I've run games that lasted hours during which no player would make more than a dozen dice rolls.
I've only done RPGs a dozen or so times myself, but we always played like this. Because all of the players were more interested in the story than in the stats. I think the dice only came out if the GM couldn't reasonably decide what would happen.
My brother played D&D and everything else, and I was an annoying brat who lurked around during the games, so I'm familiar with the more... intensive... versions. But I'd read most of the Paranoia manuals by the time I was playing any RPGs myself, and so was totally comfortable with the idea that if the dice do something the GM doesn't like, he's free to ignore them.
Short form, as who knows when I'll have time to actually write stuff in a good or meaningful way.
I agree with what Kal said about the rules needing to support the type of game. I don't actually like the WW rules for anything, though, and I prefer story-based games over tactical mini games or kill-monster-take-treasure-next-room games. For story I like BRP rules, a la Call of Cthulhu. But I've been modding the D&D 3.5 rules heavily to use them for story games, and for games like Ars Magica.
That's part of the reason games are so long at Casa Winchester, is we do a lot of story and role-playing.
And the role-playing is key. For Serenity (and Buffy RPG), I've found that the game systems really limit the players/GM in terms of role-playing. I think any game based on a Traits/Flaws character build is limiting - I haven't liked that style since Champions or 007. I know that a lot of people argue that it's the only way to GET role-playing, so the characters can play "portly" or "nature lover" or "mute" or "amorous." But I think that works best for people who couldn't otherwise roleplay, something that's not the case for my gaming group. YGGMV.
I think that the character build in Serenity (again, like Buffy) is too much like the character build for a TV series. And a lot of the Serenity RPG names for things are too evocative of characters or events in the series, causing a limited mental image.
Of course, I'm a role-player first and a fangirl second...I like my role-playing to be more like fanfic that embellishes on the 'verse, rather than mimics it exactly.
And of course, the GM can modify the rules to allow for this. I think Serenity might be more flexible in this regard than Buffy was. I mean, you had to QUIP in Buffy. Who can come up with Jossian-quality quips all the time, on the fly? And if you can, why aren't you already writing for TV?
Mostly I like the Serenity RPG for immersing me back in the movie and show. For playing adventures in the Firefly 'verse, I use BRP rules.
I mean, you had to QUIP in Buffy. Who can come up with Jossian-quality quips all the time, on the fly?
I once ran a con tournament DC Heroes game in the Vertigo setting where the guy who played Etrigan spoke exclusively in rhyme and never once broke character. No one grumbled when he won the prize.
Finished watching Firefly with the girl (we'll probably watch Serenity this coming Friday) and I'm missing my show all over again. It's probably been a year since I last sat down and watched all the episodes in order, and this was the first time post-Serenity. I find myself mourning again for all the great stories in that 'verse Joss and Tim never got a chance to tell.
Yep. We've been sitting around today going, "You know what I wanna watch? I wanna watch S2 of Firefly."
Wrod. I am, upon occasion, selfish and greedy that way.
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From a very recent Gary Numan Q&A:
Did you watch any sci-fi on TV last night?
(Kerry Malenkova, Canada)
GN: "I didn't watch anything because I was working but we use Sky Plus so we can record and watch in our own time. Last night we recorded 'Battlestar Galactica' and 'Prison Break'. I'm not a very big sci-fi fan, to be honest, and haven't been for twenty years or more. I do like 'Battlestar Galactica', though. My favourite ever sci-fi series was 'Firefly' but they only did one series and it got cancelled. It's brilliant; that new film 'Serenity' comes from it. One of my biggest albums ['Replicas] was loosely based on sci-fi but that was about 27 years ago. People associating me with sci-fi has gone on longer than I expected. Assumptions become accepted as fact, like people think I'm miserable... well, if they think of me at all (laughs)."
I have a friend I got hooked on "Firefly", so of course she saw "Serenity". We were discussing it and she said she really loved it. So much so that she wanted to have Joss Whedon's babies. I told her she'd have to get in line.
My favourite ever sci-fi series was 'Firefly' but they only did one series and it got cancelled. It's brilliant; that new film 'Serenity' comes from it.
It just occurred to me that Firefly in England would have had about a normal one season run in terms of the number of episodes. Funny how you get used to 22 episode seasons.
Granted it didn't have such a definitive conclusion as, say, Wonderfalls, but "Objects in Space" wasn't a terrible last episode for the series.
