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Starfinder Society #2–02: Waking the Past

Started by Ratman_tf, August 26, 2019, 10:45:53 AM

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Ratman_tf

I played this scenario this past Saturday, and wanted to share my thoughts.

I've been playing Society for about a year now. I have a 5th level Soldier, and have found Society adventures to be pretty railroady and bland. It's not like playing a home game, where you can toss the scenario and go too far off the beaten path. There are certain expectations about Society play, and I accept that. But they also haven't been very challenging. The combination makes for a lot of gaming where I show up. toss some dice, get my XP and loot and go home.

But not for Waking the Past.

Spoilers for those who may be interested in playing someday.

Spoiler
So the scenario is that the Starfinders send the party to explore some alien ruins that the Abadarcorp have uncovered at a mining site. The party enters the mine and makes their way to the ruins far underneath the surface of the planet. The elevator lift is damaged during an encounter with some tunneling creepy crawlies, and the party's only way out is forward. Any adventurer worth their salt knows how this is going to go...

On entering the ruins, a Nanotech Golem security system activates. The Golem is far out of the party's level range, but is slowed by the presense of cryo-gasses permeating the room. (All armor in Starfinder has environmental protection, so this isn't a direct threat to the party)
The adventure becomes a race, with the party attempting to explore the rest of the ruins, and deal with the encounters while gathering information left by the miners and researchers, while the slowed Nanogolem slowly revives from it's cryonic induced slumber.

This adventure was a blast, and reminded me greatly of the board game Space Hulk, where every square of movement, and every action taken, could be a critical decision. We had one character make it past the Nanogolem only because he re-rolled a failed Acrobatics check into a natural 20 to escape from the Nanogolem's reach. And at the end, when the exit from the ruins was in sight, my character drew the Nanogolem away from blocking the exit so another character could get past and run out. My character being a higher level, could soak a few (3 maybe 4) attacks more than the lower leveled characters.

So, a surprisingly challenging and exciting scenario from the Society. I hope this is a sign that the Society has gotten their bearings around Starfinder and Season 2 is where they apply their experiences to make more engaging scenarios.

I am totally stealing the idea of a powerful opponent that is hindered in some way to create a "ticking clock" scenario.
The notion of an exclusionary and hostile RPG community is a fever dream of zealots who view all social dynamics through a narrow keyhole of structural oppression.
-Haffrung

Shasarak

That sounds cool.  You have to use your wits to survive rather then just rolling for initiative.

I will have to check out that adventure.
Who da Drow?  U da drow! - hedgehobbit

There will be poor always,
pathetically struggling,
look at the good things you've got! -  Jesus