Every Geek, Nerd or Dork out there has a passion. Something in the community of geekdom that they feel VERY strongly about. For me I have two…Star Wars, and Firefly/Serenity. I love all things about these two shows. I own several t-shirts for both, I read comics related for both, and I enjoy watching the movies/shows over and over again.

Recently I decided to try and give the Star Wars and Firefly RPG a try. I was VERY excited for both! Firefly started up, and the first thing our group realized is that the outline of the game forces someone to be the captain. Cant fly a ship and get jobs without someone being in charge. So wanting to help out the group I accepted the invitation to play the captain. It was not the role I wanted to play, but a role I knew I could do and also was necessary. I hated playing the captain! It required me (due to the way the game is set up) to really play the guy in charge. We had meetings to set up, and a crew to keep in line, and fights that needed breaking up, etc. Playing the captain was more like a JOB then it was something I did for fun once every other week. As we continued playing I liked playing my role less and less. This of course started to show up in my gaming soon enough. As a group we got together and decided we needed to reformat the group and select a new captain. I was THRILLED with this idea! So we changed around roles and shifted some responsibilities, and before you knew it we had a new captain with a new crew. Eve had volunteered to take the role as captain, and she was good! I mean REALLY good! However it didn’t take long before she was suffering the same effect of the game that I had. She was the leader and the one in charge. This made it VERY hard to actually play and have fun. As with all patterns it didn’t take long before she was also showing signs of wear in her gaming.

There are games out there that are like this. Games that we all wish we could play, because they look really cool in the movie or show. Problem is when it comes to a practical application of those games we find that real life sucks. It was hard to put away Firefly, especially because I wanted it to work! Sometimes, you just have to. You can keep trying to play, but eventually everyone realizes you are just trying to fit a square peg in a round hole.

My suggestion give it up, and find a game where you can have the fun that all RPG games are meant to bring! Our group has decided to start an Exalted game, and the excitement and enthusiasm is even higher then it was for Firefly. So who know maybe the grass is greener in another gaming system.