Starfinder Bounty # 1: "The Cantina Job" [RPG]

 NO SPOILERS

The Cantina Job is the first in a new format of Starfinder adventures called "Bounties".  The premise of a "Bounty" is that it's a very short adventure playable in 60-90 minutes, and with as few as three players (or as many as six).  I really like the concept, as they're perfect for an introductory game or a game when folks just don't have the time to commit to a 4-5 hour session.  They're sanctioned for Starfinder Society use but can be easily integrated into an ongoing campaign as a side trek or just "run for fun" as a one-shot.  The artwork is mediocre compared to the Paizo standard, but the layout is clear and crisp (and I liked the summaries of how organised play worked).  I do think they're fairly pricey ($4.99) compared to a regular Starfinder Society scenario that provides a lot more gameplay.

In terms of the adventure itself, I got to experience it via play-by-post with my journalist PC.  You can't expect brilliant design in adventure like this, but it was certainly serviceable and a fun game.  There's opportunities for role-playing, some action, and a surprisingly good moral dilemma at the end.  Overall, not a bad way to spend an hour!

SPOILERS!

The Cantina Job starts in a dive bar called the Electric Prism in the Drifter's End district of Absalom Station.  The PCs are hired by the bar's owner to track down a con artist who has been bilking customers out of money and then instigating brawls to slip away undetected.  The adventure doesn't explain why the PCs are together or working as, effectively, bounty hunters, so the GM may need to improvise something.  Assuming the PCs take the job, a quick investigation into the Electric Prism's surveillance cameras will reveal that the con artist is actually a shapechanging astrazoan and discovery of a credstick will indicate she's headed off-station to Venture Solaris (a casino that orbits the sun).  

The bulk of the adventure takes place at the casino.  I wish the writer had instead incorporated the Vestrani Gaming Complex or another Burning Archipelago casino from the Dawn of Flame adventure path (continuity is fun and flavorful!).  The con artist, Vanecarsys, is easy to spot in the VIP section of the casino (she doesn't switch guises as often as she should for a shapechanger).  The challenge for the PCs is how to get past security and into the VIP section.  Various options (and skill checks) are provided, and it looks like the PCs can keep trying different ones until they eventually succeed.

Vanecarsys gives up peacefully and agrees to return with the PCs to Absalom Station, but a trio of generic mercenaries who also have a beef with her launch an attack on the casino floor!  The CR 1/2 thugs should be easy to dispatch even for Level 1 PCs, but Vanecarsys flees during the fighting.  This leads to a sort of half-baked Chase with the annoying (far too common) element that whether the PCs succeed or fail, they get the same result: they catch up to her anyway.  Vanecarsys explains, truthfully, that she's been running the con jobs to help pay for life-saving surgery for her dying mother.  Even in the fictional Starfinder universe, there's no public healthcare! (American writers . . .)  This leads the PCs to a good moral dilemma: should they let Vanecarsys spend her ill-gotten gains on the surgery (with a promise to pay restitution afterwards) or immediately turn her over to the Stewards?  I love an opportunity for quality role-playing like that.

And that's The Cantina Job.  A decent first effort, though I'll forward to seeing if future Bounties can make more of the format.