 20, port 15, starboard 15, aft 10)
Attack (Forward) light particle beam (3d6)
Attack (Port) laser net (2d6)
Attack (Starboard) light laser cannon (2d4)
Attack (Turret) light particle beam (3d6)
Power Core Pulse Red (175 PCU); Drift Engine Signal Basic; Systems advanced medium-range sensors, crew quarters (good), mk 2 duonode computer, mk 3 armor, mk 4 defenses; Expansion Bays cargo hold, escape pods, science lab, tech workshop
Modifiers +2 to any two checks per round, +4 Computers, +1 Piloting; Complement 4–7

It's part of the Starship combat overview linked at the top of the page, but this will be easier to copy&paste from when needed.

Thanks!

Note that the listed AC and TL doesn't include the bonus from the pilot's ranks in the Pilot skill.

Also since it's one of the few handy things that for some reason they left out of the ship stats blocks

Light particle beam - medium range = 10
Laser net - short range = 5
Light laser cannon - long range = 20

Just a heads up, I'm going to be on the road this afternoon and then out of town this weekend. I'll try to keep up via my iPhone but you know how those keyboards are, and I'm not sure what the connectivity situation is going to be where we're heading.

Thanks for the heads up

Back. Looks like I've been botted for this round (thanks), so I'll wait until next round to post. Hope all had a nice weekend.

Welcome back

In addition to spaceship combat being a bit awkward in PbP, due to the more rigid turn structure, I have noticed that the Evade maneuver seems to be pretty much always the best thing to do - though I'd welcome other views on it. So far, I have been able to position us wherever I've wanted, just using the ship's speed and turning arc, while also improving our AC and TL by 2. I keep looking at the other maneuvers (like I considered the Slide and Barrel Roll this turn, to get our port guns on target, but I was able to get into position without them and still boost our defenses), but none of them seem necessary to achieve what I want.

And if we were regularly losing initiative, so the enemy had better position on us, I would be even more inclined to use Evade, since they'd presumably be targeting our weak spots and I'd want to avoid getting hit.

Anyone have thoughts on this, both to help me do better in this encounter and for the more general purpose of evaluating Starfinder?

I think Evade is probably the best action for you to take in most situations you're likely to come across right now, but that's mostly because we're basically always beating the goblins at initiative, and we're doing this in a map with no obstacles on it.

There are plenty of situations where something like flyby or the one where you flip around might be better options, but they probably involve more complicated maps than the one we're doing now, and they're more likely to come up if sometimes the enemies are putting you in a bad spot by making you go first then getting behind you or something.

So, long story short is that Evade is a great default thing to do as a pilot, but in encounters where you're closer to the edge of disaster you'll probably find yourself doing other stuff as well.

I think that the other maneuvers will become more useful when there's stuff on the map, like asteroids or radiation clouds you want to avoid...this is just one big massive empty area.

They might also be more useful when there are multiple opponents that stay at range and you can move to be outside range of some of them and only have to worry about 1 opponent at a time..but these goblins don't seem to be the kind to use any kind of tactics other then close in a blast away to me...