Building a Better Box

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Paizo does the best RPG starter sets. Although D&D hit home runs with the original Basic Set and the less renowned but still totally awesome Basic Game from Third Edition, most other starter sets have been lackluster at best. Paizo once again dunks on D&D with the Pathfinder Beginner Box for Second Edition. Like similar products for First Edition and also for Starfinder, this set is an absolute triumph of value for the gamer and a wonderful introduction to the game system. I look forward to giving it a test drive with the boys over the holidays. There's precious little chance it will displace Fifth Edition D&D as our system of choice, but it will be fun to play through the starter content and see how Pathfinder and D&D have gone in very different directions over the past decade!

"A xenomorph may be involved..."

I introduced Matthew and Nathaniel to Alien and Aliens over the weekend. I've had this series on my mind lately as Alien: The Roleplaying Game has received rave reviews. At some point, perhaps post-quarantine, I'll need to check it out. It might give the boys a fun change of pace from our usual D&D stuff, as the vast majority of our roleplaying action is set in the Shattered Realm world -- and even our sci-fi Shattered Realm campaign is a science-fantasy that's more akin to Starfinder than the gritty Alien franchise.

But given that I'm a dyed-in-the-wool Ameritrash guy, I need minis. I don't see anything on the horizon for the new Alien RPG, but fortunately a defunct board game can get me my plastic fix. Last night I ordered a copy of Alien vs. Predator: The Hunt Begins, which features gorgeous miniatures as well as modular terrain tiles. We can give this game a whirl and then maybe re-purpose the components for the Alien RPG down the road.

Starfinder on Alexa

This is kinda cool...

Free RPG Day 2019

Be sure to visit your local game store this Saturday because Free RPG Day 2019 looks like it's going to be a good one! There's a crazy amount of cool stuff, including a nifty Starfinder adventure.

Detour to Catan

Our oft-delayed futuristic Shattered Realm campaign took a back seat this weekend to Matthew's swim meet. While his brother was swimming, Nathaniel perused the Starfinder Beginner Box. He created an android mechanic -- going straight to the online Starfinder SRD when the Beginner Box
character creation rules weren't comprehensive enough for him! -- and then proceeded to badger us incessantly about playing. Matthew drafted a (an?) ysoki soldier and, because I had the day off today, we had planned on running through the adventure that's included in the Beginner Box. I woke up with a splitting headache and upset stomach, however, which kept me in bed for most of the day. Amy came to the rescue by joining the boys for a rousing game of Settlers of Catan, which lasted for much of the afternoon while I rested. Still looking forward to giving Starfinder a whirl, once I finally succeed on that Fortitude save...

Character Building

I've had some fun building characters using the slimmed-down rules in the Starfinder Beginner Box. I'm sure the full game has a lot more options for feats and whatnot, but the intro set seems to give a pretty good overview of the core classes and how they play. Thus far, I've built a vesk (kind of like the lizardfolk in D&D) soldier (i.e., fighter) patterned after Solomon Kane, as well as a nefarious android technomancer (i.e., wizard). I'll play through the adventure included in the box to get a better feel for the rules and then I'll give the boys an opportunity to play as well. They're already poring over the long list of weapon stats!

Starfinder Beginner Box

The Pathfinder Beginner Box is one of the best RPG products I've ever seen, and even though it failed to lure me away from D&D -- Fifth Edition put paid to that prospect -- I have very fond memories of poring over all the gorgeous components of that epic boxed set. Today the Starfinder Beginner Box is available for purchase and I've already placed my order. The boys will probably enjoy trying out a new game system and setting, and at the very least I'll end up with a Flip-Mat and other components that will fit nicely with our sci-fi Shattered Realm campaign.

The Dungeon

Well, they won't win any points for creative naming, but The Dungeon is a heckuva product that you can check out in its final week on Kickstarter. I'm a huge fan of Pathfinder and Starfinder Flip-Mats, and this set provides tons of encounter space for the price of just a couple of Flip-Mats. The design isn't as detailed as what you see with the Paizo products, of course, but the sheer variety of maps will be a major asset for our D&D-crazed household. 

What a Trip!

We've had quite an eventful few weeks of travel. Starting the last week of June, I embarked on a cross-country business trip in Pennsylvania while Amy and the boys were visiting her parents in SoCal. After a couple of days together at home, the others flew out to Chicago to visit Amy's sister as I put in another week of work, whereupon I joined them in Chicago for a day. And then we all flew together to Buffalo, picked up our rental car, and drove to Toronto to spend a lovely evening with Matt and his wonderful family. After a quick trip to the Hockey Hall of Fame the following morning, we drove down to my parents' house in western New York and have made various day trips around the area -- Buttermilk Falls in Ithaca, the Baseball Hall of Fame, the Corning Museum of Glass (best museum ever!), and some of our old haunts in Rochester. Tomorrow we fly back to Reno and (gulp) I find out how many emails have been amassing in my Inbox at work.

Several gaming-related notes to report. At various game stores along the way, I've managed to pick up more Starfinder Flip-Mats for use in our upcoming futuristic Shattered Realm campaign. I still have a lot of work to do with the setting and game stats, but the whole thing is really starting to take shape nicely. Nathaniel and I have also dipped a toe into the intriguing world of Strat-O-Matic, the most celebrated baseball simulation game of all time. Nathaniel was quite tickled to discover that the Strat-O-Matic set we picked up at the Baseball Hall of Fame includes a code that allows him to get a free Strat-O-Matic player card of himself. (Look out, Aaron Judge, there's a new Yankees legend on the way!) By far the greatest highlight, however, was when Matt bequeathed us a vast Necron army for our growing 40k collection. The monetary value of the models is staggering, of course -- this is Games Workshop, after all -- but what's even more significant is care and skill with which they're painted. Matt is a true artist, and we will treasure this gift forever!

Shattered...Space?

Lately I've been picking up Starfinder Flip-Mats and minis from the old Star Wars Miniatures game in preparation for an upcoming project that the boys and I will embark upon. Inspired by Matt's innovative 5e adaptation and his Gamma World-esque campaign, we're going to create a sci-fi 5e system that will allow us to explore the future of the Shattered Realm campaign setting. I need to get the story squared away before we dive too deeply into the rules, but so far it's been a fun exercise. More to come!

Starfinder Review

Click here for an early review of Paizo's sci-fi version of Pathfinder, Starfinder!