Starfinder Society Scenario #2-14: Data Purge

It is a really weird adventure a lot of the encounters just don't make much sense. Taken individually each encounter is pretty cool but when you thread them together it just doesn't make much sense. Encounters that dont have clear entry or exit points. A technological entity that doesn't have cameras everywhere to blow your cover. Its just an odd duck and feels like they tried to squeeze a much larger idea into the cookie cutter mold of a society module.

Starfinder is an edition that I have up to this point not given much credit for being able to handle a standard crawl. The entire point of the dungeon in medieval fantasy games is to present a challenge outside the realm where normal reliance on a town or the like isnt possible and you have to delver to reach a goal.

Generally in starfinder the best we've gotten so far are haunted derelict ships or short little jaunts into office buildings and they haven't really been that great.

Here you are put into the role of a Red Hat team that needs to break in past the Starfinder Society's defenses in order to save it from Black Hats. Simple enough. There were some challenges at this point - it felt like there was room for the early bits of this adventure relating to this point to have been done better. And in general there "single large map with a bunch of rooms" aspect of this dungeon were lost to what I can only assume were time constraints needed to fit this thing into a single slot.

But once you got there - the idea of a science fantasy dungeon was finally realized to its fullest potential. I won't spoil anything but just masterful use of the setting and technology was made to create some innovative and setting-fitting challenges.

And then that boss fight at the end - me and my players will be talking about it for a while to come. Very cathartic for some! Also brought to life lore details I have seen Thursty bang on about that we have not to this point seen in action and I mean....just bravo all around.

I GM'ed this in high tier (11-12).

Data Purge begins with an interesting premise. Opposed by a mysterious foe, and compromised from the inside, Starfinder leadership assembles a secret mission team to break into the Lorespire Complex and remove the enemy's intelligence-gathering apparatus. The mission might be thought of as a red team exercise--probing the defenses of the Society to determine its flaws and vulnerabilities. Like all missions, however, there is a twist--and quite a twist at that.

But beneath the pages of this four-to-five hour scenario (five, in my case) what we get is a series of vingettes rather than a fully fleshed-out infiltration. The scenes oscillate between fun and interesting combats to social encounters that feel a touch forced. The bigger problem here is a lack of perceived direction. I felt like I was leading my players by the nose for most of the scenario, telling them that "OK, here's where the map says to go next." An actual, physical map handout would have gone a long way to alleviate this, as the players could say "OK, we've reached Point B, how do we get to Point C?"

This is not to say the adventure is not without its charm. Part C has some particularly humorous moments, especially what I could only assume was a subtle nod to some of the more memorable droids from Star Wars. Part C was also interesting tactically, since it provided the players a lot of freedom with how to resolve the scene. My group opted for a stealthy option, which worked surprisingly well given that one of them was riding a huge dragon (a huge dragon that was unfortunately good at sneaking).

However, even Part C was not without its flaws. A lack of an apparent exit condition makes non-violent resolutions of the scene difficult, as I have no concept of where the players need to get to on the map in order to succeed. Actually, let's talk about maps for a second:

The final battle the PCs face is indeed an epic one, and one that really forced my players to get creative with their tactics and thinking. The fight itself ran over an hour in length, but the players never appeared bored during it. I would say that some threats during the encountered didn't exactly pan-out the way I'm sure Mr. Kronewitter intended, but others did their job admirably.

Overall, I think Data Purge is an admirable first entry into regular season 9-12 tier content. It both challenges and delights, but also drags and confuses. I would like to see future scenarios have a clearer sense of progression between scenes, but I think Data Purge is pointed in the right direction.