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Where would i start looking if i was interested in the fiction of the Warmachine setting? I want to get a background of what is going on and some stories about it. It doesn't look like WMH has anything like the printed novels of 40k, but are there sourcebooks of any sort?

ConCon wrote:
Where would i start looking if i was interested in the fiction of the Warmachine setting? I want to get a background of what is going on and some stories about it. It doesn't look like WMH has anything like the printed novels of 40k, but are there sourcebooks of any sort?

There is a lot detailed information on this setting:

* The main rulebook has basic background on the setting and forces, a basic historical timeline and some stories near the start of the current arcs.
* The "Forces of Warmachine: Faction" have history and information on their respective factions and units. They also have short stories that advance the timeline from their factions perspective.
* The Anthology books such as "Wrath", "Domination", "Colossals" and "Vengeance" have stories that advance the timeline for each of the main factions in that system and tend to be focused around big events.
* The RPG setting books have lots of information. The old RPG Book (for the d20 system) goes more in depth on the calendar, holidays, and myths of the setting than the new one does.
* The current core RPG book as good modern overviews on the history and perspective of the various races in the setting.
* The recent expansion to the RPG "Kings and Gods" contains in-depth looks at the economies, cities, rulers of the Iron Kingdoms main nations (Khador, Ord, Llael, Cygnar & The Protectorate) as well as information on the structure and practices of the various religions in those countries.
* The (d20) RPG world guide has some neat information on rituals and interactions that are still relevant. It also has some information on smaller towns that get lost in the scope of the current RPG.
* There are various character novels that focus on both big players, and side-stories in the setting that PP publishes through "Skull Island Expeditions".
* No Quarter Magazine always has at least 1-2 in depth fluff pieces on a particular aspect of the setting. Such as a particular military order, or a background character or two.


Last, but certainly not least PPs head writer/story director Doug Seacat posts regularly on the PP forums answering fan questions about obscure or specific parts of the setting that might not always get fleshed out fully in the main sources. A simple search of his post history will pull up a wealth details you'll not find in any book. He's deeply involved in the community and will go so far as to clarify things that might only be relevant to a single group's IKRPG campaign.

ConCon wrote:
Where would i start looking if i was interested in the fiction of the Warmachine setting? I want to get a background of what is going on and some stories about it. It doesn't look like WMH has anything like the printed novels of 40k, but are there sourcebooks of any sort?

Incorrect. Behold the warmachine books

https://skullislandx.com

Where to go for the fiction? Well, it's a constantly evolving story. Each new expansion builds on the previous ones. So to know the fluff, you'd have to start at the beginning.

Thankfully, privateer press are awesome. They have a privateer press reader app, and through that, you can get all the old no quarter magazines and all the old sourcebooks for a song. It's a fantastic resource if you like the fluff. Beyond that you've got the rulebooks, forces of war:(faction) books and all the current expansions for hordes and warmachine.

Thirdly, look at the iron kingdom rpg material for a deep insightful look into the setting itself. There is loads of great fluff there.

They do have Skull Island eXpeditions. They are all mostly just shorter stories. I have been told the ones about the butcher and Makeda are rather good, haven't read them myself. Other than that all the big core rulebooks have a good deal of fluff in them. Also the RPG book Kings, Nations, and Gods has a lot of good setting stuff about the iron kingdoms. All the books for the minatures game other than the mini rulebook that comes with the starter set has lots of good fluff.
Also there are some full out novels written in the Iron Kingdoms settings. I think that is a direction that PP wants to go, I know there are the Fall of Lael series of two novels. I have no idea if they are any good or not. Found here and here

I've read quite a few of the Skull Island books. The ones I have read have all been interesting. Some are definitely better, though.

Into the Storm and Extraordinary Biology are my two favorite so far. Both offer some very interesting glimpses into the world.

Instruments of War was good even though I am not a huge Skorne fan. I love Caine so I was excited to read the Way of Caine. It was good, but I thought it was too rushed and compressed. I really wish it had been filled out a bit more and turned into a longer book.

Called to Battle is a trilogy of 3 short stories. All 3 were interesting, but again, I felt like they were just previews of what should be a longer book. But short stories are hard to write and I prefer novels myself.

Larry Correia in particular is an excellent author and so far his stuff is some of the best. I know he and PP are working on more fiction from him, particularly something related to Into the Storm using some of those characters. I know they are both interested in that happening, but there are always other projects and things going on so you never know for sure.

"The Butcher of Kardov" was also nominated for a Hugo award. It's quite good really.

Anyway, there's also a bunch of free info on the PP website, buried around various places if you just want to get an overall feel/guide for the setting.

http://privateerpress.com/iron-kingdoms/introduction-to-the-iron-kingdoms

http://privateerpress.com/iron-kingdoms/fiction

http://privateerpress.com/warmachine/welcome-to-warmachine (click on the factions at the bottom to get an overview of them).

The butcher and the makeda stories are quite good but very short, I read each of them in a few hours each.
No Quarter (the PP magazine) have quite a bit of fluff in them, generally one out of every 2 will have fluff of some kind (3-4 pages, sometimes much more).
Personally, I did the bad thing with downloading when I started and got all the forces of books , after deciding on one army I now have 3 forces of books and all the expansion books.

Bullockist wrote:
The butcher and the makeda stories are quite good but very short, I read each of them in a few hours each.
No Quarter (the PP magazine) have quite a bit of fluff in them, generally one out of every 2 will have fluff of some kind (3-4 pages, sometimes much more).
Personally, I did the bad thing with downloading when I started and got all the forces of books , after deciding on one army I now have 3 forces of books and all the expansion books.

It's only bad if you don't want them. I myself have all the mkII books except Ret, Skorne and Trolls. If you like fluff I find they are worth it just for that.