Urban legend on Firefly?

[jhulse]

Ok, I've heard tell that Josh Wheaten (sp?) is or was a Traveller player. Does anyone know for a fact if this is true? Is there a link or a blog verifying this? I know that before I finally saw firefly that all my Traveller buds said "it's just like Traveller"... so here is a thought.
If this is Josh's space opera, loosely based on "the feel" of Traveller, what if Firefly REALLY IS the Traveller Universe. Specifically, pre-jump tech level earth, within the Traveller universe?
That would be just too darned cool.
Anyone? Anyone?
JakNaz

 

[Tobias]

Maybe you confused two names. Wil Wheaton, Wesley Crusher from "Star Trek", is a known, proud RPG player. He plays D&D, but I don't know about other games.

Regards,

Tobias

 

[Maladominus]

Hrmm.

I wonder if the increasing hype of Serenity/Firefly... and the obvious comparisons to Traveller will help to get more people playing Traveller again.

or maybe not

 

[Malenfant]

Considering there's a Serenity RPG in the works, I doubt it. If people want to play in the Firefly universe they'll most likely get that instead, rather than trying to reinvent the setting and fit it into a Traveller framweork.

 

[Maladominus]

Originally posted by thrash:
The Traveller comparison is obvious to anyone who knows both, but there just aren't enough of us (vs. Firefly/Serenity fans in general, or roleplayers among them) to make a difference.

Well the Hivers could possibly help in a 'Traveller Awareness' campaign. Possibly.

 

[jappel]

There was a challenge on the browncoats.serenity.com site to pose questions for Joss Whedon, and he's answered a couple of chunks of questions already. I asked specifically about this, noting the similarities in style and flavor and my question was "deemed worthy", meaning the folks running the site passed it up the chain, but it hasn't been in either batch yet.

Either way, my plan to subvert some of the D&D players at my FLGS has begun to bear fruit, based in part on them being familiar with Firefly; I was able to run two sessions (using MT rules) at an all-night RPG-a-thon this past weekend.

The second session was me inserting "Death Station" into my homebrew TU, as it was around 3 AM and a dungeon crawl seemed about right for the amount of brain cells we still had functioning at that point. When the party got to the kitchen, opened the walk-in meat locker complete with 12 bodies hung on hooks, some with limbs missing and several showing signs of having been gnawed on, one of the players actually gasped and said "REAVERS!", causing a collective shudder around the table...

- John

 

[Malenfant]

Originally posted by Maladominus:

[/QB]

Clever hivers. Fortunately, my memetic defences caught that one .

 

[jhulse]

Originally posted by jappel:
There was a challenge on the browncoats.serenity.com site to pose questions for Joss Whedon, and he's answered a couple of chunks of questions already. I asked specifically about this, noting the similarities in style and flavor and my question was "deemed worthy", meaning the folks running the site passed it up the chain, but it hasn't been in either batch yet.

Either way, my plan to subvert some of the D&D players at my FLGS has begun to bear fruit, based in part on them being familiar with Firefly; I was able to run two sessions (using MT rules) at an all-night RPG-a-thon this past weekend.

The second session was me inserting "Death Station" into my homebrew TU, as it was around 3 AM and a dungeon crawl seemed about right for the amount of brain cells we still had functioning at that point. When the party got to the kitchen, opened the walk-in meat locker complete with 12 bodies hung on hooks, some with limbs missing and several showing signs of having been gnawed on, one of the players actually gasped and said "REAVERS!", causing a collective shudder around the table...

- John

My friends are in the same boat. They love firefly along with other Joss productions. Again, they are roll players and are showing more interest in Traveller. So I'm going to try and supercede the release of Firefly by starting a traveller campaign of my own. What is the chance that Firefly is pre-jump Terra in the Traveller universe? I have heard at least two direct reverenced to traveller. This past weekend, we discussed if Firefly was in our current solar system, or a near by solar system. Nobody had any real answers, just lots of conjecture and wild guesses. The only fact that some of them swore by was that Firefly was set 500 years after "the earth that was"... what ever that means. Some thought the earth was depleted of natural resources. Some surmised a third world war, or large asteroid impact. Nobody really seemed to know for sure...

 

[Shadowdancer]

Yes, the Firefly "universe" is 500 years in the future. And it is not in our solar system; it is a solar system humans travelled to when forced to leave Earth. The planets and moons of the new solar system were terraformed to make them inhabitable. This is/will be explained somewhat in the prologue of the movie Serentiy.

 

[Jeff M. Hopper]

Originally posted by Maladominus:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by thrash:
The Traveller comparison is obvious to anyone who knows both, but there just aren't enough of us (vs. Firefly/Serenity fans in general, or roleplayers among them) to make a difference.

Well the Hivers could possibly help in a 'Traveller Awareness' campaign. Possibly.

</font>[/QUOTE]A Traveller Awareness campaign may not be a bad idea...

I'm mulling over what a grassroots movement to get more people aware of Traveller might look like. Maybe getting a local book or game store to allow you to run Traveller games in their business? Might be worth looking into because the time is definitely right for it with all of the good science fiction out there.

 

[zakrol]

So is it known for definite that Firefly takes place in just one solar system? I realise they gloss over how far they travel between planets but I'd assumed interstellar travel was taking place.

I'm sure one of the early episodes has an Alliance captain making reference to there being thousands of Firefly class ships built (can't remember how many offhand) and complaining how little he had to go on when about to board Serenity. That would make this solar system pretty crowded...

Then again, I suppose Out of Gas having another ship show up randomly does fit the single solar system model...

I'm confused now!

 

[kafka47]

Been a while since I watched it...but I am pretty sure that I caught references to other systems. To have just one enormorous Terraformed Solar System seems to be a bit of a stretch. Although, it would explain such things as Reavers preying on the unsuspecting rather than old fashioned pirates.

Also, interestingly enough the Serenity site mentions that it is 500 years into the future.

But, someone on this board caught sight of a Spinward Marches Map in one of the episodes whether this is true or note has to wait till I get my copy of Firefly.

I don't think Joss is a Traveller fan, other than playing it a few times. I think he is aware of RPGs but not really how they work when he only had a blog he said of Traveller, as I described the background..."Interesting...that would make a great TV series. Can you send me more stuff."

Now, if that was merely him being polite or that he is a old fan, it is hard to read. However, this was before he got commissioned for Serenity, WW and X-Men...so I am sure he had time to be contemplative.

Now, I am sure if was a true Gognard, he would be more active but he probably just played in High School or something like that.

What I see is the long range evil plan is...for all of us on the CofI to invade the Hollywood Screenwriters guild to produce real quality SF.

Drat, did I just say that out loud...foiled again...but, hey, it sometimes works in Bond films...

 

[kafka47]

Yes. It's covered in the first 30 seconds of exposition in the Serenity movie, and MWP has included that detail in the handouts they provide at the pre-release demo's of the Serenity RPG.

And for us poor unfortunate wretches that don't have access to that knowledge. Would you kindly elabourate.

 

[mike wightman]

Weren't there plans to put that demo online at one point?

 

[Andrew Boulton]

"On the contrary: the absence of non-human intelligences is a key assuption of the Firefly/Serenity universe."

That's just what the Hivers want you to think...

 

[Shadowdancer]

Originally posted by kafka47:
And for us poor unfortunate wretches that don't have access to that knowledge. Would you kindly elabourate.

OK, but there are some slight *SPOILERS* involved for the movie Serenity. So if you don't want to know before going to see the movie, don't read any more.

By the way, I have seen the movie already. I got to see one of the advance screenings in May. Just so you know this is not second-hand or third-hand knowledge. I saw/heard it myself.

*SPOILERS*

The movie Serenity starts with a prologue that turns out to be a children's history lesson in a school class. In the prologue/history lesson, it is discussing the setting/background. 500 years earlier everyone had to leave Earth (I don't recall if it mentions exactly why). Colony ships take everyone to a nearby solar system which contains many planets and moons which can be terraformed and colonized. Which they are.

 

[jhulse]

I had heard that "full burn" on a firefly was based on a controlled hydrogen explosion. One blast to send a ship in a given direction. I have always understood that there is no ftl drives. And when "other systems" were mentioned, that always meant a planet / moon system, not solar system. Could be wrong though. Also... could be wishful thinking, but in the episode "out of gas" (I think) when Mal was reliving his first glimpse of his ship, he was standing in front of some other kind of ship next to a used freighter salesman. There was a brief cut of several other old ships lined up behind the salesman. He was in the foreground, and the ships were in the background slightly out of focus. I swear the very last ship looked like a far trader! Again, it was a very quick scene, and I could have just wanted it to look like a traveller ship.

 

[YogoZuno]

I am currently watching Firefly on DVD with my wife - when we hit Out of Gas, I'll check for you

 

[jonathonbarton]

The "Full Burn" is mentioned in the extras on the 4th disc. I watched that on Monday. You are correct, in that it's a huge Hydrogen explosion that propels the ship forward at a suddenly much greater speed...

And the most mass-produced American Bomber was the B-24 Liberator, with 18,482 copies being produced. It could also carry more and fly higher than the B-17, but it was butt ugly, so it never captured the hearts of Americans like the B-17.

 

[jhulse]

But the B-29 super fortress was larger than the B-24 or B-17. It was the only bomber at the time capable of dropping fat man and little boy on Japan. The B-52 (I think) is the largest sized American bomber ever produced. I think the B-2 stealth has more payloads, but in over all size, the B-52 is largest. I could be wrong though. The peacemaker (late 40's early 50") had 6 pusher engines and later an additional 4 jet engines. Their flight times were so long two flight crews were on board to take turns flying.
JakNaz