Starfinder: "Dead Suns, Chapter 4: The Ruined Clouds" [RPG]

 

NO SPOILERS

Let’s talk about Chapter 4 of Dead Suns, The Ruined Clouds.  I played through this chapter mostly with my axe-wielding Salvation’s End dwarf soldier Kazmuk until he died partway through and I switched to my S.R.O. mechanic for the rest of the campaign.   I think this chapter features some solid world-building, but it continues the heavy rail-roading so problematic in previous chapters—every group must go through the plot in almost the exact same way as every other group does, or the whole AP falls apart.  Anyway, the rest of this non-spoilerly section of the review will talk about the covers and back-matter.

The cover art is pretty cool, with an imposing, original-looking alien in the foreground and some kind of crazy battle scene in the background.  The inside front cover and inside back cover provide the stats, description, and interior layout of a new Tier 6 starship design, a Klokworx Prism.  The ship is a mysterious scout ship of Azlanti Star Empire design and features some cool quantum torpedos.  It has a *huge* interior for a crew complement of just two, continuing the Starfinder trend of not really understanding dimensions for believable vessels in relation to size and intended function.

Back matter includes a one-page “Codex of Worlds” entry on Nejeor VI, a gas giant somewhere in The Vast that features ancient floating cities that have largely fallen into ruin.  It’s a classic SF concept, and one can imagine groups getting a lot of mileage out of jumping to different cities and exploring. 

The short entry on Nejeor VI is complemented by an eight-page entry on Istamak, a particular floating city on Nejeor VI.  Istamak was once a metropolis colony of the highly-advanced alien empire of the kishalee, but the city fell into decline as the empire did.  Now, less than 10,000 descendants of the empire dwell in Istamak, knowing their great past only through legend and myth.  With no understanding of their ancestors’ technology, the current inhabitants (called kish) have resorted to hunting and gathering to survive.  Again, a classic SF concept, but everything is fleshed out nicely with an interesting backstory—though perhaps it all comes across as too earth-like (with old amusement parks, stadiums, restaurants, etc.)  The entry provides an overview of the city’s history, current society, conflicts, and notable locations.  There’s also a couple of pages on kish weapons and armor (all archaic, but still potentially deadly!) and some new magic items.  It’s a bit weird to see listings for prices (and levels) for apparently ancient alien technology in a place so far removed from any store, but I guess it’s a necessity for the game.

Another entry in the back matter is on The Drift, and it’s extremely useful.  It talks in greater detail than the Core Rulebook about how locations pulled into The Drift maintain their native properties, why ships that enter The Drift at the same time and from the same place can have vastly different journeys, why planets can’t simply secure Drift vectors from attack, and much more.  I like the little mention of The Moored, activists who refuse to use The Drift because of the consequences of it eating up bits and pieces of various planes every time a ship enters it (I can envision a good story set around them).  The entry includes a great list of notable locations in The Drift, which is a real boon for GMs looking to spice up a long journey with what could be a random encounter or a full-fledged side trek.  The entry also spends a few pages on Alluvion, home of the tri-part god Triune.  It sounds really cool, and I’d love to see an adventure that takes the PCs to it.

Seven new monsters are introduced in the Alien Archives section.  First up is “acrochors”, which are essentially just constrictor snakes.  I honestly don’t see why they were introduced, even if they have a little flavour tied to Nejeor VI.  However, “atrocites” are much cooler—they’re agents of the Devourer and often assist cultists in carrying out special missions.  I really like the connection to the entry on the Cult of the Devourer in the back matter of Chapter Two, and they have a creepy look and some cool abilities.  The third monster we get are “eohis”—basically, wolves.  Meh.  “Kish” are written up as a playable race, and the bonus feat at level 1 could make them attractive to players.  I really like idea of “living holograms”, a sort of tech-ghost tethered to their projectors.  One can imagine a lot of story possibilities here.  “Rebuilt” fill a good role as creepy, mindless monsters that aren’t undead, and the included template allows them to be easily customised for any setting.  Last up are “writher swarms”, which is a plant swarm that just isn’t very interesting.  So overall, we get a few good ones and a few not-so-good ones.

Now, on to the adventure.

SPOILERS!

A background section summarises a lot in a nice, concise package.  The stellar degenerator was created by an ancient alien race called the Sivvs who were at war with another ancient alien race called the Kishalee.  Kishalee commandos captured the stellar degenerator and the Sivvs were defeated.  Realising just how destructive the stellar degenerator was, the Kishalee decided to hide it away in a secure demiplane, the location of which was a closely-guarded secret in a military-industrial complex called The Foundry on a planet called Nejeor VI.  Millennia pass, the Kishalee empire degrades and breaks apart, and the inheritors of Nejeor VI (the kish) know little about their ancestors or how they commanded technology.  Just days or weeks prior to the PCs starting Chapter 4, the Cult of the Devourer comes to Nejeor VI, rough up the kish, break into the Foundry, and abscond with the location of the stellar degenerator.  The PCs won’t have any hope of following the Cult unless they too can obtain the location.  In Dead Suns, the PCs are always one step behind!

Part 1 (“Aeons in the Drift”) starts with the PCs in the Drift, on their way to Nejeor VI.  It seems like every chapter of Dead Suns must have a starship combat, so the PCs are assaulted by a Klokworx Prism (from the inside front cover).  Like every starship combat to date, there aren’t actually any consequences if the PCs lose.  In addition, the writer goes to *extraordinary* length to ensure that the PCs get no information or technology from the Azlanti ship—it’s not exactly rail-roading, but it’s another heavy-handed way to limiting the PCs.

Part 2 (“The Forgotten City of Istamak”) makes use of the planet and city from the back matter.  Another Starfinder trope is a huge location with only one safe place to land—here, it’s an old starship landing pad covered with lichen being gathered by the native kish.  There’s no choice but to fight the kish here, which is probably something of a bummer for any first contact specialists among the PCs.  But soon after, through some rather forced circumstances, the PCs can befriend a priest of Taylavet named Herald Tzayl and establish peaceful contact.  Herald Tazayl reveals that the Cult of the Devourer was in Istamak recently and desecrated sacred places.  After the Cult left, a schism developed among the kish, with one sect remaining optimistic and another barricading themselves in the “Temple Found” (the Foundry) to exclude all comers.   

Through a plot contrivance I can’t quite follow, the PCs need to visit two locations (the “House of Renewal”, full of gene therapy devices that have gone awry, and the “Maze of Ghosts”, an ancient museum with a living hologram of the mayor!) to get both halves of a message that, when combined, leads the group to an ancient computer security company (“Securitech”) that can provide the passcode to gain entry to the Foundry.  The bit with Securitech is pretty cool, as jumping from floating chunk to floating chunk with the prospect of falling to one’s death in a gas giant below is exciting, and the collapse of the building due to a writher swarm infestation is pretty cinematic.  It’s all still a transparently contrived way to get the PCs to visit each location, and there’s not much in the way of accommodation provided for groups that want to do things differently.

Part 3 (“The Temple Found”) has the PCs breaking into the Foundry.  They’ll have to overcome the renegade kish leader (a solarian), scavenger slimes, elementals (where my dwarf bit the dirt), and more to find datapads revealing the full history of the stellar degenerator and the coordinates where the entrance to the demiplane that holds it can be accessed.  The chapter ends with the PCs once again setting off to a new destination in space, in the hopes of catching the Cult of the Devourer before it’s too late.

Creating a believable alien civilisation is no enviable task, and I thought the writer did a solid job with the kish.  With the material in the back matter, there’s plenty that an enterprising GM could do if they were willing to let out the strict “Go to A, then B, then C” nature of the plot a little.  Still, I really prefer a less linear adventure design in favour of one that sets out several problems, suggests some different ways PCs might address them, and empowers the GM to adjudicate accordingly.  The Ruined Clouds will get the PCs where they need to go, but they probably won’t feel like they’re in control of their fate along the way.