GM Summer Campaigns Idea: Would you be interested in this?

[grumbaki]

I was thinking about Storm of Chaos, and it's lackluster ending. It was a great campaign except for one major flaw: nothing could really change. It would upset the fan-base too much. If Middenheim was razed to the ground, Empire players would be angered (especially if Ulric died with the flame). If the results were followed, and the forces of Chaos never made it out of Kislev, the Chaos players would be angered. Basically, unless there was a bloody draw, someone would be pissed that their army got shafted. This led me to an idea...

Historical 'What-If' Campaigns.

With this, GW could say: "What if you, the players, fought this historical campaign? We promise that we will follow your results to the T, and will show you what your actions would do to the World if it were canon."

Ex: The year is 2006. A huge chaos army lands in Bretonnia and kills King Louis the Brave. Northern Bretonnia is devastated, with half of her knights dying in battle. But in the south, Repanse de Lyonesse has risen...

It is the year 2006, which is in the middle of the Imperial civil war. So there would need to be some shoe-horning to fit in Imperials, and High Elves/Dark Elves as well, but as it is a 'what if' historical event, GW could do this as they liked. You'd have a campaign with orcs in the Massif Oracle, Skaven in Black Chasm, Bretonnians, Wood Elves, Dwarfs from Karak Norn and undead in Mousillon. Players would know that if their faction does the best, they'd make an impact. The campaign could end with Bretonnia as we know it being destroyed. Mousillon could end up being an entirely separate kingdom. Karak Norn could be lost...


Basically, GW's writers would have free reign to do whatever they wanted. Don't like Repanse? Well, she died in battle because the chaos faction reported really well. Did that city just get burnt to the ground? Sadly, yes. Did the dwarfs burn down half of Athel Loren? Sadly so. And at the end of the day, GW could dust their hands off and say "Don't worry, it's not canon."


So, what do you all think? Is this something that you could get fired up for? Because from where I stand, without something like this, I doubt that GW would ever run a campaign like they did before again (which is a shame, because I greatly enjoyed SoC, Albion, and Nemisis Crown)

[cornonthecob]

It could work , but they already had an attempt at a 'what if' story and it didn't really work.

[bluemage]

If you're going to play campaigns might as well follow forge world. Any GW campaign rules get dropped after a few years, so whats the point in spending lots of money on models you can't use?

[Gaargod]

If you're going to play campaigns might as well follow forge world. Any GW campaign rules get dropped after a few years, so whats the point in spending lots of money on models you can't use?

One would rather hope that they wouldn't drop the rules. There's nothing to stop GW doing what FW does, and having campaigns with bonus rules, etc. They almost certainly wouldn't be legal for tournament play (excepting tournaments that are specifically designed for them), but then again most FW stuff isn't either, so that's not a big deal.
It would be easy enough - produce the rules, etc, for the campaign. Then, a couple of months after, put all of that stuff onto Direct, so they don't need to waste space stocking it in stores, but people can still get them if they wish.


It would definitely be cool to play new campaigns on 'What if?' scenarios. Also, @cornonthecob, when have they recently tried a 'What if?'. Unless you mean the one based on Nagash's crown, and that was clearly never going to matter. Was badly designed from the start too.

[Morkash]

I like FW's direction with their books, both WHF and 40k. Badab War and the Siege of Vraks books were great reads and Tamurkhan is just outstanding.

IF GW joins in, I'd appreciate it of course, but given the Nemesis Crown campaign and the latest 40k one (Medusa conflict) were rather meh in my opinion and GW stated after Storm of Chaos (IIRC, maybe Lustria) that they wouldn't do another large campaign. I greatly enjoyed SoC, the armybook is a great read and some excellent models were released with it. I didn't play Warhammer back when Albion took place, but the few things I've read, as well as the results in the Warhammer Chronicles sound quite fun as well.

But in today's environment and GW's behaviour, I cannot imagine an afford like this again. Storm of Magic was a nice step forward again, but it seems to get cold quite fast now...