Narrative Play: What Would You Like to See?

[hobgoblinclub]

With Narrative Play on the way I'm wondering what this will entail.  I started writing campaign rules a while back but stopped when news of the General's Handbook dropped.  Here's what I'd love to see in there:

1. Rules that allowed for the use of a Might Empires style hex map.  I want to be able to capture the map and get bonuses for collecting hexes.  Maybe even special bonuses for capturing certain strategic hexes.
2. I'd also like to see heroes/generals grow in power over the campaign.  Maybe they get new weapons or maybe even new abilities!
3. It would be great if we saw rules that accounted for the movement of troops across the hex map, as long as it didn't get to messy and complex.  If a battle takes place in a given location, you can't use Unit X because they're elsewhere on the map, or they're on the other side of the mountains.  

There's loads of other cool stuff that could go in there but those are the ones I keep coming back to.  What do you want to see?

[Soulsmith]

I would love for them to bring back a return to mighty empires, it was always great fun. General campaign stuff too, smaller battles or missions affecting larger battles or income for a turn, like the old old generals compendium campaign rules.

[Brunel.Richard]

I hope we see expanded Path To Glory rules that allow non-chaos warbands (very pleased that this has been hinted/suggested at) and new non-army specific tree campaigns like we saw in The Grudge Of Drong etc. Lots of varied Battleplans and alternate play styles.

Not all that keen on Might Empires. IME, the problem with Mighty Empires-style campaigns is that the weight of extra territory and army management rules drags down on the actual playing of the game. You spend an hour working which of your armies can fight, what is in the army and where they are fighting, and after the game there is another hour of post game book keeping. And then after a few rounds some armies get so powerful that the other payers avoid them and it becomes a game of abstract army manoeuvres and forced marches not a tabletop battle game. You need a extremely dedicated group with lots and lots of time on their hands to make it work. It could be an amazing thing but getting the right conditions to make it happen in the right way is really hard. 

 

[Shane]

There's a lot I'd like to see and then what I expect to see.

What I expect is an expansion of The Path to Glory campaign supplement that was released last year (in e-format for Chaos only). This will be expanded so that any army can take part through a series of linked battles with a victory condition. We've seen magic items in Times of War option rules; similar tables for our heroes to gain abilities/stats/etc.

One thing I would like to see is the addition of burn cards. Perhaps you'd get them like treasure. These would be one use only cards your hero could acquire. Maybe they allow a re-roll, or make his weapon cause double damage for a turn. They did this at a WHW AoS event.

Narrative is what GW state is at the core of AoS' design. I therefore expect the Narrative section of the handbook to be strong.

 

[hobgoblinclub]

6 hours ago, Brunel.Richard said:

You spend an hour working which of your armies can fight, what is in the army and where they are fighting, and after the game there is another hour of post game book keeping. 

This is what they'll have to work hard to avoid. AoS is streamlined without being simplistic. It's a deep ruleset but very fluid to play. They need to find a balance between giving us a deep, immersive campaign structure whilst avoiding mushy book keeping afterwards. 

 

6 hours ago, Shane said:

Narrative is what GW state is at the core of AoS' design. I therefore expect the Narrative section of the handbook to be strong.

Agree wholeheartedly. Although I tend to err towards matched play and balance, I'd love a really strong narrative thread to get hold of to give our actions purpose and long term goals. 

[Shane]

4 minutes ago, hobgoblinclub said:

Agree wholeheartedly. Although I tend to err towards matched play and balance, I'd love a really strong narrative thread to get hold of to give our actions purpose and long term goals. 

My friends like points so I won't have a choice once this book is out (hence why I want but don't expect them to point cost formations; which would be a really simple solution to them). 

My aim is to blend the two. Start with X points of a warband and then use the Narrative play rules (whatever they shall be).

[Xemenes]

Honestly the campaign stuff has the most potential for me in the generals handbook. I always love fluffy armies and the scenarios released so far are great. Rules for warbands and campaign maps would be great, buffs for generals and magic items would be really fun too. Nothing needs to be too powerful but enough to feel like a story is beong developed. I just hope i can gather people to play such a campaign haha.

[hobgoblinclub]

Exactly what we're planning @Shane.  I started writing a campaign starting at 20 SCGT pool points and gaining pools as you take control of hexes on a map.  I've shelved it all since the General's Handbook was announced though.  Hoping to get things up and running campaign-wise at the end of the summer.

[Lord_Marrowbroth]

I think if we get an expanded Path of Glory for all factions. That Narrative play will take off. Having people invest more in a character to watch them level and grow. We already have scenarios to recreate battles from lore which is fantastic. But if I get to take a ghoul courtier all the way from deranged cannibal to surviving long enough to transform into a Ghoul princeling or a Varghulf I'll be happy.

 

But throw in kind of an outline for a grand campaign for the realms. Then I can see more people getting into AoS.

[Dangermouse425]

My gaming group and I absolutely LOVE Mordheim. We've played a few campaigns and even made a scratch-built gaming board from Hirst Arts blocks.

I would love to see two things from Narrative Play. A way to conduct large campaigns, using armies, like others have mentioned above. Secondly, a way to reflect the old Mordheim campaigns, using small warbands of a few individual models. The ability to gain experience, collect loot and suffer injuries would be a fantastic way to play a Narrative game of AoS using a few small models.

I suspect the former will be the core concept of Narrative play, with the latter being left until the Specialist Games reboot of Mordheim in a few years. Fingers crossed though!

[Veterannoob]

Yeah, character development, even at the "champion" level would be nice. I'd also love to see rules for morale and loyalty in longer protracted conflicts. So of you run a narrative campaign say into the third month or whatever your troops me start to waver or lose confidence or turn to the dark side or some turn traitor or get the plague (or other Oregon Trail uh-ohs), whatever. Just like HHeresy does pretty good in campaigns with trying to represent some of the psychological aspects of such a ****** war situation to be in. 

[DeadlySarcasm]

As others have already said, a path to glory style campaign for all races would be awesome! It certainly works as a concept for orruks.

I can see magic items/hero customisation coming into narrative play, and a system where your hero gets stronger and stronger would be cool. You could then have a character die in glorious battle and someone else has to take over the warband.

Some interesting multiplayer battle plans would be a great addition as well. Something like order and chaos are having a fight and then some orruks turn up and just start smashing everything!

 

[mhsellwood]

I was re-reading the Realms of Chaos: Slaves to Darkness and thinking about how cool the warband and character creation rules are. Only problem is that with the potential results one player could have a worse than basic human with a couple of basic humans in their warband, while another player has got a better than lord level warrior with minotaurs and wizards. Can be fun on occasion but not really ideal.

So, I would like to see a process for random generation of warbands for each major race but a bit more consistent and comparable (i.e. while one player may randomly generate 10 Longbeards, and another generates 3 Demigryphs, they are actually reasonably balanced against each other). Then a process for a post game sequence to track changes, but overall an upwards trend. This would enable new units, magic weapons, new skills etc. and overall everybody changes and develops and improves but not too massive shifts in comparative power levels between successful players and unsuccessful.

Developing a story should be placed in the players hands - it would be great to see some suggestions from GW, and perhaps a fully worked example of a narrative campaign setting but ultimately power to the players should be the goal. 

[Darth Alec]

I'm expecting an update on the Lords of Battle stuff from the End Times. In case anyone missed it, it was a set of 5-6 missions linked in a campaign tree. You could also add various traits for the leaders of each faction, and deploy strategems for each battle. Was pretty amazing. I considered updating it for AoS, but I'd rather see what the General's Handbook has to offer.