Starfinder Society # 3-11: "Into the Veskarium" [RPG]

 NO SPOILERS

Into the Veskarium is such a slight, forgettable scenario, that a few months on from playing it I only have the vaguest recollection of it.  The scenario is a collection of four 1-hour quests that, as the title indicates, share the Veskarium as a setting.  I found two of them okay, but a third irritated me for its utter cartoonish pap (like something out of a kids tv show) while a fourth has really problematic moral implications (completely unexplored) for what the Starfinder Society is supposed to be.  Simply put, there's not a lot of  thought put into these quests, which is a pattern I've seen in a lot of Starfinder Society scenarios of late--we're a far cry from the depth of some of the later Pathfinder Society (first edition) scenarios.  Anyway, quests do have their purpose, but this collection was frankly just not very good.

SPOILERS!

Each of the quests involves visiting a different planet in the Veskarium, and they're tied together only by having the same Venture-Captain (Naiaj) providing instructions through a brief one-paragraph handout at the beginning of each one. The premise is that the Veskarium has agreed to cooperate with the Starfinder Society by making planets in the system available for archaeological exploration.

"Sunken Survey" takes place on the watery world of Vesk-2, home of the squid-like ijtikri.  The PCs are to accompany a local guide to a set of ruins.  However, the guide receives a message from a local farmer/old friend about escaped livestock called defrex.  Essentially, the PCs have to visit the ranch and find an escaped defrex.  This is done through some basic skill checks, and the whole thing has a simplistic, bright-and-shiny cartoon vibe.  The players don't actually get to experience any of the "survey of the ruins" because that's handled with a throwaway line in the conclusion; instead, all they get to do is help the rancher find the defrex so he can (let's face it) slit its throat and cut off its skin to sell.  No thanks!

"Quakes" takes place on the mining world of Vesk-4.  The premise to this one is interesting, as there's growing discontent between miners and archaeologists about whether dig sites will damage ancient ruins.  The PCs are called in to act as neutral arbiters as to whether a particular proposed dig site would or would not damage anything of archaeological value.  This requires the group to operate some scanners while under attack from "solenoid worms."  I thought this quest was fine, though one of the PCs better have some Engineering and Physical Science skill or the group is in trouble.

"Exosphere" starts in orbit around Vesk-5, with the PCs actually aboard a space station.  This quest *really* annoys me.  What happens is that a starship full of pahtra (cat-folk) rebels smuggling experimental weaponry is detected, and the PCs have to go kill them.  There's not the slightest reference in the scenario to how deeply, deeply wrong it would be to side with the Veskarium over the rebels in this instance--lest we forget, the Vesk literally committed genocide on their own homeworld (check Near Space if you don't believe me) and their imperalist/colonialist urges led them to invade and conquer every other planet in the system and place it under authoritarian military rule, including that of the pahtras'.  They tried to do the same thing to the Pact Worlds.  And yet, the Starfinder Society automatically sides with them over the rebels?  It's like choosing to give Emperor Palpatine a hand finding that Death Star button.  A fantastic scenario along these lines could be constructed with this basic premise, showing the Society morally compromised but pragmatically invested in learning what ancient secrets the Veskarium has to offer, and giving PCs some agency in deciding how to maneuver in a complex political and ethical situation.  But here, the vesk military leader says "jump" and all the PCs are supposed to obey implicitly, without any thought given whatsoever in the scenario to whether good-aligned PCs can refuse or even take the pahtras' side.  Oy!  (I'm obliged to add that this is the requisite starship combat quest, and my rants on Starfinder starship combat can be found elsewhere)

"Sanctuary" is set on Vesk-6 (the pahtra home world).  The PCs are asked to assist the local Cultural Alliance in recovering some key artifacts from a dig site after the previous team they sent has gone missing.  This quest was okay, with some interesting atmosphere (a powerful magnetic storm called the Shriek) and some cliched monsters (skeletons) that could actually pack a punch.

Jhaeman is Debbie Downer today, but there are plenty of Starfinder scenarios out there.  You don't have to play Into the Veskarium.  But if you do, remember who the good guys really are.