Babylon 5 RPG preview!!!

[Winterthorn]

Anyone mind posting the basic gist of what's on that pdf, for those of us who're computer deprived?

Here ya go

A Synopsis of the pdf preview Mongoose recently posted at their site, for the benefit of those who cannot access it:

Page 1: A two page layout of the Babylon 5 station central to the whole setting. There is a detailed longitudinal cross section of the B5 using colours matching the Sectors of the station. From stem to stern blue, red, green, brown, grey, and yellow sectors. About 30 labels denote points of interest such as, C&C, customs, docking bays, Zocalo, ambassadorial suites, EarthForce Office, hydroponic gardens, core transport shuttle, rotation drivers and mag-lev bearing points, variable gravity research torus, auxilliary power units, and primary fusion core. (There's a lot!). Above and below this cross section we have generic cross sectional floor plans of each of the 6 sectors. An approximate total of another 50 labels detail what is to be found in the six schematics. Looking for Med Lab 1, or the dockworkers' quarters? They're both shown in the Blue Sector schematic. Wondering how close the Zen Garden is to the Council Chamber? The Green Sector schematic will help... There is no privileged information on these 2 pages so, in game, if ever PCs inquire from the station's computer where a specific location is, the Game Master can pass this layout ot the players...

Page 2: Two pages from the HC of a section, or chapter (?), entitled "Alone in the Night". A discussion of what B5 is, followed by two large paragraphs on the stations' history. (I pressume a GM's section presents more info elsewhere in the book?) Next, we have a stat block on the station specifying such things as length (7.96 km), diameter (0.84 km), and population (~250 000 transients, 6500 station personnel), and more... A section on "Arriving on Babylon 5" discusses what is typical for visitors to the station, with subsections on The Commander Staff, Dockers' Guild, and the Transport Association. In 2258 four characters comprise the "top brass" on B5, they are: Commander Jeffrey Sinclair (EarthForce on B5), Lieutenant Commander Susan Ivanova (C&C), Chief of Security Michael Garibaldi (S&S), and Chief of Medical Staff Doctor Stephen Franklin (Medlab); the latter 3 report to Commader Sinclair.

Page 3: Here we have a two page map of "Major Systems and Governments of 2257". Anyone who has played, or just leafed through, the material from AoG's Babylon 5 Wars ship combat game will recognize this map of charted space instantly! A picture is worth a thousand words, they say: this map reveals plenty info...

Pages 4, 5 and 6: Three pages of discusion and GM's advice on running a B5 game, spiced up with a few pics from the television series. I immediately noticed the utility of this section: there are general nuggets of advice that can be applied to any RPG, and plenty to spark one's imagination if one were to GM a B5 game...

Page 7: Designer's Notes. 2 pages of remarks from Matthew Sprange. An interesting read!

How's that?

I'm certainly "pumped" for this product! I can't wait!

-W.

 

[Darrin Drader]

For this reason, there are no Shadows, Rangers, White Stars and Interstellar Alliances in this rulebook,

I'm not too happy about this. At least with the Star Wars RPG, play was made possible in all eras with the first book. Since the Rangers, the EA, and the Whitestars are such integral parts of the larger story arc, not having them in the first book severely limits the usefulness of the book.

Of course I will buy the follow-up supplements that do include them (or jury rig my own versions using the info from B5 Wars), but I would probably have bought the expansion books anyway. I don't think the rangers should be their own class, but maybe a collection of possible class combinations

 

[Green Knight]

Here ya go

A Synopsis of the pdf preview Mongoose recently posted at their site, for the benefit of those who cannot access it:

Page 1: A two page layout of the Babylon 5 station central to the whole setting. There is a detailed longitudinal cross section of the B5 using colours matching the Sectors of the station. From stem to stern blue, red, green, brown, grey, and yellow sectors. About 30 labels denote points of interest such as, C&C, customs, docking bays, Zocalo, ambassadorial suites, EarthForce Office, hydroponic gardens, core transport shuttle, rotation drivers and mag-lev bearing points, variable gravity research torus, auxilliary power units, and primary fusion core. (There's a lot!). Above and below this cross section we have generic cross sectional floor plans of each of the 6 sectors. An approximate total of another 50 labels detail what is to be found in the six schematics. Looking for Med Lab 1, or the dockworkers' quarters? They're both shown in the Blue Sector schematic. Wondering how close the Zen Garden is to the Council Chamber? The Green Sector schematic will help... There is no privileged information on these 2 pages so, in game, if ever PCs inquire from the station's computer where a specific location is, the Game Master can pass this layout ot the players...

Page 2: Two pages from the HC of a section, or chapter (?), entitled "Alone in the Night". A discussion of what B5 is, followed by two large paragraphs on the stations' history. (I pressume a GM's section presents more info elsewhere in the book?) Next, we have a stat block on the station specifying such things as length (7.96 km), diameter (0.84 km), and population (~250 000 transients, 6500 station personnel), and more... A section on "Arriving on Babylon 5" discusses what is typical for visitors to the station, with subsections on The Commander Staff, Dockers' Guild, and the Transport Association. In 2258 four characters comprise the "top brass" on B5, they are: Commander Jeffrey Sinclair (EarthForce on B5), Lieutenant Commander Susan Ivanova (C&C), Chief of Security Michael Garibaldi (S&S), and Chief of Medical Staff Doctor Stephen Franklin (Medlab); the latter 3 report to Commader Sinclair.

Page 3: Here we have a two page map of "Major Systems and Governments of 2257". Anyone who has played, or just leafed through, the material from AoG's Babylon 5 Wars ship combat game will recognize this map of charted space instantly! A picture is worth a thousand words, they say: this map reveals plenty info...

Pages 4, 5 and 6: Three pages of discusion and GM's advice on running a B5 game, spiced up with a few pics from the television series. I immediately noticed the utility of this section: there are general nuggets of advice that can be applied to any RPG, and plenty to spark one's imagination if one were to GM a B5 game...

Page 7: Designer's Notes. 2 pages of remarks from Matthew Sprange. An interesting read!

How's that?

I'm certainly "pumped" for this product! I can't wait!

-W.

THANKS! My mouth is now suddenly watering at the thought of owning this book.

 

[MojoGM]

I'm not too happy about this. At least with the Star Wars RPG, play was made possible in all eras with the first book. Since the Rangers, the EA, and the Whitestars are such integral parts of the larger story arc, not having them in the first book severely limits the usefulness of the book.

I know what you're saying, but if they tried to include too much, NOTHING would get the treatment it deserved. I'd rather they do it year by year (and the Rangers didn't show up until 2nd season really).

I sympathize with ya though...it's gonna be a looooong wait for all those books to come out.