The Character Sheet Blues

Why is it that every RPG ever seems to be saddled with bad character sheets?

Okay, that's a serious exaggeration, but it really does seem that most if not all games have official sheets that are almost but never quite what you really want.

The latest offender is the Firefly RPG, which actually has quite a good sheet. It's a single page in landscape format. Top and centre are the attributes and skills, which have rather neat visual representations (and which make replacing this sheet with another very unappealing). To the right are the character's three distinctions, complete with triggers. And on the left we have things like the character's name, background, and appearance, and then a box for Signature Assets.

Shiny! Except...

In the Firefly RPG, each Distinction and Signature Asset has a little block of descriptive text. This same text appears in all the pre-gen character write-ups. It's very nice. And it's missing in the Distinctions box. Likewise, the Signature Assets box omits the spaces for the Asset triggers entirely. It's really close to being ideal... and really painful that it just misses it.

The sheet also has two other flaws - one thing that should be there but isn't, and two things that shouldn't be there but are. Specifically, each character should have an "Episode Guide", being a list of episodes that they've been in previously. This works somewhat like XP in other games. These really should appear on the character sheet, as they'd be good to have.

Conversely, the sheet has spaces for the character's Plot Points, and five different types of Big Damn Hero dice. But because these change quite often, it's better to handle these using tokens handed out during play (just as you would Assets and Complications) - Plot Points are best done with poker chips, while for BDH dice you could either use literal dice (colour-coded for convenience, of course), or generate some cards to that effect. Or, all else failing, just use a post-it note.

(Firefly doesn't have any concept of hit points, or anything equivalent. But for systems that do use hit points, I've long been an advocate of not including a box for these on the character sheet. Again, just use a post-it note, and use the space freed up for something more worthwhile.)

To come so near, and yet not quite get things just right is frustrating. Especially since I can see what would need done to fix it, but just don't have the means. Sigh.

The Four Act Structure

I've been reading through a lot of the published Firefly adventures recently, and I was struck by something in the structure - they all have exactly four acts. It took me a while to realise this, as I'd expected some to have three, some five, or whatever; or perhaps for the number of acts to vary with the length of the adventure. But, no. Four acts it is; no more, no less.

Now, I was of course familiar with the 'classical' five-act structure: introduction, rising action, climax, falling action, denouement. And I was equally familiar with the compression of this into the three-act structure (where the falling action is compressed to the "final scare" and the denouement is almost non-existent). But I hadn't encountered a four act structure before.

(Incidentally, how come I had to learn all this from reading JMS talking about crafting "Babylon 5"? Why wasn't this covered in English at High School, even at CSYS level?)

I therefore did some investigation and found out what was going on. For obvious reasons, the three-act structure can also be described as "beginning-middle-end". However, the problem with this in terms of movies or TV shows is that the beginning and the end are usually quite short and self-contained, while the middle is extremely long. Therefore, it is common to define a mid-point in the story, and thus split the "middle" into two acts, thus giving beginning-mid-dle-end. Perhaps more importantly, though, it's important that this mid-point has some sort of meaning - that is, the second act "mid" should be somehow different from the third act "dle", in terms of what is happening, or of tone, or whatever.

(Not coincidentally, American TV shows are structured so that the ad breaks fall between the acts. Or, at least, they should be.)

What this means, as far as story goes, is that we have something like this:

• Pre-credits: Introduction, and "inciting incident"
• Credits, and ad break.
• Act One: Immediate reaction to "inciting incident". Statement of the problem.
• Ad break
• Act Two: Attempt to fix the problem. Doesn't work. Add complication.
• Ad break
• Act Three: Second attempt to fix the problem. Partial success. Raise the stakes.
• Ad break
• Act Four: Completion of the solution.
• Ad break
• Denouement: All wrapped up nicely. Coincidentally in 42 minutes. Huzzah!
• End Credits

Of course, that's not an absolute template, or TV would be incredibly dull. But it's pretty good.

What this means in terms of RPGs, and especially for something like the Firefly RPG (which deliberately models itself on a TV show) is that a session can be structured into four distinct parts. Each part should be 'about' something, probably representing a distinct step in solving the 'problem' of the session, coming naturally to a climax in Act Four. Plus, it's useful for pacing purposes - if you have 3 hours in the session, each Act should be about 35 minutes long; if you have 5 hours, each act can stretch to 65 minutes. (Plus 10 mins each for Introduction and Denouement; and a few minutes for breaks, waiting for late players, and general goofing around.)

(This of course needs to be flexible. But that goes without saying.)

Unfortunately, defining all that's the easy bit. Somewhat harder will be populating the various tags as required for the "Firefly: Inglorious" game in a few weeks.

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!

Game Reviews

I have something of a problem with reviews at the best of times. Because taste is such a subjective thing, I found a long time ago that most film reviews were of limited use to me. Eventually, the approach I found worked was to find someone with broadly similar tastes to my own, and then trust what that person said. That was reasonably reliable, but not totally.

However, it's in the field of game reviews that I've really started to see some problems. In particular, I have a big issue with game reviews that come out prior to the release of RPG products. There are several issues with this, which I shall state in question form:

Have you even read the thing? This is a big, big question that leaps to mind, especially with RPG reviews. Very often, these are very large, hardback tomes. And there are no full-time RPG reviewers - everyone who does that job must necessarily fit it around the rest of their lives. That means that actually reading the books, a prerequisite for doing a decent review, takes time, and a significant amount of it. Actually digesting the material and giving it some thought takes yet more time.

But then...

Have you played it? Actually, this is probably the bigger issue. An awful lot of games play out differently from the way they read, some better, some worse. So merely reading the rules (or adventure, or whatever) is actually quite a poor guide to quality. And, sure enough, that takes yet more time.

When you played it, did you play it as-is? I've played "Arkham Horror" all of once, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. But I'm in no position to review the game - I know fine well that the game we played was not the game as presented in the rules. There's good reason for that, and those changes are no bad thing... but they do render any review I might do invalid - my experience will not be your experience.

So it is with many RPGs, and especially adventures - there are very often significant flaws in the material that a DM will simply adapt for. This can give rise to a good experience... for that group. But "you can fix it" doesn't mean "it's flawless".

What are your biases? This is a big one. And, in RPGs, it pretty much renders reviews useless. Fact is, we've just come out of some very nasty Edition Wars (and, indeed, they may well still be ongoing in some parts). This means that any review of a D&D product may well be written by a D&D fanboi, determined to present only the absolute best side of 'his' game, or might equally be written by a D&D hater, determined to present the opposite. And likewise for Pathfinder products. (Worst of all, many of our biases are unconscious - it's entirely possible that someone could set out to do a fair review and yet be literally incapable of seeing things that don't fit his biases - just as some Rangers or Celtic fans are literally incapable of seeing the good in the 'other' side.)

Anything to declare? If you received a free copy of the game, you are not in a position to rate it based on "value for money". You're dividing by zero.

Conclusion:

The whole topic is a tricky one. Reviews clearly aren't useless, and yet pretty much every review is questionable in some regard, and probably multiple counts. In theory, something like Metacritic might be worthwhile, in that lots of reviews can be aggregated and some sort of average arrived at then... but Metacritic is known to be badly flawed itself in at least two ways. (And, besides, there aren't huge numbers of RPG reviews out there from which to do such an aggregation.)

So... caveat emptor, I guess.

And, yes, I am still going to do the occasional review on the blog. And it will be exactly as flawed as every other review, mostly failing on the "have you played it" question.

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.

What Are The Three Most Important Things About Your Character?

One of the things I like most about the Cortex+ system used in Firefly, and probably the thing I like most in the character creation system, is the use of "Distinctions". Basically, a Distinction is a short description of the character, which could be a role the character fills, a relationship with another character, a personality quirk, or something from the character's background.

Each character has three Distinctions, and so character creation becomes a matter of picking the three most important things about the character. For example, Mal Reynolds' three distinctions are "Ship's Captain", "Things Don't Go Smooth", and "Veteran of the Unification War". But it's easy to see how, by simply switching out one or two of these, you can get a very different character - switch out "Things Don't Go Smooth" for, say, "Friends in High Places" and you get a well-connected captain who served on the other side of the war.

I'm inclined to think there are three keys to making this system work well:

1. You should probably try to write down those "three things" as your first step in character creation, and probably without reference even to the master list of Distinctions.
2. Having written down the "three things", you should check if any match with the master list. If there isn't already a good fit, then rather than trying to force a "best fit" you should probably just go ahead and create a custom Distinction. After all, it's not that hard.
3. Conversely, if there does exist a Distinction that seems to match one of your "three things", but it doesn't quite work for you in other ways (because you don't like the Triggers or, more likely, the keyed skills), you shouldn't hesitate to customise the Distinction to fit your character, rather than either go for something that you're not happy with, or changing your character to better fit some other Distinction.

(Incidentally, it's best if at least one, and preferably all, of your Distinctions can be read as both a negative and a positive in at least some situations. Because every Distinction has a Trigger whereby you can use it to add a d4 instead of a d8 to your Dice Pool and thus gain a Plot Point. And since Plot Points are officially nice to have, it's best to have that option. Especially since it is the player who chooses whether to apply that option or not.)