Starfinder Society Intro: Year of Fortune's Fall

Background: I have built a table and run this scenario twice, and played this scenario once, each time at T 1-2.

Despite some rough edges in the scenario's design (which other reviewers have captured fairly), I feel that SFS Intro: Year of Fortune's Fall might be 'more than the sum of its stars'. I think it would be a shame if groups avoided this scenario just because of the overall star rating. Three fun tables is not my baseline expectation when encountering a scenario with a low star rating, so I wanted to share these thoughts on why I think it 'worked' for us.

Tips:

* Each table enjoyed the roleplay, which formed the majority of the scenario. The focus of this scenario is not on PCs looking to show off their mechanical chops (in combat or skill-wise) - it is on PCs looking to show off their characters' backstories and personalities while making friends, influencing people, and preventing disasters.

* As the GM, I didn't need to do onerous prep, but I don't recommend running this scenario 'cold', and it will likely keep you on your toes managing the group / keeping an eye on pacing / switching roles between a number of 'bit parts'.

* A clear visual for each NPC and each exhibit, on a backdrop of a plain battlemap, was very helpful for our groups. If your group is experienced with complex social scenes playing out in a theatre-of-the-mind, this might not be necessary. For my part, I think clear and organized visuals helped keep each group engaged with the variety of NPCs, helped the groups plan each round, and encouraged PCs to spread out (at least at first) so the less-skillful characters could have their own conversations and chances to make connections and elicit info each round rather than simply playing second fiddle to the diplomancers in each group.

* In retrospect, I should have made cue cards for each NPC (just copying/pasting/printing the scenario info for each NPC), to avoid flipping back and forth between the couple of pages detailing this section during the scenario.

* There are some good suggestions in the below reviews about improvising. I found it helpful to work with characters' Professions and backgrounds, to try to play off of what PCs found interesting about the NPCs, and to try to nudge even the less skill-focused PCs into some RP opportunities.

SFS Intro: Year of Fortune's Fall might not be for you or your group; some nights, it wouldn't be what our swashbuckling space opera heroes were looking for either. With the right group, however, I think SFS Intro: Year of Fortune's Fall can provide a nice structured roleplaying opportunity, with a nicely detailed background/location to draw upon, with skill checks and objectives to give direction to the evening, and with a fight or two to keep the soldiers happy.

I'll start by saying I agree with most of the reviews on here.

The first half of this scenario was pretty monotonous with mostly social-skill checks. I was playing an Envoy, so it was open season for me, but the other folks at the table who were playing less skill-based characters were pretty out of it, and maybe even a little frustrated. SFS has done so well in past scenarios with building skill-heavy sections to give each style of character a place to shine with varied skill checks! We're in season 6, and I'm not sure why those lessons from past seasons have not carried through more recent scenarios.

The second half of this scenario was mostly combat oriented. Maybe pacing would have been better to throw one of these in the middle of the first half. Regardless, there were two back to back combats with an extremely unfair trap in the middle. Our GM specifically prepped ahead of time and threw this out, which really shouldn't be on him to make that decision. This is supposed to be an introductory scenario and any new GM/group who lets this go through may have a sour taste in their mouth and not want to continue.
Minus the trap, even the two combats back to back were fairly difficult, but I tend to like that, hence the extra star. We were also playing all level 1, so it would likely have been a little easier with a mix of 1's and 2's or in the higher tier.
*Note that it seems they have toned-down the trap after I wrote this, so that is an improvement.

Writing, I thought, was fine, even if a little monologue-y at times. Where this scenario really seemed to lack was in playtesting. Many of these issues seem obvious and should have been caught well ahead of time.

I may seem down on this, but recently I've felt a dip in quality in later season 5 and early season 6. This is hopefully just a rough patch, and I'm hoping paizo can get back on track and give us more stellar seasons like 1, 2, and 3. They've done it before, and I'm confident with some re-focusing, they can do it again.

I played and GMed this one.

Overall this was ok-ish. There was some nice roleplay with varying skill challenges in the first half of the scenario and then there are some combats.

Radaszam and Ehu Hadif get some nice moments to shine and Ehu especially gets some much needed characterization and can show some passion.

Outside of the now massively nerfed hazard (GMs check out the update) the combats are more on the easy side, maybe a bit too easy for my taste, but I understand that is considered an intro scenario and they wanted to err on the easy side.

But now for my big complaint, there are far too many NPCs in that scenario that players are supposed to interact with. Once you introduced the 6th NPC (and there are still more to come) expect a lot of confused players and constant questions about who they are. It would have been better to focus on like 4 and give them some deeper interaction instead of overwhelming the players with this flood. And while it is nice to see some recurring NPCs from earlier content it would help the GM massively to at least write the source in the scenario.

Also letting players make decisions that literally don't matter at all in already short scenario feels like filler.

So overall I cannot give more than 3 stars for this.

I have run this 3 times.

Skill & social encounters
The previous reviewers' criticisms about the first half dragging on, especially for PCs that "don't have any skills" are completely valid. GMs running for tables with skill-point deprived PCs should remember it is always permissible to allow checks other than those written if they are even remotely plausible, and also that roleplay bonuses are a thing. I highly recommend that GMs bend over backwards to help skill-deprived PCs not feel completely superflous, and keep this section moving fast.

Annoyingly, the work to set up the Starfinder Society's museum display consists simply of one skill check; the 'choices' about how to set up the display pad out the scenario slightly but are ultimately irrelevant. I think this was a missed opportunity; the initial socializing with the 2 NPCs in the room could have been cut and replaced by a more substantial and well-rounded skill challenge.

Combat encounters
Combat difficulty is fairly trivial.
The hazard was overly hazardous originally, and has been rightly criticized by other reviewers. It has now been tuned down so it's no longer egregious.

Plot, themes, writing, etc.
Much of the writing in the early part is a love letter to museums and the importance of cultural preservation but it comes off to me as excessive, taking up a far larger word count than is justified by its connection to what happens in the scenario itself. Ehu's monologue at the end of the scenario is grandstanding which might seem less out of place in a packed auditorium filled with hundreds of morally outraged agents baying for blood, but here is just over the top.

As an intro to the season, this scenario does little justice to the metaplot and fails to really provide enough to energize a new generation of Starfinders. For an example of a season intro scenario that does, I would suggest 4-01 Intro: Year of the Data Scourge, which is cinematic from start to end, packed with drama and action, and practically justifies all on its own the entire season that follows.

Let me start off by saying that the former half of the scenario was a lot of fun for people at my table. It was fairly skill heavy, but everyone had a few options to choose from. There were also plenty of role-play opportunities. A few little inconsistencies came up, but nothing worth more than a laugh or a raised eyebrow.

The first combat encounter was deceptively easy, aside from a few snags. Afterwards, the party is immediately rushed, without opportunity to rest, deeper into the museum. Down the hall laid a trap so poorly thought out and designed that it ruined the rest of the night for us.

The DC to notice it was so high that even party members who rolled exceedingly well couldn’t spot it. Once tripped, it did over 40 damage to everyone in the room. One member died instantly, and the others were brought to such low health they couldn’t do the second encounter, because there’s yet again no opportunity to rest between them.

This was such a harsh whiplash that nobody at the table knew what to do. It came completely out of left field for a scenario that thus far had fulfilled it’s role as a simple introduction to the system for newer players.

For an intro scenario, one which is meant to initiate new players into Starfinder, I’m honestly astonished this made it past play-testing. I wouldn’t be surprised if new players were turned off playing Starfinder if this was their first scenario.