Starfinder Alien Archive

We will not list the creatures in the book in the product description, but you can expect some previews on the blog as we get closer to release.

I like the little Stitch aliens.

Chris, are you gonna save one for an avatar for yourself?

Et cetera et cetera wrote:

Perhaps different phrasing may be better.

What was the design philosophy that lead Alien Archive to be smaller than a Bestiary?

My Personal Theory: With fewer people working on Starfinder there are less resources to work on a Bestiary sized book. Said people are focusing resources on developing the Core Rulebook. In addition monsters from Pathfinder can be imported into Starfinder, therefore the need for new monsters is lessened.

This is definitely part of it. There was no way we were going to be able to put out a 300+ page creature book a month or two after a 528-page Core Rulebook. That said, there are some other factors as well: As you noted, a lot of Pathfinder monsters are still around in the Starfinder universe, but we didn't want to just update a ton of old creatures, so we leaned toward doing new stuff. And to be completely honest, there's also a big element of risk to doing a new game like this, and it's safer for us to put out slimmer books that reflect less of a resource investment than a massive all-hands-on-deck hardcover—we *know* roughly how many copies a Pathfinder Bestiary will sell, but until we've got some numbers on Starfinder, we need to be cautious!

I'm assuming that the decimation of Starfinder supplies at GenCon is a positive sign on that front.

This will be an early birthday present to myself.

Very glad to see more books but Paizo sort of screwed the pooch on the Starfinder roll out. Really needed to be more books at launch.

Very glad to see more books but Paizo sort of screwed the pooch on the Starfinder roll out. Really needed to be more books at launch.

You can use several Pathfinder books for Starfinder with a few minutes of convertion.

We will not list the creatures in the book in the product description, but you can expect some previews on the blog as we get closer to release.

Since the Alien Archive book will come out before the pawns do, wouldn't I have a pretty good idea what is going to be in the pawn set as soon as I get my hands on the Alien Archive book?

Chris Lambertz wrote:

We will not list the creatures in the book in the product description, but you can expect some previews on the blog as we get closer to release.

Since the Alien Archive book will come out before the pawns do, wouldn't I have a pretty good idea what is going to be in the pawn set as soon as I get my hands on the Alien Archive book?

yes, but Marco was asking for a list of the creatures in this book before you get a hand on it (basically the TOC since it's a monster book)

Oops -- I thought I was in the pawns product description when I posted that.

Sorry -- never mind!

"Over 20 races with full player rules, letting you play everything from a winged dragonkin to a hyperevolved floating brain."

Thank you ^_^ People have been requesting a dragon race for a while now.

I'm curious about how they got changed in Starfinder, because according to the lore, the dragonkin DNA-engineered themselves to make themselves... smaller, or Medium.

"Over 20 races with full player rules, letting you play everything from a winged dragonkin to a hyperevolved floating brain."

Thank you ^_^ People have been requesting a dragon race for a while now.

I'm curious about how they got changed in Starfinder, because according to the lore, the dragonkin DNA-engineered themselves to make themselves... smaller, or Medium.

I think well have both sizes, but players will only have acess to the smaller one.

Will any of these races be available for Starfinder Society?

JiCi wrote:

"Over 20 races with full player rules, letting you play everything from a winged dragonkin to a hyperevolved floating brain."

Thank you ^_^ People have been requesting a dragon race for a while now.

I'm curious about how they got changed in Starfinder, because according to the lore, the dragonkin DNA-engineered themselves to make themselves... smaller, or Medium.

I think well have both sizes, but players will only have acess to the smaller one.

Well, the Large one is a 10HD Large creature... not very practical...

Will any of these races be available for Starfinder Society?

I think out of >20 we can safely say that at least some will be SFS allowed

Terevalis Unctio of House Mysti wrote:

Will any of these races be available for Starfinder Society?

I think out of >20 we can safely say that at least some will be SFS allowed

If PFS is any precedent, there will probably be some sort of boon required to play members of these races.

Will any of these races be available for Starfinder Society?

Thurston Hillman and I have been reading over these species for some time now. While we're yet to lock in which ones will see play first and through what means (e.g convention boon, scenario boon, Fame-purchasable boon, Always Available, etc.), we'll no doubt see many of the species in the organized play campaign.

"New rules for magical monster summoning, quick templates to modify creatures on the fly, and more!"

OK, really hope for these: [planet]-evolved creature, have a template that corresponds to the planet's ecosystem... so you can transform any animal, vermin, plant, magical beast, dragon and such with one quick set of rules.

Hey, it beats waiting for 3 bestiaries per planet until you get a reasonable fauna to pit against your players :P

For instance, Castrovel has a nature-heavy ecosystem, compared to Eox, which is... dead. Castrovel could have healthly, more powerful animals, while Eox could have grunt, scavenger-like vermins.

Terevalis Unctio of House Mysti wrote:

Will any of these races be available for Starfinder Society?

Thurston Hillman and I have been reading over these species for some time now. While we're yet to lock in which ones will see play first and through what means (e.g convention boon, scenario boon, Fame-purchasable boon, Always Available, etc.), we'll no doubt see many of the species in the organized play campaign.

I'm really just hoping for PFS rulings for the People of the Stars races like Red Skinned Akitonian Humans or Triaxians (like are they Summer born or Winter born in PFS?)

Who did the cover art for this? Is there any way to get a print of it?

Remko Troost is the cover artist. Though, it doesn't appear that he sells prints online.

Remko Troost is the cover artist. Though, it doesn't appear that he sells prints online.

Out of curiosity, I always thought Paizo owned the rights to art you commissioned for covers and so forth. Did I imagine that?

Chris Lambertz wrote:

Remko Troost is the cover artist. Though, it doesn't appear that he sells prints online.

Out of curiosity, I always thought Paizo owned the rights to art you commissioned for covers and so forth. Did I imagine that?

Artist owns the rights to sell the work in medium X, Paizo owns the right to use it in any way except for selling it in medium X. Typical IP law clause.

Yeah, I'd heard that in general but I seem to remember a conversation (with Vic, probably) that Paizo pay more to own the copyright and exclusive distribution rights (for the covers anyhow). It could well be confusion on my part though.

The context was not needing to pay fresh royalties when reusing art or reprinting books.

Very glad to see more books but Paizo sort of screwed the pooch on the Starfinder roll out. Really needed to be more books at launch.

There's only so much pooch to screw, alas, and we left the poor critter in pretty bad condition as it is.

Which is to say, we do not have the resources to release more than the 8+ products we released this month. We're putting stuff out as rapidly and responsibly as we can, and October is the earliest we can get a good monster book out for this game.

I can understand if you may have wanted it sooner, but we simply cannot make it any faster than we already have.

There also six bestiaries all itching to be converted to rampage across the cosmos.

Chris Lambertz wrote:

Remko Troost is the cover artist. Though, it doesn't appear that he sells prints online.

Out of curiosity, I always thought Paizo owned the rights to art you commissioned for covers and so forth. Did I imagine that?

We do generally own all the rights to the art we commission, though our contracts permit the artists to sell prints. (We have experimented with our own prints a few times, but in general it's just not worthwhile for us.)

Steve Geddes wrote:

Chris Lambertz wrote:

Remko Troost is the cover artist. Though, it doesn't appear that he sells prints online.

Out of curiosity, I always thought Paizo owned the rights to art you commissioned for covers and so forth. Did I imagine that?

We do generally own all the rights to the art we commission, though our contracts permit the artists to sell prints. (We have experimented with our own prints a few times, but in general it's just not worthwhile for us.)

Ah, I see. So I half remembered. :)

Cheers, Vic.

Which is to say, we do not have the resources to release more than the 8+ products we released this month. We're putting stuff out as rapidly and responsibly as we can, and October is the earliest we can get a good monster book out for this game.

I can understand if you may have wanted it sooner, but we simply cannot make it any faster than we already have.

Totally understood.

Erik, how are the chances for Alien Archive miniatures? ;-)

Since the monster conversion rules are in the SFCRB I'm looking forward to running a survival horror version of the game where the party is investigating and fighting nothing but mimics and doppelganger (or the SF kind of that feel like "They Live" style aliens).

Pathfinder had the Bestiary and Gamemastery Guide released in the months following the CRB too, if i remember correctly.

Not quite true:

Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook released August 2009.
Pathfinder RPG Bestiary released October 2009.
Pathfinder RPG GameMastery Guide released June 2010.

So the two-months gap between the CRB & the "monster book" is the same with Starfinder as with Pathfinder.

Maybe june 2018 will bring a Starfinder GM Guide too. ;-)

This will be an early birthday present to myself.

I have to agree, it's going to be a birthday present to myself as well. I wonder if I can download it on my birthday?

So the two-months gap between the CRB & the "monster book" is the same with Starfinder as with Pathfinder.

Maybe june 2018 will bring a Starfinder GM Guide too. ;-)

Buy GURPS Space in order to whet your appetite for one. GURPS Space has all you need to create your own Starfinder universe.

I hope you like math...

Will this have rules for hirelings, purchasable robots, and pets?

Okay so I saw the final cover online and...um, is anyone else concerned that the cute, colorful little furballs are...shooting at us?

No moreso than goblins with Molotov cocktails.

I like the little Stitch aliens.

Chris, are you gonna save one for an avatar for yourself?

They're called Skittermanders!

SKITTERMANDER SOLARION! I WILL MAKE ONE.

Having read thru most of the "setting" chapter in the SF core rulebook, I am SO excited to see what this book has in store for us! SO. EXCITED.

Rysky the Dark Solarion wrote:

I like the little Stitch aliens.

Chris, are you gonna save one for an avatar for yourself?

They're called Skittermanders!

SKITTERMANDER SOLARION! I WILL MAKE ONE.

Are they going to include PC rules for them? I was so hiping that was the case. *-*

Rysky the Dark Solarion wrote:

Rysky the Dark Solarion wrote:

I like the little Stitch aliens.

Chris, are you gonna save one for an avatar for yourself?

They're called Skittermanders!

SKITTERMANDER SOLARION! I WILL MAKE ONE.

Are they going to include PC rules for them? I was so hiping that was the case. *-*

Yes!

They're adorable little ones who keep their babies in pouches like Space kangaroos and they mesh well with Solarions!

Also, summoning rules.

I can do without those.

I really hoped Starfinder would do away with that bullshit, but whatevs, they can't use everything they siphoned off my brain, I suppose. :-)

I have no clue how the summoning rules work, just that they're in there (quick glance).

Maybe they're more like rituals?

Like I said, whatever.

I'm exceptionally happy with Starfinder, so it's no big deal, and certainly doesn't hamper my excitement in any way. :-)

Okay so I saw the final cover online and...um, is anyone else concerned that the cute, colorful little furballs are...shooting at us?

But what are they shooting? Maybe they're firing the equivalent of the Starfinder Care Bear Stare, and they're spreading beams of joy and happiness throughout the cosmos!! (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

Also, underwater bat people.

Rysky where do you get your information from?

I got to read the books at the Paizo Dragoncon Panels :3