Hello my lovelies, it’s once again time for your very own PAIZO NEWS ROUNDUP! We have a special edition here today – we’re reviewing Starfinder: Near Space! Stuffed to bursting with new worlds to explore and foes to defeat, with a particular focus on the Veskarium, this is the major setting expansion we’ve all been waiting for. Let’s get into it!
First off, I want to get my personal quibbles with the Veskarium out of the way so I can gush about everything else that’s rad about this book. All of my hangups really boil down to the fact that such a monolithic and long-lasting empire strains my suspension of disbelief. Maybe I’ve just seen too many “evil empires” and “race of warriors” by this point, but now I just have a hard time believing that EVERY vesk is so intensely focused on war and fighting and the furthering of the empire.
Why aren’t there more dissenting opinions? There’s mention of not just one but THREE vesk secret police, but no mention of their propaganda machine keeping everyone’s mindset in line actively versus reactively. The further one gets from Vesk Prime, the less control the Empire seems to have – but even on Vesk Prime I’d expect to see more than just a throwaway line about dissidents.
What really drives the Veskarium to expand? – and no, a universal tendency towards warmongering is too thin to stand on its own any more. Resources? Living space? A line of ambitious leaders? There’s a lot of space dedicated to saying this military dictatorship takes care of its citizens and provides a high standard of living, but there’s no explicit link between the resources needed to maintain that and the push to expand.
Was there no change after the Gap? No moment of opportunistic rebellion or bloody chaos? The book does say that the empire did have to re-unify its major planets, but it also seems to imply that action was largely perfunctory and didn’t leave any lasting cultural scars. I can think of at least one real-life nation still dealing with the fallout of civil conflict from at least as long ago for us as the Gap was for the Vesk.
All that was really meant to say that it’s clear that the designers of Starfinder: Near Space did an excellent job of creating rich, evocative worlds with a lot of potential – that still needs a little work to fully bring it to life. Ask the questions I’ve asked and more to add all sorts of nooks and crannies to your Veskarium and bring it to life.
Now, on to the good stuff! And, oh my goodness, is there so much good stuff. For starters, the art for this, like all Starfinder products, is gorgeous. Character design tells you so much that the text simply doesn’t have the space to, and maps are sprinkled with minor elements that are left unexplained for you to explore. I have no doubt that some of these points of interest will be explored in future Adventure Paths or setting books, but for now there’s plenty of wild space for adventure.
Maps, you say? Oh yes – each of the nine major worlds of the Veskarium gets its own detailed world map! A FULL PAGE MAP. I couldn’t be happier. And yes, this includes Vesk-5, a gas giant. Each world gets its own little folio diving into the geography, natural phenomena and hazards, native residents, and the Vesk occupation. You would be forgiven for thinking that the presentation of the Veskarium and Near Space worlds is similar to that of the Deck of Many Worlds; not only is that likely on purpose for consistency’s sake, the Deck is also given a half-page dedication to encourage you to make your own Near Space worlds!
This wouldn’t be a Starfinder book without spaceships, and Near Space does not disappoint. All of the spaceships have truly breathtaking art that is also exceptional at capturing their intended use in their design. If your heroes have had run-ins with a BMC Mauler or two in the past, just wait till they’re staring down the barrels of its new-and-improved big sister: the BMC Predator. You will also be able to tell where on the GM-player spectrum you fall by how you react to the massive vesk capital ship and their mobile space station: if it’s finally something too big to steal, you’re a GM. If it’s the score of a lifetime, you’re a player.
Finally, player options. There’s a solid handful of options each for a solid handful of the prominent species both in Near Space and in Starfinder in general, but like the Veskarium it feels like there’s something missing. Each species only gets a page for its variants – even the vesk! This is practically the vesk’s book and they only get a page of options. That said, if you like playing vesk and you want to make the veskiest vesk that ever vesked and flexed, then the Doshko Specialist is for you. Nothing will quite capture the moment when you whip out your doshko and show that you’ve got twice as many teeth as the next vesk.
That about does it for Starfinder: Near Space! So much to dig into here, so much delightful evil empire fun to be had. Go forth and cause chaos, my lovelies!
Why aren’t there more dissenting opinions? There’s mention of not just one but THREE vesk secret police, but no mention of their propaganda machine keeping everyone’s mindset in line actively versus reactively. The further one gets from Vesk Prime, the less control the Empire seems to have – but even on Vesk Prime I’d expect to see more than just a throwaway line about dissidents.
What really drives the Veskarium to expand? – and no, a universal tendency towards warmongering is too thin to stand on its own any more. Resources? Living space? A line of ambitious leaders? There’s a lot of space dedicated to saying this military dictatorship takes care of its citizens and provides a high standard of living, but there’s no explicit link between the resources needed to maintain that and the push to expand.
Was there no change after the Gap? No moment of opportunistic rebellion or bloody chaos? The book does say that the empire did have to re-unify its major planets, but it also seems to imply that action was largely perfunctory and didn’t leave any lasting cultural scars. I can think of at least one real-life nation still dealing with the fallout of civil conflict from at least as long ago for us as the Gap was for the Vesk.
All that was really meant to say that it’s clear that the designers of Starfinder: Near Space did an excellent job of creating rich, evocative worlds with a lot of potential – that still needs a little work to fully bring it to life. Ask the questions I’ve asked and more to add all sorts of nooks and crannies to your Veskarium and bring it to life.
Now, on to the good stuff! And, oh my goodness, is there so much good stuff. For starters, the art for this, like all Starfinder products, is gorgeous. Character design tells you so much that the text simply doesn’t have the space to, and maps are sprinkled with minor elements that are left unexplained for you to explore. I have no doubt that some of these points of interest will be explored in future Adventure Paths or setting books, but for now there’s plenty of wild space for adventure.
Maps, you say? Oh yes – each of the nine major worlds of the Veskarium gets its own detailed world map! A FULL PAGE MAP. I couldn’t be happier. And yes, this includes Vesk-5, a gas giant. Each world gets its own little folio diving into the geography, natural phenomena and hazards, native residents, and the Vesk occupation. You would be forgiven for thinking that the presentation of the Veskarium and Near Space worlds is similar to that of the Deck of Many Worlds; not only is that likely on purpose for consistency’s sake, the Deck is also given a half-page dedication to encourage you to make your own Near Space worlds!
This wouldn’t be a Starfinder book without spaceships, and Near Space does not disappoint. All of the spaceships have truly breathtaking art that is also exceptional at capturing their intended use in their design. If your heroes have had run-ins with a BMC Mauler or two in the past, just wait till they’re staring down the barrels of its new-and-improved big sister: the BMC Predator. You will also be able to tell where on the GM-player spectrum you fall by how you react to the massive vesk capital ship and their mobile space station: if it’s finally something too big to steal, you’re a GM. If it’s the score of a lifetime, you’re a player.
Finally, player options. There’s a solid handful of options each for a solid handful of the prominent species both in Near Space and in Starfinder in general, but like the Veskarium it feels like there’s something missing. Each species only gets a page for its variants – even the vesk! This is practically the vesk’s book and they only get a page of options. That said, if you like playing vesk and you want to make the veskiest vesk that ever vesked and flexed, then the Doshko Specialist is for you. Nothing will quite capture the moment when you whip out your doshko and show that you’ve got twice as many teeth as the next vesk.
That about does it for Starfinder: Near Space! So much to dig into here, so much delightful evil empire fun to be had. Go forth and cause chaos, my lovelies!
