Fortune Favors the Bold

Wednesday, August 16, 2017

Gen Con 50 is just about to start, and the convention's 50th anniversary promises to be bigger than ever. Here on the organized play team, we've been pulling out all the stops.

John and Thurston talked last week about our big specials and quests for Pathfinder Society and Starfinder Society, so if you haven't had a chance to check that out, take a look! I'm here to talk about this year's other brand-new Pathfinder Society RPG offerings to kick of the Year of Faction's Favor, starting with our August scenario lineup.

First up, by Katherine Cross, we have the Tier 1-5 adventure #9-01: The Cost of Enlightenment. Katherine has a knack for painting vivid settings and memorable characters to draw your characters right in to an idyllic scene in a cosmopolitan city in Qadira. Of course, the Pathfinder Society wouldn't just send its agents to relax and enjoy a festival. Members of a formerly peaceful cult have become criers of great discovery that has left them preaching nihilism and ruin. If the PCs can earn the favor of some influential locals in the bustling trade hub, they can journey to the source of the revelation, face those who curse the appearance of outsiders in a sacred space, and discover their own perspectives on a complicated truth.

Illustrations by Josef Kucera

Our next new scenario, #9-02: A Case of Missing Persons, by Alex Greenshields, begins on the threshold of an international incident. Masked mercenaries have abducted two members of Andoran's top government body, the People's Council, and taken them to the revolutionary and bloody nation of Galt. Worse, these assailants are affiliated with Galt's force of secret police and executioners. When magical means to locate these prisoners fail, it falls to a group of enterprising Pathfinder agents to uncover a dark conspiracy, rescue a powerful Pathfinder Society ally, and reveal the mastermind's true identity. Can your Tier 3-7 PCs get to the bottom of this situation before the trail goes cold? My favorite part of this scenario is probably the creative encounter that Alex put together for when the PCs set off to rescue the Society ally, but I'll leave the details for you to experience for yourselves.

Last but certainly not least, we have the Tier 5-9 scenario #9-03: On The Border of War, by Crystal Malarsky. In Brevoy, the specter of civil war always lurks on the horizon, as scheming noble factions jostle for power. Two of these factions both have strong claims for the copper mining town of Zmeyka, and conflict seems almost inevitable. If war breaks out, an ancient keep on the outskirts of town that holds yet-undiscovered secrets of Brevoy's past could be lost forever. It falls to the PCs to quickly uncover the keep's secrets. They must also decide if they wish to throw the Pathfinder Society's weight behind one of the conflict's sides, stay out of the struggle entirely, or undertake the daunting task of attempting to negotiate for peace. Crystal did an excellent job presenting the participants in the rising conflict and the wealth of historical information that lurks in the ancient keep.

On top of these three scenarios, Paizo has teamed up with Games & Gears and Gen Con to produce a new module, Heroes for Highdelve, which will be premiering as a special event at Gen Con and available for sale at both the Games and Gears booth and the Paizo Booth at Gen Con. It will be available for download on paizo.com in the near future. This adventure, written by Paizo developer Amanda Hamon Kunz, charges 1st-level adventurers with the task of recovering a precious amulet and preventing mayhem from descending upon their home.

For those of you who have signed up to play in this event at Gen Con, we are pleased to announce that you can receive credit for one of your Pathfinder Society characters. You can now download the sanctioning document from the product page and soon the Additional Resources page.

If you're be attending Gen Con, I look forward to seeing you there!

Linda Zayas-Palmer
Developer

Faction Overview: Acquisitives

Wednesday, August 2, 2017

Illustration by Josef Kucera

True to their history, Acquisitives are the most mercenary of the Starfinder Society factions. Their goals often involve promoting the Starfinder Society to the extent that it will increase the personal reputation of all members. They stockpile funds and resources, believing that by maintaining such a treasury, the faction can make itself indispensable to other factions within the Society. Indeed, many Starfinders pledge themselves, to varying degrees, to the Acquisitives faction for access to these assets. This influx of recruits is the direct byproduct of the Acquisitives' existing cache of resources, not to mention their preference of sending Starfinders on missions leading to personal glory and monetary enrichment.

All right. It is time to start dropping some major bombs in these blogs—oddly fitting, because at their core, the Acquisitives are mercenaries who have probably dropped a lot of bombs in their time.

When the Organized Play team started assembling our all-star faction team, we wanted to make sure that the factions catered to a variety of character builds. We wanted to avoid a situation where a player who made a "lawful good paladin" felt compelled to pick one faction over another because that faction was the only right choice. (Note: there are no lawful good paladins in Starfinder). The character themes present in Starfinder lined up perfectly with our intent, and many of our internal talks revolved around asking questions like, "Ok, so this faction is going to be something interesting to Ace Pilots and Priests?" It was an iterative process between all members of the team and helped us create factions where every character should have a place. Perhaps none of our factions better exemplify this design style than our final announced faction: the Acquisitives.

The Acquisitives faction is a direct result of mercenaries and other externally hired operatives recognizing the gains made from an alliance with the Starfinder Society. Several of these "hired hands" came to realize that there were plenty of credits and fame to be had from forming a more permanent contract with the Starfinder Society. So, rather than wait for their contracts to run out once the Society's latest recruitment drive concluded, the Acquisitives faction formed to give any outside contractor a fast track into the Starfinder Society. Basically, the Acquisitives are like a "union" (but NOT of the shadow variety) that promotes Starfinders, effectively creating intergalactic celebrities within the Society. Acquisitives characters are all about gaining personal fame and wealth, while working within the strictures of the Starfinder Society.

Players are going to get a chance to feel what the Acquisitives are about in Starfinder #1-00: Claim to Salvation, written by Pathfinder Society and Pathfinder Adventure Path veteran (as well as notorious knife-fighter—ask me sometime), Larry Wilhelm. This is because Claim to Salvation is a prequel to the events of the Year of Scoured Stars. In this adventure, the players take on the roles of the iconic Starfinder characters, employed as mercenaries by the Starfinder Society. Wait… why does the Starfinder Society need mercenaries? Oh, that's right! Something went terribly wrong in the Scoured Stars system. In order to keep the Starfinder Society together, First Seeker (Luwazi Elsebo) went to some radical lengths to keep things going until a new generation of Starfinders could finish training.

Illustration by Sebastian Rodriguez

Radaszam "The Dealmaker" (N male vesk operative) is the official Acquisitives liaison to the Starfinder Society. He spends equal time managing the Acquisitives as he does operating his own independent mercenary outfit, the Obsidian Spiders. Most of Radaszam's administration focuses on helping Acquisitives become celebrities, both within the Starfinder Society and without. He recognizes the importance of creating modern Starfinder icons for the public to recognize, and knows that such celebrities will only encourage further generations of Starfinders to step forward. Similarly, he recognizes the need for cutting any loss-leads, giving him a somewhat vicious edge when it comes to his administrative decisions. I'm really looking forward to exploring Radaszam, as well as the Obsidian Spiders, in some of our earliest scenarios following the Gen Con release!

Now it's time to talk about some boons (and if you're forgetting the boon types, be sure to look back at our blog about Starfinder Society Roleplaying Guild's boon system). One boon type we've yet to highlight is the Starship boon, so how about we show one off?

Abundant Ammunition (Starship Boon)

Your faction provides you with ample starship ammo for important missions.

Prerequisites: Acquisitives: Tier 1

Cost: 1 Fame

Benefit: When this boon is slotted, select one starship weapon with the limited fire special property on the group's starship. The selected weapon increases the value of the limited fire value by half (rounded down). For example, a limited fire 5 weapon would become limited fire 7. This boon can be used to improve weapons gained as a result of other Starship boons.

Special: Multiple copies of this boon can be used on a starship, but each copy must affect a different weapon.

I understand that it's hard to recognize the significance of this boon without seeing the full starship rules. But from the playtests John and I have run, I think it's safe to say that any starship with missiles… well, that starship really likes having more missiles! Also, the Abundant Ammunition boon serves as an appealing low-cost boon for starship customization. Given how many starship boons can only be applied to a starship once, having this boon around is an excellent backup to ensure you can maximize the number of starship boons your ship can bring into battle!

We really wanted to showcase a Starship boon, just to give an example of what players can do to further modify their starship. But why stop there? So, for this final pre-Gen Con faction blog, how about I show off another boon?

Sponsorship (Social Boon)

The Acquisitives have connected you with an organization interested in using you to promote its brand and merchandise.

Prerequisites: Acquisitives: Tier 2

Cost: 2 Fame

Benefit: By slotting this boon, you gain an additional Promotional boon slot. This allows you to slot up to two Promotional boons as long as you meet all the prerequisites for those boons, such as possessing the appropriate product or having the necessary volunteer recognition. You cannot slot the same Promotional boon multiple times, nor can you slot two Promotional boons that offer the same effect (such as two boons that both provide rerolls).

Normal: You can normally only ever have one promotional boon slot.

Ok, so this boon is just fun. The Organized Play team got a good chuckle when we brainstormed several of the boons listed in the guide, but this one was one of our favorites. The immediate thought that comes to mind when a character takes this boon is that of a NASCAR race driver, bedecked in "flair" from corporate sponsors. Another example, closer to my interests, would be something like Captain Amazing from the movie Mystery Men (also bedecked with appropriate "flair"). I bet that some players out there are going to have a ton of fun with the themes behind this boon.

By taking this boon, a character can benefit from multiple Promotional boons by sacrificing his or her Social boon slot. This means that a player coming to the table with a Paizo T-shirt and a Starfinder Character Folio could benefit from both the Promotional boons associated with those items. We're planning on including several different Promotional boons for the launch, including service coins, pins, and even something for the convention crowd. Expect to see a bit more on this when the Starfinder Society Roleplaying Guild Guide officially releases.

And that's a wrap on our factions' reveals, but not a wrap on Starfinder Society blogs. Stay tuned for next week, where we provide some more information on two of our exciting Gen Con releases, Starfinder Society Roleplaying Guild Quest: Into the Unknown and Starfinder Society Scenario #01-00: Claim to Salvation.

Thurston Hillman
Starfinder Society Developer

Faction Overview: Dataphiles

Wednesday, July 26, 2017

Illustration by Josef Kucera

Churches, corporations, governments, and other organizations all have secrets. The Dataphiles work to uncover these secrets, deciding what to share and what to store in their vast data vaults inside Archive's Cortex, a sector of the Lorespire Complex in Absalom Station. While not all information is shared beyond the Dataphiles' archives, the simple act of guarding knowledge acts as a guiding light for the Dataphiles. Data comes in many forms, and the Dataphiles employ more than just computer-specialists in their ranks. Those Starfinders skilled at withdrawing information from sentient creatures—either by coercion, discourse, or trickery—are highly valued. As their sites of interest are among the best-defended installations in the galaxy, the Dataphiles also have a pressing need for trained combat specialists—whether to have a strong arm protecting a hacker during a delicate operation, or to have an armed ally capable of getting the prize out alive.

If you have been following Starfinder Society Roleplaying Guild news from the start, you have probably heard about the Dataphiles. They are the first faction we announced almost four months ago over on the Know Direction Podcast. It is quite appropriate if you've listened to entire that podcast and are still ravenous for more information on the Dataphiles; after all, the Dataphiles are all about getting as much information as they can!

You can't have a futuristic setting without addressing important things like computers, corporate espionage, the flow of information, and hackers. The Dataphiles specialize in researching, finding, codifying, and controlling any information they can get their hands on (or other suitable appendage... yes that's an ongoing theme in Starfinder descriptions). The organized play team really wanted to have an organization that would appeal to not only computer specialists, but to those characters interested in accumulating vast amounts of key information. We see the Dataphiles as letting us explore some themes from modern organizations, like Anonymous or Wikileaks, while also letting us throw in a scenario or two where the PCs can "Hack the Gibson."

This brings us to the leader of the Dataphiles, the android, Historia-7 (LN female android mechanic). In keeping with the Dataphiles theme, rather than give all the details on Historia-7 and history with the Starfinder Society, I think it's appropriate to present some tidbits of information that might be important to Historia-7. I'll leave it to all you intrepid data seekers out there to figure out what you can from these details.

• You'll have a chance to meet Historia-7 in Starfinder Society Scenario #1-01: The Commencement. (Ok, easy start)
• Historia-4 compiled a significant record on the divergence of Corpse Fleet construction practices from those of their Eoxian counterparts, submitting the details for publication in the Starfinder Chronicles.
• Historia-6 strongly supported the election of First Seeker Jadnura, and was subsequently lost during the Scoured Stars incident.
• Kuthona.

Illustration by Sebastian Rodriguez

I hope you will all have some fun scrutinizing these tidbits.

Now, it's time for our regularly scheduled boon reveal! This week's boon is something very different from what you've seen with our previous previews. Much like the capstone boon we showcased last week, this week's boon is another informal category of boon that John and I concocted after several cackle-filled meetings. To set the mood, "It was a vibrant and joy-filled PaizoCon when Thurston and John first conjured the idea for the meta boons..."

So here it is!

Digital Presence (Slotless* Boon)

You work to propagate a thriving digital community.

Prerequisites: Dataphiles: Tier 1

Cost: 0 Fame (see below)

Benefit: If you complete a scenario that you played online, such as by using a virtual tabletop or a play-by-post format, you earn 1 additional Fame and 1 additional Reputation with the Dataphiles faction.

Special: You can only benefit from this boon a number of times equal to your current Reputation Tier with the Dataphiles faction (maximum four total times at Reputation Tier 4). Each time you fulfill the requirements of this boon, mark it on your Chronicle sheet along with the associated Reputation Tier. Have the GM sign beside this notation.

*After receiving some editorial and community feedback, we're moving away from the term "Untyped Boon" and are now using "Slotless Boon" instead. This should be a clearer title for how these boons work, and avoid any confusion about how many boons of this type you can slot.

Story time! Each faction will have a boon like the Digital Presence boon. These unique "meta boons" operate outside of regular play conditions, often requiring player-initiated actions to achieve. As you can see with the Dataphiles' boon, we're trying to encourage online play—after all, it seems pretty appropriate for a faction that's all about information and technology. Because we wanted these to be bonuses, rather than things you had to buy to take advantage of, the meta boons are all about giving characters a small Fame and Reputation bump for completing certain out-of-game objectives. But to make it more than a one-time objective, we opened it up so that a character can benefit from these bonuses up to once per Reputation Tier (so, up to 4 times on a high-level character).

Ok, so that's it for our latest faction reveal. Come back next week when we talk about our final Starfinder Society faction: the Acquisitives.

Thurston Hillman
Starfinder Society Developer

Faction Overview: Wayfinders

Wednesday, July 19, 2017

Illustration by Josef Kucera

The Wayfinders represent some of the Society's foremost experts in first contact scenarios. An organization dedicated to fully pursuing the Starfinder Society's mission statement of exploration, the Wayfinders are at the forefront of expeditions to scan a planet, set foot on an asteroid, or greet a previously unknown species. Wayfinders have a natural passion for exploration, be it through social situations with new species or discovering ancient alien ruins.

Before I start this blog, I want to congratulate some of you on being excellent detectives. The Organized Play team worked diligently in putting together a release schedule for our Starfinder Society factions, which we're now in the process of unveiling. At PaizoCon, several of you approached me and mentioned something about "the Wayfinders" and I feigned ignorance and made jokes about magical compasses. It appears that one of our scenarios let this secret out way earlier than anticipated... so, it's about time to dish out some facts.

With the Wayfinders faction, we have a group of like-minded Starfinders with a common interest: exploration. Starfinders working with the Wayfinders specialize in going beyond the Pact Worlds and into the star systems beyond. They eagerly travel into the Vast to seek out new life and new civiliz... they eagerly explore the Vast and engage with alien species, learning about foreign cultures and crafting strong alliances between the Starfinder Society and alien organizations. Many outsiders consider the Wayfinders' boundless enthusiasm for exploration as reckless; some even cite the recent Scoured Stars incident as a reason for the Starfinder Society—particularly the Wayfinders—to take a more cautious approach to exploring the Vast.

A faction as dedicated as the Wayfinders deserves a dedicated leader. Fitch (CN female ysoki technomancer), not only provides active support to fellow Wayfinders, she also goes out of her way to help Starfinders without ties to her faction. Starfinder Society #1-03: Yesteryear's Truth, by Paizo's own Jason Keeley, is a fine example of Fitch stepping in to energetically support fellow Starfinders going on missions into the Vast. I suspect many players will enjoy interacting with Fitch, especially after getting a chance to meet the faction leader onboard the Wayfinders' flagship: the Master of Stars.

Illustration by Sebastian Rodriguez

Now, I've backed myself into a corner when it comes to showcasing these factions. In the last two blog posts, I've shown off some boons related to the factions. So, I suppose it makes sense to showcase something specific to the Wayfinders. Like I did with the last two previewed boons, I'm going to showcase a different category of boon for the Wayfinders. Allow me to introduce something we've been calling a capstone boon.

Alien Allies (Untyped Boon)

Your tireless contributions to the Wayfinders' cause has not only uncovered unknown worlds; you've also introduced a new species into the Society.

Prerequisites: Wayfinders: Tier 4

Cost: 4 Fame

Benefit: When you select this boon, it does not apply to your current character. Instead, select one of your Starfinder Society characters with 0 XP. That character can select a new playable race without expending the personal boon slot. That character cannot slot a different race boon into the personal boon slot, but can slot another type of personal boon. The rules on this new race will be made available in a future update—and may vary by season.

Special: A new character can only benefit from this boon once. You can only purchase this boon once per character.

Ok, I guess I can't just smoke bomb out after dropping something like that, can I?

Each of our factions will have a capstone boon. These boons are all untyped boons that apply to a new character in the Starfinder Society Roleplaying Guild. The Wayfinders' boon is something that the organized play team knows is popular: access to new races. As the boon says, the specifics of the new race aren't yet detailed, which is quite intentional (I swear, I'm not skimping out on work). John and I have schemed together and already have potential candidates for this new race, but the result will come down to player choice. Hint: Just like in Pathfinder Society, the reporting conditions will be very important to the continued narrative of the Starfinder Society Roleplaying Guild campaign.

Alrighty, another week, another faction complete! Check back soon, when I present details on the Dataphiles—a faction we've talked about before, but have some new ‘data' to share (*badumtish*). Ok, that joke was bad and I'm sorry... but believe me when I say, you'll want to come back to read about the Dataphiles and a new subset of boon that's sure to shake up how people think about gaming in the organized play format!

Thurston Hillman
Starfinder Society Developer

Faction Overview: Second Seekers

Tuesday, July 18, 2017

Illustration by Josef Kucera

Where the First Seeker leads, the Second Seekers follow. Exemplifying dutiful service, the Second Seekers follow-through on the Society's pledge to support the First Seeker, the elected head of the Starfinder Society. Unlike other factions, the goals of the Second Seekers vary over time, adapting to each new leader's mission.

Even before the Organized Play team started work on the factions for the Starfinder Society Roleplaying Guild, we had the opportunity to work with the Starfinder team to create the in-game Starfinder Society organization. One thing the Organized Play team agreed on from the beginning was changing up some of the leadership structure for the new Society. We'll be going into further detail on differences between the Pathfinder Society and Starfinder Society in a future blog post, but for purposes of today's blog, I wanted to briefly talk about one new role: the First Seeker.

The First Seeker is an elected Starfinder who takes on a senior leadership role within the Starfinder Society, directing the organization for a brief period. Each First Seeker is elected based on a platform: a defined goal for the Starfinder Society to pursue. As an example, the Society's previous First Seeker, a kasathan solarian named Jadnura, petitioned to explore a corner of the galaxy known as the Scoured Stars. That particular mission didn't go so well for the Society...

The Second Seekers are a faction dedicated to furthering the agenda of the current First Seeker. Their dedication extends only to a specific First Seeker, not necessarily to any First Seekers who came before or after. When characters gain Reputation with the Second Seekers, they only gain Reputation with the specific First Seeker who they champion. This means that the Second Seekers will evolve as we continue telling stories through the Starfinder Society Roleplaying Guild campaign, with each newly elected First Seeker acting as an entirely new faction. Once a First Seeker's term ends—such as at the end of a season storyline—that doesn't mean your characters stop championing that First Seeker. In fact, any character with an appropriate faction boon for that specific First Seeker can continue to champion that individual for the rest of her career—just don't expect a lot of new scenarios involving that First Seeker!

Because of the First Seeker's importance to the Second Seekers faction, you'll see the Second Seekers presented in text with the associated First Seeker listed in parenthesis. The first iteration of the Second Seekers faction shows up as "Second Seekers (Luwazi Elsebo)."

Illustration by Miroslav Petrov

This brings us to our first faction leader for the Second Seekers: Luwazi Elsebo (NG female human envoy). Luwazi was responsible for keeping the Starfinder Society together in the aftermath of the previous First Seeker's expedition to the Scoured Stars. Her goals include rebuilding the damaged Society while investigating what happened in the Scoured Stars. If any of the Starfinders lost in the Scoured Stars can be saved, Luwazi intends to find a way to make that happen.

Players get their first chance to interact with Luwazi Elsebo in Starfinder Society Roleplaying Guild Scenario #1-00: Claim to Salvation, the pregenerated character special debuting at Gen Con 2017, written by Pathfinder Society and Adventure Path veteran, Larry Wilhelm. This scenario acts as a prequel to the start of the Year of Scoured Stars, and showcases some of Luwazi's more unorthodox methods for keeping the Starfinder Society intact, along with the first seeds of a faction we'll be spotlighting in a future blog.

Now, I don't want the Exo-Guardians to get away with having more information than our recently spotlighted faction, so I figure I can share one more thing. Characters gaining Second Seekers (Luwazi Elsebo) Reputation can access some pretty exceptional boons, many of them themed around the idea of preserving and rebuilding the wounded Starfinder Society. Here's one boon I think a lot of Second Seekers are going to pick up.

Team Spirit (Untyped Boon)

You are an expert at using your resources to help other Stafinders.

Prerequisites: Second Seekers (Luwazi Elsebo): Tier 2

Cost: 1 Fame

Benefit: When you or another character is killed during an adventure in which your participated, reduce the Fame cost of the raise dead spellcasting service by 2. This boon is not expended when used.

Special: A character can only benefit from one copy of this book at a time, to a maximum discount of 2 Fame.

As you can see, a character purchasing this boon reduces the cost of raise dead by a noticeable amount of Fame. Even if just one character in a group has this boon, every character at the table benefits from the discount. I suspect we'll see a lot of characters gaining Second Seekers (Luwazi Elsebo) Reputation picking this boon up. I also suspect we'll see groups looking to muster for higher difficulty content going out of their way to make sure a Second Seeker is on the team!

Ok, that's it for today's post; I need to get back to finishing up the last Gen Con scenarios. Stay tuned for our next blog, when we talk about Wayfinders—and I don't mean the magical compasses!

Thurston Hillman
Starfinder Society Developer

Faction Overview: Exo-Guardians

Thursday, July 12, 2017

Illustration by Josef Kucera

The creed of the Exo-Guardians is to protect the Pact Worlds from external threats. In the context of their membership within the Starfinder Society, this most often relates to participating in missions to acquire relics or technology of a defensive nature. Exo-Guardians excel in missions that lead to such discoveries, but they also serve an important secondary role within the Society of "sending a message" to threats that interfere in Society business. Be it a derelict starship overrun with mindless alien vermin, or a supposedly impenetrable fortress operated by forces opposed to the Society, it's often the Exo-Guardians who come in to handle the situation.

One thing was clear when developing factions for the Starfinder Society Roleplaying Guild: some players just want to shoot bug-like aliens. The Exo-Guardians were one of the earliest factions we developed because we wanted players to have a faction with a clear goal that fit into a science fantasy universe. In the case of the Exo-Guardians, that goal is "make sure bad aliens don't punch us in the face, possibly by punching those aliens in the face (or other appropriate body part, in the case of aliens without faces) first." This is the faction that you can regularly expect to see going on a "bug hunt."

The Exo-Guardians have some recognizable elements of the highly successful Silver Crusade faction from Pathfinder Society, but there are several key differences. The Exo-Guardians are also a faction with a long history within the in-game Starfinder Society organization, but recent events have not been kind to them. In a setting without paladins as a core class, the Exo-Guardians are somewhat more flexible in terms of what they are willing to do to protect the Pact Worlds from external threats. The Exo-Guardians let us explore some tough questions, like how far would you go to protect your home from external threats?

Illustration by Sebastian Rodriguez

Luckily, if you're worried about this faction quickly becoming a faction of bloodthirsty evil characters, the Exo-Guardians faction leader has your back. Zigvigix (LG host shirren soldier) is a shirren with a plan—specifically a plan that aims to have the Exo-Guardians restored to their pre-Scoured Stars incident grandeur. I am already excited at how Zigvigix has turned out in print, and pretty soon you'll be able to meet them in Starfinder Society Roleplaying Guild Scenario #1-01: The Commencement. (And if you're worried about pronouncing Zigvigix's name all the time, don't fret. The Commencement's author, Eleanor Ferron, already coined a nickname I think will catch on...)

Before I go, here's a look at one of the faction-specific boons that members of the Exo-Guardians can purchase with their Fame. If you haven't already checked, I highly recommend giving that a read over last week's blog on Starfinder Society Boons.

Collector and Examiner (Ally Boon)

The Exo-Guardians host a variety of professionals interested in researching alien life from the Vast. You've become associated with one such researcher.

Prerequisites: Exo-Guardians: Tier 1

Cost: 2 Fame

Benefit: This ally boon represents a growing relationship between you and a researcher among the Exo-Guardians. At the end of a scenario in which you've slotted this boon, you can return one, and only one, "mostly intact" cadaver of a defeated significant enemy (Starfinder Core Rulebook 242) that your ally can study. Mark the creature type (such as aberration, fey, or ooze) of the collected cadaver on your Chronicle sheet. While this boon is slotted, you gain an insight bonus to Engineering, Life Science and Mysticism skill checks to identify creatures of the same creature type as previously collected corpses. The bonus is equal to the number of corpses of that creature type collected, up to a maximum of 3. The bonus represents your access to correspondences between you and your examiner ally; it does not mean the examiner is physically present during the adventure.

I'm really excited to see exactly what sort of wacky concepts players come up with for their "Examiner" allies!

That's all for this week. Stay tuned for next week's blog, where we provide an overview and some details for our next faction: the Second Seekers!

Thurston Hillman
Starfinder Society Developer