Early Access: The Longest Post (Patreon)

Let's be honest, things have been moving pretty slowly for OPR or at least it might seem so when you aren't me. This update is going to be a bit longer than usual, and I will use it to fill you in on everything that has been happening with OPR and where we are going next.

Beta 5

If you check the secret folder you are going to find a new version of the core rules for Grimdark Future with Beta 5.

The first thing you will notice is that the division of content has slightly changed. Now you have all the core rules on the 1st page and all the special rules on the 2nd page.

This is because I have decided that all special rules in the game are going to be "common" across all armies, which means that I need a lot more space to add more special rules in the future. By having all special rules being "common" it should make the game easier to learn and allows for less repetition in special rules.

Right now the division works fine, however it does leave the 1st page looking quite empty, which is something that I'd like to change. I'm not sure if I'll be adding more content or changing the way it's laid out, but something's gotta give.

The second thing you will notice is that there are a couple of rules changes that are highlighted in yellow:

- Clarified that if a model starts its activation out of unit coherency, then it must take an action to get back in coherency. This is rare, but crucial.

- Units with multiple weapon types can now target multiple targets. This has been something that fans have requested for a long time, so now your assault rifles can shoot at infantry whilst the missile launcher goes to town on enemy tanks.

- Added a note that when killed models are removed you should keep units coherency in mind. Just in case.

- Fear has been changed. Now it gives -1 to hit on affected enemy weapons instead of flat out removing attacks. After some playtesting the previous version was too easy to abuse.

- Fearless has been changed because the previous version was boring. Now it allows you to ignore pinning on a roll of 4+.

- Anti-Air was re-worded so that it allows you to ignore the +12" distance penalty as well as the -1 to hit penalty.

Overall I feel pretty good with the rules so far, with two exceptions: psychics and heroes. Right now psychics seem a bit too simple and I'm afraid the defensive spell could be abused. As for the heroes, I feel that the special rules they have available are boring, so I'm going to try to come up with more interesting stuff.

Full Rulebook

If you check the secret folder you will also find a brand new file for the first draft of the Full Rulebook for Grimdark Future.

This rulebook basically acts as a beginner's guide for people that are new to the hobby, as well as having a bunch of additional content to spice up your games. So far the beginner's guide is almost done, and the rest will follow later.

Note that the images that are currently being used are placeholders and will be replaced by custom made diagrams. Overall I would like to try to fill this rulebook with pictures and diagrams, and I'm currently in contact with some miniatures manufacturers to see if it's ok to use their photos for it.

Something that I want to be clear is that the game will always be fully playable with just the one page version of the rules, and that this full rulebook is just a bonus. To that end I've been thinking of re-naming the one page version and here I could use your help.

Calling it "Grimdark Future - Reference Sheet" is going to give the wrong impression, but how do you feel about "Grimdark Future - One Page Rulebook"?

Army Books

Now that we are getting closer to the completion of the core rules and the full rulebook, I'm going to start thinking about making the army books.

You can expect the game to keep all of the existing units and armies, although some of them might be shuffled around, combined, divided, whatever. You can also expect a couple of new armies to be released.

As I start working on the army books I will also be updating the point calculation system, so you can expect everything to be updated in tandem.

If everything goes well and at the speed that I would like, then I should be able to make a first batch of 4 armies and then release 1 new army every week until they have all been released.

To do this I will need to go back and work on the point calculation spreadsheet, though the community has been helping so that might be pretty easy.

Actually I was thinking that maybe I could just design the armies and then crowdsource the point calculations, which would vastly speed up the whole process. What do you think?

More Content?

Alright so once the core rules are done, the full rulebook is done and the army books have all been released is that the end of OPR? Is it a "finished" project?

Of course not!

Even after everything has been released you can expect regular updates to balance the game, add new units and armies... and something else. I don't want to talk too much about this, but let's say that I have been thinking about some ways to release original content on a monthly basis, bringing you even more gaming goodness.

Final Thoughts

That's it for now, hope this super long post has given you an insight into what is going on at OPR and what is coming up in the future. Now I'm going to back to work! :D

Cheers,

Gaetano

P.S.: For those wondering about Age of Fantasy and the various Skirmish games, don't worry.

Age of Fantasy is also going to get a full rulebook and updated army books, however only after I have ironed out all the kinks with Grimdark Future.

As for the Skirmish games, I am contemplating a way to have those rules be fully working as an "extension" of the larger games, so that they can use the same army books and I don't have to duplicate work.

More on that in the future...