Traveller vs. Margaret Weis

[RPGPundit]

Traveller has a great default universe, but it has proven itself in my homebrew campaign to be an ideal toolkit to create one's own setting.  By its very nature (with things like tech levels and varying designs), Traveller is highly adaptible. You can make what you want with it.
 
Which is why I was saddened to hear about how the new "Serenity" (Firefly) RPG was to be created with the (fairly crappy)Sovereign Stone system instead of Traveller.  I had mentioned this before, in an earlier entry. Now the news appears to be that the finished product leaves a lot to be desired, having been rushed to come out in tandem with the upcoming movie.
 
This is highly disappointing, given that to many Traveller fans, Firefly was their own RPG shown on the small (and now the big) screen.  If it had come out either for the "T20" (Traveller D20) system or the GURPS system (tied into GURPS Traveller), this would have been a masterpiece that would have crossed fandoms, bringing Firefly fans to Traveller (and GURPS or D20), and getting Traveller fans to buy Firefly.
 
Instead, its being done with a system that's been effectively dead for years, and wasn't any good to begin with, which has nothing to warrant its value over and above either D20 or GURPS, or Traveller in any way. You can't even argue that its somehow more suited to the character-focused storylines of the series, not that I'd buy that line of crap anyways (there's nothing about Traveller that inhibits characters, in fact the "prior history" mechanic is one of the best ways of encouraging RP and interesting characters, without slithering into absurd narrativist claptrap).
 
I mean, why the hell would they pick Margaret Weis's company for this? Even Unisystem, godawful and overhyped system that is, would have at least made more sense than this, seeing as how its been the company Joss Whedon has dealt with up till now!  Not only can I not comprehend the design decision behind this, I can't comprehend the business decision.
 
Ah well, there's another licensed game I know I won't be playing... but that's fine, I'll keep going with Traveller which more than meets my "small starship in a big universe" fix.

RPGPundit September 23 2005

[Akrasia]

... Even Unisystem, godawful and overhyped system that is, would have at least made more sense than this, seeing as how its been the company Joss Whedon has dealt with up till now! ...

I agreed with everything in this post except for your characterisation of Unisystem.

I think Unisystem -- or at least Cinematic Unisystem (as found in Buffy & Angel) -- is a damn fine system.  

I'd be curious to know why specifically you dislike it.

Also, iirc, Eden Studios made a bid for Serenity, but didn't pony up as much cash as Weiss.  I don't think Whedon played a role in the decision (but I'm not 100 percent sure).

[Casey777]

Also, iirc, Eden Studios made a bid for Serenity, but didn't pony up as much cash as Weiss.

And that article on space westerns in their house zine comes pretty close to being Unisystem Firefly in all but name.

(shrugs) I've seen some Traveller conversions for Serenity but it's not really needed. Just pick your favorite border (sub)sector and have at it. I lean towards GURP Traveller's Interstellar Wars right now with bits cribbed from most every edition of Traveller setting wise now. In particular QLI's Gateway book has some useful pocket empires and client states. TNE and now 1248 have some regions littered with boneyards good for warzones and looting.

Add some Chinese and slang from the online Firefly fan sites to taste.

[mattormeg]

I use the SERENITY RPG for a sourcebook, really.
Sovereign Stone was a pretty shitty game, but I didn't have any big problems with the mechanics. It was just your typical fantasy-heartbreaker, an ugly one at that.
I've said before that the Serenity RPG was a missed opportunity to make a lot of cash for the industry, but as far as Firefly/Serenity fans go, I don't think it's gonna matter a whole lot one way or the other.
I know plenty of people using D20 Future or Traveller (classic) to run their Firefly games without a hitch. There's also a really good adaptation of Firefly for Savage Worlds (my own favorite system), somewhere out there.
It really doesn't matter all that much what the industry promotes, as long as there's some fan that has the time to string together an alternative, even if its in their own home.

[flyingmice]

When I tried to run Serenity for my group, they revolted and insisted I change the system, so I used my own Cold Space and dropped it in, porting the social stuff over, and they were happy. I didn't think the system was so bad, but they did - they've never done this before.

-clash

[Dominus Nox]

JFTR, not all traveller fhans liked firefly/serenity. I tried to watch ff when it was reran, but between the country twangy music and the general 'western in space, y'all!" theme I just....couldn't. After suffering thru a couple episodes I just couldn't go on.

So not all traveller fhans liked firefly, and I never even bothered with serenity.

[flyingmice]

I loved both Firefly and Serenity. What's a fhan?

-clash

[PaulChapman]

Also, iirc, Eden Studios made a bid for Serenity, but didn't pony up as much cash as Weiss.  I don't think Whedon played a role in the decision (but I'm not 100 percent sure).

Incorrect -- George passed on it entirely, for two very good reasons. First, the ratings of Firefly were significantly below Angel, which were significantly below Buffy. He'd extrapolated the sales curve, and it didn't go the direction he wanted. Now, of course, we know about the massive mobilization of the fanbase that made merchandisers of the film a big wad of cash, but he was working with the data he had, and made a reasonable decision.

The second reason was that Serenity was handled by Universal, a completely different company from Fox, with whom George had a relationship with via the Buffy/Angel licenses.

[Dominus Nox]

Speaking of traveller, has anyone ever noticed that none of the ship maps in gurps traveller have life support systems on them?

[Akrasia]

Incorrect  ...

Thanks for the correction and information.  

[RPGObjects_chuck]

I thought the Serenity rules were all right. Not great but workable. I know at least one campaign that runs Serenity as written successfully.

Not my cup of java, but I didn't think the rules were BAD.

Chuck

[flyingmice]

Speaking of traveller, has anyone ever noticed that none of the ship maps in gurps traveller have life support systems on them?

That's because Life Support is almost entirely either controls or accounted for between decks. A deckplan wouldn't show it, just as the floorplan of a house wouldn't show HVAC, water supply, central vacuum, and the like.

-clash

[Casey777]

That's because Life Support is almost entirely either controls or accounted for between decks.

Don't recall any Traveller deckplans that had some box marked "Life Support" or a Traveller space combat system that could hit it. Even T4's book of deckplan modules, Architect's Manual, only has life support controls, and those on the bridge modules. And that's in a 112 page book of nothing but deckplan bits. :eek: (cheated-searched the PDF )

Correction, TNE has a Life Support combat result, figures. FF&S likely accounts for it somewhere in design, but hey that's a Technical Architecture for you.

[Mr. Analytical]

So Eden passed on Serenity but were looking to steal the Stargate license?

That's absolutely ridiculous.  I'm guessing those graphs were drawn in crayon because to me it looks like he completely failed to factor in the degree of commitment of the fans and took only into account viewer ratings (which is ridiculous anyway considering that the time-shifting phenomenon was already apparent in those days).

"Duh... my employees love me because I manage with data".

[flyingmice]

Don't recall any Traveller deckplans that had some box marked "Life Support" or a Traveller space combat system that could hit it. Even T4's book of deckplan modules, Architect's Manual, only has life support controls, and those on the bridge modules. And that's in a 112 page book of nothing but deckplan bits. :eek: (cheated-searched the PDF )

Correction, TNE has a Life Support combat result, figures. FF&S likely accounts for it somewhere in design, but hey that's a Technical Architecture for you.

I'm not familiar with Traveller past Classic - I have many of the LBBs, but didn't play it much, and haven't since I began writing my own SF games - but Dominus Nox was only talking about the ship deckplans, where they really wouldn't show up at all unless they were engineering plans. AFA the combat results thing goes, that sounds like an error to me, or perhaps a hidden survival mechanic, but judging by CT, I doubt that.

My big issue with Traveller deck plans is the space allocated for hydrogen fuel is ridiculously small, even assuming 100% fusion efficiency.

-clash