Let's Discuss Space Bugs

Tyranid Hive Ship by Zen Master

Rafael Paiva here, and I want to start a little discussion about Space Bugs in this new system.

Design By Exception

'Skin Deep' by MichaelO

TheDaR here. The term "design by exception" is one I originally came across in RPG design several years ago.  The people using it meant it to mean the process of creating rules in a somewhat ad hoc fashion, starting from basic rules that were as simple as possible, and then layering any necessary rules to handle special cases on top of those basic rules.

What We'll Call Stuff...

Space Elf Yra by cashmerekiss

SandWyrm here. I'm still working on those preliminary movement rules, but I thought that I'd offer up a cool idea for how to name our Space Elves and some other races. Plus some thematic stuff.

Suppressive Fire

Giuseppe Rava. Red Devils.

Rafael Pava here. In a game where tactical movement and reactive turn sequences are so important, the ability to limit your enemy's actions and maneuver him to where you want him to stay is a big deal. To achieve that, we have decided that Suppressive Fire (SF) should be implemented in addition to the pinning system.

Moving Around the Battlefield

Y. Pimenov. On the front road.

Watchwood  here. There's been a fair bit of chatter lately about how many of unit X can unit Y kill in a round - but what about getting them there?  I've been advocating movement speed as a unit stat since nearly the start of the project, and I think it's time to examine the notion in a bit more detail.

Effectiveness of Small Arms Shooting

N. Tolkunov. Immortality. Brest, 1941.

Eriochrome here. When building the game, it is important to think about how effective we want shooting to be.

Going To Bang Out Some Movement Rules

N. Prisekin. Baltic: human bridge.

Ok, heads up. I'm going to take a few days off from posting to bang out a set of Alpha-quality movement rules for us to discuss. Should be done by Sunday.

I know a couple of the other authors are working on posts, so there should be something to read in the meantime. If you have any specific wishes/thoughts about movement, please leave them in the comments.

-SandWyrm

Shooting Discussion

G. Marchenko. On the outskirt of Stalingrad.

I've been asked a question privately about how shooting will work in M42. So here's a rundown of what I have in mind so far. Keep in mind that none of this is set in stone or anything.

Wrap Up: Our Overall Development Goals

B. Nikolaev. Spring 1945.

It's time to wrap up the discussion on our major development goals. Here's the updated list.

Our Cast Of Factions?

Watchwood here. I've been putting a little thought into armies. We took a good hammering to Marines and Chaos, but there's a whole realm of armies out there at are more then just those 2. I've summarized both of them at the top of the list as well. We can go into detailed mechanics for the individual races in later posts, but I think it'd be good to sort out the basics for all of them in a batch so that it all comes together nicely.

No More One-Man Show

Ok, it's time to add some more authors to the blog. As there's just no way that I can maintain a daily posting schedule by myself. The following guys have all done a great job contributing their thoughts in the comments, so it's time to promote them. :)

What Table Size?

Cerebus The Last Supper by Chris Samnee

ColKg brought up a good point in the comments to my last post. We need to discuss what our regulation table sizes will be at various point levels.

What About Bolters?

Rusty Bolt. Chris Gentes

I'm thinking that Bolters need a re-think. In the Space Marine fluff, they're rocket powered mini-grenade launchers. So how can we better show this in their rules?

Lascannon Idea

Here's an idea I have for a reworked Lascannon mechanic. You guys can tell me what you think of it.

Wrap Up: Our Marine Strategy

Space Marine. Tony Lewin

The general consensus seems to be that our "Space Marines" (or whatever we end up calling them) should be, if anything, more elite and heroic than they are now. Falling in power somewhere between the so-called "Movie Marines" and their current 40K power level. In short, they should be a hard-hitting shock force that must concentrate it's power in order to win. If they spread out and lose focus, they will die.

To Pre-Measure, Or Not?

Simple question. Do we allow players to pre-measure, or not?

-SandWyrm 

Our Overall Development Goals

V. Puzirkov. Black Sea Marines.

Ok, so let's talk about what our overall goals should be during the development of this game. Basically, how will be measure the success of the design compared to 40K?

Wrap Up: Our Underlying Assumptions

Star Wars Concept. Ralph McQuarrie

Ok, so it looks like we have a consensus on the following as the most basic elements of 40K that we wish to keep as the foundation our game:

And What Of The Chaos Marines?

Daemon Knights. Ketai Kotaki

So... If we intend to go more elite with the 'Good' Knights/Marines, making them fewer in number and more heroic than in 40K, then what should be the general direction of the Chaos Traitors? How do we convey their villainy and power? Slaves? Smaller numbers of actual Marines? All ideas are welcome.

-SandWyrm 

How Can We Make Marines More Real?

Captain America And Superman, by Alex Ross

The discussions so far are all going swimmingly; but I'm sensing an undercurrent that needs to be addressed. That being the question: "How are we going to make marines real?" Because I think the answer to that question will inform many of the high-level choices that we make about our game.

Taking Turns: I Go, You Go?

Thirsty Work, by Mike Shaughnessy

There seems to be a fair bit of support for the idea of breaking up the standard 40K turn structure a bit into some version of "I Go, You Go". While I was initially sour on this concept, I've come around to liking it quite a bit. Because I think that it potentially solves a lot of problems. Let's go through the advantages that I see...

Setting An Agenda For Our Discussions

Watchwood has asked that I post some sort of list of design subjects that we'll be discussing and when. Here's a preliminary list based on my own design notes...

The First Broad Strokes Of A New 40K

G. Korzhev. During the War

So we want to make a new 28mm Sci-Fi wargame. Where do we start? Well, I think we start as an artist, with a blank canvas in front of him, would begin. With the broad strokes. The big decisions. We start by setting the underlying assumptions upon which everything else we do will be based. The limits that we will initially impose on ourselves, so that our creativity doesn't take us off into left field and away from our goals.

Change Is Coming...

A.Mikhailov. Bitter bread

Can you feel it? There's a palpable sense of dread befalling 40K these days. A sort of unconscious collective understanding that 40K and it's creator, Games Workshop, cannot continue in their current form. That the game/company is, in some sense, doomed. That it's players are just biding their time until the hammer finally falls sometime in the next 2 years. After which our little competitive community might well die on the vine.