A Starfinder Society Scenario designed for levels 1–4.
An important data package requires that the PCs travel in person to secure it. When the simple mission goes awry, the PCs find themselves trapped in a high security corporate office. With no way of contacting the outside, the PCs must make their way through the complex, avoiding the activated security systems and the agents of those responsible for the sudden office lockdown!
Good idea, some interesting puzzles to solve, could have been a gem.
This had the basis of a good scenario, and the players got right into the fun of trying to do the 'break-out' piece, but there were a few overly enthusiastic types that may have been overkeen, triggering a bit too much at once.
The combats are quite tough, and the party got rag-dolled several times by encounters that were 'a bit rough'.
Overall I thought this was going to be a bit more Shadowrun/Cyberpunk rather than an 'escape room with really angry office furniture'.
We enjoyed it, we had fun, but I can see how easily people could come to grief in this scenario.
End encounter tactics didn't really make sense, so GMs will have to ponder that a bit.
This scenario is overpowered for a group of four low tier characters. I have been a society GM for a number of years now, and this scenario result in my first TPK.
Encounter Specifics:
The shock grid is hard to interpret and determine which squares are connected to which computer, especially since the distances covered from each computer seem to be variable. It also wasn't clear whether the players could make perception checks to determine which squares were part of the shock grids.
Did no one else think to include shooting out the motion sensors? It was one of the first ideas my players went after getting their weapons back.
Where is the dividing line for the Transparent Aluminum Wall for the oozes cell in Area A4? If the door in the NorthEast corner of the room doesn't provide access to the desk in the southwest corner, are the players supposed to circle back and get Bordle after they leave the Smoker? If so, why can they find the password for the Smoker at the desk only after going through the Smoker?
Gerno's tactics don't make sense with the map. I understand Argent raising the Blast doors to lengthen the sight lines for sniping, but the walls and doors that divide the Foyer from the hallways going East and South make sight lines to the elevator door very short. She can't really snipe to the elevator door from anywhere other than the square adjacent to the door. Ranged PCs has no place to go based on Gerno coming in one door and the Vesk coming through the other.
The four player adjustment for Tier 1-2 just impacted Gerno, but the two Vesk Enforcers were what really tore through the party. At plus 8 to hit and D12+5 for damage, the first level characters were easy to hit and could only take about two hits before they were down. By the time the party got the the final encounter, they had just recovered all their Stamina but no one was at full hit points due to the resource drain from the rest of the scenario. The Party managed to drop one of the Vesk, but didn't get more than halfway though the Hit Points on the second before eveyone dropped
I feel the appreciation of this scenario, more than most, will depend on your party makeup. Keep this in mind while reading the rest of this review. I played this with a level 2 Mystic (me), a level 1 Mechanic (Exocortex), a level 2 Technomancer, and a level 1 Obozaya pregen. Part of this review will also be an after-action report to understand my grievances.
This scenario was really frustrating to play. I mean, it kinda made sense from a narrative point of view, but from the player point of view it was a slog to get through. I can't say more without spoiling things.
Mild scenario spoilers:
Taking away weapons I get. Standard security thing. But having to fight unarmed is really difficult. There aren't enough spellcasting classes that can fight unarmed and natural weapons also aren't that common. We had to make do with Obozaya's 1d3+3, Telekinetic Projectile, and the few Magic Missiles we had. One party member was scurrying away to get the weapons, but it took so long that we managed to finish the fight without them.
The second fight was also unreasonably tough, IMHO. Even with four-player adjustments, the enemies packed quite a punch and I was on healing duty constantly. The GM had to fudge a little to let us live, but at the end of combat, our combined HP total could be counted on a single hand. A TPK was very likely, and it didn't even feel like it was our fault. The enemies just had too high a to hit and damage output for a low-level party.
After this part, the Technomancer and Mystic were out of spells, so we had to rely on the Mechanic and Obozaya for damage output. We were also through half our Resolve Points and nearly all our healing items.
Then we encountered a trap that ate a lot of Stamina as well. Pretty much everything was trapped and was purely a resource drain, but we managed to avoid that with some clever thinking. What's worse, the traps are very hard to see, and (as far as I know) impossible to disable. More Resolve down the drain. Obozaya had no Resolve anymore and already out of Stamina. So now we have a Soldier without Resolve and Stamina, and two spellcasters without spells. And then we triggered the final combat.
Obozaya went down and died after the first round, then it was a mad scramble to stay alive, somehow. We managed to win purely because we hit the morale threshold. If we didn't, we would have died next round. Again, this combat involved enemies with too high a damage output, and four-player adjustment didn't really help either.
The entire scenario felt like a resource drain of the worst kind. Enemies hit harder than they should and are immune to several things players can bring to the table, weapons are taken away and you're forced to improvise, and the environment is unreasonably hostile. Halfway through, this went from "challenging" to "frustrating" without letting up.
Again, this is all very subjective. A different party may go through this very differently and have a better experience. I'm just reporting mine. And it it saying not to recommend this scenario.
Pathfinder Battles Case Subscriber; Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber
Thursty said on Know Direction that it will feel like a Shadowrun mission, so perhaps it will be Faction (Ares Macrotechnology) or Faction (Aztechnology). I am very excited for this one!
I believe, and Thursty will come on here to correct me if I am wrong, that this scenario actually has no tags. There's one big custom map.
This scenario was a challenge to write; it's very different than other scenarios, and poses some really interesting obstacles for PCs. The Shadowrun feel is absolutely intended. I think you'll like it!
Was this intended to be unavoidable instant death for low level characters? because Medium Radiation is a CON poison, and so it deals 7HP dmg/round whether of not the PC succeeds on the save. That's instant death for a 1st level Ysoki Technomancer, and the scenario gives no indication that its there before you hit it, so if a has to end their turn inside the area, they take 14 damage, which is enough to kill any level 1 character and most level 2's.
Because telling a player "Sorry your character just died to something you had no chance of detecting" is a good way to never see that player again.
** spoiler omitted **
Because telling a player "Sorry your character just died to something you had no chance of detecting" is a good way to never see that player again.
Umm, don't all player armors have environmental protection by default that lasts days or at least hours?
** spoiler omitted **
Because telling a player "Sorry your character just died to something you had no chance of detecting" is a good way to never see that player again.
Umm, don't all player armors have environmental protection by default that lasts days or at least hours?
Environmental protections only give a +4 bonus against that particular save.
