@enembee: I'll probably have confirmation within the next couple days. Definitely by Friday.

As far as a character goes, I was thinking about an ex-soldier fighter type. For that I could basically import my Fallout: New Vegas character. I think he'd fit pretty well into Firefly with some minor tweaking. Alternatively I could try playing a psyker (or Reader, whatever). It seems like it's the closest to a mage-like class there is in this setting, and that's been my usual preference in RPGs. I'll have to look into that more. I'm leaning closer to the fighter though, it'd be a change of pace.

 

Companion? Being a male companion would be a change of pace, and having one aboard would be all kinds of useful.

 

So if we're set on a sort of moving agency sort of deal, I'd think our ship is a transport ship. How do you guys feel about you all renting space on it as an agency from me?

 

I'm happy to pay rent. I'm also happy to charge for secretarial services. It would also allow people to come on and off ship when they can't make rent (or drop from the game).

 

Do you charge the ships mechanic rent?

 

Shit no. People who work on actual functions of the ship receive salaries, room and board already taken into account. People who use it as living and working space for their own professions (IE, Inara, or space Pinkertons if they're not working part time as my security) pay rent.

 

Then I'm totally cool with you charging rent!

So I'm gonna be the ship's mechanic, but rather than the straight up grease-monkey that Kaylee plays, I was going for more of a tinkerer. A Macguyver-esque character, that always is coming out with crazy new things.

You know, explodey things, shooty things...explodey-shooty things. That kind of stuff. But still more than capable of keeping a ship together.

Also he's a good shot with a sniper rifle. He's had to test out his merchandise right?

 

This secretary/negotiator would love to work as an employee, taking care of contracts, communications, and other quartermastery things. Either for Pinkerton or the ship-captain or both.

 

I'm presuming you guys know that there's no financial system in this game, and you're purely talking in terms of fluff, right?

 

Oh, I figured. I just wanted a relationship established.

 

Indeed. Though this then raises another interesting question: do you and your crew (i.e. mechanic, etc) involve themselves in the capers of the Pinkertons living on your ship? If so, why?

 

Depends on the cap'n I suppose. Though I'm happy to fiddle with their weapons, keep their gear in good order.

Speaking of which, what's the relationship between the crew like?

 

It'd be a hell of thing to be all traveling out here in the black and not have at least some sort of social relationship with each other.

I mean, it's not like Shepard Book was a smuggler, but ten episodes later he's storming Nikita's compound.

We're all a bunch of people packed into a can floating through the yawning chasm of vacuum. We all get close in one way or another.

 

Sure, but are we already close, or did we just join up.

 

Yeah, 90% sure I'll be the pilot. Haven't actually built the character yet, but I'll have it up in a couple days max.

 

So the ship is actually some sort of transport ship for some kind of pinkerton agency? Or are we actually a contractor who happens to have a contract with said agency at the moment?

Still trying to buy the damn book, but for some reason I can't connect to the damn website.

 

I definetly get roped into missions that need a more delicate touch than what the Pinkertons usually provide.

So, to make sure my understanding of things is correct, we basically have the crew of the ship (captain, pilot, mechanic) the boarder (me, unless the captain hires me on full time), and the pinkertons. Is that correct?

 

I'm definitely interested in playing a Merc-role if there's still room available. I'll bring the grenades.

 

Lamora - Captain
Cteatus - Mechanic
Aekiel - Detective
Red Aviary - Soldier
Typhon - Pilot
Basilisk - Lawyer? Doctor? Fighter?
Shoulda - Secretary/Face
Riley - Mercenary

Sorrows - Tentative

That's our list and it's final, Riley is our last in. I'm still expecting 1-2 to drop, possibly more But if nobody does, then I think it'll still be runnable.

I've been giving the rules a once over with a critical eye for PbP and have looked at some of the other games that have been played. I've come up with a couple of ideas for rules to make it all a bit more streamlined and viable without days of waiting. Feel free to pick holes in these, raise objections or suggest other things that you think are important.

Idea #1: Setting and Raising Stakes - In the rulebook, the way rolling works is someone announces their intention. The GM or opponent rolls to set a threshold for success and the action taker has to roll above this number. Obviously face to face this is a fine system, but when you're waiting possibly hours for someone to respond, it's less than ideal and will slow the game out.

I suggest that the action taker rolls dice when they announce the action and the GM/opposition rolls a defence. Any additional actions (plot points, etc can then be taken after this roll).

Idea #2: One of the problems I've noticed with a lot of PbP games is that they often descend into one or two sentence per post conversations between two or three characters, making the thread difficult to navigate and alienating the other players who are waiting for something to happen. The format of the standard Firefly episode (which the game attempts to emulate) is about snappy dialogue and quick progression.

I suggest that we post in 'rounds'. That is, one person posts and cannot post again until everyone else has posted their own actions (or 24 hours have elapsed since their previous post). I as GM will then post, as though each of your actions happened almost simultaneously. This will require everyone's post to be progressive and forward moving, without leaving people behind.


I'll give an example that'll show what I mean for both of these:

 

Those both look like excellent alterations to me.