
Zadie Billix |

Action 1
Huh, a dwarf. That's something you don't see every day, Zadie noted absently as she started across the middle of the bay. Probably ought to pay some extra attention to him as an artifact of Ye Olde Golarion; Vladlena would. She was so busy sizing up the dwarf she almost didn't notice the two groups closing in on her position. Almost.
They made me! Funny: they don't look like standard security. What did that ysoki have me accessing for him anyway? Her hand flickered toward the laser pistol at her belt, the one Ralston insisted she carry if she was going to be mixing with Armada against her dads' wishes, but drawing a gun on security would only make things worse. Besides, Vladlena wouldn't. If she stuck with her story, she might be able to persuade these guys they'd traced the wrong person out of the archive and send them off to find 'the real hacker.' Cautiously, she raised her open palms, trying to look innocent -- and make a small target.
Standard action: Total Defense: +4 to AC

Oriana Kassi |
Action 1
Oriana was about to raise a hand in reply to Krall's friendly gesture, when she saw several people running and taking positions at the fringes of the docking bay. She felt a slight thrum in the peace of the bay - a peace that was likely about to be broken.
Reaching her upper right hand up, she grabbed the dark mote of energy that followed her everywhere. Upon being seized, the mote lengthened in her hand, becoming a thick stave. The staff was made of pure and solid darkness - it seemed to be a tear in the fabric of reality itself, revealing the nothingness underneath.
Holding the stave in a two-handed defensive position, Oriana put her hand in her concealed pocket, ready to draw her pistol should she absolutely need to.

John Anderson PLLC |

By the time John spotted the contact - a dwarf - he'd been mobbed by a number of other contractors. John drew himself up, stepped forward and carefully handed over the last of his interactive business cards. "John Anderson, PLLC" he introduced himself coldly. "Pleased to meet you. I am here in regards to our communication from 46 hours ago R.E. potential employment situations." Message and card delivered, John stepped back to let the next person in.
Noticing the other contractors twitching, John looked around as well. 'They seem to be looking over there near those crates, but.... WHAT!?!?' Immediately a situation leaped out at him, his keen mind analysing it instantly. 'Those crates are marked as compliant with standard 117AX of the station's customs code, but they're being kept in a non-refrigerated area! The food inside could be defrosting as we speak, resulting in bacterial contamination causing food poisoning and a lawsuit worth thousands - tens of thousands - of credits! Someone needs to do something!'
Action 2
Behind the fateful, lukewarm, non-compliant 117AX crate a thug drew a bead on the preoccupied lawyer.
Mechanics. Wait, I think John has 5 resolve.
Also, he should only have 6/6 rounds. The other 14 are in his pockets, but I didn't buy a clip.
I'm glad they changed the rules for flat-footed in starfinder...

Robert Magnusson |

"Pleased to meet you, Mr. Duravor Krell. I am Kamiya Opunui - but I'm sure you know more about me from your computer than I could possibly tell you." She laughed lightly. "Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity. I'm very much looking forward to being an asset to the Starfinder Society."
’Oh good, company,’ Robert thought as, the moment he laid eyes on his contact person he spied a lashunta female walking up to the dwarf and greeting him. From the context, it seemed obvious enough the Starfinder had set up another meeting at the same time, perhaps thinking of saving time in the typically dwarfish manner – no, make that several meetings, as he saw a suit walk up to his contact, offering what might have been a business card to the dwarf. Well, it made sense, he had to admit. He just hoped they weren’t all competing for a single position. His academic years might have prepared him well for fighting for grants but it certainly didn’t mean he enjoyed the experience.
Sighing, he took his place at the end of the line yet before he had got anywhere close to the dwarf, a small war erupted before his eyes. For no apparent reason nor signal that he had caught, two parties scurried for cover and began shooting at each other, with gleeful disregard for anything and anyone caught in the line of fire. Swearing, he jumped for cover behind the nearest solid-looking object and reached for his comm. ”Call station security!” he shouted, opting for the interface option that left his hands free. He briefly considered reaching for his own gun but immediately decided against it – he had barely been on the station for an hour, he did not need the trouble of holding onto a weapon that had recently been fired once the dust settled and the security began figuring out the who and the what and the why.

Fabian Benavente |

Can Zadie take Robet's Binary as a language as well? Ysoki and Vesk will be her other two.
Those are fine.
I am not planning on tracking you switching out a battery or a clip but rather the total consumable. I'll see if switching those out is worth tracking.
Resolve should be your main ability modifier + 1/2 character level (minimum 1).
I intend to move things along later today.
Game on!

Fabian Benavente |

Zadie Billix |

Zadie belatedly realized that the shooters had no particular interest in her. Not security. What's going on?! Her first instinct was to comm her dad Ralston and have him rush a dispatch of Stewards to her rescue, but with an effort, she swallowed her little-girl panic and realized that she still didn't want to have to explain why she was where she was. If she could just find some cover and hunker down until the shooting stopped, she had a decent chance of getting home without further complications.
Lowering her hands, she dashed toward a large shipping container to take cover behind it, noting an android examining the markings on the crate. As she put her back against its wall (and hoped it wasn't full of explosives if it took a stray laser blast), she noticed that the dwarf she had been pretending to take an interest in moments before was down.
Move 4 squares up, 1 left to use the crate for cover; Standard action: Total Defense: +4 to AC

Oriana Kassi |
Oriana stood, nearly frozen, completely bewildered by the violence occurring before her eyes. A gunfight! Here, on Absalom Station! It was unthinkable.
And then something even more unthinkable happened. The dwarf she had come to meet, the man with the friendly smile, crumpled, a smoking hole where his eye had been.
There is no honour in this! These people put collateral lives at risk, it is not acceptable! Looking around, Oriana spotted one of the shooters hunkered down to her left, behind some barrels. Holding her black stave in two hands, she sprinted as best she could around the cover in front of her, aiming to give the woman a thunk on the head and stop this madness.
Not sure if I can climb over any of the cover between me and SW thug, or if I have to go around. Will do whatever is quickest. I'll give you an acrobatics roll just in case.
acrobatics: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (14) + 3 = 17

John Anderson PLLC |

Wow - I messed up resolve and stamina points. In retrospect I think I might have forgotten to change that line when I copied the formatting.
Time froze as the air filled with flying death. A foot from his head a beam punched through the air.
The ship hadn't had entertainment. The emergency protocols hadn't bothered to save anything non-essential, and there wasn't power to recover anything. The closest thing had been the Emergency Training Simulation. Hundreds of hours of simulated emergencies; Hull Breach, Engine Malfunction, and John's favourite; Boarding Action. He'd done that one a lot. Three, sometimes four hours a day. Every day. For five years. Every weapon variant. Every strategy option. Reflexes honed to a cutting edge in a safe, consequence free environment came to a head.
profession:lawyer: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (20) + 5 = 25
20 on this? Nooooooo....
Tell me if I am making up something wrong
"Please consider this notification under station law section 5, subsection 2, paragraph c that I perceive a threat to my life, or the life of others, and am thus authorised to use deadly force to end that threat where necessary."
Even as he spoke John was walking, calmly, methodically towards the edge of the crate. Hands moved on their own and the gun slung across his back came down and into hands waiting for it. The sight popped out. The barrel extended, and he pointed the Reaction Cannon across the concourse towards where his attacker sat. He moved his hand and a bullet loaded into the chamber. He moved his finger as he finished talking, and it left.
attack: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (10) + 5 = 15
damage: 1d10 ⇒ 2
The woman who had shot so close to John clapped a hand against the side of her head and fell back, realising as she did a perfectly neat hole had been punched through the metal canisters behind her. Canisters marked "flammable", but thankfully empty of gas. A hole that lined up with where her ear and cheekbone had been a second ago. Shock kicked in, and the blood vessels in her face constricted. The aftermath of the sinus headache she'd had lingering vanished in pain and cold. Her left eye blinked, and then her right - the pupil on that side contracted to a pinpoint.
Move and draw. 2 down, 1 left. Cover against side of crate.
Standard: Shoot once.

Fabian Benavente |

John: I trusted you guys with the number crunching and did not really check unless something looked really odd.
Everyone: Take a close look at the table in the turn recap (stats and consumables) to make sure I copied things correctly.
Common law states that you can defend yourself in the manner in which you were attacked and be 'safe' from the law' (i.e., don't pull a gun when someone slaps you).
Kamiya: crawling four squares directly west would give you some cover except from directly east. BUT crawling to the square just north of John would give you even more cover and be a lot more fun for RPing when John sees this lashunta girl try to use him as 'soft cover'. :)
Questions?
Game on!

Fabian Benavente |

Not sure if I can climb over any of the cover between me and SW thug, or if I have to go around. Will do whatever is quickest. I'll give you an acrobatics roll just in case.
I think your move would get you to just on the east side of the thug's cover. You'll be able to jump the cover and attack (if you wish) next round.
Questions?
Game on!

Kamiya Opunui |

Kamiya stared in shock at Kreel's body. She scrambled north towards someone's legs in order to gain some cover. She still had no idea who was involved or what had triggered this violence. What would they tell security when they finally arrived? Maybe she could trigger some doubt within the minds of the thugs. Her voice once again rang out as she moved, "Murderers! You reprobates have killed an innocent bystander!" Kamiya then used her racial ability to listen to the surrounding thoughts trying to hear possible names of the ones responsible.
Using Detect Thoughts (60ft). She should be able to get a couple thugs.

Robert Magnusson |

”Moonfall! Robert cursed as he retreated deeper into cover. ”Watch who you shoot, you rat! Better yet, put a hole in your own head and do the gene-pool a favor!” The red emergency call icon blinked at the edge of his vision, demanding attention. ’In line? They actually put the call in line!’ he thought in dull amazement. ’Just how many calls do… oh, forget it.’ He let his computer keep on with trying to open a comms link while he considered his options. Apparently the people doing the shooting weren’t too partial who they shot at, since he couldn’t figure out how they would have considered enough of a threat to actively try to kill. Which meant running for it was not advisable – a large movement might just draw fire from both sides for all he knew.
He looked around for an inspiration and caught sight of any number of thick pipes along the walls up near the ceiling, several of them grazed by stray weapon blasts. He had no way of telling what was in them, but then again, hopefully the idiots doing the shooting weren’t better informed, or at least wouldn’t have enough time (or brain capacity) to start thinking about it. ’That, I can use,’ he thought, narrowing his eyes as he fell deeper into his own mind, applying the mental trigger that allowed him to tap the spell cache implanted deep within his brain. For this, he’d want… that formula.
Muttering the complex mathematical formula that set his mind in the correct state to allow him to force his will on the material universe, the reluctant technomage altered the electromagnetic radiation in a fixed area, altering its wavelength to create a holographic image of what he imagined. A rupture appeared on one of the pipes, the metal flowering out as if under immense pressure, and a thick, lightly blue mist began to shoot out, quickly floating down to ground level as it seemed much heavier than the air it displaced, forming a thick mass of cloud that began to quickly spread deeper into the room.
”A coolant leak!” Robert shouted, finding he had to fake very little to put fear into his voice, although for not quite the reason he hoped the shooter would assume – being shot once already was plenty to worry the bookish scientist. ”Out before the environ sensors close the doors on us!”
Casting a Holographic Image, centered somewhere SE from Robert (as that’s close to him and he’d have a good line of sight there from his cover), trying to spook the enemies into running for it before they get a good lungful of poisonous coolant fumes… there should be plenty of combat noises so no-one will immediately miss any slight hiss of escaping gas since the lowbie illusion is visual-only.
I assume a station like this would have plenty of automatic systems to detect dangerous substances and close airlocks to isolate the nasty stuff from the rest of the station. Hope this seems believable enough to you ;^) Robert doesn’t worry about warning the other PCs, as they are all strangers to him and any warnings to them would increase the chances for the idiots with the guns figuring it was all a sham.
Also, assuming calling station security is OK since if we have 911's in all remotedly civilized countries then surely there are such on the station. But that doesn't mean instant response onsite.

Fabian Benavente |

”A coolant leak!”...
I'm Ok with your assumptions.
Just to be clear, I've placed six 'thugs' on the map so you can see who's doing the shooting. There are other people standing by like yourselves (not shown on map).
You want this coolant break (5' cloud and expanding) to be away from these thugs, correct?
Game on!

Fabian Benavente |

Zadie Billix |

I presume that's a culture check about the criminal underworld, which reduces its DC by 5 for Zadie. With a +8 to Culture, that's an auto-success for her.
Gangs. With a solid object between herself and the nearest active laser pistol, Zadie's mind cleared enough for her finally to realize what was going on. I wonder if I know any of them. If I find out who's involved, I'm definitely not doing any jobs for either of them again! Well, unless the pay's pretty good.
Honestly, this seemed like the best place to wait out the firefight. Especially with the android in black blasting away with a Vesk reaction cannon at her side.
Continue Total Defense: +4 to AC

Fabian Benavente |

I presume that's a culture check about the criminal underworld, which reduces its DC by 5 for Zadie. With a +8 to Culture, that's an auto-success for her.
Yes, that's a culture check and I will let you attempt to identify the gangs if/when you get closer and have time to look for tattoos, etc.
Questions?
Game on!

Oriana Kassi |
Just trying to get a handle on this stellar mode thing. It says that on the first round of combat, I need to declare graviton or photon mode. So would this be the second round of combat, or the third? Not sure if the surprise round counts. If it's the third, do I get to use the revelation this round or next? It's not entirely clear in the text. Retroactively I choose photon mode for this battle.

Fabian Benavente |

Just trying to get a handle on this stellar mode thing. It says that on the first round of combat, I need to declare graviton or photon mode. So would this be the second round of combat, or the third? Not sure if the surprise round counts. If it's the third, do I get to use the revelation this round or next? It's not entirely clear in the text. Retroactively I choose photon mode for this battle.
I think the surprise round would count only if you are able to act in it.
Since you were not able to act then this is your second round. Given that you gain the attunement points at the start of your round, you will be fully attuned next round (3rd) and may use those powers that require that you be fully attuned, like your super nova if you are photon attuned.
Anyone else care to chime in?
Game on!

Oriana Kassi |
Ok, that makes sense to me.
The gun and laser fire continued, and Oriana heard the victim's screams. Hopefully the shooters were only injuring each other, and not harming any of the fleeing throng of bystanders. Full of fury, Oriana leapt between the barrels that the woman hid behind, using her lower arms to brace and balance herself. With her upper arms she brought her gravity stave down with her full strength, crying, "Stop shooting!"
gravity stick attack: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (11) + 3 = 14
damage: 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 3
The gravity sword hit the woman square in the shoulder, knocking her pistol-arm down to her side.

Kamiya Opunui |

Kamiya continued to concentrate on the minds of those around her. She could feel a lot of fear which just amplified her own and she made herself as small as possible beside the crate and behind one of those who had also introduced themselves to Kreel...Joel? Josh? John?...yes, John.
She pulled her stickybomb grenade from the belt around her waist which was partially hidden under her long coat. If she couldn't detect anything useful from the minds of those around her, maybe she could keep them from escaping until security arrived.

John Anderson PLLC |

Ah! I see Zadie bolted up at the same time as John walked down. I took a long time to get my post from preview to submit, cos I was doing it during compiles, so didn't notice the overlap.
That does mean John didn't have LOS to his target last round, though.
What do you want to do about this?
Is it okay if John stepped back as she came barrelling in?
I mean, she is providing soft cover, and I appreciate the AC bonus :)
But this round he'll have to move or pick a different target.
What cover does the thug at the upper-right have? Is he crouched down among cannisters? I'm assuming the one by the box has cover as well?
Hmm - how obviously is Zadie trying to take cover? It sounds like it is pretty obvious, and if she still have a move action left (total defence is a standard in starfinder) the two of them could trade places?

Fabian Benavente |

Ah! I see Zadie bolted up at the same time as John walked down. I took a long time to get my post from preview to submit, cos I was doing it during compiles, so didn't notice the overlap.
That does mean John didn't have LOS to his target last round, though.
What do you want to do about this?
Is it okay if John stepped back as she came barrelling in?
I mean, she is providing soft cover, and I appreciate the AC bonus :)
But this round he'll have to move or pick a different target.
What cover does the thug at the upper-right have? Is he crouched down among cannisters? I'm assuming the one by the box has cover as well?
Hmm - how obviously is Zadie trying to take cover? It sounds like it is pretty obvious, and if she still have a move action left (total defence is a standard in starfinder) the two of them could trade places?
Whatever has happened remains. I'm not worried for this scenario since this is an introduction to the game/world. I promise I won't kill you in this fight (Shari:you can breathe easier now). :)
All thugs are considered to have partial cover.
You can tell that Zadie is trying to hunker down and not get hit.
Questions?
Game on!

John Anderson PLLC |

if Zadie is up for it...
John looked at the young woman who had desperately taken cover against the box - but dead in-line between himself and his target. Combat instincts urged him to use her as soft cover - she should have enough mass to absorb at least a few hits. Customer service training urged him to see to her comfort and attempt to take her on as a client. In the end customer service training won.
"Excuse me Ma'am. Please take cover behind me." he offered, only to see his target engaged by a civilian with a gravity staff.
"You'll be fine Ma'am" he added, cycling another bullet into the cannon with an ominous clack-clack as he turned to face one of the other thugs "I'm a lawyer."
(optional) move: to trade place with Zadie. Standard: to shoot.
attack: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (7) + 5 = 12damage: 1d10 ⇒ 2
John's bullet slammed through the side of a wooden crate. Moments later sparkling green dust started to trail out of the entrance and exit holes.
Oh, sorry if all the rules references are annoying. I'm trying to drill them into my kid so he can play at a Society table

Kamiya Opunui |

Whatever has happened remains. I'm not worried for this scenario since this is an introduction to the game/world. I promise I won't kill you in this fight (Shari:you can breathe easier now). :)
Actions speak louder than words, Fabian, and your previous actions will always make me nervous for my characters...

Zadie Billix |

Zadie readily moved out of the way to allow the android to get his Vesk weapon into play. "Gangs," she explained helpfully, pitching her voice to carry over the laser blasts and screams. "Don't think they have anything against the rest of us. Not that it helped him, of course." She nodded in the direction of the downed dwarf.

Robert Magnusson |

Robert wasn't actually using his spell cache, that was just an expression. Not that it matters in the least, with him only having one level's spells at his disposal.
"Don't think they have anything against the rest of us. Not that it helped him, of course." She nodded in the direction of the downed dwarf.
'Tell me about it,' Robert thought, irritated that the gangsters were focused enough on each other not to pay any heed to his attempt to drive them away while at the same time not minding much what they shot at, provided they had a target in mind. Well, he was too far away to reach any of the idots with any offensive manipulations of energy he had mastered, and there was no way he was getting out of cover just to get himself even closer to the people firing at him.
Sit thight in cover, concentrate on the illusion to spread it north; hopefully one of the flatlines will notice it and react appropriately - in their case, most likely to try and shoot the gas cloud dead.

Fabian Benavente |

Oh, sorry if all the rules references are annoying. I'm trying to drill them into my kid so he can play at a Society table
Nothing to worry about. This is a social game and I like discussing stuff.
How old is your kid? Did you ever look into Predation?
I intend to move things along later today.
Questions?
Game on!

Fabian Benavente |

John Anderson PLLC |

How old is your kid? Did you ever look into Predation?
Six. He's bright, reads well, and adding dice up is good for his maths. We're having trouble finding him somewhere to play. I tried the Society on the weekend, but the GM we talked to is (reasonably) concerned about him slowing the game down.
I'm basically drilling him on the tactical rules to fix that problem. He's doing okay; he's got actions, the 5 stages of combat and we started on concealment today.I'm remembering how teaching something beds it down - I'm starting to worry I'm going to mess up Pathfinder after this, though.
We tried Predation, but it was just too much stuff for him to concentrate to go through - and I'm not aware enough of it to help steer much. He's been playing Pathfinder for a few years, so he has the background to understand it more easily.
I like the Starfinder tactical rules. They're similar to Pathfinder, but clearer, with less exceptions and some subtle changes to make things more interesting. Getting rid of the free 5 foot step, for example, should really changes the way a battle feels at high levels.

Fabian Benavente |

Fabian Benavente wrote:How old is your kid? Did you ever look into Predation?Six. He's bright, reads well, and adding dice up is good for his maths. We're having trouble finding him somewhere to play. I tried the Society on the weekend, but the GM we talked to is (reasonably) concerned about him slowing the game down.
I'm basically drilling him on the tactical rules to fix that problem. He's doing okay; he's got actions, the 5 stages of combat and we started on concealment today.
I'm remembering how teaching something beds it down - I'm starting to worry I'm going to mess up Pathfinder after this, though.
We tried Predation, but it was just too much stuff for him to concentrate to go through - and I'm not aware enough of it to help steer much. He's been playing Pathfinder for a few years, so he has the background to understand it more easily.
I like the Starfinder tactical rules. They're similar to Pathfinder, but clearer, with less exceptions and some subtle changes to make things more interesting. Getting rid of the free 5 foot step, for example, should really changes the way a battle feels at high levels.
That's young but I'm a firm believer that RPGs will do wonders for his school work and overall development. Math, reading comprehension, vocabulary, imaginary worlds, all great for a young mind. Just keep some of the more adult themes away from him for a while longer. :)
Have you tried playing with him on the table, meaning both of you and him being PCs with someone else GMing? That should ease the GM's mind and give your kid some experience/confidence, if he needs any.
I like SF rules as well and we'll fix whatever we mess up or end up porting some of the better rules to PF. If everything goes well, meaning the rules play out as well as I think they will, then I'll slowly transition my games to SF rules. I'm in no rush though since I'm having fun with the other two PF games we have going.
Game on!

Fabian Benavente |

Are you going to give me any names to hear?
Names? Gang member names?
Let's see, there's:
Queen Bee Lashun
Frenchie Juno
Dollface Vero
Reclue Tyroid
Babyface Mario and
Knuckles Sei-pei
All courtesy of here.
Work with me, Kamiya! :)

John Anderson PLLC |

Move: Down, left, left, left, left, up. Standard: shoot. If the ganger does not have a melee weapon she gets no AoO. If she does, she gets two.
Positioning should be [John][Target][box][box][where john was]
"555-555-263" John announced, as he chambered another round."Call me."
A moment later he swung round the box he was using as cover, low and fast. A second later he was on the other side of the box, with the target at point blank range, desperately swivelling to keep John in her sights.
attack: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (20) + 5 = 25 By the new rules an auto-crit! damage: 2d10 ⇒ (7, 5) = 12
The side of the box next to Zadie, where John had stood a second ago, vanished in a cloud of splinters and red spray. The ground next to the hole tinted red as the remains of the target's head lightly misted to the ground.
"One down." John called. Somewhere in the back of his mind something struggled with the repercussions of the shattered humanity he was seeing - but thousands of hours of repetition pushed it away.

Robert Magnusson |

Re: calling station security... how long should one expect to have to wait 'till the call goes through? I don't expect a tac team to teleport on site but one'd expect someone to register a call, an AI if not an actual person. This is, after all, the seat of the Pact Council, one'd expect a place like this to be bursting with security forces.
Temporarily safe behind cover, Robert kept on cursing the surprising tenacity of the gansters while hoping the station's security would find an atlas that showed them where their arses were so they could pick that part of their anatomies from their chairs and start hustling here to, perhaps, do what they were paid for?
Still doesn't seem there's any reason for Robert to risk injury, so let's just wait for security or the other PCs to finish off the gansters, stay under cover, use Total Defense as there's nothing else worthwhile to use a stardard action for, and keep slowly manipulating the illusion (move it slowly north, will leave parts of the "fog bank" empty as long as they are hidden behind squares covered with illusion to allow it to seem to spread wider without).

Fabian Benavente |

Re: calling station security... how long should one expect to have to wait 'till the call goes through? I don't expect a tac team to teleport on site but one'd expect someone to register a call, an AI if not an actual person. This is, after all, the seat of the Pact Council, one'd expect a place like this to be bursting with security forces.
Listen Robert, if the gangsters are from the 1940s then don't expect much as far as security here. :)
Kidding aside, this is only the third round for Robert so 12 seconds have passed. However, I agree that you should get a answer to your SOS call.
Feel free to write this up or I will in the turn recap.
Questions?
Game on!

Fabian Benavente |

D'oh... just took a look at the campaign intro page... a tad heavy on the spoilers, eh? ;^)
Yeah... I copied that from the back of the AP Book so it's 'public knowledge'.
However, this is only the intro to the bigger adventure which is the AP itself. it's really no different than any other AP and I trust you guys to keep player and character knowledge separate.
Besides, we'll be introducing some 1940s style gangs into 'our Dead Suns'. You can blame Shari for that. :)
Game on!