We've only just begun

Yep, the Expanse is now a year old, give or take. Thanks to Whisk for the reminder and the fine singing, and to everyone for the ongoing encouragement, for all the reading and commenting, especially the tough guys who've kept coming back since the early days.

There's no plan for any competition or giveaway right now, but it has got me looking at a regular more tangible gift over the long term I'm hoping will cover the interests of most. More on that as I get it, and soon if my recharged batteries are a guide to progress.

I'll be honest and say the fact of it being exactly one year hasn't got me too excited, and I've been far too distracted by one thing or another recently to really take it all in. That said, I have been looking back at the various series and projects and getting fired up all over again. Measured in posts and even useable material it's been a wild enough ride.

I've been thinking about putting links to the major strands in a single reference post, but that will have to wait for a while. For now, I've done some quick tieing up of a few loose ends behind the scenes and written up a long list of things I want to get round to at last.

Of the changes, two are more practical. For those who remember, and maybe more for those who don't, I finally got round to labelling the Deep thought Fridays, a series we can expect more of soon. I've also added a row to the graphic menu at the top of the right-hand sidebar for what's been getting the love recently, or will in the near future.

One of the older ideas I'm reworking quite heavily is the triffle, which for me is up there with propluristemic content and strange new worlds as key to the Expanse. It has real potential as a tool and I want to simplify the format, expand the scope and do it justice.

In the meantime I'll be doing some reading and posting a strange new worlds roundup.

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Plasma screams

I've got a lot of time for weird science, or science that isn't so popular, and a pretty good example of that is plasma cosmology. This is an approach to the nature of the universe which says electromagnetism is more important in large-scale phenomena than gravity.

The chief criticism I see come up is there's not been enough work on it, not surprising given that if it is accepted we could well be backtracking to the drawing board of 1916 and General Relativity. Don't forget Einstein himself wasn't happy with black holes, and a layman might even regard some of the work since as fudge, plugging leak after leak.

Could we be that wrong? In theory, yes. Challenging a majority view is hard, and we've likely all felt peer pressure or seen someone dig a hole deeper, especially when there's time, money or reputation involved. I wouldn't say that's what we have here, but it does seem within the bounds of human behaviour. And there is a clear historical precedent.

I recommend watching the vid and doing something we're usually pretty good at - saying 'What if..?' And if the possibility of physically verifying it is far off, and we personally have little chance to do it, maybe it's better to have more fuel for the mind, and new incentive?

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Trunk - bark - object

You approach the trunk, the drone of the voices rising. The body of the oak is so broad that to reach it you are forced to climb out from among the ferns and delving root arcs almost onto the curved flank of the tree itself, up under the thick lower branches.

The bark is weathered and worn, run through with fissures, and rippling with heavy folds. Tiny creatures flitter, alight and wander across the skin. Those voices... They draw your sight off. And then, there, beyond a large curtain fold of bark you see - what? A sharp edge, a dark form, an object perhaps soft in texture... You stare. Dare you reach in?

But there is so much else still to explore here... The paths run up and down from the clearing, and behind you, amid the undergrowth and the roots, lies the dark hollow.

Reach into the fold of bark   Blog One

Investigate the hollow   Blog One  Blog Two

Go down the hill   Blog One  Blog Two

Go up   Blog One  Blog Two

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The pay-as-you-go laser rifle

Have a read of this. Now there's a business plan, and a real piece of the action. But not necessarily for the taxpayers whose money is being spent, or the lives put on the line.

It makes me wonder why in games, books and films the protagonists so often team up with one power against another, whether it be a kingdom, a tribe of orcs, a cult leader with a private army or a rogue planetary governor and local forces. Surely if they were serious they'd supply both sides with arms, or set up a chain of armed interventions?

If the characters do have to use their fighting skills. they could always use the proceeds to support an expedition of their own. A one-two like that is nothing new in our world.

But then why wouldn't they go the extra mile - shift the suspicion and blame. How?

First, the 'heroes' could overthrow a corrupt power and set up a democracy. Next they could whittle the parties down to two and support both financially, then whichever guy gets democratically elected they have arm another power in the world - with weapons they supply - and make that power feel it has friends, comfortable enough to overreach.

Elections are held; eventually the first leader gets replaced with another. The suppliers then have that guy turn on the newly-armed power and remove the 'regime'. They top up the lost munitions on both sides and maybe diversify to pick up more of the spoils.

Sound familiar? Does a bit. Let's be honest, it is pretty old school, rather 20th century.

40K OSR? (12)

Here goes with another full 40K OSR? update.

First things first - if you're wondering what a 40K OSR might be, potential definitions are here.

If you identify with the concept, and especially if you're coming up with new ideas, Colonel Kane's logo, which is here on the right, is ready to use.

If you do use it, consider giving him credit and adding Tales from the Maelstrom to your roll. The last post had a converted Rogue Trader crew member, and before that a set of four Zoats.

As ever, you can find all the most recent related posts using the 40K OSR? label.

• This time round the first piece of big news is the release of Lantz's updated AdMech FanDex; Michael at Santa Cruz Warhammer has a review and there's a short list here, my entry for this month's Army List Challenge.

• Big too was the contest at Rules Manufactorum for a 40K mini-game; the deadline might have passed, but feel free to follow up any of these ideas.

• Also at Rules Manufactorum was the first Alt40K, on snipers, plus hints for homebrew veterans and Master Bryss on points theory, parts 1, 2 and 3.

• Re new games, Tears of Envy has a website up, with =][=MVNDA fiction.

• At Galaxy in Flames Big Jim pulled the Killzone links ready for the update.

• Brent at Strictly Average has a new main scenario; more here at BoLS.

• At BoLS today Bigred has a theory on Forge World balancing the game.

• There's some Apocalypse homebrew by jabberjabber at Warpstone Flux, namely Nurgle's Dark Contagion, inspired by The Lost and the Damned.

• The_King_Elessar at Mind War, ftw! did more of the Eldar codex rewrite.

• At The Veil's Edge Bix has developed a history for the Blood Drinkers.

• Tallarn at still practicing_ has rules for dangerous flora and blizzards, last pushes and team play in with coverage of a Planetary Empires campaign.

• Staying with campaigns, Unite All Action has a first report at 500 points.

• Rictus at Recalcitrant Daze has two Ork mekboy junkas, here and here.

• Hungry Ghosts has more creative use of classic bits at his Chaos Squats blog, with some decorative elements, three troopers and a biker.

• While we're talking Squats, there are some of those amazing Ulkans from pegaminidesign painted up here, a couple being used as Jokaero.

• At Confessions... dwez has a variant on the WD whirlwind, a scratchbuilt mycetic spore and, linked up last week, some classic art by Gary Harrod.

• There's some newer art over at Spiky Rat Pack - a sketch of an arbites judge here and one of a marine here, some previously unseen John Blanche miniatures here, now up at gothic punk, and two watercolours here.

For the wild card this time there's more on scaling-down from 28mm, with Tabletop Fix looking at using 15mm substitutes for Mantic's Kings of War at BoLS; the discussion covered Epic and 40K too. If you like the idea and you haven't yet, you might want to check out the possible 6mm Necrons, Squats and imperials linked up at this post.

As usual, feel free to suggest anything you think should be here, even your own posts.

Update: I've just found Codicium Aeternum, where The March Rider is converting a good-looking Inquisition force, with one mini even using a Rogue Trader-era plasma gun. Also, Nick at The Dice Abide is looking to build alternative DE grotesques.

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The Grisly Grotto

For last week's post at HoP Von recorded a video on what roleplaying is, and it's worth a look. When I clicked through I found it linked to a vid on Quake, a seminal first-person shooter from back in 1996, and watching more reminded me how good the design was.

This is a walkthrough of the fourth map, the Grisly Grotto, built around a flooded cavern, one of my favourites for the character of the spaces and the clever setups. Quake never seemed especially complex in how it populated levels or reacted to events, but the bad guys and locations were arranged well to draw players on and keep them off balance.

This is the PC version and as far as I can tell it's not using the DarkPlaces mod or any texture packs. Watch out if you don't know Quake - it's pretty gory, and could be scary.

If you're wondering why all that infrastructure might be there, Callin at Big Ball of No Fun has a lot of options, and for more cavern inspiration check out the links at this post.

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Following the money, or not?

Has anyone ever used inflation in a game world?

Every time the party brings treasure out into the world there could be a knock-on effect, prices rising in the local area as the new money gets spread about, or those rolling in it get milked.

Or when an army brings its guns and requisition orders and there are shortages of the basics.

What new industries might spring up, and if there was a limited population, what might not get done? Where would the equilibrium be? Would everyone make for the caves and ruins in a new gold rush, or follow forces over the horizon for barter, auxiliary work or prestige? Would new centres of power and cliques appear, or a cargo cult form?

How about a realm leaving the precious-metal standard? After all, if one of the functions of money is to store value, it ought to be a thing that loses little value over time, and the aim of the game could be undermining that. It needs to be a good medium of exchange and unit of account too, but in a fantasy world there might be many things to do it better.

Even in our world there might be many things to do it better. How would our our own made-up money work in a fantasy world? Would it be laughed off, or be a scheme for a smart group to try? Could a pyramid get going, and would the lords and their lieutenants clamp down? Would the newly rich be allowed to take treasure into other realms?

And why would treasure bring experience anyway? I guess it's just a short-hand for the process of development in getting it. Maybe a better basis for that would be number of decisions or dice rolls made, maybe with a bonus for failure or injury, for the reflection.

Lots of questions. I didn't mention currency unions though. That could well be too raw.

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Things that go thump in the night

No pumpkins here. I thought I'd mark the day at the Expanse a different way, by looking at one of the scariest in living memory - Hallowe'en 1962. The world just scraped through the Cuban missile crisis on the 28th, but the missiles were still on Cuba for maybe three more weeks, possibly in Turkey for six more months and in Italy till some time in 1963.

The first and second vids are from the movie Thirteen Days. That mention of John Paul Jones in the second could be useful for gamers and writers looking for a plot. The guy reading a new language is the man in the third. He has a message for an autumn day:

"I wanna say - and this is very important - at the end we lucked out. It was luck ... ."

Those are expensive tricks. They don't make Hallowe'ens like that anymore, do they?

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Who's in charge here? (1)

Following up the discussion on relations between leaders in games, I've put together a couple of cards for a more specific deck. They're based on the fundamental laws of a fictional universe, but less vaguely worded given they're aimed mainly at wargaming.

It's all pretty self-evident. These are themed around feedback and improvement, one of the areas worth looking at. There's not much can be done with two, but the fundamental laws deck is already up to 17 cards and this set should be built up over time as well.

When it does get bigger I'd suggest dealing one card per leader at the start of the game, from unit leader up, but excluding the overall commander as the cards work relative to that position, to suggest imperfections in transmission, wherever the fault lies. The idea with the entry roll on Critic for example is the fact that the overall commander may or may not want that particular person close by, even if the advice given is good. For less impact on the result or the flow of the game, they could be dealt to higher ranks only.

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Scream - hanging

You cry for help, the cry becoming a scream as the cold of the void creeps across ever more of your body. Flailing wildly, you slip further through the invisible barrier, the steady resistance of the field clinging as you go, teasing. Another gasping scream. One more. But only silence above through the torn hole in the earth; silence below among the stars.

Fear... You clutch at nothing, strain upwards, but are almost through, almost out - no!

And then - then - the field tightens. Solid. You are held; hung, swinging down into space.

Freezing, choking. Oil splashes down from the pipes. You wait, between life and death.

Beg for mercy   Blog One   Blog Twe

Offer your thanks   Blog One

Curse the madness   Blog One

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You haven't heard the last of this...

There's not enough conflict in wargames. The really bitter kind I mean. Where are those rivalries and petty disputes in and between the ranks? Following up yesterday's post on points values, and The Angry Lurker's reminder most of all, here's a generic approach.

At the start of the game all players roll a die for every leader in their force, from squad-level right the way up, with the overall commander getting a reroll. This could be left beside the model, or a counter placed; for secrecy, maybe those to the left, which could be matched to a master list.

A low roll represents demoralisation, bitterness at being passed over, a festering rivalry or dirt on a superior; a high roll is recent graduation, a chance at promotion, blackmail over a skeleton in the closet or heads rolling in case of defeat.

Players could be allowed to switch some, to represent the work of the commander over time, massaging egos and making sure the trustworthy figures were in the right places.

Self-balancing in place of points

It's been a busy weekend, partly spent laying out the game. The writing is mostly done, but a key element still to be finalised is the points system.

For those not sure, points are a rough measure of how valuable an individual is in-game, useful in trying to set up evenly-matched battles. In my case the calculation is complicated by the fact it isn't necessarily a wargame, more a skirmisher and worldbuilder hybrid, with RPG-like ideas.

I saw three posts on points this weekend, two at quirkworthy dealing with the issue in general terms - here and here - and one at Rules Manufactorum re 40K, here. Value also came up in this post at All Things Fett on orc numbers for a tower assault ruleset.

Following up on all of that, I thought I might describe a possible alternative approach for squad-level games I've been mulling over. It's nothing revolutionary, but might be useful.

Alien overlords and would-be masters

I followed up a memory today and rediscovered The Tripods, a BBC series based on the novels by John Christopher. I still appreciate it more than the critics in the last video did.

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Looking down and going on

I'm sure a few of you have already seen this, possibly without the original sound. It's a video that seems to have been filmed by a Daniel Ahnen, who may have passed away in the Himalayas in May. It shows a hike along a partially collapsed elevated walkway, El Caminito del Rey, which runs between two hydroelectric power stations in Spain.

The walkway is over a century old and suggests the post-apocalyptic. The viewpoint might help visualise this kind of trek in roleplaying, or inspire fictional travel. It makes me think of Risus Monkey's Karst Chantry one-page adventure, but also this approach to roads in an adventure at NetherWerks and this to rivers in another at Servitor Ludi.

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The withering

A moment of potential horror. It's inspired more than anything by Trey's unsettling post on an imprisoned General Brant and Sir Timothy of Kent's rules for character ageing.

It also ties in with the mention of Heart of Darkness and Lord Jim here and the speed of light here, the arrival of autumn, and some of the events reported over the past few days.

I lock myself away, cut every cable, but it bleeds under doors, leeches through walls. Creeps up, washes over me, cracks my face. It's time.

It's for Flash Fearsday of course, a piece of flash fiction in 140 characters, open to all.

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Lock, stock, barrels, kegs, their contents and more

Here's an idea that struck me earlier, and it could well be a rotten one. Those are puns. It's offbeat.

Paul's Bods is one source of inspiration - he has some pics of a set of model pots and the like, as well as sacks of fruit and veg. They look great, and are just asking to be knocked over or thrown.

The other source are the comments on hugging walls, where Chris of Vaults of Nagoh mentioned improvisation and NetherWerks breakables and movables - both of them well worth reading.

Thinking of wargaming now then, what does a unit do when it runs out of ammo? Would desperate warriors pick up pomegranates if they had them to hand? Would they reach for and wield nearby earthenware, swing sacks or fend off attackers with handy urns?
 
Some general wargaming rule suggestions - they'll need adaptation to specific systems.

• Low ammo - A unit is out if a given proportion of rolls are minimums to hit.

• Impromptu weapons - Each terrain piece is assumed to be scattered with potentially useful items; in the open there is a 50% chance of availability.

• Fending off - A unit with access to impromptu weapons may use them, either at range or in melee; they are assumed to be of the minimum quality possible. A unit attacked in this way suffers a penalty to hit of one degree.

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40K OSR? (11)

Time at last for a proper 40K OSR? update.

It still feels fairly quiet, but with things slowly picking up again. The change of season might be part of it, but I get the impression the sense of crisis and arrival of sixth edition is bringing out more expressions of what we each feel is the essence, more reflections on past and future.

Hopefully there'll updates more often because of it, but you can still find the most recent posts and links using the 40K OSR? search label.

So then, the usual intro - what is a 40K OSR? There are some potential definitions here.

As ever, if you identify with the concept, especially if you're putting out new ideas, feel free to use Colonel Kane's logo, at the top of this post. If you do, consider crediting him and adding Tales from the Maelstrom to your roll. It's real 40K magic, and if proof were needed of that, have a good read of the thoughtful interview with Rick Priestley.

• The biggest development of the past few days has to be the arrival of The M42 Project, SandWyrm's move to write a 40K equivalent, one that's good for competitive gaming, but with rules true to the setting and free expansion.

• As mentioned here, there's also renewed purpose at Rules Manufactorum, with a lot of homebrew - the Bullfrog All-Terrain Vehicle, and hints for creating vehicles and monstrous creatures, as well as Shawn Abreu's Dark Apostle and Necron Recombinants and a Battle Company list.

• Tied in with current design, Imaginary Wars Blog has a post on perceived problems, and also a cautious optimism re the direction of White Dwarf.

• Von at GAME OVER has a proper 40K OSR-labelled post on getting the Imperial Guard and Blood Axes back together, with a proposed mini mashup.

• Auberon at Digital Waaagh! has more Ork madboyz updated to fifth edition, this time phobiaks, as well as a ponder on the squig attack arm.

• Into modelling, Brian over at A Gentleman's Ones has a harlequin troupe converted by Thatguyjames, and reveals a Killzone update is on the way.

• Brian of course also completed those amazing tables for the Heroes of Armageddon charity project, which also referenced older material and featured one-off conversion wonders like the Golgotha super heavy tank.

• Re that, Hudson has the modelling of his Ecclesiarch super heavy done.

• Rictus at Recalcitrant Daze has a slightly smaller engineseer chimera, and had a feature on his Ork vehicles at Bell of Lost Souls recently too.

• On to 2D art, Tears of Envy has the Confrontation art by John Blanche, with comments from Blanche himself, as well as a piece which doesn't seem to have made it in; there's much more Blanche at gothic punk.

• While we're on the subject, Dave G at Wargaming Tradecraft does an excellent job covering unofficial artwork in his weekly updates.

• My homebrew offerings this time are the Wasteland Settlers troop type, Survivors upgrade and Parley special rule, all for Heroes of Armageddon, as well as the Orkosystem Spotta Squig and the living objectives idea.

Three wild cards too. The first two are linked, one being this overview at Dropship Horizon of 15mm power armoured troops, even more worthy of a look if M42 will be easily compatible, as SandWyrm suggests. There's a similar post at In space no one can hear you sculpt, here, looking at developing a design for Khurasan Miniatures.

The third comes via Stargazer's World, which has a link to a supplement for Barbarians of the Aftermath called Barbarians of the Future, inspired by the 40K universe.

This is still far shorter than I imagined it would be. What have I missed? Go right ahead and leave any relevant suggestions in the comments, even links to your own posts.

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Circuses and bread, or good old gamers and the dust

I've had an odd train of thought start up, helped along by the memory of Brian's ruined stadium.

First I wondered if anyone had ever taken a Blood Bowl match off the field, out of the grounds and into the wider landscape as a game of Mordheim or Warhammer, as a riot of skirmishing fans.

I've never seen that done. But in the Warhammer world defeat might see release of great energies.

Then it got all propluristemic and I wondered if anyone in a tabletop roleplaying game ever had the characters appear on the tabletop itself, among the players as if the miniatures had come to life. Had them look up at the giants, wonder how their every action is foreseen, controlled, then desperately take cover behind a mug of tea, or scramble for the edge.

I got to the thought of the soldiers in a wargame suddenly realising they were pawns of powerful figures, that the ideals they were fighting for were empty words, dismissed by many as 'fluff'. That they weren't really fighting for a God Emperor, or their country - not even for treasure or notoriety. Just for the fun of destruction. Or to see who's better.

Or maybe only because those powerful figures - the players - were in thrall to greater forces in their turn and had spent years building up the armies. After all, there's no point having an army and not using it. What a shocking waste of money that would be.

And then I thought, blimey. What if those players looked around and saw their actions foreseen, and the things they believed in revealed to be false? And they carried their knowledge of strategy and world-building away from the table? Off the designated field, to challenge those very same forces? Could the future of gaming be not gaming?

Then I thought, man, who can possibly fit something like that in?

We're either working - or looking for work - or it's hobby time.
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