Rule of Threes

Thursday, August 9, 2018

The initial volume of the Against the Aeon Throne Adventure Path releases this month, marking several changes to the Starfinder Adventure Path format, some permanent, some more experimental. Firstly, as many of you know by now, Starfinder Adventure Path is becoming a monthly product! We'll be delivering new adventures, new articles, and new creatures to you every 30 days or so until someone makes us stop. Heck, it's worked pretty well for Pathfinder all these years, so I think we'll probably be fine. We have a lot of exciting campaigns and stories that we want to share with you, so we hope you'll join us for this journey among the stars.

Illustration by David Melvin

Secondly is our exploration of a shorter campaign length. Both Against the Aeon Throne and the following Adventure Path, Signal of Screams, are presented in just three volumes, giving groups a chance for a somewhat extended experience in the Starfinder universe without having to commit to a full six-volume campaign, which can usually take at least a year to play. When we decided to double our production of adventures, we also thought the change would be a good opportunity to experiment a bit with the format. And the plots and themes we wanted to work with at the time seemed to lend themselves to shorter arcs. Thus, the three-volume campaign was born!

These shorter campaigns let us explore a slightly more focused narrative, much in the same way a Pathfinder Module tells a complete, self-contained story. We can really hit the most important plot points with big, splashy encounters and not have to worry about sustaining that level of energy over six adventures. While the six-volume campaign is great for telling epic, sweeping tales, these shorter adventures allow us delve into moments that might affect the characters on a more personal level. However, that doesn't mean the fate of the galaxy won't be at stake!

That isn't all we're trying out over the next several months. While the beginning of Against the Aeon Throne is for new 1st-level characters, the first adventure of Signal of Screams is for 7th-level characters. This will mark the first time an Adventure Path won't begin at 1st level! That being said, if your group isn't comfortable with starting at 7th level, then we made sure that the two Adventure Paths dovetail nicely into one another. Once you've finished with Against the Aeon Throne, you can transition right into Signal of Screams. Sure, there will be a slight change of tone in the adventures, but if your group doesn't mind the shift, then you should go for it!

Illustration by Mark Molnar

As these adventures get released, we are very interested in hearing your feedback about the changes. How do you like the three-volume format? Are six-volume Adventure Paths too long for your group? Would you like to see more content that starts at higher levels? Or do you prefer the dangerous thrill of those first few levels? Let us know!

And don't worry, the Starfinder Adventure Path line returns to the usual six-volume campaign in February of 2019 with Dawn of Flame!

Jason Keeley
Developer

Starship Combat—I Am a Leaf on the Wind

Wednesday, April 19, 2017

Illustrations by David Melvin

From androids manipulating reality with technomagic to goblins in spacesuits wielding barely functioning laser pistols, the Starfinder RPG covers the majority of weird and exciting science-fantasy tropes. But it would be a poor game that takes place among the stars if it didn't have starships! Luckily, Starfinder gives you all you need to play the crew of an intrepid vessel exploring the galaxy—and getting into trouble along the way.

The universe is not always a friendly place and there are forces out there, from freebooting space pirates to a whole fleet of undead soldiers, who either want to incapacitate your starship and take your stuff or just blow you out of the void. And of course, you're not going to roll over and let that happen! That's where Starfinder's robust starship combat system comes into play.

While it has some similarities to character-versus-monster combat, starship combat boasts a number of unique and interesting features. It would be impossible to explore every detail in one blog (you'll just have to buy the book to find out more!), but we'd like to give you a taste of what you can expect come August.

When your characters first board their starship, each player chooses one of five roles for his or her character: captain, engineer, gunner, pilot, or science officer. Only one character each can be the captain and the pilot, but depending on the configuration of your vessel, you may want multiple engineers or gunners. Each role gives the character assuming it a number of actions she can perform during the battle. The captain can give encouraging speeches or make demands of the rest of the crew, granting valuable bonuses. A science officer can scan enemy ships and target specific systems on those vessels. An engineer can boost power to the engines or repair a malfunctioning weapon. A gunner fires the ship's weapons at the enemy, taking precise shots or unleashing a volley of lasers.

All that is exciting and vital to the success of the fight, but as Iseph would be quick to remind you, you'd still be a sitting duck without the impressive things the pilot can do!

The pilot has the important job of moving the PCs' starship across the hex-grid map that starship combat uses, ensuring that gunners can shoot the ship's biggest weapons at the most dangerous enemies while hopefully making sure that those foes don't have the opportunity to shoot back. Getting the positioning and facing of the ship right is crucial, as is knowing what the ship is capable of doing and then pushing it beyond its limits.

To that end, pilots have access to a whole suite of stunts—daring maneuvers that only the skilled can hope to pull off. Of course, if the situation doesn't call for any of these fancy tactics, the pilot can always fly normally or step on the gas for an extra burst of speed. The basic pilot stunts are:

Back Off: The pilot throws the ship into reverse, moving backward a few hexes.

Barrel Roll: By spinning the ship on its axis, the pilot allows the ships's port guns and shields to function on the starboard side and vice versa for 1 round. Hope your artificial gravity is turned on!

Evade: This stunt encompasses the standard dodging maneuvers, making the ship harder to hit for 1 round. But it doesn't shake those pesky target lock-ons!

Flip and Burn: The pilot moves the vessel forward a bit and turns it 180 degrees, surprising enemies who might have been in its wake.

Flyby: A dangerous stunt, this takes your ship very close to an enemy vessel (through its hex), which lets a gunner fire any of his ship's weapons at any shield arc of the foe, regardless of where the two ships end their movement. Executing this stunt poorly allows the enemy vessel to get a free shot on you!

Slide: The pilot moves the ship at an angle without changing the way it is facing, like a racecar drifting. This stunt is very useful for ships that aren't very maneuverable.

Turn in Place: Firing up maneuvering thrusters, the pilot alters the direction the ship is facing without moving it from its hex, possibly allowing a specific weapon to make an all-important shot.

Especially talented pilots can also attempt an "audacious gambit," flying the ship in ways never intended by those who built it. But you'd have to be crazy to try something like that!

Since a pilot is nothing without a ship to helm, the Starfinder Core Rulebook also presents both rules for customizing your own starship and a handful of prebuilt starships ready for PCs to use or fight. Shown here are just two examples.

The Drone Mk III is a smaller ship fabricated by shirren manufacturer Starhive. As befits their name, Drones are extremely common and used as freighters, personnel transports, light colonial defense vessels, and more. Despite the ships' mass production, Starhive takes a natural shirren pride in making sure each ship's iridescent paint job is unique.

Built by the vesk munitions company Vindicas, the Tyrant is a dreadnought feared across multiple star systems. Huge weapon batteries tear through even the most formidable capital ships, while its hangars unleash squadrons of fighters to mop up foes too insignificant to be worth the Tyrant's direct attention.

Starhive Drone Mk III and Vindicas Tyrant
Illustrations by Ben Wootten

Finally, if you want to see the starship combat system in action, check out the video of when I ran a brief demo for the folks at Game Trade Media. Benjamin Loomes of Syrinscape also sat in to provide excellent sound effects and atmospheric music! Content warning: This video features amateur rapping.

Thanks for reading and keep watching this space for more Starfinder previews in the months to come!

Jason Keeley
Editor

Demigods of Bestiary 6

Thursday, March 23, 2017

With the reveal of Pathfinder RPG: Bestiary 6's fiendishly ferocious cover last week, the time is finally right to start looking INSIDE of this book... or should I say the STARS are right? Because yes indeed we've got three more of Lovecraft's Great Old Ones appearing in this book. In fact, one of the recurring themes you'll notice right away (it's right there on the cover) is that we're including more statistics for demigods in Bestiary 6 than any other bestiary we've done. Now, obviously a stat block for a creature of CR 26 to CR 30 in power isn't going to be useful for every game, but that's not the only way to use a demigod in your game. These are foes not only intended to be the end bosses for full-on mythic campaigns, but movers and shakers for multiple campaigns. Demigods work best when they're NOT just stacks of hit points for your players to deplete... but printing statistics for them helps to quantify in a player's mind just how powerful they really are. In addition, each demigod entry is fully supported with rules for how their worshipers function, including information on cleric domains, subdomains, and favored weapons. We've also added a new appendix to this bestiary at the very end that reprints several domains and subdomains that have never before been printed in the RPG line, making it easier than ever to play a character who wants to use powers from the Scalykind domain or the Revelry subdomain, for example.

But enough about that. The point of this blog (and the next several to come over the following weeks) is to show off some art!

In Bestiary 6, we've got 4 categories of demigod represented—archdevils, empyreal lords, Great Old Ones, and the Horsemen of the Apocalypse. We've also got representation from the next tier down—so called "quasi deities" like qlippoth lords or the verdant Green Man. I've chosen three of these to illustrate below, focusing on new illustrations for each: the archdevil Baalzebul, the aforementioned Green Man (of which there are multiples—some neutral, some good, and some evil), and Tawil at'Umr.

Illustrations by William Liu, David Melvin, and Will O'Brien

Actually, that last one's a somewhat unusual case. As an avatar of Yog-Sothoth, Tawil at'Umr has never really been quantified as a Great Old One before, but the Lovecraft mythos are nothing if not mutable and accommodating. And rather than invent a brand new category of demigod, I decided that this eldritch master of time and space would work best in the Great Old One category. He (she? they?) certainly fits into the category, rules-wise, with the ability to kill you in your dreams only to immediately reincarnate you into a new body on another world, or the power to hurl those who gaze upon its true form into their own permanent microcosms. Tawil at'Umr was first introduced to the world in "Through the Gates of the Silver Key" by H. P. Lovecraft and E. Hoffmann Price. In the story, the entity is referred to as 'Umr at-Tawil, but in Bestiary 6 I decided to shift the name around a little to match Chaosium's preferred (and more grammatically correct when one interprets the name as being inspired by the Arabic language) version used in their Call of Cthulhu RPG, but just like all of these mythos monstrosities, changes to names or roles in world likely won't matter if your character decides to throw down against them. Tawil at'Umr is probably the toughest monster in the book, and in fact, might be the toughest monster we've ever statted up in a bestiary. He's "only" CR 30, but as an avatar of Yog-Sothoth, killing it isn't gonna stop it. From the Great Old One's Immortality entry in it's stat block:

"If Tawil at'Umr is killed, Yog-Sothoth can create a new avatar immediately. The replacement Tawil at'Umr typically does not reappear where it was killed, and it usually does not seek revenge against those who slew its predecessor. Usually."

James Jacobs
Creative Director

That Notorious Haunter of the Holidays

Friday, December 23, 2016

Illustration by David Melvin

Krampus has nabbed the Publisher Preview! Stay tuned for updates on miniatures and more after the holidays!

Halloween Monster Movie Playlist

Wednesday, October 21, 2015

For those of you that are big fans of monsters like me, paging through a bestiary is always a delight. While we pull many of our devious and dangerous creatures from folklore, we also draw from pop culture from time to time. Many of us here are fond of horror movies (and monster movies), and it's no small surprise that a number of our monsters are inspired by the movies we so love.

As a Halloween treat, here's a list of ten monsters from our bestiaries that owe part of their origin to the silver screen. For this list I tried to stick to influences that were strictly movie-based instead of things from folklore that happen to be the monstrous stars of horror movies, otherwise this list would be full of vampires, werewolves, flesh golems, ghosts, and even leprechauns (oh, come on... you know you've seen at least one of the Leprechaun movies).

And now for our feature presentation...

• Augur Kyton (Bestiary 3) Phantasm (1979)
• Body Thief (Bestiary 4) Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956, 1978)
• Carnivorous Blob (Bestiary 2) The Blob (1958, 1988)
• Deadly Mantis (Inner Sea Bestiary) The Deadly Mantis (1957)
• Hungry Fog (Bestiary 3) The Fog (1980, 2005)
• Immortal Ichor (Bestiary 4) Prince of Darkness (1987)
• Mogaru Kaiju (Bestiary 4) Godzilla (various; 1954-2014)
• Weedwhip (Bestiary 4) Day of the Triffids (1963)
• Wickerman (Bestiary 4) Wickerman (1973, 2006)
• Xenopterid (Bestiary 4) Mimic (1997)

Illustrations by Ryan Portillo, Joshua Meehan, David Melvin, and Eric Belisle

Whether you're handing out candy or rolling dice or watching a scary movie or going out with your fiends, we hope you have a creepy Halloween!

Adam Daigle
Developer