Firefly RPG

[Smilin_Bandit]

I've written so many threads that I can never remember where I make them. I've looked around and I haven't found the thread I wrote about making a Firefly campaign. It must have been in the D20 future threads in the WoTC homesite forums.

I thought it would be fun to recreate the Firefly RPG with the D20 rules. Arimil_Silvermoon has the basic sourcebook for the "Serenity Roleplaying Game," but it's not D20. The system is actually kind of lame, but if you use D20 Modern, Future, and Past rules, and mimic certain things from the "Serenity" game, you have yourselves all the data one needs to run a campaign based on Joss Whedon's creation.

Arimil and I were going to begin a campaign based on this, but it was right as our little group began falling apart. If someone were to want to GM this, I'd definitely want to play.

I had suggested that the currency rules for D20 modern and future be discarded, and the rules for money from Dungeons and Dragons be adopted. Due to the difference in currencies and the exchange rate from Rim Planets to Central Planets, it seemed the most likely option.

Weapons from PL 7 technology and below would be accessable. Laser weapons are highly controlled items and mostly used only by military units on the inner planets, as are other energy weapons developed by the Alliance. The Alliance utelizes pulse rifles (aka concussion rifles) both for their military and security units. These weapons do kinetic type damage to targets but do very little cosmetic damage to property, and so are extremely useful for security and police units within the Central Planets.

The majority of all weapons are going to be firearms or projectile weapons which can be easily found on the black market. The Rim technology would be very low, and gaining access to tech of higher than PL5 is going to be extremely difficult to come by. Penalties and bonuses to cost of items and accessability would be applied according to where the characters were within the known galaxy.

Finally the play would be very much like Boothill but with a bit of a sci-fi twist. Hours and hours of gaming fun for the whole family. What does everyone else think?

~Smilin_Bandit~ :top:

[Sunfist]

If I can make a suggestion, try the Bulldogs! rules.

It's got a bit more in the way of space combat stuff than Firefly, but I'm running a Firefly-esc campaign with Bulldogs! right now.

Here's a shining review of Bulldogs!: http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/11/11031.phtml

Here is their website: http://www.galileogames.com/bulldogs/

The best damn sci-fi d20 book on the market. - Silven Crossroads[/b]

[Lapis Lazuli]

Thank you SUNFISTO! :wizard:

This has sparked my interests! To the ...aw man,we sooo need a Batmobile!Or a Fantasticar!or a TMNT Van! or just a cool cosmic surfboard!

[mexal]

Actually, I quite like the Firefly RPG rules as presented by Margarent Weis Games... and the revised version in their new Battlestar Galactica RPG improves the space combat options considerably.

Certainly if you want to run a Firefly-style game under the D20 ruleset, you need to ditch the 'Resources' method of accounting... it is essential for the flavour to have the characters counting every penny rather than abstracting!

Bulldogs! is a good system, and has a very good resource for robots/AIs - Robots from Silven Publishing. I reviewed it at http://www.rpg-resource.org.uk/index.php?a...45&visual=4 (http://www.rpg-resource.org.uk/index.php?article=1845&visual=4) if you are interested.

[Smilin_Bandit]

I wish I was a money bags and could afford to build my library with all of these obscure game D20 systems, but I'm limited, and since I own all of the Modern D20 books, I'm more inclined to just stick with the Modern D20 rules.

There are more than enough sample craft stats in the D20 Future supplement to be able to design starships. Actually its not likely that the entire group is going to have their own ship. Their pretty expensive and the group may adventure for quite awhile before they can afford their own craft.

The D20 Past supplement for Modern D20 has Advanced Classes that are suitable for this type of campaign as well. There wouldn't be any magic or psionics, even though our young addle-pated River Tam is an obvious telepath. She's a fluke of nature, a hic-cup in the natural order of things, and thus extremely unique.

There are no alien races and the majority of the weapons are normal gas discharged firearms which require oxygen to fire. There is a high level of technology, but to wield and maintain it, one would need more chink than the average adventurer would possess.

I don't see any reason why any other system would be necessary. I do agree with Mexal that the 'Resources' method of keeping track of character funds would need to be dropped, which is basically what I pointed out in my original post.

I sure wish some bright, incredibly Joss Whedon-esk GM would grab hold of this game concept and lead a band of planet hopping miscreants into a life of wealth and glory. I'd be all over that D20 Modern/ Future/ Past goodness. I'm getting tremors just thinking about it. It's either that or the cute hottie girl sitting next to me wearing tiny shorts and a belly string tank that smells like berries and is sporting the sweet celtic tat. One or the other. Actually I think the drooling was induced by the prospects of the game. The tremors are definitely hottie activated.

~Smilin_Bandit~ :top:

[Sunfist]

Thank you SUNFISTO! :wizard:

This has sparked my interests! To the ...aw man,we sooo need a Batmobile!Or a Fantasticar!or a TMNT Van! or just a cool cosmic surfboard!
[/b]
You're welcome. :)

I sure wish some bright, incredibly Joss Whedon-esk GM would grab hold of this game concept and lead a band of planet hopping miscreants into a life of wealth and glory. I'd be all over that D20 Modern/ Future/ Past goodness.[/b]
That's exactly what I'm doing, but with Bulldogs!. Still, it's fun!

[Jades Ditoyr]

There is a Dynamic Dice system for Serenity that Joss Whedon was a consultant on.

[jdthor]

While I don't have D-20 modern or future as of yet, I do have Serenity RPG. From the look of things most of the game would be easy enough to run without space combat rules as in the show there is very very little space combat. The ship would be easy enough to design, the GM could add a few ship related skills ala SW RPG or any other space based RPG for that matter.

Being a GM for games like; Star Gate SG-1, SpyCraft V1 D-20, and Dark Inheritance D-20, I could create a game using those rules and come out with a reasonable faximity to the feal of Firefly/Serenity. However, I have not been back in the PBP game long enough and am not yet familiar enough with the people here to be comfortable making a comitment to GMing a game yet.

PS. D-20 future and modern are both on my to get list.

[Smilin_Bandit]

The d20 Past supplement is also a very good resource. I enjoy the Marshal and Inventor Advanced classes.

[jdthor]

so I have heard, actualy all 3 are on my list but I can only get one at a time due to $$$, which do you think is the best one to get first, and how diff is modern from say spycraft or SG-1?

also your smurf ? beggs more information, is that the color before or after you feed it to a cat? Before I would have to guess at purple, after would definatly be a shade of brown. ;0

[Smilin_Bandit]

The smurf thing was already answered by Lapis Lazuli who had actual televised evidence to back up his answer. I believe it was purple, but I don't recall. It's floating around in here somewhere on one of the threads.

Now, as for the Spycraft and SG-1 supplements, I don't own them so I can't vouch one way or the other, but as for which supplement to buy first out of the D-20 Future and Past, I would go with the Future. I say this simply because there are a ton of campaign ideas inside this one supplement. It's a wonderful piece of game information.

~Smilin_Bandit~ :top:

[Lapis Lazuli]

:happy_dance: Ah well,when you have the Vikki Vales and Lois Lanes of the world watching your every adventure,you would be amazed what I have on tape!That Smurf thing was easy.