Hive of Minds (5 of 6) GMs Reference

[HitherandThence]

This is a place for questions and discussion for book 5, Hive of Minds.

[Hmm]

This is a spoiler-filled resource thread for GMs running the Attack of the Swarm Adventure Path, specifically for the fifth adventure, "Hive of Minds."

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All GM Threads in this series:

1 - Fate of the Fifth
2 - Last Refuge
3 - Huskworld
4 - Forever Reliquary
5 - Hive of Minds
6 - God-Host Ascends

[MurderHobo#6226]

Has anyone who's run/played the Reliquary Defense bit in part 1 found it remotely interesting? I understand the narrative purpose for it, but it seems vastly stacked in the players' favor and the nature of the fight furthermore makes it without risk.

[BlubberNub]

MurderHobo#6226 wrote:

Has anyone who's run/played the Reliquary Defense bit in part 1 found it remotely interesting? I understand the narrative purpose for it, but it seems vastly stacked in the players' favor and the nature of the fight furthermore makes it without risk.

I ran it with my group and they really enjoyed it. They did wipe the scenario very easily but they like being in control of the Swarm. Just let them do what they want they want to do. Now, not every group might like controlling the Swarm and fighting in an easy fight, but if you add some flair it can be a fun, engaging, albeit easy encounter.

[roysier]

Odd, I can't find a picture of the Connection.

[BlubberNub]

roysier wrote:

Odd, I can't find a picture of the Connection.

There isn't an explicit picture like you would see in an Alien Archive but there is a picture in the book, can't remember the page number and don't have my book on me, of a Vesk and Shirren fighting The Connection. It is just a rectangular picture near the stat block. The Connection is kind of in the background.

[Xenocrat]

BlubberNub wrote:

roysier wrote:

Odd, I can't find a picture of the Connection.

There isn't an explicit picture like you would see in an Alien Archive but there is a picture in the book, can't remember the page number and don't have my book on me, of a Vesk and Shirren fighting The Connection. It is just a rectangular picture near the stat block. The Connection is kind of in the background.

And of course The Connection is in all the Jersey Shore cast photos.

[Kishmo]

Going through and prepping for the Connection fight, and just in case others stumble onto this thread and wonder, like I did:
Per the "On the Cover" blurb at the bottom of the Table of Content, the Connection is the smiley fellow on the front cover. The Avatar, pictured on p31, seems to be what everyone is fighting in the scenes on p39, as well as the back-image behind the Connection the front cover?

The Connection looks a bit out-of-place compared to the rest of the Swarm we've seen - it's a bit too 'humanoid,' for lack of a better word, in my opinion?) so I think I'm going to use the Avatar picture, and the two fight scenes, to represent the Connection and the Connection fight when my group gets there. Just need to gind something else suitably "alpha bug mini-boss" looking to represent the Avatar.

[Peg'giz]

In my group I simply used a larger version of the avatar for the connection. As a twist I told the players it consists of millions of small insects (representing all the swarm entities connected to this connection).

I also changed the fight by adding some phases to it: boss battle, at 50% the boss moves away and just throws some smaller rocks, while swarm creatures appear on the platform (Low Level cannon fodder. I also allowed my players to shove them off the platform), when the minions were killed the boss close in again and start the last phase of the combat.

I think Starfinder definetly needs more multi stage fights and minion slaughter!

[Yakman]

So... started this book last night and so far... kind of a mess.

The Mindreaper fight in Event 1 is fun, but you need to be careful, because it's possible that some of your players won't get to act for several rounds if they keep failing the check to see the monsters.

Event 2 is just a wreck, and I would recommend using the flavor and jettisoning the mechanics, which are absolutely brutal. A PC needs to make a 33 Perception or 28 Mysticism check to see that their companion is having trouble when they are supposed to be spouting nonsense? Like... what is this? Who can make those checks? If, like in our party, the precog ain't around for a session, like... that's just not gonna happen.

Event 3 is likewise great flavor but the mechanics are busted. If PCs don't have the relevant skills, they just fail, and in a campaign where we told the players that "it's the war campaign" you just kill them all trying to get to FIFTEEN!!!! successes? Ran it for 3 rounds and then moved on to Event 4, where I closed the session.

Looked ahead to the starship combat and that's just ridiculous. Love the flavor and theme of the book but I'm going to have to go through it with a critical eye to all the mechanics before our next session.

[Yakman]

oh, and completely missed this but a player of mine just pointed it out: half the party had busted mental stats for Event 3 b/c of what happens in Event 2.

So they are going into a situation which calls for high skill checks... and they are rolling at a penalty just to start with.

[Yakman]

just gotta say, after being critical of this book, our most recent session was one of the most fun that i've had running a game in a while. my pcs as unbeatable monsters started attacking each other to save their friends was muah.

[Yakman]

Last session was another banger. Brought back Captain Rameem [the party captain!] from our Threefold Conspiracy campaign, where he was last seen - after being rescued from shapeshifters - stealing the PCs ship. That was fun, and something I was looking forward to since I opened up this volume.

Also really enjoyed the shade fight, made full use of them shifting in and out of the walls and targeting the Hylaxians in the party.

The final highlight was the quest into the memory[?] of the God-Host and the war against the Pact Worlds and the Veskarium. Four of my five players failed to help during the war effort, and we'll start out next session with them describing how the Swarm's victories effected each of the PCs personally.