So, this more in the way of an overview rather than a proper review. I haven’t taken the time to thoroughly read the rules of the Starfinder Beginner Box (SFBB), and I’m not likely to.
So, the box still comes with a Heroes Handbook, Gamemaster’s Guide, dice, pawns and a flipmat. As with the Pathfinder Beginner Box, the quality of the contents seems high. The pawns are nice, though no longer novel as they were when the PFBB was released, and the flipmat has an excellent space dungeon/post-apocalyptic bunker map on one side, and 1-inch square grid on the other.
The major difference I noticed is that the SFBB includes 6 classes and, I think, 6 races. Unfortunately, the classes only go to Level 4 (unlike the PFBB’s five levels), so it’s a little less useful for the “game in a box” thing (though, of course, it’s not meant to be).
I’m not terribly familiar with Starfinder’s mechanics…I didn’t play the game enough. But from what I’ve seen flipping through the books it looks like the SFBB doesn’t stray too far from Starfinder core (unlike the changes made in the PFBB, some of which were adopted in Starfinder). The organization and format are very similar to the books in the PFBB.
So, overall, the Starfinder Beginner Box doesn’t excite me like the PFBB did, but it’s still probably a good introduction to Starfinder. The flipmat is excellent and I can see using it in other games. The pawns likewise are nice quality and could be useful in other games. But I know I’ll never play Starfinder again, beginner box or not.
Cheers.
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