While this book is not structured in the best possible way to teach a newbie how to play Starfinder Second Edition, the fact of the matter is that this is a reference book. One might use it one time to learn how to play or, perhaps more likely, one will learn from YouTube videos, a Beginner’s Box product or being taught by friends around the table.

As a reference book, the Player Core is very well organized. It has the most likely stuff that the player would look up (character creation) up front. Based on how I’ve consulted the Player books for Tales of the Valiant and D&D, this is the most likely use for the book.

This is a fun book that takes place on Golarian, the world of Pathfinder. The author does a good job presenting the TTRPG elements - like Zae needing to prepare her spells each morning - without bogging the story down in these things. But for a few things like that, I think it could be handed to any fantasy fan and they would enjoy it without realizing it’s based on a TTRPG.

I recently got the Pathfinder 2e Beginner Box: Secrets of the Unlit Star. I did an unboxing and first impressions video. I will come back and do a proper review after I play it.

A short story that moves extremely quickly but is a fun romp. You don’t need to know anything about Pathfinder other than what the creature accompanying the protagonist is. I had to look it up because I’m pretty new to the Pathfinder universe.

Since it’s a short story it’s not too complicated. It’s a character being heroic and bringing us along for the ride. If you want a fast-paced sword and sorcery story, this one is pretty good.

As you know, I’ve been running a Cosmere TTRPG playthrough of Stonewalkers, the published Stormlight Archives adventure. I plan on writing a blog post (and maybe making a video) retrospective once we finish the game, but, partially prompted by my players, I wanted to write about some of the ways my players have surprised me over the last 2 sessions.

My favorite thing, both as a game master and as a consumer of actual plays, is when the players throw off the GM with their creativity. I don’t mean in the way that people talk about on Reddit (sometimes positively and sometimes negatively) in which the players go completely off the rails or in a direction that negates the prep work of the GM. My players are on board to tell the story we’re telling together, they just have some really unique ways of solving the problems they are confronted with. (Some amazing examples of the type of player creativity that bolsters the story can be found in the first 6 episodes of Mage Hand High Five’s The Badlands) A couple players have had to drop out, but everyone who remains has chosen a radiant path. As they have tried to make use of their powers we’ve definitely had our share of “yes and” and “no, but” moments. The last two battles have had some of my favorite examples.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this book. It’s based on a TTRPG. Would it be like the novelization of a movie or some of the books from the Star Trek or Star Wars universes? Would it be cheesy or great? Well, it turned out to be way better than I expected. There were a few things that came through a little bit game-y, but they were few and far between. The two examples that stood out to me were a character who created a psychic bond with her companions allowing them to speak to each other a “battle mind”

I have not been doing this calendar in the way it was meant to be played. I keep forgetting for long stretches at a time. Still, we’re only done with the first quarter of the year. Perhaps after this entry I can do a better job at playing daily even if I don’t post to the blog daily. It will probably help the story resonate better for me.

Story

19 Feb

I continue into the swamp, keeping my eyes open for webs or other creatures that will say I have arrived at Silkrend.

The Story

Time elapsed so far in campaign at start of this adventure: 77 days

Summary

After their recent adventures, the team decides to go on a vacation. They travel to a remove in called The Inn of the Last Repast. Soon after arriving, some people in robes come looking for a lost member of their group. It turns out to be a Satarre and some cultists. The group fights them off and the innkeeper reveals that the person they were looking for was in last night talking about the end of the world, but the innkeeper dismissed it as the ravings of a drunk man.

The Story

Time elapsed so far in campaign at start of this adventure: 63 days

Summary

Stuff still to sell:

• Mosquito in Amber - 100 GP
• Crab meat - 5 GP
• Ashes of Corrupted Pixie - 10 GP

The team reads newspaper articles about the kobolds that fell off the boat when they were working for Little Timmy. They also read an article about how they helped the Concordians. They also get a letter from Valery’s father letting her know that with the money she’s been sending home, he has hired an apprentice at his smithy.

Story

After our long rest in the library, Flint suggested we explore further. However, when we tried to go down the next hallway, a powerful wind blew us back. Flint was immediately blown back. Aghell was able to stay there, but became exhausted. Scrabble suggested that killing the creature might remove the spell on the hallway. The crew agreed with that and decided that we would use what we learned to kill the firegeist. We filled buckets from the ship with seawater and hauled back into the room with the monster.