Starfinder Society Scenario # 1-36: "Enter the Ashen Asteroid" [RPG]

NO SPOILERS

I played Enter the Ashen Asteroid with Officer Swizzers, my skittermander Steward.  This is primarily an exploration, skills, and combat scenario, though there is some room for role-playing near the end.  It has a largely self-contained (but interesting) story, and would make a good scenario for players who have RPG experience but are new to Starfinder.  The setting makes good use of some classic SF tropes.

SPOILERS

A new Venture-Captain, a dwarf named Thromkendal, delivers the briefing aboard an Ulrikka Clanholdings ship navigating the Diaspora.  Thromkendal explains that the company has discovered a mineral-rich asteroid that, upon closer inspection, turned out to contain a secret complex dedicated to Droskar (an evil dwarven deity worshipped by Duergar--so-called "grey dwarves").  Based on an agreement between the company and the Starfinder Society, the latter has three days to conduct an investigation and retrieve any artifacts before the incensed dwarves blow the entire asteroid to pieces!  The PCs, of course, are the Starfinders charged with undertaking the exploration.  It's a solid adventure hook, though I wish Thromkendal had been given a more memorable personality.

After entering the complex, the Starfinders begin in a massive cavern with catwalks and machinery built high above molten lava below.  The custom map for this is very cool (especially the colouring), even if it's a bit complex to take in everything that it contains.  In essence, the Duergar who lived in the complex centuries ago built an enormous machine (that the scenario calls the Solarian Stone) to conduct magical-technological experiments involving harnessing the fundamental forces of the universe.  The PCs have to figure out how to reactivate the Solarian Stone in order to progress further, because the machine also powers a set of massive doors leading further into the complex.  The scenario provides two ways to do this: one involving an engineering/computers approach and one involving a mystical approach.  It's a fairly elaborate multi-step process that probably takes up the first third of the scenario.  When I played, our group just couldn't figure it out.  But, fortunately, the scenario provided an option for dummies like us: explosives!  PCs who are stuck can get detonators from Ulrikka Clanholdings to just blow open the doors (losing some rewards in the process, but that's only fair).

The middle part of the scenario consists of some general exploration and (fairly abstract) skill checks to accumulate a certain number of successes in order to find out clues about what happened in the complex.  Although the mechanics are a bit . . . meh . . . the backstory is very interesting.  When the Gap ended, the Duergar found themselves in the complex and didn't know quite why.  They undertook experiments using the Solarian Stone, but also experimented on augmenting their slaves (trox).  A dwarf law enforcement officer eventually infiltrated the facility and worked with the trox to start a rebellion and introduce a virus into the complex's computers, but he was discovered and killed.  When the Duergar eventually succumbed and everyone in the complex was dead, some of their spirits arose as undead.  This backstory is scattered throughout some different places, but it makes for a satisfying tale once pieced together.

The last part of the scenario starts with exploration of a factory level in the complex.  Here, the PCs have to fight off an awesome monster first created way, way back in Crown of the Kobold King: a Forge-Spurned.  (You really can't beat the artwork for this thing!)  But the PCs' job isn't over when they leave the complex.  They need to reach a consensus on what should be done with the asteroid (destroy it, preserve it for further study, or some sort of combination) and then persuade Ulrikka Clanholder executives in a presentation.  I liked the mechanics here--every PC needs to pitch in, there's a broad but not crazy array of useful skills, and process is elegant while still bringing out some role-playing.  The decision reached by the executives affect the fate of the asteroid (and the boons that the PCs get on their Chronicles).

It could just be the Diet Mountain Dew talking, but I like Enter the Ashen Asteroid more now than I did while playing it.  Back then, it seemed like a pretty average SF dungeon-crawl.  After reading the scenario though, I can see how well put together the story is and appreciate a lot of the little touches that went into it.  It's not a ground-breaking scenario, but what it does, it does well.