I've got the Tyranid codex figured out!

...or I'm a delusional apologist, who has mastered the art of self-deception....

Whether it was deliberate or not, the design results of this book is to make the Tyranids not particularly stellar at anything, but for them to be very abundant. This thesis hides in plain sight, given how rapid internet analysis seems to myopically focus on individual unit types but failing to see the bigger picture beyond a few unit synergies. The points cost of (almost) everything is discounted, sometimes deeply, and the specialist units are just not as good at what they do as their counterparts are in other armies. It has a lot of players pretty disgusted and frustrated, but it has me intrigued.

I think what Tyranids are going to do especially well is strategic redundancy and contingency plans. Building a lynchpin army around a series of very specialized gimmick units will not work, and that is precisely the way most 40k players think about this game. What will work is a large army full of many models, made up of generalist troop types that can fill each others' roles as casualties mount. Tyranids are not robust, with a deficit of 2+ or Invulnerable units, and an absolute lack of Eternal Warrior. Things are going to die, and that idea is repellent to many players in this age of superhero squads.

Thinking of them as the classic NPC army is not far off the mark. These guys are designed to die, and die a lot, and die some more. Carnifexes are back, 20 points cheaper, but D-cannons and Nemesis weapons abound. They are monsters for the Space Marines to kill, and they are meant to make the other armies look good by comparison.

None of this is to imply that they are incapable of winning games. There is probably as much competitive potential buried in this list as any other, but it is definitely buried in here. Winning with Tyranids is going to mean more than spamming sweetheart units and ignoring others. They have no Heldrake, Riptide, Wraithknight, or Night Scythe. But the implied advantage when you lack the Deathstar is there's no one place for the Rebels to fire their missiles. I'm looking forward to seeing what that means in 40k.

Ultimately, this fits into the current 40k universe by marking the Tyranids out to be a unique and alien species whose combat doctrine flies in the face of the accepted methods of other species.

So that's what it is, and Tyranid players can, as always, adapt or die. :)

Factions of Source, part III: The Fold

The Fold:

            The subject of whispered myth and rumor, the Fold is a loose confederation of zealots, sages, diviners, cultists, and madmen, loosely allied in pursuit of forbidden lore.  Paranoid and insular at the best of times, the Fold is a dangerous and unpredictable force.

            Followers of the Fold are often preoccupied with prophecies and great doom.  Many of them are talented diviners, but mortal minds were not meant to understand the frayed and contradictory threads of fate.  Frequently, members of the Fold are mentally unstable, but they view this as little more than a minor inconvenience.  They know that their sanity is a small price to pay to receive even a small measure of knowledge of the dark truths that they relentlessly pursue.

            Dark and dangerous beings of alien intent frequently find the Fold to be loyal followers.  The Scrounge know that they are not alone in the walls between reality, and they tell tales of cosmic predators that leave fear and madness in their wake, and devour the bodies and souls of men.  The Fold is one of the few universal organizations that welcomes Scrounge without prejudice, knowing that the manners and appearance of the mad rodent-men is irrelevant compared to the secrets they know.  Some members of the Fold have learned dark methods to call upon these transdimensional beings and court their favor.  It seems that only a fractured mind can contain the bizarre, alien majesty of the Ones From Beyond, and some accounts hold that entire worlds have been bargained away by Fold cults.

            The Fold is extremely opaque in its organizational hierarchy.  Cells of cultists and scholars work together in darkness toward questionable ends, and rarely have any reliable knowledge of the rest of the organization.  Only the Fold’s Inquisitors seem to have any real knowledge of the size, scope, and true goals of the organization. 

            Naturally, the Fold strongly venerates Taelyst as their Source of choice.  Ansetal is difficult for them to effectively draw upon, as the requirements of law and consistency are inimical to the Fold’s twisted minds.  The chaos and power of Voroc and the howling waste of Nysroth are frequently used by more aggressive Fold: many times, prophecies of doom seem to need some help in coming to pass.  Additionally, Umuon’s depths often conceal dark secrets that have been lost for centuries.  The Fold finds the prospect of such forbidden knowledge to be irresistible.

Factions of Source, Part II: The Order of Mercy and Severity

The Order of Mercy and Severity: 

            Recognized (if not necessarily respected) in many realms throughout the universe, the Order is shrouded in pomp, ritual, and mystery.  Their approach to magic tends to be baroque and formulaic, utilizing many highly elaborate systems to understand and manipulate the Sources. 

            The Order believes that the universe is a place of many layers and spheres of influence, conforming to hierarchical laws.  They believe themselves, and all sentient beings, to be naturally imperfect and unrefined.  Fundamental to that belief, however, is the notion that the spark of the divine rests within all living things, and that spark can catalyze into the brilliant white fire of perfect understanding.  The Order teaches that separation between the self and the universe is an illusion.  Only by becoming perfectly balanced and purified can one truly begin to become a vessel flawless enough to receive the Quintessence.

            Magi of the Order of Mercy and Severity are fascinated with forces in opposition and reconciliation.  They typically favor garments of black and white, representing their willingness to deal with contrasting forces of light and dark, sacred and profane, material and ephemeral.  They tend to view concepts such morality and religion as pedestrian and antiquated, believing that they represent a limited view of the universe.  Many of the Adepts of the Order believe that gods are simply a higher order of sentience than mortals, and possessed of a state that is not out of their own potential reach. 

            The Order teaches its magi to draw upon all of the Sources, but they strongly favor Ansetal.  They believe that Ansetal is closest to the true Quintessence, and thus the purest expression of raw universal power.  Ansetal’s light, if the Order is to be believed, dictates the laws of the universe, and even the other Sources are beholden to it.  By strongly aligning themselves with the Light, the Order has a powerfully protective metaphysical structure to explore and manipulate the other Sources.  The first teachings of an Apprentice of the Order focus heavily on forming a powerful bond with the Light, but Masters of Mercy and Severity wield the other Sources without hesitation.  Even the tainted might of Nysroth can be bent by the fortress-like mind of an Adept of the Order.

Factions of Source, Part I: The Legacy of Feldenglas

Choice of affiliation with a particular faction will play a significant role in Source.  While each Magus at the core of their force will draw upon whichever Sources he or she chooses, alignment with one of the major factions will carry certain benefits.

First, and perhaps most dramatically, it will provide an additional pool of followers from which to choose, and these followers will often form the backbone of the Magus' force.  There will be unaligned followers that will be available to a Magus of any faction, but those drawn from a faction will have abilities that are not available anywhere else.  Additionally, each faction has its own background, philosophy, and approach to the Sources that helps bring a new level of narrative into the game.

Here, then, is a brief background outline of one of the factions, the Legacy of Feldenglas:

The Legacy of Feldenglas

           

            Militaristic and highly disciplined, the Legacy is unique in its approach to magic and the Sources.  While every other influential organization playing a powerful role throughout the universe is dominated by the interests of powerful Magi, the Legacy of Feldenglas actively seeks to limit the use of magic.

            The modern Legacy are descendants of survivors and refugees.  Their realm was known as Cae Lyndyr, and it was utterly destroyed in a war between feuding beings of tremendous power.  It was at the city of Feldenglas where their war came to its violent conclusion; a self-styled god was destroyed when the entire realm of Cae Lyndyr was collapsed in on him.  A small group of Magi, alert to the possibility of this calamity, evacuated as many people as they could from Feldenglas and the surrounding countryside.  Their home was lost, but they swore an oath to prevent such recklessness in the future.

            Despite its essential nature as a military organization, the Legacy of Feldenglas is surprisingly democratic.  In times of peace, every citizen of a Legacy-held city has a vote, and elected officials serve at the pleasure of the populace.  The majority of the elected offices are held by ranking soldiers of high prestige, but this is largely because the populace reveres its warriors and protectors. 

            Feldenglasers are racially and culturally diverse.  They are predominantly humans, alfar, and neisse, the descendents of the world of Cae Lyndyr.  They are open-minded and proud, and have become comfortable with freely speaking their minds.  However, they tend to take a very guarded view around Magi who are not members of the Legacy, as it was the unguarded use of magic that led to the destruction of their homeland.  To that end, the Legacy of Feldenglas pursues an agenda of containment and control of enemy magic.  They seek to prevent any further catastrophes, though many who have felt their wrath have described the Feldenglasers as being motivated primarily by vengeance for their fallen realm.

            Magi of Feldenglas, believing strongly as they do in the principles of law and justice, naturally gravitate toward Ansetal.  The Legacy also boasts some very powerful wielders of Hurad, as the Alfar of Cae Lyndyr were proponents of a druidic practice.  Though neisse typically do not gravitate toward use of the Sources, the Legacy of Feldenglas has produced some who dispense brutal justice through the brute power of Voroc. 

The Universe of Source

Time to dust this thing off and throw out some words!

I've been working on a concept for a miniature skirmish game...  The rules are coming along apace, and I have a really interesting idea for a potential distribution vector, but for right now I figured I'd get some content out there about the setting itself.  The game is still very much a work in progress, but the working title I have for it right now is Source.

The known universe is a vast place comprising many worlds and realms.  It does not adhere to the cosmology with which we are familiar; planets, star systems, galaxies and the like may exist but are the exception rather than the rule.  Instead, each world exists like an independent bubble of reality, with its own climate, denizens, and sometimes even natural laws.  Some realms are massive, others are tiny.  Some realms are verdant paradises sheltering Utopian civilizations, and others are desolate wastelands incapable of supporting life.  Those who have learned to travel from realm to realm have discovered that there are many consistencies that indicate a shared origin: humans are ubiquitous throughout the realms, and they share worlds with elves, trolls, dwarves, and dragons.  Common languages and cultural practices abound, despite how different and unique (and sometimes downright alien) each realm can be.  Cosmic entities such as daemons and the disturbing, half-mad Scrounge maintain the boltholes between the worlds.  Confederations of Magi have banded together in support of common goals, whether those be the reunification of the disparate worlds, or the sacrifice of entire realms to inscrutable cosmic horrors, or simple self-mastery.

Sages believe that it was not always this way.  They speculate that it was the complete and utter consumption of one of the Sources that caused the universe to be forever shattered.  In ancient times, cabals of wizards of incomprehensible might drew deeply on the Quintessence, manipulating it in ways that would now be impossible.  Quintessence is the raw substance of reality; something greater than matter, energy, or anything in between.  It is pure power, unspent potential.  The universe is Quintessence, and Quintessence is the universe, coalesced into form.  Refining and extracting the matter of the universe into raw Quintessence is an exhausting and prohibitive process that no Magus has ever really mastered, but many continue to try.  More effective, then, is to draw Quintessence from the Sources.

The Sources are the primordial origins of all creation: Platonic idealizations representing the transition of Quintessence becoming the Universe.  The Sources are not a place or thing, but rather an omnipresent ideal shaping the realms of the universe.  Magi must first learn to draw upon the Sources before they can expect to manipulate magic.

There are six Sources recognized by the Magi:

Ansetal:  The Light, the Source of illumination, innovation, warmth and heat.  A source for civilization, law, rulership, courage, craftsmanship, and the callings of a higher soul, but also oppression, stasis, absolutism, fascism, and war.  It is known as the Voice of Inspiration across many worlds.

Taelyst:  The Dusts; the Source of Time and Place, Serendipity, Destiny, and Doom.  Venerated by the wise and the mad alike as a bringer of divine vision, but also fraught with peril and terror.  Those who look too deeply into other places and times often lose all sense of themselves.

Hurad:  The Spiral, the Source of the eternal dance of life and death.  All living things are ruled by Hurad, and it governs birth, growth, and death.  It can provide healing and growth, but it can also inflict blighted rot and decay.

Umuon:  The Well, the Source of spirits.  Umuon rules the world of the living hand in hand with Hurad, but where Hurad rules bone, branch, flesh and leaf, Umuon rules the unseen mystery of the soul.  It can manipulate spirits, unseat the soul, or allow the living to briefly transcend their mortal limits.

Voroc:  The Crashing, the Source of Elemental Forces.  Here dwell earth, air, fire, water, the collision of matter and energy.  Eternally violent and calamitous, Voroc is violence and change.  It is recognized as being a powerful and drastic Source, with consequences for its wielders.

Nysroth:  The Emptiness.  Nysroth is no longer a Source, properly, but it is believed to have once been.  Now it is an echoing, ashen waste in the void, burnt-out and utterly used up.  Tales say that Nysroth’s power was so tempting to the ancient Magi that its powers were consumed utterly.  Whatever archetypal force was provided to the universe by Nysroth, it is now so completely absent as to be removed even from memory.  Once one of the primordial building-blocks of the universe, Nysroth is now colloquially known as the Source of Hunger.  It functions as something of a null or negative source, always devouring, destroying, and corrupting.

Covering Gen Con for MTV Geek

I'll be headed to Gen Con for the weekend this Thursday.  I'm blogging for MTV Geek, specifically covering RPG news.  If any of the rest of you are headed there, let me know via twitter @realitysalad and we can connect.  Hope to see you there!

The Shiny Side of Rules Lawyers

I am blessed with a very diverse group in my weekly D&D campaign.  A couple of players are old high school buddies that hadn't played since 2nd Edition, as well as some more current players who are very story and character-focused.  Everyone brings a different type of energy and enthusiasm to the (virtual) table, and this has alloyed into a wonderful social experience.  The game itself is great fun, of course, but no game is better than the players playing it.

One player in particular got me thinking the other day.  We've all encountered the ubiquitous Rules Lawyer before, and we've all experienced the buzzkill that this person can engender.  Happily, my Rules Lawyer is no kind of buzzkill at all.

We were engaged in a somewhat risky encounter; down a player, my party of four 2nd-level characters (a Seeker, Warpriest, Battlemind, and Ardent) were battling a pair of Darktentacles (3rd level Aberrant creatures, Elite to boot).  They were in an environment with some very dangerous terrain that heavily favored the Darktentacles' ability to pull from a distance, dragging unfortunates into Acidic Mire or the Far Realm rift that spawned them.  It was definitely a risky combat encounter.

While my entire party achieved greatness that night, it was a special joy to watch our Ardent in action.  This guy was our main tank in my World of Warcraft guild for about six years, and while I was the guild leader in name and spirit, I was nothing more than a mascot once we got into a fight.  This man's tactical genius led us through many triumphs, and it remains undimmed.

Now, it's a simple thing for someone with a reasonably advanced IQ to develop acumen with any ruleset.  There are a lot of clever people in this hobby, and a lot of them have figured out ways to worm inside these rules and tickle them until they produce results.  What makes my Rules Lawyer rare and special is how he uses his talent for good.

I've encountered showboating Rules Lawyers, where everything they do has a bottom line of Look How Clever I Am, or even worse You Can't Do That Because This.  It takes a special kind of player who is willing to use his ability to help the other players.  And not just by healing, or flanking, or using supporting abilities, but actually providing useful information, encouraging tactical analysis, and generally making the party better-coordinated.  As a class choice for this guy, Ardent seems especially apropos; everyone near him really does seem to get bonuses to their skill checks.  Too frequently does the term "Leader" get shorthanded to mean nothing more than "Healer".  The subtle majesty of 4th edition is revealed again, as the synergy between Power and Player synthesizes organically into something greater than the sum of its parts.

Watching them take apart that encounter was a thrill.  It was definitely a challenge for them all, but it seemed to be rewarding in its intangibles.  As a veteran DM, I've been able to leave my ego out of the encounters I create for a long time now; I know that I'm usually building something with the express purpose of watching my players knock it down.  It's especially rewarding when I can have the sheer joy of watching a party do so under the guidance of an adept Leader.