Hi guys,
The Earth Alliance Fact Book is due to hit stores next week and so it must be time for a quick flick through the copy lying on my desk. . .
Written by Bruce Graw (a name that should be familiar to B5 gaming fans), the Earth Alliance Fact Book is a 200 page full colour hardback that provides a ready backdrop for human characters and campaigns centred on the affairs of humans.
It kicks off with one the most detailed histories available for the Earth Alliance, covering WWIII that sparked the creation of the Alliance, the expansion into space, first contact with aliens, right up through the wars, reconstruction and the Babylon Project - which is about where the players come in.
Speaking of players, Earth Alliance Characters come next with a host of new archetypes for players to fight against, emulate and master. These include the Ambassador, Missionary, Smuggler and Troubleshooter amongst many, many more. The Psi Corps has certainly not been forgotten either - the structure of the organisation and its effect on the people of Earth are examined, as well as some of the speciailists that Psi Corps certainly does not want you to know about - the Black Ops Specialist, Bloodhound, Psi Experiment, and Teek. You now have everything you need to run a pure Psi Corps campaign without everyone naturally gravitating to become Psi Cops.
Life in the Earth Alliance attempts to show players just how the various countries of the world are now run and what it is like to live in them. The Senate running EarthGov is detailed and a new rule - Racial Traits - has been added to give human characters a little more depth right from the start. You can even start as a Welsh national. . .
This chapter continues beyond the Earth to cover the colonies. The people of Mars come first, complete with maps of the planet, Marsdome One and the Phobos Prison Facility, all ready to be thrown into your next scenario to give your players a real sense of 'coming home'. We do not just stop there though - we also cover the history, peoples and include maps of the other colony worlds, including Proxima, Orion (3 and 7), Deneb, Vega, Beta Durani, and Regula, before circling back to the Solar System and Io.
Spacecraft are up next and, through its history, the EA has prodfuced an awful lot of them. The structure of EarthForce is detailed, along with the processes required for ship design and their construction. Then we have the ships themselves and there are more classes here than even the most militant player will get through in a campaign. The Omega, along with all its variants makes an appearence (along with deck plans for the warship), as does the Hyperion. Beyond that, there are scores more vessels, from small shuttles just glimpsed in certain episodes of the TV show, to those that first made their debut in B5 Wars. Within this chapter are also rules for missile types, military bases, minefields, defence satellites, Psi Corps Motherships - you get the whole lot. And yes, Thunderbolts are here too (with some stunning CGI artwork). If that were not en ough, the craft of the Belt Alliance and civilian classes are also covered, useful if the GM intends to keep his players away from the controls of a Nova (quite right too, I say).
The EA Ground Forces chapter does for GROPOS what the previous chapter did for the fleet. And we all know just how those two like to mix. The organisation of ground forces and armies are covered, along with the history of ground warfare throughout the latter centuries. One of my favourite pieces here is the section on Special Operations Units - the B5 equivalents of Delta Force and the Seals. Just skimming through this section is enough to give ideas for an entire GROPOS campaign, which may not be the most obvious idea for a B5 game! Anyway, such units as the Assault Rangers, Special Air Wings and Blue Berets are all detailed, complete with their unit badges (we really ought to get a few of those made up for conventions). Only then do we get onto the vehicles used by the GROPOS, from the Thor and Odin battle tanks to assault subs.
Civilian Vehicles are next, followed by a general Equipment chapter to give EA characters a few new toys that will set them apart from the Narn, Centauri and Minbari (who needs a Denn'bok, that's what I say). Rich humans will find this a veritable shopping trip and there are a few old favourites in there. We now have some detailed rules on drugs, medication (and the abuse of both - never out of place in a B5 campaign), and prosthetics.
This tome winds up with an appendix detailing the traits the different nationalities of the EA receive (just spotted Unflappable for the British - hmm. . . )
The Earth Alliance Fact Book is priced at $34.95 and will be in your local store sometime next week!
The Earth Alliance Fact Book is due to hit stores next week and so it must be time for a quick flick through the copy lying on my desk. . .
Written by Bruce Graw (a name that should be familiar to B5 gaming fans), the Earth Alliance Fact Book is a 200 page full colour hardback that provides a ready backdrop for human characters and campaigns centred on the affairs of humans.
It kicks off with one the most detailed histories available for the Earth Alliance, covering WWIII that sparked the creation of the Alliance, the expansion into space, first contact with aliens, right up through the wars, reconstruction and the Babylon Project - which is about where the players come in.
Speaking of players, Earth Alliance Characters come next with a host of new archetypes for players to fight against, emulate and master. These include the Ambassador, Missionary, Smuggler and Troubleshooter amongst many, many more. The Psi Corps has certainly not been forgotten either - the structure of the organisation and its effect on the people of Earth are examined, as well as some of the speciailists that Psi Corps certainly does not want you to know about - the Black Ops Specialist, Bloodhound, Psi Experiment, and Teek. You now have everything you need to run a pure Psi Corps campaign without everyone naturally gravitating to become Psi Cops.
Life in the Earth Alliance attempts to show players just how the various countries of the world are now run and what it is like to live in them. The Senate running EarthGov is detailed and a new rule - Racial Traits - has been added to give human characters a little more depth right from the start. You can even start as a Welsh national. . .
This chapter continues beyond the Earth to cover the colonies. The people of Mars come first, complete with maps of the planet, Marsdome One and the Phobos Prison Facility, all ready to be thrown into your next scenario to give your players a real sense of 'coming home'. We do not just stop there though - we also cover the history, peoples and include maps of the other colony worlds, including Proxima, Orion (3 and 7), Deneb, Vega, Beta Durani, and Regula, before circling back to the Solar System and Io.
Spacecraft are up next and, through its history, the EA has prodfuced an awful lot of them. The structure of EarthForce is detailed, along with the processes required for ship design and their construction. Then we have the ships themselves and there are more classes here than even the most militant player will get through in a campaign. The Omega, along with all its variants makes an appearence (along with deck plans for the warship), as does the Hyperion. Beyond that, there are scores more vessels, from small shuttles just glimpsed in certain episodes of the TV show, to those that first made their debut in B5 Wars. Within this chapter are also rules for missile types, military bases, minefields, defence satellites, Psi Corps Motherships - you get the whole lot. And yes, Thunderbolts are here too (with some stunning CGI artwork). If that were not en ough, the craft of the Belt Alliance and civilian classes are also covered, useful if the GM intends to keep his players away from the controls of a Nova (quite right too, I say).
The EA Ground Forces chapter does for GROPOS what the previous chapter did for the fleet. And we all know just how those two like to mix. The organisation of ground forces and armies are covered, along with the history of ground warfare throughout the latter centuries. One of my favourite pieces here is the section on Special Operations Units - the B5 equivalents of Delta Force and the Seals. Just skimming through this section is enough to give ideas for an entire GROPOS campaign, which may not be the most obvious idea for a B5 game! Anyway, such units as the Assault Rangers, Special Air Wings and Blue Berets are all detailed, complete with their unit badges (we really ought to get a few of those made up for conventions). Only then do we get onto the vehicles used by the GROPOS, from the Thor and Odin battle tanks to assault subs.
Civilian Vehicles are next, followed by a general Equipment chapter to give EA characters a few new toys that will set them apart from the Narn, Centauri and Minbari (who needs a Denn'bok, that's what I say). Rich humans will find this a veritable shopping trip and there are a few old favourites in there. We now have some detailed rules on drugs, medication (and the abuse of both - never out of place in a B5 campaign), and prosthetics.
This tome winds up with an appendix detailing the traits the different nationalities of the EA receive (just spotted Unflappable for the British - hmm. . . )
The Earth Alliance Fact Book is priced at $34.95 and will be in your local store sometime next week!
