League of Non-Aligned Worlds Book

[rbax]

Any one here concerned that even a 200 page book will not be able to fully unfold the...what?....dozen or so races that form the league? Not sure exactly what August has in mind here but I'm offering an alternative suggestion to deal with some of this.

Rather than a single book, why not release each league race as downloadable PDF file that you buy from Mongoose. Each month a race would be released with history, ships, prestige classes, base classes, racial equipment etc. for use, review and general play.

Once 4 or 5 of the races have been released (assuming the total represents a fairly large page count) a hard cover compilation can be released with a discount to those who have previously bought the PDF files. The new hard cover would incorporate comments, errata, correct TYPOS and add pictures and such.

This method can be used for the other non-league worlds and the subsquent hardcover books can simply be called Babylon 5 Races 1, 2, 3 etc., or some such thing. It also provides a easy way to maintain a regular flow of B5 stuff and "hopefully" avoid some of the dead time we all seem to hate.

The discount would be based on the number of league PDF files you bought for that given book. Buy all the PDF files and you'd be down to shipping and handling of the final book and some small additional printing fees. Those who don't want to buy the PDF's can buy the main book several months down the line. Those who only buy a few of the PDF files get a smaller discount.

Opinions??

Mongoose Staff Opinions???

August Opinions????

--- Rich

 

[Golem2176]

Hmm, good idea! I like it!

 

[Dag'Nabbit]

I like the idea a lot, but I'm not sure that it is really necessary. It would be interesting to see a seperate book on each species, but I don't think it would be really appropriate either. The League races have been dealing with each other for quite a bit of time. As such a lot of the history you would see in each seperate Race book would be repeated in the others. Admittedly, this could be entertaining if you skewed the writing and flavored it with the bias of the specific species, kinda like the biology section of the Centauri book.

As for technology and ships, that probably wouldn't really take up that much room. Many of the races in the League have the same technology except for a few special devices they have managed to keep to themselves. A compiled description with an availability chart is all they really need to produce.

The culture and biology sections are where I think they would have to spend the most time on for each race. This is the only real reason I see a need to expand into more than one volume, maybe.

 

[Eryx]

I don't like PDF's. I'd rather have a real book. I think a better idea might be to split the League sourcebook into two books and expand the entries in each book.

 

[Garet]

I like a book, so that i can sit in a chair and read it.

 

[nitflegal]

I would have preferred that they broke it up into at least two books.
Abbai, Brakiri, Cascor, Drazi, Gaim, Grome, Hurr, Hyach, Ipsha, Live Eaters, Llort, Pak'ma'ra, Markab, Vree, Yolu are 15 by my count and I think that there were 2-3 more than I remember here. Discounting title pages, intros, and art, that's ~13 pages for each race to cover their history, political structure, atributes, equipment, and military.

I would assume that more space will be given to the Drazi, Vree, Gaim and such but even bumped to ~20 pages that's awfully short. Heck, I had a tough time keeping the history of the Technomages down to only 20 pages.

I'll buy it and I'm sure that the usual great job will be done with it. I just always wish for more detail.

Matt

 

[Greg Smith]

Any one here concerned that even a 200 page book will not be able to fully unfold the...what?....dozen or so races that form the league? Not sure exactly what August has in mind here but I'm offering an alternative suggestion to deal with some of this.

--- Rich

No. Just how much detailed information can be presented on races that were hardly ever discussed on screen, and barely said a word?

I would want a detailed history of the League, a breakdown of alliances and antagonists, and for each race: a brief history, physiology, organisation, stats, a picture, notes on role-playing one, a ship or two, and adventure hooks for that race.
I would think 3-5 pages for most races would be sufficient.

 

[redlaco]

It is an intriguing idea which deserve some consideration.

I think from a business point of view, it would be hard to justify; all the paperwork involved to insure who paid what and deserve which discount, and so on... In the end it raises the production costs.

I prefer books and I have to agree with Greg Smith : most of the races were more decorative in the show than anything else. In my campaign, they will remain somewhat in the background. Now I know some people may want to make them the center point of their campaigns, but mostly you would not need that much information. 12 to 30 pages per race should be sufficient.

A good compromise would be to up the number of pages to 320 or more, even if that would make it quite costly. I, for one, would be ready to fork the cash for a definitive encyclopedia of the League...

 

[nitflegal]

A good compromise would be to up the number of pages to 320 or more, even if that would make it quite costly. I, for one, would be ready to fork the cash for a definitive encyclopedia of the League...

I'd very happily go with this. Part of the fun of the League is going to be exploring races that are really a blank canvas. Allow Mr. Hahn to do 10-15 pages and you'll have a really good framework on each race to have some fun with.

An alternative tack would be to focus 90% of the book on the main actors (Drazi, Gaim, Brakiri, Abbai, Ipsha, and Pak'Ma'Ra) and then cover the rest in detail in an article series in Signs and Portents.

Matt

 

[redlaco]

An alternative tack would be to focus 90% of the book on the main actors (Drazi, Gaim, Brakiri, Abbai, Ipsha, and Pak'Ma'Ra) and then cover the rest in detail in an article series in Signs and Portents.

Indeed, that would be a nice alternative. Remember the Pak'mara article by Lizard (IIRC) ? It would be a good start as it would give us the chance to comment on them here. When all have been covered, they could be compiled in a 128 pages softback. That would diminish the need to search in your past issues of S&P.

BTW and off-topic; I said elsewhere that the need for a meta-index will be felt more and more as the information gets spread over the seasons books, Racial books, articles from S&P, etc. <hint>It would be a great addition to a GM screen later on </hint>

 

[CmdrKiley]

I'd even like to see a section dedicated to the Dilgar. Although they are not members of the League of Non-Align Worlds or even an existing race in current B5 times, I think they're quite interesting. Reading alot of the background info from The Dilgar Invasion supplement for AoG's Babylon 5 Wars, they really have some promise.

Perhaps, Mongoose could do a retro-B5 Campaign that takes place during the Dilgar Invasion or even a scenario where perhaps a few Dilgar ships were unaccounted for and established a colony somewhere out on the Rim.

 

[nitflegal]

I'd even like to see a section dedicated to the Dilgar. Although they are not members of the League of Non-Align Worlds or even an existing race in current B5 times, I think they're quite interesting. Reading alot of the background info from The Dilgar Invasion supplement for AoG's Babylon 5 Wars, they really have some promise.

Perhaps, Mongoose could do a retro-B5 Campaign that takes place during the Dilgar Invasion or even a scenario where perhaps a few Dilgar ships were unaccounted for and established a colony somewhere out on the Rim.

Were I the one making the decisions, I'd do the League book first and then do a Dilgar War book. That could cover the Dilgar but also cover the League races before the League was truly formed, letting you use far less pages to show the differences from already established racial overviews.

Matt

 

[Elfman]

Rather than a single book, why not release each league race as downloadable PDF file that you buy from Mongoose. Each month a race would be released with history, ships, prestige classes, base classes, racial equipment etc. for use, review and general play.

Once 4 or 5 of the races have been released (assuming the total represents a fairly large page count) a hard cover compilation can be released with a discount to those who have previously bought the PDF files. The new hard cover would incorporate comments, errata, correct TYPOS and add pictures and such.

I really like this idea.

Anyone who wants just a book can wait for the compilation, and buy the whole book at once. In paper.

People like me who are only interested in a race or two (go DRAZI!!) can download just those we want. Mongoose gets some of my money, as opposed to none since I'm not especially likely to buy a book for $25+ for just Drazi info, and I get the Drazi information.

And those who want the information as soon as possible can buy all the downloads as they come out, and then get a discount on the printed compilation book when it's released.

As to the additional printing costs to offset the book-keeping, just build the bookkeeping cost into each PDF download. Add $0.50 to the cost to pay for that. Now the downloads cost (for example, pulling a number out of thin air here) $8.49 instead of $7.99. For that cost, I'd still buy a download version.

AND...

... You can make a Dilgar download.
... You can put one or two page excerpts into Signs & Portents to whet people's appetites.
... You can issue different size PDF files; For a "major" LNW race like the Drazi, you could have a 30-page PDF, but for a minor player like the Llort, you could have a 8-page PDF.

Great idea all around.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

I still like the idea of a star spanning campaign called The Pak'ma'ra Gourmet Tour of the Galaxy...

The Auld Grump - No sign of him, we even stomach pumped the Pak'ma'ra...

 

[Sundog]

The probelm with downloadable PDFs is that not everyone has a credit card. Many of us would be quite unhappy at there being sections of the game they are excluded from.

 

[Elfman]

The probelm with downloadable PDFs is that not everyone has a credit card. Many of us would be quite unhappy at there being sections of the game they are excluded from.

If done right, there would be no exclusion.

You'd just wait for them to print the "compilation book" of all the LNW race PDFs, and then you'd have it! If the page count is big enough, maybe they could do two books (League 1 and League 2 or whatever) when enough pages are out in PDF to make a book.

 

[Ranger66]

I don't mind PDF's though I do like having the physical book. I wouldn't mind seeing some B5 PDF stuff from Mongoose. It doesnt have to be a big book like the league. Maybe an advenutre or a new race. A new planet etc.

 

[LoneStranger]

Babylon 5 planet generator as a PDF file for us to download and use, howsabout that?

 

[rbax]

Babylon 5 planet generator as a PDF file for us to download and use, howsabout that?

Just pull out you handy dandy AEG Stargate SG-1 rulebook. Great randome planet generating system there.

---- Rich

 

[Natxomann]

Or you could just use the excelent T20 (Traveller-D20) main book , that allows you to design a lot of things , from ground vehicles to planets an stellar systems , starships included .