One of the most common jokes me and my friends have about 6th edition is the idea of Forging a Narrativepg. xv 6thed Big Rule Book . Through out the entire big rule book there are these little blurbs reminding us that the game is designed to be fun for both players. When I pass by a game at my local shop I often ask the players how the narrative is being forged? As a mostly competitive player I just find the whole Forging a Narrative idea silly, it sounds like GW covering their ass from bad rules or asking players to hold back against opponents.

The truth is, for the majority players most games will be against friends not strangers and friends with various skill levels why not “Forge A Narrative”?

Many players have RPG playing backgrounds and making 40k more than just dice throwing, bro-fist bumping, ass slap of a game is worthwhile. Games Workshop knows inside each game group skill varies, so they created ways for everyone to enjoy the game regardless if they are a terrible at it or not. The Forging A Narrative boxes are still silly, but I can see why they are there, more importantly GW has done a fantastic job providing tools for anyone to create a narrative game.

One of the main reasons I bought the big book was I knew they were going to be ways to expand the game beyond just the basic rules. This is unlike the past few editions where the big book was just rules, fluff (that we already knew), advertisements, and remarkably little narrative or campaign resources.

This time they put it front and center not only reminding us of in the rules, but hidden within them. All the mysterious objectives and terrain are not just ways to play basic games, but also provide easy to incorporate tools for story driven games. Besides the obvious marketing reasons for  fortifications and terrain, the developers have given us these tools to make interesting missions or campaigns.

If you take a look at the entire Battlespg.339 6thed Big Rule Book  section of the book, it details the unique missions and ways to run campaigns. Most experienced campaigners won’t find much new, but for folks that need a little direction this a great resource. If nothing else experienced campaigners can use the addition ideas to easily drop and play in whatever campaign they are already running.

So if, you consider the Forging A Narrative, terrain rules, and campaign sections of the big book GW does a splendid job explaining how the game can be more than pick-up games and tournaments. GW so far is supporting this new narrative with things like WD 387 Death World rules and the digital releases. If Forging A Narrative is your sort of thing, then we can only hope GW continues its support, and maybe if we are lucky we could get a Global Campaign at some point.

Remember to keep the big book close because with the mini rule books just a few weeks away, people will quickly forget the wealth of information the big book has– leaving you to wonder why you are so bored with the basic missions a few years from now.

 

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Warning

GW Apologist is rated Fanboy. These articles are dedicated to a blind faith that GW is above criticism and all the choices they make are infallible. If only you embrace Games Workshop will you understand the brilliance of there perfectly marketed products.