Starfinder’s core rulebooks are literally falling apart

After the high of becoming Paizo’s fastest-selling roleplaying game to date, Starfinder has hit a snag – some of its rulebooks are quite literally falling apart.

Problems with the regular and limited editions of the RPG’s core rulebook first began to pop up on the Paizo forums after the game’s release in late August, with players reporting that the pages in the tome were separating from the fabric strip designed to hold them together along the spine.

Paizo has now responded to the complaints, acknowledging that the case binding method used for the books – which attaches the main book block of pages to the central spine lining, before being attached to the cover – was defective in some players’ copies.

“No manufacturing process is perfect, so there are always going to be a handful of issues, but by the time we came back from Gen Con, we had received more complaints than we would expect for a print run this size,” Paizo explained further in a blog post.

Now, it’s worth noting that despite the issue being more widespread than usual, the binding problems are still only expected to affect a ‘small fraction’ of Starfinder owners. In other words, if you own the core rulebook and it hasn’t started to separate already, it’s unlikely to happen in the future.

For those who do find themselves with their book falling apart, Paizo has said it will replace all the copies affected, with players able to either return the dodgy version directly to the publisher or to the shop they bought it from by October 27th for a free replacement or in-store credit.

With the core rulebook currently sold out in many places, it might mean waiting until the reprint arrives in mid-November if your local shop doesn’t have any stock – those with the limited edition will have no choice but to wait. The only difference in the new edition will be the words ‘Second Printing’ in the book.