Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Society Subscriber. Organized Play Member. 14 posts. No reviews. No lists. No wishlists. 7 Organized Play characters.
Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Society Subscriber
Just want to put a big Thank You here to the design team who put this volume together as a PDF. I just got mine, and I was overjoyed to discover that the image issues we had in the FFoD series are completely gone. Everything in this book, at first glance, looks like it is formatted for ease of use on VTT and remote play, and we still got the standalone interactive map pack, to boot.
This makes me so happy as a GM and I can't wait to start putting a group together for this!
Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Society Subscriber
Hey, there's a rather significant map missing from the included maps pack:
Map-based Spoiler!:
The inside back-cover map of the Compent Windfall, where the entire first part takes place, sneaking around the giant ship, is not included in the Interactive Maps file in the digital version.
As with every other book in this AP, trying to get the map into a VTT is incredibly cumbersome due to the formatting. Any way we can get this map added somehow, or provided as a standalone image?
Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Society Subscriber
I've just read through this adventure and it makes me so, so happy. I cannot wait to run this for my players. Major kudos to Christopher Wasko and the team.
Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Society Subscriber
You know what, I'm an idiot. I used a ship calculator sheet to add this all up, and I failed to notice there was a weapon pre-added to the list as an example entry (a weapon that definitely does not appear on the ship) and I never removed it.
You can basically disregard the entire post. User error.
My question about the power cores still stands though, as does the one about the
Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Society Subscriber
I'm working on setting up a Fly Free or Die campaign, and as a favor to my players - especially given the new system for earning BP and upgrading ships that's presented in this adventure - I wanted to put the pre-made ships onto sheets for them. I thought that would help them understand how the ships are budgeted to begin with, and get some ideas on how to expand and improve from there.
However, both of the pre-made ships so far seem to break a few rules for starship design, which won't really help me accomplish this. I have a few questions, spoiler-tagged below so as not to spoil anything about these ships.
Ship just got real:
Starting with BD514, the build as described on the inside cover has a couple of problems. The "Micron Ultra" power core doesn't seem to be a valid selection for Small ships (tiny only). Also, even if you scale back to a comparable power core (say, the Arcus Light), the build as described costs 59 BP (it's 60 as written), above the 55 BP limit for a Tier 1 ship - even above the "up to 5% over budget" limit in the new ship-building system from the adventure. It also goes over the PCU limit, with all systems adding up to 81 PCU (even allowing for the 'illegal' Micron Ultra).
The Oliphaunt in book 2 also has the issue where its Power Core is the Pulse Black, a model not allowed on Medium ships (which the Oliphaunt is). It also goes well over the PCU budget, with its current systems clocking in at 129 (compared to a Pulse Black at 120).
My players are also bound to ask how many BP they have with which to upgrade the ship, and so I think it's important to ask how many BP the null-space cargo holds "cost," and whether it costs any power to run them? Given how the holds malfunction during Part 2, I have to imagine they are powered devices.
Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Society Subscriber
Dracomicron wrote:
I'd like to report that the starship combat is not bad at all and we finished in like three rounds
Do you mind if I ask how the rest of this scenario was?
Some concerns:
I'm trying not to be overly negative about a scenario I haven't run/played yet, but I've read through this one, and... I mean, is there anything else to this one but "Combat! Ship combat! Combat again! OK go home!" at all? Near as I can tell there is zero story or plot to this. It's a backdrop to trot out some monsters that don't get used a lot, and nothing else. There are literally not even any ramifications to the society; the debriefing is just Naiaj saying "Hey good work, thanks."
I get that not every mission a Starfinder takes is going to involve an amazing discovery, and sometimes you gotta make those credits, but... really, this is such a plotless scenario at first glance that I'm wondering "why bother?" I guess I could use it to help teach the combat system to new players, but as a 5-8 scenario I have to imagine my players are going to be severely unimpressed by this. After anime mecha fights at a SMC concert and epic tales of survival after starship crashes, this feels so hollow.
Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Society Subscriber
I posted on the product page, but chiming in here to add my voice to all of the above. I've been more excited for this AP than any in recent memory - I've got a campaign group already built and discussing characters - and now I'm deeply worried I won't actually be able to run it for them.
Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Society Subscriber
Rysky the Dark Solarion wrote:
Can you be a little more specific?
Every single asset in the PDF is cut into 5-6 image pieces, making it almost impossible to easily export into roll20 or any other VTT of choice. Previously, I could simply pull a map image out of a PDF, without the numbers, and import it into my VTT to give my players the great, colorful, detailed maps as-is. For some reason, the layout of this PDF has made that nearly impossible. Even the smaller maps are made up of two or more images, while the larger ones are in 6+ pieces of varying sizes, making it nearly impossible to properly size and lay out in roll20.
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Sparrowhawk_92 wrote:
If you're continuing being generous, can you share what the new themes they added or anything else interesting from the player's guide?
Generosity achieved!
This generously spoils a lot of stuff, fair warning:
So, the player's guide is about 10 pages long. It includes a number of content hints regarding the nature of the adventure and how players should expect to interact with the world; a list of suggested themes and why they'd make good fits for the adventure; two brand-new themes - "Prole," which seems pretty on-the-nose, and "Vaster," someone from an isolated world or settlement without a lot of access to shopping or infospheres; a list of plot-hook backgrounds that the players should take which will give them ties to key NPCs; some new company-made gear, and a lot of fun flavor text about working for the fastest-growing megacorp across two major star systems!
Hope that helps. :) Any word on the whole 'incredibly difficult-to-use PDF' thing?
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Ixal wrote:
Sounds like you have the adventure. Can you answer, in Spoilers:
1. How believable law enforcement is?
2. What is so experimental/special about the ship?
3. How do the rules about buying and selling cargo work?
I do have the adventure! My subscription PDF showed up last night - and I dove right in; still very excited to run this, assuming my technical issues can be addressed. As to your questions, these are obviously some BIG OL' SPOILERS, so only click through if you don't mind hearing core plot hooks!
You've Been Warned:
1. This is actually an interesting look at what it means to operate on different worlds with different levels of authority and consequences, at least in my opinion. At this stage in the campaign, the PCs aren't exactly notorious interplanetary adventurers; they're working stiffs trying to scrape by, and aren't likely to draw the attention of, say, the Stewards. There are a few opportunities for the PCs to do 'illegal' things, and the consequences actually vary depending on where they are, and how badly they break the law.
In a crowded Castrovel city, this means being detained by cops and having to spend a lot of time and effort in bureaucratic fines and procedures (and they're on a short deadline for the job, so this is real bad). In the Akiton Hivemarket, this means the Khulan showing up and potentially murdering them. Other locations are ruled less by laws and more by might, and you can guess where that leads.
2. There's only the first level of hints towards the ship's capabilities in book one - there won't even be a map of the Oliphaunt until book two - but the main attraction is null-space cargo holds. Imagine being able to haul a massive freighter's worth of goods in a shuttle! The applications for legit business, smuggling, and more are obvious. I'm sure there's more to come, but book one is more about setting up the PCs' crummy situation and dangling the ship as their ticket out.
3. There's a whole 5-page section on this which I clearly won't duplicate here, but the summary is that you can now have players earn BP for their ship by running cargo instead of doling them out as level awards (though of course you can still give them out that way, too). There's still a system to gate how many BP you can spend on the ship based on party level, so the PCs can't just "let's just earn a Tier 9 ship before heading for the main plot." Plus you also spend the BP back on new cargo shipments and other cost-of-living expenses. Rules are included for how to find jobs, how to make ideal profits, and how to add complications so it's not just a bookkeeping "go here, drop off this" addition. What if the goods are counterfeit? What if the buyer is a jerk? But it really means all of the rules about flight time, maintaining courses, and making the most of your downtime start mattering more.
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Am I remembering incorrectly that maps and assets from new PDFs were going to be made more compatible with VTT for those of us who are stuck playing in isolation? I've been terribly excited for Fly Free or Die, and I eagerly downloaded my digital copy the moment it became available - only to find it's going to be an utter nightmare to run for any of my digital groups.
Every single asset in the PDF is cut into 5-6 image pieces, making it almost impossible to easily export into roll20 or any other VTT of choice. Previously, I could simply pull a map image out of a PDF, without the numbers, and import it into my VTT to give my players the great, colorful, detailed maps as-is. For some reason, the layout of this PDF has made that nearly impossible. Even the smaller maps are made up of two or more images, while the larger ones are in 6+ pieces of varying sizes, making it nearly impossible to properly size and lay out in roll20.
Everything about this adventure looks fun as hell, and I can't wait to run it for my players, but now I'm not sure how. Why was this changed? Is there a separate maps file coming?
