The FIREFLY Role-Playing Game was first available to the public during GEN CON 2013. This release was basically a “sneak peek” of the game, and the full game was made available to the public in August of 2014.
FIREFLY uses many of the same basic game properties used in the SERENITY game. The Serenity Role Playing Game was based on events following the BIG DAMN MOVIE, and used the first iteration of the Cortex system (which is now called Cortex Classic) and was published in 2005. The new FIREFLY Role Playing Game is grounded in the television series, and uses an updated Cortex system called Cortex Plus (Or Cortex+.)
It should not be confused with the FIREFLY boardgame released at about the same time.
It’s might be hard for fans who love “Firefly” to see the difference, because both the movie and the show were written by Joss Whedon. Firefly the TV series was produced by Fox; the movie was created by Universal Studios. So, from a licensing perspective as a role-playing game, they’re two separate entities even though they’re part of the same property. This is pretty much a direct quote from Monica Valentinelli, and you can read more about it here.
The FIREFLY Role-Playing Game is based six years after the Last Battle of the Unification War. It takes place during the Firefly series and leads up to the Serenity movie. It explores the lives of people who now make a living on the outskirts of society, as part of the pioneer culture that exists on the fringes of their star system. In this world, the only two surviving superpowers, the United States and China, fused to form the central federal government, called the Alliance, resulting in the fusion of the two cultures. Throughout the series, the Alliance is shown to govern the star system through an organization of “core” planets, following its success in forcibly unifying all the colonies under a single government.
OUT IN THE BLACK is a blog focused on the FIREFLY role-playing game. To read more posts on this blog about the FIREFLY game being played by the DUBOIS BROWNCOATS, check out LIBERATION TALES.
The Cortex System and all derivatives including Cortex Plus, Action Roleplaying, Fantasy Roleplaying, Dramatic Roleplaying, and any and all logos used in association are the trademarks of and owned exclusively by Margaret Weis Productions, Ltd. Copyright 2013.
FIREFLY: LIBERATION TALES 
