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Okay the second review
BABYLON 5 2nd EDITION ADVENTURE; THE RAGGED EDGE
by Gareth Hanrahan
This hardbound book rolls in at 168 pages cover to cover and can be played either as the conclusion to the previous The Cold Equations adventure or independantly on its own. It is set during the second series of Babylon 5 during the year of 2259. You can start this adventure at 2nd level and will finish it roughly at around 10th level. I should note its a little unfair to refer to this beast of a book as "AN" adventure as although it runs along a central story it is made up of not one but TEN independant scenarios!! And I have to tell you we had a blast playing this, Gar did an awesome job and before I've even told you what is in it i'd say go buy it
(do I get pluggers fee? oo er ).
The cover of the book depicts a rather small image of the front of a Centauri Primus vessel and its launch bay along with a couple of escorting Vorchan flying through space. The rest of the cover is the nice new second edition starburst stylisation and logo.
As this is something of a MEGA campaign i will not give away anything but the basics of what each scenario is about as I dont want to spoil things for anyone.
The contents of the book are as follows.
Contents
Introduction
Scenario One - Intiation
Scenarion Two - The Proving Ground
Scenario Three - Excess Baggage
Scenario Four - War of the Queens (not as camp as it sounds honest )
Scenario Five - Green vs Purple
Scenario Six - The Turning of the Year
Scenario Seven - Escape from Babylon 5
Scenario Eight - And All Across the Galaxy the Stars Were Going Out
Scenario Nine - Heart of Darkness
Scenario Ten - The Orestes Legacy
Conclusion
Appendix A - Autumn Shipping
Appendix B - The Far Star
Appendix C - Blanks
Appendix D - The Earthforce Connection
Appendix E - Handouts (which will hopefully be available as a download!)
Index
License
as you can see..BIG BOOK...
so a brief idea of each adventure etc..
Scenario One - Intiation
In this adventure the characters are offered a job by Autumn Shipping Incorporated, to test thier skills and problem solving abilities. The job itself seems relatively simple sell the narns something they need.. the problem is they are already able to obtain said item for themselves so the characters must get them to buy the item from them and not obtain by other means. This adventure requires some creative thinking, diplomacy and good salemanship on the part of the players. As with all well thought adventures thier are many routes of approach to solving the problem.
Scenarion Two - The Proving Ground
In this adventure the characters are sent on a special training course by Autumn Shipping, which they soon discover is not just a communication and moral building exercise but instead intending to improve thier trade and espionage skills. Of course it wouldnt be much of an adventure if it didn't have complications and not all of the other trainees are what they seem.
Scenario Three - Excess Baggage
while on thier way back from thie training course the characters are sent into Centauri space to pick up a new vessel for Autumn Shipping. Once onboard they start to gain some insight as to the nature of thier employers. but also they suddenly find themselves the guardians of a spoilt centuari noblewoman fleeing an unworthy marriage and having to deal with some rather irate individuals as a result.. worse still they are suddenly being blamed for her kidnapping!!
Scenario Four - War of the Queens
A mysterious attack by a renegade Gaim on an old friend of Haversham leads the characters on an investigation.. an investigation whose implications could have drastic repurcussions for the entire Gaim species! worse yet they find themselves needing to put themselves in dire danger in order to put things right.
Scenario Five - Green vs Purple
I suspect the nature of this adventure will be fairly self evident to any Drazi fans out there, but the pc's contact Haversham sends the characters to a Drazi world where a Purple warlord has taken power.. on this planet they are required to secure the safety of a group of important tourists stranded amidst the Purple and Green strife. Of course things arent quite as simple and straightforward as they appear and the PC's suddenly find themselves knee depe in intrigue and needing to choose a side.
Scenario Six - The Turning of the Year
In this adventure the characters are sent to Narn to a certain object they retrieve in the "Green vs Purple" adventure above. As they attempt to discover more information about the artefact they run afoul of the schemes of a certain narn who sends them on a dangerous mission into the heart of Centauri space.
Scenario Seven - Escape from Babylon 5
In this adventure the characters return to the B5 station only to discover thier contact Haversham has vanished and that they are suddenly suspects balmed for his dissapearance, and needing to avoid numerous groups like the Ministry of Peace and b5 security itself as the characters must elude them all and try to escape the station while trying to discover what happened to haversham themselves.
Scenario Eight - And All Across the Galaxy the Stars Were Going Out
The characters now on the run from the Earth Force and the Ministry of Peace, and following clues they have discovered along the way to certain factors (which i wont mention) they return to Io where they meet someone who has some answers and sends them to Earth to perform a task. As the Pc's leave Io they are contacted and asked to rescue another individual who is more than he seems at first contact from an orbital satlitte before the Psi Corp captures the individual, things are obviously not as straight forward as they would appear and the characters are on the clock before the Psi Corp arrives and needing to avoid automated defences or abandon the individual in question.
Scenario Nine - Heart of Darkness
Sent by the contact they met on Io to ensure the safety of Susanna Luchenko, a Senator of the Russian Constorium and influential opponent of President Clark they suddenly find themselves admidst political strike and manoeuvring, assination plots and more. Thier decisions in this adventure can have significant effects on the outcomes of further reaching schemes going on around them.
Scenario Ten - The Orestes Legacy
Now having travelled to Centauri Prime carrying with them an important package they are thrown amidst Centauri politics where they finally recieve the answers to a lot of questions and discover just what it is they have become involved with and not only involved with. Before logn the characters are under attack by assassins the likes of which only thier worst nightmares could conjure up. Provided they survive they are later offered a choice that will have a dramatic effect on thier futures from this point onward.
Conclusion
where things can go from the adventure.. an insightful section with some good ideas
PRO'S
This adventure has it all and in bucketloads it is well thought out, doesnt just focus on combat indeed the Pc's will be forced time and time agin to thgink creatively and outside the box if they want to get ahead as thier actions all have consequences and they will be juggling relations will several factions throughout never really knowing quite whom to trust or not. It is a great introduction to most of the major races (except the minbari) and some of the league races and also to the ever changing political goings on of the universe at large that make up the B5 universe.
There are also new feats, equipment, contacts and ships stats a plenty to add something to your games even if you dont play the adventures.
also the locations and individuals (some iconics like G'kar and Marcus Cole) are also nice touches for the fans of the series.
CON'S
This has very few cons, the prime one for me was the maps.. I should note the maps are not bad but when you look at the maps provided in the first adventure in this two parter Cold Equations and then look at the ones in this mega adventure you will no doubt like me be left thinking "well what happened"? again they arent bad but the standard that was set in the first adventure is strangely absent in this one.
also many of the now established contacts and npc's of this adventure and cold equations should have been given faces in my opinion, simple head and shoulders artwork would have been a great way of giving face to the names they are dealing with time and time again. There is of course a fair bit of series stills used throughout as usual but beyond the maps no original art at all, which continues to be a sore spot for me, though certainly no fault of the writer Gareth or his writing, which continues to bring b5 to life in these adventures in an inspiring fashion.
OVERALL
Overall this adventure is top notch, the few art issues I have do not detract in anyway from the quality of these adventures and thier thought inspiring nature.
This adventure is epic and ends in a way that is unique and creative and will be something people will really like.
Visually 6 out of 10 The stills are nice, the maps good but coul;d have been better, the lack of any visuals for the important npc's however i feel was an issue though may not be so for others.
Content 10 out 10 normally i do not give higher than 9 as there is always room for improvement but this mega campaign is just immense and provides somethign for everyone. I am normally not a huge fan of published adventures instead preferring to create my own, however over the years there have been a handful across the various games that drew me in and stood out for thier quality and this and Cold Equations are among that small number. I would definitely recommend fans of the rpg buy this, they'll be glad they did.
Structure 9 out of 10 this adventure is structured in a useful way all pertinent info for each adventure is with each adventure. And should a GM have trouble finding anything there is a pretty extensive index in the back, which makes getting to the right page a breeze. Very well done.
Overall 9 out 10 Near perfect, nuff said
BABYLON 5 2nd EDITION ADVENTURE; THE RAGGED EDGE
by Gareth Hanrahan
This hardbound book rolls in at 168 pages cover to cover and can be played either as the conclusion to the previous The Cold Equations adventure or independantly on its own. It is set during the second series of Babylon 5 during the year of 2259. You can start this adventure at 2nd level and will finish it roughly at around 10th level. I should note its a little unfair to refer to this beast of a book as "AN" adventure as although it runs along a central story it is made up of not one but TEN independant scenarios!! And I have to tell you we had a blast playing this, Gar did an awesome job and before I've even told you what is in it i'd say go buy it
(do I get pluggers fee? oo er ).The cover of the book depicts a rather small image of the front of a Centauri Primus vessel and its launch bay along with a couple of escorting Vorchan flying through space. The rest of the cover is the nice new second edition starburst stylisation and logo.
As this is something of a MEGA campaign i will not give away anything but the basics of what each scenario is about as I dont want to spoil things for anyone.
The contents of the book are as follows.
Contents
Introduction
Scenario One - Intiation
Scenarion Two - The Proving Ground
Scenario Three - Excess Baggage
Scenario Four - War of the Queens (not as camp as it sounds honest
)Scenario Five - Green vs Purple
Scenario Six - The Turning of the Year
Scenario Seven - Escape from Babylon 5
Scenario Eight - And All Across the Galaxy the Stars Were Going Out
Scenario Nine - Heart of Darkness
Scenario Ten - The Orestes Legacy
Conclusion
Appendix A - Autumn Shipping
Appendix B - The Far Star
Appendix C - Blanks
Appendix D - The Earthforce Connection
Appendix E - Handouts (which will hopefully be available as a download!)
Index
License
as you can see..BIG BOOK...
so a brief idea of each adventure etc..
Scenario One - Intiation
In this adventure the characters are offered a job by Autumn Shipping Incorporated, to test thier skills and problem solving abilities. The job itself seems relatively simple sell the narns something they need.. the problem is they are already able to obtain said item for themselves so the characters must get them to buy the item from them and not obtain by other means. This adventure requires some creative thinking, diplomacy and good salemanship on the part of the players. As with all well thought adventures thier are many routes of approach to solving the problem.
Scenarion Two - The Proving Ground
In this adventure the characters are sent on a special training course by Autumn Shipping, which they soon discover is not just a communication and moral building exercise but instead intending to improve thier trade and espionage skills. Of course it wouldnt be much of an adventure if it didn't have complications
and not all of the other trainees are what they seem.Scenario Three - Excess Baggage
while on thier way back from thie training course the characters are sent into Centauri space to pick up a new vessel for Autumn Shipping. Once onboard they start to gain some insight as to the nature of thier employers. but also they suddenly find themselves the guardians of a spoilt centuari noblewoman fleeing an unworthy marriage and having to deal with some rather irate individuals as a result.. worse still they are suddenly being blamed for her kidnapping!!
Scenario Four - War of the Queens
A mysterious attack by a renegade Gaim on an old friend of Haversham leads the characters on an investigation.. an investigation whose implications could have drastic repurcussions for the entire Gaim species! worse yet they find themselves needing to put themselves in dire danger in order to put things right.
Scenario Five - Green vs Purple
I suspect the nature of this adventure will be fairly self evident to any Drazi fans out there, but the pc's contact Haversham sends the characters to a Drazi world where a Purple warlord has taken power.. on this planet they are required to secure the safety of a group of important tourists stranded amidst the Purple and Green strife. Of course things arent quite as simple and straightforward as they appear and the PC's suddenly find themselves knee depe in intrigue and needing to choose a side.
Scenario Six - The Turning of the Year
In this adventure the characters are sent to Narn to a certain object they retrieve in the "Green vs Purple" adventure above. As they attempt to discover more information about the artefact they run afoul of the schemes of a certain narn who sends them on a dangerous mission into the heart of Centauri space.
Scenario Seven - Escape from Babylon 5
In this adventure the characters return to the B5 station only to discover thier contact Haversham has vanished and that they are suddenly suspects balmed for his dissapearance, and needing to avoid numerous groups like the Ministry of Peace and b5 security itself as the characters must elude them all and try to escape the station while trying to discover what happened to haversham themselves.
Scenario Eight - And All Across the Galaxy the Stars Were Going Out
The characters now on the run from the Earth Force and the Ministry of Peace, and following clues they have discovered along the way to certain factors (which i wont mention) they return to Io where they meet someone who has some answers and sends them to Earth to perform a task. As the Pc's leave Io they are contacted and asked to rescue another individual who is more than he seems at first contact from an orbital satlitte before the Psi Corp captures the individual, things are obviously not as straight forward as they would appear and the characters are on the clock before the Psi Corp arrives and needing to avoid automated defences or abandon the individual in question.
Scenario Nine - Heart of Darkness
Sent by the contact they met on Io to ensure the safety of Susanna Luchenko, a Senator of the Russian Constorium and influential opponent of President Clark they suddenly find themselves admidst political strike and manoeuvring, assination plots and more. Thier decisions in this adventure can have significant effects on the outcomes of further reaching schemes going on around them.
Scenario Ten - The Orestes Legacy
Now having travelled to Centauri Prime carrying with them an important package they are thrown amidst Centauri politics where they finally recieve the answers to a lot of questions and discover just what it is they have become involved with and not only involved with. Before logn the characters are under attack by assassins the likes of which only thier worst nightmares could conjure up. Provided they survive they are later offered a choice that will have a dramatic effect on thier futures from this point onward.
Conclusion
where things can go from the adventure.. an insightful section with some good ideas
PRO'S
This adventure has it all and in bucketloads it is well thought out, doesnt just focus on combat indeed the Pc's will be forced time and time agin to thgink creatively and outside the box if they want to get ahead as thier actions all have consequences and they will be juggling relations will several factions throughout never really knowing quite whom to trust or not. It is a great introduction to most of the major races (except the minbari) and some of the league races and also to the ever changing political goings on of the universe at large that make up the B5 universe.
There are also new feats, equipment, contacts and ships stats a plenty to add something to your games even if you dont play the adventures.
also the locations and individuals (some iconics like G'kar and Marcus Cole) are also nice touches for the fans of the series.
CON'S
This has very few cons, the prime one for me was the maps.. I should note the maps are not bad but when you look at the maps provided in the first adventure in this two parter Cold Equations and then look at the ones in this mega adventure you will no doubt like me be left thinking "well what happened"? again they arent bad but the standard that was set in the first adventure is strangely absent in this one.
also many of the now established contacts and npc's of this adventure and cold equations should have been given faces in my opinion, simple head and shoulders artwork would have been a great way of giving face to the names they are dealing with time and time again. There is of course a fair bit of series stills used throughout as usual but beyond the maps no original art at all, which continues to be a sore spot for me, though certainly no fault of the writer Gareth or his writing, which continues to bring b5 to life in these adventures in an inspiring fashion.
OVERALL
Overall this adventure is top notch, the few art issues I have do not detract in anyway from the quality of these adventures and thier thought inspiring nature.
This adventure is epic and ends in a way that is unique and creative and will be something people will really like.
Visually 6 out of 10 The stills are nice, the maps good but coul;d have been better, the lack of any visuals for the important npc's however i feel was an issue though may not be so for others.
Content 10 out 10 normally i do not give higher than 9 as there is always room for improvement but this mega campaign is just immense and provides somethign for everyone. I am normally not a huge fan of published adventures instead preferring to create my own, however over the years there have been a handful across the various games that drew me in and stood out for thier quality and this and Cold Equations are among that small number. I would definitely recommend fans of the rpg buy this, they'll be glad they did.
Structure 9 out of 10 this adventure is structured in a useful way all pertinent info for each adventure is with each adventure. And should a GM have trouble finding anything there is a pretty extensive index in the back, which makes getting to the right page a breeze. Very well done.
Overall 9 out 10 Near perfect, nuff said
