Thanks Calisson.
Great feedback.
With every new edition, there are people who hate the idea, and say they will always "play the old edition". But eventually the newness, the shiny toys, and the game/tournament scene moving on draws them along...
I'm under no illusions that people will (a) choose to play the new edition of Warhammer, (b) switch to one of the many quality games systems currently on the market and soon upcoming (c) play an older edition of their choice with their friends/club or (d) switch to another hobby/interest. Mostly in that order of likeliness.
Without the backing of dedicated creative, legal, marketing and financial teams, competing rulesets are unlikely to make so much as a drop in the ocean.That all said.
There are going to be an awful lot of people out there with square based models who will want to play on with square based models. So an open source system that lets them play on in an enjoyable way may just catch on.
It more than likely wont. But I'm only doing this for fun ...if other people like it then good. If not, then fine!
A second possibility is to "create" a "new" game named Oldhammer, where all rules would be copy/pasted with just slight changes in names (Power of Darkness becomes Power of Darkitude and so on). That would be blatant plagiarism.
The third possibility is to create a really different game, openly based on WH with deliberate significant differences.
That would be named "OldHammer Fantasy Battle, the squared base wargame".
Yes, that's what I'm mulling over at the moment.
With my WH based experience, I can think of a few minor tweaks to 8th edition that would (in my mind) add significant tactical depth and playability while remaining reasonably paced.
- But how legal would this be to publish as a free open source amendment to 8th?
The alternative is to design a completely new system. I have my ideas but this would be much more difficult.
Then you'd need a team of dedicated gamers to review all the rules of the BRB and all AB, to simplify them and rephrase them, and to change significantly some of them. That last part will be tricky as you would need to reach consensus on that...
Indeed. Playtesting and community.
Without players there is no game. And most will choose an existing wargame with all the support and professionalism that entails (god knows its a competitive market) over a free indie ruleset.
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Addendum:I'd also like to say that I sincerely hope Warhammer 9th is a big success. As it is, the player base is shrinking -- so something needs to be done to prevent extinction.
If the fluff turns to "Bubbles" -- I'll hate the idea of it, but I'll be happy if it interests a new generation.
If the game turns to "40k/Skirmish" -- I'll hate the idea of it, but I'll be happy if it interests a new generation.
Lotr was a well regarded tactical skirmish style wargame. So GW may well pull something great out of the bag despite this rumoured direction.
I'll play 9th, I'll give it a chance & I sincerely hope it succeeds (both for myself and the majority of gamers out there).