NEWS
ADDED
11-24-2003
A small preview of the new campaign rules have been posted on
the Campaign Rules section of my webpage. They are due to be
released before the end of this year and I am quite excited
about them. I firmly believe that Version 6 will be the final
evolution of the B5 Wars campaign guide.
ADDED
3-27-2003
A new version of my campaign rules is getting close to
completion and it looks good. My playtest group is pretty
excited about the new version of the rules. They allow a lot
more freedom and are sleek and streamlined! I would say they are
sexy but that is just plain wrong. Look for my article covering
my old rules with a preview of the new ones in the upcoming
Babcom magazine.
For those of you looking for the
Game Box version of B5 Wars you can download it from this site,
right here in fact! I plan on having a page devoted to it real
soon.
B5 Wars Game Box
ADDED
3-18-2003
A new version of my campaign rules is currently underway. Next
week (March 25th) I should be posting miniatures of my newly
converted Grome, Hurr and Belt Alliance ships. In the coming
weeks I will be creating a miniature substitution key for those
who still wish to play B5 Wars with miniatures. The key will
include stock numbers and locations you can buy them from.
I have recently changed how my site looks and separated my B5
Wars content into several different pages. I did that mostly
because I wanted more room to expand on each of it specific
departments. There is a lot of stuff coming. After I get the
majority of the content uploaded I will update the look of my
website to a more Babylon 5 look.
Babylon 5 Wars is a space-warfare combat game and was published
by AOG. Unfortunately WB did not feel the need to allow them
to renew the license and as of November 1st, 2002 AOG can no
longer make the great game. I feel that it was the best space combat game
ever to reach market and my group of players have spent many weekends
enjoying the game. I was also a Field Agent for the company and
I plan to continue going to conventions to demo the game.
In a strange turn of events
Mongoose Publishing
has acquired the rights to do a B5 RPG and Agent 1 is going to
write for it! They recently posted a preview of what the core
rulebook would cover. Here is that preview:
Babylon 5 Contents Preview
There has already been a great deal of speculation as to how the
new Babylon RPG is going to look and what changes are going to
be made to the d20 System. So, we’ll take a dive into the 304
page main rulebook, due for release in late May, and see what
goodies lie inside.
Introduction
Not a lot you can say about an introduction – except that, as
with our Judge Dredd RPG, we have three sections aimed at gamers
who are a) new to Babylon 5, b) new to the d20 System and c)
veterans of the d20 System. If you are the latter, a few
paragraphs summarise all the changes we have made to the rules
for Babylon 5, giving you 90% of what you need to start playing
the game immediately. This is followed by a short ‘Welcome’
chapter, setting the scene for the entire galaxy in whatever
time period you are aiming to play.
Characters on Babylon 5
This, I think, is what many of you will be wanting to know –
what characters you can play in the Babylon 5 RPG! We have gone
for the usual race/class split, for reasons that will become
obvious. Anyway, the ‘standard’ player races are human,
Centauri, Minbari, Narn, Drazi and Brakiri. We even have a
section set aside detailing how such disparate characters could
ever hope to work together as a ‘party’. However, there is
nothing written that Babylon 5 has to be 100% co-operative in
nature – if you think about it, the television show itself
demonstrates quite nicely how players could both work together
and pursue their own goals. . .
Eight character classes are available, and we have made sure
these are all as broad as possible – in fact, we had to make
them more specific in playtesting as while they could reflect
99% of all the characters that appeared on the TV show (leaving
aside the obvious special cases, such as the technomages), they
also meant that it was incredibly hard to justify almost any
prestige class! In the end, we think we have managed to run
right down the middle, allowing the core classes to handle about
80% of all possible character types, with the prestige classes
taking the strain for players who want something that little bit
special. Anyway, the classes available to begin with are; Agent
(Morden and Refa are the obvious examples here, though the term
covers any skilled operative, from an assassin to ‘aggressive
negotiator’), Diplomat (need not be politically minded – many
corporations have need of diplomats in business dealings, as do
some unions – Neeoma of the Dockers Guild is a low level
diplomat), Lurker, Officer (split into pilot, fleet and ground
forces), Scientist (one of the widest classes there is in
capability and potential), Soldier (including security
officers), Telepath and Worker (split into blue and white
collar, allowing everything from dock loaders, to accountants,
lawyers and ISN reporters). When creating these classes, we
actively looked through the B5 seasons, trying to identify
characters that did not fit any of these. Aside from the really
esoteric personalities (which beg prestige classes or, in a few
very rare cases, a new core class that will come later), nope,
we have not spotted any ! All are very broad in scope, and we
have tried to avoid railroading anyone in terms of skill choices
and class features. If you have a specific character in mind,
you can create him or her with this system.
Also included in this chapter are the new rules for hit points
(very, very few!) and using Constitution as a bonus to stabilise,
rather than granting bonus hit points. You do not want to get
shot in this game, especially if a Medlab facility is not close
by. . .
Skills and Feats
This chapter speaks for itself – we have gone through the skill
list in the PHB, chucked out what was clearly not B5 in spirit,
and added new skills where appropriate, as well as change
certain skills that now operate slightly differently. Feats, on
the other hand, are divided into General, Telepath and Racial
categories. We have, however, removed a lot of the combat
orientated feats from the B5 RPG – don’t worry, the likes of
Weapon Focus are still in, but games of B5 should rarely focus
squarely on combat. In this game, feats such as Harm’s Way,
Latent Telepath and First Contact Protocol are far more
important. . . If you are of non-human origin, they are plenty
of opportunities to concentrate on abilities that can set
members of your race far apart from anyone else – be it a Narn’s
Priestly Devotion, a Minbari’s Way of the Warrior or a Drazi’s
Might Makes Right. Personally, I like the Drazi’s Green or
Purple feat, which gives certain bonuses (and penalties) for
this race’s mob mentality.
Combat
The Combat chapter introduces the bulk of actual changes from
the standard d20 System. I won’t run through them all here
though. Suffice to say that Armour Class is gone, armour now
reduces damage, a few changes have been made to attacks of
opportunity, and rules are in place to handle thin atmospheres,
low gravity, explosive decompression and a host of other
dangers. The vehicle rules also appear here – as I mentioned
elsewhere, we have used a converted Dragonstar system, as this
is quick, easy, and scales nicely between characters, vehicles
and spacecraft, allowing your Thunderbolt to bear down on a
speeding terrorist truck across the plains of Mars. However, we
just could not resist tweaking things to make it more ‘Babylon
5’ in feel! So, you will find everything you need to reflect the
Starfuries’ afterburners, ejector seat and pivotal thrusters
(gives a hell of an advantage, I can tell you!). Artificial
gravity is a feature of many advanced spacecraft, as is the
ability to create jump points, and the living ships of the
Vorlons are just plain nasty. . .
Equipment and Vehicles
One thing I did not want the Babylon 5 RPG to become was too
focussed on technology. After all, this is not Star Trek –
characters and their actions are what matters, not Type IV
positronic phase flux capacitors. However, you cannot get away
from the fact that there are a lot of cool ships and weapons in
the TV show – so, I hope we have picked the right middle ground
between the two. Full rules are given for black markets (anyone
on Babylon 5 is going to want to establish a smuggling line that
bypasses customs!), as well as the most common weapons of the
various races – these will be expanded further in the
forthcoming ‘race’ books that will cover each government in more
detail than has ever been seen before for Babylon 5. I promise.
However, you will still find shock sticks, PPGs, Minbari holdout
lasers, changeling nets (mad if you use one. . .), data
crystals, flak jackets, Narn battle suits and much more. The
spacecraft section has full rules and guidelines for the costs
of running a spacecraft (including docking and maintenance
fees), as well as a huge variety of ships seen throughout the
galaxy, both commercial and military. Everything from a
Maintenance Bot and Delta-V fighter to Hyperion cruisers and
Vorlon transports are detailed here, as well as full
descriptions of their special abilities and weaponry.
Telepaths
So often turned away by their own kind, telepaths at least get a
chapter all to themselves in the Babylon 5 RPG. I’ll preview
these rules fully at a later date but basically they revolve
around an inherent P-Rating (which never changes, of course),
the Telepathy skill and a range of abilities that are acquired
with practice and training. Yup, Deep Scanning, Pain and Jamming
are all in here.
All Alone in the Night
The Babylon 5 diplomatic station has never been truly and fully
detailed in terms of maps, specifications, locations and
personalities – until now. This chapter contains everything you
need to turn the station into a living, breathing place that
your players can actually explore (rather than you having to say
‘well, you arrive on B5. . .’). You can even learn how to join
the Transport Association, and what benefits you will get from
it in the future. In addition, information is given concerning
jumpgate operation, damaging the station’s exterior (it can
happen. . .), the defence grid (do NOT attack) and what
compliment of craft are typically on board and under EarthForce
control. Details on how diplomacy works on the station, what the
quarts are like, how much they cost, BabCom, StellarCom, the
central computer, medical facilities, the process of law and
order, the Universe Today – and all this before we even get into
specific locations!
We received a little criticism with the Judge Dredd RPG for not
including stats of the main characters in the main rulebook.
Well, we have listened to you this time. Everyone of note is
detailed here (though Ivanova seems to have a little
‘classified’ sticker obscuring one of her feats. . .), plus we
have also added a giant selection of ready NPCs (such as
commercial telepaths, market traders, dock workers, etc. . .)
for you to slide quickly and easily into your games.
The Babylon 5 station really is an entire setting unto itself –
you could play out an entire campaign here without ever leaving.
. .
And the Sky Full of Stars
Fitting the rest of the galaxy into one chapter was always going
to be something of a challenge and, inevitably, we have left
many things for the more detailed sourcebooks to cover (the
first of which will be the Earth Alliance). However, full
details here are given for travelling through space, using
jumpgates (or denying their use), plus navigating through
hyperspace, whether you want to use the standard travel routes
or not. Plenty of information is then given on the major
governments, their systems and their customs, giving Games
Masters enough to start launching their players out amongst the
stars. Also covered here are a variety of other useful topics,
such as why the EA has identicards, ISN, the Psi Corps
(including rules for sleeper drugs, and regulations for all
human telepaths), the Centauri noble houses, the Minbari
attitude to service and honour and much, much more. We have also
included racial traits for many members of the League of
Non-Aligned Worlds – in general, we recommend that players stick
to those detailed in the first chapter, as these are a little
weaker in terms of game balance. But hey, if you really want to
play an Abbai, Gaim, Markab (heh!), Pak’ma’ra or Vree,
everything you need is presented.
Our central goal for the Babylon 5 RPG was to provide a gateway
for Games Masters and players to explore pretty much whatever
part of the galaxy they wished. We have provided as many tools
as we could fit into the main rulebook – it is up to you to find
adventure!
Signs and Portents
This will be the most controversial chapter of the lot, I am
sure – this is a detailed (and I mean detailed) episode synopsis
of the entire first season of Babylon 5. The question you will
all ask, I am sure, is – why only the first season? Allow me to
explain. . .
I have said before that I am a self-confessed B5 geek and so
aimed to produce the kind of game that I would want to see (and
buy) myself. So, when the question came ‘what do we include in
this game’, my answer had to be ‘everything’.
You can’t actually do that in 304 pages! However, I knew that
simply doing a dry list of all the events as and when they
happened would be a) boring and b) completely miss the point of
what B5 is about. We were also aware that there were many people
out there who (unlike us real fans!) did not have every episode
on video or DVD – some were only going to know the most basic
things about the setting, while others would have inevitably
missed a few episodes. So, we have gone for a very detailed
episode synopsis that can (if you wish) serve as a framework to
an entire campaign covering the Earth year 2258. We do not just
detail the events in the episode, however – that, too, would
begin to get boring. Instead, we have also added many new
background entries to explain various things that crop up in
each episode (such as how the Thenta Makur works, how Transport
Routes are granted, what happened to the Dilgar, etc. . .), new
rules (pain givers can be found here, as well as racial traits
for the Dilgar, if you really want to go down the outcast
route), minor characters (N’grath and Bester, for example) and,
well, just about everything you need to know to run a decent
game of B5 that did not fit logically elsewhere in the rulebook,
but is placed nicely next to its relevant episode. And yes, all
this is backed up by complete and functional index, meaning you
will never have to go far to find anything, even in a rulebook
of 304 pages.
In addition, we give plenty of ideas for plot lines, scenarios
and campaign hooks alongside each episode. These allow players
to either become directly involved in such events, or have
similar situations mirror themselves in the players’ own
encounters. In addition, notes are also provided as to what
players in the galaxy might hear of the events on Babylon 5, all
serving to provide a coherent structure to a campaign before the
Games Master even starts writing. It also makes the players
aware that there is an entire galaxy out there that will not
simply stop and stand by while they complete their own goals –
as covered in this chapter, this can lead to some very tense
situations, wherever the players are in the galaxy.
Campaigns on Babylon 5
When I started writing this chapter, I figured I could fit
everything into 5 pages – fat chance! We begin by covering a
typical ‘starfarer’s campaign’, where players just use the
station as a base of operation and play through a number of
unrelated scenarios to ‘see what is out there’. This will suit
some groups down to the ground. However, as fans of the show
will be aware, a great deal more is possible in Babylon 5. You
want huge, convoluted story arcs? This chapter tells you how to
put them together. You want to know just what makes Babylon 5. .
. well, Babylon 5? This chapter will tell you what to emphasise.
There are also sections on characterisation, B5 iconography,
playing canon/non-canon campaigns, as well as a huge list of
campaign jump off points you can use to kickstart your own
ideas.
This is also where the prestige classes lie – I won’t give the
full list just yet, but making an appearance will be the Mutari,
Planetary Surveyor, Psi Cop, and True Seeker.
The rulebook winds up with a full and complete glossary
(including a few things even I did not know before I started
this project!), plus index, rules summary and character sheets.
Here is the expected production schedule as posted
over on Enworld:
MAY
Babylon 5 Roleplaying Game Main Rulebook
The
Fiery Trial - We are not doing scenarios or campaigns for
Babylon 5 - instead, you will see entire story arcs released
from Mongoose, complete campaign building blocks ready to be
inserted into your own games. The Fiery Trial is a 128 page
full colour story arc, written by Bruce Graw, that sees the
players start on the Babylon 5 diplomatic station befiore
being thrust into events that span the entire galaxy, shaking
every major government.
JUNE
The Coming of Shadows - Detailing the events,
characters and locations of the Earth year 2259 in exquisite
detail, The Coming of Shadows brings a new commander to
Babylon 5, new equipment to your games and rules additions
that are immediately useable with the main rulebook -
including the technomage!
JULY
The Earth Alliance - A big, fat 200 page hardback (full
color again) also written by Bruce Graw, The Earth Alliance is
_the_ definitive work on humanity of the 23rd Century. Earth,
Mars and the colony worlds are fully detailed and mapped,
making them living, breathing places ready to be explored by
players. The full history of the Psi Corps is also included,
along with many new rules for human characters, including new
prestige classes, telepathic abilities and the entire
EarthForce fleet and ground forces.
AUGUST
The Minbari Federation - Doing for the Minbari what the
last book did for humans! This tome is currently being written
by August Hahn and at the moment it is an open question
whether it will 'merely' be a 128 page full color supplement,
or a 200 page hardback encyclopedia on all things Minbari. I
know what I want it to be, but we'll have to see what source
material August digs up. However, this book captures our aim
of portraying absolutely everything in the Babylon 5 universe,
leaving no stone unturned. It is our intention to make this
_the_ most complete license in the roleplaying market - JMS
has given us all the tools, now we just need to see it to
fruition!
SEPTEMBER
Point of No Return - Players at the end of 2259 may
begin to believe they know exactly where the galaxy is headed
- this sourcebook, covering the Earth year 2260, will
demonstrate thatm, wherever they are, their troubles are only
just beginning! Packed full of new rules and in depth source
material, Point of No Return heralds the beginning of major
changes in the Babylon 5 story.
OCTOBER
The Centauri Republic - I have a feeling that many
people will be interested in this one - I'll certainly be
running an entire campaign based on it! This sourcebook will
cover everything anyone could ever know about the loud, brash
and scheming Centauri, including details on how to run
campaigns featuring the noble houses, charting the players'
rising stars within the Republic.
NOVEMBER
The Narn Regime - As with the Centauri and Minbari
sourcebooks, we are still trying to gauge whether this will be
a 128 page supplement or 200 page hardback - either way, it
will contain the entire history of the Narn, their weapons and
technology, colonies, questions of belief and, of course,
detailed excerpts from the Book of G'Quan.
After this we have many more titles in the works for Babylon 5
fans, though they have yet to be solidly placed in the release
schedule - the (what will be) long-awaited Shadows & Vorlons
sourcebook (including, yes, Shadow and Vorlon Agents if you
are interested in high-powered gaming and drama in the
galaxy), Free Traders, Technomages, the League of Non-Aligned
Worlds, more Story Arcs, more Earth Years (season books, as we
call them), a sourcebook covering Crusade and the years in
between, and oodles more!
INTERESTING OBSERVATION
 It
has been brought up on the B5 Wars e-mail list recently that
the movie "In the Beginning" contained a scene with
Omegas. There has been a great deal of discussion about this
topic considering its controversial nature since Omegas were
desgined after the Earth-Minbari war. Several screen
captures were generated by Matt
Flegal.
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