A series of four Starfinder Quests designed for levels 1-4.
In a strange turn of events, the Society finds itself working with a former enemy, the ysoki mastermind Datch. From her holding cell within Society headquarters, Datch sends a group of agents on a series of missions throughout Near Space to recover the data that can prevent her final scheme from disrupting a major Pact Worlds corporation.
Written by: Drew Taylor, Lau Bannenberg, Dave Nelson and Shay Snow
Scenario tags: Quest, Repeatable, Vehicle
[Scenario Maps spoiler - click to reveal]
The following maps used in this scenario are also available for purchase here on paizo.com:
I agree with all the reviews here. The story feels very disjointed, as has said before this feels like 4 bounties loosely strung together. Independently they are all fine adventurers but when you string them together they come across lacking. This is also a heavy skill challenge mission. So characters that are combat heavy will have to wait until the one of the encounters to shine. But this does mean that if you are missing a crucial skill you could fail an encounter or two. It's a mix of high stakes skill challenges and intense combat situations that can be quite difficult. But it also just feels thematically off.
Like all starfinder adventures it feels as if Piazo tries to make their modules accessible to all but this means the stories can at times feel like they are written for middle schoolers. It's a fun little adventure that gets frustrating at times.
I just played this and despite the GMs great performance, honestly, the story felt a bit fractured, very much like tying for bounties together with some narrative twine.
While the GM did spectacular levels of prep, I am honestly not sure if adding a vehicle chase at the end really is all that appealing, since you end up having to explain a subsystem that players might have never experienced to the players... after a lengthy session.
It's not bad... but particularly the first two missions feel rather random, and I had a hard time connecting those questions to the main plot, that changed later, but I still think... this could have been a better experience as a "normal" scenario. With so many worlds and settings, the theme does change quite a bit if you like variety... but I felt like it made it harder to set a consistent tone.
This is a very personal scoring, and I can totally see giving this one a higher score, some others have mentioned that this would be great for new players... but despite excluding Starship combat( which I don't want in an experience for new players) I feel like it focusses on some of the more unusual places, rather than some of the core Starfinder experiences (which would be my choice for an introduction).
If I could give this one a 3.5 I would, unfortunately, it just does not come together enough for me to give this one a 4.
Its a fun scenario for beginners. While they might not be up to speed to the full story behind Datch, they dont need it for these missions.
There is a lot of different flavor in each, focusing on different skills/aspects of the game.
Not using starship combat but a fun chase was extra welcome. While new players will need to learn an extra ruleset for it, it feels less cumbersome then introducing them to starship combat. And everyone gets to meaningfully contribute during the chase, making for better engagement.
This has IMPORTANT clarifications in the GM thread
First I would like to say thank you for providing this scenario; last season I always said that Datch's punishment should be giving mission briefings to low level Starfinders, and this is what I had in mind.
Echoing BNW, what I didn't have in mind is making the missions excessively dangerous, to the point of making new players' characters unplayable. While I see why Datch would toss them into the meat grinder, as GMs it isn't appropriate to throw up a barrier to Society entry like giving new players conditions to resolve before playing again.
It feels like this was initially designed as a higher level scenario, with the numbers decreased when it was determined that it should be a 1-4 quest pack. Challenges faced by higher level characters are simply different than what a low level team should face; just lowering enemy stats and effect DCs is not sufficient to make the challenge appropriate.
Specifics:
Spoiler:
The whisperwing hatchlings should inflict Dex damage instead of Dex drain. This is painful in the fight, and for subsequent skill challenges, but will be cleared up by the time the PCs arrive at the next quest segment.
The Hacker's Curse trap is wildly inappropriate, insofar as it can render the entire party's gear unusable, and, like, do you need to cast Remove Affliction once for each item? Low level characters don't have that kind of Fame. That said, if the PCs get it, the spaceport's sensors can detect it when they try to leave, and the items can placed in quarantine until the Embri authorities can get a powerful mystic to remove the curse. This teaches the PCs about the danger of afflictions, which should serve them well later.
The buggies in the last section seem ill-suited for the actual adventure they're on. What are the stats for the level 4 version? Or are they the same level 1 buggy with higher DCs to control? Our group only had my 4th level Izalguun with +9 Piloting, and the second buggy's pilot was only +4. The buggies really need some Autopilot, so the team isn't automatically screwed. For reference, a level 4 Police Cruiser has Autopilot +13. The fact that it won't take the race action or other dangerous stunts is a reasonable compromise.
I'm just sayin, are we sure Datch isn't meant to have a point about the society? xD
I think its that she was spinning things badly rather than making them up whole cloth. Otherwise her plan wouldn't have worked. It helped add a lot of credibility to her plan that
Spoiler:
The society wasn't actually the target. It was "ohh look a distraction" so she could go after her real target. The society was just the paper tiger so the tiger hunter could take over the town.
The only pity is that it is a 1-4 scenario. Many characters that had extensive dealings with datch, and thus would be the ones where she would have the most interesting impact, are past that level range
The scenario has been clarified to not be unfairly debilitating to your PCs longterm survival here. The one thing can be taken off when you get back home and the other thing is the reduced form of the thing that goes away.
The only pity is that it is a 1-4 scenario. Many characters that had extensive dealings with datch, and thus would be the ones where she would have the most interesting impact, are past that level range
My now level 3 Kiirinta had so much to say to her.
