Serenity Role Playing Game

Serenity

Designers	Jamie Chambers
Publishers	Margaret Weis Productions, Ltd
Publication	2005
Genres	Science fiction
Systems	Cortex System

Serenity is a science fiction role-playing game released in 2005 and set in the universe of the movie Serenity and television series Firefly. It is produced by Margaret Weis Productions, Ltd, and its mechanics are the first iteration of the Cortex System.

Themes

The themes of Serenity are similar to those presented in the original film as well as its precursor, the show Firefly. The science fiction setting is tempered by the feel of an old western movie, as aspects of high technology mix with frontier life on newly terraformed planets. The primary focus of the game is on constantly moving to the horizon and avoiding being tied down. Secondary themes are created through character interaction and there is plenty of leeway to allow for a Game Master to create their own themes within the setting.

Contents of the Book

The book is in full color and also includes biographies of the characters, in the words of Mal, and statistics of the crew. Each chapter opens with a narrative to give the mood and feeling of the setting. These narratives alternate between a crew created by MWP and the crew of 'Serenity'. There are many photographs used as illustration throughout the book, but all are sampled from the film Serenity as opposed to the show Firefly. This is due to MWP acquiring their rights from Universal Studios rather than 20th Century Fox. For this reason as well, the previously mentioned narrative text may come close to something that happened in an episode of Firefly but will diverge in some way to stay within the license purchased through Universal.

The first chapter introduces the character and setting, giving a brief history of "The Verse" and the basic concepts of play. The next few chapters deal with character creation as well as details on Attributes, Skills, and Traits. Following the character creation chapters are chapters on more detailed play systems, additional setting information, equipment, and running the game, including profiles for many pre-generated non-player characters, a sample crew other than the crew of 'Serenity', several sample ships, and stats for some of the secondary cast of the film. At the end of the book there is an appendix which goes over Chinese as it is used in the setting and a short primer for those who want to insert it into their games.

The Cortex System

The Cortex System is based on the Sovereign Stone System. The system described here is as it appears in the Serenity book. Margaret Weis Productions, Ltd has stated they plan to release a refined and expanded version with their Battlestar Galactica game.

The dice used in the system are

• d2
• d4
• d6
• d8
• d10
• d12.

The system uses a variation of the dice pools system used by many different role-playing games. The primary variation arises from the use of different types of dice rather than increasing or decreasing the quantity of dice. The system has the potential to roll more than two dice, however, rolling more than six is incredibly unlikely.

The primary mechanic of the game rolling a die based on one of your "Attributes" and one of your "Skills" and then adding the total. Complications or Bonuses are reflected by "steps" which change the die type involved by one for each step. (e.g. A d10 with a 2 step penalty becomes a d6.)

The game uses a system of Disadvantages and Advantages to provide flavor to characters, as well as giving them various bonuses and penalties for dice rolls. This borrows from the Merit and Flaw system used by many role playing games including White Wolf in its World of Darkness line prior to its conversion to the Storyteller System, or in Steve Jackson Games Gurps system of Advantages and Disadvantages, Hero System, or Pinnacle Game's Savage Worlds game, which the Serenity system greatly resembles.

To increase the survivability of characters in the game as well as give players some impact on the game, the Cortex System uses plot points. These serve to allow the players to gain an extra die to roll or modify an existing roll. They can also be spent to try to influence the course of the story if the Game Master allows. These points are also used as a source of additional "Advancement Points" which are the same as experience points in other games.

Other Products

The first adventure, Out in the Black by Laura and Tracy Hickman, was released on 2006-03-15.

Margaret Weis Productions, Ltd has also released a Game Master's Screen as well as specialty d2 dice for sale on their website.

Community Involvement

Much like Firefly itself, Serenity has thrived off of its community producing new content and variant rules while MWP has had their hands tied by license negotiations. 'Waves In The Black' is the primary focus of this community and is frequented by both the head developers as well as some of the freelancers working on the project.

Upcoming Releases

Three books are to be released next year. [1]

• collection of short adventures (early 2008)
• Six Shooters and Spaceships - a ship and technology sourcebook (late Spring 2008)
• Big Damn Heroes - (Summer 2008)

External links

• Official site
• Game Resources
• Waves in the Black (Forum)