lrojas Posted November 3, 2005 Report Share Posted November 3, 2005 i never ever review items i buy, i dont do it merely cause i usually understand people have diferent tastes and i am not sure my taste is any measure of good or bad. having said that, i feel angry. I read some reviews on RPG.net, and others regarding the Serenity RPG, based on them and seeing the book has been released on PDF i decided to buy it ( the pdf version ). What a mistake! here is a copy of what i left in the review section of DrivethroughRPG: I have bough several books on PDF, and this has to be one of the worst of the lot. Hard to read on screen, Hard to Print, Poor quality of Images, etc. Content wise, I just dont understand the good reviews this system has been getting. Mechanics are clunky, the rules are poorly organized, and most of the setting information you can find free online. Now dont get me wrong, i am a fan of firefly and althought i havent seen the movie, i bought the novelization and read it. This gorram book is nothing but a piece of go-se. I expected more from margaret weis since i am a devoted fan of the Dragon Lance setting of D&D fame. I wont recomend this PDF to anyone, the actual book might differ on presentation quality but the content is sure to be as bad. I knew the system was crappy but i expected to mine the book for resources, there is a minuscule amount of worthwhile material. and most of the setting information in the book you can find on-line for free ( have to dig for it, but is fairly easy to find ) *sigh* sorry for the rant, is just that i was planning a conversion from that to hero and my work just got harder. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnTaber Posted November 3, 2005 Report Share Posted November 3, 2005 Re: My thoughts on the Serenity RPG PDF Hi Irojas: Thanks for the review. I really appreciate honest feedback as I was contemplating buying the book...especially feedback from a Hero gamer as they often have opinions on RPGs that mirror my own. I saw the print copy of the book and could not get past the price tag. Granted I'm old fashioned and used to meat over glitz but $40 seemed high for the material presented. Firefly should be REALLY easy to convert to Hero. You should definitely be able to knock it out fairly quickly. The only tough part MIGHT be River mind powers but if you are planning on stealing the setting only this could be ignored initially. Keep flyin'! PS The movie is GREAT! Don't let the book scare you off... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
incrdbil Posted November 3, 2005 Report Share Posted November 3, 2005 Re: My thoughts on the Serenity RPG PDF Yeah--Serenity screamed Star Hero to me as well. I saw the game book, but wasn't remotely tempted. Fan Sites and Hero system....like I need anything else if I choose to do Firefly based game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Long Posted November 3, 2005 Report Share Posted November 3, 2005 Re: My thoughts on the Serenity RPG PDF From the info I've seen on the DVD of Serenity (due out December 20), it looks like it'll have a metric buttload of setting information and other goodies in the extras, so maybe there's some hope on the horizon in that respect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lrojas Posted November 3, 2005 Author Report Share Posted November 3, 2005 Re: My thoughts on the Serenity RPG PDF Thanks all, i will indeed wait for the movie. Thanks for that bit of hope (DVD coming out Dec 20 ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flames Posted November 3, 2005 Report Share Posted November 3, 2005 Re: My thoughts on the Serenity RPG PDF Sure Serenity is ideal for Hero... as in Big Damn Heroes, sir. The Firefly Wiki has tons of source material, all lovingly categorized for your convenience, and if you have Pulp Hero, you've got what you need to represent the 19th-Century firearms the good people of the 'verse are totin'. The Equipment Guide ought to fill in the gaps regardin' all the BFGs the the likes of which a Mr. Jayne Cobb is known to saddle up with. I'm tellin' ya, a Serenity Hero supplement would be butt-kickin'. Package Deals for Browncoats, Shepherds, Registered Companions, Blue Hand Guys (assuming there were more than just the two), and Alliance Officers. Lists of weapons, everything from "Vera" to that little hemhorrhage-inducing sonic antenna thing. And the ships, oh baby, the ships. How hard would it be to get the licensing rights to this... and do it right for a change? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lrojas Posted November 3, 2005 Author Report Share Posted November 3, 2005 Re: My thoughts on the Serenity RPG PDF Seeing as the movies, series and everythign else is in a deep mish-marsh of legalities i woudl think that even if the good people of DOJ where interested in licensing could actaully do it. Besides, Steve-o has stated in the past that he would not go the licensing route, prefering instead to spend that money in Custom Content. Now, not everything is lost, Perhaps Solar Hero could capture the feel of serenity without actually being a copy of the setting. PS: if i have one gripe with the Setting books, is that they tend to be all in the same universe only in diferent epochs. How could would it be if the Turakian age was not the Champion World in the Distant past? How cool would it be if there was no limitation on setting creativity and DOJ started pumping campaing/setting books that where contained/independant of the main back plot? I will not hold my breath. I know Solar hero is going to be both the past of Terran Empire and the Future of Champions/Turakian/Valdorian/Dark Champions/Pulp Hero. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rigel Posted November 3, 2005 Report Share Posted November 3, 2005 Re: My thoughts on the Serenity RPG PDF lrojas, I understand what you are saying, but I am GM'ing a Turakian game now and I have played in a TE game. I don't see how one affects the other at all? Not to argue the point, but can you give me an example of how the choice of one large mega-setting has hurt one genre versus the other? Clearly, I can see how TE limited to a small extent what was possible in Alien Wars, and that will be true of Galactic Federation or Solar Hero, if they ever get published. I am just not sure I see how these limits hurt the setting any. If Hero announced three years ago their plans for all their major setting books (CU, TE, AW, Turakian, Valdorian, Galactic Champions, Galactic Federation, Solar Hero, and so on) and announced they were all separate universes, how would the books be different? Again, not flaming you or anything, but I just don't see it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lrojas Posted November 4, 2005 Author Report Share Posted November 4, 2005 Re: My thoughts on the Serenity RPG PDF I might be wrong, and it might just be a peeve of mine, but to answer your question ( keeping in mind the subjectivity of likes and dislikes ), i feel that the fact a huge mega setting is around ( a'la Old World of Darkness) puts a subtle choke-hold in the setting books. The way that feels to me is the same way somebody could say "get your stinking sci-fi out of my fantasy" or Vice-versa. in this case the permeating feel is the Super Hero Flavor always in the background. Maybe Turakian Age or Terran Empire wouldnt be too diferent had there not been a meta-plot, but we will never know, cause there is one. And how about alternate settings, lest think D&D for instance. They have the rule-set, a "default" setting and then the World books ( Forgotten Realms, Dragon Lance, Eberron, etc ) each one of those is separated in flavor with their own histories and unique feels, if there had been a whole encompasing Mega meta-plot, i think the diferent wolds would be poorer for it. I feel that uniqueness makes great fantasy, and i feel meta-plotting only gets in the way. In the case of the Hero Setting Books, the more settings books come out the closer the gap betwen each other. In the TA book you ahve a whole time-line that eventually leads to Vadorian Age, wich would lead to the new one coming wich would lead probably to son middle ground setting betwen pulp and that one, wich in turns leads to Dark Champions setting wich leads or exists simultaniosly with Champion Setting... well you get my drift... Hope that clears a bit my comentary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRavenIs Posted November 4, 2005 Report Share Posted November 4, 2005 Re: My thoughts on the Serenity RPG PDF I'd love to see work-up's for the ships. The weapons. just everything in Hero terms. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rigel Posted November 4, 2005 Report Share Posted November 4, 2005 Re: My thoughts on the Serenity RPG PDF Hope that clears a bit my comentary Yes, that cleared it up very well. And you're right that we are clearing talking about subjective likes and dislikes. With that being said, I disagree 100%. BTW, Hero Games has a sci-fi setting book on the schedule for next year called PSYCHIC WARS (though Allen's departure may cause some product shuffling) that is not a part of the larger meta-setting. I am looking forward to this book, partially to test your hypothesis about an independent book having an independent feel. It would not surprise me at all if Hero Games considers some alternate superhero settings book in the next few years. Once the entire 20th and 21st centuries is covered in published books, why stop publishing settings? With the relatively lower selling Star Hero line, we may have to wait longer before the whole 22nd to 30th centuries are fully published. PS, I now apologize for hijacking the thread. Please forgive me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lrojas Posted November 4, 2005 Author Report Share Posted November 4, 2005 Re: My thoughts on the Serenity RPG PDF Yes' date=' that cleared it up very well. And you're right that we are clearing talking about subjective likes and dislikes. With that being said, I disagree 100%. [/quote'] Well, you are allowed to disagree aint freedom of thought a wonder. Thanks for the coments. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curufea Posted November 4, 2005 Report Share Posted November 4, 2005 Re: My thoughts on the Serenity RPG PDF What about a floorplan of the Serenity Firefly? Is it in the PDF? Is it any good? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lrojas Posted November 4, 2005 Author Report Share Posted November 4, 2005 Re: My thoughts on the Serenity RPG PDF The floorplans for serenity are indeed there, very detailed. The floorplans are divided in 2 pages, each showing the upper and lower areas of the ship. The plans would help you visualize the ship but i consider them more an artistic resource. The write-up for the ship itself is pretty good giving details on diferent models and versions and even explaining what modifications Serenity has. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Goodwin Posted November 11, 2005 Report Share Posted November 11, 2005 Re: My thoughts on the Serenity RPG PDF Is everyone familiar with the Firefly Wiki? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Publius Posted November 16, 2005 Report Share Posted November 16, 2005 Re: My thoughts on the Serenity RPG PDF I actually like the game. The mechanics are very simplistic (moreso than WW for instance), but I feel that they allow for faster game play and thus capture the mood of a movie/TV series. The LUG Trek game did the same thing: a nice even flow in gameplay thanks to a simple ruleset (there were some PC creation elements I was cranky about though). To each their own. If you want to do Firefly within HERO though, I think that there is some good stuff here to use for background. Yeah the pdf is kind of troublesome if you are trying to print it out, I have a copy for reference more than anything (as I also sprang for the book). The trend now is these full color, graphics heavy books for lotsa dough rather than the HERO model of lower cost and more actual material (which I appreciate). The 4-color glossy books cost considerably more to produce, but in a market which is flooded with #$%$@#^ d20, it is (perhaps) the prettiest flowers that get picked. We'll see if this is accurate when the trend either goes away or remains steady in a few years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted November 16, 2005 Report Share Posted November 16, 2005 Re: My thoughts on the Serenity RPG PDF lrojas, perhaps it would help start your personal Firefly adaptation to see good HERO writeups of a few characters from the series. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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