[SFS_GM DocDoc] 1-04 Cries From the Drift (Inactive)

Game Master Nick Wasko

Each of you has been summoned to a mission briefing by Zigvigix, the leader of the Exo-Guardian faction.

Please phantom dot this thread. This post is just a placeholder to help create the campaign on the boards. I'll provide a better kick-off post once we're all squared away.

Dotting in

You find yourselves summoned to Downlow for a mission briefing by Zigvigix, head of the Exo-Guardian faction. Downlow is the one of the safer neighborhoods in the Spike; it is an active, thriving warren of factories, drydocks, and workshops. That activity is reflected at the appointed address, a warehouse undergoing renovation as dozens of teamsters bearing the Society's seal on their uniforms carry furniture and electronics into the building. Among the flurry of workers, you can easily pick each other out; weapons, armor, gear, or general bearing all distinguish you from the day laborers. You also hear a churning, rhythmic buzz with a bubbly melody lilting between the beats.

The sound originates from a heavily-augmented host shirren who watches a bustling crew move office equipment from several large pallets inside the warehouse, while other workers weld scrap metal to gaps in the structure’s walls. The shirren occasionally directs a crew member and makes a note on a datapad. The shirren, Zigvigix, wears a set of shoulder speakers that blast out sugarpop music from the band Strawberry Machine Cake. Zigvigix bounces in place along to the music until they notice your arrival, at which point they turn to telepathically project a greeting.

Welcome to the future Exo-Guardian headquarters version 2.0, my fellow Starfinders! Isn’t this song the best? I’ve been playing it on loop for hours! Behind the excited shirren, several grizzled-looking station workers, each carrying a side of a heavy-looking holotable, roll their eyes.

The shirren doesn't waste time, but moves right into their briefing. Thanks for coming! I hope you’ll understand if I keep this brief; we’ve got a lot of work to do to get our new headquarters up and running! Also, you are on a shorter timetable than these fine chaps! A ysoki salvage barge named the Clutter Collector, captained by a ysoki named Winks, picked up a distress-beacon transmission in the Drift. Winks didn’t have time to check it out, but she sold the data to the Society when she reached Absalom Station. How nice of her!

Well, it turns out that this beacon came from the Struggle’s Scholar, a kasathan ship that... Zigvigix pauses for effect as their antennae wiggle excitedly. ...escaped from Sangoro’s Bulwark! If you don’t know, the Bulwark was the Exo-Guardians headquarters version 1.0. Now, First Seeker Luwazi wisely grounded us from investigating the Bulwark after all contact was lost with it shortly after the Scoured Stars incident, but we can’t pass up this opportunity to learn what happened there. We might even be able to find the coordinates to our missing headquarters! Then we could have both a 1.0 and a 2.0 headquarters at the same time! Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have a large fortress to play loud music in?!

Zigvigix hands over a datapad. Here are the coordinates of the distress signal. It is unlikely any of the crew survived, or they’d be here by now. Be on the lookout for bodies; since the crew is mostly kasathas, it would mean a lot to their extended families if you could bring back their remains or keepsakes to the Idari! Otherwise, salvage any data you can—especially the ship’s log—as it could tell us what happened to Sangoro’s Bulwark. This datapad also holds a one-time-use decrypter that will let you decode the Exo-Guardians ciphers used on the distress signal. Good luck!

If you have any questions, now is the time. Also determine which starship you would like to bring for this salvage mission.

At first glance, he might be mistaken for a Vesk. He's got scales and spikes. He's armed like a Vesk - doshko and reaction cannon. He carries himself like a Vesk, with martial posture and awareness.

But no Vesk is so big. Fully 9' tall from feet to shoulders with a long neck supporting his head that could give him another 2' of height if extended up fully and putting it on a level with his folded wings. For that matter, no Vesk has ever had natural wings like that. Or such a long tail. Or been the gold color with distinct rose accents like he is.

It should only take a moment for anyone who is even moderately cosmopolitan to recognize him as a dragonkin. Though they don't have a full empire that they populate, they are fairly common on Triaxus, which is at least within the Pact Worlds.

He stands loosely, head bobbing slightly to the song as he listens to Zigvigix.

"Sounds simple enough. I assume we're free to pacify any hostiles we encounter during the mission?" he asks.

"I'm Sturmvanger, by the way. This is my associate, Sam-12," he says both to the leader of the Exo-Guardians and the rest of the group, indicating an android nearby when making the latter introduction.

Weylin walked into the bustling sector looking around with interest and curiosity. This was his first visit to Absalom Station. He had joined the Starfinders straight out of the mines. His first mission to thwart the destruction of Enereth-7 had been a success and now he had been assigned out of his faction The Acquisitives to help the Exo-Guardians.

He chomped on the unlit cigar that was always in his mouth, and looked around as he approached the bug-like Shirren leader blasting some horrible music that was nothing like the chants and heavy drum and bass dwarven bands. He was particularly fond of the steel guitar of Thed Nu-Gent and his song "Draug Eat Draug" was sort of a theme song for the Dwarven Robotocist.

He stood behind the The Dragon-like Sturmvanger and the height difference was great. When ZigVigix was finished he said to his drone Pellet you record all that? Pellet was his personal assistant and was quite capable, though a little disgruntled for having to be rebooted a few times in the last mission.

Then he remarked back to the Leader of the Exo-Guardians his voice sounding like gravel crunching beneath your feet.. Names Weylin...this is Pellet. So to summarize. 1. Respond to Distress Beacon of Struggles Scholar. 2. See if there are any survivors. 3. Bring any dead crew we find of the Kasathan ship or their family heirlooms to Idari, 3.Salvage data from the computers, especially the ships log. 4. Look for info on what happened on Sangoro's Bulwark. Sounds easy enough. Do you know where the Ysoki Captain of The Clutter Collector is staying so we can talk with him? Im sure Captain Winks may have additional information.

Pellet was hovering over the dwarfs left shoulder and answered Weylin Yes of course oh great and grand rebuilder of this poor suffering entity. I recorded it all

The human agent listen carefully to Zigvigix's explanations as if enthralled, only once they finished she speaks up, this would be her first field mission and she was a little anxious.

She has long and blonde hair, emerald green eyes and a rather pale skin that would look just a little sickly if she weren't of Featherlight heritage, that's it, her parents and ancestors likely expend most of their lives in low gravity environments and adapted to them, she is rather tall but kinda lanky without much muscle to speak about, she was cute nonetheless having that inmature charm that humans humans sports as well as ambition in her eyes... No, not ambition but rather curiosity, a desire to learn and understand as much as she can in her short lifespan.

Currently her hair is a little messy as are her casual clothes over her second skin armor and hauls a rather big backpack with all sorts of tools.

"I hear you! That song is really good, I'm Melissa Schultz but that's rather boring, please call me Mel, ahem... What where we... Oh! The mission! Right, sounds fair enough, I think I can be of some help! Also... Nice augmentations! Looks really Rad on you." Said and introduced herself the Human, she speaks a little fast as if she were in a sugar rush but looks nonetheless happy as she eyes her fellow agents.

"I'm looking forward to work with you guys! I'm with the Dataphiles so recovering info, data and all those stuffs are my thing! I'm a technomancer by the way, so you can count with me!" Said the cheerful dataphile, she wasn't familiar with Dragonkin but know that they live on Triaxus and to be honest she has saw far rarer aliens in Absalom, Weylin however was nothing new to her as she has saw dwarves during most of her childhood back at the mining stations in the Diasphora.

Will mostly role play for now instead of making diplomacy checks or similar if that's okay

It's meh to be home. Slinking into the commotion in this corner of the Spike is an andriod all in black: short spiky black hair; black contacts that mostly cover her glowing blue eyes; matte black clothing from toes to neck to wrists, with shiny decorative black spikes and strips in strategic places; black tattoos that mostly cover the glowing circuitry in her olive skin (but let a residual glow shine through at the edges); black eyeliner; and black lipstick. She hangs at the back of the group of agents, slouching with her hands in her pockets. Her eyes shift under half-hooded lids as she listens impassively to the briefing (and keeps her low opinion of the music to herself). Thinking back to her time working for the Free Captains of the Diaspora, she muses: If this is anything like the salvage missions I've worked before, it'll either be deadly exciting or dreadfully dull. She hopes for the former.

When it's her turn for introductions, she jerks her head up once in an abbreviated nod. "Twila-4." She barely turns her head as her eyes flick around to register the other agents.

Zigvigix nods to the beat in response to Sturmvanger. If you find any unwanted visitors, by all means do what you must to protect yourselves. Hopefully you won't need to shoot too much; if anything's still alive aboard the Struggle's Scholar, I hope it would have tried to get the ship back home by now!

The shirren also nods along to Weylin's checklist. Yes, yes, yes, yes, and yes! Though maybe getting the ship log should rank higher... though not higher than saving any potential survivors... Maybe just rank them all as number 1! Unfortunately Captain Winks has already left on another salvage mission, so you'll need to work off the data she's already sold us. Everything should be right on that datapad!

Zigvigix's antennae twitch excitedly when Mel mentions her faction affiliation. Wonderful! I think Historia-7 is a great help, and I'm glad you're joining us!

One last thing, the shirren says telepathically. As a special treat, you get to choose what type of starship you take out to find the beacon! One of my favorite choices, and that's saying something!

It looks like you guys are leaning towards the Pegasus. Mel is Science Officer, Weylin is Engineer, and Twila-4 is Pilot; any other preferences for starship roles before we take off?

I want a drake because they have more guns.

A large green vesk enters the room, a spider perched on his shoulder. He carries a heavy plasma rifle and a doshko that smells of barbecue meat.

”Hi, sorry I’m late. I’m Laanok, and this is my pet, Cactus. I usually have snacks for everyone, but he ate it all. “

He then turns to the dragonkin
” Wow.....you’re a big vesk,“

Sam-12 stands quietly in the corner and takes it all in. This isn't the most organized operation, but there is merit in hiding amongst the chaos. Sturmvanger tends to stand out, and doesn't worry too much about the threats he can't see, so it's usually Sam that's watching their backs.

Sam looks at the new arrival and puts a calming hand on his friend's shoulder.

Relax, Sturm. You know most people make that same mistake. We have a job to do.

So we have one vote for Drake and one for Pegasus - anyone care to cast the deciding vote? While we wrap that up, I'll move onto the next scene since the ship model won't influence that.

With Ziggy's datapad in hand, you pile into your chosen starship and begin to taxi towards the departure docks of Absalom Station. As luck would have it, you find your ship positioned alongside another Starfinder ship as you wait for the administrative clearance to launch. A comm channel opens up, and your holoscreen takes the shape of a teal-skinned, scaly humanoid floating in a water-filled chamber.

The scaled space smiles. "Hail to fellow swimmers in the great starry sea! Glad we got the comms working, sometimes the interface between our waterborne cameras and your dry projectors leads to issues with the video feed. I am Mantarider Suulhu-Huur, and on behalf of the Manta Corps, I wish you peace and triumph on your mission. Where has the Society deigned to send you today?"

Sturmvanger tenses at Steelfangs' words, actually getting shorter as he bunches up, though his wings also spread.

Sam's hand on his shoulder doesn't seem to have any effect at first, but then, with an almost visible force of will, he relaxes, straightening back up.

"Dragonkin," he grates out through gritted teeth.

"Nice loadout," he follows up after a couple of silent seconds, giving an approving nod regarding the actual vesk's weapon.

Once their Pegasus departs the docks, he stows his gear and settles in for the long flight, moving a bit clumsily through the corridors obviously designed for smaller creatures.

When the hailing video comes on he just nods again. "An honor to be speaking to a member of the famous Manta Corps and more honor to receive your well wishes. We are investigating a former Exo-Guardians headquarters," he says, answering politely but not giving away more than necessary.

I voted for the Pegasus. If it all goes wrong, you can blame me.

"Wow, we just have one big Dragonkin and an also big Vesk! Nothing can possibly stop us, right guys?" commented a happy Mel trying to bright the mood of the party while the move.

"I like the Pegasus more, it has a lab to tinker with my toys and computers hehe..." added Mel casually.

life science: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (17) + 8 = 25

"Manta corps, huh? How cool! You see we're on a little mission to the former headquarters of the Exo-guardians." Greeted Mel recognizing it as a Kalo and their basic info.

"By the way, hey Sturm, Laanok... If something happens I can hide behind you guys, can I? I can even boost your weapons and stuffs!" requested The human hoping to device a contingency plan if something goes wrong.

Twila-4 notes another android in the party, hanging back and keeping an eye out. Good instinct. Her eyebrows twitch a little upon seeing the familiar interchange between him and Sturmvanger. Wonder how those two got together. Stories like theirs have high odds of being laced with loss, often death. She hopes that the dragonkin is chatty about his past.

Once on board their chosen vessel, Twila-4 strides confidently to the pilot's terminal. With her hand on the seat back, she glances around to see if anyone else wants to vie for the position. When no one does, she plunks down and begins her standard prep checklist. When the comm channel opens, she looks up.

Culture DC 10: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (10) + 7 = 17

Huh. Cool. Noting the species and its origin, Twila-4 gives a simple nod of recognition. Is this friendly banter or another crew trying to swoop in on our prize? Luckily for her, the suspicion that barely creeps onto her face isn't too far off from her perpetual sullen expression. Unless this kalo is well versed in android and human expressions they're unlikely to notice.

Meanwhile Mel takes a look at the ship's computers to see if it is doing well, thankfully everything seems to be running smoothly or so says the screen.

"This Pegasus seems to be in good condition, the who..? Hey Twila do you like piloting? That Kalo surely looks friendly don't you think?" commented the chatty human trying to strike a conversation with the quiet Android.

My sense motive sucks so I won't roll it and just trust Suulhu-Huur

Boarding the Pegasus Weylin went straight to the engine room. His last ship had been a Pegasus so he was familiar with the layout.

He started running routine checks and making sure everything was functional and in good repair.

Pellet hovered into engineering and stayed near Weylin turning on some Dwarven Rock Music she picked up through her communication link

Suulhu-Huur's face breaks into a grin. "Ah Ziggy! They are a hoot, though their music tastes can be a bit... obsessive."

Another kalo swims into the video feed, sporting a large machine gun encased in waterproofing panels. "Don't let their augmentations fool you, though, that shirren knowns their way around an arsenal! They helped me outfit ol' Muncher here for underwater use!"

Suulhu-Huur gives the interloper a friendly shove. "Don't mind Mantarider Ushuul here, he just picked up that machine gun on our last assignment and he won't shut up about it. Anyway, a 'former' headquarters sounds ominous, especially after the Scoured Stars debacle. Maybe Deepspeaker Alluguoth has heard of it!" He turns to another kalo floating in the back of the room.

Alluguoth frowns. "It sounds related to Sangoro's Bulwark. Be careful out there - no one knows exactly what happened to that fortress, and swimming into a blind ravine is a recipe for tragedy."

Suulhu-Huur turns back to you. "Yikes, sounds depressing. The Society usually saves us for aquatic missions, so not exactly in our wheelhouse. Maybe when we all make our way back to Absalom Station you can tell us what you found!"

"Now that you mention it... Ominous indeed, but that just makes things more interesting but I'm not that worried, whatever happened to it was long ago so... We should be fine I think." Commented an optimistic Mel.

"Zigvigix listen to some good music but looks like he is overdoing it hehehe..! Not that I mind it anyways." Added the human who can't help but sympathize with the Shirren.

Laanok boards the vessel, checking out the guns. His empathnid companion scurries to the bridge.

Life science : 1d20 ⇒ 13

A chime sounds on your dashboard, indicating your ship got the green light to go. Suulhu-Huur nods. ”Looks like you are clear for takeoff. Glad we could chat in the meantime, let us know when you’re back at the Lorespire Complex and we’ll swap war stories!”

If anyone has anything else to say to the Manta Corps, now is the time. This is just a role playing encounter to introduce recurring characters that will appear in other SFS plot lines, so unless anyone has a key question they want to ask I’ll post the intro to the first big scene when I’m next at my laptop.

No questions here, I'm okay with moving on

Twila-4 gives a lazy salute as Suulhu-Huur bids the group adieu. As unsure as she is of his intentions, she knows that a certain amount of reciprocation usually reduces suspicion of ulterior motives. (How much and what type is a little harder to figure out, though.)

As the comm link winks out, Twila-4 guides the Pegasus into the designated Drift lane and the Manta Corps and Absalom Station fade away behind you. Nine days later, you close in on the coordinates provided by the Clutter Collector, and the beacon's signal faintly registers on your scanners. You emerge from the Drift surrounded by dozens of asteroids floating listlessly in space.

This ship is ablaze on either side with three bright-red thrusters, which are reminiscent of the energy blades of a plasma doshko.

Laanok proceeds to the bridge, activating scanners

Computers : 1d20 ⇒ 15

”Uhh....I think that ship which could be vesk....maybe....is really close to lava asteroids with obsidian shells. “

When Weylin had been alerted they approaching the site he went down to Engineering and activated his link to the bridge viewsys.

He was looking at the asteroid field and the other ship.he said to the bridges com link...the asteroids are chunks of obsidian pulled over by a drift engine from the elemental plane of earth. You could hide behind them and they'll shield us from damage. That ships odd engines are for show. Nothing else.

engineering: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (7) + 8 = 15
physical science: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (19) + 9 = 28

” That’s a very bad idea. One hit and those asteroids burst. But if you want the ship to melt, that’s fine. “

physical Science: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (5) + 8 = 13

Computers: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (7) + 9 = 16

Engineering: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (20) + 8 = 28

Mysticism: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7

"Be careful Twila! Those obsidian things that Weylin mentioned are dangerous! They're all molten inside and frozen outside, a bad combo! In other words... If we shoot or hit one they'll spray magma like crazy! Also! See that ship? Those thrusters may look impressive but as far as I can tell they're only decoration, a cool one by the way... In any case shouldn't we try to, you know contact it? They aren't necessarily bad guys." Informed and suggested Mel who is either too optimistic or oblivious about the ship at the other side of the asteroids.

if okay I'd like to speak with the crew of the other ship before start shooting.

Mysticism DC 15: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 = 8 ...fail
Sensors - Computers DC 15: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (12) + 7 = 19 ...success
Engineering DC 15: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (8) + 7 = 15 ...success
Mysticism DC 10: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (17) + 2 = 19 ...success

Yeah, guys. I get it. Asteroids bad. Geez. Twila-4 cracks her neck with a sharp twitch and replies to all the comments as if this is all very boring. "Yeah, those thrusters are the symbol of Damoritosh: vesk god of conquest, duty, and war. You can talk to 'em if you want, but hot-rodders like that usually like a fight. I'll plot a course to casually avoid 'em." With that, she adjusts the ship's trajectory to slip through the asteroid field through a lane she can see on the left of her screen.

I'm still trying to learn the proper terminology, but I figure you can tell what I mean. Is moving the ship's token up to the pilot's player, or the GM?

Mel quickly started to type in the Pegasus' computer to open a communication with the Vesk's Ship hoping for a a peaceful exchange of words.

"Maybe... But that's an stereotype, Not all Vesk are inmediately hostile and perhaps the crew of that ship aren't Vesk at all... They may even be a group of Skittermanders who hijacked a Vesk Ship! Imagine that! Can you imagine it Laanok?" Added the human while she tries to contact the other ship.

will wait for the GM before actually start the call with the other ship, BTW can I improvise a little? Like a computer check to make us look like shady silhouettes with glowing eyes on the other ship's screens?

Mel hails the mysterious ship, and receives a comm link in response. The vidscreen opens to reveal a grinning vesk.

"Greetings, I am Captain Yuluzak of the Honorbound. We are tasked with gathering salvage in this area that may interest the Veskarium. As such, we lay claim to the signaling beacon and any associated equipment.

"Are you Starfinders? I have great admiration for your explorations. What are you doing out here in the far reaches of the Drift? I expect I know the answer, but I'm hoping you were just checking on the distress signal and will otherwise let us stake our claim uncontested."

”Greetings, Captain Yuluzak. Please excuse us for a moment. “

He turns to the others, whispering

”Did the Starfinder people say anything where we have to recover anything or do we just need the data? “

Weylin answers Laanok.

we are to 1. Respond to Distress Beacon of Struggles Scholar. 2. See if there are any survivors. 3. Bring any dead crew we find of the Kasathan ship or their family heirlooms to Idari, 3.Salvage data from the computers, especially the ships log. 4. Look for info on what happened on Sangoro's Bulwark.

Pellet summarizes What the Great and Grand putter-back-togetherer means...is yes. recover bodies and family heirloomms..but after that data and the ships log

”I am sorry, Captain but we must go through all the items inside the ship and bring back heirlooms. “

"Exactly, we must honor and pay our respects to our fallen comrades, who knows perhaps there are survivors and so." Remarked Mel, trying to keep her mouth shut and avoid any undesirable misunderstanding.

Anyone expecting Sturmvanger to open up and be chatty on the flight out is soon disappointed. He sticks largely to himself, generally only keeping company with Sam-12. But even they don't seem to talk to each other much. In fact, even on such a small ship and a creature of such a large size, it's sometimes hard to keep track of where the dragonkin is, as he is largely silent and out of the way.

Every now and then he laugh or snort or grunt or some other non-linguistic response that usually accompanies conversation with no, apparent reason. But then, it seems like he's often carrying on a conversation with Sam-12 that no one else can hear.

When the vesk ship appears, he's just as quick to get to the bridge as anyone. He's as quiet as usual as the flurry of revelations about the other ship and the asteroids hurtle around, though.

He does speak up as communications with the other ship are open.

"You may have whatever is leftover after we have recovered the crew's personal affects and have downloaded the data we are seeking. It should be quite a bit of useable technology and scrap," he chimes in.

Sam-12 has never liked starship combat, or even starship travel all that much; it's just how you have to get from place to place. But he stands ready to pitch in wherever he's needed. As always, he looks to Sturmvanger to either follow his lead, or correct for any mistakes.

Yuluzak nods solemnly. "Aye, I can understand your interest if this beacon came from a Starfinder ship. If that truly be the case, I would be honored to pass along the remains of its occupants, once we have completed our own salvage mission. I could argue that our emergence from the Drift preceded yours and therefore we have a better claim to that beacon than yours, but I expect neither of us will feel comfortable interrogating that beacon with the other looming in the background. If you grabbed it first, you would understandably fear an attack from us, and vice versa.

"If we find ourselves at an impasse, then let me make a proposal." Yuluzak's solemn look melts back into a grin, his eyes twinkling with excitement. "We challenge you to a starship duel, per Veskarium standards. Here are our terms:

"Let Damoritosh determine who's claim to the beacon is stronger. This way, someone goes home empty-handed, but at least everyone goes home. What say you?"

"I dunno guys... The rules seems fair enough to me but if we lose, our mission will be a failure and Zigvigix will be really disappointed... Not to mention Historia-7..." Commented a nervous Mel who despite not being a fan of conflicts or violence in general can't just risk failure.

"In any case, I'll go along with whatever you decide." Remarked the human as she waits for her teammates' decision.

<sigh> Yup. Always fair. Geez. Turning to Captain Sturmvanger, Twila-4 intones: "We should discuss this and get back to them."

He whispers to his fellow Starfinders

” Maybe we can explode asteroids near them. That will melt their ship. Just stay away from the asteroids so they don’t do the same.“

He heads to a gun turret ( any weapon is fine ) and readies to fire at the asteroid nearest to the Honorbound.

Readied attack : 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (15) + 4 = 19

I have no idea what weapons I have at my disposal so I’m skipping damage for now

He whispers to his fellow Starfinders

” Maybe we can explode asteroids near them. That will melt their ship. Just stay away from the asteroids so they don’t do the same.“

He heads to a gun turret ( any weapon is fine ) and readies to fire at the asteroid nearest to the Honorbound.

[Dice=Readied attack ]1d20+4

I have no idea what weapons I have at my disposal so I’m skipping damage for now

Weapons are listed in the Pegasus stat block, provided in the Discussion thread for your convenience. If you need me to repost them or add them to a slide on the map document, I can.

The starship combat map is listed on Slide #3 here, with Starfinders in red on the right and the Honorbound in green on the left. Right now, nobody is adjacent to an asteroid; it will become relevant if you accept Yuluzak's proposal, and starship combat begins. When I run starship combat in PbP, I generally role all initiatives on your behalf; that way I can reposition the enemies in the same post if you win initiative (remember, in starship combat facing matters, so winning initiative means you move second; it lets you change your course according to whatever the enemy decided to do).

Starship combat rounds have 3 phases once initiative is determined: Engineering (engineer acts), Piloting (captain, pilot, science officer, and other non-gunner roles act), and Gunnery (gunners act). For PbP everyone can post when available, though I ask gunners to put their results in spoilers so it won't change the decisions made by players who technically act before the Gunnery phase (for example, I wouldn't want a captain who was going to encourage the gunner on a turn to switch to encouraging someone else because they saw the attack roll and expect it to miss/hit).

Slides 5-10 on the maps document include summary sheets for the basic starship actions (from the CRB, you'd have to look up the Chief Mate and Magic Officer actions from the COM here. If anyone has any questions about actions but can only post infrequently, feel free to put diverging actions in spoiler tabs when you ask your question, which will help keep the game moving. For example, if the captain taunts on round 1 and wants to taunt again on round 2 but doesn't know if they can, they could post the following:

One last request: when you move your ship during the Piloting phase, please add an arrow showing the path your ship took to its new hex. The starship maps run together after a couple rounds, and it helps me track speed, movement limitations, etc.

"I've one question... Is okay to take advantage of those rocks for cover or so? Or just our ship's weapons? I'm a sucker for improvising hehehe..." Asked the Technomancer not wanting to cheat by using the chunks of obsidian to their advantage during their honorable combat.

This will be Mel's Actions during the first round of starship combat, BTW remember that the Pegasus gives us +1 to any two checks per round I suggest saving one for the gunnery checks

"Gotta scan their Ship, knowledge is power or so they say..." commented a rushed Mel as she uses the Pegasus' sensors to scan the ship of her adversaries.

Computers: 1d20 + 9 + 2 ⇒ (19) + 9 + 2 = 30

Weylin immediately started trying to boost power to the ships front shields. Im sending more power to the front shields...in case.

engineering check: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (15) + 8 = 23

Pellet hovered nearby saying in her smooth female voice I have recorded the Vesk Captains conditions, for posterity

Sturmvanger's eyes almost literally light up at the offer of combat with a set of rules to be followed. His only regret is that there is not a crowd to cheer on his victory. The vesk has undoubtedly bitten off more than it can chew with those, admittedly impressive, teeth.

He listens to everyone's opinion, but his mind is made up almost from the moment the offer is made.

"I find your offer acceptable and agree to your terms. Combat will begin in 10 seconds. May you avail yourself with honor and puissance," he says to the other captain.

He doesn't bother closing the hailing channel. Let the enemy see the alacrity of their preparations.

"Battle stations, Pathfinders! If you think I'm going to lose to a bunch of scavengers, you've got another thing coming!"

”I just said we shouldn’t hide behind them! Remember Mel? The magma explosions! “

Was that a compliment, Strumvanger?

”I just said we shouldn’t hide behind them! Remember Mel? The magma explosions!“

"Eh. We'll be fine. Chill." Yup. Go figure. Everyone wants a fight. Violence is inevitable, and I won't even get to see anyone die. Starship combat is tiresome to Twila-4, as she prefers to be right up front and in person. That's how you get the best view, obviously.

<sigh> She starts calculating her preferred flight path (pretending to hide behind and just outside the range of a cluster of asteroids), but stops herself. Teamwork. "Any orders, Captain?" She drones.

I've marked in red arrows her intended flight path, but she's open to be overridden.