Serenity RPG - How is it?

[Twowolves]

Not bad; reminds me of Savage Worlds.

That's the impression I got from a casual glance over the book.

Has anyone here read the rules to both games in detail? If so, what are the key similarities and differences between the two systems?

 

[diaglo]

i absolutely hated it.

i couldn't give my copy away for Free. until i tricked someone at Gen Con Indy last year to take it for a friend

i don't think he is a friend with her anymore. and my guess is because he gave her this game.

 

[DaveMage]

i absolutely hated it.

i couldn't give my copy away for Free. until i tricked someone at Gen Con Indy last year to take it for a friend

i don't think he is a friend with her anymore. and my guess is because he gave her this game.

What specifically did you hate about it?

I liked the TV show, but don't know anything about the RPG.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

I'm not a fan of the rules they use, but everything else in the book is good.

Rats, beaten to it.

Good general content, but a system that is a bit too fast and loose for my tastes. A rules light enthusiast I am not.

The Auld Grump

 

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

Liked the presentation and production values. Liked some concepts (the ship as character, for one), and character generation. Don't much like the skills system at all, and while the two gamedays in which I ran Serenity didn't have much combat, I wasn't really enamoured of it, either. The lack of a clear distinction as to who acts when can be a pain in the butt. My biggest gripe is it is way too light on the setting, which I think is what most people want it for.

For rules-light, it's not too bad, but if you're looking to provide material for running a game in the 'verse, you're going to be disappointed.

 

[Ghostwind]

I like the system and the game. I've run it a couple of times and everyone who played at the store has asked me when I am going to run it again plus I'm playing it in an online pbp game. If you're used to d20, it takes a bit to shift gears to think in a less rigid structure in terms of playing the game. Otherwise, it is very flexible and easy to learn.

Review links:

Serenity RPG
http://www.d20zines.com/v7/node/1763

Serenity: Out in the Black
http://www.d20zines.com/v7/node/2939

 

[Vorput]

The book had a lot of problems with regards to rules- I didn't try, but I had two VERY smart people in my group spend hours trying to build a ship and figure out how to run it because of how many errors there were in the book, and how confusing it tended to be. There's been no errata issued for a large number of problems. Space combat left us all scratching our heads, and saying "screw it" after we tried un-succesfully once.

The content was pretty cool, and it had lots of fun fluff- but I found the system sort of lacking... too freeform, and the idea of plot points requires a VERY good DM to do correctly. For instance, a pilot might fly the ship for the entire session- but never get a plot point because flying the ship is sort of assumed, while the guy who does the shooting will get plot points.

I also didn't like the idea that there were not static bonuses- and everything relied on very random dice rolls. In D&D- a +10 is a +10, even if you roll a 1 on a check. In serenity- I can be damn good at something (d12+d2), and spent plot points (we'll say 4 of them for a d8) and still end up with a very low roll... it got kind of irritating when my universe-reknowned surgeon couldn't diagnose a simple disease cause of a bad roll...

Also, I heard that universal stepped in and said they couldn't market anymore products or supplements for the system starting 2007. So what you have is what you get.

I personally loved Serenity- but the system didn't really do it for me. Just my two cents.

Vorp

Edit: And I hated advancement- the idea I could only improve ONE thing per session got really old... especially when I just wanted to add a d2 to something.

 

[Klaus]

The book is nice, but if I were to run a Serenity campaign, I'd use d20, since it's a system I already know inside and out.

And Reavers = Orcs.

 

[crazy_cat]

Thansk everybody for all the replies.

Lots to think on - I'm kind of suprised by some of the negative comments on how the rules play - they looked quite GM friendly and flexible to me on my initial read.

 

[Pbartender]

Yup... I won the rulebook (autographed by Margaret Weiss, no less) as a door prize at a Gameday a while back. I played a demo of the game that same day. For reasons already stated above, I'm not a fan of the rules as written.

If I ever ran a Serenity game, I'd use the rulebook as a sourcebook for the setting, and probably use Spycraft 2.0 or maybe D20 Modern for the rules.