Roquefort pauses in a strange expression of admiration of Carlos "You beautiful monster" he mutters as he beholds the raw otherworldly tapestry-inspired mind scourge of the saucer creature. He then zaps the saucer!
Written by no one else but Kate Baker! When I see Kate Baker on the tin I know the contents are awesome, Kate is a writer I always keep an eye out for.
Very welcome all - that was my 3rd GM session for Pathfinder 2, some good learning points.
Svetlana begins ensuring her cups are left within arms reach of Kal, he's a seasoned Pathfinder who knows what he's doing, and probably has not only a few aces up his sleeve but potentially the whole deck of cards. "If this was Cheliax we'd poison the whole town" she jokes(?) "I'll stick to simple fare, all blessed by Rassmussen of course - his lentil-powered love is a gift to all of us" She watches the dynamic with the hobgoblin "You'll have the opportunity to taste his noodle in the ring no doubt. Thank you for your interest, but unless the referees are here to keep score we're enjoying our dinner but not so much your company. The wine comes highly recommended, why not go fill your cup" she dismisses the hobgoblin with a wave of her cup.
Ahhh bugger! Well if you do come to Sydney we always extend a warm welcome and get you into a game or doing something fun (we have a BBQ game day coming up, and Nomadical joined us at the historic Q Station for a weekend of gaming, and some people fly over to join us on the ConVoyage RPG con on cruise ship (next one Jan 2025).
Thanks - filled out my sheet! Some I have marked Y as I have GM'd but not necessarily played, I would happily play almost anything and would burn replays if needed.
Penny continues with the cackling glee only a Goblin can truly foster... "Wake up, wake up, sleepy head
Soothe
Penny wanders to a better position to better see what is happening, and where all the enemies are. "Basag kills you with an axe
Performance (Song) ◆Stride
Liking Revelry, it has throwbacks to earlier horror-esque scenarios like Cries from the drift and Precious cargo (probably one of my favourite Starfinder scenarios).
welcome back Kate! That was a great scenario and Kludde did a solid job of gming it. Please write more scenarios :)
"Mummys jumped up to attack
"Unded tried to bash and hurt
"I don't think Eddie Bo Lettuce is as Eddie Bo as they'd have us believe. I'm not a fancy goblin, but that was a lot of maggots"
Pennypockets high fives Toasty - "A victory well earned, an enemy well burned" "Good playing back there Banty, you do quite well on second fiddle"
Blinky is drugged up from whatever was in the good Doctors cocktail, what remains is a gigantic bear higher than a long-haul trucker jacked up on all the no-doze washed down with a gallon of energy drink and a sporting mean streak a mile wide - the glowering bear rumbles at the inanimate object and with the amount of pre-workout washing around his system he looks on the verge of just tearing the thing and throwing it at the wall - Blinky shouts something at it, the sentence almost incomprehensible as he reverts back to animal grunts and seemingly forgets his words, just an angry apex-predator annoyed by something trying to resist him in HIS kingdom. The guttural roar of anger and frustration is heard across the whole Bulwark and was so metal that Abysshead has apparently called to see if it can be sampled into their next single 'Murderdeath on the forsaken Bulwark. Strawberry Machine cake were not available for comment.
welcome back Kate! That was a great scenario and Kludde did a solid job of gming it. Please write more scenarios :)
Murthed "Must have been tough as a captive of the Grioth, as hard as that was they left you alive so I suppose in a strange way you must have felt pretty grateful, they don't seem like the most leave-you-alive group I have encountered" Blinky offers a cup of hot tea as he pours himself out one. "Archaeologist huh? Me too! Great opportunity to explore this place and find out more about the culture of the original inhabitants, unique opportunity. A bit remote but I can see the attraction" "You have informed us that the other two are sleeper agents, that is pretty interesting - reminds me of the ancient tribal practices of a group I read about once, capture opponents, turn them, then send them home to act as agents feeding information until an opportunity arose to conquer the neighbouring tribe - reckon that is what the Grioth were planning?" "Seems odd though, why would the grioth let you know they had manufactured a sleeper, let alone TWO sleepers?" "So there are a few possibilities here and I am going to get you to help me out, a bit like a shared archaeological expedition as we piece this puzzle together. The grioth may have lied to you to ensure you didn't try to organise a group break-out by fomenting paranoia and mistrust, leaving you on your own. Maybe the grioth did turn one or two people - once again - why would you know about it?" "A smart agent wouldn't talk about sleeper agents, they'd just stay silent and if the conversation ever came up they'd claim they'd never heard of such a thing" "Which brings us to the indoctrination method - which is more the field of anthropology than archaeology if I was a purist, but we can let the academics argue that one out later." "So, let's just start with what we have. What did this do to you? Tell me. And remember, this is for posterity so be honest. How do you feel?" Blinky sits down with a datapad and a cup of tea, as though ready to hear the persons confession. Profession (Archaeologist)
Croaker casts a spell - which manifests as a force disk! Energydisk hurl@red: vs EAC
Energydisk hurl@blue: vs EAC
Energydisk hurl@orange: vs EAC
I ran my first PF2 session the other day - the usual GM couldn't make it so I just picked up the scenario and ran with it, I admit to VERY LITTLE PF2 experience as a player. I am coming off a long background of GMing in general though, and so that meant the players still got a fantastic and memorable experience as I focused on the storyline and RP rather than worry about nailing all the mechanics. The good news is that in low level games the mechanics are actually suuuuper simple, so I think we had to look up one rule the entire session. PbP is easier from a rule perspective because you can take all the time in the world, the only rabbit hole is the almost limitless time you have to compose posts which let's your imagination run wild. I do miss some of the side banter though when in a PbP (which is also a plus!?)
Profession:Corporate Professional "What is this?" the Drow points to the marketing and merchandise whilst yelling into a personal communicator at some poor unfortunate "Hey you people in marketing! We're trying to draw in talent on the socials and pump our metrics and someone is giving me this sort of content? WE CAN'T CROSS-PROMOTE AND SYNERGISE LIKE THIS! We need to get this ALL changed STAT! We need to ladder this activity up into a collab and get back to the bleeding edge - all the balls in the air here - we can circle back to some of the other blue sky thinking ideas but right now we need to break down the silos and get people to start bringing their core competencies back to the table. I'm talking an immediate deep-dive into our deliverables so we can get our ducks in a row - you all need to get on board as this show could be a game changer and we have a hard stop of 'showtime'. There is some easy low hanging fruit for us to capitalise on, but we need to shake it before someone in HQ moves the goalposts on this initiative so I'm going to run it up the flagpole to whoever needs to give it the rubber stamp and we can then park any concerns as we get some traction on this silver-bullet of an idea" "Yes I know you are just an intern and it's an unpaid gig, BUT THINK OF THE EXPOSURE!" He looks back up from his intercom "I'll be the Leader, Shari isn't here so I guess it is me"
"We can always use one who is across mysticism Amy, I'm an archaelogist but really appreciate having someone who understands the mystical implications of our finds, and who doesn't like someone who can patch up the bumps and bruises. So how did you discover your attraction to the stars?" *** "Sounds like we're land-based at least, I hate getting wet fur, gets a real funk about it and smells for days" He stabs away at his comms unit, clearly not the best with computers.
*** "Nice...ship?" Blinky admires the ship and takes the time to understand how it all works.
Where are you seeing this? It appears to be the same MAP as PF2. Also, the weapon ranges are decreased so badly I'm struggling to work out whether the range on firearms is 'thrown' or 'fired'... So yeah, you are significantly better off with a shortbow than a laser pistol in a tech universe. This makes 0 sense.
Not going to lie. It'll make it easier for me to switch-hit when writing between the two systems. And man, I cannot wait to bring thaumaturges to Starfinder and solarians and vanguards to Pathfinder. I'm 100% hoping to NOT see PF things (eg classes) in my SFS games though. I get that things are now going to be compatible, but would like to keep them largely separated. If PF things turn up in SF, then SF will be the loser because 'balance' means that high tech gets nerfed. We're already seeing a significant downgrade in the proposed SF rules to nerf ranged combat, this is clearly in the interest of dragging everyone into the intimate combat range of what amounts to fantasy-medieval combat, as opposed to a tech environment.
Penny accepts the wine graciously, looking a bit surprised about the fine turn of events noting that the 'songs of his people' were not all wildly popular in this more refined audience. "It has been an adventure" he says whilst helping himself to plenty of roast "You've all been very good company and I admire your skills" He clears his throat "It's the end, there is no more
Pathfinders all, we might well be
With that he stuffs his mouth full of roast.
Will "AAAGH! SUPER UGLY SCARY FACE MAN!" Penny looks very much the rattled Goblin. "IT'S A SING-OFF AGAIN! A SING-OFF AGAIN!" The Goblin starts his reply with a classic edge of Thistletop viciousness. "Dennis smash you, you'll go splat
◆Demoralise Fasiel vs Will DC
Penny takes the stage once more! "Apparently you longshanks all get big sads when I sing the traditional songs of my people, something about not liking the suggestion you might be in mortal danger or something so here goes!" "Hold my beer and never fear
"Goblins sing and goblins song
Perform
Crafting
***
Penny gets very animated and goblin-cited! "Goblins stick
He smiles at everyone like he just dropped the biggest top 10 hit of the Summer. Perform
Music appears out of nowhere... "Another fine evening in the ongoing liberation of the Great People of Galt, comrade. I am Frederic, and these fine citizens are a few of our fine proletariat, strong hands to assist with the weeding of the great garden. There are a number of important prisoners here and we have been sent to ensure they stay well secured and no citizens storm this place in righteous anger and execute them early - you know how passionate the hearts of those who have loved and lost so much for the cause can be. I can't blame them, who could not admire such righteous zeal? You...do agree of course?" "I suppose it is a complicated matter, the 'Andoran experiment' was a path to seek freedom and liberty for its people, however we can see it was doomed to failure as they only took half measures - one must be prepared to cut out the rot with a sharp blade, not just try to cover it with perfume and hope the smell fades on its own. I am curious of this Colson person, have you spoken with him? What sort of fellow is he?" "And is this a closed game or are you dealing us in?" Bluff
"Yeah we got your message, it's your tactical appraisal of the ground situation that I have an issue with. This is the second mission where we've been recommended sub-standard surface transportation into what you yourself have acknowledged is dangerous and hazardous terrain and if by 'more co-operative' you mean unsuspecting Starfinders who might walk into danger unawares then you'd find them in short supply at this end of the experience spectrum as this is a union gig, and of course Naiaj may have their own thoughts on high end human resources being needless danger when backbriefed on our arguments as to the OH&S situation" "How would it look politically if you brought us in to undertake the independent and objective research and we ended up being eaten by augrisaurs and sea snakes? The political opponents would have a field day, I know engines and I know how to exploit an audience on social media to push an agenda and you can bank on the memes being outrageous and none of them complimentary to your cause; you'd be totally Datch'd by your detractors." "Just remember, we're all partners here in your political success, we're here to help but we aren't 'the help' if you savvy" "We will observe your no-fly zone and we wont take vehicles into the site, you'll need to mark the relevant boundaries on a map"
"Let these people control you then they will rule you with an iron fist, those experiments weren't just some rogue bad apples, that was clearly how they ran their show - and this place is still run on a caste system - the weaker and smaller the giants, the lower down the pecking order they are kept - and when push comes to shove we aren't even giants."
Jim pipes up "Seems like you're in a bit of a Jam. You don't need to remind us not to disgrace anyone, last I checked the Society has taken every measure possible to be discreet on this planet and not allow the literal 'skeletons in the closet' to be weaponsised by political activists who would probably get enormous mileage out of the situation - and yeah - discredit you to boot" "I remember the chutes from last time, no problem. Deliver your letter and do your run of errands, no problem. Keep an eye out for spies? No problem. Keep faith with you and respect your interests? No problem. Keep quiet about the fact that your forebears were putting sentient beings in glass jars and using them as a literal electrical battery until their life force gave out whilst you kept 'their kind' as third-class citizens whilst others lived in luxury and opulence in a world divided by species? So far no problem boss." "Telling us how to do our jobs though, that is a problem. Your terrain down there is a geological nightmare filled with natural hazards and augrisaurs, your littoral areas decidedly unsafe, and the ocean is also known to be full of dangers including sea-serpents. Then there was the fire giants rolling around who don't seem to share your 'benevolent hands-across-the-universe' views, trying to murder and rob us - and your sacred site that no one had bothered securing" "So tell you what, we will do your two favours, and the extra favour of protecting YOUR interests once more, but you are going to do a favour too - don't put us in needless danger. We will park up the starship well away from the site, from there how we run our mission is our own matter. The Starfinder Society might take a dim view on you continuing to use us as pawns in your political game and getting us killed." "We will play along, but so will you" "Whether you like it or not, we're partners here - partners in your political future" "Now if we're all done I need to put my celebrity face back on and go give the good folk of Phloskar the Big Jim they have come to know and love, and Big Jim is a big fan of Elthel - amirite?" he smiles a perfect celebrity smile. Jim whispers through the comms channel "We insert via our ship to a secure location and transfer to our transport platform - we have two of the best pilots in the society on this team, I am certain you can both perform nape of earth flying, we stick close in to the waves and maintain a low airspeed - if they have a sensor package deployed we might be able to stay under their threshold, or at least at that height and speed we wont appear to be much more than a boat - they tried to kill us on exit last time and I'm not keen on giving these people a second chance" Jim seems bitter, very very bitter, with the harsh tone of the Veskarium coming through in his voice, something not normally heard from the perpetually family-friendly entertainer.
I've pulled everyones stats and popped the lot into a spreadsheet in the SLIDES deck. It's tough as Cham is both the best pilot and the best gunner, and I have to admit that high a gunnery score could mean significantly more shots landed, but at the same time, it likely means a lot of winning init. Pilot: Cham
We're in a Drake so we can theoretically have up to FOUR weapons brought to bear each round, this ship is all about the Gunnery, or adding things that make our gunners able to moar-gun.
Well yeah we went from the L1-4 scenarios and went all the way through to the 7-10 scenario so a good run of content there :)
*BLINKS* Just finishing our PbP game that started in August 2020. We started with 3 groups moving through the Frozen Ambitions series, we weaved our way through some additional scenarios, then the 'last group standing' have now pushed through to the end of Vast Experiment, now having finished the Dancing at the Edge capstone. Was a really great group too, an when I look back at all the players who dropped in and out - picking up cameo appearances here and there - it's a real whos who of the Flax PbP community. Coming in at just under 3 years it has been a steady run of scenarios - could have done an AP in that time, but I reckon this was more fun :)
I crunched the math on the cargo space on the ships and converted it back to ISO container sizes and yeah even the biggest ship is super small, we're talking a couple of moving vans worth of cargo space. What was more concerning was that the largest ships jumping into the drift have about a 30% chance of becoming ghost ships as there isn't sufficient room for the required foodstuffs to sustain the crew, most will have starved to death during the trip. This is assuming you used all available cargo space for sustainment and nothing else. The way around this was to use cargo space to hold shuttle bays, as a shuttle bay can fit shuttles that have their own cargo bays... cargo-ception. Now the ONLY reason I care is because in SFS they give us these tiiiiiiiiny ships that can't fit our equipment.
Coming to the end of this one. @Nadia - will need your reporting info for your Chronicle. @All - Part 4 rolling straight on after this!
You get one Obstacle (limited choice depending on the obstacle - first one was Chief Mate OR Engineer). Failing the obstacle either damages the ship or imposes a penalty etc. You get one Chase action (free choice, but can't use the same choice twice in a row). Your success at chase actions determines your progress in pursuit of the other ship, your failure at chase actions may have other consequences.
I was all keen to make the trip to the US this year for PaizoCon, now that the 'all that' has settled down significantly and international travel is on again. Hybrid can work to give people a chance to participate - and represents a chance to have a 24 hour gaming cycle :)
Know:Religion
Blackjack braces for the haunting cries of the Ghosts and belts out an old sailors song to keep (the right sort of) spirits high, and draws his sword. Countersong(SU)
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