Dwarf in a Spaceship: D&D Meets Firefly

Notice: This Page is in the very early stages of construction.

We'll be making heavy use of d20srd.org and d20resources.com.

It seems desirable to pair the Serenity/Firefly universe with d20 mechanics because it'll be a combat focused campaign and there's a lot of material for use in a future fantasy setting.

The Modern system is developed without a races layer and a variation on the classes layer limiting them to one per ability score.

Including races is reasonably painless although there are bound to be consistency issues to account for such as favored classes or special traits applied to content left out of the campaign.

Spaceships and rules for Space travel are found in the Future supplement for the Modern system.

Firefly/Serenity has a couple settings developed by Margaret Weis Productions using the Cortex and Cortex Plus systems. It's worth noting there is no FOSS material related to these and there's no good way to make use of the material without paying for the books.

Fandom has a wiki that'll come in handy: firefly.fandom.com.

As we start out it'll be easiest to consider the 3.5e core material as the content for our fantasy elements but Forgotten Realms and Eberron are two examples of other settings with worlds a future space traveler could potentially visit.

Let's coin a phrase: Super-Multi-Omni-verse or SMOv. Why?

Because we're going to conventionally assume our game universe is a member of an RPG Multiverse which is a member of an entertainment Omniverse and so on...

My interest in SMOv is similar to my interest in the idea of a meta-system for role-playing game mechanics: I prefer settings and rule sets that aim at being as flexible, inclusive, and accessible as possible. I'll be toying around with moving in and out of SMOv narrative layers as this project develops.

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Setting Notes

This project emerges from asking what my partner imagines when thinking about the ideal RPG.

The response was roughly... "I'd like to be a dwarf in a spaceship... like Dungeons and Dragons in the Firefly universe."

Going off of this and a few other things said while discussing I'll assume play begins in a bunker under a hanger on an uninhabited moon orbiting a planet aesthetically modeled after the D&D 3.5e core setting.

A map of the hanger/bunker base is forthcoming.

The party objective will be to retrieve a priceless royal heirloom which has been tracked to the planet being orbited.

This first session will depend heavily on d20 Modern and Future as well as material from the 3.5e core rules.

If habitable planets are natural or terraformed then this planet is natural and has no advanced civilizations capable of space travel... TBC.

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Basic Rules

The Core Mechanic 

Whenever you attempt an action that has some chance of failure, you roll a twenty-sided die (d20). To determine if your character succeeds at a task you do this: 

• Roll a d20.

• Add any relevant modifiers.

• Compare the result to a target number.

If the result equals or exceeds the target number, your character succeeds. If the result is lower than the target number, you fail.

Dice

Dice rolls are described with expressions such as “3d4+3,” which means “roll three four-sided dice and add 3” (resulting in a number between 6 and 15). The first number tells you how many dice to roll (adding the results together). The number immediately after the “d” tells you the type of die to use. Any number after that indicates a quantity that is added or subtracted from the result.

d%: Percentile dice work a little differently. You generate a number between 1 and 100 by rolling two different ten-sided dice. One (designated before you roll) is the tens digit. The other is the ones digit. Two 0s represent 100.

Rounding Fractions

In general, if you wind up with a fraction, round down, even if the fraction is one-half or larger.

Exception: Certain rolls, such as damage and hit points, have a minimum of 1.

Multiplying

Sometimes a rule makes you multiply a number or a die roll. As long as you’re applying a single multiplier, multiply the number normally. When two or more multipliers apply to any abstract value (such as a modifier or a die roll), however, combine them into a single multiple, with each extra multiple adding 1 less than its value to the first multiple. Thus, a double (×2) and a double (×2) applied to the same number results in a triple (×3, because 2 + 1 = 3).

When applying multipliers to real-world values (such as weight or distance), normal rules of math apply instead. A creature whose size doubles (thus multiplying its weight by 8) and then is turned to stone (which would multiply its weight by a factor of roughly 3) now weighs about 24 times normal, not 10 times normal. Similarly, a blinded creature attempting to negotiate difficult terrain would count each square as 4 squares (doubling the cost twice, for a total multiplier of ×4), rather than as 3 squares (adding 100% twice).

Modifiers

A modifier is any bonus or penalty applying to a die roll. A positive modifier is a bonus, and a negative modifier is a penalty.

Stacking

In most cases, modifiers to a given check or roll stack (combine for a cumulative effect) if they come from different sources and have different types (or no type at all), but do not stack if they have the same type or come from the same source (such as the same spell cast twice in succession). If the modifiers to a particular roll do not stack, only the best bonus and worst penalty applies. Dodge bonuses and circumstance bonuses however, do stack with one another unless otherwise specified.

Modifier Types

Ability Modifier: The bonus or penalty associated with a particular ability score. Ability modifiers apply to die rolls for character actions involving the corresponding abilities.

Circumstance Modifier

A circumstance bonus (or penalty) arises from specific conditional factors impacting the success of the task at hand. Circumstance bonuses stack with all other bonuses, including other circumstance bonuses, unless they arise from essentially the same source.

Competence Modifier

A competence bonus (or penalty) affects a character's performance of a particular task, as in the case of the bardic ability to inspire competence. Such a bonus may apply on attack rolls, saving throws, skill checks, caster level checks, or any other checks to which a bonus relating to level or skill ranks would normally apply. It does not apply on ability checks, damage rolls, initiative checks, or other rolls that aren't related to a character's level or skill ranks. Multiple competence bonuses don't stack; only the highest bonus applies.

Dodge Bonus

A dodge bonus improves Armor Class (and sometimes Reflex saves) resulting from physical skill at avoiding blows and other ill effects. Dodge bonuses are never granted by spells or magic items. Any situation or effect (except wearing armor) that negates a character's Dexterity bonus also negates any dodge bonuses the character may have. Dodge bonuses stack with all other bonuses to AC, even other dodge bonuses. Dodge bonuses apply against touch attacks.

Insight Bonus

An insight bonus improves performance of a given activity by granting the character an almost precognitive knowledge of what might occur. Multiple insight bonuses on the same character or object do not stack. Only the highest insight bonus applies.

Luck Modifier

A luck modifier represents good (or bad) fortune. Multiple luck bonuses on the same character or object do not stack. Only the highest luck bonus applies.

Morale Modifier

A morale bonus represents the effects of greater hope, courage, and determination (or hopelessness, cowardice, and despair in the case of a morale penalty). Multiple morale bonuses on the same character do not stack. Only the highest morale bonus applies. Nonintelligent creatures (creatures with an Intelligence of 0 or no Intelligence at all) cannot benefit from morale bonuses.

Resistance Bonus

A resistance bonus affects saving throws, providing extra protection against harm. Multiple resistance bonuses on the same character or object do not stack. Only the highest resistance bonus applies.

I still need the ability scores section.

• I'm editing the language to generalize the context in a way that works well with the project.

I'm going to skip the races layer.

• For now we'll assume Humans and Dwarves are approximately similar such that there's no need to distinguish between them mechanically.

I'll provide an outline for the class schema.

Then explain skill checks.

Next, combat mechanics.

Now adventuring rules.

And NPCs and enemies...

Notes on gear and anything else I've forgotten.