In this thrilling kick-off to the new Fly Free or Die Starfinder Adventure Path, a crew of scoundrels, rogues, and misfits finds it hard to survive in a galaxy where everyone has a price. Targeted by a crime boss and his army of enforcers, preyed upon by faceless mega-corporations, and hounded by rivals, the crew of the Free Trader Oliphaunt line up the big score that will at last make them rich beyond their wildest dreams. But when their many enemies join forces and the crew loses it all, they find out there's two things in the galaxy that can't be bought: freedom... and revenge.
It's just another day punching the clock when the player characters, a blue-collar transport crew, are blamed for a bad cargo and stiffed of their bonuses. They take a dangerous job smuggling weapons to a world conquered by militant hobgoblins, but one fiasco later, they're in debt to a crime boss and about to be fired. Their only chance is to steal the Oliphaunt, an experimental cargo hauler with a magical secret, and then survive long enough to collect the payoff!
“We're No Heroes" is a Starfinder Roleplaying Game adventure for four 1st-level characters. It makes an excellent introduction to the game for new players. The adventure begins the Fly Free or Die Adventure Path, a six-part, monthly campaign in which a merchant crew with an experimental starship tries to get rich, escape interplanetary assassins, and outwit their rivals. This volume also includes rules for finding, buying, and selling interstellar cargo (and using the profits to enhance your starship), a collection of deadly threats, and a player's guide that provides advice and new character creation options ideal for this Adventure Path.
Each monthly full-color softcover Starfinder Adventure Path volume contains a new installment of a series of interconnected science-fantasy quests that together create a fully developed plot of sweeping scale and epic challenges. Each 64-page volume of the Starfinder Adventure Path also contains in-depth articles that detail and expand the Starfinder campaign setting and provide new rules, a host of exciting new monsters and alien races, a new planet to explore and starship to pilot, and more!
ISBN: 978-1-64078-282-2
We're No Heroes is sanctioned for use in Starfinder Society Organized Play. The rules for running this Adventure Path and Chronicle sheets are available as a free download (5.3 MB PDF).
Other Resources: This product is also available on the following platforms:
This entire adventure path is "Bad things happen to you every job, and someone will betray you every time you turn around.
The players need to decide before they start how far their reactions to this can diverge before the game stops being fun.
By book 6, one player was murdering every person who betrayed us, non combatant or not (to be fair, they had been conspiring to kill us, so they weren't exactly innocent.) and another player was trying to only kill people who were actively shooting us, and the game eventually fell apart.
Also, make sure your players *know* when doing a smart thing lets them avoid a fight. Even if that means having "cut away" scenes showing shadowy figures waiting for them where they were not going. Without that, by the end of the 5th book, (or possibly even with that) it just felt like we just automatically failed whenever the adventure wanted something dramatic to happen.
We're No Heroes is a frustrating start to the Fly Free or Die AP. It sets a great tone and has a very cool core concept, but it quickly reveals itself to be very narrow in scope and very determined to deliver a "playable movie" sort of story. I went through it as a player and had a good time leaning into the concept, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't frustrated and emotionally disconnected from the events to a degree that I haven't experienced with other APs.
If I had to characterize We're No Heroes, its as a playable series of improbably persistent no win scenarios, crossed with the typical Starfinder writing and encounter design. Each of the scenarios involve the PCs being given a job, some improbable event causing the job to go bad, the PCs having to do some easy skill checks or combat to salvage the remains, getting some sort of moral choice, and then there being essentially no meaningful consequence for any choice made. The events are written such that there's no way to avoid things "going bad", and no way to turn them around.
It leads to an odd feeling in play. The amount of "things going wrong" is oppressive, but they're never all that hard to resolve. Narratively, the PCs are always down on their luck, but mechanically, you're getting credits and leveling up just fine. You're never in a position where you're really, truly, put on the back foot, and none of the bad twists are a result of your own mistakes - just the author's narrative chugging along. It's a format that delivers the right "feel" but only on a surface level.
Some specific annoyances:
Berry Selling:
Nothing about this scenario makes much sense, from the berries being completely unwanted in the market, to a criminal intermediary sending enforcers to attack the PCs for berries she doesn't even want. It smells like a sandbox of possibilities to establish merchant connections and leverage your social skills, but everything is just a dead end. It actively resists PC problem solving in order to leave them with the moral dilemma at the end.
The Stealing of the Ship:
Level 1 or 2 characters slickly stealing a high value super special experimental ship from right under the noses of a big corporation's highest security is an enormous stretch that requires exceedingly weak foes, humble security measures and incongruously low DCs. However, it's especially baffling in the context of this adventure, which has so far presented nothing but partial failures for even the most innocuous of tasks. It shatters any illusion that there's consistency and fantastical-realism to the world. These tasks are doable for low level PCs because the authors wanted to PCs to get the Oliphaunt, and they thought this would be a fun set piece to give it to them.
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All these complaints said, the adventure definitely establishes that scrappy "feel", that the PCs are nobodies in an unfair universe and rolling with the punches. For a group willing to go along for the ride without thinking too hard, its quite the romp with some fun moral dilemmas to argue about and ponder in character. It has some great art and a wide variety of encounters and challenges.
All in all, a unique adventure, but with some irritations that are likely to break it for some groups.
The writing is disjointed and unclear. In the end, I had to write 5 pages of notes to tighten up the writing and make decisions about who does what and when. I really don't think anyone play tested this all the way through. The timing of the events makes everything happen at once, taking choices away from the players.
The economic parts of the game are silly and defy logic.
Railroad-y to the point of silliness as well, the storyline even comes right out and says, "no matter what choice the characters make, this is the outcome".
The NPC's are not compelling and there wasn't anyone to care about for the most part.
And the "Fly Free or DIE!" has like no flying. None. At all. I had 4 characters with a mix of starship combat skills that didn't get used. But they did die quite a bit in some of the unbalanced combat situations.
Over all, not a fun story.
Atmosphere is everything. And an AP having a plot is not a railroad.
If your group are pampered brats who always expect to win, this starter AP is going to make them incredibly mad. I see so many groups coming up with schemes to try and 'win' this AP. This is the Kobiyashi Maru and you are NOT Kirk (and even then, he cheated). Take your lumps in-character and get over it or find a new AP. But if your group are a bunch of crybabies, then just skip parts 1-2 and go straight to part 3 -- seriously, do NOT get sidetracked trying to come up with ways for them to win parts 1-2. Not only is it thematically not appropriate for the mood trying to be conjured, but you're going to wind up sidetracked. The point is to hijack the ship. That's it. How you get there is irrelevant if you want to come up with your own ideas.
4 stars.
Probably would've been higher but the first 2/3rds of the adventure can be very swingy and lethal. That junkbot at the beginning gets a 2d6 breath weapon with no delay between hits and a slam that does 1d6+5. It will murder you. The Graviton Solarian after that can lay out a party of 4 if the dice go against you.
"Good work," Jackie said, grabbing a cup of coffee from a nearby machine she kept in the cockpit, "I'll take us down. Go wake up the other two, would you?" She asked while sitting down, drinking and finally getting the ship prepared to land while getting permissions to land from ground control. She flipped but button that would alert the crew that re-entry was soon...
"BD514, this is Qabarat Ground Control. Be advised that Tropical Storm Daerunia is currently 30 miles off the coast and it is currently 100% precipitation. Begin your approach along heading 090...."
Jackie comm'd back over to them, "This is BD514, we read you, coming along at heading 090. Thank you." Then flipped her A1 switch, "This is your captain speaking..." Jackie trailed off, like pilots did in old trids. "We are preparing for reentry. We know you had little choice in taking this shitty job but appreciate you not complaining, Thank you." She clipped off.
The VI honked at Jackie and a small receipt was printed off a printer nearby. "5 credits have been deducted from your salary for violating workplace codes against profanity."
This adventure felt quite fresh and unique, offering a scenario I hadn't used before but wouldn't have thought to write.
My players (IC) really enjoyed repeatedly getting screwed over even as their characters hated it - and the payoff at the end worked well.
It does a good job of giving the illusion of choice (you get screwed either way - but you can choose how you get screwed) even though you end up at the same destination.
CorvusMask: It is not a space pirate AP. It is a space trucker AP. As far as alignment goes, I expect most characters will be some version of Neutral, but important moral and ethical choices are an important part of this AP, so what you do and how you treat others WILL matter.
Toxicsyn: Yes! All three of those were influences (but there are a lot of other influences too).
Porridge: Yes! Chris Sims, former Starfinder Developer, wrote it; it's in the back of the first volume and includes new themes, gear, and player backgrounds to tie your character into the adventure.
Hey, maybe my group will want me to run this one after we finish Runelords. It doesn't have to be Space Pirates, it just has to off the space fantasy adventure game beaten path. That it comes out after the Starship Ops Manual I have high hopes for it.
That it comes out after the Starship Ops Manual I have high hopes for it.
You will definitely see some specific rules from SOM in this AP, though not necessarily in the first volume. Things like boarding, starship chases, etc.
I did a job. Got nothing but trouble since I did it too, not to mention more than a few unkind words as regards to my character. So let me make this abundantly clear:
This will be a 6-volume adventure path starting at 1st level, and the players should be 13th by the end. Devastation Ark will be out by then, so you can move right into that AP for endgame play!
CorvusMask: It is not a space pirate AP. It is a space trucker AP. As far as alignment goes, I expect most characters will be some version of Neutral, but important moral and ethical choices are an important part of this AP, so what you do and how you treat others WILL matter.
Toxicsyn: Yes! All three of those were influences (but there are a lot of other influences too).
Porridge: Yes! Chris Sims, former Starfinder Developer, wrote it; it's in the back of the first volume and includes new themes, gear, and player backgrounds to tie your character into the adventure.
"This here's Suitcase, good buddy, just trying ta' get this cargo ta port, Conqueror willin'. Didn't need no adventure path but darned if I ain't gonna participate."
This will be a 6-volume adventure path starting at 1st level, and the players should be 13th by the end. Devastation Ark will be out by then, so you can move right into that AP for endgame play!
Glad to hear that it goes to 13! I'm still hoping one day we'll get a 1-20 Starfinder AP but the fact that we've got one that takes us into higher level gameplay is nice.
I'm very excited to see a classic Traveler-style sandbox (?) AP for Starfinder. Cool!
It’s as sandbox as I can make it, while still being an AP. I encourage GMs to modify the hell out of this thing, to give the players as much choice as possible. But in an AP with limited page count, I just can’t account for every possibility.
I don't have much hope for the world building/law enforcement part of this AP. Hopefully I will be surprised.
I guess we will have to see. Still, 64 pages is not a lot of page space for an adventure AND new rules.
I don't even want new rules (or technically the new rules should be about upgrading starships through trading and stuff instead of it being automatic).
Instead the AP should have a believable law enforcement and security for a sci-fi setting. Meaning there are cameras, the PCs names, biometrics etc. are on file as they are employees, ships have transponders etc.
Being flagged as criminals should hound them in the long run and they should have to adjust accordingly (see Shadowrun), instead of the criminal element only being there for one chapter and then everyone acts like nothing happened.
So the ship gets flagged and they get tagged as criminals. Meaning that whenever a scanner picks them up the police gets alerted. How far this information spreads in the pact system and how zealous the police responds depends on the setting, but imo at least on all the main worlds they should be forced to hide their identities and to prevent their ship from being seen.
I also fear that the announced trading for starship improvement rules will be in addition to normal upgrades and tied to the special/experimental status of the Oliphaunt instead of it being a real replacement for the tooth fairy starships improvements you normally get.
Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Society Subscriber
Am I remembering incorrectly that maps and assets from new PDFs were going to be made more compatible with VTT for those of us who are stuck playing in isolation? I've been terribly excited for Fly Free or Die, and I eagerly downloaded my digital copy the moment it became available - only to find it's going to be an utter nightmare to run for any of my digital groups.
Every single asset in the PDF is cut into 5-6 image pieces, making it almost impossible to easily export into roll20 or any other VTT of choice. Previously, I could simply pull a map image out of a PDF, without the numbers, and import it into my VTT to give my players the great, colorful, detailed maps as-is. For some reason, the layout of this PDF has made that nearly impossible. Even the smaller maps are made up of two or more images, while the larger ones are in 6+ pieces of varying sizes, making it nearly impossible to properly size and lay out in roll20.
Everything about this adventure looks fun as hell, and I can't wait to run it for my players, but now I'm not sure how. Why was this changed? Is there a separate maps file coming?
Am I remembering incorrectly that maps and assets from new PDFs were going to be made more compatible with VTT for those of us who are stuck playing in isolation? I've been terribly excited for Fly Free or Die, and I eagerly downloaded my digital copy the moment it became available - only to find it's going to be an utter nightmare to run for any of my digital groups.
Every single asset in the PDF is cut into 5-6 image pieces, making it almost impossible to easily export into roll20 or any other VTT of choice. Previously, I could simply pull a map image out of a PDF, without the numbers, and import it into my VTT to give my players the great, colorful, detailed maps as-is. For some reason, the layout of this PDF has made that nearly impossible. Even the smaller maps are made up of two or more images, while the larger ones are in 6+ pieces of varying sizes, making it nearly impossible to properly size and lay out in roll20.
Everything about this adventure looks fun as hell, and I can't wait to run it for my players, but now I'm not sure how. Why was this changed? Is there a separate maps file coming?
Sounds like you have the adventure. Can you answer, in Spoilers:
1. How believable law enforcement is?
2. What is so experimental/special about the ship?
3. How do the rules about buying and selling cargo work?
Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Society Subscriber
Ixal wrote:
Sounds like you have the adventure. Can you answer, in Spoilers:
1. How believable law enforcement is?
2. What is so experimental/special about the ship?
3. How do the rules about buying and selling cargo work?
I do have the adventure! My subscription PDF showed up last night - and I dove right in; still very excited to run this, assuming my technical issues can be addressed. As to your questions, these are obviously some BIG OL' SPOILERS, so only click through if you don't mind hearing core plot hooks!
You've Been Warned:
1. This is actually an interesting look at what it means to operate on different worlds with different levels of authority and consequences, at least in my opinion. At this stage in the campaign, the PCs aren't exactly notorious interplanetary adventurers; they're working stiffs trying to scrape by, and aren't likely to draw the attention of, say, the Stewards. There are a few opportunities for the PCs to do 'illegal' things, and the consequences actually vary depending on where they are, and how badly they break the law.
In a crowded Castrovel city, this means being detained by cops and having to spend a lot of time and effort in bureaucratic fines and procedures (and they're on a short deadline for the job, so this is real bad). In the Akiton Hivemarket, this means the Khulan showing up and potentially murdering them. Other locations are ruled less by laws and more by might, and you can guess where that leads.
2. There's only the first level of hints towards the ship's capabilities in book one - there won't even be a map of the Oliphaunt until book two - but the main attraction is null-space cargo holds. Imagine being able to haul a massive freighter's worth of goods in a shuttle! The applications for legit business, smuggling, and more are obvious. I'm sure there's more to come, but book one is more about setting up the PCs' crummy situation and dangling the ship as their ticket out.
3. There's a whole 5-page section on this which I clearly won't duplicate here, but the summary is that you can now have players earn BP for their ship by running cargo instead of doling them out as level awards (though of course you can still give them out that way, too). There's still a system to gate how many BP you can spend on the ship based on party level, so the PCs can't just "let's just earn a Tier 9 ship before heading for the main plot." Plus you also spend the BP back on new cargo shipments and other cost-of-living expenses. Rules are included for how to find jobs, how to make ideal profits, and how to add complications so it's not just a bookkeeping "go here, drop off this" addition. What if the goods are counterfeit? What if the buyer is a jerk? But it really means all of the rules about flight time, maintaining courses, and making the most of your downtime start mattering more.
Sounds like you have the adventure. Can you answer, in Spoilers:
1. How believable law enforcement is?
2. What is so experimental/special about the ship?
3. How do the rules about buying and selling cargo work?
I do have the adventure! My subscription PDF showed up last night - and I dove right in; still very excited to run this, assuming my technical issues can be addressed. As to your questions, these are obviously some BIG OL' SPOILERS, so only click through if you don't mind hearing core plot hooks!
** spoiler omitted **...
Sounds better than expected. Except number 2. This isn't something I would see as big innovation but more of a no brainer.
I do have the adventure! My subscription PDF showed up last night - and I dove right in; still very excited to run this, assuming my technical issues can be addressed. As to your questions, these are obviously some BIG OL' SPOILERS, so only click through if you don't mind hearing core plot hooks!
Regarding your answer about the special ship. Does the adventure give the players their own ship to start, or are we bringing in our own?
Am I remembering incorrectly that maps and assets from new PDFs were going to be made more compatible with VTT for those of us who are stuck playing in isolation? I've been terribly excited for Fly Free or Die, and I eagerly downloaded my digital copy the moment it became available - only to find it's going to be an utter nightmare to run for any of my digital groups.
Every single asset in the PDF is cut into 5-6 image pieces, making it almost impossible to easily export into roll20 or any other VTT of choice. Previously, I could simply pull a map image out of a PDF, without the numbers, and import it into my VTT to give my players the great, colorful, detailed maps as-is. For some reason, the layout of this PDF has made that nearly impossible. Even the smaller maps are made up of two or more images, while the larger ones are in 6+ pieces of varying sizes, making it nearly impossible to properly size and lay out in roll20.
Everything about this adventure looks fun as hell, and I can't wait to run it for my players, but now I'm not sure how. Why was this changed? Is there a separate maps file coming?
I'm noticing the same thing, it even covers most if not all of the text so I can't copy segments for handouts or GM notes. Quite frustrating honestly and hoping there's a fixed version available soon.
Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Society Subscriber
Sparrowhawk_92 wrote:
If you're continuing being generous, can you share what the new themes they added or anything else interesting from the player's guide?
Generosity achieved!
This generously spoils a lot of stuff, fair warning:
So, the player's guide is about 10 pages long. It includes a number of content hints regarding the nature of the adventure and how players should expect to interact with the world; a list of suggested themes and why they'd make good fits for the adventure; two brand-new themes - "Prole," which seems pretty on-the-nose, and "Vaster," someone from an isolated world or settlement without a lot of access to shopping or infospheres; a list of plot-hook backgrounds that the players should take which will give them ties to key NPCs; some new company-made gear, and a lot of fun flavor text about working for the fastest-growing megacorp across two major star systems!
Hope that helps. :) Any word on the whole 'incredibly difficult-to-use PDF' thing?
What on earth is going on with the PDF maps in this volume? I'm supposed to knit them all together in a graphics program before putting them on Roll20? WTH!
