I have been pressganged to GM the demo adventure called Dark Frontier this sunday (we take turns for the GM's seat in my group), and I've noticed something wierd.
Soon after the "accident" during warp transit the explorers find themselves in orbit near this Yu'Vath fortress and according to page 6 in the pdf it says:
Another detail they will quickly realise is that their vessel is locked into orbit around the star. Neither their plasma drives nor their warp engines will operate. It appears they are completely trapped. Luckily, the mysterious force that pins the Sovereign Venture in place has no effect on their smaller gun-cutter, which they can use to get around the system.
So far, so good. The PC's vessel seems to be stuck in a fixed orbit and unable to fire up their engines, but the gun-cutter still works. But then on page 8 (in the "GM Guidance: Space Battle" box) it says:
The GM can also build Lynara's ship using a Vagabond Merchant Trader as the base hull (although the GM should remember that her ship is locked in place and cannot move). If you do this, keep in mind that the Explorer's goal is not to destroy all the Void Wasps, but simply get close enough to the planet to launch a gun-cutter.
Im assuming that this means "launching the gun-cutter [from another vessel]", implying that the Explorers are to use their own vessel to navigate through the Yu'Vath fortress' defenses and launch their gun-cutter. How would this be possible when their own vessel is supposed to be locked in place just like Lynara's vessel is?
From what I understand this would mean one of two things:
Either the writers mean for the explorers to try and navigate through the Yu'Vath defenses with their gun-cutter alone (which seems pretty hard since the Void Wasps were supposed to be frigate sized vessels. From my understanding a frigate's turrets alone would probably shred a little gun-cutter to pieces if there are several frigates)
Or they actually intend for the explorers to use their own vessel. But if this is the case and the vessel just starts working suddenly, what's to stop the players from simply leaving the area since their plasma engines (inexcplicably) seems to be working again?
Im not trying to come off as nit-picky here, but my group consist of quite a few players used to think outside the box, and if they spot a chance in an inconsistency in the scenario they might just pack up their stuff and escape.
Any thoughts?