Starfinder Drift Crisis

Announced for May! Product image and description are not final and may be subject to change.

Damn! Somebody shut down Triune?! That…that is a hell of a feat! Also is Drift Travel gone????

Not Triune!! They’re my favorite god, I hope they aren’t dead.

25th of May is almost halfway through the year. I hope we can still expect 3 hardbacks in 2022.

Nah Triune is just having outage. Remember to turn off wait 10 seconds and turn it on again

Nah Triune is just having outage. Remember to turn off wait 10 seconds and turn it on again

That's what happens when you sub-contract your transit overhead with Spectrum Interstellar! Nothing but outages and relentless subscription calls from here on out.

Back on the rails, I'd love to see a hard lean into navigator guild concepts like priests/planar drives (SOM) and crossing space by way of mages.

Starship Operations Manual basically said that non-Drift jump drives are plot devices only.

Not interested.

I guess this will be the point I stop getting Starfinder books. A shame.

Love this!

Really excited for this book and the APs that will be tying into it!

Not interested.

I guess this will be the point I stop getting Starfinder books. A shame.

I can empathize with this because aside from the fall of Cadia I can't think of a "Shake Things Up" splat that ever did the line any good. Maybe Age of Sigmar? I don't play WH Fantasy that much. But Fall of Cadia certainly earned its payoff by having been stagnant for almost 20 years. Off the top of my head I can think of several "Let's blow things up, kill some darlings" splats that basically became the high watermark line of the series and created a huge rift between "old" vs "new" setting fans:

- Word of Blake Jihad (Battletech)
- System Failure (Shadowrun)
- The Spellplague (3.5)
- Week of Nightmares which cut off access to the higher planes/underworld (old World of Darkness)
- 2nd Day of Thunder (L5R)

And it is somewhat odd to me to make a "Let's Shake Things Up" splat in a 4 year old franchise when you aren't even done exploring what exists inside of it. I would have preferred a "The Vast" splat first at the very least.

BUT.... I trust in John Compton and Pasini to keep things on track and improve the setting with new opportunities and encounters, rather than just "reboot" things.

Kind of like how Tobias convinces Lindsey that an open marriage is a good idea "it's never worked before but people still delude themselves that it could work, but it never does... But maybe this time will be different!".

If it hasn't worked before I doubt it will work this time.

Since a Starfinder setting with no FTL travel would be very limiting, obviously the Drift must either be restored or replaced. If it is replaced, how would the replacement differ from the original Drift? There could be some very interesting possibilities here.

I think main reason they did "let's shake up" statblock is that Starfinder setting didn't really have conflicts in setting to drive things.

Like yeah, there are evil empires and such, but they aren't actively in war with any of main factions.

Its kinda like if pathfinder setting was "Every country is literally minding their own business and having zero interactions or major problems to deal with internally".

Like even post 2e ap being taken in account changes, each of country has internal story for what kind of upheaval they are going through. In starfinder? Can your really think of anything specific going on in akiton or such?

Even if the book isn't up ones alley, I don't think that's a reason to stop buying the books. Skip this one if it's not for you, if it doesn't sell well paizo will steer clear of this sort of thing.

Last couple years have been great to starfinder in my opinion. 5 new classes and more on the way? And lots of class options, great aps (I haven't played them to be honest but the concepts are great), and trying new things like standalone adventures.

One implication of the current Drift implementation is that you don't need an interstellar map, as travel time to any given destination is based solely on whether a given solar system is in Near Space or in the Vast. This is in sharp contrast to Traveller, which has an extensive set of maps showing relative positions of different stars and the established jump routes between them.

While the lack of necessity of a map in Starfinder is a great simplification for many purposes, it also eliminates the possibility for grand strategy based on the arrangement of the stars. In the current setting, if the Azlanti wanted to start a war with the Pact Worlds, a logical approach would be to set a date to send everything they had to Absalom Station and overwhelm it with 1/6 of their total forces, with reinforcements of approximately equal size arriving over the next five days. That would be a rather boring way to handle things, as the entire war would be over quickly, with a total victory for one side or the other, and no reasonably way to drag out the struggle in the way that you could with a more traditional interstellar map.

Aeon ships drift drives are attuned to the Aeon Throne through vibrant green prism aeon stones, not the Starstone.

The whole point of the Aeon Throne AP was about getting

It's never spelled out explicitly but it's pretty heavily implied that Aeon ships don't attune to the starstone.

But given that virtually everyone else in the Galaxy has Drift drives attuned to Absalom Station, it would be relatively easy for the Azlanti Empire to get their hands on them. Then the refit time for their warships would be the only thing delaying their conquest of the Pact Worlds.

Of course, it would be anticlimactic (not to mention too convenient) for the Drift Crisis to occur while the Azlanti are preparing for war against the Pact Worlds. On the other hand, if the Azlanti FTL drives still work during the Crisis, it would make the situation everywhere except the Empire quite dire.

I’m fairly excited by this myself, though cautious. I’m curious how it will all be presented, and if similar products might happen for pathfinder.

But given that virtually everyone else in the Galaxy has Drift drives attuned to Absalom Station, it would be relatively easy for the Azlanti Empire to get their hands on them. Then the refit time for their warships would be the only thing delaying their conquest of the Pact Worlds.

I've seen this kind of question asked before but usually it's in the form of "RAW what's to stop players from hijacking a freighter full of UPB's and living large?"

But given that virtually everyone else in the Galaxy has Drift drives attuned to Absalom Station, it would be relatively easy for the Azlanti Empire to get their hands on them. Then the refit time for their warships would be the only thing delaying their conquest of the Pact Worlds.

Of course, it would be anticlimactic (not to mention too convenient) for the Drift Crisis to occur while the Azlanti are preparing for war against the Pact Worlds. On the other hand, if the Azlanti FTL drives still work during the Crisis, it would make the situation everywhere except the Empire quite dire.

Azlanti starships are “attuned to the starstone” - the Aeon stones that allow quick travel back to the Azlanti capital affect the pilot, not the ship.

It’s one of those weird consequences of drift geometry not really accounted for - in a war between the Azlanti empire and the pact worlds, the Azlanti can reach absalom with a basic drift drive in 1d6 days and return home in 1d6 days. For the pact worlds forces it’s this asymmetric 1d6 one way, 5d6 the other.

The swarm can also attack from anywhere in 1d6 days and run away to hide 5d6 days away from reprisals.

The drift is a gamist mechanic. It’s best not to think too hard about what it would actually mean (especially when you consider how canonically easy it is for PCs to pop in and out of the pact worlds undetected and unmolested by police forces). similar to the economic system in Starfinder, it’s designed to facilitate stories in APs and modules, not to be analysed from a simulationist perspective.

The current setup of the Drift enables some stories but hampers others -- that would be the main reason for altering the setup, if that is what Paizo has decided to do. It is quite possible that the resolution of the crisis will be a restoration of the previous status quo.

Wow this is basically the plot of our show Emergency Power Podcast Paizo where's our cut lol

It’s one of those weird consequences of drift geometry not really accounted for - in a war between the Azlanti empire and the pact worlds, the Azlanti can reach absalom with a basic drift drive in 1d6 days and return home in 1d6 days. For the pact worlds forces it’s this asymmetric 1d6 one way, 5d6 the other.

I don't think this was ever the intent of the rules for NPC ships, but if the intent of Drift Crisis is to clarify this for those who keep insisting upon it, I welcome it.

Steve Geddes wrote:

It’s one of those weird consequences of drift geometry not really accounted for - in a war between the Azlanti empire and the pact worlds, the Azlanti can reach absalom with a basic drift drive in 1d6 days and return home in 1d6 days. For the pact worlds forces it’s this asymmetric 1d6 one way, 5d6 the other.

I don't think this was ever the intent of the rules for NPC ships, but if the intent of Drift Crisis is to clarify this for those who keep insisting upon it, I welcome it.

What do you think the Aeon stone you linked above is for?

If the Azlanti ships can already do it, why do their pilots need it?

“ Highly prized by Azlanti pilots and astrogators, a vibrant green prism aeon stone is linked directly to the Aeon Throne on New Thespera. If you plot a course to New Thespera and succeed at the required Piloting check while this aeon stone orbits you, you can travel through the Drift from anywhere in the galaxy to New Thespera in only 1d6 days.”

I already explained why above, because there was a 3 part AP that basically is rendered a pointless exercise if the intent was always for Aeon ships to be 1d6 days away from Absalom Station.

I dont understand then. I thought the point was to correct the problem. I dont see how those aeon stones are needed except in a world where the azlanti empire can easily get to absalom but cant easily get home.

It doesnt matter though. I wasnt having a go at you I just dont understand how it can be read otherwise.

And the easy travel to Absalom Station is the Drift system that Triune made available to the entire Galaxy, so it should not be possible for the Azlanti Empire NOT to have access to it. It is easy travel the the imperial capital that is (or was) a closely guarded secret that only recently fell into the hands of Pact Worlders.

I for one was quite happy and interested in something fresh and new to the Starfinder universe that can really shake things up short and long term perhaps??

New events and lore are usually a good thing for Players and GM's to hook onto, "this is happening RIGHT NOW and you have a front row seat, not reading it on yee old Intergalactic space net Drift historical blog......" LOL

I and some of my players have really gotten a lot of use that the Attack of the Swarm AP gave us as it really made the universe come alive with not so distant events effecting a lot of things one can use for backstory and reasons for the way a character was shaped into being what he/she or "it" is today in my Starfinder universe :)

From the GENCON live Twitch shows we will be getting

1 3 parter AP announced

I am betting a full 6 parter after that (I hope)

Maps

and seems there might be other things but not specifically mentioned as of yet.

And as usual some will just post no thanks and the end of my buying Starfinder products and not even give it a chance but that's par for the course these days it seems.
Make me thank my Stars daily at times for my players and GM's that they will give this a look through instead of making blanket statements!! But as we all know or should know us gamers can be quite picky, even site unseen!! Ha Ha Ha

Looking forward to the updates Team Starfinder on this, keep up the good work and new ways to expand our game system here and more than a few of us have your back :)

Cheers

Tom

I see it as any other book really, I will take it in my stride. If from further details it doesn't interest me, then there is nothing forcing me to use it in my games.
I haven't tried society play so which books are used are at my will being the GM. Thats where I see it falling, on the GM. I have played Pathfinder with a GM who bought 90% of the books out of curiosity and he personally used less then half (All those mini books mostly counted against him.) I have had one GM with the rule of 'If I don't own it, its not allowed'

One implication of the current Drift implementation is that you don't need an interstellar map, as travel time to any given destination is based solely on whether a given solar system is in Near Space or in the Vast. This is in sharp contrast to Traveller, which has an extensive set of maps showing relative positions of different stars and the established jump routes between them.

While the lack of necessity of a map in Starfinder is a great simplification for many purposes, it also eliminates the possibility for grand strategy based on the arrangement of the stars. In the current setting, if the Azlanti wanted to start a war with the Pact Worlds, a logical approach would be to set a date to send everything they had to Absalom Station and overwhelm it with 1/6 of their total forces, with reinforcements of approximately equal size arriving over the next five days. That would be a rather boring way to handle things, as the entire war would be over quickly, with a total victory for one side or the other, and no reasonably way to drag out the struggle in the way that you could with a more traditional interstellar map.

I agree with this completely. The drift travel and drift drives are the ONE thing I REALLY hate about Starfinder. There are countless periods of time when I thought-hey I have a really neat idea for X civilizaitons and would love to put them in a recently discovered region of space with their own worlds and borders but I cant because guess what? Drift Drives make making any sort of galactic map completely pointless because of Drift travel. Take a young civilization that has begun to erect its first colony on a star system that, geographically is right next door to their system and should only take a day or two to reach with other sci-fi series conventional ftl travel-but because its in "The vast" along with their homesystem it will take them 5d6(At LEAST a week up to a month) to reach even though its RIGHT NEXT to their homesystem. Also because of this there are quite a few story hooks completely unusable. Such as border conflicts-there are simply no borders in Starfinder other than in system borders and usually only 1 civilization exists in a system at a time. And oh dear I hope a major emergency dosnt befall a colony in the vast-if said colony requires on its homeworld for protection and supplies and they send a distress signal by the time there homeworld can send aid(Travel to the vast takes 5d6 days remember?) theres a very good chance the emergency will be over-perhaps pirates raided the planet or a plague struck and they needed medical supplies. Too bad. Took a couple weeks for the relief ship to arrive and everyone is dead now-oops.

And I would assume that the only thing stopping a newly Drift capable system from making a beeline for Absalom Station is that you need to do astronomical observations on your destination to plot a course to it -- so if you are so far away from the Pact Worlds system that you don't even know it exists, you won't be able to jump there until you make contact with somebody who has been there.

Are we going full Battletech Dark age now? Because I love that noise.

We may be getting more clues as volumes of the Drift Crashers AP are announced. Volume I has ships in the Drift shot out to random places. The PCs wind up in Hell and somehow get a device that lets them go anywhere in time and space (effectively turning their ship into a TARDIS, I guess?).

I can also remember "Traveller: The New Era" by Game Designer's Workshop.

They decided to shake up the setting by introducing "Virus", an intelligent program that caused the collapse of galactic civilization by making any computer equipment dangerous to use (the more complex, the more 'intelligent' Virus would become in it, and of course it had a 'Kill All Humans' attitude, more or less ^_^).

While it was an interesting new setting, it turned off a lot of old time players (like myself) and didn't really seem to capture the imagination of new players.

So the next iteration (Mark Millar's Traveller) did away with the concept and continued as if it never happened.

That being said, I think people were upset because they made a drastic change to a setting that has been around almost as long as Dungeons and Dragons itself (often thought of as the 'First Science-Fiction RPG', and certainly was to me).

If this book is only a 'Campaign Option', and not the Canon for the setting from that point on, I can more easily accept it (I could even see a Witchwarper somehow causing the players to shift to another reality where this happened, and the players working to get back to 'reality', perhaps with a warning of what could happen).

As usual, though, I will certainly pick up the .pdf file when its available, if only for the character/gear options.

captain yesterday wrote:

Not interested.

I guess this will be the point I stop getting Starfinder books. A shame.

I can empathize with this because aside from the fall of Cadia I can't think of a "Shake Things Up" splat that ever did the line any good. Maybe Age of Sigmar? I don't play WH Fantasy that much. But Fall of Cadia certainly earned its payoff by having been stagnant for almost 20 years. Off the top of my head I can think of several "Let's blow things up, kill some darlings" splats that basically became the high watermark line of the series and created a huge rift between "old" vs "new" setting fans:

- Word of Blake Jihad (Battletech)
- System Failure (Shadowrun)
- The Spellplague (3.5)
- Week of Nightmares which cut off access to the higher planes/underworld (old World of Darkness)
- 2nd Day of Thunder (L5R)

And it is somewhat odd to me to make a "Let's Shake Things Up" splat in a 4 year old franchise when you aren't even done exploring what exists inside of it. I would have preferred a "The Vast" splat first at the very least.

BUT.... I trust in John Compton and Pasini to keep things on track and improve the setting with new opportunities and encounters, rather than just "reboot" things.

captain yesterday wrote:

Not interested.

I guess this will be the point I stop getting Starfinder books. A shame.

I can empathize with this because aside from the fall of Cadia I can't think of a "Shake Things Up" splat that ever did the line any good. Maybe Age of Sigmar? I don't play WH Fantasy that much. But Fall of Cadia certainly earned its payoff by having been stagnant for almost 20 years. Off the top of my head I can think of several "Let's blow things up, kill some darlings" splats that basically became the high watermark line of the series and created a huge rift between "old" vs "new" setting fans:

Dragonlance and Greyhawk both had "destroy the current setting" events, too, IIRC.

I'll do what I always do: take the stuff I like, ignore the stuff I don't, add stuff of my own to flesh out the former. Canon at your table is whatever you decide it is.

And, hey: maybe they'll use this to finally fix starship combat? I can dream...

I’m one of the rare fans of the Spellplague, the biggest shakeup to the Forgotten Realms, and I’ve struggled to get into Starfinder’s setting. Very much looking forward to this.

Back on the rails, I'd love to see a hard lean into navigator guild concepts like priests/planar drives (SOM) and crossing space by way of mages.

As the person who wrote the Interstellar Drives section of SOM, I am really hoping to see more of those show up in the setting now that the faster and more convenient option of the Drift has become unavailable. Helldrives and Shadowdrives are really scary, but I would not mind travelling with a Chaos Sail or hitching a ride with the Church of Ibra on a Constellation Orrery.

I love the Drift storywise though! I really hope that they find a way to restore it in the setting!

Hmm

Dragonlance and Greyhawk both had "destroy the current setting" events, too, IIRC.

I'll do what I always do: take the stuff I like, ignore the stuff I don't, add stuff of my own to flesh out the former. Canon at your table is whatever you decide it is.

And, hey: maybe they'll use this to finally fix starship combat? I can dream...

Not sure about Greyhawk but Dragonlance's Age of Mortals was not received well either.

The drift is one part of what makes Starfinder unique and removing it now would only dilute the setting.
Does it prevent some stories to be told? Yes. But it also enables others which would be impossible with traditional FTL.

Instead of removing what makes Starfinder unique Paizo should instead improve the internal consistency of the setting to make better use of its unique aspects.

Enjoy the conjecture! :)

Enjoy the conjecture! :)

Tell me you have stock in popcorn companies without saying it. :D

The Drift Crisis will be a Starfinder marketing meta-event, touching on many product lines and shows. We'll be shouting out about community content makers and licensed partners who do things with it too. Very comic-book-crossover style. The Star Chamber is putting a lot of thought and love into this and I'm excited to promote it.

An extra friendly yellow skittermander wearing the tailored attire of an Abadar Corp Salescreature comes by to make an announcement. "There's popcorn available from the Abadar store! You can order it Akiton-plain, Castrovellian Chocolate, Triaxian Treacle, Apostae-extra salty, or Zo!-style (it's the cheesiest!) If you like sugary popcorn aimed for the adventurous eater, we have a deal through Olli's Option bar for sweet popcorn dipped in just about every taste you can imagine! Just order it in advance of the Drift Crisis, otherwise we cannot guarantee our delivery dates!"

Adorable. Interplanetary shipping chaos is a little "on the nose," but as usual, the Star Chamber did not know that when they started planning this. :)

An extra friendly yellow skittermander wearing the tailored attire of an Abadar Corp Salescreature comes by to make an announcement. "There's popcorn available from the Abadar store! You can order it Akiton-plain, Castrovellian Chocolate, Triaxian Treacle, Apostae-extra salty, or Zo!-style (it's the cheesiest!) If you like sugary popcorn aimed for the adventurous eater, we have a deal through Olli's Option bar for sweet popcorn dipped in just about every taste you can imagine! Just order it in advance of the Drift Crisis, otherwise we cannot guarantee our delivery dates!"

No Absalom Station Salt & Vinegar?!

Putting my vote/request for "Please don't destroy the game like Dork Age/Jokehad from BattleTech, nWoD's 'reboot', D&D's mess moving into 4.0, etc, etc, et. al."

"Now, ah, if it kinda opens up ah, starship combat so it is ah, less ah, rigid and more, ah... organic... that might er, be helpful!"

Is anyone else concerned this book feels like a World of Darkness "Here's a book to shake everything up" way to end the line?

Do we have anything confirmed for after this book?

What book will the evolutionist be in? That class strongly implies a book after Drift Crisis that has yet to be announced.

Is anyone else concerned this book feels like a World of Darkness "Here's a book to shake everything up" way to end the line?

Do we have anything confirmed for after this book?

One would think they would say if this is the end.