Tuesday 29 January 2013

Development Update: Chaos Dwarfs

Yes, Chaos Dwarfs are on the table! Like I did with the last Nippon update, I'm going to keep you up to date with the progress on the book so you can have an idea of when it's getting close to completion. As such, here's the status on each section of the book at the moment.

Contents/Credits - done.
History - done.
Society  - done.
Geography - done.
Bestiary - done.
Special Characters -  done.
Lore of Hashut - done.
Magic Items - done.
Army list - done
Reference - done

Update: Having finished the bestiary and whatnot which is the main part, I might actually be able to get the book out this weekend. Will try to finish up the background section tomorrow and the army list on Saturday, and probably finish the whole thing up on Sunday. No promises though, I have some work for university that needs to be done as well after all

Update 2: Been working on the list for most of the day (which is actually a nice break from the last weeks of partying) and gotten more done than expected. Army list is now finished, and so is most of the background section. Will finish up the history section tomorrow, just needs to decide upon which part of their origin story I will go with, or perhaps leave it "mysterious" as GW have done. Unless I'll die from fatigue (easily solved by buying pizza!), I might have the list out by tomorrow night!

Friday 25 January 2013

PROPER Nippon Update out now!

Finally finished! The first complete original Nippon army book for Warhammer is done!

Features:

- New history that combines Japanese creation myth, history, and the rest of the Warhammer World together for once - there's connections to Cathay, Dark Elves, Skaven, Marienburg, and Chaos. 
- The Culture and Customs section is the same, but without any references to L5R, and with different religion.
- The Land of Nippon section is also original, based on some material written long ago for WFRP that I have edited and added material to.
- All the Clans are new, based on 8 of the clans from Total War: Shogun II, to which I have added my own background.
- All L5R units and special characters are gone.
- All Clan Mon are completely new.
- There's a completely new Lore of the Kami.
- All Special Characters are new or returning from the 7th ed list.
- Sumo Warriors, Ronin, Red Devils and Kabuki Dolls are back.
- New units: Yamabushi, Wako Pirates, Great Guard, Yabusame, Battle Maidens.
 
There's not a single connection left to L5R's Rokugan apart from some artwork, and I have replaced most of that with more "generic" Samurai as much as I could. I would also like to point out that I have done a considerable amount of writing myself this time, so there's a lot less copy/pasting compared to the old version.

I think this new (and pretty much definite) version of Nippon should be to most peoples taste, I know it is to mine at least! Enjoy!

Thursday 24 January 2013

A note on original material

Though this isn't any current news per say, I would just like to take the time and make a post regarding original work in these books.

For those who might have missed it, I do not write everything in these books. First and foremost, I make compilations of old material from GW, old army lists, and WFRP sourcebooks. I then fill that out with my own writing when needed to get a whole book out of it.
I try to ask for permission when possible, and pretty much everyone has said yes to it. When someone have said no, I have either removed their material, or not used it at all. At other times, I have found no way to contact the author, or there has been no name to credit him/her by, and sometimes I have simply missed to include a name in the credits section.
Point is, I am not, and never have been, trying to take credit for anyone else's work and pretend to have written it all myself. If a book says "Written by Mathias Eliasson" this is simply because I have used the same layout as GW (whose authors do not write everything themselves either). All original authors are listed under "Source Material" or "Original Work"

Have I always been crystal clear with what I have written myself? No.
Did I always do my best at asking the original authors for permission every time? No.
Am I trying to improve on it? Yes.

Seeing as there have been a few people who like to call me a "thief" for using other peoples material instead of writing everything myself from scratch (the fact that I have even gotten permission from a lot of people doesn't seem to matter), I'd like to reitarate:

- I don't write all the background myself.
- I don't do most of the artwork myself.
- I don't do all the graphics myself.
- Not every single rule is my original idea.

What I do however, do:

- I write parts of the background myself.
- I do some of the artwork (though not much) myself.
- I do some of the graphics myself.
- Most of the rules are my original ideas.
- I compile all material.
- I edit all material.
- I do the book's layout.
- I write the rules.
- I collect feedback and update the rules.

I am a games designer first and an author second. I wish I had the time to write everything myself, but I don't. I have a life outside Warhammer, and I would like to keep it that way.
But that said: if I have used your material at any point without asking for permission first, I would like to apologize for not doing so beforehand.
If you feel this has been done unfairly, and you would like me to remove those parts, I will do so.
If you have written something that you haven't been credited for, either send me an email or write in the comments, and I will add you to the credits section.
All books will from now on  read "Compiled, Edited & Partly Written by" instead of "Written by" or "Written/Edited by", and the names of the people involved in each WFRP sourcebook will be listed rather than just the book itself.

If anyone wants to use anything I've written, they are free to do so. Also note that I do not make any money out of this. In fact, I have spent a considerable sum on acquiring books and magazines with the sole purpose of making these army books for the community. Why? Because I love this hobby and the world behind it, and want as many people as possible to have to chance of experiencing every facet of it. Simple as that.

Thursday 10 January 2013

Development update: Nippon

Glad to say this project is not falling behind! As luck would have it, I've found some material written for Nippon close to a decade ago by a certain Andrew Fawcett (whom hopefully would be okay with me using it here, have been unable to find his contact info), which will really speed up the geography section.

As a whole, here's a quick run-down on the current state of the book:

Contents/Credits  - done
History - done.
Society & Culture - done.
Clans - done.
Geography - done.
Bestiary - done.
Special Characters - done.
Lore of the Kami - done.
Clan Mon - done.
Magic Items - done.
Army list - done.
Reference - done.

Still aiming for a January release, have time off from university until January 21st, so might be able to finish it until then. As it turns out, this new version might actually be even longer than the current one, despite the removal of most L5R material! If you want to have an idea about when it's getting closer to release, check back to this post later on as I'll update it when I finish another section.

Wednesday 9 January 2013

Warhammer Expansion: Special Characters out now!

Phew, that took longer than expected! Clocking in at 155 pages and containing a total of 127 special characters from GW's earlier publications without current rules for 8th edition, this book is pretty extensive as far as that goes. You will find all (as far as I know) characters from previous army books, Warhammer campaigns and  White Dwarf articles here, all playable in 8th edition.

All characters follow their old rules as closely as possible, as I have tried to be as true as I could to their originals. As such, this book  doesn't contain any new material as much as it contains modern versions of the old classics, so this is more for nostalgia than anything else. Future versions might add the current special characters as well for a more complete version, and remove some of the less interesting ones that doesn't really add much to the game in either rules or fluff.

NOTE: This only contains those characters that have not been updated to 8th ed in any other of my books, or are not part of GW's current books.

Anyway, here are the links, I'm off to lunch!

Download:
http://issuu.com/m4cr1ii3n/docs/warhammer_expansion_-_special_characters 
http://www.scribd.com/doc/119609243/Warhammer-Expansion-Special-Characters