The League of Non-Aligned Worlds going for a July release !

[redlaco]

As seen on GamingReport.com :

The League of Non-Aligned Worlds
Babylon 5 
Price: $34.95 

While the television series primarily featured the major races like the Narn and Minbari, forever in the background are the minor races, many of who comprise the League of Non-Aligned Worlds. The Drazi, Brakiri, Pak’ma’ra and their fellows hold a fascination for Babylon 5 aficionados yet many people cannot even identify one without resorting to guesswork. The League of Non-Aligned Worlds Fact Book puts an end to this, providing collectors and gamers alike with a host of vital archive information. 

Weighing in at an impressive 200 pages, The League of Non-Aligned Worlds Fact Book is the latest in an impressive line of support books for the popular Babylon 5 RPG, designed to turn the locations of the TV show into living, breathing places for players to explore in their games. With production values second to none, The League of Non-Aligned Worlds Fact Book marks the commitment Mongoose Publishing has to support the Babylon 5 RPG, providing fans with a complete reference of never before seen material based on the TV show. 

Author: August Hahn 
Cover: Laminated colour cover 
Size: 200 pages hardback, 8 1/4 " x 10 5/8", full colour interior illustrations

As hinted in the description, I hope there will be pics for all races, however insignificant.
I also hope there will be a big chapter on telepathy for each race.

 

[Dr Goth]

That is so cool. Sign me up for one of those.

 

[ZenOrac]

[ The Drazi, Brakiri, Pak’ma’ra and their fellows hold a fascination for Babylon 5 aficionados yet many people cannot even identify one without resorting to guesswork. ]

Apart from the big 3 above there are a few others I can put a face to Abbai (the ones with the fins on their heads), Hyach( the dying ones missing the Hyach-do), Llort (Packrats with with segmented heads) Grome (Pink Drazi), Markab (Dead all dead), Gaim (Insectoid in the Sandman like encounter suits) Vree( Greys my Grandfather was probed by his grandfather) other league races mentioned but not ID'd are Cascor, Balosians and Ipsha(Nice catherine wheel ship as seen in Death walker AOG's desc of them is that they are Like Jellyfish which is probably why they never were in council meetings)

 

[Eryx]

Oh... nice. I so want this. Lets just hope we get the other books before this and that this book doesn't get pushed back.

 

[Enlightened Bystander]

[ The Drazi, Brakiri, Pak’ma’ra and their fellows hold a fascination for Babylon 5 aficionados yet many people cannot even identify one without resorting to guesswork. ]

Apart from the big 3 above there are a few others I can put a face to Abbai (the ones with the fins on their heads), Hyach( the dying ones missing the Hyach-do), Llort (Packrats with with segmented heads) Grome (Pink Drazi), Markab (Dead all dead), Gaim (Insectoid in the Sandman like encounter suits) Vree( Greys my Grandfather was probed by his grandfather) other league races mentioned but not ID'd are Cascor, Balosians and Ipsha(Nice catherine wheel ship as seen in Death walker AOG's desc of them is that they are Like Jellyfish which is probably why they never were in council meetings)

There's also the Yolu, as seen in the Mutai episode.

 

[Ranger66]

Negrath [sp] The Insect crime lord seen in Season 1.

 

[kaluzas revenge]

And the Hurr, there was one playing poker against Londo in Quality of Mercy

 

[nitflegal]

That's all great and I am looking forward to the League books big time. That said, note that I used the plural. There are a lot of races in the League and, speaking for myself, I'd much rather have 2 or even more books that give a bunch of details on the individual races instead of cramming them into one book. The Abbai, Brakiri, Drazi (actually, they should almost have their own book), Gaim, and Vree would fill a 200 page book easily if a thorough job were done on them. That's only 40 pages on each to cover their history, their culture, and their militaries (keeping in mind that we have little idea what any of them have for ground forces or much of anything beyond a couple of ships that we've seen on the show). Put the Pak'Ma'Ra, Hyach, Ipsha, Grome, Torata, Markab, and Cascor in the second volume and you've still only covered about half the races that we know have been in the League. Of course, then you get into races obscure enough that you might be btter off giving them a 15-20 page article in the magazine.

I love what a good job Mongoose (and August Hahn and Bruce Graw) have been doing on these books. I hope it continues into one of my most eagerly anticipated realms, the League.

Matt

 

[Dr Goth]

That's only 40 pages on each to cover their history, their culture, and their militaries (keeping in mind that we have little idea what any of them have for ground forces or much of anything beyond a couple of ships that we've seen on the show).

Isn't there supposed to be a B5Wars-kind-of-game coming out? Shouldn't military specifics be concentrated to that? I'm not saying that military vessels should be left out but I think that the focus should be on history, culture and interrelations with other league nations. In a 200-page book on Minbari I'm ready to accept a lot of military stuff, because I get so much else that I can skim through it and probably never look at it again. Not that it is an awful lot of that in the Minbari book come to think of it.

I'd be more than happy to have the same size relations in league world descriptions as it is in the Minbari book. That is perfect. It wouldn't leave that many military pages in a 40-50 pages long Drazi chapter. :mrgreen:

I realise that I may be one of the very few of this opinion but it could also be that we are a silent majority. :shock:

Now I've said it, though, so now you know that not everyone wants to se pages and pages of military data and pictures of tanks.

 

[E Nicely]

Everyone's got their farorite subjects they want to see covered in supplements. I love the League. 200 pages would seem like it was enough, 40 pages would be about 40 times more space than the Drazi were given in the core rulebook. 20 pages for each race would even be acceptable IMO, more of the races would be covered (I'm partial to the Brakiri, Vree, and Gaim).

As far as the militaries go, one or two ship descriptions, breif overveiw of tactics and ground force composition would be good. Ships adapted from B5W could be covered in the ship combat game.

 

[nitflegal]

Isn't there supposed to be a B5Wars-kind-of-game coming out? Shouldn't military specifics be concentrated to that? I'm not saying that military vessels should be left out but I think that the focus should be on history, culture and interrelations with other league nations. In a 200-page book on Minbari I'm ready to accept a lot of military stuff, because I get so much else that I can skim through it and probably never look at it again. Not that it is an awful lot of that in the Minbari book come to think of it.

I'd be more than happy to have the same size relations in league world descriptions as it is in the Minbari book. That is perfect. It wouldn't leave that many military pages in a 40-50 pages long Drazi chapter. :mrgreen:

I realise that I may be one of the very few of this opinion but it could also be that we are a silent majority. :shock:

Now I've said it, though, so now you know that not everyone wants to se pages and pages of military data and pictures of tanks.

I'd actually agree with you on this. Say 40 pages a race. Ten for history, ten for their culture (ratios can vary, those would be the most important parts), say 4-5 pages for thier biology and worlds/colonies, 5-6 pages for their technology (civilian, mostly, what kind of devices, vehicles, etc. do theyuse), 5-6 pages for their military. I'd like enough so tht I can game a Drazi starship captain, so I need a rank structure (for advancement of the player) and a decent overview of what their military structure is like. Cover a few high points on their most common personal weapons and maybe a couple of their ground vehicles and such as well as their major ship classes. I can fill in a TOE, I don't need much more than a skeleton to hang my own stuff on. Not that I wouldn't buy it anyways, but I'd like somethign signifiantly more involved than the anemic descriptions in many other companies race/species books for the main League members at least.

Realistically, I'd think do one book for the Drazi, Brakiri, Abbai, Vree, and Gaim and then lump the others into a second supplement. I can't think that there are many who actually want a 20 page treatment on the Yolu, for example.

Matt

Matt

 

[Anonymous]

Realistically, I'd think do one book for the Drazi, Brakiri, Abbai, Vree, and Gaim and then lump the others into a second supplement. I can't think that there are many who actually want a 20 page treatment on the Yolu, for example.

You never know...

I'm not sure that is a wise way for Mongoose to go, though. Everyone would buy the first book but only the really hard core fans and the ones who got to have all the books would buy the second. "Lumping" doesn't smell like commercial success to me...

But basically I agree. There are a lot of races to be covered and two books would probably do the job better than one. If Mongoose were to publish two, I think that the way to go would be to have (for example) the Drazi, Vree and Gaim in one book and Brakiri, Abbai and Markab in the other. The lumping bit would be done afterwards in both books.

Well, my €0.02 anyway.

 

[Dr Goth]

It's not always easier but without a doubt better if you log in before you post a reply.

 

[Prophetsteve]

I'm not sure that is a wise way for Mongoose to go, though. Everyone would buy the first book but only the really hard core fans and the ones who got to have all the books would buy the second. "Lumping" doesn't smell like commercial success to me...

Well, if they were going to do two books, I'd expect that they wouldn't lump all the major League races into one book - rather they'd probably place the Drazi and a few minor races in one book (since the Drazi have the most territory in the League) and then the rest of the Major races (Brakiri and the squid-heads) and minor races in another. That way you'd be assured better buy-in from the consumer.

That being said, all I am interested in is one League book. 200 pages is enough information.

What I hope to see is:

* Pictures of Every Race (screencaps if they appeared on screen in any form - high quality artwork if they didn't)
* List of Major Vehicles (no need to go uber in depth like the Minbari or EA - but I want pictures - not all of us have access to B5Wars)
* Good history and government chapter for each race
* Military Overview (with ranks)
* Quick Rundown of the planets in League space
* Unique and cool equipment (lumped into one chapter to reduce page-flipping)

 

[nitflegal]

I'm not sure that is a wise way for Mongoose to go, though. Everyone would buy the first book but only the really hard core fans and the ones who got to have all the books would buy the second. "Lumping" doesn't smell like commercial success to me...

Well, if they were going to do two books, I'd expect that they wouldn't lump all the major League races into one book - rather they'd probably place the Drazi and a few minor races in one book (since the Drazi have the most territory in the League) and then the rest of the Major races (Brakiri and the squid-heads) and minor races in another. That way you'd be assured better buy-in from the consumer.

That being said, all I am interested in is one League book. 200 pages is enough information.

What I hope to see is:

* Pictures of Every Race (screencaps if they appeared on screen in any form - high quality artwork if they didn't)
* List of Major Vehicles (no need to go uber in depth like the Minbari or EA - but I want pictures - not all of us have access to B5Wars)
* Good history and government chapter for each race
* Military Overview (with ranks)
* Quick Rundown of the planets in League space
* Unique and cool equipment (lumped into one chapter to reduce page-flipping)

I'd agree with all of this. Say Drazi, Abbai, Vree and some smaller races in the first book and Brakiri, Gaim, Hyach and the rest of the minors in the second.

Matt

 

[redlaco]

Isn't there supposed to be a B5Wars-kind-of-game coming out? Shouldn't military specifics be concentrated to that? I'm not saying that military vessels should be left out but I think that the focus should be on history, culture and interrelations with other league nations.

I wholeheartedly agree with you on that; military stuff is important, but no so much to me as the rest (culture, history, politics, etc.). I'll happily buy the Advanced Space Combat Box Set, and I'd prefer most technical military stuff to be in that.

I realise that I may be one of the very few of this opinion but it could also be that we are a silent majority. :shock:
Now I've said it, though, so now you know that not everyone wants to see pages and pages of military data and pictures of tanks.

OK-Doki! I'm much more interested in re-creating a twisted relation like the one between Londo and G'Kar, for instance, than planning immense space battles involving hundreds of ships.
(<Shudder at the number crushing involved>)
But hey, I'm much more of a storyteller than a tactician type. Maybe that's why I'm more often on the losing side in war games. :roll: :wink:
Got a deep respect for all those tacticians.

 

[redlaco]

That being said, all I am interested in is one League book. 200 pages is enough information.

What I hope to see is:

* Pictures of Every Race (screencaps if they appeared on screen in any form - high quality artwork if they didn't)
* List of Major Vehicles (no need to go uber in depth like the Minbari or EA - but I want pictures - not all of us have access to B5Wars)
* Good history and government chapter for each race
* Military Overview (with ranks)
* Quick Rundown of the planets in League space
* Unique and cool equipment (lumped into one chapter to reduce page-flipping)

What he said ! :idea:
I'd be extremely happy with this kind of set-up...

 

[August]

Interestingly enough, this set up looks almost identical to my oputline for the book. I don't think people will be disappointed.


-August

That being said, all I am interested in is one League book. 200 pages is enough information.

What I hope to see is:

* Pictures of Every Race (screencaps if they appeared on screen in any form - high quality artwork if they didn't)
* List of Major Vehicles (no need to go uber in depth like the Minbari or EA - but I want pictures - not all of us have access to B5Wars)
* Good history and government chapter for each race
* Military Overview (with ranks)
* Quick Rundown of the planets in League space
* Unique and cool equipment (lumped into one chapter to reduce page-flipping)

What he said ! :idea:
I'd be extremely happy with this kind of set-up...

 

[Prophetsteve]

Interestingly enough, this set up looks almost identical to my oputline for the book. I don't think people will be disappointed.

Cool!

Definately looking forward to this book - currently reading through Minbari and loving it. Can't wait to get the rest of my books...and eventually the League

 

[Prophetsteve]

OK-Doki! I'm much more interested in re-creating a twisted relation like the one between Londo and G'Kar, for instance, than planning immense space battles involving hundreds of ships.

I am somewhere in between myself. I want to tell stories cool sci-fi stories and have deep personal adventures but I also wanna tell epic, kick-@$$ tales with starship battles and kung-fu staff-fights.

Its why I like the B5 universe so much - their is so much breadth in the setting. How many settings can you run everything from cyberpunk, to star wars, to star trek style adventures and no one bats an eye at it.

And seriously, the more books I get of B5, the more I appreciate them. Seriously opens up some interesting avenues to adventure. Some being natural, others coming out of left field (but also that works)