There are several things in the 5th Edition ruleset that are good for the game, and some that are...not as good. With us at the doorstep of 6th, basically killing time until it shatters our dreams of a balanced and fun tabletop wargame, let’s discuss some of the key aspects of 5e, and see if we can separate the wheat from the chaff, determining what we should keep and throw out.
The more and more I look at the problems in 40k, the more and more I realize that most problems with the core game are a subset of a a few overarching major issues.
There are a lot of smaller issues in the game that can be changed without interaction to these rules, but those are the exception, not the rule. More on that in a minute. For now, remember that there are only two kinds of problem: complex problems, and isolated problems. (Notice “simple problems” are not on that list.)
----------------------------------------------------------------------- The Big Four:
There
seems to be some concern that this project is premature- that we
should wait until 6th edition drops before making any
moves, and that no one should be panicking. Well, a couple of things
to that:
No one is panicking. Or at least, not in the way
people think they are. We are concerned,
and frankly there's nothing wrong with that. GW hardly has a good
track record when it comes to putting out balanced games with tight
rule sets. No one's sitting in front of their screen, sweating and
crying over the demise of 5th
edition- good riddance to it, it has more than it's fair share of
problems.Everyone
wants a new edition; that is, what you would classically consider
what a new edition would bring: more balance, ironed out rules, more
depth. That doesn't seem to be what's about to drop. We ALL want
6th
edition to be fantastic. If, by some miracle, it somehow is, we'll
drop the project. There's no need for it if the game's gone in a
great direction.
I seem to have gotten very popular very
fast. I've spent almost all day fielding calls, sending out emails, and
making plans. I apologize if I didn't respond to you in my first
post, and I apologize in advance if I don't respond in the future. I
do read every post you guys make, but there simply isn't time for me
to do much with the vast majority of them. I also appreciate those
of you who put out your negative views, it's helpful and brings a lot
of potential challenges into the spotlight.
I would like to
kick off this project by explaining two things: our organization and
project goals. We'll talk about them in that order, with hierarchy today:
Most of you don't know this, but I love to design games in my spare time. Board games, RPGs, and dozens of things that never even get played by my friends... it's just what I love to do. Making and modifying games has been a big part of my life for over a decade and a half now, and with any luck it will someday become my career.
40k is my big obsession. Despite it's flaws, there's really something about the universe and the basics of the system that appeals to me. It's fun. But it could be better. A lot better.
6th is dropping soon, and things aren't going to get better. How can we know that? Few reasons:
We have awesome birds in Australia! And I've worked with them up close now! But note, no sympathy for an idiot. Electric Fence should have said that.
In my previous article, I looked at the example of Rock, Scissors, Paper in relation to a working example of games design and balance, extrapolating the idea to 3 separate weapon attributes - Rending, Stun and Preventable. We saw that once we started to mix and match the attributes that things became increasingly complex and time consuming to contemplate/balance. Corners would need to be cut if we were to advance the system in the foreseeable future. This article continues on from where we left off and expands on possible avenues that a games designer might explore post a play testing session.
Recently a good friend of mine (Scott) officially set up a gaming company - Purgatory Games. It's a new company that is setting itself up for production of various Board, Card and Tabletop Games beginning later this year. The website is a bit all over the shop at the moment but for those interested can be viewed here.
