Serenity RPG

[MidnightBlue]

The Serenity RPG...a classic on my shelves.

As life gets more and more filled with responsibilities, more and more games get shelved.

Over the last decade I find myself just buying interesting RPGs to read without any clear intent to play. I like looking over new game systems and I love to see how favored licensed properties are handled in gaming.

That love of new systems and a beloved license put the Serenity RPG into my hands...and then onto my shelf where it has stayed for so long.

The biggest obstacle to running the game has always been time and an inability to "slot" the game. By this, I mean that I've started slotting my preferred systems/worlds for possible games. If I'm going to run a space game, I'm going to run Star Wars D6.

It's just recently that I realized that I'm submitting the Serenity RPG to the same injustice that Firefly/Serenity as a TV show was subjected to. If I approach Serenity as a space setting/game, it just can't compare to Star Wars in my eyes. But if I try to run a Western? That is where I find Serenity starts to open up its own slot.

I may have to start trying to put together a Serenity space-western game and seeing if the ideas start to flow.


Is anyone playing Serenity?

Any great runs you wish to share?

Do most of your game follow the premise of the TV series...tramp freighters on the edge of space just trying to eek out a living...or have you taken your game somewhere else?

[pksullivan]

I recently played in a Serenity campaign. It was ok. The system was not robust; it didn't handle things very well. It's very traditional in that you have ability scores and skills. It's Cortex, so you have dice assigned to those and when you roll you use both dice against a target number. The damage system seemed very wonky. The task resolution system makes tasks hard but doesn't seem to have any teeth when it comes to failure.

One thing the game does very well is keep you poor. It's very difficult for the PCs to earn money if the GM plays by the rules. It keeps you hungry and lean and always looking for a bit more work, which is absolutely keeping with the show's themes. The plot point system that got introduced was nice but it was tied to role playing (if the GM thought you RPed well, you got a PP) and the benefit from spending PP was pretty minimal (add a D2 for 1 PP, D4 for 2, etc.). You were almost always better off holding onto them so you can advance.

I had fun playing Serenity but it was never related to the game itself (that is the text in the book and the rules/procedures it outlines). The enjoyment came from the role playing we did around the table. One of my biggest gripes with the old school D&D crowd are the stories about how such-and-such campaign was great "because we would go entire sessions without rolling dice!" Really? The best game of D&D is one where you don't play D&D? That doesn't seem to tell you that maybe the game sucks? Sadly that's how I feel about Serenity. The best game of Serenity I played was the one where I didn't play Serenity.

I've been told there's a hack of Dogs in the Vineyard out there for Firefly called "Firefly in the 'Verse" or somesuch. If I were to revisit the setting, I would look in that direction before considering the published Serenity RPG.

[MidnightBlue]

I had fun playing Serenity but it was never related to the game itself (that is the text in the book and the rules/procedures it outlines). The enjoyment came from the role playing we did around the table. One of my biggest gripes with the old school D&D crowd are the stories about how such-and-such campaign was great "because we would go entire sessions without rolling dice!" Really? The best game of D&D is one where you don't play D&D? That doesn't seem to tell you that maybe the game sucks? Sadly that's how I feel about Serenity. The best game of Serenity I played was the one where I didn't play Serenity.

Okay...you got me laughing hard with that bit about D&D. I snorted my coffee!

I'm at work...so go easy on me here!




Yeah, not every system is "the one I want to play" for me, but I can have fun around a table with friends in any game system.

And yeah, I can actually say that I have been a part of some great games that had nothing to do with the system itself. Actually, the PBP Star Wars D6 game that I'm running is mostly just roleplay. Dice rolls are few and far between until we hit combat.

It's a shame that Serenity didn't wow you...but I do believe that it was MWP's first run at the Cortex rules, right?

I think Leverage, Smallville and MHR show that the road may have started off bumpy (in some opinions), but MWP is running full speed now.

[pksullivan]

Yes, Serenity was MWP's first outing with the Cortex system. It's even named after the mysterious space-internet from Firefly: the cortex. Cam & crew have certainly come a long way in the last seven years with Cortex+.

My gripes about D&D aside, I do actually enjoy 4E quite a bit as a tactical battle simulator. It is astoundingly good at that. Let's just call a spade a spade, shall we? D&D is about overcoming challenges, killing monsters, taking their stuff and gaining levels. An interstitial period of storytelling chains your fights together.

[MidnightBlue]

My gripes about D&D aside, I do actually enjoy 4E quite a bit as a tactical battle simulator. It is astoundingly good at that. Let's just call a spade a spade, shall we? D&D is about overcoming challenges, killing monsters, taking their stuff and gaining levels. An interstitial period of storytelling chains your fights together.

Agreed...and there are definitely days that I enjoy that.

Most of our rare, live, face-to-face games are D&D 4.0 these days. In a way, it helps to reduce my anxiety (as I mentioned in another thread) because all eyes are on the maps/tiles and the miniatures instead of on me when I'm running the game.

Being a tactical minis gamer also...D&D 4.0 kind of mixed peanut butter and chocolate for me...tactical minis/combat and roleplaying.

We've had a PBP 4.0 game running for about four years now. The GM uses MapTool to run the game off site, then attaches maps and macroed outcomes onto our PBP board.

It's been working pretty well.

[TheQuestionMan]

Howdy Folks, I am involved in a on again off again Serenity Campaign. The other Players and their have made the game fun and I think my I am holding my own. The biggest adventure we had was surviving a Pirate attack and then aquiring a legitimate ship. (Our Captain stole it, but the crew did not know it at the time.) The Game Master has been creating great adventures for us and we look foreword to inspiration striking again.

The Game Mechanics are new to me, but I think I am getting it. Character Creation was the most difficult. Once that was out of the way and we muddled through the rules we really got going.

I miss it, but you know what they say. "When you can't walk, crawl, and when you can't do that. Well... you know the rest."


Keep on flying!


QM

[MidnightBlue]

This might cheer you up.

Just go look.

http://www.margaretweis.com/

Yeah...I that was a GREAT surprise!

I hope we can actually get the full-blown Firefly/Serenity treatment.

Great timing too. I'm getting ready to introduce my uncle to Firefly starting tomorrow night for our weekly "movie night."

[MidnightBlue]

Woohoo...a Firefly RPG coming my way!

And not just a "Serenity" property either!

Sweet!

Can...not...wait!

Are we looking at Cortex Plus Drama or Action?

I could see either rules set working well with the property.

[pksullivan]

John Rogers (the creator/writer behind Leverage) asked Cam this on Twitter and it seems Action is going to be the starting point.

[Cam]

Development of the game is going to require working from a number of starting points. Serenity was a popular product - huge fan base, lots of stuff produced for it. This is not that game, but we hope to honor it while also putting out something that is very much an up to date and authentic RPG based on the TV series. We don't need to work around anything, beat around bushes, whatever - the series has always been the core of the property and it's what got the whole Browncoat fan community started.

Cheers,
Cam