Running a Session

During a session, you're in charge of keeping the game's action moving, managing the different modes of play, fielding questions, and making rules decisions. You'll also want to keep a rough eye on the time, so you can end when most convenient for the group. You're the interface between the rules and the imagined universe you and the other players share. They will ask you questions, and they'll act based on their own assumptions. It's up to you to establish what's true in the game, but you don't do this unilaterally. You're informed by the setting's backstory, your preparations, and the suggestions and assumptions the other players bring to the table. Keep in mind that until you announce something, your own plans are subject to change. For example, if you originally intended the bartender of a cantina to be kindly and wellintentioned, but a player misreads her and invents an interesting conspiracy theory regarding her intentions that sounds fun, you might convert the friendly bartender into an agent of evil after all. You'll also determine when PCs and foes need to attempt checks, as well as the consequences of those rolls. This comes up most often outside of encounters, as encounters are more regimented about when checks happen and how they are resolved. In an encounter, a player can usually determine their own character's turn, with you chiming in only to say whether an attack hits or if something in the environment requires a character to attempt a check. Hero Points As GM, you're in charge of doling out Hero Points during sessions. Recommendations for how to grant them appear in Hero Points, but you can also consider Hero Points a way to reinforce your personal style of Game Mastering and reward what you and the other players value during play. It can help to keep a Hero Point token on hand as a visual and tactile reminder to hand them out when appropriate. You can also ask your players to tell you when they think a PC's action merits a Hero Point. Off-session Gaming Session play with a full group isn't the only way to play Starfinder. Finding opportunities to expand on the game outside of its regular schedule can keep your group engaged between sessions. You can get together with a single player to run a mini-session for their character, covering a mission that's important to their story but doesn't concern the rest of the group. You and the players can work out what their characters do during solid stretches of downtime via email or chat messages. You can also give players opportunities to collaborate on details of the story, like having a player design a heraldic symbol for the adventuring group or map out their home base. You might even decide to award a Hero Point at the next session to a player for events that happened outside a session. Some events aren't suitable for handling outside of sessions. Any event that strongly affects a character whose player isn't present should be handled at the table when everyone can attend. It's also helpful to recap events that took place outside of the session for all characters so no one feels excluded or lost.