Conceptual Prep for TOW homebrew VC supplements

[Sception]

Let me know if this isn't the right subforum for this...

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ok, so none of us have seen the pdf rules yet.  they're supposed to be 'as detailed' and as play tested as the core faction rules (not counting arcane journal additions), but that leaves some questions up in the air, including:

1) will there be bloodline rules?

2) will ghoul kings be an option/variant for vampire heroes & lords, or will they be fully separate unit entries?

Some things are reliable though.  For instance, the pdfs won't include special characters.  The pdfs will as include a single muster/roster/army list that covers the army as broadly as possible - ie, the expected units will be core, special, rare & so on.

It'll be up to the community to write and settle on an arcane journal, and while the official ones aren't out yet, they've been previewed & reviewed enough to get a sense of what's expected from them:

1. a few special characters

2. exactly two 'army of infamy' variant muster/roster/lists

3. some variant units tied the armies of infamy

4. faction specific magic items, some of which are tied to the armies of infamy.

For a hypothetical homebrew vamp count arcane journal, obviously we would want to include bloodline rules if they aren't in the pdf already, though again there's an open question there in terms of whether ghoul kings should be generic vamp heroes with strigoi bloodline rules layered on top or if they should be separate units sltogether due to the more extreme differences in stats, mount, and equipment options.  That's something that'll be answered for us by the PDF, not really something that can be anticipated in advance.

For special characters, the obvious choices are Kemmler, Krell, and the Von Carsteins - they had the most recent official models after all.  But that's already maybe too many, and also I would argue that since none of the named Von Carsteins were active in the official time period of tOW, that instead of going in the arcane journal they should go in a separate homebrew 'historical campaign' supplement covering the Vampire Wars specifically.

If we leave the Von Carstein crew out, they we could just go with Kemmler & Krell.  Two special characters is plenty, and as non-vampires they have the appeal ot being equally playable regardless of your bloodline.  However, it is a little odd to have a vampire arcane journal with no named vampires in it.  Do we just start off with the big vamps in Abhorash, Neferata, & Ushoran, despite the lack of clear rules & models to draw from in previous editions?   Is Melchior still kicking around, or has he been replaced by Nicodemus at this point?

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That's special characters, but what about the 'armies of infamy'?  Again, I'd be inclined to leave Von Carstein stuff for a Vampire Wars campaign supplement, but even without them we still have the Lahmia, Blood Dragon, Necrarch bloodlines, and Strigoi which might be a bloodline and might be separate units altogether, all of which would like to have their own armies of infamy, though some might need them more than others.

Potentially multiple bloodlines could be covered by a single 'vampire covens' army of infamy centering vampire units & downplaying lesser undead.  I could see both Blood Dragons and Lahmians working with core blood knights.

There's also potentially room for a necromancer or wight king led 'no vampires' variant.  That's something that people always want, and if the core vampire count pdf centers vampires then a no-vampire variant list might outright require an army of infamy.

We could break with convention & simply have more armies of infamy than official arcane journals, but imo that makes general community acceptance less likely.

If I had to pick exactly two armies of infamy for the arcane journal and we *weren't* segregating all Von Carstein biz to a separate supplement, then I'd say the two Armies of Infamy should be Von Carstein citizen levy with a mix of living and undead empire troops, plus a no-vampires at all Necromancers & Wights undead horde.  If we *are* putting Von Carstein stuff in a campaign book, then personally I'd trade their AoI out for a dedicated Strigoi / Ghoul King RoI, as they're probably the most deviant from the core vampire counts army and thus most in need of a separate muster.  Plus there's lots of room for expanding them with extra units borrowed from AoS.  But going with Strigoi and Necromancers as the variant armies, like going with just Kemmler & Krell for special characters, would mean a vampire counts arcane journal where the actual vampires aren't getting much attention or focus.  Apart from maybe bloodline rules, but those might be in the pdf already.

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So what are you all thinking so far?  Is splitting off the von carsteins into a separate 'historical campaign' book a good idea or not?  how many and which armies of infamy do you think a homebrew vc arcane journal should include?  Which special characters?  Should the focus be doubling down on the vampires themselves, or should it be extending rules support to the non-vampire armies that will probably be the least supported by the core VC pdf rules?

Edited January 15 by Sception