Starfinder Adventure Path News!

Friday, January 26, 2018

As we head into the new year and the second half of the Dead Suns Adventure Path, it seems like a good time to update folks on what to expect from the Starfinder Adventure Path in the near future. Since the release of the Starfinder Core Rulebook last year, one thing we've heard over and over is that people want more Starfinder! To that end, starting in August 2018, the Starfinder Adventure Path goes monthly! That means a new adventure will be available every month, and you'll get at least two full Starfinder campaigns every year.

But that's not all! Also in August 2018, the second Starfinder Adventure Path will present a complete Starfinder campaign in just three volumes, followed by another three-volume Adventure Path in November. Not only will this make for shorter, and hopefully more manageable, campaigns, but it will also enable us to experiment even more with the traditional Adventure Path format going forward. This isn't the end of the six-volume Adventure Path, however. We'll be returning to that length in 2019, and our plan is to release new Starfinder Adventure Paths in both three-volume and six-volume formats in the future—whichever works best for the stories we want to tell.

Whether it's three volumes or six, the Starfinder Adventure Path will still have all of the same content you've come to expect. In addition to the adventures themselves, each volume features additional articles that provide more detail on the Starfinder campaign setting and present new options for players, as well as new alien creatures in the Alien Archives, a new planet to explore in the Codex of Worlds, and a new starship in every installment.

So what can you expect from our first monthly, three-volume Starfinder Adventure Path, debuting in August? It's the Against the Aeon Throne Adventure Path, which pits the heroes against the might of the tyrannical Azlanti Star Empire! To succeed, the heroes must liberate a Pact Worlds colony in the Vast from Azlanti occupation and infiltrate the Star Empire to rescue captive Pact Worlders from imprisonment. At the same time, the heroes will need to prevent the Azlanti from getting their hands on an experimental piece of technology that could shift the balance of power in the galaxy!

The first Against the Aeon Throne adventure, "The Reach of Empire," hits store shelves and paizo.com in August, followed by a new volume every month. Do your heroes have what it takes go Against the Aeon Throne?

Robert G. McCreary
Creative Director

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Tags: Against the Aeon Throne Starfinder Adventure Path
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What will the length of the 3 volume APs be? The price?

RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32

Will there be a Player's Guide?


Micheal Smith wrote:
What will the length of the 3 volume APs be? The price?

Same as before, it looks like. It will just be a three-part story rather than a six-part.

Shadow Lodge

Okay, let's see how this works! At the very least, we'll get to create the Ruins of Star Azlant.


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Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

I cannot contain my excitement! I really think that the genre opens itself up to shorter stories, and there are so many to tell I am excited that it's going once per month. Awesome news.


Loving the blog posts but can we get an update to the FAQ? There has only been 2 updates and there are plenty of rules that in to be clarified and corrected. Operative Ghost getting a +4 to confirm Stealth Trick Attack being one of them.


Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

You had me at Against the Aeon Throne.


Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber

My players have been chomping at the bit to take the fight to the Azlanti so this will go over swimmingly!


Wish I could fave the original blog entry.

Any chance these developments will later on be backported to Pathfinder Adventure Paths?


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Assuming that the 3-volume APs cover a smaller number of PC levels, does this mean that some of them will start at something higher than level 1?

Dark Archive

1.) The decision to go monthly is the right choice, given the popularity of Starfinder.

2.) The decision to shorten some Adventure Paths is also right in my opinion. I would have gone for 4 volumes, as in Pathfinder most partys break down around that point, but for certain short, fast-paced installments, three seems good too.
As Starfinder only has one Advancement track, i count on this second AP to go from level 1 to 7, as that is the same speed the first AP has.
Players can expect to level up twice per adventure, which is about right.

3.) Also 64 pages seems enough to create a memorable adventure installment.
The price could probably drop down to $20 given the lenght, but i understand the business decision to let it stay the same, which also gives subscribers the same amount of cost to expect every month.

4.) I would like to suggest "The Swarm" as opponents for a future short AP, because i think that it is a great and fun story for players to protect a small star system from a "Hive fleet".
-In the first volume the players would have to defend their "home" planet against an advanced scouting party of Tyran... ahem Swarm drones, which have crash-landed with just one hive bio-ship, only to find out, that the rest of the fleet is coming soon.
-In part two they would have to visit, rescue and unite the rest of the star system against the "Kucharn", likely with help from the Shirren.
-The final AP installment would see a massive space battle through dozens of Swarm interceptors, with the party crash-boarding the mothership.
They would then have to make their way through it´s strange bio-technological innards to the hive-mind, which is the End-Boss.
This is an adventure i´m home-brewing right now, but please feel free to adapt this idea into a full (short) AP! ;-)


The APs going monthly looks like a sound decision, based on the number of complaints about the schedule. On the other hand, I personally am not looking forward to spending more...

3-part APs sound exciting and I would find it interesting if some of those started at higher levels than 1. They also seem like a safer bet for a group that wants to dip its toes in. Playing a 6 part AP can take a while and sometimes seems like quite a commitment, from Pathfinder experience...


Hurray! I'm all for shorter AP's. I usually find a way to end ours at around level 15 anyway. A 3 or 4 volume path going to level 10 would be best IMO.


I like this.


So the Tau Empire will be throwing down with the Imperium in the next installment? :P Cool.


Any news on whether the 3-volume AP approach might be used for Pathfinder?

Sovereign Court

It's about time they went monthly, but I don't want shorter APs. In fact, I'm irritated that the current AP only takes PCs from level 1 to 12 or so. That's far below what even the first Pathfinder AP did. This gives the impression that Paizo doesn't know how to write adventures for their own game above 12th level.

Silver Crusade

Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
James Krolak wrote:
It's about time they went monthly, but I don't want shorter APs. In fact, I'm irritated that the current AP only takes PCs from level 1 to 12 or so. That's far below what even the first Pathfinder AP did. This gives the impression that Paizo doesn't know how to write adventures for their own game above 12th level.

What it means is that Paizo sees how flimsy are the sales of stuff above 12th level.

Paizo Employee Managing Developer

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cannon fodder wrote:
Any news on whether the 3-volume AP approach might be used for Pathfinder?

There are no current plans to use this approach to Pathfinder Adventure Paths, but we'll see what the future brings.


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Adam Daigle wrote:
cannon fodder wrote:
Any news on whether the 3-volume AP approach might be used for Pathfinder?
There are no current plans to use this approach to Pathfinder Adventure Paths, but we'll see what the future brings.

I’d prefer to see the rebirth of the module line rather than cutting the length of the APs, having a whole story going from 1st level to 15th + is one of the biggest appeals to me ^w^

RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32

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Rysky the Dark Solarion wrote:
Adam Daigle wrote:
cannon fodder wrote:
Any news on whether the 3-volume AP approach might be used for Pathfinder?
There are no current plans to use this approach to Pathfinder Adventure Paths, but we'll see what the future brings.
I’d prefer to see the rebirth of the module line rather than cutting the length of the APs, having a whole story going from 1st level to 15th + is one of the biggest appeals to me ^w^

I would agree with this. Three linked modules following this story would be better then this approach to the AP line.

Risky and I agreeing on something is rarely a good sign.

Dark Archive

Dead Suns should end with pcs being level 13.

There are some Pathfinder APs which end at level 13 i think (Council of Thieves & Jade Regent?).

There are no Starfinder modules and no plans to change the Pathfinder AP lenght, so why the moaning? ;-)

I also doubt many Starfinder campaigns have reached double-digit levels yet.

The 3-part APs allow both beginning with higher levels & to continue previous APs.

Pathfinder math breaks down around level 12 or 13, most campaigns fall apart at these levels.

It will be interesting to see if that happens with Starfinder too, but not in 2018. ;-)


Council Of Thieves ends at 13, Skull And Shackles 14, and Carrion Crown at 15 are the lowest.

Jade Regent ends at 16th.

Dark Archive

captain yesterday wrote:

Council Of Thieves ends at 13, Skull And Shackles 14, and Carrion Crown at 15 are the lowest.

Jade Regent ends at 16th.

A cool, thanks Captain Yesterday.

Dark Archive

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Rysky the Dark Solarion wrote:
Adam Daigle wrote:
cannon fodder wrote:
Any news on whether the 3-volume AP approach might be used for Pathfinder?
There are no current plans to use this approach to Pathfinder Adventure Paths, but we'll see what the future brings.
I’d prefer to see the rebirth of the module line rather than cutting the length of the APs, having a whole story going from 1st level to 15th + is one of the biggest appeals to me ^w^

It looks like the module line will pick up again in september with "Cradle of Night".

That being said, i wouldn't mind "short APs for certain areas of Golarion which wouldn't get a full AP otherwise or for a fully fledged out "continuing the campaign" article to a one-shot AP volume or up to a three-parter.

Dark Archive

captain yesterday wrote:

Council Of Thieves ends at 13, Skull And Shackles 14, and Carrion Crown at 15 are the lowest.

Jade Regent ends at 16th.

Come to think of it, i would like a three-part "Carrion Crown" follow-up where the Tomb of the "Whispering Tyrant" is fully fledged out. ;-)


I like the option of 3-book campaigns, and this one sounds like fun!

Grand Lodge

Will you do AP's ranging like this?


  • Level 1 ("Session Zero")
  • Level 7 ~ 16


Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

I'm excited that the release schedule is going monthly, because that means more official Starfinder content in my personal library. Now, my main group plays really slowly (we started Dead Suns in September, and we're hardly into Temple of the Twelve right now), but I shared the news with them and they're excited nonetheless. I think, by the next time we start a campaign, we'll have two or even three options to choose from.

I also like the idea of three-volume campaigns mixed in with six-volumes campaigns. That intermediate-length story can be really useful if you have a slow group (or like to play PbP). Additionally, it allows Paizo to take more creative risks with the gameplay format (might we see an AP that starts at a level higher than 1?) and with the story format (if people aren't a huge fan, it's only three volumes of low sales, not six).

Silver Crusade

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Pathfinder Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Does this mean that the requirement for Paizo advantage is going to change? After this change, a subscriber to this adventure path is going to be paying just as much as a subscriber to the Pathfinder adventure path.


I like the move to monthly, and I definitely like the idea of mixing in shorter 3 part APs, so this is good news across the board for me. A six part campaign that's going to take at least a year to run is longer than many of my group's games have historically lasted, so I'm hoping we won't lose steam before the end of Dead Suns, whereas I'd be pretty confident that we'd make go start to finish through a three part module (we're still going strong as we bring Temple of the Twelve to a close.)

Having 3 part APs also gives a nice option to do mix and match, whether with another 3 part AP afterward (since hopefully some of those will be for characters above L1), modules (that I hope we'll be getting in the future), or with my own content.


This is fantastic. I love the Adventure Paths and have several, but my schedule and my players' schedules make committing to six volumes daunting at best. Any plans to put out Pathfinder APs in smaller 3 volume campaigns?

Dark Archive

Without Paizo advantage I will likely either drop my subscription or switch to Pathfinder. On the positive side I do like them experimenting with the shorter APs, particularly if it is successful and is adopted for some Pathfinder APs.

Liberty's Edge

Finallyy someone listened. Hurray! :)
3-part APs.
Now let's do these for Pathfinder as well, please!


Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber; Starfinder Charter Superscriber

Why do you think this would change anything about Paizo Advantage?


Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Well currently you have to subscribe to FOUR Starfinder Physical subs to get the Advantage but only Pathfinder AP sub to get it. If it goes monthly it would be logical to at least drop it to two physical subs (of which one must be AP) or make it the same as PF.

Acquisitives

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Pathfinder Adventure Path, Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

eh. I really liked the bi-monthly format. My group's been finishing up a book in just about every 2 months, and it's been fantastic. I really enjoyed the slower pace of roll-out, and was hoping that this could have been maintained for longer.

BUT I LOVE THE EXPERIMENTATION. Do more stuff like this.

Heck, run a 9 or 12 part AP if you start getting frisky. Have fun with the format.

Silver Crusade

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Pathfinder Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Zaister wrote:
Why do you think this would change anything about Paizo Advantage?

When the Starfinder subscriptions were announced, Vic Wertz posted that the reason Starfinder required four subscriptions for Paizo advantage was the much lower amount per year that Starfinder AP subscribers were needing to pay. Now that that is no longer going to be the case, I don't think it's unreasonable to ask if they plan to change that.

Sovereign Court RPG Superstar 2011 Top 32

I actually find this disappointing - that we're going to have to wait even longer to have high-level Starfinder adventures. Not every group aborts Pathfinder at level 12; I've played in multiple campaigns that went to 20, and finished 6 full APs that went to at least level 15-17.

I'd have been much happier if they'd announced a 3 volume AP followed by a 9 volume AP that went to high levels.

Theoretically, Starfinder is supposed to be more balanced than Pathfinder at high levels but I guess we don't get to know if we run APs.

Very disappointing.


Rysky the Dark Solarion wrote:
Adam Daigle wrote:
cannon fodder wrote:
Any news on whether the 3-volume AP approach might be used for Pathfinder?
There are no current plans to use this approach to Pathfinder Adventure Paths, but we'll see what the future brings.
I’d prefer to see the rebirth of the module line rather than cutting the length of the APs, having a whole story going from 1st level to 15th + is one of the biggest appeals to me ^w^

A 3-part story arc over 3 separate modules would work as well. It’s hard to get my groups going with the 6-part AP’s given our infrequent gatherings. :-(


Will the new AP be approved for starfinder society?


love more adventure paths. Dont so much love the shorter length. That said I'm happy to hear that they will be still doing 6 part and 3 part adventures. You can add me to the, I love full epic 1-20 aps boat. The big epic campaigns is what drew me to Pathfinder and what I had hoped to see in Starfinder. I was a little disappointed the first campaign was so short and less excited that the next one is even more so. Id really like to see some mid lvl, high level or complete 1-17ish level campaigns in the future. My group will be unlikely willing to abandon their characters after this first AP and I buy the APs because I dont have to do all the leg work. Sure I can probably (and probably will) scale up this next AP to fit in after the Dead Suns one but would of much rather seen a whole other full campaign or this 3 parter start mid level and proceed to high.


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Yakman wrote:
Heck, run a 9 or 12 part AP if you start getting frisky. Have fun with the format.

This.

There's nothing magical about a 6-part campaign, and some stories are longer/shorter than others.

Tell a good story and I won't care if it's 3, 6, or (number of your choosing) parts.


Will the Starfinder APs be running with the approach the Pathfinder APs mostly do apart from specific exceptions, that each will start from the default setting where none of the others have happened ?

Wayfinders

I actually really like the idea of shorter APs, especially this early in the game's lifespan. Give players a chance to run more characters, more classes, more races, to see what they like. As long as they follow up with it later with a 17-20lvl AP.

Paizo Employee Developer

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Schoon wrote:
Yakman wrote:
Heck, run a 9 or 12 part AP if you start getting frisky. Have fun with the format.

This.

There's nothing magical about a 6-part campaign, and some stories are longer/shorter than others.

Tell a good story and I won't care if it's 3, 6, or (number of your choosing) parts.

Really, the only thing that is "magical" about the 6-part campaign is that they make the most sense for us from a logistical perspective. We can do two a year, each with a different developer, so one can plan the later AP while the other develops the sooner campaign. Starfinder gets to toy with the format a little bit because it is newer and the shorter length is letting us spool up to a monthly release schedule with some newer people at the helm (including yours truly).

But I'm interested in seeing what everyone thinks once Against the Aeon Throne is out and whether or not it makes sense to do more 3-parters in the future!

Paizo Employee Developer

the nerve-eater of Zur-en-Aarh wrote:
Will the Starfinder APs be running with the approach the Pathfinder APs mostly do apart from specific exceptions, that each will start from the default setting where none of the others have happened ?

The plan is to basically for Starfinder APs to work similarly to Pathfinder APs in that matter. But that doesn't mean we will never give you advice about some APs might link together! *wink*


I think the joy of the 3 part is that they can make some high-level APs pick up where the regular 6 part APs leave off. As a GM I would like that so my players could reach level 20 and get to the capstone fun.


And if that turns out to not be something the majority of players respond to, well three months isn't as big of an investment of resources.

Although, even there, a line of modules might make more sense. Imagine an Emerald Spire -ish size module that takes, say, Curse of the Crimson Throne the rest of the way to 20.


Woohoo! More stuff to read.

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