Firefly MMO classes

Multiverse recently announced that they will be launching Firefly the MMO. As part of MMOs being on the brain lately, I decided to take a stab at the class system for the game. I was hesitant to post this as it is both a work in progress and a first pass. I feel like my reputation is always at stake when I post something. However, in an effort to be more transparent in my meddling as a Game Designer I opted to post unfinished personal work to this blog. Enjoy!

Please note that many of the skills and point values I provide have not been balanced in a proven prototype or include all of the skills I would create for this system. Furthermore, many skills that are laid out in the classes are categories of skills that will be broken down into multiple skills.

“Firefly is a cult American science fiction television series that premiered in the United States and Canada on September 20, 2002. Its naturalistic future setting, modeled after traditional Western movie motifs, presents an atypical science fiction backdrop for the narrative. It was conceived by writer and director Joss Whedon, creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, under his production tag, Mutant Enemy. Whedon served as executive producer, along with Tim Minear.”
– Wikipedia.org

Players are presented with six classes in Firefly. Three are heavily focused on combat and three are heavily focused on non-combat aspects of the game. All classes are largely orthogonal to encourage cooperative play between players.

Each skill in Firefly provides access to a new ability or action. Each class starts with a set of beginning skills and a special ability. Players then purchase additional skills in their chosen class with skill points they earn from each level up. Characters level up each time their experience point count hits a specific number (see Table 1: Experience Levels).

Players may choose to use their skill points to unlock a secondary class. A secondary class gives access to that class’s special ability and skills just as the player’s primary class does. Once a character selects a primary and secondary class, they are unable to obtain any more classes.

Each class starts with different core attributes. These core attributes include the following:

• Body – The physical capabilities of the character
• Mind – The mental capabilities of the character
• Personality – The charisma, charm, and people skills of the player

Every action in the game uses two attributes and a skill. Attributes increase over time each time the player increases a level. The amount and type of increase depends on the class being leveled up.

The following table details the level of experience, the experience total that must be reached, and the skill point total at that level. Each class is only increased up to 10 times.

Level Experience Total Skill Point Total
1 100 50
2 120 100
3 145 150
4 175 200
5 210 250
6 250 300
7 300 350
8 360 400
9 430 450
10 520 500
11 620 550
12 740 600
13 890 650
14 1070 700
15 1290 750
16 1540 800
17 1850 850
18 2220 900
19 2660 950
20 3200 1000

3.1 Pilot

Characters that focus on the operation and maintenance of vehicles are considered pilots. All pilots have a basic knowledge of how to operate and maintain a small space and land vehicle. Players choose whether to focus on land vs. space vehicles, piloting vs. mechanical aptitude, and varying classifications of ships and vehicles.

3.1.1 SPECIAL ABILITY

Pilots receive a 300% boost in ship speed for 30 seconds. This is useful for retreating, traveling between distances much more quickly, and evading weapon fire. Boost is available every 5 minutes and must be opted into.

3.1.2 STARTING SKILLS

Courier Ships – The operation of Courier class spaceships
Land Couriers – The operation of Courier class land vehicles
Beam Weapons – The operation of beam class weapons
Horseback Riding – Handling and use a horse
Brawl – Attack using unarmed brawling

3.1.3 AVAILABLE SKILLS

Transport Ships – The operation of Transport class spaceships
Covert Ops Ships – The operation of Covert Ops class spaceships
Gunships – The operation of Gunship class spaceships
Bomber Ships – The operation of Bomber class spaceships
Frigate Ships – The operation of Frigate class spaceships
Command Ships – The operation of Command class spaceships
Land Transports – The operation of Transport class land vehicles
Land Gunships – The operation of Gunship class land vehicles
Land Evasion – Evade attacks in land vehicles
Space Evasion – Evade attacks in space vehicles
Missles – The operation of missile turrets
Kinetic Energy Weapons – The operation of kinetic energy class weapons
Star Drive Operation – The operation of a ships star drive
Starship Repair – Repair starships
Land Vehicle Repair – Repair land vehicles
Critical Damage Systems – Prevent damage to vehicle critical systems
Starship Tactical Maneuvering – Perform agile, high speed starship maneuvers
Landship Tactical Maneuvering – Perform agile, high speed land vehicle maneuvers
Stealth Maneuvering – Avoid attention in while piloting a starship or land vehicle
Bows – Use bow and crossbow weapons
Semi-Automatic Handguns – Use semi-automatic handguns
Salvage – Salvage destroyed starships

3.2 Soldier

Players that select a soldier choose to focus on combat abilities. These characters are built to serve a variety of combat purposes ranging from brute force tank characters to agile ranged attack based characters. They differ from assassins in their focus on durability over stealth, and their ability to draw attacks off of crewmembers.

3.2.1 SPECIAL ABILITY

A soldier taunts all or some of the enemies within a 20 foot radius and draws their fire on him or her. The player has the option to do this once every minute.

3.2.2 STARTING SKILLS

Body Armor – Use of body armor to absorb damage
Melee Weapons – Attack with melee weapons
Horseback Riding – Handle and use a horse
Bows – Use bow and crossbow weapons
Semi-Automatic Handguns – Use semi-automatic handguns

3.2.3 AVAILABLE SKILLS

Aimed Shot – Increase the accuracy of a ranged weapon shot
Fast Shot – Decrease the time between the next two ranged weapon shots
Compound Shot – Increase the damage of a ranged weapon shot
Intimidate – Lower the accuracy and damage of enemy attacks within 20 feet
Iron Fist – Increase the damage of a brawl attack
Battle Cry – Boost hit points for a short period of time
Automatic Handguns – Use automatic handguns
Automatic Rifles – Use automatic rifles
Brawl – Attack using unarmed brawling
Semi-Automatic Rifles – Use semi-automatic rifles
Battle Advice – Increase the accuracy and damage of a crewmembers attack
Grenades – Use grenades
Salvage – Salvage destroyed starships

3.3 Assassin

Assassins focus on espionage and one-on-one combat. They are not as durable as soldiers but focus on their evasion abilities to prevent taking damage in the first place. Characters of this class access areas that other characters cannot by utilizing their stealth abilities. Assassins are the best at gathering information on characters, places, things, and organizations.

3.3.1 SPECIAL ABILITY

Assassins appear to belong to a friendly crew and faction to all other players for 5 minutes. This action is available to be performed every 30 minutes. The character remains autonomous until the character attacks another character or until the ability runs out. If the player initiates combat he gets one triple-damage surprise attack.

3.3.2 STARTING SKILLS

Martial Arts – Attack using martial arts
Aimed Shot – Increase the accuracy of a ranged weapon shot
Bows – Use bow and crossbow weapons
Melee Weapons – Attack with melee weapons
Dodge – Dodge incoming attacks both ranged and melee

3.3.3 AVAILABLE SKILLS

Stun Hit – Stun an enemy for a short period of time with an unarmed or melee attack
Double Strike – Strike twice in quick succession with unarmed or melee attack
Semi-Automatic Handguns – Use semi-automatic handguns
Semi-Automatic Rifles – Use semi-automatic rifles
Stow Away – Secretly stow away in a vehicle
Spy – Gather information on a targeted person, organization, structure, or equipment
Horseback Riding - Handle and use a horse
Salvage – Salvage destroyed starships

3.4 Aristocrat

The privileged classes of people in Firefly are considered aristocrats. These people have access to social, educational, and financial resources that are uncommon to the average person. This allows them to take up many professional level careers such as doctors and lawyers. They have a strong talent at leadership and talking their way out of bad situations.

3.4.1 SPECIAL ABILITY

Aristocrats boost the overall attributes of a crew during combat for 30 seconds. Players of this class have the opportunity to boost attributes every 5 minutes.

3.4.2 STARTING SKILLS

Rally – Increase the accuracy and damage all off the crew’s next attacks
Semi-Automatic Handguns – Use semi-automatic handguns
Melee Weapons – Attack with melee weapons
Horseback Riding - Handle and use a horse
Persuade – Increase the payout on contracts and reduce taxes on transactions

3.4.3 AVAILABLE SKILLS

Haggle – Decrease cost of transactions with the world
Medicine – Heal crewmember wounds outside of a battle
Revive – Bring a character back to 1 hit point
Bows – Use bow and crossbow weapons
Feign – Lure an enemy into attacking and then launch a counterattack
Semi-Automatic Rifles – Use semi-automatic rifles
Contract Enforcement – Place an official Alliance bounty on other players that break contracts with the player
Investigate – Track down the location of a character
Salvage – Salvage destroyed starships

3.5 Entertainer

Characters that focus on building morale in Firefly and achieving objectives through charm and pleasure are considered entertainers. These characters commonly take the form of musicians and companions in the world. While entertainers have access to a small section of weapons, their primary use during combat is bolstering the actions of other characters before and during combat.
3.5.1 SPECIAL ABILITY

Entertainers take control of a weaker target NPC for 5 minutes. The controlled NPC is given simple orders. An entertainer character has the ability to capture the heart of one NPC every 30 minutes. A commandeered NPC is used for a variety of actions such as defending the PC, opening up access to high security areas, and lowering prices of goods. Non playable characters will never commit suicide, sale goods at a loss, give goods away, or attack a PC’s crewmember.

3.5.2 STARTING SKILLS

Charm – Decrease the cost of purchases and/or get information out of a target character
Brawl – Attack using unarmed brawling
Melee Weapons – Attack with melee weapons
Horseback Riding – Handle and use a horse
Encourage – Significantly increase the morale of a crewmember during combat

3.5.3 AVAILABLE SKILLS

Seduce – The target character follows the player around the world and protects him or her
Perform Music – Increase the morale of all crewmembers outside of combat
Dance – Increase the morale of all crewmembers outside of combat
Semi-Automatic Handguns – Use semi-automatic handguns
Semi-Automatic Rifles – Use semi-automatic rifles
Salvage – Salvage destroyed starships

3.6 Gangster

Gangsters are the characters that seek opportunity in the misfortune of others. Their shady background gives them access to technology, resources, and equipment that is otherwise unavailable to other characters. These characters provide both great opportunity and great risk for characters willing to take a risk.
3.6.1 SPECIAL ABILITY

These characters take a small portion of an enemy’s credits with each successful hit. Having multiple gangsters in the crew increases the amount of credits stolen per crewmember.

3.6.2 STARTING SKILLS

Haggle – Decrease cost of transactions with the world
Semi-Automatic Handguns – Use semi-automatic handguns
Brawl – Attack using unarmed brawling
Melee Weapons – Attack with melee weapons
Horseback Riding – Handle and use a horse

3.6.3 AVAILABLE SKILLS

Threaten – Decrease the morale of a target during combat
Tax Evasion – Execute transactions without paying taxes
Automatic Handguns – Use automatic handguns
Automatic Rifles – Use automatic rifles
Semi-Automatic Rifles – Use semi-automatic rifles
Body Armor – Use of body armor to absorb damage
Salvage – Salvage destroyed starships

~ by patrickmoran on December 17, 2006.