Announcing the Starfinder Roleplaying Game!

Fascinating...

What I hope is that instead of being a science fiction game using the Pathfinder rules, it will actually be set in the far future of Golarion.

Which of course opens up the possibility of time travel for both Pathfinder and Starfinder characters :)

Or doing an archaelogical dig and finding stuff last read about in one of the Pathfinder APs...

Can't we all just clump onto a spelljammer helm or ion drive, and cling together like those rafts fireants make of themselves?

...

WORTH A SHOT!

I hope the species and cultures will be fresh and original rather than rehashes and reiterations of existing tropes.

Actually, how about having a community competition on that topic, with a chance of some fan-created species and cultures making it into the canon tapestry...?

Oh, and FWIW, I would welcome WAR's involvement in Starfinder's iconic art. It's good stuff, and it would help tie the two product lines together.

Fascinating...

What I hope is that instead of being a science fiction game using the Pathfinder rules, it will actually be set in the far future of Golarion.

Which of course opens up the possibility of time travel for both Pathfinder and Starfinder characters :)

Or doing an archaelogical dig and finding stuff last read about in one of the Pathfinder APs...

Those curiosities are kind of already addressed in the post:

"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."

I hope the species and cultures will be fresh and original rather than rehashes and reiterations of existing tropes.

Actually, how about having a community competition on that topic, with a chance of some fan-created species and cultures making it into the canon tapestry...?

I don't know... with the internet how it is, we'd end up with a race of Nazi cat girls in space led by Moon Hitler.

Geekgasme! Dream come true guys! :D

More then a year away, that is awhile.

CorvusMask wrote:

Seriously though, I don't see why "space-fantasy" would mean "Same as regular pathfinder, but with word space added in front of everything". Like, that train of logic doesn't make sense to me.

And the ruleset for that already exists. It's called 'Pathfinder'.

Starfinder is our chance to clean house, consolidate all the redundant feats, traits and abilities that do the same thing (but worded differently and confusingly), clean up the wording of rules that have been argued for years, show examples that explain the explicit intent of the designers, round up 40 years of sacred cows, that still interfere with running certain plot types, throw them in the airlock and send them into the void.

I sincerely hope this is the path taken. While I love Pathfinder, I'm a bit scared to show anyone in my group 5e because I think the simplicity and streamlining done with that system will void the $$$$ I've spent building my Pathfinder collection.

This does slightly complicate the matter that they chose to rebrand accessories (like maps) as Pathfinder instead of GameMastery. Now the map names imply belonging to just a single system. I don't really see that we're going to have a new Starfinder Maps category, so any Starfinder flip-mats or map packs would be going under the Pathfinder brand.

Of course, we've had space-themed maps already like the tech dungeon flip-mat and spaceship corridors/rooms map packs under the Pathfinder brand anyhow, so maybe there's room in the PF brand to incorporate Starfinder type maps.

This does slightly complicate the matter that they chose to rebrand accessories (like maps) as Pathfinder instead of GameMastery. Now the map names imply belonging to just a single system. I don't really see that we're going to have a new Starfinder Maps category, so any Starfinder flip-mats or map packs would be going under the Pathfinder brand.

Of course, we've had space-themed maps already like the tech dungeon flip-mat and spaceship corridors/rooms map packs under the Pathfinder brand anyhow, so maybe there's room in the PF brand to incorporate Starfinder type maps.

Indeed, I don't think it's really necessary. Maps of alien locations can always be reflavored as being from other planes, underground locations, or even alien worlds anyways...after all, there are ways to travel through space even in vanilla Pathfinder. Even if some people aren't interested in Starfinder, they might still want the maps if it fits their game.

Catharsis wrote:

I hope the species and cultures will be fresh and original rather than rehashes and reiterations of existing tropes.

Actually, how about having a community competition on that topic, with a chance of some fan-created species and cultures making it into the canon tapestry...?

I don't know... with the internet how it is, we'd end up with a race of Nazi cat girls in space led by Moon Hitler.

We should probably expect Nazi and Hitler expies anyway, so those particular ones would be welcome.

Catharsis wrote:

I hope the species and cultures will be fresh and original rather than rehashes and reiterations of existing tropes.

Actually, how about having a community competition on that topic, with a chance of some fan-created species and cultures making it into the canon tapestry...?

I don't know... with the internet how it is, we'd end up with a race of Nazi cat girls in space led by Moon Hitler.

Sounds like the movie Iron Sky.

I don't know... with the internet how it is, we'd end up with a race of Nazi cat girls in space led by Moon Hitler.

I wasn't implying that the devs would be obliged to use any of the suggestions if they were bad. ;o)

Gods, there's a splash screen for Starfinder now, full of that El Cheapo preliminary art. Please get WAR in here stat! :Þ

Odraude wrote:

Catharsis wrote:

I hope the species and cultures will be fresh and original rather than rehashes and reiterations of existing tropes.

Actually, how about having a community competition on that topic, with a chance of some fan-created species and cultures making it into the canon tapestry...?

I don't know... with the internet how it is, we'd end up with a race of Nazi cat girls in space led by Moon Hitler.

Sounds like the movie Iron Sky.

I loved that movie and am looking forward to its sequel.

Too bad Golarion's moon seems to be disappearing along with Golarion itself. I read some interesting things about that moon in Distant Worlds.

I wonder if they are going to maintain what has traditionally been advantages of technology over magic: mass production and useability.

In many settings, magic is hand-crafted. In some settings that mix magic with technology, it is actually dangerous to allow magical knowledge (rituals, spells, etc) on a computer because it does not have a will. Too easy for it to be subverted. Now an AI would have a Will, so there would be work-arounds.

They have an AI god, so evidently they have some ideas of what can and can not mix. Be interesting to find out if that AI is like the intelligence that some weapons are given -- magically grafted on -- or pure technology.

I do hope they take some ideas from Titan AE -- segments of the Golarion cultures survived because they were in space when the planetary event occurred. They have already done some things in Pathfinder with various people exploring space, so it isn't that much of a stretch to expect that to happen again.

I'm looking forward to seeing Acrobatics expanded for Zero-G maneuvers.

The enemy's gate is down.

I wonder if they are going to maintain what has traditionally been advantages of technology over magic: mass production and useability.

Well, there's a first time for everything, I suppose.

PF veered hard in the opposite direction from day one; the genre source materials always show withered, bent, myopic wizards, struggling through their cluttered workshops, peering half-addled through cobweb-crusted spectacles, at their life's crowning achievement of a magical item that would establish their legacy.
"I...I can die...fulfilled!' he rasped, before clutching his heart and keeling over, under his stuffed crocodile, which he had bought decades ago as an apprentice, yet never used or understood why.

But the game rules toss that in the bin. As long as you have a pouch of Generic Magic Dust, a caster could create 1000gp worth of magical goods per day, even while bounced around on a horse or cart through hostile country.
If you were a Mundane, working your huge, immobile forge, and as long as you had shown the GM that you had collected all the correct tools to satisfy the micromanaging audit, you could craft your Int bonus in copper pieces. Double, if you could beat the Craft DC by 20 or more!

I kid, but not by much.

BretI wrote:

I wonder if they are going to maintain what has traditionally been advantages of technology over magic: mass production and useability.

Well, there's a first time for everything, I suppose.

PF veered hard in the opposite direction from day one; the genre source materials always show withered, bent, myopic wizards, struggling through their cluttered workshops, peering half-addled through cobweb-crusted spectacles, at their life's crowning achievement of a magical item that would establish their legacy.
"I...I can die...fulfilled!' he rasped, before clutching his heart and keeling over, under his stuffed crocodile, which he had bought decades ago as an apprentice, yet never used or understood why.

But the game rules toss that in the bin. As long as you have a pouch of Generic Magic Dust, a caster could create 1000gp worth of magical goods per day, even while bounced around on a horse or cart through hostile country.
If you were a Mundane, working your huge, immobile forge, and as long as you had shown the GM that you had collected all the correct tools to satisfy the micromanaging audit, you could craft your Int bonus in copper pieces. Double, if you could beat the Craft DC by 20 or more!

I kid, but not by much.

I don't think he/she meant technology as "hammer and forge", but things like factories.

Yes, finally a game to play to Gloryhammer's "Space 1992: Rise of the Chaos Wizards"!

Catharsis wrote:

I hope the species and cultures will be fresh and original rather than rehashes and reiterations of existing tropes.

Actually, how about having a community competition on that topic, with a chance of some fan-created species and cultures making it into the canon tapestry...?

I don't know... with the internet how it is, we'd end up with a race of Nazi cat girls in space led by Moon Hitler.

I am actually hoping for a cat type race....I am a huge mini painter/collector and there is some super cool cat space folks around. The first thing that came into my mind after reading the announcement was "cool, now I can use all my Counterblast figures for some besides sitting around looking awesome".

But then, I use figures as my seed for most of my character concepts.

"When you challenge a Kzin to a duel, it is not necessary to be so verbose." -- Speaker to Animals
"So how do you challenge a Kzin to a duel?" -- Louis Wu
"You scream, and you leap." -- Speaker to Animals
---- Larry Niven, Ringworld

The enemy's gate is down.

I love the reference and that would make a great campaign.

I was working for abouth two years on a science-fantasy guide to fit the Pathfinder setting 6 new classes (Commando, cyber-warrior, engineer, hacker, mecha pilot and scientist and maybe the inventor that is far from finished... XD) and tons and tons of new gear because i just LOVE the science fantasy setting and i wanned to play games with this and then... Starfinder annouce arrived. I'm just soooooo happy and i can't wait one year to see this! Gosh! May this year pass fast!!! Will it have play test of starfinder to at least have something to put on our teeth to wait?

I was working for abouth two years on a science-fantasy guide to fit the Pathfinder setting 6 new classes (Commando, cyber-warrior, engineer, hacker, mecha pilot and scientist and maybe the inventor that is far from finished... XD) and tons and tons of new gear because i just LOVE the science fantasy setting and i wanned to play games with this and then... Starfinder annouce arrived. I'm just soooooo happy and i can't wait one year to see this! Gosh! May this year pass fast!!! Will it have play test of starfinder to at least have something to put on our teeth to wait?

While the size and scope of the new game make a full public playtest infeasible, we'll be starting to bring in key community members to check it out in the next few months, so keep an eye on the blog for your chance to participate!

Speaking of, how exactly is a public playtest "infeasible"?

There's still a whole forum for the original Pathfinder beta that can be pointed to as showing it's very doable.

What's so different here that makes it infeasible?

Perhaps the game is going to be fundamentally different in some, specific ways. PF Beta was essentially 3.5-with-houserules so the playtesters were coming from a common base. There may be sections of the game they are planning to adopt a 'clean slate' approach which would be easier to manage with a small group.

Also, there has always been a tendency to treat an open playtest as an open design project. They may not want to get bogged down in page after page of "here's how the starship combat rules should be" when they really just want feedback on their proto-rules for starship combat - not suggestions on alternatives. Again, I think the bigger the group, the harder this is to manage.

Finally, despite being pretty good overall, the PF playtest created a large amount of angst and outright nastiness in places - given the growth of Paizo's fanbase since then and the probably-related growth in grar on the messageboard over the years, I imagine it would involve a pretty serious amount of extra work on the part of the community team.

Perhaps the game is going to be fundamentally different in some, specific ways.

I really, really hope this is the reason.

Me too. I'd be very happy if Starfinder is 'roughly compatible' with Pathfinder.

In my view, some of the more problematic issues that arise in Pathfinder came from the backwards compatibility straightjacket. Whilst I can see the reason for 3.5 compatibility in PF's case, I think there's much less of a reason to insist on cross compatibility here.

Yeah. I think the game has a lot of potential if they focus on "Make a good game" first and "Make it backwards compatible" second. Or third. Or fourth.

I think as long as a conversion is possible with some effort (like any other d20 system's mechanics are), it's backwards compatible enough.

Speaking of, how exactly is a public playtest "infeasible"?

There's still a whole forum for the original Pathfinder beta that can be pointed to as showing it's very doable.

What's so different here that makes it infeasible?

This was discussed a bit at Paizocon, and the difference is not in the game being made, but in the staff behind the game. When Pathfinder was in Beta, pretty much the whole company was on deck to process the beta test. For Starfinder, it's 3 dedicated people (while the design team is working on the core book, they're also working on other PF projects as well, so won't be 100% dedicated to SF).

It sounds like Paizo is keeping a pretty tight control around not having SF blow up in scope so it overwhelms the company. Not having a public beta certainly reduces the amount of bandwidth they would need for playtesting.

Am I the only one thinking this?

Longshanks in space!

Sundakan wrote:

Speaking of, how exactly is a public playtest "infeasible"?

There's still a whole forum for the original Pathfinder beta that can be pointed to as showing it's very doable.

What's so different here that makes it infeasible?

This was discussed a bit at Paizocon, and the difference is not in the game being made, but in the staff behind the game. When Pathfinder was in Beta, pretty much the whole company was on deck to process the beta test. For Starfinder, it's 3 dedicated people (while the design team is working on the core book, they're also working on other PF projects as well, so won't be 100% dedicated to SF).

It sounds like Paizo is keeping a pretty tight control around not having SF blow up in scope so it overwhelms the company. Not having a public beta certainly reduces the amount of bandwidth they would need for playtesting.

That's a good point. Cheers.

I think it would be cool if there was a smuggler class.

Sundakan wrote:

Speaking of, how exactly is a public playtest "infeasible"?

There's still a whole forum for the original Pathfinder beta that can be pointed to as showing it's very doable.

What's so different here that makes it infeasible?

This was discussed a bit at Paizocon, and the difference is not in the game being made, but in the staff behind the game. When Pathfinder was in Beta, pretty much the whole company was on deck to process the beta test. For Starfinder, it's 3 dedicated people (while the design team is working on the core book, they're also working on other PF projects as well, so won't be 100% dedicated to SF).

It sounds like Paizo is keeping a pretty tight control around not having SF blow up in scope so it overwhelms the company. Not having a public beta certainly reduces the amount of bandwidth they would need for playtesting.

also didn't Pathfinder get a pretty long playtest period, compared to later releases. I can't imagine much usable data would emerge for a 2-3 month playtest for a game with any substantial changes to the underlying game system.

Gip wrote:

*raises hand*

Gip, Mighteist of Space Pirates™, asks that Goblins be a Core Race.

Motion seconded on behalf of the Imperial Goblin Space Navy (Someday We Might Even Get A Ship!)

Dare I say: We be Goblins ...IN SPAAAAAAACE!

Star Captain Killjoy wrote:

Gip wrote:

*raises hand*

Gip, Mighteist of Space Pirates™, asks that Goblins be a Core Race.

Motion seconded on behalf of the Imperial Goblin Space Navy (Someday We Might Even Get A Ship!)

Dare I say: We be Goblins ...IN SPAAAAAAACE!

Having a ship requires reading and Goblinz has no time fer nerdy readingz! NERDZ!

Thanael wrote:

Star Captain Killjoy wrote:

Gip wrote:

*raises hand*

Gip, Mighteist of Space Pirates™, asks that Goblins be a Core Race.

Motion seconded on behalf of the Imperial Goblin Space Navy (Someday We Might Even Get A Ship!)

Dare I say: We be Goblins ...IN SPAAAAAAACE!

Having a ship requires reading and Goblinz has no time fer nerdy readingz! NERDZ!

Goblins push the buttons hard

thecursor wrote:

Thanael wrote:

Star Captain Killjoy wrote:

Gip wrote:

*raises hand*

Gip, Mighteist of Space Pirates™, asks that Goblins be a Core Race.

Motion seconded on behalf of the Imperial Goblin Space Navy (Someday We Might Even Get A Ship!)

Dare I say: We be Goblins ...IN SPAAAAAAACE!

Having a ship requires reading and Goblinz has no time fer nerdy readingz! NERDZ!

Goblins push the buttons hard

pull the lever, twist the knob!
Goblins fly to where it's starred.
Goblins can fly, shoot and rob!

I can hear the scream of poorly maintained hyperdrive saw we speak.

Mogo the Goblin wrote:

thecursor wrote:

Thanael wrote:

Star Captain Killjoy wrote:

Gip wrote:

*raises hand*

Gip, Mighteist of Space Pirates™, asks that Goblins be a Core Race.

Motion seconded on behalf of the Imperial Goblin Space Navy (Someday We Might Even Get A Ship!)

Dare I say: We be Goblins ...IN SPAAAAAAACE!

Having a ship requires reading and Goblinz has no time fer nerdy readingz! NERDZ!

Goblins push the buttons hard

pull the lever, twist the knob!
Goblins fly to where it's starred.
Goblins can fly, shoot and rob!

I can hear the scream of poorly maintained hyperdrive saw we speak.

*has Megas XLR flashbacks*

I would rather see a new version of Pathfinder d20 Modern than a space Pathfinder. Or a whole new setting, not one with the same setting, even if it is set many years in the future. I like a science-fantasy game, and that's what I'm running now, but basing it in the same star system as the default Pathfinder system just doesn't interest me.

You'd be able to do a 21st century tech world if you wanted to. That's the beauty of it. You will already know what's possible with technology according to stock Starfinder rules; antique technology will merely be more expensive, less effective, made of inferior materials, heavier or more bulky, harder to mass-produce, etc. Whatever the "PF Modern" world can build that will improve on "PF Classic" gear, it will always be substantively inferior to the similar technology of Starfinder. If it weren't, it could stay competitive with current Starfinder gear and would still be in widespread use.

So in a pre-stellar society you would see better, advanced firearms with repeaters being the norm. But still inferior to firearms powered by energy cells or self-recharging quantum-foam modules.

Personally I would be pleased to see Starfinder incorporate firearms combat tricks (double tap, burst fire, full auto, strafe) as combat maneuvers with a CMB vs CMD format.

Sounds interesting - how about including the races from Alternity?

Sounds interesting - how about including the races from Alternity?

My all-time favorite game. I'm pretty sure I'll use the Star*Drive setting for Starfinder. No way they're going to put out a better setting than that one.

My all-time favorite game. I'm pretty sure I'll use the Star*Drive setting for Starfinder. No way they're going to put out a better setting than that one.

Remember that Starfinder is space fantasy, not science fiction. How much space fantasy is in Star*Drive? [I honestly don't know.]

Pax Rafkin wrote:

My all-time favorite game. I'm pretty sure I'll use the Star*Drive setting for Starfinder. No way they're going to put out a better setting than that one.

Remember that Starfinder is space fantasy, not science fiction. How much space fantasy is in Star*Drive? [I honestly don't know.]

None, other than psionics, which could be used to explain "magic".

If the Starship / Vehicle design rules are anything as comprehensive as D20 Traveller was, I am so into this! My head hurts from all of the ship and vehicle designs fighting to come out.

As far as Earth is concerned, in my campaigns, it will be the Capitol of the "United Systems Republic." I have translated every star out to 73 parsecs into rectangular coordinates. The Republic's border is sufficiently distant from Golarion's Near Space. The Republic's FTL system is independently developed, of course. Lots of interesting "First Contact" possibilities, there.

Sounds interesting - how about including the races from Alternity?

To the best of my knowledge there is no open game content version of the Alterntiy races, so they're (quite reasonably) off-limits to other game companies.

Malcypoos wrote:

Sounds interesting - how about including the races from Alternity?

To the best of my knowledge there is no open game content version of the Alterntiy races, so they're (quite reasonably) off-limits to other game companies.

Fair enough, what about PC rules for these floating brain babies of Akiton? Lets make a party of 2001: Babies in Space! rolling around the 'Verse!

Fair enough, what about PC rules for these floating brain babies of Akiton? Lets make a party of 2001: Babies in Space! rolling around the 'Verse!

No thank you?

young minds, fresh ideas, be tolerant