Runelords in Starfinder

[El Jefe]

I'm pretty sure that's going to be next campaign, hopefully starting in January or February. I spent a lot of time looking over APs for conversion, and that just seems like one that works really well.

Sandpoint as an independent station out in the Vast, hanging on by the barest thread, forced to deal with alliances among various other hard-scrabble groups. Space goblin junker fleets and asteroid bases. There's an awful lot of potential here, especially as to how you could tie aspects of Jade Regent and Runelords together (keeping it largely spoiler-free here). Mix in the Azlanti Empire and you've got some even nicer choices.

[Phoebe]

Le Sigh.

I think a few small tears may have leaked out while reading that, or maybe it's that I've been cutting a half-pound of shallots while drinking wine. Either way, if you need a player, YOU KNOW WHERE TO FIND ME!

[Zen]

Sounds awesome as all hell!

[El Jefe]

I'm thinking of putting a bit more epic feel into it, and going for each Runelord to have a potential "avatar." Rise of the Runelords (as in, potentially all of them, rather than what the base AP uses). This allows for fun things like Tsuto to have a weird magic-nanite implant that fuels his link to the Runelord of Envy (for example), or Nualia to have an implant for Lust. I'm even considering pulling a few events from Jade Regent and/or Shattered Star to give a bit of a coda to the campaign. That'll take folks from level 15 to 20, I think.

Plus, Thistletop as a space-born assault on a goblin asteroid fortress sounds just lovely.

[Tahlvin]

Sounds awesome!

Also sounds like a hell of a lot of work converting it! Time and effort I won't have until retirement, or at least until the youngest is off to college. Good luck!

[El Jefe]

PF to SF conversion is pretty easy, especially if you're trying to just bring over the general feel and storyline (rather than a direct port). Obviously, there are things in Runelords that just don't translate well to SF. I have a feeling that a fair amount of the Skinsaw stuff relating to Magnimar may go by the wayside, for example.

[Zen]

FYI, we're about to enter Runeforge, so don't discuss beyond that. LOL.

[Eliahad]

[El Jefe]

So there's one aspect of SF that still doesn't quite add up: Drift travel.

So I get the theory. The designers wanted something along the lines of "travel through an alternate dimension" like you might find in Warhammer 40K or other sci-fantasy settings. They also clearly wanted to avoid the questions of hyperspace or warp speed, such as what happens when your FTL-speed ship hits a speck of space debris. (Answer: Everyone is instantly annihilated, because relativistic speed weapons are goddamn terrifying. The real terror of space battles? Kitty litter accelerated to near-c velocities.)

Drift engines have a rating that determines how much you divide your travel time by. But when you enter the actual Drift, you don't power the Drift engines, or use them to travel in the Drift "dimension". You need a certain level of power to feed a Drift engine, but you shut down your regular thrusters and go stationary when you are making the transition. And then once you are in the Drift, there is nothing noting that Drift engines need to remain powered (and in fact, they don't, because the pre-built ships wouldn't work then). So once you are in the Drift, you use your regular thrusters to travel. That means your travel time should be calculated by your thruster speed, not your Drift engine rating. The process doesn't quite add up in my head, until you view it as one of my players did.

Drift engines aren't engines. They're navigation sensors. Thrusters power you through the Drift, but you only need to power your Drift engines to act as a sort of FTL sensor when entering/exit the Drift. That initial power-up when entering the Drift, that is your "engines" building up to read a correct path through the various Drift beacons out there. It has little to do with engines, and everything to do with sensors and navigation. Took me favor to wrap my brain around that, because otherwise ship-building falls apart badly.

[El Jefe]

[El Jefe]

[Phoebe]

Well, how did it go?

[El Jefe]

We haven't started yet, having just had our initial meet and greet sessions. I'm finishing up the setting documents for the Korvosan Reach (the new "sector" containing Magnimar and Sandpoint) over the next week. I'll try to get some of the info up here for folks to look over soon.

So far, we've got an urog (one of the Alien Archive races...think electromagnetic floating blue mantis shrimp) mechanic, going for an exocortex rather than a drone. There's an android ghost-style operative, held as a slave to a criminal, who ripped apart that syndicate, and came to the Reach to track down the syndicate head. A drow technomancer, focused on fusing technology and magic, who has yet to determine their background. And finally, a lashunta soldier, probably going for Arcane style, enhancing weapons on the fly. I don't know if that character is going for melee or ranged based.