Starfinder Society Scenario # 2-13: "Storm of the End Times" [RPG]

NO SPOILERS

I ran Storm of the End Times with a live tabletop group (crazy, I know!) at low subtier.  It has an original story and some interesting gameplay elements, with a focus on skills and role-playing over combat.  It's not related to the season metaplot so could be good for a standalone game, though I'd suggest more experienced players and GM (there's a lot to prep and track) would be ideal.  Overall, I'd slot it in the "average verging on above average" category. 

SPOILERS!

The backstory to Storm of the End Times connects all the way back to Starfinder Society Quest: Into the Unknown, a scenario that was in the first batch ever released for Starfinder Society!  In that adventure, the PCs salvaged the logs from a derelict exploration ship and learned of a stormy oceanic world named Wealdriad far out in the Vast.  Now, a few years later and with the Scoured Stars behind it, the SFS has the time and resources to send a team out to Wealdriad to investigate what unmanned probes have discovered is a once-in-a-lifetime atmospheric event: an aurora tied to strange basalt columns that thrust out from a particular location on the watery world.  The SFS has invited several other groups to attend and take their own astronomical readings as well, but what it doesn't know is that cultists of Groetus have decided to crash the party and blow up the basalt columns!  (I think maybe the scenario should have used cultists of The Devourer instead, but why quibble?).

When the PCs' starship exits the Drift, they immediately receive a distress call from the halfling captain of a Church of Ibran explorer vessel called the Whispered Wish.  Captain Jinnra explains that her vessel's astronomical recording equipment started malfunctioning as soon as the ship entered orbit, and she's worried they're going to miss out on the big show.  She asks the PCs to help investigate.  If they say yes, they have an encounter with some ferrofluid oozes (apparently the recording equipment was stabilized with a "ferrofluid suspension") and receive some thank-you gifts, but it also means they miss out on the best available spot on the planet to watch the aurora.  If they say no, they get that spot but will receive no cooperation from the Ibrans in the events that occur later.  It's a reasonable array of consequences (though I imagine most groups will assume they have to help).

The bulk of the adventure takes place planetside among the basalt columns.  In an inexplicable coincidence, the PCs and all the other groups (except for one) that have come to see the aurora have emerged from the 5d6 days of Drift travel with less than 12 hours to spare.  The groups need to scramble to get their recording equipment set up on one of the columns, but the columns have various topographical and other features that make some more desirable than other.  In-game, this scramble is represented by the PCs needing to explore the sites and negotiate with the other groups for a certain number of Recordings, Favors, and Findings.  Recordings are from the PCs' own observation equipment and those of the other groups, Favors are essentially goodwill from the other groups, and Findings are interesting discoveries the PCs make from exploring the columns (such as links to Morlamaws and a Great Old One named Ghatanothoa!).

It's a lot for the GM to keep on top of, but fortunately the scenario does provide a secret timeline sheet and a separate tracking sheet.  The various groups are mostly described succinctly and with just enough information (a named NPC leader with a line about their personality) to enable some role-playing, but a good GM will add some improv.   An exception to that is for one group that arrived on Wealdriad days ago and set up shop at the best location: a group of "shatoris" (a race I'm not familiar with from Alien Archive 3) from the Aeon Empire.  The scenario provides a great deal of setting lore about shatoris, and they do sound like an interesting species to continue developing.

There's a possible (and rather forgettable) fight between the PCs and some leaping fish ("sailpikes"), but the only mandatory combat in the scenario is the big end sequence when the PCs learn that Groetans have arrived on planet and are attaching explosives to the columns.  This fight is pretty cinematic in that it features the PCs on a hovercraft versus the cultists on hovertrikes as all parties skim just above the stormy waves (one could imagine the beautifully-atmospheric Jango Fett/Obi-Wan battle in Attack of the Clones).  As the GM, I wasn't able to pull off as much excitement as I would've liked (vehicles are challenging!), but I think it was still pretty fun and everyone seemed satisfied at the end.

In sum, Storm of the End Times turned out to be a well-written, well-designed, and solid gaming experience.  But hey, next time you see a Groetan on the street corner proclaiming "The End is Nigh", toss them a credit!  If the world doesn't end, it means they've had a bad day.