Linking in the Characters

As I started on part three of the campaign, I suddenly found myself hitting a major snag - there's no really good reason for the PCs to go off exploring the other islands in the chain. Parts one and two are fairly straightforward in this manner, in that there are clearly some things that need to be done, and part four is the logical and obvious conclusion to it all. But part three is entirely, and indeed intentionally, skippable.

Which is something of a problem.

I have a partial solution, in that a couple of the elements in part two point to things in part three. But these are entirely skippable and besides, as I said, they're just a partial solution.

But, fortunately, there's a solution waiting for me to grab hold of.

Obviously, when the characters are created they'll generate a load of stuff: the usual ability scores, race, class, and so on; and the role-playing stuff as well, such as ideals, bonds, flaws, etc.

However, there are a couple of other things that can usefully be generated:

The players should, of course, be asked to come up with a name and a picture for their character.

They'll also be asked to come up with a reason why their character was on board the Far Horizon travelling to Equinox, and indeed why they were below decks immediately prior to the start of events.

But, finally, each character will be given a connection to the adventure - a lightweight hook to give them some interest in events beyond just "we happen to be here". This is similar to the personal quests I gave characters in the "Quest for Memory" campaign, albeit somewhat more lightweight. And, as an added bonus, they can all point to things in part three, thus giving the characters at least some reason to explore.

That's another partial solution, of course. But hopefully two such solutions should be enough.

Character Rebuilds

Once it was decided that we would proceed with the same characters into "Storm King's Thunder", some of my players mooted the possibility of adjusting their characters to more closely resemble how they would build them, rather than how they were presented in the Basic Set. Which is cool - I'm a convert to the notion that you should be able to rebuild your character at opportune times to better represent the character you want to play.

When performing a character rebuild, I have one iron rule: the core concept of the character must be maintained. By and large this will be treated as a retcon - this is the way the character has always been. That being the case, we don't want that to be a huge shock to the game. So if the character has always been a Dwarven Cleric who uses a battleaxe, he shouldn't suddenly become an Elven Wizard who uses a trident!

I have two lesser guidelines to be applied: you really shouldn't change the character's race (and probably not the subrace), and you probably shouldn't change the character's ability scores. Neither of these is quite so absolute, since these things tend not to be quite so clearly established within the fiction of the game, but if you get to the point where you're wanting to change those things, you're probably better off with a whole new character.

You'll note that I haven't said you can't change the character's class (or subclass). That's because the boundaries between some of the classes are at least a little flexible - an archer-Ranger could probably become an archer-Fighter (or vice versa) without too much difficulty, while a Paladin could probably become a Fighter without too much grief.

Two other things to consider, though:

Firstly, a character rebuild should generally be done only when an opportune time arrives - D&D 5e provides three such ideal opportunities, as the characters enter a new tier; alternately, my current game has an opportunity due to moving from "The Lost Mine of Phandelver" to "Storm King's Thunder".

Secondly, any given PC should probably only be rebuilt once in the course of his career. If you're feeling the need to chop and change more often than that, it's probably better to retire the character and start over.

As above, though, neither of these are my iron rule - they're both guidelines.

Dealing With Shopping

The work game is run on a tight timescale - we play almost once a week, but for only 90 minutes at a time. Allowing 5 minutes for set-up and 5 for tidy-up, that's not a lot of time!

As a consequence of this, it is of course beneficial to do anything that can be done outside of the session off-line. Levelling up is an obvious choice - if the players can make the choices, the rest can be done easily enough.

Slightly more complex is the issue of upgrading equipment, selling loot, and so on; in essence: shopping. At the same time, I don't really want to reduce all treasures down to a pure numeric value. So...

1. Items will still be issued by description. In addition, gold-piece values will be supplied.
   
2. When the PCs end any session in a settlement, the accumulated loot will be converted into gold and divided equally amongst the PCs.
   
3. Each player will also be issued with the shopping list of items (ideally, I'd like to supply a better list than that in the PHB - I find the listings of armour and weapons in particular to be quite weak. However, that may not be practical...). At any time, they can select items they want to buy for their PCs. And, the next time they end a session in a settlement, the deal will be done.
   
4. There won't be any special restrictions on which items can be bought where. Basically, there will indeed be a big warehouse of gear in every settlement. That's all a bit silly, of course, but it's a necessary evil - I want to spend the time playing, not shopping!
   
5. As discussed previously, each PC will be able to carry ten named items, plus their "trinket". That's not all the character will be carrying, but those are the items they consider important enough to declare. Ammo will be handled by writing "a quiver of arrows", or similar, and multiple identical items will count as one (within reason).

And that's basically that. Truth be told, that's probably pretty much the conventions I'll adopt in all campaigns going forward, even without the extremely tight session timings.

Four Tasks

In the current work game, I asked each player to provide a picture of their character. Once said picture was provided, the PC gained 100 XP, which went a long way towards advancing the character from 1st to 2nd level. Of course, this being the first game for most of the players, that was about as far as I wanted to push things - the characters are very much playing pieces at this point.

For the next work game, I'm hoping to delve a little bit more into role-playing aspects of the game, and especially group dynamics. As such, I have four tasks for the players. Each is worth 75 XP, but only when completed in order - if a player completes task #4 first they don't get the XP until they're all done!

1. Provide a picture for your PC.
   
2. Provide a little information about your PC. Specifically, one fact about his past, present, and future. (For instance, "I fell out with my brother ten years ago and we haven't spoken since. I always wear at least one blue item of clothing. I hope one day to return home with pockets full of gold.")
   
3. Your character is not a native to Icewind Dale, and the Dale is a fairly harsh and unforgiving realm. While it's obvious why your character has come to Icewind Dale, what is it that makes him stay?
   
4. Why do you adventure with this group of adventurers? What is it about them that you would trust them with your life?

As the last question notes, the party will be adventuring together, hopefully for the fairly long-term. However, as we've seen from the Avengers films, from Firefly, and from various other examples, it's generally most fun if the party are only mostly united - although they have common goals they also have competing agendas, different methods, and so forth. As such, I'll be encouraging the PCs not to be too harmonious. Which makes that last question crucial - without that answer, there's the risk of Civil War... which is fine as the climax of a campaign, but probably not right at the outset!

(Of course, the other thing that the group should work on, although not necessarily right away, is the origin story - how did this group get together. As seen in "Firefly", though, that doesn't necessarily need answered right away. Indeed, as seen in the original "Star Trek" series, it's even something that doesn't ever need to be fully answered.)

Evil PCs: The Job Interview

I've been giving a little thought to the question of evil PCs recently. Granted, I no longer use alignment, which means such PCs wouldn't get the official label, but the concept still applies.

Broadly speaking, when creating an evil PC I think there are two important questions to answer:

• What is it that makes this PC evil?
• Why should the other PCs continue to work with this guy?

(Of course, the second question is something that can be asked of any PC, and especially for any 'jerk' PC, not just outright evil ones. But that makes it no less valid to ask it of the evil PCs!)

In particular, it's worth considering whether this PC will be a lone evil PC in a non-evil group, or if he'll be part of an evil party. And, in the latter case, it's worth asking whether this PC has his own agenda, or if the group as a whole has a common goal - the latter case makes answering the second question easier, while the first may make for a more interesting party dynamic. ('Interesting' in the sense of 'explosive', that is!)

And it's probably worth noting that "he's really good at killing things" probably isn't a good enough answer to the second question. After all, that would be equally true of a PC who was exactly the same except for being non-evil. So you'll need something else - maybe he's related to another PC, or maybe the group's employer wants him along, or maybe the others simply don't know about his generally evil ways. It doesn't necessarily matter what the answer is, only that there is an answer.

Of course, there's also the common issue of players choosing an evil PC because they just want to cause trouble in the game. But I've talked about that previously, and it boils down to an obvious rule: don't be that guy. So that's enough about that, I think!

Firefly Characters #4 of 7: The Pilot (revised)

This is something I've been meaning to post for a long time. As I've mentioned before, I was never entirely happy with how to handle the character Sabra from the crew of Betty that I use for one-shots. At one point I thought I'd settled on giving her two 'fixed' and one 'floating' distinction, but I then spotted something in "Alien: Resurrection" that led me to settle on a third, quite useful, third distinction. Therefore, I've taken the time to revise the character, and can now present the results:

Sabra Hillard: Pilot

Attributes

Mental d8
Physical d8
Social d8

Skills

Craft d4
Drive d4
Fight d6
Fix d4
Fly (Transports) d10
Focus d4
Influence d6
Know d4
Labour d4
Move d6
Notice d8
Operate (Computers) d6
Perform d4
Shoot d8
Sneak (Surveillance) d6
Survive d6
Throw d4
Treat d6
Trick d8

Distinctions

Ship's Pilot
The list of folks wanting to hire you is longer than your arm. You're just that good.
Born Behind the Wheel: Spend 1 PP to step up or double your ship's Engines Attribute for your next roll.

Veteran of the Unification War
It don't matter which side you fight on, war leaves a mark on your heart n' soul.
War Stories: When you create an Asset or take a Complication related to a wartime flashback, step it up.

Hitched
You ever been with a warrior woman?

Signature Assets

Betty: d8
She may be a piece of le se, but Betty can still turn a trick or two with Sabra at the helm.

Roleplaying Notes

Sabra Hillard was born in the Black, and has lived most of her life out there. Indeed, she prefers the feel of artificial gravity to the real thing.

Growing up, Hillard was constantly on the move, constantly seeing new places, new faces. And, when the time came, she eagerly joined the Trader's Guild, following the same career as her parents before her. And she was happy there for several years.

But in time, even sticking with the same job proved to be stifling to her, and so when the opportunity came to sign on with Betty, she eagerly did so. Shortly thereafter, she became involved with the captain, and things were good.

Once again, though, Hillard is beginning to find the routine of it all uncomfortable. She's starting to think that her future is elsewhere again. It's not that she wants to leave; it's just that she's not sure she can stay.

Practically a New Person

This year's Christmas Game is another Firefly one-shot. It takes place thirteen years after the events of the movie "Serenity", and features the crew of that ship engaged in their usual mix of hijinks and desperate improvisation.

As a consequence of some time having passed in the setting, and also due to some of the revised roles taken on by the characters, it had been my intention to modify the various characters slightly for use in the one-shot. Thus they would remain largely recognisable, but there would also be a clear sense of growth.

However, as I proceeded to make the relevant changes, I quickly found that this was a less-than-ideal approach. Some of the new Distinctions just don't align at all well with the character's skills, and in some cases (notably River), the skills assigned by default don't match her new role at all.

As a consequence, I'm now planning a more or less complete rebuild of the characters for this one-shot, effectively recreating them as a new person for this session.

Mal: The captain of Serenity has spent the better part of the last thirteen years in solitary confinement on Perdition. For most of that time, the one thing that kept him going was the knowledge that Zoe simply would not abandon him to his fate and that therefore he just had to wait for a rescue. In the end, he was rescued two years ago by a crew of mercenaries hired by Inara and Simon. Reunited with his crew, he has found that Zoe did indeed leave him to his fate, a matter that sticks in his craw rather.

Mal's revised Distinctions will be Ship's Captain (because he is), Unresolved Issues (or similar) to reflect his being left behind, and Lost a Step (or similar) to reflect his ordeal on Perdition.

Zoe: There was only one thing that could take Zoe from Mal's side, and that was the birth of her daughter Emma Washburne. Zoe has thus spent the last decade or so serving as the sheriff on the moon Tombstone, and for most of that time believed that Mal was dead. When news reached her that her captain had been freed, she immediately disentangled herself from her new life, and she and Emma headed back to the Black.

Zoe's revised Distinctions are Backwater Sheriff, Mama Bear, and Steady.

Jayne: When Serenity was identified as the most wanted boat in the 'Verse, and when the jobs dried up, Jayne decided the time had come for him to leave. He has spent the last decade bouncing around from job to job without any great direction. He's now captain of his own ship, with a hotshot mechanic, and a rotating crew of ne'er-do-wells. But word has reached him that an old friend is dying, and his conscience (Kaylee) has been nagging him, and so he's heading back for one last job.

Jayne is probably the least changed of the characters: his Distinctions of Crude, Mercenary, and Family Ties can all still apply.

Simon: No longer on the run, Simon spent some time considering whether simply to return home with River. But when Mal was captured, he found a new purpose: to become the saviour of the man who once saved him. He has spent a decade working closely with Inara, building up a network of contacts and becoming a veritable mastermind, all with the aim of bringing the captain home. Alas, this all came with a cost - Simon's relationship with Kaylee broke down very early on, driving the mechanic from the ship. Simon is therefore wracked with both guilt and loss as a result of this mistake.

Simon's new Distinctions are Ship's Doctor, Mastermind, and Family Ties.

River: Unlike Simon, River never had any intention of going home. Instead, she has found a new family on Serenity, and a new place behind the controls. She's been the pilot of that boat for some years now, and has developed quite a connection to the old girl.

River is probably the most changed of the characters, because as written she completely lacks any skills in Fight, Pilot, or Operate. These will need changed, and she should also have Serenity added as a Signature Asset. Her revised Distinctions will be Government Experiment, Ship's Pilot, and Reader.

Kaylee: Once upon a time, it seemed that no power in the 'Verse could stop Kaylee being cheerful, and certainly nothing could take her away from Serenity. But these were both proven wrong when Simon became obsessed with rescuing Mal Raynolds. He managed to deeply offend Kaylee and in fact drove her away from her home. Heartbroken, Kaylee went to work with Jayne, and has been serving as his conscience as well as his mechanic.

Like Jayne, Kaylee is largely unchanged: her Distinctions remain Ship's Mechanics, Sweet & Cheerful, and Everything's Shiny. Even her abiding love for Serenity, reflected in her Signature Asset, remains unchanged - while she cares for Jayne's ship, you never forget your first love.

Inara: The former Companion is dying, and serves an expository role in this game. As such, she won't be available as a PC.

Emma Washburne: The daughter of Wash and Zoe, Emma is being dragged across the 'Verse by her mother. She doesn't know it, but she was actually delivered by Simon and cared for by the crew of Serenity in her earliest days. But for the past years she has lived on Tombstone, and is less than pleased at being taken from the only home she remembers. Plus, her mother is way over-protective.

Emma has inherited more from her father than she knows: her Distinctions are Ship's Pilot, A Little Nervous, and Wet Behind the Ears.

Aki Ross: When Kaylee left, Serenity foud herself in need of a new mechanic. Inara therefore contracted Aki Ross, a no-nonsense gal with a list of recommendations longer than your arm. Aki barely talks, and never about her past, but she's a calming influence on the ship with much the same demeanour as the late Shepherd Book.

Aki's Distinctions are Ship's Mechanic, Mysterious Past, and Steady.

(With five players and nine members of the Crew - eight possible PCs - I don't know quite which set of PCs I'll end up with. I think my "ideal cast" would be Mal, Zoe, Emma, Simon, and Kaylee since that probably gives the maximum scope for intra-party strife. But it should work okay with most combinations - maybe not Jayne, Kaylee, River, Aki, and Emma, but I think that's unlikely.)

Firefly Characters #7 of 7: The Ship

In preparation for this year's Christmas Game, I'm going through the process of converting the crew of Betty from the Serenity system to Firefly. In effect, this actually means rebuilding the characters from the ground up, but that's okay. Nonetheless, it may be worth comparing to the previous version.

In the Firefly RPG, as in the Serenity RPG before it, ships are treated largely as characters in their own right - they have Attributes, Distinctions, and Signature Assets. Ships don't have skills, but that appears to be the only significant omission. As for the Serenity RPG, this is an interesting and entirely approach to handling ships in this game.

Oddly enough, my previous stats ofr Betty have never actually seen use - the ship was actually modelled as a Firefly in the first one-shot and didn't appear at all in the second. Therefore, what follows is an entirely new construction.

Betty's three Distinctions are "Auriga Class Transport", which is new, "Battle-Scarred", and "Smuggler's Delight", and her two Signature Assets "Computer-Assisted Controls" and "Hidden Storage". Between them, these model both the ship's extreme age and her use in smuggling cargo.

Betty: Modified Auriga Class Mid-Bulk Transport

Attributes

Engine d10
Hull d8
Systems d6

Distinctions

Auriga Class Transport
Designed as a multi-purpose boat, the Auriga Class Transport is now falling out of use due to the venerable nature of its design. Although variations exist, all Auriga Class ships are engineered with certain fixed compartments: cargo hold, engine room, and bridge.
Runnin' On Empty: Create a Low Fuel d8 Complication to step up Engines for the rest of the scene.

Battle-Scarred
Your ship proudly displays the scars of many battles fought during the Unification War. Though she's showing signs of wear, your boat's still here. Guess that means somethin'.
That Part Don't Work Anyway: Step back your ship's Hull Attribute for the rest of the scene to step back a new Complication that's just been inflicted on your ship.

Smuggler's Delight
Certain ships have been modified to address the needs of "privacy-minded" crews.

Signature Assets

Computer-Assisted Controls: d8
As part of the modification for paraplegic use, Vriess has installed significant computer assistance in the controls. This is frequently useful, but also somewhat glitchy.

Hidden Storage: d8
Salvaging derelicts is good work, provided a captain has the license for it. For those operating outside the Law, hidden storage compartments provide ways to stash precious cargo, illegal salvage, etc.

Roleplaying Notes

"This piece of gosa is even older than I am!"

If the Firefly class is the iconic ship design of the current era of mercantalism, then the Auriga-class would be the standard-bearer for an earlier age. You don't see many of them around these days, but half a century ago they were near-ubiquitous in the spacelanes. Through a combination of design and excellent build quality, the Bernard-Lingotti Corporation managed to capture lightning in a bottle. Between five slightly different official models, and any number of knock-off designs, more than 200,000 Auriga-class vessels were commissioned before the line was finally superseded.

Betty started her operational service as a fairly standard 05-model Auriga class, outfitted for cargo lifting. However, even from the outset she was maintained with exceptional care, thus explaining why she remains in active service even so long after her first registration.

Over the decades, Betty has been reconfigured and repurposed several times. Somewhere along the line, her entire engine assembly was removed and replaced with the integrated systems and power plant from a Firefly-class vessel, a modification that vastly extended her operational lifespan, but one that is itself showing its age. At least one owner was of a sufficiently larcenous bent as to have all manner of hidey-holes fitted for the concealment of small, high-value (and probably illegal) cargoes. And Vriess has gone to some lengths to further advance the ship's systems, installing some highly illegal transponder-foiling software, as well as accessibility controls allowing a pilot to fly the ship without the use of his legs.

Betty's service in the Unification War was, regrettably, rather unedifying. Her previous owner was a Browncoat sympathiser, and took to running weapons and materiel. He was promptly captured by the Alliance, tried as a war criminal, and shot. Betty spent the rest of the war locked in an impound, before being auctioned off. Thus, she made her way into the hands of Frank Elgyn. 'Course, whether her new use is any better than smuggling weapons is a matter of some debate...

Firefly Characters #6 of 7: The Mechanic

In preparation for this year's Christmas Game, I'm going through the process of converting the crew of Betty from the Serenity system to Firefly. In effect, this actually means rebuilding the characters from the ground up, but that's okay. Nonetheless, it may be worth comparing to the previous version.

As I discussed in my earlier post, it is my intent to build these characters by first working out the three most important things about the characters, and using that to select Distinctions. Further, as a rough rule of thumb, I intend to select two of these from the depiction of the characters in "Alien: Resurrection", and add a third to better suit the character's use in home games.

The most obvious aspect of Vriess' character is his disability - the character is in a wheelchair. Unfortunately, I found in the "Firefly: Furiously Fast" one-shot that this could lead to a player focussing on what the character couldn't do, rather than what he could. However, I'm hopeful that this will actually not be the case in the Firefly RPG - the character is assigned the "Invalid" Distinction, which is a clear fit, and also has his chair listed as a Signature Asset. Hopefully, this will turn a seeming weakness into a strength, without totally negating a key part of the character.

The other Distinctions for the character are the obvious "Ship's Mechanic" role, and "Steely Reserves" - Vriess has had a knock, but he's a tough one.

John Vriess: Engineer

Attributes

Mental d10
Physical d8
Social d6

Skills

Craft d4
Drive d6
Fight d4
Fix (Engines) d12
Fly (Transports) d6
Focus d8
Influence d6
Know (Art) d6
Labour d4
Move d4
Notice d6
Operate (Machinery) d10
Perform d4
Shoot d6
Sneak d4
Survive d6
Throw d4
Treat d4
Trick d4

Distinctions

Ship's Mechanic
A ship's a living thing, no matter what they say. You can feel when she's sick, and she makes you proud when she's well.
Miracle Worker: If you replace your Fix Skill with a d4 for your next roll, gain a Big Damn Hero Die equal to that Skill's normal die rating if your roll is successful.

Steely Reserves
People think you're a pushover. They're always a mite surprised when you don't bend.
Not Today: When you take a Complication to stay in a fight, you can spend 1 PP to double an appropriate Attribute in your next roll.

Invalid
You can't get much of anywhere without somebody's help.

Signature Assets

The Chair: d8
Vriess has been working on his chair for years, constantly modifying and refitting. Part mechanised transport and part concealed arsenal, it is practically designed to foil a weapons scanner.

Roleplaying Notes

To hear Vriess tell it, he was born in battle at Serenity Valley. He was serving with the Browncoats when a stray bit of shrapnel hit him in the lower back. In that instant, the man he had been was killed, and the man he is today was born.

His reticence to talk about his life prior to this moment has led others to conclude that he doesn't like to talk about his injury, but the truth is quite different. To his way of thinkin', there's no point in dwelling on the past and on what was lost. He reckons he's already survived the very worst the 'Verse can throw at a man, and so he can live without fear. He's actually quite cheerful about it.

After the war, Vriess spent a lot of time in a Veteran's hospital, where he came to profoundly hate doctors, but more especially that breed to beautiful young woman who will come and 'cheer' patients with their sympathy. Bad enough that he was disabled, without them inflicting new torment on him by looking at him as a cripple, instead of as a man.

Eventually, he had had enough, and he fled the hospital, only to find a new hell outside. Nobody had any time for injured vets, especially an injured vet from the 'wrong' side. Work was nigh-impossible to find, and starvation beckoned until an old foe, Frank Elgyn, crossed his path. Elgyn was puttin' together a crew for his ship, and he needed a good mechanic. Although they had been on opposite sides in the war, he knew ability trumped sentiment, and so a deal was struck. And in the years since, the two have forged a strong, if quiet, friendship.

Firefly Characters #5 of 7: The Newbie

In preparation for this year's Christmas Game, I'm going through the process of converting the crew of Betty from the Serenity system to Firefly. In effect, this actually means rebuilding the characters from the ground up, but that's okay. Nonetheless, it may be worth comparing to the previous version.

As I discussed in my earlier post, it is my intent to build these characters by first working out the three most important things about the characters, and using that to select Distinctions. Further, as a rough rule of thumb, I intend to select two of these from the depiction of the characters in "Alien: Resurrection", and add a third to better suit the character's use in home games.

In this regard, Call is a little tricky - the key feature of the character in "Alien: Resurrection" is that she turns out to be an Auton, an artificial person. Of course, Autons aren't a feature of the Firefly 'Verse, and after trying this out in the "Firefly: Furiously Fast" game it was felt that this element of the cross-over was best avoided. So Call needs some rework to make fit.

Fortunately, it's possible to rewrite her background to keep the core of the character intact: make her hugely secretive with something dark in her past, give her infiltration and computer skills, and retain her role as ship's technician. With that in mind then I've assigned her the Invisible Ops Distinction to reflect her hidden agenda in the film, Mysterious Past to reflect the big, dark secret she has (albeit a different one from the film), and Wet Behind the Ears to reflect her being the newbie on the ship.

Annalee Call: Technician

Attributes

Mental d10
Physical d6
Social d8

Skills

Craft d4
Drive d6
Fight d8
Fix (Hotwire) d8
Fly d6
Focus d4
Influence d4
Know (Electronics) d8
Labour d4
Move d4
Notice d6
Operate (Security Systems) d12
Perform d4
Shoot d4
Sneak (In Plain Sight) d8
Survive d4
Throw d4
Treat d4
Trick d6

Distinctions

Invisible Ops
I could tell you what I do, but then I'd have to kill you and everyone on this ship and I do hate making a mess
We Were Never Here: When acting on your secret orders, spend 1 PP to step up or double Sneak for an Action.

Mysterious Past
You weren't born to the life you're livin' now.
Ghosts of Yesterday: Create a d8 Complication relating to your history to step up your Fight, Know, or Sneak for a scene. This Complication cannot be stepped back by spending PPs to activate Opportunities.

Wet Behind the Ears
Folks say you're naive. It ain't that. You just grew up a mite sheltered, is all.

Signature Assets

There's an App for That: d8
Call carries a bunch of electronic gizmos about her person. These are useful for disrupting the operation of many electronic systems.

Roleplaying Notes

The newest member of Betty's crew, Call seldom talks about her past. She was born to an unremarkable middle-class family on an unremarkable planet, and enrolled to an unremarkable school. However, her native intelligence, coupled with her affinity for computers let to her quickly being fast-tracked into a top-notch religious school. The rigourous discipline of the school, coupled with the intensive learning environment, lead her to joke that she was built, rather than born.

In her inevitable teenage rebellion, Call avoided the classic "drink and boys" mix, in favour of hacking and burglary. She proved quite adept at this, and so avoided being caught for all but the most minor of infractions. But, of course, since getting caught was a large part of her purpose, this merely inspired her to ever-greater exploits. Eventually, people got hurt.

After her schooling, Call spent some time drifting from one job to another. She could have easily commanded a high wage in a legitimate career, but she could never stomach the tedium. And so, a few months ago she signed on with the crew of Betty, with no real goal than just seeing more of the universe.

Call is an inherently secretive person. She has several talents that she'd simply rather people didn't know about, even those people closest to her. And she's fairly prone to going off-mission, in order to pursue some agenda of her own. Still, outright betrayal is not really her scene - she's more than smart enough to realise the value in not burning bridges.

Firefly Characters #4 of 7: The Pilot

In preparation for this year's Christmas Game, I'm going through the process of converting the crew of Betty from the Serenity system to Firefly. In effect, this actually means rebuilding the characters from the ground up, but that's okay. Nonetheless, it may be worth comparing to the previous version.

As I discussed in my earlier post, it is my intent to build these characters by first working out the three most important things about the characters, and using that to select Distinctions. Further, as a rough rule of thumb, I intend to select two of these from the depiction of the characters in "Alien: Resurrection", and add a third to better suit the character's use in home games.

Sabra has always been the most difficult of the characters to generate, as there was very little to hang the character on. But Firefly makes it almost ridiculously easy to generate the character: the "Ship's Pilot" and "Hitched" Distinctions match the two things we know about her from the film, leaving only one to choose. For the upcoming adventure I have created a new Distinction, "Not Guilty", reflecting the fact that Sabra was the only character not to feature in the previous "Bound by Law" adventure. The fact that she, alone of all the characters, doesn't have a criminal record is liable to prove very useful...

Sabra Hillard: Pilot

Attributes

Mental d8
Physical d8
Social d8

Skills

Craft d4
Drive d6
Fight d4
Fix d4
Fly (Transports) d10
Focus d4
Influence d8
Know d4
Labour d4
Move d8
Notice d8
Operate (Computers) d6
Perform d4
Shoot d4
Sneak (Surveillance) d8
Survive d4
Throw d4
Treat d6
Trick d10

Distinctions

Ship's Pilot
The list of folks wanting to hire you is longer than your arm. You're just that good.
Born Behind the Wheel: Spend 1 PP to step up or double your ship's Engines Attribute for your next roll.

Not Guilty
You may have been before the magistrate, but nothin's ever stuck.
These Aren't the Goods You're Looking For: Step back your Physical die to step up your Social die when convincing someone you're not a threat.

Hitched
You ever been with a warrior woman?

Signature Assets

Betty: d8
She may be a piece of le se, but Betty can still turn a trick or two with Sabra at the helm.

Roleplaying Notes

Sabra Hillard was born in the Black, and has lived most of her life out there. Indeed, she prefers the feel of artificial gravity to the real thing.

Growing up, Hillard was constantly on the move, constantly seeing new places, new faces. And, when the time came, she eagerly joined the Trader's Guild, following the same career as her parents before her. And she was happy there for several years.

But in time, even sticking with the same job proved to be stifling to her, and so when the opportunity came to sign on with Betty, she eagerly did so. Shortly thereafter, she became involved with the captain, and things were good.

Once again, though, Hillard is beginning to find the routine of it all uncomfortable. She's starting to think that her future is elsewhere again. It's not that she wants to leave; it's just that she's not sure she can stay.

Firefly Characters #3 of 7: The First Officer

In preparation for this year's Christmas Game, I'm going through the process of converting the crew of Betty from the Serenity system to Firefly. In effect, this actually means rebuilding the characters from the ground up, but that's okay. Nonetheless, it may be worth comparing to the previous version.

As I discussed in my earlier post, it is my intent to build these characters by first working out the three most important things about the characters, and using that to select Distinctions. Further, as a rough rule of thumb, I intend to select two of these from the depiction of the characters in "Alien: Resurrection", and add a third to better suit the character's use in home games.

In the case of Christie, then, the two Distinctions from the film are simple: we know he's the First Mate, and we know he is a crack shot specialising in twinned pistols. For the third, I have selected Friends in Low Places, to tie in to the background I have invented for the character. From there, it was all reasonably easy...

Christie: First Officer

Attributes

Mental d8
Physical d8
Social d8

Skills

Craft d8
Drive d6
Fight (Kung Fu) d8
Fix d4
Fly d4
Focus d4
Influence (Streetwise) d6
Know d4
Labour d6
Move d8
Notice d8
Operate d6
Perform d4
Shoot (Trick Shots) d10
Sneak d4
Survive d4
Throw d6
Treat d4
Trick d4

Distinctions

First Mate
You're the captain's right hand, but as often as not you're his fist.

Dead Eye
You're cool under fire and a keen shot.
Take Aim: Step back Move until the end of the scene to create an In My Crosshairs d8 Asset.

Friends in Low Places
Those of us on the Rim don't have much, but we stick together. There's a power in that.
I Know a Guy: Spend 1 PP to create a d8 Asset when you call in a shady friend with the skills you need.

Signature Assets

Guns Akimbo: d8
Christie has two pistols concealed in the sleeves of his greatcoat. These are attached, so cannot be disarmed, but neither can he "drop them!"

Roleplaying Notes

Christie has lived a hard life, partly through outrageous fortune, and partly through his own mistakes. His first error was being born the son of a writer who aspired to be dirt-poor. On Osiris, that was a minor transgression, although one that was probably forgivable. But his unforgivable sin was that his mother was the daughter of one of the planet's richest advocates. When she elected to marry Christie's father, the old bastard disowned her, cut her off from all connections, and then systematically blackballed Christie's father.

Nonetheless, Christie's parents knew the value of a good education and of refined manners, and they ensured their son acquired both. Unfortunately, amongst the poor that only made their son a target. Christie was bullied for years, right up to the point where he fought back - sadly, a little too well. That was the last time he was ever bullied, but it was also the last time he went to school, or saw his parents. He ran - better that than a murder rap.

During the war, Christie fought for the Alliance, purely because the military gave him a place in the 'Verse. Sadly, once the war was done, his family connections bit him again, and he was out. That was when he signed on with Elgyn, and found a new place for himself.

Christie is broadly loyal to his captain and his crewmates, but he is very definitely his own man. In particular, he won't accept being bullied. He also now takes a somewhat perverse pride in remaining poor - he appreciates what money can do, but prefers to use it for short-term pleasure, rather than accumulating it and risking becoming his grandfather.

Chameleon

I've just hit upon the solution to my difficulties with the character of Sabra in Firefly one-shots!

As I mentioned a few posts ago, I'm inclined to think that the best way to create characters for this game is to write down the three most important things about the character, and use these to create the character's Distinctions - probably the key defining element of characters in this game.

However, Sabra had always struck me as something of a 'void' character - she's the ship's pilot, she's involved with the Captain, but other than that we know virtually nothing about her. Well, except that she gets killed by an alien while swimming.

So, I was trying to come up with a good "third thing" about the character. And, being honest, I was doing so with one eye on the upcoming Christmas Game. However, I kept hitting on a criticism: "isn't it incredibly convenient that she just happens to..." Plus, of course, if she just happens to fit this adventure, she probably doesn't fit the next one.

Then the solution hit me: what if this character didn't have a fixed "third thing", but was instead built with two 'permanent' Distinctions with a third assigned at the time so that she always "just happens" to fit the adventure?

(Which is not without precedent in the Firefly RPG - one of the things that threw me on my first glance through the book was that the character of Saffron was actually quite different from Yo-Saff-Bridge. Because they took the wise decision to limit the complexity of NPCs, the publishers established that it was legitimate to rebuild such characters if they need to play different roles in different Episodes.)

So, that's my solution: Sabra will be built with the "Ship's Pilot" and (probably) "Hitched" Distinctions, plus a third "Chameleon" Distinction which will be assigned closer to the time. And that's that problem solved. Huzzah!

Firefly Characters #2 of 7: The Mercenary

In preparation for this year's Christmas Game, I'm going through the process of converting the crew of Betty from the Serenity system to Firefly. In effect, this actually means rebuilding the characters from the ground up, but that's okay. Nonetheless, it may be worth comparing to the previous version.

As I discussed in a previous post, it is my intent to build these characters by first working out the three most important things about the characters, and using that to select Distinctions. Further, as a rough rule of thumb, I intend to select two of these from the depiction of the characters in "Alien: Resurrection", and add a third to better suit the character's use in home games.

In the case of Johner, the Distinctions were easy: the character is essentially Jayne, meaning I could simply copy a lot of material. In particular, the Mercenary and Crude Distinctions fit perfectly. Jayne's third Distinction didn't fit, but a third Distinction seemed entirely appropriate: Mighty Hideous - I mean, just look at that face!

Johner: The Muscle

Attributes

Mental d6
Physical d10
Social d8

Skills

Craft d4
Drive d4
Fight (Knives) d12
Fix d4
Fly d6
Focus d4
Influence (Intimidation) d6
Know d4
Labour d8
Move d8
Notice d6
Operate d4
Perform d4
Shoot (Rifles) d10
Sneak d4
Survive d6
Throw d4
Treat d4
Trick d4

Distinctions

Mercenary
They don't pay you to look pretty. They pay you to shoot things.
Time for Some Thrillin' Heroics: Spend 1 PP to go first in any battle or combat scene. On your first Action, you may reroll any dice that come up 1 instead of accepting a Plot Point.

Crude
You're a little gorram rough around the edges.
Obnoxious: Gain 1 PP when you choose to disrupt, upset, or challenge the social order of things when you have the option of being mannerly or polite.

Mighty Hideous
You weren't pretty to start, but then you got yourself deformed somethin' fierce. Now folks try not to even look at you.

Signature Assets

Thermos Gun: d8
Johner usually carries his weapons openly, but when he needs to sneak something past a search or a scan, he has just the thing.

Roleplaying Notes

Johner was born on Higgin's Moon, and dragged up by a succession of 'uncles'. He spent two seasons farming mud, and as soon as opportunity permitted he jumped that rock. He hasn't looked back since.

Johner fought on both sides during the war in various mercenary units. Provided the money was good, he was happy to do whatever was required - and there was no shortage of work. In fact, peace is probably the worst thing that has ever happened to him.

Johner signed on with Betty early on, bringing to the table a significant talent for destruction, coupled with an almost complete lack of morals. Just about the only thing that causes him moral outrage is when he doesn't get paid enough for the job.

Johner is actually quite good with money. He has a secret bank account, into which he funnels most of his pay, and then he (naturally) pleads a poverty of ready money to the rest of the crew. The contents of his account are pleasingly high, but never quite pleasing enough - he's permanently one big score away from retirement. Though what he would do if he did retire, he couldn't say.

Firefly Characters #1 of 7: The Captain

In preparation for this year's Christmas Game, I'm going through the process of converting the crew of Betty from the Serenity system to Firefly. In effect, this actually means rebuilding the characters from the ground up, but that's okay. Nonetheless, it may be worth comparing to the previous version.

As I discussed in my previous post, it is my intent to build these characters by first working out the three most important things about the characters, and using that to select Distinctions. Further, as a rough rule of thumb, I intend to select two of these from the depiction of the characters in "Alien: Resurrection", and add a third to better suit the character's use in home games.

In the case of Elgyn, then, the two Distinctions from the film are simple: we know he's the Ship's Captain, we know he has at least one Friend in High Places, both of which are existing Distinctions. For the third, I have selected Not to be Crossed, to represent his vendetta against Silas Cho-Zhu. So that's done. Even better, it's relatively easy to select appropriate triggers for those Distinctions, the skills match up reasonably well, and so the character basically falls into place:

Frank Elgyn: Mercenary Captain

Attributes

Mental d8
Physical d8
Social d8

Skills

Craft d4
Drive d4
Fight d6
Fix d4
Fly d8
Focus d8
Influence (Leadership) d10
Know (Bureaucracy) d8
Labour d4
Move (Running) d6
Notice d6
Operate d4
Perform d4
Shoot (Pistols) d6
Sneak d4
Survive d6
Throw d4
Treat d4
Trick d6

Distinctions

Ship's Captain
A natural leader, you're responsible for the Crew and the ship you all fly in.
Lead the Crew: When one of your crew directly follows one of your orders, spend 1PP and give that Crewmember an asset equal to your Influence die rating.

Not to be Crossed
Just so we're clear: if you cross me, I will end you.
To the Edge of the Black: When you pursue someone who crossed you into obvious danger, create a d8 Asset for the scene.

Friends in High Places
The Alliance thinks highly of you. That's the only opinion that matters.

Signature Assets

Betty: d8
Elgyn has a close connection to his ship, an Auriga class mid-bulk transport, and won't allow just anybody to fly or fix her.

Roleplaying Notes

Elgyn was born and raised on Shadow, and would have made for a natural Browncoat were it not for a deep survivalist streak in his nature. He saw the forces arrayed, and calculated that the Purple Bellies had the manpower, the ships, and the technology. Knowing that a neutral could never benefit from the war, he signed up quickly, and made sure to seek a nice, safe, administrative role.

Make no mistake: Elgyn's no coward. He's tough, and more than willing to get his hands dirty. But he's also smart, and he knows good and proper that the only sure way to live through a fight is to be elsewhere.

Having found himself an undistinguished role as lieutenant in the Alliance Quartermaster's Corps, Elgyn quickly learned the value of contraband. In every war, there are always those who will profit, and there are always luxuries that cannot be easily had. So, with the tacit (and well-paid) approval of Captain Perez, he got his start. And after the war, he made the smallest of career changes, and carried right on making money.

Elgyn has been doing this for a good number of years now. He has a ship, and he's found a crew. The jobs come - they come with some difficulty, especially since the Alliance got that bloody nose a few years back - but they come.

He prides himself on his good name. He doesn't claim to have much honour, but he knows that he's good at what he does, and he knows that other people know it also. He would hate to see that tarnished. And on those rare occasions when his conscience does trouble him, he reminds himself of his two golden rules. Either that, or he drinks his troubles away.

Still Stuck With Sabra

Saturday was our "Christmas Game", which once again was a "Serenity RPG" one-shot. And, as discussed previously, I once again used the crew of Betty, the ship from "Alien: Resurrection", as the PCs. It worked very well, despite us having a no-show that reduced us to four players.

However, the one thing that still doesn't feel quite right is the character of Sabra Hillard - the pilot. In the one-shot this was fine as, with six characters and fewer players, I could simply hold back that character. Any of the other five made for a fine choice, and each of the four who were chosen had a chance to shine in the story as presented. (The fifth character also had some opportunities present - at no point did the PCs sneak into the admin block in the facility, something at which Call would have excelled.)

But Sabra is difficult. In the film, we know three things about her: she's the pilot, she's the captain's lover, and she dies while swimming. She's not the captain, the badass merc, Ron Perlman, the sneaky hacker with a dark secret, or the funny mechanic in a wheelchair. All the other characters has a fun 'hook' that the player is likely to grab on to and run with. Sabra just... doesn't.

I've now got a year before the next one-shot featuring this crew, and it's likely I'll be converting them to the "Firefly RPG" in the interim. Plus, the next story should suit this character a little better than this one did, as it's civilisation-bound rather than set in a prison.

Still, it would be good to find some idea of how better to use this one...

The NPC Summary

Some ages ago, I did a post on three DMing tricks, in which I repeated three tricks I had adopted: "Five Things You Know About...", the use of bullet points for setting a scene, and the Three-Clue Rule.

I was recently given cause to consider the 'best' way to present an NPC for an adventure. Which, somehow, led me back to the same place.

Now, I should note at the outset that I'm not talking about the mechanical representation of a character here, which will inevitably vary from game to game. Instead, I'm talking about those things that are non-mechanical in nature - the character's appearance, motivations, personality quirks, and so on.

So, what is the best way to present this information?

Well, I think the key consideration lies in how it is going to be used. Normally, the GM will read the adventure once to glean the key information, and then will run the adventure at the table. In an ideal world, he will have taken the time to transcribe all the key information into a more useful format, but this should not be assumed.

When the time comes to use the NPC in play, the GM is quite possibly juggling half a dozen different things at once - he really doesn't want to have to read through 500 words of purple prose just to learn that the NPC is left-handed!

So, really, what is needed is some sort of short and to the point summary of the key details. Something where key points are pulled out, and extraneous information is not included. And, of course, there should be a small and manageable number of such points. Five, perhaps.

Additionally, the more important something is, the sooner it should be listed; and the more obvious something is to the PCs, the sooner it should be introduced.

So, yeah, my suggestion for adventure writers, when presenting an NPC, is to first provide a "Five Things" list for the NPC. The points should probably be:

• The character's expected role in the adventure.
• What the character is doing, how he is trying to do it, and why he is doing it (that way).
• The character's appearance, in broad terms.
• Any quirks or mannerisms the character has, in terms of appearance, personality, verbal tics, or whatever. This may require several points.
• And, finally, an optional list of suitable adjectives.

After presenting the summary, and especially for 'key' NPCs, it may well be appropriate to provide a longer description of the character, split down into the key categories (background, appearance, personality, etc...). However, this should be in addition to the summary, not instead. This may seem redundant, since the information is then repeated, but what is lost in repetition is gained in utility, which is a net win.

(As an added bonus, the use of the summary should mean that NPCs can be transcribed onto index cards, with the character's name and picture, game stats, and the summary notes all right there on the card for easy reference. Which is probably useful.)

For an example of what I mean:

Kup - Grizzled Veteran

• Kup fills the 'mentor' role in the story - he sees it as his job to guide the hero to his ultimate destiny.
• Kup tries to guide the hero to his destiny, by keeping him safe from the worst consequences of his mistakes, by acting as a calming influence, and by trying to be a positive role model. He does this because he has seen one to many would-be hero kill himself in a blaze of stupidity.
• Kup is old, and he shows it. He has a slight stoop and his joints creak when pressed. All his equipment is likewise old, but it remains serviceable due to high quality and regular maintenance.
• Everything reminds Kup of something else. All his stories start, "I remember the time..."
• Suitable adjectives: Old, Crotchety, Curmudgeonly, Stern.

And there it is. The GM almost certainly doesn't need to know the exact details of Kup's adventures with the shrikebats of Dromedon, unless it is directly related to this adventure, so it's as well to leave that a blank. That's one key advantage that an RPG has over a novel - there's a GM on hand to fill in any gaps. And, indeed, it may be better if the GM is deliberately given room to leave his own stamp on the adventures or the characters - not least because he might prefer to replace Kup with Ironhide for the purposes of this story, a process that is made easier if the whole thing isn't impossibly tightly woven...

Serenity Characters #7 of 7: The Ship

This is the seventh and last entry detailing the crew from the Serenity one-shot I ran last weekend. Given that I intend to make use of the same characters for future one-shots, it seems wise to give some more thought to how the characters should be constructed, and perhaps make some adjustments. Additionally, of course, if the characters are useful to others, that is a plus.

One of the more interesting aspects of the Serenity RPG is that it treats the ship itself as a character, specifically as an NPC. This is an interesting approach, but it seems entirely appropriate - in the TV series, Serenity herself certainly has her quirks and characteristics. In addition, to a very large extent Mal Reynolds is what Han Solo would have been had he never met Luke - in which case, Serenity is a counterpart to the Millennium Falcon, another ship noted for her character. (Indeed, the lack of that character is something of a weakness of the various Star Wars RPGs over the years.)

In the one-shot, Betty was simply treated as a Firefly-class vessel. The reason for this was that I named the one-shot before I fixed on using the crew from "Alien Resurrection". Having named it "Firefly: Furiously Fast" for alliterative purposes, it then didn't make sense for the ship not to be of that class. And since the ship wasn't really used in the course of the session anyway, it wasn't worth bothering with.

Thus, unlike the other characters in the series, Betty is presented here not as a modified version of the character that was used, but rather as a new-built creation. That said, she is pretty much a slightly-modified Firefly anyway - given that she fills basically the same role as Serenity, and given that the stats of the Firefly are pretty much what is needed, there seemed little point in making major changes. I've named Betty an Auriga-class Mid-Bulk Transport. As far as I can tell (certainly, without rewatching "Alien Resurrection" again), the actual class of the vessel isn't stated anywhere, and so needed to be assigned. "Auriga" was the name of the facility where the aliens were cloned, which is as good a name as any.

It's perhaps worth noting that Betty, like Serenity, isn't really anything special. Indeed, both ships appear to be much more like the Millennium Falcon as originally conceived - they're much more of the "piece of junk" persuasion than the "ship of legend" that the Falcon has become. If, as the Serenity RPG says, there are some designs that just become iconic for their era by virtue of them just working, then the Auriga would join the Firefly, the YT-1300, and the Ford Transit in that exalted bracket.

Betty: Modified Auriga Class Mid-Bulk Transport

Dimensions (LxBxH): 191 x 128 x 53 feet

Tonnage: 2,400 tons

Speed Class: 4 cruise / 6 hard-burn

Crew Quarters: Two double, four single cabins

Fuel Capacity: 60 tons (600 hours)

Cargo Capacity/Maximum Deck Load: 600 tons in hold #1

Price: Not available for sale. Estimated approx. 2,880 credits.

Attributes

Agility d8
Strength d6
Vitality d6
Alertness d2
Intelligence d2
Willpower d4

Life Points 10
Initiative d8+d2

Skills

Aeriel Transport Operations / Auriga d2
Covert d4
Perception d2
Space Transport Operations / Auriga d2

Weapons and Equipment

Escape pods (8): Once upon a time, Betty was fitted with a shuttle, suitable for ferrying the crew wherever they needed to go. Somewhere along the line, this was lost, and Elgyn has never found a compatible replacement. In the interim, he has fitted eight single-person escape pods, good for makin' planetfall and very little else. Each contains enough food and water to provide nutrition for one day.

Hover Mule: This is a single, fairly standard hover mule, big enough to seat four in what passes for comfort. It's pretty damn ugly, having been put together by Vriess from the parts of several donor craft, but he swears it's that little bit faster for it. It's also equipped with accessibility options programmed into the controls, allowing hands-only operation.

Traits

Healthy as a Horse (minor asset): Despite her age, Betty is fundamentally sound, and can shake off damage and stresses that would total a lesser vessel.

Loved (major asset): Every owner of this ship has come to love her, and has regretted her loss. That love was reflected in the best of maintenance, and she has rewarded that with unusual longevity.

Everybody Has One (minor complication): Although a rare sight nowadays, the Auriga class was once common as muck. As such, pretty much anybody can find the details of the ship in a few moments checkin' on the Cortex.

Seen Better Days (major complication): Betty is an old, old ship. Some might say a classic. But being more than 40 years old, and in near-continuous service in all that time, she's most definitely a bit creaky at the knees.

Complexity: Low

Maintenance Costs: 480 credits per month

Roleplaying Notes

"This piece of gosa is even older than I am!"

If the Firefly class is the iconic ship design of the current era of mercantalism, then the Auriga-class would be the standard-bearer for an earlier age. You don't see many of them around these days, but half a century ago they were near-ubiquitous in the spacelanes. Through a combination of design and excellent build quality, the Bernard-Lingotti Corporation managed to capture lightning in a bottle. Between five slightly different official models, and any number of knock-off designs, more than 200,000 Auriga-class vessels were commissioned before the line was finally superseded.

Betty started her operational service as a fairly standard 05-model Auriga class, outfitted for cargo lifting. However, even from the outset she was maintained with exceptional care, thus explaining why she remains in active service even so long after her first registration.

Over the decades, Betty has been reconfigured and repurposed several times. Somewhere along the line, her entire engine assembly was removed and replaced with the integrated systems and power plant from a Firefly-class vessel, a modification that vastly extended her operational lifespan, but one that is itself showing its age. At least one owner was of a sufficiently larcenous bent as to have all manner of hidey-holes fitted for the concealment of small, high-value (and probably illegal) cargoes. And Vriess has gone to some lengths to further advance the ship's systems, installing some highly illegal transponder-foiling software, as well as accessibility controls allowing a pilot to fly the ship without the use of his legs.

Betty's service in the Unification War was, regrettably, rather unedifying. Her previous owner was a Browncoat sympathiser, and took to running weapons and materiel. He was promptly captured by the Alliance, tried as a war criminal, and shot. Betty spent the rest of the war locked in an impound, before being auctioned off. Thus, she made her way into the hands of Frank Elgyn. 'Course, whether her new use is any better than smuggling weapons is a matter of some debate...

Serenity Characters #6 of 7: The Mechanic

This is the sixth of seven blog entries detailing the crew from the Serenity one-shot I ran last weekend. Given that I intend to make use of the same characters for future one-shots, it seems wise to give some more thought to how the characters should be constructed, and perhaps make some adjustments. Additionally, of course, if the characters are useful to others, that is a plus.

The sixth and final member of Betty's crew is John Vriess, the engineer. As with the pilot, this is a position that really needs someone to fill it, but which has the potential to leave the character sidelined in some of the more expansive adventures - while the rest of the crew goes off to do their own thing, it's not unlikely that they'll want the pilot and engineer to stay on board for when they need to leave.

In the one-shot, I also felt that Vriess was a little problematic by virtue of him being in a wheelchair. This seemed to lead to a focussing on what the character couldn't do, rather than on what he can, and thus further led to the character being sidelined. In the one-shot, this didn't matter too much because each player had two characters, but it would have been less than ideal had the player only had that one character to use.

Ultimately, I don't think there's really much to be done about that. Vriess' disability is a core part of the character, and so really isn't something that should change. But that and his tendency to stay with the ship are perhaps complementary aspects of the character, that can work to my advantage in future - unless the event is fully booked, at least one of the characters will not be used, in which case I can simply remove Vriess from the roster and assume he's back on the ship. Job done.

Because of Vriess' relative lack of activity in the one-shot, there's not too many lessons to be learned from him. As I noted in my previous post, the one thing I did note was that he and Call had a nasty overlap in skills, which I'll look to redress here. In his case, this will be done by reducing his Technical Engineering skill in favour of boosting Mechanical Engineering.

John Vriess: Engineer

Attributes

Agility d4
Strength d10
Vitality d8
Alertness d6
Intelligence d10
Willpower d10

Life Points 20
Initiative d4+d6

Skills

Artistry d4
Covert d4
Guns d6
- Grenade Launchers d8
- Shotguns d8
Heavy Weapons d4
Mechanical Engineering d6
- Machinery Maintenance d12
- Mechanical Repairs d10
Perception d4
Pilot d4
Planetary Vehicles d6
- Cars d8
Survival d4
Technical Engineering d6
- Demolitions d10

Weapons and Equipment

Electric Wheelchair: Vriess has painstakingly redesigned and rebuilt his chair more than once, with the net result that while it looks primitive, it provides him with the same rate of movement, and close to the same mobility, as if he were walking - and is considerably more stable, as well.

Shotgun and Grenade Launcher: As part of its design, Vriess' chair incorporates a disassembled shotgun with underslung grenade launcher. It takes him about a minute to assemble the parts of this weapon before firing, and he is only able to conceal a single ammo load for each part, but this represents a good way for him to carry some potent concealed weapons.

In addition, Vriess typically carries a full set of mechanic's tools on his chair, and carries his ID card, a comlink, and at least a little money on his person.

Traits

Steady Calm (minor asset): Vriess isn't easily shaken. Way he sees it, he's already suffered the worst the 'Verse can throw at him, so why worry about anything else?

Tough as Nails (minor asset): Surviving the wound that crippled him has given Vriess great reserved of fortitude.

Paralysed (major complication): Simply put, Vriess' legs don't work. He has neither motor control nor any sensation below the waist.

Roleplaying Notes

To hear Vriess tell it, he was born in battle at Serenity Valley. He was serving with the Browncoats when a stray bit of shrapnel hit him in the lower back. In that instant, the man he had been was killed, and the man he is today was born.

His reticence to talk about his life prior to this moment has led others to conclude that he doesn't like to talk about his injury, but the truth is quite different. To his way of thinkin', there's no point in dwelling on the past and on what was lost. He reckons he's already survived the very worst the 'Verse can throw at a man, and so he can live without fear. He's actually quite cheerful about it.

After the war, Vriess spent a lot of time in a Veteran's hospital, where he came to profoundly hate doctors, but more especially that breed to beautiful young woman who will come and 'cheer' patients with their sympathy. Bad enough that he was disabled, without them inflicting new torment on him by looking at him as a cripple, instead of as a man.

Eventually, he had had enough, and he fled the hospital, only to find a new hell outside. Nobody had any time for injured vets, especially an injured vet from the 'wrong' side. Work was nigh-impossible to find, and starvation beckoned until an old foe, Frank Elgyn, crossed his path. Elgyn was puttin' together a crew for his ship, and he needed a good mechanic. Although they had been on opposite sides in the war, he knew ability trumped sentiment, and so a deal was struck. And in the years since, the two have forged a strong, if quiet, friendship.

Serenity Characters #5 of 7: The Newbie

This is the fifth of seven blog entries detailing the crew from the Serenity one-shot I ran last weekend. Given that I intend to make use of the same characters for future one-shots, it seems wise to give some more thought to how the characters should be constructed, and perhaps make some adjustments. Additionally, of course, if the characters are useful to others, that is a plus.

Of all the characters, Call was the most controversial, because in the film she is revealed to be an Auton - an artificial person, built by "first generation" artificial people. Of course, the Serenity 'Verse doesn't actually include artificial people, with only the LoveBot coming at all close. So, is it better to leave the character as-is, and thus make a major addition to the 'Verse, or is it better to replace Call's past with something more appropriate.

For the one-shot, I left the character as-is, and it played mostly fine. However, as anticipated, it did provoke something of a discussion (actually, once the game was concluded). And, as anticipated, opinion was rather mixed.

In light of this, I am inclined to revise the character background somewhat. Although the character will retain secrets that she'd rather not see revealed, and will continue to have stealth and tech skills that may surprise, she will no longer be non-human in nature.

The other major change to the character that I want to make is to adjust her skill-set, the better to differentiate her from Vriess. In the one-shot, it was essentially redundant having both these characters - either one could have done as well. So, I'll reduce her Mechanical Engineering, and remove any and all specialities for this skill, and instead boost her Technical Engineering skill. Additionally, the character was rather lacking in the stealth skills she demonstrates in the film, so that should be redressed.

Annalee Call: Technician

Attributes

Agility d6
Strength d4
Vitality d8
Alertness d8
Intelligence d12
Willpower d10

Life Points 18
Initiative d6+d8

Skills

Covert d6
- Infiltration d8
- Open Locks d10
Knowledge d6
- Philosophy d8
- Religion d8
Mechanical Engineering d6
Pilot d2
Planetary Vehicles d4
Scientific Expertise d6
- Mathematical Sciences d10
Technical Engineering d6
- Computer Programming d8
- Create / Alter Technical Devices d10
- Electronics d10
- Hacking d10
- Technical Repair d10

Weapons and Equipment

Call doesn't generally carry any weapons or armour, and in a fight is most likely to seek cover. She dresses in practical overalls, the pockets of which generally carry her ID card and a comlink set to Betty's standard frequency. In addition, she carries a number of small electronic devices of custom design and unknown purpose.

Traits

Math Whiz (minor asset): Call has always been more at home with numbers than with people.

Mechanical Empathy (minor asset): And likewise, she has a greater empathy with machines than people. At least machines have never lied to her.

Steady Calm (minor asset): No matter how crazy things get, nothing ever seems to phase her for long.

Dark Secret (major complication): A few years back, a regulatory problem led to a children's hospital receiving a shipment of contaminated drugs. Were it to become public knowledge that Call was responsible for the mistake, few people would react kindly.

Shy (minor complication): Call finds it hard to speak up for herself amongst people she doesn't know well.

Roleplaying Notes

The newest member of Betty's crew, Call seldom talks about her past. She was born to an unremarkable middle-class family on an unremarkable planet, and enrolled to an unremarkable school. However, her native intelligence, coupled with her affinity for computers let to her quickly being fast-tracked into a top-notch religious school. The rigourous discipline of the school, coupled with the intensive learning environment, lead her to joke that she was built, rather than born.

In her inevitable teenage rebellion, Call avoided the classic "drink and boys" mix, in favour of hacking and burglary. She proved quite adept at this, and so avoided being caught for all but the most minor of infractions. But, of course, since getting caught was a large part of her purpose, this merely inspired her to ever-greater exploits. Eventually, people got hurt.

After her schooling, Call spent some time drifting from one job to another. She could have easily commanded a high wage in a legitimate career, but she could never stomach the tedium. And so, a few months ago she signed on with the crew of Betty, with no real goal than just seeing more of the universe.

Call is an inherently secretive person. She has several talents that she'd simply rather people didn't know about, even those people closest to her. And she's fairly prone to going off-mission, in order to pursue some agenda of her own. Still, outright betrayal is not really her scene - she's more than smart enough to realise the value in not burning bridges.