Big Book o' Badduns

Things Don’t Go Smooth is a supplement for the Firefly Roleplaying Game, the RPG based on Joss Whedon’s 2002 ‘space western’ television series that aped the aftermath of the American Civil War. Published by Margaret Weis Productions, in this ‘space opera’, the crew of the Serenity try to make living, not always legally, on the fringes of both society and a massive star system far from the aegis of the controlling central government, the Alliance. This is not a ‘clean’ space opera—making a living in space can be hard and is often dangerous work; high technology rarely makes it as far as the outer planets and their moons; and the preferred technology is stuff that works, so for example, firearms rather than lasers and on many planets, horses rather than vehicles.

Things Don’t Go Smooth is all about helping the GM make the lives of his Crew—that is, the player characters—just that bit more awkward. It presents a host of antagonists with which to confound, confront, and confuse the Crew, including spies and crime bosses, rival crews and gangs, and the unexplained and the miscellaneous; presents their spaceships and space stations, gives narrator advice for running them, and introduces an array of new triggers; and lastly, provides two scenarios with which the GM can showcase the antagonists of his choice. The supplement comes as a full colour book, illustrated with a mix of photographs and grayscale art, which comes with solid cartography. 

The bulk of the supplement is devoted to its antagonists. The first five are spies and crime bosses; the second four are rival crews and gangs; whilst the last four are oddities and the unexplained. Each of the first heads an organisation with men at their command and plots of their own backed up with knowledge, favours, ambition, and a more than healthy dose of paranoia. They include a freelance spy with a taste for the highlife who trades in information and more; a mercenary queen with an axe to grind against both men and the Alliance; a Moon Boss who will do anything to protect the independent sanctuary he has established; a mercenary commander who trades on her corporate links; and an ex-Browncoat who continues the fight behind the façade of a successful waste management company. Where they possess plots of their own that can see them hiring a Crew or working at odds with a Crew’s aims, the rival gangs and crews are designed to be going after the same jobs as a Crew, and as the competition may be as good as a Crew, perhaps aping their skills and attitudes, perhaps reflecting them. The four rival gangs and crews include smugglers forced to shift unpalatable cargoes, a crazy pirate crew high on adrenaline and alcohol, an information broker backed up by assassins and thieves, and a family of junkers on the make. The oddities and the unexplained are designed to add a degree of mystery to the ‘Verse with legends and rumours that include software that checks for, and shuts down, Browncoat technology; a completely innocent Alliance agent, a wealthy CEO obsessed with ‘saving’ Earth-That-Was, and a ‘ghost’ with gifts to give.

In each case, a full character write-up is given for the primary NPC, who is then backed up with a supporting cast and a description of any bases or equipment. Encounters suggest how the antagonists might be used whilst new Signature Assets are listed and explained for use with both the NPCs here and those of the GM’s own design. Or of course, use by a player character. The thirteen represent a good mix and none of them are quite out and out villains, there being some nuance to their aims and motivations. For example, Zaine Alleyne is a medic who takes too much pride in his skill with a scalpel to quite see the immorality of the work that his Triad bosses have him do, but still has morals enough to undertake acts of philanthropy elsewhere…

Further support for these NPCs comes in the form of write-ups of their boats, thus expanding upon the list of spaceships given in the Firefly Roleplaying Game core rules. They range from an Aegis Class Alliance Battlesphere and Keying Class Medium Transport to a Nanjing Class Yacht and a Sunslinger Science Vessel, altogether adding thirteen new ship classes, along with an array of new Distinctions—Background and Customisation—as well new Signature Assets. These enable the GM to design and build boats for his own NPCs as well as use those for the NPCs presented in Things Don’t Go Smooth.

The last of the NPCs offered are not so much NPCs as elemental forces out of the Black—‘Reavers’! Oddly absent from the Firefly Roleplaying Game core rules, in Things Don’t Go Smooth the Reavers are described as an unstoppable moving force that cannot be reasoned with, fought against, or even defeated. At least not with dice rolls, but rather they can be escaped or avoided. Thus there is no write-up for Reavers in the traditional sense of NPC stats, but several scenario hooks are given along with an example of how to use them.

The GM also receives advice on running antagonists, backed up with three thorough—and entertaining—examples of play that showcase the threats they represent. The advice also covers the creation of lairs and hideouts, and quick NPCs and plots, but most notably Things Don’t Go Smooth gives the GM a set of new triggers, not to add to Distinctions and Signature Assets, but rather to scenes and locations. This is in addition to any Traits they may already have. Location triggers are specific to a place, typically one that a Crew visits regularly, whilst scene triggers are tied to particular scene in an adventure. 

Rounding out Things Don’t Go Smooth are two adventures, ‘Merciless’ and ‘Thieves in Heaven’. The former is a heist movie set in a museum in which the Crew needs to case the joint before making a run on its security, whilst the latter dumps the Crew into the middle of a medical mystery and one company’s desire for a monopoly when they suddenly need a spare part for its boat—one that the ship’s mechanic cannot simply fix. In both cases, suggestions are given as to which of the villains listed earlier in the supplement are best suited to use in order to make either scenario more awkward and thus more entertaining for the players.

Overall, Things Don’t Go Smooth is neatly presented supplement. It is well written and decently illustrated. What stands out though in comparison with the earlier Echoes of War, are its maps. They are a huge improvement, being reasonably detailed and helpful. One interesting aspect to the supplement is that it is not as tightly tied into the crew of the Serenity as Echoes of War was. This does not mean that the contents of Things Don’t Go Smooth cannot be used with the Serenity crew, but it does feel as their importance is downplayed.

Things Don’t Go Smooth very much feels like a companion volume to the Firefly Roleplaying Game core rules. It provides the means for a Crew to have memorable and meaning adventures by giving the GM not just interesting and memorable villains to put them up against, but villains who are antagonists with interesting and memorable motivations. This is backed up with solid advice and support and two good adventures. Things Don’t Go Smooth lets a GM get enjoyably villainous for the Firefly Roleplaying Game.

A Fancible Foursome

Firefly Echoes of War: Thrillin' Heroics is a supplement for the Origins Award nominated Firefly Roleplaying Game published by Margaret Weis Productions. It collects the first four scenarios for the game originally released individually as PDFs as well as crewmember write-ups and a stripped down version of the Cortex Plus System. This means that its contents are not only compatible with both the preview, Gaming in the 'Verse and the Origins Award nominated version, but it also means that Firefly Echoes of War: Thrillin' Heroics is a standalone book that can be run using just the rules it contains, or it can be with access to either version of the rulebook.

The rules are succinctly covered, for these are the basic rules, and so do not include the advanced options given in the core rules, but they do include everything needed to play the quartet of scenarios in Echoes of War. Character creation, or rather customisation of the twelve crewmember archetypes is treated in a similarly succinct fashion. These rules are followed by four scenarios, each of which should take several sessions to complete. Thematically, the four scenarios all in some way hark back to the ‘Unification War’, either through an old friend from the war or a contact who fought in the war.

The scenarios open with caper/heist hybrid, ‘The Wedding Planners’ by Margaret Weis. In strange turn of events, Badger hires the crew with nary a fuss for a big job—get the daughter of a cattle baron to her wedding aboard another starship. Which means getting a spoiled, rich, media darling to the space wedding of the year on time and without any complications. This being a Firefly Roleplaying Game scenario, there are of course going to be complications and this time around they involve pirates and the course of true love—not necessarily to the same ends. It all gets terribly complicated at the end, almost to the point of a farce, which has the potential to turn into a chaotic mess.

The simplest of the scenarios in Echoes of War, Andrew Peregrine’s ‘Shooting Fish’ is the most straightforward and  has the most obvious potential for fun. The crewmembers come to the aid of an old friend who runs an orphanage that is in danger of being closed down due its accumulated debts. Which means that it local landlord can take it over and turn it into a money-spinning brothel! Fortunately there is a way to raise the cash—quite literally fast! If the crew can enter and win the local boat race, then they can pay the orphanage’s debts. Unfortunately, the only boat the orphanage has needs more than just maintenance to get it into the water and there is nothing clean and legal about the race itself—guns, grenades, sabotage, drunken good ol’ boys, and more are all acceptable in the race. The rules for handling the boat’s repair and various minor encounters are nicely done, but the race feels again a little chaotic and lacking in advice. Nevertheless, this is a fun adventure.

‘Friends in Low Places’ by Monica Valentinelli takes the crewmembers back to Serenity Valley to help out an old Browncoat friend whose new wife has gone missing. Given that his previous wife was an unscrupulous redhead by the name of Bridget, the crewmembers may just decide that getting involved with wife number two might not be such a good idea, but ‘Good Ole Monty’ is desperate for their help. This is an investigative scenario and a fairly difficult one at that, the likelihood being that the crew will end up having to garner aid from high places into order to find the wife’s whereabouts. The one thing that lets this scenario down is the lack of maps and the poor quality of the maps. Those that are given are functional at best and given that this is a location-based scenario, a map of Serenity Valley itself would have been helpful.

Last is ‘Freedom Flyer’ by Nicole Wakelin. Once again, the crewmembers are asked to come to the aid of a friend—a regular motif in this anthology, but the title is Echoes of War—who wants to get out and make a new life before her old one catches up with her. Again, this scenario has something of the heist to it, but involving more stealth and the need to avoid Alliance entanglements than in previous scenarios. Of course, there is the matter of the friend’s past and the fact that it will catch up with both her and the crew in the form of a pragmatic bounty hunter who should be fun for the GM to play.

Physically, Firefly Echoes of War: Thrillin' Heroics is cleanly and neatly presented. It makes decent use of photographic stills from the television series, though the few pieces of additional line art are perhaps too cartoon-like in places. Where the book does disappoint is in its maps, which are in the main serviceably bland, and in some of the repetition from one scenario to the next. 

There are two obvious problems with Firefly Echoes of War: Thrillin' Heroics. The first is that it collates a number of releases that were first released as PDFs, so if you own any of them already, this collection may not be as useful. The second is that it repeats a lot material that is already available in one form or another—the rules, the crew of the Serenity, and the new pre-generated crew. What this means is that again, there is the possibility that the purchaser is paying for material he already has and does not need again. Either reason should be enough for the potential purchaser to carefully consider whether he needs this supplement.

The less obvious problem with Echoes of War is that its four scenarios are written with the crew of the Serenity in mind. Which is fine with a large playing group who are prepared double up on a character or two—after all, few playing groups are likely to consist of nine players! What this means is that in many cases, the GM will be mapping the personalities of the Serenity crew onto the player character created crewmembers and back again in order to fit the roles that the scenarios require. Which of course will not be a problem for an experienced GM who will know the personalities of his players’ characters, but may present an issue for the less experienced GM.

Yet where Firefly Echoes of War: Thrillin' Heroics truly shines is as an introduction to playing and running the Firefly Roleplaying Game. Like Firefly the series and want to get a taste of what it is like to roleplay in the ‘Verse without getting the core rules, then it is an obvious place to start. That said, it is not an introductory product as far as roleplaying goes as its starting point is not quite basic enough and anyway, the scenarios are too complex for an inexperienced GM to either adapt to a group that is not playing the crew of the Serenity or to run. It is much more suited to a group and a GM who have some roleplaying experience under their collective britches. 

A nice touch is that each of the four scenarios comes with several suggestions as to possible sequels and consequences. Of course there is no advice on creating such sequels present in Echoes of War, but then that falls outside its remit and so they are useful for when the GM has a copy of the Firefly Roleplaying Game. There are of course issues with Firefly Echoes of War: Thrillin' Heroics—the dull maps, the repetition of material, the underwritten advice, and so on, but the scenarios themselves are excellent, a solid quartet that do a nice job of modelling the Firefly television series and give the chance for the crewmembers to be big shiny heroes.

As shiny as it gets

In 2013, Margaret Weis Productions published a taster for the Firefly RPG that we had been waiting for. Gaming in the ‘Verse presented both a preview and a ‘quick start’ for the Firefly Roleplaying Game, based on Joss Whedon’s 2002 ‘space western’ television series that aped the aftermath of the American Civil War. In this ‘space opera’, the crew of the Serenity try to make living, not always legally, on the fringes of both society and a massive star system far from the aegis of the controlling central government, the Alliance. This is not a ‘clean’ space opera—making a living in space can be hard and is often dangerous work; high technology rarely makes it as far as the outer planets and their moons; and the preferred technology is stuff that works, so for example, firearms rather than lasers and on many planets, horses rather than vehicles.

In the Firefly Roleplaying Game, the players have the opportunity to explore the ‘Verse themselves. They can do this as the crew of the Serenity—Mal Reynolds, Zoe Washburne, ‘Wash’ Washburne, Inara Serra, Jayne Cobb, ‘Kaylee’ Frye, Simon Tam, River Tam, and Shepherd Book—and thus tell of their adventures between end of the television series and the events of the movie, Serenity, or they can create their own crew and then create a ship of their own to love, hate, but most of all, call home. In creating a crew member, a player also has a choice. He can either select from one of the twenty-four available archetypes—from Academy Dropout and Alliance Agent to Newly Ordained Shepherd and Retired Outlaw or he can create a character from the ground up. Obviously, such a character, whether created using an archetype or from the ground up, will not be as capable as member of the crew of the Serenity, but he will have room to grow and change as his adventures are played out.

Each character is defined by three attributes—Mental, Physical, and Social; several broad Skills, each of which can have a speciality; one or more Signature Assets, items intrinsically bound to the character, like Jayne Cobb’s Callahan full-bore auto-lock rifle Vera or Shepherd Book’s Identicard; and three Distinctions. The latter define a character and come in three categories – Roles, Personalities, and Backgrounds. All four aspects of a character—Attributes, Skills, Signature Assets, and Distinctions are rated by die type, from four-sided die up through six, eight, ten, to twelve-side die. Each Distinction provides a bonus die to a character’s actions, but can also act against a character to complicate his life and so provide him with Plot Points that can be spent later on.

Dorothea Liu
Quote: “Is that a genuine first edition Great Expectations, all the way from Earth that was?”
Character Type: On the run bride
Character Description: Dorothea Liu thought that she had a solid career in medicine before her, to be followed by a husband and children. It was what her family had planned for her after all—and she even thought that she loved her husband to be. Then she found out what her husband was—the son of a Triad boss—and the truth of her father’s business empire. She was heartbroken. She saw her parents in a new light and knew that the last person she wanted to be was her mother. With her mother’s blessing she fled, jilting her husband to be…
According to the hospital she is on extended sabbatical. According to her father, she is a traitorous shă guā. According to her mother, Dorothea is all that she could never be. According to her husband, she is a chī chóng huā dàn who should be on his arm and bearing his children.
Likes/Dislikes: Dorothea is fascinated by the history and peoples of the Border and the Rim—perhaps too fascinated. Given her own history, it should be no surprise that she is a sucker for a sob-story.
Flashbacks and Echoes: Dorothea had a more than comfortable upbringing, but then she saw the violence meted out by her husband to be. She never wants to see that again.

ATTRIBUTES
Mental 10 Physical 6 Social 8
SKILLS
Craft d4, Drive d6, Fight d4, Fix d6, Fly d8, Focus d6, Influence d8 (winning smile), Know d8 (History), Labour d4, Move d6, Notice d6, Operate d6, Perform d4, Shoot d4, Sneak d6, Survive d4, Throw d4, Treat d10 (surgery), Trick d4
DISTINCTIONS
KNOW IT ALL d8
Look smarty pants, if we wanted schoolin’, we’d have gone to school.
Gain 1 Plot Point when you roll a d4 instead of a d8.
Pedantic: Gain 1PP when you correct someone at an inappropriate juncture or tell the crew a fact that is interesting, but not useful.
Highlighted Skills: Fix, Know, Treat
ON THE RUN d8
Someone’s after you—Alliance, the Triads, the Guilds, maybe all three. You’re a fugitive and you’re in trouble.
Gain 1 Plot Point when you roll a d4 instead of a d8.
Highlighted Skills: Move, Notice, Sneak
FASHIONABLE d8
You attend the most exclusive parties, dress in the latest fashions, and hire the best Companions.
Gain 1 Plot Point when you roll a d4 instead of a d8.
Clout: Step back Influence until the end of the end of the next scene to remove a social complication.
Highlighted Skills: Drive, Fly, Influence

SIGNATURE ASSETS
Doctor’s Bag d8
Sometimes things don’t go smooth and sometimes they don’t go smooth and someone ends up with a bullet in ‘em. Times like that you need a good doctor and his bag.
Nice dresses d6
They may not be the latest styles in the Core, but out here in the Border worlds? They cut quite a figure. Out on the Rim, they’re just sassy.

In addition to creating a crew, the players also get to create or ‘find’ their ship. This involves picking a Class and then choosing Distinctions and Signature Assets to ensure that the ship stands out. Some twenty-two Classes are listed, including the Arbitrator Class Alliance Patrol Boat, the Marco Polo Class Space Bazaar, and the Cobb Class Science Ship as well as the Firefly Class Transport. There are as many Distinctions, which either relate the ship’s History, such as Former Salvage or Stolen or to the customisations carried out by the crew, such as Livestock Hauler or Smuggler’s Delight. Signature Assets might include a Chapel, Mining Equipment, or Shuttles.

Sapphire Star
Polaris Class Cargo Liner d8
Engines d6 Hull d10 Systems d8
An older mid-sized cargo liner, sturdy if slow.
Gain 1 Plot Point when you roll a d4 instead of a d8.
DISTINCTIONS
Won her in a card game d8
You gamble more than you should, but one time you should really stuck your neck out and you won big.
Gain 1 Plot Point when you roll a d4 instead of a d8.
Well-loved: Crewmembers on board may share Plot Points with another Crewmember who’s operatin’ the ship.
Cruisin’ the ‘Verse d8
Your berths are first class, with plush velvet seats, stunning chandeliers, and lovely music. Whilst the food is excellent and the service impeccable, these fineries come at a price—snooty passengers.
Gain 1 Plot Point when you roll a d4 instead of a d8.
The Customer is always right, unfortunately. Start every episode with an Unreasonable Customer Demands d6 Complication.
SIGNATURE ASSETS
Mighty Fine Quarters d8
Shuttles d8

The Firefly Roleplaying Game uses the CORTEX Plus System. Derived from the CORTEX System—now known as CORTEX Classic—that powered the Serenity Role Playing Game, the original RPG based on the Firefly television series also published Margaret Weis Productions, the CORTEX Plus System is narrative orientated set of mechanics designed to tell the type of gritty stories seen in Firefly. The difference is this: in a traditional RPG a fist fight or a shootout would involve rolls each time a punch is thrown or a trigger is pulled. In the CORTEX Plus System, each round of dice rolls—typically one roll per player character and one roll for the NPCs or the challenge—covers the whole exchange. So a fist fight is covered in one roll, the results are narrated, and the story moves on. The aim here is not to get bogged down in unnecessary detail, but to make it dramatic and exciting.

To undertake an action, a character rolls one die each for a skill and appropriate attribute and compares the totaled value against the stakes rolled by the GM. For example, several members of her husband’s Triad gang, led by one of his lieutenants, Mitchell Gao, have caught up with Dorothea and in the resulting scuffle, her fellow crewmember, the Inquiry Agent, Jian Zhang, has been stabbed and Taken Out—in general characters are incapacitated for a scene or more when Taken Out, although in dire circumstances, being Taken Out means being killed. Dorothea implores the Triads to give her time to treat Jian. The GM rolls for Mitchell Gao, who as a minor character has the Traits Triad lieutenant (d8), Ambitious, but not stupid (d6), and Sucker for a pretty smile (d4). The GM rolls all three dice and sets the stakes at 10 (5+5), but he also rolls a 1—a Jinx. This earns Dorothea a Plot Point. Dorothea’s player puts together her dice pool from her Social (d8) attribute, her Influence (d8) skill, her Know it all Distinction (d8) to convince the Triads that Jian really is hurt, and to reflect the fact that the Triads are after her, adds a d4 for her On the Run Distinction instead of a d8 to earn her a Plot Point. The result of the roll is 8, 7, 4, and 1. The best combination is course 15 (8+7), which is great because it is five higher than the Stakes. This earns her a Big Hero Die that she can add to any roll. It is equal to the highest die type rolled by the GM—a d8. Yet she has also rolled a Jinx! The GM uses this to step up Jian’s Vicious Stabbing from a d8 to a d10! Nevertheless, Mitchell Gao is persuaded to wait and Dorothea has time to treat Jian. This time, her dice pool is formed using her Mental attribute (d10), her Treat skill (d10) and surgery speciality (d6), plus her Doctor’s Bag (d8) Signature Asset. She also has at two Plot Points and if all else fails, she also has the Big Damned Hero die, so it looks like Jian is in good hands!

Yet under different circumstances, Dorothea might not have her Doctor’s Bag to hand or she might roll badly. This is where the Plot Points come in. If multiple dice are rolled for an action, but the action is failed, a character could expend a Plot Point to add one of the other dice to the result. Or she could create a temporary asset that she can use just for the scene. For example, trapped in the engineering bay by the Triads and Jian still needing help, she might expend a Plot Point to bodge together some basic medical supplies. Or even to actually act if she has been Taken out and cannot do otherwise do anything.

Plot Points earned by temporarily reducing a Distinction from a d8 to a d4, from receiving a Complication from the GM when he rolls a Jinx, whenever the GM spends a Plot Point of his own to oppose your character, and from great play. Plot Points power the wilds swings of good and bad luck in the Firefly Roleplaying Game. They are primarily earned when things do not go smooth, when there is a chance of, or actual failure occurs, but they are spent to succeed on difficult rolls, at dramatic moments, and so on. Pretty much like the television series.

As to the television series, its treatment in the Firefly Roleplaying Game is shiny! Each of the series’ fourteen episodes not only receives a full breakdown and description, including the stats and details of the NPCs involved, equipment and assets used, places visited, and ships encountered, they are also used to showcase the rules. It starts off simple in the pilot, ‘Serenity’, just by giving the stats for Patience, Badger, and Lawrence Dobson as well as a Reaver Ship, before explaining the basics of the rules with the fist fight on Unification Day in ‘The Train Job’. By the time we get to ‘Shindig’, we are shown how complex the rules can get with Mal’s duel with Atherton Wing. Each of these examples eases the learning of the CORTEX Plus System. In addition, each of the episodes is developed with more ideas and suggestions, going beyond what appeared on screen so that the GM could run more than just the episode.

Thus we are almost half way through the Firefly Roleplaying Game before it starts discussing the rules of the game in a more traditional manner. It also means that the background for the setting is rather spread out and given the lack of an index means that locating particular pieces of information can be a challenge. To be blunt, the lack of an index is both inexcusably irritating and disappointing. This is not the only problem with the Firefly Roleplaying Game—its focus is perhaps a little too tight. It really does not expand beyond the possibility of the players taking the roles of the crew of a ship and flying the ‘Verse, so the GM is on his own should he and his players want to go in another direction. Nevertheless, the Firefly Roleplaying Game is well written, an engaging read, and easier to learn than many other RPGs.

Unlike Gaming In The ‘Verse, the Firefly Roleplaying Game comes with just the single scenario, a lengthy affair called ‘What’s yours is mine’. In addition, the GM is given decent advice on creating and running a Firefly game, which nicely couples with the suggestions and ideas given for each of the episodes. The scenario itself is a solid affair that should last two or three sessions.

Putting aside the irritating lack of an index, the Firefly Roleplaying Game is well written, the presentation is excellent, and it is very accessible. Above all, in capturing the grit and drama of the television series, the Firefly Roleplaying Game is both a fine adaptation and the means recreate it at the gaming table.

Your Firefly Starter

Every year at Gen Con there is a slew of new releases and every year there are some that are really ‘hot’. One such title was the Firefly Role-Playing Game from Margaret Weis Productions – or rather it was not. For what was released at Gen Con in 2013 was Gaming In The ‘Verse, a preview of what the forthcoming Firefly Role-Playing Game will be like. And even then, it was not really a preview, but more of a ‘quick start’ giving everything that a Gamemaster and his crew needs to play – an explanation of the setting, the rules, the means to create both a ship and her crew, and two whole scenarios! Plus there are the stats and write-ups for the crew of the Serenity that we know and love from Joss Whedon’s television series, Firefly, so that the scenarios can be played with said crew or with a ship and crew of the players’ creation. All of which comes in a thick, full colour, and fully illustrated paperback book.

Then again, I can hear you thinking to yourselves, “Wasn’t there a Firefly Role-Playing Game before?” To which the answer is ‘yes’ – and ‘no’. Back in 2005, Margaret Weis Productions – the same Margaret Weis Productions that is publishing the Firefly Role-Playing Game – published the Serenity Role Playing Game, not based on the Firefly television series, but on Serenity, the motion picture sequel to the television series. Another difference is the use of mechanics and rulesets. The Serenity Role Playing Game employed the slightly cinematic, if gritty CORTEX System, whereas the Firefly Role-Playing Game uses the CORTEX Plus System, first seen in the Leverage: The Roleplaying Game and most recently seen in the Origins Award winning though cancelled Marvel Heroic Roleplaying RPG. Whereas the CORTEX System, now known as CORTEX Classic, focused on gritty action, the CORTEX Plus System is more storytelling orientated, though the storytelling itself is bound to be gritty given the setting. Now both the Serenity Role Playing Game and the Firefly Role-Playing Game are set in the same milieu, a Science Fiction space western that aped the aftermath of the American Civil War. In this ‘space opera’, the crew of the Serenity try to make living, not always legally, on the fringes of both society and a massive star system far from the aegis of the controlling central government, the Alliance. This is not a ‘clean’ space opera – making a living in space can be hard and is often dangerous work; high technology rarely makes it as far as the outer planets and their moons; and the preferred technology is stuff that works, so for example, firearms rather than lasers and on many planets, horses rather than vehicles. 

Gaming In The ‘Verse begins with an explanation of the setting, supporting it with a dissection of the episodes ‘Serenity’ and ‘The Train Job’. Working from the synopsis of each episode it examples of the rules, stats and write-ups for characters or NPCs such as Badger and Patience, describes the technology and places, and gives ideas for further adventures involving the elements of the episode. These are essentially a number of ‘what if’s’ that could complicate the scenario presented in each episode were the GM to run for his players. There is material here enough to inspire an episode or two for a playing group, but it is promised that the full Firefly Role-Playing Game will contain a similar treatment of all thirteen episodes of the series. 

When playing the setting of Firefly through Gaming In The ‘Verse, a group has three options. The first is to play a member of the crew of the Serenity, whilst the second would be to select from one of the twelve pre-generated archetypes included in the book, from Academy Dropout and Alliance Agent to Small-Time Trader and Triad Enforcer. Alternatively, a player can create his character, one that will not be quite as capable as member of the crew of the Serenity, but one that certainly has room to grow and change as his adventures are played out. Each character is defined by three attributes – Mental, Physical, and Social; several broad Skills, each of which can have a speciality; one or more Signature Assets, items intrinsically bound to the character, like Jayne Cobb’s Callahan full-bore auto-lock rifle Vera or Shepherd Book’s Identicard; and three Distinctions. The latter define a character and come in three categories – Roles, Personalities, and Backgrounds. All four – Attributes, Skills, Signature Assets, and Distinctions are rated by die type, from four-sided die up through six, eight, ten, and twelve-side die. Each Distinction provides a bonus die to a character’s actions, but can also act against a character to complicate his life and so provide him with Plot Points that can be spent later on. The list of Distinctions in Gaming In The ‘Verse is not complete though and a full list will appear in the Firefly Role-Playing Game when it is released.

THEODORE KINGSLEY III
Quote: “Some orders are meant to be disobeyed, more or less, as my old fù qìng never said.”
Character Type: Principled Pilot
Character Description: Theodore Kingsley III had a glittering career ahead of him as an officer in the Union of Allied Planets Navy. After all, his father was an admiral and his grandfather was an admiral, and it was expected that he would follow in their footsteps. That would change for the recently promoted first lieutenant during the Battle of Du-Khang towards the end of the Unification War. Piloting a gunship, Kingsley was ordered to evacuate casualties from a position under heavy attack by Independent forces. He did this several times, often under heavy fire, each time ordering his crew to evacuate the Independent casualties at the same time. Each time he was ordered to ferry away Alliance casualties rather than Independent ones until the point where there were only Independent casualties left. Ordered away to another mission, the pilot not only ignored the order not to go back in, he punched the officer who gave it. This would have got him a court martial, but the combination of the missions he had already flown and his family connection meant that he was instead given an award. Kingsley was decorated and promoted, told to behave, and assigned to what he considered to be parade duties. Disillusioned, when the war ended and his term of service was up, he resigned his commission – the first Kingsley to have done so for generations, and quit the Core Worlds.
For the last decade Kingsley has worked the Border Worlds as a pilot for hire, rarely staying with one crew for long. Too often he finds an order he disagrees with, disobeys it, does what he feels is the right thing, and then quits.
Likes/Dislikes: Theodore loves to fly and hates anyone who gets in the way, especially with what he regards as daft orders. He does not have much time for the Alliance Navy either. He is fond of painting though and never travels without an easel, canvas, and paints.
Flashbacks and Echoes: Theodore does not like to talk about his record or what he did in the Unification War. This has got him into trouble in the past.

ATTRIBUTES
Mental 8 Physical 8 Social 8 
SKILLS
Craft d4, Drive d4, Fight d6, Fix d4, Fly d10 (Alliance Gunboats), Focus d6, Influence d8, Know d8 (Navigation), Labour d4, Move d4, Notice d8, Operate d8, Perform  d6 (Painting), Shoot d6, Sneak d4, Survive d8, Throw d4, Treat d4, Trick d4
DISTINCTIONS
SHIP’S PILOT d8
The list of folk wanting to hire you is longer than your arm. You’re just that good.
Gain 1 Plot Point when you roll a d4 instead of a d8.
Born Behind the Wheel: Spend 1 PP to step up or double your ship’s Engines Attribute for your next roll.
Highlighted Skills: Fly, Notice, Operate
DECORATED d8
You came back from the War with a medal and a story. You’re not sure if it was worth the cost.
Gain 1 Plot Point when you roll a d4 instead of a d8.
You’re a Gorramn Hero: Spend 1 PP to double your Social when dealing with anyone who served on your side.
Highlighted Skills: Fight, Influence, Shoot
A LITTLE NERVOUS d8
“Oh God, oh God, we’re all gonna die.”
Gain 1 Plot Point when you roll a d4 instead of a d8.

SIGNATURE ASSETS 
Dress Uniform & Medals d8
It would have to be a dire situation wherein Kingsley had to wear his medals and dress uniform again. Still he keeps them in a kit bag in his quarters – just as his mother would want.
Easel, Paints, & Brushes d6
Kingsley’s preferred method of relaxation. One day he might get to paint a sunset on every planet in the system.

The second character is more like the twelve archetypes that come ready to customise in Gaming In The ‘Verse. These are not quite ready to play, but require some simple customisation by adding skills and an extra skill specialisation. The following example needs the player to raise his skills, add a specialisation to one skill, and select his triggers for his three Distinctions. (In the form of Jian Zhang, the Inquiry Agent will support an example of the rules in play).

Character Type: Inquiry Agent
The Unification War meant that things did not go smooth for folks on both the Border Planets and the Core Worlds. It caused all kinds of problems and both things and people have a tendency to go missing. Which is where you come in – you find things that are missing. For a commission that is. You are not a detective and you do not carry badge. Most folks would never talk to you if did. Badges are not popular out on the Border, especially Alliance badges. So now you rely on your powers of persuasion and maybe some sleight of hand when the need calls for it. If it comes to it, you have a Sanctioned Investigator’s License, but most times that works better with the Law rather than most people.
You don’t like trouble and you would prefer to put your hands up or make a run for it rather lay your hands on someone. After all, you are no bounty hunter. Usually you get people to do most things and answer most questions when you ask them. They open up to you most times.
When work is scarce though you make your money from playing cards and dice – Mahjong is a favourite. Just like your grandma taught you.

ATTRIBUTES
Mental 8 Physical 6 Social 10 
SKILLS
Craft d4, Drive d4, Fight d6, Fix d4, Fly d4, Focus d4, Influence d8 (Interrogation), Know d8, Labour d4, Move d6, Notice d6, Operate d4 (Cortex), Perform d4, Shoot d6, Sneak d6, Survive d4, Throw d4, Treat d4, Trick d8 

DISTINCTIONS
RELENTLESS INVESTIGATOR 8
Just the facts, dǒng ma?
Gain 1 Plot Point when you roll a d4 instead of a d8.
Bloodhound: Step up a Complication involving higher authorities in your jurisdiction to step up your
Notice skill for a scene.
I’ve Got Backup: When you create an Asset based on calling in official resources and support, step it up to a d8.
Highlighted Skills: Influence, Know, Shoot
SMOOTH TALKER 8
You can talk your way out of a life sentence or into a locked room. Just don’t make promises you can’t keep.
Gain 1 Plot Point when you roll a d4 instead of a d8.
Gift of Gab: Spend 1 PP to double your Influence die for your next roll.
Start Fresh: Spend 1 PP at the beginning of a scene to step back all of your social or mental-based Complications.
Highlighted Skills: Influence, Know, Trick
HARMLESS LOOKING 8
You blend into a crowd like a rock blends into a quarry.
Gain 1 Plot Point when you roll a d4 instead of a d8.
Couldn’t Hurt A Fly: Step back your Physical die to step up your Social die when convincing someone you’re not a threat.
Quick Change: Spend 1 PP to create a d8 Asset to help you disappear into a crowd
Highlighted Skills: Move, Sneak, Trick

SIGNATURE ASSETS 
Sanctioned Investigator’s License d8
Most people out on the Border Planets don’t want others poking about their business. They like it even less when it is the gorramn law doing the poking about. So you are glad that you do not carry a badge, especially an Alliance badge. You carry something that gives you some credibility with the law if they ask and verifies that you are not the law when folks really, really want to know.
Jei Jei Pocket Stunner d8
Not everyone out in the Black wants to carry a gun, but even so, it pays to have a means to protect yourself. Which is why you carry a Jei Jei ‘Electric Induction’ Pocket Stunner, guaranteed to knock out an assailant at twenty paces or on contact, a non-lethal protection that is rare outside of the Core Worlds. You hated guns when you carried an Alliance badge and this is a compromise.

In addition to creating their characters, the players also get to create their ship. The options are limited in Gaming In The ‘Verse to just the choice of three hull types – Alliance Patrol Boat, Firefly Class Transport, or Polaris Class Cargo Liner. Whichever one the players chose, this is their ship’s first Distinction, the other two providing its History and its Customisation. To this the players get to add a Signature Asset or two. A nice suggestion is that this should be done during play with the players spending Plot Points to describe a flashback to when they came aboard for the first time and so discovered another aspect of the ship.

The basic rules to Gaming In The ‘Verse and thus Firefly Role-Playing Game are quite simple. Whenever a character wants to undertake an action, he rolls a skill and an appropriate attribute and adds the total together and compares them against the stakes rolled by the GM. For example, the Inquiry Agent, Jian Zhang is on Persephone looking for a client’s daughter and believes that Harly Polk might have been the last person to see her. Unfortunately, he does not know where Polk is, but he does know that Polk likes to gamble. Therefore, he wants to know where Polk might have gone to gamble, so his player makes a Mental (d8) + Know (d8) against the stakes set by the GM, who rolls Persephone Underworld (d6) + Challenging (d8). Zhang rolls 2+7 for a total of 9 which beats the GM’s roll of 2+5 for a total of 7 and so learns that Polk is probably playing Mahjong at Mama Fang’s. 

Whatever the situation and the task, a player will always roll and keep two dice, but will often roll more and keep the best two. These can come from skill specialities, from Distinctions, and from Assets, either Signature Assets or Assets temporarily created during play. For example, Zhang has arrived at Mama Fang’s to discover that it is a closed game, so he needs to persuade the guard to let him. To do so, Zhang must make a roll of Social (d10) + Influence (d8) and can add his Distinction, Smooth Talker (d8) to the roll as well. The guard just has to roll his Mental (d6) + Focus (d8). Zhang rolls 8, 4, and 1, and selecting the best two gets a result of 12. The guard rolls 2+3, which sets the stakes at 5. This not only a success, but because it is five more than the stakes set by the GM, it means that Zhang has achieved an extraordinary successes and thus gets a Big Damn Hero Die to use later. Given the success of the roll, the GM also rules that the guard not only lets Zhang into the game, but puts in a good word with the game boss who is running the game. Unfortunately, Zhang also rolled a 1 which is a Jinx, and although it did not count towards his total, it is enough to add a Complication to the situation, which in this case the GM describes as Mama Fang is Mad at You (d6). This might come back to trouble Zhang shortly. In return the GM gives Zhang a Plot Point.

Now involved in the game, Zhang wants to play well, but so not so well that Harly Polk will lose. In fact, he wants to Polk to win and thus make him receptive to questions, making sure that Polk thinks that Zhang is nobody special. Harly gets to roll his Mental (d6) + Trickery (d8) for his gambling, but Zhang has a Gambling specialisation and wants to use his Distinction of Harmless Looking to make himself appear ordinary. So he gets to roll Mental (d8) + Trickery (d10) + Gambling (d6) + Harmless Looking (d8). Harly rolls 5+5 for a total of ten, whereas Zhang rolls 2, 2, 4, and 5, which gives him the result of 9. Of course, this is not enough to lull Harly into a receptive mood, but Zhang has a Plot Point or two to spend – every character begins play with a single Plot Point, and Zhang has already earned another in play. He can earn more during play by temporarily reducing a Distinction from a d8 to a d4, from receiving a Complication from the GM when he rolls a Jinx, whenever the GM spends a Plot Point of his own to oppose your character, and from great play. Back in Madame Fang’s gambling den, Zhang could have spent a Plot Point before the roll to activate a Distinction trigger if appropriate, or create an Asset (d6) for the scene that would add another die to the roll. None of these are appropriate, but he has two options after he has made the roll. He could spend a Plot Point and roll and add a Big Damn Hero Die to the roll already made or he could add an extra die from the roll already made. The latter seems the easiest option and so Zhang adds a 2 from what he rolled to bring the total to 11 and so beat Harly’s roll.

In each case, what a player is rolling for is an effect that will advance the action or the story in a ‘beat’ which is defined as a period of time in which a player character could take a single action. How long a beat is depends on the action. It can be as short as the time it takes for a character to throw a punch or dive for cover, or as long as it takes to fly from Persephone to Avalon. This particularly shows most effectively in combat. In most RPGs, if a player character wants to punch an opponent, he makes a roll to hit and if successful, he rolls damage. Not so in Gaming In The ‘Verse where a successful roll may mean that the opponent or even the player character is taken out for the scene. Where in another RPG, a character might employ a bigger or better gun and receive a better damage roll or a bonus to hit, in Gaming In The ‘Verse a character can have a signature Asset like Jayne’s Vera or the Inquiry Agent’s Jei Jei Pocket Stunner. Using the Asset adds another die to the dice pool. 

The other aspect to the CORTEX Plus system as used in Gaming In The ‘Verse is that “things don’t go smooth” – and that is entirely intentional. Having things go wrong from one beat to another provides the players with the opportunity to earn Plot Points. With Plot Points to hand, a player can trigger his Distinctions, add Assets, and so on, essentially allowing a player to add elements to the on-going story, bring his back-story into play, and when it comes to the dénouement of the current story be appropriately heroic. The aim is to model the ebb and flow of the television series and its episodes – after all, the clue is in the use of the term, ‘beat’ – and this it does in fairly light fashion.

Gaming In The ‘Verse comes with two, lengthy ready-to-play scenarios. ‘Wedding Planners’ and ‘Shooting Fish’ comprise the first two parts of the Echoes of War campaign that explore how the Unification War continues to have ramifications ten years on… ‘Wedding Planners’ sees the crew ferrying a princess to her wedding who discovers that she just does not want to go, whilst in ‘Shooting Fish’ the crew come to the aid of an orphanage that a greedy man is about to shut down. A further scenario in the series, ‘Friends in Low Places’, is already available, but a really thoughtful touch is that the publisher has released the first of these scenarios, ‘Wedding Planners’, for use with the CORTEX Classic system, as typified by the original Serenity Role Playing Game. Both scenarios showcase the rules and how the game works as well as adding new rules, like expanded chase rules in ‘Wedding Planners’. Also included with Gaming In The ‘Verse are a set of designer’s notes that discuss both the game in general and the Echoes of War campaign. These provide a nice look behind the scenes of these scenarios and the game itself. There is even a Chinese Translation Guide for when you want to get your degree of Gorramn verisimilitude in your game right.

Physically, Gaming In The ‘Verse is a well presented softback book. It is liberally illustrated with stills from the television series and the buff layout has a certain period charm to it that does not feel out of place with the television series. In terms of content, what is missing from Gaming In The ‘Verse? The most obvious missing element are any rules for experience or character advancement. Deck plans are also missing. The absence of both of these elements is not an impediment to play of a Gaming In The ‘Verse in the short term, and that is intentional. The book after all, is meant to be an introduction to the setting and the forthcoming RPG. For all that, there is an awful lot of play potential in Gaming In The ‘Verse. Both scenarios will provide several sessions of play and that is before you take into account the supplementary material contained in Gaming In The ‘Verse that the Gamemaster could develop into scenarios of his own.

Gaming In The ‘Verse is an excellent introduction to the CORTEX Plus System – in fact it is a better explanation than that given in the Marvel Heroic Roleplaying RPG. It keeps its rules simple and straightforward whilst still allowing the players plenty of input as to what their character does and how they affect the action. As written, the Firefly fan that comes to this never having played an RPG should be able to grasp the CORTEX Plus rules with relative ease, though as with most RPGs, the Gamemaster should have some roleplaying experience under his belt before running Gaming In The ‘Verse. As an introduction to the Firefly Role-Playing Game and quite literally, gaming in the ‘Verse of Firefly, Gaming In The ‘Verse is a pleasingly complete, even shiny – well, it had to be said – quick start with more play than you think.

The Generic Grit RPG

The CORTEX System Role Playing Game is a set of generic rules first seen in the Serenity RPG, and since used in the Battlestar Galactica, Demon Hunter, and Supernatural RPGs. It comes complete, bar the dice, and is designed to handle most genres short of the more fantastic – so no high fantasy, no superheroes, and no ultra-tech. What it can do is fantasy with magic, science fiction with psionics and cyberware, and more modern set and near future set games, all with a gritty edge. The book also includes some decent GM advice, three sample settings, and even an index.

There are numerous sets of generic rules for roleplaying currently available and the difference between one and any other, comes down to the level of detail it provides, the lightness of its rules, and quite simply the feel of the game. The CORTEX System Role Playing Game compares well with any of its competitors, sitting at the low end of the detail spectrum, its rules being moderately light, and possessing a feel that is grittier and grainier than other “light” generic rules. The core rules are slightly let down by their window dressing – more “pick ‘n’ play” elements could have been included to get a game set in a specific genre going faster, and the sample settings do undersell themselves. Nevertheless, the CORTEX System Role Playing Game is a good package for the GM who wants a light, gritty rules set with which to create his own games.

The system is relatively straight forward. Attributes, skills, and traits – assets and complications (or advantages and disadvantages), for characters, monsters, and vehicles are measured by dice type: two, four, six, eight, ten, and twelve-sided dice, with a rating of d6 being considered as average. Attributes – Agility, Strength, Vitality, Alertness, Intelligence, and Willpower; and Traits – Assets and Complications such as “Rank and Privilege” and “Traumatic Flashbacks” are measured by just a single die type, whereas skills work slightly differently. Above a rating of d6, all skills must have a speciality. So a character can have a skill in Drive of d2, d4, or d6, but beyond that he needs to specialise in Bus, Car, Truck, or something similar, in which he would have a rating of d8 or more. This would be expressed as Drive d6, Truck d8 and the character could easily buy specialities beyond that.

To do anything a character rolls against a target difficulty, three for easy, seven for average, right up to 31 for impossible. Any result of seven or more above this target is counted as an extraordinary success. Skill checks involve both an attribute and the skill, but the attribute will vary depending upon circumstances. For example, to successfully strike a target a character would roll his Agility and his Unarmed Combat d6, Tae Kwon Do d10, but to analyse and assess his opponent’s skill, he would roll his Intelligence and his Unarmed Combat d6, Tae Kwon Do d10. Rolls involving attributes either mean rolling it twice, for example, when making a strength check to force open a door, or two different attributes.

A character also receives Plot Points, used to modify his skill rolls, to reduce damage suffered, and to manipulate the game in small ways in his favour. He earns them not just for good roleplaying and achieving goals, but also for bringing his Complications into play.

Character creation uses a standard point buy method. A player is given points to spend on his character’s attributes, skills, and traits, the amount varying according to how experienced or how heroic the GM wants his player characters to be. The book also includes bundles that a player can buy, packages of attributes, skills, and traits representing racial or experience backgrounds, such as (UFO) Abductee or Elf. There are only a few sample such Bundles, and while it is easy enough to create more, it would have been nice to have been given a few more, perhaps categorised by genre so that a GM and his players could just pick and play.

The system is well supported with solid rules for handling combat and vehicles – anything from a minivan to a scout starship, and a decent equipment list that includes robots and androids (with rules to play both). The GM is given advice on creating and running games, with attention paid to the genres supported elsewhere in the book – crime, fantasy, and galactic fantasy.

Part of the problem with the CORTEX System Role Playing Game is that it draws strong comparison with the Savage Worlds RPG, primarily because the mechanics of both look vaguely similar and cater to not dissimilar markets. There are plenty of differences and similarities though. Both are quick games, but CORTEX is more straight forward in play compared with the slightly more complex Savage Worlds with its use of cards; CORTEX is a grittier, grainier game than the pulpier, more heroic in feel Savage Worlds; and lastly CORTEX gives the GM and player alike something less proscriptive to work with in terms of its mechanics and character advancement when compared to the tight framework of Savage Worlds. The other advantage that Savage Worlds has is that gives access to a wide range of settings (and it handles miniatures skirmish games better, but CORTEX was not written with that in mind), but CORTEX is better toolkit in terms of mechanics for the GM to create his own setting or game. That said, the similarities are enough that you could run a Savage Worlds setting with relatively little difficulty using the CORTEX System.

The other problem that the CORTEX System Role Playing Game has is in its choice of window dressings and sample settings. The primary window dressing elements provided are magic, cybernetics, and psionics, each including just about enough samples to show the reader how they work and then leave you really wanting more. The other piece of window dressing is a set of mechanics describing how the U.S. court procedure works, which seems an odd choice that only makes sense when you discover that one of the three sample setting is a cop show.

The first of the three sample settings is “Star of the Guardians,” a Star Wars-like space opera based on the books by Margaret Weis (whose company, Margaret Weis Productions, Ltd. publishes this book), in which the Guardians, members of the genetically bred Blood Royal who are trained to use the Bloodsword energy weapons and other technology, feud over the fate of the galactic Republic and the safety of the heir to the monarchy that the Republic overthrew. The second is “Trace,” a contemporary set police procedural inspired by the C.S.I. and Law & Order franchises that suggests that the players take multiple roles, from investigative to support to technical, and play troupe style. The third of the settings is “Arcady,” based in a southern gothic novel by Michael Williams about a family and their house, both of which are capable of slipping through the Borders into a dream-like world.

Of the three, “Star of the Guardians” and “Arcady” suffer from a lack of information and if the reader is not familiar with nor a fan of the books that they are based on, the likelihood is that the reader is not going to be grabbed by either. “Trace” has the advantage of familiarity – how many of us have not seen a police procedural? It also benefits from the fact that the CORTEX System is designed to handle exactly this kind of genre, the rules being an easy match, whereas in the other settings, the GM only receives sample window dressings to use with them.

Physically, the CORTEX System Role Playing Game is neatly laid out, lightly illustrated (with the silhouettes actually being better than some of the artwork), and clearly written. Its coverage of the possible genres is perhaps a little too cursory, but these rules are not really aimed at the inexperienced GM.

So the question is, do I like the CORTEX System Role Playing Game? The answer is, yes I do. I would probably turn to Savage Worlds for its settings – too many good ones to mention here – but the CORTEX System Role Playing Game is there for when I want something with a slightly harder edge.

Bromance & Monsters

While we await the arrival of the Smallville Roleplaying Game from Margaret Weis Productions here in the UK – which when it arrives means that there will be two official RPGs available in which you could play Superman – I will review the publisher’s most recent title to hit our shelves. The Supernatural Rolepaying Game is based on the Supernatural television series in which two brothers, Dean and Sam Winchester, hunt demons and monsters in search of their missing father John, who taught them to hunt the supernatural. The series might be described as Buffy the Vampire Slayer with blokes and demons instead of vampires, but Supernatural is much more of a road trip, the brothers moving across small town America from town to town. The other main difference lies in the horrors that the brothers encounter. There are demons of course, but the others are primarily ghosts, spirits, and other inhuman creatures based on urban legends. The combination of these creatures and the road trip format – the travelling done via Dean’s signature 1976 Chevrolet Impala to a soundtrack of American rock music – lend the series and thus the RPG an episodic structure in which the player characters, or rather Hunters travel America in search of the supernatural.

Since this is a game from Margaret Weis Productions, Supernatural Rolepaying Game uses the publisher’s house mechanics, CORTEX System Role Playing Game, which defines its Attributes, Skills, and Traits – Assets and Complications (or advantages and disadvantages), for characters, monsters, and vehicles by die type: two, four, six, eight, ten, and twelve-sided dice, with a rating of d6 being considered as average. Attributes –Agility, Strength, Vitality, Alertness, Intelligence, and Willpower; and Traits; and Assets and Complications such as “Two-Handed Fighting” and “Superstitious” are rated by a single die type, while others like “Natural Linguist” and “Amnesia” vary in die type according to their effectiveness. Skills work slightly differently in that above a d6 rating a character must specialise and so gets a higher die type.

Character or Hunter creation is relatively straight forward. Players receive points to spend on their characters’ attributes and skills, with tougher starting characters who have had some experience with the supernatural receiving not only more points for attributes and skills, but points to spend on Traits too. The number of points spent on Assets and Complications have to balance, so a Rookie with no points of spend on Traits starts even more penalised if he wants Assets.

The sample character is a Rookie version of a Call of Cthulhu investigator that I have used before – and indeed will appear as one of the pre-generated investigators in the forthcoming Masks of Nyarlathotep Companion. Henry Brinded is an ex-US Army officer who served with the artillery in the First Gulf War. He resigned his commission and left the army suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and partial deafness. In the intervening years he went back to school and studied ancient languages and theology, but the stress meant that he could not progress beyond a Masters Degree. These days he likes to live quietly in the antiquarian bookshop he runs, painting when not reading, and reading when not painting.

Henry Brinded
Agi: d6 Str: d6 Vit: d6
Ale: d6 Int: d10 Wil: d8
Init: d6+d6 LP: 14 End: 14 Resist: d6+d6
Plot Points: 6
Traits: Cool Under Fight d2, Higher Education d4, Natural Linguist (Arabic, Hebrew & Latin) d6; Allergy (Hayfever) d2, Dull Sense (Hearing) d4, Dull Sense (Sight) d2, Straight and Narrow d4
Skills: Artistry d6, Painting d8; Boating d2; Craft d6, Book Restoration d8; Discipline d4; Guns d4; Heavy Weapons d6, Field Artillery d8; Influence d4; Knowledge d6, History d8, Linguistics d10, Religion d8; Lore d2; Perception d4; Unarmed Combat d4

The Cortex System is quite a straight forward set of mechanics. For most occasions a player will just roll and total the results of a skill die and an attribute die to beat a target. For example, Brinded above would roll one ten-sided and one eight-sided dice – the first for his Intelligence attribute and the second for his Knowledge and History speciality. Extra dice can be rolled and added or deducted from the total depending if an Asset or Complication applied. Continuing the example, Brinded could roll and add the Highly Educated die if he was researching something that he learned at university, but roll and deduct the Dull Sense (Shortsighted) die if he had to conduct some research without his spectacles.

Although Complications make achieving an aim in the game more difficult, the advantage of bringing them into and roleplaying them in play is that they award the character with more Plot Points. As you would expect, these can be used by a player to improve a roll as well as to add a story element, for example to create a previous relationship with an NPC. The Supernatural Rolepaying Game adds another wrinkle to Complications though. One of the main foes faced by the hunters will be demons who often appear as columns of smoke. When a demon – and the occasional powerful ghost – attempts to possess a victim, it exploits his greatest weakness represented in game terms by his Complication with the highest die value which is added to the difficulty to resist the possession attempt. Of course, it goes without saying that this is a very bad thing.

Of course the point of the Supernatural Rolepaying Game is hunting evil, and that means monsters. The game only lists seven types of monsters: Demons, Ghosts, Shapeshifters, Shtriga, Vampires, Wendigo and Zombies. Most of these will be familiar, but the Shtriga is a witch-like creature that feeds of life essence and is hard to detect. While just seven types of monster are covered and discussed, they are done so in depth and each type is accompanied by at least one example. The creatures that appear most often in the series receive the most examples. So there are full write-ups of two Demons – the series’ big bad, Achashversosh, and another demon, Meg Masters; and three full write-ups of different ghosts – Timothy Timberlake (Death Echo), Constance Welch (Woman in White), and Dr. H.H. Holmes (Undead Serial Killer). Fans will recognise some of these from the series such as Dr. H.H. Holmes, whose inclusion highlights the series’ use of figures out of urban folklore.

Given how detailed these monsters are, a GM should get plenty of mileage out of these foes. Of course, these seven are never going to be enough, so there is already a supplement available devoted to monsters, Supernatural Guide to the Hunted. In addition, most modern horror RPGs have their own monster books, and of those I can suggest that Pelgrane Press’ Book of Unremitting Horror; White Wolf’s World of Darkness supplements such as Ghost Stories and Mysterious Places; and Eden Studio’s Atlas of the Walking Dead – if you want zombies! – as being worth a Supernatural Rolepaying Game GM’s time.

In addition to running monsters, there is advice aplenty for the GM on running a game. It starts off with what makes the horror in Supernatural different to traditional horror. Simply that its horror is “horror-adventure,” a sub-genre in which the heroes can and do fight back. What this means is that most foes that the hunters will encounter appear on their own and will be enough of a challenge for them. In turn it examines the key elements of the series beyond the horror – hope, family, and humour; looks at how hunts are conducted; and explores campaign and adventure construction. There is also advice on handling and portraying the NPCs as well as tips on refereeing a horror in general. Over all, the GM’s section is very well done.

Beyond the advice and the discussion of the monsters, the GM also receives support in the form of a mundane bestiary, a list of ordinary folk, and a list of ordinary locations which might be found anywhere in small town America. Besides their stats, motivations and descriptions are given for each of the ordinary folk, enough to help a GM portray them. The locations are of more interest, each one being described by day and by night as well as having a sample background. For example, the abandoned coal mine has a “legend” about three miners having been sealed in the mine after a tunnel collapse. Essentially, each of the backgrounds is a hook around which a plot or hunt could be based.

While the GM receives plenty of support and advice, the player will have to take his cue from the television series itself. Beyond the introduction to the series and its accompanying guide to monsters throughout the USA, there is little support for the player. The rules lack an example of character generation, which would have been useful for someone coming to the book after watching the series. There are character sheets for the four main characters from the series, but no example of the generation process. Worse still, the book lacks a scenario. After all, a scenario would have showcased how a hunt could be constructed and run. True, the book provides plenty of hooks with the location backgrounds, but a scenario would have been better. A nice touch is the inclusion of a discography of rock music by which to hunt...

Physically, the Supernatural Rolepaying Game is nice looking, if slim, hardback. Done in full colour, it is illustrated throughout with stills from the series, and its journal style layout echoes the journal kept by the characters in the series. This is most prominent in the use of post-it notes as sidebars, which are usually written in the character of one of the Winchester brothers.

Overall, the CORTEX System Role Playing Game fits the feel of the series, being straight forward and gritty, but still with room for some heroics. The advice for the GM is good and the monsters are nicely described, and at this point, I would say how the book feels complete and ready to roll. It does not, and all for the lack of a scenario. I view the lack of a scenario as a major omission as it showcases how the game is meant to work, especially for anyone new to roleplaying, which might be the case since this is a game based on a popular television series. For anyone coming to the Supernatural Rolepaying Game this, this lack is going to be a problem. For the more experienced gamer, this will be not a problem.

So putting aside the issue of the lack of a scenario, the Supernatural Rolepaying Game is a solid treatment of its source. It does hard, muscular monster hunting, and it does it well.