[Outpost III / SFS] GMJones' 2-3 The Withering World (Inactive)

Game Master Jones228

First of all, thanks for joining my game. I am a new GM but have been inspired by some of the best on these boards like Dinketry, Skeemo, Bigrin, and Valen when playing their SFS scenarios.

I will try my best to breathe as much colour and life into the scenario as I can. I enjoy PBP as an outlet for creative writing and hope you feel the same. While I agree with the principles of PBP gameplay like always trying to post a hook and push, I encourage players to play in the space before moving on. Take a few moments to describe how your character feels in the moment and banter between yourselves, even if you have to keep it in spoiler tags after the story has moved on. My favourite part of PBP and gaming in general is collaborative storytelling, so the more you contribute to your part of the story, the more I will try to play along and bring the story to life.

Because I am a new GM, if I happen to miss any of the fine print in the rules along the way, please let me know in the discussion page right away. My only goals here are fairness and fun.

Here are my expectations for my scenarios, as well as the information I would like from you:

I encourage a 1 post a weekday, and 1 on the weekend.

Please provide your character sheet in your profile, or email it to me. Pm me for my email address. So both of us can access your stats quickly, post your race, class, level, SP, HP, RP, EAC, KAC, etc in your character tags (I usually use the “race” tags) It also helps to add your bonuses to your “classes” tag in a spoiler.

If you are going to be unavailable for part of the campaign, let us all know in the discussion tab and provide bot me instructions in your post or profile. Combat turns last for 6 seconds, or 24 hours in real life.

Maps and other info will be in a shared Google Slides.

In combat, characters will act in groups between enemy actions. I will make it clear with a posted initiative list who is up. Characters will act in the order they post. The only exception to this rule will be starship combat. If you want to wait for another character to make a decision, feel free to use spoiler tags. (If X does this then I do this, if X doesn’t then I do this)

Make your combat actions clear for me and everyone else. Use ooc tags, or separate paragraphs to indicate to everyone what is a move, standard, swift or free action. Spending less time deciphering your post and the rules gives me more time to be creative.

Please provide me with the following information for your character.

CHRONICLE INFORMATION:
Player Name:
Character Name:
Character Number:
Slotted Faction:

Information for this chronicle sheet:

Number of this Chronicle:
Starting XP:
Initial Fame:
Fame Spent:
Reputation with slotted faction:
Day Job + Roll:

Preferred Starship Role:
Starship Dice Modifiers:

Is there any other information the GM should know about you as a player or your character?
What was your favourite scenario or gaming moment with this character?

I played this scenario once. Just for your information and i looked it up and it is indeed replayable.

As for putting information into my character tags i need a little help.
I do have the Character Operations Manual for more roles in Starship Combat.

I sent you a private message with information about your character tags.

I just finished this scenario on the boards here, which is why I chose it to run. I don't want to spoil any scenarios I haven't played!

CHRONICLE INFORMATION:
Player Name: Karen
Character Name: Rhys Dawnstep
Character Number: 71203-706
Slotted Faction: Exo-Guardians

Information for this chronicle sheet:
Number of this Chronicle: 1
Starting XP: 0
Initial Fame: 0
Fame Spent: ?
Reputation with slotted faction: 0
Day Job + Roll: 12 (inlcudes tool kit and clothing) + whatever i will roll Day Job: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (18) + 12 = 30
Edit to add: Found out how to roll. :)

Preferred Starship Role: Magic Officer
Starship Dice Modifiers: Mysticism +7

Is there any other information the GM should know about you as a player or your character?
I am not a native speaker in English, but my skill level is high. I will ask when i am unsure.
What was your favourite scenario or gaming moment with this character? First time i am playing this character!

I can also offer to be Pilot with a +5 and 1 rank in Pilot.

Edit to add another thing:
There is a problem and i can't pick an Avatar for her on Paizo, i get an error from Paizo, so your imagination when i descripe her must be enough.

So when will we start to play? I made sure to sign up for a scenario i like to play when i found the Castamir's Flaxseed Station and the spreadsheet but i have no clue about the timeframe for Outpost III.

Official start is March 30th. I can't post anything official from the scenario until the start of Outpost 3, but about a week before I am going to post an intro so your characters can meet and introduce themselves, as this scenario begins right in the action.

Okay, good to know and i am eager to learn more about my fellow adventures.

Just let me know when i should give you more information about my character.

I just signed up for this! Vyviane here is level 2, but I am still in the process of updating her character sheet.

Player Name: Sedoriku
Character Name: Vyviane Isafira
Character Number: 108507-703
Slotted Faction: Wayfinders

Information for this chronicle sheet:

Number of this Chronicle: 5
Starting XP: 3
Initial Fame: 6
Fame Spent: 0
Reputation with slotted faction: 6
Day Job + Roll: Profession (Corporate Recruiter): 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (7) + 9 = 16

Preferred Starship Role: Captain or bust! ('Sorry, but any any captain but a halfling one is clearly going to be second best') She can take other roles as necessary but she prefers to captain
Starship Dice Modifiers: +9 Diplomacy, +9 Intimidate, +13 Bluff (and for the sake of completeness: +7 engineering and computers, +8 piloting, +4 gunnery, +9 Acrobatics, +0 athletics, and is untrained currently in mysticism)

Is there any other information the GM should know about you as a player or your character?
Vyviane has the Divine Blessing (Weydan) feat meaning anytime she is on a new planet she sets a different appearance for that planet. I typically represent this through using a different avatar but seeing as that system is currently out of commission it might not be able to happen. Additionally I live and work in Japan so my time zones are a bit different than everyone else typically.

What was your favourite scenario or gaming moment with this character?
The first series of quests (Into the Unknown!) Vyviane was able to successfully recruit someone, captain a ship and even find a new planet!

Hello!

Oh, that's a good idea to post all the skills for starship combat.

Just a reminder ranks in Piloting is important because the more ranks our pilot has the more difficult it is to shoot anything at us and hit us. AC and TL is going up for each rank in Piloting!

Preferred Starship Role: Magic Officer
Starship Dice Modifiers: Mysticism +7, Piloting +5 (1 rank), Intimidate +0, Diplomacy +4, Bluff +0, Acrobatics +1, Athletics +1

So if nobody wants to fly the ship i will do it.

Welcome aboard Vyvlane, you should make 6 which means we have a full table! I'm sure we'll collect the other players as we get closer to the start date.

That's also my guess.

I forgot to mention my Gunnery skill +2!
So i do hope we will end up with a better pilot then me and a good gunner.

Don't get confused by my avatar, i just wanted a not so pretty female human, because mutations. She is redeemed and follows Sarenrae.

Number of this Chronicle: 4
Starting XP: 3
Initial Fame: 6
Fame Spent: 0
Reputation with slotted faction: SS-JA: 6
profession mercenary: 11 + 1d20 ⇒ 11 + (14) = 25

Preferred Starship Role: Gunner or Pilot
Starship Dice Modifiers: +10 Pilot, +5 gunner
Also he shares a bond with Tixylix, so I can communicate telepathically with him within 30 feet. Also when init is rolled, we both go on the higher of the two inits.

I just woke up, saw a dragonkin and mentally went how the *bleep* did some one play a dragon in PFS?... Then remembered this is starfinder. Blah...

Must be still a race boon. I had a look at them but no legal option for SFS for me. And i think they really want to give us lot's of different options for our characters.

I am glad that they lifted the restrictions on legacy races in core rulebook.
My second chracter is an Elf as most of my characters in PFS1.
For SFS i am amzed that i build so many different races so far.

-----------
Has anybody seen a female human or humanlike with more teeth then normal for average human and a skin tone not looking healthy? So many avatars in the database i ended up using that creepy lady.

Must be still a race boon. I had a look at them but no legal option for SFS for me. And I think they really want to give us lot's of different options for our characters.

I know it's legal for Starfinder Society with the right boons. I was thinking it was Pathfinder Society, which has never made dragons/dragonkin legal as a race.

But alias pictures are back, Vyviane can be her full transform-y self again!

Well i never had an overview which races are legal for whatever reason in Pathfinder Society. Good to know, that dreaming of a dragonkin is not going to happen.
Wait can you be a Kobold for Pathfinder Society? I think they are largely related to dragons.

Oh and on my tables we still fall back to old mechanics from Pathfinders for example when we ask about abilities for enemies we successfully identified. Like how many hit dice... *facepalm* CR would be the better question.

Follower of Weydan do get a fun option with that feat. Sounds great for an Outlaw... Great another half of an idea for another character.
Or i will add that feat to my existing Operative. I have to check how religious my Outlaw Operative is. And if yes, if Weydan is the right choice for her.
For most characters i left the entry for deity blank to get the feeling for that character.
One question does Absalom Station or the Idari or any other big station counts as a planet for that feat?

Do you have a list of planets for your Vyviane? I would create such a list and then i can go back to that avatar whenever my character returns to that planet.

One question does Absalom Station or the Idari or any other big station counts as a planet for that feat?

Do you have a list of planets for your Vyviane? I would create such a list and then i can go back to that avatar whenever my character returns to that planet.

Don't know about the stations, I'd say ones that have their own Pact Wordl status would count, but under a strict reading probably not. The feat is a bit ill-defined, not sure when the appearance changes back. It could be when you leave the planet or it could be when you next land on a planet. I have an avatar for Absalom and the planet from the Into the Unknown. Other wise it's just been small space stations, Absalom, space and the Drift.

It sure does sound like a fun thing. I would have fun having a list for all the different planets and then i look always the same when i am on Aktion for example. Then again there is always the disguise skill and a disguise tool kit.

I read when on that planet as, the moment you leave the planet you are your natural self. Only on planets if you ask me. Ah, that perception check is hard for people not really skilled in Perception.

Not sure if Absalom Station is really a station or not. I mean there is the Starstone deep in the heart of Absalom Station.

Not sure if there will ever be a scenario for Starfinder Society in which your character can be recognized by appeareance alone for a beneficial or not so beneficial thing to happen. I do hope authors have this nice feat in mind for the future.

Great that we can an avatar at all and you can change your avatar again for this adventure! Just in the right moment.

Edit to add:
I can still edit so i do it.
I changed my avatar that smile from creepy lady annoyed me more and more. Still not exactly what i have in mind but better in the long run for my sanity.

Looking forward to learn about how to play with buddy from you Zimat and Tixylix.

I see some of you included speed and conditons and senses into the tags, i experiment with it for a bit.

I have had the wildest 11 days since my last post, and on top of that, the world is a very different place now since player signups. I hope every one is still ready to start.

I will be reaching out to any players that have not posted yet, and plan on posting an unofficial opening to the scenario on Monday morning for your characters to mingle a bit before you get dropped into the action March 30th.

CHRONICLE INFORMATION:
Player Name: Ietsuna
Character Name: Tixylix
Character Number: 204997-704
Slotted Faction: Dataphiles

Information for this chronicle sheet:

Number of this Chronicle: 3
Starting XP: 2
Initial Fame: 4
Fame Spent: 0
Reputation with slotted faction: 4
Day Job + Roll: None

Preferred Starship Role: Mechanic?
Starship Dice Modifiers:

I am doing fine. Now i am really hard thinking about shaving my head because a haircut will not be doable for a while.

Looking forward to play this character.

Let me try to help you letsuna.
Should i have made any mistakes please do correct me.
Keep in mind we can switch our roles at the beginning of each starship combat round! There can only be one Captain and one Pilot for all the other roles we can have as many as we like. Not having a Pilot is not good though.^^
We can do one thing per round.

Just list all your skills that i listed under Starship Dice Modifiers and pick the role which you are best suited for.

Preferred Starship Role: ?
Starship Dice Modifiers: Mysticism +?, Piloting +? (? rank), Intimidate +?, Diplomacy +?, Bluff +?, Acrobatics +?, Athletics +?, Gunnery +?, Engineering +?, Computers +?

Roles:
Captain
All of those skills can be used.

• Intimidate
• Diplomacy
• Bluff
• Bascically all the skills which can be used in Starship Combat and getting a 10 in total to help

The Captain is giving one person per round a bonus or once per combat a penalty to the enemies.
The Capatain can do the action any moment and has no special phase.
Only one Captain!

Engineer

• Engineering

Tweaking the systems to boost equipment for Science Officer or the weapons in the way that a natural 1 on a damage die is instead a 2. Restoring shield points, patching the ship back to functioning normally and so on.
A round starts with Engineering phase (First phase).
Each engineer needs to do a different kind of possible action besides patching up!

Science Officer

• Computers

Scanning the enemy, balancing the shield points where we need them. Making sure that when a gunner hits critical that we hit them were we want them to have a malfunction and not a random roll for where.
Acts in second phase the Helm phase (Second phase).
Science Officers can do the same kind of action in the same round and don't need to take different actions!

Pilot

Piloting

Is doing a check to see which ship has to move first, it's bad to have to move first.
Flying around making sure we present a shielded side to the enemy and pointing our best weapon to the enemy. Doing stunts for more advantage.
Acts in Helm phase (Second phase).
Only one Pilot!

Gunner

Gunnery is a skill only used for Starship Combat you take either your BAB and Dexterity Modifier or number of ranks in Piloting and Dexterity Modifier

Shooting enemies to pieces and is acting in Gunner phase(Third and last phase).
Each weapon can be fired only once per round!

New roles out of Character Operations Manual.
Chief Mate
Can use those two skills.

• Athletics
• Acrobatics

Physically crawling around in the ship to help anybody except the Captain.
Acts in any of the three phases to help.
Each kind of action only once per round, so helping the Pilot can be done once even if there are two Chief Mates!

Magic Officer

• Mysticism

Can tweak the weapons to increase the reach of nearly all weapons,can also scan the enemy and can make the pilot react faster and improve our initiative.
Acts in Engineering phase(First phase).
Each kind of action only once per round!

There are more actions besides role actions but they are the strongest kind of actions.

I will do whatever. I am not a huge fan of starship combat. Engineer perhaps, or gunner.

Then i do hope you will enjoy our adventure nonetheless. Personally i enjoy starship combat, but i can totally understand you.

Thankfully no scenario is only starship combat.
Looking at your skills Engineer would be great for the team. And we can adjust on the fly.

Our gamemaster wants to reduce the time for a debate who will fill which role for starship combat, that's how i read it.

Stay safe and take care of your family and friends.

Our gamemaster wants to reduce the time for a debate who will fill which role for starship combat, that's how i read it.

You have a week to decide now, in character or out! I have posted in the gameplay thread to get us warmed up.

You are correct, it's just faster if everyone picks a role now, instead of slowing down if/when starship combat breaks out.

I signed up for this, but it was a while back when GM signups opened up. I need to look up what character I signed up to play as and possibly make their sheet. I should have that up in the next day or two.

Nice. Looking forward to play together.

Great to have you along Pithica42. When you get your character organised, please join us on the bridge of the Loreseeker in the gameplay thread!

Our 6th player has ninja vanished from the sign up sheet, we can still go ahead with 5, but I did put out a post on Flaxseed Station for anyone interested with joining us.

Hello all. Saw the post, grabbed the last slot. Good to see you again, Tixylix!

CHRONICLE INFORMATION:
Player Name: Joey Martin
Character Name:Elwin
Character Number: 73425-702
Slotted Faction: Dataphiles

Information for this chronicle sheet:

Number of this Chronicle: 5
Starting XP: 1
Initial Fame:8
Fame Spent:
Reputation with slotted faction:6
Day Job + Roll: none

Preferred Starship Role: Engineer (+9) or Science office (+9 computers) Pilot (+7) Mystic office (+7)
Starship Dice Modifiers:

Is there any other information the GM should know about you as a player or your character?
What was your favourite scenario or gaming moment with this character? Ashes of discovery. We had a great group and a really fun GM. He made Hellknights fun...

Ah, here I am. This is the character I signed up under.

I'll be playing Berith "Berry" Azazel, a Female Tiefling Drone Mechanic.

Chronicle Information
Player Name: Pithica42
Character Name: Berith Azazel
SFS: 327796-709
Faction: Second Seekers (Jadnura)

Number of this Chronicle: 4
Starting XP: 4
Initial Fame: 7
Fame Spent: 0
Reputation with slotted faction: 7
Day Job + Roll: 24 (I always Take-10 on this check.)

Berry can do Engineer (+10), SO (+11), Chief Mate (+5), Pilot (+8), Gunner (+5), or Captain (using Aids from those skills). I don't have a preference.

Is there any other information the GM should know about you as a player or your character? I usually GM. I've GM'd but not played this scenario. The character is a Scoured Stars survivor.
What was your favourite scenario or gaming moment with this character? She's only played 1-09, Live Exploration Extreme!. Everything about that scenario is crazy fun.

First time that i hopefully will really finish a scenario with play by post and i discovered i like to write loooooong posts.

Advice for improvements about style and formatting is welcome.

I always try to separate player knowledge and character knowledge as best as i can and hope all of you like that playstyle also and should i steer away from that path give me a clear hint.

So my human is the token human as expected. :)

Nice to see a full table.

One day i will learn to switch to Rhys Dawnstep before i hit Submit Post...

So... looking at just the numbers..
viv as captain at +9 diplo
Rhys as magic officer at +7
Ziamat has the best piloting at +10
Berith has +10 engineering and +11 computers so best at either of those.
Tixylix has eng +7 and Comp +8
I have +9 on comp and eng.

Wait. We have 6, right. Missing one. Just noticed. :)

So, someone has to shoot as well. I think I'll have a one better bu=onus than Tixylix so right now that might be me..

Thoughts? Ideas? Good cookie recipes?

Let me mark our players and add numbers.

So... looking at just the numbers..

viv as captain at +9 diplo Listed as I here
Rhys as magic officer at +7 Listed as II here
Ziamat has the best piloting at +10 Listed as III here
Berith has +10 engineering and +11 computers so best at either of those. Listed as IV here
Tixylix has eng +7 and Comp +8 Listed as V here
I have +9 on comp and eng. Listed as VI here

Wait. We have 6, right. Missing one. Just noticed. :)

So, someone has to shoot as well. I think I'll have a one better bu=onus than Tixylix so right now that might be me..

Thoughts? Ideas? Good cookie recipes?

Yes, we do have all six players at the moment on the bridge and nobody wants to be the gunner! I can do gunner but only at +2!

Ziamat should stay as Pilot! Two ranks means two more on our AC and TL for our ship and the +10 is better for the Initiative in Starship Combat and a better change for the stunts.

Well we can always switch our roles at the beginning of combat. As Magic Officer i can do the 'scanning'. So we only need a Science Officer if we need to rebalance the shield points. And after the scanning is done i wiill boost our Pilot for better Initiative or making our guns shoot 5 hexes farther!

But as for who should be Gunner let us compare Gunnery: either BAB + dexterity or number of ranks in Piloting Skill + dexterity modifier whichever is higher.
Let's just compare the bonus.
Gunnery for Rhys +2!
And i think Tixylix with his higher Dexterity would also be a slightly better Gunner then you Elwin if you both put the name number of ranks into Piloting.

-----------------------------------
@Elwin
So i tried to read you character sheet and i stumbled upon a wealth of 1499 Credits. How on Earth can you have more then 1000 Credits on a character just started because 0 XP and being Level 2 and having bought gear? I am confused. Because i tried to get your bonus for Gunnery on my own. Structure there confused me.

I've only played this character once in a scenario with no Starship Combat, so she doesn't honestly have a preference, yet. She's pretty capable at all the roles except Magic Officer.

I mostly GM and I've played every role, though, except Chief Mate, and I'm fine with any of it. Her gunnery is +5 and Piloting +8. I personally think we should fill in our Gunners and Pilots (in that order) with the best at those roles before any other positions. At low levels, those are by far the most important roles.

I agree our best Pilot should be our Pilot and the more we hit them the more damaged they are and are not able to really shoot back without penalties.

So i am updating the Gunner list:
Rhys +2
Berith +5
Vyviane +4 (don't panic just to have everyone on the list)
Ziamat +5 (but is best Pilot with +10)
Tixylix +?
Elwin +?

If we have a good magic officer, my strategy would be far far away from the enemy as I fly, while our magic officer gives us +5 to our range on our weapons. Or at least get behind them and at a far distance if our magic officer wants to give me a +2 to my init.

@Rhys: I need to update the character online likely. I have only been changing numbers and gear I think. Elwin has been through 4 games so he actually has some credits to spare. I played one high tier so got the greater amount that game as well.

As for gunnery. He has a BAB of 1, 2 ranks in piloting and a +2 for Dex so.. +4, right?

Up to date Gunnery in our group:
Rhys +2
Berith +5
Vyviane +4 (don't panic just to have everyone on the list)
Ziamat +5 (but is best Pilot with +10)
Tixylix +4 (I am pretty sure that's correct.)
Elwin +4

So with that we can let Berith shoot the enemy to pieces.

I, as our Magic Officer, can either give you +2 to your Ini as Pilot or improve our range for our weapons because we don't have a weapon with the point special property i can do that for any one(1) weapon on our ship every round! :) So we can pewpew from far away if you get the higher Initiative with ease or me and our Captain are pushing your Initiaive and we have the better position for a shot for sure!
But your +10 sounds very promising.

@Elwin
I see, that's more like it. The lack of updated information throw me off.

You are correct, with the two ranks in Piloting and your +2 to DEX your Gunnery is at +4!
Technomancers BAB is always lower then the character level and as long as you always put a rank into Piloting as soon as you level up you can always add your amount of ranks in Piloting to your DEX modifier and voila you have your Gunnery bonus.

---------------------
Since the official start is at the 30th i will wait for a few more reactions before i post again in Gameplay.
------
Edited again and again because Typoqueen and master of changing a sentence in the middle and the first draft is still there...

Vyviane +4 (don't panic just to have everyone on the list)

Ah I am shocked she even got listed! [/fake offendednes]

Vyviane is just pushy about it in character. I'm fine with her stepping down or even doing other things as needed. She has ranks in almost everything so she can be the stop gap if needed, oh and shoot on occasions.

So let's settle for:
Captain: Vyviane
Chief Mate: ?
Engineer: Tixylix or Elwin (Elwin seems to be slightly better in both skills)
Gunner: Berith
Magic Officer: Rhys
Pilot: Ziamat
Science Officer: Tixylix or Elwin (Elwin seems to be slightly better in both skills)

Oh with a nearly maxed out table to take advantage of the bonus from a Captain is really nice. Let's just try this and see how we are doing.

The Pegasus is giving once per round bonuses: Science Officer +2, the Pilot +1 and up to two others can also get a bonus +1.

I'll be fine with either engineer or science office. Always give one of the extra bonuses to the gunner. :)

Always boost the gunner. Always.

Vyviane can do without the bonus for the most part.

My wife's family experienced a pretty severe tragedy last night. I'm okay, but there's a very real chance that I'll be in and out in the first week because of it. If this is going to be an issue, let me know and I can drop from the table. I'd prefer not to drop, but I understand and don't want to hold anything up.

Sorry to hear that.
All the strenght you need to get through this as a family.

Reallife comes first.

Take whatever time you need with your family, and join us when you can. Thanks for letting us know.

Best of luck with your current situation. We'll be here when you're ready!

Berith, take your time. We'll be fine and can bot you as needed if you aren't around for a day or two. These few random strangers will send positive thoughts towards you.

Also had a thought on the starship positions. We have someone who claimed and is sleeping in Engineering. Any idea what he bonus is? :)

From Berith's profile: Starship Skills: Athletics +5, Computers +11, Engineering +10, Piloting +8, Gunnery +5

That's the best bonus for Gunnery besides Ziamat and Ziamat is our best Pilot.

So Berith woudl be great as our Gunner.

Derp. That's what I get for checking in and multitasking, missed that was Berith. My bad! :)