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No Man's Land is not the average setting book. For one thing, it bills itself as a campaign sourcebook, which makes sense because there is a great deal more information in here than just people and places. No Man's Land also covers a huge amount of territory and provides general information that could be applied to nearly any place, in addition to specific descriptions of interesting places to kill or be killed.
Introduction
The short chapter starts the same way as just about every other Battlelords book - a timeline and some fiction. The timeline helps explain why the Fornax galaxy is the frontier, and the fiction has a classic stereotypical story - the gunfight at high noon - played out with aliens and plasma guns. After the fiction, there are a few quotes from various types of characters players might encounter (or play) in No Man's Land.
Major Group Encounters
The second chapter starts off with a very cool picture of an arachnid. Unfortunately, we continue to not know anything about the arachnids, which is frustrating if you wanted to build a campaign around them. However, the chapter does include information on more than 30 different power groups in the Fornax galaxy, from arms dealers and terrorists to sports franchises and law enforcers. If you need a group to shoot at your player characters, there are plenty to choose from here.
One feature of this chapter is that it includes many alien races not entirely suited to player characters. The brutish Aziam and the enslaved Benjari could make a campaign a great deal more interesting, even if players are not likely to take on their roles.
Race Expansion
This chapter includes three new player races, any of which might make very interesting characters. The reptilian Aeodronian are like a cross between alligators and hippies. The Misha Dream Merchants are capable of slightly psychic aliens who get powerful premonitions when they dream. The Sye-Men come from beyond the galaxy, hideous and frightening, with power over life and death. Three archetypical characters are also included, in case a BattleMaster needs an NPC in a hurry.
Deep Space Wayfarers
Two large groups are examined in considerable depth in this chapter. The first group is relatively straightforward - pirates. Information is provided on standard practices, attack methods, attire and clans. Players wishing to be pirates can finally cast off the implied requirement of working for corporations and join up on galaxy-busting adventures.
The second portion of this chapter examines the origins of Atlantis. The actual Atlanteans are not really described, as much as their legacy as starfarers and the legends surrounding them. Speculation on the demise of the Atlanteans and the artifacts they left behind rounds out the chapter nicely.
Spaceport Services
Rather than detail a single space station in depth, this chapter provides a listing of the kinds of services one can expect to find at a space station. The term 'space station' can be expanded to apply to nearly any frontier planet, so that this chapter is actually quite large. All manner of services are described here, from armor stations and assassination services to slave auctions and weapons shops. Oh, and you can refuel your ship, too.
This chapter is interesting in that it contains only generic information. No information pertaining to a particular place is described, but by giving information about clone production and legal networks, the writers of the book allow those describing a planet to list a handful of services and define the station in just a few words.
Structures
Like the chapter before it, this chapter deals entirely in generic information. Nine different types of installations are described here. The chapter includes information on archives where space wanderers can identify artifacts, get detailed information and interpretation, and possibly even sell treasures. Dyson spheres are energy harnessing devices built around stars. Stone towns are created by mining companies as they hollow out asteroids. These are interesting places, even if they are a little generic.
Planetary Defense
The last generic chapter describes the types of defenses a particular system might have. Fleets and starbases, surface-to-orbit artillery, and gunboat squadrons are all described, so that the BattleMaster can select a few and adequately sum up a planet's defenses. Of course, without rules for space ship combat, they are largely superfluous, but still interesting.
Sector Layout
Finally the hard setting material begins in earnest. This chapter begins with a hex map of the Fornax galaxy, Quadrant 1, Sector 3. The map charts planets, trade routes, interesting places and resources at a glance. This is equivalent to a map of the U.S., which would depict the entire country at a glance, rather than state-by-state. Later chapters examine the individual subsectors in more depth, but this map lets us get a big picture.
Information is provided in this chapter for rating planets and star systems. Planet gravity, tech level, laws, population, and more information is all summed up in a few quick codes. Using this chapter, the later planets are easy to read with a minimal amount of description.
Finally, this chapter ends with a study on how to travel the galaxy. This is important for a frontier setting, and is quite thorough.
The Industrial Province, The Denderon Hemisphere, The Plains of Desolation, The Voidlands
These chapters each discuss a different subsector of No Man's Land. Each chapter is composed almost entirely of planet descriptions. Each section has its own unique flavor, as the industrial complex, the financial markets, the rough-and-tumble frontier lands, or the bizarre and unexplored unknown.
The information in these four chapters is brief, but often quite captivating. There are planets inhabited by specters that scare off settlers, mysterious planets with strange mounds and no life forms, and sinful planets where visitors live out their darkest fantasies through holograms and drugs. There is a wealth of information here that can be expanded easily.
Contacts and Networks
For the life of me, I cannot figure out why this chapter is in this book. While the information is interesting, it is not really setting material. It is more of an afterthought with some rules for maintaining contacts. There are other Battlelords books where this information would make sense. The information is useful, sure, but it is like having a chapter about botany in a book about origami.
Appendices
Two good appendices finish out the book. The first is a great cross-index of services and the planets where they are available. The second is an index.
Observations
No Man's Land takes an interesting look at a large sector of space, and uses a smart method of categorizing and summary to cram more information into the book than would seem to fit otherwise. The writing is the best I have read yet in a Battlelords book, especially since there are no fart jokes or inexplicable exclamation marks.
The design in No Man's Land remains the highest you'll find in RPGs. The art is mostly good, but there seemed to be a preponderance of really dumb pictures. If SSDC quits using the overarmed old lady entirely, they could be doing themselves a favor. The arachnid, on the other hand, was awesome.
I do have two huge problems with the book, however. I have now read a half dozen Battlelords books, with every one talking about the arachnid threat, and have yet to read any concrete information on these alien menaces. Any ideas I might have about using the arachnids are completely theoretical, since I have not seen so much as a stat block.
The other thing missing from this book is statistics for the widely varied critters mentioned within its pages. In fact, like the elusive arachnid, I cannot recall ever having seen statistics for a single non-sentient beast. If I want my characters to be attacked by a pack of wild alien boars, I have to make them up. There are no stock alien monsters for me anywhere, and while I could forgive the oversight in a city book, I am annoyed when they are discussed, described, and not statted. I have enormous statistics for a single omega cannon, but nothing on the spectral warriors of Flussen or the lumbering thlump.
Overall, No Man's Land is a decent setting book. It can be used with nearly any sci-fi campaign, so its utility is not limited simply to Battlelords players. The information presented is well-organized and interesting, and the book easily surpasses its $17.95 cover price.
Style: 4 - Better design than you will see almost anywhere in RPGs, and lots of good art, but several pieces of just plain silly art that make almost no sense.
Substance: 3 - About the average space setting sourcebook. Not bad at all, but missing the meat required to make it exceptional.
