While it's way too early to answer a bunch of questions, some quick notes:
*There will be a ton of playable races in this book. In Starfinder, that's not the same as 0 HD races. We're taking a different approach in order to try and make it easier to play weird aliens. A lot of it is going to be GM discretional material—we feel it's more important to present a lot of options than to try and restrict everything that could be problematic in advance. That means GMs will have to be careful about what they allow, but that seems a small price to pay to have the option of playing a sentient space slug.
*There will be a fair chunk of equipment and other stuff for players in the book. I don't want to give a percentage at this point, but I will say that the focus is definitely still on the monsters.
*All monsters get 2-page write-ups. It's something I've wanted for a really long time—there's never enough room for flavor for me! That said, a lot of the creatures will have additional stats, race information, and other crunchy bits beyond just a single stat block.
Ok, this all sounds amazing...
...but how do you fit 80 2-page write-ups and info for players and rules for monster creation and things like general monster abilities into 160 pages?!
(Heck, how do you fit 80 2-page write ups and a table of contents into 160 pages?!)
Ok, this all sounds amazing...
...but how do you fit 80 2-page write-ups and info for players and rules for monster creation and things like general monster abilities into 160 pages?!
(Heck, how do you fit 80 2-page write ups and a table of contents into 160 pages?!)
Ooo! Maybe, instead of an index, the Alien Archive comes with its own snarky AI personality chip installed in the cover to advise you on encounter building?
"Double-A, I need a quick build for my 3rd-level party tonight, should I go with a -"
"Cyberlich riding a Mecha-Dragon, master, has an optimal probability of stimulating entertaining human feedback. Please arrange a space for me where I may spectate this session for purely academic reasons. Also, tell that meatbag with the distressing haircut I am not his coffee coaster, or he may elicit many painful papercuts of dubious origin in the near future."
Book also makes an excellent coffee coaster!
So, doesn't sound like there will be much room for something like this in the Alien Archive coming out, but would you consider releasing a list of monsters from the Pathfinder Bestiaries that are native to the Starfinder setting? Distant Worlds did something like this, recommending several monsters from the Bestiaries and describing various planets where they could be found across Golarion's solar system.
80+ aliens are an awesome number to start Starfinder with, but it'd be cool to have an idea of what familiar creatures we should expect to see as well, especially where native wildlife is concerned. Def wanna make sure my Disney Xenowarden has plenty of fuzzy, antennaed animals to sing-along to!
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
*All monsters get 2-page write-ups. It's something I've wanted for a really long time—there's never enough room for flavor for me! That said, a lot of the creatures will have additional stats, race information, and other crunchy bits beyond just a single stat block.
This is excellent news. Six bestiaries in I have enough monster stat blocks. What I need is something compelling, and it's much easier to get me excited about a monster with a page of text than a paragraph. That's especially true for the playable ones - honestly I have very little interest in a number of the pathfinder player races because there's so little info on them. This is particularly frustrating because I first fell in love with Pathfinder because of the "Monsters Revisited" books, and those have basically died off.
And I am constantly frustrated by the lack of any real background information on the new dragons in each bestiary. As far as I'm concerned the true dragon entries for the past few bestiaries have just been wasted space for me - I'd rather only have one age statted up and give the rest towards making the dragon feel like more than a one-line catchphrase. Particularly aggravating is the wasted two page introduction to the true dragons that could be like the great single-page introductions to each outsider race, but instead repeats the same convoluted true dragon rules over and over again.
tl;dr - please give any dragons an actual reason to be there and excite a GM, and not just a pretty picture.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
While it's way too early to answer a bunch of questions, some quick notes:
*There will be a ton of playable races in this book. In Starfinder, that's not the same as 0 HD races. We're taking a different approach in order to try and make it easier to play weird aliens. A lot of it is going to be GM discretional material—we feel it's more important to present a lot of options than to try and restrict everything that could be problematic in advance. That means GMs will have to be careful about what they allow, but that seems a small price to pay to have the option of playing a sentient space slug.
*There will be a fair chunk of equipment and other stuff for players in the book. I don't want to give a percentage at this point, but I will say that the focus is definitely still on the monsters.
*All monsters get 2-page write-ups. It's something I've wanted for a really long time—there's never enough room for flavor for me! That said, a lot of the creatures will have additional stats, race information, and other crunchy bits beyond just a single stat block.
Ok, this all sounds amazing...
...but how do you fit 80 2-page write-ups and info for players and rules for monster creation and things like general monster abilities into 160 pages?!
(Heck, how do you fit 80 2-page write ups and a table of contents into 160 pages?!)
Dimensional folding.
No, actually, those 80+ monsters include cases where there are two stat blocks for distinctly different versions of the same creature family—your basic security robot and your hardcore terminator droid, a basic creature and one with class levels, etc.
But it says more than 80. besides, the 160 page limit doesn't typically include a few pages before page 1. or after the last.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
So I imagine that this Alien Archive will focus on bringing a lot of classic and pop culture aliens, horrors from the depths of space, and creatures from strange dimensions into Starfinder. Although it is probably to late now, I hope they give the Tome of Horrors a second look when doing future Alien Archives. There are a lot of monsters in there that fit nicely with the theme of strange, alien, and extra dimensional.
I appreciate this is a provisional cover, but could you please do straight-on cover shots not these horrible skewed ones...
They usually do this to show us that the product is a "Hardcover". I'm always excited when I see an "horrible skewed" cover preview.
While it's way too early to answer a bunch of questions, some quick notes:
*There will be a ton of playable races in this book. In Starfinder, that's not the same as 0 HD races. We're taking a different approach in order to try and make it easier to play weird aliens. A lot of it is going to be GM discretional material—we feel it's more important to present a lot of options than to try and restrict everything that could be problematic in advance. That means GMs will have to be careful about what they allow, but that seems a small price to pay to have the option of playing a sentient space slug.
*There will be a fair chunk of equipment and other stuff for players in the book. I don't want to give a percentage at this point, but I will say that the focus is definitely still on the monsters.
*All monsters get 2-page write-ups. It's something I've wanted for a really long time—there's never enough room for flavor for me! That said, a lot of the creatures will have additional stats, race information, and other crunchy bits beyond just a single stat block.
Ok, this all sounds amazing...
...but how do you fit 80 2-page write-ups and info for players and rules for monster creation and things like general monster abilities into 160 pages?!
(Heck, how do you fit 80 2-page write ups and a table of contents into 160 pages?!)
Dimensional folding.
No, actually, those 80+ monsters include cases where there are two stat blocks for distinctly different versions of the same creature family—your basic security robot and your hardcore terminator droid, a basic creature and one with class levels, etc.
Ah, gotcha. Thanks!
Tribbles. Tribbles are all I ask for. :D
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Other of the things I really want to known is how much these creatures are going to be influenced by technology.
Of course, my greatest question about this book is... Are we going to have 5 futuristic true dragons in this one? That would be awesome! I would call them cyber, nano, toxic, energy, and either nuclear or digital. Dragons that where born from the union between their souls and technology.
Ok... I will refrain from making this huge assumptions...
Love those dragon ideas! :)
There should be no "or" it's nuclear and digital! ;)
| 5 people marked this as a favorite. |
Finally, a book for all my Allens.
Allens?
Why is this book so much smaller than the Bestiaries?
Allens?
I think only the dragon community is unaware of these "Allens", for neither do I know what did Donato mean...
|
Since you are going with playable races that are not 0HD, will there be some rules, suggestions or advice on how to balance those races with the 0HD ones should a GM decide to include them into his game?
It might just be that you're playing the race with a character level instead of a bunch of racial hit dice (like a young patch of sentient fungus that went into Technomancy instead of getting the degree in Fungusology like everybody else). So you get the stats and some/all special abilities, rather than the mechanics of having grown up like a normal cloud of nanites.
Will there be new creature types in Starfinder?
Secondly will my question from a week ago be answered? :P
|
Will there be new creature types in Starfinder?
Secondly will my question from a week ago be answered? :P
I guess the answer to your question is that Starfinder is a different game with a different design philosophy and that you shouldn't expect things to work the same way as they do in Pathfinder. Including the size of the bestiary.
Perhaps different phrasing may be better.
What was the design philosophy that lead Alien Archive to be smaller than a Bestiary?
My Personal Theory: With fewer people working on Starfinder there are less resources to work on a Bestiary sized book. Said people are focusing resources on developing the Core Rulebook. In addition monsters from Pathfinder can be imported into Starfinder, therefore the need for new monsters is lessened.
| 7 people marked this as a favorite. |
Perhaps different phrasing may be better.
What was the design philosophy that lead Alien Archive to be smaller than a Bestiary?
My Personal Theory: With fewer people working on Starfinder there are less resources to work on a Bestiary sized book. Said people are focusing resources on developing the Core Rulebook. In addition monsters from Pathfinder can be imported into Starfinder, therefore the need for new monsters is lessened.
This is definitely part of it. There was no way we were going to be able to put out a 300+ page creature book a month or two after a 528-page Core Rulebook. That said, there are some other factors as well: As you noted, a lot of Pathfinder monsters are still around in the Starfinder universe, but we didn't want to just update a ton of old creatures, so we leaned toward doing new stuff. And to be completely honest, there's also a big element of risk to doing a new game like this, and it's safer for us to put out slimmer books that reflect less of a resource investment than a massive all-hands-on-deck hardcover—we *know* roughly how many copies a Pathfinder Bestiary will sell, but until we've got some numbers on Starfinder, we need to be cautious!
How are things progressing with getting ready for Starfinder's launch? Are you seeing the light at the end of the tunnel yet?
(Timelines are hard to read from this side of the screen - I presume there's a mad rush to get all that out the door and then the ongoing work on APs+supplement stuff will settle down to something more manageable).
there's also a big element of risk to doing a new game like this, and it's safer for us to put out slimmer books that reflect less of a resource investment than a massive all-hands-on-deck hardcover—we *know* roughly how many copies a Pathfinder Bestiary will sell, but until we've got some numbers on Starfinder, we need to be cautious!
This is understandable and frankly, prudent....though if this game blows up then I expect 300+ damn pages on how my upcoming Lawful Evil Void Solarion can conquer the stars and enslave whole worlds.
Naturally the blog post for that book's product page will be "Fear will keep the local systems in line."
In all serious though, I'm cautiously optimistic you guys will have the chance to cover stuff like outer gods, space horror, galactic settlements, and giant books of lasers, starships, and Alien Archives 2-6, or entire hardcovers of just different Envoy Archetypes (Voice of the Void, anyone?)
entire hardcovers of just different Envoy Archetypes (Voice of the Void, anyone?)
Individual classes don't get archetypes in Starfinder. Archetypes apply to all classes, or a broad subset like all casting classes.
Nice, i hope we get more books like this in the future.
entire hardcovers of just different Envoy Archetypes (Voice of the Void, anyone?)Individual classes don't get archetypes in Starfinder. Archetypes apply to all classes, or a broad subset like all casting classes.
You do know how sarcasm works, right?
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
You do know how sarcasm works, right?entire hardcovers of just different Envoy Archetypes (Voice of the Void, anyone?)Individual classes don't get archetypes in Starfinder. Archetypes apply to all classes, or a broad subset like all casting classes.
Well, I know you didn't actually expect entire hardcovers; I just assumed hyperbole rather than sarcasm.
Well, I know you didn't actually expect entire hardcovers; I just assumed hyperbole rather than sarcasm.You do know how sarcasm works, right?entire hardcovers of just different Envoy Archetypes (Voice of the Void, anyone?)Individual classes don't get archetypes in Starfinder. Archetypes apply to all classes, or a broad subset like all casting classes.
Perhaps a combination of the two. Hyperbole for the expectation of an entire hardcover, sarcasm because I have zero doubt Starfinder is going to eventually drop the exclusive archetype stuff at some point.
Yay! Tribble-esque adorable gremlins things! My one wish was granted! This cover is really great!
I just want some cyborg goodness, and playable robots. Also some blood. You know... for the blood god.
So what percentage does everyone think will be playable? I'm hoping it will be the same as First Contact (approximately 33%).
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
So the Alien Archive Pawn Collection is described as containing nearly 250 distinct creature images from the Alien Archive. Throw in equipment and a few starship options (as per Jason Keeley's tip) - and the density of material in this book is nearly unbelievable. 80 aliens with nearly 250 distinct creature images? You peeps at Paizo must really be wizards! I'm trying to wrap my brain around this. I imagine that for creatures like Skittermanders and Robots, there might be half a dozen types, each with their own illustration. We've already seen the security robot in First Contact, and another quadrupedal robot has been popping up as a pawn in a few Facebook pictures. I imagine most 0HD races will also have both male and female illustrations for their entries.
This is still averaging about three illustrations per alien, or about 1.5 illustrations per page. Unless that 250 distinct creature images bit was a typo, this is setting up to be one very pretty book.
|
Chief Technical Officer
|
| 5 people marked this as a favorite. |
The Alien Archive Box description was incorrect—I've updated it. (There are really just over 90 different pawn illustrations.)
That said, in the main section of the Alien Archive, there is an illustration on almost every page, and since each entry is two pages, that means two illos per critter (most of the time).
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I hope that the rules to play as an alien dragon, aka dragonkin, are just as balanced as those in First Contact. One of my wishes for Pathfinder came to be in Starfinfer. Luck me, for the systems are compatible.
Will the pdf for this one be $9.99 as well?
Will the contents be largely OGL and included in the Starfinder Reference Document?
Really looking forward to seeing this!
Beautiful. Thanks, Vic!
So, this system for creating your own creatures means I can make Tribbles and Hutts
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Flipping through the Bestiaries I realized something I want to see in the Alien Archive (or sequels).
Mecha-Mogaru.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Maybe Space Mogaru? I guess he went away alongside Golarion... :/
|
I really hope that the creatures in here are small to huge in size and that only very few space-bound monsters are larger than that (gargantuan or colossal), because there is no way to represent them with pawns on the flip-mats.
I really liked the gargantuan creature (forgot it´s name) in the "Starfinder: First Contact" book and was bummed that i could never represent it on a flip-mat due to it´s size and unique look... ;-(
Will Anacites/Aballonians be in this book, and more importantly, playable?
Updated with final product description!