Need some advice...

Dark_warrior · Post by **Dark_warrior** » Thu Dec 16, 2010 2:46 am

Hey guys,
well, a little background on the situation first. I am currently going to school to become a web designer and for an exam we have to make a website. I was going to make an online portfolio of all my dark elf stuff because I really have no idea what else to do. So in addition to my portfolio, I also wanted to add a little background fluff to my army to make the site more complete feeling. this is where I'm stuck. I have absolutely no idea how to write background fluff. So I was wondering if anyone had any tips on how to start my fluff or maybe some examples of fluff you have written. I am by no means asking for you to give me fluff to copy, i just want some pointers on how to start. Help much appreciated and sorry if this is wrong forum, I have no idea where this belongs so please move if needed. Once again, thanks in advance

Malus99 · Post by **Malus99** » Thu Dec 16, 2010 8:59 am

My army fluff: The Shadow Host of Hag Graef Hope this gives you some inspiration.

I would advise you to first start with a general description of your army (eg. Host out of Naggarond lead by Dreadlord Vashnar, was involved in such and such battle and killed this, that and the other high elves, army is noted for their habit of cutting out enemies tongues, pickling them and then eating them as a side dish in the after-battle feast...) Then consider what units the army is made of and write down a little background for some (or all as I have) of them talking about their notable traits etc.

Generally, as background (whether it be for army, character or unit) Try and include: Where they are from, perhaps some notable victories they have made, their notable traits which make them unique, maybe something about how they look.

For instance:

Mordritch’s Raven Feathers: So called because each member must be able to shoot a raven out of the sky from two hundred paces, they then take a feather from the corpse as proof of their deadly accuracy, they are lead by Guardmaster Mordritch, known for having taken down a giant once with a single round from his crossbow.

20 Repeater Crossbowmen with Full Command: 220

short bit of fluff for the unit saying their notable trait and who their captain is (and his legendary feat of killing a giant with his crossbow, basically all of the accomplishments of my fluff army happened in games I've played, take inspiration from your own gaming victories) and also giving them a visual tie, that of a raven feather (if I ever get round to modelling them onto my actual models) which makes them distinct, if somebody asks you "why have you painted them that way" or "Why have they got that little conversion" you can rattle off the units history and explain why. This unit lacks an entry as to where they are from, but it is not necessary to include all of the above situations as to their background, infact, it will get abit samey if you just state over and over again: Such and such is from... they have killed... they are known for... they look like... mix and match and don't do the same thing twice.

Anyways, that is my advice, also, take a look through the fluff in the rulebook and armybooks for inspiration, additional ideas can be got from the books on DE, namely the ToL Sundering books and the Malus Darkblade novels (especially recommended, gives an excellent, in depth view of Druchii society). Good luck!

Killerk · Post by **Killerk** » Thu Dec 16, 2010 12:51 pm

If you have a BSB in your army you don't need the Dreadlord really, it's better to spend the point's some place else, like on a chariot, RBT, CoK, or any other unit really.
But not including a SSorc. in a army is a major handy cap. compered to having her. The only reason why a lover lv. could be as good, is if you going for the basic spell and casting it with all your dice each turn. As with a lv. 1 fire mage.

at leas that's who I feel about it.

Dark_warrior · Post by **Dark_warrior** » Thu Dec 16, 2010 4:00 pm

Thank you so much Malus. That was pretty much what I was looking for in advice. Your own background gave me some inspiration and I think I'll look in my books and such when I get back later tonight. Thanks again for your help.

Varaken · Post by **Varaken** » Thu Dec 16, 2010 5:02 pm

Another way of looking at it is to take your Lord as a starting point, perhaps he is a noble from one of the cities and then go from there. If you use lots of large contingents of warriors then perhaps he was a Captain of the Guard in Ghrond or Hag Graef who was given a commission/left the guard to plunder, raid and pillage. As a such a captain he is most at home commanding infantry, hence the large numbers of warriors and xbows, seeing as they form a typical city guard. Perhaps he also became quite wealthy or comes from money and bought the services of some retainers on cold ones, hence there is a unit of cold one knights. Maybe he is on his proving cruise, his first foray into the Old World, and his father/benefactor has paid the mercenaries of the ship to fight for him as well as transport him so you can throw in a unit of corsairs or 2. Just a couple of ideas there you could easily develop into a fully fledged bit of fluff.

Hope this helps and be sure to post up the fluff you do come up with, be interested to read it!

Malus99 · Post by **Malus99** » Thu Dec 16, 2010 5:08 pm

Dark_Warrior wrote:Thank you so much Malus. That was pretty much what I was looking for in advice. Your own background gave me some inspiration and I think I'll look in my books and such when I get back later tonight. Thanks again for your help.

happy to help

as varaken says, do please post up your fluff when it is written for us to read

P.S. Varaken, get your ass on down to the RPG group pronto, you're late!

Varaken · Post by **Varaken** » Thu Dec 16, 2010 5:25 pm

Haha sorry malus, been hugely busy, Uni hand in tomoro. Will do it now seeing as most of my work is done.

Dark_warrior · Post by **Dark_warrior** » Thu Dec 16, 2010 10:19 pm

Alright so i started working on it today, and damn its fun making up fluff for your army. And I'll be sure to post it when I'm done.

Varaken · Post by **Varaken** » Thu Dec 16, 2010 11:17 pm

I personally think its one of the best parts of the hobby. I can't stand min-maxed math hammer lists. I write my lists and play this game for the story behind it. Me and my friend both play 40k and some of the tales we have are fantastic. I'm in the process of writing up the fluff for a new chapter of space marines as we speak. Though admittedly should be revising for an applied technology exam tomorrow....my bad.

Dark_warrior · Post by **Dark_warrior** » Fri Dec 17, 2010 1:07 am

yeah this is the first I've done it and it seems a lot less stressful than playing tourney lists, making tourney lists, and talking about tourney lists at the store. I think I'm going to stop playing more for tourneys and a little more for fun. While still doing some tourneys lol.

Malus99 · Post by **Malus99** » Fri Dec 17, 2010 9:46 am

If you enjoy writing fluff (as I do) You might like to do some bat-reps in story format sometime, it can give your army some really good background, give you ideas for new elements of the army fluff, improve your writing skills and, if you like writing stories, is really fun! Whilst I love writing fiction, and have quite an overactive imagination, I find it difficult to come up with a storyline which isn't 300 pages long, and when I do write things that long, I usually get bored and wander off around the 200 mark, warhammer is great for that because it gives you the bare bones of the story, and you can just flesh it out. After reading this thread again I remembered an old story bat-rep I did under 7th edition, so I posted it up on D.Net and it can be found here: Battle of the Rashtock plains

I found that combining a battle report with writing stories is a really fun way of doing both, so if you love writing fluff, you might want to try it sometime

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Dark_warrior · Post by **Dark_warrior** » Fri Dec 17, 2010 3:24 pm

thanks, i think ill give it a try this weekend when I go to the store. I have a regular opponent that always makes for a great narrative game so I'll see if I can take some notes and then write a B-rep as a story. Yeah im really enjoying writing this fluff so thanks for the idea.