B5 companion

[MongoosePaul]

Hi All

I'm just finalising the contents list for the B5 companion so if there's anything you'd particularly like to see in an 'everything else you wanted to know' book, now's the time to shout out.

Note: This isn't going to include crusade or anything beyond season 3.

[El Cid]

Anything in it about the Rangers?

[Babylon 5 Aide]

Official prices for mundane types of items so a GM can extrapolate what another kind of item would cost.

Pay for Earth Force and Earth Alliance types.

Anla'shok anything

Better maps for future times? Better maps of Babylon 5? I've noticed that some things don't quite make sense on the current map. It's beautiful, and I know I am being a little picky, but things like the council chambers which I've seen on the dvd's is in Blue Sector and such. Mainly I'd just like a fold out map with a little more detail that was easier to read.

Better travel times for ships in hyperspace - a Whitestar is faster than an Omega, is faster than a shuttle.

Better space ship combat system. I’d really like something with a better handle on it that made sense because of the nature of the game. I’m not looking for a war gaming thing, but the current stats and system looked to be a little haphazardly put together, and I know it’s something I’ve seen others have a small problem with.

Perhaps a list of things one would typically find in a Babylon 5 room. Do they have refridgerators?

That's all we can think of at the moment. Hope maybe this sparks some ideas elsewhere

[MongoosePaul]

Rangers are covered in brief in the Minbari Federation and in more depth in Point of No Return. We'll also be going back to them in the other season books and quite probably when we come to do Crusade.

[Babylon 5 Aide]

Ok, thanks for the info and scratch that one from the list

[Chobbly]

Ok, off the top of my head....

1. Deck plans for a freighter, perhaps the Narn freighter?
2. Character Snapshots - one page character definitions - useful if a game changes direction mid-way through, and you need an NPC to drop in as an emergency measure.
3. Features on a different space station, perhaps a Centauri one?
4. Some original races. Perhaps even the Tak'Cha, or the Ch'lon'as???
5. The Belt Alliance - a small feature on them, with sample ships, bases, etc.
6. Alternate history - a guide to using the B5 universe as a spring-board? I.e. What if Babylon 5 was destroyed in 'Severed Dreams'? Would Babylon Four have been pulled forward in time first, to function as the base in the current Shadow War, before going back to save the Minbari a thousand years before? A guide to doing this, how to stage this, might be nice.
7. Martial arts styles - Jeffrey Sinclair received training with a Bo whilst in EarthForce. Aikido, and other similar combat styles, don't tend to work well in D20 (IMHO) because of the focusing on attack bonuses.


Chobbly

[Goldritter]

1. Prices of Space Ships (civilian/military). Because the cost of repairs is baes on the const of the Ship.

2. Rules for construcion of "normal/space" Vehicles, if possible like d20 Mecha or Silhouette construction system, which doesn´t use a put parts together like Battle Tech.

3. Civilian Star Ships and Space Vehicles for different races.

4. Different curencies of the different races and their "EA credit" value.

5. NPC summary (for example all diplomats on Babylon 5).

That´s all for now.

[frobisher]

Ok, off the top of my head....

<-snip->
5. The Belt Alliance - a small feature on them, with sample ships, bases, etc.

We've already got most of that in the EA Factbook, apart from bases.

<-snip->
7. Martial arts styles - Jeffrey Sinclair received training with a Bo whilst in EarthForce. Aikido, and other similar combat styles, don't tend to work well in D20 (IMHO) because of the focusing on attack bonuses.

Just a thought, but what about some rules variants that do away with that Attack bonuses and insert martial (arts) skills instead which would allow for this (I'd be well in favour of that as the Attack bonuses are probably my biggest gripe with D20).

[Neo]

System and Planet creation rules along with forms to put the info on (Along the lines of the forms in the Traveller T20 game).

Maps of sample ships (shuttle, Freighter) and also maps of key areas which can be used for capital ships.. e.g Bridge, Weapon station, detention area, hydroponics, engineering, hangar etc..

Rules and/or advice for handling promotions in game for various militaries or organisations.

More Racial Feats, but for a wider selection of alien species.

[Morden]

Why not some optional rules? How about an option for regular D20 style hit dice - not as the recommended game mode, but something for a more combat intensive game.

Information on Crusade. Give me everything you have on the drakh, the excalibur, the drakh ships, and the drakh plague.

More locations off-station. These may be sample worlds, space stations, anomalies, whatever. Basically more things to play with.

[August]

*Minor Spoiler*

You may be happy to know that you will get a few glimpses of the Drakh in the new Centauri Republic sourcebook, coming soon.

-August

[ShadowScout]

Things I'd like to see in a "Companion"
...price guides - not only things (those are obvious - all kinds of things), but also services, from an taxi ride to an haircut, from an hour of psychotherapy to repairing your starship's front bumper, from an telepath's fee to an night with an exotic dancer - what does it cost where...
...job tables - how much does it pay, how much time does it take, what do you need to do it, what do you need to get it, etc...
...everyday B5-time operations - how have things changed from what we all know, from postal service to spaceship check-ins, from hotel rooms to home entertainment, from emergency procedures to phonecalls.
...legal stuff - what is allowed and what not; and where (no weapons on B5, but what about elsewhere in the EA? and which weapons - how small a knife is allowed as tool, and when does it catch the eye of Mr.Garibaldi) where Exactly does the law draw the line (as I'm sure eventually PC's will get there), and what fines/punishments do PC's have to dodge, where and what for they can/have to get licenses and permits, etc...
...illegal stuff - how's the crime situation, who can be bribed with how much, what's currently hot on the black market, where and to what conditions can one get rid of stolen goods, which organizations do you have to watch out for, etc.
...travel guides - including short "PC knowledge" descriptions of lots of places and races, currency conversions, and stuff the travel agent is by law required to tell you...
...travel hazards - from space terrain over wierd infections (and what can be done against them) to strange new foods that have surprising side effects no docter warned you about...
...rumours - what are people saying about the Drazi in the corridors of B5, which scandal is bound to hit the news any day now and what has been heard about the strange things seen in sector 857... (not everyone will have enough knowledge of B5 to improvise something that sounds likely...)
...bargains - from the B5 Zocalo (what you can find - "hey, look this seems to be some Centauri por... GAH!", and at what prices, how you have to deal without insulting certain races, etc.) to shady deals with Thrakallan smugglers...
...lies - a small section about politics in and around B5; with a little info on all the ambassadors and governments.

Things I actually wouldn't like to see there:
Everything that deserves to or is already planned on getting it's own book.
...Ranger stuff, planets & maps, ship stats and deck plans, ship combat & construction rules, detailed NPC descriptions, detailed race descriptions, alternate history stuff, time period stuff (after all, the seasons will be covered in their books already, and I'd presume Mongoose will do more books liek them covering the movies and Crusade...)

Everything that cen be gained from other d20 products (I'm sure somewhere people can dig up more then enough d20 stuff about everything from our modern age, including martial arts styles... so that'd leave only the alien martial arts...)

Soo, that's what first came to my mind.

[LoneStranger]

Something I would find interesting is a section on the economics of the galaxy, exchange rates of EA currency vs Narn or League currency and how all the currency does against each other. In addition there could also be some space devoted to what makes exchange rates flucuate and by how much.

Examples:
war: winning vs. losing and how much support each side has
new scientific breakthroughs made by a particular race
overall stability (or perceived stability) of a race and it's borders
piracy (jumplanes hit and/or what territory they're operating out of)
how commerce was affected by the Shadow War

Something to consider at least.

[Aker]

1) A good description of the human-minbari War detailed enough to have PCs fighting in that conflict: minor battles, chronology, events, ships, personalities...
2) Something on Corporations (mostly human and brakiri, I guess) and private business on B5.

[Guest]

Prices for minerals/ores.

For example how much cost 1lb of Quantium40 or 1lb of Gold.

[Goldritter]

I prefer a change in description of the Gargocapacity of Vehicles.
Instead to use the weight use the volume (m³ for example).
Or give this information as an addon in every Vehicle description.

For example a object can weight less than x Kg, but is too big to be transported by a Shuttle.

[El Cid]

An age chart for all the races?

[LoneStranger]

It almost sounds like this could be split off into two separate books. a book covering regular life in the Babylon 5 universe and another book about trading and the like. In fact that book could be called the "IPX Sourcebook" since that covers at least some of the stuff IPX does.

I'm sure something can be figured out at the very least.

[Babylon 5 Aide]

Also, uniforms and insignia of the various races with drawings, not pictures of them.

[Babylon 5 Aide]

BTW you wouldn't happen to be in southern Ohio would you?