Rikki Tikki Traveller
Cosmic Mongoose
I got my copy of B5 Traveller last Friday and have spent the weekend going through it.
Overall it is a good book for anyone familiar with the B5 setting. If you are expecting to be able to buy this book and play the setting without knowing anything else about one of the best SF series ever made,then you will be in trouble. The book is NOT a detail of the setting, but a general overview and a way to convert Traveller to the B5 setting.
I did have several problems with it though...
1. The gray background was a bit dark and made some of the text hard to read. The sidebars, which were even darker, were almost impossible to read. I suggest that on the next print run, they lighten up the background colors.
2. There are still several sections where the D20 game system is used. Specifically, the sidebar text at the top of page 137 (Accessing the Airlocks) uses the DC 30 and DC20 rolls instead of standard Traveller rolls.
3. The system descriptions and maps were perhaps the biggest disappointment. The systems are explained by government grouping, but the subsector maps are not printed in the same order as the descriptions. For example, the first group discussed is the Earth Alliance, but the Narn Subsector map is shown. This holds true throughout this section.
Also, the UWPs listed don't match the text descriptions of the worlds. Atmosphere code 5 seems to be unbreathable some of the time but not others. Also the description of the Beta 7 system seems to have a description block from the B5 game, since government codes are given that don't match any Traveller codes.
WHERE IS BABYLON 5 on the MAP? I could not find where B5 or the Epsilon system were located. I THINK it belongs in hex 0101 of the Sol Subsector, but there is nothing there.
None of the Jump Routes cross subsector lines. so we don't know how to get from Narn space to EA space safely.
The Narn subsector shows that the Earth Alliance and the "Sh'Lassan Empire" are in the next subsector to the right, but only the EA worlds are shown in the Sol Subsector... There is a huge gap at the lower LH corner of the map where a few worlds for the Sh'Lassan's could have been easily added.
Also, what happened to all the barren systems that ships have to travel through to get where they want to go? I miss the fact that Raiders have no places to catch merchants while they travel between lonely jumpgates.
Honestly, I may go to the B5 map from the D20 game and use that.
4. There is no map or layout of the B5 station itself.
There is a big section of the book labeled "Babylon 5 Revealed", but it has no map. I realize that with a station almost 8 km long, you can't give detailed deck plans, but a good external view showing where the different colored sections are located and some internal details showing where all of the major items are in the main sections (like the Zocalo) would have been nice. Also, a cutaway view through the station showing how the different decks run (with associated gravity) would have been nice too.
5. I reallly liked the PsiCorp history. That section was one of the best in the book along with the alternate psion/telepath powers. The PsiCorp careers seem good and well balanced.
6. The extra events and mishap tables for each race as well as for the various timelines are good, although using only a 1d6 roll will make for a lot of repetition if you have a large group. It also makes certain events very common for PCs. 1 in 6 humans that roll during the Earth-Minbari war will have been on the Battle of the Line. That seems a bit high. 2d6 Tables would have been better for the Events I think.
7. The ship designs are good, except that both of the small civilian transports (the Civilian Trader and the Corporate Freighter) have Jump Drives installed. This makes no sense at all. Those drives should not be there and the space devoted to cargo/passengers.
8. It was very nice that right at the front of the book the IP and OGC items were specifically called out. So there is no waiting for the Developers Pack to be updated. 4 (well 3 actually) new skills are described and can be used in OGL products. The Knowledge skill could be very useful in any game.
Overall a mixed bag, but I am still glad I got it.
Overall it is a good book for anyone familiar with the B5 setting. If you are expecting to be able to buy this book and play the setting without knowing anything else about one of the best SF series ever made,then you will be in trouble. The book is NOT a detail of the setting, but a general overview and a way to convert Traveller to the B5 setting.
I did have several problems with it though...
1. The gray background was a bit dark and made some of the text hard to read. The sidebars, which were even darker, were almost impossible to read. I suggest that on the next print run, they lighten up the background colors.
2. There are still several sections where the D20 game system is used. Specifically, the sidebar text at the top of page 137 (Accessing the Airlocks) uses the DC 30 and DC20 rolls instead of standard Traveller rolls.
3. The system descriptions and maps were perhaps the biggest disappointment. The systems are explained by government grouping, but the subsector maps are not printed in the same order as the descriptions. For example, the first group discussed is the Earth Alliance, but the Narn Subsector map is shown. This holds true throughout this section.
Also, the UWPs listed don't match the text descriptions of the worlds. Atmosphere code 5 seems to be unbreathable some of the time but not others. Also the description of the Beta 7 system seems to have a description block from the B5 game, since government codes are given that don't match any Traveller codes.
WHERE IS BABYLON 5 on the MAP? I could not find where B5 or the Epsilon system were located. I THINK it belongs in hex 0101 of the Sol Subsector, but there is nothing there.
None of the Jump Routes cross subsector lines. so we don't know how to get from Narn space to EA space safely.
The Narn subsector shows that the Earth Alliance and the "Sh'Lassan Empire" are in the next subsector to the right, but only the EA worlds are shown in the Sol Subsector... There is a huge gap at the lower LH corner of the map where a few worlds for the Sh'Lassan's could have been easily added.
Also, what happened to all the barren systems that ships have to travel through to get where they want to go? I miss the fact that Raiders have no places to catch merchants while they travel between lonely jumpgates.
Honestly, I may go to the B5 map from the D20 game and use that.
4. There is no map or layout of the B5 station itself.
There is a big section of the book labeled "Babylon 5 Revealed", but it has no map. I realize that with a station almost 8 km long, you can't give detailed deck plans, but a good external view showing where the different colored sections are located and some internal details showing where all of the major items are in the main sections (like the Zocalo) would have been nice. Also, a cutaway view through the station showing how the different decks run (with associated gravity) would have been nice too.
5. I reallly liked the PsiCorp history. That section was one of the best in the book along with the alternate psion/telepath powers. The PsiCorp careers seem good and well balanced.
6. The extra events and mishap tables for each race as well as for the various timelines are good, although using only a 1d6 roll will make for a lot of repetition if you have a large group. It also makes certain events very common for PCs. 1 in 6 humans that roll during the Earth-Minbari war will have been on the Battle of the Line. That seems a bit high. 2d6 Tables would have been better for the Events I think.
7. The ship designs are good, except that both of the small civilian transports (the Civilian Trader and the Corporate Freighter) have Jump Drives installed. This makes no sense at all. Those drives should not be there and the space devoted to cargo/passengers.
8. It was very nice that right at the front of the book the IP and OGC items were specifically called out. So there is no waiting for the Developers Pack to be updated. 4 (well 3 actually) new skills are described and can be used in OGL products. The Knowledge skill could be very useful in any game.
Overall a mixed bag, but I am still glad I got it.
