I have been giving some thought lately to the idea of offering to make Galaxy in Flames a hub for all things Homebrew. From house rules, to new units or vehicles, all the way up to entire Fandex's.
Part of the reason I have been thinking about doing this is to help my fellow 40k Bloggers get the word out about there unique projects. It could even lead to interested playtesters for these types of projects.
It would also make for a great place to bounce ideas off of like minded bloggers.
I would also hope that is might just open the eyes of some of the closed minded gamers out there. Officialdom can really stifle creativity if we choose to let it.
This is from a recent post I made on the Dice like Thunder forums as they are getting ready to do a Podcast on Homebrew fandex's. I just want everyone to know where I am coming from here.
"The closed mindedness of some gamers shocks me sometimes; fandexs and homebrews are meant for casual play, I cannot imagine any of us are talking about making a tourney legal fandex.
As someone who has been playing 40k since RT it is hard for me to stifle my creativity and not make nifty new units for campaigns or general use in story driven play. This was something that was heavily encouraged in RT, so much so that they had the points formula in the MRB. I know that times have changed it does not mean that my group and I have to.
While I understand the desire to play 40K with official rules, but it is not the only way to play and GW are far from perfect at games design. Now I am not claiming to be a games designer, but I have been involved in the mechanics discussions, and playtesting of a few published sets of historical rules sets over my many years of gaming. So I do know my way around the subject. The hardest part of designing new stuff for 40k is the apparent abandonment of a strict points formula in GW's game design process.
This is why I cannot stress enough to playtest the heck outta any fandex or homebrew stuff. When you think you've got it balanced do more playtesting. If you can get outside help with playtesting that can help a lot.
I currently have 6 gamers from three countries playtesting my fandex, and it is going well so far. Because of the outside help we have made some great changes from the extra input. By the time that the final version of the Dex goes up it will have been in design for 2 years and playtested as a whole list for almost 18 months. Which is pretty much how it's rumored that GW does things, and I am pretty sure that GW ain't telling any of their internal testers to try to break the list; like I am telling my external ones to do.
Of course this topic is always full of debate and grey areas. At least for me, I have found as I have gotten older I’m enjoying more story driven games than competitive ones, I am going to less and less tournaments."
With all that said is there any interest in making a hub for all things unofficial for 40k?
I like the idea of unofficial codexes. GW have enough to do balancing the main forces. There's plenty of blank space to be filled in on the 40K universe map.
ReplyDeleteI wish that GW would embrace the fans work, I like the Soul Reapers very much, Im attemping to do a per and post Heresy Iron Warriors dex as well as a Ghost Riders chapter (When I finish my Iron Hands and my partners Space Wolves)
ReplyDeleteA hub/centre point for homebrew rules/dexes I think is actually a very good idea! Not only will it centralise the fan-information in an easy-to-find store, this will hopefully create a sort of 'synergy' between them as they will perhaps build up the strengths of each other, helping compare thoughts and ideas.
ReplyDeleteOf course, the way I see it, something of that sort 'exists' at the moment with the BOLS minidex/campaign achive section, which in effect is an archive of the 'BOLS-studio production-style' group effort, but something more along the lines of what you're proposing could be an interesting counterpoint.
Currently, there is a hub for all things Space Marine, all things Guard, etc, etc. I think that the idea of a hub for Home-brew rules would probably be a bigger hit than you expect. Plus, it just might give other people who are thinking about the making their own fandex the incentive to go ahead and kick it off.
ReplyDeletewouldn't use them myself since most are either 1) Horribly made in terms of balance, Grammar, Art, you name it. 2) I don't see a place for most of it my own games, since I normally play 1750 or 10k+ Apoc.
ReplyDeleteThat said, it would be nice to have a single source for everything.
I'd like to see it.
ReplyDeleteWere you thinking a simple repository or something akin to Col Corbane's Going on Campaign with guides to creating and such?
Thanks for all of the honest feedback, I appreciate it.
ReplyDeleteI will be going forward with this project in the near future. I will make a post that will be updated whenever I find or have some new homebrew content to add. I will link it on the left side of the page under my downloads links.
I will work up a few articles on writing house rules and homebrew units to help aid anyone with a desire to try their hand at doing so.
If you come across an interesting set of house rules or any homebrew units or armylists feel free to contact me through the email address in my profile.
-Jim
I for one would love to hear more about how you go about setting the points values for new units in your 40k games/campaigns.
ReplyDeleteOh how I wish I'd never gotten rid of my Rogue Trader manual. That book was awesome!
Well, It cant be a bad thing... It's not like theres really anywhere else. All the forums seem fo rth emost part to be a touch insular and I suppose neutral ground as it were wouldn't hurt.
ReplyDeleteAnd Haurn - As for setting points, I'm in the middle of putting up the way my group uses for Fantasy 3rd ed to work out points. And were in the middle of working on one for 40k.. admittadly rogue trader but still...
Ady