The realization that Warhammer 40k works best when players
try to tell a story through their games is something GW has been trying to force us to come to for many years, but, only now do we really understand what that means.
As a club, Fresh Coast Gaming has participated in and hosted
local competitive events and, last year, played in one of the most competitive 40k events in the
country; the 40k Team Tournament at Adepticon.
We have enjoyed mixed success, winning as many events as we loose and
finishing in the middle of the pack in Chicago.
However, our true passion for 40k stems from the beautiful models and
the incredible depth of the fluff written by GW and their dedicated
writers.
Over the last year or so, I have tried to encourage the same
feelings in our gaming community. We've
run several smaller events from slow-grow leagues to a short "Crusade of Fire" campaign. We collectively think they bring out the best in us as players and in the game itself. However, all of that was just a prelude
for bigger things to come. Let me take
you to Ora Recentes!
“The Intrusion at Ora Recentes” was a campaign I put
together to tell a real story through game play, truly “forging the narrative”,
if you will. I took many elements from
past campaigns and existing systems and combined them into an experience that
made the players both responsible for how the story would develop and have a
vested interest in its outcome. I
started with the basics of a great story; setting, characters, and
conflict.
Setting: GW is very
fond of telling humanity that in the 41st millennium, mankind will
be threatened from all sides in a galaxy full of war. I wanted to continue to build upon that by
setting this campaign on a simple world, much like our own. The planet “Ora Recentes” (Latin for Fresh
Coast, btw) is a simple, beautiful world, untouched by the “grimdark”
future. I wanted it to be unspoiled by
the never ending conflict of the 40k universe.
The purpose of this was twofold. First, to quote Fight Club, “I felt like
destroying something beautiful.” I
wanted the players, especially the Imperial defenders, to care as much about
the planet as their own army. The destruction heaped upon the inhabitants of this pastoral world needed to be evident. Secondly,
I wanted to make the players think that the planet was insignificant in the grand
scheme of things, making the big reveal at the end of the campaign more
shocking! More on THAT in another post!
Characters: I wanted
the players to develop their own characters throughout the duration of the
campaign. I asked every participant to
build a “Detachment Commander” from the units available in their chosen Codex. They were to be equipped with the same
wargear from mission to mission and would provide specific in-game benefits if
they were chosen for that game. However,
there would also be consequences if they were to fall in battle. I instructed each player to keep track of
every Independent Character” or “Character” model in their force each
game. If they survived, they would be
able to earn random upgrades from the “Experience Table”, a 6th
edition updated version of the charts from the Necromunda campaign book I made myself. ICs could earn multiple upgrades as long as
they survived. Each time an IC fell in
battle, they would get a roll on the Necromunda Injury table. They could suffer permanent injuries, be
captured, or killed outright, depending on the roll. Coincidentally, all three happened throughout
the campaign. We saw a Chaplain lose a
leg and have it replaced with bionics, Librarians and Chapter Masters be interred
in Dreadnoughts, and a Tyranid Warrior Prime become elevated to near Tyrant
status! Standard Characters could only earn a single upgrade and, if they died, they were gone for good. It was through these characters
that the players would tell the story.
Conflict: This area,
more than any other, would be how I as the Game Master would help shape the
course of the campaign. I wanted to
design missions that would enhance the story, provide players with choices,
and, most importantly, be fun to play. They
would combine traditional elements from the main rules with some creative
additions to add to the story. These
missions would be the primary determining factor for who ultimately wins and
loses the campaign. They would follow a
fairly basic progression going from Combat Patrol to Planetstrike to start the
campaign while the remaining weeks would me much more standard formats. I also wanted to allow two players each week
to participate in a Special Mission.
These would not directly influence the campaign results themselves, but
unlock special rules for the side that won them. Upgrades such as Allies, special Wargear, or
units from Escalation were all available for either side to earn through these
missions. In both cases, the two
factions would each receive their mission dossier for the following week in
sealed envelopes. They would contain the
Primary and Secondary missions written specifically for their faction. Often, the two players playing the same game
would have different objectives and victory conditions that were secret from
each other. It would be up the Supreme Commander
for each faction to assign missions to the players while the winning faction
from the previous week would set the actual match-ups. The results from each battle would determine
the course of the campaign and the missions that would be played from week to
week.
There was TON of paperwork for me to follow each week. Every player would keep track of their own
wins and losses, as well as their Character’s experience and their progress
towards a secret Campaign Objective they were assigned by their Supreme
Commanders. Fortunately for me, and for
you, I like to type out everything! All
of the missions, record sheets, and handouts will be posted on our Facebook
page (https://www.facebook.com/groups/freshcoast40k/files/)
for you to download and use! If you need
the Necromunda rules, grab them from Yakromunda’s new site (http://gaming.yaktribe.org/community/vault/living-rulebook-edition.2/)
There is still one more mission to be played. Once it is over, I’ll be posting a
post-campaign write-up from a purely fluffy perspective! There were some AMAZING moments from the last
5 weeks that make all this work worthwhile!
Stay tuned!
Sounds like an excellent way to game. I am looking forward to reading your thoughts on what worked well and what needed tweaking.
ReplyDeleteWe've been doing that for some time at Shoreline in Muskegon (Chaos vs Guard over many battles). We often ignore FOC's and the like for flavor. Most of the battles geta write up on facebook with lots of pics.
ReplyDeleteAn example of the rosters (for visual kill purposes) https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10201800116990285&set=gm.617440178347825&type=1&theater
ReplyDeletei love the LOTD vs farseer pic. that /literally/ happened in my game with joe. they came in and wiped his squad and him X) 17 wounds on a 4+ invlun = dead!
ReplyDeleteYou did a great job of running this and it was super fun. Thanks!
ReplyDelete