Starfinder Society Scenario # 2-12: "The Colossus Heist" [RPG]

NO SPOILERS

I ran The Colossus Heist at an in-person game at subtier 7-8, using the four-player adjustment.  It has a super fun, high-octane premise that I think a lot of players will really enjoy.  As a gamer heavily interested in setting lore, I can also testify that it adds a lot of background information to one of the most interesting planets in the Starfinder setting.  NPCs are handled well, and there's plenty of opportunity for role-playing in the first half of the adventure.  It's not perfect, however, as the key plot driver is a bunch of MacGuffins, the last third of the adventure is a little bit of a let-down, and the skill check DCs for various tasks seem crazy-high.  I think I'd still recommend it, though it's just not as awesome as it might seem--sorta like the trailer for a mindless blockbuster movie is probably more fun than the movie itself.

SPOILERS!

The Colossus Heist begins aboard the Brass Clutch, Acquisitives faction leader Radaszam's private ship.  Radaszam is over-the-top excited about this mission, which I loved, as he explains that the ship is headed toward Daimalko.  Daimalko is a post-apocalyptic planet in Near Space infamous for the massive, mountain-sized mobile colossi that roam it and devour everything in their path (forcing the native humanoid damai into underground bunkers or small, far-flung settlements with survivalist ethos).    The reason for heading to Daimalko is that three mysterious relics were stolen from the Safe, the Starfinder Society's highest-security vault, and were in the process of being sold to the Aspis Consortium on Daimalko when a tekenki (a particular type of colossus) attacked and swallowed them up--relics included!  The mission then, which verges on the ridiculous or ridiculously fun (depending on your cinematic instincts) is for the PCs to figure out a way to get inside a colossus, find the relics, and then escape with their lives.

The first third or so of the scenario takes place as the Brass Clutch lands at New Valor, a small survivalist colony that has monitoring equipment to closely watch the movements of the colossi.  Here, the PCs will have a couple of different options of well-portrayed NPCs to interact with in order to get a lead on someone who can help them with their mission.  That NPC is Luku Gaiul, an almost caricature of a "grizzled veteran" (he wears an eyepatch, does one handed pull-ups while smoking cigarettes, and can do the splits to avoid attacks).  Luku will tell the PCs that in order to lure the colossus who ate the relics, they could activate some old and remote "lifepulse beacons" which emit an electronic signal that simulates the concentrated presence of living creatures.  But to actually get inside it, they'd have to somehow launch themselves into an open gun port as it does battle with another colossus!  The NPCs are really fun, but the skill checks to persuade them to help are really high--we're talking DC 32 to DC 37 Diplomacy checks just for the preliminary NPCs who point the way to Luku.  

The middle portion of the scenario has the PCs travel to Dead Reef and try to activate the lifepulse beacons.  There are some dangers in their way, including sharpwings, razor-sharp coral formations, and quicksand.  Once they succeed (or even if they don't, because Luku will do it for them), the two colossi are lured to the site and start to do battle.  The PCs then use launch tubes ("escape pod launchers") on Luku's vehicle to try to get into the open gun port.  Again, the DCs are pretty incredible--activating a lifepulse beacon is a DC 37 Computers check (or DC 42 in Subtier 9-10!).  The fact that it doesn't really matter storywise because Luku will do it for them if they fail is sorta insulting, and it gives the impression that unless a a character has max ranks in a skill and has maxed the accompany ability score, there's no point in even trying to roll.

The final third of the adventure takes place inside the tekenki as it's involved in a battle with another colossus.  There's a little random table of enviromental effects/hazards to replicate the course of the battle, which was a good idea (though could have been expanded and improved).  The relics are scattered about a sort of open-plan mini-dungeon level with laser grids, automated defence turrets, and (perhaps inexplicably) monsters like caypins and assembly oozes.  Did the makers of the colossi really think internal defence mechanisms of the sort were necessary?  The Perception DCs to spot the hidden relics were again super high, but fortunately they could be detected with detect magic.  I found this the least satisfying aspect of the adventure, as it goes from a larger than life cinematic spectacle to a somewhat confusing anti-climax.  And unfortunately, the relics are just MacGuffins in the purest form--mysterious, indecipherable femur-sized objects for which the scenario provides no background on where or how they were found or why they're considered so important.  PCs will discover that a certain troublesome ysoki was likely behind their theft, but it seems like a pretty desperate link to the Season 2 meta-plot.

I think I started this review in a more positive frame of mind, but despite the coffee, I've talked myself into a lower opinion of it.  I think maybe the moral of the story is that if you want to portray the equivalent of a special effects action blockbuster movie, really go for it--keep the DCs reasonable, the story moving quickly, and the climax suitably epic.  The Colossus Heist is a great elevator pitch, but the execution just can't live up to the promise.