Mark_Gedak
Mongoose
What order do the supplements go in? What does each cover?
[I'm assuming there are a few diehards here that know this by heart]
[I'm assuming there are a few diehards here that know this by heart]
Okay so I have the main book now...
- Thread starter Mark_Gedak
- Start date
Despair said:
The Season books follow on as...
Coming of Shadows
Point of No Return
No Surrender, No Retreat
Wheel of Fire (not out yet)
As to the others... It depends upon your priorities
For me the essentials (in order) are
Earth Alliance Fact Book (very familiar to B5W players this...)
PSI Corps Fact Book (probably the best Fact Book IMO)
The Zocolo (toys, toys and more toys!)
But that's for an EA Centric campaign.
Of the other fact books I've read the Technomages (though limited in scope but a fun read) and the Narn Regime are the best two, followed by the Centauri and with the Minbari a poor last (Sorry August, not your best work by a long chalk IMO, plus production values are a bit "off").
The Fiery Trial is well worth picking up, even if you're not going to run the campaign as you'll just get so many pointers as to how you should be running a B5 campaign (plus lots of snippets of info).
I'm in a similar boat. I've taken the EA plunge, and really like the sound of the other races. If I could I'd scoop up all the season books too, since I know only the barest threads of anything after season one (local area channel dropped them at the time, no reruns where I've been since). Just need to balance out their availability with my limited funds.
But I'm really confused about one thing - how does "Into the Crucible" fit? I thought "Coming of Shadows" was the 2nd year/season, but this Cruicible book claims to also fit in there somehow?
But I'm really confused about one thing - how does "Into the Crucible" fit? I thought "Coming of Shadows" was the 2nd year/season, but this Cruicible book claims to also fit in there somehow?
Mongoose August said:
I really should qualify what I said I suppose.
It was large chunks of the history I have "issues" with (oh and the Drow, sorry, Shadow Souled...).
But I think it's pretty much down to personal taste and the conversations my brothers and I had with Matt at GenConUK kinda confirms we're in a strange minority.
The actual style and presentation (barring the yucky graphics outbreak which I hope someone at Mongoose was hung up by their pinkies with fishing line for as a punishment...) is great. 90% of the book is pure gold (it's just your other supplements for the game are much better as an overall package IMO).
However the "Odd" gaps in the history (1000 years covered in a page and a half...) do leave room for some future supplements and I'd be very happy to see you write up Valen's War for instance
lastbesthope
Mongoose
frobisher said:However the "Odd" gaps in the history (1000 years covered in a page and a half...) do leave room for some future supplements and I'd be very happy to see you write up Valen's War for instance
The Babylon 5 "In VAlen's name" comics/Graphic Novel might be worth a look for background on Vaalen's war! I like them.
Plus it also has a couple of Ivanova's Rules of life
LBH
A
Anonymous
Guest
frobisher said:
Nope, still confused. If the core book gives us season one, and "Coming of Shadows" reportedly give us season two, what's in "Into the Crucible"?
Maybe I'm missing the meaning of "parallel" here because I don't know what all is out there in the official B5 universe (as revealed by the posts between this one and my previous one). I was sketchy on the show but loved what I did get to see, haven't yet gotten into the meat of these game books yet, and was completely oblivious to anything non-TV as being "canon". What source(s) contribute(s) to this parallel view?
Does parallel mean it reveals the already recorded timeline of events from a different point of view (and whose?), or are they reports of the adventures of a completely different group of people (and who?). If the latter, were these adventures happening concurrently on B5 primarily or were they concurrent timewise but in a very separate region of space (and where?)?
Did we get the stories the way we did on the TV show because the Straczynski "eye" happened to be focused on those particular places, people, and times? Are you telling me that if (proverbially speaking) he had been in a different part of the base, or had recorded at a slightly different time of day, maybe even just turned his attention to focus on different people as the recorded events still happened, we'd end up with this what fills this new book?
Eryx said:
Pretty much anywhere that archives his Usenet postings; he summarised which non-TV stuff constitutes the "canon" on a few occassions but it's pretty much
Comics/Graphic Novels;
Issues 1-3 of the comic
Which ever one it is that covers Garibaldi and Sinclair on Mars (issues 6-8 I think)
"In Valen's Name" (published in the Babylon 5 Magazine originally)
The Textual fiction from the Magazine (about 3 bits)
Of the Novels
"To Dream in the City of Sorrows" (book 9 of original series) is 100% canon (he says so in the introduction to the novel...)
Bits of the one covering Anna Sheriden's trip to Z'ha'dum (can't remember the name - book 7..?) are canon, but there's a far bit jms wasn't totaly happy with.
Book 8 is from an outline by jms, but I guess he's not happy about how that turned out as he doesn't include it.
Oh, and ignore the other novels, especially the god-awful one with the super string...
The Centauri, Technomage and Psi Corps trilogies are all 100% canon as well, as will be any future novels in the setting
frobisher said:
Warning.... Technomage trilogy spoiler warning. Just to be safe.
I've read the Passing of the Technomage trilogy. One thing I noticed though... (Going slightly of topic alert) in that book, when Galen rescues Gideon, the Cerberus was destroyed by one of the experimental Shadow/Omega ships. Yet, in the Crusade episode where we have the flashback to that event, the ship is definately a Shadow vessel but looks nothing like the Shadow/Omega's.
Eryx said:
Nope
It's never described as such. You've made an assumption that just because it was Shadow technology over a EA built hull it must be the same as the Shadow Omegas. Also, it's description in the book doesn't match an Omega at all...Eryx said:
Yup, you're right, it looks nothing like a Shadow Omega
It's not however like the Shadow vessels we've seen - it is different, and the reason it is different is because it's this EA faction's "take" on producing a Shadow Hybrid vessel.If you've ever seen the unfilmed script of the first season finale of Crusade written by jms, this is a hell of a lot clearer - plus it looks like "The Memory of Shadows" is dealing with exactly this plot line
TheAuldGrump
Mongoose
frobisher said:
Yeah, I agree, the computer graphics were rather dodgy. I liked the book, though the story arc I am contemplating (and have been contemplating since The Babylon Project RPG lo. these many years ago.) is pretty much restricted to Earthforce characters. (And starts out on Earth just before construction begins on Babylon Station...)
The Auld Grump, the Earthforce book rocks...
lastbesthope
Mongoose
TheAuldGrump said:
Especially the Babylon Project one when you get it signed by Claudia Christian herself.
LBH
TheAuldGrump
Mongoose
Yeah, both books were good. (Signed by Claudia Christian? Dog.) I ran TBP for years after the company folded, rather liked the system, and the fact that a single shot to the center of mass from a PPG would put somebody down I also prefered the ship combat in the TBP EF book to the one in the D20 version of the game.
The Auld Grump
The Auld Grump
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