-Spoiler Free-
I’m proud to say I’ve reviewed almost every major sourcebook and many of the Adventure Path releases, since the dawn of Starfinder. So when the opportunity to revisit that dawn, I was thrilled. Normally, I only review the first part of an Adventure Path to help maintain a lack of spoilers. The downside is that I never really get to follow the story through its conclusion.
Dead Suns was the first Adventure Path for the first edition of Starfinder, so it makes sense that it be the first omnibus collection as well. It should be noted that while we are well into the era of Starfinder Second Edition, Dead Suns was released towards the end of the First Edition era. There are still many people playing the First Edition ruleset, and it’s reasonably easy to update the stats for creatures and treasure to Second Edition play. Despite that ease, one of my big takeaways from this —and this AP specifically— is that Paizo could have waited and taken the time to update this to an introductory Second Edition product.
The adventure begins with the Level 1 Player Characters arriving on Absalom Station, with the goal of joining the Starfinder Society. The first part of the adventure is written very much as an introduction to the universe of Starfinder. (Which it was, and that is another reason I think not holding this back and releasing it for 2E was a missed opportunity. But I digress.) The players barely have a chance to get off their transport before the action begins. There is plenty of action in Dead Suns, both on land and in space, but there is a great deal more than just action. Players will be called upon to undertake arduous journeys, mysterious investigations, and a good dose of diplomacy. I already mentioned it, but what would a sci-fi adventure be without space battles? Players will not only obtain a starship, but also have the opportunity to power it up as the group advances.
After 18 parts (six chapters, divided into three) the players should have advanced to Level 13. This is a significant amount of advancement, but it still leaves room for continued adventures. The first appendix gives a number of suggestions for the GM to continue the story. There are also articles on the Corpse Fleet and The Cult of the Devourer, both of which are central to Adventure Path. Finally, we are given an appendix of Aliens that have not been republished, and of the six starships that were included inside the covers of the original releases of Dead Suns.
One of the things that excited me the most about this book was that I expected a fully self-contained product. As I read, I found myself pulling out the original Dead Suns: Incident at Absalom Station book. When it was released, there were very few Starfinder products, and as such, it contained a necessary bestiary (Alien Archive) of the creatures in the preceding adventure. It also contains a gazetteer covering life on Absalom Station. Since then, that gazetteer was repurposed and expanded in the Pact Worlds sourcebook, and the creature stats would be republished in the various Alien Archive sourcebooks. So, for this repackaged Dead Suns product, those entries instead reference those newer products. On the one hand, that makes sense as a space and cost-saving measure. On the other hand, it forces the GM to reference a small library of books, and/or look things up in the free System Reference Document published at paizo.com/sfrd. But as a standalone product, I wanted a standalone product. There are multiple appendices, including an Alien Archive appendix. I would have liked to see a slightly larger book with all of the creature pages included. I can accept the “for additional information read Pact Worlds” (for example). But the alien statistics are not “additional information,” they are vital. Now, this practice isn’t unusual in later Adventure Paths, and to a certain extent, I understand it for the standard releases. They have a finite number of pages that they must fit everything into. However, a hardbound omnibus has more flexibility and should be treated as a premium product.
Please don’t think that I don’t like this Dead Suns collection. Because I do. It’s a great opportunity for newer players to experience a great adventure in its entirety. Even if you don’t have the 4-6 months (or more) to play through this entire Adventure Path, it’s a great read. Free reading RPGs is a vastly underestimated segment of our gaming hobby. At its heart, roleplaying is storytelling. Whether you are playing through your story or reading it, you are seen and are valid. So, at the end of the day, Dead Suns is a great opportunity. Whether you plan to play it or just to read it, whether you prefer First Edition or Second Edition, Dead Suns is worth picking up.
[David Chapman]
