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I let my group know that I wanted to run Starfinder.
Several people seem really excited.
However, one player is not excited.
He likes watching various sci-fi films/shows, but he doesn't like sci-fi RPGs.
I am trying to get him to see the fantasy in Starfinder and to get him more excited so he can have fun and enjoy the game as much as everyone else when I run it.
I don't want to run the game and have a player not having fun, etc.
Any thoughts here to help get him more interested in it? He prefers D&D/Pathfinder/3.5 fantasy over anything else.
Thanks.
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Have you asked him what he does not like about sci-fi rpgs? Are there specific problems to address?
Did you ask them to suck it up, take one for the team, and try to have an open mind., :-)
Are the others not going to play if he doesn't want to?
or asked another way:
Do you have to have him play with your group?
My brothers are the same way.
They'd still be playing second edition if I didn't bring my pathfinder books to holidays to show them off. :-)
I don't get it, personally.
Maybe they won't be unhappy after giving it a try. :-)
I guess I might point out the stuff that's fun for him, Technomancer, Mystic, readily available magic items, the simplified rules, the legacy races at the back.
That sort of thing.
I truly hope it works out, good luck!
Also, maybe come up with a system where you alternate between sci-fi and fantasy.
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I don't think that convincing beforehand will do much to change whether he enjoys the game or not. I would recommend a gentle push toward one of the more fantasy type classes (solarian, technomancer, or mystic), whichever is most like his favorite fantasy classes.
I have subtly pointed out things like that.
He did say he is willing to give it a shot for the team. I just don't want an unhappy player. That can lead to issues down the line.
If you don't want him to be unhappy, let him decide. Even if he quits the campaign after a session, there is still a chance he might be loosely engaged, such as watching, enjoying the stories about the sessions or eating with you before / afterwards. But this is up to him.
I know your sitation, to some extent - one of my best friends dropped out of Pathfinder when I switched campaign. And I had to accept that the best chance to get him back is to not push the topic...
Maybe if HE were playing a pure fantasy character, that might be good enough? You could let him play a Pathfinder character who was frozen in ice (or some similar trope) and comes back to life in the future. There's 3rd Party conversions for PF classes.
He could play a mystic with a plasma sword?
Most PF like class is the mystic.
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This is the reason I end up in multiple groups at times.
My current 5e group are happy to try a one shot, but the general consensus is they'll stick with fantasy thanks.
I fully expect to be playing at my FLGS when they get Starfinder up and running.
What's particularly hRd for me is I'm the GM normally, but I want to actually play a character this time around. Getting GMs is not easy
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Have you tried waving your hand in front of him and calmly saying: "You want to play Starfinder..."?
That's how I got my regular players to bring me treats every week... and also to ignore the droids they were clearly looking for.
Are you running Dead Suns or home brewing your campaign? If you're willing to put the work in to homebrew something, you could get his input for a Starfinder campaign idea that excites him. Maybe something like exploring the depths of Drow-controlled Apostae, or a campaign centered around the Drift and it's impact on the outer planes. Maybe something that looks into what happened to all the missing Pathfinder God's or even Golarion itself.
If he's not interested in the setting maybe you can get him interested in the story.
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As someone who hasn't gone outside the genre as well in 20 years and was also content with second edition material (still so much left worth playing) I enjoyed Starfinder a great deal at Gencon. On the rules side it does not take much effort. Maybe he'd be down for trying Skull and Shackles or Kingmaker using Starfinder rules?
I have no time to convert either of those to Starfinder.
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Are you running Dead Suns or home brewing your campaign? If you're willing to put the work in to homebrew something, you could get his input for a Starfinder campaign idea that excites him. Maybe something like exploring the depths of Drow-controlled Apostae, or a campaign centered around the Drift and it's impact on the outer planes. Maybe something that looks into what happened to all the missing Pathfinder God's or even Golarion itself.
If he's not interested in the setting maybe you can get him interested in the story.
Would be my own stuff. However, I have asked him what he is interested in and unfortunately he isn't too interested.
I may just need to shelve the idea of running it for my regular group, and go run it for the FLGS instead for now.
Starwars and Guardians of the Galaxy.
This is literally the best analogy of the Starfinder setting and system. So what is it he doesn't like about sci-fi rpgs?
I'm gonna guess this particular player doesn't like rpgs in licensed settings, same as me, which leaves very, very few sci-fi-ish rpgs for consideration.
It could also be the theme. I actually use myself as an example of this.
I love watching science fiction. I love watching superhero movies. I love the rare science fantasy I see.
I hate playing in it. I was really looking forward to Starfinder, and I've found myself discouraged because they pushed magic too far into the background for me, personally. I wish that I'd known well beforehand so I could manage my expectations, but as it stands I'm going to have to modify the system so heavily that it's going to only superficially resemble Starfinder. I don't blame Paizo at all, but it was... different expectations, I suppose. And what they came up with doesn't interest me. I'm forcing myself through the book, but... the player could be like me, too. They may not like the style of setting at all. Or their dislike could be even more dramatic.
I'd say ask if there was anything you could do to make the game appeal to him. If not, you may have to change groups, or let him bow out. I've bowed out of three games so far because I realized they weren't much fun for me.
My two cents.
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He might be a person that does not like change. I have never wanted to play a new system. I also tend say "no", but once I play I generally like it.
Get him to play and see how it goes.
I've had this same problem with a player in my group. His issues were likely different from your player's, but I managed to get him to the point of being willing to give it a try by talking to him about concepts for possible characters and seeing what I could steer him towards with the available material.
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He might be a person that does not like change. I have never wanted to play a new system. I also tend say "no", but once I play I generally like it.
Yeah, me too. I don't see the attraction in learning new systems and switching around. My preference for the next game is pretty much always whichever we're currently playing.
As for any new game/system, make a mutual commitment to a short trial game before you decide whether to launch into a long-term campaign together.
I'd avoid trying to kludge together Starfinder and "classic" Pathfinder for his sake right off the bat -- I'd be concerned that would only highlight places where the crossover *doesn't* work, while preventing you/him from giving the system a solid try.
And, as others have suggested, ask him what his concerns are and maybe you can find easy workarounds. But if you all like Pathfinder and Golarion, maybe give him the pages on the races and the Pact World setting to read over: personally, I'm also generally "meh" on non-fantasy RPGs, but the flavor in the Starfinder CRB tickles some of my "fantasy rpg" nerves pretty well.
If he really hates it I'd say let Starfinder go given your group's situation.
If you do "break games" where your group does something completely different every once in a while I'd run Starfinder there.
I definitely wouldn't modify the system when I ran it to start because it becomes harder to do as time goes by where I'd have to start kludging together lots of extraneous sourcebooks that don't mesh together well.
I don't think that convincing beforehand will do much to change whether he enjoys the game or not. I would recommend a gentle push toward one of the more fantasy type classes (solarian, technomancer, or mystic), whichever is most like his favorite fantasy classes.I have subtly pointed out things like that.
Don't be subtle.