Starfinder Module: "Skitter Crash" [RPG]

NO SPOILERS

Skitter Crash was Paizo's Free RPG Day offering for 2019.  It's a sequel to the 2018 offering (Skitter Shot) and follows the same group of salvage-crew skittermanders on a new adventure.  Four fun and well fleshed-out pre-gens are included, but I got to play my own skittermander, Steward Officer Swizzers.  I really enjoyed the adventure, and its impressive how much is cleverly included in a relatively short product.  There's a lot here to like, and I'm geared up to see what happens next in 2020!


SPOILERS

Skitter Crash starts off with a bang (almost literally).  The skittermander crew of the Helping Hand are returning from a salvage job when they're confronted by a pirate starship crewed by Captain Anga Silazi--the sister of the pirate captain they confronted in the previous year's Free RPG Day module!  Silazi is out for revenge, of course, but before she can open fire, both vessels are caught up in a vortex of planar energy called a "Drift cyclone."  Instead of starship combat, the skittermanders realize they're no longer in the Drift, that their ship is about to crash into an unknown planet, and that somehow their vessel has been  somehow magically fused together with the pirate ship!

The skittermanders have to rush into the cargo bay to reach a small lifeboat, but some of the pirate crew are already there and a firefight is inevitable.  Assuming the PCs win and jump in the lifeboat, they have a hard and chaotic descent through the atmosphere and a crash landing in an unknown swamp.  It's a fast and exciting beginning, and a classic set up for an SF adventure: marooned!

After salvaging some supplies from the wreckage of the escape vehicle, the skittermanders will get a couple of leads on what to do next (if they can make an Engineering or a Mysticism check, respectively).  The module intends that PCs will follow one of these two leads and then has an event happen to progress the adventure, but if folks are having fun and time isn't a problem, the GM can delay the event until after both leads are investigated.  Groups could also split up to investigate both leads simultaneously--the realistically logical thing to do--and thus follow my dictum: always split the party!

One lead is the discovery that some strange interference emitted nearby is disrupting local communication signals.  If the PCs investigate, they find a semi-hidden automated monitoring station being assaulted by a trio of small earth elementals.  If the skittermanders drive off the elementals and repair the station, they'll learn that it's broadcasting information to a point within 10 miles--confirmation that this planet is inhabited!  When I played this module, this is the lead my group followed.  I thought it was okay, but a bit awkward for a team that's all about "helping" to figure out how to approach the issue with the earth elementals.  In addition, from an encounter-design perspective, there's not really anything riding on whether the PCs do or do not repair the monitoring station--everything will play out the same.

The other lead is that mystically-inclined PCs might sense a "disturbance of planar energy" about a mile away.  Investigation reveals it to be a dangerous side effect of the Drift cyclone: a small tear to Hell has been ripped opened, and bolts of hellfire are shooting out!  Apparently, the PCs are supposed to realise this could set fire to the swamp and try to close the tear (by very abstract uses of the Mysticism skill) despite the likelihood they will suffer severe burns.  I don't think there's a lot of motivation for PCs to get involved with this encounter.

After investigating the leads, the PCs will hear panicked shouts for help followed by the roar of a wild animal.  Rushing to help, the group will see a member of the intelligent sluglike osharu species being attacked by a large predatory swamp animal called a nilothera.  This encounter was fun and exciting, as there are clear stakes (rescue the osharu before the nilothera kills him), a tough foe (maybe a bit too tough!), and an interesting setting (a broken bridge over a deep bog).  Assuming the PCs survive and succeed, the osharu introduces himself as Ponatia and explains that he's part of a scientific research base called the Helix Lyceum and that the skittermanders have crash landed on the planet Varkulon 4.  Ponatia and his fellow scientists set up the research base here to study the periodic Drift storms that ravage the planet.  He's happy to take the group back with him to the Helix Lyceum in gratitude for the timely rescue.

It turns out that communications off-planet are jammed by the Drift cyclone, but the scientists did pick up the signal of a starship landing a few miles away; a strange starship that seemed to be fused together!  (apparently, the skittermanders could have stayed on board!).  What comes next is a skills challenge of the type familiar to players of PFS and SFS.  There are five osharu "Headteachers", and the PCs need to interact with and persuade (through skill checks) a majority of them to get them to help.  I like the description and feel of the Helix Lyceum and its scientists, but I always find these encounters a bit clunky in practice as the mechanics often impede organic role-playing.  In addition, the osharus aren't being asked for much (helping refugees from starship disaster).   In another thing that annoys me, it doesn't really matter from a plot-perspective whether the PCs do or do not manage to persuade a majority of the headteachers: either way, they'll be lent a land-cruiser to take to the starship.  (success does result in some gifts, but that's more of an awkward loot dump than anything).

When the PCs arrive at the starship, they see that the pirate Captain Silazi is hard at work trying to get it repaired and ready for lift-off.  She has no interest in talking however, and attacks immediately with the help of a couple of security robots.  Silazi is a solarion, which isn't a type of foe PCs get to fight often.  When Silazi is defeated, the PCs can board the strange fused vessel and try to repair it enough for lift-off.  The next sequence is interesting and original: Silazi's mob of space pirates returns to the scene (apparently they were out scouting the swamp or something).  The skittermanders have to either talk them down, hastily repair the ship while it's under fire, or blast them with starship weapons!  The pirates are represented abstractly--this isn't a true tactical combat encounter--but it was a clever way to present an exciting climax.

The module provides a short but satisfying epilogue, and I like the idea of the skittermanders continuing to pilot a crazy vessel inexplicably fused together from two others.  After the adventure, each of the skittermander pre-gens gets a full page with background, stat block, and full-colour artwork.  They're really fun and fresh characters, and kudos to the writer for making them all fit the skittermander theme while still being very different in tastes and personality.  Speaking of artwork, it's really good throughout, though I might say the space pirates and Captain Silazi look a bit too clean-cut to be scum of the earth.  But that's a minor critique, and the cover is very cool.

I think I've included more nitpicks above than I expected or that the module really deserves.  I had a great time playing Skitter Crash, and most of its flaws are apparent only upon reading the module afterward.  It's really impressive how much adventure and different types of encounters the author was able to pack into ten pages.  Overall, it's a fun and memorable module and definitely one worth playing.