A Starfinder Society Scenario designed for levels 5-8.
Zigvigix, leader of the Exo-Guardians discovers something is wrong with their colleague and fellow faction leader, Historia-7. Traveling with Zigvigix into the Archives' Cortex at the heart of the Starfinder Society's home, the PCs come face to face with the unexpected truth behind what's happened to Historia-7. Enacting a desperate plan to assist Historia-7, the PCs soon find themselves racing to save both Zigvigix and Historia-7 from a threat that aims to topple the entire Starfinder Society.
Content in The Many Minds of Historia also contributes to the ongoing goals of the Dataphiles and Exo-Guardians factions. It also builds on events in Starfinder Society #1-99: The Scoured Stars Invasion, though playing that scenario is not necessary for this product.
I ran the high tier of this scenario for a group of six players. My review is in the spoiler tag below.
Review:
The Many Minds of Historia is one of the best-envisioned and best executed scenarios yet, and may very well be the best scenario of Season 1. Serving as a conclusion to the season 1 character arcs of Zigvigix and Historia-7 (such as they are), the scenario delves into the history of the tight-lipped leader of the Dataphiles faction in a unique and interesting way, while also looping in Zigvigix’s participation in a meaningful way.
The second half of the scenario is, perhaps, my favorite, taking place in the surreal realm of the Mindscape. The heroes must traverse Historia’s fragmented minds to locate the sinister intelligence that threatens her. The rules of the Mindscape are lightweight enough as to not bog down the adventure with complexity, and interesting enough as to encourage players to use them. At the same time, the way the players traverse the memories is sufficiently surreal, with the heroes walking through standing doors into separate scenes.
My one complaint, perhaps, is that the scenario was not weird enough. The jungle map in the final scene was a little disappointing, since the flip mats usually don’t have much in the way of set dressings that players can use to their advantage. Likewise, the final boss was somewhat unimpressive. While I imagine he would be more of a threat if allowed to spawn functional minions, the group I ran it for easily dispatched the foe with minimal stress on Zigvigix’s psyche.
The real problem with the scenario is not the scenario itself. Rather, it is with the supporting story leading up to the scenario. Zigvigix and Historia-7’s relationship has developed across several missions, but the details of that relationship are frequently told to the players and not really shown. This scenario, with Zigvigix gaining mental “stress points” in response to disturbing revelations about Historia-7’s well being are a nice mechanical expression of the host shirren’s interest in the android. (Other things stress Ziggy out, obviously, but many of the shirren’s psychological pain points in this scenario are centered around Historia-7.) The scenario’s emotional payoff is therefore blunted by the fact that preceding scenarios (especially Return to Sender, which relegated the evolution of Zigvigix and Historia-7’s relationship to a throwaway line) did not adequately prepare the emotional stakes.
Furthermore, the problem with Historia-7, while dramatic, comes a bit out of left field. Again, this has nothing to do with the scenario itself, but rather the fact that Data Breach did not do a good job showing the players that something is wrong. Should I have the opportunity to run Data Breach again, I would like to use more of the details revealed in The Many Minds of Historia to better foreshadow the developments in this scenario.
Ultimately, these gripes do nothing to detract from the experience within The Many Minds of Historia. The scenario is well-paced and well-written, and a definite testament to Lyz Liddell’s character writing chops. Hopefully we can continue to see stories of this quality in Season 2.
A great scenario, to play if you can!
I do not want to spoil, so I will just say that we all love the slumbering romance between Ziggy & H-7, so it is great to keep on helping these two love birds to hopefully get together.
And the rich journey into a dream, computerized, memory-heavy... journey into History and the past, is really great.
PLAY IT!
This scenario builds on events from Starfinder Society #1-99: The Scoured Stars Invasion, although playing this scenario beforehand is not necessary. It also continues an ongoing personal subplot involving Zigvigix and Historia-7. Although it's not necessary, I highly suggest you play some of the previous scenarios that feature Zigvigix and Historia-7 in order to better enjoy and understand this scenario (particularly #1-01, #1-14 and #1-33). Players who do so will definitely get more out of it emotionally and contextually, than players that do not.
The Many Minds of Historia takes place in Absalom Station's Lorespire Complex, base of operations for the Starfinder Society. There you will assist Zigvigix in confronting Historia-7, his friend and fellow faction leader who he believes is acting strangely. It includes plenty of important characters, and has lasting ramifications for the future of some of the involved characters and factions. Due to the importance of this scenario, (and because it is much more enjoyable to play while completely in the dark), I won't be saying much more about the content of this scenario. I will say that I absolutely loved it! The Many Minds of Historia is creative, exciting, unique, and shocking. It's emotionally impactful, and brings a lot of interconnected storylines, characters, and events together into an intriguing cohesive whole. It's fun for players and GMs both, allows for a lot of creativity, and is an absolutely wonderful scenario. It feels personal, and I expect many players will be on the edge of their seats throughout the course of this adventure. All that said, it's not without a few minor weaknesses. A few of the enemy's starting positions don't work optimally with their tactics (which also means it's a bit easier than some CRs imply), and it will be difficult to convey some of the skill options PCs could use without simply telling them. Miniscule nitpicks. Overall, The Many Minds of Historia is among my very favourite scenarios. Awesome job, Lyz!
Everyone following the story of Historia-7 and Ziggy will love this scenario. You’ll want to play this scenario after playing 1-33 (Data Breach). As an added bonus, we get to learn more about the previous leaders of the Dataphiles.
I’ve run this scenario twice (both in high tier) and both times it was a fun romp. I want to give this scenario 5 stars for a good time, but there are so many problems with enemy tactics and missed opportunities that I’m giving it 4 stars.
I can’t review this scenario anymore without going into heavy spoilers. If you plan to play in this scenario, read no further. You have been warned!
* * * * * SPOILERS BELOW * * * * *
Missed opportunities:
Instead of the art for the Decomposing Stage, it would have been wonderful to have instead had a picture of the previous Historia androids.
The playlist for Star Sugar Heartlove is a lot of fun; but at some point I have to make sure that the players don’t obsess over it. It would have been amazing if somehow that playlist tied more directly into the scenario. (Hard to do, but amazing if the author could have pulled it off.)
A2 (combat): The positioning of the robots completely works against their tactics. The scenario places them on the far side of the room (outside the northwest doors). Their tactics are to use automatic fire; I like the idea as this is the first time that I recall tactics calling for automatic fire. Additionally, the robots have a nice ability to keep up with the automatic fire. The problem is that automatic fire is a full action and effective range is only half normal (30’ range with their weapon). Thus, they are not allowed to move and then fire automatic. Giving them Nimble Fusillade (from Soldier Hit-and-Run) would be ideal so that they can move and shoot (or guarded step away from melee characters). Alternatively, Uncanny Shooter (operative exploit) would avoid AOOs while firing. Since the robots need to be so close, this gives enemy melee characters a chance to close the distance, leaving the robots the choice of stepping back and taking a single shot or absorbing AOOs while firing in automatic mode. Furthermore, the tactics of avoiding the cradle make it much more difficult to allow the robots to get a good automatic shot.
A2 (post-combat): The intent of the scenario is that the PCs are unable to release Historia-7 from the command cradle at this time. But there is no further information (including skill checks) on why the PCs need to leave her there and move on. Additionally, the map shows these cables connecting the cradle to the wall. Both groups removed the cables but there is no sense of what (if anything) such an action should do.
A3: I like that the datapad is difficult to find. That makes it more likely that Ziggy’s stress level will be increased. However, losing credits for failing a fairly high perception check seems overly punitive.
Into the Blue: This was a nice opportunity to see Historia-7’s past. The difficult part was having the players see that the Computers skill is an option. Both groups I ran missed the Culture check and were left on their own to decide what to do. One of the players in the first group did come up with the Computers check idea on their own. When I ran it the second time, I emphasized (twice) that the PCs need to repair Historia-7’s memory before sending them into the Mindscape; however, the players didn’t connect the dots.
B: It’s a nice surprise to have the trap on the console; that will certainly catch melee characters off-guard as they race into melee. However, the Historia fragments are placed poorly; I would have preferred that they were placed two squares forward of their current position to force melee characters to move into the trapped squares. Essentially, if the Historia fragments lose initiative, they cannot easily maneuver the PCs into activating the trap.
Historia Fragments: These creatures are too weak for high tier. While the damage scales a little bit, the bonuses to hit don’t change. This made it difficult for them to hit characters with good armor in high tier.
C: The scenario wants to imagine that this encounter is really difficult. However, both times (in high tier), the PCs had no problem winning. The first group (with only four PCs) had two Mystics who simply used Mind Thrust on Historia-Prime until it was dead; it wasn’t even close.
The second group had a little more trouble, but not much. The melee Mystic ran in and got pummeled by Historia-Prime and was quickly knocked out. The melee Mystic kept getting back into the fight and repeatedly knocked out (3 times total). Everyone else was barely touched. As noted previously, the Historia fragments aren’t challenging enough in high tier to hit well-armored foes and did very little damage.
Stress Points: Neither group had any trouble with the stress points. The first group didn’t gain any; the second group only got to two stress points and successfully removed one.
I played (at tier 7-8 with part of the party playing level 6) but did not run this scenario.
This was a great scenario to play though, I had an great time being able to have more interactions with the faction leaders and be able to get know more about them though the confines of a scenario. The way previous adventures built into this made this feel much better. This does mean that I think this scenario would be weaker if the players haven't interacted much with either of the faction leaders much prior to this scenario.
I'm happy to see more development with this characters rather than leaving them as static fixtures up until they are replaced.
My group did have a rather easy time cutting through the combat challenges of the adventure. I'm not sure if that is because the party build was just that aggressive or if there was a character in particular that was doing far above average damage. That falls secondary to the plot of the scenario that I enjoyed going through. If I run this and the combat does fall short again I will combat and adjust my review slightly downward. Even in that case, I would still highly recommend this scenario just for the fun romp and story elements.
I haven't played this yet but is there a reason Ziggy's going by male pronouns in this one's description? Cause everything I've seen says Ziggy's a host shirren. So is that just a typo in the description saying Historia-7 is "his" colleague or have I just missed something?
Otherwise, I can't wait to see to see what terrifying implications this has for two of my favorite faction leaders!
I haven't played this yet but is there a reason Ziggy's going by male pronouns in this one's description? Cause everything I've seen says Ziggy's a host shirren. So is that just a typo in the description saying Historia-7 is "his" colleague or have I just missed something?
Otherwise, I can't wait to see to see what terrifying implications this has for two of my favorite faction leaders!
I haven't played this yet but is there a reason Ziggy's going by male pronouns in this one's description? Cause everything I've seen says Ziggy's a host shirren. So is that just a typo in the description saying Historia-7 is "his" colleague or have I just missed something?
Otherwise, I can't wait to see to see what terrifying implications this has for two of my favorite faction leaders!
I think you're getting him and Chiskisk mixed up
No according to The Commencement introductions Ziggy is definitely a Host Shirren. Chiskisk also happens to be one as as well.
From the Commencement: "The Exo-Guardians do not currently have
a headquarters on Absalom Station, but their
leader, Zigvigix (LG host shirren soldier),
resides in the poor but trendy neighborhood
of Downlow."
Starfinder Society Developer
