The Babylon Project Reviews

The Babylon Project is here! As I now actually have a copy in my hot little hands, I can actually give you a review of the entire thing.

First off, just looking at the book, the cover art is beautiful. It's a rendered image done by Netter Digital Imaging, the same company which does all the SFX for Babylon 5.

The book is full color all the way through, with art of one kind or another on more than half the pages. The rendered images are great, as ar the screenshots from the show. The quality of the other art is varible, ranging from pretty good to pretty bad. The layout and design is pretty good. The book uses color to spruce up the appearence of the printed page without getting in the way of reading the material. I really like the BabCom boxes which they use to insert useful information.

Now that we're finished discussing the appearence of The Babylon Project, on to content.

First off, dont expect a lot or rules detail. Out of a 196 page rulebook, the game system proper occupies only about 31 pages, plus another 38 for character generation, skills lists and equiptment charts. The rest of the book is occupied by a mound of background information, gamemaster help and a sample adventure.

Given the short length of the rules section, it's coverage is pretty basic, pretty much limited to task resolution and personal combat. Other rules, like starship combat and interstellar trade will be covered in the upcoming EarthForce Sourcebook and Earth Colonies Sourcebook. A lot of other stuff is simply left to gamemaster judgement (members of the "Roll the dice and fudge it" school of Gamemastering rejocie).

The Task Resolution system is basically the same as the one previewed on the Chameleon Eclectic Website. It is a quick and simple system using only two six-sided dice. One aspect of the system not mentioned by the preview is Fourtune Points. Fortune Points are what seperates the players from everyone else in 2250. They represent the character's special destiny. On any skill roll a character may opt to expend a fourtune point and get and extra 1D6 bonus to his attempt. Alternately, fourtune points may be expended to allow the character to attempt a task even if they don't have the requisite skill or to convert a leathal wound to a merely crippling one.

Combat and damage are a simplified version of Chameleon Eclectic's award winning Millennium's End game system. A body map is used to determine where the target was hit (or where a miss went). Each hit has both immeadite effects (stun, impariment and death) and long term effects (bleeding, broken bones and eventual death). The system is not as complex as Millennium's End and most of the difficult stuff (long term effects) can wait until after combat is done.

One of the most interesting aspects of The Babylon Project is it's character generation system (also previewed on the Chameleon Eclectic Website). It is relatively free form, with the player describing their character's life and choosing skills and characteristics appropriate to their description. While generating a character like this may require a little more thought than simply rolling a few dice, it is relatively quick and painless once the player has a concept in mind.

All together, the rules and character generation sections make up less than half of The Babylon Project the rest of the rulebook is split between background information on the Babylon 5 universe and the Gamemaster section. The background info is extensive, with lots of historical, cultural and political information on all four of the major races (Humans, Narn, Minbari, Centauri with an emphasis on humans). There's not much on the Leauge of Non-Aligned worlds or the Vorlons (of course, nobody knows much about them anyway).

The Gamemaster section is also fairly large. It has a heavy emphasis on campaign planning and includes a sample campaign and a starting adventure. It gives a lot of advice on how to plan and run an epic campaign in the flavor the the Babylon 5 TV series. There are four photocopyable sheets at the back of the book: A Character Sheet, Character Worksheet, Skills List and GM Reference Sheet.

Overall? If you are one of those gamers who loves rules covering every minute detail and situation, you will be dissapointed. If however, you are a Babylon 5 fan who wants a rules structure which not only allows you to play in the Babylon 5 universe, but also captures much of the feel of the show itself, this book is definitely for you. Even if you don't actually intend to roleplay, this is the single best reference for information on the Babylon 5 universe prior to 2258. In my opinion, this is a great book and well worth your 25 bucks.

The Babylon Project is produced by WireFrame Productions, Inc. under license from Warner Bros., and is co-published by Chameleon Eclectic Entertainment, Inc. BABYLON 5 characters, names, and all related indicia are trademarks of Warner Bros.

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