Advice required on a con game for Serenity RPG (Spoilers for SydCon 08)


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I'm running a game at a convention in about two and a half months. Given that I've DMed D&D before at a convention game, and I'm a long-term DM at home, I'm feeling OK about it.

However, for a convention game of Serenity, I'm aiming for a bit more of an "episode" feel than a dungeon crawl. I'm writing my own adventure (though there are lots of good ones available on Cortex System RPG.org.

I'm going with a few assumptions, as follows:
* Original crew (it's easier, everyone should know what their character does and how they act, etc.)
* After the Big Damn Movie (again, easier than slotting it in somewhere... yes, I lose Book and Wash, but River's now a playable non-crazy character)
* I want it to feel like watching an episode- it's self-contained, but exists within the bounds and limits of the Firefly Universe. This means it can include ideas, people, and historical events pictured within the series, movie, and ongoing comics, etc., but I don't want to "change history" or go off-track.

Thus:
So far, what I've written includes the following ideas. I'd like feedback, playtesting (if possible), and advice, if I can get any. Spoilers follow for anyone planning to attend SydCon 2008 (Australia) so please, don't read on if you're likely to attend.

Spoiler:

* I was going to begin in media res with a (as usual) punch-up in a bar, courtesy of U-day. This will be something to familiarize people with the combat rules (for anyone who hasn't played the Cortex System yet) and something to help people 'jump straight in'... everyone knows what happens when Mal's in a bar on U-day, don't they?
* After the inevitable punch-up, they crew will hopefully return to Serenity, where a Wave awaits them- from Patience! (Yes, I know...)

* The problem is this: A malady (which I'm calling Galloway's Syndrome) is afflicting the folk of Whitefall. It's an old sickness, which causes skin problems quickly and permanent health problems, and a cure was found long ago, by Blue Sun Medical. As she needed to, Patience ordered and paid for the medical supplies for her folks (she was probably intending on claiming the lot was infected, and asking insurance for it, or something), but while it was on the way, the ship carrying the medicines was hit by Lurn Shwei Jah Jwohn pirates, and the supplies were stolen.
The supplies are now being sold at auction by the pirates, along with a bunch of other stuff they've stolen. Patience got a Broad-wave about it, but she's probably not likely to be able to do anything personally. However, she knows Mal is a sap (ahem, a "man of honour") and he can help, for cashy money, up front.

* So the PCs should head off to the auction, which is being held on a Skyplex called "The Wheel" (as in "the wheel never stops turnin'"), and the boss of the pirates, the Ser Toh Vazquez Franks, is a nasty piece of work who holds no sympathy for folk needing medicine- only folk with money. So the crew arrive, make friends, schmooze a little, and enjoy being 'in character' for a while while they scope out the auction house (hopefully they will want to rob it), and after some time has passed and the scene seems to be over, the door gets kicked down by an Alliance guy with some soldiers, which leads into...

* FLASHBACK SCENE: Mal and Zoe get to keep their characters (as younger, less experienced versions), and the other players get to play a few ragtag Browncoats. They go through a short battle after the "lay down arms" call at Serenity Valley, and finally, they will be captured (by a ton of soldiers getting the drop on them). An officer turns up, very angry about the whole deal and executes the last few soldiers (except Mal, Zoe, and Tracey). The PCs should realize that this is all very illegal, but he will likely get away with it since it was still a "wartime act"., especially after they kept fighting (and they're likely to be charged with war crimes themselves).

* PRESENT AGAIN: The officer leading the charge is the same officer at Serenity Valley, Colonel Daley, and he siezes the auction house. This leaves the PCs to plot their revenge (hopefully, they will want to humiliate him rather than just killing him?) and get away with the medical supplies under his nose (I'm not sure of how to do this yet, hopefully the players will come up with something).

* They do the job, and they get paid, and they keep flyin'.

So, I don't want to telegraph the action too much and leave people feeling like they're just sitting at a table listening to me tell a story, but I don't want to leave it too open... how should I go about this?

Also, if anyone notices any plot holes, weak bits, and what have you, please let me know about those too. I want to make this fun, not a flop.

RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32

I wouldn't do a flashback. It's too forced, especially since half your players would have to start playing new characters, and that would totally take them out of the organic feel of the game.

Spoiler:
I would use an existing villain they know and hate. Maybe Niska, or better yet, the renegade Alliance officers from "The Message." I can't think of his name right now.

Liberty's Edge

Hey Blue Eyed Paladin, when and where (apart from "Sydney") is SydCon?

I haven't read much of your post, cos theres a very slight chance I might go, and if I do I'd be interested in playing a Serenity game I think...


Mothman wrote:

Hey Blue Eyed Paladin, when and where (apart from "Sydney") is SydCon?

I haven't read much of your post, cos theres a very slight chance I might go, and if I do I'd be interested in playing a Serenity game I think...

SmiloDan, I did think of using

Spoiler:
an existing villain like Niska, but I thought it might seem a little too "using all the favourites", especially with Patience already involved and starting the episode in a bar on U-Day. That's why I hit on the idea of a flashback... apart from the opening of The Big Damn Pilot, we haven't actually seen much of the battle for Serenity Valley, we know Mal lost his faith there, but otherwise, the actual nuts 'n' bolts of it hasn't been explored much. So my idea was to introduce this guy, who Mal and Zoe will now know is a bad bad scary Go Neong Yung Duh who they hate, and will want to a) get the hell away from the guy, and b) make him hurt BAD (hopefully without just starting a firefight with him).

and just for fun, while I'm playing with the spoiler button like this,

mouthwash, but I decided against it.

Mothman, it's at St. Scholastica's College [search for "St Scholastica's College" in Google Maps], in Glebe (my Mum's old Catholic Girls' school... how appropriate for a weekend of D&D, Vampire, and Call of Cthulhu).

RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32

I still think the Flashback is a bad idea. It favors some players over others, and it will interrupt the flow of the session. Maybe begin with Battle of Serenity? Or run a Battle of Serenity session, then a "modern day" session?


SmiloDan wrote:
I still think the Flashback is a bad idea. It favors some players over others, and it will interrupt the flow of the session. Maybe begin with Battle of Serenity? Or run a Battle of Serenity session, then a "modern day" session?

I guess I could do the flashback as a recurring part of the "episode"... begin with the soldiers at the battle, segue to Mal and his crew, then flash back to the battle, then deal with the crisis... I'm just not sure of how to run that, really.

RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32

I would just cut out the flashback all together. It's a game, not a novel. The PCs are supposed to make the decisions, and the GM "deciding" they feel like remembering olden days is pretty extreme. Especially if the PCs go off the beaten trail a little bit and there's no neat spot to place the flashback. Just use an old baddy that they hated (especially one that got away), and go from there.

Or make packets for each character, and incorporate someone or something from each PC's past: Mal and Zoe's old advesary, an old crimeboss of Jayne's, maybe a tutor or one of the guys that helped rescue River for the Tams, a past client of Inara's, and an old flame/crush of Kaylee's. Heck, you can combine most of those. Mal and Zoe's old advesary became a crimeboss that hired Jayne and Inara (for different reasons), helped rescue River (for cashy money), and maybe is based on Kaylee's old homeworld.

Liberty's Edge

Blue_eyed_paladin wrote:


Mothman, it's at St. Scholastica's College [search for "St Scholastica's College" in Google Maps], in Glebe (my Mum's old Catholic Girls' school... how appropriate for a weekend of D&D, Vampire, and Call of Cthulhu).

Thanks man.

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