[NO SPOILERS] Do I need all "Journey to the Scoured Stars" boons?

[Kishmo]

I haven't yet gotten the chance to play Scoured Stars Invasion, but I'm excited to try sometime in the coming months. A big part of the reason I'm digging Starfinder Society so much is that I'm in at the ground floor, as it were - I can watch the meta-story unfold as it happens, which I never got to do with Pathfinder Society (as I only discovered it towards the end of season 5.)

Since my play time is limited, though, I'd like to know how much I should try to play through the lead-up missions (1-05, 1-11, 1-13, and 1-17) beforehand. I've already played 1-05, and have read 1-11 in preparation of running my players through it, so I know there's (presumably) four of these mysterious "Journey to the Scoured Stars: Segment boons, marked as Unidentified boons.

So, my question is - without spoiling things, how badly do I need to try and head into 1-99 without playing all four lead-up scenarios? Will I really regret playing if I don't have all four?

[Redgar's ACG Characters]

For what it may be worth, I played 1-99 at Origins as my 4th ever SFS scenario, having played none of the lead-up scenarios.

I had an absolute blast, and didn't feel like I was missing out. That said, I recognize that I don't know what I don't know.

I do tend to be a bit obsessive about playing though arcs, in order, etc. to get the story, but I think the SFS team have well executed making 1-99 story-enjoyable without having played the "Journey" scenarios before hand.

[Shaudius]

I don't know how to avoid a spoiler with such a question like this but

Journey to Scoured Stars Boons Relevance to 1-99:

These boons play zero role in 1-99.

[Kishmo]

Thanks for the answers! Good to know. It would be agonizing to go into the scenario with, say, three out of the four mystery boons, and find out you only get some super cool reward or boon if you had four.

[RealAlchemy]

I expect a payoff to those boons at some point, but have not yet seen one. It may take a while, though. I have seen some Pathfinder boons come into play a couple seasons later, and I would not be surprised to see Starfinder do the same thing.

[Ascalaphus]

The Scoured Stars Invasion is not the end of that storyline. These boons are intended for something later on.

Also, they're mostly found in level 3-6 and 5-8 scenarios. It would be a slap in the face if the 1-2 tables needed them. But fortunately they don't :)

That said, playing the preceding scenarios will give you some insight in the story leading to the Scoured Stars Invasion so it's nice to have.

[EwokBanshee]

The story leads into it quite nicely. Not necessary to understand what's happening but does lead in directly.

For mechanics/crunch/boons, Thursty said they are leading to something but it isn't in the Special. They felt like the Special was not available to everyone and shouldn't contain the capstone to that series of mystery boons.

[Nefreet]

All of that said, the Special *does* refer GMs to engage players with those Boons, so you'll get some role-playing opportunities (assuming there's time).

[Thurston Hillman]

I full admit, I'm still finalizing exactly how these boons are going to end up working, but I'm fairly certain that I DON'T want them to only key off of playing an interactive special. That's the main reason they didn't show up in #1-99.

As with many Starfinder Society related endeavors, we like to try out some new things. I suspect that they payoff for these boons (and potential follow-up boons) will end up making an appearance shortly after Season 1's official ending. Nothing's set in stone yet, but I'm very much leaning to that style of approach and making these boons offer something to more than just PCs partaking in the interactive events.

[Poit]

Whatever the payoff will be for the Journey to the Scoured Stars boons, can you please not have it limited by level?

I would be sad if my character who has all the boons, and has played the special, is too high a level to do anything with the boons.

[The Masked Ferret]

Poit wrote:

Whatever the payoff will be for the Journey to the Scoured Stars boons, can you please not have it limited by level?

I would be sad if my character who has all the boons, and has played the special, is too high a level to do anything with the boons.

I know you are already planning something... but maybe have the reward as a separate chronicle sheet, that can apply to each character that earned at least one of the Journey to the Scoured Stars boons, that gives scaling rewards based on the number completed on a given character?

[Charli Poshkettle]

Poit wrote:

Whatever the payoff will be for the Journey to the Scoured Stars boons, can you please not have it limited by level?

I would be sad if my character who has all the boons, and has played the special, is too high a level to do anything with the boons.

+1

Charli is entering level 7 now — a lofty rank where there are precious few scenarios available. It would be nice if she can still benefit from the Scoured Stars boons when they come due.

[Ascalaphus]

Glen Parnell wrote:

Poit wrote:

Whatever the payoff will be for the Journey to the Scoured Stars boons, can you please not have it limited by level?

I would be sad if my character who has all the boons, and has played the special, is too high a level to do anything with the boons.

I know you are already planning something... but maybe have the reward as a separate chronicle sheet, that can apply to each character that earned at least one of the Journey to the Scoured Stars boons, that gives scaling rewards based on the number completed on a given character?

I think it would be better if the reward happens once per player, regardless of whether you've managed to concentrate all the boons in one place to really amp up that character's boon total, or spread them as wide as possible to earn more boonage everywhere.

Both of those taste a bit too meta for me. Too much trying to schedule the perfect run to maximize boon profits.

I'd be happier if the only goal was to as a player have played the whole story.

[Belafon]

Lau Bannenberg wrote:

Glen Parnell wrote:

Poit wrote:

Whatever the payoff will be for the Journey to the Scoured Stars boons, can you please not have it limited by level?

I would be sad if my character who has all the boons, and has played the special, is too high a level to do anything with the boons.

I know you are already planning something... but maybe have the reward as a separate chronicle sheet, that can apply to each character that earned at least one of the Journey to the Scoured Stars boons, that gives scaling rewards based on the number completed on a given character?

I think it would be better if the reward happens once per player, regardless of whether you've managed to concentrate all the boons in one place to really amp up that character's boon total, or spread them as wide as possible to earn more boonage everywhere.

Both of those taste a bit too meta for me. Too much trying to schedule the perfect run to maximize boon profits.

If the rewards are level-scaled and linear to the number of boons there's no real advantage to min/maxing. Two examples:

1. When you complete the Journey to the Scoured Stars, each character receives credits based on the number of boons it has gathered and its current level
Level 1: aaa credits per Journey boon
Level 2: bbb credits per Journey boon
...
2. When you complete the Journey to the Scoured Stars, each character receives 1 additional reputation point with Second Seekers (Jarnuda) for each Journey boon it has gathered.

Things that are linear regardless of level or reward concentrating boons will result in a few people planning out their "perfect run". Examples:

1. When you complete the Journey to the Scoured Stars, each character receives 500 credits per Journey boon it has gathered.
2. When you complete the Journey to the Scoured Stars, each character receives additional reputation with Second Seekers (Jarnuda) based on the number of boons it has earned:
1 Journey boon: 1 Rep
2 Journey boons: 2 Rep
3 Journey boons: 4 Rep
4 Journey boons: 5 Rep
5 Journey boons: 6 Rep
6 Journey boons: 8 Rep
7 Journey boons: 10 Rep