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I have a couple of friends who are big Joss Whedon fans – they are not big gamers, but they have indicated that they might be interested in playing the Serenity RPG.
So I’m thinking of getting it; I would be running it, with probably four players; two big Firefly fans with very little RPG experience, two experienced D&D players with little Firefly knowledge.
Thoughts, comments?
Anyone have of played the game? Got any good adventure ideas for me? Play with the pre-gen Serenity crew characters, or create new? Any input welcome.
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I've looked at the book, and frankly wasn't impressed. The rules were fairly incomprehensible (sort of like a hybrid White Wolf / True 20 / Mutants and Masterminds), and it didn't really present any campaign options. Plus, the pictures sucked.
Anyway, If I was the Eldritch Mr. Mothman, I'd probably just use a modified version of D20 Future, and let the players create original characters.
Adventure suggestions? I don't know. Maybe a simple recovery job. The only complication being that the desired item(s) are on a derelict ship. In reaver space. It could offer a little more backstory on the Reavers, as well as some good run-and-gun and/or stealth gameplay. You could even work in the Hands of Blue for some added plot hooks.
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Thanks for the feedback Shiny. I had considered running this using d20 or Alternity rules, but I think the two Fireflay fan potential players are mainly being sold on the fact that this is Serenity – not, another game, but I’ve come up with mods to make it like Serenity. My experienced players wont mind either way (and would probably prefer d20 or Alternity), but the main reason I’m doing this is to try to introduce RPGs to the new gals – and they’re comfortable with Serenity. I have a feeling they’ll like the “official” book with pics and everything … unless those pics really, really suck (out of interest, how/why did they suck?)
However, if the rules are more confusing than they’re worth … Hmmm…
Thanks for the adventure idea, I was thinking that a recovery job of some sort (with a complication – of course) would make a good first game. I was thinking maybe having what they were after being guarded by (or in proximity to) Alliance forces rather than Reavers though – this gives them an extra option to gun and run or stealth (the BS angle).
Out of interest, has anyone out there done a Serenity style game based on the d20 (or other) rules?
Thanks for the feedback Shiny. I had considered running this using d20 or Alternity rules, but I think the two Fireflay fan potential players are mainly being sold on the fact that this is Serenity – not, another game, but I’ve come up with mods to make it like Serenity. My experienced players wont mind either way (and would probably prefer d20 or Alternity), but the main reason I’m doing this is to try to introduce RPGs to the new gals – and they’re comfortable with Serenity. I have a feeling they’ll like the “official” book with pics and everything … unless those pics really, really suck (out of interest, how/why did they suck?)
However, if the rules are more confusing than they’re worth … Hmmm…
Thanks for the adventure idea, I was thinking that a recovery job of some sort (with a complication – of course) would make a good first game. I was thinking maybe having what they were after being guarded by (or in proximity to) Alliance forces rather than Reavers though – this gives them an extra option to gun and run or stealth (the BS angle).
Out of interest, has anyone out there done a Serenity style game based on the d20 (or other) rules?
Remind me... why don't I live in Sydney?
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Out of interest, has anyone out there done a Serenity style game based on the d20 (or other) rules?
For a couple of years now, I've been working on my biggest RPG-related pet project: D20 Firefly. It's based on the basic Dungeons and Dragons rules, rather than D20 Modern, to give it more flexibility, but still borrows a lot from Modern, Future, Past, Alternity, and Omega World. I'm about thirty pages in, so far. Basically I've written up the weapons, skills, major factions and organizations, and a few classes, as well as a four-page character sheet. I'm planning on writing up feats, ships, and gear next. Most likely, I'll just use the ship combat rules from D20 Future, though.
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For a couple of years now, I've been working on my biggest RPG-related pet project: D20 Firefly. It's based on the basic Dungeons and Dragons rules, rather than D20 Modern, to give it more flexibility, but still borrows a lot from Modern, Future, Past, Alternity, and Omega World. I'm about thirty pages in, so far. Basically I've written up the weapons, skills, major factions and organizations, and a few classes, as well as a four-page character sheet. I'm planning on writing up feats, ships, and gear next. Most likely, I'll just use the ship combat rules from D20 Future, though.
Sounds awesome man. Let me know if you ever need anyone to proof-read or anything.
But this is also part of the reason I would probably prefer to go with an existing rule-set ... if I did my own, I would end up taking years to develop it!
I have run a single one-shot adventure using the Serenity rules. Overall I found the rules to be fairly simple, but I didn't really like them. The core mechanics is roll attribute die + skill die vs. a target number, which is easy enough. Maybe it's because of the Plot Points (similar to Action Points in Eberron or Drama Points from Buffy tVS). You're supposed to award the players Plot Points very regularly (one of the designers said they should "fall like rain"), and trying to remember to constantly hand these out took my mind away from the story/plot/whatever else I was trying to do. I haven't completely written the game off; I will probably try it again someday. My players said they had a good time playing it.
I think Alternity would be a fairly easy fit for Firefly/Serenity. Unfortunately, most of my gaming group hates Alternity.
Randy
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Thanks Wolfshead. I’m not familiar with Drama Points, but I like Action Points and similar things such as Hero Points, I think they can add to the game. I guess, so as not to get bogged down in it, I may make some notes for myself ahead of time, like “if they do this award points” or “award points after this scene”.
The rule system used is called the "Cortex System". If you do a web search you can find a web site on the rules (which is also used in Battlestar Galactica, Supernatural, and maybe one more game). I was intrigued because it looks a little like Savage Worlds which I am currently exploring as a rules alternative. You might want to just lurk on the forms at the rules site just to see if it what you like. It looked pretty active when I checked it out.
As a side note: Another fun sci fi rules system is Alternity which you might be able to pick up for a song nowadays. Had a cool rule that the better you hit the more potential you had for doing more damage. It was a TSR game before WOTC.
RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32
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Out of interest, has anyone out there done a Serenity style game based on the d20 (or other) rules?
I haven't, but what about using the new Star Wars Saga Edition rules? I have a feeling that they are gonna be veeeeerrrryyy close to what 4e rules are gonna be, in the same way that Revised Star Wars was veeeerrryy close to what 3.5 D&D was. Also there are a few PrC that would fir as well (Ace Piolt, Gunslinger come straight to mind).
Just a thought =)Housing prices? ;-)
Remind me... why don't I live in Sydney?
Yes come to Newcastle instead... we are much the more affordable and less traffic ridden option =)
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I am currently playing in a Serenity Campaign.....in Sydney if you can believe it. I actually enjoy the Cortex System as, unlike D20, even high levels characters can fail dismally due to the fact that it is all dice rolls, even the modifiers are dice rolls. Though I agree that the book is not very well organised and there are some gaps in the system.
Advice to Mothman....DO NOT LET ANYONE TRY TO RUN RIVER, THEY WILL ONLY BE DISAPPOINTED.
There are some really helpful forums about the cortex system around....try www.cortexsystemrpg.org, a good fan site, with some helpful ideas.
There is a module for Serentity called Into the Black. I don't know what it is like as I am not allowed to read it (guess what the campaign is??).
If you are close to Penrith, we have it in the book shelf as my husband is the DM.
I too have played using the "Official" rules. I liked the system overall, though I agree the book wasn't as well organized as it could have been. (There was a bit of confusion the first session as to how to resolve damage, IIRC, that was our biggest issue initially). I'm curious to see if the cortex system rules are made any more clear in the Battle Star Galactica rule book.
I think one thing I particularly enjoyed was the tiered level of play: being able to make characters right out of the gate that were a bit more world savvy, and could tie our back stories together quite nicely.
I've played as a player, and am seriously considering running the system as a DM once my current Friday night games plot has wrapped up. (I plan on testing out several systems in fact).
Just my two cents.
I just finished watching the series in DVD this weekend. What a great show that was !
I think I really liked that show 'cause it reminded so much of the time when I was playing the d6 Star Wars RPG. It did not remind me so much of the epic struggle between the Rebel Alliance and the Empire but more of the life of the Tramp Freighter Captain that I first played.
So to come back to the topic at hand, I saw Firefly as a low tech version of Star Wars without the large scale struggle. Maybe you could inspire yourself from Star Wars Saga ( I personally never played Star Wars D20 or Star Wars Saga).
Hope you have fun with this game and keep us posted.
Tiger Lord
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Thankyou very much for the feedback everyone. It seems that opinions on the system and the book are somewhat mixed, but there are at least several other options to consider as far as game systems go.
Sanwah, thanks for the offer. Unfortunately I’m not that close to Penrith, although one of my potential players is (well … not that close either really, but closer than I am!) and we might end up playing out his way. If you or your husband have any more tips for me on running or playing a Serenity game, feel free to contact me via email at mothman77_at_hotmail.com
Yeah, I saw that adventure you mentioned at the Margaret Weis productions website, but they don’t seem to have it in stock at the Tin Soldier or here at the Paizo webshop.
I’ll keep you guys posted on what happens.
There is always old school WEG d6 system. Fairly straight forward.
There is always old school WEG d6 system. Fairly straight forward.
I still love the D6 system. The biggest complaint I hear about it is too many dice... which is a valid complaint of sorts. It's no Shadowrun though (which I also enjoy).
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Not too long ago, I found a website that had all the old,out-of-print Star Frontiers rulebooks posted (can't rememember the address).
I loved playing that as a kid, and it wouldn't be too hard to play Star Frontiers, Serenity-style. You'd just have to either eliminate the other character races or somehow incorporate them into the Serenity universe.
RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
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Not too long ago, I found a website that had all the old,out-of-print Star Frontiers rulebooks posted (can't rememember the address).
I loved playing that as a kid, and it wouldn't be too hard to play Star Frontiers, Serenity-style. You'd just have to either eliminate the other character races or somehow incorporate them into the Serenity universe.
You do know most of the Star Frontiers stuff made it into D20 future, yes?
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I ran a test adventure (one of those dowloads at the cortex website) and I really enjoyed it. I plan to ru a short campaign soon. Actually I think the rules are not only simle but also very fitting to the "space western" setting and the plot points definatly helped to get my players to chose not only their perks wisely but also their flaws (playing them out is rewarded by plot points).
To avoid confusion about handing them out I would advise using some kind of handout for them - I used poker chips - and a bowl for the players to throw them in. Since there is a max number for plot points this schould do the trick of keeping track.
No, I didn't. Thanks for the tip. I may have to look over said rulebook at the local bookshop.
Bit off topic but I love your nic Cuchulain. One of my favorite myths/tales is the Cattle Raid of Cooley.
Just out of curiousity, do you still have the web page link for the site that sales the old Star Frontiers books?
I had considered running this using d20 or Alternity rules, but I think the two Fireflay fan potential players are mainly being sold on the fact that this is Serenity – not, another game, but I’ve come up with mods to make it like Serenity. My experienced players wont mind either way (and would probably prefer d20 or Alternity),
You probably know about it, but try AlternityRPG.net. They might have some fan conversion there.
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I actually enjoy the Cortex System as, unlike D20, even high levels characters can fail dismally due to the fact that it is all dice rolls, even the modifiers are dice rolls.
That's what I liked about Alternity, too.
In D&D, your bonuses can stack, and stack, and stack, to the point that you succeed at difficult tasks automatically, and if, as a DM, you throw in target DCs to challenge the specialist, the rolls are impossible to everyone else.In Alternity, your skill level can stay within a 1-20 range, and all your equipment, surprise, circumstance, synergy, aid other (etc) modifiers simply move the bonus/penalty die up or down a step or two.
Also, levelling up, though it did improve you, was a matter of small steps, none of the doubling of hit points you got from D&D. High level PCs were skilled, but not superhuman; you still kept your head down if the lead was flying.
I played a few sessions of the Serenity RPG (a friend of mine ran the game). I like the system, it ran well, especially when he bought old Chinese coins from Ebay to use as chips!
You could probably use D20 Modern, Shadowrun, or any number of other sci-fi systems, but I would get the book fro the fluff.
All in all, it reminded my of the old Castle Faulkenstein/Deadlands days.
I played in a Serenity campaign and I did not care much for the rules. It tries to be a ‘rules light’ system, but in my opinion, fails to be as comprehensive as a ‘rules light’ system should be. I also found the resolution system too erratic for me. It is better to be lucky with the dice than skilled.
In my opinion, there are more consistent and comprehensive ‘rules light’ systems out there that would be better suited to drawing in new gamers.
Well, I would start a group with a whole new ship and crew; perhaps acting as bounty hunters who stumble on some information that is just to big to surpress; this could happen over time as they get clues that start to fit together from bounties they have captured on political misfits and miscreants. Soon, they become a liability and have to lay low and take odd jobs; perhaps their past bounty hunting will come back to haunt them; it would be easy to find adventure ideas for a group like that without even trying hard; would keep several of the npc's from the show; study the worlds and whatnot; might be fun. From what others have said about the rule set; you may want to consider another rule set and just insert the Serenity stuff or just keep the game mostly roleplay and not so much dice rolling.
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Wayfinder, PaizoCon Founder
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www.starfrontiers.org had downloads of the modules for free, but that was some years ago.You do know most of the Star Frontiers stuff made it into D20 future, yes?Not too long ago, I found a website that had all the old,out-of-print Star Frontiers rulebooks posted (can't rememember the address).
I loved playing that as a kid, and it wouldn't be too hard to play Star Frontiers, Serenity-style. You'd just have to either eliminate the other character races or somehow incorporate them into the Serenity universe.
Yep,
http://www.starfrontiers.org/ ANDhttp://www.starfrontiers.com/
The .com site has nearly EVERYTHING for download.
Somewhere I have the rules conversion for SF to Alternity. I have conversions to d20 as well.
I'm going to stop now....SF was my favorite RPG to run. I literally doubled the size of the city map included in the box set. And I still have the little square "minis". And, contrary to most, I loved Zebulon's Guide to Frontier Space. Hit and damage in one roll.
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www.starfrontiers.org had downloads of the modules for free, but that was some years ago.You do know most of the Star Frontiers stuff made it into D20 future, yes?Not too long ago, I found a website that had all the old,out-of-print Star Frontiers rulebooks posted (can't rememember the address).
I loved playing that as a kid, and it wouldn't be too hard to play Star Frontiers, Serenity-style. You'd just have to either eliminate the other character races or somehow incorporate them into the Serenity universe.
Yep,
http://www.starfrontiers.org/ AND
http://www.starfrontiers.com/The .com site has nearly EVERYTHING for download.
Somewhere I have the rules conversion for SF to Alternity. I have conversions to d20 as well.
I'm going to stop now....SF was my favorite RPG to run. I literally doubled the size of the city map included in the box set. And I still have the little square "minis". And, contrary to most, I loved Zebulon's Guide to Frontier Space. Hit and damage in one roll.
The hell you say... you better not stop. Give us all the info you have. I love the game, and i'd love to see the conversions to both Alternity and D20, as well as your city map expansion project.
Have a great day,
Thoth-Amon
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Wayfinder, PaizoCon Founder
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Somewhere I have the rules conversion for SF to Alternity. I have conversions to d20 as well.I'm going to stop now....SF was my favorite RPG to run. I literally doubled the size of the city map included in the box set. And I still have the little square "minis". And, contrary to most, I loved Zebulon's Guide to Frontier Space. Hit and damage in one roll.
The hell you say... you better not stop. Give us all the info you have. I love the game, and i'd love to see the conversions to both Alternity and D20, as well as your city map expansion project.
Have a great day,
Thoth-Amon
Hmmm. This may take a bit o' time to wrangle it all up. How about I compile it all up, and post a new SF thread this week?
As for the map...that was like a summer project when I was in high school. I rescaled the big map onto regular graph paper, and then expanded the city, so that it was the same paper size as the big map...roughly doubling the city. I then recoded all the buildings by block, and designated what they were. Lots of armament stores.... such as "Needlers R Us" and "Vrusk Fashions Lmtd."!
Oh, and hummas rock.
Hit and damage in one roll.
<DERAIL> One of the things I loved about the DC Role Playing Game. </DERAIL>
RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
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My problem with the Serenity rules, quite frankly, is that the entire book is told "in character" in a folksy Western accent. Merciful heavens, but don't that get old after the first 20 pages.
I've found the game system to work pretty well. I like the aspect that luck can overcome skill on a regular basis. That seems in sync with the show. (If you favor skill over luck, how exactly is Mal going to fare in a swordfight against Atherton Wing?)
I'm intrigued to note that people on this thread are suggesting other sf RPGs (Alternity, Star Frontiers; I'm waiting for somebody to suggest the old Buck Rogers or Star Ace games...) and figuring that it would be a simple matter to 'port over the Western feel of Firefly, instead of recommending Western games (any of the Boot Hill variants, Western Hero) and figuring to attach the high tech.
Whatever system you want, there are genre conventions to Westerns that you'd probably want the rules to support. For example, every man stands on his own; the d20 rules on Aiding Another ought to be restricted in most ways. Courage ought to mean something; the first edition of Boot Hill had terrific rules about how inexperienced gunslingers have a hard time functioning the first dozen or so times they're in live firefights.
The most effective sidearms still need to be slug-throwers. You don't want the rules to encourage people to pick up laser pistols or TASERs.
Whatever rules you use ought to heavily discourage ship-to-ship combat in space, but ought to encourage ship's weapons in atmo.
Equipment, status, and customary procedures from frontier planets ought to be drastically different than those on the core planets. So much so that you might consider entirely different styles of play. (I'm picturing a PC might have two different character sheets.)
My advice: use whatever rules system (a) all your players find comfortable (Storyteller, James Bond, TORG, GURPS, Top Secret S.I., whatever), (b) allows you to naturally simulate both the Western genre and the future tech.
My beef is that there really is no point in being skilled. Since it all comes down to luck, why not do away with Skills altogether and just flip a coin for task resolution. I thought Hero Points were to allow Mal to beat Atherton.
I agree that Serenity is really a Western in a Sci Fi setting, not Science Fiction set in a Western. Gumption, six shooters and isolation should all play a major role.
If you favor skill over luck, how exactly is Mal going to fare in a swordfight against Atherton Wing?
By changing tactics. The straight-up swordfighting wasn't working for him (which might have had something to do with his ~12 hours' experience in it), so he added a little no-holds-barred brawling (at which he had years and years of experience).
In the end, superior skill did prevail. Mal's only mistake was assuming he had to use a certain skill...
Hmmm. That is a good point. Not to mention the distraction.
Everything else worked. (We also stamped on anyone who wanted to clone a series *cough River cough* character).
In my opinion, this is a failure of the system. If you are going to base a role playing game around a popular fiction, said game should be able to handle all of the characters in that fiction. Players should be able to do the same things characters from the fiction did. Otherwise, what is the point of playing a game based on a fiction?
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RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
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Everything else worked. (We also stamped on anyone who wanted to clone a series *cough River cough* character).In my opinion, this is a failure of the system. If you are going to base a role playing game around a popular fiction, said game should be able to handle all of the characters in that fiction.
Well, to be fair, it was the players who decided they didn't want anybody playing River. They stomped on anybody trying to play a clone of one of Serenity's crew.
River is a character in the fiction who breaks the rules. Nobody seems to know what to do with her. She has psychic skills in a world without psychics. She wins fights against foes every normal person knows to be undefeatable. The only way she doesn't rule the universe is the fact that she's psychotic.
The fact that River is expressible in the game system as a PC is a tribute to its flexibility. But really, she's an NPC.
I played in a Serenity RPG game for about 6 months, me and another player from my D&D group joined a campaign in progress.
All in all, I liked the system for what it was used for. The biggest complaint about the system I see is that it's too easy to fail, but if you watch the series almost all of the characters (with the exception of Zoe, unless I'm forgetting something) played the fool/dupe/mark at some point. Failure (and overcoming it) was an integral part of the storyline.
That takes a lot of faith in the GM to run correctly, and even then may get tedious at times, but the system itself feels very true to the series.
It was a nice change of pace to get away from a reliance on combat. Since it's pretty deadly in Serenity, we avoided it as much as possible. Other than one assault on an enemy camp (which we overplanned to give us the advantage), we had about 4 rounds of "combat" (2 of which were fistfights).*
We had no compunction about playing characters from the series though, but the GM did say that if anyone played a "River" character he would keep them on a short leash. She really is a gamebreaking character, but you can't blame that on the RPG.
*Not counting the last session, which was a throw away when 2 players quit (the brother of the GM, followed by his GF/wife) and then another suicided his character.
I think the most fun I had playing Serenity, was in downloading a list of Chinese curses and shouting them out from time to time.
Ni shi bai chi!
Gou shi!
Ta ma de!
Nide muchin shr ega da wukwei!
Cao ni zu zong shi ba dai!
The last one is especially precious.
I got extra chips from doing this. It was shiny.