GM Lounge - Bartenders Answer All Your Questions

[Chrystal]

I have a question...

Has anyone ever tried running a Babylon 5 group game?

I would hate to run one myself but I would love to join one, as either a Psi-Corps field operative or a Shadow agent

[HockeyGod]

I have a question...

Has anyone ever tried running a Babylon 5 group game?

I would hate to run one myself but I would love to join one, as either a Psi-Corps field operative or a Shadow agent

I seem to recall a long time ago a Babylon 5 group game. I'm not sure it got off to a strong start. It would be interesting and I think people would jump on board with the scifi fans around.

[Chrystal]

I seem to recall a long time ago a Babylon 5 group game. I'm not sure it got off to a strong start. It would be interesting and I think people would jump on board with the scifi fans around.

Hmm... The problem with people jumping on to B5 is that it spins and they get spun off again!

That was a rather oblique way of saying that B5 is a very specific environment, and unlike Star Trek where you can have a fictional ship with a fictional crew, B5 has a specific list of canon characters.  I can see a lot of people going "oooh Sci-fi", and then realising that it's very specific and either dropping out or no even joining.

So you either go totally AU-B5, which almost defeats the object, or you specify that all characters are to be non-canon. The thing about B5 as opposed to a Trek starship is that on B5 there is a constant flux in the population, so bringing new people in and loosing drop-outs is easy. And you simply state that all canon characters are GM controlled NPCs.

I think that works quite well.

Now all we need is someone bold enough to try running the game as a sandbox... (Or perhaps a spinning steel cylindrical box?)

[Thufir Hawat]

Hmm... The problem with people jumping on to B5 is that it spins and they get spun off again!

That was a rather oblique way of saying that B5 is a very specific environment, and unlike Star Trek where you can have a fictional ship with a fictional crew, B5 has a specific list of canon characters.  I can see a lot of people going "oooh Sci-fi", and then realising that it's very specific and either dropping out or no even joining.

So you either go totally AU-B5, which almost defeats the object, or you specify that all characters are to be non-canon. The thing about B5 as opposed to a Trek starship is that on B5 there is a constant flux in the population, so bringing new people in and loosing drop-outs is easy. And you simply state that all canon characters are GM controlled NPCs.

I think that works quite well.

Now all we need is someone bold enough to try running the game as a sandbox... (Or perhaps a spinning steel cylindrical box?)

That's how I would run it either way. What you need is a way to persuade me that I have the time :P.
But yeah, that would likely work quite well, given interested players.

[Chrystal]

You will run this RP...



Or teh kitteh gets it!

[Thufir Hawat]

You will run this RP...



Or teh kitteh gets it!

;D
*TH brings popcorn and starts making a clip for upload on some places less savoury than YouTube*

[HairyHeretic]

Best way to allow a more creative / sandob B5 game would be have the players be Rangers. That way you can cover most of the races, have all unique PCs, and an excuse to go to pretty much any part of the B5 universe.

[Chrystal]

Best way to allow a more creative / sandob B5 game would be have the players be Rangers. That way you can cover most of the races, have all unique PCs, and an excuse to go to pretty much any part of the B5 universe.

Hmm, that works quire well, except it eli nates my idea of being a shadow agent...

Thuf, What Do You Want?

[TheGlyphstone]

Disclaimer: Total knowledge of Babylon 5 gained from 15min of wiki trawling.

Could you play a Ranger who was a sleeper agent for the Shadows? Being a conscious infiltrator would seem difficult with all the telepaths running around this universe, unless there are effective and commonly available defenses against mind-reading.

[Chrystal]

Shadows are immune to telepathy, as are Vorlons!

In the episode where Captain Sheridan orders the Vorlons and Shadows to "Get the hell out of my galaxy", Lyta Alexander makes telepathic contac with both the Shadows and Vorlons, and her eyes go from solid black to glowing blue and back.

The shadow agents are actually human bodies created by the Shadows themselves and occupied by a Shadow.

[TheGlyphstone]

But are there other ways to be immune to telepathy? Or would the very fact of being tele-proof give you away as a Shadow agent?

[HairyHeretic]

The shadow agents are actually human bodies created by the Shadows themselves and occupied by a Shadow.

Really? I don't remember that from the show, though admittedly it's been a few years since I rewatched them.

I do remember one certain individual appearing to have abilities, and being able to communicate with his Shadow masters, but where did they say about the possession and all?

The only 2 agents I can recall, 1 shadow, 1 vorlon, were both human .. enhanced, most likely, but still human to start with.

[Chrystal]

But are there other ways to be immune to telepathy? Or would the very fact of being tele-proof give you away as a Shadow agent?

I'm not sure... I'm pretty sure there are other species in the B5-verse that are immune, like the giant preying mantis...

The thing is, B5 is a big place with millions of inhabitants, and only one resident telepath.

Really? I don't remember that from the show, though admittedly it's been a few years since I rewatched them.

I do remember one certain individual appearing to have abilities, and being able to communicate with his Shadow masters, but where did they say about the possession and all?

The only 2 agents I can recall, 1 shadow, 1 vorlon, were both human .. enhanced, most likely, but still human to start with.

Maybe I made that up, but I am reasonably sure that whenever they got close to catching the shadow agent he just vanished...

[TheGlyphstone]

Only one? Don't they have an entire organization of telepathic secret police - the PsiCorps or something?

[Chrystal]

Oh yes, and Checkov from Star Trek  plays this Psi-Corps trouble-shooter. But we are talking about a very big area ofspace and most of the telepaths are on Earth... There is one assigned to Babylon 5

[TheGlyphstone]

Ah. I was still thinking along the lines of the game being about a Ranger squad wandering all over the galaxy, where presumably they would meet a great deal more than one telepath, and/or there would be more telepaths assigned to/working with the Rangers themselves.

[HairyHeretic]

Only one? Don't they have an entire organization of telepathic secret police - the PsiCorps or something?

Psi-Corp technically aren't secret police. IIRC they're more like a Telepaths Guild (telepathy being the main Psi talent). You do have the Psi-Cops who are supposed to police the telepaths, hunt down rogue psykers and so on. Higher P level telepaths are used for government / military purposes though.

Power being a lure for the corruptable, Psi-Corp, and the Psi-Cops (who tend to be the more powerful of them all) tend to have influence far in excess of what they're supposed to on paper.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psi_Corps

[Chrystal]

Wasn't Bester a psi-cop?

Also I think that most telepaths in the B5 universe can only read someone in close proximity, or by touching them. You need to be a p5 or higher to read someone at a distance, and even then it would be hard to know who or where they were. I think...

[HairyHeretic]

Bester was a psi-cop, P12 IIRC.

[Thufir Hawat]

Hmm, that works quire well, except it eli nates my idea of being a shadow agent...

Thuf, What Do You Want?

While I'm flattered, Chrys, what I want is 2 more hours I don't need for sleep nor work. I can definitely run a B5 game given that.
Don't see how you could provide me that, though, so running games must take a second place for now.

[Chrystal]

Oh, if I were a shadow agent I could definitely manage that...

Not meaning to be nasty or anything, but as it says in my sig, be careful what you wish for!

I made a new years resolution to change my job this year. I then learned, two days after new year, that the bastards were going to fire me for some idiotic misunderstanding, so I quit!

Wishing for time you don't have to spend at work is something I would be very careful about doing... You never know who or what is lisening!

[Thufir Hawat]

Oh, if I were a shadow agent I could definitely manage that...

Not meaning to be nasty or anything, but as it says in my sig, be careful what you wish for!

I made a new years resolution to change my job this year. I then learned, two days after new year, that the bastards were going to fire me for some idiotic misunderstanding, so I quit!

Wishing for time you don't have to spend at work is something I would be very careful about doing... You never know who or what is lisening!

Well, if I suddenly had more time, I'd be more likely to spend it on extra practice, unless I somehow got it in exchange for running games. Since my boss isn't into RPGs, I'm obviously not looking for time to run games >:).
Besides, re-read that post. Nowhere do I wish for the extra time, I'm mostly fine with things the way they are. I'm telling you what I would need in order to make persuading me at least possible ;D!
Of course, you might be wishing that I had more time, but that's hardly something I can control, could I :P?

[Faustus]

So. . . My own question.

And this situation is. . . .interesting. . . .so we'll see the answer.

Placed beneathe here for the time.

So, I am a player at a dying Group Game, mostly due to absence on the GMs part. They seem to have pretty much abandoned the game, if not the site for the time, and the players are coming together to tend to it.

We recognize that the threads are in the wrong subforum. Like. Really wrong. Why is a game with only humans in the Exotic? Makes no sense. . .

With no GM to request the thread movement, how can we go about asking for the threads to be moved? Which Mod should we ask to move the threads for us? Will they, despite the fact that our absent GM is the OP of the threads?

And while I'm at it. . . What do you DO when the GM just. . leaves? With no co-GM to turn to, what do the players do?

Thanks for the answers!

[greenknight]

Was the GM intending to add exotics as NPCs? I guess the more important question for E is did the GM intend to include sex with the exotics into the game? If one of the players wants to take over the game, his plans should guide any movement.

Related, how non-human must characters be before moving the game from human to exotic? Do orcs (whether GW or JRRT or AD&D style) qualify as exotic? What about gnomes and halflings? Green chicks (or any of the alien species) from Star Trek? Hulk but not Thor?

[Faustus]

No, never any non-human. Modern American setting with only humans. =/ Really needs to be moved.