[Gameday XIII] GM Dennis - SF2 Playtest #1: Shards of the Glass Planet (Inactive)

Game Master Dennis Muldoon

Flwon rocks back on their heels, gathers magic from the timestream, and sends three crackling shards of magic toward the creature who keeps assaulting them. 3 action force barrage

force damage: 3d4 + 3 ⇒ (1, 3, 1) + 3 = 8

This action lifts their spirits, driving away the fear.

The creature bellows in pain as Flwon's missiles impact. Meanwhile, the other one continues its assault on Revizin and Dae.

Jaws vs. Dae: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (5) + 9 = 14
Piercing: 1d10 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 6

Fist vs. Revizin, agile 2nd: 1d20 + 9 - 4 ⇒ (16) + 9 - 4 = 21
Bludgeoning: 1d6 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7

It then raises its shell protectively.

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Initiative!

Dae takes a little step to the left, then attacks twice with their battle ribbon.

attack: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (4) + 7 = 11
ouch!: 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5 fire

attack: 1d20 + 7 - 5 ⇒ (11) + 7 - 5 = 13
ouch!: 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 4 = 8 fire

Energy flows back into Chk Chk's vitality network, and he passes it through to Revizin. He fires a beam of magic at the creature Navasi suggested.

Tranfer Vitality, Cast eldritch lance

Revizin gains 4 HP and is concealed.

spell attack: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (20) + 7 = 27 for mental: 2d6 ⇒ (3, 2) = 5

Dae isn't able to connect with their battle ribbon, but Chk Chk is much more successful, clobbering one of the creatures with a powerful eldritch lance! It remains standing, but you can see the panic start to set in, like it might turn to flee at any moment.

"Keep pressing on, the tide is turning," Navasi says as she takes control of the battle. She takes a shot at her chosen foe, pressing forward.

1st Action: Get Em (w/ Lead By Example +1 to damage) on 2
2nd Action: Attack on 2

Attack: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (11) + 5 = 16
Damage: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (6) + 3 = 9

She then looks at that one about to flee and chuckles, firing a shot into the air to see if she can shoo it away.

3rd Action: Attempting an Intimidating Shot
Intimidation to Demoralize: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (5) + 7 = 12

Iseph keeps drifting around the battlefield, trying to find the right angle.

Aim while moving 20ft and then shooting twice at #2.

Pistol: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (9) + 9 = 18 for Piercing + Precision: 1d6 + 1d4 ⇒ (5) + (3) = 8

Pistol - 2nd shot penalty: 1d20 + 9 - 5 ⇒ (15) + 9 - 5 = 19 for Piercing + Precision: 1d6 + 1d4 ⇒ (1) + (1) = 2

"Keep pressing? How about keep missing, that's all I seem to be doing."

14, 17, 18, 19, slowly ticking that to hit roll up!

Revizin snarls at the creature before him.
Intimidation to Demoralize v. yellow: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 3 = 5

He then snaps at the creature.
Strike jaws (grapple, vesk) v. yellow: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (3) + 6 = 9
Damage (P): 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (6) + 3 = 9

Then swings his doshko at it.
Strike doshko (unwieldy, parry, analog, vesk) v. yellow: 1d20 + 6 - 5 ⇒ (5) + 6 - 5 = 6
Damage (P): 1d12 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4

Navasi's shot ricochets harmlessly off the creature's shell, but her shout distracts it enough to allow both of Iseph's strikes to land home (Iseph's first shot only hit because of Get 'Em). Revizin has a hard time mustering enough snarl to scare the creature, and his attacks are equally ineffective.

The creature threatening Flwon, wounded and clearly frightened, drops its shells and lopes away!

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Initiative!

Flwon likes the idea of scaring the creatures away, but isn't quite sure how to achieve that. They reach deep into the dark spaces of time and stars to find something scary to aim at the remaining critter.

spell attack eldritch lance: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (19) + 7 = 26
mental damage: 2d6 ⇒ (1, 5) = 6
2 actions

Then they cast shield in case this backfires and only attracts more attention.
1 action

Flwon lances the remaining creature with mental energy and sees it writhe in pain, but it does not seem ready yet to flee the field like its brethren. The creature again lashes out at the threats beside it, then raises its shell again to defend itself.

Jaws vs. dae: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (5) + 9 = 14
Piercing: 1d10 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 4 = 8

Fist vs. Revizin, agile 2nd: 1d20 + 9 - 4 ⇒ (20) + 9 - 4 = 25
Bludgeoning: 1d6 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 6 Crit -> 12 damage

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Initiative!

Dae, struggling to connect with their weapon, instead moves around to avoid getting anyone else and blows up!

supernova!: 1d8 ⇒ 2 fire, DC 17 Reflex save

Critical Success: The creature is unaffected.
Success: The creature takes half damage and is dazzled for 1 round.
Failure: The creature takes full damage and is blinded for 1 round.
Critical Failure: The creature takes double damage and is blinded for 1 minute.

Chk Chk transfers more health into his vesk companion, then cuases the enemy creature's shadow to snap out at it. He gives Revizin a bit of an ego boost, as well!

Transfer vitality, cast shadow snap, cast guidance

Revizin gains 4 HP, +1 on attack roll, Perception check, saving throw, or skill check

spell attack: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (11) + 7 = 18 for cold: 1d10 ⇒ 3

The android repeats his earlier actions again, "I seem to be caught in a programming loop."

Aim while moving 10ft and then shooting twice at #1.

Pistol: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (7) + 9 = 16 for Piercing + Precision: 1d6 + 1d4 ⇒ (5) + (4) = 9

Pistol - 2nd shot penalty: 1d20 + 9 - 5 ⇒ (6) + 9 - 5 = 10 for Piercing + Precision: 1d6 + 1d4 ⇒ (5) + (4) = 9

"And it is definitely preventing me from aiming properly."

"Stand still! Revizin snarls as he tries to take a more strategic position.

Step
He again snaps at the creature.
Strike jaws (grapple, vesk) v. yellow w/flank: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (20) + 6 = 26
Damage (P): 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4

He pulls back for a moment with a toothy, satisfied smile. He spits, then swings his doshko at it.
Strike doshko (unwieldy, parry, analog, vesk) v. yellow w/flank: 1d20 + 6 - 5 ⇒ (13) + 6 - 5 = 14
Damage (P): 1d12 + 3 ⇒ (7) + 3 = 10

Reflex vs. supernova DC 17: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (2) + 6 = 8

The creature is burned and blinded by Dae's sudden explosion! Taking advantage, Chk Chk lands a spell, freezing part of its carapace. Iseph's shots, unlucky, still ricochet off the thing's raised shell however. Revizin has more luck, though, taking a powerful bite out of the creature's leg, though his doshko goes wide.

Flwon may act.

If the creature attacks any ally on its turn, I'll Watch Out!.

"Let's get em," Navasi says, continuing to encourage the fight. They take careful aim and lets off an additional shot.

Action 1: Get Em
Action 2: Strike

Attack: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (10) + 5 = 15
Damage: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4

Action 3: Reload

Flwon realizes Revizin is looking a little beaten up, then the vesk perks up a bit. The pahtra's mental debate between casting soothe or helping eliminate the threat, leans toward the latter.

Flwon repeats the previous spell combination:
spell attack eldritch lance: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (16) + 7 = 23
mental damage: 2d6 ⇒ (4, 5) = 9

shield

Sorry Navasi, not sure why I didn't list you there.

Navasi's shot deflects off a raised shell, but Flwon's eldritch lance lands true, burning into the creature's hide! It bellows in pain, then awkwardly turns around and tries it's best to flee, the spots in its eyes still blocking most of its vision.

Everyone is up if you want to try to finish it off, otherwise you can let it flee.

Flwon sighs at having caused such pain and lets the creature flee, hoping that it will heal well and cause no others any problems.

"Let it go," Navasi agrees. "No need to keep fighting it."

They look around at the world as it seems to reintroduce the missing animals expected of the lush jungle.

"Though it's strange that it appeared."

Iseph slowly holsters their weapon, ”We aren’t being paid to exterminate it, so might as well. Now, what triggered the attack? Something we did?”

"I got no sense of their reasoning from them," Chk Chk informs everyone. "Who is injured?"

As the second beast recedes into the distance, one of the rocky beings steps forward from the group that’s huddled in a corner near the magitech consoles. They raise an incongruously lanky appendage and speak in a grating voice—perhaps a greeting, perhaps a threat—then speak a few longer phrases and tilt their body from one side to the other as the other beings all turn toward the survey team.

You don’t share a language, but can try to engage with the speaker with an Arcana, Computers, Crafting, Society, or Warfare Lore (or another appropriate Lore) check. There may be several rounds of checks, but we’ll say communicating takes about 10 minutes over all and you can do any healing or refocusing activities at the same time during those 10 minutes.

"Hey, you cool rock people. We're just here to see if we can help."

Society: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (16) + 5 = 21

Chk Chk tries to mime repairing the magitech consoles.

Crafting: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (13) + 4 = 17

Iseph tries binary, it should be a somewhat universal form of communication.

Computers: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 6

He apologizes to the group after the failure, ”I’m sorry, it’s been years since I used that.”

As the second beast recedes into the distance, one of the rocky beings steps forward from the group that’s huddled in a corner near the magitech consoles. They raise an incongruously lanky appendage and speak in a grating voice—perhaps a greeting, perhaps a threat—then speak a few longer phrases and tilt their body from one side to the other as the other beings all turn toward the survey team.

Rezivin considers the strange creature, suspecting it knows something of war.

Flwon adopts what they hope is accepted as a respectful though not subservient posture and begins to make arcane gestures, producing symbols of time and demonstrations of how it affects all creatures. They hope to establish a basic shared understanding on which to build.

Arcana: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (4) + 7 = 11

Navasi thinks back her first contact training, trying to recall the ways to quickly establish initiation communications without a shared language.

Society: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (3) + 5 = 8

Dae, Chk Chk, an Revizin are the most successful of the group, managing to convey a few ideas and gain a few insights in return (3 successes).

Together, you figure out that the leader's name is Glerak. Their people, translated as best you can as the Alithee Alliance, used magitech to hide from the Sivv Dominion, an ancient empire of conquering aberrations (probably familiar to your characters, given the events of several SF1 APs).

Once you've established this baseline, Glerak seems to want to warn you of something, though it's hard to tell exactly what.

Please give me a second round of checks. Options this time are Arcana, Nature, Society, or any relevant Lore.

"The Sivv? Those are real bad folks. I hear they have innovative plumbing technology though. What are you trying to warn us about?"

Society: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (7) + 3 = 10

"What are you trying to warn us about? An upcoming fight or something?"
Warfare Lore: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (17) + 5 = 22

Flwon attempts to look through time and memories to pull together relevant information about the Sivv and what they can glean about the Alithee to gain some clue as to what the threat is or how they can help these people.

Society: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (11) + 7 = 18

Nature: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (5) + 7 = 12

"Hmm, hmm. What are you trying to warn us about?"

Infosphere Lore: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (14) + 4 = 18

”I think I read something about them, but you can’t always trust what you find on the net.”

Navasi flips through a library of interstellar hazard signs, showing them to the alien slowly.

"Point to the one that best resembles the danger," she says.

Society: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (17) + 5 = 22

Revizin, Flwon, Iseph, and Navasi are all successful in building on the earlier conversation with Glerak (total successes now 7), and are able to build enough of a rapport to facilitate a very basic conversation. You come to understand that they want you to travel to a nearby tower to stabilize the magitech field above. They seem quite adamant, and clearly say more than that, but that's all you're able to work out.

It's up to you where you go next. You can do as Glerak asks and head toward that tower, or you can head back to the safety of your ship with things clearly not as they should be on this planet.

Iseph shrugs, ”I certainly don’t wish to get hurt. But… I didn’t sign up for this mission to play it safe either. I say we go.”

To Glerak

"Lead the way. I am sure we can work out what is going on and needs to happen."

To the team

"What say you? Everyone up for a jaunt?"

"Yes, we should find out as much as we can. Who knows when the opportunity will present itself again?" Chk Chk concurs.

"We'll go see what's what with that tower."

You set off toward the next tower, a short trek through the jungle. As you make your way, suddenly a huge shard of the energy shield above falls and lands about 30 feet in front of you, spraying you with debris!

Bludgeoning damage to everyone: 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5
DC 17 basic Reflex save

Initiative!

Reflex: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (6) + 9 = 15

”THE SKY IS FALLING!!!”

That drops him to -9 HP because we never healed up. How do we heal up in this playtest? Medicine check like pf2? Anyone good at that? I only have a +2 untrained mod. Also, can he use his force field on his turn?

Reflex vs DC 17: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (3) + 5 = 8
"Oof! That hurt. The full 5 damage

Flwon hears the warning a little too late. They fail to dodge a large chunk of debris as they turn to see their android friend collapse. See question in discussion thread

Reflex: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (17) + 5 = 22

Chk Chk tries to pull some of the energy from a nearby rock formation around the group.

Nature: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (3) + 7 = 10
Hero Point: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (13) + 7 = 20

Reflex: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (9) + 7 = 16

"We can outrun it!"

Athletics: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (9) + 7 = 16

Reflex Save: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (17) + 7 = 24

Chk Chk and Navasi manage to dodge the worst of the initial impact (still need an initial save from Revizin).

Chk Chk, remembering some of what he learned in the earlier investigation pulls up an energy shield that deflects some of the falling pieces (+2 Status bonus to everyone's checks to disable for the rest of this hazard). This deflection helps Dae outrun a flurry of shards! (The +2 bonus makes Dae's check a success!)

Before anyone else can react, another shard lands nearby, spraying you with debris once again, though slightly less intensely than before.

Bludgeoning damage: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3
DC 16 basic Reflex

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Initiative!

Reflex vs DC 16: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (15) + 5 = 20 1 damage

Flwon does a better job of dodging the next shard and tries to use what they've observed of the timing of the falls to find a safe path through.

Acrobatics+shield bonus: 1d20 + 5 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 5 + 2 = 10 2 actions (but not looking good)

Feeling a little fragile and without sufficient time to heal anyone, Flwon casts shield, in case they need to block more damage. 1 action
GM, will you allow this use of the spell? I figure that the AC boost won't help, but if I fail the next reflex save I may want to shield block to reduce the damage.