Sailing into the black

I got to roleplay today. w00t!

Most of you know about (or have heard me talk about) Firefly, the short-lived TV series with a large cult following. If not, here's a quick synopsis: The show blends of sci-fi and western themes and has some nice character drama. They only made fourteen episodes, but only broadcast eleven in the States. Unlike other cult classics, Firefly has decent production value and people actually acting. Sales of the DVD boxed set are at something like a half-million units. And if you buy it from Amazon, I get a cookie. Due to a large grassroots movement and the sales figures, they made a major motion picture, Serenity. You can likely catch it still in theatres. Overall, the movie gets a "see it" from me, but loses something out of context of the series. After all, you must please both the fans and the mainstream- a tricky proposition.

They made a roleplaying game out of it. Overall, not bad. The book has some horrendous editing issues- typos, misused homophones, a table of contents out of whack with interior page numbering, no character sheet, and the like. I understand they needed to rush production in order to get the game out on time for the movie, but please! Mistakes happen, I know and I'm guilty, but I'm not charging $40 for a color hardcover of a major licensed property. Beyond that, the system is decent enough- stat plus skill versus a target number, and everything is rated in die steps: d2, d4, d6, d8, d10, d12. See the photo or the Wikipedia article on dice if you need more information. The system makes use of Plot Points as a metagame mechanic to not only allow players to modify die rolls, but also to actually modify the story by introducing complications or plot elements. I like seeing a mainstream game take a nice narrative/authorial stance. I often run and play from that stance, so it's very natural for me as a GM or a player to invent on the fly.

I managed to get involved in a group starting up a new campaign, and we played this afternoon until early evening. Overall, a decent first session with some promising happenings.

And now, I get Ovaltine and homemade carrot cake. Envy me.