Starfinder One-Shot # 3: "System Takedown"

 NO SPOILERS

 

System Takedown is the third of the “Starfinder One-Shot” series of short adventures designed to be ran in a single session.  Although sanctioned for Starfinder Society play, the one-shots come with pre-gen characters and the story doesn’t involve the Starfinder Society.  I ran System Takedown live for my kid’s birthday and thought it was a solid adventure with a couple of really fun elements. The Level 5 pre-gens have nice artwork and connections to the other party members to draw upon for role-playing, though I do find the earlier style of Iconic character sheets (with brief descriptions of how their class abilities, feats, and equipment work) much more useful in actual gameplay.  I also think the listed playtime of 3-4 hours is probably optimistic, though of course, every group is different.

 

SPOILERS!

 

System Takedown is set on the pahtra homeworld of Pulonis, known to the occupying Veskarium empire as Vesk-6.  The PCs take on the role of rebels on a mission to bring down a corrupt and particularly brutal Veskarium regional consul named Shethris Nazriar.  Although they’ve obtained evidence of his numerous crimes, the rebels know that anything they put on the planetary infosphere will be quickly scrubbed.  Thus, the only way to get it out is to infiltrate a military communications facility in a remote jungle and use its emergency planetary broadcast system to send it directly to everyone!  In other words, it’s a bit of a combination of Han Solo’s mission on Endor to capture the remote shield generator facility in Return of the Jedi and the crew’s mission to broadcast the Alliance’s crimes in Serenity (Can’t Stop the Signal!).  In a fun twist, the entire mission is being live-streamed by the resistance and the GM is given scripted comments from the stream’s “audience” to share at particular points in the story; the PCs get minor bonuses if they follow the (randomly determined) suggestions of the audience.  I didn’t do a great job with it, and it might be an idea that actually works better over a virtual tabletop or play-by-post, but I really liked the idea. 

 

The adventure starts with the PCs approaching the outpost through the jungle and having to figure out a way to get inside.  The approach is guarded by roving patrols of Vesk guards and automated defence turrets.  A patient group can study the defences and learn the overlapping routes of the guards and area of coverage of the defence turrets, and sneak through the gaps to reach the entrance door.  Or, they can do what my players did, and just attack!  Either way, once at the door, there’s a challenging hack.  In another nice addition, the PCs on the ground are supported by a remote communications/computer specialist who can aid with advice or even hacking (though it takes longer).  Overall, it’s a detailed and well put together encounter.

 

The interior of the base consists of seven rooms.  There’s the usual fight against robot guards (first “Incapacitator Robots” and later the much more common observer-class security robots), a trap (spinning force blades), a non-hostile NPC for a bit of role-playing, and an (optional based on time) fight against a shadow mastiff.  The main encounter has a good premise: in the communications room, the PCs face an entire system shutdown and have to quickly achieve a certain number of Computers checks in a set timeframe while simultaneously battling the robots.  I’m a big fan of time-sensitive encounters that combine combat and non-combat challenges and force the party to make strategic (and sometimes hard) decisions on where to focus their efforts.  In another fun addition, Consul Nazriar has learned of the group’s intrusion and sends them mocking messages throughout their time in the facility (though the messages get more and more panicked as the PCs make progress).

 

The climax is great and foreshadowed well through the “livestream chat”.  Having realised his career is over, Consul Nazriar steals a freaking mech and tromps down to the base to confront the PCs as they emerge!  A Huge-sized mech is a memorable boss fight, and Nazriar is given enough of a personality that there’s plenty to work with in terms of threatening banter.  Despite its threatening appearance, the mech actually isn’t that tough, but it does have some cinematic abilities like firing volleys of missiles or grabbing creatures and hurling them into the air.

 

The epilogue is written well: the rebels still have a long way to go, but have improved things in one area of the planet.  I’m also happy the PCs got to be rebels, after some of those Starfinder Society adventures where the PCs are expected to take the Veskarium’s side!  Anyway, I thought System Takedown was a well-written adventure and would provide a good experience to new and experience players alike.