Q&A: Starfinder RPG from Paizo Inc.
The cover for the Starfinder Core Rulebook, from Paizo Publishing
2017 is a huge year for tabletop roleplaying games. Rich and rapid growth of the industry has ushered in a new golden age for what we all know is the greatest hobby in the world.
Or perhaps it’s a space age. With all the space fantasy and science fiction themed RPGs entering the marketplace, it might be more accurate to say tabletop RPGs are the greatest hobby in the universe.
Leading the fleet of these myriad cosmic game enterprises, Starfinder is set for launch on Aug. 17 at Gen Con 50 where the hardcover version drops, with the PDF version of following in September. Preorders are open now, so you can head over to Amazon here and get your copy of Starfinder reserved.
Nerdarchist Ted had an opportunity to playtest the game in a live stream event run by Owen K.C. Stephens, game designer and developer for Paizo. If you missed that event, you can still watch the VOD on WebDM’s YouTube channel. And in the video above Nerdarchist Dave welcomed Stephens to the live chat to talk about Starfinder as well.
Here on the website, we had a chance to pose some questions to Rob McCreary, a senior developer at Paizo Inc. and founding member of the Starfinder Roleplaying Game development team. McCreary also holds the distinction of being the first author in the Starfinder Adventure Path line (among many other distinctions in his career!). Incident at Absalom Station kicks off the Dead Suns adventure path and is available for preorder now, with a scheduled release date of Sept. 5.
Q&A with Starfinder co-author Rob McCreary
Question: What’s the elevator pitch for Starfinder?
Starfinder is a science fantasy game where you play the crew of a starship exploring the mysteries of a weird universe where magic and technology both exist.
What do you think is the draw of science fantasy right now? This genre is growing not only in tabletop games but popular culture. Why do you think that is?
Many things that were considered science fiction in the past have now become reality, so maybe adding fantasy to traditional science fiction keeps it fresh and makes it feel more fantastic. And nerd culture embraces both science fiction and fantasy, so it’s only natural to blend the two together. I think the recent release of the new Star Wars films has done a lot to rekindle interest in science fantasy as well.
Starfinder is compatible with Pathfinder, but set thousands of years in the future of that game universe. Will Pathfinder fans discover Easter eggs in Starfinder? Could you share one?
There are definitely Pathfinder campaign setting Easter eggs in Starfinder. Some are pretty obvious, like the fact that the Starstone sits at the heart of Absalom Station, but others are more subtle, like a doomed space liner named after Erik Mona’s Pathfinder character, Ostog the Unslain.
Will Starfinder have a presence in the online/live stream gaming culture in an official way? Will there be partnerships with existing live stream gaming content producers that feature Starfinder? If so are there any partnerships with apps of other technologies to enhance this experience, and/or virtual tabletop support?
We don’t have anything to announce at this time — right now, we’re focused on getting Starfinder into the hands of as many gamers as possible. We know several groups have plans to live stream Starfinder games, and we’re excited to see what they’ll do!
Will Starfinder offer the kinds of variety to gaming that Pathfinder does, in terms of related products like the Adventure Card Game?
That would be great, but first we have to make sure Starfinder is a success on its own! Of course, Ninja Division is already producing prepainted miniatures for the game, and we’re in the process of creating a Starfinder comic series as well, so we’re absolutely exploring those sorts of partnerships.
What are you most excited about with Starfinder?
Everything! New races, new classes, new gear, and on and on. But if I had to pick one thing, it would be building customized starships and starship combat. Okay, that’s two things.
Are there any ideas that got left on the cutting room floor that you liked, but didn’t pan out in terms of mechanics, flavor or other reasons? What were they?
We tried to fit as much as we could in the Starfinder Core Rulebook, but there’s never room for everything. One piece that didn’t make the cut was an operative exploit that allowed the operative to run around a corner or jump out a window and find his vehicle waiting there, ready for a quick getaway. It was a really fun ability, but potentially problematic, both story-wise and mechanically.
How can people become involved with the Starfinder community? What can they expect to discover by becoming involved?
The Starfinder Society Roleplaying Guild is a worldwide organized play campaign that puts players in the role of an agent of the Starfinder Society, a legendary league of explorers, archeologists, and adventurers dedicated to discovering and chronicling the greatest mysteries and wonders of the galaxy. People can play Starfinder Society events at conventions, home, game stores, or online, and meet other Starfinder players from around the world. In addition, the messageboards on paizo.com are a great way to interact with other fans as well as the Starfinder developers.
What will people need to play Starfinder? Just the core rulebook?
The Starfinder Core Rulebook is definitely the thing you need most, as it has all the rules you need to play the game. But you should also keep an eye out in a couple of months for Starfinder Alien Archive, which has a bunch of alien creatures to fight as well as rules for playing some of these alien races.
What is the relationship between Starfinder and Syrinscape?
Syrinscape creates the official soundtrack of the Starfinder RPG.
Starfinder reflection
Alien Archive is a creature collection for the Starfinder Roleplaying Game.
First off, a huge thanks to Rob McCreary for taking the time to answer some questions about Starfinder. He and a lot of very talented designers put an incredible amount of work into the game and as the release date nears I’m sure they’re busier than ever.
I was particularly fascinating by McCreary’s answer to why space fantasy seems to be such a prevalent concept in today’s RPG scene. As a huge fan of classic sci-fi books, television and film I am totally down with techno-babble and pseudo-realism.
But I think he nailed it on the head in his response. Writing science fiction these days is very challenging, with technological advances taking place daily. An innovative futurist view one day is surpassed in reality the next.
For tabletop RPG culture specifically, today’s story-first focus syncs up terrifically with weird arcane science concepts, too. Numbers crunching and mechanics are certainly a key component of RPGs, but putting our imaginations firmly in the driver’s (or starship pilot’s) seat in our games opens the wormhole to mashing up science and fantasy very easily.
Paizo’s dedication to keeping their attention on the core Starfinder game is also encouraging. Views on supplemental material can sometimes be a point of contention for gamers. A portion of the playerbase demands as much as publishers can supply, and another is happy with as few books as possible. I like McCreary’s answer though, which tells me the Starfinder team is putting their effort toward presenting the best core game they can first. There may come a day when a slew of sourcebooks accompanies the core rulebook. But I’m confident Paizo will do so only after they establish and refine a great system and strong playerbase first.
If I’m honest, the lack of partnerships with apps, virtual tabletops, other technologies or live stream games strikes me as a little odd. There was a the live preview event mentioned above, and I’m certain we’ll see many streamers on Twitch and elsewhere playing Starfinder, but it’s surprising to hear nothing official. That’s not a criticism. I just happen to have an interest in the fascinating aspect of tabletop RPGs as entertainment. This hugely popular and emergent slice of the pie seems like an auto-include feature of a big ticket game release.
On a related note, it is very cool that there’s an organized play element for Starfinder. The Starfinder Society Roleplaying Guild is an excellent value add to the game. Organized play of any sort has its critics, but I think these sorts of organizations are wonderful. Vast numbers of players participate in the Pathfinder Society and Paizo provides great support for it. Kudos to them for establishing a similar network for Starfinder.
To me, my space fantasy!
With so many great science fantasy games on the market already or on the horizon, it’s an awesome time to be a gamer. Some systems focus more on the science, and others on the fantasy. But all of them inspire your imagination to play games and create fantastic stories. The genre really speaks to my great love of mashups where wizards adventure alongside robots, and when your capacity for scientific talk runs out you can explain things away with magic.
I’m definitely looking forward to exploring more of the Starfinder universe. The Starfinder Alien Archive sounds like a great companion book for the RPG as well, so Game Masters have plenty of bizarre life forms to characters to confront.
And don’t worry, Rob – I’m sure plenty of operatives will come up with their own ways to make a quick escape once Starfinder hits our gaming tables!
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