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Starfinder Adventure Path #1: Incident at Absalom Station (Dead Suns 1 of 6)

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Starfinder Adventure Path #1: Incident at Absalom Station (Dead Suns 1 of 6)
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A Ship Without a Crew

When a brutal gang war breaks out on a docking bay in Absalom Station, the player characters are recruited by the Starfinder Society to investigate the unexpected bloodshed. Delving into the station’s seedy Spike neighborhoods, the heroes confront the gangs and discover that both were paid to start the riot and that the true conflict is between two rival mining companies battling over a new arrival in orbit around the station: a mysteriously deserted ship and the strange asteroid it recovered from the Drift. To head off further violence, the heroes are asked to investigate the ship and discover what happened to its crew, as well as the nature of the asteroid it tows. But what the players find there will set in motion events that could threaten the entirety of the Pact Worlds and change the face of the galaxy forever...

This volume of Starfinder Adventure Path launches the Dead Suns Adventure Path and includes:

  • "Incident at Absalom Station," a Starfinder adventure for 1st-level characters, by Robert G. McCreary.
  • A gazetteer of Absalom Station, by James L. Sutter.
  • Magical relics inspired by the lost planet Golarion, by Owen K.C. Stephens.
  • An archive of new alien creatures, by Jason Keeley and Robert G. McCreary.
  • Statistics and deck plans for a new starship designed just for the player characters, plus details on a new planet in the Codex of Worlds, by Robert G. McCreary.

ISBN-13: 978-1-60125-961-5

The Dead Suns Adventure Path is sanctioned for use in Starfinder Society Organized Play. The rules for running this Adventure Path and Chronicle sheet are available as a free download (1.7 MB PDF).

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3.60/5 (based on 28 ratings)

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5/5 —

A serviceable start

3/5 —

There's been a lot of words written about the Dead Suns AP as a whole. I don't want to rehash what other people have written, but here are my thoughts:

1. Requires buy-in from the players, no players guide - As it starts out almost as abruptly as Abomination Vaults for PF2. You're here to meet a dwarf about joining the SF Society, he gets murked, you get drawn into a conspiracy. If the players are disinterested, then no amount of begging by the Shirren SF Society contact is going to make them care.

2. Red Herrings - There's several red herrings floating around involving corporate bureaucratic infighting between a mining guild and a corporation over who gets to claim the Drift Rock that's never really elaborated upon and is honestly just a time-waster as there's no payoff for the group at all. I think it's better to excise this part entirely.

3. Another Red Herring - There's a character that you meet who basically disappears and is never mentioned again, except that your choice to complete the job or not complete the job may affect whether you get somebody's away message in the third AP. Was kind of disappointed.

4. The Ship Is A Deathtrap - Part 2 takes place on a derelict. Really cool, really spooky, except the players are marooned on this ship with no choice but to go forward. Good to chase the players up a tree, bad in that they probably were not prepared for this. My suggestion? Have an unethical space goblin/Wytchwyrd merchant dock with the derelict and offer medical services or consumables to the group. They will need them, if most peoples accounts of playing this AP are to be believed.

Disappointing

2/5 —

NO SPOILERS

Ok, here we go! The first adventure path for Starfinder, Dead Suns. I got to play it in a campaign that took a couple of years of biweekly sessions. My starting PC was a hyper-caffienated energy drink loving barathu envoy, B'rll'blub. He was great fun to play, but proved startlingly ineffective in combat and died later in the campaign--but it was through his eyes I first experienced what I'm reviewing today, Chapter 1: Incident at Absalom Station. In the flagged section below, I discuss the adventure in detail. My general thoughts might be summed up as: it's okay, but nothing spectacular, and with some encounters that aren't really fair to the PCs. Here in the "No Spoilers" section, however, I'm going to discuss everything in volume one that's not part of the adventure--the front and back matter.

[Cut for space: my hatred of the cover, and my description of the inside front and back covers and the author's foreword.]

The first piece of proper back matter is a twelve-page gazetteer of Absalom Station, the center for humanity in the Pact Worlds solar system (the main campaign setting for Starfinder). An interesting history is provided for the station, and I like how it cleverly integrates some concepts from Pathfinder (like the Starstone, some neighborhood names) while making it its own thing. Absalom Station is perhaps the most important location in the setting, as it holds the headquarters for the Pact Worlds government, the Starfinder Society, the Stalwarts (intergalactic peacekeepers), and more. It also serves as a natural starting location for adventures, and a probable home for PCs since it's a pretty multicultural place--a bit like Babylon 5. Although much of this information is probably replicated in the Pact Worlds hardcover, the gazetteer does a good job describing the different areas of the station and leaves a lot of room for GMs to customise as necessary for the adventure they want to tell. There are some "feel and flavour" elements that I think are missing--how do people get around (elevators? trams? vehicles?); what's it like for newcomers when they arrive (visas? security inspections? customs taxes?); and what laws are in place regarding weapons (frowned upon? side-arms only? everyone's got a rocket launcher?). This last issue in particular has proven problematic for a lot of gamers as it goes to varying real-world conceptions of what's normal for urban communities. As a complete aside, I can't help but note that the artwork of the dude on page 43 is *clearly* an intentional likeness of Jon Bernthal from Netflix's The Punisher!

Next up is "Relics of Golarion", a four-page-long collection of new magical items that have historical links to the now-missing planet. The writer clearly knew their Pathfinder lore, as there's a rich evocation of setting elements in the backstory to each item. In terms of actual usefulness, many of the items are too expensive or too high-level to be useful for most PCs, but I liked the falcon boots (allowing a PC to make a sort of personal gravity field so they can walk on walls or ceilings, even in Zero-G) and the (perhaps overpowered) chained weapon fusion which gives any melee weapon the reach property! I liked the section, though as a timing matter I think it was probably too soon and the space should have been devoted to making Starfinder more its own thing instead of tying it so closely to Pathfinder. New readers can be turned off if they feel they can't get the full story without playing an entirely different game.

A bestiary-style "Alien Archives" introduces 7 new creatures, with each receiving a page. The line-up is: akatas, bone troopers, driftdead, garaggakal, rauzhant, vracinea, and void zombies. The artwork is really strong here, though I don't see much in the way of creative ideas here (and a couple of just updates of Pathfinder monsters). Five of the seven appear in the adventure proper, which is a nice way to save word count there.

Finally, there's the "Codex of Worlds", a one-page description of a planet ripe for adventure that's located somewhere outside of the Pact Worlds system. This issue's entry is "Heicoron IV", an ocean planet with rival civilizations. Although they share a common ancestry, one has adopted to living on floating cities while the other has made the depths their home. There's a "first/early contact" situation for explorers. A classic SF concept that could have appeared (budget-willing) on Star Trek. It's not easy to design a world in one-page, but I liked what I saw with Heicoron IV.

The pattern established in this first issue of the AP persists in subsequent issues, with each including a setting element, a bestiary section, some player-facing character options, and a one-page new world. It's worth noting these volumes are also much shorter (just 64 pages each) compared to first edition Pathfinder APs, making them less of a value for the budget-conscious.

SPOILERS! (for the whole AP):

On to the adventure! This starts with a two-page campaign outline that offers the GM a rough idea of what's in store for the entire AP. In short, Dead Suns is going to be a planet-hopping adventure. The PCs start on Absalom Station in Chapter 1, head to Castrovel in Chapter 2, on to the Diaspora in Chapter 3, a gas giant in the Vast in Chapter 4, an artificial moon in Chapter 5, and then a massive Corpse Fleet flagship in Chapter 6. This is an AP meant to show off themes of space travel and exploration, not one about laying down roots or deep involvement with NPCs and communities. The plot itself concerns the lurking danger of an epic superweapon called the Death St--I mean, the Stellar Degenerator--capable of destroying entire worlds. I'll get more into that in reviews of later chapters.

Part 1 of Incident at Absalom Station is "Absalom Gang War." All of the PCs are meant to be new (or returning) visitors to Absalom Station interested in joining the Starfinder Society (an organisation devoted to exploration, scholarship, and first contact). That's a reasonable premise, but I *really* wish Starfinder did AP Player's Guides like Pathfinder does--they make great advertising tools and help players better immerse themselves in a campaign's premise.

Anyway, I think starting a campaign off with some drama and action is a wise choice, and that's what we get here, because the moment the PCs step off their shuttle and into the docking bay, they're caught in a firefight between two rival gangs! The Starfinder agent meant to show the group around (a dwarf named Duravor Kreel) is killed in the crossfire. I joked with my GM for months after because this is done in a heavy-handed way. Instead of Kreel being killed in the opening descriptive text (before the PCs can do anything), he's required to be killed in the first round of Initiative (no matter what the PCs do, and with no attack or damage roll required). But my PC had a rescue plan! Oh well . . .

With Kreel dead and the gang members dispatched (or fled), the PCs will eventually come into contact with the shirren Chiskisk, a higher-ranking member of the Starfinder Society. Chiskisk is concerned that perhaps Kreel's death wasn't simply a "wrong place at the wrong time" situation, and asks the group to investigate his death as a sort of audition to become members of the group. The investigation aspect is handled pretty well, I think, with five different columns for Gather Information results on different topics and lots of room for creative GMs to flavour how (or from whom) the PCs are getting the info. The PCs will quickly understand that the two gangs fighting in the docking bay (the "Downside Kings" and the "Level 21 Crew") were essentially proxies hired by two rival mining companies (the "Hardscrabble Collective" and "Astral Extractions"). The mining companies are enmeshed in a legal dispute over who gets to claim ownership of an asteroid-sized chunk of rock found in the Drift that had been towed back to Absalom Station by a mining survey ship named the Acreon. As all of the crew of the ship were dead on arrival, Absalom Station's authorities have placed the ship and the Drift rock into quarantine some distance from the station.

That info reveals what the gangs (and their mining company employers) were fighting over, but it doesn't yet explain the nature of Duravor Kreel's death. To get more answers, the PCs need to visit each gang's headquarters and see their leader. The adventure handles this part well, with diplomatic and violent approaches accounted for, and some good characterisation of the NPCs. Busting up gang members isn't exactly intergalactic SF action, but every Starfinder has to start somewhere! Assuming their investigation goes well, the PCs should learn that, in fact, Kreel was an intended victim by one of the gangs--he was a board member of the Hardscrabble Collective and so a hit was put out on him by Astral Extractions out of fear he would also get the Starfinder Society involved in the legal dispute. It's a mystery that has a satisfying conclusion, and gives the PCs an early sense of accomplishment.

Part 2 is "Ghost Ship." The PCs have a few days of downtime to explore and establish themselves on Absalom Station--something that's good for role-playing, even if the GM knows they won't be staying there long. They're then invited to a meeting with Ambassador Gevalarsk Nor, the necrovite (a type of undead) ambassador from Eox! Friendly chatting with evil undead is something some players will have difficulty swallowing, but the premise of Starfinder is that Eox is a full member of the Pact Worlds and that although some people find them distasteful or suspicious, they're generally treated decently. It definitely makes for an interesting meeting, as the PCs learn that the ambassador has an offer for them: he wants them to investigate the Acreon and the Drift rock, and report what they find. It turns out that Ambassador Nor is the mediator between the ongoing dispute over who should get to claim the rock. He's willing to pay well, and he offers additional payment if the PCs bring back to him personally a particular container in the ship's hold--though he won't reveal what's in it! I can't argue with a "What's in the box? Don't open the box!" mystery.

Assuming the PCs agree, they'll get their first taste of the game's starship combat rules. The shuttle they've been loaned is attacked by a single-seat interceptor piloted by an android assassin (hired by whichever mining company the PCs seemed most adverse to). I'm on the record as loathing starship combat in Starfinder, but at least this one is quick and easy, and serves as a straightforward introduction of the rules to players new to the game. As is often the case, I am annoyed that whether the PCs win or lose this starship combat, there are no real consequences, as the adventure assumes that the PCs take lifeboats to get on to the Drift rock (I have no idea why this "professional assassin" wouldn't just shoot down their lifeboats, and the adventure provides no explanation either).

Exploring the Acreon plays up to the classic science fiction "ghost ship" trope. The crew are either dead or vanished, and the PCs need to figure out what happened to them. Their investigation is hampered by the fact that some space goblins from Absalom Station broke into the quarantined ship earlier; I like how they can be simple foes to neutralize or made short-term hirelings (my group chose the latter option, because we needed all the help we could get!). The answer to what befell the ship's crew comes pretty quickly: the movie Alien. Here, they're "akatas", but they look and act very similar to Ripley's foes, complete with the egg-laying-in-human-host bit. Frankly, I wouldn't have minded an answer that was more creative and original. On the other hand, the "what's in the box?!" mystery has a great reveal. When I played, our group didn't open it because the Ambassador said not to and we wanted to get paid. But if a group does, they see there's a dead body inside--and the body opens its eyes and speaks! In short, the container contains an undead "bone trooper" who was being smuggled into Absalom Station by Ambassador Nor. This can turn into a combat or a role-playing encounter, but either way I think it's a creepy-fun answer.

Part 3 is "Phantoms of the Drift" and sees the PCs exploring the Drift rock itself. A well-concealed cave leads to a hidden complex of chambers with technology far in advance of what the Pact Worlds has. The PCs won't know this now (and even as a player, I never realised it until preparing this review), but the Drift rock is actually a small sheared-off portion of the Stellar Degenerator itself! While exploring, the PCs have to survive the android assassin who comes after them in person, some zombies (crew members from the Acreon infected by the akatas), a security robot, and more. They'll also be attacked by a driftdead (a new creature from the back matter's bestiary) that was once a space explorer named Moriko Nash--who died 75 years ago! It turns out Nash was the captain of a starship called the Sunrise Maiden that encountered the Drift rock decades before the Acreon. In a touching bit, the PCs find Nash's last recording that details her fate and gives an ominous warning that something is hunting her.

The PCs probably won't have realised it, but once they landed on the Drift rock and started exploring, their shuttle is remotely activated and flies back to Absalom Station, leading them stranded. This is a contrived (and to my mind execrable) excuse to force the PCs to find another way home. Of course, they'll find the Sunrise Maiden in a hangar bay, the ship intended to be their real home for the rest of the campaign (and the subject of the inside front and back cover). But first, they have to deal with what killed the ship's former captain.

The big boss of Incident at Absalom Station is a new monster called a garaggakal. It's a CR5 monster with a bite attack that does 2d6+9 damage, a special "Leech Life" attack that it can use (a limited number of times per day) to instantly do 5d6 damage that it then gains as temporary hit points, and an EAC/KAC high enough that PCs will probably hit it only 25% of the time. Oh, and if PCs barricade themselves in a room somewhere to rest and heal, it can pass through walls to get them! In short, it's a TPK waiting to happen, as evidenced by several posts in the forum. My experience as a player was exactly the same, although the GM took pity on us and had it act in ways that allowed us to eventually beat it. Frankly, I'd rather suffer a TPK than get a pity win. But in any event, placing the garaggakal there was a terrible decision idea by the adventure writer. I guess I can chalk it up to the difficulties with appropriately scaling difficulty in a brand new game, but I feel like just eyeballing what it can do versus what four average Level 2 PCs can do shows it's likely to be a big problem that leaves a sour taste in the mouth moving forward. And that's where the adventure concludes--there's not an epilogue, because the action starts up immediately in the next volume of the AP, right when the PCs leave the Drift rock.

Overall, both as a player and a reader, I felt some disappointment with Incident at Absalom Station. There were some bits I really enjoyed (the investigation and dealing with the ambassador, for example), but the plot afterwards was pretty basic: a ghost ship followed by a space-dungeon crawl that I've seen a million times, in Starfinder Society scenarios and elsewhere. I was hoping that the first AP for the game would really hit things out of the park (like Rise of the Runelords) did for Pathfinder, but that just isn't the case. And the big boss encounter made it clear that the writers' expectations of what an average group can do is not realistic.

Good starting adventure, but not that good intro

3/5 —

So I'm having bit of problem with these reviews because I'm doing them while running the final book, so by now players' reactions and such isn't super fresh in my mind :p But at least my impressions have had time to age.

The adventures premise of "your contact got killed that ropes you into plot between two factions competing for same thing" and gags involved in it IS interesting.... But have no relevance to rest of the plot at all, so it all feels kind of... Irrelevant?

If Dead Suns is structured like a scifi action adventure movie, this book is essentially pre credit roll intro thing. Like Indiana Jones stea- err finding that golden idol and having it stolen by his evil counterpart. Except instead of lasting 5-10 minutes, it lasts for one sixth of the story.

(that said, actual adventure is fun, I like use of akata and stuff in the drift rock in itself, but its weak overall plotwise when you look at the ap as whole. It does have interesting stuff like potential enemy you can turn to friend and I do like idea of drift rock's discovery setting you up on grand journey. Though this book has several moments of straight up railroading that feels unnecessary or like if it could have been written around differently)

P.S. Gevalarsk Nor is the best npc of this ap. I do find it bit of mixed bag in how its kept secret for gm what his subplot is actually about, but I do like it you can reasonable figure it out by paying close attention through entire ap.

I expected so much more from Paizo then this...

2/5 —

While I generally do not play published adventures, Incident at Absalom Station is exactly WHY I don't play published adventures.

Without spoiling too much of the plot, IaAS is a railroady, contrived adventure that tries to be a murder-mystery but was written by someone who clearly had no idea how to write a murder-mystery.

The book kicks off with the players being newly recruited Starfinder Society members that arrive only to see their Society contact get gunned down in front of them. What follows is a paint-by-numbers story of corporate intrigue that drags on for much longer then it needs to be. Five minutes of dice rolling and roleplaying, and most intelligent players will have found both the main suspect and the motive. But because the writing is contrived, the party still has to trudge through largely pointless filler and no, you cannot call on the Starfinder Society to help speed things up (remind me why we joined these guys again?)

After the initial mystery resolves itself with an unsatisfying bit of Deus Ex Machina, we get to the second half of the adventure, a fairly standard dungeon crawl. Other then the fact that the encounters as written are not balanced for a standard party of four level two adventurers, this actually isn't all that bad. And yes, there is errata available that makes the dungeon encounters more manageable. That one was on us.

I will not elaborate on the ending other then it is fittingly unsatisfying for an adventure that had little player agency and was horribly contrived almost from the get-go. For a company that had been writing adventures for 14 years before Dead Suns dropped, Paizo's first outing into the Pact Worlds should have been better then this.

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Luke Spencer wrote:
Elebrian is the actual species name for Eoxians, like the Brethedans, their actual name is the Barathu.

Yep. Since they're going to start developing all of the worlds they couldn't let just one of the species of the planet have the planet's name. Too awkward and clunky.

Scarab Sages Starfinder Design Lead
5 people marked this as a favorite.

Anyone who lives on Eox -- undead, human, hyper intelligence shade of blue -- is an Eoxian. That's about where you are from.

If you are a member of the species of humanoids that were once the majority of the native inhabitants, you're an elebrian.

I mean the Haan are technically Brethedans and Triaxian could be either the furry dudes or the dragonkin so yeah it makes sense to start specifying.
Rysky the Dark Solarion wrote:
Just because something is legal does not make it okay, is what I was getting at.

What makes it not OK? If I want to go into a bloody duel with someone else and they also want to duel me, both of us knowing that we'll just get healed after no matter how much of our undead guts are spilled, what's wrong with that?

Paizo Employee Franchise Manager
11 people marked this as a favorite.

It also means that we can release our races into the OGL without needing to tiptoe around our planet names being product identity. If 3PP can't refer to basic races because they're named after stuff that isn't open content, that's not useful for anyone.
1 person marked this as a favorite.
IonutRO wrote:
Rysky the Dark Solarion wrote:
Just because something is legal does not make it okay, is what I was getting at.
What makes it not OK? If I want to go into a bloody duel with someone else and they also want to duel me, both of us knowing that we'll just get healed after no matter how much of our undead guts are spilled, what's wrong with that?

Okay, none of this has to do with the book at hand and should be taken elsewhere. :-)

I'm curious, in the last section at the end of the book a new race is mentioned, will that race be statted as a playable race/just an enemy in Alien Archive or other books?
Paizo Employee Developer
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Luke Spencer wrote:
I'm curious, in the last section at the end of the book a new race is mentioned, will that race be statted as a playable race/just an enemy in Alien Archive or other books?

The woiokos mentioned in the Codex of Worlds? They actually get a full write up (including racial stats) in Dead Suns #2!

Jason Keeley wrote:
Luke Spencer wrote:
I'm curious, in the last section at the end of the book a new race is mentioned, will that race be statted as a playable race/just an enemy in Alien Archive or other books?
The woiokos mentioned in the Codex of Worlds? They actually get a full write up (including racial stats) in Dead Suns #2!

Cool thanks! Didn't wanna be too specific and spoil anything.

1 person marked this as a favorite.

If I end up running this path (pbp or otherwise), I'll probably end up inventing an aide character to the Eoxian ambassador who has to do this job to provide for his family back on Eox but is otherwise helpful and friendly to the PCs.
4 people marked this as a favorite.
Ventnor wrote:
If I end up running this path (pbp or otherwise), I'll probably end up inventing an aide character to the Eoxian ambassador who has to do this job to provide for his family back on Eox but is otherwise helpful and friendly to the PCs.

You just made me imagine eoxian family units based on strong friendships and adoptions and it's really cute in my head.

Liberty's Edge
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Rysky the Dark Solarion wrote:
KingOfAnything wrote:
They abide by the Pact Worlds' list of universal rights for sentient creatures. So, I still don't see how they qualify as monstrous.
How they came to be, what they did to the Twins, the torture games they broadcast throughout the Pact worlds.

Weren't the Twins conquered by the Malebranche at this point, and Eox facing conquer by Farfarello? seems more like foolish desperation than pure evilness to me

Luke Spencer wrote:
Elebrian is the actual species name for Eoxians, like the Brethedans, their actual name is the Barathu.

I wonder what an Elebrian would look like if they were hit by a True Resurection. Or some other spell that turned them from Undead to living.

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David knott 242 wrote:

...

So the Eoxians have been reliable allies of the non-evil Pact Worlds races for over two (nearly three) centuries, while the Vesk have been allies for only a quarter century or so -- but nobody is talking about attacking Vesk on sight, even though there are probably more people in setting who are willing to do that than there are people who would smite Eoxians on sight.

As a point of comparison, I cannot think of any real world nations who have been allies for as long as the Eoxians and the other Pact Worlds planets have been.

The Anglo-Portuguese Alliance between Portugal and England is the oldest alliance in the world that is still in force at a little over 600 years (one date gives 644 years, while a ratified date gives 631 years).

<edit> There was a brief spell (about 60 years) when Portugal was unified under Spain, who was not particularly friendly with England at the time. However, the alliance was reconfirmed after the Restoration War, so all's well. ^^

And now you know!
Paladinosaur wrote:
Rysky the Dark Solarion wrote:
KingOfAnything wrote:
They abide by the Pact Worlds' list of universal rights for sentient creatures. So, I still don't see how they qualify as monstrous.
How they came to be, what they did to the Twins, the torture games they broadcast throughout the Pact worlds.
Weren't the Twins conquered by the Malebranche at this point, and Eox facing conquer by Farfarello? seems more like foolish desperation than pure evilness to me

Where's that mentioned at?

2 people marked this as a favorite.
Luna Protege wrote:
Luke Spencer wrote:
Elebrian is the actual species name for Eoxians, like the Brethedans, their actual name is the Barathu.
I wonder what an Elebrian would look like if they were hit by a True Resurection. Or some other spell that turned them from Undead to living.

Two words, Mars Attacks.

Liberty's Edge
3 people marked this as a favorite.
Rysky the Dark Solarion wrote:
Paladinosaur wrote:
Rysky the Dark Solarion wrote:
KingOfAnything wrote:
They abide by the Pact Worlds' list of universal rights for sentient creatures. So, I still don't see how they qualify as monstrous.
How they came to be, what they did to the Twins, the torture games they broadcast throughout the Pact worlds.
Weren't the Twins conquered by the Malebranche at this point, and Eox facing conquer by Farfarello? seems more like foolish desperation than pure evilness to me
Where's that mentioned at?

F. Wesley Schneider confirmed that Scarmiglione and Draghignazzo were the Malebranche responsible for the twins, and their descriptions imply that they were successful in their conquest.

As for Farfarello,

Inner Sea Gods wrote:
"A specter of evil who haunts a land of the dead, the malebranche known as Farfarello (sometimes referred to as Farafello) has seen his conquest delayed by death, but not denied."

I always assumed it was Eox.

Sovereign Court Starfinder Creative Lead
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Luna Protege wrote:
Luke Spencer wrote:
Elebrian is the actual species name for Eoxians, like the Brethedans, their actual name is the Barathu.
I wonder what an Elebrian would look like if they were hit by a True Resurection. Or some other spell that turned them from Undead to living.

You'll get the chance in Starfinder AP #3: Splintered Worlds!

Spoiler:
Not a resurrected elebrian, but a full Alien Archives entry for living elebrians, including art!
Paladinosaur wrote:
Rysky the Dark Solarion wrote:
Paladinosaur wrote:
Rysky the Dark Solarion wrote:
KingOfAnything wrote:
They abide by the Pact Worlds' list of universal rights for sentient creatures. So, I still don't see how they qualify as monstrous.
How they came to be, what they did to the Twins, the torture games they broadcast throughout the Pact worlds.
Weren't the Twins conquered by the Malebranche at this point, and Eox facing conquer by Farfarello? seems more like foolish desperation than pure evilness to me
Where's that mentioned at?

F. Wesley Schneider confirmed that Scarmiglione and Draghignazzo were the Malebranche responsible for the twins, and their descriptions imply that they were successful in their conquest.

As for Farfarello,

Inner Sea Gods wrote:
"A specter of evil who haunts a land of the dead, the malebranche known as Farfarello (sometimes referred to as Farafello) has seen his conquest delayed by death, but not denied."
I always assumed it was Eox.

Draghignazzo's writeup could mean a couple of things, not that he himself destroyed one or both of the Twins.

*shows up*

*planet gets blown up*

"oh, well that was easy"

The fact that he's dreaming of Hell rather than returning after all this time probably means he was actually, or comepletely, responsible for the destruction. The Malebranche could have played a part in the war, but I do not believe they're the ones who pulled the trigger.
Robert G. McCreary wrote:
Luna Protege wrote:
Luke Spencer wrote:
Elebrian is the actual species name for Eoxians, like the Brethedans, their actual name is the Barathu.
I wonder what an Elebrian would look like if they were hit by a True Resurection. Or some other spell that turned them from Undead to living.

You'll get the chance in Starfinder AP #3: Splintered Worlds!

** spoiler omitted **

They still have those?

Interesting...
Sovereign Court
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Who did you think inhabited the Halls of the Living?
KingOfAnything wrote:
Who did you think inhabited the Halls of the Living?

I said "still" for a reason :3

Robert G. McCreary wrote:
Luna Protege wrote:
Luke Spencer wrote:
Elebrian is the actual species name for Eoxians, like the Brethedans, their actual name is the Barathu.
I wonder what an Elebrian would look like if they were hit by a True Resurection. Or some other spell that turned them from Undead to living.

You'll get the chance in Starfinder AP #3: Splintered Worlds!

** spoiler omitted **

Spoiler:
But will there be stats for playable undead? :P
Pathfinder Starfinder Society Subscriber

Have there been any references yet to the nuar race as anything other than a significant minority of the population of Absalom Station?

Is this sold out?
Wrathgar_The_Warlord wrote:
Is this sold out?

Yes. It's on backorder

See staff post here
SaraMarie's post
Scarab Sages

How many PCs is this AP intended for?
Tambryn wrote:
How many PCs is this AP intended for?

Four.

Silver Crusade
Luna Protege wrote:
Luke Spencer wrote:
Elebrian is the actual species name for Eoxians, like the Brethedans, their actual name is the Barathu.
I wonder what an Elebrian would look like if they were hit by a True Resurection. Or some other spell that turned them from Undead to living.

It declines to accept the Resurrection and stays undead.

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Dean HS Jones wrote:
Luna Protege wrote:
Luke Spencer wrote:
Elebrian is the actual species name for Eoxians, like the Brethedans, their actual name is the Barathu.
I wonder what an Elebrian would look like if they were hit by a True Resurection. Or some other spell that turned them from Undead to living.

It declines to accept the Resurrection and stays undead.

Does Starfinder resurrection still have a time limit? We aren't exactly fresh, you know.

Necrovegemite wrote:
Dean HS Jones wrote:
Luna Protege wrote:
Luke Spencer wrote:
Elebrian is the actual species name for Eoxians, like the Brethedans, their actual name is the Barathu.
I wonder what an Elebrian would look like if they were hit by a True Resurection. Or some other spell that turned them from Undead to living.

It declines to accept the Resurrection and stays undead.

Does Starfinder resurrection still have a time limit? We aren't exactly fresh, you know.

Yep.

Silver Crusade
Necrovegemite wrote:
Dean HS Jones wrote:
Luna Protege wrote:
Luke Spencer wrote:
Elebrian is the actual species name for Eoxians, like the Brethedans, their actual name is the Barathu.
I wonder what an Elebrian would look like if they were hit by a True Resurection. Or some other spell that turned them from Undead to living.

It declines to accept the Resurrection and stays undead.

Does Starfinder resurrection still have a time limit? We aren't exactly fresh, you know.

A Technomancer could spellfuse 2 level 6 slots and Wish you back to life with no time limit.

Dean HS Jones wrote:
Necrovegemite wrote:
Dean HS Jones wrote:
Luna Protege wrote:
Luke Spencer wrote:
Elebrian is the actual species name for Eoxians, like the Brethedans, their actual name is the Barathu.
I wonder what an Elebrian would look like if they were hit by a True Resurection. Or some other spell that turned them from Undead to living.

It declines to accept the Resurrection and stays undead.

Does Starfinder resurrection still have a time limit? We aren't exactly fresh, you know.
A Technomancer could spellfuse 2 level 6 slots and Wish you back to life with no time limit.

Using wish for that is entirely up to GM discretion, as "bring someone back to life no matter how long they've been dead" is not one of the stated abilities for it that players can simply perform without the GM okaying it.

Grand Lodge

I may have missed it but is this adventure path like Pathfinder's where is it's written for four PCs?
Beardsmith wrote:
I may have missed it but is this adventure path like Pathfinder's where is it's written for four PCs?

That's correct.

Scarab Sages
Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories, PF Special Edition Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber; Starfinder Superscriber
Luke Spencer wrote:
Beardsmith wrote:
I may have missed it but is this adventure path like Pathfinder's where is it's written for four PCs?
That's correct.

Also worth noting:
The ship the PCs gain at the end of the adventure has a max capacity of 6.
Dark Archive
logic_poet wrote:
Luke Spencer wrote:
Beardsmith wrote:
I may have missed it but is this adventure path like Pathfinder's where is it's written for four PCs?
That's correct.
** spoiler omitted **

Ye, its nice that APs usually have in written things that allow them to be played with either six players or 4 players plus 2 npc allies.

Dark Archive
Duiker wrote:


Yes, but there's also a signaling problem. I was very excited about being a charter subscriber for Starfinder when I assumed it would be an AP of the same basic length and parameters as Pathfinder. But to find out that it's 64 pages every other month instead of 96 every month? That signals that they do not have faith

As someone who owns more the a few APs, im glad its shorter. Most of whats after the adventure i didnt care too much about. The short stories in 6 parts are worthless too me.

As long as the adventure length is roughly the same, and they can put a planet or ship or couple alien life forms at the end, im good.
Scarab Sages Starfinder Design Lead
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David knott 242 wrote:

Have there been any references yet to the nuar race as anything other than a significant minority of the population of Absalom Station?

They're in Alien Archive.

Pathfinder Adventure, Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Maps, PF Special Edition, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Maps, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
carmachu wrote:
Duiker wrote:


Yes, but there's also a signaling problem. I was very excited about being a charter subscriber for Starfinder when I assumed it would be an AP of the same basic length and parameters as Pathfinder. But to find out that it's 64 pages every other month instead of 96 every month? That signals that they do not have faith

As someone who owns more the a few APs, im glad its shorter. Most of whats after the adventure i didnt care too much about. The short stories in 6 parts are worthless too me.

As long as the adventure length is roughly the same, and they can put a planet or ship or couple alien life forms at the end, im good.

The backmatter is about the same size as recent Pathfinder APs (i.e. without the short story). The Starfinder APs have about 32 pages of adventure and 32 pages of backmatter. This may be adjusted in the future as the line matures.

Rysky the Dark Solarion wrote:
Necrovegemite wrote:
Dean HS Jones wrote:
Luna Protege wrote:
Luke Spencer wrote:
Elebrian is the actual species name for Eoxians, like the Brethedans, their actual name is the Barathu.
I wonder what an Elebrian would look like if they were hit by a True Resurection. Or some other spell that turned them from Undead to living.

It declines to accept the Resurrection and stays undead.

Does Starfinder resurrection still have a time limit? We aren't exactly fresh, you know.
Yep.

Isn't the time limit about the soul being processed through the boneyard? Wouldn't an intelligent undead like that not count for that?

Liberty's Edge
1 person marked this as a favorite.
Duiker wrote:


Yes, but there's also a signaling problem. I was very excited about being a charter subscriber for Starfinder when I assumed it would be an AP of the same basic length and parameters as Pathfinder. But to find out that it's 64 pages every other month instead of 96 every month? That signals that they do not have faith in this product, because they are only putting enough resources into it to produce a very small fraction of what they do for Pathfinder.

There are a number of responses to your observation earlier in this thread. For the most part, they aren't wrong.

That said, neither are you; you are correct. That is what prudence and caution looks like; tentative is the pitch of that signal.

For my part, the every-other-month aspect of the AP is forgivable. The 64 page decision layered on top of that is not. And yes, it really is a problem.

We have an AP volume that I've read cover to cover five times over the past week. I've been working on significant ways of lengthening it - because it is plainly too short. That doesn't make it bad. It's mostly pretty good, actually.

But it is too short and pretending it isn't does everyone a disservice.

Starfinder, unexpectedly, has an XP track that has abandoned the Medium Track and has reverted to the Fast Track (and only the Fast Track) in part to cover up the fact that an AP volume is ~32-33 pages of adventure, instead of ~48-50. Without that change to the Fast Track, the Dead Suns AP would only go to about 10th level - instead of ~12th it should reach by the end of it.

So some of those are not particularly happy (nor welcomed) observations.

For all of that, I am bullish about Starfinder and quite excited about it. I have enjoyed reading it and I have enjoyed looking forward to it, too. I have enjoyed appreciating the growing support among Pathfinder players the game is plainly receiving.

And yes, I have enjoyed seeing hard copies sell out and demand surpassing prudent expectations. I wish Paizo nothing but success.

And yes, I think Starfinder is going to be a bona fide hit. I expect we will all hear of epic lines at Gencon 50 - and a sellout of all (or nearly all) Starfinder branded product by Paizo at Gencon should come as no surprise.

I do, however, very much wish that Paizo had not made the 64 page decision on the size format of the AP volumes. Easy to say when they are starting to sell out. Commercial hindsight is always 20/20. Risk isn't though - and the risk was theirs to take, not ours.

So for now at least, we live with it.

I figure i've seen enough Star Trek and Futurama episodes to make stuff up if we blow through the first book. :-)
Sovereign Court
Pathfinder Starfinder Society Subscriber

I'll be watching the SFS line for easily transferable content.
1 person marked this as a favorite.
Troodos wrote:
Rysky the Dark Solarion wrote:
Necrovegemite wrote:
Dean HS Jones wrote:
Luna Protege wrote:
Luke Spencer wrote:
Elebrian is the actual species name for Eoxians, like the Brethedans, their actual name is the Barathu.
I wonder what an Elebrian would look like if they were hit by a True Resurection. Or some other spell that turned them from Undead to living.

It declines to accept the Resurrection and stays undead.

Does Starfinder resurrection still have a time limit? We aren't exactly fresh, you know.
Yep.
Isn't the time limit about the soul being processed through the boneyard? Wouldn't an intelligent undead like that not count for that?

They might have changed that for Starfinder *shrugs*

I received my subscription today. Very excited to see what Paizo can do with scifi!!

I started my subscription Saturday. Should I have received the first part of the AP by now? I'm concerned my subscription somehow started with the second installment.
Silver Crusade
Rimethorn wrote:
I started my subscription Saturday. Should I have received the first part of the AP by now? I'm concerned my subscription somehow started with the second installment.

Seeing as how Dead Suns 1 is sold out if you subscribed Saturday it might be a bit before you get your copy.

Rimethorn wrote:
I started my subscription Saturday. Should I have received the first part of the AP by now? I'm concerned my subscription somehow started with the second installment.

They sold out of AP1 so things are a little more complicated for you (and you'll need to jump through some hoops).

Sara Marie sets things out in this post.

Now that you've started your subscription with AP2 you need to start a thread in the customer service forum, call them on 425-250-0800 or email them at customer.service@paizo.com and let them know you want your subscription to be backdated to AP1. (You need to do this by September 28th). Then you have two choices:

1. Wait until AP1 comes back in stock, at which point it will ship to you and you'll get the free PDF then (this is likely to be after you've received AP2).

2. Buy the PDF to AP1 on or after August 17th. Once your subscription backorder of AP1 ships in a few months, you can then ask Customer Service to credit you for the purchase price (this will be in the form of store credit).
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Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber
Steel_Wind wrote:

For my part, the every-other-month aspect of the AP is forgivable. The 64 page decision layered on top of that is not. And yes, it really is a problem.

We have an AP volume that I've read cover to cover five times over the past week. I've been working on significant ways of lengthening it - because it is plainly too short. That doesn't make it bad. It's mostly pretty good, actually.

But it is too short and pretending it isn't does everyone a disservice.

Too short by what measure? Personally, I don't mind, actually that the adventures are shorter than what we are used from Pathfinder APs. I'd be happy if an AP isn't a two-year commitment for my group.

But how can an adventure be too short by an absolute measure, especially when it's just one of six parts? That just doesn't make any sense to me.

Also, don't you think that calling the publication schedule "unforgivable" is maybe a bit harsh?
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