Ashbourne's page

Driftbourne wrote:

I agree that the way you are describing Akashic Dragons is how most of them would be like; however, there's no right answer here. An Akashic Dragon will behave very differently if it's a friendly NPC, a neutral NPC, or (very rarely) the Big Boss monster. Also, where they are from could make a big difference; an Akashic Dragon in the Azlanti star empire might be the curator of the department of propaganda's library of disinformation, known to the public as the Library of Truth.

Hellknights trying the contract trick, likely wouldn't write the contract themself but would call upon the highest level lawyers from hell to do so, and would likely be in a contract so long it would take years to read, and other efforts would be made to distract the dragon during the reading of the contract. Here, the people pulling this off would be the Boss monster.

The Akashic Dragon I'd personally like to hang out with is the one in charge of the Library of Galactic Music.

It is all fun and games until the dragon starts blasting retro EDM death polka.

EDM death polka 4d12 sonic damage... :)

I had another thought on Akashic Dragons: the type of information available at the location they curate could reflect or influence the Akashic Dragons' personality. Some libraries or museums are very specific about the subject they cover.

Squark wrote:

Hopefully they will also automatically apply the weak/elite templates.

AoN already has that feature. There's a button near the top of any monster stat block.

This is different; the new tool does that for an entire scenario all at once, and turns it into a single printer-friendly PDF.

Encounters for PFS Scenario #7-01: .

I agree that the way you are describing Akashic Dragons is how most of them would be like; however, there's no right answer here. An Akashic Dragon will behave very differently if it's a friendly NPC, a neutral NPC, or (very rarely) the Big Boss monster. Also, where they are from could make a big difference; an Akashic Dragon in the Azlanti star empire might be the curator of the department of propaganda's library of disinformation, known to the public as the Library of Truth.

Hellknights trying the contract trick, likely wouldn't write the contract themself but would call upon the highest level lawyers from hell to do so, and would likely be in a contract so long it would take years to read, and other efforts would be made to distract the dragon during the reading of the contract. Here, the people pulling this off would be the Boss monster.

The Akashic Dragon I'd personally like to hang out with is the one in charge of the Library of Galactic Music.

- genuinely impressed at how evocative the names for abilities are in this book!).

I think evocative ability names are one of Starfinder 2e's strongest points.

Someone posted this on Reddit.

Fly Free or Die Starfinder 2nd Edition Conversion.

It feels odd talking in the SF 1 Forums lol

Why, the last 30+ threads are all about SF2e, I stopped counting at that point.

Hello everybody! This is Bright and Sparkling Zoey! Did you miss me?

It's certainly more Bright and Sparkling with you here, also appreciate all the work you do.

See, site update on AoN.

It allows you to select the level and Challenge points, then prints all the stat blocks from a Scenario in a printer-friendly format at once. Currently, only PF2e season 7 with SF2e on the way.

Driftbourne wrote:

Squark wrote:

On a side note, I do find it hilarious how many people are apparently determined to walk into the Borg Assimilation Center.

Especially when the next scenario in the meta plot is called Compliance Protocol.

Also, reading between the lines...

** spoiler omitted **

Good call, I had guessed the

On a side note, I do find it hilarious how many people are apparently determined to walk into the Borg Assimilation Center.

Especially when the next scenario in the meta plot is called Compliance Protocol.

I disagree with Driftborn's take on your desire to be affected by exposure to First One tech. There is at least one scenario where it is clear they engage in species modification, so coming into contact with an unidentified widget that gives you cantrips is not too far to stretch things.

I'm not say that's not a good explanation for new abilities, I'm trying to find reasons why the GM would take away their character for lore reasons. Why they got new abilities is not a reason for that, but mind control is a reason to lose control of your character.

There is one example in 1-00 Collisions Wake of creatures changed from being exposed to the wreck with no involvement of the First Ones. All other creatures we have encountered with modifications have been intentionally modified by the First Ones and are also under mind control.

1-08 Compliance Protocol is called Compliance Protocol for a reason

The main issues aren't how the OP's character got new abilities, if they survived, or how they escaped the First Ones and avoided mind control. To me, it's that they voluntarily quit a Starfinder Society mission in front of their leader to join an invading enemy force. The needed background story isn't how they got new abilities; it's why the Starfinder Society should let them back in. I was under mind control at the time might be their best defense.

Having GM 1-05 Sloughscar Summit, I can see a couple of problems with following the Functionary.

1. The scenario says, Sarmak asks the PCs to maintain order inside the building while he heads out to ensure the Functionary remains peaceful. Sarmak is the current leader of the Starfinder Society. Not sure how I would deal with a PC that directly goes against the leader of the Starfinder Society, right in front of the leader.

2. Exposure to First Ones' "stuff" seems to be mind-control, or connected to a hive mind or network, from a central controlling entity, which includes the Functionary being controlled also. Which could make your curse be having the GM run your character. Which isn't something that should happen in organized play.

There's a bit of conversation on this in the GM section near the end of this thread.
SFS2E 1-05 Sloughsour Summit .

All of my suggestions were arguments to help persuade the PCs from not following The Functionary, so not sure what to do if someone followed, but forgetting everything seems like a good solution. Since no one really knows what would have happened to you, it would be hard to have a curse around that. Having conspiracy theories about what happened to you would be a good solution, conspiracy theories don't have to be lore acurate, and beliving in them can be it's own kind of curse.

I'm hoping for an Expanded Summoning - Pathfinder Monster Core 2

There's actually a city named Normal in Illinois. I found a Facebook page for the Bloomington/Normal Pathfinder Society. So, thinking they would be the standard for what a Normal lodge would be like. :)

I checked there is no city named Avrage, so there is no Avrage PFS lodge.

There are several cities named Standard, so it looks like we might have more than one Standard to go by.

I also found a town called Lodge, so there could be a Lodge Lodge out there.

My apologies, GM GRIM, that Primary Target roll of 21 was the to hit on the ranged Strike. This is my first time playing a Soldier (or even seeing one in action). I'd interpreted the Primary Target as giving a chance to rebuff the selected enemy for the Area attack.

Looking online, the general consensus seems to be there's a damage roll as well. I'm not really sure how it works with the Area weapon. I'll roll the damage roll below, but it will be unlikely be enough to take red down.

Oops, good catch, I was trying to post before bed and read your attack roll as damage.

There's a lot going on there.
1. Your primary attack is a normal attack roll and damage roll against a single creature in the area.
2. After that, roll for area damage once, and then all targets in the area roll reflex saves against the damage. (This is what I was referring to for only one roll)
3. If your primary target rolls a success against your Area Fire or Auto-Fire action, they get a failure instead.
4. Enemies in the affected area who fail their save against your attack become suppressed.

I'll update the corrections in a bit.

I am glad I am not in your lodge. We would likely clash and clash often because of your almost hostile and confrontational attidude.

Or you two might get along just fine in person, but the internet is getting in the way.

After reading Era of the Eclipse, I'm excited to see the Order of the Eclipse appearing in a scenario.

I'm still hopeful things will change. I even bought special hero points for Guilt of the Grave World

hero points

Great timing, having this adventure come out in October. The hero points I'm using for this adventure.

Hero points fit for Guilt of the Grave World.

I think one reason we don't have PF2e classes in SF2e organized play yet is that the devs want to give Starfinder a chance to be Starfinder first. To that end, it's likely only a few PF2e classes at a time would be added in. For one, I think the investigator makes more sense in SF2e than PF2e. Although it could use some updated features to fit the flavor more. I think the fighter would be great for Vesk Doshko honor guard. I like the idea of PF2e rouges in SF2e, so we have a rogue that is not also a hacker, at least not as a class feature.

For organized play, I think the biggest issue is not access to PF2e classes or ancestries; it's that the organized play rules are not compatible between SF2e and PF2e.

I have lots of interesting ideas for characters with just the classes we have now, and I never even got around to playing all the classes in SF1e. So I'm in no hurry for more classes than I can play. But anytime you have a new game, there are fewer options, so I try to build characters that we have not wanted. I wish we had, and I'm never disappointed. I still like getting new options, but I'm not in a rush for them.

I do think one thing that might be compounding it a bit is that the SF2 classes are somewhat narrower than their SF1 counterparts.

I think you are right, but it might be a good thing too. With PF2e being compatible with SF2e, that's a lot of classes. To have any design room left for more classes, it helps to make them more narrowly focused. It's also easy to add more features to or add new subclasses.

I'm also guessing that, over time, we will see some PF2e classes allowed in SF2e organized play. There's a big difference between allowing a PF2e character in SF2e and making an SF2e character with a PF2e class.

Players' guide for Guilt of the Grave Worlds is in the works due to popular demand.

The announcement for it is around 59 minutes into the video.

Paizo Live Oct 3 .

Khajiit did Kishmo did nothing wrong! Kishmo is innocent of this crime! What is the charge? Enjoying a sanctioned adventure? Enjoying a succulent, generically sanctioned, adventure?

(Maybe some shitposts will help the cause? I'm trying here, ok? XD)

I don't have a s!+*post in mind, but I do have a conspiracy theory. The "Guilt" in Guilt of the Grave worlds is that the leaders of Eox feel bad about not scantaining adventurers on Eox. In the final chapter of the AP, the PCs have to convince the leaders of Eox to sanction the AP.

reposted to fix the quotes

John Woodford wrote:

GameDay runs through late November. However, at least some of the games here that started in early September should be winding down soon.

I'm already seeing open game announcements on Discord, if that's more your jam.

I just want to get into Starfinder 2e and no one in my local group is playing it.

Change of plans, I think I can handle one more game.

I'm running Mystery on the Frozen Moon in a live game Saturday. I still need to do some prep for it tomorrow. Give me a few days, and I'll start recruiting to run it on the forums here. It'll be under the GM name GRIM*! Gaming Network. I'll need some time to prep it for Play by Post. The earliest start date would be the end of next week, but it may be longer depending on how recruiting goes.

If they are standard card size, you can put them in 9 pockets, 3-ring binder pages.

I also agree with BNW on usability vs whitespace. I'm ok with some white space to avoid page flipping when possible.

Finoan wrote:

I'm sorry that you are sad.

That is one of the few downsides of doing public playtesting. People get to see the rough drafts of these classes - some being too weak and some being too strong. And if the playtest version is decided to be too strong and is reined in for the release, then people will naturally like the playtest version better because it is stronger.

the 2es have a problem where abilities tend to be fairly weak, so nerfing them turns them into an absolute nothingburger. I don't think its the fault of the powergaming munchkins when something just plain isn't worth using, ever.

One of the benefits of 2e is having a lot of optional actions, but that exacerbates the above problem. Anything you want to add on to that pile HAS to be at least situationally better than the other options your character has or it doesn't get used. IE, if something isn't better than firing a pistol at -10 its the same as it being worthless.
Starship combat had that problem when options were worse than "more hands on the guns"

The listing for Starfinder Galactic Ancestries is now up on the Paizo store. It says it has "a host of stellar options for familiar ancestries, including Starfinder favorites like reptilian vesk and insectoid shirrens," not sure if that's the complete list of core ancestries getting new options, but I'd be surprised if it's just those two.

I suspect the book you are hoping for is the Compleat Guide to Ysoki Cheekpouch, a 400-page book with a fold-out poster-sized map showing everything you can fit in a cheekpouch. I'm also hoping for the Complete Guide to pizza topping from around the galaxy for shirren, so many options... so many choices... I think the Vesk book would just be the Alien Core, renamed Things You Can Hit With A Doshko, with the end of the book having more types of doshko.

Circling back to what I said earlier about over/underpowered options, I'd like to acknowledge that, yes, stronger and weirder options are part of Starfinder's appeal.

This is the Cantina feel you often hear the developers talking about.

All that said, vesk are still a little more popular than dragonkin at the tables I've seen so far, likely because they're free and come with a lot of fun lore and flavor

Vesk were way more common in SF1e. I've been to a lot of parties with a vesk. It was one of the most commonly played species. I never once was in a game with a Dragonkin. That may have been because dragonkin came later in SF1e.

Something no one has mentioned is that vesk are medium and draginkin are large. Being large has its drawbacks. Large creatures have to squeeze through 5-foot-wide corridors; in a 10-foot-wide corridor, it's easy to block your own party. More opponents can engage you in melee at one time, and more opponents can flank you at one time; you're a big target.

Partner Bond is really hard to use in organized play unless you have a friend who plays your Bonded Partner that you know will be at every game with you. Easier to do in a home game, but it's an option that still takes 2 players to make it work; it's a powerful benefit, but it has a cost that playing a vesk or almost any other species doesn't have. Also, lots of species in Starfinder have limited telepathy that doesn't require bonding.

Vesk have a lot of lore, most of the book Near Space is about their home star system. They are involved in a major war with the Azlanti. Vesk have deep and varied history wiht the Pact Worlds. Dragonkin lore is mostly focused around planet the Triaxus.

Meanwhile, I know players who only play humans because they don't want to give up getting an extra general skill feat.

I think how people play might have a big factor on how they prep.

In play-by-post, I'm used to having to convert all stat blocks into a usable format for dice expressions in the forums, but the pace of play is so slow that it doesn't matter to have it all done before starting the game.

I have no VTT experience.

My first live game GMing SFS was 2 weeks ago. I printed out the scenario, and I made a note card for each encounter or skill challenge (most of the skill challenges listed 6 or 7 options.) I practiced a few times, reading through the scenario. Then, at the last minute decided to use my Chromebook instead, although I brought the printout as a backup. I think I could have run the game fine without most of my note cards using the printout, since I could see 2 full pages at a time, and flipping a page was easy and showed more. Using the Chromebook book I could only see about 2/3 of a page at a time; it was easy to get lost scrolling, so I would have had a really hard time without the note cards.

So, as a new live play GM, I think having to do the prep helped me out a lot. Having the new shorter 2-3 hour-long scenario helped too. I also like having time to add things to a scenario to make it longer if there is time. I would be horrible at trying to time manage a scenario to fit a tight time schedule, which scares me away from GMing more than prep time does.

So if I'm playing from a printout, I'd want the stat blocks in the scenario as they happen. If I'm using my Chromebook, I'd rather have them in the back if they are included, so they are easy to print out, so it's easier to follow the text and have the stat blocks on separate note cards or printouts. So it's hard for me to say which is best.

For one scenario, I have plenty of time to prep one scenario, but 2 of the other Starfinder GMs are too busy with work or college to GM right now, so I'm not trying to prep 4 scenarios at one time, while also playing a live character in PFS2 and 2 other SFS characters online.

Maybe I shouldn't count as a new live GM for this conversation, in the sense that I had already played PF2e, SF1e, and SF2e for 3 years, already use AON, already am familiar with organized play rules, and GM a couple of play-by-post. Even with that experience, moving to GM Live felt like a big step. For someone who doesn't know the OP rules, or has used AON, and or is new to the game. Adding having to find and prep stat blocks is a lot to deal with.

But even if time were not an issue, there are a lot of what-ifs that could happen if stat blocks are not included.

1. Oops, I forgot my note cards
2. I was planning on using AON, oops, there's no wifi
3. I forgot to charge my Chromebooks' batteries; luckily, I brought a printout with stat blocks.
4. This one happened to our VO. He was ready to play a character, and just as we were about to start, 3 new players showed up. So the VO and one other player dropped out of our table to make a 3rd table instead of turning away the new players. Luckily, the VO had a backup scenario with him, much harder to do if it didn't have stat blocks in it.
5. If the stat block in the scenario is just a note saying see page 243 of some book, there is a chance during prep to miss it and not prep it at all.

People continuing to undervalue Lore categories is even more disheartening.

Especially when a lot of the time, using a lore skill reduces the DC of a skill check.

All that's needed to add more science to the game is for the writers or GM to include more skill checks with Life Science Lore, Physical Science Lore, and or the players using them.

At this point, the best we can do is adapt to the changes. My headcanon fix are.

Lore = Profession
Crafting = DIY Crafting
Nature = Natural Sciences

It's a retcon from SF1e using lore over Profession, but I justify the change because the Lore Spire has always been one of the centers of knowledge in Starfinder.

Another reason for out-of-date sounding terms could be the Gap. Perhaps the Gap causes people to go back to using older pre-Gap terms due to all the lost records and memories.

One thing I found interesting is that there is no engineering lore in the Player Core looks like it might have been replaced with Technology Lore.
But it also looks like Paizo doesn't expect you to limit yourself to just the listed lores. In The Great Absalom Relay, there are 4 lore skills listed that you can use for skill challenges that don't appear to be published in SF2e, although one of them is in PF2e.

Since the skill names are already set, I think a better way to add more science back into the game is through background and archetypes.

I totally get that it must have been frustrating to drive that far and then not have a copy of the scenario you expected to get. I'm not blaming anyone. I was just trying to say it's much harder to try to fix something an hour before the game starts. If anything, the Venture Officer should have let the volunteers know what they needed to bring. Everyone's human and makes mistakes; I'm all about how to make it better for next time.

Whatever the solution is, it seems like something that should have been worked out long before ever getting in a car to drive 90 minutes.

Driftbourne wrote:

Kishmo, you could spend a hero point to reroll your diplomacy check.

Oh, that I could! I spent all of my space-hero points on frivolous re-rolls of the Operation: Seaside Park gacha boon, trying to get a jumbo plush squox XD no ragrets

(For real though I wasn't trying to be rude, just asking for any updates about a relevant product, in place where Paizo people were posting. Apologies if I botched the Diplomacy or came off rude, that wasn't my intent.)

No one thought you were being rude. I was just hoping a reroll might have gotten a different answer from Paizo. (I had no expectations that it would have worked, but I'm overly hopeful.)

I appreciate your split reaction to my split reaction ;-)

Driftbourne wrote:

If Paizo had used CSS statblocks in Battle for Nova Rush, my guess is they would have broken it up more, maybe only using CSS for the ending and victory points and hazards for dealing with the inside threats.

That is possible. I think that is the beauty of the system. When someone creates a CSS it can be tuned towards their needs / playing style.

Also while at first it was a little intimidating in giving this system a try for the first time, it turned out to be pretty easy.

It's a mix of complex hazards, vector points, and uses creatures building rules for balance and leveling. Very easy to make every SCC feel different. But it's very much a GM tool and not a pick from a list of options system that SF1e Starships were. So I don't think some people see how powerful it is. I think once more people see it in use in adventures, opinions will change.

I think how complex a CSS can reasonably get will come down to how hard it is to track everything going on in it.

Redelia wrote:

If these adventures are not sanctioned, I'm concerned that it would set off the following chain of events:

-sales are significantly lower for modules for SF2, because many of those buying modules were doing so in order to run them for society credit
-those at Paizo who make business decisions misinterpret this drop in sales; they conclude that there is not interest in modules, and so stop making them

If Paizo had any evidence to believe that GMs who would not otherwise buy the book are buying the book in order to run the adventure specifically for Society credit and that this is a significant factor in adventure book sales, then this decision would not have been made.

Consider that in SFS2, book ownership is required in order to use a character option from the book. Therefore, from the point of view of whether Org Play is helping book sales, it matters not at all whether anyone actually runs or plays the adventure in the book for Society credit. What matters is that people buy the book because the book contains some cool character option they want to use for their actual Society character.

If the only reason to own something for organized play is for character options, then I'll just wait until I need those options and only get the PDF from now on. Murder in Metal City takes up too much space on my bookshelf for just a few character options. Sad to see it go to the used books store. Meanwhile, Dawn of the Frogs is sanctioned.

For the record, I also would support chronicles for longer adventures. I want them too. If nothing else, for parity between PFS and SFS so it isn't so glaringly obvious that SFS participants are less valued. (Although such parity could certainly be achieved in a different way, so there's that.) But the thinking behind providing chronicles would need to be "because Paizo likes their Starfinder Society players and GMs and thinks that giving them sanctioned adventures makes them more engaged customers and therefore helps sales overall" and not "because Paizo believes book sales are visibly increased by GMs buying them to run specifically for Society credit".

The original comment now has 52 likes and over 40 comments, all supporting her idea. How often do people (engaged customers) on the internet all agree on something...

Here's a middle-of-the-night, I can't sleep suggestion. If Paizo does stick to the idea of removing statblocks, here's a compromise.

1. Keep stat blocks in multi-table specials as Hmm suggested.

2. Write the seasons' intros for new GMs, the way that Junkers Delight was written, and include stat blocks. Make it a true repeatable like Acts of Associations, since a local organized play group might have multiple new GMs per season.

3. Include at least 1 first contact scenario each season, with all creatures in it unique to the scenario, so all the stat blocks are included. Makes for another scenario that's good for new GMs, and is a good backup scenario to run on 5 minutes' notice if you need to run another table for new players.

I play in Starfinder Society, so I haven't had a chance to make my own cinematic starship scenes. I did play a character in Battle for Nova Rush. Although it doesn't use the cinematic starship scene stat block from the GM Core, you can tell it was based on the concept. I think cinematic starship scenes are highly underrated. It's a very good role-playing way to deal with ship encounters.

I love that ships can get persistent damage; that's easy to homebrew damage into an ongoing hazard the crew has to deal with.

Or when the ship takes x amount of damage, hazards appear at random stations around the ship, which can damage the PCs.

Best crew action for healers: healing injured crew members.

Allowing a mechanic to mount their turret to the outside of the ship.

Not sure how quantum fields react in space, but it's an interesting place to look for ideas.

Thanks for posting this, great to see people using it. I hope more people post examples.

Cheekpouches still do nothing that having a hoodie pocket doesn't.

I'm amangining that skittemander hoddies have 3 sets of pockets...

Those statblocks, though...that remains a deal-killer, especially since I have yet to see any plausible explanation other than cost-cutting.

A couple of reasons why I think cutting stat blocks from scenarios is bad, and worse than having stat blocks missing from APs.

A higher percentage of APs are likely to be run as home games, where you are more likely to have all your books or someone else nearby, or a computer.

The other big advantage APs have is that there's no time pressure to get it finished in one session, most of the time. So if you have to stop to look something up, and you get behind you just pick up where you left off next week, instead of rushing to finish.

A scenario with stat blocks makes it easy to run on short notice, and by short notice, I mean a GM called out because they were sick, and some steps in with 5 minutes notice to prep and run a scenario. It would likely be one they ran before, but without stat blocks in it, if they didn't bring the right books, they couldn't run it. Or if enough new players show up to start a 2nd or 3rd table, and one of the experienced players from one of the games drops out to GM for the new players, again, much easier to do if the scenario has stat blocks. Those are situations that could stop a game from happening.

Having said all of that, the shorter scenarios, only covering 2 levels, are easier to prep. You don't have to pick between 2 tiers of creature stat blocks for each encounter, and there is normally only 1 or 2 combat encounters. So fewer creatures to prep as well.

I tend to over-prepare and make notecards for all the stat blocks, so it doesn't matter to me where I get the stat block. So for me, the big issue is will not having stat blocks will prevent some games from happening on short notice. Or for GMs who don't have spare time to do extra prep.

Driftbourne wrote:

The shorter run time is not about cutting costs; it's about a lot of game stores not staying open as late as they used to on week nights. There's nothing fun about the GM having to hand handwave all the exploration to have enough time for combat. In Arizona, there is nothing fun about having to finish the game and filling out chronicles in a parking lot when it's 110 degrees outside.

Are you basing that on anything in particular?

There was an organized play survey at the end of last year. Scenario length was one of the questions on it. I don't have time to go through 10 months of blog posts and Paizo live videos, but somewhere it was said that shorter scenarios are something that scored high on the survey. So the idea for shorter scenarios didn't come from Paizo trying to cut costs; it was from customer feedback. Cutting stat blocks, that's a different story; that one is on Paizo, and I think it's a bad idea for scenarios and organized play, much more so than it is for APs.

Because as far as I can see, that argument doesn't really hold water unless all of seasons 1-6 are discard, rendering at least ~80% of existing PFS content unusable, as it won't fit in a 3 hr slot. That just doesn't seem realistic for most groups. YMMV, I guess.

Nothing has been discarded. There's nothing saying you can't run longer scenarios or even run 2 back to back, assuming you are playing somewhere that allows time for it.

BTW, I'm also in AZ. We may even know each other...

I think I met you briefly before I ran the Starfinder Scenario on Saturday.

The newer Tempe SFS2/PFS2 group plays on Saturdays, so scenario length is really not an issue with the store being open from 10am to 10pm, there's even enough time to run 2 back to back. I don't organize the events, so I don't know if we have a scheduled time limit not related to the store closing. But the old Tempe/Mesa group played on Sundays and had to be done by 5pm, some games had to be handwaved and rushed a lot to finish on time.

Not all groups play on weekends, and a lot of stores cut hours after the pandemic. Trying to run a scenario after work and being done by 9pm is hard.

Edit: Wow, that is a really impressive run of good reviews for Starfinder 2e scenarios. I am jelly. :-P

Which is a good indication that the 2-3 hour long scenarios can still be fun. They're also easier to prep, which has been my experience from either side of the table.

Cassi wrote:

Also, dropping the stat blocks may not neccessarily be shrinkflation. Have you considered that Society scenarios generally have an allocated number of pages to a scenario. What if you got more plot, encounters or fun skill challenges in exchange for those statblock pages?

Given that scenarios are now going to run 2-3 hours, rather than 4, I don't see how that could really be the case -- especially since we're talking about PDF products, where page count itself has no marginal cost (and so they could have included those things without cutting the stat blocks).

I'll be glad if I'm wrong, but I doubt it. The entirely trajectory of PFS over the several years has just felt too much like cost-cutting.

The shorter run time is not about cutting costs; it's about a lot of game stores not staying open as late as they used to on week nights. There's nothing fun about the GM having to hand handwave all the exploration to have enough time for combat. In Arizona, there is nothing fun about having to finish the game and filling out chronicles in a parking lot when it's 110 degrees outside.

Paizo has had to deal with the pandemic, tariffs, and now the Diamond bankruptcy. Paizo also unionised, which I think is a good thing, but that had a cost too. All of that adds up in the cost of making the game.

I'm not a fan of the idea of removing stat blocks, but I don't think it's to save space in a PDF. I think (a wild guess) it's more about simplifying the creation and editing process. The chance of making a mistake when referencing a stat block in a Bestary is very low compared to copying it into an adventure or scenario.

Starfinder 2e already made the switch to 2-3 hour-long scenarios, which got a price drop to $5.99. I don't see anywhere that it suggests the price would be any different for the shorter PF2e scenarios coming out next year. Did I miss something?

Just got home from running The Great Absalom Relay. The total runtime was 2:30 with one 5-minute break.

The fake microphone was a big success with the players, especially when I got up and walked around the table doing interviews. I also went around the table with the mic either before or after a task, asking how things went or how they thought the teams would do in the challenge about to happen.

The other thing I did was track how many credits the team made in donations each round. I made a chart with how much they get for each round based on how many points they got, with big bonuses for saving Nib and defeating the Cy-boars. I then had Rick Molburn announce the total. The PCs came in 2nd in the relay, but I had them be the top fundraiser.

I hyped up the VR race at the Click Clack club by using one of my unfinished characters as the neighborhood champion. A space goblin who thinks they are the best pilot in the galaxy, but is all hype and not really a good pilot at all. I did a big introduction hyping up the neighborhood champion, and then both PCs rolled crit success in the first round. So I had the neighborhood champion sabotage his VR rig so he had an excuse why he lost. So the race ended in a crash, which led to some good interviews.

I used the menu I made for Acts of Association, so it was nice to have that tie-in.

I had a blast running this, I'm courious what others have done with it.

I'm really excited by the Order of the Eclipse. They seem to be in complete opposition to Zo!, which means that at some point, Zo! might need the help of the Starfinder Society to deal with the Order of the Eclipse. If not in organized play, maybe in Guilt of the Grave world.

Also, having com units and the infosphere completely changes how Starfinder feels from Pathfinder. But having that kind of access to communication and information all the time can get in the way of telling some types of stories. Having the Order of the Eclipse show up and block communication could be a useful tool.

If you call yourself hellknights, and wear cosplay armor to look the part, and you go around enforcing strict law and order at all costs, if people want it or not, why wouldn't actual Hell decide to influence, manipulate, help, and infiltrate your organization? At some point, that help comes with a contract, then it's too late to go back. I kind of see the average Hellknight like how some Americans are useful idiots for other countries, whether they know it or not. The Hellknight leadership likely knows what's going on and is likely under some kind of Hellish contract.

I just made a fake microphone to bring to the game to interview the PCs if the game is running too fast, or to give the players who are not doing the current task something to do.

It's a silly prop, just a cardboard tube with black duct tape, but trying to read text out loud, holding the fake microphone, helped bring out my inner Rich Molburn. I'm hoping it does the same, handing it to the players when doing interviews or introductions.

After using hell drives for 300+ years, why wouldn't Hell Knights have a closer relationship with hell?

Helldrives run on fuel condensed from damned souls, and some planar scientists speculate that the very act of operating a Helldrive is akin to signing an infernal contract, with the user’s soul pledged to become fuel for the next generation of Helldrives.

Era of the Eclipse also shows an early relationship with devils right after the Gap, especially devil lawyers drawing up contracts.

I had no interest in Hell Knights in SF1e, and no idea what they do in PF2e, but they seem much more interesting after reading Era of the Eclipse and the Galaxy Guide.