You and your team have been sent, or forced to go, to the Star Temple of Saturgalia. There you hope to find the fabled Star Amulet that may turn the tide in the Space War. Ignite your Star Saber, strap on your blaster, and prepare to avoid the Imperial Customs - you're going on an adventure. Prepare to enjoy a couple of hours of FUN!!!
Uhm, maybe I missed it, but I failed to find Imperial Customs in this 4 page adventure (6 less cover and OGL.)
There is now way this adventure will last hours. Two tops. Well, unless you go along with a 5 in 6 chance for a space encounter checked for 3 times and a 6 in 6 chance of a wilderness encounter checked for twice.
I always though it was supposed to be a chance for an encounter and than a roll to see what it was. Or at least no more than a 3 in 6 chance for an encounter.
The problem with the random encounter reliance is that it puts at least half the game session on the GMs hands to improvise on the spot. It's lazy adventure design.
The adventure itself is a basic dungeon crawl, which isn't bad in and of itself, as it allows for players used to traditional dungeon play to have familiar yet different surroundings. The dungeon, while small, doesn't force a railroad on players. There are multiple choice of direction to take, which is rarer than it should be. Score points for dungeon design.
BBEG could be the start of a series of adversaries the players are always one step behind. There's potential here for long term use.
Overall? Well worth the buck the Star Temple of Saturgalia costs, but make your own random even tables.
Oh, almost forgot the Reaction Chart for Diplomacy. That might actually belong in the White Star rulebook.
To be fair it says "a couple of hours," which is 2.
ReplyDeleteSounds too science fantasy for me, though.
Not sure I understand the issue about random encounters. Since when are they, or GM improvisation, a bad thing? Or am I just misunderstanding what you're saying here?
ReplyDeletewhen it happens 6 times in 6, it isnt really random. What happens is random, but the chance for something to happen is not.
DeleteAh, so it's not a "chance of encounter" but an actual encounter every time, but randomly determined.
DeleteAlso what is BBEG?
ReplyDeleteBig Bad Evil Guy (or Gal)
DeleteI have not seen the adventure and am only going on what Erik has said but was wondering if the author of the adventure wrote the random encounter chances incorrectly? Maybe meant it to mean that a space encounter happened on a roll of a 5 or 6 on a d6 and a wilderness encounter happened on a roll of a 6 on a six sider. Because why would you say there is a 6 in 6 chance of an encounter? Wouldn't you just write that into the adventure as a regular plot encounter? Just sounds odd to me and thought it may be a mistake or written unclearly.
ReplyDeleteI agree. I think it's just badly worded.
DeleteI do agree that it's pretty short. It seems like more of an introductory or convention type adventure. I was also wondering about the Imperial Customs....
ReplyDelete