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View Full Version : Anyone here played Serenity RPG?



UserClone
2008-03-10, 08:07 PM
I am a big fan of Firefly, and wanted to know if the game is a good one. Perhaps you have tried playing a Firefly game using another system? Which one, and how did it go for you?

Lord Tataraus
2008-03-10, 08:38 PM
Sort of, we tried to play a game, but didn't go beyond the first session. The main reason was that only three of the six knew anything about it (including me) and I had only be just introduced via the movie (though I have since seen and obtained every episode and am definitely a fan), of course as the only competent GM in my group I had to run it, you can tell it wasn't that great.

At the time I didn't care either way, but now I want to play it since I've become a fan, but the guy with the system was an exchange student from Germany and I've gone off to college anyway.

However, I must say, I really liked how the system worked, it was simple and works perfectly for the genre. I definitely suggest it for any fan, though if your used to D&D, it is not so much crunch heavy, but more RP heavy.

shadowdemon_lord
2008-03-10, 08:44 PM
I've played the Serenity RPG, and I enjoyed it. It runs on a skill based system reminiscent of white wolf (so I'm told). Basically you can buy up bigger dice for each level of skill/stat and then when you get to a D12, you start buying up a second die. The skill system lets you uber specialize, be a total generalist, or anything in between. The DC's involved reward both styles of character building. If your a generalist, you actually will be a generalist and be competent at a bunch of stuff. OTOH, if your super specialized you might just be able to bluff your way past an alliance freighter that has been tipped off to ships matching your ships description by the ground forces you just escaped from with a shipment of illegal goods not a dozen hours ago.

It's also very free form. If you can think of a skill and justify it's existence to the GM, you can buy dice in it, and the rules allow for using any stat with any skill. So yes, it's conceivable you could apply intelligence to knife fighting, why not?

Also, as noted by the guy who ninja'd me, it's RP heavy. Combat is deadly, and can decommission you for days, and that's assuming you HAVE a doctor and a full on medical bay. Ultimately the game mimics the feel of the show very well, and encourages RP pretty well.

Stormcrow
2008-03-10, 08:55 PM
Played two story arcs in it. I'm a fan. Its a very simple, fast and dirty system. Very very fun.

Curmudgeon
2008-03-10, 10:04 PM
I like the Firefly/Serenity 'verse, and I'm OK with the game system. To be effective your crew needs to have a bunch of different specialists, and you get diversity across the crew rather than in a single character. The system encourages this mechanically in a couple of ways:
It's more expensive to improve a skill at high levels later than it is to create it at a high level initially, so starting with a couple of well-developed specialties is more efficient.
You botch when you roll 1s on all your dice. If you've got basic skills you'll only be rolling 2 dice each time. If you specialize past 1d12 you'll go on to 1d12 + 1d2, 1d12 + 1d4, and so on. That 3rd die reduces your chances of something going badly awry by 50% as soon as you get it, whereas the previous bump from 1d10 to 1d12 only decreased your botch chance by 2/12, or 17%.
By working hard to create a "non d20" system the game designers created some significant inflection points. You can optimize to take advantage of these. That's why I'm only OK with the system.

MightyIgoo
2008-03-10, 10:08 PM
I have, and I found it to have quite a bit of charm. Our party tended toward a number of specialists, and the game does seem to encourage specialization (at least from my memory).

Totally Guy
2008-03-11, 08:02 AM
I played the pilot in the game and at first I was really struggling. The whole game we didn't do any space chases of crazy flying that my character was good at. In fact I seemingly built a duff character.

I wasn't enjoying it.

I discussed taking a new complication, "things don't go smooth" and did so. This meant that in general plans my character made would go wrong through poor planning, interference or pure bad luck.

And after that point it was golden. Every new situation we were in I'd say "I have a plan" which would usually be reasonable. And then the trouble would begin. The game was so much better even though my character was never useful.

fendrin
2008-03-11, 09:19 AM
I am a huge firefly fan (the movie was ok too).
I have the system, but have never actually played it.

It is extremely flexible, this is both good and bad.
Good because it enables pretty much any concept.
Bad because it enables huge amounts of cheesiness.

Example cheese:
I have super-smart character, so I am going to make him do everything based off of intelligence.
He calculates trajectories and ricochets of his bullets so he uses intelligence as his primary gunfighting stat.
He is trained in a martial art that involves striking very precise points on the body, like offensive acupressure. He uses intelligence for his unarmed combat skill.
He calculates the trajectories of other people's attacks, so he uses intelligence for his dodge skill.
He can rapidly fogure out any form if machinery, so he uses intelligence for piloting, driving, and engineering.
He can recognize minute shifts in body language, making it incredibly easy to 'read' others. He also knows how to manipulate his own body language. he uses Intelligence to detect lies and to bluff others.
He of course is good at anything that is normally uses intelligence. He is a medic/translator/computer hacker/walking encyclopedia/dictionary.
With his ability to read others and bluff, combined with a natural talent at counting cards, he can walk into any casino and beat the house. He uses intelligence for his gambling skill.

Now, my guy hardly uses any of the other stats, so I am going to pump his Intelligence so high he makes River look like Jayne. Suddenly he is REALLY good at everything he does, despite having skill points distributed like a generalist. He makes other characters somewhat obsolete, except that he hasn't figured out how to be in two places at once. He's smart enough, though, that he's confident he'll figure it out soon enough.

OK, to be honest, I did indulge a wee bit in hyperbole. Ok, a lot more than a 'wee' bit. If the players and the GM are more interested in telling the story than in 'winning', it's fine. The system doesn't prevent cheesiness though, so some players will requires the GM to adopt the attitude of a border planet sheriff to keep things on an even keel.

Tengu
2008-03-11, 09:27 AM
By working hard to create a "non d20" system the game designers created some significant inflection points. You can optimize to take advantage of these. That's why I'm only OK with the system.

Because, of course, there are no holes you can use to cheese out a character in D20, no sir.

hobbitguy1420
2008-03-11, 12:28 PM
I've never had a chance to run it with the official system.

I was always too broke to buy the rulebook, and I'm not excellent at learning new systems. I *did,* however, put together a fairly complex-but-cohesive set of houserules to run a Firefly game using the White-Wolf Storytelling (New World of Darkness base) system. Spaceship rules, new merits and flaws, everything.

I had a blast, even though I really suck as a storyteller/dm. I've run 4 or 5 sessions (with two different groups), and got very few complaints.

(if anyone's interested in seeing the system, just let me know - I'm still hoping to get some more playtesting and such on it.)

UserClone
2008-03-11, 03:52 PM
Sounds cool, hobbit! Care to post more about it?

Also, I have heard that Dogs in the Vineyard works well for it, though I know basically nothing about the system...

hobbitguy1420
2008-03-11, 04:28 PM
As soon as I get home and have access to my writeups I'll start a thread about it in the homebrew forum, if you like. I may have to upload the pdf I made, 'cuz there's about 20 pages' worth.

are you familiar with the base NWoD system?

Curmudgeon
2008-03-11, 08:18 PM
I am a huge firefly fan (the movie was ok too).
I have the system, but have never actually played it.

Bad because it enables huge amounts of cheesiness.

Example cheese:
I have super-smart character, so I am going to make him do everything based off of intelligence.
He calculates trajectories and ricochets of his bullets so he uses intelligence as his primary gunfighting stat.
Your inexperience shows here. You don't get to pick the ability associated with any skill; the GM does that. While you can want to use Intelligence to calculate bullet trajectories, the GM will generally decide that this is a simple exercise in hand-eye coordination and call for you to use Agility with your Guns skill. Being smarter doesn't make your hand steadier.

No cheese.

fendrin
2008-03-11, 08:29 PM
Your inexperience shows here. You don't get to pick the ability associated with any skill; the GM does that. While you can want to use Intelligence to calculate bullet trajectories, the GM will generally decide that this is a simple exercise in hand-eye coordination and call for you to use Agility with your Guns skill. Being smarter doesn't make your hand steadier.

No cheese.

Well, in my experience, a weak GM caves to player desires. Hence needing a strong-willed GM, which is precisely what I said (if colorfully) would prevent the cheese. Bravo, mate.

Lord Tataraus
2008-03-11, 09:02 PM
Well, in my experience, a weak GM caves to player desires. Hence needing a strong-willed GM, which is precisely what I said (if colorfully) would prevent the cheese. Bravo, mate.

Any game will be bad with a weak GM, you can't base cheese off of assuming there is a bad GM. Any decent GM would not allow that, thus, no cheese.

@hobbit: That sounds interesting, I really like the NWoD system, it is close to Serenity's system so it probably works out pretty well.

two_fishes
2008-03-11, 10:22 PM
I've read about people adapting Dogs in the Vineyard (http://www.lumpley.com/dogs.html) to the Firefly setting and having a lot of fun with it.

Firefly in the Vineyard (http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=16436.0)

an kobold
2008-03-11, 10:53 PM
I've read about people adapting Dogs in the Vineyard (http://www.lumpley.com/dogs.html) to the Firefly setting and having a lot of fun with it.

Firefly in the Vineyard (http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=16436.0)

Wow! That sounds amazing. I love Dogs, both the setting and mechanics. Firefly can only make it better.

hobbitguy1420
2008-03-11, 11:48 PM
well, I've posted a thread with my D10 Firefly supplement here. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=4049084) go ahead and take a look.