Serenity Role Playing Game. What is the good, the bad, and the ugly?

[buzz]

And yet they've managed to sell through 4 printings of the book according to this...

Never underestimate the power of Browncoats.

...sell an Adventure that was nominated for an Origins award

Never underestimate the randomness of Origins awards.

But going on about how awful the rules are just because you don't happen to like 'em is a bit different. I don't like a number of things about default D&D, but I don't automatically declare 'em to be awful. I'd say that WotC's continued existence proves that the rules work well enough for enough people.

I don't think it comes down to solely matters of taste. Even if I didn't like D&D, I would have a very hard time buying the argument that it's actually flawed design-wise. Serenity, otoh, even viewed as a straight-up traditional RPG design, simply doesn't feel fully baked.

Regardless, I understand what you're saying; endless griping really serves no purpose. Thankfully, this thread has largely been people posting their play experience and then leaving conclusions to the OP.

 

[Armadillo]

And my understanding is that they're taking lessons learned from Serenity and revising the system further for Battlestar Galactica. In fact, here's a recent review of the Battlestar Galactica RPG:
http://www.nuketown.com/games/reviews/battlestargalacticarpg

I've played a few sessions of both Serenity and the Battlestar RPGs and have made notes for a Serenity campaign. The changes made in Battlestar are quite welcome. In particular, the advantages and disadvantages were changed to die values that now add to skill tests, which worked very well in play.

 

[SavageRobby]

Here is my take on it:

* The system sucks. It is a bad Savage Worlds rip-off.
* The fluff is great. Too bad there isn't more.


We played a 'Verse campaign using the Savage Worlds rules with the Serenity RPG fluff, and it was shiny.

 

[Crothian]

Here is my take on it:

* The system sucks. It is a bad Savage Worlds rip-off.

I think the system existed before Savage Worlds did.

 

[SavageRobby]

I think the system existed before Savage Worlds did.

Its certainly possible, although Savage Worlds was a system before Firefly was a TV show, so unless they imported the system (meaning the Serenity RPG) from somewhere else - which is entirely possible - I doubt it.

I know the Serenity folks have claimed more than once that they didn't take anything from SW, so no accusation was meant there. Let me restate, and say that it plays like a bad Savage Worlds rip-off.

 

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

Soveriegn Stone, the precursor to Serenity was 1999. SW wasn't until 2003.

 

[jdrakeh]

Its certainly possible, although Savage Worlds was a system before Firefly was a TV show. . .

And Cortex was a game system before Great White Games was a company

 

[SavageRobby]

And Cortex was a game system before Great White Games was a company

In that case, you'd think they'd have had enough time to make it a decent system.

 

[Erekose]

Some people have bought the Serenity RPG for details of the Firefly universe and then used either d20 Traveller or Star Wars SAGA Edition for the rules.

 

[dmccoy1693]

Actually, there is no EXPLICIT tying of abilities to combat rolls. That is one thing I like about the system. You can default to Dex for the standard D&D style fight, I shoot, he shoots, I shoot. Etc..
But, the system is more flexible than that. We used Alertness for 'precise shots' saying covering, or going for a targeted attack. I could see other abilities being used as the situaiton permitted.

Suggestions would have been nice.