The following is a general guide to creating characters in the Verse. If you are from a free-form background and don’t get this stuff, let me know and we can work it out together based on what person you want to play.

Attributes in Serenity RPG are dice, not stats. You pick a higher dice to represent a better attribute. The steps of dice progression are:

d2  d4  d6  d8  d10  d12  d12+d2  d12+d4 etc.

Any time you want to do something, from fly a ship to shoot a guy, you take attribute + skill die and roll them against a difficulty class.

You have six attributes, three are physical and three are mental

Physical

Agility - Your ability to move quickly and physical coordination
Strength - Just how strong is your character.
Vitality - a measure of general health and toughness

Mental

Alertness - Intuition and observation. How much you can spot and notice.
Intelligence - Basic smarts. How bright you are and how much you’ve learned
Willpower - Determination and force of will.

Important:

Initiative (Who shots/act first in combat) is Agility + Alertness
Life Points (Hit points, how much damage you take) is Vitality + Will Power
Physical combat - strength + skill
Gun combat - agility + skill
Basic Combat Dodge - Agility + alertness

Making the characters;

Everyone starts with 48 points. If you want d12 in strength, it will cost you 12 points. But don’t be dividing up points yet. First there be Assets and Complications.

Assets are bonuses and addons that help your character do things that define them. Kaylee’s ability to talk to engines, Jayne’s ability to take a hit, Wash being able to fly the ship all come out of assets. Assets are major or minor. Every player should have at least one asset, and no more than five. Minor Assets cost 2 points and major assets cost 4.

Complications are those quirks or personality traits that make people human. Jayne getting greedy when the money is good. Or the circumstances that make things difficult like Simon and River being wanted fugitives. Minor complications add 2 to your points and major ones add 4. Everyone should have at least one complication and no more than five. Note, play to your complication in the game will get you plot points as well.

Once you have your assets and complications done, you take the remains points to give to you attributes. Remember that d6 in an attribute is considered average.

The following are the list of assets and complications in general terms. If you want to know them in specifics, let me know. If you can think of something not on here, let me know. If minor or major is listed after a trait, then that is the only level possible for that trait.

Assets

Allure - You are damn good looking and you know it. You can play it up, dress it up or just have that look.

Athlete - You excel at one specific athletic specialty (tennis, running, swimming etc)

Born behind the Wheel - You could drive before you could walk. You can drive any type of a specified vehicle (ships, land machines, etc) so well that you can amaze people.

Cortex Spectre - There is no record of you on any alliance data bank. As far as the computers know, you do not exist

Fightin’ Type (major) - You are always ready for a fight and can handle yourself well in a tussle.

Friends in High Places (minor) - You have friends and contacts in the high class social groups.

Friend in Low Places (minor) - you have friends and contacts in the underworld and seedy parts of the verse.

Good Name - You are known and have a good reputation. People respect you for something you did or have done or supposedly did.

Healthy as a Horse - You rarely get sick and shake off injuries faster than most.

Heavy Tolerance (minor) - You can drink most people under the table. Doc has to hit you twice with meds to put you under.

Highly Educated (minor) - You have school training and can refer it from time to time. You can rhyme of facts and figure galore about a whole lot of places and things,

Intimidatin’ Manners (minor) - You have that look that makes people scared of you. Complete strangers call you sir.

Leadership - You have the way about you to bring the best out of people. You inspire, you motivate and the right word of praise for you will make people want to work harder.

Lightning Reflexes (major) - You are a fast draw. Most guys haven-‘t touched their guns by the time you have drawn and shot them.

Math Whiz (minor) - You do math in your head faster than a gorram computer.

Mean Left Hook (minor) - You are deadly in a fist fight. Hands can do lethal damage.

Mechanical Empathy (minor) - Machines talk to you and your hear them. The slightest of sounds from an engine means volumes to you and you are gifted at fixing them.

Military Rank (minor) - You rode a tank or held a general’s rank on one side or the other. Be it winning or losing side, you have served in the military and have military training.

Moneyed Individual* - You are loaded. Your dad is rich, or you wrote the jingle for Fruity-oat bars that everyone sings. Either way, you can get you hands on cash if need be.

Natural Linguist (minor) - You have an ear form languages and pick up different ones easily.

Nature Lover (minor) - You are at home in a forest and in harmony with nature. Trees seem to talk to you and you have a gentle touch with animals.

Nose for Trouble - Every once in a while, you get that feeling as if her is trouble about and sure as shooting, you know that trouble is about somewhere.

Prosthetic Limb/organ (Major) - You lost something in the war or a fight or an accident and had it replaced with a bionic replacement that enhances its ability. An extra strong arm or an eye with infra-red, either way you are better than you were before.

Registered Companion* (minor) - You have completed the Companion training and are legally entitled to the benefits of the guild members.

Religiosity - You are a man or woman of god (Buddha or Christian). Faith guides your actions and movement through the verse.

Sharp Senses (minor) - Pick a sense and yours is better than most.

Steady Calm - Even in the most dangerous situations, you remain clam, as if nothing fazes you or could ruffle your feathers.

Sweet and Cheerful (minor) - You are a happy person and you like to show it. Nothing can bring you down and people just can’t help but like you.

Talented - One skill you are exceptionally good at and perform better than most.

Things go Smooth - Lady Luck likes you and good things tend to happen to you.

Total Recall (major) - You have an amazing ability to recall something you have seen or heard in the past, in great detail.

Tough as Nails - You are much tougher than you look. You can dish it out and you can take it as well.

Trustworthy Gut - You have learned to trust your gut reactions as they are rarely wrong.

Two Fisted (major) -You are ambidextrous.

Walkin’ Timepiece (minor) - You don’t need no watch, you just know the time. Freaky really and your friend use you to set their owen clocks.

Wears a Badge - You are a law man, a sheriff or a member of some law enforcement organization. You are sworn to serve and protect.

Complications

Allergy - something sets off your body to a rash or sneezing fits.

Amorous (minor) - Sex might not be the only thing one your mind, but it is in the top 3.

Amputee (minor) - You lost a limb and never got a fancy replacement

Bleeder (major) -You suffer a blood condition that makes you bleed and not clot well.

Blind (major) - Since birth or after some accident, you are completely blind. May need a guide animal of some sort.

Branded - You are a bad bad apple and you are rotten to the core. Everyone knows you and everyone knows what you are capable of.

Chip on Shoulder - Anger management? Screw that! You lash out at people for the slightest of things.

Credo - You have a personal set of principles that you can not go against no matter what. The sense of honour you have is all that keeps you going and damned if you are going to compromise that.

Combat Paralysis - Guns start to blaze, you stop moving. You need to take a few moments before you can face a fight.

Coward (minor) - You ain’t no hero and believe to leave the fighting for those who are into fighting.

Crude (minor) - You say the wrong thing at the wrong time, and the right time and well any time really. Subtle is not your middle name.

Dead broke (minor) - No matter how big your take, you always seem to be broke. Money just burns through your pockets

Deadly Enemy (minor) - Someone doesn’t like you and you are on their list of who to eliminate. Even if you kill this guy, he has a brother, sister and uncles that would like you dead.

Deaf (major) - You can’t hear a thing. Your ability to speak may be effected

Dull Sense (minor) - One sense doesn’t work so well.

Easy mark (major) - You are gullible and believe every hard luck story in the verse.

Ego Signature (minor) - You have a thing for leaving calling cards wherever you go, a little sign that you were here for your fans and enemies. Makes you easier to track.

Filcher (minor) - You steal things out of habit. You tried quitting but you gained so much weight so you try to keep it to a minimum instead.

Forked Tongue (minor) - You like to lie. You get to spinning a tale and the tale takes on a life of its own.

Greedy (minor) - Money can make you do stupid things, like betray your crewmembers.

Hero Worship (minor) - Someone in your life can do no wrong and you won’t hear otherwise.

Hooked - You are addicted to a substance, and require doses of that substance or find your perform will become effected.

Leaky Brainpan - You are crazy. You talk to people who aren’t there, or think you are a flower and people should water you. Whatever the case, you are a nutcase.

Lightweight (minor) - You get drunk really easily. Doc has to show you a needle to make you pass out.

Little Person (minor) - You are a dwarf. 3 to 4 feet tall.

Loyal (minor) - Some group of people know you are loyal to them, and that you’ll do anything they ask of you out of loyalty.

Memorable (minor) - You have something distinctive about you that makes people remember you.

Mute (major) - You can’t speak. You have to use non-verbal communication

Non-Fightin’ Type (minor) - You just don’t believe in violence and will avoid conflict if you can.

Overconfident (minor) – “Hey, I can do that” is your motto in life. You are bold, brave, cocky and full of dare.

Paralyzed (major) - Spinal ord injury has put you in a wheelchair for life.

Phobia (minor) - Something scares you badly. If you come near it, it freezes you up completely.

Portly - You never met a pot roast you didn-t like. You are a hefty person.

Prejudice* - You dislike a certain group of people and react negatively when brought in contact with them.

Scrawny (minor) - You look like you have missed a few meals.

Slow Learner (minor) - You have a mental block on a certain set of skills that keeps you from learning it well.

Soft (minor) - You can’t take pain and crack under the smallest of pressure.

Stingy (minor) - You never feel rich enough. You lock away money, never spend it on things you need.

Straight Shooter - You are generally honest and like to remain that way.

Superstitious (minor) - You believe in the crazy mumbo-jumbo that affects your everyday life.

Things Don’t Go Smooth - Lady Luck hate you. Things never work out in the end for you without a series of complications.

Traumatic Flashes - You have flashbacks and horrible dreams of things done to you in the past. It can freeze you up at the worst times.

Twitchy (minor) - You aren’t paranoid - you know there are people out to get you. Trust no one is your motto.

Ugly as Sin - Whether by scar or by birth, you are one ugly critter.

Weak Stomach - Sign of blood makes you weak. A Dead body will drop you faster though. You can’t handle all but the dullest of foods.

With skills you start with 75 points. You begin with the General Skills listed below which you can only take to a max of d6. After that you may go higher in specializations within the skill sets. So for example you might have a d6 in Animal Handling, so you add 2 more to the specialty of horse training to d8. You can go as high as you want within a specialty.

Everyone on the ship will have a d2 in pilot and a d2 in driving land vehicles. You do not have to spend points for those unless you want higher skill levels in either.

Skills

General - Even if you have never done anything in these skills, you have a chance based on attribute alone in these skills. So a novice can shoot a gun, or come up with obscure knowledge.

With specialization, if there is a category you can think of, but don’t see - bring it up. This is hardly the exhaustive list. Some cross over several skill sets, so don’t specialize twice.

Animal Handling - You like animals, or you know how to talk to them.

-Specializations: Training, riding, zoology, veterinary, specific animal

Artistry - you have some artistic talents

-Specializations: Appraisal, cooking, forgery, game design, painting, photography, poetry, sculpting, writing.

Athletics - You are good at moving and using athletic skills

- Specializations: Climbing, contortion, dodge, juggling, jumping, running, swimming, any sport

Covert - The subtle arts of the sneaky sneak.

- Specialization: Camouflage, disable devices, forgery, infiltration, disguise, hide in shadows, streetwise, open locks

Craft - You can create things out of other things.

- Specialization: Architecture, blacksmithing, gun repair, leatherworking, cooking, pottery, origami, metalworking

Discipline - You have had some sort of training, usually military.

- Specialization: Concentration, interrogation, intimidation, leadership, mental resistance, morale

Guns - Anyone dip can squeeze a trigger - this is about aiming and knowing how to hold the gun

- Specialization: Assault rifles, energy throwers, grenade launchers, machine guns, pistols, rifles, shotguns

Heavy Weapons - The big guns that are used to take a ship out of the sky.

- Specialization: Artillery, catapults, demolitions, forward observer, mounted guns, rocket launchers, cannons

Influence - Sometimes words are better than guns and glances.

- Specialization: Administration, barter, bureaucracy, conversation, counseling, marketing, seduction, streetwise

Knowledge - Knowing stuff and more stuff.

- Specialization: Culture, selling goods, appraisal, philosophy, earth that was, sports, religion, local customs

Melee Combat Weapons - Weapons held in the hand that don’t shot nuthin’

- Specialization: Clubs, numchaku, swords, knives, dagger

Perception - Picking up on the subtle clues in your surrounding

- Specialization: Deduction, empathy, gambling, hearing, intuition, reading lips, search, sight, smell, taste, tracking

Performance- You got a song in the heart or a desire to act out.

- Specialization: Acting, dancing, costuming, keyboard, guitar, wind instruments, singing

Planetary Vehicles - You have the ability to drive, steer and operate land based vehicles

- Specialization: cars, canoes, sailboats, hovercraft, ground vehicle repair, military combat vehicles, submarines, yachts

Ranged Weapons- Any weapon thrown or shot that isn’t a gun

- Specializations: Blowguns, Bows, crossbows, darts, grenades, javelins, knives, slings

Survival -Buck naked on a rock - things ain’t so bad.

- Specialization - water, land, desert, nature, space survival, specific environment, making fire, hunting

Unarmed Combat - You fight with fist and feet

- Specialization: Boxing, brawling, judo, karate, kung fu, wrestling, street fighting

Skilled Only - you must have points here to try these at home.

Linguist - You know languages well

- Specialization - Arabic, Armenian, French, German, Spanish, Cantonese, Mandarin, etc

Mechanical Engineering - You know machines and how to fix them

- Specialization: Invention, machinery maintenance, mechanical repairs, plumbing, security systems, identify problems, rewire and reroute electrical.

Medical Expertise - You have studied medicine either in school or on a battlefield

- Specialization: Dentistry, forensics, general practice, genetics, neurology, pharmaceuticals, surgery, toxicology, prosthetics

Pilot- If it flies, you can drive

- Specialization: Navigation, astrogation, astrophysics, gunships, transports, helicopters, patrol vessels, ultra light, covert stealth ship

Scientific Expertise - Plenty of schooling or self taught, you the nerd, man!

- Specializations: Earth Science, Terra-forming, Historical sciences, life sciences, mathematical theory

Technical Engineering - If it has a computer, you can work with it.

- Specialization: Communications, computer programming, hacking, security devices, technical repair, create/alter technical devices

Equipment:

There is a lot of stuff out there on the web for fancy guns and additional stuff. I find that detracts from the games, so equipment from the books only and that includes weapons. If you want a signature weapon or device, talk to me. I have pdf of all the books so I can put them into a dropbox for you if you need them. (Theya re out of print)

Suddenly my social media feeds are all filled with Firefly suggests. It is like the Alliance is listening.

No matter what the background, the crew and ship will start out as new to the business, new to the world without war and looking for a job. You will have spend a good chunk of your reclaimation money on fixing the ship and need to get a cash flow. 

You are approached by a small time black market dealer to haul foodstuff to haven. You do it for her on the cheap, she owes you a favour next time a good jo comes around.  Safe cargo, no fear of Feds, not much payoff but building a name? Why not? Brsides there are always passengers looking for transport from Haven.

Silent One - do you have a particular job/character you were hoping for? 

PbP is play by post, not play by phone. 

i will give you a point total for characters. You may completely remake them if you want. 

Let us see if we have enough interest before we start making characters. I will post the character creation rules if/when we are ready.

I would love to have you on the ship.  Welcome

I love the map. Very cool.

Withour a concept of how the game will run, it is hard to say if this will be useful though. If you want to use coordinations to send a scout ship, then you may be better off for "playability" to use 2D and call them sectors.

So ....

Someone started a rumour that I was looking to come back to the inn and restart my Firefly campaign. Not sure how this happened as I clearly told said person tha I was not sure I had the time. Yet here I am with apparently people being asked if they want to join and willingness to play.

I would say that the Firefly games I GM’ed here are among my favourite games of my gaming lifetime. The setting and game lend to amazing role play and story telling.

But I was very disappointed last time when I lost player after player and had to spend a lot of time trying to get replacements and re-writing stories in progress.  So please, if you can not stick to the end of a game or have a habit of disappearing and reappearing, then this is not the game for you.

If you are interested in playing a Firefly/Serenity game at the inn with me, these are my conditions:

Postings will be once every two weeks. I can not possible post more than that. You can post as much as you want but I will be scheduling the day I post into a calendar.

We restart the story completely. It is one year after the Unification war, either you are released from alliance holding and have reconciliation money in hand to buy a ship (Rocinante). Or you have escaped an alliance ship and found a mysterious ship floating in the black (Destiny). We can use Rocinante or Destiny or another ship but starting over. You may use old characters but we will start them fresh as well. That may mean trimming back some skills.

I expect communication. If RL gets in the way, you tell me and the party will run your character (not me). Players not posting for months or disappearing will be killed off and if I lose half the party over a few months, the game dies.

New players are very welcome. 6 players will be the limit.

Sound acceptable?

So Ship:
Rocinante (Firefly Class)
Destiny (Mysterous Ship of Mystery)
Other?

Crew?
Captain
Pilot
Mechanic
Doctor
Tech Person
Gunfighter/PR man

Now I have a couple of adventures that I have written for Serenity to play (yes I have played Serenity RPG on Tabletop) so we will be good to go. 

Dohn ma?

If I remember correctly, Traveler had some good space frontier maps.

I ended up writing my own

Yes. Or that the murderer kills everyone between the start and end of module making process of elimination very simple.

I want to run a murder mystery for my tabletop group (5e D&D) but when I look around at modules out there made as murder mysteries, they all seem to bog down into combat after combat where basically the last NPC standing is the murderer. Not very challenging.

Does anyone know of any good Mystery modules out there? Doesn't have to be D&D, I can adapt from another system.

Glad to see you back Albert. 

Curious as to see this work

William would probably love this

What is a CSO? Customer Service Officer? 

I know I am not one for saying anything about lack of posting but I seem to have lost Ody and Eol?

I am just going on what I have been told by my group. Some DM just buy modules form DM Guild and run them back to back to back. 

Meanwhile, My Bard just discovered her father is working for Amerlocc, the Fighter discovered he is going to be a dad - the mom is a night hag (but she didn't look that way at the time),The Half Orc Barbarian found out her other half is probably not human, the cleric recieved a vision from Lysora and the Rogue is being courted by Death herself.  

Good times. Never thought I would be gaming every other week at this age.

Welcome to Al's Pop Drop and Fling. Quick release armour so you can release your inner Bard!

Could be interesting. Do Porn films have this function? Asking for a friend. Several actually...

Interesting thing I have been told since I started tabletop gaming with a group again. Apparently DM's nowadays do not do lengthy descriptions and write up of "Continuing where we last left off". Apparently it is considered the players responsibility to keep track of past events. it is also rare for Dm's to build lengthy adventures on their own and string the party members personal history into the game. I frequently get asked - what module is this? and when I say my own, they are shocked. "You did it all on your own?"

At least that is what I am told. I have not sat down to join a game as a player yet.

No quick release magic for armour in the world of Audalis? Pop, Drop. Fling?

And Sam ain't even aware of it yet. Sucking back a craft beer and eating an ice plant without a care in the world. 

Ain't I a stinker.?

Woohoo. Posted again 

Outside the Knowles Farmhouse (near noon)

Governor Patience looked at her multiband for the time and then back at her deputy, “Well?”

“She don’t know Go-sa,“ He replied, “I can work her over more, or me and the boys can take turns with her but, it ain’t gonna change that she don’t know anything. She met a guy, had sex, came home. I watched skin flicks with more story to them.”

“No girl?”

“I can’t say. All I can is Misty just went to this pilot’s room, did the dirty and left. Nothing else. I can’t work her or her Ma over anymore without leaving some marks, so depends on how discrete you want to be.”

The governor spit on the grass outside the farmhouse, “Well at least it ain’t Reynolds again. Maybe this Sung character is more reasonable. Did the old lady sign?”

“Yep,” the Deputy nodded, “Farm and all the land is yours now.”

“Right. Well the farm is a hazard, liable to burn down anyday now if you catch my meaning.”

“Yep. I do, Ma.”

“Misty comes with me. We will hold her as a bargaining chip. When I give you the word, you know what to do. Oh, and I’ll her thumb and eye so I can reverse the payment. Never pay for what I can get for free, I always say.”

“Yes Ma. You can depend on me.”

Inside the Knowles Farmhouse

Misty had stopped crying. She felt like she’d cried so much over the evening that she would never cry no more. Although she came close to spilling a few times, she never let it slip that she’d heard Petrie’s name mention while on the ship. She didn’t know why but she was smart enough to know this was all about him. They hurt her and her Ma, trying to get her to tell them anything about a girl on board or someone named Chloe. That wasn’t hard to deny, but they made her Ma sell the farm for half its worth and she was sure they both be indentured by the end of the day. She only could hope Sam was far far away now.

In walked Patience and the deputy. “Well ladies. This is how it is going to play out. Misty is coming with me. I need her to make sure someone understands how serious I am. In order to make you behave – Misty pay attention now! My boy here is gonna stay with your Ma here. If you be good and I gets what I want, you two will be put on a transport and you can go your way where you wish. Give me trouble and I know how much you love to cause trouble Misty – and neither of you will see that light of day again. Dohn ma?”

Patience didn’t wait for an answer but turned towards the door and pointed to her three other deputies who stood up and headed over to grab Misty roughly.

“Whoa! Governor!  Miss Imogen, “Misty’s Ma called out. “Can I just have a few minutes with Misty. Please.”

Patience and The mother exchanged a look. It lasted only a second but in it spoke volumes. “Yeah. Fine. You have a minute.” And left the room with her three men. The other deputy stayed where he was but Ma stared him down hard and he moved to just outside the room.

“Misty honey.” The mother said, “Listen to me. I raised you to be strong and you are going to have to be really strong now. We don’t have time to be weak.”

“But Ma, I’ll do what they say. I promise.”

“Don’t matter. Listen honey, I’m dying.”

Misty gasped in shock.

“Doc told me a few days ago. Cancer’s got me, aggressive and I soon won’t be able to do much. I was trying to figure out how to tell you when …” She waved her hand towards the door, “So this is goodbye honey. Know that I am and always will be proud of you. If there is a way I can guide you or protect you from beyond I will but once you walk out that door, I’m done. You got that. Take care of yourself!”

“No Ma!” Misty started to cry again.

“No time to cry Honey. Grieve me later but take care of yourself. You know the account number I used? It will automatically transfer the funds to your account in a spell. Patience will try to steal it back but I won’t let her. You take the money and go.  Be free. You’ll have enough there to find a school, make something of yourself. Don’t look back.”

Patience called out from the front, “Okay time is up. Let’s go.”

The Deputies took Misty away and left the Mother with the one who had tortured her and her daughter. “So Fred. Can I make you a cup of tea?”

“Sure Mrs. Knowles. Thanks. Sorry about what was done but you know how it is. Patience orders.”

“Oh, I know how it is Fred.” She said and clicked the gas oven dial as she moved the kettle over to the stove. She played with the knob for the stovetop dramatically while adjusting the oven to high without igniting the burner. “Damn pilot is out again. Do you have a match? I always have to ignite it myself.”