| UnDruid |
When I first read this post, I literally thought it was about me. My group is in the same situation, and I’m “that guy” in our group. I want to be excited about this game so that I won’t hold back the rest of the group, but there just isn’t a single class that looks even remotely interesting to me.
I thought it might be helpful if I shared my perspective in the event that your friend and I have overlapping opinions. At the very least, it might give you some insight you can use in your situation.
1) There is a significant difference between enjoying Sci-Fi being portrayed by professional actors and being scripted by professional writers with all the special effects to go along with it, and role playing Sci-Fi. Don’t expect someone to automatically love a Sci-Fi RPG just because they like Star Wars.
2) There appears to be significantly less diversity between the classes in Starfinder than in Pathfinder (or similar IP’s). My understanding is that everyone is responsible for being reasonably proficient with a firearm and contributing directly to damage, even the party buffers, casters and healers. That doesn’t sound dissimilar from running a pathfinder party with 5+ archers.
3) This is the big one for me: It’s very easy to understand and immerse oneself in a world with significantly less technology than the world in which we, the players, live. The reverse however, is not true. It can be very challenging to actively participate and role play in a game world you do not understand. There is nothing worse in a role playing game than sitting there not participating because you don’t know how to contribute.
tl:dr
If he isn’t excited about Sci-Fi RPG’s, but enjoys RPG’s in general, he is probably having trouble role-playing in a Sci-Fi setting. That can be a hard thing to admit to the group at large since nobody wants to lose face and the usual response is “OMG, but you like <insert Sci-Fi here>.” Don’t try to convince him that he’s “wrong” because the game does have fantasy elements and needs to “give it a chance”, because that would set you both up for failure. Help him come up with a character concept that allows him to feel comfortable and participate instead of being left behind. Possibly consider adding in encounters/situations/challenges specifically designed to make him (the player, not the character) feel like he’s contributing.