Thanks for having us Computerpro! Happy to get back to PbPing. @Farol - Long time no see, happy to be playing with you again! Indeed Paledim's and my character are a pair, I'm excited to see where this is gonna go! @huey - Nice to meet you! Thank you for being our "frontline" :P I'll finish up Keliara's backstory and I'll post an introduction!
Raloveg laughs a bit at his name being butchered for the third time today. "Raloveg, yes. And it's quite alright. I seldom forget the people whom I sermon." he says with a wink. "As for me, well, I wouldn't have passed the opportunity to get closer to the Light for anything in the world. Perhaps they thought it would be good to bring some of His powers to the team."
"Greetings Ralevog... It is my pleasure to make your acquaintance Ralevog... "Raloveg." the Vesk repeats with a smile, not thinking that perhaps his designation might somehow be difficult for some androids. "Raloveg." "What faith do you follow, if I may ask? In my limited experience Brother represents a higher level of importance to some of the religions here. Color me curious" "Fair question. I am a humble servant of The Light. The entity whose essence resides in every star, every nebula, every cosmic phenomenon, and who grants us safe passage through his eternal realm." he waits a few seconds to see if the android recognizes said faith. "May He guide our path today."
"I can't remember ever being so excited. We're going to see whats out there." "I'll say! All my life I've gazed at the stars, wondering what it would really like to be out there. And now The Light is welcoming us into his realm. It really is unbelievable!" The Vesk turns to AX as 6 inquires about the datapad. His eyes take in the sheer size the metal giant for a moment. "Greetings, AX. I also look forward to working with you."
That could make for some interesting character interaction. With C'tikt searching for knowledge within his environment, and other people looking for knowledge by searching the past and the records. I'll see if I can come up with something interesting in that regard.
Helios smiles at Eleazar's request. "Thought you'd never ask. Buckle up!" Helios takes the surface street, but the traffic slows him down. "Argh! C'mon! Get a move people!" Refusing to slow down, he speeds up on the sidewalk, carefully trying to avoid civilians while catching up to the vehicle.
Helios backs up silently into the previous corridor. He looks intently at the wall, then stops besides a crevice running all the way to the ceiling. Leaning in, he covers his mouth with both hands to slightly muffle his voice, then shouts, hoping that the crevice amplifies and echoes his words to make him seem farther away:
Kruvenosh walks up to a squonk and assumes a stiff position, looking at it right in the eyes. "SOLDIER! YOU HAVE BEEN CHOSEN TO ACCOMPANY HAMMER OF HYLAX. PLEASE COLLECT YOUR VALUABLES AND REPORT BACK IMMEDIATELY."
But the military tactics unsurprisingly prove unfruitful.
Made a first draft, inspired by other GM profiles. Might modify it as inspiration strikes!
As the group arrives at the docks, Helios is already walking around the ship, examining the hull and thrusters. The android has donned his armor and holstered a laser rifle ostensibly at his hip. Without turning away from the ship, he begins to speak: "Been hired to make a test run for this baby's precursor a few years ago. Half-decent ship, if you ask me. Propulsion is good, but I do hope weaponry's been updated from the first model line." With a shrug, he boards the ship and immediately mans the pilot chair. Bleh, had I known they'd send me back on this bloody rock I'd have stayed in bed today. To hell with it! T'least I probably won't see any old faces in Maro. During the flight, Helios can mostly be seen running scans on the bridge, tinkering with tech stuff or working down in engineering. He rarely speaks to the crew for the first day, seemingly trying to deal with his anger, but opens up a bit on the second day. Walking in on Twang and Spider discussing, Helios grabs a chair and listens before chiming in: "Yeah. We might not have a choice." the android ponders. "Though I ain't so sure I'd let him go; if he's half the man Arvin painted him to be he might be trouble for the Society in the future. Arvs said not to go on a killing spree, but that doesn't mean we can't make sure he doesn't bother us anymore."
Just before the Venture-Captain opens the door comes in a tall, slender android with a crest of auburn hair falling lazily on his shoulders. Contrary to some androids who try to mimic the features of humans or other species, this one clearly deliberately lets his mechanical nature show: circuitry pulsates with a soft blue glow along his arms and runs down his neck, and mechanical hinges can be made out beneath the pale, translucent skin of his limbs. The android casts a quick circular gaze across the waiting room and waves a curt greeting. "Room #213... Yeah, that's it." Rather than taking one of the chairs, the android leans against the wall, one hand in a pocket of his stained cargo pants, the other toying with a clockwork device floating in the air in front of him. He speaks to the assembled Starfinders, eyeing the group with interest: "Spider, Meia, Oz." he nods by way of greeting. "Nice to meet y'all. I'm Helios-4, by the way." He frowns, looking at the empty table. "Had hoped there'd be refreshments. Oh well." "Liquids and gum usually don't mix so well, old friend", she jokes. "Spare me the lecture, grandma, he spits back with a sly grin. "Good to see you again, furball."
Helios enters the briefing room and greets the Venture-Captain. "Hey cap'n. Long time no see." The android listens closely to the briefing despite his laisser-aller attitude. Suddenly, his jaw drops at the mention of Akiton. "You gotta be kidding me." He turns his back to Arvin briefly and clenches his teeth. After taking a deep breath, he turns back, the circuits on his face now giving off a red glow. "So much for writing in my dossier never to send me back there." The android paces around nervously before adding: "This artifact better be bloody important." Sensing an uncomfortable gaze from the VC, Helios tries to calm himself down and listens to the rest of the briefing in silence.
Helios grimaces when prompted for information. "Bleh, I'll send y'all some info." Upon saying so, he sends a very basic file containing information about the red planet on your comm units. "What exactly is this artifact? Is it magical or somethin'?
Without a lot of firsthand experience, this is of course based to what I've witnessed in games: - I think a good GM has to know when to push forward, and when to hold, particularly in a format like PbP where keeping proper momentum is key. You don't want to push the action bit by bit, because that will slow down the game and players will not be as compelled to participate, but you also don't want to rush forwards when the PCs are interested in roleplaying in a particular situation as that will discourage them from engaging with the world you are creating. In my experience, I've had the most fun with GMs who know both when to keep the game moving at a brisk pace and when to hold back to let the players interact. - Speaking about interaction, I think that being able to create an environment for it to grow naturally is important, be it interaction between the players or between the players and the world. In the recent years, I've had a PF campaign with a friend of mine who was the GM, and I had a blast because the world felt very much alive around our characters. Because this world felt so dynamic, we, as players, wanted to interact with it, to experience the differences between the inhabitants of cities, to meddle in local politics, to roleplay parts of life that would be seen as less "exciting". And in turn, that drew out parts of our characters that made us roleplay with each other a lot more. So for me, a good GM will tell a good story, and a great GM will insert that story in a dynamic world to nurture interaction. Perhaps this is harder to achieve in short scenarios compared to long-running campaigns, but I've had PFS/SFS GMs who really made it seem like the world was still revolving even though the PCs were on an adventure. - I believe a good GM has to admit their faults. No GM will ever know every rule perfectly, nor be able to handle every situation to every player's liking, and that's alright. The best you can do is own it and try to get better.
Thank you very much Redelia for the invitation! Hi everyone! I am Jordan, from Quebec, Canada. Been playing TTRPGs for some time, starting with D&D4 and moving to PF1 and then Starfinder when it came out. I've been hooked from the moment I sat at my first table and became an avid roleplayer; one of my biggest hobbies is LARPing, both as a player and as an NPC. I've joined PbP about a year ago, and it really became my medium of choice for TTRPGs because of the narrative opportunities it provides. I really look forward to learning the ropes so I can give back to the community! Also, good to see you here azj!
I'd really like to get my feet wet and try to GM for PbP; however I've never even GMed any kind of game (bar a few D&D4 sessions when I started tabletops, heh), so I feel like I would need some pointers. I seem to recall reading about a "DM School" over on the PF2 lodge; are there any plans to offer it for SF as well?
Edward welcomes Rilynn with a warm smile. "Yes, I have indeed!" Edward listens to the lashunta making conversation with great attention -- and a hint of admiration at her social skills -- before acquiescing. "Oh yes, I do agree. I once encountered a similar creature, on Triaxus..."
As Naiaj hails a passing server, Ed turns to Rilynn.
Yep I totally agree with the reasoning behind this and I also think RAW there's no requirement for the second target to be within 30ft of the first target.
Hi! I understand there has been much discussion regarding Electric Arc's range. My understanding is that, RAW, the only requirement is for both targets to be within 30 ft. of the caster, and that's what most discussions seems to suggest. But sometimes the rules are debated in-game, and I've had a GM outright rule out the second target within 30ft. due to the flavor text. I hate to drag a game down, so I'm more than happy to let it slide, but it would be nice if there was some official word on the ruling so we could link it when the discussion inevitably comes up. Was there any official word on it that I've missed? Thanks!
"And what is your story, kasatha? Did I hear it well that you were part of scoured stars survivors?" Vyankar walks silently for a moment. "Indeed. Was rescued with Diz." he begins with a nod towards the Shirren. "Long and hard year that was." The Kasatha shakes his head gravely. After a minute, he continues: "Before that, I lived on Kasath. Was proud to be part of descendants of the few families who refused to change tradition and go on the Idari. Thought I was a keeper of wisdom of sorts." Vyankar dusts his clothes, passing a hand on the traditional weapons hung at his waist. "But when one refuse to change... It changes them. Other Kasatha became bitter, uncompromising. Too rooted in senseless tradition." he spits out with bitterness in his eyes. "What good is tradition when planet, children dying? Couldn't be part of that no more, so I left." As the group arrives at Renew-You, the Kasatha finishes his tale: "Have followed tradition all my life, but now want to find balance. Balance between progress and tradition."
Vyankar stays silent and listens to Diz's description of the augment while browsing the store's wares. We should have brought the augment; hard to describe a hand that looks exactly like a normal one. The Kasatha picks up two similar augmentations, frowning at them and trying to tell them apart. Ah, I don't know the first thing about augmentations anyway. Putting the augmentations back on the shelf, Vyankar speaks to Hellih with genuine curiosity in his eyes: "Most androids I know are... How to say... More machine." Realizing what he is saying, he lifts his hands defensively. "No offense meant. Is just, you know: cigarette, joking, behaviour unlike most androids I met. I just curious: is you programming different? Or learned behaviour?" Vyankar asks with difficulty, between his lacking common and his reluctance to ask such a personal question.
Havong finished his conversation with Zoni, Quonx goes up to Dakoyo and puts a hand on his back. "Let me help you, Dak! Tell me what to do, gree?" The mechanic, having overheard part of the prior conversation, adds: "Something you ate, you say? What do you guys eat on this planet? Is it good? Is the food abundant? Would you, by chance, have a supply of vercite potato chips?" Quonx pauses and turns to Dakoyo. "Oh! Right, the examination. Carry on!"
Quonx turns to Zoni. "I'll go talk to her. I like blue."
Quonx walks up to the scientist and looks through the large window overlooking part of the city. She admires the Drift cyclone swirling in the sky, then tugs on Zoni's sleeve. The osharu is visbly irritated, but the mechanic starts rambling anyway. "That cyclone is pretty drift! Pun intended!" Quonx grins at the scientist, waiting for a laughter that never comes. She clears her throat. "Interesting. I meant interesting, of course. Have you read the works of Dr. Willford? He's a vercite scientist that wrote an entire encyclopedia on cataclysms found throughout the Pact Worlds! I bet you could find something in there! Let me see... If I recall correctly, he has a whole chapter on atmospheric depression, and he managed to link the Coriolis effect with strange occurences throughout a few planets." Her face suddenly lights up. "Which makes me think!" She rummages through her pockets and whips out her datapad containing Dr. Zambressa Von Vultoor's work. She holds it in the air for the osharu to pick up. When she does, she starts speaking again. "Open up to page 486! Some of Von Vultoor's studies suggest that there might be a correlation between zones where the squall lines of a cyclone are and quantum effects, namely entanglement and wormholes to the Drift opening due to the very high level of electrical perturbations. Now, I'm no expert on cyclones, but I think this might be a good lead!" The blue furred skittermander scratches her head. "I have a few other papers I could send you, but they're aboard our ship, so we'll need to get there before I could send them..."
"Ow ow ow, that's my arm! Oh, sorry Nako!" Quonx manages to get up and tumbles to the vehicle's console. "C'mon... There's gotta be descent thrusters on that vehicle, gree?" Quonx works the console, trying to activate thrusters or some kind of piloting system.
Quonx, unphased by the shot that just hit her, shoulders her rifle once again. "That's it! I'm not bringing you aboard the shuttle!" She activates her targeting system and takes another shot.
Quonx grabs the rifle with an upper arm and hurries back to the console, still reading Dr Von Vultoo's manual. Suddenly she gasps and exclaims: "I get it now! It seems both our ships have... fused !? The bridge of the Nova Warlock is just below ours, next to the cargo bay! We have to get there fast!"
Quonx takes a peek at a console and exclaims in surprise: "We're no longer in the Drift! We're above a planet! And crashing!!" She frantically runs her arms over the console, running diagnostics. "And our ship seems... Double its normal size? What is going on!?" Quonx whips out a worn out manual from her overalls, titled "Observations on quantum anomalies" by Dr. Zambressa Von Vultoo, and begins to rapidly read various passages out loud in hopes of finding something helpful.
Quonx turns to Dakoyo for a moment and plays with her hands nervously.
"Our sensors show people on board! They're going into our cargo hold!" She goes to the rest of the crew, scratching her fur. "The cargo bay! We salvaged a zero-g vehicle recently, remember! We could use it as an escape pod before we crash! We just have to get there before them!" The blue-furred skittermander runs to a nearby locker and grabs her Azimuth rifle.
Quonx scratches her fur, picks out a copper wire that is sticking out and fidgets nervously while looking at a console. "Gree, if I recall correctly the readings look very similar to those of the... Uhh... What was it? Nova Wizard? Nova Enchanter?" She listens to Gazigaz and Dakoyo for a moment before adding: "Maybe they just need help? We have some spare parts that we could offer. Maybe even a few snacks! But not the vercite potato chips, I wanted to eat those during my lunch break." Upon hearing Dakoyo speak of weapons and shields, she snaps out of her reverie about snacks and runs to the engineering panel. "Yes, let me divert some of the auxiliary power to start them up!"
Upon seeing Surge fall in front of the Jinsul, Helios exclaims furiously: "Son of a b+&+%! Game's over for you, punk!" The android runs his right hand along his left arm to lift his sleeve, revealing a blue-green tattoo shaped like an eight-pointed star, branches mixing with the circuits glowing beneath the skin. The tattoo begins to glow brighter, and Helios once again puts his hand on Ardoc's weapon. Under the incredible strain of Helios' repeated spell, black smoke begins to rise from the rifle. "C'mon, this is my last one! Get a clear shot!"
Helios approaches the scholars with his hands shoved in his pockets, and for once he doesn't seem too at ease. He listens to his teammates speak for a while.
He thinks for an instant, then begins hesitantly. "Yeah, as Vecro is saying, Golarion's gone. Don't tell me you haven't read Hawthorne's treaty on gravitational waves anomalies surrounding Golarion's former orbit?" Thinking of another example, he insists. "And Dr O'Connor made a speech at the last Pact Worlds Science Congress. Sayin' how certain weird phenomenon could be explained by quantum entanglement with qwarks still located on Golarion. C'mon, you have to remember this, it was just before the first expedition to the Scoured Stars left!"
Helios walks over to the bikers, blowing a bubble of gum. He smiles at the enercycle like a kid in front of a christmas toy. After greeting the bikers he bends over to examine the bike. "May I?" He says, pointing at a wrench on a nearby table. Without waiting for a reply, he snatches it up and begins toying around in the electronics.
"That's a pretty darn cool cycle." He begins. "But see here." He takes off a screw with a twist of the wrist, and part of the engine comes off... With a handful of wooden clockwork gears! "Haven't seen any clockwork vehicle running lately, 'cept in old history books. And look there." He points at the place where the engine's battery is normally hooked up - except it isn't. In fact, it doesn't even have a socket. "You ain't gonna go far on an enercycle without a battery port, I tell ya."
A tall man with a calm demeanor arrives into the room. His long, well-cared brown hair is gathered loosely in a ponytail that slowly sways as he walks. As soon as he catches a glimpse of the Ysoki, a bright, warm smile illuminates his features, and he extends a hand in a swish of soft-colored garments. "Hello! I am Zahvos Corvus, nice to meet you! To whom do I owe the pleasure?" He then sits in one of the chairs of the meeting room, appreciating his surroundings with the eye of a connoisseur. A small wooden totem is hung on his belt, next to a small datapad. "Can't say I'm not happy to get a break from work." He says with a grin. "Well, normal work, anyway."
Sitting near the bridge's giant window is Quonx, the Clutch's mechanic, currently engrossed in the examination of a small electronic device resembling a wrench with wires and screws sticking out. Her shaggy electric blue fur is littered with various bits and bolts, and she scratches a tangle of cables on her forehead as she tucks the contraption away in her stained brown overalls. Quonx walks beside Nako and pats her on the back. "The boss needs us to hold the ship! Who will protect the ship otherwise, gree?" The mechanic then hears the others talking about telling stories and barges in. "Oh! Oh! Me! Pick me!"
"Oh, yes, my story!" She clears her throat in a high-pitched squeak and begins, six arms gesturing rapidly. "I grew up on Absalom Station and worked as a freelance mechanic. And then I get called to do this job on the Clutch." She waves a wrench in the air as she speaks. "Previous mechanic really could have used some help. He probably used the wrong approximation of the Pauli length constant, so the photon-ion ratio was a bit off in the main reactor." She goes back to shuffling around pensively, all the while gesturing even more than before. "But that doesn't make any sense! So I just took to fixing the compression chamber using a modified Alpha-X barrel taken from..." The skittermander goes on rambling for a few minutes, seemingly without breathing. When interrupted by her comrades, she huffs and puffs. "Oh, yes! Where was I... Oh, right! So yeah, I made those repairs, and the Boss was so happy he wanted us to be Nufriends! So I ended up on this ship!"
Will make my first post soon! As far as avatars go, I'm using this really sweet browser plugin that allows you to change avatars client-side, both for yourself and for other players. So I went ahead and made these avatars with the portraits of the pregens, if you guys want to use those. To change a portrait, simply hover the avatar you want to change and click the picture frame icon in the bottom-right corner, and select the avatar! Hope this helps! Here's how it looks on my end, for instance! Love the soundtrack idea by the way, I'm currently writing my introductory post listening to it!
Hey! Thanks a lot for running this for us, can't wait to get started! Player Name/Alias: CaptainBacon
About the choice of pregens before we start, I was thinking of playing Quonx, did anybody also want her?
Seeing everyone rush to their positions, Zahvos looks around, confused. "Oh boy, here we go. And what am I supposed to do? Umm... Can I serve refreshments?" He realizes no one has taken the helm.
He takes a look at Spider praying and sees the enemy ship on the radar. "Spider, be wary of their movement!"
But Zahvos' fear is apparent, and his voice is so thin that the Kasatha doesn't hear him.
Upon hearing the Android's words of encouragement, Zahvos wipes his brow. "Truth be told, I've never left Absalom Station. I've met all sorts of people working on the docks, sure, and I've dreamed of leaving this place." He sighs, and adds after a moment: "But I'm afraid of boarding a ship. Who knows what might happen when we leave for the Drift?"
CaptainBacon here, I think I'm gonna stick with an Envoy, so feel free to play a Mechanic! For the record, this is the character in question. Currently playing Into The Unknown, though it's set to end before Gameday (if not I'll just roll up something else)
Zahvos smiles at the venture-captain.
Zahvos looks relaxed as he peers through the windows of the shuttle.
Zahvos glances around at the alley, his signature grin hesitant. He wipes his brow before walking through the door. Once in the shop, he lets out an impressed breath and begins to looks around, walking to the shelves and examining objects, lifting some of them for closer inspection. He listens with a distracted ear as the Vesk speaks. Zahvos then puts the object he was inspecting down and turns to Julzakama to hear his response to Spider. |
