A Starfinder Society Scenario designed for 9th- through 12th-level characters.
Today, a planet dies!
After suffering a devastating setback at the hands of the Starfinder Society, the Organization, now revealed as the mysterious Order of Dawning Fate, move to cut ties with their mining outpost on Kortus IV—and salt the earth as they go.
Enacting a brutal assault on the planet, the Order of Dawning Fate intend to slaughter the planet’s entire population, scouring the city of Braerton from existence. Unwilling to stand idly by, the Starfinder Society mobilizes a fleet, bringing their strength to bear to hold back the barrage. From the bridge of the Master of Stars, First Seeker Edu Hadif oversees the rescue mission in person. The objective is simple—evacuate as many people as possible. But with one of the Order’s founders leading this devastating purge, victory is far from certain.
The fate of Kortus IV is in your hands!
Content Warning: This scenario contains themes of genocide, military conflict, and war. Before you begin, understand that player consent (including that of the Game Master) is vital to a safe and fun play experience for everyone. You should talk with your players before beginning the adventure and modify descriptions of the narrative as appropriate.
Forgot to review this earlier but while I don't remember my thoughts exactly anymore, months later I feel like this one was five star one and thats with finale encounter almost being tpk to the party. Its really tense scenario and handles the dark subject well.
This was an incredible scenario. Really a stand out game by all measures: great combat encounters, meaningful missions, twists in the plot, high stakes, and cool Starfinder heroes (both PCs and NPCs). The scenario was also appropriately heavy and solemn at times considering the material. There were also some engaging, interesting maps, terrain problems, and situations requiring teamwork to come out on top. Ran about an hour long, but since it was largely due to a challenging, tanky boss fight, it didn't feel like it dragged.
Have to say thank you to the writer for such a powerful and moving scenario. Though the themes are especially sad given current events, it was encouraging to play in a fantasy where everyone is doing the right thing to save the civilians who are unfairly caught in the plans of tyrants.
Finally a tension packed adventure that has stakes
First time playing Starfinder I felt like I was playing a high stakes space opera and not a low stakes Saturday Morning facsimile of Star Wars. It is challenging and packs one hell of a punch at the end. I had a wonderful time and enjoyed it as all too often you get a group of players that say "I want to do something fun" and they go off with something half cocked or weird instead of sticking to the mission. This mod rewards you for staying on point and has consequences if you don't want to take it as seriously as it is presented. It pushed the parties limits and made you think twice as you engaged with the module. The immersion is real and it feels like you are part of something greater than just a one shot module of the week.
Only complaint is that their are so few repeatables in season 6 and I'd like to play this one again with a different character without having to resort to the expensive replay purchases.
Context: I ran this twice, both times in high tier for parties of 6 PCs.
As a rule, the scenarios I love are the ones where:
- the Society is doing something meaningful;
- agents of the Society other than the PCs are portrayed as being competent;
- the events that unfold make a real difference to the galaxy;
- the combat challenges players and requires them to work together to succeed;
- the scenario establishes a tone and framework within which I as GM have space to add value, adding richness and improvising when needed as the PCs' actions shape the narrative.
- I have the opportunity to evoke serious emotions in the players about the events that unfold and the people in the story.
All of these things are true about The Death of Kortus IV.
I will point out that this is a Nova-tagged scenario with all that implies. Players should choose GMs they trust to handle this material well.
GMs: The author's advice to GMs in post #8 here should be taken to heart.
I would further add advice to GMs to be particularly intentional about your own performance: the words you choose and the emotions you portray in the NPCs and when reading/paraphrasing the box text.
Runtime: For those in time-constrained locations, be aware that with 6 players this will generally run significantly longer than 4 hours even with a well-balanced party that's laser-focused on the mission, and even with minimal time spent on the GM's combat turns and zero time wasted looking up rules or on side chatter.
Thank you, Alison Cybe, SFS developers and editors, for bringing this one to us.
One piece of advice I would like to offer with this scenario;
This adventure is intended to be run as a very chaotic and frantic action-focused experience. Pacing is therefore very important, and it's generally intended to keep the action going every second, with heavy descriptions of the unfolding battle. It's very important to avoid long pauses or moments when the game may drag, and to minimize double-checking for rule clarifications, so I really encourage the GMs to ensure they do as much prep work as possible.
Haha, it's always a good sign when the author pre-emptively says, "go loud!" XD
Also: high-tier, large-scale, combat? Sounds like the perfect use-case for & opportunity to bust out some vehicles! Did somebody say, "light hover tanks and tactical dropships"?
It's my top-secret faction of high-level Starfinders!
The Faction head is clearly a Novian. It's why it's a secret, high level Starfinders only club. ;)
The Org has a proper name and everything now. I can't help but think of them all like... goth shuffling along to a cover of Age of Aquarius, because of the name.
Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
I will be running this scenario at Gamehole Con.
I won't get my copy until closer to the Con, but if somebody doesn't mind either posting it here in spoiler tags or shooting me a PM, I'd like to know what I need for miniatures so that I can get them ordered and painted in preparation for the Con.
When people are paying money for the Convention experience and table spots, I feel like it's my duty to make sure that maps and miniatures are on point for the best possible experience.
