A question about Firefly/Serenity & Traveller

[PFVA63]

Hi,

Just out of curiosity (and I apologize if this has been asked before), but I've seen alot of posts on these boards discussing how others feel that the TV Show "Firefly" and the movie "Serenity" seem very Traveller like to them. While I haven't seen the series, I did watch the movie, and while it did involve a group of people traveling through space in a free trader like star ship, in most other respects it didn't seem all that Traveller like to me.

For me, when I was 1st introduced to Traveller back in the early 1980s, I wasn't all that familiar with alot of science fiction, so my friends suggested I read Isaac Asimov's "Foundation" Trilogy. As such I've tended to view Traveller as revolving arround a fairly high tech massive star-spanning empire. And although technology can vary throughout the setting, at its core some fairly high tech ties everything together (in terms of jump drives, anti-gravity, inertial compensation, high tech weapons, etc).

Additionally, in some of the discussions that I've been involved with on these boards about such things as cooking, entertainment, and laundry facilities onboard spaceships in Traveller, many posters have suggested such things as self cleaning clothes, advanced recycling, and other really high tech sounding possiblities.

However, after watching "Serenity", that setting didn't seem as high tech to me, and in a lot of ways had kind of the look and feel of the post-civil war American old west translated to the stars. As such, in alot of ways it felt a little more to me like 2300AD along the Chinese Arm (similar to the Adventure "Ranger") than Traveller.

Anyway, I guess my question then, is out of curiousity what do people find about "Firefly/Serenity" that they feel is or is not Traveller-like to them?

Regards

PF

 

[BlackBat242]

To me, the only way you could place Firefly/Serenity into the Traveller universe is as a colonized system that has no capability to produce their own jump drives, and which has been cut off from those who do in some manner.

Most probably, it is during "The Long Night"... that would really fit, and account for all the "low tech", "STL only", and "single system" characteristics.

In that setting, it is indeed good Traveller... but only in that kind of setting.


So, can we have a discussion as to which system would work best?
:smirk:

 

[Rover]

If you can watch the series. The events in the series take place before the movie and have a much clearer Traveller Vibe. A crew of small time honest criminals travelling planet to planet looking to make a buck.

And the character roles are more stongly defined in the series. The Doctor, the Mecrenary, the Army Vets, The Pilot, The whore, the preacher, the mechanic and the crazy girl.

It is really good TV.

R

 

[Sturn]

I
And the character roles are more stongly defined in the series. The Doctor, the Mecrenary, the Army Vets, The Pilot, The whore, the preacher, the mechanic and the crazy girl.

Like Rover said, I think the Traveller likeness people speak of are the characters and the "free trader" Serenity. It's not the setting, which is not Traveller at all.

 

[cajon5]

Like Rover said, I think the Traveller likeness people speak of are the characters and the "free trader" Serenity. It's not the setting, which is not Traveller at all.

I agree 100% about the Free Trader vibe, and the band of ne'er-do-wells. The setting, however, did remind me of Traveller in that there is a mix of tech levels and cultures from world to world. Some Traveller worlds are tech 5 outposts without much population, others are richer, high tech worlds. Likewise Serenity sets down on some worlds that are very frontier-ish, and others, say Persephone, and more developed, wealthier, and with higher technology.

 

[scrabble]

And the character roles are more stongly defined in the series. The Doctor, the Mecrenary, the Army Vets, The Pilot, The whore, the preacher, the mechanic and the crazy girl.

It is really good TV.

R

If you are calling Inara a "whore", you clearly have not been paying attention to the show.

 

[Sturn]

I agree 100% about the Free Trader vibe, and the band of ne'er-do-wells. The setting, however, did remind me of Traveller in that there is a mix of tech levels and cultures from world to world. Some Traveller worlds are tech 5 outposts without much population, others are richer, high tech worlds. Likewise Serenity sets down on some worlds that are very frontier-ish, and others, say Persephone, and more developed, wealthier, and with higher technology.

But you could say the same thing about other scifi universes that definitely don't have a Traveller feel. For example, the Star Wars universe also has a mix of cultured worlds with varying populations and technology levels. It even has a large Empire/Imperium with many pseudo-human alien races like Traveller. I still wouldn't label it with a Traveller vibe.

Firefly/Serenity has a feeling of Traveller for me because of the single ship of varied adventurers setting off to make their fortunes while being hampered by misadventures and misfortunes. Each week of the TV show seemed like a new play session in an on-going open-ended Traveller campaign.

 

[aramis]

Like Rover said, I think the Traveller likeness people speak of are the characters and the "free trader" Serenity. It's not the setting, which is not Traveller at all.

It feels very much like an ATU.

They have defined that ships have 3 disparate drive elements; Power, normal newtonian maneuver with gravitic assist, and a constant speed "space drive" used outside gravity wells.

The worlds are all Traveller like: mostly breathable atmospheres, even on worlds too small to hold one, and ranging in TL from 4-11.

It really works dead on if one rescales the subsector hex from 1 parsec to 1 AU, and jump drive is an n-space hexes-per-week drive, with about a J2 limit... so TL 11... and MDrive limited to 4G.

The Six-guns in space motif is one of the most common criticisms of CT/MT... and the relative bulk of laser weapons is comparable with the example laser pistol in JTAS.

Add the archetypes using B1 and S4....

It's not an OTU game, but it's a really workable fit to rules mechanics with changes to scale.

It's most likely Traveller, tho' star frontiers is an outside chance. Neither FASA-Trek nor Space Opera, fit the bill, nor Starships & Spacemen or Spacemaster, as all four are zapgun settings. And Starfaring and Gamma World are too weird. That's about all the "Well Known" Sci Fi games of the early 1980's.

 

[Whipsnade]

Ever the contrarian, I saw the movie before the broadcast episodes. I enjoyed both, but wish I'd seen the episodes first.

With the exception of FTL comms, Firefly/Serenity is very Traveller-like. Sadly, this means that many people think Traveller is Firefly/Serenity-like as illustrated in another thread when a new poster stated Traveller had a "western" feel.


Bill

 

[cajon5]

But you could say the same thing about other scifi universes that definitely don't have a Traveller feel. For example, the Star Wars universe also has a mix of cultured worlds with varying populations and technology levels. It even has a large Empire/Imperium with many pseudo-human alien races like Traveller.

True enough...I guess it's a subjective thing. When I was explaining Firefly to a friend he didn't get why different worlds would be at different levels of development. YMMV.

 

[Rover]

If you are calling Inara a "whore", you clearly have not been paying attention to the show.

A rose by any other name... Dress her up in fancy clothes, let her pick her own clients, make it somehow respectable, at the end of the day she sells her affections for cash, a lot of cash. So if you're gonna be whore, be a big whore.

R

 

[far-trader]

If you are calling Inara a "whore", you clearly have not been paying attention to the show.

...or enough to know that Mal called her that at least once

 

[PathfinderAP]

Anyway, I guess my question then, is out of curiousity what do people find about "Firefly/Serenity" that they feel is or is not Traveller-like to them?

Well, When I started (has many of my friends also did) playing and running Traveller we had no aliens, just humans, which was unheard of back then every other Sci/Fi rpg had aliens, (I have never had, and still don't have, any aliens in my Traveller games, but that could change soon)

That and a lack of energy based weapons, bullets still the main cause of adventures mishaps,

The free booting rouge (less than legal) nature of flying a ship with crew,
including the banter of said crew, and disposition to resolve certain issues with violence,

That some of the characters come from a military background (hmmm..How did Mal get a hold of the "Pilot" skill in the army?, must of been using my "Term Point" house rule and got it at zero)

And the lawless frontier feel that some places have,

Anyway, there are a few points why Firefly/Serenity is so much like Traveller

 

[Sir Brad]

Mal & Zoe don't/didn't have any Piloting Skills, that's why they had to hire on Wash. Mal is X Terms Other (he was a Farmer/Rancher) followed by 1 Term Army, Zoe is X Terms Merchant (Free Trader) 1 Term Army. Jayne is flat out Rouge. Wash is strait out Merchant (Free Trader). and so on, watching Firefly I and my friends said "This Is Trav on the Telle" Hell we got up to almost everything they did and meet most of the same folks (only with different names).

 

[robject]

It feels very much like an ATU.

[...] 3 disparate drive elements [...] The worlds are all Traveller like [...]

It really works dead on if one rescales the subsector hex from 1 parsec to 1 AU [...]

The Six-guns in space motif is one of the most common criticisms of CT/MT... and the relative bulk of laser weapons is comparable with the example laser pistol in JTAS.

Add the archetypes using B1 and S4....

It's not an OTU game, but it's a really workable fit to rules mechanics with changes to scale.

Yes, it feels like an ATU. Not much effort since most of the core Traveller stuff can be used as-is. Something doable with custom tweaks to the core rules, in the ways Wil explained above.

 

[PathfinderAP]

No Mal was only raised on ranch, he wasn't a rancher,
and he can still pilot a ship, (shuttles, and the Serenity in the movie)
he was also a sergeant (so maybe more than one term there )

And Zoe was career military, and so not a Merchant

 

[Rover]

Mal & Zoe don't/didn't have any Piloting Skills, that's why they had to hire on Wash. Mal is X Terms Other (he was a Farmer/Rancher) followed by 1 Term Army, Zoe is X Terms Merchant (Free Trader) 1 Term Army. Jayne is flat out Rouge. Wash is strait out Merchant (Free Trader). and so on, watching Firefly I and my friends said "This Is Trav on the Telle" Hell we got up to almost everything they did and meet most of the same folks (only with different names).

at some point Mal did pilot the ship. Remember the last scene of Serenity. He may not have been as skilled as wash but he had some pilot skill. (Maybe it was some sort of cross training in the army or some thing he learned in civilian like.

As for Jayne, nothing roguish about him. That man was a mercenary flat out. Deadly in combat and betrayed his bosses for the chance to have his own bunk.

I do not think you can translate the crew directly into Traveller characters. There certainly I more than enough traveller flavour to go around and enough different from Traveller to make it it's own thing. No FTL. No other systems, no aliens, no energy weapons.

I think the characters make it the most traveller like TV show we will ever likely see. I want more but I am really glad we have what we do. My X-mass plans this year are to watch the series and then the movie over the weekend of the 25Th.

R

 

[CosmicGamer]

That some of the characters come from a military background (hmmm..How did Mal get a hold of the "Pilot" skill in the army?, must of been using my "Term Point" house rule and got it at zero)

Mal & Zoe don't/didn't have any Piloting Skills, that's why they had to hire on Wash.

Mal does have pilot skill. This is demonstrated by Mal piloting serenity on at least one occasion. In the Serenity RPG Mal has piloting skill at d4 (in this RPG, the skills progress from none to d2, d4, d6, d8 and so on.) Zoe also has Pilot d4 skill in the Serenity RPG.

for comparison, Walsh has
Pilot d6
- Astrogation d8
- Mid-bulk Transports d12 + d2
- Short range shuttles d8

Inara, who did pilot her shuttle, has Pilot d6.

Even Jayne and Kaylee have Pilot d4 and shepherd Book has Pilot d2.
Perhaps they all picked the skill up from Walsh in their travels?

Simon is the only one who has no Pilot skill.
River has Pilot d6 and I'm afraid to ask how she got it.

EDIT: In the episode where Mal and Walsh are held by Niska, Zoe tells the others to take off with serenity if something goes wrong when she tries to pay to get them back. Zoe piloted the shuttle to Niskas station. Someone would have to be piloting Serenity while Walsh, Mal, Zoe, and Inara were not aboard.

 

[spinwardpirate]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the fact that Wash, in practically one of his very first lines (not counting the dinosaur dialogue), says "hold on travellers" as he darts the ship away from the baddies.

 

[aramis]

Mal does have pilot skill. This is demonstrated by Mal piloting serenity on at least one occasion. In the Serenity RPG Mal has piloting skill at d4 (in this RPG, the skills progress from none to d2, d4, d6, d8 and so on.) Zoe also has Pilot d4 skill in the Serenity RPG.

for comparison, Walsh has
Pilot d6
- Astrogation d8
- Mid-bulk Transports d12 + d2
- Short range shuttles d8

Inara, who did pilot her shuttle, has Pilot d6.

Which basically implies, in traveller terms, Mal is Pilot-0, probably due to Wash coaching him, or a level of JOAT or two to justify his unskilled attempt.

A rough comparison would seem to be (based upon CT skill levels and the DGP-CT tasks):
d2-d4 skill 0
d6 skill 1
d8 skill 2
d10 skill 3
D12 skill 4

For stats, the die-sides +1 seems a close enough fit.