A Starfinder Society Scenario designed for levels 9-12 (subtiers 9-10 & 11-12).
There's a data leak somewhere inside the heart of the Starfinder Society, somewhere in the Lorespire Complex. Assembled for what was supposed to be an ordinary mission, the PCs find themselves sent to break into to the Society's central hub of operations. Travelling through ancient accessways, it's up to this group of dedicated Starfinders to plug the data leak and stop the Society's most precious secrets from ending up in the hands of their mysterious foes.
I ran Data Purge at Subtier 9-10 via play-by-post. Starfinder’s one of those games where PCs are effectively immortal (SP+HP+RP), but I still appreciated there were some fairly hard encounters and I like how the mission is one that genuinely seems to warrant high-level field agents getting involved. It’s an important scenario for the Season 2 metaplot and also reveals some interesting lore about the Starfinder Society and its past. Although mostly combat-oriented, there is one solid role-playing opportunity. I can’t think of any real complaints about it, which is unusual for a nit-picky reviewer like me! I’d certainly recommend it.
SPOILERS!:
Data Purge has a plot that would make an excellent Starfinder movie or novel. The head of the Dataphiles faction, Celita, has realised that the entire computer system of the Starfinder Society’s headquarters (the Lorespire Complex) has been compromised. An outside party has wormed its way in through an advanced computer virus and established deep and intrusive access to pretty much everything. Celita develops a counter that can purge the virus, but getting it into the network requires physically connecting a datapad containing the anti-virus into a mainframe computer in Guidance’s central core. Not knowing who she can trust besides Luwazi Elsebo, the two handpick a group of elite field agents (the PCs) and send them on what turns out to be a fake mission to repair an antenna on an uninhabited shepherd moon around Liavara. There, the two reveal the *real* mission: they need the PCs to sneak into the Lorespire Complex through some old waste and maintenance tunnels (maps provided in paper form by Royo--a nice touch!), subdue without killing any Starfinder guards that spot them, and insert the datapad to fix Guidance without revealing to anyone their real mission. Like I said, a solid movie!
Once back on Absalom Station, the PCs make their way into the tunnels. The first encounter takes place in a massive waste disposal chamber that has a neat combination of effects: massive mounds of garbage, guardians (rat spawn) left behind by the party responsible for the computer takeover, an automated magnetic crane (on a pre-set track), and an “atomizer crucible”. Basically, as the PCs are navigating the garbage and fighting giant rat monsters, anyone with metal on them is at risk of getting caught by the magnet and dropped into very nasty atomizer! It all made for a legitimately tough battle and a couple of scary moments even for jaded players.
The tunnels lead into the Adamantine Prison (where the Society’s most dangerous villains are incarcerated--I wouldn’t think the Society would have the authority to incarcerate people like Stewards can). Allies of the SFS who are effectively in protective custody or just need a place of real refuge occupy some of the outer cells, and it’s in one of these that the PCs meet a philosopher-worm named Uko. Uko answers questions, but for every question he answers he asks one himself, and his questions are excellent prompts for players to think a bit more deeply about their character than just species and class. The premise of the need for interaction is that Uko threatens to call the guards unless the PCs can interest him, but the only thing really at sake is some credits if the PCs fail the (open-ended) skill checks.
A classic but also fairly nasty corridor laser net trap is next. I saw a PC use a neat trick involving wormholes to help his party escape, and appreciated seeing a clever solution for a classic dilemma.
The next major encounter is probably the oddest of the bunch, as the tunnels the PCs are following leads them into a holographic training simulator that happens to be the site of a Starfinder live fire exercise. On an old Pathfinder forest fire flip-mat, the PCs find themselves in a replica wooden cabin as several drones (playing the part of evil mercenaries) battle flesh-and-blood Starfinder agents. The scenario presents a variety of options for the PCs, which I like: they can try to hide and wait out the exercise, pretend to be drones and play dead, make a run for it (and risk alerting the facility that intruders are present), or take down the Starfinders quickly (and nonlethally). Noticing that the flip-mat has a large source of water on it, one of my players hit on the idea of having their PC hide underwater, and the others followed suit. It was again a clever idea and I couldn’t really argue with it. It does remind me that I think the original developers of Starfinder made a mistake by having armor “environmental protections” be so universal and powerful in the game—they take the fun out of a lot of classic science-fiction predicaments like toxic atmospheres, vacuums, nerve gases, and so forth.
When the PCs reach Guidance’s central server room, Guidance perceives them as threats and generates hardlight holograms of past First Seekers to battle them. This was done in a pretty cool way, as each time the PCs inflict a certain threshold of damage, the hologram changes to a different past First Seeker and gains a different associated power. It was a smart way to show off a bit of SFS history and keep the boss battle constantly changing.
Assuming the PCs are successful, they’ll know the party responsible for the intrusion: Datch! Data Purge is the first time the leadership of the Society realises just who they’re up against, making it an important part of the season meta-plot. But even as a standalone scenario, I think high-level PCs will find the scenario an enjoyable and challenging (in the context of Starfinder) adventure.
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.
One of the most memorable Dungeon Crawls Paizo has ever put out
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.
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:
Map Issues:
This scenario, for all of Cole Kronewitter's delicate attention to detail, suffers for its maps. In Part A, the computer to disable the magnet is indicated as being "on the southern wall, marked by an X" but there is no X on the map. In Part C, there is no "sneak here to escape" information. I decided if the PCs reached the Western edge of the map they'd win, but I would have appreciated more guidance there. In Part D one of the major hazards of the mission is betrayed by a dashed line on the ground. I lied and told my players it was an indication of authorized vs. unauthorized areas, and then had the glass panels descend from the ceiling rather than rise from the floor.
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.
Hazard Sidebar:
The nerve agent was effectively neutralized by the mystic's use of life bubble at the start of the mission. I suppose I could have used dispel magic when Guidance moved into its spellcaster form, but at that point the corrupted AI had other things to worry about, like being put in the "time out" bubble (Resilient Sphere) by the technomancer.
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.
I had a question after reviewing the Chronicle Sheet:
Spoiler:
To clarify, when the Focus of the Forum Social Boon states that one can requisition a non-expendable magic or hybrid item at a -2 level or lower, does that mean that I permanently acquire the item? My level 10 PC could, say, pick up a level 8 item for keeps and cross off the boon?
Thanks for any insight you may have! I appreciate the help.
(based on 4 ratings)
