[SFS] GM Mjolbeard's "Into the Unknown" Quest Series (Inactive)

Game Master Mjolbeard89

Flint, we'll use that attack roll next time you have line of sight on the enemy to fire at it.

Asteroids block "line of fire", but that arguably wouldn't apply to indirect fire weapons, such as missiles. Even behind an asteroid, the pirate ship can be picked up by sensors. (This came up when I ran the quest too, so I thought I'd point out that text and see how you'd interpret it.)

Flint, we'll use that attack roll next time you have line of sight on the enemy to fire at it.

Asteroids only block line of fire, so they arguably shouldn't prevent indirect fire weapons like the missiles. Pirate ship can still be picked up by the sensors behind an asteroid. (The issue was brought up once when I ran this quest, so I thought I'd pass it along as I am curious to see how others rule on it).

Dusty tries to overcome the Lawblight’s defensive measures and target its power core again.

Computers: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (19) + 7 = 26

GM Mjolbeard wrote:

Flint, we'll use that attack roll next time you have line of sight on the enemy to fire at it.

Asteroids only block line of fire, so they arguably shouldn't prevent indirect fire weapons like the missiles. Pirate ship can still be picked up by the sensors behind an asteroid. (The issue was brought up once when I ran this quest, so I thought I'd pass it along as I am curious to see how others rule on it).

Fair enough, I was thinking he would need to have line of sight for the scanners to lock on, like when a modern fighter jet locks onto a target with heat seeking missiles. These systems are probably more advanced than though, so I'll retroactively apply that first shot with the missiles, and Flint can fire again in this round then.

Retroactive Gunnery

Flint locks onto the Lawblight with the high explosive missile launcher and fires. The missile careens around the edge of the asteroid and slams into the ship's port side shields. The weaker shields on the side quickly fail, however, and the ship's hull sustains massive damage.

ENGINEERING

Kaiole diverts power into the engines, adding to the Odyssey's speed.

Meanwhile, the Lawblight's engineer continues to empower the ship's weapons.

HELM

Aboard both ships, the respective science officers have the same idea and lock onto their opponents' engines.

INITIATIVE
Quest 5: Lawblight - Round 2
Lawblight: -13 HP (Shields Forward: 15, Starboard: 5, Aft: 5, Port: 0)
Odyssey: -0 HP (Shields Forward: 20, Starboard: 15, Aft: 20, Port: 15)
Bold may post!
Engineering phase
Lawblight wins initiative! PCs move first
Captain post when ready
Helm Phase (Science Officer and Pilot)
Gunnery Phase

With the extra power to engines, Tchisk speeds past the Lawblight hoping to give the gunners a chance to broadside the pirate vessel while continuing to use the asteroids for cover.

No roll. Move forward 2. Turn. Move forward 8.

Next initiative
Piloting: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (1) + 9 = 10

Master Filament seems to "feel" the approaching pirate ship even before the Odyssey clears the asteroid. Once he has visual, he takes the shot.
Am I correct, there are two Computer bonuses still free? If not, subtract one from:
Gunnery with computer: 1d20 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (16) + 2 + 1 = 19
Coilgun damage: 4d4 ⇒ (4, 4, 2, 2) = 12

Flint feeling a bit emboldend lets loose with the full complement of the turret.

Fire at Will

Attack Missiles, FaW, Computer: 1d20 + 5 + 1 - 4 ⇒ (16) + 5 + 1 - 4 = 18
Missile damage: 4d8 ⇒ (1, 3, 3, 8) = 15

Attack Coil Gun, FaW: 1d20 + 5 - 4 ⇒ (9) + 5 - 4 = 10
Coil Gun Damage: 4d4 ⇒ (1, 1, 3, 3) = 8

HELM

Tchisk moves in and boldly flies the Odyssey right past the pirate ship.

The pilot of the Lawblight, laughing softly to herself, tries once again to maneuver the ship to turn it more abruptly than it is usually capable of, but finds the controls are sticking somewhat after her last example of fancy flying. She skirts the edge of one of the asteroids and manages to bring the ship's port arc around to face the Starfinders, but is unable to bring the ship's main guns to bear.

GUNNERY

Seeing the less than ideal position they are left in, the Captain calls down to the gunners that they had better make this work, and one of the ship's gunmen responds to the call, swinging the ship's coilgun turret into position and opening fire on the Odyssey. With the captain's encouragement still ringing in his ears, the gunman finds his mark, and blasts into your aft shields.

Coilgun damamge: 4d4 ⇒ (3, 4, 2, 3) = 12

Aboard the Odyssey, impact alarms begin to sound as the ship suffers its first harm in the combat. The gunners are ready on their stations, however, as both Master Filament and Flint Locke return fire. Flint's aim with the coilgun is a bit off, but he nails the target with the missile launcher, and Master Filament lands a resounding blow against the pirates as well. Both hits strike into the ship's exposed hull, as the port shields are already down, sending the ship into a spiral of destruction and chaos!

Two critical thresholds hit!

Crit effect 1: 1d100 ⇒ 80 Glitching Engines
Crit effect 2: 1d100 ⇒ 90 Glitching Power Core

INITIATIVE
Quest 5: Lawblight - Round 2
Lawblight: -40 HP (Shields Forward: 15, Starboard: 5, Aft: 5, Port: 0/5)
Odyssey: -0 HP (Shields Forward: 20, Starboard: 15, Aft: 8/20, Port: 15)
Bold may post!
Engineering phase
Lawblight wins initiative! PCs move first
Captain post when ready
Helm Phase (Science Officer and Pilot)
Gunnery Phase

"No hull damage yet. Focusing on rear shields!"

Divert to shields, DC16: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (17) + 7 = 24

Restored 7 points to aft shields.

Dusty continues zeroing in on the damaged power core.

Computers: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (7) + 7 = 14

"YOU CAN DO IT! SHOOOOOT!"

diplomacy to aid gunner: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (15) + 7 = 22

@Dusty I think the crits were to the enemy ship.

@Tchisk, I suspect he meant he was targeting the Lawblight's power core, so if you hit another crit threshold, it will move the the power core to malfunctioning.

ENGINEERING

Kaiole works furiously to call up the surplus power put off by the ship's power core and route it to the ship's damaged aft shields. He is able to mend them to an extent, but they are still not at full power.

The engineer aboard the Lawblight does the same, though the port shields that had been damaged are more easily repaired.

HELM

Meanwhile, Dusty works to focus fire on the Lablight's damaged power core. His computers are unable to lock on to that particular system, however, due to all the erratic energy surges coming from the glitching core.

The pirate science officer tries to work together with his counterpart in engineering to balance the shields in a more tactically helpful way, but the systems seem to reject the idea outright.

INITIATIVE
Quest 5: Lawblight - Round 2
Lawblight: -40 HP (Glitching engines, Glitching power core; Shields Forward: 15, Starboard: 5, Aft: 5, Port: 5)
Odyssey: -0 HP (Shields Forward: 20, Starboard: 15, Aft: 15/20, Port: 15)
Bold may post!
Engineering phase
Lawblight wins initiative! PCs move first
Captain post when ready
Helm Phase (Science Officer and Pilot)
Gunnery Phase

Tchisk maneuvers around the asteroid field trying to lure the pirates into a trap. "I'm going to turn the tables on them. It's going to sting a little."

Tchisk, I'm just wondering. Any reason why you don't try any action (at least evade) each round?

Because I didn't think to.
Evade DC 16
Piloting: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (8) + 9 = 17

Hehe! *Thumbs Up*

HELM

The pilots aboard both ships begin taking evasive action, but when Tchisk pulls the Odyssey right up against one of the asteroids, the pilot of the Lawblight can't help but to turn his ship to stare straight down the Starfinder vessel's throat. "Fire those guns!" he shouts through down to the gunnery deck.

GUNNERY

The Lawblight's head gunner, a wicked looking lashunta with greasy dark hair and the complexion of an old potato, grins maliciously as the Odyssey comes into his forward arc. He flips a switch and turns his attention to a monitor on the console in front of him. Tracking Engaged, the monitor reads as the missile's tracking system engages and locks onto the Starfinder ship. Within moments, the missile has a lock, and the gunner laughs as he shouts, "Eat missile, ye filth!" The heavy torpedo explodes out of the Lawblight smashes through your shields, ripping into your hull as well as it hits.

Heavy torpedo launcher damage: 5d8 ⇒ (5, 2, 6, 6, 5) = 24

The other gunner, a less experienced human, fires the coil gun, but his shots go astray, blasting off chucks of the asteroid as Tchisk brings his ship up alongside it.

INITIATIVE
Quest 5: Lawblight - Round 2
Lawblight: -40 HP (Glitching engines, Glitching power core; Shields Forward: 15, Starboard: 5, Aft: 5, Port: 5)
Odyssey: -4 HP (Shields Forward: 0/20, Starboard: 15, Aft: 15/20, Port: 15)
Bold may post!
Engineering phase
Lawblight wins initiative! PCs move first
Captain post when ready
Helm Phase (Science Officer and Pilot)
Gunnery Phase (Starfinders)

Tchisk braces at the reports of incoming fire but does not lose his focus. "Now make them pay."
Has the captain gone yet? This might be a good time for him to take a weapon.

Next initiative
Piloting: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (10) + 9 = 19

Master Filament fires on the Lawblight.
If I correct, there are two Computer bonuses still free. If not, subtract one from:
Gunnery with computer: 1d20 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (13) + 2 + 1 = 16
Coilgun damage: 4d4 ⇒ (2, 2, 1, 3) = 8

With the main lasers brought to bare Flint opens up with the forward cannon and fires the third missile.

Attack Hv Laser Cannon, Computer, FaW: 1d20 + 5 + 1 - 4 ⇒ (20) + 5 + 1 - 4 = 22
Damage Hv Laser: 4d8 ⇒ (3, 2, 8, 1) = 14

Attack Hv Missile, FaW: 1d20 + 5 - 4 ⇒ (2) + 5 - 4 = 3
Damage Hv Missile: 4d8 ⇒ (6, 2, 2, 4) = 14

Have we used Lawblight Barrage yet? It says the first time we're hit with a torpedo, it misses.

Oops! You're right, Tchisk! You guys get off from that hit! I'll get that corrected.

GUNNERY

Somehow, the explosion from the Lawblight's torpedo obscured the view from the pirate ship, and when the smoke of the blast clears, it turns out the crew of the Odyssey knew the attack was coming and managed to evade it entirely!

The gunners aboard the Starfinder ship are both small, but they go big when they return fire on the pirate ship. Master Filament starts off by riddling the shield with the coilgun, and Flint soon follows up with an enormous blast from the ship's heavy laser cannon. The laser cuts through the remainder of the Lawblight's shields and damages multiple systems.

Crit effect 1: 1d100 ⇒ 28 Glitching sensors
Crit effect 2: 1d100 ⇒ 99 Malfunctioning power core

INITIATIVE
Quest 5: Lawblight - Round 3
Lawblight: -47 HP (Glitching engines, Glitching power core, Glitching sensors; Shields Forward: 0/15, Starboard: 5, Aft: 5, Port: 5)
Odyssey: -0 HP (Shields Forward: 20, Starboard: 15, Aft: 15/20, Port: 15)
Bold may post!
Engineering phase
Lawblight wins initiative! PCs move first
Captain post when ready
Helm Phase (Science Officer and Pilot)
Gunnery Phase (Starfinders)

ENGINEERING

The Lawblight's engineer panics as systems all over the ship begin to glitch and break. He fails to patch the malfunctioning power core, but the captain comes screaming down to his station and presses the one button the engineer missed to stabilize the core. "Idiot! You have to recalibrate the system to dampen the surges or it'll spike out!"

HELM

The science officer, his own systems now compromised by the damage the ship has sustained, fails to target your weapons.

Now the hunter becomes the hunted. Tchisk pours power into the engines heading straight for the enemy ship. "Get ready to fire...... Now!" Then at the last moment before impacting with it, he jerks the ship so that they pass along its side instead. The Odyssey turns to the side, but continues to move along the same vector so that she moves sideways while her main guns face the Lawblight.

Please work
FlyBy DC 18: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (12) + 9 = 21
If this works, we probably want more people on the guns.

Next Initiative
Piloting: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (13) + 9 = 22

Technically, moving to a different station occurs before the engineering phase so we shouldn't be able to move more people to the gunner position after we've determined that the flyby succeeded. It'd be too big an advantage...

"Nice flying and shooting!! Not yet a scratch on us!! Lets put a bit more UUUMPH! into the weapons!!"
Divert to Weapons, DC16: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (10) + 7 = 17

Damage rolls of 1 upgraded to 2 this round!

Fortunately,the same gunner can take the "free attack" from the fly-by and still attack as normal in the same round.

"Very impressive flying, Tchisk. Flint Locke, if you would do the honors..." Master Filament says, deferring the gunnery expertise of the other ysoki.

Even if Flint takes the heavy laser and the missiles, Filament can still fire the coil gun. There's enough guns on this ship to go around.

How about the captain? Last round I did suggest he take a gun.

I aided the gunner last round. This round I can take a gun. Is there an extra computer bonus laying around?

Gunnery: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (10) + 3 = 13

Dusty targets the power core again. "One more solid shot and their whole system will be compromised!"

Computers: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (3) + 7 = 10

HELM

Tchisk performs a daring stunt to fly right alongside and past the Lawblight in order to bring all the Odyssey's weapons to bear on it. His strategy is daring, but risky!
Let me know who is taking the attack from the Flyby, what weapon you're using, and which arc you are aiming at. Assuming you have a total of 3 gunners (Flint, Filament, and Ningth), you'll have two more shots you can take from your aft or turret arrays.

The pilot of the pirate vessel smiles wickedly as Tchisk flies down his ship's throat. "So, you wanna play like that, eh? Good! I've been wanting to try this one." The pilot fires up the main engines, glitching though they are, and accelerates forward. Just as the ship is reaching maximum velocity, however, he kills the main thrusters, powers up the forward stabilization thrusters, and flips the ship over in a corkscrew maneuver to turn the ship a full 180 degrees back toward the aft of the Odyssey!
Successful Flip and Burn!

GUNNERY

Down on the gunnery deck, the gunners share their pilot's malicious glee as he brings the ship around to face their enemy's rear. "Let's get 'em," they shout in unison as they fire off the ship's full arsenal at the Starfinder ship.

Torpedo damage: 5d8 ⇒ (2, 6, 3, 5, 5) = 21 This one will hit since the last one was revoked due to Lawblight Barrage
Coilgun damage: 4d4 ⇒ (1, 3, 3, 2) = 9 This one also hits, despite having to roll twice due to Lawblight Evasion

INITIATIVE
Quest 5: Lawblight - Round 3
Lawblight: -47 HP (Glitching engines, Glitching power core, Glitching sensors; Shields Forward: 0/15, Starboard: 5, Aft: 5, Port: 5)
Odyssey: -15 HP (Shields Forward: 20, Starboard: 15, Aft: 0/20, Port: 15)
Bold may post!
Engineering phase
Lawblight wins initiative! PCs move first
Captain post when ready
Helm Phase (Science Officer and Pilot)
Gunnery Phase (Starfinders)

Flint focuses fire from the main forward Laser cannon on the fly-by on their forward arc again.:

[ooc]That leaves two coil guns and the missiles free for others

Attack Hv Laser Cannon: 1d20 + 5 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 5 + 1 = 8
Laser Cannon damage: 4d8 ⇒ (5, 2, 2, 2) = 11

But seems to not get his timing right.

Flint still gets his "regular attack" during this Phase. It appears we are in the rear arc, so how about Flint takes the missile launcher. Then, Ningth and Filament fire coil guns.

Seeing the captain take a seat at the firing controls, Master Filament looks on with admiration, but he looks on too long and fails to keep his eyes on the target.

Gunnery (aft coil gun) with computer: 1d20 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 2 + 1 = 4

Curse you dice roller!

Ningth has rolled his attack already and hit. Just needs to roll damage. That can be either the coilgun or the missiles since he can use the turret to target the Lawblight.
Also, I may be misreading the CRB or missing something in the FAQ as usual, but I'm not sure you get an additional attack from the Flyby maneuver. The text just states, "During the following gunnery phase, you can select one arc of your starship’s weapons to fire at the enemy vessel as if the vessel were in close range (treat the range as 1 hex), against any quadrant of the enemy starship." To me, that would mean that, instead of only getting to use the weapons in the arc you have available after your movement and targeting the enemy arc facing you, you can use weapons from any of your ship's arcs and target any enemy arc.

To me, that would mean that, instead of only getting to use the weapons in the arc you have available after your movement and targeting the enemy arc facing you, you can use weapons from any of your ship's arcs and target any enemy arc.

I was pulling my interpretation from the "Moving through Other Starships" section on page 319. Imagining both ships "moving" through a space at that same time, it says a weapon used for this "free attack" can be used as normal later in the round. But I can also see that it is reasonably interpreted as only applying to attacks by enemy vessels and not attacking vessels (although technically, both are 'attacking' at the same time). I think your interpretation is equally valid (perhaps even more so as the words "free attack" do not appear in the Flyby section except to say they are not provoked by the attacking ship). So, I have no problems accepting your ruling.

My understanding is that, if during normal movement (ie no flyby stunt) Ship A moves through Ship B's hex, then Ship B gets what amounts to an Attack of Opportunity against Ship A.

Yeah, I believe the benefit of the Flyby stunt is that you aren't subject to the free attack by the ship whose hex you're moving through, and that, during your gunnery phase, you can pick what guns you shoot with and what arc you aim at for one of your shots. That will be my ruling until I find a compelling argument otherwise.
To help move us along, I'll roll the damage from Ningth's attack using...oh why not go for the missile?

High Explosive Missile: 4d8 ⇒ (4, 8, 8, 5) = 25

GUNNERY

Tchisk's great flying sets up Flint perfectly to blast the Lawblight's exposed forward arc with the Odyssey's powerful heavy laser cannon. The sudden pull of G's generated by the pilot's maneuvering throws off his aim however.

Similarly, when the Odyssey finally completes its pass and the pirate ship turns its main guns on the Starfinders, Master Filament is thrown off by the powerful blasts rocking the ship.

Ningth, however, moves down and seats himself at the turret. He swings the gun around and pulls up the screen to lock onto the Lawblight with the high explosive missile launcher. He finds his target, takes a deep breath, and fires. The missile cruises through space and collides directly with the nose of the Lawblight. The ship stutters, its external lights flicking on and off as explosions rip across its hull, and finally goes dormant as it drifts sideways into the surface of a nearby asteroid and is destroyed!!!

COMBAT OVER

With the Lawblight defeated, you are finally free to return to Absalom Station with the information retrieved from the wreckage of the Unbounded Wayfarer. Venture-Captain Arvin greets you with a warm smile as you disembark. “Well, you may not be our most conventional team, but you've done it! You can undergo the tedium of a complete debrief later. First, I’ve arranged for you all to enjoy a few days’ downtime in Kemanis, at the high-end clubs, theaters, and VR parlors. You’ve earned it. But,” he warns, with a sly twinkle in his eye, “after that, it’ll be time to put you back to work.”

QUEST COMPLETE and ADVENTURE COMPLETE!
CONGRATULATIONS!

Nice job, GM! Thanks for a great game!

Whee!! Thanks all. Much fun and more fleshing out of my charater

See you all on the flip side