Hmm's SFS #6-01: Year of Fortune's Fall (Inactive)

Game Master Hmm

Hello, I’m GM Hmm! What can you expect from a GM Hmm game? A fast pace, whimsy, and a whole bunch of roleplay and discovery.

More discussions will be happening here, but first I'd like to ask if everyone is up for having an associated Discord channel for this game in order to enable notifications of GM posts and such. I've found having a discord channel makes it easier for side conversations or quick check-ins with other players, while speeding up the flow of the game.

Initial Homework

If you are interested in having an associated Discord channel for notifications of GM Posts, please befriend me on Discord at Hmm#4360.

Also, please fill out your character information on RPG Chronicles for this PaizoCon game.

The half-orc, Tarrakk wears a D-Suit and looks like he's always ready to begin an expedition. He is generally serious, and tends to let his actions speak more than his words. He has black hair and blue eyes. Tarrakk carries a static arc pistol at his hip, and wears a sleek diasporan rifle on his back. A single aeon stone orbits his head. When he enters the room, Tarrakk finds an empty place to sit, and begins checking over his equipment.

I'm Ok with Discord, but I'm not exactly sure what we would use it for. I try to check the Paizo website often, but I can check Discord as well. Game-wise Tarrakk is an operative with the sniper alternate class feature. His intelligence score is only average, so he's not good at computers and engineering as many operatives are, but he has very good perception and survival skills. Think of him as a wilderness guide.

Tarrakk isn't the only one with a Disaporian sniper rifle. Soarin' is an envoy sniper and also a Sarcesian. He is usually found in the Armada fixing things, being an engineer, and us usually based on the Master of Stars, being part of the Wayfinder Faction. Apart from the rifle, his equipment consists of Clearweave I armour, an engineer's tool belt, a Starfinder's backpack, and an Explorer's Handcoil.

Velorum is a Halfling wearing a number of Butterflies, both as decorations on his clothing and on a Diadem he wears. He enters the briefing room and choses a quiet corner to meditate while he waits.

I am ambivalent about Discord, especially since I can check the Paizo forums while I am at work but don't have access to Discord.

So let's discuss the whole discord notification thing and why it might benefit the group as a whole rather than individual members.

If you're the type of person who, like me, lives on the forum and sees posts rapidly, great! You will still see those posts here, and nothing changes for your notification. I also get that Velorum cannot access Discord at work so we'll have to make sure that most group discussion stays in this discussion thread rather than Discord.

So for speedy people, the main benefit of the discord notifications is two fold:

1) it speeds up other players who may notice that I've posted more quickly than otherwise
2) it provides an emergency backup channel due to Paizo forum outage.

If the group does not want it, we do not need to add it. I just have noticed as a GM that the pace of games with a discord notification channel flows more smoothly than games without one.

BTW, welcome everyone. I'm honored that you have selected me as your GM.

Discord id is: DM Strawberry#9426.

Momo is a human female with short black hair that glows an ever so subtle yellowish. She has a carbonsteel curve blade on her back, and a tactical arc pistol dangling off her side.

Hello, my name is Momo, and I'm in charge of dancing is her rehearsed self-introduction, which she delivers with a bow and a great deal of hesitance.

Her lithe form betrays that she is capable of elegant movement, but for now she seems to be mostly nailed to floor. She fidgets a bit, crosses an arm across her body, looking around for a familiar face. She seems to be almost relieved when her comm unit buzzes.

Am I at the right place for the meeting of introverts anonymous?

Momo, I can't find you on Discord. Can you befriend me at Hmm#4360, please?

Momo, I can't find you on Discord. Can you befriend me at Hmm#4360, please?

Done! I tried it before, but turns out names are case-sensitive.

Tarrakk looks up when other Starfinders enter. He nods in approval of Soarin's choice of weapons. He pauses to look everyone over, then says, "I'm Tarrakk. I usually scout out and colonize new locations. Not sure why they're sending me... or us... to Castrovel. I have a few healing serums right here" pats a belt pouch "if anyone needs them."

GM, I sent you a Discord friend request.

Keith#7979

Soarin looks over to Momo Dancing? Nice. Ever danced in the void of space?

He might be trying to draw her out of her shell

Do you dance with the devil in the pale moonlight

Keith, I cannot find you in Discord. Can you send me a friend request?

Done. I try to keep tight privacy settings

Unfortunately, I just found a Chronicle sheet for the character I had planned to play that levels them out of the range for this scenario, so Velorum will be replaced by Phelps.

The halfling is suddenly called away for another mission, but a tall Pahtra with an odd looking weapon joins the group.

Hi. I'm Phelps. I got dropped in at the last minute.

I have four of you in the notification channel. If anyone else wants to join, this invite will get you there for the next 24 hours.

Soarin looks over to Momo Dancing? Nice. Ever danced in the void of space?

Momo looks up in alarm at Soarin, not sure if she should respond or just run for the door. Surely she must have misheard that. Surely he can't have meant that. Why would someone say such a thing? She open her mouth to respond, let's out a slightly hoarse Da.., clears her throat and says Dance? No, I've never danced in the void of space...

Float, yes.

Waiting to be rescued, yes.

Fearing for her life, yes.

Dance, no.

Next to walk in is a hulking figure. The massive brown bear is upright, standing over ten feet in height and easily weighing close to a ton. He wears the armor popularized by the Free Captains of the Diaspora, the breastplate light enough to allow mobility and the gloves open at the tips to expose his claws. He carries no obvious weaponry.

He pauses upon entry, looking around at his environs and those within it. A strange group, to be sure. A half-orc, a sarcesian, a human, a pahtra, and himself already. Definitely an interesting--if odd--mix. Looking around for a sturdy place to sit, he doesn't see one that inspires confidence, so he opts to lean against the wall.

"I'm Artaius."

With the change to a level 1 character that puts us at low tier. Instead of taking out of tier rewards, I will also switch my character.

Tarrakk's comm beeps and the half-orc glances down at his device. After scanning the message he says, "That's what I thought. Apparently I'm not going to Castrovel after all. Something about setting up some more buildings on Salvation's End. Sorry I won't be going with you all, but good luck on your mission." Tarrakk then packs up his gear and hustles out of the room.

My apologies. Soarin replies. I heard a few do. Star Shaman Mystics most likely or other Sarcesians. I bet it would be fun to watch though.

Zero gee dance perhaps?

As Tarrakk leaves the room, a male drow enters. Those of you who are perceptive might see Tarrakk glare at the drow as the half-orc leaves. The drow also notices, then offers to shake Tarrakk's hand. Tarrakk looks at the drow's hand, frowns, and continues out of the room.

The drow looks a bit surprised, but shrugs his shoulders and enters the room smiling.

"Greeting everyone. I am Valas Millithor, and it looks like I will be accompanying you on your mission."

Valas is a professionally dressed drow corporate agent who works for Millithor Arms Incorportated. He is generally relaxed and smiling, even in stressful situations. He wears dark freebooter armor and carries a static arc pistol in a holster at his waist. Several tool kits are worn at his belt as well.

"Sorry I'm late. Did I miss anything? Who are we dancing with?

Well ... this one here, she said she's in charge of dancing Soarin replies And the person who just left thinks we're going to Castrovel but we haven't heard anything official yet. I'm just an engineer who does EVA work around the Armada.

A small female ysoki bounces in the door right behind the tall drow.

Dancing! What fun! Sorry if I'm late. I was cataloging some artifacts when I received a message asking me to meet here. I'm Kezzo! I can't wait until we arrive on Castrovel. I love parties and museums!

The ysoki named Kezzo barely seemed to breathe during her introduction, looked around, and then sat in the nearest chair.

Kezzo has tan fur and pale blue eyes; her hair is currently blue and purple.

I will be out of the United States from June 10 - June 17. The hotel says they have wi-fi, so I should still be able to post during that time. However there is certainly the chance that I will not be able to post during that week. I just wanted to give the GM and the players this heads up. GM Hmm, if you would rather, I could drop out and let another player sign up for this event. I would definitely still like to play, but I understand if this is something that you don't want to deal with. Please let me know your thoughts.

Soarin then turns back to Momo. Erm, I met up with a Void Dancer outside the station the other day while I was working outside. So ... if you're in charge of dancing, does that make you her boss?

Yeah, dancing Momo says, and she makes a couple of moves to an unheard piece of music that shows that yeah... she can really dance.

The shy girl finally breaks into a little giggle when Soarin suggests her being the boss of all dancers. Nono, mister Soarin, I'm not even the leader in our team, that would be Dee-Dee.

It's just the way the AbadarCorp Trainee team introduce themselves. We each have an intro line...

She pulls out a video of four girls and a robot introducing themselves:

A brunette woman says Hello everybody, I am the Kid Leader and my name is Dee-Dee. Why she is the leader is anyone's guess, since she seems to be even shyer than Momo. Momo so far watches with a stony face, but she soon shows signs of endearment when a short, blond girl bows and says Hello everybody, I am bright and sparkling Zoey. Next up is Momo herself: Hello everybody, my name is Momo and I'm in charge of dancing.. It sounds exactly the same as the way she just said it. Next is a classy blue-haired woman Hi, I'm the perfect visual RKT-7!, which causes Momo to suppress a snort. Finally, when the robot adds with a monotone voice I. Am. The. Rap. Machine. Momo even lets out a yaay!. The group takes a deep bow and says And we are AbadarCorp Entertainment's new group... before the video cuts out.

Oh. Momo says, I think I need new batteries, I might have watched a bit too much of Yufriend Nufriend.

I will be out of the United States from June 10 - June 17. The hotel says they have wi-fi, so I should still be able to post during that time. However there is certainly the chance that I will not be able to post during that week. I just wanted to give the GM and the players this heads up. GM Hmm, if you would rather, I could drop out and let another player sign up for this event. I would definitely still like to play, but I understand if this is something that you don't want to deal with. Please let me know your thoughts.

This brings up an excellent point. Before the start of this game, I would like it if everyone put a botting spoiler on their characters with dice expressions for skills and attacks.

"Hello everyone! My name is Chance, and I am the GM's PC, and I'm posting here because I have a fully developed botting spoiler on my profile! You can use me as an example!"

Soarin hands Momo a battery after watching the dance.

I would recommend purchasing spares Ms Momo. One never knows when one needs one

He ponders for a bit.

Unfortunately I do not get many chances to see what entertainments the station offers. There seems to be always something that needs fixing among the Armada. Are you on the Infosphere?

And I had to admit, I was rather surprised to see a human out in space without environmental protections. To be honest, I thought only us Sarcesians could survive in space.

Thank you, Mister Soarin Momo says. As she starts to replace the battery, she looks at the green label oh! It's a hexo(tm)! These are a lot better than those AbadarCorp ones, they last much longer.

There's many things that can survive in space... Momo looks uncomfortable talking about the topic, but continues the conversation out of courtesy. I can only survive in an EVA suit or an escape pod she says tapping her armor, so on any ship I always make sure the escape pod batteries are fully charged. Her voice trembles slightly at the last sentence.

Yes, we're on the infosphere... our manager doesn't allow us to have individual accounts, Momo explains, with a tone of voice that suggests she is not too bothered by not having her own account. The channel @ACETrainees has our official pictures and announcements.

Artaius considers the conversation carefully before chiming in. "As far as surviving in space without protection, there is the possibility that she could have been an android," he points out. "I don't have much use for such artificial constructs, but despite likelihood, it remains within the realm of reason."

"Additionally," he continues, "there are certain mystics that seem blessed with some sort of supernatural ability to not only survive in the vacuum of space but thrive. They are able to move about the void with ease, albeit not as quickly as your own kind, Soarin. That being said, they remain immune to its effects without regard for duration, whereas the sarcesians will eventually need to draw breath, causing their lungs to burst, killing them instantly."

He realized he was being unintentionally morbid. "Forgive me, I am a student of the natural workings of other species, not their social limitations. I find the biological processes of organisms more fascinating than tedious banal considerations for their sensibilities, and that applies as much in death as in life. For instance, watching a sarcesian explode is purely theoretical, and while I do not advocate for any member of that race nor any other to suffer such a fate, should such befall them, I would be interested in seeing it for academic purposes."

It really sucks trying to do a bot when the Paizo website wants to log out every 37 seconds :)

Soarin notes the channel address that Momo gives him to look it up later.

I get these in six packs too so I usually have plenty if anyone needs one in a hurry Soarin replies. And all I ask in return is your old one so it can be properly recycled, or disposed of, if it will not recharge.

He then turns towards Artaius. I suppose so but she didn't seem like an android. We did converse for a bit and she did say that she was a Star Shaman before looking at what she was wearing, which wasn't very much, then turning an odd reddish colour before literally flying to the nearest airlock and going inside. I found that most perplexing. I hope it was not something I said.

And as for us exploding, I am afraid it is not like that .... usually if something goes wrong, we just ..... expire

He realized he was being unintentionally morbid. "Forgive me, I am a student of the natural workings of other species, not their social limitations. I find the biological processes of organisms more fascinating than tedious banal considerations for their sensibilities, and that applies as much in death as in life. For instance, watching a sarcesian explode is purely theoretical, and while I do not advocate for any member of that race nor any other to suffer such a fate, should such befall them, I would be interested in seeing it for academic purposes."

Oh Momo says with some social limitation after making uncomfortable faces throughout Artaius' monologue. So Ms. Kezzo likes parties and museums, Mr Soarin likes repairing spaceships, I like to dance and you like to... watch... people... explode? That's... nice.

She looks to Valas and Phelps, eager to change the subject Oh, I'm sorry, she apologises, not really disclosing for what, what is it you like?

Hi Artaius! Don't forget to dot into the gameplay thread, or you might not get updates in your campaign tab. What kind of difficulties are you having with the forum? On my end all seems to work fine, but my login was unstable when I was using safari (now using chrome) in the past.

Why was there no post yesterday? Because all the PaizoCon PBPs are supposed to wait until Monday before rolling box text. But I may put up a pre-game scene so that you can all banter in game play.

I would like to compliment Valas and Phelps for having fully developed botting spoilers before the start of the game. Everyone else, I would still like to see botting spoilers for your characters!

Thank you!

Is there something my Bot still needs? I thought mine was done.

Now that we've reclaimed the discussion thread for discussion, let me take the opportunity to say that Artaius' character portrait is absolutely awesome.

Valas smiles at Momo and replies, "I collect and repair technology of all types, but I specifically appreciate computers and weapons... and ammunition... and weapon accessories... and weapon fusions. Having the right tech makes it more probable that all agents make it back from a mission. That's my focus - make sure we get our job done, and that we all make it home afterwards."

Sorry if off-topic: I'm running a game of 5-13 Finding the forgotten, a 7-10 tier game. I currently have three sign-ups. Is anyone up for playing in that game as a 4th player (which could be a not-for-credit-replay if you've already played it). Four player tables tend to work 33% better than three-player tables :-)

Warhorn link
Gameplay thread

Semi-newbish question since I only get to play Starfinder one time a year usually: On RPG chronicles, when it asks for my Starting Reputation, is that just my slotted champion faction (which is my assumption) or the total of all my reputations?

Sorry if off-topic: I'm running a game of 5-13 Finding the forgotten, a 7-10 tier game. I currently have three sign-ups. Is anyone up for playing in that game as a 4th player (which could be a not-for-credit-replay if you've already played it). Four player tables tend to work 33% better than three-player tables :-)

Sadly, everyone I have is either too high or too low.

Semi-newbish question since I only get to play Starfinder one time a year usually: On RPG chronicles, when it asks for my Starting Reputation, is that just my slotted champion faction (which is my assumption) or the total of all my reputations?

It's your champion faction reputation, so you assumed wisely. It's not mandatory for the chronicles, but it helps populate some fields.

@GM: you're probably aware of this already, but one of my players pointed out an errata for this adventure. Just passing on the knowledge.

After the adventure, can you post a link to the errata please? I'm running this scenario in July.

After the adventure, can you post a link to the errata please? I'm running this scenario in July.

It’s linked in the last post, mister Valas. (And the erratum itself is hidden behind a spoiler)

Thank you!

I am aware of the errata, Momo, but thank you!

Having played this previously, I have a pretty good idea what the errata is. At level, we nearly TPK-ed

Thank you everyone for an enjoyable game! I rarely see play by post games on time, so if you're ever looking for an extra player, please keep me in mind!