Unisystem Firefly by Corone

FIREFLY UNIVERSE

Unisystem Firefly

POSTED BY: CORONE
UPDATED: Saturday, September 11, 2004 08:28
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Friday, August 27, 2004 9:57 AM

Have you guys had a look at the article I did for Eden in ESP#1 called 'Spacefarer's and Prairie Folk'?

It is as close to firefly as I could go,
but without the name on it, people may not realise it is out there.

I'm mentioning it mainly as I am desperate to write the game,
and nag Eden constantly to get the licence.
If lots of people buy ESP the Eden guys may realise Firefly is a licence worth pursuing.

I'd also like to know what people thought.

You'll need a copy of the Buffy rules to use it,
but they are worth getting anyway.

I ran a session at Gen-Con this year,
(and really enjoyed playing the cyberpunk firefly as well)
so I'd be curious for any feedback from anyone who played my game too.

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Sunday, September 5, 2004 2:58 AM

MICHIZURE

I take it this is what you mean?

http://edenstudios.net/ESP/

I'll see if I can scare up a copy at DragonCon -- I don't care for DriveThruRPG's digital rights management policy. I'll let you know when I've had a chance to read over it.

Nice to have you aboard, in any case. The more Firefly-appropriate rpg material available, the better.

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Kotoba yori tashika na koto michizure ni shite.

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Wednesday, September 8, 2004 10:13 AM

MICHIZURE

Update: Had a hard time finding any Eden Studios products at DragonCon, including ESP#1 -- how weird is that?

Anyway, I'll bug my FLAGS for it. The price is reasonable, but shipping is too expensive unless that's the only option.

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Kotoba yori tashika na koto michizure ni shite.

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Thursday, September 9, 2004 10:09 AM

MICHIZURE

Okay, I now have my hands on a copy of ESP#1. Overall, the "Spacefarers and Prairie Folk" article is exactly what you've promised: a Firefly supplement for Unisystem, with the serial numbers filed off.

I have just a couple of nit-picks. First, though, the disclaimers: I am not familiar with Unisystem, though I infer that it has a deliberate narrativist slant. I'm a simulationist by inclination*; I prefer to give the referee a realistic baseline and let him fudge to taste. That said:

(1) The article was a little too narrowly focused on just what we see in Firefly, to the detriment of the rest of that universe. While playing a variation on the BDH would be fairly easy -- indeed, that's just what the sample characters seem to be -- there's little support for playing a Badger or a Jubal Early, or even just a colonist. The players may never consider deviating from the template of the show, but the referee needs to be able to flesh out the rest of the world for them.

(2) The starship rules seem odd. Size is fine as the key variable, although Blake's 7 is an obscure reference outside of the UK and Moya isn't listed, despite naming Farscape as a major example in the article's first paragraph. The Weapons parameter, however, only works well for small (Size 3-) ships; there are no options appropriate to the top end of the scale (e.g., IAV Dortmund, Size 10). Sensors, Engine, and cargo-related variables work fine for a narrative system. I'm not sure how appropriate Stealth Technology is for Firefly, but I won't argue otherwise. The Medical Bay and Emergency Measures variables, however, are 'way too detailed for this level of resolution, especially since there are a couple of other variables or features I'm surprised were omitted: maneuverability, say, or the ability ot make planetfall. Finally, a worked example (e.g., a Lightning Bug-class medium transport) would have helped clarify things, as the sample characters did for their portion.

(3) The costs of some of the new Qualities and Flaws seem wildly unbalanced with respect to their tangible game effects. Mercenary and Born Leader both cost 5 points, for example, yet Mercenary directly provides 5 points' worth of Attributes and Skills while Born Leader sometimes provides another character with a single +1 bonus. The worst offender is Smuggler, which appears to cost 3 points to obtain a net -2 in Attributes, Qualities, and Drawbacks (assuming Adversary is 2 points per level). Silver Spoon and Privileged Upbringing also seem redundant: how often would a character have one but not the other?

All in all, then: not a bad introduction to the subject, but it could use a few tweaks.

* http://www.pen-paper.net/rpgdb.php?op=showcreator&creatorid=6070
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Kotoba yori tashika na koto michizure ni shite.

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Thursday, September 9, 2004 10:55 AM

SERGEANTX

I purchased ESP #1, and the Angel rulesbook (which contains the Unisystem rules), specifically to use Corone's fine work. Obviously it doesn't have all the bells and whistles of a complete adaptation, but really gives everything you need to create your own Firefly scenarios.

It sets up some nice Archetypes and outlines many new skills and skill uses. Just read "Companion" where it says "Courtesan" and it covers all the character types from the show. Several new Qualities are introduced as well as equipment fitting the genre.

As far as Unisystem goes, it's really well suited. The system keeps things moving and encourages dramatic roleplaying without getting in the way. We've been using it for several months now in conjuction with a drama system I've been working on its been great. I'd really like to see this guy doing the full blown Firefly game.

SergeantX

"Dream a little dream or you can live a little dream. I'd rather live it, cause dreamers always chase but never get it." Aesop Rock

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Saturday, September 11, 2004 8:28 AM

CORONE

Glad you guys liked the article,
I just saw on the eden site that they've sold out of issue 1!
But they are printing more, so shiny!

Thought I'd answer Michizure's thoughts

1) There is only so much room! As it was I had to edit things quite a lot. It is only meant to be an intro, to give you all the basics to take things further. The background is already in the series. I only had 6 character archetypes I could do, and all but the Saloon girl had some basis on the Firefly characters, but are still quite different. That was mainly because those are the characters that people are interested in playing. But I agree, Jubal and Badger versions would be nice, and I'll have to add them should I get to write more.

2) See 1). The spaceship rules are extreemly simplistic and basic, so again that is why they are a bit sparce. Such rules (as mentioned in the article) would take a whole article on their own. I may have missed extra potential ship qualities. But it is the system that is important, people can easily add new qualities rather than build new system. The system isn't for doing big tactical ship battles. It is designed to give structure for battles that still focus on the characters in the ship and what they are doing, hence the 'small things' like how many space suits there are.
I did forget Moya, but to be honest the other ships were to cloak the amount of Firefly ones! :-) Yes Blakes 7 is very UK, but as I'm English I don't care! We get rather bored of having to make things fit the American market, and then see our stuff get mangled -Constantine anyone?! :-) So, those who don't know Blakes 7 should find the DVDs. Thinking about it, B7 is very Firefly and should have been on the listing.

3)You can always adjust qualities points as befits your game. Many occupation ones yeild benefits that are not statistical. Smugglers can have contacts and experience that isn't rendered in statistics. However one of the reasons that one was weird was that it was originally 'Gut runner' (from The Message) and had other bonuses that got edited out by changing it to Smuggler. Just for the record, you could separate silver spoon and privilaged upbringing. The first is for a character born well (who could then live a life on the frontier) and the second is for someone educated well (such as a middle class kid who gets himself a good education through working hard).

Anyway, thanks for the comments, glad people have been liking it.
Keep nagging eden to do the full thing! :-)

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