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I am currently playing in two APs, GMing one AP, and regularly play and GM Society scenarios. I love the depth and scale of the stories in the APs. Even though different authors write each book, they still form a coherent story line and this is reflected in greater development, interaction, and coordination of the player parties. While the folks I GM and play scenarios with are frequently the same, the lack of continuity between subsequent scenarios often leaves me wishing for more of an AP-like experience.
Now we do see repeat NPCs and extended story lines, but it generally doesn't feel all that connected. Maybe the nature of society play prevents this sort of connectivity. Maybe the relative newness of the game and quick consumption of scenarios prevents stringing together related ones. I don't have a great answer, but this is something that I have been thinking about lately - normally as I switch between AP characters in campaign mode and my society characters in scenarios. Anyone else feel like this?
Anyway, I think it would be cool say if a 1-4 and 3-6 or a 3-6 and 5-8 were released in the same month, and the first scenario story was continued in the second one. Or maybe if the 3-6s being released in 2 or 3 subsequent months all tied to one story line and the 1-4s all tied to another. This sort of thing would require quite a bit of coordination amongst the developers, but I think it lead to more satisfying society play. Kind of like how comic book stories continue between sequential issues. As it is, I have two characters leveling out of society play (for now) and it's as if I really don't know them anymore since I am constantly switching back and forth between various characters for various scenarios. In contrast I feel so much more connected with my AP characters and the parties I play/GM with.
Thoughts?
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Personally, I like how we have these different plot lines woven in and out of each other with the parts a few months apart, even sometimes woven with the APs such as Against the Aeon Throne tying in with 1-27: King Xeros of Star Azlant.
It can be difficult with newer players though, they're stepping into the middle of a lengthy story and don't have the same context veteran Starfinder players do. There's a good argument for more lower tier scenarios (1-4 and 3-6) that are largely self-contained (eg, 1-18: The Blackmoon Survey or 1-22: The Protectorate Petition).
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This will come with time. Over in the PFS Forum there's a thread detailing greater "story arcs" where you may encounter the same NPCs repeatedly or follow up on leads lost years ago.
In the interim, it helps when GMs giving a briefing might recognize characters for their outstanding accomplishments during the last mission, and maybe emphasize why those skills are needed again.
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There are so many scenarios that are connected already. Many through small threads and others through storyline. I have a large beef with the Dataphiles storyline, but am willing to see how it progresses before I judge it too harshly. But that is a tangent for another time. It takes multiple seasons (years) to really set up in depth storylines (i.e. the destiny of sands series) and often times a single character won't be able to play it from beginning to end because it is so spaced out. In summary, it is what it is.
That said, I support the call for two parter scenarios every so often. They don't necessarily have to be part of a larger story, but it would be nice every so often.
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Mostly my beef with the Dataphiles Storyline is the same as my beef with the Exoguardians storyline. We haven't seen any of it since Star Sugar Heartlove! We haven't seen any actual development of the Exoguardians plotline since 1-04! A whole season and we still know nothing about Sangoro's Bulwark!
But, at least Data Breach comes out this month, and Many Minds after that.
Venture-Captain, Netherlands
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Scenarios are more episodic due to the nature of organised play. You want people to understand and feel included, no matter if they play 2 days a month or every other month.
There are connections between them, but they might nog be so clear.
I hope they update the starfinder wiki soon with connections. They do it for the pathfinder one, which is great, as you can easily seen when an NPC recurs
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Regional Venture-Coordinator, Central Europe
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Personally i think there might already be too much connections, callbacks, or hints for future stuff. When i watch players who either didn't start in 2017 or don't play all new scenarios every months they often look confused because they have no idea what is going on.
Starfinder Society Developer
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Personally i think there might already be too much connections, callbacks, or hints for future stuff. When i watch players who either didn't start in 2017 or don't play all new scenarios every months they often look confused because they have no idea what is going on.
It's a tonal difference, for sure.
I think Season 1 suffers a lot from this, because it was a double-length season. I assume Season 2 onwards is going to be mostly season-contained story arcs, with level tiers to support that.
Don't take that as me saying: "HA HA, We're abandoning prior story hooks!" But instead look forward to some new stories, and the occasional returning non-metaplot story follow-ups on past events.
Venture-Lieutenant, Netherlands—Leiden
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Personally i think there might already be too much connections, callbacks, or hints for future stuff. When i watch players who either didn't start in 2017 or don't play all new scenarios every months they often look confused because they have no idea what is going on.
I felt this too, especially in the beginning, because many scenarios had small cameos of things that would show up more significantly in later scenarios. Now that the scenario blurbs call out "this continues the storyline from X but you should/don't need to play it with the same character", I'm more at ease. I know which scenarios really are important to string together, and otherwise it's just gravy.
Venture-Captain, Germany—Bavaria
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Mostly my beef with the Dataphiles Storyline is the same as my beef with the Exoguardians storyline. We haven't seen any of it since Star Sugar Heartlove! We haven't seen any actual development of the Exoguardians plotline since 1-04! A whole season and we still know nothing about Sangoro's Bulwark!
But, at least Data Breach comes out this month, and Many Minds after that.
SFS 1-30 is an Exo Guardian story, but I feel that Sangoro's Bulwark is a long term thing.
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Venture-Captain, Germany—Bavaria
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Personally, I have mixed feelings right now, the Scoured Stars storyline is a bit hard to follow and I have the chance to GM for players that had played nearly all of it, while I eventually need to catch up.
That is usually not a problem, but it leads players to come to a rather different conclusion than the scenario (of the GM) expected.
Not sure how I feel about SFS # 1 -27 King Xeros of Star Alzant, I ran it and have my complaints about a couple of things, but from a story perspective unless you have interacted with the AP, it feels like something is missing.
It feels more like a DLC for the AP, than a regular SFS scenario (that might not be a bad thing and we have seen similar developments with the recent APs in PFS).
A regular "the story so far" briefing for the PCs might be a good idea to inform the players about developments that should be common knowledge among agents.