Dracomicron wrote: It seems like a bizarre thing to be pushing. Why spend your valuable life speculating on the failure of something on the fan forums of that thing? I spent a weekend rationalizing the economy of the Starfinder universe once. Time has not been an issue during COVID, let alone the 2 minutes to crank out a reply. Quote: Heck, there are still forums out there for 1st edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, which stopped being released in the early 1980s If it ain't THAC0, it ain't D&D. 2E all the way.
It's obvious Starfinder has been Paizo's red-headed stepchild for some time. You don't get rid of a co-creator right after a successful initial release of a game if you expected it to succeed. It has always seemed like SF was just intended to test a few new mechanics and sustain a little interest until 2E came out. It has always seemed like Paizo - especially one or two higher-ups - were not only surprised by its initial success, but didn't believe it was sustainable. Third party support via Roll20, FG, HeroLab, etc. has been lagging for some time, which seemed like a canary in the coal mine. Is that because of a lack of player interest or a lack of Paizo support? Dunno. Maybe both. Were APs dropped to bimonthly because of a lack of purchasing or a lack of faith? Did COVID play into this, causing support to go to the less risky 2E? Dunno. I'd like for SF to be more central to Paizo's future, but it seems to me from the outside it's intended to be on the level of the PF card game, followed by eventual de facto cancelation. I'd love to be wrong.
Xenocrat wrote:
That's one plausible interpretation with the wording of LFAN Symbiosis (and a very basic knowledge of physics and biology). LFAN itself, however, doesn't make that requirement. Either way, though, it's a pretty loose home campaign... and another reason why we'll never see raxalite in SFS.
Uetur wrote:
Stack Multi-Weapon Versatility with Multi-Weapon Fighting and Finesse Striker. Later add Twinned Threat. Can get sort of nasty. Currently abusing this with a raxalite samurai in a home campaign. Fun to have the 16" tall plant be the tank of the party.
Chronicle question: Spoilers!: The chronicle says, "You can use this boon only if your character has a Reputation Tier of 3 with one or more factions and at least one of your other characters has the “Drat That Rat!” boon from The Stumbling Society Part 1, representing your completion of this two‑part series of adventures."
Does this mean the two parts must be completed by different characters in order to get the kiirinta character? Or if the same character gets both chronicles, does it satisfy this condition?
Ehu - Possibly the most boring character ("I'd like one stereotypical kasatha to go, please"), but with by far the most interesting direction. He got my vote. Tara - Probably a better fit as First Seeker this season (or even last). Wound up my second choice mostly by default. Avor - His candidacy was doomed the second he was introduced with basically, "Oh, by the way, if he's elected, the Dataphiles and Wayfinders go to the back of the bus." Seriously, Paizo? He seems like he'd be the one of the group who'd be the best leader in a story, but an NPC leading from the front in an RPG (a) isn't easy to do well and (b) usually will result in an unsatisfactory experience. Calder - He's a hippie walrus. That's literally his entire platform. And it's probably enough to win, but I'm not hopping on that train. Last place for me, and its not especially close. Like real life, I've probably given this vote more thought that either is healthy or than most people. Also like real life, I expect the actual results to be the exact opposite of my order of preference.
Mike Bramnik wrote:
Wait... now I've got to go and poll *all* my characters? Iomedae's warts, do you people know what maniacs those people all are? Going to be one heck of a migraine...
Will take me a while to work my way through this, but here goes. Cellion wrote:
Pure speculation, but my guess is that either (a) he was given this task by a god to complete in order to be worthy of ascension or (b) he was going to use it as a staging point for an assault on Absalom Station. Two of the more common paths to godhood in Starfinder are being raised by another god and working your way up, or passing the Test of the Starstone (which is now in the Station). Quote:
See above. Having it play into a future assault on Absalom Station strikes me as a good hook Quote:
Because it's darn expensive to have an entire ship that can survive that as opposed to plane shifting and magicking up a handful or adventurers? And those few early expeditions likely found little of profit on the other side to justify the higher expense. Quote:
... I got nothing on this one. Quote:
Have we ever seen a starship undertaking interplanar travel before this?
Some early thoughts as I prep the adventure: The opening is the weakest part, by far. The PCs just happen to be there, they happen to get drafted into combat by someone they don't know, and then they're hired by someone else they don't know to take them somewhere else. This is beyond railroading. Modifying this so that the PCs "acquire" a piece of technology that a researcher on Far Portal Station is paying for. May start it in the middle of a 3 way shootout as they're recovering it, maybe in a small Diaspora facility that's on the verge of destruction because the other parties (Brass Dragons, etc. to foreshadow) have some serious firepower. The PCs will be trying to race back to their ship and get away. This takes them to Far Portal to get paid. Can meet the station master. I'll probably seed a doomsday prophet character here, to foreshadow some events and especially the psychic characters being strongly affected by the sun. I'm thinking Starfinder, Lashunta, sent to Far Portal by a Liavaran Dreamer, something about the proximity to the portal particularly afflicting them. The buyer is Laeress. The McGuffin starts getting readings during the transaction and then the ship and whale burst through. Continue similarly from there. I'm reworking the Laeress/Nib relationship to be student/mentor. Laeress was disavowed by the DCI for her theories too crackpot even for the DCI. Adds some reason for the PCs to mistrust Laeress when they find out. I'm not really into role-playing both sides of a domestic dispute while the PCs look at their phones, waiting for it to be over. Nikkost and Lux will be a less violent encounter, more comedic. I'd like to bring back Nikkost as more of a Harry Mudd character in later chapters as they progress. We'll see. I really like the unrest episodes. May expand a bit here. The happy Nazi skittermander should be a lot of fun. The Sunrise Collective dungeon crawl looks pretty solid on its own. Not sure a party of four L2s is going to make it through without some balancing, though. Seems weird that we hear so much about General Kam but never meet him in this adventure. If he's not in the early part of book 2, may have to work him into the book somehow. The post-climax part, certainly. Definitely plan to give lots of atmosphere on both locations in the book. The sun is one of the coolest places in the Pact Worlds. Thoughts? |