One month after Starfinder RPG debuts at GenCon50
Firstly, this is an unofficial community blog, open to anyone inspired to write a blog here.
LATE AUGUST
So today is the 17th of September, a month after the 50th Anniversary of GenCon and the debut of Paizo’s Starfinder RPG. So let us look back at this past month and reflect upon the state of the game.
The first event of note is that on Thursday, 17th of August, 2017, the Paizo stand at Gen Con sold out of the Starfinder Core Rulebook (including the more expensive special editions). And Paizo brought along more core rulebooks this year than they did during all previous Gen Con events. I pre-ordered my limited edition collector’s copy early, so escaped the scarcity pangs.
Wow! That was fast or so James Sutter's selfie screams at us. Ha ha ha!
But that is not all, for several fans who missed out went searching for copies far and wide and Starfinder rocketed to second place on Amazon’s list of role playing games in that period.
So this is great news both for the company (Paizo) and the hundreds of fans desperate for a Space Fantasy, probably, since the end of d20 Dragonstar.
One complaint from some new players not used to mechanically heavy rule sets was the grinding nature of space combat in Starfinder. But hey, new players usually play at a slower pace anyway, and there are many rules to learn too. But those who stick with the game, will enjoy a fun role playing experience with the rules no longer stagnating the game play.
Paizo must have an ear to the ground, listening to feedback from fans, for just a few days after Gen Con, an official cheat sheet of the rules was published for free on Paizo’s website.
Veterans of role playing games, including Pathfinder, began creating many introductory videos to help new players get to grips with Starfinder. Cody of Taking20 has many interesting videos for beginners. And the folks at DawnforgedCast and Game Trade Media also produced useful videos for different aspects of the game. Some of the very useful ones for new players are listed at starfinder.com/videos
Fans of the Starfinder RPG also began growing many online communities and creating great home-made content too, especially Starfinder character sheets, notably the editable PDF Character Sheets. Many of these are listed in here on starfinder.com/resources
Fans also kept brining new ideas to their respective gaming tables, including cool miniature sculpts of Starfinder ysoki envoy icon and space goblin adversary.
Smaller third party publishers have been equally busy with smaller supplements like Infinite Space by Louis Porter Jr. (here is shout out since the products are very affordable).
Even an unofficial System Reference Document for Starfinder was launched by the end of August, right on the day. This is a great resource tool for fans unable to purchase the Starfinder core rulebook, and wanting to just play in home-made settings powered by Starfinder rules.
And many such home-made settings have been creeping up too, including a successful Kickstarter titled “Red Shirts” for comedic Starfinder-compatible Adventure paths (projected started on 3rd of July before Starfinder was even officially launched and completed on 1st of September 2017).
Anyway, the first official Starfinder Adventure Path is the Dead Suns with the first booklet being “Incident at Absalom Station” officially launched on the 17th of August, 2017.
Interestingly, several Third Party Publishers were rapidly churning out their own Starfinder-compatible content. Some of these got launched almost too quickly, within a week or two after the official Starfinder launch, one must wonder if insider information was available to the creators.
EARLY SEPTEMBER
Now, we enter the month of September (right on the back of the Starfinder SRD launched on 31st of August). So on the 1st of September, another Third Party Kickstarter launched a Starfinder-compatible Kickstarter, the Legendary Games Alien Bestiary which will run its course before Paizo’s official Alien Archive is published (it got delayed to November 2017).
All seems nice and rosy with the Starfinder Role Playing Game but sadly in September, more and more reports of broken book spines and poor binding continue to make the rounds on Social Media and Paizo’s website.
These problems were official acknowledged by Paizo, and replacement books were offered to those who sent back their damaged books. Even Eric Mona replied on social media.
Some fans, probably living in regions where returns would be too expensive, offered their own creative solutions of binding the books locally.
On the administrative front in early September, Paizo officially hired, Jim Butler to the position of Vice President of Marketing and Licensing.
The Starfinder Organized Play headed by Tonya Woldridge offered many cool perks and boons for Society Play. And on the 8th of September, there was even an official statement with more support for regional, retail and promotional boons. Also, several SFSRPG scenarios were published for Society play.
A CHANGING OF THE STARFINDER GUARD
And then on the 8th of September, some surprising news from James L. Sutter, who announced in his last official blog for Paizo his resignation. James served as the Creative Director of Starfinder till the 12th of Septebemr, 2017, the date his resignation became effective. From my own experience in paid employment, for a staff member in such a senior position, this change would have surely been known to Paizo as early as August or even early, maybe even during GenCon50. Anyway, you can follow James on his own website http://jameslsutter.com where his freelance projects may be unveiled.
And the days continued to roll by with more and more fan content being created and many more Starfinder Society games bering run, many organized effectively through Warhorn.net.
The Disord channel is also effective for locating online players for Roll20.net online play and can be reached via starfinder.com/chat
IN CONCLUSION
Wow! What a busy month this has been for the Starfinder Community. Hopefully, there will be more good things for Starfinder next month, and of course in November, the official Alien Archive is published.
Finally, if you are new here. welcome to the vast universe that is Paizo's Starfinder.
Stay tuned and feel free to comment on this blog or share it.
