Starfinder (Tech Revolution)

Tech Revolution

Sometimes you pick up a book and it’s nothing like you expected. For me, the was Starfinder: Tech Revolution. Now, the first thing I need to mention is that Tech Revolution is an original first edition Starfinder sourcebook. If you’re playing the new Second Edition, you may need to make some adjustments to the stats. 

I was honestly expecting a sourcebook full of tables and charts. To a certain extent, you do get that, but not nearly to the extent I expected. Tech Revolution isn’t just a book of new stuff you can play with, it’s a deeper delve into how technology impacts players. 

The book opens with a new Class: Nanocyte. If you’ve read almost any science fiction, you’ve heard of nanites. Tiny machines that can do basically anything the plot needs them to do. Nanocytes are host to nanites, with the reason being open to the backstory a player comes up with. As the PC gains levels, they gain new abilities while that character becomes more robot and less organic. Unlike many classes in most games, this makes character advancement feel more impactful on the story, not just on the power creep that comes with new levels. In fact of all the Alternate Class Features included for other Classes, none feel as organic (pardon the pun) as the Nanocyte.

The next chapter is what I expected more of. New gear or every sort imaginable, along with the stats and tables that come with it. If I skim past this chapter, please don’t think it’s because the contents aren’t immensely cool. I’m partial to botanical stuff in Starfinder, so Living Tree armour is right up my alley. But there are cooler things in this book to get to. Similarly, I’m going to skim quickly through the Vehicles chapter. For players who are so inclined, that chapter builds on vehicle rules and lets them build their own vehicles. For the less inclined, there are rules to modify existing vehicles. For those who hate building things, there are even pre-built vehicles of all descriptions, plus rules for Vehicle Encounters once players have their vehicle.

Life interfered with me between the Equipment and Vehicle chapters, so when I picked Tech Revolution up again, I didn’t really pay attention to what was inevitably coming. As I read through the Armour and Vehicles sections I thought to myself “self… this could make a cool mech.” Guess what the next chapter is? MECHS!

Who doesn’t like mechs? Robotech is legendary. Voltron. Power Rangers. Pacific Rim. Hell, even the abomination that was Transformers Headmasters. People controlling giant robots is a timeless trope in every medium. The Starfinder team did a brilliant job bringing every variation of mech to the page and your table. Do you want a full on mech adventure where the heroes assemble into a larger mech? You can do it. Want to turn a vehicle into a transformer? Go hard, the rules are there! Just like with vehicles (and most mechanical things before this), there are detailed rules to build your own custom mechs.  Also, like vehicles (and most mechanical things before this), there are pages and pages of customizations followed by a ton of examples, encounter rules, and NPC mechs. Surprisingly, the Xenowarden Mech is my favourite. It’s literally a tree with a mech body. How freaking cool is that?

The final chapter is where this book truly shines. “A Galaxy of Tech”. The chapter starts with a few pieces of short fiction before looking at all the technology that we see around us in the real world, pumped up to the far future of the Pact Worlds and beyond. Advertising, Food, Energy, Music, and Media. Transportation, Manufacturing, Security, Even Shipping & Deliveries. Who says capitalism can’t be fun?

Tech Revolution really does have something for everyone. Whether you’re a hardcore build fan or you just like free-reading RPGs, Tech Revolution is a great closing to the Starfinder First Edition era.

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