paizo.com Recent Reviews of Starfinder Society Scenario #1-04: Cries From the Driftpaizo.com Recent Reviews of Starfinder Society Scenario #1-04: Cries From the Drift2023-10-25T00:21:32Z2023-10-25T00:21:32ZStarfinder Society Scenario #1-04: Cries From the Drift: A Short and Sweet/Enjoyable Scenario with a Minor Suggestion (5 stars)jrock9430https://paizo.com/products/btpy9wes?Starfinder-Society-Scenario-104-Cries-From-the-Drift2020-05-10T23:08:16Z<p><b>Starfinder Society Scenario #1-04: Cries From the Drift</b></p><p>I played #1-04: Cries from the Draft on 5/09/2020, Low Subtier with 6-players total.</p>
<p>Note: there are lite spoilers in this review.</p>
<p>Story:
<br />
The story was short and sweet with a very interesting starship combat encounter that was more like a contest. I especially enjoyed the puzzles in the starship crawl, and the lore surrounding the mission.</p>
<p>Minor Suggestion:
<br />
With 6 PCS, the dangers were minimal. More enemies would have made combat more challenging and exciting; however the turrets were great.</p><p><b>Starfinder Society Scenario #1-04: Cries From the Drift</b></p><p>I played #1-04: Cries from the Draft on 5/09/2020, Low Subtier with 6-players total.</p>
<p>Note: there are lite spoilers in this review.</p>
<p>Story:
<br />
The story was short and sweet with a very interesting starship combat encounter that was more like a contest. I especially enjoyed the puzzles in the starship crawl, and the lore surrounding the mission.</p>
<p>Minor Suggestion:
<br />
With 6 PCS, the dangers were minimal. More enemies would have made combat more challenging and exciting; however the turrets were great.</p>jrock94302020-05-10T23:08:16ZStarfinder Society Scenario #1-04: Cries From the Drift (5 stars)Jessica Catalanhttps://paizo.com/products/btpy9wes?Starfinder-Society-Scenario-104-Cries-From-the-Drift2019-01-31T17:52:07Z<p>I thoroughly loved this scenario, but be warned, this one is NOT for the squeamish. It features body horror, gore and suspense. Because this scenario really benefits from all players being surprised, I won’t be saying anything else about the events contained within. What I will say is that I enjoyed everything about it and had no issues as either a player or GM. I also enjoyed that it connects to lots of other adventures in a tangential fashion.</p><p>I thoroughly loved this scenario, but be warned, this one is NOT for the squeamish. It features body horror, gore and suspense. Because this scenario really benefits from all players being surprised, I won’t be saying anything else about the events contained within. What I will say is that I enjoyed everything about it and had no issues as either a player or GM. I also enjoyed that it connects to lots of other adventures in a tangential fashion.</p>Jessica Catalan2019-01-31T17:52:07ZStarfinder Society Scenario #1-04: Cries From the Drift (5 stars)Woranhttps://paizo.com/products/btpy9wes?Starfinder-Society-Scenario-104-Cries-From-the-Drift2019-01-21T08:07:48Z<p>No spoilers.</p>
<p>A very fun space combat with an interesting set up and very interesting opponents. I really enjoyed it.</p>
<p>The exploration of the ship is very creepy, and gives both players and GMs the chance to turn it up to 11.</p><p>No spoilers.</p>
<p>A very fun space combat with an interesting set up and very interesting opponents. I really enjoyed it.</p>
<p>The exploration of the ship is very creepy, and gives both players and GMs the chance to turn it up to 11.</p>Woran2019-01-21T08:07:48ZStarfinder Society Scenario #1-04: Cries From the Drift: A gripping atmosphere covers minor flaws in this spooky dungeon adventure (4 stars)Cellionhttps://paizo.com/products/btpy9wes?Starfinder-Society-Scenario-104-Cries-From-the-Drift2018-04-19T20:36:44Z<p><b>Starfinder Society Scenario #1-04: Cries From the Drift</b></p><p><Played through this one at low-tier in a Play by Post, then reviewed the PDF from the perspective of a GM></p>
<p>The PCs are brought in to locate the source of a distress beacon sent from a ship from Sangoro's Bulwark, the lost headquarters of the Exo-Guardians. The premise is straightforward: something must've gone terribly wrong with this ship, so you'll need to secure the distress beacon, use it to find the ship, and investigate. </p>
<p>With a unique space combat and an atmospheric and spooky dungeon crawl with cool encounters, this scenario just brings a really high quality experience. The mysteries on the ship are also well designed to give players just enough information to tease out what happened to the <i>Struggle's Scholar</i> while keeping things surprising. </p>
<p>The last third of the scenario does suffer from some issues with just being too transparently linear. But as opposed to some other reviewers, I feel that can be excused for the sake of maintaining a good narrative arc (and this one nails that arc well, concluding in an unexpected and exciting encounter).</p>
<p>[Spoiler omitted]
<br />
[Spoiler omitted]</p><p><b>Starfinder Society Scenario #1-04: Cries From the Drift</b></p><p><Played through this one at low-tier in a Play by Post, then reviewed the PDF from the perspective of a GM></p>
<p>The PCs are brought in to locate the source of a distress beacon sent from a ship from Sangoro's Bulwark, the lost headquarters of the Exo-Guardians. The premise is straightforward: something must've gone terribly wrong with this ship, so you'll need to secure the distress beacon, use it to find the ship, and investigate. </p>
<p>With a unique space combat and an atmospheric and spooky dungeon crawl with cool encounters, this scenario just brings a really high quality experience. The mysteries on the ship are also well designed to give players just enough information to tease out what happened to the <i>Struggle's Scholar</i> while keeping things surprising. </p>
<p>The last third of the scenario does suffer from some issues with just being too transparently linear. But as opposed to some other reviewers, I feel that can be excused for the sake of maintaining a good narrative arc (and this one nails that arc well, concluding in an unexpected and exciting encounter).</p>
<p>[Spoiler omitted]
<br />
[Spoiler omitted]</p>Cellion2018-04-19T20:36:44ZStarfinder Society Scenario #1-04: Cries From the Drift: Enjoyable and challenging (5 stars)NgoDraconemhttps://paizo.com/products/btpy9wes?Starfinder-Society-Scenario-104-Cries-From-the-Drift2018-04-14T04:04:13Z<p><b>Starfinder Society Scenario #1-04: Cries From the Drift</b></p><p>The scenario with some horror/suspense music makes for an enjoyable experience. The difficulty compared to other Starfinder scenarios is higher.</p><p><b>Starfinder Society Scenario #1-04: Cries From the Drift</b></p><p>The scenario with some horror/suspense music makes for an enjoyable experience. The difficulty compared to other Starfinder scenarios is higher.</p>NgoDraconem2018-04-14T04:04:13ZStarfinder Society Scenario #1-04: Cries From the Drift: Probably my favourite SFS scenario so far.. (5 stars)John Girdlestonehttps://paizo.com/products/btpy9wes?Starfinder-Society-Scenario-104-Cries-From-the-Drift2018-03-24T01:31:15Z<p><b>Starfinder Society Scenario #1-04: Cries From the Drift</b></p><p>While mileage of this adventure will drastically vary depending on your GM - but in the right hands this shapes up to be a very suspenseful and chilling scenario that leave the players on edge and immersed.</p><p><b>Starfinder Society Scenario #1-04: Cries From the Drift</b></p><p>While mileage of this adventure will drastically vary depending on your GM - but in the right hands this shapes up to be a very suspenseful and chilling scenario that leave the players on edge and immersed.</p>John Girdlestone2018-03-24T01:31:15ZStarfinder Society Scenario #1-04: Cries From the Drift: Solid Tale of Horror in Space (3 stars)Jhaemanhttps://paizo.com/products/btpy9wes?Starfinder-Society-Scenario-104-Cries-From-the-Drift2018-01-23T11:35:44Z<p><b>Starfinder Society Scenario #1-04: Cries From the Drift</b></p><p>NO SPOILERS</p>
<p>I ran this recently at Tier 1-2, and tend to think of Cries From the Drift as a fairly average Starfinder Society scenario in terms of quality. There's an interesting backstory to the plot, but the players may or may not find out about it (depending on their PCs' actions). Classic dungeon-crawling (in space!) dominates the scenario, with very little opportunity for role-playing. The starship combat has an original premise, although, like most starship combats so far, it wasn't particularly challenging for the PCs in the session I ran. This is all sounding more negative than it should! I had fun with Cries From the Drift and it's a worthwhile addition to the season even if it doesn't reach the top rank.</p>
<p>SPOILERS</p>
<p>If past Starfinder Society scenarios have drawn inspiration from Firefly ("Fugitive on the Red Planet") and Star Trek ("Yesteryear's Truth"), Cries From the Drift is clearly inspired by Alien. It's a horror movie in space, complete with chest-bursting extraterrestrial. </p>
<p>The scenario starts, as they all do (unfortunately, in my opinion), with a briefing on Absalom Station. Fan-favourite Zigvigix does the duty this time, and he does have a fun personality to role-play as the GM. (Players who have gone through the Commencement may be in for a little bonus reference to Strawberry Machine Cake.) Anyway, Zigvigix explains that a salvage ship has come across a distress beacon sent by an Idaran ship named Struggle's Scholar. This is exciting news, as the ship (thought to be lost) was returning from the Exo-Guardian's original headquarters, Sangoro's Bulwark. After the Scoured Stars incident, the location to Sangoro's Bulwark was lost (its coordinates were top secret), but now there's a chance that recovering data from the Struggle's Scholar will provide a clue as to the whereabouts of the hidden base. It's a solid hook that should get players interested in seeing what happens next.</p>
<p>The PCs get a choice of two different ships to take to the distress beacon, and I like how the choice matters for more than just starship combat (the scenario explicitly provides additional information if the weaker ship is chosen because it has better sensors). There's an interlude during Drift travel where the GM is supposed to introduce another team of Starfinder Society agents as a seed for a future scenario, but I thought it was awkwardly presented. Anyway, the requisite starship combat takes place once the PCs' ship arrives at the location of the distress beacon. A vesk salvager claims the rights to take the Idaran vessel. In a nice twist, however, the captain of the vesk ship offers to resolve the stand-off through an honourable duel with rules that make sense (no targeting the other ship's life support, no firing at the rear arc, etc.). Having a set of "rules" to follow (and sometimes take advantage of), plus the presence of combustible asteroids, gives this starship combat some clever features that makes it memorable. I still have issues with the underlying starship combat system and how long it takes to resolve, but I liked the creativity that's demonstrated here.</p>
<p>Whether they win or lose the "duel," the PCs ship will get a chance to explore the Idaran vessel. Yes, it's railroading, but it's organized play and I can't blame the developers too much. There are some real consequences to losing the duel, as the situation on board the derelict vessel changes (for the worse) since the vesk get there first. Getting this alternative possibility ready required some additional prep time as the GM, but I'm glad it was accounted for and integrated into the story.</p>
<p>The rest of the scenario takes place on the Idaran vessel. To make a long story short, the vessel faced several tragedies that led to the death of all aboard: first, it entered an "etheric storm" that killed one of the crew members who reanimated as a "driftdead", an incorporeal, ravenous killer. Then, as the storm knocked the ship out of the Drift, chunks of the Ethereal Plane were pulled with it, including extraplanar marauders: xill! The PCs have to deal with both the driftdead and the xill in order to recover the data they need from the ship's bridge. The tricky thing with writing a dungeon-crawl is that if you set it up so each room has to be entered in order, it really feels like it's on rails. But, if you don't, the PCs might accidentally hit the big "climactic" battle first, which leaves the rest of the scenario feeling like mop-up duty (see PFS' "Mists of the Mwangi" for an example of this dilemma). Joe Pasini, the writer of Cries From the Drift, chose a middle ground. Some of the chambers on board the starship can be entered in any order, but the most important ones require something from another room in order to enter (batteries to power defunct doors and a key card, respectively). It's not a bad idea. But, players being players, some groups will figure out ways to get through the "sealed" doors earlier then intended (in my case, for example, a Level 2 PC made a DC 30 Computers check to bypass the locked chamber of the driftdead without ever finding the key card). </p>
<p>As I mentioned earlier, there's a lot of excellent detail provided to make the tragedy of this ship come alive: blood trails, body parts, recorded farewells, etc. The map of the ship is really well done both in design and labelling, even if it was hard to draw out for miniatures (it's larger than a normal flip-map). Putting together what happened could be a very sad but satisfying aspect of the scenario for some groups (mine was more of the "let's kill the bad guys and get out of here" mentality, but that's okay too). As for the two major battles, the driftdead can be extremely challenging because most PCs will have limited ability to harm an incorporeal creature and they may or may not realize that the force batons they (hopefully) found earlier are a major help. The xill is the most fun at the beginning of the encounter if it can get the drop on a PC and implant its eggs into them, but otherwise will fall pretty quickly due to the well-known inherent action economy problem of 1 boss vs. 4/5/6 PCs.</p>
<p>The premise of characters being sent to explore a ship drifting in space is such a pervasive one in science-fiction that it had to come to Starfinder sooner or later. The writer clearly worked hard to develop an atmosphere of growing dread and lurking threat, which I appreciate. How much of that mood carries through to the gaming table is going to vary widely by group and setting, but if it can be achieved it's worthwhile. The scenario also adds some very interesting lore to the history of the Exo-Guardian faction, and I'm sure these story threads will be picked up later on. Overall, this is a solid (if unspectacular) scenario and another excellent example of the range of stories that Starfinder can tell.</p><p><b>Starfinder Society Scenario #1-04: Cries From the Drift</b></p><p>NO SPOILERS</p>
<p>I ran this recently at Tier 1-2, and tend to think of Cries From the Drift as a fairly average Starfinder Society scenario in terms of quality. There's an interesting backstory to the plot, but the players may or may not find out about it (depending on their PCs' actions). Classic dungeon-crawling (in space!) dominates the scenario, with very little opportunity for role-playing. The starship combat has an original premise, although, like most starship combats so far, it wasn't particularly challenging for the PCs in the session I ran. This is all sounding more negative than it should! I had fun with Cries From the Drift and it's a worthwhile addition to the season even if it doesn't reach the top rank.</p>
<p>SPOILERS</p>
<p>If past Starfinder Society scenarios have drawn inspiration from Firefly ("Fugitive on the Red Planet") and Star Trek ("Yesteryear's Truth"), Cries From the Drift is clearly inspired by Alien. It's a horror movie in space, complete with chest-bursting extraterrestrial. </p>
<p>The scenario starts, as they all do (unfortunately, in my opinion), with a briefing on Absalom Station. Fan-favourite Zigvigix does the duty this time, and he does have a fun personality to role-play as the GM. (Players who have gone through the Commencement may be in for a little bonus reference to Strawberry Machine Cake.) Anyway, Zigvigix explains that a salvage ship has come across a distress beacon sent by an Idaran ship named Struggle's Scholar. This is exciting news, as the ship (thought to be lost) was returning from the Exo-Guardian's original headquarters, Sangoro's Bulwark. After the Scoured Stars incident, the location to Sangoro's Bulwark was lost (its coordinates were top secret), but now there's a chance that recovering data from the Struggle's Scholar will provide a clue as to the whereabouts of the hidden base. It's a solid hook that should get players interested in seeing what happens next.</p>
<p>The PCs get a choice of two different ships to take to the distress beacon, and I like how the choice matters for more than just starship combat (the scenario explicitly provides additional information if the weaker ship is chosen because it has better sensors). There's an interlude during Drift travel where the GM is supposed to introduce another team of Starfinder Society agents as a seed for a future scenario, but I thought it was awkwardly presented. Anyway, the requisite starship combat takes place once the PCs' ship arrives at the location of the distress beacon. A vesk salvager claims the rights to take the Idaran vessel. In a nice twist, however, the captain of the vesk ship offers to resolve the stand-off through an honourable duel with rules that make sense (no targeting the other ship's life support, no firing at the rear arc, etc.). Having a set of "rules" to follow (and sometimes take advantage of), plus the presence of combustible asteroids, gives this starship combat some clever features that makes it memorable. I still have issues with the underlying starship combat system and how long it takes to resolve, but I liked the creativity that's demonstrated here.</p>
<p>Whether they win or lose the "duel," the PCs ship will get a chance to explore the Idaran vessel. Yes, it's railroading, but it's organized play and I can't blame the developers too much. There are some real consequences to losing the duel, as the situation on board the derelict vessel changes (for the worse) since the vesk get there first. Getting this alternative possibility ready required some additional prep time as the GM, but I'm glad it was accounted for and integrated into the story.</p>
<p>The rest of the scenario takes place on the Idaran vessel. To make a long story short, the vessel faced several tragedies that led to the death of all aboard: first, it entered an "etheric storm" that killed one of the crew members who reanimated as a "driftdead", an incorporeal, ravenous killer. Then, as the storm knocked the ship out of the Drift, chunks of the Ethereal Plane were pulled with it, including extraplanar marauders: xill! The PCs have to deal with both the driftdead and the xill in order to recover the data they need from the ship's bridge. The tricky thing with writing a dungeon-crawl is that if you set it up so each room has to be entered in order, it really feels like it's on rails. But, if you don't, the PCs might accidentally hit the big "climactic" battle first, which leaves the rest of the scenario feeling like mop-up duty (see PFS' "Mists of the Mwangi" for an example of this dilemma). Joe Pasini, the writer of Cries From the Drift, chose a middle ground. Some of the chambers on board the starship can be entered in any order, but the most important ones require something from another room in order to enter (batteries to power defunct doors and a key card, respectively). It's not a bad idea. But, players being players, some groups will figure out ways to get through the "sealed" doors earlier then intended (in my case, for example, a Level 2 PC made a DC 30 Computers check to bypass the locked chamber of the driftdead without ever finding the key card). </p>
<p>As I mentioned earlier, there's a lot of excellent detail provided to make the tragedy of this ship come alive: blood trails, body parts, recorded farewells, etc. The map of the ship is really well done both in design and labelling, even if it was hard to draw out for miniatures (it's larger than a normal flip-map). Putting together what happened could be a very sad but satisfying aspect of the scenario for some groups (mine was more of the "let's kill the bad guys and get out of here" mentality, but that's okay too). As for the two major battles, the driftdead can be extremely challenging because most PCs will have limited ability to harm an incorporeal creature and they may or may not realize that the force batons they (hopefully) found earlier are a major help. The xill is the most fun at the beginning of the encounter if it can get the drop on a PC and implant its eggs into them, but otherwise will fall pretty quickly due to the well-known inherent action economy problem of 1 boss vs. 4/5/6 PCs.</p>
<p>The premise of characters being sent to explore a ship drifting in space is such a pervasive one in science-fiction that it had to come to Starfinder sooner or later. The writer clearly worked hard to develop an atmosphere of growing dread and lurking threat, which I appreciate. How much of that mood carries through to the gaming table is going to vary widely by group and setting, but if it can be achieved it's worthwhile. The scenario also adds some very interesting lore to the history of the Exo-Guardian faction, and I'm sure these story threads will be picked up later on. Overall, this is a solid (if unspectacular) scenario and another excellent example of the range of stories that Starfinder can tell.</p>Jhaeman2018-01-23T11:35:44ZStarfinder Society Scenario #1-04: Cries From the Drift: Space Horror! (5 stars)Eric Collins - Francehttps://paizo.com/products/btpy9wes?Starfinder-Society-Scenario-104-Cries-From-the-Drift2018-01-11T20:57:24Z<p><b>Starfinder Society Scenario #1-04: Cries From the Drift</b></p><p>A fun beginning, and another interesting and original space combat, before you step into a great creepy scary Space Horror situation (with a lot of emotions and feelings for the victims).
<br />
A great scenario.</p>
<p>re. certain things said below about combat being too lethal, and possible TPKs.
<br />
My feeling is that a lot of those reactions are due to the difference between PFS and SFS. SFS hits a lot harder, and does damage, and is more brutal... but you can heal up at least partially and move on.</p>
<p>Scary strong enemies are great... especially when the TPKs are only possible: the challenges make for good memories.</p><p><b>Starfinder Society Scenario #1-04: Cries From the Drift</b></p><p>A fun beginning, and another interesting and original space combat, before you step into a great creepy scary Space Horror situation (with a lot of emotions and feelings for the victims).
<br />
A great scenario.</p>
<p>re. certain things said below about combat being too lethal, and possible TPKs.
<br />
My feeling is that a lot of those reactions are due to the difference between PFS and SFS. SFS hits a lot harder, and does damage, and is more brutal... but you can heal up at least partially and move on.</p>
<p>Scary strong enemies are great... especially when the TPKs are only possible: the challenges make for good memories.</p>Eric Collins - France2018-01-11T20:57:24ZStarfinder Society Scenario #1-04: Cries From the Drift: Good Module - Fun Horror - Bad Balance (2 stars)ja'alurhttps://paizo.com/products/btpy9wes?Starfinder-Society-Scenario-104-Cries-From-the-Drift2017-12-28T01:24:14Z<p><b>Starfinder Society Scenario #1-04: Cries From the Drift</b></p><p>The Horror is great fun, but there are big issues with how it's formated</p>
<p>1) Any item that can be used by a player in loot please make bold
<br />
2) revisit mobs some are rediculas [Spoiler omitted]
<br />
3) The scenario was railroading us - it was literally do things in this order, do this then this then this - no fun there.
<br />
4) TPK highly probable due to how you have built the mobbs and fights
<br />
[Spoiler omitted]</p>
<p>all in all fun but needs major editing - hence 2 stars</p>
<p>oh and the secondary successes - rediculas to try and get especially the android stuff.</p><p><b>Starfinder Society Scenario #1-04: Cries From the Drift</b></p><p>The Horror is great fun, but there are big issues with how it's formated</p>
<p>1) Any item that can be used by a player in loot please make bold
<br />
2) revisit mobs some are rediculas [Spoiler omitted]
<br />
3) The scenario was railroading us - it was literally do things in this order, do this then this then this - no fun there.
<br />
4) TPK highly probable due to how you have built the mobbs and fights
<br />
[Spoiler omitted]</p>
<p>all in all fun but needs major editing - hence 2 stars</p>
<p>oh and the secondary successes - rediculas to try and get especially the android stuff.</p>ja'alur2017-12-28T01:24:14ZStarfinder Society Scenario #1-04: Cries From the Drift: Lovely creepy adventure (5 stars)Athos710https://paizo.com/products/btpy9wes?Starfinder-Society-Scenario-104-Cries-From-the-Drift2017-11-27T19:05:27Z<p><b>Starfinder Society Scenario #1-04: Cries From the Drift</b></p><p>Played this and GM'd it in Tier 1-2.</p>
<p>Player:
<br />
I spent the entire time expecting one thing, only to have the scenario surprise me by going against my expectations. I loved the creepy vibe of the investigation and felt the combats were well designed.</p>
<p>GM:
<br />
Please, please, please include tactics for starship combat roles like this in every scenario. As the GM having to run all of the starship roles, this little bit of guidance is hugely helpful.
<br />
[Spoiler omitted]</p><p><b>Starfinder Society Scenario #1-04: Cries From the Drift</b></p><p>Played this and GM'd it in Tier 1-2.</p>
<p>Player:
<br />
I spent the entire time expecting one thing, only to have the scenario surprise me by going against my expectations. I loved the creepy vibe of the investigation and felt the combats were well designed.</p>
<p>GM:
<br />
Please, please, please include tactics for starship combat roles like this in every scenario. As the GM having to run all of the starship roles, this little bit of guidance is hugely helpful.
<br />
[Spoiler omitted]</p>Athos7102017-11-27T19:05:27ZStarfinder Society Scenario #1-04: Cries From the Drift: Superb spooky space scenario! (4 stars)AFlashInTimehttps://paizo.com/products/btpy9wes?Starfinder-Society-Scenario-104-Cries-From-the-Drift2017-11-12T04:43:51Z<p><b>Starfinder Society Scenario #1-04: Cries From the Drift</b></p><p>From my experiences as a player on roll20 and running at my local gaming shop...</p>
<p>I really enjoyed Cries from the Drift. Some details (and some minor spoilers) below.</p>
<p>First, the story. I thought the atmosphere for the scenario was great, with PCs exploring an "abandoned" ship as a strange storm approaches, dim lights flickering... all in all excellent execution. </p>
<p>Second, the game play. This was my group's favorite starship combat yet. It might be that we're getting more experienced with the medium, but a one vs. one fight with an interesting environmental twist kept everybody engaged and thinking. Once everybody got to the ship the story was engaging, and the PCs were totally in the dark about the second half of what had gone on until the very end. </p>
<p>Last, some minor gripes that kept this from being a 5/5 for me. </p>
<p>Starship combat:
<br />
[Spoiler omitted]</p>
<p>On the ship:
<br />
[Spoiler omitted]</p>
<p>All in all a very good scenario, especially the starship combat and flavor, but there were just a few weird things on the ship that didn’t quite add up. Still very good and highly recommended!</p><p><b>Starfinder Society Scenario #1-04: Cries From the Drift</b></p><p>From my experiences as a player on roll20 and running at my local gaming shop...</p>
<p>I really enjoyed Cries from the Drift. Some details (and some minor spoilers) below.</p>
<p>First, the story. I thought the atmosphere for the scenario was great, with PCs exploring an "abandoned" ship as a strange storm approaches, dim lights flickering... all in all excellent execution. </p>
<p>Second, the game play. This was my group's favorite starship combat yet. It might be that we're getting more experienced with the medium, but a one vs. one fight with an interesting environmental twist kept everybody engaged and thinking. Once everybody got to the ship the story was engaging, and the PCs were totally in the dark about the second half of what had gone on until the very end. </p>
<p>Last, some minor gripes that kept this from being a 5/5 for me. </p>
<p>Starship combat:
<br />
[Spoiler omitted]</p>
<p>On the ship:
<br />
[Spoiler omitted]</p>
<p>All in all a very good scenario, especially the starship combat and flavor, but there were just a few weird things on the ship that didn’t quite add up. Still very good and highly recommended!</p>AFlashInTime2017-11-12T04:43:51ZStarfinder Society Scenario #1-04: Cries From the Drift: Very good horror spaceship crawl. (5 stars)Gorbaczhttps://paizo.com/products/btpy9wes?Starfinder-Society-Scenario-104-Cries-From-the-Drift2017-10-15T10:46:34Z<p><b>Starfinder Society Scenario #1-04: Cries From the Drift</b></p><p>Ran this yesterday for a party of 5. </p>
<p>The initial RP encounter was augmented by playing some J-pop and the players enjoyed Zigvigix immensely. </p>
<p>The spaceship combat still drags and I'm not sure whether it's our lack of experience or the rules being too clunky. But everybody loved the unusual opponent and RP opportunities.</p>
<p>The exploration part was spooky, creepy and just long enough to wrap it all up during one evening. The fights were tough but manageable. Some really nice touches in form of room dressing and treasure.</p>
<p>Overall, a very good module.</p><p><b>Starfinder Society Scenario #1-04: Cries From the Drift</b></p><p>Ran this yesterday for a party of 5. </p>
<p>The initial RP encounter was augmented by playing some J-pop and the players enjoyed Zigvigix immensely. </p>
<p>The spaceship combat still drags and I'm not sure whether it's our lack of experience or the rules being too clunky. But everybody loved the unusual opponent and RP opportunities.</p>
<p>The exploration part was spooky, creepy and just long enough to wrap it all up during one evening. The fights were tough but manageable. Some really nice touches in form of room dressing and treasure.</p>
<p>Overall, a very good module.</p>Gorbacz2017-10-15T10:46:34ZStarfinder Society Scenario #1-04: Cries From the Drift: Going to be very random with LOTS of table variation (2 stars)pauljathomehttps://paizo.com/products/btpy9wes?Starfinder-Society-Scenario-104-Cries-From-the-Drift2017-10-14T21:26:20Z<p><b>Starfinder Society Scenario #1-04: Cries From the Drift</b></p><p>I've now both played and run this.</p>
<p>I basically like the scenario. The space battle is quite fun. I liked the fact that it wasn't JUST a space battle.</p>
<p>The basic horrorish approach on the spaceship is good.</p>
<p>I agree with others that it is a poorly disguised railroad with no choices at all.</p>
<p>But the two BBEGS are a little too much. Maybe a lot too much. We played at low tier with 1 L1, 3L2 characters and a L3 Operative (who, not surprisingly, probably did more damage than the rest of us combined).</p>
<p>I don't want to spoil things too much but</p>
<p>The first one encountered is definitely WAY tougher than nearly any other creature of its CR I've so far encountered (do not have Alien Archive yet). Its also using some as yet ill defined abilities (I can actually construct a reasonable argument that would make this creature LITERALLY unhittable and therefore automatic run away or die). Depending on how optimally the GM plays the bad guy this combat can be both dangerous AND long. A few bad rolls on the aura effect and it could easily be a TPK.</p>
<p>There are items placed in the scenario to explicitly help against this. Out of the 9 characters (4 when I ran, 5 when I played) exactly 1 character could make use of these items. Which isn't too surprising really.</p>
<p>Given that we are currently dealing with low level characters being run by inexperienced players, it is no surprise that some characters will be LITERALLY be unable to do ANYTHING against this enemy. That both makes the battle harder and is going to very boring for the player.</p>
<p>Another place where there is going to be table variation is whether the PCs are allowed to take a 10 minute rest between the two encounters.</p>
<p>The second encountered isn't that bad. It felt a lot more dangerous than it actually was. The scenario went to great lengths to make sure that what seemed very dangerous actually wasn't all that bad.</p><p><b>Starfinder Society Scenario #1-04: Cries From the Drift</b></p><p>I've now both played and run this.</p>
<p>I basically like the scenario. The space battle is quite fun. I liked the fact that it wasn't JUST a space battle.</p>
<p>The basic horrorish approach on the spaceship is good.</p>
<p>I agree with others that it is a poorly disguised railroad with no choices at all.</p>
<p>But the two BBEGS are a little too much. Maybe a lot too much. We played at low tier with 1 L1, 3L2 characters and a L3 Operative (who, not surprisingly, probably did more damage than the rest of us combined).</p>
<p>I don't want to spoil things too much but</p>
<p>The first one encountered is definitely WAY tougher than nearly any other creature of its CR I've so far encountered (do not have Alien Archive yet). Its also using some as yet ill defined abilities (I can actually construct a reasonable argument that would make this creature LITERALLY unhittable and therefore automatic run away or die). Depending on how optimally the GM plays the bad guy this combat can be both dangerous AND long. A few bad rolls on the aura effect and it could easily be a TPK.</p>
<p>There are items placed in the scenario to explicitly help against this. Out of the 9 characters (4 when I ran, 5 when I played) exactly 1 character could make use of these items. Which isn't too surprising really.</p>
<p>Given that we are currently dealing with low level characters being run by inexperienced players, it is no surprise that some characters will be LITERALLY be unable to do ANYTHING against this enemy. That both makes the battle harder and is going to very boring for the player.</p>
<p>Another place where there is going to be table variation is whether the PCs are allowed to take a 10 minute rest between the two encounters.</p>
<p>The second encountered isn't that bad. It felt a lot more dangerous than it actually was. The scenario went to great lengths to make sure that what seemed very dangerous actually wasn't all that bad.</p>pauljathome2017-10-14T21:26:20ZStarfinder Society Scenario #1-04: Cries From the Drift: Where we're going we don't need boons (4 stars)NiTessinehttps://paizo.com/products/btpy9wes?Starfinder-Society-Scenario-104-Cries-From-the-Drift2017-10-08T17:46:07Z<p><b>Starfinder Society Scenario #1-04: Cries From the Drift</b></p><p>This review is based on running the game at Tier 1-2.</p>
<p><i>Cries from the Drift</i> is a pretty good scenario. It works as both science fiction and as horror, employing familiar tropes efficiently. Its only major flaw is the lack of illusion around the railroad.</p>
<p>[Spoiler omitted]</p>
<p>More like this!</p><p><b>Starfinder Society Scenario #1-04: Cries From the Drift</b></p><p>This review is based on running the game at Tier 1-2.</p>
<p><i>Cries from the Drift</i> is a pretty good scenario. It works as both science fiction and as horror, employing familiar tropes efficiently. Its only major flaw is the lack of illusion around the railroad.</p>
<p>[Spoiler omitted]</p>
<p>More like this!</p>NiTessine2017-10-08T17:46:07ZStarfinder Society Scenario #1-04: Cries From the Drift: Exactly what I wanted (5 stars)Sebastian Hirschhttps://paizo.com/products/btpy9wes?Starfinder-Society-Scenario-104-Cries-From-the-Drift2017-10-07T02:29:34Z<p><b>Starfinder Society Scenario #1-04: Cries From the Drift</b></p><p>This scenario just works, I find it hard to describe how reminiscent it is without a lot of spoilers, but this was 5-star scenario after reading half of it... and it keeps that level. </p>
<p>I really want to see more from this author, I am really impressed.</p><p><b>Starfinder Society Scenario #1-04: Cries From the Drift</b></p><p>This scenario just works, I find it hard to describe how reminiscent it is without a lot of spoilers, but this was 5-star scenario after reading half of it... and it keeps that level. </p>
<p>I really want to see more from this author, I am really impressed.</p>Sebastian Hirsch2017-10-07T02:29:34ZStarfinder Society Scenario #1-04: Cries From the Drift: Great, creepy little scenario (4 stars)VampByDayhttps://paizo.com/products/btpy9wes?Starfinder-Society-Scenario-104-Cries-From-the-Drift2017-10-04T05:10:57Z<p><b>Starfinder Society Scenario #1-04: Cries From the Drift</b></p><p>Well, Starfinder society seems to be running the gamut of sci-fi tropes in a good way (lots of homages). 1-02 has a little 'Firefly' in it, 1-03 is reminiscent of original series Star Trek, and now we have some sort of Dead Space kind of vibe.</p>
<p>The scenario starts off with a space combat that is different than every other space combat so far, in that it's not super high stakes, but is still fun and interesting (that's in addition to the rather unique environmental hazard.) Then you board a derelict ship with some damage and a dark history. If properly GMed you have a super creepy haunted ship with a mystery to solve and some mild puzzle elements. Tough fights, good role-play opportunities, oozing with atmosphere. Plus it plays into the season-long story arc and has a lot of tie-ins to other season 1 scenarios, so there's a great feeling of continuity.</p>
<p>It really only looses a star because the space combat is kinda forced, and while fun, it doesn't fit the tone with the rest of the scenario. Additionally, one of the fights can be real tough if your party goes straight to it, as some of the pregens are completely incapable of dealing with it. Half of our party just stood around and did nothing while it just tore into the rest of our party, which was not fun for either side.</p><p><b>Starfinder Society Scenario #1-04: Cries From the Drift</b></p><p>Well, Starfinder society seems to be running the gamut of sci-fi tropes in a good way (lots of homages). 1-02 has a little 'Firefly' in it, 1-03 is reminiscent of original series Star Trek, and now we have some sort of Dead Space kind of vibe.</p>
<p>The scenario starts off with a space combat that is different than every other space combat so far, in that it's not super high stakes, but is still fun and interesting (that's in addition to the rather unique environmental hazard.) Then you board a derelict ship with some damage and a dark history. If properly GMed you have a super creepy haunted ship with a mystery to solve and some mild puzzle elements. Tough fights, good role-play opportunities, oozing with atmosphere. Plus it plays into the season-long story arc and has a lot of tie-ins to other season 1 scenarios, so there's a great feeling of continuity.</p>
<p>It really only looses a star because the space combat is kinda forced, and while fun, it doesn't fit the tone with the rest of the scenario. Additionally, one of the fights can be real tough if your party goes straight to it, as some of the pregens are completely incapable of dealing with it. Half of our party just stood around and did nothing while it just tore into the rest of our party, which was not fun for either side.</p>VampByDay2017-10-04T05:10:57Z