It wasn’t until we started playing Serenity that the Legos really got their place in our gaming. Before then Michelle would often use Legos to make props our to denote NPCs, but of course the scale was all wrong for our D&D miniatures. That made the pictures look funny sometimes as Indira or Sadi would be going up against a giant who wasn’t supposed to be a giant. And a yellow giant at that!

LEGO Castle Trolls’ Mountain Fortress (7097) $124.95 Includes the Good King himself,  3 knights, 2 giant trolls, the Troll King himself, a troll sorceress, 2 troll warriors and a horse. Oh and an AWESOME castle.	LEGO Castle King’s Battle Chariot (7078) $22.95 This battle chariot comes equipped with cross bow, spears and banners flying high, or it will, after you put it together. Sigh. I miss D&D.
LEGO Brickmaster: Castle (Lego Castle) $15.29 Comes with a hardcover book. Full color photos and easy-to-follow, step-by-step instructions on how to build the castle. Even I can make a great castle with these instructions.	LEGO Star Wars Rebel Trooper Battle Pack (8083) $7.99 Perfect to adapt these pieces to our Serenity campaign. The ice cutter has 2 flick fire missiles, a rotating gun and a cargo box. Perfect for smugglers like us. Er, business people looking for exciting and unusual opportunities… That’s us.
LEGO Star Wars Echo Base (7749) $19.99 If you can find this set, it is so cool! Includes 5 figures — 2 snow troopers, 2 Rebel troopers and Han Solo in winter gear. I wish I could find a way to introduce Tauntaun to the Serenity universe…..	LEGO Indiana Jones Temple Escape $109.99 Indiana Jones Legos convert to Serenity pretty well. That dusty, dirty barroom brawl vibe translates very well. You can play around with the plane design and get a passable space ship.
LEGO Indiana Jones Jungle Cutter Set $38.99 There are some fun jungle pieces in this set. The cutter is fun and like the plane in the previous item, the cutter can become something more Serenity-like with a few changes. I love the ivy and greenery.

These are a few of the Legos I am saving up for, have bought or borrowed since we started playing D&D and Serenity. The possibilities are endless and I love just messing around with the standard designs. I hope you might find a Lego set to get your imagination fired up, too!

My folk had moved off to the right, keeping low and out of the way. I saw a man step out from a shed on the right, with his hands in the air. “I’m Hawks” he said. “Who wants to know?”
I just couldn’t help it. I saw red all over again and grabbed a ‘stick and punched a button. One of the mules began to move. I suppressed a giggle. I aimed it right at Hawks.

When he saw it coming, he let out a yell. The man behind him looked around wildly. “Teach you to leave me! Huh, Hawks? Not so tough now, are you Sarge?” I stopped the mule about a foot from him. All eyes swung towards me.
The man in the top hat squinted. “Who the hell are you?” His voice was bewildered.

“Swei, for goodness sake! Stop playing and come here!” Miss V’s voice cut through the tension. I hopped down from the control pad and walked slowly to where Miss V and the Doc were standing. She put her hands on her hips and said loudly, “Now. Who is going to explain this?” She looked at Hawks and at the man with the top hat. “Hmm? I’m waiting.”

The two men looked at each other. The man in the top hat smiled real big. “Well, Missy, I am the mayor of Regina and this here man is wanted fer, fer questioning.”
“Now you want a gorram minute. This is my mine and I want to know who the hell all y’all are.” Hawks swept his arm around and I realized he had a black glove on his left hand.
“Aw, did you hurt your paw when you left me on Hera?”
One of the men with the mayor moved towards me. “You need to step off, alright?”
“Where were you when I was fighting for your freedoms? Huh, you sonuvabitch!”

Hawks’ head snapped around. “What’s yer name, soldier?”
“Why don’t we talk and work, OK?” Brigid walked over the the mayor. She held out her hand. “Brigid Von Schindler at your service.”
Josiah Fox, mayor-elect, at yours little lady.”  Miss V took his arm and pulled him away a little bit. “It seems that our interests intersect. Would you agree? We’re here to get ice for Regina and you, being the mayor-elect, would wish us success in this, yes?”

In a few minutes we were working like bees in a hive. Prudence was operating one of the rigs and Roark was driving the tag-along like he was born to it.

I was, as they say, In my element. Anytime a machine threatened to conk out, I was there fixin’ her up.

I was bent over one of the compressors, checking for leaks when I heard a voice behind me. “I remember you. You were the mechanic. You hung around the fat guy. What was his name?”
I put my hammer down. “His name was Rich and he died waiting for the Amnesty release paperwork to come through. Ever been in prison, Hawks? It can get a might damp and a feller can get croupy in there.”

He was silent a moment. “We were gonna come back. We were. It’s just…..” His voice trailed off.
“Forget it,” I said. “Pfft. Just forget it. Old news and no one cares any more. Lest of all me.” And I walked away.

So, what sort of Legos are out there for girl gamers like us? The easy answer is All the Legos! All the Legos are “suitable” for girls. Cue the maniacal laughter.

I realized I’d been looking at the whole Lego thing the wrong way round. The possibilities of Legos in game are endless. I hope we’ll have a chance to test this theory. We’re planning on trying out the Firefly RPG next. And I was thinking How are we gonna handle the minis? I mean with playing Shackled City, it was easy to get minis for the game. With a futuristic, Wild West, space opera, um, where are you going to get minis?

Duh: Legos! A quick look on Google shows me that even I could come up with some sweet props for a Firefly game. So, I guess we can put away the Castle Legos for a while as we explore the universe of Serenity.

Legos Star Wars sets would be the obvious Legos to use for some of the props. Oh, and of course, Indiana Jones! Lucky for this cheapskate there are tons of used cheap Legos out there. It is fun to contemplate a new world to explore. A new gaming engine to learn and new stories to tell. I can’t wait to build my mini!

OK, I am officially in love with Castle Legos! Michelle got some and we’ve been using them in the game to great effect! For your viewing pleasure:

Acgar wears her Darkmantle

Acgar walked over and reached a hand down to help me up. “Darkmantles. Kinda squishy but stubborn.” I pointed to her chest. “Is that one of them. What you’re wearing?”
She laughed. “Yeah. One of them dropped on me and I thought ‘Hmm, bite.’ And it kinda draped over me like a poncho. Too bad the camouflage properties don’t continue after death. Otherwise these hides would be valuable.”
“One bite? That’s all it took for you to beat…..” My voice trailed off.

Myntilly rubbed my arm. “Gonna be OK? Do you need a heal or an aspirin?”
I shook my head. “Actually I didn’t wonk myself that hard.” I finished silently: And that makes me even more lame. I raised my voice. “Thank you. Thank you everyone for saving me.” I scratched Brus behind the ears. “Thanks, buddy. When we get back to Cauldron, we’ll get burgers at Mary‘s. OK?”
Buzz shook his head. “Why do you like that place. It’s a strip club! Not exactly the right atmosphere for a servant of Pelor. Am I right?”
“I could make the case that it is exactly the right place to bring God’s message –” My words were cut off by the sound of the elevator. For a moment no one spoke.
“Theresa?” Ian raised his eyebrows. Durilin shook her head. “Unlikely. She’s down here, finishing mapping.”
Ian smiled grimly. “Unless she decided to leave us.”
Sadi picked up her bow. “Let’s go take a look.

Out of the elevator

As we rounded the last corner, here’s what we saw…

A big, huge, green guy with spikes and chains. He was pulling a cart behind him and barely straining at the effort.

“Holy crap! What is that?”
“It definitely appears to be some sort of siege engine. If you look toward the top, behind that skull banner –”
“No Acgar, not the cart.”

“All I know is he’s a big ugly guy and he’s dragging that cart this way.” Myntilly’s hissed words cut through the other dialog. Everyone stopped and looked at the creature. He and his cart were certainly closer. “What do we do?” Buzz looked at everyone intently.

“We can’t go forward. Not with that <karaz> lumbering behind us.” Durilin tested the edge of her blade. “Nothing for it but to fight.” She leapt out from the curve of the wall and yelled: “Stop you foul troll! I am Durilin Rumnaheim. My grandmother showed me the art of making <nogarung> when I was still in diapers. Come forward. I would have your skull to practice.”

Rumonger limbers up

The creature yanked at the chains that kept him attached to the cart. The chains came off easily, except that they were still attached to his wrists. He laughed and swung one arm up the air. The chain made a whistling noise as it sliced through the air 10 feet from Durilin. “<Ha! Dawi gut kazak! Af grom kron nul Wazzok Dawi.>”

“What is he saying?” I turned to Myntilly.
She bobbed her head from side to side. “Um, god, my Dwarven is rusty. Something like ‘Dwarves give good battle. I like your brave words. You’re not a foolish young dwarf.’”
“She’ll be a dead dwarf in a couple of seconds.”

Eye to eye

I closed my eyes. “I am the might of Pelor.” Suddenly I grew about 8 feet taller. I flexed my hands and strode out to meet my equal.

One of his chains caught me across the ribs as I closed on him. I swung my mace in a low backhand and felt a nice thunk as it connected with his right arm.
If I could keep him busy and disable his arms, we could win this thing.

Ian flung a spell at the cart. I felt it whiz past and flames erupted.

Sadi landed an arrow; it lodged in the troll’s shoulder. With such a team I knew we could win.

Durilin ran past me. I don’t think he even noticed. I saw her waraxe flash and blood spurted from his knee.

Durilin flanks

I smiled. This would be easy now. The troll roared in pain. “By the six fingers of Graz’zt, you shall not free Adimarchus! Adimarchus must stay chained.”

“What?” I stopped in mid-swing. “Adimarchus what?”
Myntilly rushed forward waving her hands. “Stop! Wait. Stop! We don’t want to free Adimarchus.”