Markn said:
I haven't seen anything on this...Where did you learn this? Any idea when it will come out?
For those who have played how have you gone about it? Do you follow closely to the series plot, do your characters replace the main people or do you create your own stories not tied to the B5 plotline? The reason I ask is that I have a hard time seeing the game emulate the series in anyway if you don't follow the plot or exchange the actions of the major characters with the actions of the PC's and vice versa if they do then you could potentially suffer from Dragonlance syndrome with people reading the books (or in this case watching the series) and not deviating from what happened. What have you done?
Visit the Mongoose B5 forums for more info on 2nd edition ...
My own campaign I started during the Dilgar War, with players being fresh recruits into Earth Force. They played through that, the Earth/Minbari War and are now senior figures in the background of the series. I originally used the old Agents of Gaming B5 Wars for the fleet action, but bought Call To Arms from Mongoose midway through the campaign. Honestly haven't used it, but did pick up the 3 supplements (and since you're reading this Matt, any word on a PDF of the supplement counters so I don't have to cut up my book
). There is a revised edition of A Call To Arms out this month from Mongoose, so if you intend buying this boxed set, make sure you picked up the revised edition instead unless you are getting a really good deal on the original.
I think you're correct in that you don't want to interfere with the main plot - the problem is that players want to be involved in the major events in B5, but you don't want them messing up the "history" unless you're prepared to deal with massive change in your campaign material. But you can keep the main plot's integrity whilst using it as plot hooks. You can even appear to jeopardise the main plot and have the players bring it back on track if you are confident enough to fix what they may break...
But there are many areas where the series never really went (some of these where picked up by novels to some degree - e.g. Long Night of Centauri Prime, or the Psi Corps triliogy) where your imagination can run free and you can play out the Psi Wars etc
There are also many areas where the series only touched on events taking place elsewhere - your players could be Rangers taking orders from the League etc, or an search and rescue team out looking for the Icarus crew.
You can also simply ditch the main plot and use it as a background. Perhaps your players are regular Earth Force, who suddenly have tough decisions to make when evidence leaks out about Clarke's behaviour. Or perhaps you are an expedition team out near the Rim.
It shouldn't be hard to use the B5 universe as an interesting background still full of surprises, whilst keeping the main characters and storyline safe - gamers have been facing these problems with Star Wars, LOTR etc for years.
