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I decided to drop some lore about Absalom during some downtime, and my players became really hooked to the ever sp00ky Fardock from the Pact Worlds book. They have made it their life's goal to find out what's on the other side.
The book basically says anyone who tries to make it WILL DIE, either from station security, the insane laser guards or via spaghettification from the portal itself. I am happy my players are interested in the world, and, IMO, I would not be a good GM if I just insta-killed them for being curious and wanting to learn more. However, I don't want it to be an easy task, there should be a serious risk of death if either their plan isn't watertight or the dice aren't on their side.
I already have some ideas for what could be on the other side; maybe a Lovecraftian dimension with elder things and unimaginable horror, or straight up golarion like the book suggested and I could homebrew an arc where the pcs are sci-fi soldiers in a fantasy world doing maybe a dungeon crawl?? that'd be sick.
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Heres what I need help with:
*Checks and DC ideas to make it past the guards, stealth v perception but I think they would have blindsight or something crazy
*Checks and DC to survive the portal? Maybe a high WIS or INT save??
*Any other ideas you want to share with the class that other campaigns could use
* I guess the aftermath is important too. If they succeed, how with the station react? If they fail, it will likely be a TPK and I could figure that out pretty easily
A lot would depend on how you want to approach the task, meaning how internally consistent with the logic of the setting do you want to make it. The Fardock has been part of Absalom Station for as along as anyone can remember -- that means exactly 320 years. During that time a lot has happened in the Pact Worlds that might have logically prevented active research into its function. But let's compare that to research in the "real" world. If we go back 320 years in Earth history, we'd be in 1700. Are we to assume that in this span of time, a highly advanced techno-magical civilization would not have continued to pour resources into learning more about the Fardock and, in that amount of time, not made some significant progress?
Apparently, the designers' answer to this question is "Yes". So, why the Fardock? We all know the answer is "because it provides another plot hook to base adventures on". It doesn't need to make sense from that perspective. The designers weren't creating speculative fiction aimed at one hundred percent perfect verisimilitude.
The question for me as a GM then becomes, how much effort do I want to put into making sense of it within the confines of what the designers have given me to work with versus how much GM handwaving do I do by simply ignoring verisimilitude and throwing together a rollicking set of encounters with a really weird thing that just happens to be there?
My preference is the former, so, based on that, here's an idea or two. First I would try to explain why there hasn't been more research on the Fardock over the span of 300 years, assuming we can write off the first 20 years AG as a time of chaos and adjustment to the new normal. Perhaps there was a lot of early research. Where is it? Who controls it? Why isn't it currently being followed up on? Is it being suppressed? And, if so, by whom and for what reasons?
Furthermore, what are the actual laws and regulations involved with research on Fardock? Perhaps there are legal and bureaucratic battles over control of and access to the site; competing interests with no side able to gain sufficient advantage leading to a decades-long stalemate. But, in that time, a whole lot of clandestine corporate, religious, scientific and political activity may have been going on. Any one of these groups might want to hire (or use) the PCs to shift the balance of power in their favor. Adventures could then center around collecting bits of other groups' research -- all of which are necessary to fully unlock the secrets of the Fardock.
This kind of scenario lays the groundwork for an entire adventure path in which the PCs must piece together the necessary clues to successfully (and safely) use the Fardock. Along the way (say mid to high levels) they discover the real reason why research has been stalled -- the intervention of much greater powers who the PCs must either convince or defeat in order to unlock the secret of the dock's defenses and learn how to operate its runes.
Once it's open, the PCs must defeat the big, bad evil that the Fardock has been holding back for centuries predating the Gap. Beyond that, they discover the dock is based on old elven aidudara magic but was built by humans and a mysterious race of alien benefactors seeking their own "Stargate" to explore other regions of space. Who were the alien benefactors and did they really have humanity's best interests at heart? Where are they now and what are they planning?
With access to the "system" restored, competing interests race to control the Fardock and its secrets, which could lead to further intrigues for the PCs or adventures for new groups of PCs.
The PCs, on poking around it, end up drawn into this quiet investigation ( and quiet conflict over said investigation ), and are excellent candidates to take the ( still dangerous ) mission of going through it.
I like this approach as well. It provides several options depending, as you say, on the level of the PCs and the level at which the GM feels the PCs should get to deal with the Fardock directly. Giving them access to the Fardock as a plot "handwave" has its own advantages over my suggestions of using the deactivation of those defenses as the plot hook. I can imagine the game turning into a Stargate SG1 type thing with the PCs becoming the lead team of explorers tasked with dealing with whatever happens on the other side.
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The super defenses mysteriously shut down. Whatever was once keeping the Fardock sealed off has *stopped*, and everyone is freaking out over why.
I really like this idea! Super cool concept that I think i would be able to take in any direction I wanted. I haven't homebrewed anything before, so I think i might reskin some of the society quests to fit this narrative. Thank you!!
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Furthermore, what are the actual laws and regulations involved with research on Fardock? Perhaps there are legal and bureaucratic battles over control of...
I asked my group before we started if they would like a politics-focused campaign and they said it would be cool, so I might do this as well!! I will combine yours and Metaphysician's ideas for sure!! Not combat-focused is a better plan since all of my players are INT classes (or still have INT as the highest stat) ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Please let us know how it goes. I always enjoy hearing how other players take and twist the plot hooks left by the game designers into cool adventures.