BIG DAMN HEROES - a d20 Firefly Campaign [OOC]

[Rhun]

Um, not sure. Not sure. Not sure. Rhun!

I've never actually seen Firefly, just heard alot about it and the characters. So I honestly have no idea as to where there is any precedent.

About the closest precedent would be the episode The Message in which Tracy has his own organs replaced with engineered organs. Whether or not fully engineered humans are capable in the Firefly setting, I really would have no clue. I kind of thought Doghead might know something I didn't.

An alternative to geneering would be something along the lines of a corporation specialising in security and covert operations. It 'adopts' orhpans and raises them to fullfill operational roles. In some ways like a ninja clan; the children are taken young (around 5-7 years old), trained and indoctrinated into a culture of service and loyalty.

This sounds almost like what the Alliance does to River in the series/movie. So that may be a little too similar to the actual series.

Another option would be a Gibson Cyberpunk/Japan Inc corporate family model, where employment is for life, employees are housed and their children eduacted by the corporation. Aptitude tests are used from an early age to stream the children from an early age to groom them for their future life as a corporate citizen.

Neither of these models would mean that the character is property as such, but would mean that if they are operating independently, there is probably a corperation somewhere who considers them deserters of a sort. Of course, they might *not* be operating independently

The best way to think of Firefly is as a sci-fi western. Although those living in the Core would live in a similar environment to what you mention here. It would be the Allied government rather than a corporation doing this, though, I would guess. Those living on the rim live in a mostly low-tech environment, such as you would see in a western. Wagons, horses, and basic firearms.

My impression of the setting is that is a fairly dangerous and factious place, one of totalitarian governments and restricted human rights, a la: .... where no one goes hungry and your every move is monitored for your own protection. Star Trek it ain't. Time to do somoe background reading I think.

While the Alliance is a totalitarian government, they really don't have the ability to enforce their will on the outer planets, despite the fact that they beat the Independents in the Unification War. People on the rim are always starving, suffering from a lack of medicine, etc, etc.

I would guess that most of the campaign will be taking place outside the Core?

 

[Rhun]

I'm willing to entertain the possibility, but I do have questions... Geneered by whom and to what end? Would this make them someone else's property? Is there precedent for that in the Whedonverse? It's not ringing any bells...

Its all good, Watus. Don't want to make you rule on something that there isn't much of a precedent for. Plus, I've got another concept for a gunslinger from Dyton Colony...gotta love the Irish accent, after all.

 

[doghead]

I kind of thought Doghead might know something I didn't.

Nope. just making it up as I go and trying to Fast Talk my way through.

This sounds almost like what the Alliance does to River in the series/movie. So that may be a little too similar to the actual series.

Otr it could be our precedent.

The best way to think of Firefly is as a sci-fi western. Although those living in the Core would live in a similar environment to what you mention here. It would be the Allied government rather than a corporation doing this, though, I would guess. Those living on the rim live in a mostly low-tech environment, such as you would see in a western. Wagons, horses, and basic firearms.

Yeah, thats the impression I have got. There was a banner along the lines of Not Firefly, Neo western, or some such. Totalitarain governments and big bad corporations are common enough bedfellows. Nazi Germany and pre-Japan are good examples. The government keeps the units of production in line, and in return gets its power base. Post war Japan was a more benevolent example. In America, I think it would be possible to argue a trend in the same direction.

While the Alliance is a totalitarian government, they really don't have the ability to enforce their will on the outer planets, despite the fact that they beat the Independents in the Unification War. People on the rim are always starving, suffering from a lack of medicine, etc, etc.

I would guess that most of the campaign will be taking place outside the Core?

It wouldn't really matter where it is set, the characters could be from the Core.

Of course it would be possible to make the characters simply gunslinging twins. i just like the idea of genetically modified (ex?) corporate samurai. 32 points is high enough to represent the geneering aspect. Of course, people can be as good without geneering, its just that geneering improves the probablity of being good.

thotd

 

[RobotRobotI]

It stops looking like precedent and more like stepping on toes when you look at it this way: Pair of very capable siblings, escaped from the Government, hitching a ride with an underdog ship in hopes of not being recaptured. >_>

 

[Rhun]

It stops looking like precedent and more like stepping on toes when you look at it this way: Pair of very capable siblings, escaped from the Government, hitching a ride with an underdog ship in hopes of not being recaptured. >_>

Kinda what I was thinking as well...

 

[doghead]

Kinda what I was thinking as well...

Ditto. It gives Watus plenty to play with. I also like the idea that it is possible that they haven't really escaped. Lots of potential for some trust issues

Some crunchy bits. Just a rough sketch. This is a pistol version. A rifle version would probably go with Far shot and something, perhaps also Fast Movement.

[sblock=Helsinki]Fast Hero 3 Gunslinger 3

Str 12 (4)
Dex 18 (13)
Con 13 (5, L4 increase)
Int 12 (4)
Wis 12 (4)
Cha 10 (2)

BAB: +2+2
DEF: +4+2
REP: +1+0

FORT: +1+1
REFL: +2+2
WILL: +1+2

Occupation: Military
* Personal Firearms Prof
1. Talent - Evasion 1
2. Bonus Feat - Point Blank Shot
3. Talent - Evasion 2
4. Close Combat
5. Weapon Focus
6. Bonus Feat - Double Tap

Skills points (5+1)*10

** Know (Tactics) +10 [9 ranks
** Craft (Mechanical) +10 [9 ranks
* Hide +13 [9 ranks
* Move Silently +13 [9 ranks
* Drive +13 [9 ranks
* Sleight of Hand +13 [9 ranks
* Tumble +13 [9 ranks
[/sblock]

A slightly reworked background

[sblock=Helsinki]H3 unit, Insertion and Investigation, Stalker genetype (H3II.s)
Codename: "Helsinki"

Helsinki is light and fast. Not a front line fighter by any means, she is however an ideal gun-griffon. As a result of the training undergone for solo operation, Helsinki tends to silence, self sufficiency and contemplation. Her interpersonal skills are somewhat attenuated.

Helsinki was happy with her life. She didn't feel the absence of a family, as she has one in her sibkin and her mentors. They provided a childhood that was emotionally rich and stable. She was given everything she needed by her school as she grew up. She was given goals, and the means to achieve them. She realises that many people would consider her life limited. But freedom to choose anything, it seems to Helsinki, often seems to lead people to discontentment with whatever they end up with.

Helsinki is generally quite quiet, but with a tendency to directness that could be taken as confrontational. However, she rarely takes disagreements personally.[/sblock]

 

[RobotRobotI]

How does a character like her, who is happy with life as a corporate tool and actually counter to the idea of freedom, fit in with a 'criminal' vessel that will likely be flying just because space is the only place they can be free?

I don't mean to be an ass, I just don't know if what you're looking at fits into the Firefly universe very well at all (although I guess that's a cool for the GM-sort.) Keep in mind that the 'prescedent' for Alliance-foolery is a completely insane girl who is not at all self-sufficient.

 

[Lot]

I was hoping to get in on this. I was hoping to make a former Alliance communication expert who find himself on the wrong side of the law due to a mistake. Now, he is acting as the mechanic. He is a decent mechanic but his true skill involves the electrical work and communications. This would include staying out of sight, finding good salvage, and general wiring work. He has learned as much about ship engines in the last few years to make himself useful onboard various ships. I think he may be fun because, while a fugitive, he still believes in the validity of the Alliance and thinks he fought on the right side of the war. Could add to some tension onboard with any Independents in the crew.

 

[doghead]

How does a character like her, who is happy with life as a corporate tool and actually counter to the idea of freedom, fit in with a 'criminal' vessel that will likely be flying just because space is the only place they can be free?

I don't mean to be an ass, I just don't know if what you're looking at fits into the Firefly universe very well at all (although I guess that's a cool for the GM-sort.) Keep in mind that the 'prescedent' for Alliance-foolery is a completely insane girl who is not at all self-sufficient.

Hey RRI, its a good point. That part came from the original background, where the character was still part of the government. And you're right, that contradiction needs to be addressed. I need to give it some thought. The simplest is to change it so that she was unhappy being a tool, and escaped to get her freedom. That would best be most easily done outside the Alliance sphere of control. But I'm tending towards trying to keep the basic idea, and just tuning it somehow. I might wait and see where Rhun is on this, and what his idea's are.

thotd

 

[Rhun]

You know, now that my brain is working a bit better this morning, it has dawned on me that there is another prescedent to this type of character as well: The Operative. Trained by and completely loyal to the Alliance Parliament, until the crew of Serenity shows him that everything he believed is a lie. At that point, he leaves the Alliance to do his own thing.

Doghead and I could make characters that worked for the Alliance/Blue Sun Corporation as assassin types or such, until something happened to make them realize that the government they worked for wasn't what they had believed the whole time...