RPGnet : The Inside Scoop on Gaming

THE BABYLON PROJECT
The Roleplaying Game Based on Babylon 5
by Joseph Cochran

PRESENTATION
The first thing you notice when looking at a copy of THE BABYLON PROJECT is that it is beautifully produced. The colored interior is above and beyond what you would expect for the $25 US cover price. Though some newsgroup folks have reported quality problems, I can only say that my copy suffers from no smudging or running or spine-cracking.

The interior layout is very nice and highly readable. Illustrations are frequent. The technical illustrations, like the character record and GM reference sheet, are of top quality. Handy sidebars and offset windows are frequent. Many of the interior illustrations are not pleasing to the eye, and stills from the series would have been much more effective in their place. But they are better than nothing, and that is the only complaint I have with the entire presentation - a job well-done by Charles Ryan.

CONTENT
The book is right at 200 pages, including the intro pages and character sheets in the back. There is a good table of contents, but no index. The book is laid out in a clear manner, so the lack of an index would only be a problem when searching for an individual piece of background history (which is sprinkled throughout).

Characters
pp.1-18 is a history of the Babylon Project (with some generic future Earth history thrown in). There is little information here that avid followers of the series don't know, although there is a little extra about the Psi-Corps and the fate of the previous Babylon stations.

pp.19-36 is a character creation system. Characters have attributes (like Strength and Intelligence), skills (a short list, around 60), and characteristics (like "curious" or "addicted").

Attributes are on a 1-9 scale, and start at racial norms of 3-6 - you then can up scores by up to two points as long as you balance by dropping other scores for as many points. Therefore human Strength (racial base 4) can range from 2 to 6 in a normal human.

Skills are on a 1-5 scale. The character generation is surprisingly simple, being driven by character background. You get one 4-point skill, 3 3-point skills, and 12 points worth of 1-2 point skills. You can have the Psionic attribute (P5 max) at the cost of skill points.

pp.37-50 is a briefing on each major race - their history, government, and society. There was no information here not gleaned from the show, but it is concise and clear, a good summation of "What's a Minbari (etc)."

pp.51-66 are descriptions of individual skills and characteristics. These are very light on mechanics.

Game System
pp.67-88 is a good gamemaster's primer on how to prepare and run a good story for a campaign.

pp.88-118 is the game mechanics - basically, there aren't many. Tasks have a difficulty rating - the character adds their relevant attribute and skill, and roll 2d6 (one positive, one negative) to get a +5/-5 modifier. If you beat the difficulty, you succeed. There's 2 pages worth of psi rules and a little more on combat - looks like the only mechanic not performed with the standard attribute+skill roll is the hit location and results tables. The one-page GM's reference sheet in the back of the book contains all the mechanics knowledge required to run the game.

Environment
pp.119-138 is a primer on humanity and its future history - EarthGov, the Psi-Corps, first contact, etc. There are cool illustrations (a star chart and B5 schematic). Again, there is very little in this section that a B5 watcher does not know.

pp.138-155 is the same information about the other alien races. It concentrates mostly on the Minbari, Narn, and Centauri. At about 4 pages of content on each race, it is limited to an encyclopedia-like summary of the information revealed in Season 1 of the TV series.

pp.155-168 contains the "Technology" section. There is some explanation of hyperspace and space travel, and the de rigeur list of weapons.

Campaign
pp.169-192 hold a sample adventure. It involves the characters in the events surrounding Babylons 1 and 2. There's a good bit of interstellar travel and investigation.

CONCLUSION
That's the brief lowdown on the book and its contents. The game is intended for a storytelling gameplay format - the adventure has a "story arc" and is divided into "scenes." The spare amount of mechanics supplement that - the standard mechanic seems to be fine, a kinda generic closed-ended attribute+skill system, 2d6 are the only thing you'll ever need.

For B5 aficionados, you won't get a lot of source material out of the book. Its history and information basically stop at the point of B5 going online - the command staff are not mentioned by name, and none of the Shadow/Vorlon stuff is mentioned (there's one paragraph on Vorlons saying they're spooky.) The book contents itself with compiling and summarizing the historical and sociological facts from the early series - necessary if non-rabid B5 watchers are to be able to play the game.

I have to say, just reading this book leaves me with an empty feeling. To run a storytelling game, you need lots of source material. There are no station schematics, details of nonhuman (or human) cultures, important personages, current events - probably many of these are planned for the upcoming supplements. But in my opinion you would have a hard time running a Babylon Project game until that information comes out - unless you are happy inventing everything yourself. For example, all you get about Mars Colony from the book is "Mars? Ah yas, red place, some humans in domes, some colonial discontent." For those of us who have every B5 episode on tape, it is likely to be an easier task, but still somewhat daunting.

Perhaps some more of that could have been fit in to the core book - for though it's a good solid 200 pages, the information you really need from it boils down to the character sheet, the GM's sheet, an overview of the attribute+skill system (available from Chameleon Eclectic's Web site), and a working knowledge of the first season of B5.

Maybe I'm just being overeager for the full suite of information - once there is a suite of Babylon Project books out it will be nice to have the core rules in one coherent volume without any additional stuff. But I would warn Chameleon Eclectic to stuff those supplements chock-full of details, especially details beyond what the B5 series offers. Where this core rulebook can afford to be vague, it needs to be solidly backed up with enough source material to feed a group of voracious role-players. I hope that they authors were not just holding back because JMS was having fits about anyone else making up B5 universe information, or anything like that.

So in summary, I give THE BABYLON PROJECT a hesitant thumbs-up. True judgement will have to be reserved until we see the rest of the products in the line. I am interested to see the "feel" they come out with - it's not clear from this book alone. THE BABYLON PROJECT is not a hardcore SF game a la Traveller by any means. It is a storytelling game, but doesn't come out like the World of Darkness stuff when read. The spare mechanics would lend themselves to a Feng Shui-style treatment, but it doesn't come across that free-wheeling. In fact, the game it reminds me the most of is Star Frontiers, the old TSR space opera game (but with higher production values).

Ernest Mueller

Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)

The Babylon Project
Author: Joseph Cochran Category: game Company/Publisher: Chameleon Eclectic Reviewed by Ernest Mueller on 03/20/97. Genre tags: none	THE BABYLON PROJECT The Roleplaying Game Based on Babylon 5 by Joseph Cochran PRESENTATION The first thing you notice when looking at a copy of THE BABYLON PROJECT is that it is beautifully produced. The colored interior is above and beyond what you would expect for the $25 US cover price. Though some newsgroup folks have reported quality problems, I can only say that my copy suffers from no smudging or running or spine-cracking. The interior layout is very nice and highly readable. Illustrations are frequent. The technical illustrations, like the character record and GM reference sheet, are of top quality. Handy sidebars and offset windows are frequent. Many of the interior illustrations are not pleasing to the eye, and stills from the series would have been much more effective in their place. But they are better than nothing, and that is the only complaint I have with the entire presentation - a job well-done by Charles Ryan. CONTENT The book is right at 200 pages, including the intro pages and character sheets in the back. There is a good table of contents, but no index. The book is laid out in a clear manner, so the lack of an index would only be a problem when searching for an individual piece of background history (which is sprinkled throughout). Characters pp.1-18 is a history of the Babylon Project (with some generic future Earth history thrown in). There is little information here that avid followers of the series don't know, although there is a little extra about the Psi-Corps and the fate of the previous Babylon stations. pp.19-36 is a character creation system. Characters have attributes (like Strength and Intelligence), skills (a short list, around 60), and characteristics (like "curious" or "addicted"). Attributes are on a 1-9 scale, and start at racial norms of 3-6 - you then can up scores by up to two points as long as you balance by dropping other scores for as many points. Therefore human Strength (racial base 4) can range from 2 to 6 in a normal human. Skills are on a 1-5 scale. The character generation is surprisingly simple, being driven by character background. You get one 4-point skill, 3 3-point skills, and 12 points worth of 1-2 point skills. You can have the Psionic attribute (P5 max) at the cost of skill points. pp.37-50 is a briefing on each major race - their history, government, and society. There was no information here not gleaned from the show, but it is concise and clear, a good summation of "What's a Minbari (etc)." pp.51-66 are descriptions of individual skills and characteristics. These are very light on mechanics. Game System pp.67-88 is a good gamemaster's primer on how to prepare and run a good story for a campaign. pp.88-118 is the game mechanics - basically, there aren't many. Tasks have a difficulty rating - the character adds their relevant attribute and skill, and roll 2d6 (one positive, one negative) to get a +5/-5 modifier. If you beat the difficulty, you succeed. There's 2 pages worth of psi rules and a little more on combat - looks like the only mechanic not performed with the standard attribute+skill roll is the hit location and results tables. The one-page GM's reference sheet in the back of the book contains all the mechanics knowledge required to run the game. Environment pp.119-138 is a primer on humanity and its future history - EarthGov, the Psi-Corps, first contact, etc. There are cool illustrations (a star chart and B5 schematic). Again, there is very little in this section that a B5 watcher does not know. pp.138-155 is the same information about the other alien races. It concentrates mostly on the Minbari, Narn, and Centauri. At about 4 pages of content on each race, it is limited to an encyclopedia-like summary of the information revealed in Season 1 of the TV series. pp.155-168 contains the "Technology" section. There is some explanation of hyperspace and space travel, and the de rigeur list of weapons. Campaign pp.169-192 hold a sample adventure. It involves the characters in the events surrounding Babylons 1 and 2. There's a good bit of interstellar travel and investigation. CONCLUSION That's the brief lowdown on the book and its contents. The game is intended for a storytelling gameplay format - the adventure has a "story arc" and is divided into "scenes." The spare amount of mechanics supplement that - the standard mechanic seems to be fine, a kinda generic closed-ended attribute+skill system, 2d6 are the only thing you'll ever need. For B5 aficionados, you won't get a lot of source material out of the book. Its history and information basically stop at the point of B5 going online - the command staff are not mentioned by name, and none of the Shadow/Vorlon stuff is mentioned (there's one paragraph on Vorlons saying they're spooky.) The book contents itself with compiling and summarizing the historical and sociological facts from the early series - necessary if non-rabid B5 watchers are to be able to play the game. I have to say, just reading this book leaves me with an empty feeling. To run a storytelling game, you need lots of source material. There are no station schematics, details of nonhuman (or human) cultures, important personages, current events - probably many of these are planned for the upcoming supplements. But in my opinion you would have a hard time running a Babylon Project game until that information comes out - unless you are happy inventing everything yourself. For example, all you get about Mars Colony from the book is "Mars? Ah yas, red place, some humans in domes, some colonial discontent." For those of us who have every B5 episode on tape, it is likely to be an easier task, but still somewhat daunting. Perhaps some more of that could have been fit in to the core book - for though it's a good solid 200 pages, the information you really need from it boils down to the character sheet, the GM's sheet, an overview of the attribute+skill system (available from Chameleon Eclectic's Web site), and a working knowledge of the first season of B5. Maybe I'm just being overeager for the full suite of information - once there is a suite of Babylon Project books out it will be nice to have the core rules in one coherent volume without any additional stuff. But I would warn Chameleon Eclectic to stuff those supplements chock-full of details, especially details beyond what the B5 series offers. Where this core rulebook can afford to be vague, it needs to be solidly backed up with enough source material to feed a group of voracious role-players. I hope that they authors were not just holding back because JMS was having fits about anyone else making up B5 universe information, or anything like that. So in summary, I give THE BABYLON PROJECT a hesitant thumbs-up. True judgement will have to be reserved until we see the rest of the products in the line. I am interested to see the "feel" they come out with - it's not clear from this book alone. THE BABYLON PROJECT is not a hardcore SF game a la Traveller by any means. It is a storytelling game, but doesn't come out like the World of Darkness stuff when read. The spare mechanics would lend themselves to a Feng Shui-style treatment, but it doesn't come across that free-wheeling. In fact, the game it reminds me the most of is Star Frontiers, the old TSR space opera game (but with higher production values). Ernest Mueller Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 4 (Meaty)

The Babylon Project