After a few minutes of preparation, you set the Vagabond down next to the Sekhmet. You gear up, feeling your suits pressurize against the oncoming vacuum, and step towards the gold and red hull of the ship. Since you're all walking on a relatively substantial mass of matter, it still has a slight gravitational pull, so you don't run the risk of floating away. That being said, you quickly notice how light you each feel, and if any of you experiment, you'll find that you're capable of jumping about twice as high or far as normal. (this is assuming you want to use the entrance closest to the bridge)
You come to the starboard bulkhead leading into the ship. It's currently closed, and though the ships primary systems are offline, there is a blinking red light on the panel showing backup power is on to allow the crew to escape if needed.
A quick glance at the layout of the ship and you're able to see a few different potential entrances. There's a split cargo bay, and entrances on either side of the main body of the ship.
Just let me know the "plan of attack" and we'll get started. I'll be putting a map in our R20 table for us to use during exploration
All four of you are excellent so far. I think I'll hold off on introducing a new crew member for the moment, liking the current party dynamics :)
A quick scan of the ship reveals that while there isn't any overt damage to the ships systems, it has been completely powered down. There's no distress signal, no anything. It is dead silent, latched to the side of the shattered moon.
To answer Nakotre, there's no way the Drift should have been able to slice reality in a big enough swath to capture a whole moon. This is new to you :)
The Vagabond follows the trail that sweeps along the perimeter of the broken moon. Your scanners show the broken planetoid is rich in multiple types of minerals: Silver, traces of Horacalcum, and...Siccatite? Not only is the moon veined through with the stuff, but you're also getting a significant reading of that metal on the moon's surface. As your ship crests the horizon, you see the elongated red frame of the Sekhmet. It apparently decided to land on the moon for a closer look.
Sorry for posting delays, I've been on the road all weekend.
The Vagabond drifts forward. In an expert series of maneuvers, Steel weaves among the asteroids, following the Sekhmet's trail blinking idly on the ships displays. At one point, an asteroid begins to drift dangerously close to the ships blind spot, but a quick callout allows Steel to course correct and get out of the way.
This continues for close to half an hour before the ship finally breaks out into open space. The trail leads ahead into a half-disintegrated moon, the source of all the rubble. From this distance, you don't see any sign of the vessel, but a closer look might yield better results.
Love the use of Precognition here. Let's get a piloting check please, with a +2 circumstance bonus due to Asla's guidance.
I love the crew so far. I think this is going to be fun :D
In a few moments, Nakotre is able to cross reference the free floating particles and radiation in the nearby vicinity with what the Sekhmet would have likely left in its wake. Within a few moments, you all have a heading; one that leads directly towards what looks to be a maze of floating debris and rubble. Most of it is small enough to not threaten your ship beyond scratching the already sparse paint of the hull. However, inside this veil of smaller pieces, the ship detects larger asteroids floating through the drift, like sharp stones below the waves. It's a fairly large cluster, so it would take some time to fly around it if you choose the safe route.
Given your path has been laid out before you by the priestess' device, no special effort need be made by Steel in order to pilot you all through the portal. The ship lurches forward, passing through, and the portal closes behind you immediately. Before you lies the near infinite, constantly expanding plane known as the Drift. Several large chunks of debris float harmlessly off the starboard side of the ship. A complicated web of multicolored nebula takes up the majority of the open space, though in the distance you can see other floating pieces of rock. The Vagabond's sensors pick up an unimaginably diverse array of chemical, electrical and spatial readings.
Let's have someone roll our first check to see if they can use active sensors to pick up a trail.
Ornea nods politely at you. "Very well. Triune's grace be with you, Vagabond. I hope you find what you're looking for."
A few moments later, you see space itself tear directly in front of the ship. You've witnessed this briefly in the past during Drift jumps, but this is the first time you are all getting to see the phenomenon at length. The portal waits to accept you.
"For a manifest of what goods were specifically in transit on the Sekhmet, you would have to refer either to your companies own files or those of Triaxus. The timeframe we're showing on the beacon for point of arrival was seven days ago, approximate departure was 6 days ago, just outside the span of time for standard travel back to Absalom. Distance and time are dilated, but the actual passage of time for Sekhmet's crew will still have been 6 days. I don't mean to sound pessimistic but, the chances of them being alive and well are slim. There's been no word of their arrival in Alluvion, and unless they crashed on Bullwark there aren't many friendly places in there."
The priestess scoffs slightly. "We were hired by Allied Alloys to help you track down your wayward ship. Honestly given the credits they offered, I'm surprised my superiors said yes. So sorry but, once we get you started, you're on your own. If you have reservations, now's the time to back up and consider a career change." She doesn't seem hostile, mainly annoyed. There's an edge of sympathy to her expression at the last bit as well.
"It takes a great deal of power to keep the portal open. You'll have to utilize your own Drift engine and set course back to Absalom or a nearby Drift beacon once your business is concluded. Given the device is essentially following the randomized route of another ship and not a divine coordinate, reopening the portal for you after would likewise probably be inaccurate. If the Sekhmet is still intact, I suggest piloting it back in much the same way. If not...salvage what you can using your own vessel."
Ornea frowns. "Unfortunately, we are only able to get an approximation of the ships location within the Drift, and getting the vessel's status would be impossible without physically going there to look. This is new technology gifted to us by Triune's great inspiration, not a set of schematics as the case was with Drift engines themselves. We are still...working out the kinks. That being said, I suggest you attempt to locate a trail to follow using your sensors once you've entered the gateway we open. Are you prepared?"
Several days have passed since your fledgeling crew left Absalom station and headed towards Triaxus. During that time you’ve all familiarized yourselves with the company ship, the Vagabond. The leather in the pilots seats is worn and cracked, some of the doors stick a bit…but overall, you’ve come to appreciate how sturdy the ship seems to be. As for getting familiar with each other as a crew, you’re all still in the process. While some of you work for Allied Alloys, you all come from different walks of life, meaning this crew is your first time really crossing paths with one another. Still, you know you need to rely on one another if you’re going to track down the Sekhmet. The company, and by extension your livelihoods, is counting on it.
All of you with stomachs feel them churn slightly as the ship slips back out of the Drift, Triaxus’s blue surface now taking up most of the view out of the cockpit. Nearby, one of the Drift Beacons hangs steadily in space, currently being attended by several small maintenance ships. One of those ships breaks away from the group and flies over to rendezvous with you. The sound of their hail echoes from the speakers throughout the ship, and the face of a heavily augmented human appears on your viewing screen.
“Crew of the Vagabond, this is Ornea Xarrod of the Triune Priesthood.” You see her eyes, one organic and one obviously cybernetic, flit quickly to observe the state of your ship. “You made good time, despite whatever it was that attacked you.” (Nothing attacked you, that’s just how your ship looks).
Looks good to me as well :) And I agree, let's get this started up! Give me a bit to write the initial post and then we can get started.
BlackDow's Character was Misercordia, a Biohacker. So you still have one. Full party comp is Mystic, Tech, Mech, Soldier now.
Hey team, so we've just had BlackDow bow out of the game, and I haven't heard from Kallasker either. That brings us down to 4 of our original 6 we were going to get started with. The good news is the last 4 of you have been posting actively, so if we'd like to start with this crew (after making a few adjustments to ship stats etc.) That's fine with me. We can add more later if needed/wanted.
Lucia provided her stats for the ship last week, so I think stats wise we are all set. We can hold off a bit longer for backstory if you'd like to private message anything else to me, but other than that I think we are about ready. Let's do a final confirmation. If you're ready to play, just reply to this and we'll "take attendance".
That's entirely up to you Asla, if you're the type to come up with it as you go that's totally fine.
So to recap, I see Lucia's character sheet in Roll20, I've received Asla's and STLE's through IM. Nakotre and Misericordia are set up in the forums here.
Once Reinhardt is ready in R20 I believe we will be all set for the initial post outside some tweaking of sheets here or there. If all of you don't mind, please just sound off and confirm when you're ready and I'll put the first post in Gameplay.
Not really, as long as I have your sheets and some baseline lore/fluff for your characters, we can just kind of drop you in and see what happens :)
No worries, Once we are all ready we can start. No rush!
Correct, let me reiterate character rules.
Starting at level 2
starting wealth is 2000 credits
Standard Point Buy
Just in case, I made a blank character sheet for everyone in R20 so far.
If you'd all like to build the ship out before we start I think that could be a nice personal touch for the party. Or if we want to just pick a premade, up to all of you.
The contact will be on their own ship. Once they help get you started, their part of the story will be done .
Archpaladin Zousha wrote: What happened in Society play? Oh, I just meant I know the last time Triaxus' political climate was really talked about was the Skyfire Mandate. That's still in place, this is all just infighting between dragons and entirely of my own creation, not from any official source material.
Archpaladin Zousha wrote: Wait, there's a war on Triaxus? When did that start?! O_o I'm not going 100% by the story in Society play, just drawing inspiration :) It will have just broken out right before the game begins. Things finally escalated between several of the more prominent nations in the Drakelands. It's not a planet scale war and none of said nations have broken their truce with the Pact Worlds as a whole, but it's disruptive enough that it's affecting trade from the Drakelands.
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So to tie the group together, I think I have an idea of the initial hook but wanted to get everyone's opinion. I'm thinking of something along these lines:
The war hasn't stopped shipments of Siccatite from leaving Triaxus yet, but the latest freighter has seemingly disappeared. Given how the Starstone works, it should have been a quick flight back to Absolom with the shipment, but sensors readings show the freighter going into the Drift, but not dropping out at the designated location.
The party has been formed from various specialists both within and outside the company: Security details, engineers, an investigator and a local physician who does mercenary work. None of you were necessarily the top picks, but given Allied Alloy's current financial situation, you were all they could afford. They've outfitted you with one of the company's smaller ships, one normally used to fly out and source new materials for the company to redistribute. You've also been given a contact among the priesthood of Triune. Their expertise in the Drift (and a device that lets them track where breaches lead) will hopefully give your group the first clue they need to track down the D.S. Sekhmet.
Oh yeah, a rundown of classes as they stand now.
Soldier x2
Mechanic
Biohacker
Technomancer
Techno or Mystic
And no worry on the retainer/contractor idea. I have plans formulating.
Excellent! Just wanted to say again I'm looking forward to seeing where this group goes!
I created and assigned a character sheet for you on R20 Arlyn :)
Not a dumb question at all. I recommend making a character sheet using the website STLE linked above. That, or the roll20 server has character sheets which I can assign out to you if you want.
If working for a pre-existing corp isn't everyone's thing, the thought also crossed my mind that you could have all started a brand new business together right before all these conflicts started popping up, with your mission to help your Corp survive it's fledgling years. Up to the group though.
At this point we have a majority in favor of level 2, so let's say we're starting at level 2. Provided there's no one that absolutely hates the idea of a corporate theme for the start of our game, that's what we can go with. When each of you have time, I'd like you to reach out to me directly with how you'd like to be connected to the company. You can either be employees, contractors or private investigators/auditors, whatever you would like :)
The company we will be focusing on will be a small corporation named Allied Alloys. The company is a distributor for materials that various weapon and armor manufacturers use for their products, and its one high profile contract is with several of the dragon-owned operations on Triaxus. This contract allows Allied Alloys to be a substantial redistributor of the metal known as Siccatite. Triaxus is rich in that metal since the dramatic climate shifts don't affect it (It's extremely stable versus both cold and hot temps).
The recent war that's broken out on Triaxus has put the company's future in question, as without that contract/Siccatite the rest of your contracts won't be able to cover the overhead.
Watermelon Slushie wrote: Excellent! Since I own & read most of the main sourcebook PDFs, I think I have a good grasp on character creation. Now to narrow down what to build...
Oh, points of order:
-Should we be concerned at all about a backstory or no?
-Basic 1,000 starting creds for gear buying or more?
1000 cred starting for level 1, if we have everyone chime in and we are all good with level 2, it'll be 2k.
As for backstory, anything you give me I'll make use of. Even if it's as simple as what planet your character was born on, if they have family or friends from their past I can bring in, etc.
Watermelon Slushie wrote: Watermelon Slushie, checking in! Will create/update an alias with my final character decision later.
As for the pregame points:
1. Feel free to correct me on this, but I thought most classes get a lot of their defining traits by level 2 so I'm perfectly okay with starting there.
2. I'm always a huge fan of scaling cantrips. Helps keep casters in the thick of it without needing to rely on weapons necessarily. Does all Paizo sourcebooks include the various player choices (like races) certain APs provide?
3. The idea of a group coalescing together from different committees or businesses due to converging interest intrigues me greatly.
4. I'm okay with those house rules! Makes Biohackers feel like chemists and gives heavy weapons more dakka. :D
You are correct on all points. Level 1 is rough. There are not sourcebooks to compile options from AP's, but sites like The Hidden Truth have them plus references to the books they are from. Let me know if you need to look at PDFs as I have most of them.
And the houserule for the long arms is definitely necessary. RAW Full attacking with auto weapons is basically never worth it. This way the cost is high but not outrageous.
I'll be changing this to an appropriately named OOC thread once everyone has checked in with a post to register.
Some points of discussion before the game starts:
1. Would we like to start at level 1 or 2? I'm flexible on this.
2. Character creation:
-Standard Point Buy from the book
-Archetypes allowed
-All Paizo sourcebooks allowed including Galactic Magic
-We'll be using the Alternate rules for Dynamic Hacking (for tougher computer checks only) and Scaling Cantrips. I'm also debating using the Prepared Caster alternate rules specifically for Witchwarper to give that class a little more versatility/oomph. Open to thoughts on this.
3. The general plot hook/tie that will cause the party to come together in the first place. Several of you have mentioned the desire to have characters that at least start with a corporate background. My thought was to have all of you be employees of one of the lesser corporations on Absolom as a jumping off point. Again, open to thoughts.
4. I'll be posting all my table and house rules in the campaign description. If anyone has concerns regarding the, just send me a message :) Looking forward to playing with you all!
Just getting a post in here for the link.
Just getting a post in here for the lin.
Hello crew and welcome to what I hope will be a very fun campaign! Due to how important tactics and cover mechanics are in Starfinder, we'll be playing using maps on R20. This will not affect the posting expectation of 1 per day minimum, it will just help keep track of everything.
The game has Starfinder character sheets preloaded as well, so if you'd like to track your sheet there let me know and I can assign one. Keeping your own PDF is also acceptable as long as I have a copy to reference!
https://app.roll20.net/join/12527592/8qwuvw
Hello again everyone! Recruiting for this one is closed and private messages have been sent to those chosen as candidates. I appreciate you all taking the time to post (there were way more interested parties than I thought there would be, it was a tough call).
Just wanted to give everyone an update. I'm in the process of narrowing down 6 spots for the party. Between here and the posts I made on several forums, I've had a surprising number of people express interest. I'll be giving it until this coming Sunday, at which time I'll finalize the comp and let everyone know recruiting is done. Keep them coming though, loving the character concepts so far!
Glad to hear from you! And great question, I'm looking at a minimum of 1 per day because life happens, but I would also like it to move more quickly than that when possible. I currently have recruitment threads opened in several different places, but I'll make public announcements in each with once our party is together. Thank you for your application and you'll hear back from me in the near future.
Are you still recruiting for this or has focus shifted to the Mythic Campaign you linked? I'm definitely interested in a Steampunk setting if it's still on the table.
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