SPECIAL “FAN FAVOR” RULES FOR LIVE EXPLORATION EXTREME!
In this adventure, the PCs’ aren’t just holovid stars; they’re performing for a live audience of passionate fans able to contribute to whatever incentives concocts during the event. Although the PCs’ only obligations involve exploring the designated portion of Salvation’s End and not killing the production crew, they stand to gain reap considerable social rewards if they put on a good show and pander to the crowd. Over the course of the adventure, the following conditions and interruptions happen periodically.
Over the course of the adventure, each PC can earn special points called Fan Favor by distinguishing herself through actions and words. Fan Favor represents the degree to which the audience connects with that PC, perceiving a given character as especially charming, daring, energetic, fickle, memorable, philosophical, treacherous, tough, or whiny. As the adventure progresses, write down a word or two like these to describe each PC’s stage persona. The more the PC plays to his or her persona, the easier it is for the audience to understand and judge his or her actions (and whether they approve).
Beginning Fan Favor:
Each PC begins with 1 Fan Favor, and multiple prompts in the scenario allow the PCs to earn more. Ideally, a character should end the scenario with 3 or more Fan Favor, so be sure to give several opportunities for each PC to increase her total.
Earning Fan Favor:
A PC can also earn Fan Favor in the following ways. Be sure that each PC has a few opportunities to participate, and feel free to be transparent with the mechanics of earning Fan Favor as this transparency should help provide PCs with incentive to get involved in some of the scenario’s more media-driven activities.
Drama: Being a Starfinder isn’t always exciting, but Live Exploration Extreme! relies on glamorizing the Society’s adventures. The more entertaining the PCs are—and that applies equally to being verbally thoughtful, decisively action-packed, or dramatically petty— the more the audience adores them. When a PC does something extraordinary like crack the perfect joke, propose an amazing plan, show off a sponsor’s gear in a stylish way, or utterly embrace a fan vote’s result, that PC may be awarded 1 Fan Favor.
Risks: In the eyes of the audience, the PCs are action heroes. By accepting a –4 penalty on a skill check, a PC can perform the skill in some overly flashy or clever way that impresses viewers. This skill must be one for which the PC’s deed is easily observable and for which there’s real risk, so getting away with an absurd lie or back-flipping past an opponent would qualify, but recalling an obscure fact probably wouldn’t. Each PC can earn only 1 Fan Favor in this way.
Infamy: It’s healthiest to appeal to the audience. That said, a PC can embrace his inner antihero and become the antagonistic jerk the viewers love to hate. A PC who goes out of his way to snub the audience, insult Zo!, mock the show, or purposefully attack the undead crew loses 1 Fan Favor. A PC who ends the scenario with a negative Fan Favor total earns 1 point of Infamy, but he qualifies for all credits rewards and boons on the Chronicle sheet tied to a high Fan Favor score.
The Booth: You will find out more about this from Wazasha! Until then, note that a PC who provides engaging answers or anecdotes that fit his persona in The Booth can attempt a skill check to Earn Fan Favor. The skill must match the PC’s persona and responses, such as a Charisma-based Profession check for a bubbly aspiring actor, a Sense Motive check for an introspective wallflower, or a Diplomacy check for a wisecracking joker. In general, favor Charisma-based skills when determining which skill to use. Each PC should expect to have at least one opportunity to enter the Booth during this scenario.
