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I kind of have AI generation allergy nowadays :'D (though I also think AI tends to generate stuff that is weirdly generic in hard to place way)
I think main problem with it is that I don't think I could use it because I wouldn't be able to feel confident about whether its "my writing".
I think the feeling of a "generic" quality to the output of an AI system comes from the fact that machine learning (the techniques behind most AI nowadays) relies heavily on probability and statistics. The AI model tries to predict what is the most likely option and is less likely to produce outliers even though they may sometimes be more interesting.
And yeah, whether it's ethical to use the output as-is really depends on what you're using it for and what data the AI model was trained with. Some RPG publishers, for example, have decided they don't want AI-generated art in their products because there are potential ethical and legal problems with that.
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I just happen to need info on Abysshead, My character is currently backstage at the Ruby Theater. Not far from where Lynthia is Judging a battle of the bands contest. What public information would be available on the infosphere I could find on my com unit about Lynthia poisoning a former lover, or Abysshead trying to summon a demon live on stage?
We're currently playing through SFS 5-08: Tarnished Legacy Star Sugar Superstar. The whole band doesn't appear in the adventure, just Lynthia. What books or adventures have you written about Abysshead appear in?
As far as I know, no band members have appeared in person in any other scenarios than #5-08 (but I haven't read all SFS scenarios out there, so I may be wrong). In any case, I came up with the idea of an Apostae-based "drow metal" band called Abysshead for my first SFS scenario #1-06. Since then, I've dropped bits of information in several of my SFS scenarios, and I think there are mentions of the band in other authors' scenarios, too. Minor spoilers:
So, Lynthia (and the rumors about poisoning a lover and summoning demons on stage) were introduced in #5-08, so I have no deeper insight into that. My guess would be that on the infosphere, you'd just get a lot more rumors about the band and these incidents that (allegedly ;-) ) happened, some of which are true and a lot of things that are partially or totally false. The members, for the most part, don't really mind the rumors (true or not) since more often than not, they only make the band more popular.
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How many times did you watch Galaxy Quest while making the astrazoan?
I can't be the only one that thinks of Galaxy Quest when I see the race, right?
For clothing theres reconfigurable clothing, no reason there couldn't be an armor upgrade that reconfigures the armor to mimic different designs.
For clothing I'd either remove the 5 sets of clothing limit or the astrazoan can just have one of them be tear-away clothes? Then you have a second set of reconfigurable clothes underneath.
If an astrazoan compresses himself can he pilot an infiltration suit designed to look like a astrazoan and then use disguises and the mask making item to make him look human? We got some scooby do hijinx potential.
I haven't seen the film, but I read a synopsis of it and it sounded interesting. I couldn't foresee the comedy potential of the astrazoan when I was designing it; the main intent was rather to make it seem very weird and alien.
Thinking about potential comedic uses for astrazoans, it just occurred to me that an astrazoan NPC with e.g. reconfigurable clothing might be able to be able to fool a group of PCs into thinking that an empty house or even a village is inhabited. Whenever the PCs go to a different room in the house or building in the village, the astrazoan changes shape and quickly sneaks into that location, pretending to be a salesperson, bartender, mayor, or whoever the PCs need to talk to during their stay.
Regarding armor that allows shape shifting, here is actually one published option - Shiftskin light armor lets you customize it to fit two forms you switch back and forth between. Only available in level 9, 14, and 20 varieties.
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Was actually kind of wondering about shape-shifting-friendly clothing options. I had an idea for an astrazoan stand-up comedian who incorporates their shape-shifting abilities into their routine, doing impressions of people and literally turning into them when they do it a la Robin Williams' Genie, but wondered if clothes might be a potential hiccup there, considering the illustrations in Interstellar Species aren't wearing pants!
For clothing, the game at least has the option of reconfigurable clothing - up to 5 outfits in one. And since using change form is a standard action, and reconfiguring your outfit is a move action, to the extent that it matters they can be done simultaneously.
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A scyphozoan prophet (increased from the CR 8 entry in Interstellar Species, up to a CR 10) is about to let my PCs in on a very ancient secret about their home world's ancestral pre-Gap lore, regarding a powerful hero from another reality, and their biotech-mech which they used to defend innocent worlds of the galaxy, far before the advent of modern Drift travel. While the ancient bio-mech is not likely still located on Primoria, clues to its eventual whereabouts are destined to be discovered there.Glad to hear you're getting a kick out of scyphozoans and Primoria! The biotech mech is a great idea. Curious to hear more about it, like what it looks like and what weapons and abilities it has. :)
Aside from it being a Tier 20 mech at super-Colossal (kaiju-equivalent) size, with all of its components being organically generated from the planet's resources, I haven't yet really detailed its abilities. But I was thinking of theming it on the [quadrupedal] frog, the [radial] octopus, and a bipedal humanoid - and giving it a frame that could shift between forms to achieve different tactics. It would have the ability to leap incredible distances with powered springing legs, and its frog digits would likely be pads/suction, or something themed off that unique shape. Because it is designed to fight off outsiders from alternate realities (nightmare universes filled with gruesome biomechanical horrors), its weapons and defenses are going to be oriented toward that goal. I figured it would have incredible fast healing/regeneration, and probably a robust defense system against radiation and necromantic energies.
I will say that it looks like the shirren innovators in the post-Drift-Crisis setting looking to head off the Swarm have created something similar in the new Ports of Call. The picture of a biotech mech in that book is heading in that direction. I am completely unsure of why the world of Primoria is not included on the galaxy map, and a little disappointed.
Let me know when this issue is rectified or explained with some manner of rationality. My explanation is going to be that the planet is able to magically shift its location around in a small area of space in defense of the epic biotech-mech-generation capability there.
Ancient Primorian deities:
Spoiler:Dangerous cult:
Spoiler:
I love all of these ideas, although I did have the prophet of Primoria speaking directly from the planet's subtle intelligence - a sort of world-deity that was able to act through the natural world and its wildlife, in a very Avatar/Pandora-like manner. It would act as sort of a mother/creator deity, and might even be the progenitor of the other deities you mention. If the Tide-Bringer really is that dangerous, it sounds like maybe just an aspect of a Great Old One or Outer God in disguise as a native deity.
Thanks for giving us so much goodness with which to make new stories!
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Mikko, I would really like to expand the small pantheon you began here, in order to provide some additional world background and setting flavor. Just running on what details you have working here, and expand outward. Especially given the recent announcements about Starfinder's future, I think this is the best time to attempt these additions - when the campaign setting is on the brink of epic changes, and before anything gets explicitly canonized or dethroned from canon.
I noticed that there is only one goddess, and five gods - which seems stereotypically skewed - so I was thinking of changing it up and making the pantheon composed of one of each of the major genders present on the planet.
It also felt like they could each use a little bit of an evolution bringing them up from the ancient past into the modern era, so each of them also has inherited a bit of divine power from another, less influential aspect - maybe even a lost/deceased deity.
The Tide-Bringer (CN, male) - inherits the power from shadow and darkness
The Fungal Queen (CG, female) - inherits the power from aristocracy and nobility
The Hunter (N, active feminine) - inherits the power of war and battle between sapient races
The Drifter (LG, agender) - inherits the power of alchemy, occult, and the overlapping planes
The Shaper (LN, hermaphrodite) - inherits the power of duality, multifold realities, and non-locality
The Weaver (NG, passive masculine) - inherits the power of destiny, fate, and prophecy
The world intelligence of Primoria is the origin of these deific children, and even though it has long laid dormant and silent, this divinity can be communed with, and can spiritually reach out to native beings born on its surface. This is the preface of the events which unfold in my campaign, Project Flux. The Speaker of Primoria, a scyphozoan mystic (leveled up from the NPC in Interstellar Species, from CR 8 to CR 10) will reach out to the party members of the adventure because of the strands of destiny converging from multiple parallel realities.
The epic mech (as mentioned previously) once journeyed to this current reality from another reality (one which was being subjugated by the Kayalki Empire and the Lords of Darkness), and was destroyed in a climatic battle in the ancient past. And now, the world of Primoria is the only world which has the resources, cycles, and metaphysical processes necessary to recreate the mech - and the soon-to-be-reborn Legendary Hero is currently growing in its egg down at the bottom of the ocean floor. When the story progresses to a certain point, our hero ally regains their piloting potential, and a series of epic challenges stand between them and the rebirth of the great legendary protector. I'm modeling it on frog-like amphibian traits, with some aspects of other invertebrate creatures to help flavor its biomechanical nature.
If you have any thoughts or feedback, consider it an open sandbox. And the sand is made from polychromal quasi-crystals fluctuating across the spectrum of possibility.
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Mikko, I would really like to expand the small pantheon you began here, in order to provide some additional world background and setting flavor. Just running on what details you have working here, and expand outward. Especially given the recent announcements about Starfinder's future, I think this is the best time to attempt these additions - when the campaign setting is on the brink of epic changes, and before anything gets explicitly canonized or dethroned from canon.
I noticed that there is only one goddess, and five gods - which seems stereotypically skewed - so I was thinking of changing it up and making the pantheon composed of one of each of the major genders present on the planet.
** spoiler omitted **...
Variety is good, and I like the idea that many of the deities have non-binary genders. Also, because invertebrates, plants, and fungi have a much wider range of reproductive strategies than vertebrates do, it makes sense that the deities mirror that aspect of their worshipers. :-)
To be fair, in the original write-ups, all six deities (including the fungal queen) were referred to as "gods" and "it" rather than as gods/goddesses & he/she. I think in my mind there would have been a 50/50 split between male and female deities, but I like your suggested genders a lot more.
And yeah, I'm sure the deities had names, and it's possible ancient scyphozoans and mycelars used slightly different names when talking about the same deities, matching the sounds of their respective languages.
And maybe in the planet's distant past, the deities created bio-mechanical behemoths which they used as their avatars / divine heralds... and maybe some of these creations were in fact mechs that they let their champions use whenever a sufficiently big threat emerged. <o.O>
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Variety is good, and I like the idea that many of the deities have non-binary genders. Also, because invertebrates, plants, and fungi have a much wider range of reproductive strategies than vertebrates do, it makes sense that the deities mirror that aspect of their worshipers. :-)
To be fair, in the original write-ups, all six deities (including the fungal queen) were referred to as "gods" and "it" rather than as gods/goddesses & he/she. I think in my mind there would have been a 50/50 split between male and female deities, but I like your suggested genders a lot more.
I would love to try and make some specific attachments to reproductive strategies of these types to each of the deities. Perhaps the agender deity is known for splitting and regenerating severed halves - to be honest, I am not the most educated on the biology here, so I would much welcome the insights - and I felt like the true hermaphrodite deity would be able to lend their creative force to any other gender/deity, but could not self-procreate, simply to increase the likelihood of interactions and increased diversity.
And yeah, I'm sure the deities had names, and it's possible ancient scyphozoans and mycelars used slightly different names when talking about the same deities, matching the sounds of their respective languages.
If you have suggestions for how these sounds work, I do love linguistics. I just have no basis for precedent here.
And maybe in the planet's distant past, the deities created bio-mechanical behemoths which they used as their avatars / divine heralds... and maybe some of these creations were in fact mechs that they let their champions use whenever a sufficiently big threat emerged. <o.O>
It's most likely that the legendary hero's mech (they came from another reality, and their old story ended here on Primoria) is the basis for the blueprints of the avatars, and the protector sentinels of the lesser champions of the ancient past.
While the original mech and its pilot were lost to history, the planet itself was still able to produce many more of a much smaller, less powerful variety of creations, and these would be much more accessible for PCs and other player-centric motivators. I'm going to make the rebirth, growth, re-creation of mech, acquisition of proper co-pilot, re-training of mech, and the hero's personal love story the focus of the Project Flux campaign arc across the higher levels (12-20). Much of this will focus on Primoria as a prime, uncorrupted, natural-state home world, with extremely unique properties (possibly even into multiple realities, multiple locations in space-time, etc.) and draw our heroic PCs into a sort of planetary romance epic.
I have a few really cinematic scenes in my head of our legendary reborn hero meditating peacefully in serene watery regions, communing with the world and its ancient mysteries, and trying to piece together the new reality in which 'he' finds 'himself.' The reconstruction of the mech (the Sentinel) is a major process, taking at least 1-2 levels of PC advancement, and includes drawing forth the hero's lost unborn lover from unreality into a new body, so that the hero's co-pilot abilities function. A music playlist I have working on Spotify is also helping to guide these story elements. To be honest, it is truly epic, and probably one of my best works.
I thanked James L Sutter for it on Twitter, since much of my campaign hinges on setting details covered in his work, First World, Realm of the Fey, and many of the Pathfinder campaign setting elements that found their way into Starfinder mythos. I must similarly thank you for your world's inspiration, as it has been invaluable as an asset and inspiration.
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As I was thinking more about it, I realized that the last-minute addition of these six deities inheriting some additional forms or origin of power from elsewhere seems like it's out of left field without a little more explanation.
I was thinking about The Hunter when I was taking notes, and thinking that it would make a good stand-in for a god of war in an earlier era, when scyphozoans and mycelars were still at war with one another - and which, in my own imagination, seemed like the most reasonable boundary between a new modern world of integrated societies heading toward technological advancement, contrasted to an older era of more superstition, battle between the species, and perhaps other less-prominent aspects of the societies as they head toward settling out of the feuding turmoil. It was just my way of acknowledging that cultural element, and the feeling it gave me of the war era and the post-war era of Primoria. I also felt like it mirrored the mysterious nature of the Pathfinder 1e elemental lords mythos, where four of them are still around and known about, and the other 'lost' four are very difficult to investigate or find - allowing for another plot hook branch.
Also somewhat ironically, hunter-gatherer cultures on Earth typically advance into societies which value warriors (which in turn become soldiers), and this change in nature seems to reverse that, where a soldier of war must use their skills to do more primitive and survivalist acts, perhaps as a sign of civility or social/spiritual advancement. I think it's an interesting duality and reversal that could work to make some fun flavor. So that part might seem last-minute... because it was. But if it helps to round out this pantheon and supports the story, I figure it's worth sharing.
I am in the beginning stage of putting together the adventure content as a published piece, and I will most likely release it for free on my Patreon while I compose the bits and pieces, releasing them as chunks of material - and then I will try and put together something more polished and publication-worthy, hopefully as a Starfinder Infinite product. That part is still up in the air for me. I'll keep you posted.