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I'm starting on the shuttle but I'm not sure where it would be coming from. Is the idea that the Okimoro stops at various planets and picks Starfinder Society initiates up like a school bus?
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From what I've read about the Infosphere, they're planetary specific Internets/databases that anyone with even a basic Comm Unit can access and use, so unless the character doesn't deal with tech at all it's pretty much a given that they know about it.
(if you're word searching for infosphere in the Core book, it's one word, it took me awhile to find it)
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No problem ^w^
And yeah, a common PC knowledge checklist is actually a really good idea.
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How are you all preparing your players for this adventure, considering there is no players guide?
I told my players that their characters have applied for membership with the Starfinder Society and that they are arriving on station all together, whether they know each other or not. They're to meet a representative of the SFS at the docking bay, who will escort them to the SFS for initial interview and determination of whether they will be accepted as Starfinder Initiates (a rank I made up; I don't know if it is part of the actual lore).
I also told them that they can be from anywhere, but if they're from Absolom Station, they need a reason why they are just arriving on station now (holiday, extended leave, born there but moved away as a child, etc).
What did you do?
My plan is effectively the same as yours. I've embelished a bit by telling them they've been in regular correspondence with Kreel, who acts as a recruiter for the SFS. I'm also gonna take a few minutes to monologue as the shuttle Okimoro approaches Docking Bay 94, describing some of the exotic aliens on board, the sights outside the shuttle windows (the nature of the Armada, and possibly some large space billboards for King Curney's Kasbah), and the bevy of advertisements both physical and holographic inside the shuttle for some of the colorful institutions listed in the Gazetteer.
The purpose of this is two-fold. First, I would like to organically suggest to the players that Absalom Station is more than a vehicle for running from plot point to plot point and is worth exploring on its own right. Second, by setting up Absalom as a big cosmopolitan center, the sudden combat in Docking Bay 94 will hopefully catch them by surprise and suppress their inner murder-hobos a bit.
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How are you informing the PCs about the net/info-sphere? Letting you take 20 on Culture checks having accessed it, is a great boon. I want to make it available to the PCs, without blatantly pointing it out.
It does after all, give you minimum 21 on all Culture checks in the investigation of: the SF Dwarf, Downside Kings, Lv 21 gang, Hardscrabble gang and Astral Extractions.
Yeah, I don't think this requires more than advising a PC if their phone has signal or not. We can get fancy and call it a "datapad" or "comms device".
But that is what we are talking about here; a future tech smartphone. Everybody gets it. And it is enabled for ridiculous broadband speed, too, one assumes.
Nobody has to have the concept of "Google it" explained further.
What is worthwhile mentioning is that it takes a minute or three to do. It's a resource that will not aid the Pcs if they have to be able to react seamlessly during a conversation. You can't bluff on the fly by googling knowledge -- at least, not in a believable fashion in most cases.
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How are you informing the PCs about the net/info-sphere? Letting you take 20 on Culture checks having accessed it, is a great boon. I want to make it available to the PCs, without blatantly pointing it out.
It does after all, give you minimum 21 on all Culture checks in the investigation of: the SF Dwarf, Downside Kings, Lv 21 gang, Hardscrabble gang and Astral Extractions.
I'm hoping one of my PCs will ask me if they can make some sort of internet search. If not, I will gently remind them of the Infosphere. After all,
The PCs can attempt the Culture checks to see what they know on their own, but if they carry out research on Absalom Station’s infosphere first (requiring a successful DC 10 Computers check to access the unsecured public system), they can take 20 on the skill check to recall knowledge.
This makes it easier to learn about Duravor Kreel, The Hardscrabble Collective, and some things about Astral Extractions, especially since you may access an unsecured system untrained if you take 20. However...
Finding information about the Downside Kings [or the Level 21 Crew] is a bit more difficult, as they have less of a public presence due to their extralegal activities. Only the lowest result (DC 10) can be learned with a Culture check to recall knowledge; the PCs must use Diplomacy to gather information or Intimidate to garner the additional knowledge from higher results.
...to progress the story, the PCs will need to leave Starbucks (Star-Starbucks?) and talk to people face to face to gain the required information.
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A little bit off-topic, but as a long-time GM. I give NPCs abilities players will never have access to all the time. I do not want to track dozens of possible abilities for NPCs, I prefer to focus on a few abilities that will definitely get used.
By building NPCs in this way, it can make the encounters they appear in easier to run and if something unexpected happens I can just pick and choose the abilities the NPC needs from the class based on context.
It takes me roughly 20 minutes to an hour to put together a player character. If I'm building an adventure from scratch and need 7 NPCs, I do not want to spend 7 hours of my time making those NPCs when I could pull up a quick stat-block, choose 3 useful abilities and call it a day.
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How are you all preparing your players for this adventure, considering there is no players guide?
Current plans: I'll do my own Player's Guide (I did for the last Pathfinder campaign I ran) and give them some of the flavour for the Pact Worlds and highlight some of the options to choose from. I'm not requiring well thought out backgrounds and will be happy with just one or two sentences. One thing they must do though is have a significant way in which they were helped in their career by Duravor Kreel, so much so that they feel that they owe Kreel big. Some examples on how they could have been helped by Kreel include being arrested by a military tribune and about to face a court marshall for some serious war crimes (regardless of their innocence) when Kreel came in and helped them get discarged with honours. Or when they went to submit their thesis they were accused of plagarism and about to be discredited and thrown out of their university (regardless of their innocence) when Kreel came in and made everything disappear.
I'll have some tips and hints for them that will include things that are different from Pathfinder that I want to highlight. At the moment these are:
* The fact that a healer is completely optional and in no way mandatory (will be confirming this myself by examining the AP much more closely). That having the a wide array of skills covered is far more important than the standard Pathfinder roles.
* The fact that all of the theme's incentivize training in Culture and there is no harm in having multiple people (or even everyone) with ranks in Culture as a trained skill.
* The fact that looted goods from dead corpses is only worth 10% for reselling and will make up a negligible amount of their net worth and stripping every enemy is in no way required to keep up with the WBL (or even really in genre).
* Other things as I come across them.
The hook will be Kreel has requested each of them come to Absalom Station as he needs their help for something. They then turn up and see him get shot. They'll be encouraged to go to a motel. If they want to do some investigation they can, otherwise that night they will be visited by a businessman who I'm currently calling Kobayashi (to be renamed before the game starts). His employer, and in fact the employer of Duravor Kreel, is concerned about Kreel's death and whether it was an attack on Kreel or if Kreel truly was just an innocent bystander. The employer was hoping the PCs would be interested in investigating the murder for compensation of course. If the player's ask who Kreel's employer was Kobayashi will reveal the name of Kreel's employer is the Dragon of Absalom. At this point I'll ask everyone to make a Culture check (either DC 10 or DC 12). I'll have five copies of the result of the lore check pre-printed that I can then hand over. Each print out will be contradictory to the others (i.e. No-one really knows who or what the Dragon of Absalom really is, or if it even really exists). If the players still refuse to take on the mission then I'll pull out a manila folder for either every player or for all but 1 of the players. Each folder will have documented exactly how Kreel helped them in whatever problem they chose for themselves and will have enough information that Kobayashi could then hand it to the authorities and have each of the PC's arrested on the spot.
That said, ideally none of the above will be required (at least to start with) and the PCs will instead go along with the adventure hook. But if they don't, or if they resist, I've got backup material planned.
I'm not going to have the Starfinder Society be a significant player in this campaign. It's there. The players can join it if they want to. But it is by no means mandatory that they do so. Kobayashi will instead take the place of Chiskisk.
How are you informing the PCs about the net/info-sphere? Letting you take 20 on Culture checks having accessed it, is a great boon. I want to make it available to the PCs, without blatantly pointing it out.
I'll have the android porter show them to their rooms at the motel and make it abundantly clear what amenities the motel provides, including free access to the infosphere with a small explanation as to what the infosphere is.
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The infosphere thing myself, like John Lynch, I'll be mentioning they have access to it in the motel.
However, instead of being clear about it, I'm just going to say that the motel has "Free wifi". Knowing my players, this will get a laugh out of them, but also they'll be savvy enough to realize this is actually something they can use.
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Regarding the infosphere, I didn't even require a check. We all just assumed it would exist and the PCs would know how to access it.
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Regarding the infosphere, I didn't even require a check. We all just assumed it would exist and the PCs would know how to access it.
I think that approach is entirely fair and reasonable. In this society, it is baseline assumed technology; a bedrock of civilization along the order of "we have electric power" and "we have the net".
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Still, there are people unable to google the simplest things.
EDIT: In case anyone takes this the wrong way. That was not meant as a snarky slight to anyone in particular.
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Just so I'm clear, the only way to meet with the Level 21 gang is to pass a DC 30 diplomacy or intimidate check, right?
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Just so I'm clear, the only way to meet with the Level 21 gang is to pass a DC 30 diplomacy or intimidate check, right?
I believe that is correct. Finding the hideout for the Downside Kings (which progresses the story) is only a DC 20, so meeting with the Level 21 Crew is a bit of bonus roleplaying.
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That's kind of disappointing that a page was spent, and a full character art, on an excessively high check that for some groups is flat out impossible to make.
Heck, my group couldn't make the DC 20 check to find the Downside Kings hideout.
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It's not the only way.
When you meet the leader of the Downside Kings, you can attempt to use Diplomacy or Intimidate and get the information from her (DC 26, 25, or 20 depending of situation and skill, followed up with a DC 25). Or if you capture and interrogate her, you can get the info with a DC 20 check.
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Because npcs don't have levels anymore. The envoy thing is more flavoring than an actual class. She'll just have a bunch of abilities that are envoyish themed appropriate for her cr.
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That's kind of disappointing that a page was spent, and a full character art, on an excessively high check that for some groups is flat out impossible to make.
Heck, my group couldn't make the DC 20 check to find the Downside Kings hideout.
Go back to page 11. Before the "Info Check Tables" begin - there is this all important and over-riding piece of advice provided by the author:
Although the PCs’ inquiries and the information they can learn are represented by simple skill checks, feel free to flesh out the investigations via roleplaying encounters with various denizens of Absalom Station. In short, this section of the adventure can and should be modified to meet the needs of your game and your players with as much detail as you deem necessary.
All of the following two pages of information on those charts is just a summary; a guideline of info that is to be obtained. It isn't a hard and fast outline in any manner. It isn't intended to be.
GMs need to do some work here. Rob McCreary couldn't do it because of the space limitations of the 64 page format - where only about half of that is adventure text. In short, Part 1 of Vol 1 of the AP has been dehydrated. You need to rethink how all of this will best be investigated and revealed, add boiling water and stir.
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Because npcs don't have levels anymore. The envoy thing is more flavoring than an actual class. She'll just have a bunch of abilities that are envoyish themed appropriate for her cr.
Would be nice to have the CR then :P
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Do we know why most NPCs don't have levels next to their names? For example, Kumara Melacruz, the current Prime Executive of Absalom Station, is just listed as "(LG female human envoy)" with no specific levels.
They've gone the 4th ed route of NPCs are built differently to Pcs. Whether that's good or bad depends on your own inclinations. I personally like it.
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That's kind of disappointing that a page was spent, and a full character art, on an excessively high check that for some groups is flat out impossible to make.
Heck, my group couldn't make the DC 20 check to find the Downside Kings hideout.
Go back to page 11. Before the "Info Check Tables" begin - there is this all important and over-riding piece of advice provided by the author:
Although the PCs’ inquiries and the information they can learn are represented by simple skill checks, feel free to flesh out the investigations via roleplaying encounters with various denizens of Absalom Station. In short, this section of the adventure can and should be modified to meet the needs of your game and your players with as much detail as you deem necessary.
All of the following two pages of information on those charts is just a summary; a guideline of info that is to be obtained. It isn't a hard and fast outline in any manner. It isn't intended to be.
GMs need to do some work here. Rob McCreary couldn't do it because of the space limitations of the 64 page format - where only about half of that is adventure text. In short, Part 1 of Vol 1 of the AP has been dehydrated. You need to rethink how all of this will best be investigated and revealed, add boiling water and stir.
I think this approach of just having GM modify based on needs of their game is a bad idea to an extent, or maybe a cop-out because they were rushed to get game content out by gencon. I get that all games require some GM adjustment, but this is a brand new game, as a GM, I have no clue what the needs of my game are right off the bat. This is the flagship adventure for the new game, it should give GMs ALL the help they need to run a brand new game.
At least with PF there are thousands of adventures to look back upon to get a baseline of how the game plays. There is nothing out there for SF yet to use as a baseline for what a SF game even looks like.| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Anyone have an idea what "bakarang music" is? The Fushion Queen is described as playing bakarang music, and I couldn't find any reference to bakarang, in any of the Starfinder materials or in real life. I ask because I plan to play some club music during the scene for mood.
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I think this approach of just having GM modify based on needs of their game is a bad idea to an extent, or maybe a cop-out because they were rushed to get game content out by gencon. I get that all games require some GM adjustment, but this is a brand new game, as a GM, I have no clue what the needs of my game are right off the bat. This is the flagship adventure for the new game, it should give GMs ALL the help they need to run a brand new game.
At least with PF there are thousands of adventures to look back upon to get a baseline of how the game plays. There is nothing out there for SF yet to use as a baseline for what a SF game even looks like.
Are you a new GM or do you have new players?
I'd be pretty annoyed if there was too much of an outline on the inquiries. I don't feel obligated to use the published NPCs this way, and I can come up with some more meaningful connections that fit my players' characters. I'll come up with one player's contact beforehand, then improv contacts for two more based on how they describe their actions. One player has little to no interest in roleplaying with side NPCs. He'll be happy with just a skill check and a short description from me.
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So you can't look at the skills of your player's PCs and see that none of them have dilomacy, and therefore you should pick another skill and a different way for them to succeed?
I mean, unless you're a new GM to RPG gaming, it isn't difficult to figure out what needs to be changed. Especially considering that the section in question is all about skill checks and role-playing. This isn't about being a new GM to SF - we're talking about universal GMing skills here.
None of my players' PCs have a good charisma, nor do they have culture, diplomacy, or intimidation. That made this section of the book impossible for them. So I changed it to a series of computer checks to represent gathering the information via forums, blogs, comments, company data, some hacking, etc..
And the roleplay for that entire section changed as well. Instead of going around talking to people on the station, they went to computer terminals several times after following up with various leads they found online.
Change it up to meet the needs of your table.
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@KingofAnything: Both me and my players will be completely new to SF (of course), and new to any sort of Sci-fi rpg. We are experienced PF players, and I have Gmed 2 APs , and currently doing a 3rd AP.
I just think that the very first adventure for a brand new system should hold the GMs hand more than it appears the actual adventure does.
@bookrat: everyone has different gm styles. I prefer to have my PCs fail or succeed based on their choices. So if they all neglect CHA, then the game will reflect that. Sure, if they come up with a creative workaround to bypass a problem, i am all for it. But i'm not going to hand them easy solutions that rewards them for not diversifying skills.
Anyway, not a huge deal. By the time I actually run this, I'm sure I'll have a better grasp on what SF games and sci-fi games in general look like.
One of the reasons I run mainly APs, is that I don't have to adjust much at all (or have the spare time to do so). That's why I pay $25/month for the authors to do the work for me.
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That's kind of disappointing that a page was spent, and a full character art, on an excessively high check that for some groups is flat out impossible to make.
Heck, my group couldn't make the DC 20 check to find the Downside Kings hideout.
Go back to page 11. Before the "Info Check Tables" begin - there is this all important and over-riding piece of advice provided by the author:
Although the PCs’ inquiries and the information they can learn are represented by simple skill checks, feel free to flesh out the investigations via roleplaying encounters with various denizens of Absalom Station. In short, this section of the adventure can and should be modified to meet the needs of your game and your players with as much detail as you deem necessary.
All of the following two pages of information on those charts is just a summary; a guideline of info that is to be obtained. It isn't a hard and fast outline in any manner. It isn't intended to be.
GMs need to do some work here. Rob McCreary couldn't do it because of the space limitations of the 64 page format - where only about half of that is adventure text. In short, Part 1 of Vol 1 of the AP has been dehydrated. You need to rethink how all of this will best be investigated and revealed, add boiling water and stir.
I think this approach of just having GM modify based on needs of their game is a bad idea to an extent, or maybe a cop-out because they were rushed to get game content out by gencon. I get that all games require some GM adjustment, but this is a brand new game, as a GM, I have no clue what the needs of my game are right off the bat. This is the flagship adventure for the new game, it should give GMs ALL the help they need to run a brand new game.
At least with PF there are thousands of adventures to look back upon to get a baseline of how the game plays. There is nothing out there for SF yet to use as a baseline for what a SF game even looks...
Robert G. McCreary had to write most of this adventure before the rules were settled, so give him a break. :)
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Robert G. McCreary had to write most of this adventure before the rules were settled, so give him a break.
This is also a fair point to make. However, I am personally a little concerned with the amount of extra I'm going to have to come up with. If this were the usual 96-page per volume AP (64-page adventure), spread out over 1 volume every two months, I wouldn't have that worry; however, because the actual meat is shorter than usual, AND because it's a new game, It's hard to tell if I'm going to have to homebrew more than usual for this. It's also why I'm going to suggest to my group to wait until late September to begin, that way come mid-October I'll have the 2nd volume to fall back on and get an idea of the direction to go after the end of book 1, and by then we'll have had two or three sessions under our belts to gauge the "content consumption ratio." :D
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Thanks, Rob, for including Docking Bay 94. :)
I'm getting some notes together now for a PBP run at this. Looking forward to it!
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Starfinder Creative Lead
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Anyone have an idea what "bakarang music" is? The Fushion Queen is described as playing bakarang music, and I couldn't find any reference to bakarang, in any of the Starfinder materials or in real life. I ask because I plan to play some club music during the scene for mood.
Bakarang is a musical style popular in the Pact Worlds! All the hottest clubs are playing bakarang these days!
Really, it's just something I made up as flavor and dropped onto the adventure, inspired by descriptions of the music playing in bars and clubs in the Expanse books. Bakarang probably sounds like Indian or Arabian music with heavier rock/techno/dance beats. Basically, think non-Western club music.
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Anyone have an idea what "bakarang music" is? The Fushion Queen is described as playing bakarang music, and I couldn't find any reference to bakarang, in any of the Starfinder materials or in real life. I ask because I plan to play some club music during the scene for mood.Bakarang is a musical style popular in the Pact Worlds! All the hottest clubs are playing bakarang these days!
Really, it's just something I made up as flavor and dropped onto the adventure, inspired by descriptions of the music playing in bars and clubs in the Expanse books. Bakarang probably sounds like Indian or Arabian music with heavier rock/techno/dance beats. Basically, think non-Western club music.
My impression would be the kind of Arabic-style club music you'd hear in Dubai or Abu Dhabi in the UAE or in Bahrain. (Though my experience is largely influenced by multiple Navy deployments to the Gulf. ;)
Here are a few examples (please excuse the horrible videos on some of these...I was looking for something quick):
Best Arabic House Mix 2017 (Dantex)
Dubai Arabic House Techno Mix Sessions UAE Special
I'm starting on the shuttle but I'm not sure where it would be coming from. Is the idea that the Okimoro stops at various planets and picks Starfinder Society initiates up like a school bus?I had a question about the Okimoro also. It feels like it is a public transport. Has anyone asked why people on a public transport would be allowed to just carry their firearms freely?
Perhaps this could be use to really complicate the firefight between the gangs on Docking Bay 94. The PCs would likely be more likely to try and find cover as opposed to getting into a fire fight on a public docking bay and have to answer questions about why they are carrying grenades, laser guns, swords and all other manner of items that the Starfinder TSA would have a field day with.
I figure there's only so much that security could keep up with, and that if no one is actively fighting, they don't clamp down too hard. It's why they aren't there right away when the shooting starts between the gangs, any why the gazeteer brings up private security forces so often as possible employers/providers. Also, no one wants to find themselves in hard vacuum without a way to get into the station, even with sealable spacesuits, so there's little reason to open fire on a shuttle. Maybe?
The flavor and setting are up to you, but real security has been written into the backbone of the rules.
For example, why can't a PC get a Level 20 gun right away (aside from costs)? The weapon levels, in part, represent the required licensing you have to acquire to get the weapon. Page 167 under Item Level.
They didn't want you to have to fiddle with all that, so a lot of the concepts of rarity, licensing, contracts, business dealings, etc.. are all just built into the Item Level system.
There's also a lot of handwaving going on.
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Regarding the music in Fusion Queen, I am going with the Afterlife Club music from ME2 since that about sets the mood for everyone.
This is exactly what I did, and the players liked it. When they eventually enter the back room, be sure to lower the volume considerably as the door shuts.
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This is exactly what I did, and the players liked it. When they eventually enter the back room, be sure to lower the volume considerably as the door shuts.Regarding the music in Fusion Queen, I am going with the Afterlife Club music from ME2 since that about sets the mood for everyone.
That's a great idea!
I think this is the one I'm going to use. I haven't listened to the full 2 hours, but it seems to hit the right notes (pun partially intended).
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Off topic question. and maybe a dumb question but are there "cab" like services on absolam station? im sure there are (slow) Elevators but traveling through the entire station on foot must be killer. are there shuttles from from the arm to the eye? just curious for when i run and how i explain the station.
I would say so, it would be odd not to. I'll look around the Core book some and see if it has any insight.
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Non-Spaceship Transportation (p.234-235):
Grav-Train, 1 credit per 100 miles
A grav-train is a hovering, multisection mass transport that runs a specific ground route, generally over a metal or ceramic rail. It is the cheapest way to move overland, but it requires significant infrastructure to operate and only runs to set locations on a (sometimes unreliable) schedule.
Robo-Taxi. 1 credit per 10 miles
This simple form of urban transport is generally similar to an urban cruiser but is assumed not to have the expense of a driver. In most major cities, dispatch can send a robo-taxi within a few minutes of a request to the company by infosphere or comm unit.
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I figure there's only so much that security could keep up with, and that if no one is actively fighting, they don't clamp down too hard. It's why they aren't there right away when the shooting starts between the gangs, any why the gazeteer brings up private security forces so often as possible employers/providers. Also, no one wants to find themselves in hard vacuum without a way to get into the station, even with sealable spacesuits, so there's little reason to open fire on a shuttle. Maybe?I'm starting on the shuttle but I'm not sure where it would be coming from. Is the idea that the Okimoro stops at various planets and picks Starfinder Society initiates up like a school bus?I had a question about the Okimoro also. It feels like it is a public transport. Has anyone asked why people on a public transport would be allowed to just carry their firearms freely?
Perhaps this could be use to really complicate the firefight between the gangs on Docking Bay 94. The PCs would likely be more likely to try and find cover as opposed to getting into a fire fight on a public docking bay and have to answer questions about why they are carrying grenades, laser guns, swords and all other manner of items that the Starfinder TSA would have a field day with.
I'm going to open the adventure a little differently.
Instead, I'm going to have all the PCs arriving together on the Okimoro because they all answered Kreel's offer to help them find work. Some of them will have personal ties to the dwarf, while others will just be responding to an advertisement. He only asked that the candidates listen to his pitch to join the Society. Even if they don't join, they've earned a free ride to Absalom Station.
Kreel used Starfinder funds to pay for the PCs' passage to the station and to charter the Okimoro to bring them from whatever transport ships they came in on. The shuttle has just docked and the airlock is starting to pressurize when the fight breaks out in the bay.
The PCs realize something is wrong when the captain won't open the shuttle door to let them out of the airlock. They will ask what's happening and learn about the battle in the bay. The PCs have the opportunity to either wait out the fight until the authorities arrive or convince the shuttle captain to open the airlock and let them help.
Either way, they won't be able to see the first few rounds of combat. Kreel gets killed in those first volleys of weapons fire. The fact that an "innocent bystander" ends up getting shot multiple times will be one of the clues that something isn't right about this "random fight."
Afterward, Chiskisk summons the PCs so they can deliver the Society pitch, which then turns into the request to investigate Kreel's death.
To support the above plan, I'm writing up general concepts for the players to use when creating their characters. They read a little bit like campaign traits, but don't have specific mechanical benefits associated with them. I may use them to give circumstance bonuses or hints during the campaign, though.
I really hope the next SF AP is the traditional AP length.
What do you mean?
I'm a little confused on how Eskolar is supposed to be handled. The PCs know that Nor is watching everything they do. What incentive is there for them to attack her or even open the container in the first place?
Never underestimate the curiosity of PCs...
And if they don't open it, there's no impact to this adventure, but it's pointed out that it will come back to affect the story in a future installment.