”I know your hiring packet said you get paid time off, but guess what? They lied! They lie about everything, or so says my daughter. I've seen enough that I reckon it's true. I tell ya, I'd like the pressure and hassles of the job more if I was my own boss, wouldn't you?”
I’m looking for a total of five players ready to ditch the drudgery of working for the company (after suffering just a little longer!) and become independent operators.
Build and Submissions
Characters will be built using standard Starfinder rules as normal. Not every language or skill point or credit needs to be spent at the time of submission, if selected you will want to coordinate some tweaks with your fellow crew members. You don’t need to create a full profile for the submission. The main point is for me to the get a feel for the character and how they might fit in as part of the crew.
Each character should select a different Background from the “Working for a Living” chapter. Although they provide no direct mechanical benefit, the background options have a number of intangible effects. This file serves as a “player’s guide” for the AP, so it’s worth reading through.
In addition to the crunch, I want some fluff. Please include a sample post responding to the following prompt:
Your ship’s scanners confirm it, that’s the Wintermourn, and they’re on a direct course for your cargo! The comms console beeps with an incoming hail. Answering it, Captain Niva Rovo’s face appears on screen. Her whiskers twitch as she grins. ”Looks like we got a little race on our hands, huh? Try not to splat all over an asteroid!” She laughs as the screen cuts out and Wintermourn’s thrusters fire.
Submissions will be accepted until Saturday the 14th, at midnight eastern time, with an extension possible depending on overall interest.
Post Rate
There is a ample room for lots of RP with NPCs, and a ton of NPCs to interact with, so I’m planning on shooting for as frequent as possible post rate for myself as GM. That said, my work and family life tend to take a large chunk of my time, especially four days out of the week, so during combat and action scenes where more effort is required than checking the forums from my phone while on break, things will slow down a little. The bottom line is that I’ll be as responsive as possible during RP moments, but you might need to be a little patient when it comes to resolving things on a map. Speaking of maps…
Mapping
WIll be done using Roll20. I already have the assets loaded (though a few need to be replaced and tweaked).
Other Useful Rules
In addition to the standard rules and materials for Starfinder, the rules for interstellar trade may come up. Finding some trade of your own once you break from EJ Corp is within the scope of things and can be helpful, but that is generally accounted for in the narrative itself already. Downtime rules are also occasionally useful, and the AP includes a few special downtime activities related to specific modules.
Disclosures
There are a couple of challenges in regards to this AP I want to make clear to any prospective players.
The first is that the main plot is kind of railroad-y. There is lots of room for the characters to make important choices (and how characters interact with NPCs will be noted and influence future events), but the AP assumes perhaps more than others that the characters will go along with the major story beats, even when it may not be what the characters would at all want to do. If you want to play, you will need to be willing to buy into those moments somehow.
The other is a warning that things will be absolutely awful for the characters to begin with! This is quite intentional, but worth a warning. It is honestly intended to make both player and character desperate to go independent.
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I have wanted to play this AP forever!!! I'll get cooking on a character right away, ready for payday! >:)
I've never really played Starfinder, may I throw my commlink in to participate?
And will Skittermanders be okay? Always loved those little guys
I am curious here. Any details on ancestries and classes allowed or banned? Or is it all okay?
Colour me interested!
Leaning towards an Ysoki Corporate Agent Operative(Databroker) with the {Free Trader} archetype :-)
Fellow smoll!
I'm planning on taking Skittermanders Mechanic Robiticist (If a Skitter is allowed)
Though I'm still new to SF. I will need help finetuning
I am curious here. Any details on ancestries and classes allowed or banned? Or is it all okay?
As long as it's Paizo, it's okay. I prefer to avoid third party stuff when using official modules/APs, but never restrict official material.
Skittetmanders are alright in my book, as are folks without much experience in SF.
I would advise folks without a lot of experience in the system to review the starship combat and chase rules, especially in regards to useful skills and abilities. This AP has some of the more interesting and dynamic space stuff later in the AP compared to other APs I have experience running or playing.
Throwing my hat into the ring.
I am considering a kasathan mystic or a strix technomancer. Though may consider a big gun soldier.
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Presenting Nik-a-Nik, an Ysoki Corporate Agent Operative(Databroker) with the {Free Trader} archetype, as promised!
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Fluff Response
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Nik-a-Nik snorted, revealing some oversized, and wickedly sharp incisors.
"Please. Our ship may be old, but it is well-loved. If you treat your ship like a lady, she will return the favor. Someone like you could never understand that - focusing solely on the bottom line, and pushing your ship to the limit, without regard for your ship - or crew's - safety."
He then grins.
"Rather than us crashing, If I were you, I would be more worried about a faulty airlock on your ship causing a spontaneous decompression, or the steam furnace you call an engine exploding!"
After the live feed cuts out, Nik-a-Nik turns to the others.
"Quick! We need to beat her to our cargo - I want to be able to eat *real* food this month, not just R2E ration packs!"
Interesting. Could be a fun AP for the Android Exocortex mechanic I've had in the back of my head for a while.
Oh, a Starfinder game! Hmmm... is it time for me to build an ilthisarian?
If I am chosen, I will probably need help finetuning my character
Please and thank you
May I present Hafipaer “Half-right” Winterdark, Half-elf Mystic Spacefarer. Serving as the rare Magic Officer on a Company hauler in order to explore the stars and to get out from under the thumb of the Veskarium.
***Sample Post***
The ship’s screen revert back to the exterior view and Hafipaer draws in a breath and closes his eyes. His ears twitch slightly and his mind slides forward for a brief glimpse of what might be. Both ships hurtle forward into the path of two crashing asteroids. The Wintermourn, the larger ship, will force the helm to risk crashing or to give up. Hafipaer looks around quickly, hoping to find another path. As the vision begins to fade, he finally sees it.
Helm, turn to port and cross over her. We can’t beat her size but we can take a better path. You’ll see it soon, but trust me. Once the path opens give it everything we got, and we’ll load while we wait for her to catch up.
The helmsman simply nods with a smile and enters the coordinates. The Wintermourn sprints for the gap between the asteroids but soon realizes they must weave a bit more to avoid other debris. Hafipaer breathes out deeply and a peaceful rumble, almost a purr, is heard in his chest.
Thank you blessed Nawanah. he whispers in prayer to the spirit of his adoptive mother’s mother.
Hafipaer was adopted by a pahtra engineer aboard a vesk warship when the vesk killed his diplomat parents. He was raised among the pahtra and exhibits many social traits from them, along with a few mannerisms like purring.
As a young man, Halipaer was enlisted into the Veskarium forces, working as a gunner and pilot and hiding his magical gifts from them. After two years he was expelled as unacceptable to serve the Vesk and was hired by The Company for a terraforming project on Entha. This was where we met Shan and earned the nickname “half-right” because of his tendency to jump to conclusions without getting all the information, he was always “half-right” in those conclusions.
He mainly will function as a healer, but will be able to hold and use small arms at least minimally. In ship combat, he will mostly be a magic officer role but can work as an ok gunner when not doing the magic thing.
Odd you don't have Pahtra on the list of languages. I'll look over this AP and come up with a character eventually. Union Busted seems fun.
Odd you don't have Pahtra on the list of languages. I'll look over this AP and come up with a character eventually. Union Busted seems fun.
Honestly, I couldn't find it listed as a language they speak. SF does seem light on little details like that in my limited experience. If it is in fact a valid option, I can change goblin or even elven to it, with GMs permission on that last one. I took Vesk since that is the one that is most likely to be spoken on the home world.
I remember seeing it somewhere when I drafted up my sniper Pahtra, but I can't seem to find it again. I'll probably draft up an Ysoki pilot within a few days, there's still some real life things I desperately need to finish and have been putting off.
I decided to rebuild my dragonkin technomancer for this, hopefully I'll have him done tomorrow or Friday.
I am still PC-less. Only builder I can use is pathbuilder
I remember seeing it somewhere when I drafted up my sniper Pahtra, but I can't seem to find it again.
It's likely in some stat block in some AP or adventure. I know in PF there are a ton of languages that most people never see as they only ever show up in the stat blocks of monsters, in some cases only appearing once in an AP somewhere. I might dig through some and see what I can find.
I am still PC-less. Only builder I can use is pathbuilder
It isn't ideal, but I tend to use one of the virtual platforms to create non-PF characters. It takes a bit more work but the math is there a lot more, at least that is with Roll20. It might be better than nothing. Feel free to reach out if you have any questions. I may not be the best but I will try to offer what help I can.
I appreciate it. We're in the middle of a move hence no access to my PC. So I'm working off my phone. :P
This is what I have from Starbuilder
I took Four Handed Hacker
I thought it's thematic for the little furball
Darn. Missed my edit window.
So his drone is an artillery frame. With a heavy weapon
If anybody asks if the drone pilot is compensating for something. The group can honestly say "yes" then they can introduce the 3ft furball
Here's a link Robyte
I am SO happy this PDF is editable!
Presenting Kal!
All right, here's Xevras! He's a big, intimidating-looking dragonkin who's actually a bit of a clumsy nerd when you get to know him, though he's strong enough and has enough training that he can be almost as dangerous as he looks if he needs to be.
In terms of what he can do, he's actually a melee build in combat, so he's a bit of a glass cannon to start with. I plan to have him take a level of soldier at 2nd or 3rd level to give him some better proficiencies to work with--heavy armor will help his survivability some. Outside of combat, he's good on Intelligence skills (Computers, Culture, and the Sciences) and actually has a surprisingly good Athletics, with decent Mysticism. In starship combat he'd go first for Science, then Chief Mate or Magic Officer.
I'll write up an example post for him tomorrow, but everything else needed should be in this profile. He's actually a rebuild of an idea I played partway through Dead Suns years ago, so I even have a few art pieces of him I've commissioned.
Let me know if there's any issues or questions!
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Oh hey, I think I've played with Xevras in a previous Starfinder game that didn't last! Cool!
I've got the broad strokes of a concept, but I'm struggling on the details: She'd a human Sensate with the Kalistocrat Childhood background, rebelling hard against Kalistocrat strictures by dressing in black, wearing fingerless gloves and partying hard, now in need of a stable paycheck after their money's run out, but what class to play? Evolutionist? Witchwarper? Technomancer? Mystic?
Yeah, I was jokingly referring to this build as "Xevras Mark 3" because I'd made that build for that other campaign here on the boards that hardly got anywhere too. :D
Hmmm... I'd point out that I don't think we have a Charisma-based character yet, and it would be good to have a character who can negotiate well for this campaign. So maybe go Witchwarper if you don't have a strong preference out of those classes?
Woe, vulkarisu squox be upon ye. This is Violant's submission.
Here's my response to the fluff:
"Ha! You hear that, Whiskers over here thinks we'll be the one to splat on an asteroid! HA!" Ace chitter-laughs, perhaps a bit overconfidently.
With a sudden jerky movement, he engages the thruster of the old smaller ship that he's piloting, and declares. "News flash, big ol' whiskers! Smaller ships in capable hands aren't going to go 'splat' on an asteroid! That'll be YOU!"
He then surreptitiously closes comms, even though they've already been closed at this point by the other party. Nice job getting carried away again!
Ace is a Vulkarisu/Squox (I imagine him being on the smaller size to where that moniker fits), Pilot in terms of ship roles, Sharpshoot Soldier with the Racer archetype in terms of class... hence the smug overconfidence here. In terms of background? Probably former smuggler. Both foxes and squirrels are known to steal things, and change shape might include the melding of gear which he can put to good use with Vulpine Shape.
Your ship’s scanners confirm it, that’s the Wintermourn, and they’re on a direct course for your cargo! The comms console beeps with an incoming hail. Answering it, Captain Niva Rovo’s face appears on screen. Her whiskers twitch as she grins. ”Looks like we got a little race on our hands, huh? Try not to splat all over an asteroid!” She laughs as the screen cuts out and Wintermourn’s thrusters fire.
Xevras, sprawled in front of his jury-rigged console in the cargo bay, grins at the challenge as he listens to the transmission. As soon as it ends he flicks his comm over to the all crew channel.
"I've got an idea! I was looking over the blueprints and I think I can disable a couple of safeties--safely--and give us a temporary boost! Just give me a sec!"
Flicking over to the engineering tab on his data pad, the big dragonkin types out a couple quick commands then stands up and starts sprinting towards the engine room. He trips over a stray crate on the way there, just managing to catch himself before he crashes to the deck. Xevras takes it just a bit slower, reaching the door to the engine room and dropping almost to all fours to slip through it.
He makes his way over to an access panel on the wall near the engines, arching his neck back so he doesn't smash his snout into it as he opens it up. "Hang on!" he says over the comm as he twists a valve.
Your ship’s scanners confirm it, that’s the Wintermourn, and they’re on a direct course for your cargo! The comms console beeps with an incoming hail. Answering it, Captain Niva Rovo’s face appears on screen. Her whiskers twitch as she grins. ”Looks like we got a little race on our hands, huh? Try not to splat all over an asteroid!” She laughs as the screen cuts out and Wintermourn’s thrusters fire.
Robyte stares at the screen for a second, then rubs all 3 pairs of his little claws together, spinning his seat back to the console. As multiple interfaces light up, he cracks his knuckles and stretches out his arms to the keyboards
"Happy to help captain, a race is always more fun with an opponent. Let's show them a good time, no need to make it boring" the small Skitter begins to run his claws over the keyboards as lines of code pour down the screens
"All systems ready, waiting for engineering to confirm, but no glitches that I can see, all ahead full!"
Your ship’s scanners confirm it, that’s the Wintermourn, and they’re on a direct course for your cargo! The comms console beeps with an incoming hail. Answering it, Captain Niva Rovo’s face appears on screen. Her whiskers twitch as she grins. ”Looks like we got a little race on our hands, huh? Try not to splat all over an asteroid!” She laughs as the screen cuts out and Wintermourn’s thrusters fire.
In times like these, he always wondered what his grandmother would do …
His sister took him seriously; well, his parents spent money like they were serious, they leveraged evidence like they were serious, but he knew his lineage was nothing more than a curio to them, nothing more than a trinket. Eline was different; she looked over the data, used her own money for a specialized scan, forged an inquiry to the New Kyonin Council, and concluded he was the weirdest possible byproduct of the Gap, but also concluded that she believed Telandia Edasseril was his grandmother. She kicked ass. She would make quite the exec one day.
But in these moments, across the years, he really did wonder what his grandmother might do. Take the bait? No, that was something The Houses would do. That was something that would happen on Castrovel. His grandmother was more diplomatic and also more calculated. She would simply ensure victory. Every way she could, and her means were beyond considerable, not the least of which was the artifact that she apparently transmogrified to create his inheritance.
”Captain: all crew life signs currently nominal for their species; we are good for full acceleration and all crewpersons should remain functional even if our acceleration exceeds capacity for inertial damper’s to compensate. I reconfigured my screens here in the Med Lab, and I am standing by to scry on our quarry. Kal out.”
”I know exactly what she would do: she would win."
Despite the strange, rule-bound lifestyle, Vee and El (as she called her sister when their parents weren't around to chide against the use of nicknames) received some of the best education in the Pact Worlds, granted by their parents' wealth and privilege. The arts, the sciences, magic, none of it was out of Vee's reach, but as she grew, she began to see the ways others in the galaxy lived, and to wonder how they could be so happy and fulfilled even if they were not granted the kind of wealth that could be obtained through adherence to the Prophecies. She also began to look at her life in comparison and began feeling like it was hollow and joyless, even if she wanted for nothing. Her parents had prepared an executive position for her in EJ Corp, which they were major shareholders in, and on the eve of her birthday, she finally asked her parents what this was all for, why the Prophets grasped after wealth, power and immortality when it seemed so empty and sterile. The conversation swiftly turned into a three-way argument between her, Eline and their parents, culminating in her declaring she'd had enough of living life afraid of breaking rules and afraid of the death those rules supposedly protected her from. She stormed out, withdrew what money she could from her accounts before her parents froze them, and then went on a shopping spree for new clothes that weren't white, followed by ordering a pizza and eating it all herself.
For the next few years, Vee slummed it on Absalom Station, renting a cheap apartment and spending the rest of her money living like a grungy queen down in the Spike. She blossomed from the slip of a girl she'd been into a full-figured woman and after a night of doing transdimensional pesh with an Arcanimirium student, unlocked her psychic potential, years of magical theory suddenly clicking for her. But eventually she did have to confront the lesson that good things can't last forever, and she now needed to seek employment. Her lack of a resume obviously hampered her, and she was struggling to find something her diverse but shallow skillset would excel in. That was when she noticed an ad for EJ Corp, the company she'd been groomed to work for. Idly amused, she applied on a whim and was surprised when she was actually hired. She became even MORE surprised when she discovered her estranged sister, Eline, was one of the top executives there now, and yet somehow none of the HR people she met with noticed her last name. Vee decided this was for the best, and became friends with a brenerri coworker named Tarika, who set her up with a freighter crew.
Your ship’s scanners confirm it, that’s the Wintermourn, and they’re on a direct course for your cargo! The comms console beeps with an incoming hail. Answering it, Captain Niva Rovo’s face appears on screen. Her whiskers twitch as she grins. ”Looks like we got a little race on our hands, huh? Try not to splat all over an asteroid!” She laughs as the screen cuts out and Wintermourn’s thrusters fire.
Vee smiles and chuckles a bit herself.
"Mixing business with pleasure, Captain Rovo? Very well: may the best crew win."
When the conversation ends she turns to the crew.
"And by 'best crew' I mean US. Let's get this hunk of junk in gear and show the Wintermourn they can't push us around!"
She sits down in one of the chairs and buckles up, grunting as she makes sure the belt clicks in place.Maybe with the profits from this cargo we can get some more comfortable seats. I'm getting squeezed in this thing, she thinks to herself. Her forehead pulses and throbs a bit as she focuses her mental energies. A small bit of discomfort now was a small price to pay for what victory in this race would bring them. Not wealth, not like she'd known before. That had been gained through soulless networking, exploitative capitalism and cultish nonsense. This was honest money. And they'd use it for honest things.
She looks out the viewport and narrows her eyes, the smirk still on her face to show confidence to the rest of the crew.
"I don't even need to ask if you're ready: you guys always are."
Following up to report the majority of Vee's actual stats are in place now. I just have to shop for her equipment and she's finished!
I hate that the next few days are going to be me going back and forth on possible groups, and before announcing the line-up, second-guessing the crew I end up selecting. It's always my least favorite thing, and it's harder when all the submissions are solid!
That said, I'm still leaving the window open for another 15ish hours if there were any lurkers who wanted to put anything up for consideration! I said a 48 hour extension, and I'm sticking to it though it might make things tougher for me.
Following up to report the majority of Vee's actual stats are in place now. I just have to shop for her equipment and she's finished!
So with that said, not to make things more difficult but hopefully more fun, is there anything YOU would like to see? Far off hopes for the campaign, nifty things that could be cool? "Gosh I've always wanted to see an evolutionist in play ever since they were released ..." something lie that?
I ask because it's totally a thing, and I wondered. Kal is a character who I already love, but much of him would come forward even as an evolutionist. Or a Vanguard. Or maybe you want the true merchant (would be very eay to switch Kal's Prole focus from lab work to Merchant.
Anyway, just thought that I would ask.
Only thing i can answer in regards to that
Since their release im totally love Skitters, so im mixing a bit between Stitch/Tali with it