Serenity RPG

[Remus Lupin]

Greetings folks,

Having some birthday money burning a hole in my pocket, I decided to splurge on -- I think -- pretty much all of the Serenity RPG material. So my question is: What's the good and the bad and the ugly of the game as it stands? Can you play it such that you're not just a knock off of the Serenity crew?

My wife's a big "Firefly" fan, and I'm hoping this is an RPG we can play together.

 

[Mircoles]

The character generation rules are good. You don't have to be knock-off of the serenity crew.

I would think that most sci-fi type characters are possible.

The combat sytem works well also.

The only thing that bugged me was that psionics rules weren't well developed. They basically limited themselves to only what psionics appeared in the tv show and the movie and developed nothing beyond that.

I'm not sure what they may have developed for the game since I last played it, that was over a year ago. But, with the way the rules are written, it shouldn't be difficult to expand the psioncs in the game, if that's what any person would want to do.

 

[timbannock]

The rules are decent, but the later revisions and additions that came in the Battlestar Galactica RPG are WELL WORTH YOUR WHILE!! They revise how the Perks and Flaws work (or whatever they are called in this game, can't recall off the top of my head); they now follow a similar dice-step system as the skills & attributes. There's also a huge bonus in the Starship combat rules, something severely lacking in Serenity.

My group played Serenity when it first came out, and it was a blast though. The system is dirt-simple, and as long as you're not totally stingy on Plot Points, the gameplay is fun too. The only issues we faced (and they were easily fixed) were:

- Don't call for a dice roll for every little thing. Only when it's dramatically appropriate. It's pretty easy to fail a roll, so making a super-skilled pilot roll to do a simple docking procedure when there's no stress is pointless.
- Don't be too stingy on Plot Points. They are fun to have and spend. Don't be too nice about it either. I HIGHLY recommend checking out the additions to Plot Point rules in Battlestar Galactica RPG.
- The economics of a ship are kind of weird and spread out all over the place in the book. I compiled it all and revised it to make a little more sense: as is, owning a ship and running a successful business with it is nigh impossible unless the ship is ALWAYS fully loaded. I mean, obviously it should be hard to break even all the time, but it shouldn't be impossible, and the way the game stats out prices, it's damn near impossible to even theoretically break even, which is kind of messed up (who would run a shipping business if it's chance of failure is like 90%?).

Sorry if I concentrated on the bad points, because it's definitely a great system. Stays nice and quiet in the background while the Plot Points drive the drama and player-control of the story, which is something you don't always find in mainstream RPGs.

I haven't read the Serenity Adventures book, but Out In the Black was pretty decent. Poorly named (it's 99% planet-bound adventure), but aside from a few logical gaffes, it's a very fun Western-themed story.

 

[Armadillo]

I agree that the system revisions used in the Battlestar RPG are well worth the effort. Here's a quick guide for converting Serenity's Assets and Complications to the die values used in the Battlestar RPG: Serenity:Main Page - RPGnetWiki

 

[timbannock]

I agree that the system revisions used in the Battlestar RPG are well worth the effort. Here's a quick guide for converting Serenity's Assets and Complications to the die values used in the Battlestar RPG: Serenity:Main Page - RPGnetWiki

Shiny!

 

[Crothian]

Greetings folks,

Having some birthday money burning a hole in my pocket, I decided to splurge on -- I think -- pretty much all of the Serenity RPG material. So my question is: What's the good and the bad and the ugly of the game as it stands? Can you play it such that you're not just a knock off of the Serenity crew?

My wife's a big "Firefly" fan, and I'm hoping this is an RPG we can play together.

The mechanics of the game are really the one thing people like or hate. The book is good for background material and the game is designed around the crew but can be played with original characters. I would get the book as it is useful even if you decide to play under a different system.

 

[Thanee]

I like it.

Still waiting for the generic Cortex System book to come out (it isn't out yet, or is it? Only the PDF so far...).

Bye
Thanee

 

[Ktulu]

I bought it for the fluff; wasn't particularly excited about the rules. I plan on running a saga system version at some point.

 

[timbannock]

I have to admit: the Cortex rules are so simple at their core, that porting over anything from the RPG is easy for most any system. A lot of the starship info is "real world measurements" - fuel tonnage, cargo space, upgrade/repair costs, etc. And the stats use the same attributes as characters, so it's easy to figure out (Perception = sensors, Agility = maneuverability). Use the generalized idea of the different stat ratings and you can guesstimate what it should be in your system of choice.

So if you want to port stuff over to something else, it's a piece of cake. I did a thorough conversion to DP9's Silhouette System in like two days of work, which is nothing. You could easily use any space opera-y system, and if you like more crunch, go for it. Remember that Serenity as a whole is a bit more character-oriented, so I find a simple system that promotes Roleplaying fits the mood/themes better, but YMMV.

(fyi I prefer Cortex with the BSG additions though; the Plot Point rules really add to roleplaying A LOT).

 

[vrykyl]

Shiny!

The Cortex System rules are not for everyone, but it's been a great "gateway drug" for Firefly fans and others who are not experienced RPGers — but having enough meat so that not all the grognards are turned off.

I think the earlier poster nailed some of the most important points: Remember only to make the players roll when it actually matters, and develop a feel for the use of Plot Points as the "currency" of story in your game. The game also works best when you keep the story connected to the characters as much as possible. It should feel like they are the stars of their own movie/show. Action should be swift and feel really dangerous, with Plot Points there to keep everyone dying while the GM should really take into account smart actions that help keep the group alive and moving things forward.

Six-Shooters & Spaceships, the tech/guns/ships book hit this week with extra goodies for the game. And the Cortex System RPG also hit -- which can be a great tool to "upgrade" the game to the newest version of the rules (which includes the improved character traits system).

Hope you have fun. Let us know how it goes! Feel free to ping me with any questions.

Jamie Chambers
Jamie Chambers |  Jamie Who?