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The scenario has an interesting premise and I was really excited to play this. There is a community of kasathan farmers and a hippie kasathan art commune. That sounds like a cool societal juxtoposition to explore under the pretense of an investigation: how does a highly conservative society forged by a millenia of necessary conservatism in a wagon train through the stars react to individuals stretching the bounds of freedom?

But that concept gets completely bypassed. And Its not something weird our group did, it's by far the most logical action and we were TRYING to stay on the path.

Wow! This book fixes a lot of the problems that have been floating around starfinder.

-The envoy is now a level 1-20 class, Doesn't have to wait till level 6-8 to envoy and participate in combat, and opened up a huge variety of action economy instead of being bottlenecked into move get em attack every rounds.

-The witchwarper can now warp witches and still have spells to cast.

-Uses for resolve points. Buy stock in the extra resolve feat future futures.

-A bunch of cool feats

- New ..well everything.

Not everything is sunshine and rainbows then. I still more than a few options that either just don't work, or work almost mathematically worse than other similar option. But its not nearly enough to detract from all the amazing options here.

With any kind of published adventure, especially one in a new system starting at level 1 the most important question is "can I pick this up and run it?" If the answer to that question is no, it's like a car missing a part. It doesn't matter what the engine torque is if there are no wheels. It doesn't matter how engaging the plot or setting are if you can't run this as a game.

The escaped critters encounter is an absolute meat grinder. Paizo's products tend to over estimate low level (especially brand new first levels) but this is n.v.t.s. nuts. Several monsters in a row can walk up to PCs, hit them twice and drop them without even critting. One of the hits is LIKELY to be a crit that will drop them.

The situation is set up so that you probably shouldn't be taking short rests to heal up, much less take the long rests you're going to need to recover from each encounter. There are clever system agnostic adventurer shenanigans you can do to avoid engaging with the system, but as far as "lets try out pf2" goes you get the impression that the adventure and system want to turn you into a fine red mist.

The evolutionist has the same problem as the shifter. It was billed as beast boy, it came as wolverine. The class was advertised (and named) as a dynamic and versatile character that could adapt to any threat or obstacle, but is in practice very static

This was playtested. People asked for out of combat utility. I am a shapeshifter. I come to a cliff. In combat I can make spider legs and climb up it. Out of combat I have the same ability as any other starfinder character. The mechanics make it fall woefully short of the thematics.

Shapeshifting is very powerful but its power is in its versatility. In combat The CLASS has options to be somewhat versatile in combat but the CHARACTER does not have enough options to do that.

Besides the evolutionist, there are a few character options that simply do not function in practice. The operative option to throw things with a higher strength but use your dex bonus is...not a thing? A REALLY niche thing? Read the room (envoy expertise talent) adds your expertise die (which is an insight bonus) only works if you miss by 2 AND you don't have an expertise die in diplomacy (because that die is also an expertise bonus) The collaborate rogue talent only works with your specialized skills... but how often are you NOT the one making the roll in an operatives own area of expertise? All the options to tumble through someone don't work well on an operative because you can't tumble through with a trick attack.

This feels like a much lower level scenario. You go to a place. someone explains things, there's only 2 fights. Neither the fight or the plot have a whole lot going on or anything for the characters to interact with.

I know I know, voting something down just because it has starship combat? Nope. I can usually ignore starship combat and look at the whole scenario.

Usually.

The investigation was well done. It got accross the empty creepiness of what transpired, but had more than a few more checks than it needed. The fights were good but without any amazing mechanics, the NPCs were interesting and as 3 dimensional as its possible for them to be with their screentime. It's not starship combat it's THAT starship combat...

This is a LOT of starship combat for the DM to run. In the past when we've had multi ship fighting the shields and critical thresholds were simplified to cut down on the bandwidth. No such concession was made here. It's just a regular ship but there's three of them. You have to keep track of three ships, 3 hit points totals, 12 shield values spinning in space, x number of penalties from hitting critical thresholds, which ships have which systems at what levels of borked and a few other fight specific things...all while making 12 skill checks and 9? attacks per round. Running a ship is a job for an entire team of starfinders. The DM has to run 3 of them. It's the worst parts of starship combat for the DM cubed. It's enough to suck two stars out of the adventure.

The lethality of the scenario has been addressed by some eratta. So this now makes for a rather enjoyable introduction.

The amount of lawful good rules fu it takes to not technically TPK your entire party by society rules for this scenario would be questionable for a bone keep style scenario gated behind 4 stars. For a starter player (and thus starter DM) scenario that's a recipe for disaster.

Two quests contain conditions that a party of these levels cannot handle themselves under the best conditions: Even if your party has a mystic the tools to do so are much higher level than any character playing them could be. (One requires a 7th level mystic another requires a level 10. One of those items can easily be read as not allowing a save at all. It will get your character marked as dead if they don't get rid of it.

most of the worst problems have been addressed Here

Absolutely amazing. The options for players alone make this worth buying. Ever want to duct tape another species body parts onto yours? You can do that. Want to curl up in a ball and charge people? Got the gear for that. Need to squeeze your ginormous dragon into teeny tiny rooms designed by space rats? We got something for you. Try to take experimental nanites that might help you in combat, or might turn you psychedelic color.. Oh drat I already tried those. Pink is NOT my color...

The starship combat is... as good as starship combat can be. There's terrain and positioning, and the thing thats normally a pain to do is made rather easy to do by avoiding a subsystem

The skill challenges are great for getting large numbers of people involved instead of everyone hiding behind the face or someones +26 engineering being nothing more than a masterwork tool because someone else has a +27. It doesn't take up TOO much time if you keep the party moving and running because.. well it IS a raid after all.

The scaling however is NOT good for small parties.

The you know what is an absolute must in a Rat based dungeon. The Big Bad is a LOT of fun to play, has some really good flavor and abilities that match.

What really makes this fun is all the little bits and parts for your party to interact with and make their own. Along with the deepest and darkest of secrets....

I absolutely love the idea of "grandmas" grandkids running people through a playground of death to see if they're worthy. The juxtaposition of the two is truly frightening: it's like hearing a childrens nursery rhyme in a horror movie, you know its going to get bad...

You really see and interact with the flavor of grandma rat and her family here through the mechanics in a way that few adventures manage to capture. All too often the flavor fades to the background or winds up as a footnote on the DMs screen...nope. The characters are going to be fully immersed one way or another.

Everyone runs
for 7 rounds
The dm goes 7 times

and that's if they're longarms users. God help the pistol or melee characters that have another 4 rounds of climbing.

I get trying to make sniping a thing, but 3 or four rounds would have gotten the point across. There was no need to have the range set so far that snipers are taking multiple ranged penalties.

This scenario takes your usual dungeon delve and turns it into a friday the 13th esque slasher flick with the party in the role of the campers.

Which absolutely works amazingly well, IF you can get the hint across that "Jason" isn't just another monster, and I think that's where the scenario needed a nudge. The dm can (and should) make up for that, but as written the monster popping in doesn't quite do enough to say "RUN BEFORE MY TERRIBLE MIGHT PEONS" as it really should. There are a LOT of ways to shrug off some attacks from PCs: be a swarm, be immune to {whatever damage they tried doing here), have an absurdly high AC.

There should be a door the PCS have trouble opening and he shreds it like paper, or an NPC badass that gets turned to chunky salsa, or describe one of the gas canisters as ridiculously thick tungsten steel and the first thing the monster does when they show is crush it into a ball like a tin can. As written the first thing it's going to do to show that you should all be running now is bisect a PC.

Starts off a little dark and serious but quickly becomes a very fun investigation and even more fun fights. I love how the scenario takes the events of the previous scenarios and deals with the fallout in far more depth than "and then they live happily ever after..."

The NPCs have fairly detailed and believable backgrounds, not just that guy you shoot.

If you're running this, be prepared for the party to run certain points of the scenario in either order.

I really liked how this chapter made it seem like you were making a difference in the town, both in forming the political alliances and fixing the town. Short term adventurers tend to show up wreck things and then let people go on with their lives. Here you see what a bunch of semi trained adventurers can do when properly motivated to stick around.

Having a plot macguffin teleport the party out while the cool stuff happens is beyond railroading and into Deus Ex. There were options for PCs to feel like part of the fight without taking out the part of the fight that would incinerate them without resorting to this.

This is definitely a different kind of adventure which is fine every once in a while. There's a lot of interesting NPCs to interact with and whether you want to talk it out or slaughter them it's up to you.

...I'm pretty sure there's a self shaking stick in here somewhere.

Lots of weapons. Okay I was expecting that.

As mentioned the armor was the one thing that was lacking a bit. Most everything seems to be a little bit of a tweak off of whats already around. (I was hoping for a Low AC armor with lots of slots)

But great googley moogley the customization options. Scopes, enchantments, manufacturers, sights, rails, bipods tripods armor mods... there's even office gods. (yes. really) Three different ways to customize a weapon, magic items that can go in armor slots.. my characters have saved up their entire wealth for this moment and I think I'm still short of cash just for the odds and ends.

The weapons aren't just good a lot of them are fun. You can gain proficiency in a weapon through profession skills (Hint: do not mess with miners they are proficient with some very nasty weapons)

And my favorite tools and miscellaneous odds and ends. Chemical analyzers, cameras, the starfinder backpack (accept no cheap knockoffs)

All lots of crunch with just enough flavor spread throughout to give even your gear a little bit of soul. Well done (like a vesk steak)

I know this is free and it doesn't really need reviews but I still wanted to tip my had to the author(s) for the degree of mechanics theme and story integration I'm seeing here on the campaign traits.

What's crazier than the adventures starfinders get up to? Doing it for a live studio audience and increasing the production value and character drama. Watch our intrepid explorers contend with monsters, mystery, and... make up? Be sure to put on a show, because you don't want to get voted off the asteroid...

This was a fun one. I actually enjoyed an adventure with pregens and thats not easy. The prison set up added a lot of atmosphere to the adventure and the world, and I was really invested in the mystery of whats in the redacted and the redacted in the redacted. And I almost died laughing at the most annoying radio broadcast ever.

One minor nitpick, Yasoki shouldn't sweat. Sweating is a human thing and really doesn't work too well with giant coat of fur. Rats use their tail for that.

Ancient tombs, archeological excavation, massive battles. This scenario has it all.

Bring your A game. This is up there with the waking rune. As it should be. Its the culmanation of 10 years of scarab sages story line, its going to be epic.

Actually knowing the history of the place mattered. The background events (both for the location/baddie and the NPCs) were integrated into the mechanics of the scenario and not just background that the DM reads before running it. I cannot tell you how happy I am that this is the case.

There are large bears. That is all.

5 different ways of blocking a party's line of sight, or moving to the fight, brings combats to an excruciatingly slow halt.

Denying a party treasure for succeeding at an encounter is contrary to the game design.

I'm kind of iffy on buying fluff. I really don't like material I've seen before. This book is fluff that we've seen before.

The fluff isn't even that good. It's kind of bland, generic, stuff that's repeated elsewhere. There's no depth to it.

When it comes to the crunch it's teamwork feats, teamwork feats, teamwork feats... Almost NINETY PERCENT of the feats are teamwork feats. Teamwork feats start as problematic because you need someone else to take them, they get worse because they've been balanced for class features that are going to take them for free.
They're even WORSE for a race book, because you need a veritable celestial alignment of someone else with the feat AND the right positioning AND with the same build AND the same race as you.

With all the untapped potential for race related feats THATS what gets added in as crunch? You couldn't even think of one non teamwork feat per race?