GENERAL DISCUSSIONS

Firefly-based Board Game

POSTED BY: KOZURE
UPDATED: Thursday, February 26, 2004 09:22
SHORT URL:
VIEWED: 10908
PAGE 1 of 1

Tuesday, January 27, 2004 11:32 AM

KOZURE


Hi. Long-time lurker, first time poster here.

I was wondering if anyone here or in the newsgroups have mentioned the idea of creating a board game based on Firefly.

I have some ideas and some free time I'd like to put into the concept but if someone here has already gone and done it, I'd hate to step on toes and seem like I'm trying to one-up anyone.

I'm thinking of creating something which can be printed out on a colour printer onto cardstock (and/or spray mounted on thick board) and then cut out. A relatively simple, co-operative game without a lot of finicky rules, but more twists and options than your average chutes and ladders game.

If anyone here played and enjoyed the Hasbro "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" game, that's about the level of complexity I'm aiming for - I want to be able to play with my wife, who's a big fan of the show but not a big fan of huge clunky games with 30 page rule books.

I'd get into more detail but I want to confirm that someone hasn't already put in the work. Once that's clear and I've worked on the rules a bit, I'll be glad to start sharing playtest versions and ideas.

[EDIT: Finished final playtest version early Monday 23 FEB 04 morning - http://www3.sympatico.ca/czono/firefly-board-home.htm - comments and constructive criticism welcome - see bottom of this page for latest details]



[EDIT: Added rough draft board and sample "Shiny" card.]

Rough Draft Board:



Sample Shiny Card:





Kozure the Kamikaze Highlander

Proud Citizen of Canada-That-Was

NOTIFY: N   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Tuesday, January 27, 2004 12:58 PM

KOZURE


Hmmm... guess either no one has mentioned board games or I've violated some horrible unspoken board taboo and I won't be answered.

Either way, I guess I'll proceed.

Kozure the Kamikaze Highlander

Proud Citizen of Canada-That-Was

NOTIFY: N   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Tuesday, January 27, 2004 1:10 PM

SAINT JAYNE


I love games, board games, too. Do you think you can do it with Firefly? If you want to chat about concepts, I'll weigh in.

NOTIFY: N   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Tuesday, January 27, 2004 1:14 PM

TEELABROWN


Board game seems somewhat hard with Firefly, but RPs seem fine...I mean we're doin' one.

............................................................................................
"Freedom is the Freedom to say that 2+2 makes 4. If that is granted, all else follws"-Winston, 1984
Keep flyin', and remember, THEY can't take the sky from US!

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Tuesday, January 27, 2004 1:24 PM

DEBBIEBUK


I'm taking the easy option _missing the point of a game entirely) - someone gave me the "make-your-own" - opoly board game kit so we're using a Firefly theme.

My first post so sorry if I get anything wrong

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Tuesday, January 27, 2004 1:32 PM

TEELABROWN


Cool. Firefly monopoly. Get the most bullets near yourself/Revers near your ship/platinum! (Instead of property/money.)

Very cool though.

............................................................................................
"Freedom is the Freedom to say that 2+2 makes 4. If that is granted, all else follws"-Winston, 1984
Keep flyin', and remember, THEY can't take the sky from US!

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Wednesday, January 28, 2004 3:46 AM

BROWNCOAT1

May have been the losing side. Still not convinced it was the wrong one.


Welcome to the board Kozure.

A Firefly board game sounds like a very cool idea. I know I would play it, and use it to introduce people to the show. It would also make a good draw for anyone who goes to Conventions. Reel them in w/ a cool boardgame, then show them the DVD set and talk up the show.

Let us know when you have a working idea of what the game will be like. I am interested.

"May have been the losing side. Still not convinced it was the wrong one."


NOTIFY: N   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Wednesday, January 28, 2004 5:02 AM

KOZURE


Well, sounds like a board game hasn't been discussed before, because if it's one thing I've learned about fan-forums, if something has been done already, people let you know.

As for the point of a board game vs. a RP, I play RPGs too - love 'em, but sometimes (especially as one gets older and/or has children) you just don't have the time to invest in a three hour RP session, or if you're the GM, the many hours of prep time.

Don't get me wrong, I think that role-playing is a much better way to enjoy the very thick and juicy flavour of Firefly, but sometimes you might just want a quick bite.

The idea I have is for a quick game that captures some of the Firefly-flavour, involves teamwork and quick thinking, a fair amount of luck and a good sense of humour. Ideally, it could be played in under an hour and a half by anywhere between one (solitare version) to nine (every person picks a crew member) players.

It's still embryonic right now, but I'd love to share with people the moment I get something which resembles a working prototype.

Incidentally, is there any capacity to post attachments or have files hosted on this site? When I've got something worked up, I'd like to share them via PDFs, and I don't have a hosting capacity anywhere at the moment.

Glad there's interest.


Kozure the Kamikaze Highlander

Proud Citizen of Canada-That-Was

NOTIFY: N   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Wednesday, January 28, 2004 5:50 AM

SAINT JAYNE


Quote:

Originally posted by Kozure:
Well, sounds like a board game hasn't been discussed before


I don't think it has. I've heard of Flash games, RPG games, card games and drinking games, but no board games.
Quote:

Incidentally, is there any capacity to post attachments or have files hosted on this site?

That functionality is not yet available.

NOTIFY: N   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Wednesday, January 28, 2004 12:18 PM

ALFERDPACKER


I'll toss my two cents in.

If you're looking for a cooperative game, the Lord of the Rings board game might be a good example. People play as one of the 5 hobbits, each with a different abilty. The goal is to work together in order to beat the different scenarios from the books.

A similar thing could be done with Firefly. People could play the different crew members and play out the different conflicts from the episodes. Mal's talent could be plans. Jayne's would be senseless violence. Inara would be influence in high places.

I'm not sure how feasible this is. Just a thought.

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Wednesday, January 28, 2004 1:15 PM

TEELABROWN


Quote:

If you're looking for a cooperative game, the Lord of the Rings board game might be a good example. People play as one of the 5 hobbits, each with a different abilty. The goal is to work together in order to beat the different scenarios from the books.

A similar thing could be done with Firefly. People could play the different crew members and play out the different conflicts from the episodes. Mal's talent could be plans. Jayne's would be senseless violence. Inara would be influence in high places.

I'm not sure how feasible this is. Just a thought.



That's sounds cool, different contacts or whatever. Great idea!

............................................................................................
"Freedom is the Freedom to say that 2+2 makes 4. If that is granted, all else follws"-Winston, 1984
Keep flyin', and remember, THEY can't take the sky from US!

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Thursday, January 29, 2004 5:35 AM

KOZURE


Quote:

Originally posted by AlferdPacker:
I'll toss my two cents in.

If you're looking for a cooperative game, the Lord of the Rings board game might be a good example. People play as one of the 5 hobbits, each with a different abilty. The goal is to work together in order to beat the different scenarios from the books.

A similar thing could be done with Firefly. People could play the different crew members and play out the different conflicts from the episodes. Mal's talent could be plans. Jayne's would be senseless violence. Inara would be influence in high places.

I'm not sure how feasible this is. Just a thought.



I've played the Lord of the Rings co-operative game quite a few times and like it a lot. This concept I'm working on has some of the same flavour but I'm trying to ensure that I've got a relatively new rule system. Here's the overview and general game summary that I had already written before you mentioned LoTR:

Quote:

Overview

Firefly is a cooperative game for 1-9 players. Each player takes on the role of one or more crew members of the Firefly-class transport ship Serenity, trying to make a living on the Rim while staying one step ahead of the Alliance. Each of the crew is trying to reach, in her or his own way, a state of serenity.

Object

As a cooperative game, either all the players win, or all the players lose. Some variants allow for individual winners but the core of the game is working together. The players win if all of the crew members reach their serenity goal by finishing jobs, overcoming complications and doing things which grant them inner peace. The players lose if any of the crew die, Serenity stops flying, or they fail to beat certain complications.



I should have a working draft version of the rule-book by Friday evening. I'll figure out a way to post it (probably in HTML format on my personal web-site) and I'd welcome further comments and ideas (as well as constructive criticism) on the rules. The various pieces, including the game board and Tale cards (jobs and complications) will take much longer as there will be art and graphic design involved. You should be able to get a good grasp of the flow and feel of the game from the rules, though.

Kozure the Kamikaze Highlander

Proud Citizen of Canada-That-Was

NOTIFY: N   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Thursday, January 29, 2004 5:49 AM

STILLSHINY


I'm liking this idea.

“Firefly is the source of probably more joy & pain than anything I’ve done.” - Joss

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Saturday, January 31, 2004 9:59 AM

KOZURE


Finished a working draft:

http://www3.sympatico.ca/czono/firefly-board.htm

Comments and constructive criticism welcome. It pretty much goes without saying, but I'd greatly appreciate that no one modify and re-use the rules without permission. I encourage people to distribute it freely in its current form and mail back feedback to the address given on the page.

It's real rough right now, and I'll dress it up with quotes, illustrations and Firefly-ified lingo later, but I wanted to share the draft.

At the moment, the board and pretty much all the pieces are only in my head but I have a firm idea of what they'll look like. As soon as I develop some working versions, I'll post PDFs of the game pieces and people can playtest the game for themselves.



Kozure the Kamikaze Highlander

Proud Citizen of Canada-That-Was

NOTIFY: N   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Saturday, January 31, 2004 10:53 AM

KOZURE


I was just casting about for graphics to help me create the game board and cards for this board game. Who owns the "rights" as it were for the 3D models images in the "Serenity Up Close" thread?

http://www.fireflyfans.net/feature.asp?f=49

I'd like to obtain (if I can) the permission of the author to use two of those images (top down and belly up) for the main game board.

I work in a creative field myself, so it's important to me that I don't use anyone else's work without permission.

Kozure the Kamikaze Highlander

Proud Citizen of Canada-That-Was

NOTIFY: N   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Saturday, January 31, 2004 11:58 AM

FOFFILMS


For my 2 cents I think what might work best for a Firefly board game would be a combination card game (ccg style) and board game, using the board for position and timing, using cards to represent events, jobs, characters etc...

I made a Harry Potter based card / board game which is a blast to play.

I also made a Star Trek card / board game that I based on the decipher cards, but using a board makes the game so much more interesting and fun.

Anyway, I think cards and boards go well together.

You've got your chocolate in my peanut butter...

www.fof-films.com
Firefly Fan Film - Coming SOON

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Saturday, January 31, 2004 5:25 PM

SAINT JAYNE


I'm excited to see the game rules - I read them all. When you get the board mocked up I'll have another look. I'm having a little trouble picturing the game, especially combat and off-ship travel.

I'm also worried about a failed roll ending the game for everyone. Can Wash (flying: 5) cast an unlucky roll and be caught by the reaver ship (flying challenge 10)?

Is River useless? Are there Shiny cards that allow her to - well, basically do anything? I'd also like to see Book with every score above 3 - he seems to know everything.

NOTIFY: N   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Saturday, January 31, 2004 6:33 PM

KERNELM


Very nice. I'm a big fan of German board games and games of similar type, e.g. Settlers of Catan, Carcassonne, Puerto Rico, and anything Knizia (including the aforementioned LOTR game). Games that require strategy but don't have a huge number of rules. I was hoping somebody would make something like that involving Firefly, since I know I certainly couldn't do it. Looks like a great start!

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Sunday, February 1, 2004 6:29 AM

KOZURE


Quote:

Originally posted by Saint Jayne:
I'm excited to see the game rules - I read them all. When you get the board mocked up I'll have another look. I'm having a little trouble picturing the game, especially combat and off-ship travel.

I'm also worried about a failed roll ending the game for everyone. Can Wash (flying: 5) cast an unlucky roll and be caught by the reaver ship (flying challenge 10)?

Is River useless? Are there Shiny cards that allow her to - well, basically do anything? I'd also like to see Book with every score above 3 - he seems to know everything.



I'm also worried about a failed roll ending the game for everyone, so many of the Shiny Cards and the special crew cards allow re-rolls and/or added dice for rolling.

River has one card which I'm temporarily calling "Flash of Lucidity" which allows her to have a rating of 8 (!) in any one ability. She also has the "No Power in the 'Verse can Stop Me" card which basically permits her to terminate any three opponents of health 2 or less without rolling. The idea of River is that she's more or less a nuisance/burden until that critical moment where she's in the right place at the right time and >bam< she plays one of her deadlier Crew cards and saves the day. She also has a "Prophecy" and "Crazy Talk" cards which have some interesting effects.

I'm working on the Shiny and Crew cards today and will post them later.

Book I tried to balance out, but I noticed in many scenes where people were hurt, Book didn't take an active roll in healing. Even in situations where there weren't many other people to do medical treatment (as when Simon was injured) it was Zoe or Mal doing the assistance, not Book. Thus I assigned him the low rating of 1 in Healing. As for Flying, we haven't seen him actually do any Flying, so that's more conjecture than anything else. We've seen Wash, Mal and Inara fly (either the shuttles or Serenity) and that's about it for the crew.

Book helped Kaylee with the engine in Serenity, but he didn't seem like he knew exactly where everything was, which is what would justify a 4 rating or higher in Fixing to me.

As an added explaination of ratings:

1 = Unskilled or Unpracticed
2 = Trained, but not frequently tested, or is untrained but has seen the situation frequently
3 = Competent
4 = Professional
5 = Expert
6 = Exceptional

Thus, Book is a competent fighter, unpracticed with healing, competent at fighting, unskilled in flying and professional (but not expert) at talking.

Also, if you total the ratings in all of the six abilities (fighting, healing, fixing, flying, talking and health) all of the crew are equal, adding up to 15, with the sole exception of Mal, who has 16. Mal also has a few crew cards which bump up his scores in a few situations.

Thanks very much for the input so far. It's great to have feedback. My wife gave me a lot of tips (you should have seen the rules before she helped me edit them into a less rambling state) but it's also good to have feedback from people who haven't heard me explain rules as they're being read.


Kozure the Kamikaze Highlander

Proud Citizen of Canada-That-Was

NOTIFY: N   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Monday, February 2, 2004 12:35 PM

KOZURE


I've run into a little impasse and I have a gut feeling about the fans around here that can help out. I've created "crew cards" (referenced in the rules above) for Mal, Kaylee, Book, Jayne, Simon and River. I didn't have much trouble with them.

I'm really stumped at the moment for cards for Zoe, Wash and Inara.

I'll post the example Crew cards this evening for comparison, but perhaps in the meantime, if anyone would like to put forward an example of when Zoe, Wash and Inara had a stand-out moment - when they did something that was pretty cool and/or unexpected, it would help me further.

I've got Wash's "Crazy Ivan" trick, Zoe's body armour and Inara's "threaten Companion blacklisting" moments, but I'm currently at a loss for others. I know they're out there and I'm just spacing on the ideas, so if you have suggestions, fire away.

[edit: Link to new crew card proposals and crew special abilities - http://www3.sympatico.ca/czono/firefly-crew.htm ]

Kozure the Kamikaze Highlander

Proud Citizen of Canada-That-Was

NOTIFY: N   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Thursday, February 5, 2004 12:45 PM

STEALTHYPANTS


one zoey moment that i really loved was in the begining of our mrs reynolds when she leaned off the back of the wagon and shot at those guys on horses. you could call it "tactics woman" or something. i dont know if thats the type of thing your looking for but it was pretty damn cool.

NOTIFY: N   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Thursday, February 5, 2004 1:19 PM

KOZURE


That's exactly the sort of idea I'm looking for, Stealthypants.

I thought of two new Crew Cards for Zoe - "A Woman Scorned" and "Crack Shot" - I'll post them tonight.

Crack Shot relates to the scene you just mention as well as a number of others where Zoe pulls off a critical shot at an important moment.

One more Zoe card will probably relate to the fact that she works so well with Mal - the smoke bomb in "The Train Job" and the various other fight scenes where she has Mal's back covered so effectively.

I'm still pretty stumped for Inara, and need three more for Wash. Let me know about your favourite Inara and Wash moments and I'll see if I can immortalize them as a card.



Kozure the Kamikaze Highlander

Proud Citizen of Canada-That-Was

NOTIFY: N   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Thursday, February 5, 2004 5:44 PM

STEALTHYPANTS


hm.. ok there was this wash moment in out of gas when he was arguing with mal.. and mal is like "then make the signal go further!" and wash is like "what am i suposed to do da da blah something something" and then there was a pause and the plan actually made sense so he is like "well maybe i should do that then!" so you could have something along the lines of a card in which there was a desparate situation and in a fit of fury wash blurts out some random theory that gets the player out of the complication. perhaps. then there was that one time in war stories when zoey and wash are about to go save the captain and jayne was all "its a suicide mission" so wash is like "motto, creed, blah blah leave no man behind" and its all intense but then he cocks this little tiny pistol. its a very wash moment, but i dunno how youd use it as a card. maybe.. you could use the fact that he was willing to go the extra mile to save one person (and got the rest of the crew motivated to come along) sooo like if one person dies in the game or is captured you could play the wash "leave no man behind card" and save the character. and there could be a picture on the card of wash cocking his tiny little pistol.
then later in the same episode inara (through connections) got the counselor lend them that tissue mending equipment to get mal's ear reattached. so maybe if someone were injured in some manner incurable by way of simon, there could be an inara card that fixes you up with some connections to get a fixer-magidgit. er somethin. oh! there was that cool time in trash where she went on a decoy companion job but was really playing that girl to beat her to the rondevous. i dunno if that scenario is cardable. or the time in train job when she used her status to get zoey and mal out of.. out of wherever that sheriff guy was keepin em. like without being questioned or whatever. thatd be a good card if somebody got captured. i havnt gone over your complications tho, do people get captured? cuz i just sugested two different anti capturing cards.

ok i just went back and watched that moment in out of gas when wash is like "well maybe i should do that then!" and diverting the nav whatever was actually kinda mal's idea. but wash justified/put the finishing touches on it. but there was also that moment in ariel when he was at the dump and chucked a engine part or something and it hit that vehicle that they ended up using.. so maybe you could have some sort of general wash does something random that ends up leading to a solution card. and incorporate one of those scenes.

well thats all i can think of off the top of my head but if i get around to rewatching some episodes ill try to look for stuff. or if i think of anything else ill leave another post.

NOTIFY: N   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Thursday, February 5, 2004 6:02 PM

STEALTHYPANTS


by the way, this idea is freaking awesome! i cant wait to tell my sister about it, and im really excited to play. we came up with a firefly game a while ago that was more of a run around the house trying to find jobs and doing crime and the characters where stuffed animals and serenity was a couch. it was very like "hi we're 5 years old and still play games which involves hiding stuff in the hamper and people opening cabinets looking for spices and going 'what the... how did this get here?'" but it all good. sometimes we gotta pretend not to be adults. altho its hard to ferget we definatly still are adults after running up and down the stairs and not remembering having to take a time out at the landing.

NOTIFY: N   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Friday, February 6, 2004 6:34 AM

THALOS


For Inara:

In "Shindig" Inara sneaks into Mal's room and tries to teach him enough Fencing to survive, and knows things like "it takes less then a pound of pressure to break skin." So, perhaps a card representing random knowledge for Inara.

Any type of card refering to her "Ambassador" references. Maybe a land on this planet free type of card.

She is a self proclaimed player from "Our Mrs. Reynolds" so perhaps a human perception/intution type of card could work.

For Wash:

He should also get a scavenger type card. He is a very skilled mechanic as we saw in "Ariel" as he help build the ambulance. He also fixed the electronics during "OMR". ALso, he fashoined the recall button in "OoG".

Some type of comic relief or ease the tension card to capture his humor may be possible.

In "The Message" he is able to stall the Feds while Mal figures out a plan.

Also, some sort of navigation card. He is able to plot courses to avoid any Alliance cruisers, space stations, etc.

PS- Zoe can also pilot as we saw in "War Stories" when she takes a shuttle to go pay Nishka.



"Whoa, good Bible."

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Friday, February 6, 2004 9:17 AM

KOZURE


Thanks. All good suggestions thus far. I've come up with the remaining cards for everyone; at least, enough cards to playtest with. I can't post them until I get home from work though, so I have to wait to share.

Tonight, I'll try to post Shiny cards, Crew cards and a preview of the game board, which I managed to pretty much finish last night.

After that point, it's doing the artwork and the layouts, which is time-consuming, but actually a bit less difficult than actually designing the mechanics. Remaining to do are the Crew and Opponent pieces and the Crew Status boards, as well as the graphics for all of the cards themselves. Now that someone pointed out the screen capture feature in PowerDVD, that should go a lot faster as well.

We're still on track for a end of Sunday playtestable version, but the art may be a little "placeholder" at that point. Of course, finishing touches should wait until after playtesting anyway.

At the moment, travelling from planet to planet isn't "modelled" per se - with a single planet location standing in as a generic location. If the first iteration of the game works well, we'll see about adding in the extra layer of a system map, probably as an optional "expansion".

I'm glad to hear people are excited. I'm excited too.

Re: Wash's abilities - he's listed as having a skill of 2 (Trained) in Fixing currently. I figure he was useful more as an assistant to Kaylee than as an actual Mechanic in that scene in "Ariel". I also came up with some cards which have comedy-themed card titles for Wash, which most fans of the show should be able to relate to.

Inara has the next highest flying skill after Wash, with a rating of 3. Mal is the only other "trained" pilot with rating of 2, as we see him take over the controls on one or two occasions.

Kozure the Kamikaze Highlander

Proud Citizen of Canada-That-Was

NOTIFY: N   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Friday, February 6, 2004 11:35 AM

LILSERF


This looks very intriguing so far, bravo!

Don't know what you came up with, but Wash should have at least one card related to his sense of humor. Like:

We All Know I'm The Funny One
Play after any failed Part to add 1 serenity to all crewmembers. (Or maybe just to crew in the same room)

You gotta have something that reflects Wash's ability to break the tension with a joke :)

And of course, if no one suggested it already, he needs Bastard Isn't Gonna Get Days that temporarily boosts his Fighting, perhaps.

Just my two cents. I can't wait to test this. It'd be great if there was a moderately polished version in time for the Orlando shindig...

NOTIFY: N   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Friday, February 6, 2004 9:56 PM

KOZURE


Fantastic suggestion. Now I've got to decide between your idea and "Lamby-Toes"

Hard choice.

Just bumped this to illustrate the board and the sample shiny card.

Now, to bed...

NOTIFY: N   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Sunday, February 8, 2004 10:25 AM

LILSERF


Niiice board and cards!
Clearly you have some Photoshop ability :)

I'm assuming the real board is going to incorporate both levels of the ship in some manner.

The rest of the Crew cards look pretty good as well... how exactly do you plan to playtest this sucker? Are you hoping people on here will give you some good feedback? Just curious.

I'll play it as soon as things are finalized and I line up some players :)

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Sunday, February 8, 2004 10:49 AM

KOZURE


Quote:

Originally posted by lilserf:
Niiice board and cards!
Clearly you have some Photoshop ability :)

I'm assuming the real board is going to incorporate both levels of the ship in some manner.

The rest of the Crew cards look pretty good as well... how exactly do you plan to playtest this sucker? Are you hoping people on here will give you some good feedback? Just curious.

I'll play it as soon as things are finalized and I line up some players :)



Thanks for the compliments.

The final board has another "half" which is equally as large but shows the remaining lower deck areas as well as the "planet" area.

What I'm planning to do is get it to a state where it can be playtested - that is, a workable game - but still lacks final touches (i.e. all of the final art) Once I've got a version that I think can be played, I'll invite anyone who has the time and printing capability to print themselves off a copy and then try it out.

Based on feedback from that initial round of playtesting, I'll tweak the game, rework some of the art, and then have one final "Beta" test before releasing the final completed version.

I'm not polishing everything up as much as I would until I get some feedback that it's workable.

It's workable in my mind, but sometimes the mind, she plays ze tricks on me...


Kozure the Kamikaze Highlander

Proud Citizen of Canada-That-Was

NOTIFY: N   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Tuesday, February 10, 2004 2:16 AM

URIAH


I just have an aversion to any game that involves cards..."cardboard crack" has destroyed most of a generation of potential RPG players and turned them into "booster-pack junkies".

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Tuesday, February 10, 2004 5:22 AM

KOZURE


Quote:

Originally posted by Uriah:
I just have an aversion to any game that involves cards..."cardboard crack" has destroyed most of a generation of potential RPG players and turned them into "booster-pack junkies".



I have a bit of the same take on CCGs. CCGs often make it easier for the person who spends the most money on the most cards to win handily. This is not always true and it is possible for a skilled player to win with an off-the-shelf deck, but I don't think anyone will argue that a person with an uncustomized starter deck will win less frequently than someone who's spent $200 on booster decks and spent weeks looking for the "Black Bugblatter Beast of the Nth Dimension Super-destructo-card of Doom"

In this game, however, the cards are strictly "closed-set"; while there is the possibility of adding new cards in the future, the card decks are complete as they are and require no "collecting".

Many more recent board games involve cards or limited resources of some kind - this helps to offset the random nature of dice-rolling. Thus my intent is for this game to have unexpected twists but also a sense of strategy and resource management - when to use the big cards and when to let little defeats happen.

Elements of chance are:

Dice rolling in fights and challenges
Draw of Shiny cards
Draw of Tales

Elements of strategy/non-chance are:

Crew cards which the players automatically begin with
Positioning the crew on the ship strategically (moves are fixed)
Play of Shiny or Crew cards to affect event outcome (card resource management)
Selection of actions during the Rest and Relaxation phase
Choice of Tales for monetary reward or ease of completion.

That's a kind of forensic dissection; my main goal in developing the game was to design something which captures the flavour of the series. This actually is a dangerous approach for game design, but I'm hoping that in this case, it works.

I'm mentioning most of the progress in my blog, but I'll post some recent completed game components here. I'm reworking the status card to hold more information and be more intuitive. Tale cards should be finished tonight (*crosses fingers*) and then it should be testable.











and one of my favourite Shiny cards...



...here is a rough version of the crew status card:



NOTIFY: N   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Sunday, February 22, 2004 8:23 PM

KOZURE


Well, it's finally done and I had a chance to playtest it with friends this past Wednesday. Much to my everlasting happiness, it plays not altogether too badly.

It's free and you can get more details here:

http://www3.sympatico.ca/czono/firefly-board-home.htm

Unfortunately, I couldn't find a way to host the dozen or so large (1.5 MB+) files on my usual ISP, so the links on the page above link to a Yahoo!Groups file site. If any kind Browncoat would care to step forward to host these larger than average files, I'd be much obliged.

Hope you enjoy... I'm looking forward to feedback.

Kozure the Kamikaze Highlander

Proud Citizen of Canada-That-Was

NOTIFY: N   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Monday, February 23, 2004 5:30 AM

BROWNCOAT1

May have been the losing side. Still not convinced it was the wrong one.


Looks good Kozure. I am going to download this stuff today and play test it this week.



"May have been the losing side. Still not convinced it was the wrong one."


NOTIFY: N   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Monday, February 23, 2004 11:26 AM

TYMEN


Where are the Zoe Crew cards?

Tymen

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Monday, February 23, 2004 11:53 AM

KOZURE


Ah...curses.

I must have missed that on my checklist. They're done, but I guess I didn't upload them. I've uploaded it now... it should show up as an option in the Crew Cards folder in the files section.


Kozure the Kamikaze Highlander

Proud Citizen of Canada-That-Was

NOTIFY: N   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Monday, February 23, 2004 11:54 AM

TYMEN


Good to know, thanks.

Tymen

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Monday, February 23, 2004 1:08 PM

KOZURE


I'm very pleased to say that a very generous fellow Browncoat has offered to mirror the files at his site, hosting provided by Runebearer. Out of courtesy to Runebearer's bandwidth, I suppose I should ask that you only use that link if the Yahoo method isn't working.

head to:

http://www.runebearer.com/Firefly

The capital "F" is important, it seems.

Many thanks to Runebearer! Happy downloading!

Kozure the Kamikaze Highlander

Proud Citizen of Canada-That-Was

NOTIFY: N   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Thursday, February 26, 2004 9:22 AM

KOZURE


Just a quick *bump* for those who may not have seen the announcement at the beginning of this week that the game is in a playable state and available for free download both at Yahoo!Groups and through the generous hosting by Runebearer at this address:

http://www.runebearer.com/Firefly

The Yahoo mailing list is a discussion group to suggest improvements and modifications. We've only just begun, so if you'd like to have influence on how this game develops further (once again, it's fully playable as it exists right now) please feel free to chime in.

As an added note, I'd like to solicit nominations for additional Tales to be added to the 14 official "canon" episodes. These can be existing fanfic or new creations all on their own.

I'm going to add the unfilmed episdode "Dead or Alive" and then proceed to create more based on some of the fan fiction here and elsewhere. There's more than an ample base for many, many tales to come.

Kozure the Kamikaze Highlander

Proud Citizen of Canada-That-Was

NOTIFY: N   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

YOUR OPTIONS

NEW POSTS TODAY

USERPOST DATE

OTHER TOPICS

DISCUSSIONS
Is Joss Whedon finished as a film maker, is his future destiny to be some muttering version of Brigitte Bardot, Jane Fonda, Sean Penn, Charlie Sheen, Danny Glover?
Sun, November 24, 2024 06:15 - 13 posts
Bad writers go on strike, late night talk is doomed
Fri, November 22, 2024 13:49 - 22 posts
Here's how it was.....Do you remember & even mourn the humble beginnings?
Mon, November 18, 2024 09:38 - 13 posts
Where are the Extraterrestrial Civilizations
Sat, November 16, 2024 20:08 - 54 posts
Serenity Rescued by Disney!
Fri, November 15, 2024 00:31 - 5 posts
What is your favourite historical or war film/television show???
Fri, November 8, 2024 07:18 - 37 posts
When did you join poll?
Tue, November 5, 2024 04:28 - 69 posts
Joss was right... Mandarin is the language of the future...
Mon, November 4, 2024 09:19 - 34 posts
Best movie that only a few people know about
Mon, November 4, 2024 07:14 - 118 posts
Halloween
Sun, November 3, 2024 15:21 - 43 posts
Teri Garr, the offbeat comic actor of 'Young Frankenstein' has died
Thu, October 31, 2024 20:20 - 5 posts
Poetry in song
Sat, October 26, 2024 20:16 - 19 posts

FFF.NET SOCIAL