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Internet rumours abound that Joss Whedon's Firefly series is based on the RPG Traveller, first released in 1977. The game itself is about living hand-to-mouth, trying to pay off debts by trading smuggling and whatever else it takes to survive. Is there any substantiation behind these rumours? |
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The facts, few as they are Joss, in an online interview which is no longer on-line, stated that the Firefly verse started as a campaign of a major Sci-Fi RPG. He's also stated that he quit playing RPG's after college. He refused to identify the system. Since he graduated in 1986... we're looking at 1982-1986. On to the logical speculation The criteria "major" restricts us to games that were in commercial circulation; since his first couple years undergrad were in the UK, that restricts it further Major Sci-Fi games in print included: GDW's Traveller & 2300, Palladium's Mechanoids trillogy & Robotech, FASA's Star Trek, FGU's Starships and Spacemen and Space Opera, TSR's Star Frontiers, and ICE's SpaceMaster. If we eliminate the games without slugthrowers, we're left with Traveller, 2300, Mechanoids, and Robotech. 2300 was later in the era - summer 1986 - he wouldn't have been playing it during his college career. Mechanoids lacks ship rules, and is focused on active duty games. Plus, no big bad government. Robotech is very light on the slugthrowers, and lacks a merchantile focus. 2300, Space Opera, and Traveller have world generation rules, but only Traveller and 2300 have system generation rules. Space Opera has everything but the right weapons. Also, Traveller and Star Frontiers were available worldwide by 1983... and Traveller was even produced in local editions for the UK. Which leaves, pretty much...
Notes in support of Traveller I'll note as well: The Firefly class is very much, feature for feature, comparable to the specifications for the Type R Subsidized Merchant in Traveller, but with a second launch added in place of 20 tons of cargo. Deckplans differ, but still, functionally, very close. Further, the Verse uses a high speed deep space drive, and an atmosphere capable maneuvering drive. The rest of the tech lines up really well, tho'. You need only redefine jump drive to a sub-C secondary n-space constant speed drive, and you have the ability to play the verse with stock traveller rules. Including the small vs big ship dichotomies. Further, I've accidentally generated 5 star systems before using Classic Traveller's Book 6: Scouts; it's the only one of the lot that I recall being able to generate stellar clusters of that size; I can't get to Space Master to check. Traveller is often derided for the "Sixguns and Starships" approach... an approach which Firefly shares. Classic Traveller adventures often have PC's skirting local laws to do what basically amount to good deeds in the end, and/or to make enough bankroll to keep flying. Plus, the central government is often treated as the enemy in those adventures. Conclusion We can't be certain, but the most likely candidate is Traveller. |
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It's highly unlikely that Joss Whedon would have come up with so many similarities to the Traveller system, without having played the game. The communication methods and ship drive systems have had to be altered to fit a single-star system, but the rest is all there. Weapons, low-tech worlds, Low Berths, a big, bad, high-tech overseer.... In order to terraform that many worlds/moons, the system would have to have several companion stars, and the majority of liveable worlds would have to be moons around Gas Giants in the Habitable Zone. Firefly could fit into the Traveller universe. Ever tried traveling under Maneuver Drive from a central star to a far-flung Companion? It's faster to Jump. Hence the differing drive systems in Firefly. |
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There are certain contextual clues that indicate Joss or other writers were familiar with Traveller. The most blatant is Wash's "Hang on, Travellers" in the first episode. One that always stood out for me was in War Games when Wash reconfigured the launch controls on the shuttle. The only place I have ever heard of reconfiguring the controls of a spaceship like that was in an "in character" write up for space pilots, maybe in an issue of JTAS. The backgrounds of Mal, Zoe and Book all seem like perfect Traveller backgrounds. |
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Also, check out Firefly world names like Persephone, Bellerophon, Ariel. Granted, names from mythology and literature, but also Traveller worlds, e.g.: http://traveller.wikia.com/wiki/Persephone_%28SM_2228%29_%28world%29 http://traveller.wikia.com/wiki/Bellerophon_%28world%29 |
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