Soldiers of Brass

Fire Starters is a sci-fi fantasy campaign module for Starfinder, written by Crystal Frasier and published by Paizo.

By Aaron T. Huss



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Soldiers of Brass is the second book of the latest Starfinder Adventure Path – Dawn of Flame. Whereas the first book, Fire Starters, was something of a set-up and introduction to the overarching storyline, Soldiers of Brass gets deeper into the storyline and the machinations going on behind the scenes. As the PCs become more aligned to what is effectively the “side of good” within the setting, the opposing factions begin taking more notice and start working a bit harder to thwart the heroes’ plans.

Soldiers of Brass obviously contains the campaign adventure content along with plenty of support content. In this issue you get a look at the merchants in the local bazaar (you know, for buying new stuff) and the unique equipment and personnel it contains, a kind of high-level overview of bits and pieces of what its like to live in the archipelago of bubble cities residing in the aura of the local star and locations that may be of use to the PCs, another bestiary, another overview of a single location, and another spaceship. While I like this content, I felt very letdown regarding the high-level overview of the archipelago. I was really hoping to see some artwork depicting what the archipelago looks like and what the cities inside the bubbles are really like. Instead it reads more like a tourist guide with artwork that leaves you wishing for more.

If you don’t like spoilers, then don’t read the rest of the review.

Soldiers of Brass is broken into three parts just like Fire Starters. In fact, the overall theme of this adventure is pretty much the same as the overall theme of the first book – dungeon delving sci-fi style. Although there are more than three locations, you have a collection of locations and you have to move through each one in order to achieve your next milestone etc., etc. Like before, if you like this style of play, then it suits your needs. If you are looking for sci-fi fantasy more akin to space opera, then you will tire quickly of the monotony of these battles. I will say, however, that I like the locations and I can see how they could be used for things other than just a military walk-through where you shoot everyone in sight.

With that said, I personally would tire of this campaign very quickly. But that is a personal preference. However, I would definitely use the campaign source material and adventure locations for some amazing sci-fi games set in an intriguing location. I still really like the setting and I still really like how the writers develop it. I like how the overarching setting is growing along with the characters’ development in terms of getting bigger and essentially more dangerous the closer the PCs get to the main conflict. I just don’t like how it’s resolved; but again, that’s just a personal preference.