![]() Core rulebook | |
Publishers | Paizo Publishing |
---|---|
Publication | August 2017 [1] |
Years active | 2017 – present |
Genres | Role-playing game |
Systems | d20 system |
Chance | Dice rolling |
Website | paizo |
The Starfinder Roleplaying Game is a science-fiction/science fantasy role-playing game published by Paizo Publishing. It is built on Paizo's previous game, the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game , both in its game mechanics and universe, but adapted to a more futuristic style than its fantasy predecessor; game content is intended to be easily convertible between the two systems. Like its predecessor, the Starfinder RPG supports adventure paths and other material written by Paizo and third party publishers.
Starfinder draws inspiration from many other science-fiction and space opera franchises, including Star Wars , Alien, Guardians of the Galaxy , and Warhammer 40,000 . [2] Paizo first released a science-fiction product in 2012, with the Distant Worlds supplement to Pathfinder. After the success of Distant Worlds, Paizo decided to create the new system, using it as a base. [2]
The Starfinder RPG was announced in May 2016 on Paizo's website and officially released at Gen Con in August 2017. [3]
A second edition of Starfinder is planned to launch by the end of 2024, with Paizo offering a series of "field test" materials available to test to players. Starfinder 2e is set to be fully compatible with Pathfinder 2e, which will allow a GM to introduce fantasy elements into the Starfinder setting or vice versa. [4] The new rules also move Starfinder away from the controversial Open Game License used by Wizards of the Coast to a less restriction Open RPG Creative License developed by Paizo. [5]
Starfinder is based on the first edition of Paizo's previous game, Pathfinder, and like its predecessor uses the d20 system created by Wizards of the Coast for Dungeons & Dragons . Starfinder shares its setting with Pathfinder, set in its far future after Golarion, the planet that Pathfinder was set on, had mysteriously disappeared in an event called "The Gap". [6] The history of the planet during the disappearance is lost to all races, preventing players from returning and interfering with previous events in the Pathfinder timeline, while also acting as the foundation of Starfinder's own timeline. Because Starfinder shares its past with Pathfinder, races and monsters of the Pathfinder setting persist in the Starfinder universe alongside new alien races from other worlds. Magic remains a part of the game's mechanics, often intertwined with high-level technology. [6] In the time since the Gap, allied races formed an alliance called the Pact Worlds for diplomacy, trade, and technological sharing, with Absalom Station as their focal point for these activities. An organization called the Starfinder Society, based on Absalom Station and other planets, was established to seek out pre-Gap technology and any information that may have explained what happened prior to that event. [6]
Similar to Pathfinder, the game features personal combat using weapons and magic, though these systems have been simplified and adjusted to the futuristic setting. [7] [8] In addition, Starfinder also has rules regarding starships, space combat, and faster-than-light travel. [8] [6] Starfinder retains the traditional fantasy races as choices for players (for example, elves, dwarves, and orcs), but offers a different set of races as the standard, including the reptilian vesk and rat-like ysoki, while also offering several non-traditional choices such as a "seven-armed starfish". [8] [2] [6] Starfinder also introduces a new array of seven character classes for players to choose from, which can be further customized, and body augmentations which can give different abilities. [7] Starfinder is designed so that content from Pathfinder can be easily converted to Starfinder and vice versa; the game has guidelines on converting characters and monsters between the two systems. [7]
Early reviews praised Starfinder for its streamlined rules and expansive, flexible setting. [7] [9] The new starship combat rules also received praise, though some criticism was pointed at its repetitiveness and lack of options. [7] [9]
Starfinder won the 2018 Origins Award for Fan Favorite Role-Playing Game. [10]
Supplementary content for the game continued to receive a warm reception, including Ports of Call, and Drift Hackers. [11]
In a review of Starfinder in Black Gate , Andrew Zimmerman Jones said "What Starfinder has going for it, I think, is that the setting allows for a lot of different types of gameplay at the same time. If you wanted to play a galactic rebellion space fantasy, the system allows for it. A gritty cyberpunk game of corporate espionage? That's there, too. A planetary romance adventure? A derelict ship full of space zombies? A ragtag crew of outlaw heroes, a la Firefly or Guardians of the Galaxy? A post-apocalyptic dystopia? Explore new worlds and new civilizations? Yup, those are all covered." [12]
Paizo and audio app developer Syrinscape partnered to create an official set of sound effects for Starfinder, and Paizo licensed design studio Ninja Division to create plastic miniatures. These were released alongside the general launch of the game in August 2017. [13] [8]
Paizo along with Audible created a Starfinder Alexa skill adventure pilot episode "Scoundrels in the Spike" released in December 2019. The pilot was considered successful, leading Amazon to have Paizo and Audible create a full six-episode adventure based on the "Dead Suns" campaign, which was first released in August 2020. The adventure, including the pilot, includes voice acting from Nathan Fillion and Laura Bailey along with eleven others. According to Bailey, the voice acting for the newer episodes were done from home studios due to the COVID-19 pandemic though working together online when characters interacted with each other. [14] Within the skill, the user is able to select one of five main characters, and then make certain decisions that can affect the outcome of the story, as well as initiate the game's skill checks and determine how combat progresses; the rules have been simplified from the tabletop version to adapt to voice commands. The skill's pilot episode and first episode of the new campaign were available for free with the remaining episodes available to purchase. [15] In 2021, Paizo announced the Drift Crisis storyline as part of their Drift Crashers supplement, where the setting's hyperdimensional travel system breaks down. [16]
Paizo released an enhanced edition of Starfinder in late 2023, featuring streamlined star ship combat. [17] Paizo has also announced a second edition of Starfinder for late in 2024, following many of the conventions seen in the second edition of Pathfinder. [18]
Spelljammer is a campaign setting originally published for the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, which features a fantastic outer space environment. Subsequent editions have included Spelljammer content; a Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition setting update was released on August 16, 2022.
Living campaigns, or shared campaigns, are a gaming format within the table-top role-playing game community that provide the opportunity for play by an extended community within a shared universe. In contrast to traditional isolated role-playing games, living campaigns allow and encourage players to develop characters that can be played at games run by many different game masters, but which share a game world and campaign setting, as well as a plot line that is overseen by a central core of professional or volunteer editors and contributors. Many living campaigns serve a dual role of providing a creative outlet for highly involved volunteer contributors while also serving as a marketing tool for the publisher of the game system that is the focus of the living campaign. While the earliest living campaigns were run by the now defunct RPGA, many groups around the world run active living campaigns which are independent or sponsored by other publishers.
Role-playing games (RPGs) have developed specialized terminology. This includes both terminology used within RPGs to describe in-game concepts and terminology used to describe RPGs. Role-playing games also have specialized slang and jargon associated with them.
An Adventure Path is a series of interlinked adventures (campaign) for tabletop role-playing games which can be played in succession and lead characters to advance from lower to higher levels, through a particular path of events.
Paizo Inc. is an American role-playing game publishing company based in Redmond, Washington, best known for the tabletop role-playing games Pathfinder and Starfinder. The company's name is derived from the Greek word παίζωpaizō, which means 'I play' or 'to play'. Paizo also runs an online retail store selling role-playing games board games, comic books, toys, clothing, accessories and other products, as well as an Internet forum community.
Goodman Games is an American game publisher best known for the Dungeon Crawl Classics series of adventure modules and role-playing game, its science fiction offshoot Mutant Crawl Classics, and Original Adventures Reincarnated, a line of updated, annotated, and expanded republications of classic RPG adventures and supplements, mostly from TSR, Inc.'s Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. Additionally, Goodman Games produces RPGs using versions of the DCC rules for Fritz Leiber's Lankhmar and Jack Vance's Dying Earth settings, under license. The company has also produced licensed adventures for Wicked Fantasy Factory, Judges Guild, Xcrawl, Iron Heroes, Castles and Crusades, and Death Dealer.
Pathfinder is a line of roleplaying game supplements published by Paizo Publishing since 2007. Originally designed for use with the revised 3rd edition of Dungeons & Dragons, they transitioned to the first edition of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game in 2009, then to the second edition of Pathfinder in 2019.
The Pathfinder Roleplaying Game is a fantasy role-playing game (RPG) that was published in 2009 by Paizo Publishing. The first edition extends and modifies the System Reference Document (SRD) based on the revised 3rd edition Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) published by Wizards of the Coast under the Open Game License (OGL) and is intended to be backward-compatible with that edition.
Owen K.C. Stephens is a game designer who has worked on a number of products for the Starfinder, Pathfinder and Star Wars Roleplaying Game and other games.
A tabletop role-playing game, also known as a pen-and-paper role-playing game, is a classification for a role-playing game (RPG) in which the participants describe their characters' actions through speech, and sometimes movements. Participants determine the actions of their characters based on their characterization, and the actions succeed or fail according to a set formal system of rules and guidelines, usually containing Dice-Rolling. Within the rules, players have the freedom to improvise; their choices shape the direction and outcome of the game.
Brian R. James is a game designer and software engineer. As a writer, Brian is best known for his online and print works for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game published by Wizards of the Coast. In game design circles, Brian is highly regarded for his deep knowledge of the Forgotten Realms campaign setting and its extensive history. In 2012 Brian won a Silver ENnie Award for Monster Vault: Threats to the Nentir Vale and he has been nominated for other ENnie Awards and Origins Awards.
Free RPG Day is an annual promotional event by the tabletop role-playing game industry. The event rules are fairly simple: participating publishers provide special free copies of games to participating game stores; the game store agrees to provide one free game to any person who requests a free game on Free RPG Day.
Kobold Press, also known as Open Design, is an American game company that produces role-playing games and game supplements.
Amanda Hamon Kunz is an American game designer known for her work on the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and other d20 role-playing game products.
Roll20 is a website consisting of a set of tools for playing tabletop role-playing games, also referred to as a virtual tabletop, which can be used as an aid to playing in person or remotely online. The site was launched in 2012 after a successful Kickstarter campaign. The platform's goal is to provide an authentic tabletop experience that does not try to turn the game into a video game, but instead aids the game master in providing immersive tools online. The blank slate nature of the platform makes integrating a multitude of tabletop role-playing games possible.
The Glass Cannon is a podcast featuring the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game by Paizo Publishing, and is the flagship podcast of The Glass Cannon Network (GCN). The first episode was released on June 16, 2015, and over 326 episodes were produced before the first campaign came to its conclusion in June 2022. The initial adventure of the podcast followed the Giantslayer adventure path from Paizo supplemented by a significant amount of homebrew content to further flesh out the backstories of characters outside the purview of the main adventure path resources. Their irreverent, off-the-wall style complemented by their deep cinematic storytelling has made the Glass Cannon notable among actual play podcasts.
Russ Morrissey, also known as Morrus is a British reporter, game designer, podcaster, author and owner of EN World. Morrissey founded the ENnie Awards in 2001, which he ran until 2018. He also founded the book publisher EN Publishing, and the tabletop gaming news website EN World, both of which he runs currently.
Banana Chan is a Chinese Canadian game designer and writer.