Firefly: A Day in the 'Verse

I'm looking forward to the June announcement of the 10th Anniversary edition of Firefly: the Game. So far, they haven't disclosed price and only have two options: just the new expansion, or an all-inclusive set with the basegame, all the old expansions, and the new expansion. Once I receive the game, I intend to host a big game, 6 hours long, for up to 10 players. Yes, I have played before, and I know that the conventional wisdom is that this game should be played by just 2 to 4 players. But I ran a big game of Zombies!!! for 9 players a few years ago, and thanks to a few special rules to streamline play, the game ended in under two hours and everybody enjoyed it. I have more than a few local friends who enjoy board games and love Firefly, so I expect that I will get a decent turnout. I have burned three mixes of music (4 hours worth) that blend music from the Firefly soundtrack with some other alt country or fiddle music, plus other relevant songs like Cry Baby Cry by the Beatles.

So I am brainstorming ways to speed up play. Here is what I have so far:

1. Each player will have four notecards: FLY, BUY, WORK, DEAL. They must select one or two of these cards before their turn comes around and commit to taking only those actions on their turn. Each card will briefly summarize options for that action, like Full Burn or Mosey for FLY.

2. Each player will have five minutes to complete their turn, enforced by a five-minute sand timer. If a player hasn't finished their turn when the sand runs out, their current action will not be completed until their next turn.

3. The gameboard will be on the main table, which is big enough for Arkham Horror plus all the expansions plus 8 players. The contact and supply decks will be set up on two separate card tables, so anybody can get up and look through the discard piles at their leisure. I will strongly encourage players to do so when it isn't their turn, and lead by example.

4. If we have at least six players, I will divide them into two groups for purposes of turns. To clarify, let's say that Mal, Zoe, Jayne, Simon, Kaylee, and I sit down to play. Mal, Zoe, and Jayne will take their turns in that order, passing the sand timer between them. At the same time, Simon, Kaylee, and I will take our turns in that order, passing a second sand timer between us. (I have four identical five-minute sand timers, so we have a couple of spares in case somebody finishes their turn early.) In effect Mal, Zoe, and Jayne will be playing a game of Firefly at the same time as Simon, Kaylee, and I, using the same board and other components. At any given time, two players will be taking a turn. Players from either group can freely interact with each other according to the rules: piracy, stealing crew, making deals, etc. Everybody will be playing for the same victory condition according to the story card. If we have at least nine players, I will divide us into three groups for turns.

5. If we have two+ groups for turns, we might not need the sand timers. When I ran that big Zombies!!! game, I found that each turn group had an incentive to play quickly, in hopes of getting more turns than the other group.

Any suggestions?

Shellhead wrote: Any suggestions?

Invite me! I'll bring mudder's milk.

Make sure that soundtrack has some Punch Brothers on it.

I don't have any Punch Brothers yet, but I will definitely look into them because I want to burn one more music mix for this event. I live in a suburb of the Twin Cities, so you are welcome to attend if you are in the area. First I need the game, and then I need to set a date.

On the fourth mix, I will also include some songs from the Serenity soundtrack, plus the notorious ballad The Hero of Canton.

Looking forward to your post-game report and lessons-learned.