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And it is also something I feel GW haven't really touched on.

Essentially, series of Web-Articles or somesuch exploring the Flora and Fauna of the Warhammer World. These could help to cover the less trodden paths available to campaigning Generals, Mordheim fanatics, and even those who enjoy Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay (must pick that up some time).

The idea would be to keep them very rules light, instead describing each region in a fair amount of detail, from the teeming jungles of Lustria, to the bustling Metropolis' of the Empire. Essentially, free to download source books, ideal for adding random encounters to campaigns and of course, perfect toilet time reading (like you don't read on the lavvy).

I say rules light, because I wouldn't object to statistics for the odd creature here and there, but even then, they wouldn't be necessary. There are enough creatures already with rules that they can be compared to (for example, Beasty X is as ferocious as a Manticore. Ergo, you have a starting point)

What do you reckon? Could do the same with 40k, but explore Planets or Systems.

Is this something we on Dakka could produce?

>>Is this something we on Dakka could produce?

Yes, definitely.

My instant reaction on reading the first part of your post was that players can easily write this stuff themselves, basing it on real-world geography/astrography and legend.

When necessary, statlines for creatures can be developed from the base provided by existing entities.

Anyone else fancy getting involved in such a project?

My guess is we'd need some kind of illustrations for each guide, from nice pencil stuff, to 'rough sketches' by the made up author.

If handled right, this could become a very popular series amongest gamers I reckon.

Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote: (like you don't read on the lavvy).

No, I have a diet high in fiber.

But don't you think GW is a little wary to do this? If they produced a book like this it hammers out the planets in a definitive way and players would have no creative control over it. Fantasy is a little easier though.

But they have a whole Galaxy to pick from, with a wide variety of worlds, from Deathworlds to Paradiseworlds, and every conceivable point in between.

So, sure, you describe a single planet in almost exhaustive detail, but there are still hundreds of thousands, if not millions, for players to adapt to their own needs.

The idea is to encourage more contructed gaming. After all, if you and your friends construct their own planetary system, your battles then gain an extra dimension, especially if you are lucky enough to have Epic and BFG forces as well!

Hmmm... would be a nice project for me as I'm trying to develop my 3d design skills. Just need to find some decent planet tutorials and away I go

What I would do is make a planet and base a campaign on it, then make up the outline forces and decision points for the campaign.

Let players adapt it from there.

True, true.

Perhaps with the 40k one, to make it a little bit more Dakka, and less GW, would be to create our own little area of the Galaxy. Our own personal sandbox.

Hmmm....possible Dakka sector worlds:

Mauleedland: Scathing winds reduce all vehicle movement to 6" per turn max, and cause a wound on a 6+ to each model (ignored by models with 3+ or 2+ armor saves).

Stelekworld: Each unit must roll for every 6" (or part thereof) that it moves - on a 4+, the ground erupts in a sudden expulsion of vitriol (treat as dangerous terrain).

Nurglitchal: A near infinite number of small and grasping vines impede movement. The entire board is treated as difficult terrain.

HBMCore: A long-uninhabited world of lonely and bored machine spirits: Place d6 Leman Russ Battle Tanks (BC and HHB only) along the center line at the start of the battle. These never move, but fire their battle cannons at the largest unit within range at the beginning of each shooting phase. Disembodied machine spirits render all Grenade Launchers on the table completely useless.

What would you need in order to make the world both immersive and playable?

Just a guide to the various settlements, be they Hives or Villages, ideas about the topography (if it's a Deathworld, why. Are there any stellar anomalies nearby) Moons, defenses.

Essentially, cover the main bits, possibly include antagonists and protagonists, then leave it to the players to add the filigree necessary for themselves. Too detailed, and you kind of defy the point (for example, giving a Planet genuinely impenetrable defences will scupper it's use completely!). Other things could also be added in, such as a history (has it been invaded before, if not, is there something dissuading there, or has it just been luckY)

Why not include Campaign artifacts, various terrain type found, Campaign objectives.

I do like the antagonists, protagonists list. Is that like the narrative guidelines at the
back of the Daemonhunters book?

Who would be fighting on this world and why.

Thats the sort of thing.

Perhaps have an artefact somewhere in the system or planet (depending on the scale) which could explain why War has come to said planet/system.

Antagonists and that really just need naming and a little background.

Did I ever mention I have a Botany degree?

i would definately be up for that me and a friend are trying to write up a set of campaign rules for a massive chaos vs imperial campaign

if your interested in trying to write up some stuff let me know i'd be interested in trying to create a sector of the galaxy that we could call our own

I can almost see this being something Forge World would get their claws into.

Intriguing idea, Grotsnik.

I think this is a wonderful idea for a website or a wiki of some sort. I don't see GW releasing this, since it's a little too narrow, and doesn't contain any "rules" per se.

If players give ideas about the least you need to need to know, we can whip up a template.

Okay, legoburner could whip up a template.

Arrr.

I think we need to work out, using existing fluff, how big a sector is, how big a system tends to be etc.

Then we can start to populate it with worlds as we see fit.

What would be cool, is if we could have it malleable, so that fellow Dakkaites could affect it with the games they play. For example, should an Imperial Forgeworld fall to Orks, then Imperial Players, when they choose to play a game in the sector, are limited in terms of armour, and Orks get a bonus of some kind to reflect it. Almost like an ongoing campaign.

Would be a first I think.

Sounds like a great idea and we have the articles wiki up and running on this site which would suit it very well. Perhaps here is a way it could be done:
1. Flesh out a rough template of exactly what to do, along with a couple of sample entries
2. Once people have given feedback for a week or so and the template and samples are a bit more refined, start up a new forum thread with an explanation in the first post, then every subsequent post either a new entry or feedback on a previous entry. We'll make the thread sticky if it gets enough interest too.
3. Set up a category on the wiki (malfred or I can handle this easily), and copy the best posts from the forum thread into it until we have a definitive series of linked articles with the most popular/best entries. People can then make related art and other things to go along with these 'approved' entries to help flesh them out even more and give it a more professional finish.

Spotted something on gamelore.co.uk today...

IT's a 3d Space Map generation software. Seems like a useful tool for our purpose. Wonder if it has web-upload capability? I'd expect not to be honest.