AUTHOR: JASON KEELEY / PUBLISHER: PAIZO INC / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
Starfinder is a sci-fi/space fantasy roleplaying game that has a massive amount of scope and potential. Because it is essential ‘swords and sorcery, but in space’, the potential to want to do everything you can with it can be a bit daunting. Fortunately, there are a lot of adventures available for the game. The Threefold Conspiracy is a multi-part adventure path, the first part of which is The Chimera Mystery. As the name suggests, this is a ‘detective/conspiracy/investigate’ style story that will require the players to think their way through problems rather than ready their Yellow Star Plasma Rifles and start blasting.
The story begins with the party aboard a long-haul transport ship called The Chimera. It’s a cramped and crowded space, filled with unusual characters, each with their own secrets to hide. When a valued crew member goes missing, well it all kicks off. This is essentially Murder on The Orient Express, but on a space-train and without a small Belgian detective to solve it all. (Though if one of you players decides to create a Ysoki or Halfling detective, that will fit in perfectly.)
Starfinder isn’t normally a game that focuses on solving mysteries, but this Adventure Path is quite happy to help you out in that regard. There are character creation options that will make your heroes a little more suited to solving problems, and some strong guidance on how to present mystery in a table top game.
This is the sort of setting that blends magic with technology, so obviously the whole thing isn’t going to be a clear cut as ‘the butler did it’. Still, the storytelling is well paced and the various motivations are well worked out. It’s just clever enough that one of your players will be right off the time and others will be very, very wrong. Which always makes for a good session as the DM gets to sit and be smug.
This is a solid example of what Starfinder is capable off. If you like pulp detective action in your cheeky sci-fi fantasy RPGs, this is for you.
