Here's the introductory Starfinder scenario I used last week. I will continue with Starfinder, but not without retooling it to be less "fantasy" and more "sci fi." Not sure how best to do that yet; I want the game to have a more coherent sense of order to the mayhem...an explanation for magic that is stronger than "because Golarion, d'uh."
The Riven Star
Gambit - A Starfinder Introductory Scenario
Meet the Patron: Group is approached by
a half elven Naelythian scholar named Dremora Walker. She needs the group to
escort her and her cargo to Horizon’s Edge, near remote star port called
Blunted Spear in the Riven Star system. As an elf she is respected and appears
to be of high station, but Dremora explains her cargo is valued and may be the
target of interested parties. She knows a Drow agent of Inatras has taken an
interest in securing the cargo she carries. She asks for discretion, but
explains the cargo is valuable, but harmless. She is protected by a mercenary
Nuar named Makros. She explains she needs to make one stop along the way: after
leaving port they need to jump first to the Fallen System to Outpost Coriander,
an asteroid base managed by the Solar Order. From there, to Horizon’s Edge.
Presumably the PCs have a ship, but if not
Dremora reveals she has one: a Tier 1 Venture, and she needs crew. Either way,
she’s paying 5,000 credits apiece for their aid, and another 20,000 for the
group on arrival.
Secret: the cargo contains the ashen
remains of a solarian noble named Suffaros. He died fighting the Nether in the
Fallen System and his remains were returned to his family. He wished to have
his ashes buried on the homeworld of his elven wife (Dremora’s mother, Esienthe),
a small planet in the Riven Star System called Horizon’s Edge. The reason she needs to go to Outpost
Coriander is because that’s where the remains are….her luggage contains an
empty sepulcher waiting for his ashes.
Secret #2: The drow agent, an enforcer
named Zedratas Callumhir, learned of the solarian’s death. His mortal enemy,
the drow matriarch Usande Dralilei, would pay good coin (100,000 credits) for
the ashes, as she wishes to use them to raise the solarian and torture him for
ancient crimes he committed against her.
(In the one-shot, one of the PC's was Dremora's niece, an easy tie-in. The location of the hit that follows was based on a tea house they agreed to meet at. My version of Port Standown was a run-down version of "future San Francisco.")
Event #1: The Bounty Hunters
The group
starts in Port Standown, a run-down district of Old Gyldarion of the Vulmeadean
Empire. Assuming they take the job, they experience the first hit due to their
precious cargo: Krung Hapas and his bounty gang. Krung is a half-orc who was
put up to the job by the drow agent, who tipped them off. He wants to test (and distract) Dremora’s protectors, so he wants the bounty hunters to hit when they are with
her, to see how they react. He will time it so her Nuar guard is not present if
possible, preferably in an open market or commerce area where lots of confusion
can be created.
6 Human Bounty Hunters
CR ½ soldiers (eldritch assailants) (NE) XP
200
HP 13, EAC 10, KAC 12, Fort +2, Ref +0, Will +2, Ability DC 9; Spell DC 9
Str +3, Dex +2, Con +1, Int 0, Wis 0, Cha 0
Skills: Stealth +9, Perception +4,
Athletics +4
Special Ability: At-Will Eldritch Cantrip: Daze
Melee: survival knife (1D4+3 S; analog)
Ranged: Pulsecaster Pistol (shock; 1D4
E; 30 ft; nonlethal)
Flash Grenade I (20 ft; explode;
blinded 1D4 rnds; 5 ft)
Armor: Freebooter Armor I (+2/+3); 50
credits each
1 Half-Orc Bounty Hunter, Krung Hapas
CR 1 soldier (eldritch assailants) (NE) XP
400
HP 20, EAC 11, KAC 13, Fort +3, Ref +1, Will +3, Ability DC 10; Spell DC 9
Str +4, Dex +2, Con +1, Int 0, Wis 0, Cha 0
Skills: Stealth +5, Perception +5,
Athletics +10
Soldier Traits: Arcane Assailant (rune
of the arcane assailant; treat attacks as magical to bypass DR and affect
incorporeal)
Special Ability: Infernal Caster
(ex-hellknight acolyte); gain
1/day 1st level: Jolting
Surge (4D6), Overheat (2D8 F cone)
At will (2):
Daze, Energy Ray (1D3 energy)
Melee: survival knife (1D4+4 S; analog)
Ranged: Tactical Semi-Automatic Pistol (1D6 P; 30 ft; 9 rounds; use 1)
Armor: Freebooter Armor I (+2/+3); 250
credits
There will be at least one drow enforcer using cloaking tech (one use, DC 18 Perception to spot) to try and lift a card key from Dremora in the mayhem. He intends to go to her hotel room overlooking the bay and steal the urn....but will stop when he does so, realizing that the run is empty! He will instead then report back to his master Callumhir that she does not yet have the ashes.
(I rolled up a level 1 nuar soldier for this NPC, with the intent to offer it as a working character if someone needed a pregen. The fight above was easy enough for six PCs and I had the nuar knocked out at the start since his presence wasn't necessary. The group actually caught on that the drow had taken the key card and went to the hotel where they caught him in the act. I spiced this encounter up with the arrival of a refurbished gunship and a gang of goblins working for the drow enforcers. The scene got....weird....and a goblin took a roof dive into the deep end of a hotel pool. The drow did not escape.)
Event #2: The Escape from Port Standown
The group
finds an expedient need to get off-world when the bounty hunters attack, and
Dremora begs them to make haste. When they reach their Ship Bay, they find a
series of technicians and port officials shutting the bay down on grounds that
the ship must be impounded for dozens of flight standard violations and an
unpaid berthing cost. The port official is a Samsaran named Official Kuloth.
Suggested
ways around the problem:
1.
Group can try to bribe him (he refuses to be bribed
and threatens legal action; a Perception check might spot the tech with the
lockdown motioning that he’ll take a 500 CR bribe…later)
2.
Group can wait and try to break through the
lockdown or they can try to find a way to sneak in through the vents, and override
the berthing launch clamps which require a DC 12 Computers check.
3.
They can pull out weapons and threaten their way
through (this will work), but this leads to a chase by two Venture Class Patrol
Ships! It also puts them on the Wanted List for the Starport and and the
system.
Either way,
Zedratas Callumhir is waiting in his sleek drow attack ship to follow
them….having determined that Dremora does not yet have the body’s ashes.
Event #3: Transition through the Drift and
Arrival at Outpost Coriander
The journey
takes 5D6 days to reach the remote Fallen System. When the ship arrives, it
does so with alarms blazing and a warning that there is an ether rift nearby.
And something is pouring out of it!
The group
witnesses what appears to be Outpost Coriander, an asteroid base on the edge of
the Fallen System, under attack by nether demons of the outer rift. One demon
is drawn the interlopers ship: a shadow demon swings close and begins a chaos
invasion! The ship reports multiple reality incisions along the hull, and
abruptly a Dretch appears, possibly more than one if the challenge merits it…or
1D6 zombies from hell.
The battle
should be swifter if the Nuar is with the group but the demon needs to be put
down before the reality incision grows and lets more in. This can be done by dragging
the body of the demon and ejecting it from the airlock, or worst case slicing
off a section of hull, dealing damage to the ship but casting the infected
machinery out. The dretch will try to make it to the ship’s core
computer….infecting the AI with chaos will cripple the ship.
(If it is more convenient, have the
encounter take place on the planet instead, after the ship lands; an incursion
at the spaceport; if you don't want to convert a dretch or use the Hyperspace Fiends book, substitute accordingly).
By the time
the PCs resolve this, they will witness a squadron of multiple Star Worlds
fighters slide in and blow the Nether Rift to bits, then communicate their good
luck to Outpost Coriander and the PC’s ship before winging off….they do offer
to send a medical ship for assistance.
Outpost
Coriander is in bad shape, but the key element the PCs get to deal with is the
Solar Temple, where the Solarian Order resides. Standing on the edge of chaos,
the order has been monitoring activity in the Fallen System for decades now,
and only within the last five years have Nether Incursions gone from one every
few years to sometimes dozens a month. The head of the order, Praxios Gemarne,
a Vosk Warteacher, will speak of how he is certain that the Nether was awoken
by whatever madness the Star Empire is up to on the mainworld in the system,
Pellamorda. He will tell the PCs if they are interested in more work,
especially recon, he has a job for them when they are done aiding Dremora.
Dremora will
stay long enough for a sanctifying ritual transferring the ashes of her husband
in to a vessel, and a recount by the order of his deeds slaying the Balor
Crucifon before perishing under a horde of Nether in an effort to save the
Imperial Cruise Liner Thousand Bells from destruction. The princess Tynerae of
Szengauth, an ally world of Astrophikus, was on board the cruise liner and his
actions convinces Szengauth to join the Coalition of Free Worlds.
During their
stay at the temple, solarian guards capture a man snooping around. He admits he
was paid to enter the temple and report on the location of the sacred sepulcher
of the solarian, though he only knows it was “some drow.”
The group
will have no further excitement, and may stay for up to two days at Outpost
Coriander before they need to take leave. When they do take leave, have the
science officer make a sensors (Computers, DC 14) check to see if they spot the
stealth drow ship following. The drow ship will threaten attack….a pilot with a
good enough maneuver check can buy time while the group contacts the Outpost
for help….or they can try to make a drift jump with haste to escape. Worst
case, the drow ship will seek to disable their vessel and board. Use the Eox
Blackwind Sepulchre for the drow vessel stats. The drow do not want to blow up
the target ship, they want to take the artifact ashes intact!
If the drow
manage a boarding party, it consists of 4 drow enforcers initially, and 4 more
after 6 rounds as backup or if they call for it. The party is sufficiently
strong that this may pose difficulty for the PCs at this level of experience.
If Zedratas Callumhir is forced to intervene, then use the drow noble arms
dealer stat block. If the PCs really get luck and ambitious, the crew consists
of another 5 drow, none of whom are as proficient as drow (use CR ¼ for each;
Zedratas is the captain).
Either way,
if the PCs hold out for ten minutes two solarian ships will come to their aid.
Worst case, the solarians can knock out the drow ship, but best case the PCs
might make a computer (sensors) check, DC 15, to try and track the drift coordinates
of the escaping drow ship. They will see it’s going to the Inatras world of
Bysal, a shadow planet at the edge of the Cinder System. That can lead to a
future adventure, if they are brave enough for recovery….Dremora will not ask
them to commit to such danger, though.
But if they do, it might accidentally be in time to reach the rough
starport of Gearmans, where outsiders are welcome, and find that the drow
matron has resurrected her husband….
(Solarians do not believe in resurrection of
their fallen, especially when they fell in the service of the Light; but it can
happen, if divine providence wills it)
If the PCs somehow retain the ashes and can
resume their journey, then go to Event 4.
Event #4: Arrival at Horizon’s Edge
In 3D6 days
the group arrives at Horizon’s Edge, located in the Riven Star System. The
planet is idyllic and tranquil….PCs investigating may learn it has close ties
to the Arboreal Realm, and is riddled with natural passages between the
Material Plane and that dimension. Indeed, those in tune with nature can sense
that this planet has not been impacted by the presence of technology at
all….except of course for Blunted Spear.
Blunted
Spear is the name of a starport where gentrified elves and other races
cohabitate and engage in modest trade with the rest of the universe. It is a
Freeport, and Horizon’s Edge stands unclaimed. Inquiries as to why will reveal
that there is a powerful, ancient presence which guards the world from foreign intrusion,
though it accepted the first colony, founded by priest-dedicates of the Golden
Traveler, Ptah. Since then, the starport has grown, almost organically, with
the landscape.
Dremora will
not ask the PCs to go further, but will accept their escort if they do. She
will travel by foot for three weeks to a remote village where she finds the urn
of her mother, and places the ashes there, in a new niche beside it in the
family crypt. She explains that her mother died early, not long after
childbirth, and her father was a fierce protector but not always the best. She
settles her debts at last, and bids the old village goodbye. If the PCs went
with her, she will ask them for passage back as well.
The PCs get
1,000 XP and 1,250 XP if they also accompanied Dremora on her journey by foot.
A GM could extend that experience by adding in some good old fashioned random
encounters with a fey theme (and space goblins are always a lurking menace!)
Worlds of Chaos Space and the Coalition of
Independent Worlds
Astrophikus – Jewel of the Sky, first
to join the Coalition under the immortal rule of Halistrak, where the ancient Vulmeadean Empire rules.
Seraphione – The peaceful world, second
to join the Coalition, but known for its powerful military which trains
off-world to protect the purity of the planet itself. Nonetheless, the art of
war seems to be carefully developed into an art form, and the soldiers of
Seraphione’s main moon Tybor are all sworn solarian dedicates to the god Ares.
Hyskortius – water world ruled by the
aquatic elves of the Esentriule, third member of the Coalition of Independent
Worlds. Said to be a rough domain, ruled by several balkanized states.
The Haze – stretching throughout Chaos
Space, a domain of vast scope in which a great asteroid field blots out the
very sun in places. The Haze is where belters, drifters and pirates come to
seek their fortune and hide from the law.
Naelyth – The world of the Naelythian
Elves, located in a region they call Dominion Space, and home to the elven
starfaring empire. Their ships stand as gossamer strands even in the far
future.
Lingusia – The artificial world of
Lingusia was created with a sun and moon orbiting the flattish, disk-like
planet which is 16,000 miles in diameter and 2,000 miles thick. The primary
side of the world harbors and ancient but primitive culture which is largely
unaware of the ongoings in Etherspace. The far side contains the remnants of a
vast, ancient empire which was destroyed by the Nether of the Planar Realms and
is a favored refuge of pirates, treasure hunters and antiquarians looking for
details on the purpose of the ancient world. The artificial nature of the
construct is attributed to its creators, the local pantheon of deities who seem
to believe the world is a prison which harbors twelve ancient chaos gods called
Skaeddrath, and is designed to prevent their awakening and escape.
Planets of Etherspace and the Star Empire
of Corgastin Grace:
Corgastin Prime – home world of the
Star Empire, and center of power. Corgastin Prime is marveled as a
technological powerhouse and the source from which all technomancy arose over
the last thousand years. Ruled by Darakos Astrokan, the technomancer who has
extended his own life indefinitely through a use of arcane weavings and
technology, he is epitomized as the bearer of the “new way,” and has sought to
purge the Star Empire of all magic that is not technomancy. He seeks to destroy
all primeval or wild magic, and all solarians who are not of the Order of
Grace, the Supreme Divinity, the deified artificially intelligent god that
rests at the heart of Corgastin Prime and is the secret power behind the Star
Empire.
Wyseria – Home of the Wysentrian elves,
these elves are almost albino, and are dedicated to the weavings of
technomancy, having largely eschewed all of their ancient connection to nature
and the Weirding. They are some of the most loyal of the Star Empire, and
comprise a significant percentage of its military officers as well.
Pellamorda – a world in the realm of
the Fallen System, technologically regressed and ignored by most space faring
civilizations until five years ago when the Star Empire invaded. It is
classified as a Quarantine world by the Galactic Scout Authority, due to the
fact that it is a nonstandard planet: Pellamorda is toroidal, suggesting the
presence of cosmic/deific forces at work, or an ancient artifact. The system
shows evidence on numerous dead worlds with strong evidence they were assaulted
by the demons of the Nether. Currently Pellamorda contains a number of cultures
and civilizations fighting against the Star Empire, while the leading kingdom,
the Empire of Daralle, stands in thrall. The ancient holy artifact of the Star
Crystal has been removed to Corgastin Prime, where Astrokan studies it to
unlock its mysteries. Unknown as yet, new Abyssal Galleys of the Nether have
manifested, as the Star Crystal was the device which held back the Nether in
the Fallen System, and now that it is gone the demons are once again able to
force their way into reality.
Drytanis – The core world of the
lashunta race, Drytanis is third of the Star Empire worlds, even if they don’t
always trust Astrokan. Their world is known as a harsh and deadly environment
to most beings not gifted with psychic talent, and the lashunta themselves
dwell in carefully cultivated arcologies and orbital cities these days.
Horav Dain – The lead world of the Vesk
and fourth in the Star Empire, Horav Dain was an ancient vesk colony world
which grew in prominence and threatened all neighbors in its region known as
the Burning System. They conquered two dozen worlds until they encounted the
techomancers of Corgastin Prime, and were conquered. They now swear unending
loyalty to Corgastin Grace, worship the AI god, and comprise the bulk of the
Star Empire grunts in the military.
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