Serenity for d20?

[SWBaxter]

Up front: I haven't seen the movie. But the Firefly TV show bore a pretty strong resemblance to the classic old RPG Traveller. So I'd guess that d20 Traveller would do a pretty good job.

 

[Felon]

One massive solar system? Wow. Lame.

It isn't enough just to terraform the planet. in order to support earth-like life, a planet can only be so far away from the sun (or so close). You certainly wouldn't have hot desert worlds that are ten times farther from a sun than Pluto is.

On top of that, confining "the 'verse" to a single solar system just flat-out feels wrong. Rather than wandering around an ever-expanding frontier, we have characters just hobbling around the finite fringes of a single solar system. Bleh.

Sounds like somebody just took the path of least resistance. The only benefit is it saves folks the effort of mapping out a big mesh of star systems.

So, what's the economic system like? Whedon kept loot confined to little jingling cloth bags.

There is no faster-than-light travel in the Serenity 'verse. Travel between planets can literally take weeks.

That would hardly negate the possibility of FTL travel.

 

[Dragonhelm]

So, what's the economic system like? Whedon kept loot confined to little jingling cloth bags.

Depends on where in the 'verse you're at. The core planets use credits, or they can use printed currency that have tracers on them so that money can be tracked as it is moved about.

Border planets rely on precious metal coinage (gold, silver, and platinum). Plus there's barter.

That would hardly negate the possibility of FTL travel.

I wasn't using that as evidence. Just stating a fact of the 'verse.

Faster-than-light travel simply does not exist in Serenity. Travel between stars takes a lifetime. Check out page 97 of the Serenity RPG under "ships" for more details.

As always, Game Masters should feel free to change this if they want.

 

[Felon]

Thanks for the info. Does the RPG cover what sort of fuel spaceships use?

 

[Dragonhelm]

Thanks for the info. Does the RPG cover what sort of fuel spaceships use?

Basically, there's two forms of propulsion: reaction thrusters and pulse drives.

Reaction thrusters produce thrust in one direction by throwing energy out the other. Think rockets here.

Pulse drives are about 60 times faster. This is a little hard to describe, so pardon me if I don't quite phrase it right. Essentially, it sounds like it gives an initial kick, and then inertia takes over. Reaction thrusters are apparantly used in conjunction to keep going.

Power comes from fusion.

 

[Agemegos]

One massive solar system? Wow. Lame.

Just so. Ditch it.

It isn't enough just to terraform the planet. in order to support earth-like life, a planet can only be so far away from the sun (or so close). You certainly wouldn't have hot desert worlds that are ten times farther from a sun than Pluto is.

You might, if the sun in question were 810,000 times as luminous as Sol.

More realistically, a B-class priimary might be hundreds or thousands of times brighter than Sol, which would give you a habitable zone ten or twenty times as wide, and you might get 30-60 planets in stable orbits in there. If you were freakishly lucky. Such a system is not going to last long enough to any of its planets to generate their own oxygen atmosphere (it will burn out in only millions of years), but they can perhaps be terraformed by introducing algae.

Frankly, FTL travel is more plausible.

On top of that, confining "the 'verse" to a single solar system just flat-out feels wrong. Rather than wandering around an ever-expanding frontier, we have characters just hobbling around the finite fringes of a single solar system. Bleh.

I agree. Rule Zero.

As is common with AV science fiction, it seems to have been made by people who neither know nor love any science.

 

[Dragonhelm]

I'm going to disagree. I think science fiction is riddled with settings that seem to have infinite solar systems. Or at least multiple ones. To me, having one massive solar system is different.

Think about our own world and how long it took to explore it. In fact, it's still being explored. Multiply that by dozens of worlds and hundreds of moons.

Believable? Maybe, maybe not. To me, that's not the point. The point is to have a setting that stands out from the others and has its own feel.

Again, feel free to disagree and to use multiple systems. It won't break the game. Use FTL drives if you want. The key is to keep with Firefly themes.

 

[Jim Hague]

Couple quick comments:

*Joss' said in the past that Firefly/Serenity was specifically based on Treaveller - listen closely to Wash's dialouge in the pilot. "Hang on, travelers!"

*It's not meant to be hard sci-fi any more than Gunsmoke was intended to be a realistic depiction of the Old West. So enough with the 'Wow. Lame' commentary, ok? Relax and enjoy the 'verse.

 

[Wyrmwood]

I think people are missing the point of Serenity, which is one of the problems I have with the D20, or really any rules system converting the show and film into a game. The problem as I see it is that you have all of these questions. The show lacks real hard science, but has an edge of realism. The idea is that this is a plausible future where the majority of travel is done between the various moons which are realitvely closer than the planets. Interplanetary travel is still possible, but time consuming meaning that most people are essentially bound to their planet or moon of origin, except for those that can afford to travel. Adding in hyperspace or FTL cheapens the feeling of the series which is about beating around the 'verse in an aging transport ship and dodging the law. The setting is a gritty wild west kind of solar system. With podunk towns and isolated people making due on the rough fringes. Add FTL or other super-high tech stuff and you lose that. People can get around willy-nilly, why would anyone move out to the edge, and how would that be difficult if you could just hop on the next transport ship to the Core with little or no wait time. The fun is that it's gritty, no aliens, few lasers, low-tech story and character driven sci-fi. To each their own, and games were made to be adapted to the style and liking of the players and GM, but for my own two cents if you want to play a game based off of Firefly/Serenity do so, if you want something else use GURPS or D20 Future or Traveler in one of it's many editions and just draw what inspiration you want from whatever sources at your disposal. Just don't belittle a good series 'cause it doesn't fit with your game, if it's not the way you want it, change it, but that's not Serenity.

 

[Ranger REG]

I think people are missing the point of Serenity, which is one of the problems I have with the D20, or really any rules system converting the show and film into a game.

What problem with d20? I've always prescribed to the motto, "make the game fit the setting, not the setting fit the game." I mean if we have the tweak the rules majorly to suit the setting, then ... DO ... IT.

If the Firefly 'verse doesn't have start-of-art, flashy FTL tech, then so be it. It's canon. You don't screw with canon.

The problem as I see it is that you have all of these questions.

It doesn't matter what system you used, even one created just for the setting. We're gamers with a stickler for details.