Start of Gameplay thread. Dot in. Will post again after setup.
“Good morning, Starfinders!” expedition leader Bennock Gunstrel says from the viewscreen. His familiar smile is welcoming, and his graying hair is tied in its usual ponytail. “Here’s today’s update: Thanks to the vagaries of Drift travel to the vast, we’re running a little slower than our original projections. Still, we should reach our destination in the next week or so. I’m sure you know the mission documents front to back by now, but today’s a good day to review them one more time anyway. Also, I’m sending out team assignments as I speak. Please spend a little time this morning getting to know the agents you’ll be working with once we arrive; you’re going to be spending a lot of time together once we get planet-side.”
“That’s all the announcements for today, Starfinders,” he concludes. “Have a great day, relax, and get yourselves ready for action. I, for one, can’t wait!”
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Alarms blare and warning lights flash as the ship makes a sudden, sickening lurch to one side. The artificial gravity cuts out just long enough to scatter unprepared Starfinders and their belongings into the air before slamming them down onto the deck. The swirling colors of the Drift have vanished from the viewports, replaced by the star-studded void of normal space. An unfamiliar planet looms, growing larger with each moment as the ship races toward impact!
Starfinders scramble to battle stations, rushing to regain control of the ship and assess the situation. “Captain!” one of the bridge officers shouts over the din, “We’re losing altitude quickly!”
“Engineering!” the captain calls into the intercom. “Get those thrusters online, now!”
“Working on it, Captain!” a voice crackles from the speaker. “Feedback from the Drift engine did a number on our systems. Axial controls should be coming back online now, but we’re still working to reboot the main thrusters!”
The whole ship rattles as it begins an uncontrolled descent into the atmosphere. “Pilot, use whatever power you have to flatten our descent!” the captain shouts. “We may not be able to prevent a landing, but with a little luck, we may be able to walk away from it!” Over the next few tense minutes, the flight crew work heroically to make the captain’s words prophetic. The ship quickly loses altitude, skipping hard off a hilltop before skidding to a violent stop through an alien forest.
Starfinders all over the ship pick themselves up and slowly make their way onto the surface of the unknown world. Communits reveal the rest of the fleet is in similar straits, landed on the planet or in the process of doing so under various degrees of control. Bennock Gunstrel calls everyone’s comm units. “Starfinders! If you can hear me, rendezvous at the coordinates I’m sending you. We have a lot of folks who need help and need all available agents immediately!”
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(earlier)
A girl dressed in a blue tracksuit (with yellow stripes) and a space helmet that has the small text 'property of abadarcorp entertainment' printed on the back, comes storming onto the spaceship.
Pretending not to be out of breath she says Hello and takes a big gulp of air Hello everybody, I am bright and, she takes another gulp of air sparkling Zoey! Nice to meet you all!
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A female lashunta looks up from the computer on her wrist and smiles brightly in greeting. "Oh hello! I was just preparing a new blog post. It's kind of hard to say much about our mission with all these delays so I figured I could just do a game review or something to fill the void. Gotta keep the content coming." She stands and offers her hand to the human. "I'm Aluradux Hass." She leans closer and stares at Zoey for a moment before shrugging and smiling once more.
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Starfinders all over the ship pick themselves up and slowly make their way onto the surface of the unknown world. Communits reveal the rest of the fleet is in similar straits, landed on the planet or in the process of doing so under various degrees of control. Bennock Gunstrel calls everyone’s comm units. “Starfinders! If you can hear me, rendezvous at the coordinates I’m sending you. We have a lot of folks who need help and need all...
Aluradux frantically jabs at her comm unit. "Bennock! Bennock! Are you you okay? What's happening?" She looks at her fellow starfinders"No response. This is very bad. We should hurry to the rendezvous." She seals her armor and heads outside, tapping the computer at her wrist and summoning her computer's tiny holographic avatar of an armadillo wearing a top hat and monocle.
"Mr. Fancypants! Where are we? Do we have any information on this world?"
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Hello miss Hass! Zoey says with a nothing-can-bring-me-down type of cheer, somewhat awkwardly ignoring the hand, but making a courteous bow. She undergoes the Lashunta's inspecting gaze, but is eager to break the silence ...so, what do you write on? The adventures you're on? I'll work hard to give you good content!
The great cosmic mysteries will gravitate our fates. We are exactly where we should be at this point in time. But our knowing why and where that is, will be of great benefit.
Hello Mister Kasatha! she turn to Novaflame, I don't think you're quite right, we should be near Mister Gunstrel .
Hello Keskochu Ordox, nice to mee you! she says, and adds Nonono, don't die, we've just met!
Mister Gunstrel sounds really serious! I'll better grab my stuff! Zoey disappears for a moment, then reappears wearing a tactical sword strapped across her back and holding a sniper rifle almost as tall as herself. Ready!
There are a number of things that need doing around the Starfinder Base camp. Your team needs to decide how to best direct your efforts.
please choose from the options below.
□ We’re Going Down! Starship repair
□ What’s Out There? Combat and nature
□ Stuck and Sinking Wilderness Rescue
□ We’re Not Alone Exploration and combat
Will we only pick one of the four or eventually have to do them all and just picking the order first?
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A human walks along with the group as they exit the ship. "Well, that was interesting. I can't say I've ever seen a ship drop out of the drift like that. I wonder what happened. Although that wasn't the worst landing I've ever been in. The crew did a good job with that. It could have been much worse," he says. "I'm Max by the way. Mind if I join you? Looks like we have some work to do."
Bennock calls you on your comm units as you eat a quick meal in camp.
“Sorry to interrupt, Starfinders, but we just got a distress call from a crew that popped out of the Drift into a real sticky situation. They’re not far from here, but their ship is sunk halfway down in some thick mud, and it sinks a little farther every time they so much as sneeze. I’ve left a bag outside my tent with some gear I thought might come in handy. If things get really hairy, we can send some backup in a shuttle to haul them out, but there’s a lot to do, and fuel is at a premium. I’m hoping you can take care of it on your own. I’m sending you the coordinates; gulp down those last few bites and get those folks to safety.”
Phase one Reaching the Ship
Each of you may attempt a skill check or an aid another for EACH of the tasks below.
Navigating: To navigate the unknown territory efficiently,
a PC must succeed at a Survival check or a Perception check.
Clearing the Path: Powerful winds knocked over trees and caused
landslides throughout the region. The you can clear your path with an Athletics check to shove obstacles out of the way, or an Acrobatics check to lead the team over and around the obstacles.
Territorial Wildlife: Much of the local wildlife is disturbed
by the cataclysm and is particularly territorial as a result. These animals harass you as you pass by and slow your progress unless a PC succeeds at an Life Science or Survival check, or a Diplomacy or Intimidate check.
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Leffts go heffp ffemm. No ffime ffoo looff! Zoey says with a mouth full of food
Look at this marvelous...what is this?
I don't know, but it smells awful...
Ah, this is just like one of those survival shows, we just needs to find the right path around these... ouch! ...thornbushes
Ya! Shoosh! Go away creatures, you don't want to mess with the Zero-G champion! Zoey shouts
Keskochu and Max still have their checks
Kath can take actions for Clearing a path and dealing with wildlife
You are able to point yourselves in the right direction and make your way through the underbrush. You are able to drive off or avoid the local wildlife.
Keskochu spots a possible instability in the terrain ahead.
The party may try either Physical Science/Survival to identify and avoid triggers. Or take a slightly harder option and use athletics to rig a barrier against the unstable ground. Failure may have consequences.
You may also try taking the long way around, but that will delay you.
[dice=physical science]1d20+10
Aluradux stops and examines the area that Keskochu points out. "The ground seems unstable, volcanic perhaps? At any rate I think I see a safe path." She carefully forges ahead.
Aluradux successfully spots a safe path and you are able to make you way to the ship.
Phase 2 Stabalizing the ship
Once the you reach the coordinates, you find a small Starfinder vessel buried nose-first in a deep bog. The vessel is precariously suspended on thick vines, though the strain on these supports is evident, and several vines have already snapped. As you approach, another vine gives way with a loud pop, and the ship sinks further into the mire.
The bog is full of muddy swamp water, sinking to a depth of 20 feet at its deepest point. It is ringed by sturdy trees with gnarled roots that protrude from the water’s edge and whose branches create a thick canopy 25 feet above the surface of the water.
Each of you should describe how you help stabilize the ship. You can use almost any skill as long as you can explain how you use it or you can aid someone else. The DC is more or less average, but failure may have consequences.
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Ah, this is like in Battletron 2X60, where the heros spaceship was stuck in a bog. Use the Cycle, Mike! Don't give in to the gravity side!
Rather than using the cycle, she starts probing the ship's remote system security, hoping to help somebody gain access to the onboard systems.
It seems all she gets is a screen that says Hello Zoey, would like to play a game?
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Max studies the situation, trying to figure out what he can do to help. He likes the idea of using more vines to help support the ship and using the maneuvering thrusters to move the ship. When Zoey suggest hacking the system, he decides to try.
"Maybe if we can fire the ships weapons into the bog, it will vaporize the liquid and create a solid surface so the ship will stop sinking," he says as he pulls out his hacking kit.
Max manages to adjust the weapons firing program to evaporate off some bog juice. Keskochu points out a stable path. Kaath manages the job of passing off vines to Obozya quite well, but unfortunatly Obo's handling of the ship is a bit rough and makes things worse. Aluradux manages to make some find adjustments to the position of the crashed shipby overriding the thrusters.
PHASE THREE: RESCUING THE STARFINDERS
Finally, the you must safely extract the crew members from the stranded ship and get them to shore. To do so, the you must succeed at a number of Hard skill checks equal to the number of PCs.
I will count that as giving every attempt a +2 cicumstance bonus for the duration of the rescue mission. You may still act in the other 5 rounds.
Hey! This is not a drill! Zoey shouts into the vessel, get out of there NOW. Once the swamp goop gets into the main engine this thing will BLOW, so MOVE
[dice=Intimidate (+expertise) ]1d20+10+1d6
Not an inch of cuteness in sight. Little sister is scary...
The party needs a few more successes before everyone is evaculated.
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Zoey tries to pick out the hesitant crewmembers Over here, this way, don't worry this raft is safe!
Yeah, really don't worry, we do this all the time. You're the fifth crew we've rescued today.
Nah, nobody buys that.
Somewhat clumsily, she tries to hop past the raft onto the ship.
Hey, really, this raft is going to hold, trust me.
Zoey tries to steer the raft to solid ground past some tricky vines.
The ships greatful pilot offers you all 4 mark I syrums of healing.
Where to next?:
□ We’re Going Down! Starship repair
□ What’s Out There? Combat and nature
* Stuck and Sinking Wilderness Rescue
□ We’re Not Alone Exploration and combat