RANGER'S BLOG
Firefly Traveller - Just a thought
Monday, February 2, 2004 2:02 AM
Firefly Traveller- Science Fiction Adventure in the (not so) Far FutureThe first time I watched Firefly I felt like I was watching a Traveller adventure unfold. The Firefly ‘verse has that gritty character that pervades the Classic Traveller game systems and adventures. Of course, there are many differences between the OUT (Official Traveller Universe) and the ‘verse of Firefly, but I still think that a game system based on Classic Traveller is the best approach to recreating the Firefly ‘verse in an RPG format (or at least this gives me an excuse to play around with two of my favorite Sci-Fi things).
So, where to begin? Well, the first thing is to figure out what differences there are between the Traveller Universe and the Firefly ‘verse.
Background… The history of the OTU is very different, so the Firefly backstory will have to be developed to give the new setting a foundation. This means developing a stellar geography for the Firefly-Traveller verse as well.
Travel… Traveller uses a Jump Drive system for interstellar movement. This requires a ship to spend one week in jump space. This clearly doesn’t fit the Firefly ‘verse. In a way, these questions are circular. How people travel depends on where they are traveling to and from, so we are back to ‘where does Firefly take place?’
Any Firefly backstory needs the following elements: Exploration and colonization of other star systems from Earth (including extensive terraforming), Some form of cataclysm that renders Earth uninhabitable, A political alliance between The US (or the ‘anglo-sphere’) and China, Human culture becomes very mixed, with elements of many different cultures present in an given part of human space, and it all has to happen in the next 500 years. In addition, I want to have two competing technologies for FTL, so the backstory will have to explain why that works.
A couple of other assumptions are that technological advancement will proceed much faster than Classic Traveller envisioned. Even with the catastrophe that confronts Earth, by 2500 humanity will be at least experimenting with Traveller Tech Level 15 in some areas.
For those who want to know more about Traveller, here is a good starting place:
http://www.downport.com/traveller/
And for the current incarnation of Traveller (T20):
http://www.travellerrpg.com/
Disclaimer: This project in no way represents the official view of the owners of Firefly or Traveller (Traveller is a registered trademark of Far Future Enterprises. Portions of this material are Copyright ©1977-2004 Far Future Enterprises. I’m sure there is similar verbiage for Firefly, but I’m not sure what it is.)
Next: Where does Firefly Traveller take place?
COMMENTS: 10
Comments
Monday, 02 February 2004 14:42
I was really reminded of Traveller, too, when I saw Firefly for the first time. Given that Joss and/or his writers have quite a bit of familiarity with D&D and roleplaying games, I've often wondered whether or not they were inspired by Traveller.
Let's see: many of the Firefly characters are ex-military, psionics has a secretive, mostly minor role, tech levels mingle in a fascinating combination, and the main characters on the show mostly make a living by flying from world to world shipping cargo! Really seems like Traveller to me.
So yes, I think it's a great idea, though I have to say that the d20 system has possibly made it unnecessary to go back to classic systems like Traveller.
You might look over the Neverwinter Nights post I've been on, since that's going to end up as a d20 game (albeit computer-based), if we do it.
Let's see: many of the Firefly characters are ex-military, psionics has a secretive, mostly minor role, tech levels mingle in a fascinating combination, and the main characters on the show mostly make a living by flying from world to world shipping cargo! Really seems like Traveller to me.
So yes, I think it's a great idea, though I have to say that the d20 system has possibly made it unnecessary to go back to classic systems like Traveller.
You might look over the Neverwinter Nights post I've been on, since that's going to end up as a d20 game (albeit computer-based), if we do it.
Monday, 02 February 2004 16:19
Been meaning to put Firefly in Traveler, so I can play it at home. Very cool, though.
Tuesday, 03 February 2004 03:04
"So yes, I think it's a great idea, though I have to say that the d20 system has possibly made it unnecessary to go back to classic systems like Traveller.
You might look over the Neverwinter Nights post I've been on, since that's going to end up as a d20 game (albeit computer-based), if we do it."
Thanks for the feedback. I'm probably hopelessly out of step with modern RPGing, but I just love the elegance of 2 die 6 to run a game.
As to d20, you should check out T20, it is the offical d20 version of Traveller, blessed by Marc W. Miller (the original creator of Traveller) and designed to capture (as much as possible) the old Traveller feel in d20.
You might look over the Neverwinter Nights post I've been on, since that's going to end up as a d20 game (albeit computer-based), if we do it."
Thanks for the feedback. I'm probably hopelessly out of step with modern RPGing, but I just love the elegance of 2 die 6 to run a game.
As to d20, you should check out T20, it is the offical d20 version of Traveller, blessed by Marc W. Miller (the original creator of Traveller) and designed to capture (as much as possible) the old Traveller feel in d20.
Tuesday, 03 February 2004 03:06
"A "stutter warp" seems like a good choice—the ship travels by a very rapid sequence of short micro-jumps tunneling through normal space many times a second to achieve faster than light speeds. A break-down would leave you stranded between stars in normal space."
Funny you should mention that, as it's a big part of my next step of this 'thought experiment'.
Funny you should mention that, as it's a big part of my next step of this 'thought experiment'.
KRIMSONKAOS
Sunday, 07 March 2004 01:53
Greets
I was just cruising the net in search of some data when I found this thread and I just had to smile. I'm pretty much doing the same myself - just working out some stats for running a Firefly game using the MegaTraveller rules. ;-) In fact, my current "project" is to convert the Firefly class ship into Traveller ship stats - my brain hurts just thinking about it.....
Anyhew, just thought I'd leave a message. If anybody makes any headway on this, I'd be interested in hearing about it. I may even post my own results once they've been sorted out.
Cheers.
MJE
I was just cruising the net in search of some data when I found this thread and I just had to smile. I'm pretty much doing the same myself - just working out some stats for running a Firefly game using the MegaTraveller rules. ;-) In fact, my current "project" is to convert the Firefly class ship into Traveller ship stats - my brain hurts just thinking about it.....
Anyhew, just thought I'd leave a message. If anybody makes any headway on this, I'd be interested in hearing about it. I may even post my own results once they've been sorted out.
Cheers.
MJE
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