Gaming in the Gaps!
March 2, 2013 by warzan
With the weekender postponed for a week, I thought I might take the opportunity to share something with you guys...
Gaming in the Gaps
I may be a special/unusual case... I'm willing to accept that, but my time with Beasts of War leads me to think that one or two of you out there are going to resonate with today's riff.
For as long as I can remember when playing a game, I've always looked to ways to customise it, as years have went by I've come to understand the reason for this... it's NOT about changing a game to suit my tastes although I could use that as an excuse... no the reality is something just a little bit darker and more selfish than that.
I want to own a piece of the game, I want to fully control some aspect of it, to satisfy me that the time and effort I'm spending on it is worth it, and that I'm not completely at the mercy of someone else's whims and desires.
Hello, My Name is Warren ... And I'm A Gaming Control Freak...
Yup it's time to accept it because I've pretty much reached the age now that it ain't gonna change. So I'm going to declare openly (if not proudly) that I'm drawn to gaming in the gaps.
Gaming in the gaps, makes me feel like I own a little bit of the game I'm investing myself in, for me it's about finding the gaps in the narrative where I can build a little world within the world, somewhere stable that I feel I can invest my time in there without suffering the whims of the game developers or writer.
I'm not alone, please tell me I'm not alone!
Warhammer 40K allowed for this very well, the designers effectively built a narrative that was too big to break, this was primarily to allow them (in the studio) almost unlimited freedom, but a massive side effect of that was it allowed us as gamers to create and control gaps in the narrative where we created our own factions etc that interact with the world, but don't get stomped over by the writers and game developers.
I built a Space Marine chapter called 'The Sons of Aeon' in the following Gap: [Seeing that little blog again has given me a bit of an urge to return to it!]
1) They were a chapter that was secretly created just as the Heresy was in the end Game - Gave them a certain legitimacy and opened up heresy period gaming for me.
2) They are a chapter that actually carried multiple Gene Seed (to try and overcome mutations perhaps) - This was just a justification to let me try out different codexes.
3) They were directly equiped by the Adeptus Mechanicus - Letting me experiment with scratch building stuff.
4) They had their own support attachment of Imperial Guard (with Titans etc) - Although the game now supports this awesomeness out of the box with the Allies Rule.
5) Were sent to the outer reaches of the galaxy to seek out new territories - Didn't get caught up in the main plot lines too much.
So why even go to the bother of concocting this story in the gap where I can game... I can only put it down to a personality trait (flaw?) where I just like to have some control over my hobby. I suppose I'm uncomfortable placing my past time solely in the (very capable I'm sure) hands of the game developer.
Am I missing out?
I do wonder these days whether I'm missing out on a whole aspect of fun in my gaming because of my reluctance to be at the mercy of game developers. I have enjoyed many video games where I've had no control over the narrative (although I admit I enjoyed the games where I did even more!)
So the question is, should I be prepared to place my trust in the game developers and try to buy into their vision exclusively? And will my hobby be any more or less rewarding as a result?
Are you a game developer reading this, what do you feel about your gamers living and gaming in the gaps of your narrative and potentially missing out on the 'bigger picture'?
How my desire for gaming in the gaps has manifested itself in other games too:
Carnevale
I'm opting towards a Captain Nemo and Nautilus crew type faction, the developers of carnevale have ‘the rift’ which is a great device for overcoming time period anomalies etc.
MERCS
I'm a new player but already considering my own Corporation, or special ops unit within a corporation. There is alot of scope for narrative in this game, and the mechanics are simple enough to even introduce soldiers, equipment and vehicles etc of your own.
Flames of War
Yup even Flames of War hasn't escaped my desire to Game in the Gaps (and I’m intending to be quite brutal with it) - but more on that later...
However there are games where I have not spotted the gaps … yet...
Warmachine/Hordes
I have until recently struggled to find the gaps in Warmachine as everything seemed so tightly constructed. however @stuart has nudged to to change my approach here and look at the warcasters as the starting point. But it is hard when every character is named and perhaps even the fact that there are no 'options' in Warmachine (everything is on the stat card) could possibly be a bit of a barrier there?
Fellow Control Freaks... How do you Game in the Gap? I really really want to know!
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Gaming in the gap. For me it occurs every time I sit down to paint, construct models or play a game, be it Infinity or Kings of War. I think as a table top wargamer I almost exclusively game within my own imagination. Addmitedly you use backgrounds as a framework but I think that’s all they ever are. My own armies always deviate in some way, be it just through a paint scheme or a full background story.
Do you find that games that try to be more than a framework are less appealing though?
I’ll allow that you may prefer looking for the gaps in established background, but there is bunch of games out there that Anatoli (of Anatoli’s Game Room blog) termed “toolbox for the imagination”. Games like Brink of Battle, the Song of series, Strange Aeons, Fanticide and others that have inbuilt rules for character/force generation. Finding a “gap” to make a personal mark against the established background fluff can certainly be rewarding (yeah, they’re X-wings, but they are pirates! 🙂 ), but the above games let you actually come up with a force from scratch.
I imagine that “experiance in a box” games are popular because they give people everything; the rules, the miniatures and the fluff that connects it all. While I like a number of these games myself I feel more and more drawn towards the “toolbox” type as I ponder my future excursions. Besides the fact that I also like to come up with stories for my armies, personalize them and put them in an environment that’s in a way relevant to me (can’t wait to see the EU MERCS faction) there is also a much simpler reason for such inclinations;
the miniatures.
The hobby is in an absolute renaissance. The stuff some boutique sculptors are doing is amazing. Simply looking at some of the minis makes certain rule sets that are actually built to include what you like in the game incredibly appealing. How would that mecha look with some imperial Russian markings, surrounded by WW2 troops in a game of SoTR? What profile would I give this undead Anubis guardian to let him run along a pack of cultists in Strange Aons?
While on one hand this approach is prone to impulse “planning”, that leaves you with a bunch on unfinished projects it opens a whole new look on the miniatures that are out there, perhaps even those you have but didn’t use simply because you didn’t like what they do or perhaps even their original background.
When I started reading your article I thought you meant rules, because this is how a game is really modified, but you speak of the light overall layer of background (or fluff), that’s an interesting perspective, but I would view it not as modifying a game, but fitting your imagination in their world.
I see no issue in any game when a player, as long as he stays with the rules, changes the layer of fluff and I can’t imagine why you have a problem in warmashine/ hordes.
Named characters/ units are just stats with a more detailed background than the unnamed ones, but essentially its the same thing. I see no reason why you cannot take warcaster x, change everything barring stats and go with your own imagination.
While what sells a game is on the most part the background and its miniatures and good rules coming as a great bonus, most of the time, none of them really affect the rules (barring the physical dimensions of the models and the bases they are on, or if a particular rule needs to exist or not) the ruleset is really unaffected by any background alteration or models alteration.
So I will ask, do you really feel a control freak? or somebody who likes to really fit in the universe he likes to game with?
In terms of rules here’s where I’m at.
I try not to mess about with rules they are the core framework of the fun to be had.
I will where possible use rules to ‘describe’ a unit or a senario etc so where possible will always try to use existing rules concepts rather as its always more comfortable for those involved.
I am happy to bend rules during a game along side my fellow player to make the game more interesting for us both and to improve the chances of a piece of narrative coming off 🙂 but always in partnership with the other players.
Thats the best way to handle it @warzan. I also know what you mean when people use the fluff or rules to bend it to there advantage. That’s not cool, like back in the day when White Dwarf had the rules on how to make your own vehicle with point costs and all. Some of the most cheese filled models that just made no sense came on the table. I’m glad that all came to an end.
Since you are not messing with the rules and just reshape the background to fit your creativity, I see no issue with any game or system, after all they are a few beautiful skin over the game system.
Hi all.
Well in my experience most veteran gamers add to their faorite game in some way.
If they are happy with the rule set , they can tinker with custom senarios,add in special terrain features , etc.
I belive most game developers focus on the game play and want the end users to have fun.
I realy dont see anyone objecting to group development beyond the core rules.
However, I realy belive 40k has struggled with its audience since the communication between players and studio has been curbed.The lack of developers notes and ‘defined direction’ mean most players tend to impose their own ideas on a game system , leading to the current dichotemy in the player base.
I like trying out different stuff in games too.
(But this is more altering game mechanics and resolution methods to see if it works better… probably because of my day job as a conformance engineer.)
Maybe some people must like tinkering with stuff to see what happens….
No Warren you’re not alone.
I myself had built up a very similar Marine army with Guardsmen & stuff with different codicies etc, etc. Heck I’ve even created my own warband in Lotr SBG.
And that’s indeed one of the problems I have with the likes of Warmachine, Dark Potential etc.
The options are so tight that the only you can really vary to make your army different from another is by colour scheme. You can’t convert up your own caster to base your story around.
That’s another reason why I like to create my own little things on the tabletop: conversions! I have never fielded a single Gw metal/finecast in my Marines. I just pack some bitz & go orky.
This allows me to really build an army from scratch, just the way it fits in my head. My army is a highly elite drop force, so ‘normal’ tanks didn’t fit the picture. So I take some Secrets of the Third Reich battle tanks with legs.
And that’s something you can’t do in every game. Warmachine e.g. explicately states in the tournament rules that you’re not allowed to field heavily converted or non-PP models. Same does FFG with Dust.
And say I really like Dust, but want to add in some weapon platforms to use as heavy MG teams, representing the army is stationary defending a secret Blutkreuz research facility. I can’t take this army to official events.
So maybe GW being not very involved in everything might be a positive thing for ones
I agree to some extent with what your saying, but almost every game that has official tournaments or events want you to use the product from them. After all it’s a means of advertising and no you can’t just walk into a GW event with Hordes models and say this will be X. They’d laugh at you and tell you put them away. Trust me I tried to use Pokemon models for my Tide of Spawn from the Apocalypse book.
But then there are way more PP-supported events (almost all off them I guess) than there are GW events.
I can easily play 40k competitively without ever going to a GW event, but I can’t do the same for WarmaHordes
I agree on that point. Also it’s rare that I see converted PP models, even though they claim to support conversions.
Sort of.
My ‘Blood Angels’ are actually space marines with conversions to spartan visuals (helmtes and weapons, crests) from various sources, so a terminator with a dory (spear) and a hoplon shield, fits into the rules as a thunderhammer stormshield guy , but thats all fairly mild stuff.
We do play 2nd edition 40k often though, house ruled to accommodate later vehicles and various models , whilst I love simpler games (mercs is attractive to me partly for this reason) I actually think 40K rulesets have been going downhill since 2nd, constrained by having to build on what exists and the need to sell more models.
So I guess from that perspective, we have more or less created an entirely new game built inside the framework of an out of date game. It was a very big gap.
We play infinity as corvus belli intended to be honest, so I guess for me and my group it depends on the whole experience, we can , and have, changed games to suit us, but we also, when we find one that just works for us, play entirely as the designers intended.
I enjoy the simple approach. I go to to gaming with Sondheim,and whenever owned an actual war band. I’ve always used he plastic kits to create my own, this makes them personal, easy to customise etc and they really belong to you. I then went for blood bowl and the same rules apply, no proper teams purchased just kit bashed to Whitehaven to represent my own eccentricities. All game/tournament legal but just a bit outside the box. It is the one thing I look for ok a game, handshake it mine, lineout my spin on it without breaking rules. If the answer is yes then I’m interested.
I go as far as think up my gaps even for games I do not play – like 40K could do some fun with some off shoot of the Spacewolfs, but picking up a vanillia Spacewolf army never ! – or how a scandinavian megacorp would look in MERCS (Bofoss, Volvo, SAAB)
As for games I do play – I do go for a spider and savage Orc tribe in Warhammer, and looking for a good idea as to just what I can do so my fleet is not just an other FSA fleet in DW
just read through your old blog and like it’s structure I’ve been piecing together background for my chapter (kanus legion was previously named the Knights of terra) the background has kind of become a bit much to neatly contain though and i have notes for them all over the place along with a whole sector for them to play in 😉 i think there’s nothing wrong with wanting to ‘own’ a piece of the background and it’s what i enjoy most about 40k… it’s also the only thing i dislike about warmahordes as i can’t really build my own background in there but it’s also a kind of relief to have such a solid background to play in and enjoy reading….
I would love to trade stories on our chapters @warzan so if you would also like to don’t hesitate to message me we may be able to give each other solid advice 🙂
I genuinely believe that creating your own rules for games, or pieces of background for your gang/army/gribbly monster which then translates to colour schemes and conversions is another facet of the hobby – period. That’s not to say it’s compulsory, however.
I don’t think I’d enjoy being constrained to any piece of background. That’s not to say that there isn’t a lot to model or game from any given background presented by whatever company, for usually there is, but I feel that roleplaying and wargaming aren’t so different, or shouldn’t be so. Roleplaying enables you to essentially ‘act’ within a fictional world, possibly to the point of changing it depending on the sort of campaign you run. You are, in a sense, creating your own narrative within a three-dimensional box of fiction, exploring said fiction in your own way, which is what the best computer RPG’s allow you to do.
Most fantasy/sci-fi games fit into this as we are technically roleplaying warfare scenarios in a given fictional universe – for me it’s when the focus gets lost on this that I tend to lose interest in a game – hence why I deplore the standard 40k scenarios and much preffered the 2nd Ed missions which at least gave each player a different objective. This made games a bit more tactical and more fun than the ‘capture x objectives on the table’ – just what are these objectives and why are they scattered over the field like wedding confetti? I know you can easily create scenarios for any given game but I also feel it’s a company’s responsibility to put out material that helps those who may be tentative about doing so – ideally for free 😉
I prefer in-game universes that aren’t set in stone which is why I’m a little put off by historical wargames. Not that I can’t appreciate a bit of history (I love history) but I see little point in fighting wars and battles that have already been won and lost. I feel that there’s little room for creativity in a historical wargame (except maybe flames of war – weirdly). I’m a bigger fan of alternative history, such as Weird War stuff, that just adds a bit more creative spice into a historical wargame, which I know to historical wargamers is heresy – but that’s just me 🙂
This said, even historical games have room for exploiting their gaps. The Germans had a load of crazy designs (like a colossal mega-tank) that didn’t get built, so there’s scope to build them and game with them to see what they might have been like. For me the greatest appeal of a historical wargame would be a chance to re-write history and to have a campaign system where you can “unlock” certain new technologies or units as your games progress, much like an RTS, that would be cool.
Finally I think that almost any system (certainly fantasy/sci-fi games) gives people plenty of opportunity to model or create whatever they like. However I wish this aspect of the hobby was promoted a bit more by the companies themselves. I’d like to see a game where there’s a designer’s pack or similar that helps you understand the design process and design of said game, then offers friendly guidlines to building your own units or rules within it. For me this would be fascinating, help give a greater understanding of the game, as well as making house rules a bit more universal across a gaming system.
I think games can be played either as a narrative or as a quick ‘me vs. you’ bring it! For me narrative wins every time.
On a final note I think that a good game has strong building blocks that can be put together in a certain way to make an experience that the designer’s intended, yet could just as easily be broken up and put together differently to create an experience that was unique for you…like Lego I guess?
I’ve bin playing 40K since second edition of the game. where the rules are based on WFB Those there rules where brutal. Huge pie plates multi wound weapons every weapon had its own stat line . and loads of differed dice not just your scatter and D6 dice. and the stat lines of characters… they cloud slay units. on the other hand units could slay any thing with shooting attacks
since then 3th the game took a big U turn. Some new stuff is brillant but a lot of new rules are just plain bad . A + / – system is so much better the S rules we got to day… things like cover … they have a lot of rules about it but in game terms every body just ignores it.
if your behind cover you still get shot … but if you where getting a -2 -3 on your BS skill
a opponent might think twice .. BS 4 – 2 = BS 2 so he would have to hit on a 5+ .. now that is cover working for you.. also shooting @ tanks there huge , how can you miss a land raider point blank? it should be made easy to hit. + 1 on you BS .
GW has pulled the stats of every race so close to one and other that the only things different are the guns and a few special rules. then Imposing a force organization chart on that army.. some armies just don’t work like Space marines! but everything has to be done the SM way! Example nid book all nid player think the book is not working but GW does not fix the problems. The chaos codex its a load of horce poo. the new units or new models there terrible. its a CC army that does not get drop pods / transports to get your self in combat…. demonicly posses a rino to give it a 5+ invul save because its a demon ! on the flip side role a dice every turn and on a 1 you lose a guy in the unit now thats is real chaos the good and the bad avantage and disavantage..
the 2004 space marine codex was great because you could build your own chapter
with there own little special rules. my nid codex 2004 was the same i could give my nids every option i could dream off. but on the flip side you would have to give all of them the same stuff its real fun options.. my chaos codex 2004 gave the chaos lord a pack of chaos hounds 🙂 not much use but its fun to see a lord an a bike with his hounds running after him!
6th edition is not all Poe stuff like impact hits rolling for terrain and having rules for objectives and terrain its fun.
the seconday objective are fun
but the missions are poo again….
5 missions are the same hose your opponent with fire last few turns grab objectives…… where is the fun?
take an objective and hold it for a turn and you get points
so if you hold an objective for 5 turns you get 5 points, this is a better way this forces people not to only play boring static gunline.
Or to make games fun put in a last stand.. there are no winners and losers in a game of last stand its just seeing how long you last. games like that are a lot more fun!
I got my own alternative rules section if you want to join in or have a good Idea of how 40 K should be played discuss it in this topic
http://www.beastsofwar.com/groups/warhammer-40000/forum/topic/alternative-rules/?topic_page=1&num=15
http://www.beastsofwar.com/groups/warhammer-40000/forum/topic/alternative-rules/?topic_page=1&num=15
Warren,
Thanks for your thoughts. I enjoyed reading them. I think in a way everyone games in the gaps except maybe the hardcore tournament player. I am not, by the way, criticizing that type of player, on the contrary, I admire their focus on the single goal of being a excellent player.
Gamers all have a spark of imagination, the kind of imagination that allows us to daydream, to escape reality, to relieve stress. That is why we game. The difference is how much time, effort, and money we use to “game in the gaps”. In some respects, RPGs are the ultimate gaming in the gaps. But we can learn from RPGs to make our miniatures games a fantastic adventure
During “MERCS” week, I enjoyed the way all the battles were scenario driven. I enjoyed the way each of your troopers began to develop a bit of a personality. I enjoyed the “gaps”. Keep “gaming in the gaps”. You may find that the majority of gamers are with you.
I don’t think you should beat yourself up about this as many games are designed for people to do just that, fill in the gaps. GW seems to encourage us to do just that, make it your own. Why else do they give a section in every codex of painting guides for different looking whatever it may be? They could have set it up as this is the official colour scheme so we better stick to it.
I myself have made my own fluff for campaigns as with everyone else in it and not one of us used the direct fluff from the codex. We all used it as a reference point to branch out from. Because of the developers good work, it made it easy for others to go with blueprint and add what they wish to make it personal.
I started off back in the day when the Lost and the Damned where a legal army. Everything in that army was custom built or converted as that was the intent of that army. From this I did a short story for my friends about a campaign we did and my spelling was… oh what’s the word, atrocious! Still is if you as me. But one part I wrote was to say “bloody soaked” but due to my spelling it came out as “bloody socked”. No harm to my ego as we all had a good laugh at it. Now you might be asking what does this have to do with making it your own? First of all I wouldn’t have had such a bonding moment with the other gamers if we just stuck with the script so to say. the other part came a bit afterwords. Because of that error when time came that Blood Bowl season was upon us, I named my Necromancer team the Bloody Socks! It was a funny team and the most characterful from what the others kept on saying.
So I don’t think filling in the gaps is a bad thing. They most want us to do just that, as it makes us feel more invested in the game as it becomes our own game. Rather us playing others games. Some games are stricter in the plot or fluff and all to them. But I find I have the most fun when I get to make it my own and show it off to others. Thats just me. Nothing wrong with it, even if “rules” are changed to fit your dream.
Thats my two cents.
Well I to have created my own chapter of space marine thus the name dawnpatrol chapter.
However at loss with the gaming gap. In my case it is more of a meta game for me and can I take the vision of the game designer and create something that is off the hook and totally lethal on the game table. Some would say that is breaking the game .
Well no not really breaking the game to me is some body taking the rules and looking for piss poor english, to extort some outlandish move or create some broken power move.
So breaking is…
the manipulation of rules and twisting the understanding of them. Which denotes someone who really needs to get out more in my opinion.
What I reach for, is sort of like taking the tools given and going for the combo grand slam. Games like warmahordes and malifaux allow me to do it more so than games like 40k based on the fact that less time is spent on writing the rules and even less on play testing properly what is written.
So I respectfully question,- is it us trying to really control the game or is it us the gamer trying to make sense out of some of this crazy stuff like trying to use a 5 yr old codex with a 6 month old revised edition of rules.
I am starting to get back into rpg games like AD&D and Pathfinder , Just bought Iron Kingdoms. After like 18 yrs of not even touching them. Because of what I see now with the advent of the internet. Concerning games I really use to like.
Simple point
The first thing I run into is a guy who says down at the game hall, ” Ah man you can’t play pathfinder its broken I know a guy who broke it like this…… You need to play rolemaster…
Another guy is like I only play D&D because it is all I own and don’t want to change so you need to play this.
ETC…
My final point is it really, the need to be in control of the game, birthed from you only knowing how to game bash or is it, because all we see is a thousand different gamers going in twice as many different directions.
Thus you are trying to really control your hobby from where you dive into it. To create this article and not explore outside of the me and my is leaving it some what vague.
Well I got a quick fix for those who suffer from the gaming gap
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcS3ds09ztQ
@warzan As much as I love Warmachine, I have to agree with you that it’s difficult to’game in the gaps’ as you call it which I too love. I think it’s the main reason I stuck with 40k for so long. I think you and I are going to love Beyond the Gates of Antares when it comes out!
I agree. My family is huge into gaming. We inevitably take a game and adjust things for “house rules” and the create our own stories based in those worlds. I think it connects us to the game we are playing just a little bit more.
I have to agree with Stuart about warmahordes. Pick a caster and build a special strike force around them. You don’t get to change their names or anything, but you can imagine what specialized task they were assembled for, give them a cool paint job and turn them loose on your opponents as if they were a special forces unit. Give them a backstory in your head like something similar to the movies, The Devil’s Brigade or Dirty Dozen.
It’s not as in-depth as creating your own Space Marine chapter, but it works. Aside from that, maybe try a different game. There are games that have always tried to appeal to this kind of gaming.
Might I suggest Battletech? Create your own mercenary unit or regular enlisted unit during a major conflict. Go so far as to use the RPG rules to create each (or just the major) character(s). Use the various campaign rules systems to play your wargames with that unit as though it were an RPG campaign complete with in-between-game repairs, transportation, personnel hiring/healing. Use the RPG rules to occasionally play an RPG scenario if that suits your fancy. Use the Battleforce rules to integrate your unit into larger conflicts alongside other units. There is no better “gaps” game than Battletech, simply put. Nothing else even comes close. Of course, you need like five rulebooks to really get the most out of it (and not a page of those books is wasted or repeated info), but it’s still the most comprehensive campaign and unit-management system out there. And if you don’t like the fiddlyness of vanilla Battletech, you could always play every game with the Quick Strike rules.
So agree about Battletech being the most awesome of settings to fit your own story. The universe is huge, the systems complete, and the background rich. With all the planets of the Inner Sphere to choose from, the possibilities are practically endless for creating your own saga in that universe. Thanks for bringing back such fond memories!
It’s not just the setting though. It’s the system. I tell people a few things about Battletech that are true/mostly true depending on how you play it:
1. Battletech is not a wargame. It’s a narrative campaign system primarily, and it just happens to include three war games (soon four) and an RPG.
2. Battletech is what would happen if war games and RPGs decided to have babies.
3. There is no other tabletop system out there that grants the players more creative freedom, both in the creation of their army and in the game-to-game playing of that army.
Of course, all of that could be totally untrue too if you decided to play an official canon unit during the battle on Galatea or something rather than create your own, but that’s what makes BT so cool in the end. It can be any game you want. Everything about it is basically modular. You can season it to taste.
Gaming in the Gaps?!?! What heresy is this? Next thing you know pigs will fly, cows will give birth to cats and the WHOLE planet will be nothing but anarcharistic wibbly wobbly mish-mosh of un-tethered madness. There are rules dog-nabit, and nothings worse then someone disturbing my Line-o-sight by having some wanna-be designer messing about with my rulebook!!
I jest of course. I have some modeling clay here and am really considering giving one of my MERCS a jetpack (ala Rocketeer fame — one time use I’m thinking). I think the key to this is having a great group of friends to try out some fantastic weird rules with. Because lets face it, when you change some basic principals of the game, not everything is going to be balanced as you may of planned. As a new MERCS player, I’m really looking forward to playing with the scenerios, creating my own, and just having fun with the setting. I used to play in lots of tourney’s (Mage Knight, Mechwarrior etc) and sometimes that can lead to an overabundance of rule ‘elite-ism’ .. like waiting for the newest FAQ for better rule clarification, and making sure everyone stays within the lines as it were …(not that this is bad mind you, especially in tourneys) .. but changing the game, and having your friends play within it AUTOMATICALLY changes the social dynamic of the play-group because winning and losing is not the key focus, but it becomes about the journey ie. flying around a battlefield with a rocket pack, filling a battle field with spontaneous teleporters, having rolled a special disease die that causes a soldier to fire spontaneously due to incessant itching caused by poison ivy (this is better in heroclix ;D ). Adding fun and variety is always good in my book, and when done with a group of friends, it creates a lasting memory of (hopefully) an experience that will stick out and can only help the hobby.
I love seeing even board game companies encourage people to make the game their own ie. ‘RISK: Legacy’.
For me, gaming in the gaps consists of using what’s in the rules to power-game. I have a rule for doing this: I look for what’s available to me within a specified limit.
I play several different games. For the points-based games, I like to find and use the most powerful things within the points limit. For the RPGs, I try to min-max my character’s stats and use the appropriate gear.
So Warren you are a Fluff Hunter 😀 ( nice topic for a new video section in BoW).
I’m too like that, for example i love Dreadball and Kings of War for that. Both are not completly defined, they have structures and realms but there is a lot of freedom for reshape it as you will and both allow perfectly to add new specials and skills ( with previous acceptance from both sides obviosly ).
Maybe all you said is what Rick was screaming about and i think we will be far more inmerse in the game if that were the new way for making games.
THE BIG GAP : Making new rules by yourself without breaking the game. From what i know in computer science and knowledge management it can be done a automatic checker that tells you if adding a new rule will greatly unbalance or make unstoppable easy to pull combos, but again that requires that the actual game developers take seriously a more scientifc approach in the way rules are written. One day maybe i will do this experiment by myself.
About Warmahordes… i do love Cryx, especially Mortenebra and the new Convergence of Cyriss also. And there is a gap there for making your own casters using the Iron Kingdom Rulebook!!! 😀 , i think you can make a generic one and improve it adding common faction specials and spells, plus one or two made by yourself.
That’s why I liked 40k and heavy gear, battletech as well in heavy gear I play the south and use a political officer and I name him George but its great to have the flexibility where warmahordes is not plus the rule system is not fun anyway always kill the wizard.
Snap, snap and snap again to everything here Warren. Example; Ive painted my DreadBall Corps team up as the Judges ala Judge Dredd. Fits in nicely with Mantics universe with the cloneing rules for players but totally allows me to find “my” space in the Game. I actually consider anyone who doesnt try and imprint their likes and wants into a game kinda alien to my approach and Id be surprised to find its not the norm right accross the board. Ive a gameing pal thats put together a Dwarf army for 40K using SM rules and a mix of minis from old GW Squats to nicely converted Mantic DB FF. Hes even got a Mole Mortar as a proxy for a Drop Pod. He just loves Dwarfs and I say fair play to him and I think its just cool. So theres my thoughts. Happy Gameing.
A little bit of gaming in the gaps from me:
I started with Ultra Marines. But then quickly decided upon reading the fluff, that I wanted a chapter full of ultramines offshoots which had been made using the recovered gene seed of the first company, slain in the defence of Macragge. Haunted and slightly insane, it meant I could also play around with an odd Blood Angels list with no Death Company.
Kroot Mercs? Sure. I even wrote a redux for 5th edition (right before 6th came out. *Picture me throwing it out the window…it takes longer to do these things than expected)
Adeptus Mechanicus sponsored Imp Guard with not too much religious sides (Bionic Doctrine, 4th edition). British BEF themed Imperial Guard using gun carriages from Flames of War howitzers and Vickers conversions. Now its a Necron army which uses a lot of egyption/stargate themes, the idea being that the “Lord of Bones” theyre army commander, was originally on the wrong side when the Silent King took down the Ctan. (He was their head priest after all). Creates a guy that can feasibly fight everyone.
Not just 40k though. Necromunda, me and friends had a civil war! Including imperial guard verses gangs, zombie infestations and neferious inquisitors unveiling plots by the arch enemy to destroy Necromunda. Dark Angels Fallen unit in Inquisitor, Cthulu warband in Mordheim.
This is actually the sole reason games like Mercs, Warmachine etc don’t always appeal to me. The parts available don’t allow for much conversions let alone “gaming in the gaps.” Maybe you guys know something I don’t, but I wonder if it at the end of the day, it all comes down to open background and the parts to do something else.
Thanks for reading.
(My name is Rick, and I game in the gaps.)
these days I pretty much exclusively play GWs Inquisitor – a game that is 100% about gaming in the gaps, both rules and setting-wise. Due to it’s heavily RPG-style mechanics it was designed from the very beginning for players to be able to adapt and grow the game themselves, which they have indeed done in spades over the years of it’s existence.
INQUISITOR WAS AWESOME! Though it did lack some core elements, for a combat system it was pretty cool. Did you start using 28mm figures with cm instead of inches too? (I found it leveled the scale perfectly.)
A local Chap put together a game called Gangs of Nu Ork. It’s basically Necromunda, with stuff that was improved in Mordheimand a massive career system and all tons of cool stuff. And you can use any 40k race in your (mixed) gang. I’d really recommend checking it out to all the fans of Necra, who wished they could field other 40k races in a campaign setting, fans of Inquisitor and people who like to game in the gaps of 40k. At times it doesn’t take itself too seriously (hipster career – has to overpay equipment and weapons), but you can avoid that for a more grimdark feel.
I’m making a Rogue Trader landing party/trade excursion and I’m thinking of a Maintenance team gang – basically workmen and engineers who have to be armed with shotguns and other stuff simply because it’s so dangerous to go down and repair the pipes for the uptown. 🙂
http://gangsofnuork.lordblackfang.net/
Damn, I never knew I had an affliction and that it had a name. It’s nice to know I’m not the
only one too. 😀
I’m a self creating fluff maniac. I can’t choose another box of minis to build without thinking of a back story to them. My imagination runs away with itself as I see the opportunity the
minis, and even existing fluff, presents to me.
Recently I decided to create my own fluff regarding a chapter sized force of Loyalist World
Eaters who renounced Angron after Isstvan III and became the Emperor’s War Hounds once more. They then flew off to warn the Emperor, like Garro, but they then became lost in the warp, only to re-emerge after the heresy when the traitors were fleeing into the Eye of Terror.
So that allows me to have Heresy era War Hounds using the Betrayal Legion organisation rules (20 man tactical squads, special Destroyer squads of jump pack marines with a missile launcher, etc!).
The other part of my fluff is that as they pursued their traitor brothers, their fury was used against them and the warp fed upon it and began to mutate their armour, so they turned away before they were totally corrupted. And now in the 41st millennium, they keep watch for the World Eaters’ return as well as seeking out other traitors; reclaiming the rengades armour and wargear that still bears Imperial sigils, wearing them as signifying their still undying
allegiance to the Emperor. They kept most of the spikes on their armour though, lol. So that
allows me to collect and convert minis from the 41st millenium according the Chaos codex rules.
Overall, it allows me to collect from both the 31st and 41st millennium according to my
hobbyist whims, and if I manage to get a game with in the future, that would be an added
bonus.
I don’t think it’s necessarily a case of being a gaming control freak, but that it’s more about
being free to use your imagination. After all, that’s what playing a game entails. And in the 40K rulebooks (probably WHFB too) it’s always been said near the front of the books that the rules are just a framework from which players should feel free to adapt to create situations in games that they want to play.
I remember reading some time back in White Dwarf that areas of amibiguity were purposefully left in there for the hobbyist to feel free to create their own chapter or ork/orc waaagh! for example. That’s all part and parcel of the hobby.
Doggedly following restrictions every time you play will get stagnant and boring, so it’s good to change things up and exercise your imagination to have fun with the game; which is the point of playing it in the first place.
You have to remember the important thing when you play a game is that you own it; it’s your game to play and should be free to do what you like with your own fluff in a game, so long as your friends agree.
The only limit is your imagination (and a willing mate to join in I guess, lol).