Starfinder Society Scenario #6-04: Secrets Long Submerged

Another Dud in season six. Good story, mad mechanics. I swear it feels as if they hired fan fiction writers and then tried to force game mechanics into it.

Context: I played this in high tier with a party of four level 11s and two level 10s. (Despite no-one being at L12 I would consider this a fairly strong party.) After playing it, I read the scenario as if I were going to run it as the GM.

Flavor: The flavor of the scenario is great and sets up the next episode in this arc well. The political situation is evocatively conveyed and the setting of the ruins captures the imagination. The primeval nature of the monsters, which is hinted at early on, also adds to the flavor.

Hazards: Our party spotted the traps and had no difficulty with them. I will point out that there were ZERO operatives in the party, but admittedly there were some good rolls. Still, if the amount of trap damage seems high, keep in mind there are no foes in the areas of the traps so there is nothing preventing resting and healing afterwards. This makes a triggered trap merely a resource-eater and not an actual danger to the PCs' lives. Note that there is no particular time pressure here.

Combats: When run by an experienced and thoughtful GM, the combats are suitably challenging and feel just about right for a well-balanced party at this level with focused players that can work together. That is to say, the monsters hit hard and they elicit fear, but the encounter is still within the capabilities of the PCs. This also means that things have the potential to go badly for a poorly-balanced/dysfunctional party, or for players who are unfortunate enough to be playing under a bad GM (or a GM who is simply running the encounter incorrectly). I personally welcome encounters which exercise the large array of varied resources that a high-level party has at its disposal. The scenario itself also contains a plethora of helpful items.

Runtime: This is not a lightweight scenario and it will almost certainly run very long if serious time control is not exercised. GMs with time constraints (e.g. at a convention) should aim to run the "city" part of the scenario very briskly to allow enough time for the rest of the content.

I see several remarks from previous reviewers about GMs. The scenario has a Nova tag; that tag does not merely indicate that it requires rules mastery or serious prep from the GM due to mechanical complexity. It also increasingly means that it demands flexibility, imagination, sensitivity and excellent table control. GMs should take this seriously. Players should be mindful of the demands that these scenarios place upon GMs and choose appropriately.

I enjoyed this game but I do think the mechanical issues with this mod require a good GM to tie things together, remind people of reroll chances and things like that so it doesn't feel too punishing. The traps feel as unforgiving as the unmodified intro to Year 6.

The RP and political issues of the city are really cool and set up interesting ideas for future scenarios. I appreciate the enemy resistances and underwater penalties in the combats for a high tier challenge, but the traps, and the continuous save throws in the last battle *might* tip things over the line into unfairness for some players. This will depend on expectations a lot, since this is high tier and is supposed to be challenging compared to lower level games.

Final vehicle chase, as another reviewer said, is only going to be playable by 1 person who is piloting, which seems like a weird choice. It is not a very long section however, so not a major drawback.

Writing this review immediatly after playing this scenario. Wall of text incoming. spoilers are unmarked.

The Core premise is great, we get to go back to Pholskar because we did well last time, but it seems that the development team really wants to push this plot in a certain direction.

I will admit that I am completely biased, because I am playing a power armor character.
First of all the Draconian unwillingness to bend on any sort of terms seems to be intended so that the players will 'betray' their main employer for a third party.

This makes the second point harsher. The selection of power armor is very limited when it comes to movement types, swim speed power armor is limited to choices at sub 7 and 14 or higher. Making it very unlikely that you have such armor coming into this scenario.
If you intend to play by the 'rules' you cannot bring a small pumpsub to circumvent this, leading you to dislike the main NPC more.

My third point once again comes from this viewpoint, my GM was kind enough to not do so. But running this Raw has 4 fortitude saves per round to not have any battery or charge focused equipment break, including power armor. No blurb incase it is hybrid armor, no ability to protect yourself in any way. This is awful design. Almost as the Solonoid worms in season 3. Even worse, they are resistant to piercing damage, you know THE ONE THING THAT WORKS UNDERWATER?!
I would have no issue during season 4 and I would accept it, but putting such a harsh anti-tech enviroment in a random scenario like this is absurd. Especially because you are not warned about it.

I feel punished for using tech in a SPACE OPERA RPG game! Not even the year of the data scourge was this harsh!

Issue 4,
THE TRAPS. JEZUS H CRIST.
Are you a perception and wisdom stacked operative? no?
Well good Fckn luck spotting these, they are VERY nasty. resetting traps that can deal upwards of a hundred damage. average 40DC to spot, Completely absurd.

The Final Vehicle chase should be fun, but it isn't, it relies completely on the pilot. Passengers have nothing to do, NOTHING. No skill challenges to delay the monster, no room for clever thinking. Even taking potshots has no point because it is a high CR creature and is nearly unhittable at this level.

Even worse, if the players decide to be honest, they seems to throw away massive benefits in the future. While the main NPC slightly redeems herself incase you follow her every whim. I simply did not enjoy this at all.

There should be less dependance on the GM's to have sympathy for their players. Add a special item for this scenario only, have suggested bonuses for specific gear. Allow more player thinking, SOMETHING.

I dislike this Scenario almost on principle.
I'll give it 2 stars for the Background, possible intrigue for the next part and the setup for possible conflict.
But my god, so much wasted potential.

Whoever designed the big eel encounter does not know anything about balancing or valuing the the players or GMs time...
An ability that requires this many saves per turn and this kind of enemy in an underwater environment is utter insanity and just plain stupid. This was the worst encounter I had in the last 3 or 4 years of playing starfinder.