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This is a spoiler-filled reference thread for GMs running Book 1 of The Devastation Ark Adventure Path, "Waking the Worldseed."
All GM threads in this series:
1 - Waking the Worldseed
2 - The Starstone Blockade
3 - Dominion's End
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Huzzah! Okay, finally.
So, I'm looking forward to running this AP in the future and I had some notes on issues that popped up during my readthrough, and how I'm planning to tackle them.
Timing
The inciting incident that kicks off this AP is that a team of xenoarchaeologists accidentally restores power to a sivv ruin on Jedarat, as depicted in [url]https://paizo.com/community/blog/v5748dyo6shcq?The-Devastation-Ark-Ruins-In -The-Ice]Ruins in the Ice[/url], triggering the whole cascade of dominoes.
As the terraforming machines on Jedarat go haywire, AbadarCorp sends out a request for aid that reaches the PC on Absalom Station. The PCs set out an arrive on Jedarat about a week after the XA team goes missing and the planet runs amok.
The PCs deal with the immediate emergency, which we can assume only takes them a day or two. The next day, the press have arrived to cover the whole mess.
Problem: Jedarat is located in the Vast. When AbadarCorp sends the request for aid, it takes 1d6 days to reach Absalom Station. Assuming the PCs are recruited and depart more-or-less immediately, it takes them 5d6 days to reach Jedarat using a Signal Basic Drift engine. (The first time I posted this, others point out that the PCs having a Signal Booster engine is fairly likely - though not guaranteed.)
Let's assume the trapped XA team gets lucky and the SOS reaches Absalom Station in 1 day. If the PCs also luck out and roll all 1s on their travel time, it takes them a minimum of 5 days to reach the planet. (2-1/2 days with that Signal Booster.) This means that the adventurer's assumed week-long turnaround is approximately the bare minimum amount of time it takes to respond. Average die results suggest that PCs with a Signal Basic will arrive 21 days (3.5 x 6) after the incident, or just over 12 days for PCs with that Signal Booster. (And the dice could well have the PCs taking as long as 21 or even 36 days to arrive.)
None of this is really a problem by itself, except that the XA team is still alive and in need of rescue when the PCs arrive. These are techies who thought they were within walking distance of the dining hall when they went in, but I'm more than willing to believe that experienced explorers like these stashed a week of field rations in their packs, just in case.
Surviving a week? I buy it, no problem. (Although one of these guys has supposedly been lying motionless for most of this time so as not to be attacked by a guardian.)
12 days? Sure. They've been rationing and are weak from hunger, but alive. Still fine.
But being trapped for three weeks? Or even over a month? Eesh.
So basically my first piece of advice to just to make sure your PCs have a Signal Booster or better installed in their ship before the adventure begins and hope for the best.
This rolls over into the second timing problem, which is that a gaggle of reporters show up basically the next day at the very latest (they may have actually beaten the PCs here). The adventure doesn't explain how they got there and proposes that they've arrived to cover the emergency the XA team triggered, so they face the same long odds as the PCs when it comes to travel times.
To iron out this issue, I suggest bypassing it entirely. The press present on Jedarat were part of a junket coming out to cover the official opening of the planet to visitors. That had been scheduled for about a week after the XA team accidentally hit the Doom Button and thus ends up coinciding with the PCs mopping up. Rather than a bunch of media flying out there on their own, removing the moving parts of those travel time dice by placing them all on a single New Horizon Borealis cruiser (along with some VIPs, the first guests to book vacations on the planet). That cruiser had already left the Pact Worlds when the disaster started, and by the time the ship got the message it was too late do turn around without a PR disaster.
So we can just assume that this gaggle of reporters happened to be deposited on the planet at just the wrong time for New Horizons PR, without having to worry about the dice at all.
This fix only leaves the question of how one reporter's production crew gets their hands on a shuttle. But I mean, c'mon. If reporters in the Starfinder universe can't sweet-talk their way into borrowing a shuttle from local ground crew during a big to-do then what are we even doing here?
None of these timing issues roll over into Part 3, as a note. That's all fine.
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Maps
Part 1: First off, I know this is a perennial problem with RPG maps, but don't care what kind of feng shui those open-concept cabins in Hardpack Valley (Area A) are going for, vacationers to Jedarat are still going to want bathrooms. Simplest fix is that the interiors are still heavily under construction; I assume New Horizons was planning to into overtime to get these cabins ready for guests in another week.
Second, I have a question about the Facility Nexus (Area B) map. Where in B1 is the cylindrical chamber (the malfunctioning transport tube)? I think the obvious guess is that it occupies the heart of the coil right at the center of the map, right next to the exit ramp, but the map doesn't indicate that.
Part 2: I have a gut feeling that the map for the Spiraling Tower fell afoul of some editorial glitches. The issue here is the external ramp. As suggested by the tower's name (and illustration, and descriptions of similar bantrid towers elsewhere), the structure should have a single, continuous ramp spiraling up its exterior like a corkscrew. But the published map breaks it up into a ramp that starts in a counterclockwise direction, then a second clockwise ramp, then a third, clockwise ramp, which fouls the tower's image as a big spiral drilling up out of the earth.
I want to assume began its life with a single, spiraling ramp that extended from the ground to the very top. But I think it was then split up to encourage PCs to pass through each level (though 13-14th-level PCs will have the means to fly or climb straight to the top if they want to anyway), and then the ramp directions got flipped around to make them clearer on the page.
When you run this adventure, I would just recommend altering the map (easier if you're drawing it out yourself) to flip those ramps so they're all either going clockwise or counterclockwise.
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Seeding the Adventure
I love the way this Adventure Path bends over backwards to incorporate previous APs, assuming the PCs have just completed one of them. As it happens, my PCs will be coming to The Devastation Ark from a home campaign using Years 1 and 2 of the Starfinder Society RPG Guild scenarios, but the setup for this AP can still fit like a glove. Since I'm going to reference SFS events, I'll put this next bit in spoilers.
Aside from that, I will be seeding some of the NPCs in this AP into the PCs' earlier adventures.
* I've tied the xenoarcheologist team into one of the PCs' backstories. Once upon a time, they pulled him out of a stasis chamber on a wrecked starship that had been floating through deep space all through the Gap...
* I'll also introduce Lyta Lantrell as a reporter the next time my PCs get major media attention. Perhaps a mildly antagonistic one, looking for dirt, if I decide to go in a "comeuppance" direction and make her witness the PCs being Big Dang Heroes again on Jedarat after the drones kill her support crew.
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Theming
Not really a "problem," just some personal thoughts. Snowdrop Village on Jedarat is presented as an old-fashioned alpine village with strong "Christmas wonderland" theming. (Christmas lights on the trees and cabin eaves, holographic carolers in ugly Christmas sweaters.)
But... within the context of the setting, what is all of this emulating? There is no Christmas in the Pact Worlds; we don't even have strong grounds for any culture tied to the alpine architecture. (The only extant Pact World that even has what we would think of as a snowy winter is Triaxus.)
I'm fine with real-world allusions, but I do want them grounded in the "reality" of the setting.
Anyway, I pondered this for a while and came to a place I like: Jedarat is exactly the sort of setting you find in a Doctor Who Christmas special.
Specifically, it's been designed to be a winter wonderland vacation destination, dotted by little communities like Snowdrop Village that each have a particular theme flavored by different worlds and traditions. AbdarCorp/New Horizons designers have built these locales just like Disney World "imagineers," creating relentlessly cheery but artificial scenes intended to engender nostalgia for more innocent times... that never really existed.
Snowdrop Village, officially, is themed as a romantic wonderland where old Golarion's winter solstice holidays are celebrated all year long. The alpine stylings and "Christmas" decor are presented as reminiscences of Golarion just before the Gap. It has some minor grounding in history, but the designers used the Gap to invent freely without having to defend any kind of real authenticity.
The winter holidays being celebrated are a loose combination of Crystalhue (Shelyn) with some Ritual of Stardust (Desna) mixed in. Both of these holidays were celebrated on the winter solstice, but the saccharine presentation here is borderline sacrilegious; it would be worse but AbdarCorp, being the actual church of Abadar after all, doesn't want to irk Desna.
Sorry, too late to go back and fix it now, but that broken link to the Devastation Ark web fiction is: Ruins in the Ice
Way down the road, I realize that we got the full natural history of Hibb but still didn't learn why it reeks.
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Anyhoo interesting observation here: This might be because first book has crammed levels 13-16 in single book, but for first two books exp wise you need to do pretty much everything perfectly to get enough exp to be level 18 by end of book 2 :O
Like I did exp calculation and here is what I got for first book if you start exactly at level 13th's limit (aka 210,000) and you do everything, by end you have total of 603 600 xp. Level 16 being 600,000 that is really tight :D
For second book its not as bad but I think there are scenes that are easier to mess up so total xp of 1 220 025 with 1,200,000 being level 18th limit is still pretty tight yeah even with bigger error marginal in account :D
But yeah, this is definitely one of APs' where you can't get enough exp to level up in advance in first two books x'D But it does mean there is marginal to include GM original encounters without affecting exp count much.
Edit: Just to sum up my calculations, if you do everything perfectly in the ap(and assuming you happen to go the encounters in number order :p), you reach level 20 with total of 2 436 925 xp after CR 20 trap in final dungeon, with there being four other encounters left before final boss fight. So yeah final book has best error margin exp wise :D
That's handy to know, but I'm coming at it from a different angle: I'd been wondering how much of a "budget" I'd have to add a few encounters in Book 2.
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I mean that is same reason why I checked it as well in advance, because I wanted to know if I could make some few baddies from Dead Suns return without greatly skewing the exp balance ;D
But yeah, I guess I might as well include my calculations here (for 4 PCs) so might as well include my calculations for book 1 and 2 ;D In their own thread of course
ELDER AIR ELEMENTALS (2) CR 11 XP 12,800 each (6400 xp)
HOLOGRAPHIC CAROLERS (4) CR 8 XP 4,800 each
LOGGERBOTS (3) CR 9 XP 6,400 each (4800 xp)
DISINTEGRATION CHAMBER TRAP CR 14 XP 38,400 (9600 xp)
PREXIAN MUTANTSPAWNS (2) CR 11 XP 12,800 each (6400 xp)
DIGITAL KILL GRID CR 13 XP 25,600 (6400 xp)
NANOTECH GOLEM CR 14 XP 38,400 (9600 xp)
ANIMATED COMMANDER’S HARNESS CR 15 XP 51,200 (12800 xp)
NIFRI-2 CR 13 XP 25,600 (6400 xp)
Story Award: If the PCs deal with Nifri-2 without resorting to violence, award them XP as if they had defeated the quantum clone in combat. Award the PCs 38,400 XP for shutting down the master computer. (9600 xp)
Story Award: For defeating the sivv automated drones, award the PCs 51,200 XP. (12800 xp)
total: 299 600
Level 14 get 295,000
BIOMATTER RECYCLING NANITES TRAP CR 15 XP 51,200 (12800 xp)
EXSICCATES (4) CR 12 XP 19,200 each
EXSICCATES (2) CR 12 XP 19,200 each (9600 xp)
MENTAL FEEDBACK TRAP CR 15 XP 51,200 (12800)
QUANTUM SLIME CR 15 XP 51,200 (12800)
Story Award: Award the PCs 102,400 XP for shutting down the quantum antenna atop the Spiraling Tower. (25600 xp)
total 392 400
SIVV STASIS CLOUD CR 16 XP 76,800 (19200 xp)
HYDRO JET TRAP CR 15 XP 51,200 (12800 xp)
total 424 400
Story Award: For extending the catwalk, either through piecing together Ofi’s override code or by hacking the console, award the PCs 76,800 XP. (19200)
total 443 600
Level 15 get 425,000
IZUVNAEL CR 18 XP 153,600 (38400 xp)
SIVV COMBAT DRONES (2) CR 14 XP 38,400 each (19200 xp)
BRYVATHS (2) CR 15 XP 51,200 each (25600 xp)
SIVV KEEPER DRONE CR 18 XP 153,600 (38400 xp)
Story Award: For shutting down both the Worldseed’s starboard and port computer banks and saving Hibb from temperature shifts, award the PCs 153,600 XP. (38400 xp)
total 603 600
Level 16 get 600,000
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So after running this, do I have any particular notes on how to run this thing in hindsight?
Well I do have one thing to say: when players go to Hibbs, make point of playing up how bantrids are in constant movements. All the time, in transportation, in city, how Uso keeps spinning circles around them. Play that up so its much more obvious and weirder in comparison how stationary Izu is xD
Nearly finished this book and the most recent encounter was the closest I’ve ever come to a TPK in Starfinder. I have been running the same group of PCs since Dead Suns. Now at 14th level, there are five characters. So I do adjust some encounters to rebalance, since APs are normally set up for 4 PCs. But in this case, I left the encounter as is - no change.
This was a VERY challenging encounter. I know it’s high level but wow was this difficult!
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I think in your case its mostly that you have pcs be one level lower due to there being more of them, one level difference is surprisingly big sometimes :O (that or my players just had much better luck with dominate, do remember that to cast dominate you need to both 1) hit target's eac 2) have enemy fail save)
Is there a player aid I missed?
I'm reading the adventure and there are mentions of handouts, but aside for the small pic on the page, I can't seem to find them.
Is there a player aid I missed?
I'm reading the adventure and there are mentions of handouts, but aside for the small pic on the page, I can't seem to find them.
The pics on the page are the handouts.
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Well... the inciting incident is that THINGS are happening on the planet. Like, it doesn't quite make sense that it's just the team. Vorsen's talking about a Yeti Uprising... so whatever he heard, isn't just a team going missing. I plan on making Jedarat a little weirder and a little wilder than that.
[Had session 0 last night. very excited]
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So after running this, do I have any particular notes on how to run this thing in hindsight?
Well I do have one thing to say: when players go to Hibbs, make point of playing up how bantrids are in constant movements. All the time, in transportation, in city, how Uso keeps spinning circles around them. Play that up so its much more obvious and weirder in comparison how stationary Izu is xD
Something I plan to do is dive into how HORRIFYING Hibb is. The bantrids aren't exactly pleasant creatures, the whole planet reeks, and that's not even getting into the cause for the adventure.
Like, the bantrids have a pretty widespread cult which a) kidnaps people, and b) locks their own children into cryostasis because there's SOMETHING TRAPPED IN THE ICE THAT SPEAKS TO THEIR MINDS. The competing political ideologies are unfettered capitalism and straight up genocide, with this narrow moderate minority kinda keeping the peace (for now). Oh, and there's roving robots with supercannons.
Yeah, and they roll around. So you can't keep your eye on them. They are tiny too, so they are getting underfoot, spinning around you, and there's lots of them, and many of them do not have good intentions for our PCs...
[in short... I really like Hibb as a DM]