All Rules | Downtime Rules

Starship Campaign Arcs

Source Starship Operations Manual pg. 146
While starships naturally appear in most Starfinder campaigns, they sometimes fade into the background and become simply a way to get from Absalom Station to the adventure locale. But starships can provide their own settings for adventure and inspire plot points. They can even—in the case of a ship with an AI—serve as friendly NPCs. Integrating starship action with more traditional encounters adds a new dimension to a campaign and gives PCs the opportunity to show off skills and abilities they otherwise rarely get a chance to use.

If you’re a GM creating a starship-focused campaign, discuss this emphasis with your players early, so they can create characters who are well suited for it. Most starship roles rely on a single skill, and if the players spread these skills out among their characters, they’ll quickly be able to master starship encounters. The wide variety of starship roles means that any character concept should be able to take part, whether as a clever mechanic repairing the engines, a soldier seated in the gun turret, or a mystic magic officer. A greater focus on starship encounters, however, means that characters who specialize in their starship role have more opportunity to use those skills than they would in a typical campaign. Your starship-focused campaign could have a grand story arc, similar to those found in Starfinder Adventure Paths, but because you’re designing the game for the players at your table, you also have the opportunity to use a more sandbox-style structure that allows the PCs to go where they wish. These adventures may be more episodic, not unlike a series of Starfinder Society Scenarios but guided by the PCs themselves, who decide where they want to go and what they want to do.

Starship combat might appear only once every few sessions in a traditional Starfinder campaign, but if you’re running a starship-focused game, your PCs may have an even mix of starship and traditional encounters. But combat is just one flavor of starship encounter. Perhaps the PCs need to scan an enemy vessel without being detected; perhaps they’re in a competition, navigating their ships through an obstacle course; or perhaps they’re lost in the Vast and must get through a dangerous asteroid field. They might earn money by salvaging starship wreckage, winning starship races (after covertly betting on them), or tracking down starship schematics and technology from across the galaxy to build their own ships. Just as in traditional campaigns, using a variety of encounter types keeps the players engaged. Even in a starship-focused campaign, it’s important to have other things for the PCs to do. Provide a mix of starship encounters along with reasons for the PCs to disembark and have encounters face-to-face, allowing them to enjoy starship action while still using all their class abilities. After all, the PCs are still heroes when not aboard their starship!

The campaign outlines below provide you with campaign structures that you can customize for your own player group. Each gives a general premise, with additional sections dedicated to low-level (levels 1–5), mid-level (levels 6–11), and high-level (levels 12+) adventures. These outlines don’t detail specific encounters as a Starfinder Adventure Path would, but they do offer suggestions for encounters of your own design that fit the premise. There are many suggestions for specific foes, organizations, or locations, but you should feel comfortable replacing any of these with whatever suits your game and group. And although these outlines sketch out a full campaign, you can also adapt any element of them into a standalone adventure or side quest in your existing campaign.

Down On Their Luck

Source Starship Operations Manual pg. 146
Space is vast, its frontiers are ever expanding, and there’s plenty of business and fortune to be found among the stars... or at least, there would be, if an oppressive organization—whether corporate or governmental—weren’t trampling all over your ambitious, entrepreneurial, and morally ambiguous player characters. In this campaign, the PCs have each been slighted by a society, government, or other organization that has stolen their livelihood, crushed their dreams, and caused the heroes to lose their homes and families. Perhaps the Veskarium colonized their home planet, or a corporation has established a monopoly that drove the family business bankrupt. It’s hard for the PCs to find hope when they’ve lost all they had to the oppressive control of a system so much greater than themselves, but they’ve got a ship and a ragtag crew, so it’s time to keep flying and—just maybe—find a new fortune.

Another Day, Another Problem

Source Starship Operations Manual pg. 146
When they’re starting out, the PCs really need to feel hardship. Their ship may have been good in its day, but now it’s barely flying. It needs a lot of work, and the PCs need funds soon— especially if they want to eat next week. The group includes PCs with a disparate mix of personalities and values forced together by economic and social pressures, but if everyone can learn to tolerate their strange crewmates, there’s a promise of both riches and security.

The PCs spend their first few missions taking on various jobs—simple endeavors to get them started, like transporting cargo or desperate passengers, acting as guides or bodyguards, or procuring and delivering a difficult-to-acquire item. But taking jobs indiscriminately can get the PCs into trouble. Some of their jobs have unintended consequences: their desperate passengers are actually fugitives, their cargo is contraband, or the item to be procured needs to be stolen from its current owner. The PCs may be aware of these wrinkles before taking the job, allowing them to debate if the reward is worth the risk, but the revelation of additional danger can also come in the middle of their mission, raising the stakes. The PCs, intentionally or accidentally, find themselves on the shady side of the law and on the radar of governments and corporations who’ve oppressed them in the past. Over time the PCs figure out how their team functions; as they set up their new lives and pursue their fortunes, they struggle with inadequate equipment and question their morality.

At a Crossroads

Source Starship Operations Manual pg. 147
With money flowing and opportunities to improve their ship and gear, the PCs have established themselves as a reliable, multi-skilled crew capable of handling challenging jobs. Their previous actions have earned them a reputation, good or bad, and that reputation precedes them; more prominent clients seek them out, and their services are in greater demand.

The PCs’ latest job is exceptionally shady, but also promises to be very rewarding. This may be a simple escort mission with an excessive reward or a mercenary gig that pits the PCs against defenseless combatants. Regardless, the PCs realize they’ve been asked to do something immoral, unethical, or simply wrong. Perhaps they’ve been hired to traffic in sapient beings or squash a rebellion with which the PCs are sympathetic. This job challenges the PCs to choose a side: their morality or material wealth. If the PCs abandon the job or actively sabotage it, they’re regularly challenged to uphold this decision, damaging their reputation and costing them additional work. They also make an enemy of their former employer. But if the PCs carry out this controversial job at the expense of their moral sensibilities, the resulting wealth comes at great personal cost. Important NPCs walk away from the crew, refusing to associate with such mercenaries; something precious to the PCs is stolen (perhaps even their ship); or their patrons turn on them after the job is completed. Naturally, their employers insist this betrayal isn’t personal— it’s just good business.

A Jaded Affront

Source Starship Operations Manual pg. 147
Eventually, enough is enough. The personal losses the PCs have faced and the horrors that they’ve endured make it clear that they will never truly be safe, secure, and prosperous until they confront the forces that have plagued their lives. The PCs are an experienced crew now, and together they have what it takes to succeed where they unfortunately failed before.

In a previous job, the PCs attracted the attention of an authority figure in their nemesis organization. This individual may have hired them in the past or may be an antagonist who came after the heroes when they sabotaged a job for ethical reasons. Now the PCs can investigate this individual, turning up evidence of extensive corruption and crime. These crimes have a personal connection to one or more PCs, a connection no one knew about until now. For example, the rotten rations that sickened a whole colony world and cost a PC their family could be revealed to have been mass-produced by the same corporation the PCs have been running from, and the signature on the bottom of the form is that of the same person the PCs already hate.

Up until now, the PCs have been merchants first and warriors second, but all that changes. They take on a new, more difficult, kind of job with lucrative payouts so they can outfit their ship to become a weapon of war. But simply killing this nemesis individual won’t do the job—that person will simply be replaced by another tool of the bureaucracy. Instead, the PCs need to amass enough evidence to delegitimize the organization itself. This requires subtlety and subterfuge as the PCs sabotage the career of the individual who’s become their nemesis, recruit allies within the organization itself, and gather evidence they can use to expose the organization’s nefarious deeds to the galaxy at large. The campaign might end with the PCs achieving a final victory over the organization that has tried to keep them down and out for so long—or it might continue, with a new organization filling the power vacuum resulting from the PCs’ victory.

The Infiltration Race

Source Starship Operations Manual pg. 147
The PCs begin this campaign as rookie starship pilots in a popular Pact Worlds racing circuit that includes Skydock on Verces, Arl on the planet Akiton, and Triaxus’s city of Zo. These in-atmosphere races use single-pilot racing fighters made by Redshift Revolution, Terminator, and other specialized firms. As the PCs strive to build their reputation as rising stars, they’re contacted by a mysterious person claiming to represent an unnamed corporate interest. This contact tells them of a terrorist plot to destroy a notable landmark, such as the space elevator on Verces. The attack could injure or kill thousands. Clues indicate prominent members of the local racing scene are involved in the plot, and the mysterious contact asks the PCs to assist in the investigation by monitoring (spying on) the competitors.

Fire Your Engines

Source Starship Operations Manual pg. 147
To gain access to the exclusive racing circles where the suspects can be found, the PCs must gain a higher profile— and that means winning races. These races use the chase rules for starships (page 44) or vehicles (Core Rulebook 282), and they include team relay races that provide an opportunity for the PCs to work together. As they win more acclaim, the PCs gain the trust of high-profile racers. They discover that the terrorist group has indeed infiltrated the racing scene as a means of getting close to the landmark—which lies along the course of the Pact Worlds’ Championship, a race to be held in several months.

Clues suggest the ringleader of this terrorist cell is the Pact Worlds’ top-ranking racer. The PCs must survive a race that turns deadly as the terrorist cell seeks to take them out, then confront the champion either during the race or soon afterward. The champion, it turns out, is part of a fanatical sect of a neutral faith, such as that of Eloritu, Ibra, or Triune, that believes the targeted landmark must be destroyed to avert a terrible fate for the entire planet—or perhaps all of the Pact Worlds. Their information, however, does not specify the nature of this threat.

The Grand Prix

Source Starship Operations Manual pg. 148
The PCs have eliminated one cell of the sect, but many more members remain. The PCs deduce that the terrorist base is located in the Drift, near a relay beacon along the course of the planet’s Grand Prix, a preliminary race for the Pact Worlds’ Championship. The exact course of the race is a secret, so the PCs must qualify in order to find the base. The qualifying races could involve single-pilot racers or larger starships that require the PCs to cooperate as a single crew. At the same time, the PCs discover their contact is more than they appear: a state intelligence agency, a rival corporation seeking sabotage, or some other group with a hidden agenda that doesn’t necessarily alienate the PCs.

Once the PCs qualify for the Grand Prix, they can compete in this multi-day marathon race. The course jumps between relay beacons in the Drift, so it involves larger, Drift-capable starships with racers operating as teams. During the race, the PCs contend with strange Drift creatures and hazards as well as other competitors—some of whom are members of the terrorist sect. They need to do well enough in the race to qualify for the Pact Worlds’ Championship while tracking down the base, but they don’t necessarily need to win. When they find the base, they confront the terrorist presence there and learn that the sect believes the landmark was constructed as a beacon for a nefarious cosmic threat, such as the cult of Nyarlathotep or the Dominion of the Black—a beacon that will soon activate and summon a massive invasion force. The sect plans to destroy the landmark during the Pact Worlds’ Championship, but the leader of the sect—a mystic of their deity—is nowhere to be found.

The Championship

Source Starship Operations Manual pg. 148
The PCs’ alarming discovery encourages them to protect the landmark during the Pact Worlds’ Championship. Law enforcement and race officials refuse to listen to warnings and assure the PCs that security is airtight, forcing them to take matters into their own hands. The terrorist sect, however, attempts to keep the PCs out of the race, trying to get them disqualified through false accusations, sabotage of their starship, and even attempts on their lives. The secrets kept hidden by the PCs’ contact cause additional complications, entangling them with a rival intelligence agency or corporation.

For the championship, the PCs split up into multiple single-pilot ships again, but the terrorists do everything they can to take the PCs out, even attacking them directly during the race. (This is an opportunity to use the squadron combat rules starting on page 54.) The PCs may confront the sect’s leader in starship combat during the race, or they may need to pursue the leader to the landmark and confront them on foot. However, the sect was right about the landmark serving as a beacon; after the PCs defeat the terrorists, they must contend with the vanguard invasion force the beacon has signaled. The PCs must defeat these starship-scale creatures and the monstrous being they protect, then deactivate the beacon before the rest of the invasion comes through. This victory saves the Pact Worlds from invasion, but if you want to continue the campaign further, the PCs could reverse engineer the beacon signal to counterattack the cosmic threat in its home domain.

Invasion!

Source Starship Operations Manual pg. 148
In this campaign, the PCs are a starship crew from various Pact Worlds—but the story is set during the 5-year period between the Veskarian attack at the Battle of Aledra in 36 ag and the signing of the Absalom Pact in 41 ag. Without a treaty that unites them, the Pact Worlds are scattered and in disarray. It’s up to the PCs to lead the fight against the Veskarium—first as ragtag refugees, then as seasoned veterans, and eventually commanding the flagship of a Pact Worlds fleet.

A Thousand Fronts

Source Starship Operations Manual pg. 148
The campaign begins with the Veskarian invasion, culminating in a landing on Triaxus and the Battle of Aledra. The PCs come from worlds throughout the system and serve as crew on several different starships. Each of these ships is caught in the Veskarian attack, with the PCs crashing on Triaxus in escape pods. There they meet each other, fend off local wildlife and Veskarium troops, and salvage a wrecked starship. Once they get it working, they arrive at the Battle of Aledra in time to lead a counterattack that brings temporary peace to the planet.

But now there’s a war on, and every ship is pressed into service. The PCs might be drafted, but after losing everything to the Veskarium they’re likely volunteers. What’s notable about their ship and crew is its diversity; most other ships defending the system are crewed by citizens of a single planet. Bretheda, Absalom Station, and the rest each have their own fleets, but no single planet or organization is calling the shots. There are interplanetary organizations like the Knights of Golarion, but there’s no structure within which they can work. It’s every world for itself.

The early phase of this campaign highlights the chaos of war; the Veskarium enjoys early success and the future Pact Worlds are left reeling. Competing interests among the factions make cooperation difficult and unreliable. When Veskarian forces cut off an Eox fleet, for example, other worlds refuse to help. Even noble organizations like the Stewards refuse to send help when it means exposing their home world to Veskarian attacks. There’s no one telling the PCs what to do—even if there should be. Instead, they’re left on their own to intercept invasion plans, scout hidden bases, and conduct guerrilla actions that deprive the Veskarium of vital resources. As the PCs travel from one world to another, they forge alliances among many cultures, put aside the demands of their home worlds in order to focus on the larger threat, and inspire other locals to organize. When the PCs encounter Veskarian warships, one of them is led by a vesk captain who becomes a recurring nemesis; the PCs get a chance to capture this captain in a rematch that forms the climax for this phase of the campaign.

A New Uniform

Source Starship Operations Manual pg. 149
The PCs’ example leads to the creation of a war council staffed by admirals and generals from throughout the system. Some of these individuals represent planetary military forces, but others are civilian or ad-hoc groups—Free Captains and Golden League families share the table with Stewards and Hellknights. They elect a chairperson, but that individual has little authority and can’t keep meetings from breaking out into arguments or even physical violence. The war council can, however, begin to organize a coordinated defense. A small system-wide fleet is formed, and the PCs are asked to join. The tone of the campaign shifts. The PCs are no longer operating independently, striking the Veskarium wherever they can before fleeing. Instead, they’re part of a larger force; when they’re outnumbered, reinforcements appear, and when their allies are ambushed, the PCs are sent to aid them. The PCs cooperate with other captains in small groups of two or three ships, guarding supply convoys, protecting civilian settlements, and leading counterattacks on Veskarian bases and squadrons. Planetside, they assist civilian leaders, train local forces, and construct physical defenses. But the PCs have made enemies and rivals in the war council. These political enemies have their own ideas about how to stop the Veskarium, and they see the PCs as the chief obstacle to these plans. When a major Veskarium operation forces everyone to retreat towards Aballon, these political enemies assign the PCs to be rear guard. It’s a suicide mission, buying time for the allied navies to fall back and regroup. The PCs, however, are more resourceful than anyone expects, and captains they’ve befriended arrive to help. Eventually the PCs are cut off and thought dead, but if they can triumph in battle against the Veskarian flagship, they can return as heroes to the allied fleet.

Forging the Pact

Source Starship Operations Manual pg. 149
The PCs’ political enemies have been exposed or persuaded by the PCs’ success. They recant their opposition and join the cause of the PCs, who are now leaders in the war. Their new flagship is equipped with technology from throughout the star system: it has Akitonian armor, Aballonian engines, psychic shields from Castrovel, and a cutting-edge Barathu sensor package. People are talking about a pact to kick the invaders out and take the fight to the Veskarium. The PCs lead the allied fleet from Aballon back through the worlds of the system, fighting all the way. They take charge of planetary defenses, lead an assassination mission against a vesk general, rescue a vesk defector, and conduct vital diplomacy with potential pact members.

With information gleaned from vesk prisoners and the high-ranking defector, the stage is now set for a counterattack. Groundwork for this attack involves sneaking into the Veskarium, finding a safe place for counterattacking starships to gather, and recruiting allies among the vesk’s myriad subject populations. Finally, when the counterattack comes, the PCs split up, each taking command of a starship to lead the assault. Back home, the Absalom Pact is being prepared by diplomats and politicians, but everyone is holding their breath—it will take a victory in the Veskarium to convince all the signees to take this final, drastic step. If your campaign continues after the signing of the Absalom Pact, the PCs enter the Silent War (Core Rulebook 428).

Lost In The Vast

Source Starship Operations Manual pg. 149
In this campaign, the PCs are far away from the Pact Worlds, and critically, they can’t just hop to the nearest Drift beacon. Some confluence of events has thrown the crew deep into the unknown, and their challenge is getting back. Perhaps an anomaly in the Drift took them off course and destroyed their Drift engines in the process, or maybe sabotage is at work, preventing them from making a speedy return. Exactly how the PCs’ ship is launched into space is left up to the GM, but there are two basic variations: in one, the PCs are far from home but they know the path to get back. The journey may take a very long time, and go through inhospitable environments, but it’s predictable. In the other version of this campaign, faster-than-light travel is essentially random; every time the PCs flip the switch on their Drift engine, their destination is completely unpredictable. Every session has a one-in-a-million shot of returning the PCs home.

Notably, this campaign doesn’t require a central antagonist and could easily focus on the PCs’ survival and exploration; indeed, if the PCs are constantly on the move, they’ll leave behind any enemies that are not physically on the ship with them. The episodic nature of the campaign lends itself to short-term challenges that build up to an overarching struggle to survive. Maintaining the ship and crew, scavenging for resources, and contacting indigenous species both friend and foe allow for a host of novel encounters that the party might face on their odyssey. Of course, you can still introduce an antagonist if that adds to your story, but the central conflict of the campaign is between the PCs and their environment.

Accidents Happen

Source Starship Operations Manual pg. 149
Begin the campaign on a familiar world or space station. The Pact Worlds provide a stark contrast for the isolation that the party will experience later on, and this also allows characters to become familiar with each other and important NPCs before their primary focus turns to survival. At the same time, use odd happenings around the ship to foreshadow future events. Tools might go missing, the PCs might experience déjà vu or black out for periods of time, or they may hear voices in strange languages echoing from far away. When the event that maroons the PCs in distant space finally does occur, these details will fuel speculation and aid their investigations into what happened.

After the PCs get lost, a host of immediate dangers need to be addressed. Dramatic skill checks will be needed to keep the ship’s atmosphere from venting, maintain life support, treat serious injuries, and evade immediate threats. By this point, the PCs are working with limited, dwindling supplies and will be eager to explore nearby areas for resources.

At lower levels, NPCs aboard the ship can be both a blessing and a burden to the party. Their skills could be the only thing keeping the crew from oblivion, but these same NPCs could have goals that conflict with those of the PCs. These NPCs may be the only company the PCs have for some time, so they’re an excellent source for interpersonal plotlines. Alternatively, there could be no additional crew; a PC-only crew develops closer ties as they rely on each other and deal with relative isolation. These campaigns focus more on adventure and exploration than interpersonal dramas.

As the PCs conclude this chapter, they dodge immediate dangers and stabilize the ship, restoring basic life support and navigation systems. They are now able to pick a general direction and begin limping toward home or a habitable location. And even if they don’t fully understand what threw them off course, they have enough information to begin an investigation.

Just Another Day in the Vast

Source Starship Operations Manual pg. 150
Mid-level PCs have the experience necessary to face the bizarre and unknown elements beyond the ship. Anything the crew encounters in these remote places should be completely unfamiliar, so let your creativity run rampant. Nothing is too strange for the depths of space!

When initial supplies run low, the PCs scout planets, asteroids, and salvageable wrecks to harvest and process suitable materials—but these strange otherworldly devices and substances may have side effects on the ship and crew. These missions offer unique, unusual environments and mini-plots as the PCs negotiate harsh terrain, bizarre flora and fauna, and unknown and mysterious civilizations.

This could be the first contact the denizens of these isolated places have had with citizens of the Pact Worlds— although it’s also intriguing if inhabitants of the Pact Worlds have made contact in the distant past. These societies may be fascinating allies, or they may want to imprison and subjugate the crew. Whether these cultures are a small collective or a vast technological empire, they present a host of intriguing story opportunities for you and your players to explore.

Stories at this level also begin to illuminate the factors that caused the PCs to become lost, enabling the heroes to develop a plan that deals with their situation—though they may not have the power to enact that plan just yet. The PCs acquire this information directly through their travels and interactions with other creatures, as well as through long-term investigation that confirms their growing suspicions. Ultimately, the PCs figure out how to save themselves: discovering how to cross a vast distance far faster than they first thought or repairing their Drift engine so that it no longer sends them to random destinations.

Time Runs Short

Source Starship Operations Manual pg. 150
By the time the campaign is entering its final chapters, you can leverage the high-level PCs’ newfound abilities to reveal the information they’ll need to get home. These high-level abilities also enable the party to tie up loose ends and capitalize on clues spread throughout the campaign to discover the means to their return—but the heroes must act quickly. Perhaps there is a rapidly closing portal that they need to reach to get home, or an artifact of great power that a previous contact also wants to acquire.

This campaign offers a chance to do something unusual: finish out the story with a series of high-stakes skill checks instead of a brawl. Take note of each PC’s abilities and include everyone by layering party challenges on top of each other. Not only does this give every character a time to shine, but it builds tension, with every failed check impacting the others. A race against time tests the pilot, while an envoy rallies the NPCs and alien contacts the party has made along the way. Perhaps a cast of old enemies return at the last moment; with the ship careening to its destination, there’s no time for a lengthy fight, but someone has to hop on the guns to buy time. The party is sufficiently powerful that you can introduce time, space, and divinity as story elements without worrying if the PCs are up to the challenge. By layering multiple challenges into the same encounter, the final moments of the campaign become a truly epic conclusion, not focused on winning a fight but just escaping the story alive.

Red Stars At Night

Source Starship Operations Manual pg. 151
This campaign opens when the PCs are contacted (individually or as a group) by a member of the Pirate Council. All the PCs have a friendly tie to this pirate lord; they may be relatives, for example, or favored crew members. The pirate lord intends to step down from the Pirate Council but wants to ensure the seat is in capable hands, so they’re taking the unusual step of allowing several groups to audition for the seat. This pirate lord could be Ceris Hightower, the Council’s longest-serving member, or it could be another pirate lord, seeking to check Hightower’s influence. The PCs are one of several groups who have been selected to compete for this honor, and each group is outfitted with a ship and some starting funds. The PCs must distinguish themselves as pirates and fend off their rivals in order to prove themselves worthy of the Pirate Council!

Raise the Skull and Crossbones

Source Starship Operations Manual pg. 151
The PCs have little time to celebrate their initial recognition. If they want to get a jump on the other contenders, they need to build up their reputations as pirates. This involves a great deal of starship combat, but you can use the boarding rules (page 40) so that the PCs can plunder a ship for treasure rather than blowing it up. The PCs then need to be careful during starship combat lest they destroy valuable cargo. Depending on the PCs’ inclinations, they could use their piracy to help the oppressed and downtrodden from any given place—literally stealing from the rich and giving to the poor—or they could be out for personal gain.

While the PCs attempt to build their fortunes, however, their rivals are not sitting idle. Other pirate groups, each with their own leaders, goals, and histories, attempt to sabotage the PCs or even attack them directly. The PCs might have to fight some of these groups, but others can be won over, becoming allies and potentially enabling the PCs to start their own fleet.

Repel Boarders

Source Starship Operations Manual pg. 151
Before the PCs earn a seat on the Pirate Council, their reputation as skilled pirates draws the attention of an organization that opposes piracy and seeks to crush them. This organization could be the Hellknights, the Stewards, or a splinter sect of AbadarCorp that takes a more proactive antipiracy approach than the church normally does; evil PCs may even be opposed by the Knights of Golarion. Regardless, the group is led by a former Abadaran priest who takes a brutal approach to fighting piracy; this leader doesn’t confront the PCs in person, but instead safely directs their forces from a massive flagship.

While the PCs are tangling with these new foes, they hear news of a legendary ship captained by one of the first pirates to return to the spaceways after the Gap. Rumor has it that this ship, long thought lost in the Drift, has emerged somewhere in the Vast. If the PCs could claim this ship for their own, the council seat would be as good as theirs. Finding the ship won’t be easy, though, especially with their myriad foes hot on their trail. This section of the campaign concludes with a battle over the lost ship; alternatively, the PCs may beat their enemies quickly only to find that the ship, though long adrift, is far from empty.

Broken Rock Under Siege

Source Starship Operations Manual pg. 151
With the recapture of a famous pirate ship, the PCs feel that they’ve earned their seat on the Pirate Council—but trouble is brewing. On their way back to the Pact Worlds, they receive an urgent message from an ally: Broken Rock is blockaded by the enemy organization’s armada, and several of the pirate lords, including their patron, have been captured! As Broken Rock’s location is a closely guarded secret, there must be a traitor among the pirates. This could be a defeated rival of the PCs, or even another pirate lord.

To learn where the pirate lords have been taken, the PCs must track down the traitor and pull the information out of them somehow—or at least find out where or from whom that information can be learned. Either before or after they’ve gained Broken Rock’s location, the PCs then must infiltrate the planet—a prison world such as Daegox 4 in Near Space serves nicely—and free the pirate lords before the complex’s defenses mobilize against them. With the pirate lords rescued, the PCs can at last return to Broken Rock, mobilize their own armada, and make a stand against the enemy fleet. It will likely be a long, tough fight that might require just as much brains as brawn, but once the bulk of the enemy ships are defeated, the PCs can board the enemy flagship and face the priest of Abadar.

This campaign concludes when the PCs’ benefactor steps down and grants the PCs their seat on the Pirate Council— but this also provides the opportunity for more high-level adventure, as the PCs are now pirate lords!

Archives of Nethys

All Rules | Downtime Rules