Tragic Glass (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} tragic_glass) wrote,@ 2003-08-28 19:20:00 |
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"The Last Best Hope"
The arrival of the third season of BABYLON 5 on DVD has me thinking of what I'd do were I to run a B5 game. Now, someday, I'll read the new B5 RPG. But as i have no players for such a game (and a dearth of player to begin with), I see no point in reading it now. Consequently, I have absolutely no idea what sort of games it suggests. though as the core book only covers up until the end of season one, I suspect there will be little overlap here. Though, i suppose it is possible.
Valen's War
The last Great Shadow War took place a thousand years ago. It was a very near thing. Were it not for the appearance of Valen and his allies, the war would have been lost. Fight the war as one of Valen's first Rangers. Or battle alongside Valen as a member of one of the few alien races allied with the Minbari. Visit Ikkarra and see the last invasion that lead to the Ikarran bioweapon supersoldiers being developed. See soul hunters desperately trying to preserve the souls of the countless victims of the war. Discover who created the knowledge symbiots. Bargain with the mysterious techno mages. Travel to Narn and witness the Shadows slay the mindwalkers. Help G'Quan drive them off his world. The war goes ever, ever on...
PCs are Minbari fighting alongside Valen. Or aliens allied with the Minbari. Persuasive players might convince the GM to allow a human character. Perhaps not everyone got off Babylon 4 after all. Or perhaps Sebastian was not the first human agent of the Vorlons. Imagine the Vorlons recruiting a crusader or knight-errant and turning him against the soldiers of darkness.
"The Lion of the Galaxy"
with thanks to Jason Durall
At its height, the great Centauri Republic held the entire quadrant in its clutches. The Republic is a haven for intrigue and adventure. The players are royal guards, nobles, and courtiers in the Centauri Court. Think of it as Dumas and Brust meet Babylon 5.
"The Interstellar Alliance"/"Legend of the Rangers"
Set any time from the end of season 4 on. An Interstellar Alliance ship travels the galaxy. In the wake of the Narn-Centauri War, Shadow War, the Minbari Civil War, the Earth Civil War, and the Narn-Drazi-Centauri War (end of season 5), the galaxy is in sad shape. Civilizations were decimated by these wars. Someone has to restore order and help rebuild. It's up to you.
Characters can be of a variety of races provided they belong to the Interstellar Alliance or can somehow justify their presence. The ship could be a standard White Star or could be something unique like the Excalibur. Plots range from bringing relief to protecting colonists from raiders and dealing with remaining soldiers of darkness and Shadow weapons.
"Warlock"
You are the crew of the Warlock class Earthforce vessel under the command of Captain Susan Ivanova. Characters would be primarily Earthforce personnel unless they can justify their presence on a military vessel. The game would begin shortly after the end of season four. This allows GMs and players to explore the issue of just what the hell Ivanova was up to during season five. Pit Ivanova's crew against the mysterious alien marauders in "The View From the Gallery". Put her ship in Brakiri space for "The Day of the Dead." Put the crew in the awkward position of having to deal with rogue telepaths and freedom fighters and bring in Psi Cops to make it even more painful. Move the ship against the Drahk controlled Centauri fleet. A lot can be done just by exploring the backside of events we saw in season 5.
"The Telepath War"
Let's face it, JMS is probably never going to show it to us. let's do what we did with old Star Wars games and write the prequels ourselves. In the case of Star Wars, most of our game ideas are better than what we saw in the new films anyway. Make it big and epic and galaxy-spanning. Allow characters of various races, but the plot will clearly center around a confrontation between humans with telepaths and non-telepaths fighting for dominance. Lyta and Lennier both die in the Telepath War according to the Crusade series bible, so bring on the drama.
"Crusade"
Like the Telepath War, it's a safe bet that we'll never see the resolution of crusade. Though the execution was awkward (not entirely JMS' fault) some of the ideas were interesting . The original concept of Rangers scouring the galaxy and searching the abandoned cities of the First Ones had merit. Throw in the Great Machine as a search engine with a wacky and cranky operator and you have vast potential of sending players off to strange and desolate and dangerous locales session after session. You have a wide variety of character choices including aliens either belonging to the Interstellar Alliance and aiding the mission or interesting persons recruited along the way.
"The Last of the Babylon Stations"
Sinclair was in command for almost 2 years.
Sheridan for about 3.
Lochely for about 6 that we know of (season 5 spans a year and she's still in command in Crusade which takes place 5 years later.)
The station was decommissioned about 10-15 years later.
That's a lot of time we don't know about. Certainly, Lochely wasn't in command forever.
So who was?
A PC, that's who.
The players make up the command staff of Babylon 5 sometime after the events of the first and only season of Crusade. Depending on how soon you change commanding officers, there is a lot going on. If its during the five year period in which Crusade was to take place, you have the Drahk plague and the search for a cure and the quarantine of earth. Babylon 5 will be a busy place. Even if you set it later, the Interstellar Alliance is still relatively new. Babylon 5 doesn't become redundant for years. Lots can still go wrong there.
The characters can be Earthforce command staff or alien ambassadors. This is probably the campaign idea in which the characters begin the game with such obviously important roles.
The above are just a few rough notes on just a few B5 game ideas I've toyed with. Were I actually running any of these games, I'd sit down and do a frightening amount of planning and plotting to give the game the proper epic feel.
If only I had players.
The arrival of the third season of BABYLON 5 on DVD has me thinking of what I'd do were I to run a B5 game. Now, someday, I'll read the new B5 RPG. But as i have no players for such a game (and a dearth of player to begin with), I see no point in reading it now. Consequently, I have absolutely no idea what sort of games it suggests. though as the core book only covers up until the end of season one, I suspect there will be little overlap here. Though, i suppose it is possible.
Valen's War
The last Great Shadow War took place a thousand years ago. It was a very near thing. Were it not for the appearance of Valen and his allies, the war would have been lost. Fight the war as one of Valen's first Rangers. Or battle alongside Valen as a member of one of the few alien races allied with the Minbari. Visit Ikkarra and see the last invasion that lead to the Ikarran bioweapon supersoldiers being developed. See soul hunters desperately trying to preserve the souls of the countless victims of the war. Discover who created the knowledge symbiots. Bargain with the mysterious techno mages. Travel to Narn and witness the Shadows slay the mindwalkers. Help G'Quan drive them off his world. The war goes ever, ever on...
PCs are Minbari fighting alongside Valen. Or aliens allied with the Minbari. Persuasive players might convince the GM to allow a human character. Perhaps not everyone got off Babylon 4 after all. Or perhaps Sebastian was not the first human agent of the Vorlons. Imagine the Vorlons recruiting a crusader or knight-errant and turning him against the soldiers of darkness.
"The Lion of the Galaxy"
with thanks to Jason Durall
At its height, the great Centauri Republic held the entire quadrant in its clutches. The Republic is a haven for intrigue and adventure. The players are royal guards, nobles, and courtiers in the Centauri Court. Think of it as Dumas and Brust meet Babylon 5.
"The Interstellar Alliance"/"Legend of the Rangers"
Set any time from the end of season 4 on. An Interstellar Alliance ship travels the galaxy. In the wake of the Narn-Centauri War, Shadow War, the Minbari Civil War, the Earth Civil War, and the Narn-Drazi-Centauri War (end of season 5), the galaxy is in sad shape. Civilizations were decimated by these wars. Someone has to restore order and help rebuild. It's up to you.
Characters can be of a variety of races provided they belong to the Interstellar Alliance or can somehow justify their presence. The ship could be a standard White Star or could be something unique like the Excalibur. Plots range from bringing relief to protecting colonists from raiders and dealing with remaining soldiers of darkness and Shadow weapons.
"Warlock"
You are the crew of the Warlock class Earthforce vessel under the command of Captain Susan Ivanova. Characters would be primarily Earthforce personnel unless they can justify their presence on a military vessel. The game would begin shortly after the end of season four. This allows GMs and players to explore the issue of just what the hell Ivanova was up to during season five. Pit Ivanova's crew against the mysterious alien marauders in "The View From the Gallery". Put her ship in Brakiri space for "The Day of the Dead." Put the crew in the awkward position of having to deal with rogue telepaths and freedom fighters and bring in Psi Cops to make it even more painful. Move the ship against the Drahk controlled Centauri fleet. A lot can be done just by exploring the backside of events we saw in season 5.
"The Telepath War"
Let's face it, JMS is probably never going to show it to us. let's do what we did with old Star Wars games and write the prequels ourselves. In the case of Star Wars, most of our game ideas are better than what we saw in the new films anyway. Make it big and epic and galaxy-spanning. Allow characters of various races, but the plot will clearly center around a confrontation between humans with telepaths and non-telepaths fighting for dominance. Lyta and Lennier both die in the Telepath War according to the Crusade series bible, so bring on the drama.
"Crusade"
Like the Telepath War, it's a safe bet that we'll never see the resolution of crusade. Though the execution was awkward (not entirely JMS' fault) some of the ideas were interesting . The original concept of Rangers scouring the galaxy and searching the abandoned cities of the First Ones had merit. Throw in the Great Machine as a search engine with a wacky and cranky operator and you have vast potential of sending players off to strange and desolate and dangerous locales session after session. You have a wide variety of character choices including aliens either belonging to the Interstellar Alliance and aiding the mission or interesting persons recruited along the way.
"The Last of the Babylon Stations"
Sinclair was in command for almost 2 years.
Sheridan for about 3.
Lochely for about 6 that we know of (season 5 spans a year and she's still in command in Crusade which takes place 5 years later.)
The station was decommissioned about 10-15 years later.
That's a lot of time we don't know about. Certainly, Lochely wasn't in command forever.
So who was?
A PC, that's who.
The players make up the command staff of Babylon 5 sometime after the events of the first and only season of Crusade. Depending on how soon you change commanding officers, there is a lot going on. If its during the five year period in which Crusade was to take place, you have the Drahk plague and the search for a cure and the quarantine of earth. Babylon 5 will be a busy place. Even if you set it later, the Interstellar Alliance is still relatively new. Babylon 5 doesn't become redundant for years. Lots can still go wrong there.
The characters can be Earthforce command staff or alien ambassadors. This is probably the campaign idea in which the characters begin the game with such obviously important roles.
The above are just a few rough notes on just a few B5 game ideas I've toyed with. Were I actually running any of these games, I'd sit down and do a frightening amount of planning and plotting to give the game the proper epic feel.
If only I had players.
