Love it or hate it, tabletop role-playing has been dominated by the fantasy genre since Dungeons & Dragons in 1974. Of course, we’ve had some great sci-fi titles in that time such as Battletech, Shadowrun and Heavy Gear [Editor’s Note: I will never forgive you for forgetting Traveller and Gamma World. –JM], but they never seemed to scratch the same itch as D&D did for a good old adventure.
Now, the creators of Pathfinder are looking to change all of that with their newest game Starfinder.
Just like a classic fantasy dungeon-crawler, Starfinder will start players on a path to adventure with one of my favorite parts, character creation. The game will launch with four playable races at the start, and many more will be added as time goes on. You’ll be able to chose from the Lashunta, a telepathic and charismatic race; the Ysoki, who are small, aggressive rat-like creatures that enjoy chaos; the Kasatha, a four-armed samurai-like race that resemble Roswell Greys, but bad-ass; and finally androids, created by humankind and still living under forms of oppression throughout the universe.
Once players have created their characters, they will also be assigned a ship and this is where their grand adventure will begin.
Even though the game is mostly considered science fiction, the creators like to refer to it as science fantasy, as it does share some similarities with its fellow Pathfinder game. “What it means is you have laser guns and alien planets and spaceships, but there might also be magic. Think ninjas with chainswords,” said creative director James Sutter in an interview. “Four-armed aliens with laser rifles casting spells. Wizards with laser guns. For me, if you’re familiar with Shadowrun, I would love for Starfinder to be to the space opera genre what Shadowrun was to the cyberpunk genre.”
Starfinder will be a single large-volume book that will include all of the rules, character building, items, and monsters needed for both players and game masters to play a full game. So make sure to keep an eye for this title when it hits sometime in June 2017.
Dandr0id is a content writer for AYBOnline.com, a host and producer for AYBtv Live, and an avid fan of pizza. He may also be a robot and is probably a ninja. His opinions are his own.
