Starfield: Genesys (Star Wars FFG)

Creating your character

Character creation for Starfield: Genesys is part of the story itself — because your character existed before the story began. Before our first session, I'll meet with you 1-on-1 via Discord and FoundryVTT to walk through your character together. The central question isn't "what class are you playing" — it's "who were you on Earth, and why were you willing to get in that pod?" We'll build your character using the Genesys Core Rulebook and the Star Wars - Edge of The Empire Core Rulebook, choosing your Archetype, Career, and skills to reflect who you were in 2138 — survivalist, scientist, medic, engineer, artist, or something harder to label. I'll share all reference material and resources through our campaign Discord, including guides to the Genesys narrative dice system if you're new to it. No prior experience with Genesys is required — I'll walk you through everything. Two things are true about every character in this campaign: you left Earth willingly, and you brought only what you could carry. Starting equipment reflects this. You are not an adventurer. You are a person who said yes to a one-way trip into the dark, and woke up somewhere stranger than you expected. Once we've settled your concept, I'll take a vivid written description from you and provide or commission character art that fits your vision. Any new players joining mid-campaign will be onboarded the same way — I'll bring you up to speed on where the story is, and we'll find a narrative reason together for how you enter the picture.

Preparing for the session

No webcam needed. Our players prefer to remain physically anonymous. Mic needed — decent quality, as we stream our games live on Twitch (CloudheartTV) and archive sessions on YouTube. I will go over this in our onboarding conversation and confirm that you're comfortable with the stream format before we begin. General familiarity with Genesys narrative dice is appreciated, but absolutely not required — I'll explain any rules as they come up, and the dice system is designed to be picked up quickly at the table. If you've played any FFG Star Wars system (Edge of the Empire, Age of Rebellion, etc.), you're already halfway there. Client Requirements for FoundryVTT in Browser: - Relatively Modern Computer running: Windows 10/11, macOS Big Sur (or newer), or Linux OS with 64-bit support - A dedicated GPU which supports WebGL 2.0 - 16GB of RAM - A monitor with 1920x1080 or higher resolution - A mouse and keyboard - Chrome or a Chromium-based browser

What Cloudheart brings to the table

Starfield: Genesys runs through a fully customized FoundryVTT server built specifically for this campaign. The UI has been themed to match Constellation's in-game aesthetic — light terminal surfaces,framing of Constellation's computer interfaces. The in-game calendar runs on a custom Universal Time Stardate system (UT2310-format), tracked in real time as the campaign progresses. I provide character voices for NPCs — performed personally and enhanced with a voice modulator for select characters — alongside a curated ambient and combat music library drawn from Starfield's official soundtrack and complementary royalty-free or CC0 sources. Space is quiet. The music fills the silence. Theater-of-the-mind narration drives exploration and travel scenes, with custom scene imagery, battlemaps, and tokens supporting ground and ship encounters. I embrace the Rule of Cool for singular moments and bold player ideas — while keeping us anchored to the Genesys rules as written for everything else, so the narrative dice remain meaningful. I will commission or provide character art for each player's character, and I'll work with you in onboarding to get your portrait right. Streaming consent is always discussed personally before your first session. I'll walk you through what's captured, how you'll appear on stream, and make sure you're comfortable with everything before we go live.

Homebrew rules

Genesys's narrative dice already carry a great deal of the weight here — Advantage, Threat, Triumph, and Despair naturally generate the kind of cinematic complications and unexpected wins that make this setting come alive. The homebrew rules below exist to sharpen a few specific edges of the Starfield experience: Cryo-Sickness (Session 1 only): All characters begin Session 1 with 4 Strain already on their threshold. You just woke up from a century of unconsciousness. Your body will catch up. Eventually. Vacuum & Environmental Hazard Rules: Breached suits, depressurized compartments, and hard vacuum are tracked as active hazards with mechanical consequences. Strain threshold doubles as suit integrity in vacuum encounters. When it hits zero, it stops being Strain. Protocol Indigo: The ship acquired at the end of Session 1 is narratively hardcoded to navigate only to Jemison, Alpha Centauri. This is a story constraint that opens up rather than limits — and will be resolved through play, not GM fiat. Advantage/Threat as Environment: In combat and exploration, accumulated Advantage and Threat can be spent or triggered by the GM to affect the environment, not just individual characters — shifting gravity, failing life support, unexpected contacts on sensors. Space rewards preparation and punishes assumptions. Triumph & Despair: Triumphs generate story-defining moments the player narrates collaboratively with the GM. Despairs generate complications that change the scene in ways that cannot be immediately undone. Both are permanent facts of the story, not resets. Homebrew rules will be reviewed collectively as the campaign develops. The system is being explored alongside the setting — we adjust what isn't working and keep what is.

How Cloudheart creates a safe table

I generally go over campaign tone, Veils and Lines, and how we handle bleed between Player and PC after sessions in Session 0, which I do after helping 1-on-1 build each player's character via Discord. There is a button at the left hand of the screen that is anonymous for all X, N, & O's that I will show everyone how to use before beginning the first session.