paizo.com Recent Reviews of Starfinder Adventure Path #46: The Perfect Storm (Drift Crashers 1 of 3)paizo.com Recent Reviews of Starfinder Adventure Path #46: The Perfect Storm (Drift Crashers 1 of 3)2023-10-10T20:51:12Z2023-10-10T20:51:12ZStarfinder Adventure Path #46: The Perfect Storm (Drift Crashers 1 of 3): Quite the ride, but challenging to run and pretty deadly in parts (4 stars)Sebastian Hirschhttps://paizo.com/products/btq02dv1?Starfinder-Adventure-Path-46-The-Perfect-Storm2023-06-23T22:07:40Z<p><b>Starfinder Adventure Path #46: The Perfect Storm (Drift Crashers 1 of 3)</b></p><p>stub review - lots of nice setpieces, but I found it rather hard to run, there it is certainly not an AP(volume) for new GMs. But there is plenty to like, for more experienced GMs. </p>
<p>Your group will likely get a lot more out of this AP, if they are more familiar with the setting. </p>
<p>The start is pretty darn brutal, and I really had to hold back. </p>
<p>One of the bigger challenges, excluding the surprise in the new world, is to keep your players focused on the plot, especially considering their mobility options.
<br />
I had to add in more breaks in the action etc. it really starts with a rush and I feel like it is a bit too hard for that. </p>
<p>In other words, as listed above, this needs an experienced GM that knows when to use a light touch.</p>
<p>3.5 out of 5 - but honestly a couple of issues are just based on the Starfinder rules and how they can be pretty darn brutal.</p><p><b>Starfinder Adventure Path #46: The Perfect Storm (Drift Crashers 1 of 3)</b></p><p>stub review - lots of nice setpieces, but I found it rather hard to run, there it is certainly not an AP(volume) for new GMs. But there is plenty to like, for more experienced GMs. </p>
<p>Your group will likely get a lot more out of this AP, if they are more familiar with the setting. </p>
<p>The start is pretty darn brutal, and I really had to hold back. </p>
<p>One of the bigger challenges, excluding the surprise in the new world, is to keep your players focused on the plot, especially considering their mobility options.
<br />
I had to add in more breaks in the action etc. it really starts with a rush and I feel like it is a bit too hard for that. </p>
<p>In other words, as listed above, this needs an experienced GM that knows when to use a light touch.</p>
<p>3.5 out of 5 - but honestly a couple of issues are just based on the Starfinder rules and how they can be pretty darn brutal.</p>Sebastian Hirsch2023-06-23T22:07:40ZStarfinder Adventure Path #46: The Perfect Storm (Drift Crashers 1 of 3): Do not pass Go. Go directly to Hell! (5 stars)jrock9430https://paizo.com/products/btq02dv1?Starfinder-Adventure-Path-46-The-Perfect-Storm2022-08-04T02:35:07Z<p><b>Starfinder Adventure Path #46: The Perfect Storm (Drift Crashers 1 of 3)</b></p><p>Spoiler: You haphazardly go to Hell! What could go wrong? Love the lore coming out of this one! Let's Go! 5-Stars</p><p><b>Starfinder Adventure Path #46: The Perfect Storm (Drift Crashers 1 of 3)</b></p><p>Spoiler: You haphazardly go to Hell! What could go wrong? Love the lore coming out of this one! Let's Go! 5-Stars</p>jrock94302022-08-04T02:35:07ZStarfinder Adventure Path #46: The Perfect Storm (Drift Crashers 1 of 3): Nice start to The Drift Crisis (5 stars)TRDGhttps://paizo.com/products/btq02dv1?Starfinder-Adventure-Path-46-The-Perfect-Storm2022-07-26T17:27:27Z<p><b>Starfinder Adventure Path #46: The Perfect Storm (Drift Crashers 1 of 3)</b></p><p>I have not played this module yet but will be doing shortly in under a week. But I feel it is getting an unfair star rep from that first poster review (and I would'nt even call that a "review" myself!!) so 5 Stars to counter that regardless. Really wish there was a minimal limit one HAS to post in a review, but I digress....</p>
<p>So we launch into The drift crisis with this, first I would recommend starting with the one shot scenario Before the Storm, then this AP. So it warms up the players for what is about to come, but not 100% needed.</p>
<p>Positives +</p>
<p>• The action is fast and furious with no let up thus starting this "Crisis" with a bang and no slow burn here and that as much needed in my humble opinion!!</p>
<p>• Nice to have the players involved with making their own special ship NPC and pick an addition to their ship, really gives the players a feeling of ownership, compared to other Starfinder AP's</p>
<p>• Merging ships is an interesting twist (Double edged sword thing though...)</p>
<p>• Having some of the pirate crew as enemies to kill or befriend is nice to have instead of just lazer blaster fodder, good RP to be had in the spare moment before the action continues</p>
<p>• Reexploring your old/new starship and what popped in there will be quite interesting when the party "cleans house"</p>
<p>• Going to the plane of Hell for the first time in Starfinder, COOL, (but a bit sparse there)</p>
<p>• Meeting your alter ego in another time line might be trite and done to death for some but the reviews need to be done for the average gamer in many regards, not ye old grizzled vet who wants it ONLT their way, no exceptions, LOL I think my crew will have a blast with this in all honesty.</p>
<p>• the Knights of Golarian are a nice touch to get the flavor of them in the Space station</p>
<p>• Then that Dream Station of Desna's should be a hoot for many players, not all but I think a good share</p>
<p>• The Starstone destroyed in this alternate time??!! GULP :)</p>
<p>• Starfinder ship chase!! Need I say more, and not just the average and somewhat boring in my opinion ship to ship slugfest that happens in other AP's</p>
<p>NEEDS WORK -</p>
<p>- Granted Starfinder AP page counts are much smaller that Pf I and II's AP's but it would have been nice to explore the plane of Hell a bit more, be they combat encounters, skill check challenges or "local' NPC interactions...</p>
<p>- The combined ships, NO MAPS, create your own, NOT GOOD</p>
<p>- Partial maps of specific areas, with an AP that focuses on a Starship as their home for the most part Paizo should have really gone full out and perhaps have had a special flip map or flip tile product attached to this!!!</p>
<p>- The lack of downtime and thinking of WFT is going on can be an issue for some players and GM's but I think anyone can make some time as needed, between events</p>
<p>- kinda wish they would have given examples of fun, goofy off the wall NPC companions the players could pick from OR come up with their own, but maybe that's just me??</p>
<p>So in the end I think The perfect storm sets this Drift Crisis up just right, might not be to somes specific tastes but I think many players and GM's will have a great time playing this.</p>
<p>Cheers</p>
<p>Tom</p><p><b>Starfinder Adventure Path #46: The Perfect Storm (Drift Crashers 1 of 3)</b></p><p>I have not played this module yet but will be doing shortly in under a week. But I feel it is getting an unfair star rep from that first poster review (and I would'nt even call that a "review" myself!!) so 5 Stars to counter that regardless. Really wish there was a minimal limit one HAS to post in a review, but I digress....</p>
<p>So we launch into The drift crisis with this, first I would recommend starting with the one shot scenario Before the Storm, then this AP. So it warms up the players for what is about to come, but not 100% needed.</p>
<p>Positives +</p>
<p>• The action is fast and furious with no let up thus starting this "Crisis" with a bang and no slow burn here and that as much needed in my humble opinion!!</p>
<p>• Nice to have the players involved with making their own special ship NPC and pick an addition to their ship, really gives the players a feeling of ownership, compared to other Starfinder AP's</p>
<p>• Merging ships is an interesting twist (Double edged sword thing though...)</p>
<p>• Having some of the pirate crew as enemies to kill or befriend is nice to have instead of just lazer blaster fodder, good RP to be had in the spare moment before the action continues</p>
<p>• Reexploring your old/new starship and what popped in there will be quite interesting when the party "cleans house"</p>
<p>• Going to the plane of Hell for the first time in Starfinder, COOL, (but a bit sparse there)</p>
<p>• Meeting your alter ego in another time line might be trite and done to death for some but the reviews need to be done for the average gamer in many regards, not ye old grizzled vet who wants it ONLT their way, no exceptions, LOL I think my crew will have a blast with this in all honesty.</p>
<p>• the Knights of Golarian are a nice touch to get the flavor of them in the Space station</p>
<p>• Then that Dream Station of Desna's should be a hoot for many players, not all but I think a good share</p>
<p>• The Starstone destroyed in this alternate time??!! GULP :)</p>
<p>• Starfinder ship chase!! Need I say more, and not just the average and somewhat boring in my opinion ship to ship slugfest that happens in other AP's</p>
<p>NEEDS WORK -</p>
<p>- Granted Starfinder AP page counts are much smaller that Pf I and II's AP's but it would have been nice to explore the plane of Hell a bit more, be they combat encounters, skill check challenges or "local' NPC interactions...</p>
<p>- The combined ships, NO MAPS, create your own, NOT GOOD</p>
<p>- Partial maps of specific areas, with an AP that focuses on a Starship as their home for the most part Paizo should have really gone full out and perhaps have had a special flip map or flip tile product attached to this!!!</p>
<p>- The lack of downtime and thinking of WFT is going on can be an issue for some players and GM's but I think anyone can make some time as needed, between events</p>
<p>- kinda wish they would have given examples of fun, goofy off the wall NPC companions the players could pick from OR come up with their own, but maybe that's just me??</p>
<p>So in the end I think The perfect storm sets this Drift Crisis up just right, might not be to somes specific tastes but I think many players and GM's will have a great time playing this.</p>
<p>Cheers</p>
<p>Tom</p>TRDG2022-07-26T17:27:27ZStarfinder Adventure Path #46: The Perfect Storm (Drift Crashers 1 of 3): Short, not really Planar/Hell-related, and not really Crash-related? (4 stars)Leon Aquillahttps://paizo.com/products/btq02dv1?Starfinder-Adventure-Path-46-The-Perfect-Storm2022-06-24T00:58:53Z<p><b>Starfinder Adventure Path #46: The Perfect Storm (Drift Crashers 1 of 3)</b></p><p><b>Note: My players and I were divided on this one. I call it a 3/5 due to the bait and switch, but they really enjoyed it and probably would give it a 4.5 so I'm splitting the difference with a 4.</b> </p>
<p>In Starfinder AP #46, Paizo is experimenting with something that rarely works out well - time travel and alternate realities. </p>
<p>Make no mistake — you go to Hell for just long enough to fill up the gas tank before you're back out in a bunch of crazy stuff — I have some small criticisms with the copy but the big issue is this: Nothing you do matters. You go to a mirror universe and then the future — two settings that don't amount to a hill of beans when it comes to leaving lasting impacts on Starfinder. </p>
<p>These are well worn Star Trek tropes - emphasis on the worn. Part of the problem was encapsulated by the constant use of the tropes in Star Trek: Voyager, where brutal things would happen to the crew only for things to be tied up with a little bow at the end in the form of a reset button that turned everything back to status quo. It's a reason that Ronald D. Moore hated working on it and left to work on the now-famous Battlestar Galactica. </p>
<p>Plus time travel raises tons of questions. Can deities see through time? If you kill a soul in the future, but you're from the present, "when" does Pharasma judge it? Now-ish? Or in the future? Vexing metaphysical issues ahead! </p>
<p>Overall, this AP has a very brisk pace to it, and is slightly under-tuned. I was able to knock this out with a party of 4 in about 3 sessions of 5-6 hours each. Don't expect the provided NPC's to be really memorable. Populating your ship with NPC's is almost a must — especially if you have someone who's missing a critical skill like Computers or Engineering. A Mechanic or Operative is almost mandatory.</p>
<p>On to the nitpicky details: </p>
<p>- Knights of Golarion. The NPC's don't wear heavy armor? They all wear Estex Suits. Kind of odd, especially given the art direction. Some flavor text explaining they live in a crapsack world where you can't easily get heavy armor might have been useful, or maybe designated them as "Squires" or "Pages" — ineligible to wear heavy armor. </p>
<p>- Player ship starts out statblocked at tier 3 but the AP assumes you've got a tier 1 ship to start (it mentions upgrading your ship to tier 2 after a starship combat on page 19). Maybe I missed something here, but if I don't have a tier 1 ship, what am I supposed to do, make one from scratch? What's the point of the inner cover statblock for the player ship then? I started out the encounter with a CR 3 ship.</p>
<p>- The Dopplegangers are something that requires buy-in or a lot of creativity. I was able to create the statblocks in a hurry but it's definitely something that could be skipped. Alternately it could wind up a TPK....sneaking up on characters and killing them in their sleep without their heavy armor is a dangerous plot move! </p>
<p>- AP is undertuned after the battle at the beginning of the AP. The second part can either be super easy if you're stealthy or difficult if you murderhobo your way through it. You can faceroll through the third part just mindlessly rolling d20's and d6's. </p>
<p>- To get the most out of this AP you definitely need 3-4 NPC's on the crew to perform essential functions if necessary. As I said above, mechanic/tech operative is a necessity. Lots of engineering checks.</p>
<p>- It says that the glitch gremlins cast holographic image on someone in the party and graffiti up their armor as a prank — the shortened stat block probably should've also mentioned this requires all four glitch gremlins. I glanced at their spell list and was very confused until I read the fine print at the bottom. </p>
<p>- The linkage to the Drift Crisis as a whole only occurs at the end of the AP when you realize what the Hell (no pun intended) happened the same way the Terminator explains what happens to John Connor in Terminator 2. Not the best form of exposition. I prefer explosition. </p>
<p>- Someone REALLY likes the Wizard of Oz. You'll know it when you read it. </p>
<p>In summary - with the right party makeup (I had a Desnan on the crew, so she is fangirling out right now) this is a great AP. I think it should have been labelled the "Desnan" AP since she factors heavily into it. And I like Desna! But anybody expecting this to be a cool planar romp will be disappointed. Paizo, you used up your "One time travel/alternate reality AP" ticket. Don't abuse it.</p><p><b>Starfinder Adventure Path #46: The Perfect Storm (Drift Crashers 1 of 3)</b></p><p><b>Note: My players and I were divided on this one. I call it a 3/5 due to the bait and switch, but they really enjoyed it and probably would give it a 4.5 so I'm splitting the difference with a 4.</b> </p>
<p>In Starfinder AP #46, Paizo is experimenting with something that rarely works out well - time travel and alternate realities. </p>
<p>Make no mistake — you go to Hell for just long enough to fill up the gas tank before you're back out in a bunch of crazy stuff — I have some small criticisms with the copy but the big issue is this: Nothing you do matters. You go to a mirror universe and then the future — two settings that don't amount to a hill of beans when it comes to leaving lasting impacts on Starfinder. </p>
<p>These are well worn Star Trek tropes - emphasis on the worn. Part of the problem was encapsulated by the constant use of the tropes in Star Trek: Voyager, where brutal things would happen to the crew only for things to be tied up with a little bow at the end in the form of a reset button that turned everything back to status quo. It's a reason that Ronald D. Moore hated working on it and left to work on the now-famous Battlestar Galactica. </p>
<p>Plus time travel raises tons of questions. Can deities see through time? If you kill a soul in the future, but you're from the present, "when" does Pharasma judge it? Now-ish? Or in the future? Vexing metaphysical issues ahead! </p>
<p>Overall, this AP has a very brisk pace to it, and is slightly under-tuned. I was able to knock this out with a party of 4 in about 3 sessions of 5-6 hours each. Don't expect the provided NPC's to be really memorable. Populating your ship with NPC's is almost a must — especially if you have someone who's missing a critical skill like Computers or Engineering. A Mechanic or Operative is almost mandatory.</p>
<p>On to the nitpicky details: </p>
<p>- Knights of Golarion. The NPC's don't wear heavy armor? They all wear Estex Suits. Kind of odd, especially given the art direction. Some flavor text explaining they live in a crapsack world where you can't easily get heavy armor might have been useful, or maybe designated them as "Squires" or "Pages" — ineligible to wear heavy armor. </p>
<p>- Player ship starts out statblocked at tier 3 but the AP assumes you've got a tier 1 ship to start (it mentions upgrading your ship to tier 2 after a starship combat on page 19). Maybe I missed something here, but if I don't have a tier 1 ship, what am I supposed to do, make one from scratch? What's the point of the inner cover statblock for the player ship then? I started out the encounter with a CR 3 ship.</p>
<p>- The Dopplegangers are something that requires buy-in or a lot of creativity. I was able to create the statblocks in a hurry but it's definitely something that could be skipped. Alternately it could wind up a TPK....sneaking up on characters and killing them in their sleep without their heavy armor is a dangerous plot move! </p>
<p>- AP is undertuned after the battle at the beginning of the AP. The second part can either be super easy if you're stealthy or difficult if you murderhobo your way through it. You can faceroll through the third part just mindlessly rolling d20's and d6's. </p>
<p>- To get the most out of this AP you definitely need 3-4 NPC's on the crew to perform essential functions if necessary. As I said above, mechanic/tech operative is a necessity. Lots of engineering checks.</p>
<p>- It says that the glitch gremlins cast holographic image on someone in the party and graffiti up their armor as a prank — the shortened stat block probably should've also mentioned this requires all four glitch gremlins. I glanced at their spell list and was very confused until I read the fine print at the bottom. </p>
<p>- The linkage to the Drift Crisis as a whole only occurs at the end of the AP when you realize what the Hell (no pun intended) happened the same way the Terminator explains what happens to John Connor in Terminator 2. Not the best form of exposition. I prefer explosition. </p>
<p>- Someone REALLY likes the Wizard of Oz. You'll know it when you read it. </p>
<p>In summary - with the right party makeup (I had a Desnan on the crew, so she is fangirling out right now) this is a great AP. I think it should have been labelled the "Desnan" AP since she factors heavily into it. And I like Desna! But anybody expecting this to be a cool planar romp will be disappointed. Paizo, you used up your "One time travel/alternate reality AP" ticket. Don't abuse it.</p>Leon Aquilla2022-06-24T00:58:53ZStarfinder Adventure Path #46: The Perfect Storm (Drift Crashers 1 of 3): It's Morbin time! (1 star)captain yesterdayhttps://paizo.com/products/btq02dv1?Starfinder-Adventure-Path-46-The-Perfect-Storm2022-06-18T21:53:51Z<p><b>Starfinder Adventure Path #46: The Perfect Storm (Drift Crashers 1 of 3)</b></p><p>Like Morbius, the Drift Crisis is a huge letdown and not worth your time. Spend your money elsewhere.</p><p><b>Starfinder Adventure Path #46: The Perfect Storm (Drift Crashers 1 of 3)</b></p><p>Like Morbius, the Drift Crisis is a huge letdown and not worth your time. Spend your money elsewhere.</p>captain yesterday2022-06-18T21:53:51Z