Stewards Questions!
Do the Stewards have a special task force that deals specifically with space pirates?
We've seen art and stat blocks for Iomedaen starships, and Hellknight starships. Any clues or teases on when we will be seeing the Steward's starship stat blocks/art?
Stewards Questions:
Do the Stewards act only in a Law Enforcement capacity or are they the Pact World's military as well? I'm asking because vague descriptions have been made about the Pact World's "military" but the only armed force we've seen with any official capacity in the Pact Worlds backing is the Stewards.
What do they consider their "jurisdiction"?
Tips for having a Steward character and how to use them as an NPC force.
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UPDATE!
Starfinder Wednesday: 3/20 - Chris S. Sims will be on the show to talk about Aballon!
Feel free to drop questions you may have. I'll be checking this thread until about 2 PM Pacific the day of the show.
*thumbs up*
1) Since Aballon is the prime example can we talk about the wonky populations numbers in the Pact Worlds book? 13 million humans on Aballon vastly outnumbering their compatriots on any other planet hived in some bleak robotic warehouse? Really?
2) Are Anticite taboos about some of the areas where the First Ones ruins lie a 'belief' or an aspect of their 'programming'? When playing Anticite or SRO characters how much should the idea of programming affect their motivations? Are charm and enchantment effects on these characters to be interpreted in this light?
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3) I'd love to hear about non-organic relations. Like how do anacites treat androids, or SROs, or non-sapient technological constructs? How about vice versa?
4) Since the number of voting representatives a Pact Worlds member gets on the Pact Council is tied to each members' sentient population, Aballon could very quickly adjust its population upwards if it wanted to dictate Pact Worlds government policy. Do they crank out a few extra million anacites every time there's an important vote? Sure other member worlds could pull that stunt too, creating some kind of population-votes "arms race," but I'd bet that Aballon is probably best positioned to quickly and efficiently boost its population, and be able to care for and provide for that new population, more or less on demand.
5) Tying into that: how much does Aballon rely on that sci-fi/fantasy trope that artificial life tends to form "hive minds" that find consensus super quickly? How much individuality is there among anacites, for that matter? I get that they're not the Swarm or the Borg or whatever, but it'd be interesting to hear how much uniformity of thought or purpose there is among anacites.
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Sure other member worlds could pull that stunt too, creating some kind of population-votes "arms race," but I'd bet that Aballon is probably best positioned to quickly and efficiently boost its population, and be able to care for and provide for that new population, more or less on demand.
Headcannon: the Ysoki at the table asked said do you REALLY want to get into that contest, the Aballons head flashed through the internet for a second and they decided against it...
6) Was Epoch an Anacite, or a disembodied AI like Casandalee, or some other form of construct?
7) Playable Anacites?
8) Has Anacite's capacity for artificial evolution and natural selection created new forms of nature magic? Are there Anacite technodruids who commune with technological ecosystems? What do Xenodruids think of artificial ecosystems, and Eoxians?
9) Does Carsai the King secretly control Endeavor?
10) How 'big' are the cities listed in PW for Aballon. Striving is listed as having a population of something like 152 million residents, but without a idea of what part of the map comprises all of Striving, I'm not sure what to make of that? Is it Hong Kong sized? or Texas sized?
11) Are the other 'cities' on Aballon in the same ballpark population wise, or is Striving meant to be where the bulk of the planet's population lives?
12) Any plans for an AP centered around Aballon that you can discuss? We know about DoF and AotS, but it would be really interesting to have a Pact Worlds centered AP after that that visits more of the (as yet) unexplored parts of the PW setting.
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Headcannon: the Ysoki at the table asked said do you REALLY want to get into that contest, the Aballons head flashed through the internet for a second and they decided against it...
On its first day in the Pact Council Chambers, the new page looked on as the delegates took their seats. The splendour of the Council assembling was a riot of races and colours. The page adjusted its frankly quite silly looking formal page robes, which it read in the Pact Council Page Handbook apparently traced their design back to some silly old formalwear on Lost Golarion. It looked to the senior page.
"Senior, why do the ysoki and the anacites sit at opposite ends of the Council Chambers? Aballon and Akiton are nearby, and nearly rhyme. Should not their representatives be closely seated, and share rhymes with each other?" the new page asked."Attend, new page! We do not let them sit nearstbys since the ABYB Incident. Aballonians Build, Ysoki Birth. We do not speak of it."
"Wait, what happened in this ABYB Inci-"
"WE DO NOT SPEAK OF IT, NEW PAGE."
since dan did not ask all my questions (i think they were only a few. a humble request for some small questions) i ask all my left over questions here:
Q: are the anacites themselves the first ones without knowing?
Q: how big is the biggest mass fabricated anacite?
Q: can u rly not build near the first one cities like the myriad accident showed or was that a coincidence?
Q: whats inside ubiquity?
Q: what is the biggest secret of aballon?
Q: why didnt the first ones left some kind of culture?
ps: thanks for aballon, triune and androids. they are BY FAR my favorites
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since dan did not ask all my questions (i think they were only a few. a humble request for some small questions) i ask all my left over questions here:
Q: are the anacites themselves the first ones without knowing?Q: how big is the biggest mass fabricated anacite?
Q: can u rly not build near the first one cities like the myriad accident showed or was that a coincidence?
Q: whats inside ubiquity?
Q: what is the biggest secret of aballon?
Q: why didnt the first ones left some kind of culture?
ps: thanks for aballon, triune and androids. they are BY FAR my favorites
1. Maybe. Nothing we've published makes that impossible. I'd say it's unlikely, however.
2. At least as big as a Huge starship.
3. The First Ones cities all seem to have unusual defenses, and the tremors that occurred near Myriad could be that. The majority of anacites don't want to build near those cities, and it seems likely that the Myriad incident made the Insight Array unwilling to experiment.
4. No one knows. In fact, no one knows if there is an "inside Ubiquity."
5. I'd say the biggest "secret" is who the First Ones were, followed by why they came to Aballon, and why they left.
6. Their motivations are unknown. The anacites themselves have factionalized based on this very question. And all they have is speculation.
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1) Since Aballon is the prime example can we talk about the wonky populations numbers in the Pact Worlds book? 13 million humans on Aballon vastly outnumbering their compatriots on any other planet hived in some bleak robotic warehouse? Really?
2) Are Anticite taboos about some of the areas where the First Ones ruins lie a 'belief' or an aspect of their 'programming'? When playing Anticite or SRO characters how much should the idea of programming affect their motivations? Are charm and enchantment effects on these characters to be interpreted in this light?
1. The anacite cities have atmosphere and amenities one assumes humans would like just fine. Anacites seem to care about the comfort of the people on Aballon, so it seems likely they'd make it nice for their meaty citizens.
2. From the evidence, and assuming I know what you mean by "belief," I'd say it's a belief. Some anacites have rejected this thinking. When playing an artificial life form, "programming" can be taken in the same frame as any other life form's thought structure and identity. These sophisticated AIs are capable of altering the framework based on stimuli, just like creatures with "natural" intelligence.
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5) Tying into that: how much does Aballon rely on that sci-fi/fantasy trope that artificial life tends to form "hive minds" that find consensus super quickly? How much individuality is there among anacites, for that matter? I get that they're not the Swarm or the Borg or whatever, but it'd be interesting to hear how much uniformity of thought or purpose there is among anacites.
Anacites are a varied species, and the sapient units likely have divergent personalities and thinking, especially over time and given differing stimuli. It's clear from their factionalized culture that similar machines have come to differing stances on their purpose and fate. However, I'd bet units such as the Insight Array do use computer speed hive mind to reach consensus.
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6) Was Epoch an Anacite, or a disembodied AI like Casandalee, or some other form of construct?
7) Playable Anacites?
8) Has Anacite's capacity for artificial evolution and natural selection created new forms of nature magic? Are there Anacite technodruids who commune with technological ecosystems? What do Xenodruids think of artificial ecosystems, and Eoxians?
9) Does Carsai the King secretly control Endeavor?
6. My read is that Epoch once existed within extensive hardware within Striving but now exists as part of Triune. More like Casandalee than an actual construct.
7. I'd likely use SROs.
8. These are all cool ideas, so why not? Some xenodruids would likely respect an artificial system complex enough to resemble an actual ecosystem. The Xenowardens, however, seem to distrust anacites if the information on Frozen Nelumbo is any indication.
9. No, the Last One does. ;)
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10) How 'big' are the cities listed in PW for Aballon. Striving is listed as having a population of something like 152 million residents, but without a idea of what part of the map comprises all of Striving, I'm not sure what to make of that? Is it Hong Kong sized? or Texas sized?
11) Are the other 'cities' on Aballon in the same ballpark population wise, or is Striving meant to be where the bulk of the planet's population lives?
12) Any plans for an AP centered around Aballon that you can discuss? We know about DoF and AotS, but it would be really interesting to have a Pact Worlds centered AP after that that visits more of the (as yet) unexplored parts of the PW setting.
10. I don't know the exact scale, but those cities are more California or Texas than Hong Kong. That's still a lot of people, considering Cali has a population of about 40 million.
11. Striving is the biggest city, but the other cities likely have a similar population density.
12. Can't talk about products that haven't been announced.
awesome chris. thanks for the additional effort. u mentioned your email adress. are we allowed to send u more questions to aballon, triune and androids in general?
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Nobody noticed that I added this code to the front of the stream. It's on the bottom of the card while the music is playing. lol!
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Alrighty! This took some time to work out, but Starfinder Wednesday on 3/27 will be Dawn of Flame with special guest, James Sutter!
You can expect that we'll also try and get some fun 'behind the scenes' stories out of James as well.
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Very excited for this. Basically made a forum account to keep up with the discussion.
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I'm trying to come up with a question I have about DoF that wouldn't be a spoiler...
This may be on the product page and I just haven't seen it, but I am curious about the articles coming in the later AP volumes.
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Ah sweet! James Sutter! This just made my week!
1) How long ago was Dawn of Flame planned by the development team? How many Adventure Path lines have you pitched for Starfinder?
2) How involved are you with Starfinder these days? Do you still chat about Starfinder with the development team, maybe pass on unwritten lore insights from time to time? What aliens did you write for Alien Archive 2?
3) If you were to write a Starfinder Tales novel, what would it be about?
4) Are you running/playing in any Starfinder campaigns at your table? If so, who are you playing as?
Will there be more information of other types of Planar Scions?
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Great show. Thanks for answering my silly questions!
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Starfinder Wednesday - 4/3
How did the Starfinder Team decide what to cut from the Core Rulebook and what needed to stay in for the Beginner Box?
Find out on Wednesday 4/3 when Robert G. McCreary and Joe Pasini are on the show to discuss the design decisions for the Starfinder Beginner Box!
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I'd be curious to hear why the beginner box decided to streamline the HitPoint/Stamina Point system, as well as how to help guide beginner box players to understand that system if they want to move on to to a more advanced Starfinder experience.
Thanks for your time.
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SFW Question: The unboxing revealed that six of the seven classes are represented with pregenerated characters. The solarion did not get a pregen, which suggests that solarions are not covered in the BBox rules. What was the design decision to leave the solarions out? I suspect a desire to reduce the amount of complexity for new players was a goal, but that still leaves in some of the more mechanically complex characters (mechanic and technomage come to mind).
Follow Up: Why do you hate Altronus? ;)
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Follow Up: Why do you hate Altronus? ;)I LOVE Altronus!
On a related note, are there any plans for using the Starfinder iconics for anything apart from art and pregens? I completely fell in love with these characters in the “Meet the Iconics” features a while back (incredible story with Altronus, btw Owen), and had hoped at some point we might get to see more of them, whether in Tales novels, or comic books, or even bits of short fiction like Sutter is doing for the Pathfinder iconics right now.
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Watched the Sutter episode last night. It was awesome. I for one am still in camp Platyparian. But now I also want Starfinder Tales more than anything (except a Veskarium book).
Does anyone know where the 'short stories' about the iconics he mentioned are? I can't recall seeing them anywhere.
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The only thing I can think of is the "Meet the Iconics" blogs. And there's a starfinder comic attached to the Spiral of Bones comic (both excellent).
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They were talking about the Iconic Encounters that are coming out for each of the Pathfinder iconics. They've been very evocative little story snippets. See them all here. I'd love to get some for the Starfinder iconics at some point!
I just got to watch the episode with Sutter too, and it was a very fun one. You should definitely have him back. It seems like he has a lot of interesting experiences to share. :)
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I finally caught up with the Sutter episode. How lovely to hear about the early days, and about the early creation of the Starfinder Solar system. I echo the desire of others to hear more short stories about the early iconics, and am looking forward to seeing Iseph's back story brought to life.
Starfinder tales!
★ --- ★ --- ★ --- ★
So questions about the beginner box:
1) Like Misroi, I am also curious about the choice to leave out Altronus.
I love Altronus, and he plays just fine when there isn't ship combat, but I do get admit that as a GM I 'hide' Altronus during ship combat scenarios! I really wish that the design team would give him an upgrade and offer him something to do in Ship Combat.
2) Speaking of Ship Combat, did you simplify it at all for the Beginner Box?
I am one of the SFS GMs who loves ship combat, but I have props, and I have great ship combat cheat sheets. I think that the two biggest things that Paizo could do to make ship combat more widely accepted would be to publish their own ship combat cheat sheets, and to print the ranges of ship weapons on ship statblocks.
Do you provide any sort of cheat sheets for ship combat in the box?
3) I'm curious what sorts of elements you chose to highlight in the beginner box adventures.
I'm guessing that vehicle chase scenes and influence tactices are too fussy for the beginner box, but I'm wondering what sorts of elements you looked to include.
4) What was one of your favorite monsters that you included in the beginner box?
Did you choose one of the 'only in Starfinder' aliens like hespers or glitch golems?
5) Imagine that one is 'hypothetically' an Organized Play Venture Captain who gets everything in PDF. What would you tell that completely hypothetical VC about the goodies in the physical beginner box to induce them to purchase it?
Sell it to me, Joe!
Hmm
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Finally watched the show.
Okay, okay... I'm getting over it. But like the Real Potus, I feel that Starship Combat is central to the game. It's part of what makes Starfinder awesome. I was really, really, looking forward to how you simplified starship combat and made it more accessible. However, I realize by my very phrasing here 'made it more accessible' that it wasn't really accessible in its current form.
:/
I've taught Starship Combat to all sorts of players (and other GMs) and am really good at guiding people through it and showing people a good time. But that's evolved with a LOT of practice. Sigh.
But... I loved the rest of the show. Joe and Rob are great guests, and it was great hearing some of your design choices. I am actually considering picking up a beginner box, because I have a little nephew that loves Starfinder. I am hoping that there will be a Starfinder Academy program for kids eventually that uses the Beginner Box.
So... Even though I get everything in PDF, I am strongly considering buying the box. I'm not the audience. It's the kids and beginners who love Starfinder but can't quite grok the whole rulebook.
Just give me a moment to grieve over the starships and make sad, pitiful 'pew pew' noises to myself.
Hmm
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awesome chris. thanks for the additional effort. u mentioned your email adress. are we allowed to send u more questions to aballon, triune and androids in general?
It's better to ask 'em on the forum—spam filter is likely to capture them otherwise.
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Starfinder Wednesday - 4/10
We will have the author of Starfinder Adventure Path #14: Soldiers of Brass, Crystal Frasier on the show! We'll be talking about the second exciting volume in the Dawn of Flame Adventure Path.
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Glad to see Crystal is going to make an appearance! I enjoy watching her GM, War for The Crown, on Know Direction channel.
Getting to see all these people is great as a late arrival to the fanbase.
I don't know what sort of questions I have about this module that aren't spoilery. I'll try to come up with something!
Hmm, I really don't want to be spoiled too much, but would definitely be interesting to know how the march of technology has changed life beyond the material plane. I know we've seen some of the shadow plane now, but that was always a reflection of the material plane. Seeing somewhere further removed could be interesting.
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Question 1: What are the special challenges to writing the second volume of an AP?
If the first AP sets the tone of the adventure, the second has to branch new ground, introduce or make clear some of the main threats and directions. This seems like an especially challenging place to write.
Question 2: What is your favorite thing in the Starfinder setting?
Tell us about what you find awesome.
Question 3: What's something fun that you have coming out, even if its not Starfinder?
Big fan. Will be back next week.
ack. Why is Wednesday always grab wolf for a pick up game day?