Do anyone got a chance to take a view of the lorebook compendium at gencon? Im pretty curious to see what is inside since the history of the Galaxy is already in the learn to play and the lore of the various races behind each race sheet.

I got the game at GenCon, so here's a quick overview of this 24-page booklet. Each section is a two-page spread with anywhere from a quarter-page to a page of text and the rest a big, pretty graphic spread.

pp. 2-3: The Galaxy Awakens (intro)

pp. 4-5: The Rise of Legend (the Lazax ascend)

pp. 6-7: The Sun Sets on an Empire (the Lazax fall)

pp. 8-9: The Twilight Wars (after the fall)

pp. 10-11: An Age of Unrest (more wars, then isolationism)

pp. 12-13: Distant Suns (races starting to explore again)

pp. 14-15: Echoes of the Past (rediscovering colonies and neighbors)

pp. 16-17: Threats from Beyond (L1Z1X, Nekro, Creuss, Arborec)

pp. 18-19: The Shadow of War (rediscovering lost tech like war suns)

pp. 20-21: An Empty Throne (who will claim it?)

pp. 22-23: Dawn of a New Era (Pax Magnifica Bellum Gloriosum!)

Any new information in there, or mostly a nice compendium of the history we knew about?

Also, any information about things like FTL travel or implications of technologies in society?

I found the "lore book" to be pretty anemic really. Most of the pages only have a couple paragraphs giving a bare bones overview. There are only 2 pages that could be call full. Best I can say about it is that each page has some really good art.

Basically, since they are going with this "learn to play/rules reference" format these days, there wasn't anyplace for them to put the little vignettes of fluff that were in the old rule book, so they stuck them here.

It's all existing stuff, really, though perhaps the whole story is a bit more coherent because they're able to present it all at once. But yes, FL is right; this is more of an "art book" than "lore compendium." As I said, for each two-page spread, there's from a quarter-page to a page of text, and the rest is a single (usually very attractive) art piece.

I would love the Lore and race info to be released in PDF format. Something quick to hook new players, pictures of space cats and giant turtles. Then hit them with the Rule Book.