[L0g41n]

Grab a crew and sign up now for one-shot adventure that will test your collective mettle and your individual gray matter. Spinning off from the one-shot adventure, where multiple teams will collaborate and collude against one another, each crew will receive their own game and private forum where they will be able to continue playing their characters and looking for a way to keep flyin’.

The winning crew comes away with bragging rights and shiny personalized avatars to commemorate your victory. The rest get a barroom tale that no one will believe, and contacts out there in the ‘Verse that just might make life easier on you in the future.


Game Info

Recruitment Status: As of now, we are actively looking for new players.

Team 1 - The Boot Riders

• The Taio Show - Captain Jacob Bitts
• Wraithkin - Zeke McClane
• Skychaser1 - Garret Wiles
• Pumpkin31415 - Evelyn Kilcannon
• Aaron Snow - Kazuya Akoda
• Isannah - Jess Kelly

Team 2 - Carrion Crows

• lillithrose - Captain Liana Tores
• The Boyce - 'Doc Crimson' Becker
• Torger - Dr. Broderic
• drachenspirit - Destra Corunglain
• Yinbrother - Somhairle O'Shey
• ______

Team 3 - Shepherd's Flock

• Wizard of the Coat - Shepherd Zebediah Crook
• JAMFTW - Red Cunningham
• Swifty - Ian Taylor
• Chase - Jesse Adams
• RiverTamm - *(unknown)
• ______

Team 4 - Name Yet to be Decided

• Captain - _______
• King of the Jakers - Jason Lawrence
• MoDaVader - Cole Turnbull
• ______
• ______
• ______

Interested / Looking for Group

DaveW
Intro – Street Doctor
Tenaka – Mechanic*
Calvin_Hancock - character namesake
Rabiddog - Sonny
Duskwolf - Patches O'Hoolihan
BrotherFenrir - Thor Belrangar

Vacancies: Two or more competitive groups, depending on interest. Minimum four players per crew, and more than six players will need special consideration.
GM: Yo- that would be me, meatclocks.
Game System:

ie: the original 2006 version of the game manual. I will be allowing some additional material from Big Damn Heroes and Six Guns and Spaceships, but please clear those purchases with me first. I’m not aware of any errata, so if you would like rules changes considered, please post in the appropriate threads.

Serenity RPG
Game Setting:

• Genre: Science Fiction
• Sub-Genre: Western
• Seriousness: Anything from Hard Boiled Grit to Guarded Humor is welcome. Stupid people die, though. Fast.
• Good/Evil ”Alignment”: Any, but see above.

Serenity/ Firefly, time after the Unification War to be decided (perhaps post-Miranda, most likely pre-Miranda).
Heroic Level: Veteran, standard everything

Restricted Material

You are free to use the Big Damn Hero Handbook or Six Shooters & Spaceships, but I would appreciate a heads up first. If you’re going to use fan content from Firefly RPG.org, or Waves in the Black or any other site, please send me a link or description of it, and I’ll check it to see if I approve. You can homebrew Traits, and

Using the Newtech rules in the Core Manual, page 91

Gear but not General or specialty skills.

Restrictions on Assets:

1. Reader: Can you please use Nose For Trouble or Trustworthy Gut instead?

First off, I think psychic powers are a really stupid storytelling device and the trait is a pain to work around in most storylines, so you’re starting from a disadvantage.

If you want to play a Reader, outshine the other applicants by pitching an idea that’s so amazingly cool and fresh that it blows my misgivings away—this means a bona-fide story that expands beyond the central premise of reading minds. Bonus points for reinforcing the mystery of the phenomenon in a sort of ‘Bagger Vance’ or ‘The Green Mile’ fashion, that’d be great and would show me that you have some inkling of storytelling savvy.

If you don’t care about Bagger Vance or trying to pitch the idea, here's the alternative way to apply as a Reader: Roll a d100 and hope for a 1, storytelling considerations be damned. You either get it or you don't.

2. Wears a badge/ Military rank / Sadistic / Branded: Don't create hostility

The game is going to center around your typical morally-gray tramp crew. Goldenboys, White Knights, and Hard Core Bad Guys will need some ethical flexibility in order to fit in.

I'm on your side, and I welcome different in-character perspectives--just remember that its on you to make sure that your mean character is purely a mean character and not an avatar of your own secret aggression. It is absolutely your responsibility to reinforce the non-personal nature of your decisions to other players so that the bad blood does not become an OOC problem.

IC problems, I strongly recommend getting tight with a player before butting heads with their characters. Friendly rivalries are some of the most fun you can have RP-ing, but only when both sides are actually friendly.

Bottom line: Don’t create hostility. Playing a flawed character does not mean shoving a flawed character in other people’s faces.

3. Registered Companion : Go right ahead

I’m okay with Registered Companion characters. However, I feel the need to warn you that being a Companion will be a real challenge to RP if you want to earn Plot Points, because its not enough to say “I’m charming”. You have to actually be charming and intelligent while in-character and demonstrate why you make the big bucks. Note that tacking on some variant of the adjective ‘charming’ to every move you make is just an implicit way of saying “I’m charming” and doesn’t cut it; sorry.

Your character doesn't have to be unassailably comfortable or content with their place in life, they don’t have to act like either Inara or Saffron, but they do need to strike me as capable of earning the minor celebrity that comes with their honored position. This goes way beyond accessorizing your Traits with Allure and Sweet and Cheerful. Any successful Core resident with an ounce of persistence and social skills could go to a nightclub with reasonable confidence of finding such qualities and save themselves a fortune; what sets a Companion apart is their mind.

A character who is described as an ex-Companion no longer enjoys the gameplay benefits of the Asset ‘Registered Companion’ as they have been stricken from the registry and lost their social standing, so don't waste your points on an Asset I won't let you use--just include the fact in your character's history and move on. This is a fine plot feature of your background if you like, and maybe your guy or gal still uses their skills to fool the occasional gullible new-money who hasn't learned to do background checks. Spend your Assets reinforcing that instead.

4. Monied Individual: Perhaps

I’m not a huge fan of moneyed individual, since most of the stories in these games tend to revolve around purchasing a part to restore an essential system, or working for the kind of lowest-denominator fiends that have work available, and having the ability to spend plot points for a minimum 2,000 credits (5,000 platinum) at the tip of a hat once per session kind of ruins that reality. If it’s core to your concept, convince me that it should be allowed.

That being said, obtaining money in this manner doesn’t improve your score, although it would deal nicely with all sorts of plot hooks that would net you the ability to roleplay your character.

5. Friends in High/Low Places: Friends are

Obtaining loans to increase your wealth does not improve a team score. However, you can use this money to pay off some of your score-killing expenses, but remember that you are sacrificing Plot Points to do so. You’ll just have to guess which matters more.

6. Alternate Identity: It might not be as good as you'd think.

This is not a get-out of jail free card, but will be beneficial until it’s been abused- then, like identity theft, the other person will wonder why they’re being arrested over and over on Jiangyin, when they’ve never been to that feh feh pi goh rock, and get it sorted out.

This will probably mean that you lose the benefit of 'Alternate Identity,' and pick up an enemy (or a few enemies).

7. Blastomere Organs:

These are expensive and rare- if you have a good plot device reason why your character would have one, I would consider it, but if you try and have the major asset without Deadly Enemy to balance it, think again; there will be some organleggers who will want to have a word with you about their property.

Imagine Tracy- now, who wanted his organs? Why did they want them? How did he get them inside, and why was he free to walk around with them? Those are the sort of questions I want answered if you choose this asset.

8. Blue Blood:

I don’t mind the notion of aristocracy getting its hands dirty, but not everyone left a privledged life in the Core to work in the dirt on the Rim. I would prefer that no one was the son of an aristocrat on Sihnon that everyone has to bow too, but if it’s really important to your character, it’s one of the things that I’m willing to bend on- I just want to make it clear that I have reservations about it.

9. Born Behind the Wheel: Wheels and Stuff

I know that most pilots end up with ‘Born Behind the Wheel,’ but I don’t think it’s something everyone should have. If you want it for your character, please, come up with a history that reflects it- did you grow up on spaceships? Are you a third-generation shuttle-racer on the Core? Did you steal space ships as a kid?

10. Hideout: Yes, if you want it.

I’m going to allow this asset without restriction, but I should warn you that if you abuse it, plot will come find you. I would prefer a detailed background that says where it is, how many supplies are there, how (or if) it is restocked, who knows about it, and how it came to be ‘your’ place. Isannah’s story of her character, Jess, detailing of a family hideout in the bush is a good example of this- so is her getting trapped in there.

11. Mechanical Empathy:

Just like Born Behind the Wheel, not every mechanic listens to machines to understand how they work. Please, consider Talented: Mechanical Engineering/Repairs or another specialty instead. If you are set on mechanical empathy, reflect on how it altered your character- did he or she always hear machines? Was she a technical genius, or a nobody who recently discovered the talent?

12. Homebrewed Traits: No cheat codes

Don't make any traits that let you:

• Make more than three attacks in a single turn
• Simultaneously attack more than one target directly (ie, without using area effect attacks like grenades or autofire)
• Have automatic successes against an NPC, whether by denying a saving throw, defensive roll, or opposing roll.
• Become invulnerable or have a damage reduction greater than 5W
• Become invisible or incorporeal
• Stop, travel through, or otherwise manipulate time
• Determine another character's stats without a roll
• Generate an indefinite number of free items

Restrictions on Complications:

1. Chip On Shoulder / Sadistic / Branded / Prejudiced / Rebellious: Don't create hostility

I realize this is posted twice, but it's very important to me- play nice with your fellow players.
The game is going to center around your typical morally-gray tramp crew. Goldenboys, White Knights, and Hard Core Bad Guys will need some ethical flexibility in order to fit in.

I'm on your side, and I welcome different in-character perspectives--just remember that its on you to make sure that your mean character is purely a mean character and not an avatar of your own secret aggression. It is absolutely your responsibility to reinforce the non-personal nature of your decisions to other players so that the bad blood does not become an OOC problem.

IC problems, I strongly recommend getting tight with a player before butting heads with their characters. Friendly rivalries are some of the most fun you can have RP-ing, but only when both sides are actually friendly.

Bottom line: Don’t create hostility. Playing a flawed character does not mean shoving a flawed character in other people’s faces.

2. Allergy: Yes.

Don't make your character allergic to something that will never come up unless you're taking this as a minor complication. If your character is allergic to peanuts, I would expect roleplaying to reflect this- making her own dinners, carefully ordering and bothering the waiter, always making sure she has a hypo just in case. In Shadowrun, you'll sometimes find that characters give themselves Mild Allergy: Pollution and Addiction: Caffeine. None of that.

3. Amnesia: Doesn’t truly exist, but if you want…

Be aware that even if your character has no idea who they are or where they are, YOU, as the player, should have an excellent grasp of their motivations, background, and enemies. I will require more work from players looking to use Amnesia as a plot device (because true amnesia is almost non-existent, despite what Soap Operas have taught us).

I, personally, have had head trauma (bike accident) that caused me to forget a few months of my life for a few hours. I’m still missing a few of those hours, but I have bits and pieces. If you really want to play one of these characters, I’ll give you what help I can.

4. Family Ties: Roleplaying only

Be careful with this one, because it has no mechanical implications, only story ones. This means that it'll have to come up almost constantly (like a disabled child that needs help going to the bathroom every few hours), in order to be considered worthy of plot points. A family back on Hera that you occasionally send a wave to probably isn't going to help you out a lot in plot-point territory.

5. Filcher:

I'm leery of allowing this one, because I don't want to create inter-crew animosity between characters who compulsively need to steal. If it's core to your character, please convince me that the headaches are going to be worth it.

I had a real-life player try and steal a pen of Badger’s desk, a move that would have gotten the entire crew killed. He ended up spending all but three of his plot points to make the check without getting caught. That kind of thing will get someone killed.

6. Hooked: I like this complication- it’s easy to play

In Shadowrun, you'll sometimes find that characters give themselves Mild Allergy: Pollution and Addiction: Caffeine. Please, none of that.

7. Little Person: Midgets? No, no midgets.

I don't know why, but there always seems to be one application where someone wants to play a midget. I don't understand it, and given that midgets are less than a tenth of a percent of the population of the United States (.0014, if you wanted to be precise), I don't know why there are so many applications for them. I expect midgets to be rare, so be forewarned.

8. Neatfreak: Clean up time!

If you're going to take this minor (or major) complication, I would expect that it would be constantly reflected in your character's habits during downtime- always cleaning, straightening, ironing clothes, cleaning common areas- a roleplaying concern for a minor penalty that I'll try not to throw in your face constantly the rest of the time, although every time it does come up in the messy, messy universe, you get plot points!

9. Sadistic: Bad Horse?

I'm going to stick with the rules that say this isn't a trait for heroes. If you really REALLY want to play Niska's cousin, let me know, give me very good reasons to allow it, and a writing sample of how you would play the trait without just doing it behind the other character's backs, and I will consider it. Still wouldn't particularly like it, though.

10. Wisecracker: Funny Guy

This complication will be treated as similar to amorous- not only will you constantly be tempted to double entendre and people with stupid names, but they'll be offended when you point it out. This complication will only recieve plot points when it causes problems, not just when a character says something funny – remember, not all humor is created equal.

Restrictions on Gear:

A note about Availability: Not everything is available everywhere. If your character is a Rim-World poker champion, it doesn’t make sense that she would have a Laser Pistol and spare batteries, even if she can afford it. This is reflected in the Availability, which is usually Core (C), Everywhere (E), or Illegal (I). Your character has travelled and may have appropriated other gear, but finding battery packs for your Mauser Laser Pistol is going to be more difficult than your standard bullets. Outside of the Core, most items with an availability of ‘C’ are going to be illegal to own without a permit. Trust me, this will come up.

Black Market: It’s been observed, generally, that everything has a price. Goods can be found just about anywhere in the ‘Verse, but they’re going to gain a significant markup. Generally, hard to come by goods will cost an additional 10-60%, although higher costs are possible for a very specific or truly rare item.

Reavers: No Reaver gear (weapons or armor).

Clothing without Cost: For clothing that has no price listed (Alliance Uniform, Medico, Shepherd’s vestments), consider the price the same as a men’s suit (pg 15, Six Guns & Spaceships), that is, 20 credits or 50 platinum. You still must be a part of that organization to be issued these items.

Stunner: Per page 18 of Six Guns & Spaceships, the Stunner is a one-handed melee weapon which does d6 stun damage per hit, with a ‘special’ connotation for 3 credits or 8 platinum. The ranged stunner on page 20 of the same book costs 150 credits and has the same effect. I will allow the stunner as a one-shot item, which does d4 stun and allows the Hard (11) Resistance roll or be knocked unconscious. The cost will be increased to 30 credits to reflect the power of the weapon, and it will retain an availability of ‘Core.’

Cybernetics: No cybernetics.

House Rules

Deadly Enemy

Deadly Enemy: Be warned, this is a dangerous one. Every time your character moves around in public, you run the small but very real

As in, I make a secret d% roll

risk that your enemy or his associates have tracked you down and are ready to ambush you. The only way to avert this risk is to make Covert rolls or take Cortex Spectre as a Major Asset. Your actions and having Complications such as Memorable will affect your chances of being found.

Dull Sense

Dull Sense(s): I will allows that reasonable accomodations can be made for characters with poor eyesight (glasses), and poor hearing (hearing aid), which will negate the penalty to Alertness. Of course, when these objects are dropped/broken/off, the penalty will resume as normal, and I will use this at my discretion.

Friends

Friends in High/Low Places: In addition to being able to spend plot points to get loans or various equipment, Friends in High/Low Places also means that you have a certain amount of fame (or infamy) yourself. Not enough to be well-known, but enough that if you can ask favors of other people, other people can ask favors of you. While not as extensive as Good Name, it also means that you know the right network of people to contact.

Good Samaritan

Good Samaritan: I'm going to allow this as basically the polar opposite of Greedy and/or Slothful. Not only are you likely to side with the underdog, you're likely to go out of your way to help people, and even constantly agree to perform jobs for free. If you're willing to play with this consideration, I'll house-rule that Good Samaritan can be a major complication, as well as a minor one.

Nose for Trouble

Nose For Trouble: This houserule concerns the Major option of Nose for Trouble, where you spend 1 Plot Point to act on an enemy's surprise round. There is an exception: If the enemy succeeds an opposed Covert/Stealth roll against your Perception/Appropriate Specialty, they have made a specific effort to defeat your senses and you are vulnerable to their surprise attack. The tradeoff is that if they fail, you may use your Trait normally and you know exactly where they are--handy if there's a sniper around.

One Eye

One-Eye: Instead of a -1 step penalty to Alertness checks, this complication adds a -2 step attribute penalty to Alertness, to balance with other complications which have similar effects.

Traumatic Flashes

Traumatic Flashes: I will warn you that this complication is a lot nastier than it seems- not only are you incapacitated at the whims of a madman (your GM), but you're seriously hampered in your ability to do anything afterward. I would recommend against getting it, but I won't go so far as to forbid it.

Two-Fisted

Two-Fisted: This asset does exactly what it says in the book (game manual, page 47), no more. No extra attacks, two-for-one attacks, or anything like it. The advantage of this Asset is having two different weapons, such as a sonic rifle and pistol, ready as needed without having to waste actions switching between them. Since it isn't mentioned, I'm going to say that this Trait applies all personal-scale weapons, even rifles and shotties.

Registered Companion

Registered Companion: PC's with this trait can practice their trade during the game for the prices listed in page 93 of the Game Manual. However, a percentage of this income goes to the Guild and rolls are required to find a nearby client, negotiate a better price, and otherwise use this situation to your team's advantage. Be careful not to go too far out of the way for clients--the time duration costs to your team score are enough that you can easily negate the benefit of any profits you make from a session.

Second Class Citizen

Second Class Citizen: As a house rule, the Major Version of Second Class citizen means that you are actually an indentured servant, who sold your own self into slavery to pay some debt. It doesn't mean much, other than that your owner (one of the crew or a powerful NPC) will collect your share of all income. If you jump service, i.e. leave, then a small bounty will be placed on your head.

Slow Learner

Slow Learner: I'll accept Slow Learner for the following general skills: Athletics, Covert, Discipline, Guns, Influence, Knowledge, and Unarmed Combat. I'll also require that you have at least a d6 in that general skill.

Superstitious

Superstitious: This trait, we'll alter to have more play in-game. Once per session, the player will be allowed to give themselves a +2 step bonus for one scene (such as a gunfight). Once per session, the GM will be allowed to give the character a -2 step skill penalty for the rest of a scene. You cannot give yourself the bonus while suffering the penalty, and visa versa.

Walking TImepiece

Walking Timepiece: In addition to the inexpressable relief of never having to spend two silvers on a wristwatch, you can also spend 1 Plot Point to estimate how long an action should take, assuming average success. You can make this estimate for any action you can see at the moment, not just your own but those of people around you--even your enemies! This estimate is a nominal value and does not predict or influence the actual results. It only helps you plan.

Seen Better Days

Ship Trait: Seen Better Days: You get what you pay for. In addition to the Vitality penalty you shoulder when making the monthly maintenence roll, your ship runs the risk of a system failing when you accelerate to Hard Burn. As a Major Complication, you also run the risk of a system failing once per voyage. These problems aren't necessarily crippling and the mechanic will always have a chance to pre-empt this as I'll let her make a Hard Mechanical Engineering/Diagnose roll--if she succeeds, she notices the problem ahead of time and comes up with a quick fix to avert the problem.

If she fails, all bets are off.

Big Damn Heroes
I’ll be allowing the following specialty rules from Big Damn Heroes. If there is another rule you would like me to consider, please make a post in the appropriate thread here.

New Character Traits

All of the Traits mentioned in the Big Damn Heroes Handbook are allowed, as are all complications, given my reasonings earlier in this post.

Assets: A Moment in Time Ain’t Got Time to Bleed Alternate Identity Blastomere Implants Born in the Black Blue Blood Comp Tech Connoisseur Fast on your Feet Hideout Home of the Range In Plain Sight Light Sleeper Middleman Mighty Fine Hat Sawbones Shareholder

Complications Absent Minded Amnesia Cold as the Black Dark Secret Family Ties Good Samaritan Glass Jaw Glory Hound Idealist Illiterate Backbirth Illness Neatfreak Nosy Rebellious Second Class Citizen Shy Toes the Line Two Left Feet Wisecracker

A full list of allowed Assets and Complications can be found here.

Bonus Trait Points: We are not using bonus trait points for higher starting levels.

Die Based Variants: We are not using die-based trait variants.

Thrilling Heroics

Thrilling Heroics: Extraordinary Successes (BDH, pg. 49)
Whenever a player rolls a total 7 or more points above the Difficulty on a skill roll, he or she has the option of describing the exact result as if he or she had spent 3 plot points on a story edit, as given on page 148 of the Core Rulebook, under ‘Story Manipulation.’ This doesn’t increase the total of the roll, but does allow them to produce a cosmetic effect or moderate benefit, giving some additional control over the results of the action.

An Example:
Simon, while treating an unconscious Jayne, rolls an extraordinary success. You let Simon’s player decide exactly what his Thrilling Heroics are. After thinking about it, he suggest to you: “I used a sedative to knock out Jayne’s motor functions while I worked. When he comes to, I can use the fact that I had him paralyzed but didn’t hurt him to make it clear we’re on the same team. So maybe he stops trying to sell me out.”

Botches

Botches (BDH, pg. 54)
You get a ‘botch,’ whenever all of the dice you roll turn up ‘1s.’

Changing the Situation
Maybe the hero succeeds on the action, but at the last second the circumstances change to make the action he took to be a Ai Chr Jze Se Duh Fohn Diang Gho.

Check out the Complcations
Trigger a Complication- maybe this is a good time for a Traumatic Flashes, or a bad omen?

Let the Player Narrate the Botch
How far are you willing to gut your own Wong Dahn hero? If you’re willing, you might be able to take the stage and narrate your own massive failure, gaining plot points in the outing.

Twisted Success
If, through extraordinary measures (such as spending plot points after the roll, or through ‘More Bang for your Buck’), your character is able to succeed despite rolling a botch, this is known as a ‘Twisted Success.’ Basically, you succeeded, but you made things worse.

A good example of this is at the end of Back to the Future, when Doc Brown gets enough spare cable to hook up the lightning rod, only to unplug that same rod down at the base of the clock tower.

Do it Right

Do It Right (BDH, pg. 56)
Takes three times as long to accomplish, bit you get the maximum possible result (for both Attribute and Skill you’re using). Plot points added to the roll are rolled as normal.

You can’t get a botch or extraordinary success while ‘doing it right.’
Obviously, this can’t be done with all skills or skill checks.

Do it Fast

Do It Fast (BDH, pg. 57)
Roll the attribute dice, and add half the maximum result of the skill dice to the roll. It takes half as long (but still counts as one action, the minimum). Plot points added to the roll are rolled as normal.

You’re only counting the dice that you roll (Attribute), so on a roll of 1, it is considered a botch, even if the attempt succeeds. This is called a ‘twisted success,’ and leads to further complications while still succeeding in the main goal.

Obviously, this action cannot be attempted with every skill check.

More Bang for your Buck

Plot Points: More Bang for your Buck (BDH, pg. 58)
Whenever a character spends plot points to buy a bonus dice, the minimum that the plot dice can roll is the number of plot points spent to buy it.

This does not affect a step-bonus to plot point dice through assets, and will remain the minimum of plot points spent. This does not affect potential botches, which will then turn into ‘twisted successes.’

Multiple Actions

Multiple Actions (BDH, pg 60)
Each action beyond the first in a round takes a -1 step skill penalty.
No more than three actions may be attempted in a combat round.

Automatic Weapons

Automatic Weapons (BDH, pg 61)
Bursts
Fire three bullets with one action, gain +1 step bonus to damage dice. You cannot attempt a burst fire more than twice per turn, cannot benefit from a called shot, and do not benefit from aiming.

Autofire
Autofire is a full-round action that gains a +4 step bonus to the damage dice against a single target. No other actions can be attempted in the same turn, including movement or dodging return fire. Autofire can’t benefit from called shots or aiming.

Spray
Spray targets an area roughly 5-10 feet wide, rather than a single target. The attack is a full round sustained action. Anyone who moves through the area during the turn must defend against the attack. Cover benefits are halved, and any successful hit gains a +2 step to weapon’s damage dice. This action also reduces causes a visibility penalty of -2 step since you have to keep your head down.

Repairs

Repairs (BDH, pg 70)
Using table 3.2 on page 70, repairs will require an amount of scrap equivalent to the difficulty and amount of wounds done to the ship.

Improving Stuff

Improving Stuff/Making Stuff (BDH, pg 74)
Crews will be able to improve weapons, armor, and even ship systems (although ship systems will require that the ship be shut down during work). I’ll also be allowing the ’time’ rule on page 75 for botches on attempts.

Plot Points
Plot Points: Falling Like Rain (BDH, pg 59)
I will be trying to be generous with plot points, both because it makes having complications that come up often in play more fun, and because it makes the game feel a little more heroic.

Good Ideas/Great Ideas
I’m not usually going to reward a solution to a problem, but if you come up with an ingenious solution, or a solution that hadn’t occurred to me, that is worthy of a reward. In addition, if you figure out plot hooks before they come up, that is also worthy of a reward, to me.

Funny People
Some of the funniest things that happened in Spyglass’ game were actually funny things that happened in the out-of-character threads. While I’m trying not to make an immediate habit of rewarding funny stuff (because real-life games turn into nothing but people trying to one-up each other when you do this), I will reward it when funny things happen.

Players
I will allow players to invoke their own Complications, which will net them one or two plot points per attempt. I’m not a fan of nestled complications, so if you steal something, that’s not going to be a plot point per each of greedy/stingy/filcher, that will be one plot point period.

Inflicting Complications
When I inflict Complications, it will be a little more rewarding, probably 2-3 plot points per incident. This is to make it fair, and encourage everyone to use complications.

Delegating Plot Points
Each player will be given one plot point per session to reward to another player in the group for a complication, funny turn of phrase, or great idea. These are not for when that guy gets in a scrape and needs one more plot point- if they’re used that way, I’ll stop giving them out.

Special Note: Captains will be given two plot points per session to distribute in this manner.

Personal Goals:
I expect each character to have a nominal set of personal goals- even if it’s something as arbitrary as ‘seeing Sihnon one more time with my own eyes,’ and I will reward these goals, as long as they make sense to your character and are recorded in your character thread.

Crew Goals:
Crew Goals are usually pretty simple- you find a job, you do the job, you get out alive. Most of these plot points will be folded into the ending of each session, but when the crew has a cohesive goal, I will also make an attempt to reward that, as well.

Session Ending:
At each Session’s end, once I’ve posted the introduction for the new section, I will go through my personal notes and the log of the session, and count up how many plot points were awarded. These will be added to your total score. You should already have plot points on hand, and I’ll make an attempt to keep a running tally of how many each character has, and how many they’ve earned.

Originally Posted by Spyglass

I'd like to take this chance to root for your GM--you guys will be in for a real treat if you stick with the recruitment process and join up. We all had an outrageously fun time with this game last year, due in no small part to L0g41n's humor and storytelling--some memorable moments include him foiling a ring of slavers (and finding a job!), attempting to outdrink an entire battallion of Alliance soldiers, and spending an entire month posing as the ship's bellhop to escape the wrath of a jealous husband... only to learn the worst.

How To Play

The idea is to create a believable Serenity Universe populated with players and villains. While the initial scene will be competitive, I will be expanding after that point to allow the two groups to go their separate ways, earning jobs and working for whoever they can find.

Based on your group’s performance, you’ll be given a score that is compared with the competing groups and, following a brief negotiation period, winners will be declared. That’s the short version.

An open out-of-character thread for posting recaps, trash-talking and asking questions will be open in the main page of the forum. Readers will be allowed to post in this thread, in addition to players.

NPCs

Important Note on NPCs: Non-player characters in my game are not just cardboard cutouts. They are people, with hopes, dreams, and personalities (as I need to flesh them out). NPCs will have a number of plot points at their own disposal, as reflected by the complications they’ve been created with- 1 plot point per minor complication, 2 plot points per major complication. They will spend these plot points to benefit themselves.

Please, don’t ride rough-shod over the locals because “they’re just NPCs,” and you’re “the heroes.” The old man behind the counter might not believe or even care if you’ve killed Reavers. If you feel the need to make minor alterations to an NPC, feel free to- but it will cost you plot points, as given on page 148 of the Core Rulebook, under ‘Story Manipulation.’ The plot points you spend in this manner go to the NPC in question.

Each group gets a private thread and game instance. To start with, both groups will be on the same moon at the same time. This will be the competitive aspect of the game, to start with, and will determine a winner, if any, and the losers of the contest. This is also an attempt to thresh the wheat from the tares.

The adventures I’m drawing from typically have three acts, with three to four ‘scenes’ apiece. For the purposes of

For example “2 mandatory re-rolls per session” in Things Don’t Go Smooth (Major)

n/session Traits, each “Scene” will be considered a “Session.” Each scene will get its own thread, private to the crew.

At the end of the adventure, your team receives a score.

Things That Raise Your Score

• Sum total of leftover money from each character in the crew

• Use whatever methods you like to generate this income, whether part of the story of not. This includes negotiating with NPCs for better payment, taking on passengers, taking on cargo, sale of goods & salvage, house calls, social calls, booty calls, gratuities, tips, wages, allowances, donations, et al.

  Any income generated during the game

• Plot points are the currency of RP in Serenity, and this is how I will reward good writing and flavor, good RP, good teamwork, good ideas, and anything else dealing with your innate talent as a player.

  Unused Plot Points

• This doesn't include roll-only posts or one-sentece sound bytes. Spamming to abuse this reward won't accomplish anything.

  Number of substantive IC posts
• Using Serenity-ish slang and

  I’m not a particularly profane person, so I really don’t know that much swearing in Chinese. The Appendices in both the rulebooks give examples. Using Babelfish as a translator works just as well for me.

  Chinese swearing, such as those listed on page 219-223 of the Core Rulebook and pg 166-168 of Big Damn Heroes will suffice. If you need more, there are instances of homebrew content that will also work. Please keep Mythweavers usage policies in mind, and please keep posts readable.

Things That Lower Your Score

• These include Fuel, Provisions, Monthly Maintenance, Mortgage Payments, Port Fees, Citations & Fines, Emergency Repairs, Hired NPC salaries, and any other gear purchased

  Shipboard expenses
• Each enemy reduced to Hurtin’, Dyin’, or Dead status. Includes ships and occupants. (

  Under a specific set of circumstances, there are certain points where fighting can become inevitable through no fault on the group’s part. If this happens, I’ll clearly announce that the costs have been waived for the time being

  Exception)
• Each innocent bystander that suffers Wound damage. Includes ships and occupants.
• Each PC death

Once all three groups are done with their games, the tentative scores will be determined and then I’ll create a global OOC thread where all groups will meet. This thread is your team’s last chance to raise your score and possibly clinch a victory, which you will do by demonstrating your unbridled genius at the written word… more on this when the time comes. Once the last thread closes, the scores are finalized and winners will be crowned as the ultimate crew.


Have a specific question about the contest rules? Here is the fine print.


A final word of warning: Don’t forget that this game is supposed to be a challenge. Play smarter, not harder.

How To Apply

Applying is a 4-step process that grants you the freedom to be a part of the crew you want. With these freedoms come certain responsibilities, however.

Step 0: Make sure you read and understand the "Game Info", "How to Play" and "How to Apply" sections. Also, know the Serenity RPG/Cortex Rules, especially regarding money and gear.

If you don’t own or have access to a Serenity RPG or Cortex game manual, that’s fine. Where there’s a will, there’s a way and I'm supportive of newcomers who want to learn the system--I have plenty of instructional materials for you to read and learn from if need be, and I'll be happy to help you build a sheet. The upshot is that you’ll need to be a quick learner and understand that the onus is still on you; if you can't bang out a character sheet by the time the rest of your group is ready, you might have to submit to pregenerated stats. If you'd rather forgo the creation process and simply learn the gameplay rules as you go, fully pregenerated characters are available in the Reference Materials section for you to use and customize as you like--its easier to reverse engineer than build from scratch, after all.

Money will be tracked in a by-the-book manner, not because I’m a hardheaded dud who can’t throw off the shackles of protocol, but because I need a consistent way to gauge one group’s performance from another and fairly judge them. Please make a good faith effort to figure out the character creation rules; not only is it good practice to figuring out Cortex in general, but it also helps your team make their own luck.

If you have an entire group of newcomers (keep readin') and despite all of the above, are still in character-creation-hell, you have one last resort: skip Step 2 and Step 3, then see the spoiler box in Step 4.


Step 1: Form yourselves up into groups of six.

To make this step easier, here is a Matchmaking Subforum for you to find teamamtes. You can also invite friends from elsewhere via PM if you want, or you can use this recruitment thread for matchmaking if you promise not to spam it like a Hormel factory floor. Teamwork, intelligence, and RP ability will all contribute your success, so use some discretion about who you hook up with. By the same token, though, don't be too much of a RP-snob.

Warning: I politely advise against using the Game Planning forum to find teammates, as the site staff have not been happy to find such threads cropping up there in previous recruiting drives. I don't want anyone to get their day rained on by facing a nastygram or the need to write one.

Each player will only get one character per crew. Feel free to apply for multiple crews, but understand that if I accept you for one crew, it seriously diminishes the chances of you being able to play on another crew. Please don’t try and get all puppetmaster on me and try to play six PC’s on your own. If you have a four or five person group and absolutely can’t fill those last slots, that’s good enough for me: go ahead and apply but understand that your game will be harder for the lack of

Or womanpower

manpower. Sorry.

For the sake of neutrality, I won’t interfere with the group creation unless something goes seriously wrong—I want each participant to feel like they had the best company possible for this challenge and didn’t get anyone forced on them. In light of this, please don’t apply individually and then ask me to place you in a group; you either get in as part of a group, or not at all. If you don’t have anyone to invite, step out there and get to know the other people in this thread – there really are some incredible players here.

Spyglass made the observation, and I agree that people tend to be very circumspect when asking to join other crews in these threads. This is good manners, for sure, but these statements are also very easy to overlook. Don't be shy about being direct and going "Hey, [other applicant]. Would you be interested in [joining my group /letting me in on your group]?" The worst they can say is 'no'.

In any case, once you have your group finalized, move on to step 2.


Step 2 : Make your characters.

Choose one player to be the Captain. Use whatever qualifying criteria you like, but I politely recommend that it be an active player with the best RP skills or social skills and not just the group founder. The reason is because that player will actually be in charge and if that person happens to be an abrasive dickbutt who causes infighting or makes bad calls, you probably won’t be winning any teamwork bonuses.

Since this is a competitive game, I think its only fair that you have a rough description of what skills the game will require from you:

Gameplay Description

Your characters will be in a technical environment most of the time and electronic obstacles will feature in the plot. Chase scenes, time sensitive voyages, and shipboard systems make a well-rounded pilot a must, while the rest of the crew should have some competence in social, knowledge, and clandestine skills among them.

As is typical in the Verse, gunplay is probable, but understand that it costs points from your score for every NPC you reduce to Hurtin’, Dyin’, or Dead status, and can even be game-breaking if you make a truly bonehead decision in that respect—that said, there is no limit on Stun damage and even if you do decide on the D&D solution to a problem, you can overcome these costs if you work hard to

Remember that this score cost is not my way of punishing the combat-minded, its just an objective way of saying "It is not to your credit that you can't go through an assignment without making fifty new enemies". Put in perspective, the fuel costs express similarly, "It is not to your credit that you can't do a simple cargo run without refueling twice. Get better at Astrogation."

compensate elsewhere.

Medicine skills and Mechanical skills have their uses, but it might be wasteful to devote an entire character to just one of those ends. Then again, depending on your group's strategy, they might be the most important members. It’s your call.

Characters will need to have the basic skills- athletics (running, swimming, dodging bullets in a gun fight), covert (sneaking, hiding, picking pockets), discipline (resisting interrogation, keeping your cool in a fight, intimidating others), influence (bluff, diplomacy, seduction), perception (spot and search), and unarmed combat (for those times you don't have a weapon handy). You don't have to be good at them, I would just prefer if everyone had some training, or a reason why they wouldn't have had the training.

Once you’ve finished your concepts, backgrounds, personalities, and whatever else you feel like including, go ahead and build your sheets. The most important thing I need are accurate tabs on your character’s final money, as this will figure in how I decide the winning group at the end—I’m sorry, I know it’s a pain in the butt and wish I could play it fast and loose, but this is the way the challenge works.

Always express anything related to money in terms of Platinum and not Credits. Multiply Credit values by 2.5 to convert to Platinum


Step 3: Make your ship

Each group has a shipbuilding budget of 50,000 credits, plus the sum of your crew’s spare money if necessary. If you guys fall in love with a ship that exceeds your buying power, you can also mortgage the vessel for a down payment equal to the one-quarter ship’s cost and a

I = APR (use 6.5%)

i = Monthly percentage rate = I/12 (so that the APR = (1+i)^12)

n = term in months (use 120)

L = 75% of ship cost

P = monthly payment





Yes, I know this is work, but you are getting a super-cool ship out of the deal. And we're learning, its win-win.

monthly payment. The leftover money from your shipbuilding budget disappears as soon as this phase of character creation is finished. That means that you don’t pocket 45,000 cred after buying a 5000c ship, thus guaranteeing you a win. It also means that this leftover money is not available to help you with the mortgage payments later on; mortgage payments are treated like any other shipboard expense and comes out of your crew’s personal money.

You can buy more than one ship if you have the money for it, but remember that all your shipboard expenses affect your team score. If you’re willing to pay two maintenance bills, two fuel bills, two loads of food and provisions and so on, go for it.

The adventurous crew might try going through the adventure with a bare-bones ship or even forgo the ship altogether, opting instead to hire a vessel for a one-time fee--while this does spare you the burden of paying for ship upkeep, it also means that 1) I choose the ship and 2) your fate is tied to the whims of that ship's NPC captain. Can you keep him from chickening out when things get ugly?

You can use ship mounted weapons, but for each device, one of your characters must sacrifice a per-session use of Friends in Low Places, Things Go Smooth, or two Plot Points in addition to the cost in the book cost to represent the difficulty in obtaining such strictly forbidden toys. Use them if you want, but understand that they'll invite a lot of trouble whenever you make a port call. It might not be worth the hassle.

If you want to add a backstory, description, or any other flavor regarding your ship or your crew’s history with it, I highly recommend it as this will improve your teams competitiveness.

Finally, name your ship.

In order to keep things managable, you can calculate your ship price, monthly maintenence costs, mortgage payments (if applicable) in credits. Once you finish, please express the

ship cost, monthly maintenence, and monthly mortgage, if applicable

final values in terms of Platinum. Multiply credits by 2.5 to get Platinum values


Step 4: Apply

Application Post Templates

In order to make the application process easier, here are some pregenerated templates you can use to organize the information you collect and submit before joining the One-Shot Challenge. The BBcode portion of each template can be directly copied and pasted into the text editor of your choice; the CAPITALIZED values are placeholders that you replace with your team's specific data.

If you have any questions on how to use these templates, feel free to ask. Enjoy!

Step 4 Application Template

BBcode


Final Application for Team [b]TEAM NAME HERE[/b]

[b]MEMBER 1[/b] is the Captain and is playing [url="http://www.CHARACTERSHEETURL.com/"]CHARACTER NAME HERE[/url]
[b]MEMBER 2[/b] is playing [url="http://www.CHARACTERSHEETURL.com/"]CHARACTER NAME HERE[/url]
[b]MEMBER 3[/b] is playing [url="http://www.CHARACTERSHEETURL.com/"]CHARACTER NAME HERE[/url]
[b]MEMBER 4[/b] is playing [url="http://www.CHARACTERSHEETURL.com/"]CHARACTER NAME HERE[/url]
[b]MEMBER 5[/b] is playing [url="http://www.CHARACTERSHEETURL.com/"]CHARACTER NAME HERE[/url]
[b]MEMBER 6[/b] is playing [url="http://www.CHARACTERSHEETURL.com/"]CHARACTER NAME HERE[/url]

The ship we are using is [url="http://www.CHARACTERSHEETURL.com/"]SHIP NAME HERE[/url]

[spoiler=SHIP BACKSTORY TITLE HERE]

If applicable, insert story here

[/spoiler]

[spoiler=CREW BACKSTORY TITLE HERE]

If applicable, insert story here

[/spoiler]



Looks Like

Final Application for Team TEAM NAME HERE

MEMBER 1 is the Captain and is playing CHARACTER NAME HERE
MEMBER 2 is playing CHARACTER NAME HERE
MEMBER 3 is playing CHARACTER NAME HERE
MEMBER 4 is playing CHARACTER NAME HERE
MEMBER 5 is playing CHARACTER NAME HERE
MEMBER 6 is playing CHARACTER NAME HERE

The ship we are using is SHIP NAME HERE

If applicable, insert story here

If applicable, insert story here

Step 4 Optional Monthly Ship Expenses Ledger

BBcode


[table=2,6]
[R=1,1]Fuel , p104 manual
(1 full tank)
[R=1,2]Monthly Maintenence, p112 manual
(assume successful roll)
[R=1,3]Food, p72 manual
(assume 14 platinum per person-per week)
[R=1,4]Port Fees, p104 manual
(assume one port call at 2.5 platinum per 100 ton of ship)
[R=1,5]Monthly Mortgage Payment
([ooc=If applicable, assume 120 month repayment plan at 6.5% APR]

I = APR

i = Monthly percentage rate = I/12 (so that the APR = (1+i)^12)

n = term in months

L = 75% of ship cost

P = monthly payment


[IMG]http://upload.wikimedia.org/math/b/d/6/bd6f62f035c2718ce2bb18c8972e1145.png[/IMG]

[/ooc])
[R=1,6]Total Monthly Cost
[R=2,1]RECORD FUEL COST HERE
[R=2,2]RECORD MONTHLY MAINTENENCE COST HERE
[R=2,3]RECORD FOOD COST HERE
[R=2,4]RECORD PORT FEES HERE
[R=2,5][u]RECORD MONTHLY MORTGAGE COST HERE[/u]
[R=2,6]RECORD SUM HERE


[/table]



Looks Like

[fieldset="Step 4 Optional Crew Character Money Ledger"]

BBcode



[table=7, 4]
[b][R=1,1]Character Name
[R=1,2]Starting Money
[R=1,3]Gear Cost
[R=1,4]Final Balance[/b]

[R=2,1][b]CHARACTER 1[/b]
[R=2,2]CHARACTER 1 STARTING MONEY
[R=2,3]CHARACTER 1 GEAR COST
[R=2,4]CHARACTER 1 FINAL BALANCE

[R=3,1][b]CHARACTER 2[/b]
[R=3,2]CHARACTER 2 STARTING MONEY
[R=3,3]CHARACTER 2 GEAR COST
[R=3,4]CHARACTER 2 FINAL BALANCE

[R=4,1][b]CHARACTER 3[/b]
[R=4,2]CHARACTER 3 STARTING MONEY
[R=4,3]CHARACTER 3 GEAR COST
[R=4,4]CHARACTER 3 FINAL BALANCE

[R=5,1][b]CHARACTER 4[/b]
[R=5,2]CHARACTER 4 STARTING MONEY
[R=5,3]CHARACTER 4 GEAR COST
[R=5,4]CHARACTER 4 FINAL BALANCE

[R=6,1][b]CHARACTER 5[/b]
[R=6,2]CHARACTER 5 STARTING MONEY
[R=6,3]CHARACTER 5 GEAR COST
[R=6,4]CHARACTER 5 FINAL BALANCE

[R=7,1][b]CHARACTER 6[/b]
[R=7,2]CHARACTER 6 STARTING MONEY
[R=7,3]CHARACTER 6 GEAR COST
[R=7,4]CHARACTER 6 FINAL BALANCE
[/table]

[TABLE=2,1]
[R=1,1][b]Grand Total[/b]
[R=2,1]SUM OF ALL FINAL BALANCE VALUES
[/table]


Looks Like
[quote]

Character Name	CHARACTER 1	CHARACTER 2	CHARACTER 3	CHARACTER 4	CHARACTER 5	CHARACTER 6
Starting Money	CHARACTER 1 STARTING MONEY	CHARACTER 2 STARTING MONEY	CHARACTER 3 STARTING MONEY	CHARACTER 4 STARTING MONEY	CHARACTER 5 STARTING MONEY	CHARACTER 6 STARTING MONEY
Gear Cost	CHARACTER 1 GEAR COST	CHARACTER 2 GEAR COST	CHARACTER 3 GEAR COST	CHARACTER 4 GEAR COST	CHARACTER 5 GEAR COST	CHARACTER 6 GEAR COST
Final Balance	CHARACTER 1 FINAL BALANCE	CHARACTER 2 FINAL BALANCE	CHARACTER 3 FINAL BALANCE	CHARACTER 4 FINAL BALANCE	CHARACTER 5 FINAL BALANCE	CHARACTER 6 FINAL BALANCE

Grand Total

SUM OF ALL FINAL BALANCE VALUES

Next, please submit your sheet and other materials to your Captain. If you are the Captain, please proofread your group's material and once it meets the requirements, go ahead and hit "Join Game" in the Serenity One-Shot Challenge game profile and use the PM to send the following:

• Your team name
• The

  typing out their full screennames as they appear in the forum would be a big favor to me, since I’m using these names to create your private threads

  players in your group (identifying the captain)
• Links to their sheets
• The ship stats (You can use a Serenity RPG character sheet)
• Any combined backstory or other flavor you’d like to include.

The main thing I’ll be checking for in this application is correct math in your character stats, ship stats, and finances. If the Captain player takes the trouble to write me a money ledger that tracks all ship-related expenses for one month, I’ll give them a bonus of two plot points. If they go even further and lay out their crew’s money, then I’ll go further too—you make my life easier, I do the same for you.

Note: In order to make this step easier, here are some pre-made BBcode templates you can use to organize your data for the above.

As far as descriptions and backgrounds are concerned, I’m only concerned about screening things that relate to the Restrictions I gave earlier—other than that, your character’s story works your way. Well-conceived or well-written characters will get bonus plot points on top of the standard six. If you took the trouble to make a collective backstory for your crew or ship and it’s especially entertaining, every member of the group will get bonus plot points.

In the unlikely event that I get more than three or four full groups, ie, eighteen-plus interested people, I’ll gape in astonishment and then make tough decisions.

Once I approve the Captain's submission, the entire group is good to go; I build your private game thread and ooc thread, and then you begin the competition.


Can't Crunch the Numbers? Still don't own the book?

This is the spoiler box mentioned in Step 0.

This stuff is pretty involved, I'm not gonna lie. If your entire group has been kicking and screaming since Step 2, here is the

Emphasis on last; I wanna see a good faith effort to make your own character and ship, even if that means asking for my help occasionally, before you do this option. Choosing this is like pulling the fire alarm; if you need to then so be it, but its not a capricious thing.

The reason why I'm reluctant to do this is because it means at least twenty more posts and possibly an extra week of delay while I figure out what exactly six people want and iron out their quibbles. Its not the extra work that bothers me, its the fact that this delay will affect the other groups who already have their stuff together--they're paying for the problem as well.

Again, if your group is completely falling apart because of the character / ship creation issues, then do what you gotta do. What I don't wanna see if the first post out of you sounding like "I wanna do the thing where I spend PP and have you stat my stuff"

last resort:

If each member of your group is willing to sacrifice 3 of your 6 starting Plot Points, I can generate all the stats for the ship you want and the coinciding costs. For an extra 2 Plot Point from each player, I'll also generate your character's stats and gear costs to determine the group's total starting money.

I value creativity. If you do choose this method, its not like you're in the doghouse; you still get the opportunity to earn new plot points through outstanding backstories, whether they be personal, for the whole crew, or even for the ship. However, if you have me stat out your group, I will not reward any ledgers--you can't con me into paying for stats I generated myself!

Reference Materials

New to Serenity RPG? Still developing as a writer and want some guidance on good characterization or RP? Want to spare yourself the information overload of creating a character by using a pregen? This is the place to be.

Serenity Rules Primer:

As promised, here's the new version of my Serenity primer. The only thing I haven't included are the values particular to our game for character creation which are as follows: As Veterans, you will have 48 points to buy Attributes and Traits, 68 points to buy skills, and 3750 platinum to buy gear.

Serenity RPG is a tabletop roleplaying game, set in the sci-fi universe of the short-lived TV series Firefly and its movie adaption Serenity. Serenity RPG is a derivitive of the Cortex game system, whose focus is on making sure the rules faithfully translate the spirit of the subject matter; they are simple, often subjective, and make role playing into a game mechanic all of its own by using a system called Plot Points.


Introduction

Serenity RPG differs from other game systems in that all character abilities and modifiers are variable, meaning that they are defined by a type of dice and not a specific number--a character cannot have a strength of 18 or +4, but they can have a strength of d12. Likewise, a player’s skill at juggling is not expressed as “four ranks” but rather d8.

This set up is convenient for quickly making any

A dice roll where the player compares their character’s abilities to the situation at hand to determine if they succeed at a task

check you need because the needed roll is already spelled out for you—a character with d12 strength simply adds that d12 any time that strength is one of the deciding factors, enough said. All dice rolls in the game fall into two categories, each of which follows a consistent pattern.

The following is a quick summary of the basic rules and terminology of Serenity RPG.


Skill Rolls

The first and most common type of dice roll is a skill roll. This is any roll where a player takes an action that carries the risk of failure. The roll take the following form:

Attribute Die + Skill Die

To use this roll in a decision-making process, the Game Master, or GM, takes the sum of this roll and compares it to a chosen value that describes the difficulty of the task. If the player’s roll is equal or greater than this difficulty number, then they succeed.

Some terminology: an “Attribute Die” is any one of six different terms which describe a character’s inherent qualities such as strength, willpower, or alertness. A "Skill Die" comes in two forms: overarching General Skills and the Specialty Skills that subdivide them.

A “General Skill” describes a character’s overall familiarity with a certain field of expertise and any universal knowledge that might come with it. This dice has a maximum size, since there is only so much you can say about a certain field that is universally true. A “Specialty Skill” is a specific niche of expertise that falls under the purview of the General Skill. To illustrate, let's express this as a file tree in windows explorer:



 
Now lets see it in action.

Suppose that your character has the General Skill of Animal Handling; there are many different Specialty Skills that fall under this umbrella, and doing professional grade work in any of these specialties requires specific training outside of a normal animal handler's education.

Your character specializes in horses. This means that he has the specialty skill Animal Handling / Equines. Whenever he does a task involving horses, he can use the Specialty Skill, which by definition has a bigger die than the General Skill. Note that you never use both a General Skill die and a Specialty skill die in the same roll. Its an either/or situation.

If a character needs to make a skill check with a specialty skill they do not have, they can attempt to complete the roll with just their general skill.

If your character needs to

capture a loose cobra but he

has never had special training with reptiles before, your character tries anyway and hopes that they their

innate talent and general knowledge about animals will suffice..

A character can have up to a d6 in any General Skill. To make a Skill roll with a d8 or higher, you must have a specialty skill that's relevant to the task.


Attribute Rolls

These rolls are reactive or defensive in nature, much like “Saving Throws” in Dungeons and Dragons™. They are used in character generation, resolving emergency situations, and the effect of adverse circumstances. These rolls take the following form:

Attribute 1 + Attribute 2

For example, a character’s Endurance roll, the rough equivalent of a Fortitude save, is calculated by an attribute roll of Vitality and Willpower.


Modifying Rolls

Just how much better is a d12 than a d4? If I have a d4, how long does it take to get this fire-from-Olympus that is the d12?

Serenity RPG ranks dice by the number of flat faces they have, with more sides equating to a better statistic. Since dice increase size by two faces, Serenity RPG follows this progression and ranks skills and attributes by using Steps, an interval of two dice faces. To add a “one-step-bonus” to roll X is to take the die you normally use and promote it to the next bigger die.

This is advantageous because a bigger die increases the maximum number that they can land on and, by probability, the average roll value. Another example is when a “two-step-penalty” takes your roll and shrinks down your die to one that is two sizes smaller.

In short, Steps are a unit of measure, just like degrees-Fahrenheit, kilograms, or Watts. They are the currency of Serenity RPG’s game mechanics, so be sure that you understand this section or else things will be very confusing. To answer the question from the beginning of this section, a d12 is four steps greater than a d4.


Traits

A Trait is a special game rule that applies only to your character, and you choose them at character creation. Traits that work in your favor are called Assets while Traits that impede your progress are called Complications. Assets must be “purchased” from a pool of points, while shouldering Complcations replenishes these points.

Some Traits are very effective or broad in scope, while others are very limited. This difference is accounted for by giving different purchase costs or rewards to different Traits based on their gravity: There are Major and Minor classes of Traits. Major Traits add or cost 4 points from the character creation pool, while Minor Traits add or subtract 2 points.

The purpose of Traits is to add gameplay meaning to a character’s background and give them a unique experience. The GM may freely prohibit a certain application of a Trait if it is redundant, nonsensical, or otherwise stretches plausibility.


Plot Points

Plot points are a reserve of points that a player spends when they want to improve die rolls, use certain Traits, or otherwise give themselves a special advantage. Players gain Plot Points by showing good Role-Play and by invoking their Complications entertainingly. This is how good players are rewarded and munchkins are penalized in real, concrete terms.

Plot points can be exchanged for advancement points in order to "level up", or improve a character's skills or attributes.

For every Plot Point a player spends when making any roll, the player recieves a one-step bonus to that roll. A player can also spend Plot Points in a similar fashion to the DnD spell Limited Wish, except that it requires the GM's consent and is very expensive.

Furthermore, Plot Points can be spent to negate the damage suffered by your character and some of the more powerful Assets require plot point for each use. Managing plot points is an essential part of you success in Serenity RPG.


Character Creation

The general power of characters is described by the Heroic Level that the GM chooses for the game. The heroic level determines how many points are alloted for players to buy their character's Attributes, Traits, and Skills. There are two different pools of points: one is for Attributes and Traits. The second one is for skills and equals the number of Attribute Points + 20

Suppose the GM declares that your game will be at Veteran Heroic Level. This means that you get 48 Points to buy Attributes and Traits with.

You then get 48+20 = 68 points to buy skills.

At character creation, the player buys their attributes and skills, both General and Specialty, at a cost of two points per dice step. Assets are also puchased at this time at a cost appropriate to their effect: +/-2 points for a Minor Asset, and +/-4 points for a Major Asset. Taking on Complications replenishes these points at the same rate.

How to buy Attributes:
There are six attributes: Agility, Strength, Vitality, Alertness, Intelligence, and Willpower. For each of these attributes, purchase your desired die at a cost of 2 points per die step.

Suppose that you want to make a sculpted bodybuilder as a character. You decide that you want his Strength attribute to be d10. A d10 means that you must purchase 5-steps at a cost of 2 points each.

This means that you have spent 5-steps*2 points/step = 10 points.

How to buy skills:
Step 1: Pick a General Skill and purchase anywhere from 1 to 3-steps in that skill. Remember that the limit for a general skill is d6, and if you buy this, it costs 3-steps* 2 points/step = 6 points.

Step 2: Pick any Specialty Skills that cooincide with that general skill. You can only take specialty skills after you have maxxed out the General skill at d6--you aren't ready to specialize until you've mastered the basics, after all.

Specialty skills are purchased just like General skills, except that you subtract 6 points from the cost to get the actual value.

Your character has a d6 in Influence and you decide that you want to take Influence / Negotiate as a Specialty skill. Specialty Skills start at d8, and you decide that this is good enough.

Normally, the cost for a d8 would be 4-steps * 2points/step = 8 points. However, because you are buying a Specialty skill and are effectively building on a d6 worth of general knowledge in Influence, you don't need to pay for that general knowledge twice--you subtract six points from the price of Influence / Negotiate. The final cost is:

8 points - 6 point deduction = 2 points!

You are so enthralled by this bargain that you buy two more specialty skills under Influence, each coming at a price of 2 points.

Now suppose that you want to get serious and play a direct descendent of the dragon himself, Bruce Lee.

You have Melee Weapons as a General skill and you decide to go all out on the Specialty Skill Melee Weapons / Nunchuku-sticks: you want

d12+d12.

With larger numbers, it pays to be thorough;
Step 1: d12+d12 = "d24"
Step 2: "d24" / 2 = 12-steps
Step 3: 12-steps * 2 Points/step = 24 Points
Step 4: 24 Points - 6 Point deduction for purchasing Specialty skill = 18 Points

Your character will have jaw-dropping speed and finesse with Nunchuku, but it has cost him a whopping 18 Points to get it.

Level Up

The cost of improving attributes and skills increases dramatically at level-up and all the character creation rules you just learned go out the window.

At level up, the currency is no longer character creation points, but "advancement points", which you can earn yourself by cashing in any plot points beyond your original 6, or, the GM doles them out at the end of an adventure.

Note that there is no generally no advancement point reward for killing enemies.

How to Level-Up a Skill:
To improve a skill, the cost of the next step is equal to the number of sides that the new dice has.

In other words, advancing from a d6 to a d8 costs 8 advancement points, rather than the generous 2 point per die step deal you got during creation.

To advance multiple steps, take the sum of the dice you have to purchase to get from your original dice to the desired dice.

This means that to improve a d2 to a d6, you first have to buy a d4 for 4 points, then a d6 for 6 points.

4 + 6 = 10 points

How to Level-Up an Attribute

To improve an Attribute, take the cost of the next step as if it were a skill as shown above and then multiply the resulting cost by 4. This is how much it will cost to improve that attribute

Your character has always had poor Vitality and you are tired of failing Endurance saves. After one adventure, you decide to improve it from d4 to d8.

First, you treat this as if it were improving a skill: you buy the d6 and then the d8 for a total cost of 6+8 = 14 advancement points. Then, because you are buying attributes, the cost is multiplied by 4 so that you must spend

6*4 + 8*4 = 4*(6+8) = 14*4 =

56 advancement points!

Pregenerated Characters

For anyone who is hopelessly lost on the Serenity RPG character creation system, here are some pregenerated characters that you are welcome to flesh out and make your very own with whatever changes or embellishments you see fit. Enjoy!

Captain

AGI: d6
STR: d6
VIT: d8
ALE: d8
INT: d10
WIL: d10

Life Points: 18
Initiative: d6+d8

Assets:

• Highly Educated (Min)
• Leadership (Maj)
• Mechanical Empathy (Min)

Complications:

• Things Don’t Go Smooth (Maj)
• Amorous (Min)
• Prejudce: Military (Min)

Skills:
Discipline d6

• Mental Resistance d8
• Concentration d8

Guns d6
Influence d6

• Barter d8
• Persuasion d8
• Streetwise d8

Mechanical Engineering d6

• Desgin d8
• Repair d8

Knowledge d6

• History d8
• History d8
• Law d8

Perception d4
Athletics d6

• Run d10
• Climb d8
• Dodge d8

Gear:
1x Multiband watch (12p)
5x change of street clothes (7p)
1x Ballistic Mesh (115p)
1x Pistol, d6W (45p)
1x 50 piece box of .45 rounds (5p)
1x CAD board (68p)
1x Toolset, mechanics (710)
1x Cutting torch (10)

Remaining Cash: 2778 Platinum

Flavor: A schoolteacher-turned-Captain and a bit of a cougar, she excels at bringing out the best in her crew, hooking customers, and keeping the boat running. Prone to slavish workout routines and fits of nostalgia for her days as a varsity track star.


First Mate

AGI: d8
STR: d6
VIT: d6
ALE: d10
INT: d10
WIL: d8

Life Points: 14
Initiative: d6+d10

Assets:

• Nature Lover(Min)
• Total Recall (Maj)
• Steady Calm (Min)

Complications:

• Memorable(Min)
• Credo: Environmentalist (Min)
• Stingy (Min)
• Prejudice: Non-intellectuals

Skills:
Guns d6

• Rifle d12

Discipline d6

• Mental Resistance d8
• Concentration d8

Perception d6

• Spot d10
• Listen d10
• Dedutcion d8
• Track d12

Perform d6

• Saxophone d8
• Acting d8

Pilot d4
Planetary Vehicles d4
Survival d4

Gear:
5x change of street clothes (7p)
1x Chameleon Suit (100p)
1x Shotgun, side-by-side break action d10W (45p)
1x Rifle, bolt action Remington 721 d8W (75p)
1x 50 piece box of .30-06 rounds (5p)

Remaining Cash: 3518 Platinum

Flavor: A Renaissance-man who hunts big game, plays in a moderately famous jazz quartet, occasionally guest-stars on Core sitcoms, and serves as the Captain’s Socratic foil with his sharp eyes and memory. Abhors waste to the point that he keeps the garbage cans under lock-and-key.


Shooter

AGI: d10
STR: d8
VIT: d10
ALE: d8
INT: d6
WIL: d8

Life Points: 18
Initiative: d12+d10 [Lightnin’ Reflexes bonus included]

Assets:

• Fightin’ Type (Maj)
• Lightnin’ Reflexes (Maj)
• Nose for Trouble (Maj)

Complications:

• Things Don’t Go Smooth (Maj)
• Chip on the Shoulder (Min)
• Twitchy (Min)
• Slow Learner: Mechanical Engineering (Min)
• Memorable (Min)

Skills:
Guns d6

• Pistol d10
• Assault Rifle d10

Perception d6

• Empathy d8
• Spot d8
• Listen d8

Covert d4
Planetary Vechile d6

• Dirtbike d8

Ranged Weapons d6

• Grenade d8

Athletics d6

• Dodge d8

Unarmed Combat d6

• Ju-Jitsu

Survival d6


Gear:
5x change of street clothes (7p)
1x Ballistic Mesh (115p)
1x Pistol, d6W (45p)
1x Assault Rifle d8W (100p)
3x Grenade, Fragmentation (15p)
1x 50 piece box of .45 rounds (5p)
1x 100 piece box 7.62x20-mm rounds (10p)
1x Blue Sun Motors dirtbike (87.5p)

Remaining Cash: 3365.5 Platinum

Flavor: An adept marksman and fast draw whose chronically bad luck has made him defensive and exceedingly wary. When not devising elaborate contingency plans, he is riding or studying his dirtbike, trying to unravel the mysteries of how the thingamajig and whatchamacallit work.


Hacker

AGI: d6
STR: d6
VIT: d8
ALE: d10
INT: d12
WIL: d6

Life Points: 14
Initiative: d6+d10

Assets:

• Talented: Technical Engineering / Hacking (Min)
• Talented: Covert / Stealth (Min)

Complications:

• Lazy (Min)
• Ego Signature (Min)

Skills:
Artistry d6

• Graffiti d12

Knowledge d6

• Computer Science d8

Covert d6

• Stealth d12 [Talented bonus included]
• Disable Device d8

Mechanical Engineering d6
Technical Engineering d6

• Create Electronic Device d8
• Hacking d12 [Talented bonus included]
• Technical Security d8
• Technical Repair d8

Planetary Vehicles d4
Athletics d6

• Jump d8
• Climb d8
• Dodge d8

Gear:
1x Multiband watch (12p)
5x change of street clothes (7p)
1x Cortex Terminal, Black Box (1868p)
1x copy of SubKelvin software (200p)
1x Data Library, Professional (230p)
10x Can of spraypaint (5p)

Remaining Cash: 1428

Flavor: Once a famous child prodigy, now a listless prima donna who brushed off a promising career in software to travel the verse and make mischief. Prefers to use the computing resources of neighboring ships on the rare event that he does anything productive. Has a bad habit of tagging any available surface and recording it for posterity.


Pilot

AGI: d8
STR: d8
VIT: d8
ALE: d10
INT: d6
WIL: d8

Life Points: 16
Initiative: d10+d10

Assets:

• Born Behind the Wheel (Maj)
• Talented: Pilot / Mid-Bulk Freighter (Min)

Complications:

• Overconfident (Min)
• Deadly Enemy (Min)
• Forked Tongue (Min)

Skills:

Guns d6
Pilot d6

• Mid-Bulk Transport d12+d4 [Talented Bonus Included. Born Behind the Wheel is an attribute bonus and is not shown]
• Astrogation d12
• Shuttle d10

Mechanical Engineering d6
Knowledge d6
Planetary Vehicles d6

• Mule d8
• Dirtbike d8

Scientific Expertise d6
Technical Engineering d6
Influence d6

Gear:

1x Multiband watch (12p)
5x change of street clothes (7p)
1x Pistol, d6W (45p)
1x 50 piece box of .45 rounds (5p)
1x soccer ball (1p)
1x ship linked handset (8p)
1x Data library, standard (57p)
1x Databook (75p)

Remaining Cash: 3540 Platinum

Flavor: The man. The myth. The legend himself. He is the archetypical meatheaded braggart who can ramble on for hours about how great he is. Strangely, it is not his core skill, piloting, that he stakes his ego on but rather anything and everything else he’s ever tried, and many things he hasn’t; his stories are to be taken with grain of salt.


Sneak

AGI: d10
STR: d8
VIT: d6
ALE: d10
INT: d6
WIL: d8

Life Points: 16
Initiative: d8+d10

Assets:

• Nose for Trouble (Maj)
• Trustworthy Gut (Maj)

Complications:

• Dead Broke (Min)
• Crude (Min)
• Weak Stomach(Maj)

Skills:
Technical Engineering d6

• Hacking d8
• Technical Security d8

Knowldge d6

• Law d8

Covert d6

• Infiltrate d12
• Disable Device d12
• Streetwise d8
• Surveillance d8
• Streetwise d12

Athletics d6

• Run d8
• Climb d10
• Dodge d8
• Jump d8

[*]Pilot d6

Gear:
1x Multiband watch (12p)
5x change of street clothes (7p)
1x Ballistic Mesh (115p)
1x Toolkit, Electronic (345p)
1x Debugger (50p)
1x Cutting torch (10p)
4x Optical Bomb (160p)
1x Lockpicks, Electronic (88p)
1x Mag Charge (68p)

Remaining Cash: 1100 Platinum

A flamboyant Rastafarian by day, an ephemeral shadow by night. She eschews violence, feeling that once an undertaking has reached that point, it is a lost cause. That, and the sight of blood makes her ill.


The Ship

Cost: 91,800 Platinum

AGI: d8
STR: d6
VIT: d6
ALE: d4
INT: d2
WIL: d6

Life Points: 12
Speed Class: 7 cruise / 9 Hard Burn
Block Tonnage: 1300
Fuel: 50 tons (600 hours)
Complexity: High
Monthly Maintenence: 1300 Platinum
Mortgage Payment: 781 Platinum

Assets:

• Healthy as a Horse (Min)

Complications:

• Seen Better Days (Min)

Skills:
Athletics d2
Perception d2
Pilot d2

Gear:
2x Shuttles, small (3200 p)

Selected Playtest Results

Time Elapsed:	57 Days
Re-Fuels:	2 Tanks
Food Eaten:	42 7 weeks of food eaten per person * Six People = 42 man-weeks. 1 man-week is worth 14 platinum Man-weeks
NPC Enemies Hurt:	3
NPC Enemies Killed:	0
NPC Bystanders Hurt:	0
NPC Bystanders Killed:	0
PCs Killed:	0
Total Wound Points Taken:	54
Average Ship Mortgage+Maintenence Upkeep Costs:	2100 Platinum
Unused Plot Points	33
Final Score:	45740

This crew opted for combat in every case, even during the stealth portions. I played along and was pretty nice about it, so I don't know how they managed to even find 54 wound points--I remember one character falling out of the ship at one point, so maybe that was it.

45,707 is a pretty so-so score. On the one hand, they didn't turn it into a slaughter (not for lack of trying) and knock off a bunch of points, and the Captain saved the day with Influence / Negotiation many times--I'm not advocating that you take that specialty, mind you, just that it worked for them. They also completed the entire adventure and earned a good payoff, which is not something to take for granted.

What really killed them is the Pilot. He got them lost on two occasions, and they spent well over a month of time and ship expenses doing nothing because of it. Time is definitely money here. If I had to name a second factor, I was trying to balance my score calculation during the test, so I was a bit more stingy with Plot Points than usual; the crew would hoard them until some emergency came up, and then pump them all into one grand slam of a roll--I saw at least three Incredible (23) tasks get smoked and someone nearly hit Impossible (31).

Curious to see how this crew measured up in the challenge? See for yourself!

Some Thoughts on Characterization and RP

I think you guys know the drill when GM’s ask for Personality, Background, Appearance, Name. I think you guys have probably also heard the request that your brainchild transcend just words on a webpage and create a living, breathing character. Okay, but how? Here is my take on characterization:



Build the mind, not the image.

People’s personalities have layers. The more internal and personal parts of a character’s psyche are the more influential parts and more worthwhile to discuss as this will lead your thinking in different directions. Thoughts, feelings, philosophies, and beliefs do way more to determine someone’s actions and habits than external things, such as a job or environment.

Consider the difference between saying that a man “is whimsical” and saying that a man “thinks that spontaneity is a virtue.” Both suggest similar flavors of free spirit, but the first one is an outside perspective—he is whimsical because he does things with little warning or contemplation, end of story.

The second one is a statement about the mentality behind his behavior--not only does it suggest what he acts like, but also offers a glimpse into his worldview and maybe even philosophy, which leads you in new directions when considering those areas of his characterization; If he values spontaneity, he probably admires it in other people as well, so you also have a small part of how he relates to others. A man who values spontenaeity probably his money quite differently than the deliberate monk, but is he necessarily a spendthrift? With the whimsical archetype, the answer is a hasty 'yes', but approaching the problem from the internal persepctive, valuing spontenaeity, leaves more room for your personal touches.

“He thinks” statements tell you who that person is, while “He is” tells you about his image. Save the latter for the "Appearance" section.



Moderation in Everything

It is the rare person who is 100% one way, and they aren’t very interesting for it. This is where you see the beauty of discussing what a character thinks, in that, you can have more than one such statement and still be coherent. Judge for yourself which of the following pairs will be easier to reconcile:

1. "Spontenaeity is a virtue" ; "That said, what you don't know can kill you."

2. "He is whimsical" ; "Except when he's cautious."

When you’re building the philosophy that has shaped your character’s life, you find exceptions and caveats where they behave differently. “He is whimsical” gives you nothing but whimsical, and any exceptions will be just as vague and arbitrary.

No two ways around it; characterization is what he thinks and how he feels. Once you have a solid personality, work on forming a clear mental image. Get past the appearance stuff like hair color and focus on behavior—what is their stage presence, how does a person with this worldview conduct themselves? I think it helps for any writer of a character driven story to have a touch of actor in them, in order to really channel their cast, feel what they feel, see the world their way, and otherwise internalize what it means to be that person.



Humble Thyself

People take their characters very personally, and that’s good. But it also leads to the common pitfall of never letting their character admit, 'touche', because who wants their literary avatar to be maligned? You do, if you have any interest in suspension of disbelief and entertainment. Any character can be awe-inspiring when the story works overtime to put them on a pedestal, but how much entertainment factor can you get from Master Chief as a standalone character? Would he be fun to watch if he were losing an argument (and unarmed, for the sake of discussion)?

Here is yet another compelling reason not to build your characterization on image-dependent statements like "whimsical" or "glib", because you get what is known in the world of drama as "typecasting"--your character works fine when operating in the element you envisioned them, but as soon as the unexpected knocks your guy out of his native habitat and puts him on the defensive...what then? More whimsical and glib, even though its not appropriate? Make like a piece of wood and wait until its time to crack wise again? A truly deep character should be more versatile.

Consider what happens to this leading role, who is written around being in charge of the situation, when he is put on the defensive:

Jayne: “All I’m saying is--”

Mal, sternly: “Do you wanna run this ship?”

Jayne: “Yes.”

Mal: “…uh…well… you can’t”

Imagine if someone were screenwriting for Mal but had no concept of vulnerability. No more Mal easily getting gun-swiped because he had to gloat, no more admitting that he’s going to the special hell, no more hardheaded likeability. Those moments which really made the series would be gone, replaced with Mal The Generic Badass shoved down our throats; the camera goes slow mo everytime he walks in, he’s always 100% in control, never any suspense of big reveal or gosh I wonder what’s next. That’s what you have to look forward to with those kind of characters, a black hole who has no contribution to the story beyond a walking prop. Typecasting at its worst.

Insecurities. These are often forgotten, but are an inextricable part of a complete persona. I've always felt that 90% of people’s flaws stem from their private insecurities. An insecurity in this case is not necessarily a cry-yourself-to-sleep angst problem, so much as a genuine concern about self preservation, a defense mechanism that influences how they think and reason.

Do you remember in the first section, where we came up with 'he thinks' statements? Insecurities are an easy way to answer the question they beg, which is: "Why?" Why does he think spontenaeity is a virtue? Is he afraid of missing out on things? Or is he just another victim of society's twisted habit of idolization the extroverted persona and doesn't want to be rejected as a dud?

Give some serious thought to your Complications and propose homebrewed ones if need be. A character who is emotionally unassailable and free of insecurities is a lifeless cardboard cutout and absolutely no fun to write for; addressing problem after problem with complete neutrality, never challenged, see above.
 


We make our choices but in the end, our choices make us

Its only natural that a discussion on personality would easily segue into a discussion of background; if you don't agree with anything else written here, at least consider focusing on a character's thoughts because of this branching effect and the cohesion it gives your characters.

Once your character’s personality is firmly in place and you have an innate sense of how this person thinks, writing for them becomes very easy; if you did it right, you know what is important to them and thus, always have a motivation. Their next move should come naturally to you. Consider what it would be like if your best friend was the lead character in a book and you were the author—its that natural.

Backgrounds are generally straightforward, but in the same line as before, do remember that everybody makes mistakes—a normal, believable predicament is one where the character contributed and had some control, not an outrageous parade of tragedy that's meant to inspire pity and support but really looks more farcial than anything. If you want your audience to sympathize with your character, make the character and the conflict believable enough that you can relate on a personal level; a pity party will never substitute.

The background is where you explain how that person came to be, so all that mindset you spent visualizing a few paragraphs back? Explain that. Also, remember that people are more than the sum-total of their experiences: the background is also shaped by the character’s decisions and personality at the time. I mean, c’mon; its an entire life you’re recording here. Try to show how they’ve changed through the years.

Some food for thought: Not everyone in the medical field is a full doctor, and not every seductress was a Companion. A shooter may have never earned his commission, or maybe didn’t even pass Basic before getting drummed out. People can and do fall short of the big time yet still do well enough to make ends meet; there is a place for nurses, welders, travelling salesmen, and dropouts, and these people are in fact, much more likely to be in a wayward, hand to mouth profession like interstellar shipping.

Don’t take it for granted that someone with a set of skills necessarily got them from the white-collar professional world and then gave up that lifestyle for little to no reason to be on a ship. If you’re looking for a way to take a different approach to an archetypical character, consider exploring this avenue.
 


What’s Bred in the Bone Changes Not with the Clothes

Appearance, I like to interpret as 'stage presence,' and here's why: I’m of the opinion that whenever possible, a writer should use their audience’s imagination in lieu of their own.

This means focus more on the character’s presence and mannerisms and using the as cues which inspire a mental image, letting the audience draw from their own experiences to construct your character's appearance. The mental image they construct from your writing will be much more powerful than the mental image you force on them: count on it.

An example of this in action is to say that your bad guy flourishes and paces boisterously, but without arbitrarily dwelling on the fact that he has a cape every time he’s mentioned. Yes, its your character, but the reader’s imagination might not include a cape, and unless the cape has some plot significance, why is it worth distracting from the narrative? It’s a cape, its not that special or worthy of note. Appearances definitely does not add to a character's originality: the fact that your spunky comic relief is actually a walking medieval castle who thunders his way across the land, delivers gravelly punchlines by flapping his drawbridge and chews food with the portcolis does nothing to expand on his narrative role. He is still spunky comic relief and will not accomplish anything more than if he were a talking cat.

Back to the cape: if the character has a nervous habit where they cannot exit the room without dramatically swirling the cape and feels rather naked without its billowing girth following him like a trusted guardian, then it becomes part of that all-important persona. Mentioning it is no longer an irrelevant quibble but is now an active part of his stage presence. Yes, you have burdened yourself with one more visual detail to yak about, but you might inspire six more in your audience's imagination when they picture him clutching his cape as he sleeps, sucking his thumb or something.

The cape is doing more than hanging around his neck in the second case. It now is his emotional crutch and suggest something about the character. In an abstract sense, it is “doing” something relevant to the story, hinting at a possible neurosis on the part of the wearer that you can expand upon at your leisure.

The bottom line: Any visual detail is not worth dwelling on unless it actively serves some storytelling purpose. Mention it in passing if you like, but don't call attention to it. Embrace the medium, people, you do not have a costume design team or a casting department who needs to know every little thing so that they can choose between signing on Milla Jojovich or Summer Glau. What you do have is a conceptual image you need to construct, and all you have to work with is a sightless, soundless block of text; there is a limit to what you can communicate via those kinds of sensory details, and you need to ensure that its clear and to the point when you do.

Flooding it with constant, unnecessary details is 'crying wolf' and will train your audience to skim over your work.



Closing Remarks

Having read all that, maybe you're enthralled or think I'm completely fulla crap. Either way is fine with me.

This is art, its not about being right, looking all big and clever, or setting the agenda through sheer force of Iron Duce personality. These thoughts are up here for you to consider and try, and then help you develop your talents over the course of the game should they work for you. If they don't work for you, get rid of them and figure out your own method. They are ‘some thoughts’, not the definitive road to success.

Contest Rules: The Fine Print

• A

  married players, too

  single player may not join multiple groups, but can field options from multiple groups, with different character.
• No more than one active character per player per crew
• Once the game is underway, if a PC is killed, the player can replace it with a new one using the same character creation rules. However, only the original PC's money will count toward the team score. The new PC may buy ten individual items (no vehicles or ships) before entering play with zero money. Buying exotic / powerful gear is contingent on passing a roll, determined by the GM.
• Game begins on in-game Day 1
• Game ends on the in-game day that the crew agrees
• Space travel time will be affected by the results of rolls made by the pilot, co-pilot, navigator, or captain. This time will count towards the in-game duration and thus can affect the team score.
• Players can make any lengthy complex actions they want during long voyages, such as crafting new gear, performing medical treatment, researching a subject, et cetera. Unreasonable goals for this time frame will not be resolved, such as "I make 1.6 million credits in the stock market"
• To prevent abuse, the team scoring method is strictly secret. No player would expect the GM to reveal their campaign notes, and this is part of my notes. Please accept that it is consistent and will be enforced fairly on every team; the only subjectivity involved is in how I distribute Plot Points based on your RP.
  
  That said, I want you to have guidance and feedback. Your team can always ask for general advice on how to improve your score once the game is under way: the score calculation is somewhat involved and the answer depends on the particular makeup of the group, so there is no way to answer this question during the recruitment phase of the game.
  
• Always calculate money in terms of Platinum and not Credits. Multiply Credit values by 2.5 to convert to Platinum