Galaxy Guide Explained

"Strap in for a tour of the galaxy!”

Greetings, nufriends and old pals! It’s your buddy, Captain Concierge, here, explaining the great mysteries of Starfinder 2 Electric Skibididoo! Don’t worry, that’s not really what it’s called. I just made that up! I’m a virtual intelligence, so I get to do that. Now let’s get back to the facts!

“Howdy, nufriend! I’m Captain Concierge, your friendly virtual intelligence guide to the galaxy and everything else.”

If you’re excited about playing Starfinder Second Edition, you probably want to learn more about the setting–the fictional universe the game takes place in. Galaxy Guide is a tour of Starfinder’s setting that’s sure to inspire countless games. It’s also a sourcebook full of tools for Game Masters (GMs) and players, whether you’re planning to play a prewritten adventure or create a homebrew campaign of your own! 

Starfinder Galaxy Guide builds on existing lore from Starfinder First Edition, providing updates to the setting following major events like the Drift Crisis and the recent explosion of Aucturn, which featured in A Cosmic Birthday. Epic struggles are unfolding between the despotic Veskarium and the ruthless Azlanti Star Empire, beginning with Empires Devoured and sparking consequences that ripple across the galaxy—and that’s only a taste of the dramatic events in StarfinderGalaxy Guide that might shape your Starfinder games!

This book is packed full of exciting new lore, including some wacky sectors of space you’ve never explored before. Get ready to launch into Kazmurg’s Absurdity, an unexplored sector of the galaxy created by former Starfinder Managing Creative Director Thurston Hillman. Kazmurg’s Absurdity is a vast, magically warped territory that can only be traversed using traditional maps. The Absurdity contains realms full of rich resources and bizarre cultures warred over by conniving empires, cruel daemons, and ruthless megacorporations. It’s the perfect place for an adventuring party interested in exploring uncharted space and discovering new worlds filled with ancient secrets and unimaginable treasures.

Starfinder Galaxy Guide is designed as a toolbox to help GMs tell different kinds of stories using the Starfinder rules and setting, but it’s full of content for players, too. Six new ancestries and six new archetypes provide plenty of options for creating characters. Get to know the most powerful and influential factions in the galaxy, tour major ports of call where you might spend downtime in your campaign, and visit local hot spots where narrative hooks to draw characters into the setting wait around every corner. StarfinderGalaxy Guide is your preview of the Starfinder galaxy–it is fuel to launch your campaign into Second Edition, or to blast your Pathfinder campaign into strange new worlds.

Still with me? I should sum it up, gree? StarfinderGalaxy Guide contains….

• A 2-sided poster featuring a political map of the Desna’s Path galaxy and an infographic of the Pact Worlds system, designed by Kyle Hunter.
• Tools for telling common types of stories (like dystopian and horror) in your Starfinder campaigns and incorporating common elements such as high fantasy or advanced technology into your Starfinder or Pathfinder adventures.
• Tons of new backgrounds designed for characters from the Starfinder galaxy!
• Introduction to major and minor factions in the galaxy.
• Six new archetypes.
• Six new playable ancestries.
• Gorgeous art, new lore, and inspiration for countless adventures!
• The answers you’ve been waiting for about special topics like what happened to those corporate dark elves that lived on Apostae. (And perhaps other burning questions about the new ORC space frontier!)
• AND THE BEST PART: All the rules in this book are fully compatible with Pathfinder Second Edition!!! That’s right; get ready to send your Pathfinder party through a portal to a faraway planet, or to give your Starfinder group a time machine. Or maybe you’d rather crash another spaceship into Golarion, Numeria style. The galaxy’s your oyster now.

Still not enough for you? Okay, then let’s take a closer look at some of the content in this book and show off some spoilertastic art!

Ancestries

There’s six new ancestries in this book. That’s right, that means that technically you’re going to have 16 ancestry options available to you in August, not to mention the two versatile heritages and Pathfinder legacy ancestries you can choose. Not bad, huh? Let’s talk a little more about those ancestries.

“You know how some characters in your party don’t have two braincells to rub together? This contemplative doesn’t have that problem.”)

Astrazoan: A shapeshifter who physically reshapes their own anatomy using specialized musculature rather than using magic to change forms. Sometimes they don’t get all the details of the change quite right—see if you can spot all the astrazoans in this book!

Contemplative: An engorged brain with a vestigial body whose ultimate tools are a superior intellect and psychic powers. Contemplatives live underground on Akiton where they ponder mathematical and metaphysical questions or convene in psychic forums.

Dragonkin: A humanoid dragon hybrid who can form a deep spiritual bond with one other creature. Dragonkin come from Triaxus and are the heart of the Skyfire Legion, a troop of bonded warriors who defend their planet alongside dragon allies.

Kalo: A graceful aquatic humanoid from Kalo-Mahoi, a watery moon orbiting Bretheda. An average kalo is both athletic and creative, and most are known for their outrageous but practical fashions.

Sarcesian: A humanoid spacefarer with energy wings who can survive in the void of space. Sarcesians live in isolated communities in the Diaspora or travel solar streams to distant locations.

Vlaka: A wolflike nomad from Lajok with an incredible sense of smell and unusual sensory adaptations. Vlakas who witnessed the rebirth of their dying sun, Sota, are marked with starburst patterns that match their natural blessing to kindle light.

Archetypes

If you think the factions in Starfinder Galaxy Guide are really cool, this book also contains six archetypes that let you play as a member of one of them! Here’s what the Starfinder team cooked up.

“This pahtra is a member of the Xenowardens faction, who is also trained as the xenodruid archetype. The spell they’re casting is verdant code, a spell that calls forth living flora from machinery.”)

AbadarCorp Rep: Climb the corporate ladder as an AbadarCorp rep—if you think you have what it takes for the job.

Space Pirate: Pillage and plunder as a spacefaring freebooter! You’re probably one of the Free Captains, but you might be a lone captain or a lowly deckhand dreaming of commanding your own crew.

Hellknight: Become a ruthless warrior as fearsome as Hell itself and live by the Measure and the Chain. As a Hellknight, you belong to an ancient institution from Lost Golarion, but you’re free to embrace modernity, especially heavy armor and munitions.

Knight of Golarion: Protect your companions and unleash your righteous spirit while preserving the history and cultures of Lost Golarion. You might be a follower of the god Iomedae, a gallant knight, or a historian obsessed with pre-Gap antiquity.

Xenoarcheologist: Explore and catalog ancient ruins and priceless artifacts. Many xenoarchaeologists work for the Starfinder Society, but some are free agents or have ties to other factions.

Xenodruid: Form a mystic bond with a planet and unlock nature’s potential. Most xenodruids are pledged to defend the galaxy’s wilds as a Xenowarden.

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That’s all I got, folks! If you want to know more, check out Starfinder Galaxy Guide here or at your friendly local gaming store!

—The Starfinder Team