Luke Spencer's page

Brilliant thank you for the update! I assume the issues were caused by Brexit changing the shipping procedures somehow but I'm sure the wait will be worth it!

Yeah I got that, thanks though! I thought the UK orders would be sorted before shipping started but if that's not been done yet that's cool, just curious.

Any updates on UK subscriptions? Noticed shipping has started but I haven't had any auth emails yet.

Any new Copaxi lore? ;D Or terrifying lore implications in new creatures?

Nothing particularly new with the Copaxi other than art. There are some pretty unpleasant and creepy monsters in this one though!

Svardi Eagle-Eye wrote:

tricklet wrote:

Ixal wrote:

Can't you make a screenshot of the pdf and then cut the images out?

Sure, and that's what I ended up doing. Usually I run an image extractor which pulls everything out in a couple of minutes. It's not a huge deal, just extra work for me

What program are you using to do the image extraction tricklet? I use NitroPDF.

Can't you just use the print key and MS paint? Or are the PDFs protected against that.

You can (In fact I had to for this pdf) but you often have to manually remove text, and sometimes images are overlaid on sidebars and it makes the picture look a bit naff when you've got 1/3 of the background a different colour. Image extractors get rid of those issues and are generally just faster.

Not having this book is destroying me, anyone got a hold of it that can give me their thoughts? Any fun/interesting monsters?

Luke Spencer wrote:

I do expect they'll think about starship travel, but the answer they give will probably be a simple sentence saying how many hexes a starship can travel in a certain amount of time, and the assumption will be that the ship can land unless stated otherwise. I think this is fine because I personally wanted Starfinder to be Pathfinder in space, and if I wanted more a more hard science fantasy I'd play a different RPG, but I do get that not everyone shares this view.

Unless you measure time in hours the answer to how many hexes a starship (or just hover vehicle) travels is "all of them".

Assumedly yes, although there may very well be some limitations/roadblocks introduced to make it feel more adventure-y.

Luke Spencer wrote:

Honestly I expect the biggest reason we won't see any discussion of using ship weapons to clear landing space is for space-saving reasons. It takes a lot less words to say 'the PCs can always find a clear landing zone' than it does to write about the options around using ship weapons to clear space and /or the alternatives. Ultimately a lot of the questions regarding environmental impact will probably be ignored/left as GM discretion unless it's specifically encounter relevant. I'm fine with it because in my opinion most of the issues can be hand-waived away by magic or future tech but I do get the appeal and honestly I expect there will be some pretty heavy modifications to this AP in a lot of groups.

Of course there won't be rules about the environmental impact of the colony. You would need to work very hard to ruin the environment in such a short time anyway.

I was just (negatively) surprised on how horrified some people were about creating a small landing space to save travel times when the focus of the AP is to build (multiple?) cities on possibly several planets.

So yeah, the entire point was that Paizo would hopefully think about the possibilities SF offers instead of reverting to PF style thinking and having the PCs travel on foot through the wilderness. And hopefully they also do not share the naivety displayed here about environmental destruction but have a more realistic picture of the impact of colonies so that they are not surprised when PCs blow up some trees to land directly at where they wanted to instead of running the gauntlet Paizo expected them to.

It will be interesting anyway how and if the adventure manages the options provided in the starship operation manual, namely VIs, so that you can have someone controlling the ship without a PC staying on board, and orbital weapons.

I do expect they'll think about starship travel, but the answer they give will probably be a simple sentence saying how many hexes a starship can travel in a certain amount of time, and the assumption will be that the ship can land unless stated otherwise. I think this is fine because I personally wanted Starfinder to be Pathfinder in space, and if I wanted more a more hard science fantasy I'd play a different RPG, but I do get that not everyone shares this view.

Honestly I expect the biggest reason we won't see any discussion of using ship weapons to clear landing space is for space-saving reasons. It takes a lot less words to say 'the PCs can always find a clear landing zone' than it does to write about the options around using ship weapons to clear space and /or the alternatives. Ultimately a lot of the questions regarding environmental impact will probably be ignored/left as GM discretion unless it's specifically encounter relevant. I'm fine with it because in my opinion most of the issues can be hand-waived away by magic or future tech but I do get the appeal and honestly I expect there will be some pretty heavy modifications to this AP in a lot of groups.

As a result of some unexpected file size issues on Starfinder APs beginning with volume #31 (The Devastation Ark part 1), we have released interactive map PDFs so that GMs can extract the maps from that PDF instead. We will continue releasing interactive maps for the entire run of Fly Free or Die and beyond.

Can you confirm whether there will be a fix for the other art in the book which is also randomly separated into blocks or will this remain as-is?

I'm kinda with Ixal on this.

Not to say I'm necessarily endorsing the approach of paving a new parking lot with orbital bombardment, but in that if there's nothing actively preventing it aside from morality & caution, then there's nothing actively preventing it so the possibility is going to need to be addressed.

We can argue about what we should or shouldn't do, but it's naïve to think that no one's going to get the idea in their heads and try it whether you think it's an ethical thing to do or even a good idea or not, and the AP should be prepared for this.

I can definitely see an argument for doing it although I don't personally agree, but based on my experience with Paizo APs I think its more likely they'll just not give you a ship until later in the story once the initial exploration phase is over. Of course we could then debate endlessly about the reasons for this and how plausible or not that is but at that point I don't think anyone would be convinced from their personal beliefs on the matter.

Albatoonoe wrote:

Counterpoint, in a world with magic in it blasting even a small portion could awaken some slumbering horror or enrage the fey. Also, there is a difference between a naturally occurring disaster and just incinerating a portion of forest on a whim. Geez, might as well just repeat the colonizing of the Americas and ruin ecosystems across the board for convenience. Learn to live with nature, dingus.

How do you think a colony is build exactly? That also includes large scale deforestation and other destruction.

Thankfully this could easily be bypassed with magic, shaping the colony into the environment rather than destroying it.

Also while I assume there will be deforestation (if the colonists are in a forested area) the assumption is that you have charted the area you're building in first. You have to explore the site to determine the risks before you start work, and blowing it up incurs the chance that you may destroy a valuable resource. Properly surveying an area is both straightforward and wouldn't take that long, both in universe and from meta perspective so there's really no downside to it.

I really hope no one uses their ship's weaponry to clear 0.0000001% of the vegetation destroyed every year by natural wildfires in that biome.

Luke Spencer wrote:

I still think the potential risks outweigh the benefits. If there's a bunch of mushrooms that emit deadly spores you could risk poisoning your party, or if there are flammable elements you may end up blowing yourselves out of the sky. I don't think convenience is a good excuse to ignore legitimate risks on a planet [which is basically unexplored.

And what kind of idiots are colonizing a planet without a full survey, anyway? Is catching cool diseases and hosting gross new parasites the pastime of the future?

I personally think there are better arguments to not use your ship weapons to clear a landing site than potential deforestation, but I don't think it's that surprising that the colony don't know every detail of the surrounding environment, and not just for the meta reason of this being an adventure path and needing some aspect of exploration and conflict.

We know that the colony effort is being headed by multiple factions so it's fairly believable that they would want to get things going quickly, wouldn't want to lose out your valuable resources or good locations to a competitor after all. Plus I would imagine there is environmental data available, you can learn a lot about a planet without actually exploring it physically, but if you know there's an anomaly that needs to be checked out in person it's probably safer not to shoot in that general vicinity.

I hope the setting for this is a bit more exotic than 'generic terrestrial world' like exploring forests and jungles is fun but I hope they take the opportunity to give an environment that differs from the Stolen Lands in Kingmaker.

Luke Spencer wrote:

*Snip*

Because its convenient and a lot safer to blow up a 100 ft. radius landing spot than to have the walk/drive all the way from the colony through wilderness.

Until level 5 when you can just jetpack out of the ship.

I still think the potential risks outweigh the benefits. If there's a bunch of mushrooms that emit deadly spores you could risk poisoning your party, or if there are flammable elements you may end up blowing yourselves out of the sky. I don't think convenience is a good excuse to ignore legitimate risks on a planet which is basically unexplored.

I also think it's a flawed assumption that you have to go from the colony and back every time you want to explore a new hex (assuming they use rules similar to Kingmaker). Even if the whole area is forested (Which I think is unlikely because it seems like it would get repetitive if there was no variety in terrain) there are going to be clearings where you can land your ship without destroying any potential areas of interest.

There's also the consideration that the party might not have a ship. The setup might have you dropped on location with the rest of the colonists with the ship leaving to resupply and bring more resources/colonists. You're lackeys here so even there is a ship you might not be given limitless access to it straight away.

Luke Spencer wrote:

Rysky the Dark Solarion wrote:

... wut?

That is the exact definition of hurting it.

Doing strafing and bombing runs is not exploring.

I do find the idea of archaeologists calling in a B-52 to clear the forest around their digsite very entertaining, but yeah that's not how you access a potential area of interest, think of all the relics that might get blown up!

The PCs are not archaeologists, they are colonists. And if a forest is in the way of a new colony, the forest will be gone soon.

You massively overestimate what damage a small explosion does to a planet, namely none.
Find a site you want to explore? Let your starship hover over it, clear a small space near it and touch down with a shuttle. And if you run into any trouble you order the VI on board of the ship to support you.

There are plenty of historical examples of colonists destroying large amounts of culture history, and wildlife through poor practice. I'm British, I would know. Why would you bomb a site when you don't know what's there? You could wipe out an endangered species, destroy valuable and rare resources, or ruin a site of importance to the colonists. That being said I would expect travel to be less of an issue in this game than Kingmaker, you can always parachute/rappel out of a ship to the area you want to explore and make sure it's secure before exploding a landing zone.

... wut?

That is the exact definition of hurting it.

Doing strafing and bombing runs is not exploring.

I do find the idea of archaeologists calling in a B-52 to clear the forest around their digsite very entertaining, but yeah that's not how you access a potential area of interest, think of all the relics that might get blown up!

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?

I'm noticing the same thing, it even covers most if not all of the text so I can't copy segments for handouts or GM notes. Quite frustrating honestly and hoping there's a fixed version available soon.

I'm squealing right now, space Kingmaker has finally arrived!

That was happening to me, so I clicked on the "trouble downloading this file" which seemed to refresh the file....not sure if that helps.

Tried this and seemed to fix the file size on the site but the downloaded file was still showing as 0kb and wouldn't open

Based on that ratfolk should have never been in PF1.

The logic being used there was specific to porting from Pathfinder to Starfinder I believe. I'd imagine that Kobolds could have a place if there were a story where it seemed appropriate, the idea that they probably live on through the Triaxian dragoncorps makes sense and could be put in a future AP or hardcover. I don't think the idea itself is flawed though, in PF1 they could just make whatever seemed fun because there was no orbiting material, but with SF you have an entire galaxy and I personally appreciate that they're filling the gaps in the playable alien list with new things rather than just reusing materials from PF when they don't need to.

Please disregard this, I have since received my shipping email.

Hi there,

I just received an email regarding order #26821133 which should contain my Starfinder Adventure Path subscription (The Cradle Infestation) and a reshipping of a book which was unfortunately sent back (The Chimera Mystery) however the shipping email states that only the latter was shipped, were the products intentionally shipped separately or is this an error? Thanks in advance.

Near Space did a great job of seeding potential playable races, There must be at least a dozen species that are name dropped in that book as sapient species but most of them sadly don't get anything more than a name and a general description. Hopefully we'll see them come about in future books, whether that be AA4, the back of APs, or in future splatbooks.

Thanks. That gives New Thespera kind of a Rome feel. All roads lead to it, but travelling to somewhere else takes a long time.

Still doesn't explain why the Azlanti settled in the vast instead of near space but whatever. Maybe near space didn't exist back than.

About the idea of giving them better drift ratings. Maybe all starship lines should get a special bonus. Azlanti ships have better drift, Veskarium ships a bit more HP, etc.

The Azlanti fled to New Thespera during or just before Earthfall, so it was thousands of years pre-Gap. Things like Drift travel didn't even exist. I do think the Azlanti should probably get some kind of travel bonus, at least to systems they control.

Yeah they basically have their own version of Absolom Station Drift capabilities but more tightly controlled. The Azlanti Imperial Fleet also has ships stationed in every sector they control, so every system has it's own mini-fleet that can hold the line while waiting for reinforcements.
I also seem to remember, though I might be wrong about this, that there's a way to link ships for Drift travel. This means you only need one or two ships with a good Drift rating to bring a fleet in for a fast attack.

I'd imagine big corporations actually benefit from the Free Captains in a way, since only bigger corporations can afford the exorbitant protection fees (I think this is from Pact Worlds). That means that smaller and mid-sized companies whose growth could threaten the megacorps down the line are also subject to the threat of piracy which eats into their profits and slows their growth. Plus I imagine Broken Rock could easily function as a neutral ground for under the table dealings that corps don't want others knowing about. All you'd have to do is pay a Free Captain a large sum of credits to take you and bring along enough company mercs to ensure your safety.

I think the answer to the scale issue is that increasing the scale needs to change the party focus. In the beginning while they're checking out that first area, you might want a fair number of those 12 mile hexes to have interesting details. As the party moves on from that main settlement and they're exploring larger areas, the party is gonna focus less on the small things and become interested in larger points of interest. Leave the small stuff for the empire to deal with and have the PCs focus on the most important details.

The rules from Kingmaker and Ultimate Campaign don't mesh as well I agree, I'd recommend having the PCs focus on the capital, maybe adding one or two major cities as the empire expands. Most of the smaller settlements can be assumed to have negligible effect or just offer smaller static bonuses. Again I recommend Star Empires by Legendary Games (feel like I'm repeating myself here but it really is the best resource I've found for Starfinder empire stuff)

If you're expanding to the interplanetary scale then I definitely think that putting together some random tables will help a lot in the long run.

Master Han Del of the Web wrote:

That's a fun way to argue! Let me try!
That wouldn't stop the Free Captains!

Do you have a point? Guess not. Not surprising really...

The Hellknights don't negotiate with pirates anyway and are fanatically devoted to order. They would certainly blow up the base, no matter if it kills civilians or not.

There is no logical reason why Broken Rock has not been destroyed, invaded or at least blockaded besides "Paizo wants pirates, so here they are".

pg. 156 of the Pact Worlds book states "to many Pact Worlds governments, the mere existence of [Hellknight Citadels] is a dangerous provocation." I'd read this that the Pact Worlds don't just sit idly by while the Hellknights use their massive death ships in Pact space.

Shortened for brevity.

Thanks for the ideas! I've been quite lucky in that neither of my groups have actually tried to pre-scan the planet. The way I would play it is as you've said, give them the basic details about topography and any notable features or strange signals, but not enough information that they wouldn't have to go down to the planet and physically check out the tiles.

The way I've personally gamified the colony system for my groups is by taking aspects of the Star Empires book by Legendary Games and streamlining them. I'm planning to develop these into a cohesive set of rules as time goes on but I've not used them too rigorously yet and would be hesitant to put out something that's barely been tested. As for random events, I've definitely got a basic table together and I'll probably add that once I've fleshed it out a bit more..

The 'Dark Secret' concept is one of the things I was trying to touch on with the idea of planetary threats, something that acts as a barrier to the colony and the party and that they'll have to overcome that is tied to the planet itself. I definitely want to expand on that in more detail though.

I'll definitely look into the TNG stuff as well, thanks again!

thecursor wrote:

The Free Captains exist because once you take them all down, another dozen rise up in their place. This is because we know poverty exists in Starfinder and as long as there is inequity, there will always be people desperate enough to correct that inequity with whatever opportunity they can grasp.

Just like in the real world: Poverty is the parent of revolution and crime.

Poor people usually don't have access to starships (unless you really play with starships being essentially free).

I doubt people desperate enough to become pirates have any moral qualms with stealing a ship.

Okay as a bit of background for this, I'm currently running two Starfinder campaigns based around the idea of starting up a colony on a planet in the Vast, and in the process I've made a lot of notes and spent a lot of time reading through Pathfinder APs, the forums, and 3rd party stuff and I wanted to put everything I've discovered and learned into one big document. After spending a good few hours doing just that I decided that maybe I should share it for people who wanted to run similar campaigns but weren't sure how to go about it.

So with all that out of the way, here's my first draft: CLICK HERE.

It's still a very rough, no frills version and it's far from unfinished because it doesn't really have any content past what I would consider 'book 1' of a campaign, but it's a culmination of my observations and things I've learned. That being said I'd absolutely love to hear people's thoughts and feedback on the contents of this monstrosity I've created, and if you decide to actually use some of my advice I'd love to hear how it goes for you!

I can't speak for how I would do it myself, I'm not confident enough with the rules. However I believe on the Alien Archive 4 page in the discussion thread it was confirmed that the new class grafts will be in there.

I've read through the whole thing, but I still dont know what the robot thing on the cover is?

From the Starfinder Wednesday I believe Joe Pasini said it was a Jinsul, though I agree the appearances don't really match up.

Every time I see those cute Raxalites my heart breaks a little more. These PDFs can't ship fast enough!

Luke Spencer wrote:

Since the PDFs have so far eluded me, would anybody who does have access be able to give me some info about the Raxalite, Dromada, or Hanakan? I would also like to know about the Cephalume, are they an aqautic species?

** spoiler omitted **

Yep, as I suspected I am now even more excited for PDF access, thank you oh great and mighty orb!

Since the PDFs have so far eluded me, would anybody who does have access be able to give me some info about the Raxalite, Dromada, or Hanakan? I would also like to know about the Cephalume, are they an aqautic species?

Did either of the first two Alien Archives provide that data? I am dubious that any Alien Archive will do that.

AA2 has the info for all playable races from the first two Archive books, it's in appendix 10 in the back.

I wonder how the starting equipment will work.

I doubt there will be any special rules for this in the AP, but it makes no sense that members of a military force are limited by both credits and level for the armor and weapon they are given.

I might've imagined this, but I believe it was said somewhere (on one of the Paizo Con panels I think) that the PCs or at least some of the people brought on to fight the Swarm are mercenaries. It would make sense that the PCs were hired as independent contractors in terms of explaining gear limits. I also remember hearing

which lends credibility to the idea that the PCs aren't necessarily 'proper' military. The planet where this AP takes place also isn't a member of the Pact Worlds so they likely don't have the same levels of military and technological access to equip their grunts with high-level tech. I believe the planet was described as 'space Australia' so I wouldn't expect it to be a tech powerhouse with an elite military.

Hi all,
In the next month or so I'm going to be starting a sandbox campaign based around exploring and colonizing a planet in the Vast (Kingmaker style) and was wondering if any of you lovely folks had any experience, advice, or ideas to help make this thing awesome?

The current plan is to give the players a few different planet options during session zero and let them choose the one they like the sound of most, then I'll build the rest from there. I'm going to try and adapt Pathfinder's exploration rules for the sandbox stuff since that seems relatively straightforward. Beyond that I'm open to any and all suggestions from people who undoubtedly understand this game far better than I do.

Hey guys, any news on whether the orders have started shipping yet?

That's a pretty sweet cover!

Hi there,

As the title states it seems my SFS adventures haven't spawned yet despite being available for purchase. Is this an error?

Are salamanders playable? Regardless, what geniekin (or other playable race) is in this book, if any?

What's your favorite aspect of the Brass Bazaar?

I haven't finished reading the Brass Bazaar section just yet, but there is an Anacite-run shop which sells robotic toys that is quite entertaining.

Has anyone received your subscriber PDFs yet?

I am fortunate enough to have my copy! I'll do what I can to answer questions but I haven't had much more than a skim through so far.

Luke Spencer wrote:

HTD wrote:

Have any subscribers received their PDF copy yet?

I have mine!

What are the new monsters' type, subtype, size and CR? Are there any new playable races?

Have any subscribers received their PDF copy yet?

I have mine!

Hopefully we'll see the geniekin as playable races in these books, makes sense with the general elemental theme. If the gazetteer is about a planet with ties to the plane of water maybe book one will have Undines?

Is there a Twi'lek-esque creature in the background image, just underneath the main NPC's gun? Or is it just me?

Not sure about anyone else but I still can't see the pictures that are supposed to be attached.