Things We Do Not Love About B5 RPG (please get involved!)

[Barbara]

Trouble with house rules, is once you get one in ,people come up with others that they want. You also need to have them written down, so that everyone has a copy to remind them.
We also didn't find out how low they where(is that where or were, can't remember)and easy to block until we started playing. But anyway.,Didn't think of that at the time.
It's not just Telepathic attacks, it's all Telepathic abilities. Unless a telepath/latent or an ability they feel, like Pain or Deep scan, there's no indication that anything is being done. There are actually not that many that you can feel happening to you.
Yet, they automatically get to exercise their Will and resist. Using Willpower is a conscious act, not something you can do automatically. That's Fort saves because you can't "turn off" your constitution, just to get affected by something.
And if the GM asks for a Will save and nothing is happening to you that you know about, the automatic response is find the telepath and get them.

 

[Tegman]

I, as GM, roll all saves that a player shouldn't be aware of. Otherwise they would most likely know they have been affected by poison (Fortitude save) or a telepath (Will save). Reflex saves are another thing however, since they will know if they succeed on doding a grenade etc, but that's for those situations.

I do the same with many skills, like Spot, Listen, Search, Gather information etc. If they roll and get a '1', they know that they most likely failed, but that there could be something 'there' to know anyway, but if I roll and describe, they wont know. I always do that in all games that I GM. That way they don't have to act like they don't know etc.

 

[frobisher]

Yet, they automatically get to exercise their Will and resist. Using Willpower is a conscious act, not something you can do automatically. That's Fort saves because you can't "turn off" your constitution, just to get affected by something.

I'd disagree there. Your mind is composed of the conscious and the unconscious. The strength of your mind is a reflection of both. Your unconscious defenses are likely to be strong if your conscious defences are strong and the only difference between the two will be a circumstance bonus. However, unless you decide you wish to be affected by something, you can't forgo your Will save...

You can effectively turn off your constitution - injected poisons pretty much do that

And if the GM asks for a Will save and nothing is happening to you that you know about, the automatic response is find the telepath and get them.

I tend to make such rolls for my players lest they should act on information that they shouldn't have, or if they're inclined to act on such "information" then I get them to roll saving rolls at random intervals.

When playing, unless the GM tells me that my roll has a consequnce, I'll assume that everything is normal (even if I'm paranoid as a player and not a character).

 

[Barbara]

I've always thought that your base save is your unconscious one and the dice roll is your conscious effort. Which is why it is so variable.

Yes, GM does some secret rolls too but "What are you thinking right now ?"is a giveaway . Mostly spot,listen,gather info.

Injecting yourself with poisons, doesn't turn off your constiutution, it still makes you make a Fort save, because your Con doesn't go down unless you fail your save and the effects are Con damage.

But back to the original I'll pass on to him the suggested house rule and see what he says. Thanks for the help.

 

[lastbesthope]

Yes, GM does some secret rolls too but "What are you thinking right now ?"is a giveaway .

Not if you ask it at random intervals :twisted:

LBH

 

[Waylander.]

Hey guys,

I am actually grateful for this thread - I want to hear what you chaps do not like about the B5 system, as we have been mulling over a possible 2nd edition.

Really ? why all my favorites games have to undergo an edition change (like Mutants & Masterminds). Is this still planned ? any 1st edition books obsolete ?

Edit ! I read the answer to this one.

 

[Waylander.]

I second the call for a GM screen!

LBH

Yes Me too.

 

[Waylander.]

No, not unisystem. Don't like it, never have, doubt I ever will.

LBH

Gurps 4th ? I read it and it seem improved.

 

[lastbesthope]

No, not unisystem. Don't like it, never have, doubt I ever will.

LBH

Gurps 4th ? I read it and it seem improved.

The word from Mongoose HQ is that it will be d20 OGL
which suits me.

LBH

 

[Waylander.]

No, not unisystem. Don't like it, never have, doubt I ever will.

LBH

Gurps 4th ? I read it and it seem improved.

The word from Mongoose HQ is that it will be d20 OGL
which suits me.

LBH

me too, even if after my fist session as a gm iI encountered a "system D20 is restrictiveé illness and read since now the gurps 4rh books to adapt it but it is much much works so I keep D20.

 

[Tolwyn]

I'd like to see more balaced ships and weapons. The Railhgun from EA for example is in no way comparable to the Centauri Matter Cannons in terms of damage.

The I dislike the Thunderbolt fighter. Even if it has missle, it does only the nearly half amount of damage of a Aurora Starfury with its Gatling Pulse Cannon.

The are there Ship statistics who show more weapons on the ship the in the statistics, the Omega from the EA Fact Book and some Hyperion variants.

In addition I would like more pictures of ships and equipment so I could show it to my players.

I agree that there is the need for a better Space Combat system for the RPG. At least vectorbased or hex based with a higher grade of detail.

 

[lastbesthope]

The I dislike the Thunderbolt fighter. Even if it has missle, it does only the nearly half amount of damage of a Aurora Starfury with its Gatling Pulse Cannon.

Not as far as I can see from the stats it doesn't. A T'bolt causes way more damage than a Fury.

LBH

 

[frobisher]

The Railhgun from EA for example is in no way comparable to the Centauri Matter Cannons in terms of damage.

That's because they are different weapon systems...

 

[Tolwyn]

The problem might be nowhere is clearly stated which weapons of both ignores armor and which not.
The Matter Cannon does enough damage to through most DR, but the Railgun need the matter effect.

I don't understand why the T-Biolt shoulbd that powerfull

He has his Gatling Pulse cannon causing 4D10 + 10 Missles, a Starfury has 2 Uni Pulse Cannons causing 2 x 4D8, I think a Starfury can dish out more damage because of its Uni Pulse guns.

The Missles are depleting ordonace, so I don' think they are so useful, giving the T-Bolt only a limited usefulness in the field.
perhaps its because I played B5 Wars, there the gatling Pulse Cannon was a much heavier gun.

If 'm wrong please tell me where my fault, so that I can addept it for my campaign.

 

[lastbesthope]

The T'boly has nastier guns as it is bigger so can have a larger power plant, weapons bays, etc.

That's why it causes more damage I think.

LBH

 

[frobisher]

I played B5 Wars, there the gatling Pulse Cannon was a much heavier gun.

Yes and no...

The Unipulse cannon (of which the Aurora has two, linked in B5Wars) did 1d6+4 damage so giving you two lots of 1d6+4.

The Gatling pulse cannon did a single strike of 2d6 + 6 which actually gives it 2 less points of damage as a maximum potential than the Starfury.

However, mitigating against that is you count armout (DR in RPG terms) twice, so against lightly armoured targets (0 or 1 DR which is most light fighters (the Delta V is weak from the side and rear) the Aurora is the more destructive fighter.

 

[cjhaacke]

Proofreading is what, currently, annoys me.
In the Earth Alliance Fact book, on page 98, it says about Deneb 4 that the Europa settlement is on the far end of the main continent, while the map shows it on a different continent.
Under Proxima, on page 93 it describes Proxima 4 as "..a world a bit larger than Earth...a mild climate and breathable air...higher gravity and atmospheric contaminants." On page 94, it mentions thick jungles there. But on page 95, it says that the moon known as the Disney Planet "...orbits Proxima 4, a gas giant...". Forgive my lack of scientific know-how, but if Proxima 4 has jungles and breathable, if contaminated, air, how can it be a gas giant? On one page it is a world humans can, and have, walked on, the next? A gas giant.

 

[Dastari]

I'd like to see a little more time spent proofreading the material and checking for consistency within the line and with the TV series. The spelling and grammatically poor sentences is a real problem I find, and this isn't just in the B5 line but across the board. To be perfectly honest this is the number 1 bugbear people have with the Mongoose material. Good presentation and material, but needs just slightly longer in editing to make perfect.

That is definitely my biggest problem with the B5 books. Sometimes this can be very confusing such as in the Earth Federation expander. Sometimes years would be listed as 2260, 2160, or 2060 for the same event. Which is right? Sometimes you can tell by context and sometimes you can't. I also really question the fact that Alfred Bester was a major figure in the 2180s. That would make him around 100 years old in the series. That can't be right.

For consistancy with the TV show I find less cause for complaint although I still am annoyed at the Narn book that tells us that the term "pouchling" is an affectionate term for their young and that Narns are reptiles. JMS has said numerous times that the Narn are marsupials and litterally have a pouch.

(See, I just got into B5 and have bought and read all the books in the last 4 months or so, so most of this is fresh in my mind)

 

[Dastari]

-pictures of all the races, ships, equipment etc. It adds a lot of flavour to the game if you can actually show your players how things look like. Pics from the series or your own artwork.

I'd echo that, I realise art costs can quickly mount up, though using the many shots from the series has to have helped keep them down, but there is nothing I hate worse than a race or ship or vehicle not being depicted.. and as none come with descriptions either if you end up using them you have absolutely nothing to offer the players in way of how things look.

Try finding a decent picture of the Brakiri and you have to look for a while. You'd think that since they're one of the main races to pick from that they'd have a picture in the main Sourcebook, but you'd be wrong. It took me a while to find a picture for my gamers.

The other problem is trying to find a picture of a Dilgar. Go ahead and try it...You'll only find the one next to the Deathwalker episode and it's not all that good. Sometimes I think that when there aren't good screenshots available from the show that the Mongoose crew ought to just draw something.

 

[Dastari]

Proofreading is what, currently, annoys me.
In the Earth Alliance Fact book, on page 98, it says about Deneb 4 that the Europa settlement is on the far end of the main continent, while the map shows it on a different continent.
Under Proxima, on page 93 it describes Proxima 4 as "..a world a bit larger than Earth...a mild climate and breathable air...higher gravity and atmospheric contaminants." On page 94, it mentions thick jungles there. But on page 95, it says that the moon known as the Disney Planet "...orbits Proxima 4, a gas giant...". Forgive my lack of scientific know-how, but if Proxima 4 has jungles and breathable, if contaminated, air, how can it be a gas giant? On one page it is a world humans can, and have, walked on, the next? A gas giant.

That's ok, how about the fact that Israel is an independant non-member of the Earth Allliance but it also has voting seats on the Senate. What?!