Silly "dream game" Brainstorming
I mentioned the other day in passing that my first exposure to the existence of Games Workshop was the early-90s Blood Bowl conversion by SSI and Microleague. I never actually owned a copy, but there was quite a bit of coverage in computer-gaming mags of the day, most of which said it was a disappointing attempt to cram the board game into a PC environment. (As it turns out, that's not strictly true; I had hung around with friends who were REALLY into Epic, then still called Space Marine, a year or so before but was wrong about when the BB game was released). That got us talking about two things: the various adaptations of Warhammer, 40k and other GW properties to video games and the various adaptations of CCGs to a single-player environment for a console or, more frequently, handheld--the various Yu-Gi-Oh treatments, the Vs. System Marvel game, etc.
I've never played any of the GW games; take the problems I have with realspace CCGs and multiply them a billionfold. I might be able to manage Heroclix or something similarly played on a grid, but my attempts at more complex games (including even the higher-level Wizkids stuff like Mage Knight and Mechwarrior) have proven that I simply am not interested in working hard enough to keep track of so many units on a map I have to get 3 inches away to see. As a result, there are plenty of ways for me to experience the various universes and their lore--novels, pen-and-paper RPGs, and video games running the gamut from an MMO too-heavily based on what worked for WoW to the Dawn of War series, which are to real-time strategy what Fire Emblem is to turn-based. But there's no real way for me to experience playing Warhammer, either in terms of the rules and systems or the hobby aspect. I'll come back to this.
The "set on a disc" aspect of Blood Bowl 95 also brought up talk of video CCGs. I know there must have been a PC version of MtG before 1999, but that's when my exposure started--since then I've played quite a few ranging from cool to appalling. Of these, my two favorites are two of the earliest. SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighter Clash for the Neo Geo Pocket was a pretty simplistic card game, but since it was invented out of whole cloth for a side project to a bigger fighting game, that's far from surprising--it was basically King of Fighters 3 on 3 as a CCG and with a huge cast of obscure characters to celebrate the crossover fighter done for NGPC, arcade and Dreamcast. (One of many huge mistakes the sequel for DS made was trying to make the game more like 'regular' CCGs, adding mana colors and costs and letting more cards on the mat at a time. It also replaced the simple storyline of getting ready for a big tournament by visiting several game shops and arcades themed around locations from Capcom and SNK games with some stupid crap about a computer taking over the world through Card Clash, a tower full of mind-controlled gamers and a mysterious rival wearing a mask that clearly identifies him as A CHAR.) The other was Pokemon Trading Card Game, which took what was then the biggest game around in terms of sales and merged it with the JRPG it was based in. It had the same 3/4 view and 'wander from area to area challenging others' mechanic. You picked a starter deck themed around a starter Pokemon and went from game shop to game shop challenging other players to win booster packs, then took on a Gym Leader who had a themed deck. And of course, you could play against a human opponent if you wanted to--no wagering cards, of course, this is an E-rated game! Still, this game always stuck out to me as a good attempt at replicating not just the game, but the experience.
So anyway, the WH40k (or Epic) game I'd really, really like to play (but nobody else would buy) would be something like that--a cross between a "set on disc" and an RPG. Get a weekly budget, buy miniatures, books, etc., paint them up as you like, play against other gamers by the rules in the rulebook. Laser pointers for LOS, rulers for distance, the whole bit. Work your way up toward the cash-prize affairs at cons. Challenge opponents online. Give players the experience of playing a GW game without the obscene outlay of cash, rather than making a video game in the same universe. Of course, the problem with this is that it's silly. You might be able to get away with it as a side mode to a more 'lore focused' mode where you're immersed in the universe. But even so, players who want the tabletop experience will go buy tabletop gear, rather than settle for a virtual equivalent. And if the game is too good a replacement, it might cut into sales of GW's bread and butter. (This is less of a problem for things like Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh virtual CCGs, where the target audience is kids whose disposable income they'd get anyway, or the latter MtG games and Sony's Legends of Norrath, where cards cost real money.) Of course they could let the single player campagins give out armies for in-game currency and require real money to build your versus-mode stuff minus a few prestige units given as rewards for playing single player, but then you'd probably just have people not play online.
Anyway, that's my idea. Is it weird that I can come up with something like this, refine it for days, and talk about it like it would be cool/fun even when I know why it's a money-loser?
I've never played any of the GW games; take the problems I have with realspace CCGs and multiply them a billionfold. I might be able to manage Heroclix or something similarly played on a grid, but my attempts at more complex games (including even the higher-level Wizkids stuff like Mage Knight and Mechwarrior) have proven that I simply am not interested in working hard enough to keep track of so many units on a map I have to get 3 inches away to see. As a result, there are plenty of ways for me to experience the various universes and their lore--novels, pen-and-paper RPGs, and video games running the gamut from an MMO too-heavily based on what worked for WoW to the Dawn of War series, which are to real-time strategy what Fire Emblem is to turn-based. But there's no real way for me to experience playing Warhammer, either in terms of the rules and systems or the hobby aspect. I'll come back to this.
The "set on a disc" aspect of Blood Bowl 95 also brought up talk of video CCGs. I know there must have been a PC version of MtG before 1999, but that's when my exposure started--since then I've played quite a few ranging from cool to appalling. Of these, my two favorites are two of the earliest. SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighter Clash for the Neo Geo Pocket was a pretty simplistic card game, but since it was invented out of whole cloth for a side project to a bigger fighting game, that's far from surprising--it was basically King of Fighters 3 on 3 as a CCG and with a huge cast of obscure characters to celebrate the crossover fighter done for NGPC, arcade and Dreamcast. (One of many huge mistakes the sequel for DS made was trying to make the game more like 'regular' CCGs, adding mana colors and costs and letting more cards on the mat at a time. It also replaced the simple storyline of getting ready for a big tournament by visiting several game shops and arcades themed around locations from Capcom and SNK games with some stupid crap about a computer taking over the world through Card Clash, a tower full of mind-controlled gamers and a mysterious rival wearing a mask that clearly identifies him as A CHAR.) The other was Pokemon Trading Card Game, which took what was then the biggest game around in terms of sales and merged it with the JRPG it was based in. It had the same 3/4 view and 'wander from area to area challenging others' mechanic. You picked a starter deck themed around a starter Pokemon and went from game shop to game shop challenging other players to win booster packs, then took on a Gym Leader who had a themed deck. And of course, you could play against a human opponent if you wanted to--no wagering cards, of course, this is an E-rated game! Still, this game always stuck out to me as a good attempt at replicating not just the game, but the experience.
So anyway, the WH40k (or Epic) game I'd really, really like to play (but nobody else would buy) would be something like that--a cross between a "set on disc" and an RPG. Get a weekly budget, buy miniatures, books, etc., paint them up as you like, play against other gamers by the rules in the rulebook. Laser pointers for LOS, rulers for distance, the whole bit. Work your way up toward the cash-prize affairs at cons. Challenge opponents online. Give players the experience of playing a GW game without the obscene outlay of cash, rather than making a video game in the same universe. Of course, the problem with this is that it's silly. You might be able to get away with it as a side mode to a more 'lore focused' mode where you're immersed in the universe. But even so, players who want the tabletop experience will go buy tabletop gear, rather than settle for a virtual equivalent. And if the game is too good a replacement, it might cut into sales of GW's bread and butter. (This is less of a problem for things like Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh virtual CCGs, where the target audience is kids whose disposable income they'd get anyway, or the latter MtG games and Sony's Legends of Norrath, where cards cost real money.) Of course they could let the single player campagins give out armies for in-game currency and require real money to build your versus-mode stuff minus a few prestige units given as rewards for playing single player, but then you'd probably just have people not play online.
Anyway, that's my idea. Is it weird that I can come up with something like this, refine it for days, and talk about it like it would be cool/fun even when I know why it's a money-loser?