Starfinder Society Scenario # 2-14: "Data Purge" [RPG]

 NO SPOILERS

 

I ran Data Purge at Subtier 9-10 via play-by-post.  Starfinder’s one of those games where PCs are effectively immortal (SP+HP+RP), but I still appreciated there were some fairly hard encounters and I like how the mission is one that genuinely seems to warrant high-level field agents getting involved.  It’s an important scenario for the Season 2 metaplot and also reveals some interesting lore about the Starfinder Society and its past.  Although mostly combat-oriented, there is one solid role-playing opportunity.  I can’t think of any real complaints about it, which is unusual for a nit-picky reviewer like me!  I’d certainly recommend it.

 

SPOILERS!

 

Data Purge has a plot that would make an excellent Starfinder movie or novel.  The head of the Dataphiles faction, Celita, has realised that the entire computer system of the Starfinder Society’s headquarters (the Lorespire Complex) has been compromised.  An outside party has wormed its way in through an advanced computer virus and established deep and intrusive access to pretty much everything.  Celita develops a counter that can purge the virus, but getting it into the network requires physically connecting a datapad containing the anti-virus into a mainframe computer in Guidance’s central core.  Not knowing who she can trust besides Luwazi Elsebo, the two handpick a group of elite field agents (the PCs) and send them on what turns out to be a fake mission to repair an antenna on an uninhabited shepherd moon around Liavara.  There, the two reveal the *real* mission: they need the PCs to sneak into the Lorespire Complex through some old waste and maintenance tunnels (maps provided in paper form by Royo—a nice touch!), subdue without killing any Starfinder guards that spot them, and insert the datapad to fix Guidance without revealing to anyone their real mission.  Like I said, a solid movie!

 

Once back on Absalom Station, the PCs make their way into the tunnels.  The first encounter takes place in a massive waste disposal chamber that has a neat combination of effects: massive mounds of garbage, guardians (rat spawn) left behind by the party responsible for the computer takeover, an automated magnetic crane (on a pre-set track), and an “atomizer crucible”.  Basically, as the PCs are navigating the garbage and fighting giant rat monsters, anyone with metal on them is at risk of getting caught by the magnet and dropped into very nasty atomizer!  It all made for a legitimately tough battle and a couple of scary moments even for jaded players.

 

The tunnels lead into the Adamantine Prison (where the Society’s most dangerous villains are incarcerated—I wouldn’t think the Society would have the authority to incarcerate people like Stewards can).  Allies of the SFS who are effectively in protective custody or just need a place of real refuge occupy some of the outer cells, and it’s in one of these that the PCs meet a philosopher-worm named Uko.  Uko answers questions, but for every question he answers he asks one himself, and his questions are excellent prompts for players to think a bit more deeply about their character than just species and class.  The premise of the need for interaction is that Uko threatens to call the guards unless the PCs can interest him, but the only thing really at sake is some credits if the PCs fail the (open-ended) skill checks.

 

A classic but also fairly nasty corridor laser net trap is next.  I saw a PC use a neat trick involving wormholes to help his party escape, and appreciated seeing a clever solution for a classic dilemma.

 

The next major encounter is probably the oddest of the bunch, as the tunnels the PCs are following leads them into a holographic training simulator that happens to be the site of a Starfinder live fire exercise.  On an old Pathfinder forest fire flip-mat, the PCs find themselves in a replica wooden cabin as several drones (playing the part of evil mercenaries) battle flesh-and-blood Starfinder agents.  The scenario presents a variety of options for the PCs, which I like: they can try to hide and wait out the exercise, pretend to be drones and play dead, make a run for it (and risk alerting the facility that intruders are present), or take down the Starfinders quickly (and nonlethally).  Noticing that the flip-mat has a large source of water on it, one of my players hit on the idea of having their PC hide underwater, and the others followed suit.  It was again a clever idea and I couldn’t really argue with it.  It does remind me that I think the original developers of Starfinder made a mistake by having armor “environmental protections” be so universal and powerful in the game—they take the fun out of a lot of classic science-fiction predicaments like toxic atmospheres, vacuums, nerve gases, and so forth.

 

When the PCs reach Guidance’s central server room, Guidance perceives them as threats and generates hardlight holograms of past First Seekers to battle them.  This was done in a pretty cool way, as each time the PCs inflict a certain threshold of damage, the hologram changes to a different past First Seeker and gains a different associated power.  It was a smart way to show off a bit of SFS history and keep the boss battle constantly changing.

 

Assuming the PCs are successful, they’ll know the party responsible for the intrusion: Datch!  Data Purge is the first time the leadership of the Society realises just who they’re up against, making it an important part of the season meta-plot.  But even as a standalone scenario, I think high-level PCs will find the scenario an enjoyable and challenging (in the context of Starfinder) adventure.