Author Topic: DWars fluff is dead, long live Warcradle  (Read 16865 times)

RuleBritannia

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Re: DWars fluff is dead, long live Warcradle
« Reply #60 on: February 11, 2018, 04:38:01 am »
Still merging the fluff awkwardly.  Weird wild west with occult themes is very different from much harder massed combat steampunk game, and the fact you continue to not get that, and try and merge the setting awkwardly is worrying.  Business reasons used as an excuse doesn't explain why you as such a big gamer don't get the difference between what a skirmish game needs, lots of competing lists and synergies, and a massed wargame needs, which is easier to paint models, lists that work for each faction without need of a boss, instead because tactics, and fluff that isn't about secret alien conspiracies, but about why your dudes war and sacrifice is making a difference.  Because so far for a businessman you've made decisions that make gaming harder, such as continuity of setting, continuity of game and that big gap in selling stuff which means the community dwindles, especially as your online 'friendliness' of your team has people who want to be critical friends afraid to speak, whilst as a gamer you are creating models that look pretty hard to paint, fluff that is edging some unpleasant racist tropes, and continue to mock those who liked the game you bought.  All the fancy apps in the world won't help if this these basics things aren't got right.  I wouldn't keep mentioning them and moaning about them if I didn't believe it possible you can get this, dial back the unfortunate connotations or give the space of a multiverse to allow existing fans to enjoy the game. 

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Re: DWars fluff is dead, long live Warcradle
« Reply #61 on: February 11, 2018, 06:02:44 am »
Still merging the fluff awkwardly.  Weird wild west with occult themes is very different from much harder massed combat steampunk game, and the fact you continue to not get that, and try and merge the setting awkwardly is worrying.  Business reasons used as an excuse doesn't explain why you as such a big gamer don't get the difference between what a skirmish game needs, lots of competing lists and synergies, and a massed wargame needs, which is easier to paint models, lists that work for each faction without need of a boss, instead because tactics, and fluff that isn't about secret alien conspiracies, but about why your dudes war and sacrifice is making a difference.  Because so far for a businessman you've made decisions that make gaming harder, such as continuity of setting, continuity of game and that big gap in selling stuff which means the community dwindles, especially as your online 'friendliness' of your team has people who want to be critical friends afraid to speak, whilst as a gamer you are creating models that look pretty hard to paint, fluff that is edging some unpleasant racist tropes, and continue to mock those who liked the game you bought.  All the fancy apps in the world won't help if this these basics things aren't got right.  I wouldn't keep mentioning them and moaning about them if I didn't believe it possible you can get this, dial back the unfortunate connotations or give the space of a multiverse to allow existing fans to enjoy the game.

Thanks, Danny, we are going to have to agree to disagree.

We keep going around in circles. We are not going to make a game to suit you it seems as we fundamentally disagree on so much. But the remarks about mocking people that disagree is just nonsense to be blunt. You are taking everything you do not like and exaggerating it to the worst possible point to try and make a point.

We are not letting the game dwindle, you still have everything you played with at the demise of Spartan. We have not taken anything from you so carry on playing.  We want to make a clear statement when products are released again. We don't want to just cast up any old molds and sell them. Yes, it is more difficult than the former but we want to do it right. To us, that means assessing everything. It isn't about us not getting it, we have a vision and we are going to execute it. The fluff is not being merged awkwardly. We made a decision and you have barely seen the briefest parts of the vision. Regarding the world is at war, we have not said there isn't conflict. We have just made it clear that in the Dystopian Age there isn't an all-out war underway.  I am pretty sure that has been clarified multiple times but you keep ignoring it. So on that note, I am going to bow out of discussions on MBS as they are getting circular and pretty pointless.

RuleBritannia

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Re: DWars fluff is dead, long live Warcradle
« Reply #62 on: February 11, 2018, 07:44:28 am »
You haven't responded to my my points over this, that's fine but here is the thing that is currently annoying me. 

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We are not merging the games, we are creating a setting to base games in. There are changes to the setting that impact both WWX and DW.  It would be a bit daft of us to have 2 near identical settings based in exactly the same time frame.

They were two very very different settings.  They both kind of shared a steampunk setting, but in the same way Star Wars and Star Trek share a Sci-fi setting.  Both involve Spaceships, but the aesthetic and the vision of both settings vary wildly.  To explain this in the terms of the games.

1. The scale of the games
DWars - the whole of the world in 1868-76, playing at either an army, fleet or squad level.  WWX - The wild west in the twilight (so pretty late 1880s onwards) with a gang of maybe 10 people.

2 Aesthetic
DWars - industrial, massed produced, historical, practical.  WWX - Wild west, cheesecakey, heroic, high levels of oversized equipment, unrealistic fantasy.

3. Background
DWars - Alt history, with limited changes to history, high level politics, military feel.  WWX - Fantasy, magical and occult, alien influences, limited agency, pulp, mysterious East.

Beyond being set in the latter half of the 19th century they aren't alike.  Your merger of the two represents weakening the strengths of the two settings, that WWX is a fantasy, and that DWars is practical steampunk.  Now that is your decision to make, but that you don't seem to grasp that they two very different games, with very different visions of the past and what they represent worries me, just as you seem unaware of the somewhat racist tropes WWX sometimes plays with is also something that needs better development in the future. 

Certainly you are right, I keep getting the merest hints of your grand masterplan, and if it is willing to accept and develop some of these ideas better I will be very pleased.  These things are obviously an ongoing process, the potential scale of the game vast, and being able to have differing visions on how games like this work is important for the development process. 

Ruckdog

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Re: DWars fluff is dead, long live Warcradle
« Reply #63 on: February 11, 2018, 12:37:04 pm »
Setting aside the incoming changes to DW for a moment, here is an essay I've written where I dig into where I see the current DW background as it relates to our own history:

http://www.manbattlestations.com/blog/2018/02/11/dystopian-wars-and-world-war-ii/

Covertwalrus

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Re: DWars fluff is dead, long live Warcradle
« Reply #64 on: February 11, 2018, 02:29:10 pm »
Setting aside the incoming changes to DW for a moment, here is an essay I've written where I dig into where I see the current DW background as it relates to our own history:

http://www.manbattlestations.com/blog/2018/02/11/dystopian-wars-and-world-war-ii/

 Very nice overview of the original setting, Ruckdog. I agree with the basic conclusions and must point out that you have hit the nail on the head about the differences that make the metaphor of "Steampunk WW2" not such a good fit- The entire DW world is far more egalitarian than our own was ( May even say is? :) ) and one of the points of that is even in the fluff, the Kingdom of Britannia encourages it's agents in colonial lands to "go native" so as to enrich both cultures and build diplomatic ties.

 I think it's the one thing all us original players agree pretty near absolutely on, that this was a solid, credible and fun background.

Fracas

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Re: DWars fluff is dead, long live Warcradle
« Reply #65 on: February 11, 2018, 03:29:20 pm »
I think of it as WW1 in national powers fighting with advanced weapons
Firestorm: Aquan, Directorate, Retholza, Hawker (FsA)/ Terran (FsPf), RSN (FsA)/ Dindrenzi (FsPf)
DW: EotBS, FSA, PLC.
Warmaster: Kislev, Khemri, Dwarves,
BFG: Pacification Fleet (IN), Tau Expeditionary (SG), Battlefleet (Chaos), Kher-Ys Corsairs, Crusade Fleet (IN),
LotR: Khand, Gondor, Mordor

RuleBritannia

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Re: DWars fluff is dead, long live Warcradle
« Reply #66 on: February 11, 2018, 06:24:22 pm »
Ruckdog I think gets a lot right here.  There are definitely technological analogs to the kind of armoured and naval warfare of WWII but by careful work you avoid all the ideological backlog of that conflict, and most Victorian colonial conflict by careful use of fluff and making sure all nations feel at least militarily up to the challenge on the tabletop.  China is distinctively China, the Ottomans are the Ottomans, but neither are shown to be exotic and are definitely the equals of the great power in effective mechanised units and tech, and so limits the tech gap that some of the more unpleasant tropes steampunk based upon can raise. 
« Last Edit: February 12, 2018, 06:05:26 am by RuleBritannia »

Fracas

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Re: DWars fluff is dead, long live Warcradle
« Reply #67 on: February 12, 2018, 12:28:18 am »
I think you can have alternative historical science fiction (SG’s DW) or alternative historical fantasy (WWX) but alternative historical science fantasy will be neither. If you emphasize the science while permitting fantasy you end up with gothic ( league of extraordinary gentlemen with Jules Verne style science and vampires, resulting in mr Hyde). If you emphasize the fantasy while permitting science fiction you get something lovecraftian and eldritch.  Very hard to do both well.

I am not sure why the two background needs to be merged officially rather than leave it separate with implied linkage (Sigmar as the 40k Emperor? Is he or isn’t he?)
And if the two uses two different styles of rules : one with exploding 6 and One without, then why not have both as different games and background. Why shoehorn the two into a shotgun marriage?
Firestorm: Aquan, Directorate, Retholza, Hawker (FsA)/ Terran (FsPf), RSN (FsA)/ Dindrenzi (FsPf)
DW: EotBS, FSA, PLC.
Warmaster: Kislev, Khemri, Dwarves,
BFG: Pacification Fleet (IN), Tau Expeditionary (SG), Battlefleet (Chaos), Kher-Ys Corsairs, Crusade Fleet (IN),
LotR: Khand, Gondor, Mordor

Covertwalrus

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Re: DWars fluff is dead, long live Warcradle
« Reply #68 on: February 12, 2018, 01:40:00 pm »
Quote
I think you can have alternative historical science fiction (SG’s DW) or alternative historical fantasy (WWX) but alternative historical science fantasy will be neither. If you emphasize the science while permitting fantasy you end up with gothic ( league of extraordinary gentlemen with Jules Verne style science and vampires, resulting in mr Hyde). If you emphasize the fantasy while permitting science fiction you get something lovecraftian and eldritch.  Very hard to do both well.

This may well be the best summation of the genre approaches I have ever seen. May I please quote you outside of here on this? :)

Quote
I am not sure why the two background needs to be merged officially rather than leave it separate with implied linkage (Sigmar as the 40k Emperor? Is he or isn’t he?)
And if the two uses two different styles of rules : one with exploding 6 and One without, then why not have both as different games and background. Why shoehorn the two into a shotgun marriage?

 And this is why the Warcradle management and DW players are at loggerheads; Players can't see why this wedding needs to take place, as they believe that better handling of the game financially and availability-wise combined with better promotion will maintain and bring growth, while WC insists that making it more Gothic and fantasy is the only way new players will be attracted to it and continue it's success. Neither wants to modify or compromise it's position ( Though the studio head seems to try to sit on the fence at most times, and kudos to him ), and thus any discussion breaks down in flames.

 It's going to be a long hard road if neither side makes even the smallest concession here.

RuleBritannia

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Re: DWars fluff is dead, long live Warcradle
« Reply #69 on: February 12, 2018, 02:48:41 pm »
We have already seen the problem on this thread CovertWalrus, with the head of the company claiming to the two settings are 'near identical', rather than seeing the difference and understanding why that difference is problematic.  I don't envy trying to defend that proposition.  To be fair, with the exception of the 'dreaming' mentioned in the Nianjing fluff, most of the fluff put for the Dystopian wars part of the setting on the website involves little of the arch gothic feel of the WWX, but does involve these 8 not necessarily very tidy alliance blocs and the 'Great War' just over the horizon, because if it happens everyone thinks it will destroy the world, which again is more gothic over the First World War style, one more push and it will all be over of early DWars and everyone summoning allies.  However, the problem remains that a big change in fluff and feel is being forced, and whilst I am certainly glad that the company seems to be more open about the shift of direction now, I really don't care for it all, because it is more fantasy, it is more grimdark, and it is less of what DWars interesting to me, and as we have discussed previously, it is a riskier business proposition in some ways as there plenty of grimdark fantasy settings out there, and a couple of big boys in the steampunk fantasy business who will be difficult to shift.   

Dakkar

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Re: DWars fluff is dead, long live Warcradle
« Reply #70 on: February 12, 2018, 03:35:45 pm »
I'll be honest, since I've enjoyed the WWX background, and any depth in the DW background was severely lacking, I've always been fine with the idea of blending the worlds. It helps that Craig Gallant has written for both even.
Bottom line for me was "Wait and See" when something real is actually published.
Combining the factions is no biggie - ask any retailer and there's a SKU glut anyways, so fewer factions helps that.

If I was a new person to the game (and now a year plus since most retailers had dropped Spartan, most folks will be "new") I'd be encouraged and intrigued by what WC proposes to do.

If I was a new person, and I read what CovertWalrus and Rulebritannia say, and took you as representative of players of the game, I'd run FAR away from Dystopian Wars, and rarely look back. Heck, you guys make me want to do that even as someone who's played since the first Uncharted Seas box dropped.
 
You've gone on at length that you don't want Mystic peanut butter in your Steampunk Chocolate. I do. In fact, the steampunk media I've consumed has always had a mystical component. I don't see the issue - to me its like complaining that all that "Jedi stuff" ruins the science fiction of Star Wars. Or that having the Vulcan Katra stuff in Trek ruins that. (Admittedly, having "God" in Star Trek V totally ruined that, but that's another story).

I've written and rewritten and deleted several paragraphs now. All the negativity is just frustrating, and over product that doesn't even exist yet. Signing off.

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RuleBritannia

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Re: DWars fluff is dead, long live Warcradle
« Reply #71 on: February 12, 2018, 04:02:04 pm »
Dakkar, I am happy for you as someone pleased for the new version.  However, telling people to not be negative generally doesn't help, and we have had some things published as at least semi canon to judge the new fluff.   To me the WWX fluff is rather shallow and pretty problematic with its depictions, and needs a major rewrite, whilst I think Franco's work and the main rulebooks created for me an alt history I could easily imagine and felt involved with.  Regarding the change to factions SKU problems don't seem to be the reason for the change, since WC seem to want to previous factions, merely relabel them. 

Do you not remember how bent out of shape all the Star Wars fans got when George Lucas added a sciencey explanation for the force with Midichlorians?  It is closer to that in that it isn't an inherent part of the setting but something that is now being rectonned in later.

There is a very interesting divide you are implying, and it could be that we who don't care for this new vision could be holding back the product.  There is an interesting risk of losing existing, committed fans who (myself included) were excited about promoting the new game, but as you say it could be a big seller to people not interested. 

I am pretty interested though Dakkar in how you feel mystical stuff improves DWars?  Sell it to me please.

Fracas

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Re: DWars fluff is dead, long live Warcradle
« Reply #72 on: February 12, 2018, 06:27:22 pm »
I am not against fluff revisions
Or linkage
I would be fine with linking DW (past) with Firestorm (future)
I think DW fluff is fine; Firestorm fluff is wanting

I am open to hearing more about WC plans; my negativity pertains to mostly what WC has said not what has yet to be revealed


I think those that like the current DW fluff are most against the pending changes
Those that think the current DW fluff is wanting, like Dakkar?, is more receptive
Satisfying both will certainly be difficult
« Last Edit: February 12, 2018, 06:57:30 pm by Fracas »
Firestorm: Aquan, Directorate, Retholza, Hawker (FsA)/ Terran (FsPf), RSN (FsA)/ Dindrenzi (FsPf)
DW: EotBS, FSA, PLC.
Warmaster: Kislev, Khemri, Dwarves,
BFG: Pacification Fleet (IN), Tau Expeditionary (SG), Battlefleet (Chaos), Kher-Ys Corsairs, Crusade Fleet (IN),
LotR: Khand, Gondor, Mordor

Covertwalrus

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Re: DWars fluff is dead, long live Warcradle
« Reply #73 on: February 13, 2018, 02:20:42 am »

 
Quote
any depth in the DW background was severely lacking

 Well, Dakker if you're still reading this, I must say and without trying to be negative, the DW fluff was at least in 2.0 not lacking in depth in my opinion, and coming from a historical background I think I can judge that :)

 
Quote
Heck, you guys make me want to do that even as someone who's played since the first Uncharted Seas box dropped.
Pardon me? US and DW are two unrelated games that happen to be naval and done by the same company originally. Frankly, Warcradle's plans for US I happen to think have been great what little they've talked about ( Which has been far less than DW to be fair ). Not sure what point you were making here, apart from RuleBritannia and I being negative and we certainly haven't said anything bad about Uncharted Seas. Ever.

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I don't see the issue - to me its like complaining that all that "Jedi stuff" ruins the science fiction of Star Wars.
Quote
Do you not remember how bent out of shape all the Star Wars fans got when George Lucas added a sciencey explanation for the force with Midichlorians?  It is closer to that in that it isn't an inherent part of the setting but something that is now being rectonned in later.
Well, RuleBritannia, that's not quite what Dakkar meant, as it still meant Jedi were part of the story and even more of an SF element. Though you are right, there was quite a stink raised about it, so it was quietly dropped.
 Actually, people here might recall that there was a great amount of complaint about "Jedi stuff" in Star Wars; Ben Bova, noted aerospace engineer, SF writer and editor of ANALOG magazine at the time wrote several scathing editorials about how the science in SW took a back seat to "mystical powers of chosen ones" several times, like the targeting computer in the Death Star trench run. He and others were shouted down, mostly because the advent of SW did have a knock-on effect in creating new SF fans, many of whom began to move to the Hard SF of Bova and such authors, with some positive results, but mainly because there was a feeling that SF was a "crap-sack American Ghetto" literature at best, and that Fantasy, written usually by posh people with British accents, was always a superior thing for people to be involved in, and that anything to increase interest was considered a Good Thing.
 ( Of course, many posh British authors wrote SF too - Lewis, Stapledon and Huxley were even contemporaries of Tolkien - but Fantasy has always seemed to be more legitimate and thus promoted than SF. It seems to come over from literature to gaming quite a lot; You see historical players who are much more willing to have fantasy elements in their games than any advanced or SF elements all the time )).

Quote
here is a very interesting divide you are implying, and it could be that we who don't care for this new vision could be holding back the product.  There is an interesting risk of losing existing, committed fans who (myself included) were excited about promoting the new game, but as you say it could be a big seller to people not interested.
And that does scare me; Do I raise my voice about what's happening, when doing that might prevent what I enjoy doing being changed beyond recognition, or do I keep silent, accept the change no matter what, praise the new unreservedly and constantly, and learn to be happy with something I don't like?
 I once pointed out in a FB post that since Warcradle own the IP and can do whatever they like, including change the game completely, dump all the old sculpts for new ones and even change the scale, because they can, and we like female actors working under Harvey Weinstien have to keep mum about our concerns or leave and never be involved again. ( Stuart erased that entire comment, though it was at the very end of a long post where I pointed out my concerns were small compared to what I liked about Warcradle's operations ). 
 Maybe that's harsh.
 Maybe that's negative.
 It's how I feel, and can anyone tell me what other SF wet naval game there is to go to if Idecide to leave?

 
Quote
I am open to hearing more about WC plans; my negativity pertains to mostly what WC has said not what has yet to be revealed
And so am I. I just won't automatically say "I love it it is great" every time to everything if I don't mean it. I will heap on praise when I like something, and I can't say fairer than that. Besides, I'm playing the game and recruiting players, so I don't think I'm actively killing the game. :) (I'm so tempted to make a joke about sock-puppets and a certain minis manufacturer who used such accounts on fora to promote himself, however that was a long time ago and I'll end this on a positive note.)

Dakkar

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Re: DWars fluff is dead, long live Warcradle
« Reply #74 on: February 13, 2018, 12:24:39 pm »
I am pretty interested though Dakkar in how you feel mystical stuff improves DWars?  Sell it to me please.

The Cthulhu-route mentioned (while difficult) is the best potential. The literature of that era is rife with "Things Man should not tamper with!" The use of Sturginium/ Element whatever could be destabilizing the barriers between worlds. This puts a time limit on the Steampunk world, either forcing a change or a catastrophe. Perhaps a whole faction of those who've "gone over" to the madness, ala the Pathogen in FSA.

Feel-wise, I often also go back to the comics version (only) for LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN, and all the attendants source material. Going back to the Era's literature, you have Stoker, Shelley, Wells, Stevenson, and others to draw upon. All with supernatural bents here and there.
The series PENNY DREADFUL is another entry that would fit quite well.

And while not of our world, the pseudo-Napoleonic books of THE THOUSAND NAMES world (by Django Wexler) have some good hooks on Magic that could be inspirational.
"History is-a made at night. Character is what you are in the dark!"
-- Lord John Whorfin, Red Lectroid Leader