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Wow. Amiri went from Iconic to Ironic overnight. The implication here is that only familiar fantasy-barbarian archetypes like Conan the Cimmerian are allowed to be tall, strong, and fierce -- and to look impressive while doing so.
I feel the same way, I suspect. One of the things which makes Starfinder so popular with myself and my players is that the Starfinder setting presents itself as a technologically-flavored setting, where magic exists as a kind of "parallel power structure" existing alongside tech. For us, this makes Starfinder science-fantasy more akin to Star Wars (with magic swapping in for the Force) than most of the tabletop science-fantasy rpgs which have come before -- which typically felt like "D&D in Space" (Spelljammer, Dragonstar, et al). As you suggest, this Adventure Path reads like somebody's fantasy Pathfinder adventure (an efreeti invasion of the prime plane)transplanted into the Starfinder setting. The technological flavor of Starfinder's setting seems backgrounded to mere window-dressing here to allow the high-fantasy shenanigans to take center stage. This is the first Starfinder adventure product I'm likely to pass on buying or running. I think I'll wait to see what the reviews have to say this time.
That seems like a pretty good way of doing it, and honestly I feel that should be the standard way of doing it. I honestly love what this thread has done. This has become more than just a simple discussion on rules or an "emulation", it is a getting back to why we play the game, in a sense. We play for the adventure. We play because we have these characters in our heads waiting to get out. It reminds me of my first character. He was a dwarven cleric lovingly named Rag. It was so much fun to be on adventure...fighting dragons, solving puzzles, meeting new players who share the same love of the game I do. Do you guys remember your first character, no matter what the edition was? I haven't played a dwarf since then...I think I might roll one up. At the end of the day...its not about that +2 bonus or that magic longsword you just found in the lich's horde...it's about the fun and adventure! I feel like a little kid again... I think you've just hit on the secret of the old-school gaming style for many of us 1e vets: It was about making sure the action and the fun were maintained, in spite of (or, sometimes, even in opposition to) what the incomplete rules set said. The rules were your guide, but never your master. If you're looking for a key to the ambient feel or vibe of those 1e adventuring days, there's an inexpensive little PDF game book called "The Dungeon Alphabet" by Michael Curtis -- available in all the usual places -- which might give you some style inspirations ... ... but you've already hit on the main strength of the old school style (fun > whatever the rules say) so you certainly don't need the book. Good luck with your game! 4th
I had the same problem with Shymalan's "Unbreakable" -- ten minutes in, and I knew the twist. I didn't want to know it -- but I did. I remember sitting in the theater thinking "Oh, no -- it _can't_ be that, can it? I can't be the only guy on the planet who reads super-hero comics, and knows where Sam Jackson fits into all of this, can I? But I called it, and I had to sit through the entire film like I'd already seen it.
I just wanted to say how impressed I am that this thread has gone on for as long as it has, and yet, everyone has managed to remain intelligent, articulate, and civil even as some of the most volatile topics of our time (faith, atheism, politics, Islam, American foreign policy, the Middle-Eastern situation)are discussed at length. Not only does this discussion continue to take the high ground, there's even room made for humor. You could certainly teach the rest of the internet, and what passes for the media these days, a thing or ten.
Thanks for solving the mystery of Steven Kurtz's disappearance from rpg writing. I, too, loved everything I saw by him, and I often wondered where and why he vanished. My own web searches turned up nothing helpful, so I'm happy to finally know. I managed to track down another "vanished" writer I liked from that general time-frame -- David Eckelberry. While Kurtz was my favorite of the two, I always felt Eckelberry was solid and reliable, even if he didn't always impress me as consistently as Kurtz did. Turns out Eckelberry has been working as a producer on the Dungeons & Dragons Online MMORPG for a while now ... Thanks again, 4th |
