Customer Reviews

Babylon 5: Faith Manages (Babylon 5 Roleplaying Game, Second Edition, RPG)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Babylon 5 Second Edition game appears, on first read, to continue the concept of the First Edition. It allows you, through the versatile D20 system, to recreate the adventures of the Babylon 5 series, spin offs and movies. MOST of the things in the book are as well written as the first, or slightly improved (the condensing of the skill list is a good idea, giving better rounded characters). The only major flaw I found with the system is the ship / vehicle combat rules. They are designed to be totally abstract, not using maps or counters for combat. This is an idea that first reared it's ugly head back in the first edition of the WOTC Star Wars D20 RPG. Some people may like this type of thing, but my group does not. We enjoy things like the old Star Wars D6 system, which were easy to map and keep track of. We didn't really like the first edition Babylon system either, but that is what we are going to default to until we can home-design a better alternative. The one major problem this causes is that the first two supplements for Second Editions, Ships of the Galaxy and the Shipbuilder's Guidebook, are useless now, because the statistics between 1st Edition and 2nd appear to almost bear no resemblance to one another, even where they supposedly represent the same 'value'.

Other than the ship combat system, however, the game appears to be top notch. Converting other things to the new system appears to be pretty simple. Most equipment converts directly over, feats from the old edition books MOSTLY convert directly over, Prestige classes were easy to convert between systems. The hardest thing besides ships to convert might be your character itsself. Our group found it easier to just re-design the characters from the ground up using the new rules and the first edition characters as a guideline. Even then, it took no longer to convert the character than it took to level up the old one.

Overall, this is still the best space opera game out there in the D20 system. One other minor complaint... you will curse the editors every time you find a misused word that would have been found by a solid read-through before printing.

Being a well rounded Sci-Fi fan, and a vetran of old and new RPGs, I was happy to see a B5 game come out in the d20 system. I'm very much into the WOTC Star Wars (made hundreds of in depth PC/NPC), and since Babylon 5 is another of my favorites, I couldn't wait to see what the folks at Mongoose had done.

The back cover says it is "one of the most detailed science fiction settings ever created." While that may be somewhat accurate with regard to the TV series, it is quite an exageration for this book. Without first hand knowledge of the show (very much like LOTR in space), it will be difficult to grasp the nuances that made B5 what it was - and as such, generate a worth while character. Ok, you probably won't get this RPG unless you loved the show. But, furthermore, without suppliments, you are limited to mundane (pun possibly intended) little side stories. The book states that if your gaming group chooses to, it can alter the cannon of the program; but, be reasonable - then it isn't truely B5 anymore. Without several other books, you lack the scope to branch out. This is likely a marketing stratagy, but for the player/GM, an expensive one.

Next, if you are VERY familiar with d20 systems, you will be able to work backwards and figure everything out. If not, this certainly should NOT be your first stop in attempting to learn one. The book, while useful (if not necessary), suffers from extremely poor organization. Portions vital to character creation, which ought to be presented in the early chapters, are hidden away in the GM section. If you plan to design a PC that starts with more than one level, you'll find yourself constantly flipping back and forth, from one chapter to the next. They try to claim that getting started is simple: not unless you have a GM on hand, or a lot of experience. Honestly, a new player wouldn't be able to even understand half the stuff on the character sheet, without reading 3/4 of the book. They fail to explain defencive value, attack bonus, and initiative, until much, much later. Also, the wording style in which the Skills and Feats have been written is vague. A newbie, and even a casual player, may fail to understand how concepts like off-hand vs. (ambedexterity) , two weapon fighting, flat-footed, etc., apply, without reading about combat, first. How can you select skills and feats without knowing what you are getting into? Let's just say it's a mess.

P Ratings ... I'll put it to you like this: if you EVER want to use telepathic ability, you MUST start in that Class. Latent Telepathy ain't worth spit; and, if you wanted to start with another Class, and take Telepathy as your first level Feat, so you could manifest it later, a simple dice roll can ruin everything. Yes, you can push your abilities up briefly, but it kills you in the process (the other guy is already trying to do that - you don't need to double his efforts). Pretty much, anything below a P5 is useless. The only way to insure you do better than that, is to get that +6 add on from the start. That brings up something else - What if your PC premise is a PsiCop, and you roll low? It's manditory to be P10 to P12, so now you're S.O.L..

Influence is very much like reputation in any other d20 game; but, it's fleshed out a bit better here. While I like the idea of knowing who a PC has influence with, and just what that can do for them, again, there are a great many ambiguities. For instance, it isn't clear how one gains it. Sure the GM can award Influence bonuses, or you can get them for moving up in levels, but do you need to have contacts before they are aplicable? Why list Contacts and Friends, in the Feats, if this is not the case. And if it is, why allow players to gain Influence bonuses without taking the feats. Or, when you do something in favor of a group, do you have to tell them, or are they just supposed to notice? It's a grey area.

Lastly, I have two academic complaints. Occationally, they use a blockey font that is difficult to read - oh well. Second, while I never claimed to be perfect at it myself, there are a LLLLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOTTTTT of syntax and grammar errors in this book. When you are already scrutinizing every word, to better understand the meaning behind, to have things doubled, missing, or otherwise wonkey, is a huge distraction.

In short, FANTISTIC show, just ok RPG book.

neat book if your into Babylon 5. I was dissapointed that i had to buy this book because my name and artwork is in it but that is not the sellers fault, its Mongoose publishings fault for never letteing me know my name and artwork were in the book. But the transaction was excellent and at less than $10 for a brand new book with a $59.95 price printed right on the cover is a steal. the item stated new with little shelf wear and as far as im concerned the item is new, i dont see any shelf wear worth complaining about. This book will be another excellent item for my portfolio. thank you for selling it at a price i can afford. P.S. I am available for anyone that decides they need 3d artwork just google my name David Charnow or Q5Grafx and youll figure out how to get in touch with me. Thanks PPS My artwork is on pages 224 and 229 and name is on page 2 of the cgi artists.

My family never watched the show (or even heard of it) before meeting Walter Koenig at a convention. He "ordered" us to watch it & laughingly we agreed. Many Thanks to Walter! We all love watching the shows & at the same convention my kids heard about RPGs & decided to try it out. This is a great show & a fun idea for a game, but if you have NEVER played an RPG ... this is a very tough place to start.
We have had to 'modify down' considerable while trying to understand how this is supposed to work. But we ARE having fun & spending a lot more time playing together with our growing children.