Hrm, from Margaret Weis Productions, who did the RPG. I haven't been keeping up with the RPG stuff -- they've got some sort of followup coming or something?

The One True b!X | January 02, 12:30 CET

Just in case people think it's a novel, I've added some more info to the subject line to avoid any confusion.

According to Warehouse 23:



I've never played the RPG, is it any good?

Simon | January 02, 13:14 CET

Yeah, I was wondering about that when I saw the company name, but couldn't tell from their not-description. Thanks for clarifying, Simon.

I haven't played it yet either, though I want to get the game if only for the book, which I hear is a great resource of information.

Mike_S | January 02, 13:20 CET

I'm still having trouble working out exactly how RPGs work. It makes me feel old.

Razor | January 02, 17:38 CET

Was it an RPG that everyone was playing the night before they went to battle the First? When Giles went from being a respected watcher to a dwarf? That is the extent of my knowledge about RPG games.

Lioness | January 02, 18:33 CET

There are a lot of kinds of RPGs and much fighting over what qualifies. In terms of computer RPGs it's ranging from "hardly more than mindless hack and slay and if there wouldn't be so many numbers nobody would even think about calling it one" games like Diablo and its million clones to "ok, it's a free world, but the heck am I supposed to do next anyway" games like Morrowind. Some bold people call the old Hero Quest game an RPG and risk dying in a hail of 20 sided dice, some feel embarrassed to have called the original "run around dungeons, kill monsters and collect stuff to help you kill more monsters" D&D an RPG, etc...

Some have their emphasize on combat or ridiculously complex rules that try to be as realistic as possible, others limit the rules to the minimum and focus on giving a background for stories and characters (guess what the Serenity RPG seems to be).

Quite often such games boil down to a bunch of people sitting around a table and causing silly chaos while the "gamemaster" is losing his mind, trying to keep them focused on the game. If you happen to have any improvised comedy shows, where they play a character but are completely free except for a basic background and vague instructions every once in a while to keep the story going, it would be a good comparison. Replace the stage with a table and add some rules to find out who can do what how good by rolling a dice and you pretty much got it.

It's like an interactive story where you play one of the characters and the script is only setting things up, but doesn't dictate what you have to do. At least that's what they tell you, while in reality the gamemaster is a manipulative little creep, trying to make you do what the story requires without you noticing. How interesting would an adventure be if the heroes just say "Uhm, that sounds WAY too dangerous, forget it. Let's stay in this inn and get wasted." within the first 5 minutes?

Trienco | January 02, 19:21 CET

Trienco...hahaha....that sums up my meagre RPG experience. A few years ago, for two years I played an RPG game with some friends, it was my first and sorry to say last time playin RPG, and it was very much like that. I could not have described the experience better myself.

kurya | January 02, 20:49 CET

Happy New Year all! Jamie Chambers here, the publisher of said role playing game (RPG) adventure/sourcebook. I'm afraid Amazon has jumped the gun a bit on this release announcement. January was the original projected release date from some time ago, but Tracy and Laura Hickman have not yet turned in the final manuscript. (Too busy writing best-selling novels, I think!) I should have a handle on a more precise (though not final) release date sometime in the next few weeks. To tide everyone over and help out new gamers, we'll have free adventures and other resources appearing on the website soon.

In other news, the Serenity Game Master's Screen should be in our warehouse within a few weeks. Keep watching www.serenityrpg.com for full information about our products, release schedules, and more. Thanks! ** Jamie

Jamie | January 02, 21:10 CET