Find Your Path to the Stars - Paizo Announces New Roleplaying Game

Looks like Paizo still has some surprises up their sleeve. Yesterday, Creative Director James L. Sutter published a blog announcing something completely unexpected. Next August, Paizo will be releasing a brand new roleplaying game.

The Starfinder Roleplaying Game will be based upon upon the Pathfinder rules, but designed with the science fantasy sub-genre in mind. It'll be backward compatible, but ultimately a stand-alone product. The rulebook will contain numerous new races, classes, equipment, and other elements suited for the far-future version of their Golarion campaign setting. Sutter described the default setting as follows:

"Starfinder is set in Golarion's solar system, but far in a possible future - one in which the gods have mysteriously spirited Golarion away to an unknown location, and refuse to answer questions about it. In its place, the cultures of that world have evolved and spread throughout the solar system, especially to a vast space platform called Absalom Station. Gifted access to a hyperspace dimension by an ascended AI deity, the residents of the system suddenly find themselves with the ability to travel faster than light, and the race is on to explore and colonize potentially millions of worlds. But there are horrors out there in the darkness..."

The Starfinder RPG Core Rulebook will be released in 2017 at Gen Con. Furthermore, a monthly Adventure Path will support this new product, offering quality adventures along with interesting rules and setting expansions. However, Starfinder will be released under the OGL, meaning third-party support will be possible.

Strangely, Paizo has also announced they will not be hosting a full public playtest for Starfinder. The reason given is that it would be very difficult with something of this sheer scale. That being said, they will bring in key community members to give input over the next few months.

Personally, I find myself cautiously optimistic about this product. The words "science fantasy" immediately warm the cockles' of my heart and I'm curious to see what they'll do with the mechanics. However, I'm also nervous that Paizo might be going down the same troubled road that TSR did, splitting their customer base in two. I'm also worried about mechanical bloat, but that's really nothing new with d20 games.

How about you, dear readers? Are you excited for Starfinder? Are you cautious like myself? Do you think this is a Harbringer of the End Times? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.