GM Jhaeman's SFS # 2-10: "Corporate Interests" (Inactive)

Game Master Jhaeman

Arvoris tries some evasive maneuvers to throw off the drone's aim.

Evade: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (20) + 17 = 37

"This drone seems to want to stay behind us, which really is where our best weapons are. What do you all think about focusing our aft shields by drawing power from the other areas?"

Our ship is moved for this round.

Remorhaz Hull Points: 67/85
Forward Shields: 15
Port Shields: 15
Starboard Shields: 15
Aft Shields: 15

Round 5: Gunnery Phase!

Gunner(s), let fly.

"Okay, let's see how this works with live rounds ..." He fires on the drone.

Gunnery roll: 1d20 + 7 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 7 + 1 = 13
Heavy plasma torpedo damage: 5d10 ⇒ (2, 1, 7, 5, 10) = 25

Oraeus tries to line up another shot, this time with the turret torpedo launcher.

FIRE DE GUNS!: 1d20 + 4 + 1 ⇒ (14) + 4 + 1 = 19
Light torpedo Launcher: 3d8 ⇒ (6, 1, 4) = 11

"I might actually be getting the hang of this!"

Missiles and torpedos streak from each ship, with Oraeus scoring a hit on the drone's forward shields!

The drone and Ashtif missed, but Oraeus hit.

Folks, I wouldn't normally suggest taking a break in the middle of an encounter, but I imagine some people will be travelling or need to take time off for family engagements over the holidays. If it suits, would reconvening on say January 2 work?

"Ok,let's take down that drone!"

Thanks for your patience, everyone--I hope you all had a nice break. We left off with the revelation that the weapons on this drone are very real indeed!

ROUND 6: HELM PHASE

Pilot, please roll Initiative. If you don't beat a 21, you can go ahead and move. If there's a Science Officer or anyone else in a role who can act during this phase, please go ahead.

Arvoris will use one of the computer nodes to assist with piloting.

Pilot init: 1d20 + 18 ⇒ (15) + 18 = 33

Remorhaz Hull Points: 67/85
Forward Shields: 15
Port Shields: 15
Starboard Shields: 15
Aft Shields: 15

The drone stays tight on your tail!

The drone will try the Evade stunt again. Pilot, you can go ahead and move now.

Arvoris will move the ship one square forward. I will move the ship later today, or someone else can move the ship forward 1 square for me.

Arvoris will then take the Evade action.

Pilot Evade: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (20) + 17 = 37

Remorhaz Hull Points: 67/85
Forward Shields: 15
Port Shields: 15
Starboard Shields: 15
Aft Shields: 15

Lexicor states
”I will attempt to use the ship sensors to target the drones weapons “

Computer : 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (16) + 9 = 25

Our ship is now moved on the map.

Round 6: Gunnery Phase

Another missile streaks out toward the Remorhaz!

Gunner(s), you can go.

Crap, I accidentally skipped the Engineering phase at the beginning of Round 6. If there's an engineer on your ship, you can go ahead and act too.

Rest assured, I am keeping track of ammo for that missile launcher.

Engineer here!

Kosigan tries once more to find the codes to make the weapons better.

Divert DC 16: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (16) + 9 = 25

It finds a likely place to kick, and the power starts flowing.

All 1s on damage dice this round become 2s.

Ashtif fires another heavy torpedo, checking his diagnostics to see how many more they have in stock.

Gunnery w/ Computers: 1d20 + 7 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 7 + 1 = 11
Heavy torpedo damage: 5d10 ⇒ (7, 1, 7, 2, 2) = 19

Missiles streak past each ship, but none connect!

@Ashtif: You've only fired two live torpedos so far.

Round 7: Engineering Phase

Engineer, you're up.

Sorry for the lack of posting, long breaks breaks down my routines and I often forget to post until nearly 11 at night and then don't have the motivation to. Should be good to keep up posting from now though.

Oraeus takes a shot as well at the drone, for round 6 fingers and antennae crossed. Last shot seemed to hit... maybe I'm not as terrible as I thought...."

I SHOULD NEVER FIRE DE GUNS: 1d20 + 4 + 1 ⇒ (11) + 4 + 1 = 16
Damage? Light Plasma Cannon: 2d12 ⇒ (2, 2) = 4

Kosigan continues to juice the weapons.

Divert DC 16: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (8) + 9 = 17

All 1s on damage dice this round become 2s.

A message comes in, full of static: "Starfinders, are you okay? Trouble tracking telemetry! But we read the drone is out of torpedos, good news!"

Round 7: Helm Phase

Pilot, please roll Initiative. If you don't beat a 16, you can go ahead and move.

@Oraeus: A hit! Low damage, unfortunately, but those front shields are getting mighty weak on the drone.

<Let me know if you need more maneuverability instead of stronger guns.>

"Appreciated. Maneuverability is good for now, especially if the drone stays behind us."

Arvoris turns back to the comm and says "We're ok at the moment. Can you tell us what other weapons systems are on that drone?"

Pilot init: 1d20 + 18 ⇒ (7) + 18 = 25

Remorhaz Hull Points: 67/85
Forward Shields: 15
Port Shields: 15
Starboard Shields: 15
Aft Shields: 15

Like a monster from a bad horror holo-vid, the drone never falters from the chase! A crackling message comes in from Akrodo: "Just a light plasma cannon!"

I've moved the drone. Pilot, you can go ahead and move.

"Thanks! We'll bring the ship in as soon as we finish testing it against this drone."

Pilot Evade: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (16) + 17 = 33

Ship is moved for Round 7

Remorhaz Hull Points: 67/85
Forward Shields: 15
Port Shields: 15
Starboard Shields: 15
Aft Shields: 15

Round 7: Gunnery

The drone opens up with bursts from its plasma cannon, just like Akrodo predicted!

Gunner(s), let fly!

I think a modified 20 hits you even with the Evade stunt--if so, you take 13 points of damage to your rear arc.

Oraeus gives a small prayer to Triune that his luck with the guns continues and lines up another shot.

GUNS BLAZING: 1d20 + 4 + 1 ⇒ (16) + 4 + 1 = 21
Light Torpedo, 1s are 2s instead: 3d8 ⇒ (3, 5, 5) = 13

He blinks in surprise as yet another round of ammo pummels into the drone's armor.

"Wow! That was unexpected! I might be better at this than the training simulations at the Starfinder Academy suggested!"

Sooo, funny story, when I first started SFS I had a mechanic in engineering who never rolled above the 5 he needed to redirect power to the shields for 8 rounds of combat, but apparently that was all so Oraeus here would never roll lower than the 11 he needs to hit... Finally dice gods, finally.

GM, you are correct. A modified 20 is exactly what you need to hit us when we evade.
Oraeus, I'm glad we're on the positive side of your lucky streak!

Arvoris narrows his eyes as the aft shields barely keep the Remorhaz from damage.

"Team, since our aft shields are weak, should we show this drone a different side of our ship? What do you think the chances are of that drone having two turrets? We couldn't escape the missiles from the turret, but that energy weapon might be forward firing only."

Remorhaz Hull Points: 67/85
Forward Shields: 15
Port Shields: 15
Starboard Shields: 15
Aft Shields: 2

<I can attempt to repair the shields, if you think that is the highest priority.>

"Kosigan, if you can keep our shields up, it will only be a matter of time before our gunners tear apart that drone!"

Ashtif tries the heavy torpedo again.

Gunnery w/ Computers: 1d20 + 7 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 7 + 1 = 16
ooh, is that a hit?

Damage: 5d10 ⇒ (3, 4, 8, 6, 1) = 22

Unless the drone can boost its TL beyond the evade action, that should hit! Nice one!, especially condisering that that 1 is a meaning 23 damage!

"Great work everyone! Checking back on our earlier scan of the drone, that plasma cannon is forward firing only. With those last two hits, our friend the drone should be barely functioning. One more hit to the hull should finish him."

Oraeus' smaller torpedo knocks out the drone's fore shields, opening the way for Ashtif's heavy torpedo to inflict massive damage!

Suddenly, the drone powers down completely.

“Is everyone all right? It looks like the drone is powerless. Don’t destroy it please. If you have injured crew, please return to the hangar. I’ll have medical personnel waiting for you. If everyone is well, please examine the drone to see if you can determine what happened.”

Success! If you'd like to examine the drone, the pilot can automatically move the Remorhaz close enough for an inspection. I would then need an Engineering check followed by a Computers check.

”Impressive cooperation in dismantling the drone. “

Lexicor will ready the computer should the ship move close enough

Arvoris will fly the ship closer to the drone, so the team can figure out what happened with it.

Kosigan will help Lexicor with their analysis.

Computers, Aid: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (10) + 4 = 14

Arvoris, Oraeus, or Ashtif, are any of you trained in Engineering? I need one check.

Arvoris is not trained in Engineering. Normally I have a hireling boon that helps me with mechanical skills.

If Lexicor can bring his engineering training to play, he will do so prior to the computer check.

Interesting structure.

engineering: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (17) + 9 = 26

Lexicor shares the info with his team

”This was no malfunction. This was deliberate. And logs show the guilty. “

"It seemed a bit too convenient that the drone just happened to go haywire as we took the ship out. Who sabotaged the drone? Can we access the logs to find a name?"

He types a few keystrokes and enters on the terminal

”Yes, I am even able to find the access code of the person who sabotaged the drone. Do any of you recognize ________\“

The name of the saboteur doesn't sound familiar to anyone, but it must have been someone working for Sanjaval Systems if they had access to the drone!

Oraeus pauses for a second and adds unhelpfully, "I do know a ____\___ but not a ________\... and considering ____\___ died 60 years ago in a field medical tent I doubt they're the same person. We should probably check with Sanjaval Systems if they have a record of them in their logs."

When you land safely back at the testing site, Akrodo apologizes profusely, saying that although test flights can be dangerous, something like this shouldn’t have happened! When you share the discovery of the sabotage and access codes, he recognizes them as belonging to a disgruntled ex-employee with ties to Frozen Trove. "I promise you Sanjaval is going to fully investigate and resolve the matter."

He shakes each of your hands as he walks you back to the hangar. “Thank you for all of your work today. We hope that when you make your report to your superiors that it will focus on the ship and its capabilities rather than on today’s mishap. Please pass along that should the Society choose to commission the Remorhaz, in addition to the discount for providing test crew, we will be extending an additional hazard discount due to the circumstances of today’s test flight. Please accept our apologies. We hope to hear from you soon.”

Apart from any closing RP you'd like to do, that's the end of Quest # 4. We'll start the final one in about 12 hours.

”Your diligence in investigating this disgruntled ex-employee with ties to Frozen Trove is most prudent. Mitigation of those conditions or better employee screening and background checks will undoubtedly lead to an overall reduction in future sabotage. And studies show a marked improvement in productivity with a decline in disgruntlement. “

<Happy to be of help, though I have some notes on the engineering console...>

General Notes:

I try to post every day to keep things moving, and if you can keep a similar pace, that would be great. We all have real life interruptions of course, so if you can't post and we're in the middle of something like a combat, please give me bot instructions or I'll assume your PC does Total Defense.

Please place a good array of information in your character header. Knowing your PC's EAC/KAC, Perception mod, Initiative mod, etc., saves me a lot of time when doing posts. If you need help figuring out how to format that, we can help you.

If you want to earn extra GM love, posting a full character sheet in your profile is great. That way I can look stuff up and answer my own "how did they do that?" questions. Related, if you have some crazy weird or complicated build and want to explain anything, here's a good place.

You'll need a picture of your character for the grid scenes.

Finally, role-playing is good! Please give your PC some personality and engage with the other PCs and NPCs. I'll gently move us along if we're dwelling too much in one part of the scenario.

Any questions, ask away!

Is it too late to join this game?

@Arvoris: Please see the Recruitment thread (short answer: you made it).

@Everyone: The scenario states:

"No boon slots, except for personal boons, are available for Corporate Interests, but you should explain that PCs acquire boons as they play adventures."

I've never seen a scenario restrict boon slotting like that, but please keep it in mind (I guess even promotional boons, like t-shirt rerolls, are out for this one).

Busy weekend, didn't notice I was picked. Will have an introductory post shortly and stats online within 24 hours.

My posting may be a bit intermittent for the next several days as I'm on a business trip.

Sorry for the lack of posts for the past few days, I got laid out by a sinus infection. I'm mostly doing better, and should be able to do regular posts again.

Kosigan can use its sheath array for starship combat, which gives it:

Athletics +10
Computers +4
Engineering +9
Piloting +9
Gunnery +8

So, it can be pilot, gunner, engineer or chief mate comfortably.

Arvoris would really want to be the pilot of an experimental starship, but he could also be a gunner or magic officer.

Piloting +16
Gunnery +9
Mysticism +10

Lexicor can help pilot or computer or science officer.

Computers +10 (3 ranks)
Engineering +9 (3 ranks)
Physical Science +7,
Piloting +4 (3 ranks),

Lexicor, shouldn't your piloting skill be higher? With 3 ranks and +2 dex it should be +5. If piloting is a class skill, that would add 3 more, for a total of +8.

With 4 ranks in Piloting and a decent Dex, my most relevant starship checks are:
Piloting +13
Gunnery +7

I can start on gunnery ... just line the shots up nicely for me. :)

Hmm good point - I will check herolab as I may not have copied it over correctly

It's obviously completely up to you folks how you decide who's taking what roles. My only suggestion is to remember it is a role-playing game, and no one in-character knows exactly how many "ranks" anyone has. So another fun way to do it is to role-play out who wants and gets what position based on your personality, background, or just plain overconfidence . . .

Wait? You mean all those year end skill assessment surveys and compliance training required to be completed annually and entered into societies mega personnel development database are not available to all agents in a dossier at the start of each mission? What kind of organization is this?????

Would one of you nice folks list out each PC and the role they're taking? It'll help me remember who's doing what--thanks!

Oraeus is back up gunner/chief mate if that's helpful for anyone else.

I think what we are starting with is:

Arvoris - Pilot
Kosigan - Engineer
Lexicor - Science Officer
Ashtif - Gunner
Oraeus - Gunner/Chief Mate

Excellent, thanks for the speedy response.

I will be traveling the next two days - so fine with a break, but can post late in evenings from hotel etc.

I don't mind either way, but unless we're likely to win in one more round, the break is probably needed.

Either is fine with me - break or no break. Whatever works best for everyone.

Ok, let's go ahead and plan to resume Jan 2. Thanks everyone--have a good break!

Either was okay with me, but a clear break is a good idea! Hope everyone has a great Christmas or other winter holidays and a great new year too!

Sorry that the last few weeks have been hectic. I had a surgery pending that they'd had to push out due to a backlog of people with COVID shutting down the hospital for "elective" procedures ... but someone had to cancel, so I got unexpectedly moved up to surgery tomorrow. It's an outpatient procedure, but I anticipate being tired and groggy for a couple of days from the anesthesia, so might not actually be on until Sunday.

Please continue to bot me ... although feel free to have me fire the gun I'm holding, rather than just doing full defense all the time. ;)

@Ashtif: No worries, get well soon! I'll start having Ashtif fire that Swarm Zapper! (I always play it safe while botting and do Total Defense, as the intro post in this thread says, unless I have instructions otherwise).

No problem. Recovery is going well. Thanks!

Thanks for the game everyone! I'll now get to work on the Chronicles. If you have anything you'd like me to add (Day Jobs, etc.) please let me know here.

Thank you for running GM Jhaeman! When they're ready, can you please send my chronicle to: geomancer42@yahoo.com?

Profession (Cook): 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (19) + 12 = 31

Not bad for someone who can't taste the food.

Thank you so much for running! Great time. :)

Sorry, weekend busyness—will have those Chronicles ready Sunday night.

Right Income!

Profession Doctor: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (19) + 7 = 26

Okay, reporting is complete and Chronicles are available here. Any problems, just let me know and I'll fix them up.

Thanks again for playing! I'll be back soon with some more SFS.

Looks good. Thank you all for the great game, especially Jhaeman for running!

Now Kosigan is level 6 (AP/pregen credits) with this as its only game as a character. We'll soon see if I learned enough here to make it useful when things start to get hard.

Thanks GM and Congrats Kosigan!

Yeah, good luck with it. I haven't played with the nanocyte before, but definitely seems like has some cool options. Enjoy!

Okay, I'm going to put this campaign thread to Inactive, but just PM me if you need anything.