Taste The Rainbow You Skittermander Lovers!

This week our Wednesday night game was Starfinder, and the fun was out of this world! There were several memorable moments and we learned a ton about this game we are all new to playing.

- Spoiler warning - - Details about the Starfinder society quest “Into the Unknown” ahead! -

We start out at Absolom Station where the players learn that Starfinder Society badges belonging to a team that was missing in action have turned up in a pawnshop. One of my favorite moments was when Squeeks character Gorist attempted to intimidate a massive Vesk pawnshop owner named Julzakama. Squeeks roleplaying of his intimidating demands was creative and awesome! Unfortunately he failed his roll, so Elisa’s character Solaris had to step in and spend some credits to learn that the badges were sold by the undead Exegara Long-tongue, who could be found at a place called the Vat Garden.

The Vat Garden is a great looking map and interesting place for a combat encounter. There is a 15 foot high walkway that overlooks a garden. The plants give the bad guys cover and concealment. The bad guys have small guns, but they also have big face smashing hammers. So you have to choose between having a firefight where you can not see your opponent well, or getting down into the garden where you can see better but they can get up in your face with those hammers.

I have a habit of adding some humor to our game by naming the bad guys goofy stuff. Mercenary 1, Mercenary 2, and Mercenary 3 are pretty boring. I decided to name them Twizzlers, Starburst, and Skittles. During the surprise round when it was Skittles turn to take his first shot, I played off his nickname and had him shout “Taste The Rainbow You Skittermander* Lovers!” He then opened fire from his hiding place in the bushes with his laser pistol. We were all laughing so hard I don’t even remember whether or not his shot hit anybody!

The encounter started off with laughs, but it got serious real quick. Gorist and Obozaya jumped off the walkway into the garden. Solaris and Iseph stayed up top and fired into the garden below. The bad guys rolled well and landed some pistol shots, and their hammers hit Gorist and Obozaya for big damage! The players did not roll well and missed most of their shots. The situation was not looking good, Gorist was down to his last hit point!

Gorist decided to go down fighting. He stood his ground with 1HP and finally landed a hit for huge damage! The momentum swung back to the players, and they started rolling well, landing hit after hit. Solaris climbed down the ladder to fight side by side with Gorist, and Obozaya was able to get a kill and then heal both Gorist and Solaris. Iseph won a shootout on the walkway, and suddenly it was 4 on 1 and they had Exegara cornered and surrounded! They quickly subdued her and completed their mission.

It was a fantastic night of epic fun! It felt like playing a superhero movie where just when you think the bad guys are going to win, the heroes dig deep and come out on top!

Next week we will have our first taste of starship combat as the players take their shiny new starship “Loreseeker” out into the drift to take on the Corpse fleet!

~ Jeremy Sparhawk

*If you don’t know what a Skittermander is, Google image search it now! It is a small fuzzy six armed alien that is sorta the mascot of Starfinder. They are a variety of colors just like Skittles. You can get yourself a fancy Skittermander Dice bag on Paizo’s website. I have the blue one and its awesome! https://paizo.com/