Customer Reviews

Babylon 5 RPG and Fact Book: Signs and Portents

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I was very excited when I saw that there was a d20 B5 RPG coming out, and I snatched this book up right away. I also have the Minbari and Earth Alliance books, and although I find them useful I've been disappointed overall. I'm used to anything associated with Babylon 5 being extremely high quality, but these books are very sloppy on multiple levels. They are full of typos and formatting errors, I've seen at least one math error in the rules, and the Earth Alliance and Minbari books have no index, which I find infuriating. The character sheet is terribly designed and in some places inconsistent with the rules, and some of the pictures are dark, grainy, or extremely pixellated. There are inconsistencies between the books--for instance, the Minbari languages are listed in various places as Lennau and Lennan, Fik and Vik, etc. The rules provided are problematic, as well. The classes and prestige classes are poorly balanced and the space combat rules, while basically sound, need some fine tuning with regards to modifiers and such. There also seems to have been a hasty attempt to convert from D&D 3.0 to 3.5 skills and feats, but it was not entirely successful, leading to more inconsistencies. So, as a foundation for B5 d20 roleplaying, I've found these books helpful, but I've had to revise the rules and make my own character sheet and such. I find the books overpriced, especially considering their poor quality, but I will continue to buy them because any Babylon 5 RPG is better than none.

After the first woeful attempt at doing B5 in a Rpg format I was very concerned about how Mongoose was going to do it. I have to say I am very impressed. The book is possiblly the best Rpg book I have ever seen. The layout is excellent, the information interesting and the rules easy to understand. There are rules for making up several of the races from the show and good basic information on each one.A complete overview of season 1 is included and at the end of each episode entry there is additional information on things from within. From Midnight on the firing line as an example there is info on Centauri mines, Raider command and control ships and trader routes. If you want to play in the Babylon universe then this book is awsome. Worth every cent.

This product was my first introduction into the universe of Babylon 5. Since playing my first game, it has caused me to immerse myself in the series, watching all 5 seasons on DVD. I find that the Babylon 5 RPG is a very interesting environment in which to play. It's rules, including a limited number of hit points and defense based on reflex saves instead of dex bonuses, as well as a very skill-heavy character cross-section, allow games to move beyond the run-of-the-mill Space Hack scenario that seems to inhabit other D20 space type games. Overall, this book is highly recommended if you are a fan of the series and have ever wanted to adventure in the universe of Babylon 5.