Firefly as RPG

[selenite0]

[Cross-posted from _the_firefly_]

We just got turned on to Firefly at a con and spent the past two weeks going through the DVDs. It's going to be horrible to wake up tomorrow and realize we have to wait until April for more Firefly. But being the kind of role-playing geek I am I'm contemplating the crew and trying to decide who's a PC and who's an NPC.

River's the easiest--she's the dependent NPC for PC Simon. Sure, she's got tremendous powers but they appear by GM whim, not when it's useful for the players. And Simon has to go through all sorts of work to take care of her, so she's clearly a dependent. The powers are just plot hooks for the GM to use later.

Mal is a PC with Kaylee as his dependent. He gets to make decisions and have adventures off-ship. She stays on the ship and still gets shot, tied up, or held with a gun pointed at her head. She can't even handle a gun, so she has to be an NPC--any PC would have the Guns skill in that setting.

Wash is Zoe's dependent NPC. "But wait!" I hear. "He went off-ship with Mal in War Stories!" Uh-huh. Goes off to do something, gets kidnapped, has to be rescued by PC. That's, like, the definition of a dependent NPC.

Jayne looks like he could be a standard NPC, the one added to give more firepower to the party. But over the series it's obvious he's the PC of the newest player, the one who just wants to kill things and hates roleplaying. That's why the GM is inflicting big challenges such as a hero-worshipping town and million-credit reward offers on him, to force the player to roleplay instead of just rolling to-hit dice.

The most experienced player has Book as his PC. Clearly there's a 10 to 20 page backstory write-up for him, but nobody but the GM has seen it because it's all a bunch of Secrets. This guy must have a job and/or family because he keeps missing some of the sessions.

So where does Inara fit? She's not part of the main adventures, she keeps pulling the group away from its regular routine and putting them into new situations--a visit to Ariel, upper-class dueling, beleaguered whorehouses. Must be an NPC--clearly she's just a plot hooker.

Comments

[sambear.livejournal.com]

*rrrk*

Kaylee's a WHAT?

*ahem*

OK, OK, I'm just going to go sit down for a while and I'll be back.

(Grrr. Arg.)

Um. OK, Karl, you've definitely identified one of the Whedonesque qualities of Firefly: cute girl gets folded, stapled, and nearly mutiliated because everybody feels for her. This happened in Angel and Buffy, too.

But I DO NOT think she's a milquetoast - she's just not a ripped musclegirl. She's really smart and she's really cool and she has a lot of assertive qualities (what about Jaynestown, huh?) and I think you're being far, far too harsh on her to say she's a DNPC. The again, I read the rest of your entry and you've already assigned several other DNPCs, so I think this is the purpose of your message, to show how many there are.

I think, with your help here, I'm putting my finger on the whole reason why I dislike GURPS so intensely, so I thank you for that, sir.

[selenite.livejournal.com]

I think we're working with different definitions of "dependent." Doesn't have to be a weak character, just one whose fate is critical to a PC. Without Kaylee Mal's trapped on a planet without a ship, no longer a free man.

I've GMed DNPCs as very assertive characters, one a younger brother who kept taking the initiative in ways that gave the PC fits (attack demon, donate treasure to church, etc.). Doesn't have to be passive, just has to get into trouble.

I'm not sure I catch how this ties into GURPS--it can't be the only game system with dependents, can it?

[sambear.livejournal.com]

Actually, I just made an assumptive leap that you were talking about GURPS. Some other games do have the dependent NPC concept in one way or another, but I think GURPS is fairly famous for it in game design circles.

I suppose the thing that really gets me about the classification of Kaylee as a DNPC is the whole "NPC" part of the equation. Because Firefly is a ensemble show, I tend to think of the entire regular cast as being each their own "PC." Kaylee isn't a combat monster, but she is a vital character with her own abilities and I think that people would enjoy RP'ing her.

And, by the way, you can say the same things about Mal and Wash, and Mal and Zoe: without Zoe and Wash AND Kaylee, Mal doesn't have his freedom: but that doesn't make them NPCs to my mind.

I think the way I'd structure it is this:

Mal: Charismatic Leader / Soldier of Fortune / Rogue
Wash: Hot Dog Pilot / Charming Guy
Zoe: Laconic Warrior / Shrewd Advisor
Kaylee: Intuitive Mechanic / Charming Down-to-Earth babe
River: Psychic Genius / Strange Girl
Simon: The Doc / Civilized Gentleman
Inara: Courtesan / Agent / Wily Rogue
Jayne: Big Dumb Warrior Dude / Hired Gun


But I honor your ideas even if I don't share them.

[selenite.livejournal.com]

Well, if I'm talking RPGs, I'm generally talking GURPS, though I try to generalize.

Possibly we're differing because of our experience with players. I'm used to small groups of competitive players who want the exciting "stage time" shared equally. Working it with nine players requires some to be willing to hang back while others keep hogging the spotlight. You may have gotten more "team players" than I've had.

I like your structure, that's a good summary of the roles. How would you class Book?

[technomom]

I can't count the number of people we ended up with at the end of the Stars & Garters D&D campaign, or the previous Mage campaign. I think we did a pretty darn good job with working as a team :-)

[selenesue.livejournal.com]

NPC's can get off the ship some time. Kaylee got to go to the ball dressed as befits a princess, remember?

"Must be an NPC--clearly she's just a plot hooker." A thwapp in the face with The Salmon of Contrition to ye! [[[THWAPPPP!]]] I think that Inara may be the Game Master. [grin] Or the anti-Jayne player; very experienced, NO desire to shoot-em-up, but rather to Make Life Interesting.

[celticdragonfly.livejournal.com]

Last night he was telling me this whole thing, and at the end I said "but what about Inara?" "Oh, she's just the plot hooker".

I threw things at him, and accused him of having come up with this whole thing JUST to make me deliver the straight line.

[selenite.livejournal.com]

And then demanded I post it so she wouldn't be the only victim!

[celticdragonfly.livejournal.com]

Yep. If I'm going to suffer your puns, I want it spread around.

[selenite.livejournal.com]

It didn't start as a pun. I was woolgathering about the show and started classifying the characters. Inara was the last one I considered, but once I thought of the pun there was no stopping it.

[technomom]

A plot hooker? GAH! Naughty selenite!

I don't see Inara as an NPC. She saves Mal's bacon in Ariel, and in my experience, NPCs just don't play that strong a part in games.

I disagree about Kaylee, too. She's key to the crew - the ship doesn't run without her. Period. And as I recall, the one time I saw Kaylee in a fight scene, she improvised and did hurt a bad guy or two. Having played a bard with no real fighting abilities in D&D before, I don't think combat abilities are a must-have.

[selenite.livejournal.com]

Oh, it's definitely debatable. I just wrote it that way because I couldn't resist the pun. Don't forget her rescuing Mal and Zoe in The Train Job, too.

I still lean toward Kaylee as an NPC. She's my favorite character but she doesn't take the initiative to solve things the way PCs do. And lots of NPCs exist to have the essential skill that none of the PCs wanted to bother with. OTOH, being a cute intuitive mechanic rather than the classic book-taught engineer is something a player could come up with. We'll have to see how she behaves in the movie. ;-)