RPG - Serenity - Any takes/reviews of it

[TheYeti1775]

Anyone here play with the Serenity RPG?

Saw it at the FLGS on Saturday, and almost picked it up. But budget dictated only minis for that trip.

Thanks in advance.
Yeti

 

[Crothian]

I feel it is a very good resource for playing a game based on Serenity. But I am not a big fan of the mechanics they use. I feel it is a little too random for determining success. They use a die plus die system. The character improves the die gets bigger. I have the game and the first module but I think I would use a different system or house rule the current one.

 

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

Here's a link to the most recent discussion.

I agree with Crothian. For fluff, it's decent. The mechanics, especially skill resolution, are IMO broken.

 

[Crothian]

I don't feel broken is the right way to describe it. Broken seems to mean that something is too powerful like it broke the system. This is the system we are talking about and in my experience the characters have a hard time doing things they should be able to because the of the randomness of the rolls. A character good at something might have d10 + d8. And it is just too easy to still roll low and fail at many things. And they system makes it too hard for a character that wants to be a jack of all trades type.

 

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

Eh, 'broken' to me means 'non-functional'. It's too random, the 'sub-skill' element is poorly thought out and a PITA, and worst of all, I think the balance between stat and skill is badly mismatched. A high die in a stat is far, far more cost effective than a high die in a subskill that may never get used.

 

[TheYeti1775]

I might go ahead and pick it up then, even if I don't use it in full. I'm pretty sure I can pluck ideas from it's fluff.

 

[evildmguy]

In the fwiw category

I was also not impressed with the game mechanic. The idea is that d10 + d8 means a success but depending on the target numbers, which I don't know off the top of my head, it isn't the case. You can still get low numbers with that.

The productions quality of the book, though, is quite high and it is a great resource. I would probably use Alternity (use your own favorite SciFi mechanic) and use the RPG as a good resource for the Firefly 'verse.

Take care.

edg

 

[maddman75]

I've heard the same thing, that it was a decent source of material, but the mechanics didn't really make it feel like Firefly. You could do just was well using d20 future or GURPS or something. If I were to do it, I'd cobble something together with Unisystem.

 

[Crothian]

I might go ahead and pick it up then, even if I don't use it in full. I'm pretty sure I can pluck ideas from it's fluff.

I should say I am happy I have the game. I might not use it exactly as is but it is not a purchase I regret. I know I say more bad things then good about the game.

 

[Meloncov]

From my limited expierence with the game, I liked the skill system. It was easy to learn, fast paced, and I didn't encounter any of the problems others have mentioned. However, the combat system didn't capture the feeling of Firefly to me; notably, bullets weren't lethal enough.

Personally, I want to adapt Kenzer's Aces and Eights to Firefly, once they finally release the full rules.