Every week, Now You Know recaps the Know Direction content of the past week, previews the Know Direction content of the week to come, and shares the thoughts on the state of the network from the director of operations, Ryan Costello.
Ah, Intrepid Heroes 093 – Starship Battles. As the name suggests, it features one big starship battle. And, as is pretty common when starship combat comes up, the discourse surrounding the episode focused on whether that subsystem can be fun. In fact, a week later, there are still posts adding to that topic on the Know Direction Discord server’s Starfinder channel. Even though I don’t play Starfinder and, other than one SFS scenario, the vast majority of my Starfinder exposure is through our podcasts, I find the starship combat issues fascinating. Especially since the game and those rules are 5 years old.
I personally enjoyed that episode of Intrepid Heroes, because I love hearing how well John knows the starship combat rules. But the fact that most of the other players needed the refresher illustrates one issue with the starship combat rules: lack of exposure atrophies understanding. And that leads to a vicious cycle: Adventures minimize the amount of starship combat because players find them confusing and boring, but still include them since they’re a feature of the game; because of how infrequently the rules show up, players need to relearn starship combat every time, confusing and boring them; repeat.
After Starship Operations Manual, I heard that the new starship roles breathed new life into starship combat. I guess they solved a starship combat problem, but not the all starship combat problems. The fact that the Starship Operations Manual exists shows that the Starfinder design team at Paizo is not trying to sweep the subsystem under the rug, at least. The ideal solution would be for Paizo to release a simple patch that retains every word they’ve published (and therefore they and Starfinder players paid for), and meets the expectations of the audience. But given some of the complaints (that starship combat plays contrary to the cadence and expectations of the rest of Starfinder play), I’m not sure the ideal solution is doable.
I don’t have a suggestion, sadly. Just pontificating a thought inspired by last week’s content.
Speaking of Know Direction Network Content, here’s a recap of the Know Direction Network content from last week:
Recap of August 22nd to August 26th
What happened last week on knowdirectionpodcast.com and twitch.tv/knowdirection?
Monday, August 22nd
Twitch
Know Direction 283 Live – Travel Guide Breakdown
Luis and Vanessa talked Travel Guide before a live Twitch audience.
Podcast
Intrepid Heroes 093 – Starship Battles
What started as a write-up about this episode became this week’s editorial.
Article
Now You Know – Good Ol’ Jason Keeley
By Ryan Costello
Sometimes you don’t realize someone plays a big role in your life until you, y’know, do realize it.
Tuesday, August 23rd
Podcast
Game Design Unboxed 44: Season 2 Finale
To close the second season -and a big year, professionally, for Danielle, she invites her friend Nat Iris to interview her about her hobby and career.
Article
Eldritch Excursion – Snack Attack
By Nate Wright
Nate builds Android 21 from the hit game Dragon Ball FighterZ as a Pathfinder 2e character. Based on the title and image (and my lack of familiarity with DBZ) I thought he was making a baker archetype. One which could be combined with his past articles to create a Bed & Breakfast player character.
Wednesday, August 24th
Podcast
Know Direction 283 – Travel Guide Breakdown
I’ve been apathetic to the concept of the Travel Guide, I admit, but Vanessa and Luis’ excitement for it makes me think I’ve been too quick to dismiss a book that could well teach me Lost Omens lore and geography better than even the World Guide.
Article
Behind The Screens – It’s What My Character Would Do
My goal as a GM is to get my players to do what their characters would do as much as possible, and using “It’s what my character would do” as shorthand for a disruptive player runs the risk of discouraging more timid players from roleplaying. There, I said it.
Thursday, August 25th
Podcast
Digital Divination 064 – Tips and Tricks for Starting Starfinder
Possibly naively, I used the Starfinder Beginner Box as the image for the social media share for this episode. Twitter user Leon Aquilla countered with “My first piece of advice is dont use the beginner box”. It made me realize that what Keeley said in the episode, that you’ll need to relearn aspects of the game when you transition from the Beginner Box to the Core Rulebook, may have been the kind of veiled warning that flies way over my head.
Friday, August 26th
Podcast
Upshift 001 – Reintroduction
I’m super excited to be podcasting again, to be podcasting about Essence20, and to be podcasting with Jason Keeley. Too super excited. I cut about 20 minutes of tangents and rambling from the episode and it still feels like I drifted from the topic. I guess 6 months out of the first chair of a podcast built up a lot of unused anecdotes that I released at the first opportunity.
Preview of August 29th to September 2nd
This is back to Block 2 of our 2-block schedule.
Monday, August 29th
Article
Now You Know – What Do You Do With A Starship Combat?
By Ryan Costello
Hand wave complicated rules,
Hand wave complicated rules,
Hand wave complicated rules,
Early in the morning!
Tuesday, August 30th
Podcast
Young and Adventurous 008
Scott D Young runs the Adventurous crew through an original adventure, following up on the modified version of Pathfinder Society Scenario #2-17: Lost Maid of Anactoria that he previously ran.
Article
Fox’s Cunning
By Dustin Knight
Dustin offers expert insight and helpful tools to enhance your game.
Wednesday, August 31st
Podcast
Presenting: Dave Scott
John Godek’s Everyday Heroes coverage continues with Dave Scott, the owner of Evil Genius Productions.
Thursday, September 1st
Podcast
Legend Lore 50
Luis and Loren talk Pathfinder 2e, one topic at a time.
Article
Investing In
By Rob Pontious
Rob shares what he loves about the RPGs he’s been playing lately, and why you should check them out.
Friday, September 2nd
Article
Iconic Design – Hero Forge Fridays
By Alex Augunas
Iconic Designs meets Hero Forge Fridays as Alex Augunas creates a mini and stat block every week.
Now you know,
Ryan Costello
