Review: The Serenity Big Damn Heroes Handbook

When the Serenity RPG came out a few years ago, I eagerly snapped it up and it became my re-entry into the world of pen-and-paper RPGs. I figured it’d be a short-run thing, and maybe — maybe — spawn a sourcebook. But, to Margaret Weis Productions’ credit, the system is still running strong; it boasts half a dozen sourcebooks and a thriving fan community. Some people have maligned the system’s lack of hard-core rules, but I can appreciate it for its fast-paced gameplay and character-driven drama.

Because I like to support the company’s future endeavors, I try to pick up whatever they kick out that takes place in the Firefly ‘verse. To that end, I downloaded the Big Damn Heroes Handbook this morning.

The result is a overwhelming feeling of ambivalence. Not an “ew,” mind you — the book isn’t bad — but it’s not great, either.

In general:

The first thing I noticed is that it’s not a players’ handbook. That’s not a bad thing — it’s just unclear. The book is really a guide for gamemasters, and, as such, would have benefitted from a more clear title.

As with previous sourcebooks, the text tries to capture that unique cowboy patois and rhythm, but it’s inconsistent and comes off as forced in the Big Damn Heroes Handbook. But the book’s biggest flaw isn’t tone — it’s the editing. The copy flows in a stream-of-conscious and logical manner, but there are just too many words to clearly parse the meaning of them.

On to the bullet points:

What’s hot:

• GM IDEAS: There is a big chunk of the book dedicated to plot hooks, campaign settings and ways to make the players’ time in the ‘verse fun and different. This section was well-written and easily parsed. I’ll be mining this for future campaigns, unquestionably.
• CHINESE EXPLANATION: Mixing the Chinese influence in the game can be tough and unfamiliar for many GMs. This book has a nice chunk spent on understanding the Chinese influence in the ‘verse, and includes some more catch phrases in Mandarin.
• NEW TRAITS: The new assets and complications are a lot of fun, and there’s a rule modification for them that GMs may find gives their game an added foot of depth.

What’s not so hot:

• TOO MUCH FAT: As I said earlier, this book needed an editor with a tougher hand. I love the source material, but found my eyes glazing over at chatter that could and should have been whittled down.
• TOO MUCH SPACE SPENT ON BASICS: If you’ve never been exposed to an RPG before, this book might give you some pointers, but a full quarter of the book is spent on explaining crew motivation and how to flesh out characters. If you’re picking this up, chances are you know that the crew need origin stories, and don’t need to be told that over 5 pages.
• RULE MODIFICATIONS: Like other Cortex system GMs, I’ve created a spate of house rules to flesh out the system. This book codifies many of the house rules discussed on message boards, but they’re written in a difficult-to-understand manner. The Cortex system is in desperate need of combat “cheat sheets” and simple explainers to clear things up. This book would have been the perfect place for them.

Overall:

There are some good things in the BDH Handbook, but it could have been done in half the space with twice the clarity. The MWP templates are used, but the text within doesn’t seem quite up to code for a professional release. It’s like they handed over the blank pages to an Internet forum, and asked them to be filled. As with an Internet forum, all of the content is useful and good, but there’s a distinct difference in quality that should occur before you ask people to shell out cash for it.

I don’t mean to pick on the people who lovingly crafted this book. But I do think that we need to hold the system to a standard, and charging $40 for the content in this handbook feels a bit much.

Still, the best way to keep a system alive is to patronize the company, and, to that end, I don’t regret handing over the cash to support them.

Keep flying!
Josh