Maragaret Weis Productions recently released a new Firefly RPG. And we're suckers for the setting. It uses the Cortex Plus system, and so is radically different from the Serenity RPG that Steph made a character for waaaaaay back when.
So, without further ado, here is her character (click on it for larger) and questionnaire:
Which game is this for?
Firefly
How long did it take you to generate the character?
About half an hour
Seriously. It was that fast. This game has some of the fastest character generation I've seen.
What was your character concept going into generation?
A con artist masquerading as a Shepherd
Did you feel like character generation captured the flavor of the setting?
Absolutely
How much control did you feel like you had during character generation?
A good amount of control
Did the game help you make the character you wanted, or did it feel like you were fighting the game?
I wasn't fighting the game, and the process gave me some ideas to make my character better.
This is interesting, because a large part of character generation is choosing templates. The game calls them "Distinctions," and they are a factor in play - they give you more dice to roll.
Do you like the character you ended up with?
Yes
Do you think your character fits your concept?
Yes
Do you feel like your character would be effective and/or useful in a game?
He’d be the one doing all the talking, but not one to actually fight or fly a ship
And I have to partially disagree with this - with a d6 Fight and a specialization in Fists, I think "Shepherd" Polk would do better in a fistfight than Steph suspects. And his d6 in Shoot won't hurt, either.
Was there anything in particular that you struggled with mechanically?
I was a little confused about how to purchase skill specialties, but otherwise things went well
Did anything run more smoothly than you had expected?
Everything was pretty easy.
Short of something in the vein of Feng Shui or Talislanta, I don't think she's likely to find much easier character generation out there.
What changes would you have made to the character generation process?
It’d be nice to know up-front how many points I have to spend in the different areas.
The Signature Assets and Skill Specializations aren't explained up-front - they tell you what they are in loving detail and then tell you how much you can spend on them.
Did anything leap out at you as obviously broken or unbalanced?
No.
What led you to choose this game as the next one to make a character for?
I love Firefly, and have been hearing good things about this game.
And not just from me, either. This game has been getting pretty rave reviews just about everywhere.
How would you compare your experience with this game to your experience with other games?
Much easier across the board.
Is this a character you would be willing to play in a campaign?
Yes.
In fact, she wants me to run at least a one-shot. Personally, I'd like her to run a one-shot sometime ...
Does this character make you want to play this game?
Absolutely
Do you have any other questions, comments, etc.?
I really liked having the archetypes to refer to, as they gave me a good sense of what a character should look like.
Before telling players how to make their own characters, they have a dozen or so excellent examples of characters in addition to the cast of the TV series.
Have you given any thought to what game you'd like to do next?
Possibly Burning Wheel.
Yep. From one of the easiest games to make a character that we own to one of the more difficult. I'm actually very curious what sort of BW character she'd come up with.
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