D&D+Firefly=DragonFly by varden

GENERAL DISCUSSIONS

D&D+Firefly=DragonFly

POSTED BY: VARDEN
UPDATED: Saturday, May 3, 2008 07:31
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Saturday, May 3, 2008 3:55 AM

Take the Firelfy/Serenity story and tell in it in a D&D-type fantasy world: DragonFly.

With D&D4 getting all the buzz right now, I know my game group is gonna wanna give it a try. Maybe this way we won't have to give up all the shiny goodness we had with the Serenity RPG...

You gotta tell me what you think!

The Central Planets = Central Continent
Border and Rim Planets = Islands

Earth-That-Was = Another continent halfway around the world
Ecosystem Collapse = Volcano or Ice Age or Both.

US and China = Humans and Eladrin

Unification War = Same
Alliance = Lawful Neutral Empire
Independents = Chaotic Good Kingdoms

Spaceships = Sailing ships

Reavers = Pirates. Or zombies. Or zombie pirates. Mobile undead, anyway

Christianity = Worship of one Lawful Good God
Bhuddism = Worship of one Neutral Good Philosopher

Mal = NG human warlord
Zoe = LG elf fighter
Wash = CG human rogue
Jayne = CN dwarf or half-orc fighter
Kaylee = NG halfling rogue
Inara = NG half-elf or human rogue or enchantress
Simon = CG or NG half-elf cleric or necromancer
River = CN or CG half-elf monk/warlock
Book = LG human assassin/cleric

Firefly-class ships = Dragonfly-class ships; three-hulled catamaran with 4 mainsails in an 'X' or 'double-V' formation. The hull simulates Serenity's general shape, sails suggest a dragonfly.

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

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Saturday, May 3, 2008 3:59 AM

NCBROWNCOAT

I saw the title and I had to smile. My favorite Chinese restaurant is named Dragonfly(in Greenville, NC) In fact, I'm going there for lunch today.

http://fireflyfaninnc.livejournal.com/

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Saturday, May 3, 2008 6:35 AM

GWEK

It's an interesting idea, but if you're gonna mirror things EXACTLY, what's the point?

A few of the classes you noted are not going to be in D&D 4E (at least not in the early releases) and it's my understanding that the alignment system is changing.

In any event, I don't necessarily agree with some of the class/alignment suggestions.

Sure, Mal is the leader, BUT he doesn't often actively demonstrate leadership qualities. I'd say he's probably a rogue or warrior with a little multiclassing into warlord. As for alignment, NG is tempting, but I'd also suggest LN as a possibility. I think he has serious elements of both combos (not NOT LG or true N).

Zoe, on the other hand, is about as close to true Neutral as I think you can get. She's far more pragmatic than Mal, and while she follow's MAL'S orders, that's really the only order of the day for her.

I think you're spot on for the alignments for Wash, Jayne, and Kaylee, but Wash and Kaylee represent an interesting problem class-wise: if statted in Star Wars (a close analog to D&D), they might actually be non-heroic. In D&D, we don't really know what they would be because they serve functions specific to science fiction. Here, I guess they're, er, sailors? What class does THAT map to?!?

for Inara, I would probably say Cleric for class (could have been House Priestess, has a healing touch, is a good "support character", etc). Although basically good-hearted, she's another I might consider to be true Neutral.

For Simon and River, I'd probably go with Eladrin as sort of one of the "ruling class" races. I think Simon, of all characters, is definitely LG and even though he's not a fighter in the show, I think you're missing some character potential by not making him a paladin. Who's possibly more of a knight in shining armor than this guy?!? (Although I can certainly understand why cleric seems an appealing option).

River's alignment is tough (Chaotic Crazy?), as is her class, which--like Wash and Kaylee--requires thinking about the world. In a world of magic, would folks still be cutting on her brain to make her a psychic assassin, or would she be some other sort of project (possibly magic-related)?

I'd say Book is NG in alignment. Sure, he follows the bible and all, but we see him bend the rules so often it's not even funny. He WANTS to be LG, but he ain't there yet! Cleric is an obvious choice given his profession, but I could also see him as a fighter or--more likely--a warlord. In terms of race, I'd suggest Tierfling, because a "demonic" preacher is exactly the sort of irony that Joss would go for.

*****

Getting back to my original question of "What's the point?" if you mirror things exactly, I'd like to offer a suggestion:

Assuming your players are all Firefly fans, and you want to mirror things closely, let then "join the crew" earlier in the story than the first episode... maybe right after Mal and Zoe get the ship (so Mal and Zoe might be higher level NPCs). Let the PCs fill out the roles of the crew and/or passengers with their own Firefly-inspired ideas. If there are any missing areas, throw in one or two of the other characters to help take up the slack.

If you want to spin things in a completely different direction, you can even have something happen to Mal and Zoe not long after the campaing begins so suddenly the PCs are in control of their destiny and ship AND have an overarching story of perhaps trying to track down their missing captain.

River = CN or CG half-elf monk/warlock
Book = LG human assassin/cleric

www.stillflying.net: "Here's how it might have been..."

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Saturday, May 3, 2008 7:31 AM

VARDEN

Crunchy! Thanks.

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

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