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On the playtest tracking sheets, it lists Empires Devoured as three chapters. However, Empires Devoured is four chapters. How does this work for reporting? Are players and GMs not receiving credit for chapter four of Empires Devoured? The way I read the pacing, it looks like 2 and 3 will run together. There is an Advancement Track on page 5 that follows the 1, 2+3, 4 plan. YMMV based on party composition and how long part 2 takes.
I think my favorite part of running this one was the look on my player's faces when I told them what they were talking to at the pyramid. The more invested they were in Pathfinder lore the more shock and awe they had. That and briefly reducing a PC to a puddle of barely sentient goo.
I just ran this twice at SkalCon. The gravity isn't much of an issue in archive, but it sure was in area B. Both tables low tier so they appreciated the low gravity to get up and down the cliffs quickly. For planets in the Pact Worlds and Near Space, I just tell players up front the basic stats (Length of Day and Year, Gravity, Atmosphere) and that helps them and me remember if the planet they're on is weird. For first contacts in the Vast I ask for a Computers check to scan the planet. As long as someone is trained they get the important stuff so there are rarely surprises. This one is pretty straight forward and covers many of the same themes of dread and genocidal robots that came up in 7-01. Part 1 will take more time that you think as the party can freely explore and wander around.
Hands are one of the three things that worry me about SF2 Vs PF2. The others of course are large size and easy flight. All three challenge some of the basic operating assumptions in a fantasy game. Sure you can hold all the things but with the 3 action economy and MAP prevent you from using all of them at once. Can there be a feat tree that eventually lets a skittermander "6 gun mojo?" Sure why not. We are also in playtest mode. All the cool toys are waiting in future books at this point. The corner case of using multiple heavy weapons feels like an easy fix. Just say they are too bulky and you can't do it. Spending an action to change which hands are primary does feel off to me but I'm not sure. We do have the "change grip" action for combination weapons, maybe start there. I know its from Guns and Gears but an ORC version is likely in the works. Combo weapons (maze core?) let you have extra weapons in the same hands. Not sure how different that is from extra weapons in different hands. The d20 assumption has always been if the weapon or item is held in the correct number of hands it is ready to use. Not all games have that built in. Mostly thinking out loud here.
Using two hands to reload while you raise a shield seems logical to me. Having only two arms, it's hard to visualize the coordination that takes. I think the issue the Developers are trying to avoid is using multiple hands as an excuse to get extra actions. Yes you can (eventually) draw a sword, rifle, fire extinguisher, and flashlight. What you can't do is use them all at once. There may be some minor things inactive hands can do. I can easily see a feat chain for this with multi armed ancestries. As you gain more feats you get more coordinated. Raise a Shield, later on Reload, eventually multiarmed hacking or reduced full attack penalties. So many possibilities.
If I'm reading this right, at the start of your turn you make a flat check of 10+glitching value. This means you can never exceed the flat check by 10, the only way to reduce it is to get a natural 20. Or is this one that drops by one on its own? I'm guessing most effects that cause glitching have a duration like the Operative's Sabotage. But then the Machine Saboteur feat doesn't have a duration. Maybe a Crafting check to reduce the value would be appropriate (DC set by item level and glitching value). It is entirely possible my poor system knowledge of PF2 (especially post remaster) means I have missed something.
Some characters have telepathy or sign language. Or you can text with your comm unit?But what are the difficulties? I'm not aware of environmental protections limiting things like talking to people, or have I missed something? The people on planet are described as wearing respirators, not full modern armor with life support and comms built in. Texting should work, but its slow. Telepathy is the easy answer and lots of species get it. I would let "comprehend language" to work on the signed versions.
I just realized the only eligible 1-4 level voter I have is the one who only cares about hunting for cultists of the Great Old Ones! Total single issue voter. I wonder if anyone will win him over As a single issue, that's a really good one. Most, maybe all except my 702, are on board. Good thing I have a number of low tier GM babies to put this credit on.
I was going to have any companion creatures / drones become other cute critters. A dragonfly for a hover drone, snapping turtle for a combat drone, etc. As for wireless hacking, its not like there are visible terminals to manipulate. On the other paw they are IN a computerized system so it might be able to do something. Maybe during the Escape sequence it could negate a hazard, then the boss turns the class feature off so they can't use that cheat again. No scenario can anticipate every possible class feature combo so your best judgement at the table will be fine.
Might need this. Haven't bought any of the PF2 pawns (I have sooooo many from 1st ed) but I really want to run this one. There is something from the video game that seems to be missing. Optional Boss:
No Lantern King? My first playthrough I ended up fighting him, mostly out of spite. As this is a Pawn Box, are there bases?
Can confirm about the length. I was worried I'd have to cut the mech fight , which would be very sad. The extremists Vs resistance did give me some Rogue One vibes. Shooting stormtroopers is one thing, blowing up the bistro where they eat off duty is something else entirely. The actual traitor does the cyanide capsule thing while the patsy can be saved and turned around. That goes back to length. There is a lot of room to RP in this one. After each event the players get more info and clues. I did try to nudge them into accusing someone before the Shrike, really didn't want the ixtii to die off camera. It would have saved some time as Nate called it during my descriptions of the inner circle.
Also, building a colossal mech out of Lego will certainly draw attention to your table. Kind of sad the mech encounter feels bolted on. My players wanted to know where the big boss came from, my assumption was that it landed in the "some of something else." I old the players that the cat-mechs and robots were built based on reverse engineering the ceramic mesh on the big mech. If the scenario author reads this, was there another species that tried to help the pahtra against the Vesk before / during the Gap? That was certainly my impression but I could be mistaken.
I found a glitch in the Description Vs Art category. Of Miiyu's inner circle there are two pahtra, a vlaka, and a ixtii. That last one threw me for a loop, until I remembered that Envar jerk. The art in line with the text appears correct, the headshots in Appendix 3 switch Alfey and Vokuvi. Heads up for those making handouts to go with the investigation portion.
From a recent blog post "PaizoCon GM selections will close this Saturday, April 9; after this point, GM schedules can only be changed with the organizing committee’s approval. Player signups will open to GMs on Wednesday, April 13th; to Warhorn VIPs on April 15; and to all players on April 16. Unfortunately I have no new information to share on badge sales; please email paizocon@paizo.com with any such questions." Unless something changes, April 16th is still the day most players can pick games.
So I somehow had the party manage to complete the scenario meeting both primary and secondary success conditions without actually getting the big reveal. Was this meant to be possible. It would have been nice in that case (not failing the scenario) for them to have been told about Historia-Prime by Guidance, Celita, or some other SF leader during the debrief at the end, since they had all the piece just weren't able to put them together. Maybe? The biggest parts of the backstory are carefully tucked behind Trained-Only skill checks (Culture). The party blows the perception roll that Hope-01 looks like the big statue. No PC played 1-38, player knowledge of what happened there will let them fill in gaps even if the character wouldn't know. Hope-01 is can't / won't just plot dump on the players (though I let a few things slip when I ran this). I doubt it was meant to be possible. No author / editor can ensure that every scenario will work as designed when a random group of characters is tossed into it. I was a bit disappointed at the conclusion on this one. Some officer or Guidance itself explaining about H-Prime would have been nice. This being a tier 1-4, is likely to have newer players who don't know about that plot line from season 1.
The maps in mine have the name and scale. Only the first has highlights of wear enemies start and the airlock trap. None mark were PCs start. At 3-4 and a full table area A1 is going to be SUPER crowded. For A3, the adventure text make me think its the east room, the critter in that alcove just under the compass rose. Its described as a power cell that the creature is laying near for heat. The attached image files of the map tiles assembled have no tags at all to make them easy to import into a VTT.
This is definitely a weird one. I guess the party could just not follow up on the transmission. Mission Fail or play something else? It looks like its possible to do this without firing a shot. That usually means quick, or lots of room for role play depending on the group. The airlock trap is mean, it would need to roll a 1 to miss most PC's and that's a ton of damage for either tier. Considering that may be the only damage they take its not so bad. The save called for is fortitude evasion only works with reflex. That and the first possible fight is in the very next room, no chance for a 10 minute rest unless you talk Avid Dreamer down. This looks very susceptible to the "Wrong Party" problem. Without a Face you will get every combat. No Techies and they miss all but the first and maybe last handouts. I have a hard time thinking a group would actually wipe the hard drive. Unless the defenses really beat up the party and they "c:/reformat c" out of spite. Looks like fun with the right players. Running it at SkalCon, Halloween weekend.
We finished a few weeks ago. Because of the obol allowing a player to accept someone else's damage, two PC's survived. The NPC paladin lived long enough to grant the PC's a smite then fell to splash damage and daemon. TB saw the NPC cleric tossing ranged healing at the party and did the mythic disintegrate trick on said healer (poof). I think the fight went 6-7 rounds. Our monk had to turn off power attack for the third time in the campaign (only slightly joking). None of the PCs dropped until the bomb went off, mostly due to the use of channels and a few Heal spells. Between our scaled fist monk and gunslinger they eventually got TB down to his morale threshold. I figure the gunslinger who walked away from the blast with the Horns has a few weeks to get drinks off the story before TB comes to collect. Quick question, is the halfling scout who died at Hammer Rock related to Janira from the Pathfinder Society?
All I can say is that certain things done in the Pathfinder Special will activate conditions in the Starfinder Special. And this one has no Starship tag which will make certain people happy.
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