A Starfinder Society Scenario designed for 3rd- through 6th-level characters.
Take a tour of Near Space on the trail of Envar Tamm, star of the extreme travel v-log series “Envar’s Expeditions.” Ordered to “save” Envar and bring him home to his mother, the Starfinders track Envar’s digital data tags to exciting, over-the-top travel destinations to find and assist the thrill-seeking influencer. Survive a colossi-safari on Daimalko, outrace a storm on Gaskar III, mingle with the local brenneri on picturesque Varturan, and more! This is one “vacation” you’ll never forget!
Written by: Kendra Leigh Speedling
Scenario tags: Acquisitives, 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 have only ever played this one, thus my insight is limited, particularly since I played it with my regular Starfinder AP group, and a GM I rate very highly. Since I had fun, I am likely not as critical as I might otherwise be if the table went less well.
Centering the narrative around Envar has the advantage that both his fans and detractors have the motivation to find him
The first planet we encountered was pretty interesting kaju fandoms, and a rather nice setup for how "normal life" works out on the planet, even if it makes things sound pretty tame compared to my reading for the planet descriptions years ago.
The largest ball of twine was magnificent.
I am a sucker for more content that fleshes out the various species in the Starfinder universe, and I feel like the Brenneri section worked pretty well.
The "How to Jam" rules feel surprisingly deep, I like how it allows a large variety of players to contribute and find ways to describe their actions. Irrespective of a potential time slot concern, I like how linked to a relevant skill check, that matters in the scenario, players and the GM can craft some interesting RP, particularly since it allows characters to express themselves.
The twine, I liked that the adventure already thought about a couple of interesting ways to interact with it. My character and the party pathra were crushed... though the kitty was enjoying it a fair bit more ^^
Next planet is rather dark, we are slightly worried about vampires, but trying to get a permit worked out pretty well, as that enabled some characters to strut their stuff (corporate connections). The forced invitation to have a chat with the questionably legal entrepreneurs felt a bit forced... it felt like "fighting is not an option" and it felt a bit forced/railroady. A different setup/presentation might have avoided this friction.
I did not love the interaction with them.
Like the "totally not a stargate" to the plane of shadows, the creatures that came out of it seemed potentially pretty miserable, or at least scary, we had no real problems, but confusion effects are certainly something players take seriously. Apparently, the 4 player adjustments were quite fitting here.
At this point, we were thinking about throwing Envar into a volcano.. and providence struck as we saw the last world with some very prominent volcanoes. I sort of expected the extreme cooking challenge - as one does - I did not expect for the author to Battlebus us, but I loved the skill check to make it look cool.
The cooking contest sounds like a lovely idea, and I am very much on board.
I have feelings about a Sebastian who isn't a butler, but since the art our GM has shown to us was of a suave-looking person, I will forgive this deviation from narrative convention :P
It really is a lovely idea for a setpiece, and I feel like as a final setpiece for this adventure our GM made the right call for this group.
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This is a great adventure, the somewhat forced interaction mentioned above is slightly dampening my enthusiasm, but this seems like an easy adventure to suggest to players. However, having seen a spectacularly prepped VTT table, it is not super easy to present to players, at least online.
I have yet to open the adventure and look at the provided handouts, those could also improve the experience, particularly help set the mood and are visually appealing.
Normally I avoid repeatable content like the plague because it can be very hard to introduce significant elements that alter it on a repeat experience. I am pleased to say that while the core concept of being a repeatable adventure was obvious, it did not detract from the experience.
As far as repeatable content is concerned, I feel like the outline worked very well, and that the author managed to fill all locations with very interesting set pieces, it is a wonderful template.
That boy may be as dumb as a brick... but dear lord he's a lovable brick.
For those Starfinder Society players who find Envar Tamm's shenanigans amusing and not frustrating, this scenario is a delight. Yes, he's a dunderhead, but he's definitely shown a lot of character growth and progress since his introduction in #1-07, The Solar Sortie. This scenario also pays off the promises made in #4-02, Settling Accounts, so it's very much a reward for longtime players. Even those who haven't experienced Envar up-close and personal get a recap of what occurred so they can be in on the joke. I am very curious to see how the final decision plays out in future scenarios, too.
In terms of gameplay, this mission is spread across four different planets trying to track down both Envar and the data tags he's left behind. Each planet comes with its own unique challenges, so try to pick a good mix of locales to allow for different characters and different skillsets to shine. While the overall objective in each location is the same each time, there are slight variations in each location that provide some interest across multiple playthroughs - a nice middlepoint between #2-19, Truth Seekers' extreme variance and the "same chapters in different orders" seen in replayables like #4-04, A Waltz Between Myriad Worlds.
The only real issue for me is that a few of the locales are pretty new and don't have a lot of lore or depictions associated with them. This made making some locales harder to bring to life than others - I was able to improvise well enough to keep things going, but some locations could have stood to be fleshed out a little more.
It is a fun and amusing adventure that gives everyone a chance to shine. Multiple encounters that use a variety of skill checks and role playing skills make it a charming encounter. Has a definitely 80's feel from all the old nemesis from the Sci-Fi shows of old. (Envar bears a striking resemblance to Nimrod from Galaxy Rangers.) You will enjoy this quaint adventure.
Played this online at PaizoCon in high tier. This scenario is a blast - the sort of zany adventure that delivers on Starfinder's promise of "the kind of hijinx that Pathfinders can only dream of getting up to!"
The format of the scenario has the PCs following the trail of a travel vlogger who's stopped at some of the top destinations in Near Space. Each location entails an interesting set piece challenge or two where PCs get to use their skills and smarts in tourist trap-y areas, each with memorable NPCs and colourful obstacles. A number also end in combat encounters, so more martial characters will still get a chance to shine.
In its closing, the adventure does a good job of planting the seeds for some sort of resolution on the Envar Tamm through line, that stretches all the way back to Season 1. It'll be interesting to see if there's more in the Tamm story!
My only (admittedly minor) criticism is - what's up with the art for Jiana Varkol? That is one strange looking vesk - and there's already a lot of funky looking vesk in the Starfinder oeuvre! But, that aside - cheers to the adventure that has taught us the real reason why twine is banned on Pulonis.
This scenario seems to have one of most off model vesk I've seen ._.;
Please see the thread on this blog post (LINK) for the least time this was brought up. She's not off-model, she just has a different body type.
A relevant developer quote is below, but this discussion has been had before.
Jenny Jarzabski wrote:
As others have noted, vesk individuals display a diverse array of facial features, scale colors, and facial spike patterns...no two vesk look exactly the same, just like real life humans!
The boring meta answer is that each artist has a slightly different take on portraying vesk, or any other species for that matter. Variety's the spice of life, and the spice must flow, so I'm not complaining. :)
<_< I mean, its kinda on same level as four breasted kasatha in one art in this case (the said vesk looks very human like in multiple ways that I wondered if it was new star wars inspired alien first)
I like the art well enough taken in a vacuum, but that NPC will be reskinned as a ganzi if I run this as a home game. (Fortunately, the "reskin" only requires changing that one word.)
Initial reaction on a quick skim, aka "the plot hole that isn't."
The Plot Hole...:
My first thought was, "How is Ilia's team of data jockeys unable to locate a guy who habitually sends out vlogs of his travels? Each vlog probably starts with him yelping, "Yo yo, it's your bro Envar here on [Planet X], checkin' out the [shiny thing] here in [local region or town]!" My gosh, lady, you used to facilitate teleconferences for Datch; get your act together. Bellingcat would geolocate this dude to within a meter in half a day.
Envar himself even comments that his mom totally should have been able to find him just by like-and-subscribing. But lampshading the plot hole doesn't explain it.
...That Isn't:
However, the adventure also notes that Envar's vlogs don't include time stamps. Having Envar, an inveterate doofus (the... "polite" version of my players' take on him), be so sloppy as an infosphere influencer that he forgets to include metadata in his uploads seems totally on target.
But wait! Surely he posted these vlogs days, weeks, or months apart, after he's flown to each new planet. Even if he's too sloppy to include metadata (and/or just canny enough to avoid making his vids feel "dated" by mentioning specific dates or episode numbers), Ilia could surely see the infosphere release dates and track him that way. Plot hole remains, until we remember one thing...
...It's the Drift Crisis! Envar is, of course, posting these vlogs to the Pact Worlds infospheres via the Drift beacon communication network. And during the Drift Crisis, comms times are noted as being all over the map. Maybe Envar transmits Vlog 1, and it hits his channel 6 days later. He uploads Vlog 2 a month later and it hits his channel 6 months after that. Upload Vlog 3 a month later and it hits his channel 3 weeks after that. So, from the point of view of Ilia's geek squad back on Brilliance Station, "Here are his six most recent vlogs, we have absolutely no way to tell the order in which he recorded them" is pretty reasonable.
So, combine Envar's tenuous competence with the Drift Crisis, and the whole situation suddenly makes perfect sense.
