Enter the Social Arena

Wednesday, October 25, 2017

The Starfinder Society Roleplaying Guild is kicking its campaign storyline into overdrive with this month's scenario, Starfinder Society Scenario #1-05: The First Mandate. This scenario is the first in an unofficial multi-part series of adventures that slowly peels back some of the mystery surrounding the Scoured Stars incident. Of course, any good mystery needs a strong cast, and this month's scenario also introduces several new important NPCs to the campaign.

Illustrations by Sebastian Rodriguez

Fellow staffer and editor extraordinaire, Lyz Liddell, took up the challenge of writing this important scenario. She not only produced a strong story, but she also introduces us to a cast of unique characters that we will be seeing more of in future scenarios. The First Mandate begins with the PCs attending an important gala, where First Seeker Luwazi Elsebo intends to announce the future mission of the Starfinder Society in the wake of achieving a significant recovery from the events of the Scoured Stars. Radaszam "the Dealmaker" stands beside Luwazi, offering the services of his private mercenaries and the Acquisitives faction in ensuring the announcement occurs off without incident.

Here's a quick look at the tags that accompany this scenario:

• Faction (Acquisitives)
• Faction (Second Seekers [Luwazi Elsebo])

The art I'm including here showcases two of the major NPCs introduced in this adventure, but rest assured that there are several more. For veteran Pathfinder Society Roleplaying Guild participants out there, you'll note that The First Mandate takes a lot of cues from a well-known Pathfinder Society scenario, namely Pathfinder Society Scenario #4-09: The Blakros Matrimony. As the author of that venerable scenario (wow, I'm getting old) I obviously had reservations about passing this outline on to any freelancer, but I can safely say that Lyz did a fantastic job of bringing a scenario that incorporates social influence—and some other explosive encounters—to the far future!

I suspect that players and GMs alike will start concocting all sorts of theories about the ongoing campaign storyline after playing this adventure. I also anticipate some "theory crafting" of the motivations for some of the new NPCs—especially our blue-skinned android displayed in this post. Along with my usual request of "please leave a review—they really do help," I also encourage our campaign participants to post their opinions in a spoiler-marked thread in the Starfinder Society boards. One of the things that the organized play team really enjoys seeing are some of the "conspiracy theories" regarding campaign storylines. I suspect this scenario will throw some gasoline onto that slowly growing fire of the Starfinder Society storylines.

Come back next month, when we preview our next scenario Starfinder Society #1-06: A Night in Nightarch, our first scenario at Tier 3-6, and our first look at the nefarious drow of Apostae!

Until then!

Thurston Hillman
Starfinder Society Developer