Firefly d20

[Shard O'Glase]

Based upon the flashbacks of River and Simon's childhood, coupled with comments from Simon about how his sister is way smarter than he is, I would make River the smartest crew member with Simon the 2nd smartest.

Just my 1&1/2 cents worth...

It's hard to say, I think the whoose smarter Simon or River has been wishy washy throughout the series. Sometimes the flashbacks seem to imply that Simon was the one with mad skills and river was more artistic I guess but maybe not as smart, other times is seems river is just smart, intuitive, blah, blah.

I think the thig was if you asked Simon he'd say it was River because his lover for River overshadowed everything else and he saw her as near perfect. If you asked Simons family, or Rvier they'd say it was Simon who was smarter. I think Simon is smarter in the traditional, get good grades, education sense, while River is smarter in other ways. In a D20 game if you consider int, wis, and chr the mental stats they both would be prodigies in one of those stats just different ones.

 

[Skade]

On the question of River and Simon's intelligence, maybe you should look at it this way. Simon was very driven, very much achievment oriented. His intelligence was great, and his education allowed him to make the most of it, i.e. informed decisions, strong analytical skills, medical expertise. Then you have River. Her intelligence was never fully developed, because the institute where she was changed did not focus on her natural abilities, instead reshaping her into someothing else. Regardless, having maybe never picked up a weapon before, she anayled the situation, knew exactly how to fire the weapon, at whom, and in what order to effectivly remove a threat. I really do not think this was a matter of training. I think her mind simply reacts quickly to a situation, and allows her to fill in the blanks left by her spotty educationa nd life experience. I have only occassionally watched the show, so I'd be hard pressed for another example.

 

[Shard O'Glase]

well the gun thing seems to be more of a psychic power issue but oh well we'll never know now that they canceled the show. Rat Basards.

 

[Funksaw]

The Firefly RPG is out - it's called Traveller.

Seriously - it's very easy to port the Firefly universe and characters into a Traveller game. So easy in fact, that I have to wonder if Joss Whedon plays or not.

I can't help but wonder if some of the aspects of Buffy were inspired by WoD, and some of the aspects of Firefly inspired by Traveller. Let's just say that I'm reading Astounding X-men carefully looking for references to "combat inches."

 

[Calico_Jack73]

Ok, it's not likely that Firefly will get back on the air but maybe Firefly could live on as a d20 game with novel and/or comic book support.

What does everyone think?

Well the movie IS in the works.

 

[Dismas]

http://www.wam.umd.edu/~cadre/ has Firefly floorplans + cardboard standup figures.

Eden Studio's Presents #1 (out know) has a 'serial-numbers filed off' version of Firefly for their Unisystem.

"Spacefarers and Prairie Folk: A cinematic setting". Sci-fi/western feel is what it claims to be. Couple pages (pg 7-11) of Unisystem chargen stuff (points for levels, skill suggestions and new skills, qualities and drawbacks, and a short few paragraphs on psychic powers - advice and implementation only). Next 3 pages are quick n' dirty spaceship construction rules, followed by a half a page of so of new weapons (blaster, plasma assault rifle, heavy pistol and a colt peacemaker). 1/2 page of "Happy trails" to set you on your way, followed by a page of reference material. The last six pages are Archetypes - one to a page with illo, per "standard" Unisystem writeups: Courtsesan, Mercenary Gunslinger, Pilot, Preacher Engineer, Saloon Girl, and Space Captain. Makes no claim to be a complete game, obviously.

 

[Dismas]

Re the level of intelligence of Simon Vs River, here are Simons words on the subject:

I am very smart. I went to the best Medacad in Osiris, top three percent of my class, finished my internship in eight months.

"Gifted" is the term. So when I tell you that my little sister makes me look like an idiot child, I want you to understand my full meaning.

River was more than gifted. She... she was a gift. Everything she did,
music, math, theoretical physics -- even-even dance -- there was nothing
that didn't come as naturally to her as breathing does to us.

River is certainly some type of savant, she was correcting Simon's spelling when she was 3. Maybe the blue hands just tweaked something that was already there.

 

[FCWesel]

Yeah, I would put her Intelligence way up there. Around 20. She seems to know and remember everything, inclduing knowing the statistics of the Firefly Class of ship off the top of her head. However her Wisdom woul be like a 6. In all, in a game, she would be almost impossible as a Player Character for all te samw reasons they were all worried about her in the show.

 

[arkham618]

Yeah, I would put her Intelligence way up there. Around 20. She seems to know and remember everything, inclduing knowing the statistics of the Firefly Class of ship off the top of her head. However her Wisdom woul be like a 6. In all, in a game, she would be almost impossible as a Player Character for all te samw reasons they were all worried about her in the show.

The River character demonstrates all the usual symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia. To create her character in d20, you'd probably have to borrow the fear rules from CoC d20 and give her high Intelligence and Wisdom but low Sanity (with the attendant mental disorder).

 

[Dismas]

Something else I have just remembered about River; in War Stories, when they are rescuing Mal and Wash from Niska, she kills 3 soliders in 3 shots with her eyes closed after a short peek to see where they are.