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I realize this thread may not be as timely as it would have been a year ago, but frankly I’m surprised that nobody else here ever started one, as it’s a very flavorful (and very meta) sort of boon. (I may start a similar thread for the 2025 boon, Planetary Explorer, if there is enough interest.)
“Game Store Owner” was the 2024 Regional Support Program Boon for Starfinder Society (1E) GMs. The tiers you could earn through GMing games started with small bonuses to social and professional skills, later progressed to increased income, and eventually granted a franchise (give a copy of the boon to another character with the first few boxes already checked).
For me, this boon inspired a brand new character who would benefit from the early skill bonuses, and embrace the gamer/Starfinder theme. Anohana is a samsaran vidgamer witchwarper who is used to living in multiple alternate realities at once: the memories from her past lives, the virtual reality of games, and the glimpses of other worlds that manifest through her magic. She is an enthusiastic member of the Advocates faction, firmly believing that playing games together is an excellent way to build stronger community ties, both within the Starfinder Society and without.
Anohana was born to lashunta parents on Castrovel, so has the blue skin and white hair and eyes common to samsarans, but with vestigial antennae. Once she acquired enough experience and wealth, she “corrected” her lack of telepathic powers through a species graft and learning witchwarper spells mimicking lashunta racial magic. Anohana’s store is Blue Shift Games, named for both her distinctive coloring and for the blue shift experienced as things come closer to the observer (as he hoped customers would to her store).
Here is my initial portrait of her, and here is a close-up showing part of her haunted prosthetic arm. (I didn't realize until after I'd drawn her that she bears a very strong resemblance to a Star Trek Andorian. That wasn't remotely intentional, but perhaps it's a hint about one of those other worlds she gets occasional glimpses into...?)
I do roughly as much GMing of SFS as I do playing, and have several other PCs, so I completed the boon this past March just as Anohana reached 4th level, having only played her once. I also loaded several other boons onto her right off the bat, because I could (and because 2E was on the horizon–use ‘em if you got ‘em!). My Tier 4 Wayfinders character earned the Alien Allies boon, which I used to give Anohana her species boon without using her Personal Boon slot. That allowed me to give her the Possessed Augmentation convention boon, which I’d had since 2019 but never found a home for. She is also the protege of that same Wayfinders PC, through their Forum Member boon. Finally, she acquired a Hireling (her full-lashunta nephew, who provides tech support for the store), bringing her to 6 boons before she ever earned her first XP.
Most recently, Anohana earned credit for Clone Batch Catastrophe, and I decided that she had been infected but cured. She shared most of the Joros’ hobbies already, so the most notable changes for her were an interest in disk-shaped weapons and singing. (If I ever make a Joro PC in 1E, they’ll be the character who gets her franchise.)
I need to find (or make) more opportunities to play her now that she’s 5th level, with a completed GM boon (but an incomplete Possessed Augmentation). I haven’t decided which adventures I’ll seek out with her, but there are still a number of 1E scenarios for levels 3-6 and up that I haven’t played yet. I may give her even more augmentations (wings? breath weapon? finitrium?) as she grows even weirder and more fantastical, but only time can tell.
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A series of ads makes its way onto the infosphere, featuring a smiling white-furred ysoki in a room filled with flashing lights and boisterous ysoki youth in equal (and overwhelming) measure.
"Hi, I'm Fitch, captain of the Master of Stars and one of the Starfinders helping keep the Pact Worlds safe for kids of all ages. And when I'm not leading the Wayfinders, I like to find my way" - her smile fades for a moment, as if she were not happy with the script - "to Slices and Dices with the grandkids." The camera pans back, showing a food counter with a grinning nonbinary human in a paper hat in front of an oven, a shelf of various analog games, and children beginning to fight over VR headsets. Fitch continues, "Whether you need a quick bite or something new for game night, Slices and Dices is where all the mices ...who wrote this?... go for fun. Check it out this solar cycle." The faction leader turns to the side and her smile changes to a scowl a half-second before the camera cuts off.
Attached are coordinates to the aforementioned shop, which is in one of the less savory parts of the Ring. The sign above the door shows a cartoonish red-and-black dragon with a pair of six-sided dice in one claw and a slice of pizza in another. Still respectable enough for the average citizen, Slices and Dices boasts a number of booths with tables large enough to support an extra-large pie or complex board game, displays with copies of all the newest offline games, and a wall of vidgames (most of which could charitably be called 'retro'). A screen on the back wall often shows sporting events, with a preference for something where two teams throw a glowing disk across a field.
Many Starfinders recognize the proprietor as a refugee from Salvation's End - specifically, a vault of clones who were rescued four years ago, not long before the Data Scourge. They introduce themself as Knitter Joro, and can often be found making stuffed toys of a white rabbit with a pink heart for a face while chatting with patrons. The sound of happy customers is only sometimes covered by the groans of a customer who has heard one too many puns.
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The Game Store Owner, I thought was a really cool idea, something I would have loved to have gotten, but I only GM about one game a year, doing play by post since there is no local SFS or PFS group here, but that changed when I went to Free RPG day this year and there was 2 tables of SFS and 2 tables of PFS being played. After playing SFS for 3 years, I finally got to play in my first live game.
It's fun to see what other people did with their store, but I haven't even heard of the Planetary Explorer boon. is there a link to where it was announced?
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It's fun to see what other people did with their store, but I haven't even heard of the Planetary Explorer boon. is there a link to where it was announced?
I'm not certain. My wife is a long-time V.O. who moved up to V.L. then V.C. within the past couple years, so I learn about these things from her. I'll ask.