Edge Station by Stephen Rowe is a role playing game supplement published by AAW Games for use with Starfinder. As such, it is covered by the Open Game License and some parts are considered to be Open Game Content as a result. This is an adventure for 4-6 1st level characters and is the first adventure in the five-part Future’s Past adventure path.
The supplement is available from DriveThruRPG as a PDF for $6.29, as a standard colour softcover print on demand book for $10.20, as a premium colour softcover print on demand book for $14.20, as standard and PDF for $10.90 or as premium and PDF for $14.90. The PDF is the version reviewed although it was purchased at a reduced price as part of a special bundle. The PDF has 22 pages with two pages being the front and rear covers, one the Table of Contents and front matter, one page being something unclear, one the Open Game License and one an ad.
The Background explains that the Galactic Coalition is fighting a war against invaders from another reality, the druune. They are only able to survive through their most powerful AI, Central Artificial Intelligence, which can extrapolate what the druune can do beforehand. This isn’t entirely true. A sidebar on Setting states that the adventure can be set anywhere that has a multi-species civilisation and that the first adventure can be set in the future (the entire path is about time travel). The synopsis explains that the characters are dispatched with a node of Central Artificial Intelligence to Edge Station, one of the first incursion points.
The characters are sent on a ship to Edge Station. They may encounter some time-related effects on the way in and there are a number of different ways suggested for characters to get onboard the asteroid station, as well as sidebars on time travel and how Central can provide aid. Once onboard, the characters make their way through a station that crosses through different dimensions that can have effects on those within. The adventure ends on what is essentially a cliff-hanger, as the characters’ node decides they are probably infected, warns Central then self-destructs.
Finally, there’s a map of a druune Scavenger-class ship, of the characters Traveler-class and a player-friendly map of Edge Station.
Edge Station in Review
The PDF is well bookmarked with major and minor sections linked and the Table of Contents is to a similar level of depth and is also hyperlinked. Navigation is very good. The text follows a two-column full colour format and appeared to be free of errors. There are many colour illustrations, including one full-page, as well as full colour maps. Presentation is excellent.
This adventure is on the creepy side. The druune don’t understand regular creatures and try to improve them. There are some unpleasant examples of just what such improvements look like. Imagine techno-horror with a strong biotech theme. The characters may also catch a disease that will turn them into druune enslaved. Plus, there is a rather major twist in the Background, one that characters do not discover in this adventure. So, the adventure involves the characters encountering horrific biological creations in a research station that has been taken over by creepy creatures. There are a few games and films that this feels similar to. Edge Station is an excellent little adventure – hopefully, the rest of the adventure path lives up to the start – and it can be downloaded by clicking here.
Leave a Reply