Sometimes meeting up with old friends in Serenity View is cause for celebration—but not this time. Over drinks, you and your Crew discover that Monty’s new wife Daisy has gone missing. Worse, your pal thinks that Virgil Morningstar, a Guild trader with a heap of Alliance connections, had something to do with her disappearance. By the time you find out Daisy ain’t the only one who’s vanished, you and your Crew’ll be neck-deep in trouble and hard-pressed to find your way out of it. Thing is, if you do unravel this little mystery, you’ll claim a big reward and be heroes to boot.

Friends in Low Places is part of the Echoes of War role-playing adventure series, which is centered on a common theme: the Unification War. Echoes of War adventures include basic rules to get you started. Main characters are found in the Serenity Crew, which is available separately. All releases in the Echoes of War line are compatible with the FIREFLY ROLE-PLAYING GAME, which is based on the television series by Joss Whedon.

I’m really excited to see this new Episode go live today. I had a lot of fun writing and playtesting this Episode with the following people in two, separate playtests: Matt M McElroy, Bill Bodden, Maurice Broaddus, Robert Farnsworth, Dylan “that bastard” Birtolo, Kelly Swails, Molly Findley, Donald Roberts, Mark Tassin, Douglas F. Warrick, Kyle S. Johnson, Danielle Friedman, and Gary Kloster.

What I found through GM’ing the Episode for two differently-sized groups, was that smaller groups might tend to hone in on the setting more, because there’s less banter happening at the table. This resulted in an enhancement to the Episode structure to address a concern Margaret and I had early on, about adding in setting. Since this is a very character-driven game, each location I developed incorporates a new character or “Extra.” Combined, those tweaks ensure that the setting helps flesh out the overall plot instead of distracting the Crew from their goal.

For larger groups, I saw how the system facilitated a full cast of nine players, and how important it was to clearly direct scenes. By using the phrase “cut to commercial” at the end of a scene, the group could wind down some while I managed the Assets and Complications on the table. Then, when we faded back in to the new scene, I offered the players a chance to recap what happened so far (to earn a plot point) and then set the next location.

So why all the playtesting? First, understand that while we do have a systems lead, I love this game and it’s my responsibility to be able to play/run scenarios so I can offer feedback from my perspective. The team did a fantastic job; the way the system was designed really, really lends itself to the feeling like you’re on the set of a Firefly television episode. Here, playtesting was a “must.” This Episode has five acts, true, but it also has a unique plot structure where (not spoiling anything by saying this) the players choose their allies over the course of the adventure. The decisions they make in their encounters with other characters, from the Prelude onward, impact the final showdown — and it’s a doozy!

I hope you have fun playing this Episode. There’s a lot more Firefly fun coming and I’m very excited to share with you what’s next for the line. The entire team has been head down for the past few weeks as we wrap up the corebook and continue working on the first supplement. Enjoy!