A Starfinder Society Scenario designed for 3rd- through 6th-level characters.
When relics of dubious provenance are discovered in the Starfinder Society's collection, revealing a famous Starfinder from the Society's early days as a thief and a fraud, a team of Starfinders are dispatched to Verces to return the relics to Qidel, mysterious Aerie of the Sun, and make amends to the strix from whom the relics were stolen. But forgiveness requires more than lost baubles and pretty words. Can the Starfinders take the first steps along the long road to reconciliation? Or will the sins of the past outweigh their efforts?
Content Warning: This scenario contains themes of wrongful imprisonment and prisoner death. Before you begin, understand that player consent (including that of the Game Master) is vital to a safe and fun play experience for everyone. You should talk with your players before beginning the adventure and modify descriptions of the narrative as appropriate.
Written by: Shay Snow
Scenario tags: Faction (Dataphiles, Wayfinders)
[Scenario Maps spoiler - click to reveal]
The following maps used in this scenario are also available for purchase here on paizo.com:
I'm really looking forward to running this as a one shot at some point.
It holds the party to what Starfinders are meant to be; more than just murderhobo loot goblins, and has them dealing with the effects of what happens when another member doesn't live up to those standards.
The parallels to some of the darker points to our own past are very stark, looking at you British Museum, but I'm a firm believer that not every story needs to be based in a romanticized idea of the past, and even if it brings up some tough topics, I think it's worth thinking about.
The early challenges are great in my mind as a kind of "learn by doing" to cultures, though I wish the briefly mentioned strix focus on teamwork was more expanded on. What especially stands out to me are the later traps! They stand out as fitting perfectly with the strix themselves and are way better than just some reflavored pit trap or password reader. I'm definitely stealing the "trap as lesson" idea for my own games.
The Year of Apologizing for Existing kicked off in earnest in this scenario and boy what a doozy of a thing to be apologizing for. I cannot express strongly enough how much the table absolutely positively despised being put in the position of having to defend and apoligize for such villainy that they had absolutely nothing to do with.
One player was so uncomfortable that they actually left the table.
As for the adventure design itself...the method of apology felt very very odd and frankly while the tasks were set up to encourage roleplay the morale of the table was in the tank to the point where it became a pretty lifeless series of dice rolls.
The final part of the scenario saw the players rally but perhaps too late. Being asked to place the artifact [spoilers=major spoilers for scenario] back into a monster infested dungeon and to resist the allure of trying to protect another such artifact, just felt odd. It didnt make any sense. [/spoiler]
In the end, the scenario felt disjointed, the crime being apologized for so heinous and over the top that the method of apology felt alkost cartoonishly goofy.
I have no problem with going dark or grey - in fact I usually prefer it. But this scenario is so far out of left field, so cartoonishly evil, that I honestly prefer to pretend this whole happening never took place.
Please note that while this is technically a May release, it will not release to the public until June 1. More information can be found in this thread.
The following content warning has been added to this scenario. The PDF will be updated as our pipeline allows.
Content Warning: This scenario contains themes of wrongful imprisonment and prisoner death. Before you begin, understand that player consent (including that of the Game Master) is vital to a safe and fun play experience for everyone. You should talk with your players before beginning the adventure and modify descriptions of the narrative as appropriate.
Seeing some talk about this one and might grab it once I get paid, despite not really being a Starfinder gal. This sounds like the kind of stories Society in both games could use more of.
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