Starfinder. It’s the literal future of the Pathfinder setting, taking its science fantasy baseline from the fantasy end to the science end of the pool. And, like Pathfinder 2nd Edition, it’s getting a serious upgrade. So, time to dive into the Starfinder Galaxy Guide!
Disclaimer: an electronic copy was provided to me for review purposes by Paizo.
Background
Towards the end of Pathfinder’s first edition, Paizo decided it was time to jump the timeline forward for a new game. Not a little bit either. Not 25 years. Not 100 years. Paizo went all in, and dialled it up by thousands of years. And honestly? This was a rock solid choice. It and other world building choices were needed to make a clean break from the Pathfinder setting. Which sounds weird, but to drive home the changes to the setting and leave any baggage behind, it was needed. And it worked.
Now, Starfinder 1st Edition was the last evolution of the 1st edition system, and its second edition is currently in development, following the Core book pattern seen in the remastered Pathfinder 2nd Edition, with an expected release later this year. The Galaxy Guide is the first book available in the new edition, and is here to bring everyone up to date on the situation in the solar system.
The Good
Right away, the Map. The system map is absolutely gorgeous and is one of the best system and galaxy maps I’ve seen in a while. There’s the system map of the solar system we’re all familiar with from Pathfinder. Then there’s the galaxy map. It’s a gorgeous 2.5D render that not only lays out other star systems, hazards, and political bodies. Honestly? More games need to invest in quality mapping like this.
The overview and historical recap are succinct and layout what’s led to the current state of the setting in a way that’s detailed and not overly wordy. I appreciate a good info dump on a setting and appreciate it more when it doesn’t become a slog to read through.
The art is great and evocative of the setting. It has a bit of a Rifts vibe, demons wearing power armour for example, but that makes sense given the setting is literally a fantasy setting that’s been given sci-fi upgrades.
Alien ancestries are ALIEN. We’re not talking re-skinned and palette swapped humans, elves, and dwarves. We’re talking some genuinely weird, wonderful, and definitely niche ancestries that make sure you know that this isn’t just Pathfinder but in space. They could have gone the lazy route, but instead I’m wrapping my head around aquatic humanoids in liquid filled battle armour. I love it!
The Mixed?
I’ve never used this category before, but I’ve also never really run into something that left me feeling mixed on it to this degree. And in the Galaxy Guide, it’s the Adventures section. One one hand, I like that Paizo has mixed world and location descriptions in with adventure genres. On the other hand, I feel that this might unnecessarily pigeonhole said locations into those adventure genres. So I’m really feeling torn on this one.
The Bad
Paizo almost made it out of this, but the pdf is only partially linked. The table of contents? Linked. It’s awesome. But the navigation sidebars in the book itself? Not hotlinked. There also isn’t a return to table of contents function. So, mild improvements but still not where it could be for online or tablet use.
Tonal dissonance. It’s not everywhere, but it’s there. The art is gorgeous, but there’s some dissonance in theme. I get that there’s a lighthearted player and GM base, but for me, it clashes with the vibe happening in the rest of the book in terms of art. There’s also some mild body horror happening that might surprise the unprepared.
There’s plot details in the culture sections, and broad ideas around general attitudes and behaviours based on cultural norms, but no food, fashion, trends, music, taboos, or mores. There’s a Day in XYZ, but there’s a lot of gaps that need filling to really be a “cultural” write up. It’s good that there’s a culture section for each world/location, but it needs more detail.
The Ugly
There’s no equipment section. Each location and ancestry needed some equipment or item representation. This has been an issue in a lot of Paizo’s books, and I get there’s the ever present threat of bloat and it saves space to not re-skin weapons, armour, or to create unique items. But we’re talking about a book that’s supposed to be the Galaxy GUIDE. This is the stuff that helps players visualize the differences in the NPC populations between locations, and helps get them fired up about them. It’s also a component in character inspiration and background creation and helps combat “optimal loading” of gear and equipment to the point where all characters are trying to get the same equipment.
I think this book is trying to do too much. There is a lot of information in it, but a lot of it is only surface level. It feels like there was a lot left on the cutting room floor and I can’t figure out why they’d hamstring themselves like this, given that this book carries the task of getting people not just into, but fired up about the setting. I think it could have used more space, not a lot, but more, to elaborate and develop things a bit further. 180 pages was insufficient to do the task to the degree that this book needed to go. For a lot of tables, this might be the only world book they use, and it needed to be bigger. Yes, it’s bigger than the OGL era Pathfinder Lost Omens World Guide, but Howl of the Wild covered a similar concept (world expansion/exploration) in Pathfinder and got 226 pages. And I think that this book needed that level of space.
Final Thoughts
This book needed to be longer. It’s still a good book, and as a baseline for the Starfinder setting, it does the business. Also, that map is absolutely AMAZING! So based on what’s there, I’m comfortable giving this book a Rank A rating. It’s worth picking up if you’re new to Starfinder or need the updates to move your game forward from first edition, but be aware that the details you might be looking for might be thinner than anticipated. Hopefully there will be some follow-up books that greatly expand on the contents.
This book is available for sale in physical and electronic formats for the Paizo store now.
