Keith the Thief wrote:Maybe before I pass judgment though, I should buy the 3E basic set and see how I like it.

Better not; you will contract a terminal disease and the bad karma will follow you for more than 3000 years.

Worse; you will be visited by the
Penguins of Destiny.

Do you mean crazy as in, oh, the Toast Golem?

For one ... being attacked by your breakfast gives new meaning to Montazuma's Revenge ...  

Spot on.  Fabulous setting, tedious system.  

Swords & Sorcery, right?

I'd forgotten about the penguins, but X the Unknown was definitely the villain from that game.

AH's Magic Realm was pretty bad, but only because it purported to be a RPG, but was more of a board game. Great artwork, I thought, and great components, but then, it was AH.

But by far the worst actual RPG I've ever played was Serenity. The only thing good about it was that it gave you a reason to use a D12. Bonuses, for, say, hitting something in combat were based on dice levels, so if you had a D6 to hit and got a bonus, it was now a D8. After D12, it became D12+D2, D12 + D4, etc. There was no D20, and I think they made this system specifically anti-D20. I was thrown off the message board for it because I was so critical of the game, and everyone else on there was freakin' in love with it!

Great setting, though. I'd like to adapt it for Traveller.

Badmike wrote:
I've always disliked the "one and done rulebook" settings like Serenity.  They seem to appeal to a very narrow audience of fanatics who don't play any other systems and merely enjoy going over and over the same material as was in the TV show/movie/comic book/novel, etc.

Mike B.

Wasnt Dune: Chronicles of the Imperium also a one-and-done setting?  I dont recall ever seeing any additional supplements for it.  Maybe I will try to see about picking one up at GenCon.  Yeah right.  

I just recall the cost on the Serenity RPG.  I was put off.

Serenity is one of those Science Fiction settings that people look back on and say, "Wow.  I guess that was brilliant.  Why didn't we appreciate it?"

I loved the TV series.  I couldn't figure out why no one else was watching it.

FormCritic wrote:I just recall the cost on the Serenity RPG.  I was put off.

Serenity is one of those Science Fiction settings that people look back on and say, "Wow.  I guess that was brilliant.  Why didn't we appreciate it?"

I loved the TV series.  I couldn't figure out why no one else was watching it.

I watched the dvd set, it was very captivating, quite unlike most stuff on tv now.  Part of the problem was that the powers that be decided the pilot episode, that pretty much introduces all the characters, details the setting, and explains the rationale behind this diverse group of people getting together, wasn't broadcast first.     Kind of like running the GDQ1-7 series and starting with G3...before going back to G1....

I think that if they had run the episodes in the order intended (pilot first, natch), and given it a full season (18-20 episodes, at a regular day and time), we might still be watching Serenity (Season 5 by now?) and Joss Whedon would have another critical cult hit (like Buffy or Angel) on his hands...

The TV industry, much as the music recording industry, employs some of the most entirely stupid individuals this side of politics.  There have been so many critically acclaimed shows (Hill Street Blues, Wiseguy, Seinfeld, Everyone Loves Raymond) that failed to perform in their first season, yet gained a huge following as word of mouth built, and eventually won multiple awards and viewers, you would think the networks MIGHT have caught on by now. Instead, last season, I got sucked into MULTIPLE shows that were cancelled after 3-5 episodes....without even a full season commitment....just because of a couple of badly rated episodes! It's changed my viewing habits so much I won't even get involved anymore unless I read on the web sites that at LEAST a half season of 12 episodes have to be filmed and in the can before I'll delegate any viewing time.

Interesting trivia point: In 24's first season, only 12 episodes were filmed and guaranteed, as Fox wasn't sure the show would gain the viewers necessary to finish out the entire "day", so if you watch season one now it has the odd effect of "ending" the first plot at hour 12, then "continuing" on with a very tangential plot after Fox got the good word the ratings were high enough to finish the season out.  Just think, one or two badly rated episodes the first couple of weeks, and Keifer Sutherland would have been starring in bad B-movies the last five years.....

Oddly, it seems I'm one of the very few who didn't enjoy the Serenity movie...as a coda to the series, it's alright, as a stand alone product, I don't fathom how anyone could make heads or tails of it without watching the series first...

Mike B.