Welcome back to the GM diary! For those of you following along, I know it’s been a hot minute since I posted these. I’ve been busy between work and traveling to GenghisCon, but I have returned in time for the finale! Let’s dive into episode 6, which you definitely should watch below if you haven’t already.
The Noble Feathered Skysails
One of the most fun things about Starfinder is how early it embraces flight! Enemies and PCs alike can fly from a very early level, which creates dynamic fun combats. Embracing the ways of the pew pew pew is vital, and this is our first three-dimensional combat!
Tragically doing so creates problems for melee-focused Gary (at least until he remembered his extendable arms), but it allows our ranged biohacker and our casters to shine! Having the fun sticky grabby skysails also means I got to drag the PCs around the map, which is always a delight.
Also, shoutout to one of my favorite Foundry features: built-in height indicators! It’s there in the base system and it makes 3D combat so easy, I love it.
This was a tricky fight! There were points where it was touch-and-go-, but I also think it was a dynamic and fun fight and I’m quite pleased with it. Well done to whoever designed the skysails.
The Spectra and the Bubbles
Do you ever just….try to hint to your players not to attack a thing? And they completely ignore you and try to fight it anyway? Yeah. This spectra is a sondria. It’s a CR 14 creature. It would murder the PCs. And yet….
Its bubble abilities were a total improvisation. I didn’t want the PCs to splatter this thing (or, more likely, get splattered), so I figured it was a good way to avoid combat. I do love Gary’s commitment to defending Opulos Corporation at all turns! It’s great, very fun to roleplay with.
The planar bubbles were a fun idea that I concepted once again to hint at future story ideas. It hints at a larger crisis around the Drift, because of course the Drift Crisis didn’t just affect the Void Empress! It’s galaxy-wide and spans all the planes. There are problems that extend beyond our PCs that we’ve only begun to hint at.
Our first bubble is actually a chunk of Elysium! Trapped here is a tritidair, a joyous, helpful creature (which also has healing abilities, just in case the PCs needed them). Her name is spelled Miiriiiam because fey love extra vowels. I figured the first bubble they encountered should be a positive experience to set up what’s to come. Future bubbles will have other new friends to meet, I spent a lot of time researching the planes as presented in Starfinder thus far.
Timing
Here’s a fun behind-the-scenes fact: we took a lunch break after this episode before the final two episodes were shot. I spent that half hour frantically revising the endgame. I expected to finish the “planar bubbles” room by the end of episode 6 and had planned accordingly, but we didn’t! Judging how long encounters will take has never been my strong suit as a GM.
I’ll talk about what I had planned in the diary for episode 7, but I intended to spend much more time on the other side of these planar fragments.
Other Random Thoughts
- Today’s shirt was a freebie from our friends at Beadle & Grimm! It’s incredibly soft and I can’t recommend it highly enough.
- Michelle attempting to cheese her skittermander’s small size was a delight, and Gary chucking grenades into the air was also a fun challenge of ruling on the fly! I make the rules!
- Nobody has yet provided me with Gary II fanart! I’m disappointed in all of you!
Next time on Drift Crisis, we make our way through the planar bubbles…and we might just come face-to-face with our dreaded foe, Vionni Opulos! Until next time, Starfinders!
Alex Speidel 