In the wake of the upheaval to interstellar travel caused by the galaxy-wide Drift Crisis, countless new worlds await exploration by eager and opportunistic starfarers. Ports of Call, the latest hardcover resource for the Starfinder Roleplaying Game, presents 10 highly detailed spaceports and settlements across all of space, from Drifter’s End on Absalom Station to the rebuilt megacity of Izadamar in the Scoured Stars to the to the wonders of the theme-park planet of Golarion World! Other featured locales include a collection of warships called the Bastion that protects against the insectile hordes of the alien Swarm or the starship port of Skydock on Verces. Each location provides area maps, regional overviews and customs, local character options like equipment and spells, copious adventure hooks, and more, offering a huge selection of interesting sites for stopovers or long-term stays.
Along with all this, Ports of Call also features:
An overview and poster-sized map of the Starfinder galaxy.
New rules for easier and faster hyperspace travel along Drift Lanes, a new phenomenon coming out of the Drift Crisis
Four new player character species, including giants, sentient oozelike selamids, the gaseous thyrs, and the reptilian xulgaths of Lost Golarion.
Expanded downtime rules, new starship options, a cargo subsystem, new NPCs, a score of new side job adventures, and much more!
Written by: Kate Baker, Brian Bauman, Jessica Catalan, John Compton, John Curtin, John Feil, Sen H.H.S. Joan Hong, Jenny Jarzabski, Jason Keeley, Dennis Muldoon, Hilary Moon Murphy, Chesley Oxendine, Emily Parks, Joe Pasini, Jessica Redekop, Paul Scofield, Shay Snow, Kendra Leigh Speedling, Alex Speidel, Jason Tondro, Andrew White, Shan Wolf, and Isis Wozniakowska
Four new player character species, including giants, sentient oozelike selamids, the gaseous thyrs, and the reptilian xulgaths of Lost Golarion.
Interesting how selamids are getting a reprint. I suppose it's safe to assume the other Dead Suns species aren't going to be updated in the combined version?
Also, playable giants? I'm very interested to see how those work but it's definitely a niche that isn't being served.
My gut tells me (i.e. if precedent holds) it'll be the Galactic Trade rules from Fly Free or Die, possibly revised and/or expanded to a slight degree.
Tondro said that the original design doc was a lot longer than what the page count in FFoD allowed for. If it's an expanded reprint I'll certainly be happy because I love the system and would love to see more done with it.
Wow, four new species to play with. And the best for me, the whole map of the galaxy!! At least :) Can't wait for the book.
Just a simple question, is the map going to be present inside the book with a bit of explanation of the different regions/empires/factions?? That would be awasome.
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber
So, obviously I'm super thrilled we're going to be getting a galaxy map for Starfinder (like, super thrilled), but, guilty admission, possibly my most favorite thing announced just now for this book is playable Xulgaths. I've been playing a shapeshifting Astrazoan who switches between alternate identities, the most frequent of which being this undead xulgath named Father Eroboam. I've had so much fun with this character, and getting a little rules and lore guidance for them is going to be so nice! Never expected these little buddies to get the spotlight like this, or even make an appearance.
I seriously can't wait to get my hands on this book. Drift Crisis has been an absolute blast so far, and we're still on book one! Quality of Starfinder books lately feels like it's hitting renaissance! I only wish I was GMing so I could read the APs all the way through myself. Seriously, thanks for the awesome toys, Starfinder devs! You people are the best.
Four new player character species, including giants, sentient oozelike selamids, the gaseous thyrs, and the reptilian xulgaths of Lost Golarion.
Interesting how selamids are getting a reprint. I suppose it's safe to assume the other Dead Suns species aren't going to be updated in the combined version?
Also, playable giants? I'm very interested to see how those work but it's definitely a niche that isn't being served.
Sidenote, I suspect this is because they figured out they should introduce/detail ooze species then realized they could expand on species that already exists in starfinder
My gut tells me (i.e. if precedent holds) it'll be the Galactic Trade rules from Fly Free or Die, possibly revised and/or expanded to a slight degree.
Tondro said that the original design doc was a lot longer than what the page count in FFoD allowed for. If it's an expanded reprint I'll certainly be happy because I love the system and would love to see more done with it.
Ug. I was hoping for a slightly more realistic cargo system. Starfinder cargo capacity is hilariously tiny; the largest crb starfinder freighter would have trouble filling an average Target. Any Amazon warehouse probably does more business in a single day than an entire colony freighter.
Pretty small annoyance, all things considered, but it takes me out of the game every time I come across it.
So, have you seen a 40' fuel tanker truck or railcar?
That has an equal cargo capacity as one of the tankers starships. Heck, let's be generous and assume a tanker can haul double that, that one of these 40' tank cars is equal to a single cargo hold. But going off the capacity of cargo holds as described in the CRB, you aren't fitting much more than that.
It's a game, not a simulator, so this is definitely not something I would want them to prioritize over game mechanics, but like I said it takes me out of the game every time I think about it.
Edit: All that would take to make me happy is some descriptive text that bays get bigger as your ship does, so the capacity of a large bay is twice that of a small bay, or something like that. No real need to put rules text on it, but adding something to this chart would be a good place to do so:
"And after I made all those Path--er--Starfinders do all that cover work to obscure my true home world evillaugh.exe: NOT FOUND!Majesticevilpose: NOT FOUND!"
PZO7121 Starfinder Ports of Call has been finalized!
Back cover text:
AT HOME IN THE STARS
Every galactic adventurer needs a place to call home—even if only until their starship is fueled for the next journey. Explore 10 major port cities full of adventure and intrigue, from Drifter’s End on Absalom Station, to the chasm city of Precipice on distant Apostae, to the theme park planet of Golarion World. Learn about smaller ports as well, like the collection of warships known as Bastion that protects against the Swarm or the starship port of Skydock on Verces. Along with all this, Ports of Call also features:
— A map of Desna’s path, the Starfinder Galaxy.
— Loads of player options, including four new species.
— Expanded downtime rules, new starship options, a cargo subsystem, new NPCs, side job adventures, and much more!
Maybe I missed it, but will there be info on creating your own port-of-call?
In addition to the settlement design guidelines on pages 405–407 of the Core Rulebook, this book explores four different roles a settlement might take for your campaign: Gateway, Destination, Resource, and Base.
I'm curious if this book also talks about Drift Courier Network, because that is other thing of Drift Crisis conclusions articles from the book I want to come true :'D Because it really is silly how hard it is to send communications to nearby worlds