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Serenity Role Playing Game
 

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Average Rating:4.3 / 5
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Serenity Role Playing Game
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Serenity Role Playing Game
Publisher: Margaret Weis Productions
by David R. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 07/12/2013 14:16:13

Richly illustrated, and lavishly produced, this game system looked to be everything I'd been looking for to play in one of my favorite fictional universes.

Sadly, while it is very rich in sourcebook type information, I find certain elements of the mechanics to be somewhat unfinished. Overall, it's a terrifically enjoyable read for any Firefly fan, but, of itself it does not offer a complete system for satisfying roleplay. Perhaps in concert with its several companion books, this could be a truly great product, but not on its own.

(I have this personal opinion that core rulebooks should actually give you enough to play successfully without having to improvise rules for what should be common gameplay situations.)

If you are a grognard who enjoys thinking on your feet, and improvising where needed, yes, this is a beautiful setting for a game. Otherwise, look for the rest of the system, and especially for the fan-created material that helps round this system out.



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
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Serenity Role Playing Game
Publisher: Margaret Weis Productions
by Jonathan M. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 12/20/2011 08:08:18

This is an excellent game for many reasons! First, the ease of play due to the system. The Cortex system is very easy and flexible to use in any role-playing situation you might throw at your PC's in the 'verse. The only minus about this book in particular is the iffy index that is included. (a small point indeed). And if you love the Serenity Movie, this book can help you expand upon that universe and maybe provide you and your gamers a way to "re-write" the story!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Serenity Role Playing Game
Publisher: Margaret Weis Productions
by Franklin H. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 08/31/2010 14:21:28

I was very pleasantly surprised by how well the rules system portrayed the ambiance of the series. The cortex system under the hood is akin to the reflex system in that neither allows rules lawyering to get in the way of the story. Very nice effort by Margaret Weis Productions and at a very nice price.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Serenity Role Playing Game
Publisher: Margaret Weis Productions
by Timothy B. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 07/07/2010 12:33:12

I am not a fan of the source material at all (I watched it when they were calling it "Blake's 7") but this is a fine adaptation of the Cortex game system. While this is an early version, showing it's growing pains, it is still a good system.



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
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Serenity Role Playing Game
Publisher: Margaret Weis Productions
by James D. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 06/07/2010 10:57:29

Really captures the classic SF show & movie for everyone to enjoy. The rules system, Cortex Engine, focuses on fun, cinematic action resolution and has elements for players who role-play well to get ways to influence the plot and increase the fun. Now at $14.99, it's a steal for any Firefly/Serenity fan.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Serenity Role Playing Game
Publisher: Margaret Weis Productions
by Ryan M. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 02/09/2010 10:40:42

I love the style of the book and, being a fan, the flavour of anything Firefly related. I'm not, however, a big fan of the mechanics themselves. For one thing, I felt the game didn't need to base every test, trait, and achievement on quotes from the movie. My friends and I did some eye rolling as we read the level rankings. I've also just never been a fan of the Cortex system itself for various reasons not related to this specific book.

This book is a great collector's piece for any Firefly fan, however, as the design, descriptions, and the oft-mentioned Chinese phrasebook to the 'Verse are all engaging. My review boils down to it having fantastic production values but needing to back off referencing the show in every minute aspect of the mechanics, or at the very least, expanding on those references.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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Serenity Role Playing Game
Publisher: Margaret Weis Productions
by Thomas B. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 02/08/2010 16:18:20

What a fabulous combination... the writing of the legendary Margaret Weis (DragonLance) meets one of the greatest sci-fi TV series/movies ever created: Firefly/Serenity (Joss Wheden's masterpiece thus far).

The Cortex system is pretty cool... but this book is even great for Firefly/Serenity fans who just want to learn more and read more about these well-thought out and developed characters. The book even includes Chinese words for you to use in your campaign.

Now, it's your turn to explore the 'Verse.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Serenity Role Playing Game
Publisher: Margaret Weis Productions
by Mario P. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 01/25/2010 12:16:23

Browncoats will love this. The text is artfully produced, and the game is a fitting homage to the rich though shortly-lived Serenity setting. The skill sections in particular are a delight to read, as they allude to various events within the franchise as examples of different difficulty ratings.

If you and your gaming group are fans of the show, this one's worth the money.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Serenity Role Playing Game
Publisher: Margaret Weis Productions
by Peter L. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 01/09/2009 11:22:33

THE GOOD: This game uses the Cortex System, which is overall solid and easy to grasp. As such, this leads to fast-paced gameplay with, hopefully, fewer questions asked. The best part of all is that it’s very flexible. Quick on-the-fly calls for GM’s are pretty easy. You won’t have to memorize this book, because if it makes sense to you, chances are you’re making the right call. At first, I thought that I wouldn’t like the Assets and Complications system, in which the player selects the good and bad things about their character. I don’t like railroading players and I thought this would do just that. Turns out, it promotes roleplay (something I usually keep mechanics away from as much as possible) and can lead to some good laughs at the table.

THE BAD: There are the usual small things every now and then that playtesters missed. For instance, with the way character progress works, you can advance more quickly if you choose to do nothing. My fix for this is to simply choose when the players advance to the next tier – no gradual advancement. Also, the attribute rolls on page 142 could easily be condensed (Get Out of Harm’s Way and Initiative combine into Reaction at my table). No big deal. As I said, this game is easily tailored. I can’t really make many bad remarks about the game itself.

THE UGLY: This book. The design is cluttered, the wording is sketchy, and the organization is horrible. They really shouldn’t have had full bleed backgrounds. It would’ve been cheaper and easier on the eyes to just have white backgrounds. Learning the rules of this system for the first time using this book can be a pain. A big example would be the Crew Creation table on page 30. Step two is choosing traits, and step five is choosing skills. Yet, the traits and skills are both listed in Chapter 2, while not using the same point pool in character creation. The steps in between are scattered throughout the book. The skills are organized poorly. Each one gives an example of what difficulty levels represent what, which was previously covered anyway. A lot of the things they wrote tables on don’t need tables, and there were things that needed tables, yet did not have them. In the skill Perception, there are the specialities called Deduction and Intuition. Can you tell me the distinct differences between the two? Neither can the writers, it would seem. My biggest irk is, on a number of occasions, the writers seemed to be trying to tell GM’s how their games should play out. I can decide my own game style and pace, thank you very much. I could go on, but I think you get the point.

OVERALL: Fun, solid, fast-paced game. Buy it. Just be prepared decipher what the means, rather than what it says. I would’ve given this four out of five stars, but the book seriously bothered me that much. I give it a “meant-in-the-nicest-way-possible” three out of five stars.



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
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Serenity Role Playing Game
Publisher: Margaret Weis Productions
by Carson H. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 11/20/2008 13:24:31

AWESOME!! It's the RPG for one of the coolest (and shortest lived) SCI-FI series ever. This game captures the feel of the series and the movie perfectly. The game mechanics are fairly easy to grasp and there is tons of background material. The PDF is good but may appear to be slightly cropped. Not enough to make it bad though.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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Serenity Role Playing Game
Publisher: Margaret Weis Productions
by Richard G. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 05/01/2008 07:58:08

This game is great for all fans of the show. It has a solid game system and is very fun.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Serenity Role Playing Game
Publisher: Margaret Weis Productions
by Marc-Andre L. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 04/15/2008 17:19:25

This book is a must for all fans of Josh Weadon's work. It is a very good reference for the verse and it's workings. One big big downside....this book is full of typos, inversions, grammar errors and formatting errors. Listing them would take a few pages. The proof reading was botched at best and if this is the kind of proof reading we can expect from Margareth Weiss publishing...they could at least have the decency to release an errata...which they still haven't done since the book's release.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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Serenity Role Playing Game
Publisher: Margaret Weis Productions
by Shawn G. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 03/02/2008 13:44:37

This is a really nice looking book, with full color pages throughout (a printer-friendly version would have been nice). There are lots of stills from the movie supplemented by pretty good artwork. Unfortunately, the PDF does not have any bookmarks.

The system is designed to be fast-paced and cinematic, and it's not bad, though neither is it particularly great. It tries to do some things that Savage Worlds has done, but it doesn't do them nearly as well. I think many people will buy this book for the setting material, but ignore the rules in favor of their own favorite system. Savage Worlds would be a good choice, and many people have pointed out that the Firefly / Serenity universe would make a great setting for a Traveler campaign.

One glaring shortcoming of the rules is that space combat gets practically no coverage at all. There are some cool ideas about treating the ship as a character, with its own traits and advantages / disadvantages. However, there are no rules about how to actually use ships in a dogfight. (From what I hear, these rules are provided in a supplement.) However, on the plus side, the handful of ships that get detailed writeups are handled well. They fit the setting and the deckplans are great.

The setting information gives enough detail to give a GM a good feel for the "'Verse" without being too restrictive. Several planets are given a few paragraphs of description each, and there are a few pages of historical information. The glossary of Chinese words and phrases is a great addition.

If you're a fan of Firefly / Serenity, this may be a good book for you. On the other hand, you may already know all you need to know to set a campaign in the 'Verse using your favorite game system.



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
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Serenity Role Playing Game
Publisher: Margaret Weis Productions
by David H. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 10/20/2007 13:56:22

First off, the Cortex rule system that the game uses is absolutely fantastic in its conception. Simple but effective. It's nearly worth the price just to get this ruleset - or would be if the Battlestar Galactica book did not have an updated and rather superior version of the Cortex rules.

And this leads us to a rather big problem. The Serenity rules are rather unclear in many instances. One can work out many things with a bit of thought but Battlestar Galactica is much clearer. So really Serenity is now only worth the price of admission for the background, not the core rules. But the background setting is all in the public domain anyway (watch the series and film, read Wiki, follow the Wiki links, read some of the fansites) and the extras like the financial system is broken - ships are seriously underpriced compared to other items for instance. Much is left deliberately vague, which would be okay if there was a bit more guidance. The book was rushed into print and it shows. Errata has not been forthcoming. And it's a huge, huge shame. Because this is a great game spoiled by slipshod presentation.

There is a solution though - buy Battlestar Galactica and use the online resources and films to create your background for a Serenity/Firefly campaign. When MWP finally produce the updates Big Damn Heroes and their forthcoming Ships and Equipment supplement, use them to fill in the gaps.

If you can afford Battlestar Galactica and Serenity rulebooks, get both. The Serenity book is not useless. But if money is an issue and you can put some hours into background research, just get BSG.

Big Damn Shame.



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
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Serenity Role Playing Game
Publisher: Margaret Weis Productions
by Robert E. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 06/08/2007 10:22:23

This is a lovely looking rulebook and is a must for any fan of the film or TV series.

The rule system is new and interesting, though i do have to say it is, at times, confusing and lacks a few minor details that would have really helped finish it off (such as never saying what damage is done by just hitting someone with your fist/foot. I have to assume it is a d0, with all damage done by difference in rolls).

The character creation section is dynamic and fun, the equipment section is good enough to equip you with everything you should need and skills are nicely explained with examples of difficulties using that skill.

The starship creation section could do with some work, as it feels a little unfinished and soem final details really have to be guessed at. That said, the starship floor plans are nicely detailed and a great bonus, especially the deckplans of Serenity herself.

All-in-all, a good companion to the film as much as a roleplay game and our local group is going to start playing a campaign soon. So far i created some characters and a ship and found it all run pretty smooth and left me with a character i'm excited about playing.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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