Hello everyone,
So my college has a convention every year, and this time around, I was thinking of GMing a one-shot adventure. The theme I was thinking of was the show Firefly, but steampunked out. I have a number of ideas, but I am looking for help; mostly either things I didn't think of, or input on the ideas that I have had.
I am debating whether the Steampunked Serenity should be an airship or a steam-powered rocket ship in the style of Jules Verne or H.G. Wells. Making it into an airship gives it a lower-tech feeling, indicative of this being a steam powered adventure. The steam-powered rocket says to me analog computers, and lots of brass pipes with gauges, jets of steam when the ship takes damage, and so forth. I could see the space suits resembling the old deep-sea diving uniforms with the brass helmet, like something out of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.
I am also thinking that having over 6 characters involved might be too much to handle, so I have to be a bit more selective with which crew members to use. Mal is a given, being the captain. I am not using D&D for this: I am thinking One Roll Engine, though I may consider others, but I am still thinking, to a certain extent, of party roles. Simon fills the "healer" role, Zoe fills a fighting role, and River's psychic powers are vaguely reminiscent of the "mage" type. I figure Wash as the pilot is fairly important, which leaves Kaylee, Inarra, or Book as the 6th. I figured Jayne is kind of redundant in the presence of Zoe and Mal. At least in terms of party role. I'm interested in hearing thoughts.
I'm calling copyright infringement on this against my setting :P
Hmm, dunno, I'd take Jayne over Zoe as the "fighter". Kaylee might have the more interesting abilitites of the three left-overs; playing an engineer can be fun. And even if you've let go of a romantic sub-plot by replacing Zoe with Jayne you get Kaylee and Simon instead.
That being said, if you're steampunking it you might as well make new characters. You could even try blends of the known characters!
Jayne/River anyone? Or Inarra/book... the companion preacher.
Anyway, I'd probably take them a bit away from the original material if you're remaking the entire setting anyway.
Yeah, I don't see why you'd keep the Firefly characters if you're not keeping the setting (although if you did keep the characters you'd HAVE to keep Jayne - he'd easily be the most fun to roleplay, I'd say!). I do like the idea though (and I love Firefly), and a "steam-powered spaceships" one-shot could be awesome... who do you envision as the antagonists? Steampunk versions of Reavers or Alliance? Space pirates?
Quote from: SteerpikeYeah, I don't see why you'd keep the Firefly characters if you're not keeping the setting (although if you did keep the characters you'd HAVE to keep Jayne - he'd easily be the most fun to roleplay, I'd say!). I do like the idea though (and I love Firefly), and a "steam-powered spaceships" one-shot could be awesome... who do you envision as the antagonists? Steampunk versions of Reavers or Alliance? Space pirates?
Well, really I just wanted to put Firefly into a Steampunk tech setting. Rather similar to the whole Steampunk Star Wars (http://ericpoulton.blogspot.com/search/label/steampunk%20star%20wars) thing. A steam-powered spaceships one-shot can be good in itself, but a lot of the "Firefly"ness comes from the characters.
As for the antagonists, I had been thinking Alliance, but steampunk Reavers might be pretty cool.
I love this idea very much.
Alright, so people generally think it is a good idea, but that I should use Jayne instead of Zoe, and should probably choose Kaylee for the final character. These make sense to me, and I think they will work well.
Unless I am mistaken, people also seem to think that steam-powered space ships are cooler/better than to have them be in airships.
Plot-wise, what I am thinking is that the crew will have a job that somehow pits them up against the Alliance. On their way, they come across an abandoned ship that is actually a trap set by a Reaver ship. If they ignore the ship or otherwise steer clear, they avoid the Reavers, but if they investigate, the Reavers ambush them.
I understand that Firefly is very character driven but are you sure keeping the characters is for the best? You're already changing the setting and using general archetypes would make your game more accessible to people at the con who are less familiar with the show.
Any idea on how you'd pit them against the alliance directly? A job stealing from an alliance ship or outpost or the like, maybe?
Quote from: Ninja D!I understand that Firefly is very character driven but are you sure keeping the characters is for the best? You're already changing the setting and using general archetypes would make your game more accessible to people at the con who are less familiar with the show.
Any idea on how you'd pit them against the alliance directly? A job stealing from an alliance ship or outpost or the like, maybe?
I suppose I don't know for certain that it is for the best to keep them, but that is my decision. Those unfamiliar with the show would not find it easier to play characters who were not a part of the show, and those who ARE familiar get to enjoy playing their favorite characters.
What I am thinking is that the plot of the adventure will be as character driven as the show. I hope. Anyway, I am thinking Jayne, (who it has been STRONGLY suggested I use in place of Zoe) brawling in a bar while planetside, got himself apprehended by Alliance Feds. He cuts a deal with them to turn over the outlaw crew (as well as River and Simon) in exchange for a sizable reward. This is where the game begins. Jayne brings them news of being offered a job, saying that a client had some sort of precious cargo stolen by space pirates and needs
The Serenity to rescue it. Little do they know that the "pirates" are actually an Alliance ambush.
The ship they are looking for happens to match the profile of a derelict ship they come across. Should they think that these are their pirates, and board the ship to search for the package, it is not there, and they are instead attacked by Reavers.
Having gotten official approval to run the One-Shot, I wanted to mention it once more before it goes up.
So, I've changed some things around. Having tried to figure out how to do it, I have concluded that in terms of the game, the "Steampunk" wasn't really doing much. Not from a practical standpoint at least. The "Steampunk" would only come from changing how things were described, and I've decided that, as much fun as the idea of steampunking Firefly is, in this particular intance, it's not worth the effort.
So it's just Firefly. Which is awesome by itself. It also avoids the whole changed setting/same characters issue some people had. So I'm ok with this.
So, at this point I have a Firefly adventure, where the crew, delivering their cargo, find the town in ruins: buildings on fire, corpses in the streets. Some wounded survivors say it was Reavers, but anyone who knows the first thing about Reavers knows that Reavers don't leave survivors. So what's really going on here? Will they stay and find out? Or will they get out of Dodge while the coast is clear?
Awesome, you are now obligated to pull a steerpike and narrate for us on here what goes down with your players.
Oh, I was already planning on it.