Starfinder Missions inside a skyscraper

CrynusX · Oct 2, 2019

Hi everyone,

working on a Starfinder game and been struggling a bit so hoping to get some help with ideas..
The game is on Earth and more of a cyberpunk style, no aliens or spaceships etc. high tech though. Party will be level 3 if that matters.

PCs will be near the top of a very tall corporate business skyscraper, plan is for them to work their way up 2 floors to where they need to be.
How they ascend I want to leave open and up to them, but looking for ideas on what might be good to add onto these 3 floors?

Events, situations, npcs, rooms, ways up, keycards, anything to populate the floors and give them different ways to try to figure things out.

Thanks in advance!

Derren · Oct 3, 2019

That depends on the actual situation.
Are they breaking in at night or try this in full daylight? Shoot their way through, try to hide or try disguises?
If you have access to it you might want to look at some Shadowrun adventures for ideas.

In general you have cubicle floors where everyone not wearing the companies uniform and knowing their lingo will be noticed.
You can have a broken mcguffin on one of those floors so the PCs can pose as maintenance if they can hack the system to get their faces on the work order and/or steal the keycard from the real work crew.
You can have some coffee break talk or someones birthday or aniversary which gets celebrated where, assuming they can disguise themselves, try to mingle to get more information about what is going on to repeat later on to look like they belong here. You could have two workers having an afair on the toilet which is a chance to steal their keycards while they are distracted. Or as a complication have some big boss suddenly make an appearence which puts everyone on edge.
At night you have the usual cameras, motion sensors, pressure plates if it is high security, drones, etc. but also the usual overworked employee putting in an all nighter to make his deadline.

Imaculata · Oct 4, 2019

There might be cleaners on the outside with a levitating lift. Maybe they can hijack it to make their way up?

Maybe there's a busy art gallery going on on one of the floors, unrelated to the main plot. This means there are a lot of eyes on them, and they'll have to blend in.

There could be an indoor park, with a central elevator that leads to the upper floors, but with heavy security. A curved glass roof could cover part of the park, which can be climbed from the outside by the players.

There could be a space that is being fumigated by robots, which may be dangerous to the players.

CrynusX · Oct 6, 2019

Thanks for the ideas, I've been struggling with this one.

It's a cyberpunk world so it's always night. As for sneaking the idea is stealth but I want to give them a sandbox to work in.

I'm trying to fill 3 floors, so if if anyone else has more please add, but I appreciate the feedback so far great stuff.

Cyan Wisp · Oct 28, 2019

Bit late to the party, but...

Construction crew repairing a recent fire a level up. Possibility to steal IDs and clothes.
Elevator is Out of Order. Enter elevator shaft to repair or scale to top - elevator comes back on line!
Another party is pursuing a similar goal - could be used as a diversion by sabotaging their efforts.
Research Labs (Restricted Access) need subjects for latest tests or a demonstration for the high-ups. Scientists attempt to capture party alive.
Party stumbles into a board meeting and is expected to give a convincing presentation.
The company's Artificial Intelligence has a devious plan and needs the party to do it a favour or else it'll expose them.
A ventilation system offers an opportunity for stealthy travel, but is infested with a weird cybernetic ooze.

Eltab · Nov 23, 2019

Construction / Renovation Area. Constrains movement but could provide a few desks or cubicles to hide things in that nobody will bother to check. Then again, if you stash stuff in the cabinet and it is moved to its proper place on the floorplan, how do you find it again, among the dozens of identical look-alikes?
Small employee kitchen. Fridge, microwave, running water, snack and pop vending machines. Nice place to overhear gossip, too.
Broom closet or room full of computer wires that connect nearby desktop units to the localnet.
Motion sensor turns on the lights as you walk by. Bothersome when everybody you want to hide from is indoors, but also gives away that somebody is roaming around, to people looking at the building from outside.
Call center. Somebody is here 24/7 and at least one of them has a naturally carrying voice that can be heard from several rows away. Startle that one and ...
Art object. A statue or sculpture or painting. Not necessarily expensive but likely unique.
Escalator instead of elevator. For fun, one is stuck (may or may not be blocked off for repairs). Or somebody figures out how to reverse motion. Run up the down stairs!
Executive level may have an access route (elevator?) that the Little People are not allowed to use; no riffraff or mere subordinates allowed. The privileged few are recognized by name and by face.