Hi everyone,
While I am sure many of you are looking forward to the upcoming 40k LVO championships others have their eyes on the narrative event. This will be the first major narrative event of 9th edition and with that honor comes both challenges and opportunities. To discuss the upcoming festivities in a bit more detail the organizer Kyle Kurtz was kind enough to answer a few of my questions:
First a little introduction to Kyle:
Hi All! My name is Kyle, I have been playing since 2009 started with Imperial Guard (my favorite army) but I also have Imperial Knights, Death Guard, and Chaos Space Marines. This is my first time running the LVO event but I have attended many similar events in the past and am excited about this opportunity!
- What is the story ahead of this year’s event? How is the event structured?
The story revolves around the planet Redemption, within the Octarius system (the current conflict zone (at time of writing) in the Warhammer 40k supplements being released). Our commanders, hiveminds and warbosses are all about to drop into this mysterious setting all at once. Unbeknownst to them however the reason for their dispatch is to investigate and attain powerful Xeno artifacts. What do these artifacts do? I can’t say. This particular event will be structured around a linear story being told from battle to battle. Although the story is somewhat set in stone, players and their armies roles in it will be determined through their actions from mission to mission.
- How do you develop your ideas for these events? Do you have the stories build on a past event or start fresh every year?
I personally developed my ideas for the event through my experiences of the past events I attended which were hosted by Justin, who did a great job. Focusing around driving a narrative story forward that will both engage players and with missions that are fun and outside of the norm. This one is a fresh start as it is my first year at the helm.
- This is the first narrative event using 9th edition rules, how does that impact your scenario and event design?
Yes and no. 9th definitely saw a lot of armies get a lot more killy, so there will definitely be a lot more blood and skulls for the blood god this time around. But, that being said, in narrative we don’t play with primary and secondary objectives as is understood in the competitive side of the game. Instead, each mission will challenge players to adapt and overcome the perceived strengths and weaknesses of their force depending on their objectives. Terrain is a big change for the event however. 9th brought some pretty cut and dry rules on terrain and what is does. This will help games and players to balance each mission around where they go and what to do.
- How is designing a narrative event different than putting together a GT or RTT? What extra considerations do you have to account for?
For starters we don’t keep track of personal score and there is no overall winner for being the best. Our champions are chosen by the players themselves via vote, and are awarded for 3 separate categories The biggest difference is pairings. In a normal event BCP (Best Coast Pairings) is the go to as games are traditionally one player vs one player, or locked in teams. Narrative is much more fast and loose with our pairings. For starters we don’t do byes. If you’re the odd player out I throw in with some other folks and re-work what armies you are bringing. So what was a 2v2 1k points per person game might instead become a 3v2 or 2v1 with variable lists of 500, 1k or 1500 depending on the way it’s worked out.
The other big thing is that people like to change up who they play with at the event, or alternatively lock in with someone they met at the event as their teammate. So I remove the name card and rewrite it with their new pairing or remove them from a pairing and make them a single to pair them with someone else at random. Another big difference is that the final game on day three goes from two player teams with 2000 points between them to a big 4v4 with 6000 points per team. This style of play lends to a bit of chaos which is always good in warhammer but needs to be kept more analogy and less restrictive to work.
- What are you most excited about for this event?
There are so many returning veterans of the event I’m seeing signed up but even better is the amount of new folks. The more the merrier!
- If someone is trying to decide between a competitive event at LVO and your narrative one what would your pitch to them be for why they should choose the narrative one?
The best reason I can give to someone to play a narrative event is that is much more of a “beer and pretzels” way of playing the game. It’s not about the meta or winning at all cost. It’s about laughing at the game, your dice, and with your friends (old and new). Cheering on your opponent and having them do the same. Living and experiencing a story you’re sharing with 154 people. Making new friends from all over and walking away, win or lose, having done something you can’t get at a competitive event. Plus you get to see me running around like a chicken with my head cutoff lol.
Thanks Kyle! While I can’t be there this year it seems like an amazing event. Can’t wait to hear how it turns out! Are you planning on going to the LVO 40k Narrative event? What are you most excited about?
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