Game Mastering

The universe is an endless expanse of adventuring potential. On its billions of worlds, physics create every possible permutation of geology, while life’s endless creativity gives rise to organisms both eerily familiar and defying imagination. Regardless of their design, all of these creatures struggle to survive and thrive in their native habitats, from icy seas and lush fungus jungles to the savage pyroclastic flows of tidally heated moons or the rusting hulks of ancient alien megastructures. The following section contains rules to help you as GM adjudicate the game universe, including rules for the vastness of space, for various types of planets and the different terrains that may be found on them, and for environmental effects and hazards that may come into play in a variety of settings. Rules for settlements and structures both natural and artificial are presented at the end of the chapter.

Ancient alien ruins and corporate offices alike are rife with traps and defense mechanisms meant to protect valuable goods, personnel, and information. Additionally, adventuring characters sometimes encounter situations that, while not intentionally set up as traps, are just as dangerous—an unshielded power conduit in a damaged ship could prove deadly to those who aren’t careful, as could an unbalanced grav plate that might fling the unwary into a wall at high speeds. Whether the presentation of such dangers is intentional, accidental, or simply situational, all are represented using the same set of rules.

Even with the myriad tools and tricks provided in the Starfinder Core Rulebook and other resources (such as the Starfinder Galaxy Exploration Manual), running a game of Starfinder can be a challenge! This section provides some tools and alternatives for your games, whether you’re looking to empower players or simply change things up a bit.