So I recently introduced my SciFi-loving brother to tabletop with Starfinder (set in the Starcraft universe), and the bug bit deep. His girlfriend and her own brother and another friend were interested in the RPG part as my brother described it, but wanted to play in fantasy. I told him that Pathfinder exists of course, but he surprised me by being happier instead to just ban all guns and grenades, reskin, and roll in to a low fantasy game with the Starfinder rules. His players were a dagger-using operative scout, a bow-using solider sharpshooter, and an envoy that was definitely a classic bard in personality.
I'm not sure how far you could take this kind of back-porting, but I was definitely charmed. The fast-paced rules and simpler math makes Starfinder a fine enough choice for what he wanted to do. Anyone else seen this?
I haven't seen it before, but there is definitely potential in using the Starfinder technological gear as "magic items." I might even have the players gradually find the ruins of an advanced civilization, like in Thundarr the Barbarian.
There's a novel series by Christopher Stasheff (who just passed away in June, apparently, RIP) called "The Warlock in Spite of Himself" about a space man who crash lands on a planet with medieval technology and civilization, and becomes known as a magician because of his technological devices. Any sufficiently advanced technology being indistinguishable from magic, after all. Might be worth checking out!
It felt kind of like Warhammer 40k, with the primitive planets.
I'd buy a Starfinder rules-based Pathfinder 2, actually. The ruleset is pretty powerful for fast fighting and good skill use.
I would try to convert some of the futuristic Starfinder weapons into short bows, longbows, crossbows, and a variety of exotic weapons. You could also transform the laser pistols into flintlocks and such.
Reskin works, my brother just cut the tech and embraced the "old" stuff. The envoy used a crossbow(lter), etc. I think it'd get stale for a long campaign, but for a six-session arc as planned, there's plenty of content.
Necromancy!
I am curious if he has a typed up document with his houserules. I am thinking about doing a similar thing, but I can't find anything else for inspiration and ideas.