Big Damn Heroes Handbook 1st (first) edition Text Only

by Cam Banks

Big damn heroes. That's you and your crew. Don't matter where you are in the 'Verse or how you aim to pay for those Fruity Oaty bars. Could be you're flyin' a ship held together by spit and duct tape, haulin' cargo that the Feds would consider a mite questionable. Could be you're flyin' a Piao Leong cruiser, doin' righteous work for the Alliance. you and yours are Big Damn Heroes and, as such, you need a Big Damn Heroes Handbook. Which, as it happens, is what you're holdin'. In this book, a partner to the Serenity Role Playing Game, you'll find new Traits such as Ain't Got Time to Bleed and Glory Hound. There's expanded and clarified rules for character and ship combat. More information on Chinese culture in the 'Verse, including the Tongs and new Chao Ji Chinese phrases and proper names. And you say you want to a little business with your old buddy, Badger? You'll find his description and game stats, along with a host of other NPCs-some friendly, some not so much. There's an awful lot more in this very fine book, but we're runnin' out of room to tell you about it, so best you just pick it up. Here's to you and your Big Damn Heroes. Keep flyin'!

Genres: Gaming, Science Fiction, Games, Role Playing Games

Hardcover

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

I am an expatriate New Zealander who fell in love with an American and moved to the USA in 1996. We are now married and have two boys. I've fulfilled my lifelong dream to become a game designer and writer and after 22 years I've moved back to New Zealand with my family. I work for Fandom Tabletop as a creative director, leading the charge on new projects powered by the Cortex system that I have spent much of my career developing as a tabletop roleplaying game toolkit.

Reviews

[Timothy Grubbs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Building Big Damn Heroes…but not much else…

Big Damn Heroes Handbook was a major sourcebook for the Serenity RPG focused on character creation…

This book is very much about what it means to live and crime in the Verse…and is very rules heavy. It has very little “fluff” that one like myself might want…and that’s ok.

Mostly covering examples via characters in the show and movie, the book provides stats for sample NPCs and the various building blocks for a character you might want to play. It does also provide a small amount of original NPCs that you might want to make use of.

There’s a decent chapter in the back covering Chinese culture and language…basically if you really want to immerse yourself similar to how it was presented in the show.

[Shedrick Pittman-Hassett · Rating 4 out of 5]

So far, so good...good inspiration for making the game better...

This really is a great resource for the Serenity RPG. There are tips on creating well-planned adventures (not coincidentally based on basic tips on creating a good screenplay or a good story). There is more information on Chinese culture (including more phrases to pepper your character's speech). There are also good rule variants and clarifications of the initial rules. I've always felt that the original RPG was rushed to press (probably to coincide with the movie release) and thus left out some key points--this supplement helps with that. Overall an excellent addition to a very good game...

[Krzysztof · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a useful book, but I found the less mechanics-focused chapters far more interesting and useful than the ones dealing with additional options for the system. New Character options are fine, but Chapter 5: Storytelling in the Black is the one that really shines. All in all not a bad book, but not indespensable.