Announcing the Starfinder Roleplaying Game!

Not sure about this.
Pathfinder started great, but it got a bigger rules bloat then D&d 3.5 back in the day.
Hope they will manage to get this under control in Starfinder, but as they already announced "downward compatible" I highly doubt it. :(

This is awesome, I hope we'll see some Star finder Tales novels in time too, that would be great.

Also, is the homebrew section gonna explode with Starfinder-themed creations and adaptations?

You had me at Starfinder.

First there was Spelljammer and it was good. Then SJ evolved in Dragonstar and it was greatly improved then as well. What wonders will Starfinder bring us? I for one am very anxious to find out.

I can keep my "SkyFinder" ideas in the freezer.

I find this to be an odd business move considering:

*Lisa is the one who pointed out part of TSR's downfall was due to self-competition with different campaign settings

*Paizo's reluctance to reprint old APs as that would mean competing against current APs

I hope this doesn't come back to bite Paizo in the behind.

TSR's problem ended being "too much self-competition".

Competition brings creativity, self competition means they get the money anyway instead of some third party or rivals.

I can't wait for this to come out. I have so many ideas.

Generic Villain wrote:

I wonder if they'll eventually add Starfinder Companion, Starfinder Campgaing Setting, and Starfinder Module lines.

Currently, the plan is that the Adventure Path line will provide all of the rules and campaign setting support alongside the adventures. Of course, if you all tell us you need more, that plan could be revised, but that's our starting point.

Pretty happy to hear that you want be halving the number of fantasy APs you put out in order to make room for Starfinder. Also pretty stoked to see Starfinder is coming out next year as well.

As it is. I've been planning on enhancing the science fiction elements I'm guessing will be in Strange Aeons (the next AP I'm running) with some tie-ins to Carrion Crown. This announcement will only encourage me :)

I am curious to see what the Starfinder campaign setting is like and whether or not I'll try to rejig it into present day Golarion (treating the space stuff as a Shadow War that's occuring right above everyone's heads in Golarion without their knowledge).

I find this to be an odd business move considering:

*Lisa is the one who pointed out part of TSR's downfall was due to self-competition with different campaign settings

*Paizo's reluctance to reprint old APs as that would mean competing against current APs

I hope this doesn't come back to bite Paizo in the behind.

It's quite possible they're foreseeing enough of a demand for 4 APs to be produced a year. if that's true, then there hopefully won't be too much issue with producing 2 science fiction APs a year, if that's all they limit the Starfinder line to. Of course, Starfinder could be a runaway success and they'll be able to support both lines of products.

Not sure about this.

Pathfinder started great, but it got a bigger rules bloat then D&d 3.5 back in the day.
Hope they will manage to get this under control in Starfinder, but as they already announced "downward compatible" I highly doubt it. :(

I'll be curious how they're going to handle the "Big Six" items. It's quite possible we'll see something like Inherent Bonuses from Pathfinder Unchained, although much more streamlined. If that does in fact become the case, it's quite possible Starfinder will be a testbed for Pathfinder 2nd edition.

How much of d20 Future and Star Wars d20 are OGL? There's a lot in them that I wouldn't mind seeing Paizofied.

Most of Future has always been OGL, you can still find the SRDs for Modern, Future, Past, and Urban Arcana. In fact, I know Modern SRD and I'm pretty sure the Future SRD are available for free from RPGNOW.com.

Most of Star Wars is NOT OGL, because of the Star Wars name, only the most common rules from Star Wars are technically OGL.

In general it seems only the settings themselves are really copyrighted, and I'm not even sure about that when it comes to Modern/Future, because things like Department 7 are setting related, but included in the SRD.

Wow... Just wow! :-)

Why can't it be 2017 already!?

You write 2017 several times in this message. That must be a typo; it's coming out August 2016, and I don't have a whole year to wait, right? Right?

Look, um... Get some friends and / or relatives nearby. You might need a hug once it sinks in.

Yay, now we can purge the xenos in Pathfinder/Starfinder as well.

Also I hope space elves are a thing, yes? I need my space-elf waifus.

I am incredibly excited for this James! You know how much I liked your Distant Worlds supplement, so I know this is going to be right up my alley.

So much potential; I may have to be home brew the inclusion of Aethera but it will be worth it. It can't come fast enough. I will be patient but I am definitely anxious to see this come through.

OMG. This can't come fast enough.

OMG. This can't come fast enough.

Some people will have to be extra careful of who they elect as President, or some of us won't be able to see/get this.

How Lovecraft-heavy is this thing going to be? That has a large and direct impact on how likely I am to purchase this product line.

Big news indeed. I'll be very interested to see it.

HOLY SHIT!

I DID NOT SEE THAT COMING!

THAT
IS
SO
COOOL!

I AM MORE EXCITEMENT THAN MAN NOW. REMAKE ME IN YOUR IMAGE SPACE GODS.

Well that was unexpected.

For some reason my first thought was jumping off one end of a ship and having the ship's gravity swing you around to the other end of the ship. But it has been made clear there are people who do not like this mechanic, including the atmosphere envelope around the ship. So I won't treat this like SpellJammer in Pathfinder. However, I will be watching closely for the aspects it entertains.

Strange Aeons will be out before this, combine that with what we already got for Iron Gods and the potential is there. Lovecraft style cosmic horror could slot right in seamlessly. I know I would make it an element of how I would run Starfinder.

Nice. I hope the core book is setting-light as Golarion never did it for me. I'm hoping for something I can use for a Doom-like game, so we can go blasting Balors with BFGs.
Also, it needs to 100% compatible with the existing Pathfinder stuff. I want to mix and match as I please - I really don't need a new game.

I'm having a little trouble processing this:

***
Simple: Starfinder is set in Golarion's solar system, but far in a possible future—one in which the gods have mysteriously spirited Golarion away to an unknown location, and refuse to answer questions about it. In its place, the cultures of that world have evolved and spread throughout the solar system, especially to a vast space platform called Absalom Station.
***

So, Golarion is whisked away? Check.
"In its place"- With Golarion not there, the cultures of Golarion have evolved and spread throughout the system? Check. Wait, what? If the world these cultures are on is removed from the solar system how do the cultures of that world evolve to spread throughout the solar system?
I can see the cultures of the other worlds of the solar system evolving in its absence, but how do the cultures of that world evolve to space flight without that world?

I can't say I'm super-excited about this, not really into science-fantasy, but I'll reserve full judgment for now.

My concern is that this will cause issues for the core Pathfinder stuff. I hope that development of Starfinder doesn't cut into business as usual for Pathfinder.

Gods, that logo must be lasered to death, sifted for rare earths, and then tossed into the local star. It's almost as bad as the preliminary Comic Sans logo for Hell's Vengeance.

That said, I'm really excited about Starfinder! :D

Starfinder Society?

-j

Mother of God...

Why must you continue to concoct things I never knew I must have?

You had me at anthropomorphic rats in space.

PATHFINDER IN SPACE!!!!! :)

I'm not impressed by the art though. Please get WAR front and centre. ;)

I guess from the similar poses (teapot arms and grellstands) that this is concept art (to hash out species and costumes), not illustration art. It's great for what it is. Don't feel bad, dear illustrator!!

The happiness this gives me cannot be properly explained...

As in my home Skull & Shackles campaign, my group just fought their way through a variation of a Spelljammer Elven Monarch ship as they were heading to the Island of Empty Eyes.

Evil glee.

Funny, in my Skulls 'n' Shackles the group also stumbled upon a seawrecked spaceship. Except, less elves, more tentacles and Dominion of the Black.

So I read somewhere that this is not going to get an open playtest. Is that true? And were there any reasons given for that?

I am not a huge fan of science fantasy and would certainly not buy the book without getting a chance to see what it's all about. I feel like there are plenty of people like me out there who could be convinced by a free playtest.

Generic Villain wrote:

I wonder if they'll eventually add Starfinder Companion, Starfinder Campgaing Setting, and Starfinder Module lines.

Currently, the plan is that the Adventure Path line will provide all of the rules and campaign setting support alongside the adventures. Of course, if you all tell us you need more, that plan could be revised, but that's our starting point.

Vic? I need more, please.

I find this to be an odd business move considering:

*Lisa is the one who pointed out part of TSR's downfall was due to self-competition with different campaign settings

This is a new roleplaying game, not a new campaign setting. Sure, it is built off of the bones of the Pathfinder RPG so there is familiarity, but this isn't an expansion for Pathfinder.

The TSR problem was making new fantasy campaign settings for D&D. If they had done a space fantasy RPG instead, they would have been fine. Matter of fact, they did just that with Star Frontiers.

-Lisa

You had me at anthropomorphic rats in space.

The art for these they previewed at the banquet (preliminary, concept art or not) was terrific. :)

I have mixed feelings about science-fantasy, but being able to play a rodent technician is a definite plus.

Why no playtest?

Will pathfinder classes be usable as well because some of them fit well into such a setting?

So does this mean we not find out about what the other planets are like in the current timeline?

How will this interact, if at all with PFS?

This could be awesome as a serialised PFS type game.

That said, I really don't want to have cracked five stars to find out I need to go crack out five more in a new universe - #notenstarGMs!

Ah, like the twist-ending at the end of a Might & Magic game...BEAM ME UP!!!

Tentatively excited? I really want this to be good but considering it's the same universe in the future I'm a bit more interested in seeing what that world is supposed to look like and what things are changing mechanically before I get too excited.

He have been playing with my group a pathfinder adaptation of an older setting called Dragonstar which was created for 3rd edition D&D. I hope you guys check it out, maybe you'll find a good idea or two in there. My group loves it.

Mauhahshaha haha, excellent!!!!!

Interesting, though I am wary of backward compatible... How much of less-than-stellar-rules-and-interpretation will it inherit from 3rd edition?

Wow, just... wow. So it seems Paizo has decided to take just all of my money.

I will probably be running a starjammer campaign far more than starfinder. I'll play in a starfinder game, though.

Wow, just... wow. So it seems Paizo has decided to take just all of my money.

I'm sure Lisa will send some goons over to your house presently.

While I'm indifferent to Starfinder itself at the moment there is something I'm rather wary of.

Publishing an additional 2 Adventure Paths per year is a bit a troubling, since A) I probably won't be able to afford it along with all my other Pathfinder subscriptions I currently have (this is mostly me complaining about not having enough money, not against the idea of Starfinder APs :3), and B) The Adventure Paths they already put out are taxing enough on the staff and resources, wouldn't effectively doubling that cause too much of a strain?

this looks great i am hoping that we can have some PFS like or associated Groups

This is exciting news. Keep in mind the highly anticipated Starfinder Battles miniature line when producing the artwork!