BLOOD LINES

So how would a BLOOD stat line look then. We’ve been debating it, we’ve been side tracked. But I think I can give a run down of the stats as I see them, looking at Zhu’s original ideas, a generic stat line and my preferred but more fantasy orientated stat line. None are right but I guess we do need to hone in on a set soon or spend too long getting nowhere.

So here are the various stat line ideas:

And here is how a BLOOD line may look:

You will no doubt notice how I have increased the number of stats, didn’t classic British war-games rules have enough stats I here you cry?  Well yes but the stats included are ones that would be recorded in any case except for disorder. This is a value between 1 and 10 telling us all how Kaotic a being is. Useful because we can then give chances of mutation to individuals or units without expressly mentioning it in each races write up.  The other stats being BLOOD price or the cost of a single model and Lore an expression for those of a magic casting nature of how much magical energy they have to power spells.

There are other perhaps more obvious reasons to include other stats…

You will also notice that the points cost of a regular human is 8pts! And that they can only move 3.5”! Well in a fantasy world the basic soldier is going to be lightly armoured and carry a shield. If you feel like having troops more lightly armoured, say skirmishers or militia, then dispense with the shield or light armour and get points off. Perhaps 1 and 2 points respectively to pick some numbers out of the air. I think it would be reasonable if you gave up your shield or light armour to assume you could move better and so an extra 0.5” on your swiftness would seam appropriate. These numbers just come naturally to my head but they seam right.

Anyway pleas do let me know your thoughts on the BLOOD line, what’s wrong what’s right?

BLOOD world?

So orlygg has suggested working on the background for any retro clone we may come up with.

Personally I think his ideas sound great, I'd be well up for helping flesh them out, if he wants help that is. But, I think the core BLOOD rules should be background-less. There should be no official BLOOD world, rather it would be great to see a multitude of different BLOOD worlds. Every ones BLOOD after all is subtly different but we all need it..

The possibility could exist  to have a multitude of fan settings and or commercially available world settings, assuming of course there are a multitude of people asking for the stuff.

So rather than discuss this topic under thoughts on BLOOD rules or BLOOD law I thought it needed its own space.

What are your thoughts on having an official BLOOD world? Yes, no, sort of but?

BLOOD WAR: In law there is only battle.

So what's the legal standing of our retro-clone project? and what of our contributions to this blog?

Developing a project like BLOOD WAR ( Bucket Loads of Old Dice WAR - a retro-clone of Warhammer) is a minefield of misunderstandings and potential conflict.

Do we, as the authors want to financially gain from our hard work?
Do we want other people to be able to financially gain from our hard work?

I don't know the answers, but unless we're all clear on where we stand with it then there will be trouble ahead.

Bruno suggested this Creative Commons license:

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

I think it's the right way forward and I hope all contributing editors / authors can agree to it as a legal framework, we can stick the icon on the blog, forget about it and get on with the gaming!


But if anyone reading that license has any questions, queries or concerns then drop a comment. I've no intention of trying to railroad this through.

I should also note that I have had personal correspondence suggesting the OGL might be a good framework so check-out OSRIC and it's license to give an idea of how that works too.

BTW, none of this provides us with legal protection against claims of infringement of other companies copyrights, it's just about making it clear what people can do with the things we post here.

BTW II, The OLDHAMMER: In Battle There Is No Law banner / logo is released under  CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 which basically means you can use and share it freely, but not modify or do anything commercial with it. 

News: Oldhammer makes it onto TMP.

A nice bat rep by Blacksmith on his Javier at War Blog has also been posted on TMP. TMP has to be the biggest outreach tool for Oldhammer evangelizing so many thanks Blacksmith.

Is it time we all started posting on our favorite forums with Oldhammer in the title? I have seen a bit of it going on I should endeavor to catalog the first appearances!

To strike with buckets of dice formula.

I’ve taken Zhu’s profile and used it to come up with the following formula. I figured that the base chance to strike your opponent should be stepped rather than linear. Not sure why I thought this but it proved tricky to come up with a formula. Therefore by necessity, unless anyone can prove me wrong, the base to strike value is calculated in two stages:

First, if the attackers CS is odd then +1 on to the defenders CS if also odd. If the attackers CS is even then +1 onto the defenders CS if also even.

Then:

(DCS-ACS+9)/2

Now add modifiers.

A 1 is always a miss and numbers over 6 need a 6 followed by 11-to strike value.

To target =7-RS

Now add modifiers

To damage =R-F+4

Also a few possible changes to the stat line, should R be resilience rather than resistance? Should Stoopidity be Br Brains?  How about Tm Temperament instead of Kl.

Finally how about B.O.D. Buckets of Dice as a name?

The Golden Gobbo

Headnhalf has completed the Golden Gobbo illustrations and they look brilliant. A big thanks to him for all his hard work. He has really captured the look and feel of the style I think we are all going for; Old School with a New School Flavour.

       

Now I want to open up a debate about what to do with him. I have had a few ideas to get us going but I am sure that between us all we can develop something really useful from Headnehalf's work.

1) I would like a banner/image, similar to the Oldhammer one we have on our blogs, to help advertise and celebrate the Golden Gobbo painting competition. I would even begin to know how to use Photoshop to do this so I am hoping there will be a kind soul willing to do if for me.

2) Secondly, he needs a name; see my blog about that!

3) Thirdly, I thought it would be a fantastic idea to use him in much the same way WD used the White Dwarf  symbol on the magazine. Small, in the corner - denoting the number of the fanzine etc. Brands need recognisable images after all.

Thoughts?

Editing the Oldhammer Fanzine.

So with all this activity I thought it worth mentioning the idea of editing the pieces people are preparing.

I think ensuring the quality and readability of the finished works should be a priority. People aren't going to bother downloading an over long document full or errors after all. So I think it makes perfect sense to ask for volunteers to help proof read and provide editorial guidance to the contributors. Anyone feel like helping out here let me know.  

While I'm at it, anyone have any experience setting pages out and creating good looking pdf documents? I'm sure if need be I can get my head round it but if someone has abilities they would like to volunteer so much the better.

Finally hosting the fanzine for download is something worth considering, I'm not certain drop box is the ideal solution here.

Oldhammer The Retroclone

So what is the feasibility of creating a retroclone of Warhammer?

It's a fact, the rules of a game fall outside of copyright law. However, the presentation of those rules are covered.

Does anyone have the mettle to sort the presentation from the mechanics, so that the legal minefield can be successfully negotiated and we don't end up with a huge pile of cease and desist notices in our in-boxes?

Let's take the statline, we all recognise this:

M | WS | BS | S | T | W | I | Ld | Wp | Int | Cl

how core is that for a game to feel like 'hammer? What if we just swap it out? Maybe with...

D | CS | RS | F | R | HP | Q | Cm | Md | Sy | Kl

Distance, Combat Skill, Ranged Skill, Force, Resistance,  Hit Points. Quickness, Command, Mentality, Stoopidity, Kewl.  Does it feel right? Is even having them in the same order legal? Alternative suggestions welcome!

What about the To Hit Chart?  I'm pretty sure that the table can't just be reproduced legally. can the same outcomes be resolved in a different presentation, could it (should it?) perhaps, be written as a formula?

And what is the desirability? While it could be a great reference-point for  scenario development and players,  would you want a Old-School Warhammer clone?

Oldhammer Fanzine Plans

OK here are some thoughts on what I hope will be issue 1 of Oldhammer Fanzine, we can debate the exact name on another post. I think we should keep it simple and get issue 1 out relatively soon say beginning of September. I’m going to be optimistic and assume there will be later issues too, so here is a list of articles I’d like to include in issue 1 and some idea of the size they probably ought to be. The loose theme for this issue will be introductions.

1)       A great cover would be awesome, anyone got a great picture they’ve drawn/painted, digital or analog that they would like to see on the front? Perhaps the golden Gobbo?

2)       Hitting the nail! I had thought we should include a mission statement, what is Oldhammer but then I realised it could well mean something different to different Oldhammerers. Fair enough we can accommodate all. Then I thought perhaps it should be an editorial by myself the closest thing we have to an Ed but I think we should be more democratic. So here is the plan I invite different Oldhammerers to, “Hit the Nail on the Head” with their one paragraph description of what Oldhammer is to them. Perhaps three of these paragraphs on 1 page per issue (aren’t I optimistic) would not be overly indulgent.

Perhaps also answer  any of the following one word/line questions to be printed along side:

Name:

Age: (somehow seams relevant, 36 ½)

Location:

Blog:

Collections/Armies:

Favourite Mini:

            Anyway get your paragraphs to me and I’ll knock it into a regular feature. Be good to include Zhu in the first set as he coined the term…

3)       Introductory scenario Thantsants. 1 or 2 pages. Ideally we could have counters on another page for this scenario.

4)       Collector’s corner Steve, Erny can help if needed. I think it would be great to outline the bare minimum to get into Oldhammer. How much for a rule set? What’s the cheapest way to get a useable vintage force, (warhammer regiments springs to mind). Are there any other outlets than Ebay?) 1 page should be fine.

5)       ‘evy ‘ammers: painting section Nico & possibly orlygg. How to begin to get that old school look. Or painting old school minis the new school way. I’m open to ideas, to be honest orlygg’s post about paining shields recently would be great. I see no problem using old blog posts as the basis of an article, having a print or PDF copy of them would be very useful. A couple of pages of this would be fine. Hopefully we can have more contributors to this in the future.

6)       Golden Gobbo competition results, orlygg. 1 page

7)    Review: Erny. A look at some of the recent  new old school minis. No reviews of minis given for free, only purchases by the reviewer.

8)       Bonus scenario, Bruno, 1 or 2 pages.

Illustrators who have pledged support and may like to sign up to provide at least one maybe more illustrations to an article:

Knobgobbler

Mattthew Monster

Erny (possibly, I’ve got my B in A-level art you know!!)

We are probably a bit short on illustrators so anyone who can contribute anything, even one relevant illustration, even if from years ago please do get in touch.

I think this is more than enough stuff to fit into issue 1 about 10 pages in all. Any other contributors let me know.

Quest for the Old Hammer of MacGuffin

Hello all and glad to be making my first post in this fine enterprise!

Just to let you all know I have an introductory scenario, as well as a few others, ready to roll - guess what I called it...  As I think they could do with spicing up with some pics I'm just looking into editing some of my old photos to make them look more like the old black and white illustrations. The more I think on it the more I like the idea of stylised black and white photos of actual minis to give the scenarios a distinctive look - might even look into staging specific scenes for future scenarios,

 Of course if any of you talented chaps who can wield a pencil to good effect fancy having a go I can email you the docs to give you a flavour of what might be required - you can't beat a good bit of scribbling after all!

As I'm not massively well-versed in these matters my next question is what form should our e-zine take - I'm assuming some kind of downloadable pdf? Are there any preferred fonts to give things a unified look?

Anyhow - would love to get these scenarios out there soon so let me know what you think.

Third Edition Texts Links

Hello Oldhammerers,

I have just posted links to all the Third Edition texts that are required to play on my blog. After all, if we want more players we need to ensure that the texts are easily accessible.

I think it would be sensible to post them here too.

Agree?

Here are the links;

http://realmofchaos80s.blogspot.co.uk/

Orlygg.

Fanzine.

So who is up for contributing to a Fanzine?

Skarsnik and old Leads Oldhammer Opponent finder.

Skarsnik and old Leads Oldhammer Opponent finder.    Locate Oldhammer players in your area!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

T-shirt

Zhu has made available some spiffing T-Shirt designs with his Oldhammer logo on.                                                                          

Oldhammer 'Da Golden Gobbo' Painting Competition Is On!

Right, I've typed up the entry requirements for the first Oldhammer painting competition, Da Golden Gobbos, over on my blog including some reflections about why we suggested what we have. 

Just follow the link to da-golden-gobbos.

The closing date is the 13th August so you have a full month to get your entry sorted and sent to me at orlyggjafnakol@hotmail.com.

Orlygg.

We have authors.

A few people have signed up already, they should feel free to add topics as they like just make sure they add a label  such as golden gobbo or competition so all posts on a given subject can be easily viewed together. That way nothing gets lost.

Skarsnik and Old Lead 

Mentions that Warhammer world would have no problem hosting an event for oldhammer. Any rules would need to be original and any minis GW.

Worth thinking about.

Only problem I see is to get the authentic look many of us like to use the old card buildings. I'd be loathed to cut my originals up instead of using my usual disposable copies of them... Also other terrain needs a certain look for the true 80's feel.

The Oldhammer Golden Gobbo?

Is this a suitable Oldhammer golden gobbo mascot?

Everybody welcome.

OK lots of people with great ideas, lots of different blogs I'm proposing this blog as a site to get organised on. Please do ask to be made an author no vetting though good if you are a blogger or regular commentator on all the oldhammer blogs. Some few of us should also be administrators just in case.

So far for ideas we have had:

A T-Shirt, done.

A meeting or rally  I still think the name needs to be Oldhammer Contact, if you can't work out why your Oldhammer credentials need checking. On this front I should mention I'm the chair of the Cambridge Wargames club so can get access to a great hall for a very fair price and I wouldn't see a problem using all the terrain we keep stored at the same hall, obviously I'd need to clear it with the club. One idea that certainly has an obvious appeal to me anyway!

A competition possibly a first one called Golden Gobbo. I'd be happy to supply a trophy so long as it got passed on th any following winners. On your oldhammer honor.

A Fanzine that ought to have loads of lovely pictures but also a nice old school B&W feel.

Miniatures is another idea.

Do we even need a society?