New Broke Contract Blog and Thoughts on Warhammer Visions

Last week I made the decision to give Broken Contract its own space. This has its pro's and con's. I wanted it to have its own dedicated space so that as I go into Beta Testing there is a place where people can find it. I also wanted it to have chapter headers so that if people just want to read a bit of the fluff without sifting through all the game design ramblings, Angels of Absolution pics, Adepticon prep, etc. Instead, they can just click on the relevant heading. The biggest disadvantage to that plan is that unlike 2ndCityWarzone, Broken Contract doesn't have followers and it doesn't have a spot on the BoLS blog roll yet which is where a lot of my traffic comes from. So if you've been reading up on Broken Contract and think its looking pretty cool, please please please go to the new blog, Follow it, and if you have a blog roll: p9lease add it.

Broken Contract Blog

Otherwise, there isn't a whole lot to report on the Broken Contract front. Its been over a week since the last play testing and after I sifted through the core rules to correct any areas that stood out from the session, I began working on the scenarios in greater detail. In the last few weeks I had mapped out how I envisioned the mining complex and created key locations. Going into this week I had written a bit of narrative about each key location and this prompted me to look at the win/loss conditions I had created for the original couple of scenarios. I was using a Victory Point system that gives and takes based on goals achieved and mistakes made. It occurred to me, to add to the narrative feel why not carry those Victory Points over from scenario to scenario so that you look at your night of gaming (or your campaign) as a whole instead of as individual parts? Then I could build special rules into certain accomplishments or failures so that they carry with you so that the VP's sort of act like experience points but that can be taken away. I'm curious to see how this idea goes.

Warhammer Visions

 I wanted to take a moment to comment on everyone freaking out over how much they hate Warhammer Visions. I've been playing GW's games for 20 years now and have been reading WD for the full duration. Its had its ups and downs as a magazine. Everyone has their favorite era - mine was from about 2000-2006 though people complained about it then too because some issues were too heavy on this game system they don't play, or that one. But as I've gotten older I've found that the one thing that I keep my WD's around for is as a painting reference. Long after the rules for each edition are obsolete, and the fluff has evolved, the one thing that always endures are the photos. It just so happens that when I would get a new White Dwarf the first thing I did was to flip through it from cover to cover looking at the photos. Now, when I grab an old White Dwarf off my shelves, generally speaking, is that I flip through it looking for some photo I remember seeing years ago that inspired me.

Now we have Warhammer Visions - essentially a beautiful magazine of just photos. I flipped through the first issue and I was pumped. This is the magazine for me - a timeless reference I can keep on my shelves for inspiration. While everyone is cancelling their subscriptions I'm wishing I was in a position to start a new one.

And on a final note, as people gnash their teeth about the price. There is a push right now to make the Federal Minimum Wage ~$10. When the minimum wage was ~$4, White Dwarf was ~$4. The world has changed quite a bit since then, but if the Federal Minimum Wage goes up to $10.10 or whatever it is, and Warhammer Visions is $12, well that seems about right to me for 250 pages of gorgeous full color photos. That's my take.

-Nick

PS. Broken Contract Play Testing will be happening February 9th at Noon. Drop a line if you want to come check it out.