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Leaving Your World Behind: New Details on Starfinder

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We’ve briefly touched on the original announcement of Starfinder when it hit the surface back in May, but this past weekend I got the chance to sit down with Paizo’s mastermind of all things, Erik Mona, and we briefly touched on some details on the upcoming sci-fi RPG. We talked a bit about the ideas behind the project, how it went from an idea to being on paper, and a bit about the story behind the changes that will come to Golarion with the new system rolling out. While there’s a bit I can’t talk about I wanted to go over the pieces that I can, since I’m terribly excited for the Starfinder release.

Starfinder is set to release next year in August of 2017, which has us assuming it will be a Gen Con release. That’s not too weird of an assumption, seeing as how the company releases a new hardcover book each year during the convention. No doubt this one will have attendees lined up around the booth during all four days of the con, like some years previous.

When it comes to the RPG’s story, Erik was able to tell me about some deeper information into what’s happening with the world of Golarion as we know it from Pathfinder. In essence, the creatures and beings that were able to have left Golarion’s surface. The planet was swept out of existence by the Gods, and no one can answer why – especially the Gods themselves. Remaining in the same star system, the previous inhabitants of the planet have taken refuge upon Absalom Station – a hi-tech space station that’s nearly as large as the planet Golarion itself.

As mentioned before, Starfinder is being designed to be totally compatible with the current Pathfinder RPG. Of course you’ll have some different skills and details, but the core rules for the game will remain largely unchanged. With monthly Adventure Paths rolling out for Starfinder, I’d love to see some cool time travel involving both systems, where characters find earlier versions of themselves. The switch could also come in handy for some holo-deck scenarios much like they ran on Star Trek!

Perhaps the biggest detail about Starfinder that I took away from our talk was that the game will be released a bit differently than Pathfinder. Of course there will be a Core Rulebook that players will need to get their games going, but there will be a slight change when it comes to the Starfinder Bestiary. In fact, I don’t know if I’d call the book a Bestiary as much as I’d label it a Codex. You see, there are already TONS of enemies that fill the savage lands of Golarion. Imagine taking that number and expanding it throughout the stars. The possibilities are endless! Following this thought, Paizo is going to do what they can to make Starfinder as colorful as the ion blasts coming out of your new plasma pistols. What does this mean for the game, you ask? It means that Paizo is going to make each type of creature (or race, if you so desire) unique, and if there’s any slight possibility that it can be played as a character they will have a special section on each entry just for it. This really piqued my interest simply because that’s something I’d definitely expect from a space sci-fi RPG.

More details will surely emerge as the company continues to work on and refine the ruleset behind Starfinder. I’d love to see details on possible weapon crafting as well as vehicles and interstellar travel. I’m already a fan of Starfinder and I can’t wait to take my half-orc on crazy adventures in the deep black of space.