Firefly D20?

[ruleslawyer]

This I don't really see. See reads minds and events, and fights very well. She did great, but her combat ability didn't overshadow anything you'd see in a japanese samurai film.

The issue isn't, I think, whether Summer Glau can dance around like Neo in the Matrix or wield a katana like the blind swordsman in Ninja Scroll. Rather, the issue is that River Tam is clearly on a power level far beyond that of the Serenity's crew. Mal, Jayne, or Zoe simply can't do the stuff she can, and they're no match for her on any level once she's "activated." (Notice how fast she gets the hang of piloting the ship at the end of the movie?) That is, after all, what the government programmed her for. I don't think the wizard analogy is really apt; I think "superhero" is a little more on target.

But that said: She is a plot device. In the context of a game, her powers manifest when the DM says they do, not when the character does, or, for that matter, when the other characters would like them to. I can't imagine actually playing in the Firefly universe and not featuring River or one of her fellow psychics, since that story element is so critical to the setting. The series is, after all, highly character-driven; take Mal and company out of the picture and it becomes pretty darn generic sci-fi.

 

[Jim Hague]

I have to say - I can't disagree more with the folks saying that a Firely or Serenity campaign somehow require the crew from the series. By that reasoning, you can't play any licensed setting without the source characters, which is...bull. People do it all the time, and do it well.

Tangentially, here's some fans doing something else sans the source characters right now...and it's good enough to have gotten support from the folks originally involved in the series:

http://www.intotheblack.ca/

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Well, to put this in analogy, you can't really write a Star Trek RPG without Kirk & Crew. Otherwise, it would be Star Fleet Battles/Prime Directive RPG.

Kirk isn't (that) inconsistent.