A fleet of warships invades the Weydana system, and the PCs must launch their own armada to withstand the attack! When Watcher Krulveth, the leader of the invading forces, wishes to speak to the PCs in person, they must decide whether to meet her in good faith or expect an ambush. But stopping Krulveth and her armada doesn't mean the system is completely safe. A wandering pulsar approaches, and with it, an uncaring extraplanar entity that floods the system with deadly radiation. Every living person in the Weydana system counts on the PCs to protect them from this terrible threat!
"The Culling Shadow" is a Starfinder Roleplaying Game adventure for four 11th-level characters. This adventure concludes the Horizons of the Vast Adventure Path, a six-part, bimonthly campaign in which the heroes are at the forefront of exploring and charting a world filled with mystery. This volume also includes advice on continuing to administer the charter through new challenges, a study of the Negative Energy Plane, and a selection of spooky alien threats.
Each bi-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-13: 978-1-64078-409-3
The Culling Shadow 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 (5.1 MB PDF).
Other Resources: This product is also available on the following platforms:
The moon crater fight is way too overtuned with the sharpshooters sniping you from the craters rims.
The finale is a bit of a let down because Minaxoi turns like a bus and it's hard for him to maneuver -- his AC/TL is also very low and he's mainly a damage sponge.
The events after part 2 but before the finale should be skipped as they are misplaced and serve just as speedbumps to the ending and you don't really need the buffs.
The lack of pawns means you are basically on your own for depicting a crystalline purple-black Negative Energy dragon. Sorry!
Overall this six-parter has some problems with it that keep it from being in my top rated series.....the finale is way too abrupt. The "slow burn" of the radiation mystery doesn't work mixed in with the mundane matters of colony administration. I think if the Draeliks had gotten involved a book or two earlier it would have worked better.
WHO’S THE BOSS?
An enemy armada invades! The heroes of New Horizon must launch their own forces to withstand the attack and eventually take the fight to the evil cult’s leader on the dark side of the moon. But to truly save their home, they must face the monster at the source of the deadly radiation threatening to kill every sentient creature in the system!
This Starfinder Adventure Path volume concludes the Horizons of the Vast Adventure Path and includes:
• “The Culling Shadow,” a Starfinder adventure for 11th-level characters, by Landon Winkler.
• Ways to continue your Horizons of the Vast campaign beyond the final fight, by Isis Wozniakowska.
• A toolbox featuring a description of the Negative Energy Plane, options for players to harness the power of that void, a collection of dangerous creatures, and a glimpse at a frozen, chalky world, by Ivis K. Flanagan, Jenny Jarzabski, Georg Mir, Andrew Mullen, Hilary Moon Murphy, Dave Nelson, Jess Nevins, Thea Seals, and Landon Winkler.
• Statistics and deck plans for an AbadarCorp long-haul freighter, by Landon Winkler.
Hah! Imagine my surprise when, after I've been using Witchwyrd merchants to sell rare stuff to the players every now and then, a named Witchwyrd finally appears in Book 6. Fantastic.
The additional materials in this volume are a lot of fun. Great campaign continuation ideas, I loved the article on the negative energy plane (and the Drift Crisis gives me an excuse to throw players in there... for a bit), and the monsters were delightfully creepy.
I gotta say that the lack of any really good art aside from the cover of the final encounter of this AP really brings the finale down.
With the ending of the Pawn AP product lines, there's zero chance of getting any good official art of Misaxenoi. Really, really disappointed.
It's a starship sized Sceaduinar, so all you need is the medium sized Sceaduinar mini from the Ruins of Lastwall set. Maybe a bit anticlimactic, but that's how starship combat works in Starfinder.