Babylon 5

Overall score:

Look, I'll admit it. I have not seen a single episode of Babylon 5. In fact, I still don't plan on seeing it. I probably won't object if a friend wants to watch it with me, but I have no plans.

But look again, this is the best presentation of the d20 system in a science fiction setting I've seen. (we could compare it to T20, the Traveller d20 system, but er… we don't want to make the publisher of T20 feel bad).

Part of the problem with d20 and science fiction -- the biggest problem, in fact -- is Hit Points. You can't do hard sci-fi and then have this hit points based system. It works reasonably well for fantasy or action, but it's too unrealistic for science fiction.

B5 doesn't entirely eliminate hit points. But even a 10th level character will rarely (if ever) have more than 20 or so. This means combat is deadly. This alone does most of the job adapting the system. The skill heavy system only enhances it.

Since there is no magic, the telepathy system doesn't feel awkward. It is hardly comparable to d20's magic, however. Specific abilities are gained as one progresses in level in the telepathy class. The maximum power is controlled by a P-rating which is randomly determined, and fixed, at character creation. This means that even two telepaths of the same character level may be at vastly different ability levels. This hurts a little bit of balance, but just requires careful GM planning to make sure skill contests are appropriate to the character trying them.

I'm still a little leery of the class system in non-fantasy environments. I think that d20 Modern pulled it off best, though their names and the prestige classes left a little to be desired. However, for the most part, the classes in B5 follow types of careers, such as worker, etc., which would largely determine skill sets and abilities, so this is pretty easy to swallow. The Prestige classes don't quite do as good a job, but they do tend to represent more refined areas of training within the categories set up by the original class groups, so again, they're acceptable, if not always exciting.

The races are well defined, though there isn't anything particularly exciting. Some of the races seem just thrown in, even though they don't have much definition. I'm unsure whether to blame the TV show or the book for this, but the fact is, racial selection can be kind of boring, which a couple notable exceptions. For a book that encourages you to make new races and settings, however, there is remarkably little information on how to make a new race that would fit into the setting. The ability to wing it seems to be high on the wish list for potential GMs in B5.

The bulk of the book, however, is dedicated to information about the show, which I found handy. I read all the setting information before ever reading the rules, just so I'd know what I was dealing with. There is a lot of good information on how the station works, and I feel like I have a good enough grasp to run a few sessions based on B5. There is an extensive episode guide too. Full narrations on the events in every episode of B5 in the first season (later books have guides for other seasons).

Even though the episode guide is very handy, however (and without knowing the episodes, there's no way to tell what some of those prestige classes are even included for), it's also a source of some frustration. At the end of each episode there are stat blocks and descriptions for items or ideas that appear in that episode. This information appears no where else. This is quite infuriating. It makes the book nearly useless as a reference book. If I know which episode something was in, there's a good chance I'll already know enough about it to make up how it works. It would be better to include the equipment in the equipment section, the cultural information in the setting chapters, etc.

The episode guides also revealed how rushed they must have been to make deadlines. The guide for each episode gets longer as you get toward the end, leaving more details in, but they also become much less well proofed. The typos and layout errors breed like rabbits. The RPG industry will never be known for it's refined production crews, so I always expect a few errors. But when they pop up ever couple paragraphs, it's a little too much.

The book is published in full color on glossy paper. For the most part it looks pretty. Not all of the production stills came out with nice resolution, but it's nice enough. Page arrangements are easy to read and don't confuse you with ugly tables in the wrong places or too many side bars.

So all in all the book is worth owning. Besides the production errors and some shoddy organization, I have few if any real complaints. The setting information is very nice, especially if you're a fan of the series (in which case the episode guide and pictures make the book a nice collectible, if nothing else), but the mechanics are easily usable in any science fiction setting. You could easily play a Traveller style game here, and only a little tweaking could turn Telepaths into Jedi, though some other tweaking would be necessary to make it truly as cinematic as the Star Wars series. This is THE science fiction d20 system to use.

Written by SaintEhlers on January 11th, 2004