Starfinder GM Core

Announced for September! Product images and descriptions are not final and are subject to change. :)

Nice! And Alien Core!

This guy evokes Grand Admiral Thrawn if he was Azlanti. I love it!

I'm interested to know how different the setting section in this is from Galaxy Guide.

Are the general guidelines & advice identical to the Pathfinder GM Core? I've noticed some difference such as "Cinematic Starship Combat" but as for most of everything else, is there going to be a lot of overlap?

Are the general guidelines & advice identical to the Pathfinder GM Core? I've noticed some difference such as "Cinematic Starship Combat" but as for most of everything else, is there going to be a lot of overlap?

Hey there, Yrrej86! I asked the team, and they said there's a bit of overlap, but a lot of the material is new. Subsystems like Victory Points and Chases remain the same, with some added Starfinder examples and advice for running a scifantasy game, but there are entirely new sections as well that deal with things like hacking, cinematic starship combat as you mentioned, time travel and mixing Pathfinder/Starfinder content, new futuristic vehicles, and more!

Yrrej86 wrote:

Are the general guidelines & advice identical to the Pathfinder GM Core? I've noticed some difference such as "Cinematic Starship Combat" but as for most of everything else, is there going to be a lot of overlap?

Hey there, Yrrej86! I asked the team, and they said there's a bit of overlap, but a lot of the material is new. Subsystems like Victory Points and Chases remain the same, with some added Starfinder examples and advice for running a scifantasy game, but there are entirely new sections as well that deal with things like hacking, cinematic starship combat as you mentioned, time travel and mixing Pathfinder/Starfinder content, new futuristic vehicles, and more!

I appreciate this, thank you! The mixing Pathfinder/Starfinder content seems intriguing.

I appreciate this, thank you! The mixing Pathfinder/Starfinder content seems intriguing.

You're very welcome, and we hope you like it!

It is 1000% what the majority of the SF1e games I've run have involved. Turns out sinspawn don't react well to directed energy weapons or 12-gauge slugs.

We never managed to get to the point of if a dragon could shrug off vehicle mounted railguns but that was definitely in the plans.

I just noticed something. The print versions of the Starfinder 2e core books is 10 dollars more than the Pathfinder 2e Core books. I guess Paizo's done holding the line on the Core for this new system? I'm not gonna say it's not understandable but it is disappointing. It won't affect me personally because I intend to purchase PDFs but keeping the prices low on the entry level books always struck me as a really great move for letting people get into the system easier, something I'd argue Starfinder needs more than Pathfinder did.

I just noticed something. The print versions of the Starfinder 2e core books is 10 dollars more than the Pathfinder 2e Core books. I guess Paizo's done holding the line on the Core for this new system? I'm not gonna say it's not understandable but it is disappointing. It won't affect me personally because I intend to purchase PDFs but keeping the prices low on the entry level books always struck me as a really great move for letting people get into the system easier, something I'd argue Starfinder needs more than Pathfinder did.

Over the last two months, printing expenses jumped more than 50%. I hate saying it, but this is probably what keeping prices low looks like now.

do preorders get a PDF copy as well?

do preorders get a PDF copy as well?

They do not, no.

do preorders get a PDF copy as well?

Pre-ordering does not grant you a PDF, but you can get a PDF by subscribing to the Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscription line!

Will there be a pocket edition of this one?

Will there be a pocket edition of this one?

There will be, yes!

Will the pdf be available for subscribers for this when their order ships?

Looking into description of GM core, and contents of Player core there is a question.
Will be there rules for building spaceships in GM core? because as i understand it should be in Player Core, but it's not there.

Starship combat rules similar to 1e will not be in either Core book (they're earmarked for some future release), so I doubt there will be starship building rules either since those were pretty tied to the combat rules in 1e.

Will the pdf be available for subscribers for this when their order ships?

That is the plan for this, yes!

I hope that I do not have to wait another 20+ days past the notification that the order is getting ready before I get my things shipped like the past few months.

I might just decide to be done with being a subscriber and supporting Paizo at the point.

I hope that I do not have to wait another 20+ days past the notification that the order is getting ready before I get my things shipped like the past few months.

I might just decide to be done with being a subscriber and supporting Paizo at the point.

Is this a discussion that needs to be in multiple product threads? If you are that frustrated, make a thread about shipping or write an email to customer service rather than gumming up a thread for product discussion.

If it is a product that I have subscribed to and have had issues with, then yes.

How have you had an issue with a product that hasn’t even come out yet, exactly?

Is... is that Karzoug? I recognize this receding hairline everywhere! And the Sihedron kinda gives it away.

Is... is that Karzoug? I recognize this receding hairline everywhere! And the Sihedron kinda gives it away.

I mean Karzoug never decorated his forehead with Siheidron rune, that was Xin.

But nah its High Priest of Lissala, Ishmerai Ophir. Though I don't think anyone is gonna be too shocked if his secret turns out to be that he is one of runelords returning from dead somehow or reincarnated.

Is... is that Karzoug? I recognize this receding hairline everywhere! And the Sihedron kinda gives it away.

Spoilers! We will not say! Neat theory though!

Defiler82 wrote:

Is... is that Karzoug? I recognize this receding hairline everywhere! And the Sihedron kinda gives it away.

I mean Karzoug never decorated his forehead with Siheidron rune, that was Xin.

But nah its High Priest of Lissala, Ishmerai Ophir. Though I don't think anyone is gonna be too shocked if his secret turns out to be that he is one of runelords returning from dead somehow or reincarnated.

Ishmerai Ophir sounds a bit... active (staging a coup of the Azlanti Star Empire) to be a reincarnation of Krune (Runelord of Sloth and High Priest of Lissala in Thassilon before Earthfall).

This product is still missing a specific release date: "Preorder expected mid-August 2025"

This product is still missing a specific release date: "Preorder expected mid-August 2025"

Look further down. Just below "Available Formats":

"Product Availability

Preorder, expected approximately 3 Sep 2025"

This location usually has the actual street date, versus the estimate on the right-hand side.

This one comes out in September, but I'll alert the team that this info is missing from the page apart from the first comment!

The PDF release is also not listed. Is it safe to assume that's also September 3rd?

The PDF release is also not listed. Is it safe to assume that's also September 3rd?

Yes, the .PDFs come out at the same street date as the physical book. There's no way to pre-order the .PDF before the street date (aside from joining the subscription for the free .PDF), so they don't post the date for .PDFs usually.

Also, as a reminder, the "Preorder expected X" under the price is for the start of shipping to subscribers and pre-orders, hence why it's sometime in the "wrong" month, cause they start shipping ~2 weeks before street date, so if street dat is within 2 weeks of the start of the month, well yeah, it will be shipped during the previous month.

Are there starship building rules in the GM Core? I have a group ready and willing to play a new campaign that involves a fair amount of starship combat and they want to design their own ship. If it's not in the GM Core, what book will it be in and when will THAT be released?

Are there starship building rules in the GM Core? I have a group ready and willing to play a new campaign that involves a fair amount of starship combat and they want to design their own ship. If it's not in the GM Core, what book will it be in and when will THAT be released?

There are narrative starship combat rules in GM Core, more akin to complex hazards alongside the Victory Point system from PF2E. If you're looking for the more tactical starship rules and statblocks, that's slated to come out in a book called Tech Core (according to GM Core!).

As for when that book comes out... we don't know! I believe, due to the fact that Tech Core is gonna have 2 classes in it (Technomancer and Mechanic), and the fact we're supposed to get another playtest to cover the tactical starship rules, I believe Tech Core being a GenCon 2026 release makes the most sense.

Microtransaction Hell and Social Media Addiction are my favorite curses now

So... Having a bit of a problem with the GM Core (a problem I'm also experiencing with the Galaxy Guide):

I own the PDF.
I'm viewing the PDF through my browser (Microsoft Edge).
For some reason, when I open the contents sidebar, it only gives me the pages option, not the table of contents.
Any chance that could get fixed?

So... Having a bit of a problem with the GM Core (a problem I'm also experiencing with the Galaxy Guide):

I own the PDF.
I'm viewing the PDF through my browser (Microsoft Edge).
For some reason, when I open the contents sidebar, it only gives me the pages option, not the table of contents.
Any chance that could get fixed?

Hey there, Mangaholic13! I just re-downloaded the file to see if I could replicate your issue here, and I opened it in Microsoft Edge as you did, and the table of contents showed up immediately. I was also able to view the table of contents in Firefox when selecting the "Document Outline" view option as always! This means it's not an issue with the file since it is actually viewable at all and does exist, so I'm not sure what issue you're having! Could be the browser? Can you reach out to Customer Service at customer.service@paizo.com so you can send the some screenshots and they can better figure out what's happening in your specific situation?

Mangaholic13 wrote:

So... Having a bit of a problem with the GM Core (a problem I'm also experiencing with the Galaxy Guide):

I own the PDF.
I'm viewing the PDF through my browser (Microsoft Edge).
For some reason, when I open the contents sidebar, it only gives me the pages option, not the table of contents.
Any chance that could get fixed?

Hey there, Mangaholic13! I just re-downloaded the file to see if I could replicate your issue here, and I opened it in Microsoft Edge as you did, and the table of contents showed up immediately. I was also able to view the table of contents in Firefox when selecting the "Document Outline" view option as always! This means it's not an issue with the file since it is actually viewable at all and does exist, so I'm not sure what issue you're having! Could be the browser? Can you reach out to Customer Service at customer.service@paizo.com so you can send them some screenshots and they can better figure out what's happening in your specific situation?

I created a support ticket in Customer support. Sent screenshots, alongside one of my Player Core pdf to show what they appear to be missing.

I created a support ticket in Customer support. Sent screenshots, alongside one of my Player Core pdf to show what they appear to be missing.

Should I also email them?

Nope, you've done great! They'll get back to you when they can as they're a small team of three! Thank you for doing this so we can better help you!

The link to the GM Core pocket edition on this page is broken. It looks like there's some stray quotation marks messing things up.

The link to the GM Core pocket edition on this page is broken. It looks like there's some stray quotation marks messing things up.

Thank you for pointing this out! I'll send it to the team!