Product– Starfinder Playtest Scenario #1: Shards of the Glass Planet

System- Starfinder 2nd Ed Playtest

Producer– Paizo

Price– 5.99 here https://paizo.com/products/btq067m5?Starfinder-Playtest-Scenario-1-Shards-of-the-Glass-Planet 

TL; DR-Dry but good intro. 90% 

Basics– Go to new places, meet new people, and… make friends?! The drift crisis has opened up a world held in a glass bubble.  This adventure gives a bit of world lore, a bit of mechanics, and a good chance to see how Starfinder 2nd Ed will work.

Mechanics or Crunch– This adventure works well mechanically.  It has the basic breakdown of being a few skill checks to learn about the world that has been opened up, then some stuff happens, combat, trap, and final combat.  It’s short, but all the DCs are within line of what to expect, and the combat is resonbably what I expected.  You can not do anything too crazy in a level 1, so while short, it is expected and fun. 5/5

Theme or Fluff– This is a fun adventure, but not the most involved.  As I said before, it’s skill checks, combat, trap, and final combat.  Short, but not that complex.  Then again, it’s level 1, so you can’t throw the PCs into too crazy an adventure. My players and I had fun, but be prepared to ham up roleplay. 4/5

Execution– I liked this adventure, but it’s missing a few pieces.  The standard layout of the PFS adventures with pictures at the end are not here.  It has a good layout and is easy to read, but the pictures help me show players the monsters and other creatures involved.  Also, I like the stat blocks to be separate.  These are small things, but it hurts the presentation a bit. 4.5/5Summary–  This is a fun adventure, but maybe not the best Paizo has put out.  It’s also a bit hard since it’s a level 1 adventure that is the same as a quest.  Don’t expect multiple hours of crazy adventure, but do expect a short, fun intro to Starfinder 2nd Ed.  It has a few faults, but that doesn’t make it any less entertaining.  90%

Product– Starfinder 2nd Ed playtest

System- Starfinder 2nd Ed

Producer– Paizo

Price– FREE here https://downloads.paizo.com/PZO22000E.pdf 

TL; DR– Want to play some Pathfinder in space?  95% 

Basics– Pathfinder 2nd ed IN SPACE!  Ok, let’s look deep into this deep space RPG.

Base Mechanics- Do you remember pathfinder 2nd Ed?  If you are proficient in a thing, it’s proficiency bonus (trained, expert, master, or legendary) + ability modifier + level + d20.  Not proficient? D20 + ability modifier.  This is versus AC or some static number from another character.  That’s it!  If you love Pathfinder 2nd Ed, you can instantly play this one.

This is a full RPG, but honestly if you have the Pathfinder basics down, then you are ready to go!  Let’s look at my thoughts.

Mechanics or Crunch– I love Pathfinder 2nd Ed, so this is perfect.  This feels a bit better balanced from small things like cantrips doing damage based on level.  The changes that were imposed to make the 3.5 to Pathfinder 2nd ed transfer are solid, like Aim for the Operative class making them equivalent Pathfinder 2nd Ed ranged rogues.  All the new changes from the standard Pathfinder 2nd ed formula work well adapted to the space opera of Starfinder.  It’s what I expected, but still enjoyable.   5/5

Theme or Fluff– This is solid, but things are missing.  We have the basics of the world, but some things are lost and have to be lost.  A big one for me is the notion of stamina.  I loved stamina and hit points being different.  Now, you just have hit points.  That changes the flavor a bit.  It needed to go for Starfinder to work in Pathfinder 2nd Ed’s mechanics, but it’s a change that loses some of the originality of Starfinder.  Other things work well like the mystic, Starfinder’s cleric-ish character, having a giant pool of hit points that it can use to heal any character in the group.  This feels like a fun new addition to the Pathfinder system.  The changes are good, but some flavor is lost in the transition.  4.5/5

Execution– Starfinder 2nd ed is well done, but I feel I want a few changes.  The layout and PDF is well done.  Also, given this book is free it is instantly amazing.  You can easily speed read through any section and skim to find the information you need.  But I want more summary tables.  Skill feats have nice tables, giving summaries of each of the different feats and the full feat is below with its full write up.  Class feats are not written that way.  Archive of Nethys does this better; it has all class feats in nice tables that you can read via hyperlink.  Make those tables for each class to make it easier to read!  Also, this may be a bit petty, but Pathfinder 2nd Ed started using titles in their PDF files.  This document does not.  PLEASE DO THAT.  I don’t want to have to memorize long strings of digits to know what files I need to open for game night!  And last but not least, missing are the major rules I was hoping for: space ships.  Ship combat in Starfinder was fun, BUT you had to want it.  And most players did not, based on how the adventures are written.  This book does not have spaceship combat.  I know Paizo knows how to make Pathfinder 2nd Ed work.  They do fantastic jobs on Pathfinder 2nd Ed, but I don’t know how they plan to handle space ships.  The absence of these rules is something experienced Starfinders will feel.    4.75/5

Summary– Go get this PDF!  It’s free, so I need to tell everyone to check this out.  I love Pathfinder 2nd Ed, and I watched Star Wars Ewok adventures on VHS so many times as a child I  broke the video tape.  Starfinder is the system that was built for the Starfinder game, but saw a few issues.  Starfinder 2nd Ed is a solid progression of the Starfinder brand.  There are issues, and some of those will be fixed when the full rules come out and others are just growing pains of the system.  Others are just CHANGE HOW YOU NAME THINGS!  But, even with a few small issues, this game is a solid RPG that you should check out.  95%