PeeGee2423's page

To accompany an in-character endorsement below, here are some out of character thoughts:

Calder is a safe, non-controversial choice that wins friends and leaves the Society in a good position to weather media furor.

Avor is a 'non-candidate' outsider, arguably unsuitable for *elected* office (see 'sortition'); he'd probably be great if power were assigned randomly from the pool of all qualified to wield it, but not having a plan when seeking power is radioactive.

Tara is sure *portrayed* as a toxic, warmongering thug; if you want to *sunset* the campaign because the entire Society reaches its Infamy cap, here's your choice. That said, the depiction in the scenario does not seem *completely* fair in light of the biography. On the other, other hand, nothing about a 'G' in one's avowed alignment excludes one from being a xenophobic bigot.

Ehu is a perfectly acceptable candidate, that I choose not to opt for as a player because I prefer to stay away from magical mystery libraries and hedge toward 'science fiction' Clarketech. Your mileage may vary, and no one gets to tell you what's fun for your game (except things that are meta-antisocial; those are bad). As for a non-meta concern with Ehu, rerunning 1-11 this weekend:

I'd like to see:
- Platforms by the candidates (extra credit for position white papers);
- In character endorsements;
- Ranked choice voting to build consensus (TY so much - squee).

I'm itching for a thread for in-character endorsements already.

This is where I point out that my 702 is an Irwin-style child science sidekick who grew up to become an actual scientist. Doctor Zee will get along just fine with Doctor B.

I'd like to thank the players who made those 650 hours memorable.
You know you are. ;)

FWIW, my unofficial head canon for RP of VC Naiaj is somewhere between 'stress puppy' and 'forty two pounds of pure, unadulterated hatred and nicotine'.

Obviously this is what happens when bleachlings are born that way; you play it for laughs. ;)

Does the overseer GM get table credit for this scenario, and if so, who does it get reported?

For our cons, traditionally the Overseer is reported as a GM for a table with zero players, thus the origin of their credit.

My rule of thumb for conventions is to *scan them all* and add that file to my backup log of 'keep until the heat death of the universe'.

RSP events - keep them until end of season year.

Everything else - after reporting, but only until I get bored and clean up my workspace.

In a slightly different tack, I have a damaya lashunta xenobiologist envoy who thought 1-03, 1-10, and 1-13 were written for her and assumes that Fitch is just warming her seat for her eventual assumption of responsibility for all Wayfinder operations. ;)

But no...seriously...1-10 was a *character defining experience* for her. That level of character investment just doesn't happen in Org Play.

I have an unsettled question of lore canon about this scenario that has been bothering me for months, and it's come to the fore again because of the informational article in AP #5 on the world featured in this scenario.

Into the Unknown name drops the planet 'Elytrio'.

Mission brief in 1-03 mentions:
'The starship that discovered it ... made a prudent retreat.'

I've been interpreting this as the name given to the planet by the _Unbounded Wayfarer_ (hereafter perjoratively referred to as 'cowboys' - yee haw), was 'Elytrio'. The context of this scenario implies that the cowboys did not make first contact with the ghibrani. Unquestionably the ghibrani have their own name for the planet they live on, and it's probably not the word made up by the cowboys.

It reeks of imperialism for the SFS, the Pact Worlds, etc. to use the cowboy name 'Elytrio' for a world that actually has a sophont civilization on it.

In objective terms, my PCs call the planet 'Ghibran' (trading the imperialist SF trope for the trope of naming planets after their sophonts). As a GM, I also tend toward 'Ghibran' for the simple reason that it's a bit more politically correct IMO.

Can anyone else work out a rationale for the name 'Elytrio' that I'm not getting to?

Stop me if I'm missing something obvious, but is there a reason why the custom map from p 13 is not reproduced at the end of the scenario without labels?

Sorry - didn't realize the labels are on a separate level.

Stop me if I'm missing something obvious, but is there a reason why the custom map from p 13 is not reproduced at the end of the scenario without labels?

If limiting purchases to found items is on the table for discussion, I'd like to mention something from the depths of time that really upped the immersion factor: TIME UNITS.

I assume most of you are in the grognard club, so you know what I'm talking about.

Short version for the uninitiated - if your immersive storyline unfolds over the span of an out-of-game calendar year, PCs shouldn't be able to complete more than an in-game calendar year adventuring.

Traveling around the game world, climbing the highest mountains, and diving the depths of the deepest ocean mean *a lot* more when they cost you your most valuable resource: TIME.

As a former planetary geologist, I've started to (I kid you not) compile a page of notes for every scenario with a brief science lesson. Topics excluded as they're spoiler-riffic.

Also, my official intro to Quests tables is now:

SPACE...THE FINAL FRONTIER

These are the Chronicles of the Starfinder Society. Its continuing mission: to discover the nature of the mysterious GAP, to defend the PACT WORLDS from extrasolar threats, to seek out new life, new civilizations...TO BOLDLY GO WHERE NO ONE HAS GONE BEFORE.

For the purposes of faction journal cards, is Roidira, the Dark Sister of Knowledge a named scholar or extraplanar authority?

For that matter, is Roidira even objectively *real*?

What the PCs are seeing, exactly, is difficult to discern. A PC who succeeds a DC 16 Spellcraft check can sense that while the magic here is powerful, it emanates from

no known source, and its nature is elusive. The goddess projects a distinct presence, yet her form is insubstantial.

...

A PC who succeeds at a DC 10 Heal check recognizes that the “water of enlightenment” is laced with some reality-altering substance. There is no indication about whether anything the PCs have just seen and heard
is real.

So...I'm not completely farcical when I ask:

How exactly does one have an undergraduate-level philosophy seminar with children at the table?

I'm still a couple weeks out from running this, so I'm interested in real world examples of how Encounter 9 went down from initial tables.

Played this tonight - not GM, but I've parsed through the scenario now.

Low-tier party was Fighter 8, Archer Ranger 8, Skald 8, Grandfathered Theurge 9, Brown Fur Transmuter 9.

Social, social, social - Skald cannot fail those DCs on a 1; parleyed with Bulls.

Azers caught the party defacing B1, some PCs were trigger happy, azers are ex-azers.

Failed to notice ROT13, but worked from the assumption that it was a substitution cipher. No problems for puzzle people.

The fun part -

Generally had minimal issues with the environmental effects, but buffed sky high (Fighter reaches STR 30) for the juggernaut.

Archer wins init, alongside ultrabuffed snake - full turn of hits.

Skald hurls evil McGuffin to its special destiny.

TRAMPLE - 62 (vs average of 66) - Skald is downed, animal companion is slain outright, Fighter lands the AoO.

Fighter ends the BBEG with a vital strike. Skald is cured.

Exit init after four of five PC turns in Round 1.

Pathfinders complete escape montage with erupting volcano in background.

Total scenario time: 3:00

Verdict - thoroughly enjoyed the scenario, but I'd be careful to follow Andrew's lead on separating out B1 and as a means of resource conservation and subtle hint that you should throw *everything* into the final encounter. This seems like a natural inference if you've diplomanced your way there without rolling init.

Appropos of nothing, kudos to author for a gem of a turn of phrase in Ashasar's closing exposition:

'I believed that the Pathfinder Society ... was poised to bring about calamity through ignorance.'

Locally, our new motto for the Society is 'calamity through ignorance'. :)

Well there's always the possibility they don't use the AI core. My group initially considered not touching it and coming back to examine it once they'd "secured' the dungeon.

I recently ran this scenario for the first time and this is exactly what happened.

Root causes of roughly 2/3 gp, 0 PP Chronicle:
- Lack of explicit instruction by VC to loot the target site to the masonry nails.

- Cautionary warnings against looting by on-site stakeholders.

- Lawful party ethics.

- General disregard for tech in the dungeon including the AI core ('we can't take it, so leave it undisturbed where we found it').

What are a few things that Dreng would need to do or contribute to in order to earn someone's respect—minus his appearing slightly more presentable?

As a player and GM, I just sort of assume Dreng is the Society's version of a 007 'M'. He's probably changed the course of history a half dozen times and absolutely no one actually knows a darn thing about who he *actually* is.

In a similar vein, I truly enjoy both the gonzo and inexplicably competent incarnations of Kreighton Shaine, and I chalk the changes in character up to 'When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.'

FYI, I was a player at Andrew's inaugural table, and an RP/lore bit baffled me.

(Not using spoiler tags, please feel free to mod me)

The most common second language in Ekujae elf stat blocks is Common, aka Taldane, and they're extensively characterized as xenophobic.

Is this language choice specifically because of past conflict with Aspis? It would seem logical that there'd be at least as much conflict with other human neighbors, hence Polyglot seems more logical. Note that the monolingual humans in To Judge a Soul speak Tien, while the elves are most commonly statted with Elven and Common, like in this scenario, so the seeming oddity is not unique.