Welcome to the penultimate GM Diary for the Starfinder Drift Crisis liveplay! We’ve got so little time left together, isn’t that sad? Still, we must treasure the time we have!
Deleted Scenes
As I mentioned in the last GM Diary, I had a lot planned that hit the cutting room floor between episodes 6 and 7. My plan had been for the PCs to get through the planar bubbles by the end of episode 6, but the skysails didn’t get to attack until the end of episode 5, so that threw everything off. Episode 7 was going to be a real exploration of the first class decks: meeting oblivious people, re-engaging with Serion Vex who had made it to the top, and dodging security notice before finally being cornered by Corporal Periaptus and a gang of security guards. The PCs would’ve been captured and had the chance to turn the guards to their side, maybe even defeat Periaptus, before finally facing off against Vionni on the bridge.
Of course…none of that happened! I had to rapidly scrap most of the upper-deck shenanigans I had planned, but honestly, seeing how it went, I think a lot of it would’ve been bypassed anyway. By the time they got to the top, the players and PCs were fed up and marching straight to the captain, so it all worked out in the end!
Planar Bubbles
The yellow bubble contained a real Starfinder item which I did not create, the dimensional modulator! I found this sucker when I was poking around for planar information and enemies and had to use it immediately. Its effects are to make everybody flat, very much like the two-dimensional levels in Super Mario Odyssey, and I found it delightful.
Behind-the-scenes secret: we mayyyy have fudged the final saves against the modulator. Listen, I never fudge rolls (lie), but in this case, we had a time to hit, the episode was running long, and we needed to move on. I will not apologize for making good content!
Another thing that hit the cutting floor was the final planar bubble encounter. The final bubble was yanked directly from the Boneyard, and the PCs were going to meet a nosoi and, more importantly, Olfin. Who’s Olfin? He’s my half-orc thaumaturge, my PC from a friend’s campaign of Malevolence, who (at the time we shot this episode) had recently died and become a ghost. Alas, his cameo was cut, and the campaign ended up stalling out a couple months later tragically, but he was one of the most fun characters I’ve ever played.
An Offer I Knew You Would Refuse
Vionni’s offer was a fun idea I came up with a few days before filming. I couldn’t figure out exactly how to get the PCs facetime with the villain without immediately punching her, but then I realized the key. Vionni, above all, was built to be the human embodiment of PR. What would she do in this situation? Pull out the hush money fund! Gotta keep the witnesses quiet!
I never expected the PCs to accept, to be clear. I was prepared in case they did, for some reason, because you always gotta be ready for nonsense! But I fully expected them to tell her to get bent. What I never expected, however, was precisely how they rejected her offer. That was a fantastic moment of improv, super fun to see happen, and a great note to end on as we headed into our finale!
Other Notes
- Today’s shirt is merch from one of my favorite video essayists, Jacob Geller! He makes great content, lots of gaming stuff but also a surprising amount of cultural or art theory as well. You’ve probably seen or been recommended his Shadow of the Colossus video, but I’ve gotta recommend his videos on The Golem and The Shape of Infinity as two of my favorites.
- If you haven’t figured it out yet, the brown bubble was a piece of the Plane of Wood. Consider this your early preview for Pathfinder Rage of Elements 😉
- “Camembert is two-dimensional now.” “You shouldn’t say that about her, I find her a fascinating, fleshed out character.”
Just one episode to go! Join us for the finale, featuring thrills, chills, and a spell I’ve never seen used in combat before. See you then!
Alex Speidel 