The goal is to not need a beginner box. The idea is that Pathfinder has limited accessibility due to complex rules so the beginner box eases the pill down and make the game more accessible. While the goal is for Starfinder to be compatible enough to be able to port monsters from Pathfinder with minimal conversion that is the only solid goal in regards to compatibility with Pathfinder because a major goal is to smooth over the system compared to Pathfinder and make it more accessible out of the box.
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Presumably, they also learned a fair bit about teaching a new system through the production of the Beginner Box. I would expect them to use a lot of that knowledge and experience in making Starfinder more immediately accessible.
so we are effectively hoping that there wont be a begginger's box and instead it is included, in a truncated version, in the core book? That is a lot of space used up in the core book... i would prefer to see a quick start kit available for use with the first AP. Anything to free up space in the core book. After all we need Races, Classes with archetypes, Skills, Feats, Magic, Technology, Equipment, Combat, Ships (hopefully with customization options, Ship Combat and exploration/adventuring chapters already, that has got to take up a lot of space as is.
I don't think I suggested that.
Its less that there would be a quick start or beginner box function within the core book but that the core book would be accessible enough that it would not need a separate product to comprehend it. In short it would ideally be as accessible as the Beginner Box from the get-go. Theoretically it can happen if it is a very streamlined version of Pathfinder's rules. Classes can be pared down to be about 4 pages each making for about 30 pages for that. They insinuated that between feats and spells there were plenty of points in Pathfinder where those options are use infrequently enough to just ditch them in Starfinder, which reduces the number considerably, especially if Occult Adventures was a testing grounds for spells that can be cast for multiple levels. (For example, fireball and produce flame could be combined into a single spell that scales based on what spell slot is used. For that matter burning hands can be in there too. We could just have a 'fire spell' that you can either touch attack, explode forward or throw and you can cover a lot of ground in fewer words.) All these sections can be easily fit into a Core Rulebook sized book if it is streamlined as the beginner box.
In regards to testing the waters before buying, there will be an SRD, so I don't think there's a real need to have a jump start product. At best I can imagine some pdfs of pregens with explainations (similar to the pregens in the beginner box) would be more than sufficient.
Oh, i think i follow now. You are suggesting a rule set simple enough for a new player to pick up and run with without "training wheels" as it were. I kind of like that idea but also worry that any system that simple wont have the detail and level of choice that i want from the game.
True. but Starfinder is set to be slow-rolled. We have 7 classes, a Bestiary line, a Core Rulebook, and an Adventure Path line and that's all that's planned. Plus that's not to say that a lot can't be done for a little. A while ago I ranted a lot about the third party Pathfinder product 'Spheres of Power', a new magic system for Pathfinder. This was because while explaining and giving tools for the magic system took a fraction of the amount of pages that it took the core rulebook to explain spells and give out the core spells, it covered a LOT more ground that most of the spells in pathfinder as a whole. Just the concept of scaling spells as I explained above would grant a lot of options within a limited page count. Heck, you can just make Words of Power from Ultimate Magic the norm and it would be sufficient while keeping spell slots. Really a lot of 'build-a-spell' or branching spell systems would work with vancian casting while reducing page count because you don't have to spell out individual spells too often.
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It'll be great if the core book covers stuff well, informed by the pacing and presentation and streamlining done in the Beginner Box.
But I'd still like a cut-down, extra-simple, batteries-included box set, with dice, pregens, a dry-erase flip-mat and marker (generic squares on one side, hexed space combat mat on the other), character/monster/ship pawns with bases, and a scenario-length adventure with a pint of setting flavor.
I get more mileage from the Beginner Box than anything else, including the Strategy Guide, when introducing people to Pathfinder. And I use the universal components constantly, even for non-Pathfinder games.
Since it sounds like Starfinder, even simplified, will come in at a couple hundred pages of rules, I still desperately want a way less intimidating box option, with a great set of basic setting-appropriate pawns and a hex map, the sort of physical necessities that can't easily be cannibalized from Pathfinder-geared stuff.
Agreed, for the same reasons above plus I have introduced many new players and future GMs to Pathfinder because of the "everything is included" nature of the set. Small rules booklet, colorful and easly understood pre gen sheets, great flip mat, dice, pawns and advertising materials. Makes a huge positive impact on a new audience/players.
That sounds great to me for a similar "everything included" Starfinder starter set; I'd pay $60 easy for it as long as it also includes a black hex star map and spaceship pawns. ;)