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The Dresden Files => DFRPG => Topic started by: JediDresden on May 25, 2011, 09:56:32 PM
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I know that other venues for the Fate system have been used. Has anyone used the Fate to play in the Firefly TV series and Serenity movie universe. I think Dresden Files might be a little much for it, but Spirit of the Century might work well with it.
Are there any Browncoats out there that are willing to help take a stab at stating the crew of Serenity? I have been thinking on it some but have nothing concrete yet.
(I apologize if this is not the place for it in the forums, I just did not know where to put it.)
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Diaspora!
Seriously...grittier than DFRPG and has an interesting space combat mini-game. You'd have to import the setting but that shouldn't be a major issue as long as everyone has seen Firefly. And, if they haven't, tie them down and make 'em watch! :)
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It sounds like this could work.
There would really only be two minor tweaks *required* to make this work well:
* The Drive skill becomes Pilot
* Supernatural powers go out the window for the most part. 99% of the population is "pure mortal"
Other rules changes/additions, particularly regarding space travel/combat, would be up to the group, depending on how crunchy you want that part to be.
Some aspects ideas for the main characters off the top of my head:
Mal:
* Things Don't Go Smooth
* The Captain
* You're Part of My Crew
Inara:
* Space Whore
Kaylee:
* Intuitive Mechanic
Book:
* Walking the World for a Spell
* Mysterious Past
Jayne:
* Vera, My Favorite Gun
* As Loyal as my Paycheck
Simon:
* Child Prodigy
* The Medic
River:
* Child Prodigy
* They Messed with My Brain
Wash:
* Leaf on the Wind
* The Funny One
Zoe:
* Action Girl
* I Follow the Captain's Orders
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I disagree on a couple of the Aspects, but I agree it could be fun and interesting.
Some aspects ideas for the main characters off the top of my head:
Mal:
* Things Don't Go Smooth
* The Captain
* You're Part of My Crew
* What you plan and what happens ain't ever been similar. (I love this quote.)
*Loves Inara
Inara:
*Companion
*High Class Lady
*Damn it Mal
*It's Frustrating to Love Mal
Kaylee:
* Intuitive Mechanic
* Innocent Criminal
* Pines for Simon
Book:
* Walking the World for a Spell
* Mysterious Past
Jayne:
* Vera, My Favorite Gun
* As Loyal as my Paycheck
* Money makes me stupid
Simon:
* Child Prodigy
* The Medic
River:
* Child Prodigy
* They Messed with My Brain
Wash:
* Leaf on the Wind
* The Funny One
* Married to Zoe
Zoe:
* Action Girl
* I Follow the Captain's Orders
* Married to Wash
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Starblazer would be another option for running sci-fi games using FATE. I ran a Babylon 5 game using the rules and it went very well.
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Zoe... "Action Girl" ???
You better not call her that to her Face. *g*
"Warrior Woman" is more like it.
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When you refered to 'Verse, two pop references fought for my attention; Firefly and Chronicles of Riddick.
"In this verse, life is antagonistic to the natural state. Here humans in all their various races are a spontaneous outbreak. An unguided mistake. Our purpose is to correct that mistake... because there is another verse. A verse where life is welcomed and cherished. A ravishing ever-new place called Underverse... but the road to that verse crosses over the threshold."
Hmm, makes me think that perhaps a Chronicles setting could be interesting as well.
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Thanks for the thoughts guys, I might try some characters, but I probably will not play in the Verse. I have just been watching the series again and it just got me thinking. My group is already playing about 3 campaigns, I do not think I want to add another one. But it could be cool.
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Added a couple of my own.
Some aspects ideas for the main characters off the top of my head:
Mal:
* Things Don't Go Smooth
* The Captain
* You're Part of My Crew
* What you plan and what happens ain't ever been similar.
* Loves Inara
* Aim to Misbehave
* Big Damn Hero
Inara:
* Companion
* High Class Lady
* Damn it Mal
* It's Frustrating to Love Mal
Kaylee:
* Intuitive Mechanic
* Innocent Criminal
* Pines for Simon
Book:
* Walking the World for a Spell
* Mysterious Past
* The Bible is Somewhat Fuzzier on the Subject of Kneecaps
Jayne:
* Vera, My Favorite Gun
* As Loyal as my Paycheck
* Money makes me stupid
Simon:
* Child Prodigy
* The Doctor
* Focused on Helping My Mei-Mei
River:
* Child Prodigy
* They Messed with My Brain
* Empathic Mindreader
* I Can Kill You With My Brain
* They Made Me a Weapon
Wash:
* Leaf on the Wind
* The Funny One
* Married to Zoe
* Oh God, Oh God, We're All Going to Die!
Zoe:
* Warrior Woman
* I Follow the Captain's Orders
* Married to Wash
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Oh, i wanna play "Name that Aspect" too:
I'll nix the quote tags... makes it easier to continue
Mal:
* Things Don't Go Smooth
* The Captain
* You're Part of My Crew
* What you plan and what happens ain't ever been similar.
* Loves Inara
* Aim to Misbehave
* Big Damn Hero
Inara:
* Companion
* High Class Lady
* Damn it Mal
* It's Frustrating to Love Mal
Kaylee:
* Intuitive Mechanic
* Innocent Criminal
* Pines for Simon
* No power in the Verse can stop me
* machines just got workings, and they talk to me
Book:
* Walking the World for a Spell
* Mysterious Past
* The Bible is Somewhat Fuzzier on the Subject of Kneecaps
* The Special Hell!
* HAIR!
Jayne:
* Vera, My Favorite Gun
* As Loyal as my Paycheck
* Money makes me stupid
Simon:
* Child Prodigy
* The Doctor
* Focused on Helping My Mei-Mei
* Moonlighting as a Criminal Mastermind
River:
* Child Prodigy
* They Messed with My Brain
* Empathic Mindreader
* I Can Kill You With My Brain
* They Made Me a Weapon
* I make prodigies look like idiot childs
Wash:
* Leaf on the Wind
* The Funny One
* Married to Zoe
* Oh God, Oh God, We're All Going to Die!
Zoe:
* Warrior Woman
* I Follow the Captain's Orders
* Married to Wash
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Neat idea!
I've considered this myself. I think FATE could be moulded for many, if not most, settings; providing you're happy to make sure narrative takes a forefront. If you're looking for a more rulesy system there is a Serenity/Firefly based RPG already.
That said, I hope none of y'all mind if I chip in with a few aspect ideas.
Mal:
* Things Don't Go Smooth
* The Captain
* You're Part of My Crew
* What you plan and what happens ain't ever been similar.
* Loves Inara
* Aim to Misbehave
* Big Damn Hero
* On The Loosing Side, Not The Wrong One (He needs something signifying his former Browncoat status)
* Man of Honour in a Den of Thieves
* Fall Of All Seven / I'd Have To Go With Wrath
Inara:
* Companion
* High Class Lady
* Damn it Mal
* It's Frustrating to Love Mal
* Serenity's Unofficial Ambassador
* You Don't Play a Player
Kaylee:
* Intuitive Mechanic
* Innocent Criminal
* Pines for Simon
* No power in the Verse can stop me
* machines just got workings, and they talk to me
* Bright an' Shiny Cap'n
Book:
* Walking the World for a Spell
* Mysterious Past
* The Bible is Somewhat Fuzzier on the Subject of Kneecaps
* The Special Hell!
* HAIR!
* Faith Fixes You
* Shepherd's a Purely Figurative Title
* Wasn't Born a Shepherd
Jayne:
* Vera, My Favorite Gun
* As Loyal as my Paycheck
* Money makes me stupid
* Paid for "Public Relations"
* Like To Have My Options Open
* Strong as a Hammer, Crude as One Too
* The Chain of Command's What I Beat You With
* 'Can't do Somethin' Smart, do Somethin' Right
* If I'd Wanted Schooling, I'd Have Gone to School
Simon:
* Child Prodigy
* The Doctor
* Focused on Helping My Mei-Mei
* Moonlighting as a Criminal Mastermind
* Not Weak, and Thats Not Nothin'
* Rich Kid That Gave Up Everything
River:
* Child Prodigy
* They Messed with My Brain
* Empathic Mindreader
* I Can Kill You With My Brain
* They Made Me a Weapon
* I make prodigies look like idiot childs
* No Power In The 'Verse Can Stop Me (She deserves it too!)
* Two by Two... Hands of Blue
* Albatross was a Ship's Good Luck
Wash:
* Leaf on the Wind
* The Funny One
* Married to Zoe
* Oh God, Oh God, We're All Going to Die!
Zoe:
* Warrior Woman
* I Follow the Captain's Orders
* Married to Wash
Okay, most of my suggestions are quotes, or derived from quotes, from the show. Can't promise they're exact, its been a while. The rest are just ones that seem to fit, or sum up something I couldn't think of a quote for. Not all are worth using, and even if they were there isn't enough room for them. But better too many ideas, then too few. If I come up with any more, I'll let you know.
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The first FATE game I ever played in *was* a Firefly game. Spirit of the Century had been the primary rule source, I believe.
Also, the characters were *much* lower in power than Dresden Files, and I think we only had about 5 Aspects. But DFRPG hadn't come out yet, either.
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Have you checked out the Firefly RPG?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serenity_(role-playing_game)
I've got a copy in a crate somewhere, courtesy an Ambien "Let's buy Firefly Stuff! binge." Never played it, just browsed it briefly. Could be easier converting from that if your dead set on using a specific system, less wheel re-invention and all that.
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Having GMed the Serenity system, I personally give it a "meh" when compared with a FATE hack. The Cortex (which is the backbone to the Serenity RPG) is a little too much on the simulation side rather than the storytelling side of a system for me to find it completely comfortable for a Firefly game.
Now, all things considered, I'd rather play a Cortex+ hack (probably starting from Smallville as opposed to Leverage) for Firefly than Fate. But that's how it breaks down for me.
Cortex+ > FATE > Cortex
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Have you checked out the Firefly RPG?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serenity_(role-playing_game)
I've got a copy in a crate somewhere, courtesy an Ambien "Let's buy Firefly Stuff! binge." Never played it, just browsed it briefly. Could be easier converting from that if your dead set on using a specific system, less wheel re-invention and all that.
I've run serenity a couple of times at cons and it always went well, once people got their head round the difference dice for different skills thing.
It helped that the back ground was easy to get across even if people hadn't seen the series. Supplement with all the ship types was also damn useful for running Battlestar galactica - which used the same mechanic- because it made your 'Rag tag fleet' a doodle.
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Mal:
High Concept: Man of honor in a den of thieves
Trouble: What you plan and what happens ain't ever been similar
Phase one: My coat is brown
Phase two: On the loosing side, not the wrong one
Phase three: Captain of Serenity
Phase four: You're part of my crew
Phase five: In love with Inara
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I would say this... I TRIED to run a Firefly-esque game once recently and it failed miserably... Because I felt like I was walking in the footsteps of Giants.
Can you make up Firefly-styled encounters and scenarios and make a really great story go? Can you keep it with the right feel and pacing?
If not... Well that's why I quit running that one. I didn't feel right trying to run it if I couldn't deliver awesome stuff.
It's just hard to live up to Firefly quality. That's all I'm saying. :) Make sure you're well-prepared!
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To get a story like this going where you're after a specific feel, probably the best advice would be using a trick from the West End Games version of Star Wars. Take a scenario, toss the characters into the action right off the bat and give them their first line or two along with some description to kind of flesh out what's going on. Have to use your head a bit with what you're setting them up for. But if you need, for example, someone to start a bar fight or have otherwise made some sort of mistake to get the ball rolling, you can just offer a fate point to whoever wants to volunteer to help and use one of their Aspects for ideas on how to get them involved. Also kind of helps with party cohesion due to the whole "we're all on the same side... because everyone else is shooting at us" thing if your story is setup that way.
Just mentioning this because a number of the Firefly storylines could be described as one or more characters making a mistake or having some past issue stalk them down and the whole crew getting involved in the mess. This of course doesn't work unless characters like Jayne are uncommon. Your rag-tag bunch has to predominantly be composed of people who have qualities that bind them to the group or a storyline like this will shred your game. Of course if you have a group that doesn't have any cohesion you're not going to be able to tell stories like Firefly in the first place although you could still use the setting.