Remember your character is a member of the Starfinder Society, working with colleagues and friends. The Society's motto is “Explore, Report, Cooperate.”
Mission Briefing
Each adventure typically begins with a briefing, either in the form of a message, a meeting with a Venture-Captain, or a job offer from an outside employer.
Slotting Boons: This is when you choose which of your character's Boons are active (slotted) in boon slots for the adventure.
Purchasing Equipment: This will also often be the last opportunity your character has to purchase any needed equipment during the adventure.
Crafting
Characters cannot craft items during an adventure. The only allowed crafting is a single item per Downtime period (see Downtime Crafting).
Run As Written
The Paizo Organized Play program strives to provide a fun, engaging, consistent experience at all tables. GMs are required to run Paizo Organized Play adventures as written, which means:
- No changes to major plot points and interactions
- No addition or subtraction to the number of monsters other than scaling directed by the adventure
- No changes to the DCs or results of hazards or skill checks defined in the adventure
- No changes to the mechanics of the adventure, including penalties due to weather, terrain or hazards
- No changes to armor, feats, items, skills, spells, statistics, traits, or weapons
- No changes to the mechanics of player character options
- No banning of legal character options
Beyond the above, GMs are encouraged to make choices that would result in the most enjoyable play experience for everyone at the table and that emphasize PCs are the heroes of the story. (See GM Discretion for discussion and examples.)
Ethical Infractions and Infamy
Players are responsible for their characters’ choices and are subject to consequences resulting from those choices.
Infamy represents a character’s reputation for performing evil or criminal actions. Some Scenarios will call out specific actions that will cause one or more PCs to gain Infamy. A GM can also assign Infamy for evil or criminal acts not specifically called out by the Scenario.
Warnings: The GM must warn the Player that their act will earn Infamy. This warning can be in character or out of character but must be clear to the player. If the PC goes through with the action, they earn the point of Infamy.
Effects of Infamy: Each point of Infamy reduces the PC's effective level by one for purposes of purchasing gear.
If a PC ends an adventure with 3 Infamy, they are ejected from the Starfinder Society and are no longer allowed to play in the campaign. The character must be marked dead when the table is reported.
Reducing Infamy: A PC can purchase the Infamy Reduction boon with AcP to reduce their Infamy by 1.
Major Infractions: Characters who become Wantonly Evil by performing vile actions deliberately and without motive or provocation cannot reduce the value by spending AcP and are retired from the campaign when they reach 3 Infamy. This measure is a last resort; players must try to play their characters in ways that are within the constraints of acceptable alignments, even if their characters have gained some Infamy.
If a character is retired for reaching 3 Infamy, the GM must report the issue to their local Venture-Captain or Regional Venture-Coordinator. (See Violation Enforcement Procedures for more information.)
Only in-game actions earn Infamy. Code of Conduct violations earn players table sanctions.