Hi all,
This is my final write up of the Nova open event. I am joined today by Chris Stover who ran the Nova 40k narrative event for the second straight year!
1. So, what happened with the story? Is it carrying over to next year?
So the story this year picked right up from the end of last year. The forces of Salus Preatus were less than trusting of Thanatrax, and took him and the mortally wounded Raptors Capt Buteos to a hidden keep on Parthas to figure out what in the heck was going on. Unfortunately, by the end of the event, they lost the keep to Obitus Exitium and awakened a new character, a lone marine of high rank but unknown allegience. On Fortuno, the control of the entrance to the STC changed hands just about every day. A full scale titan battle even took place on Friday to secure the surrounding area. In the end Salus Preatus took control and delved deeper into the STC….perhaps too deep. On Venixia II, Obitus Exitium turned the grav locks into a weapon and started pulling ships out of orbit, continuing the work of last year trying to crack the planet’s surface. And finally, on Ignotix Prime, or Iggy P as it has been affectionately renamed, Salus Preatus tried once again to charge the pylon system and failed, raising the ire of the resident Overlord and introducing a new character to the drama. There are still a few choices warlords need to make over the next year, but we will start back up pretty much where we left off, and warlords will need to think hard about what direction they are taking their forces.
2. How was running the event in 10th ed different this year? Did you use any crusade rules (Are Legends units finally allowed?)
Running 10th edition this year had its challenges leading up to the event. As you’re aware, 10E had some significant changes and left us less than 3 months to adapt our missions and assess army building impacts. In the end, I think the transition was pretty seamless for the players, but boy I was sweating it for a couple months. The team put in a ton of work behind the scenes on those changes, and I’m pretty proud of the end results. In addition toning the mission rules down and adapting to 10th, we also simplified the crusade elements quite a bit. We eliminated most of the in game and post game book keeping and limited the upgrades to a core set of 500 points known as the Warlord Incarnate and Retinue. It really helped maintain the RPG progression elements without overwhelming folks with administrative tasks. We also allowed legends for the event. It is narrative after all. I think that was super well received.
3. This was your second year running the event, how were you able to apply what you learned from year one?
We definitely took feedback seriously from last year. It was a fun event, but it didn’t fulfill everything I had envisioned and I think it left some folks exhausted by the end, which was not the tone I was trying to achieve. This year we expanded the team with two new co-leads. This took a lot of the burden off of me and allowed us to really squeeze more narrative and fun elements into the days, including cosplay, mystery crates, relic ceremonies, and more in depth briefings. We also had a much quieter briefing area which helped. In addition to that, we dropped the core battles down to 2 a day with optional night fights. That did multiple things, it allowed our one off Spec Ops players to experience the tables and narratives at night and feel more integrated and impactful while also giving core players, Warlords and LTs, the option of how much they wanted to play, rest, visit friends, or experience other aspects of the con. It was a real win/win/win….win type of situation in my book.
4. How did you change up your missions to accommodate 10th ed? Were they similar to last year?
We took a hard look at missions this year. The 3 tier system worked the way I intended, and the thematic missions was an element I really wanted to keep, so we tried not to throw the baby out with the bath water. To do so, we simplified the Planetary Mission to just the traditional objectives game, made the Battlefields Missions a little less complicated, and kept the Campaign Missions element. We also added keys to each mission card to show a complexity rating, so folks could tell before they started reading what kind of brain power would be required. It also helped that players weren’t tracking agendas or experience points. I think we reached a pretty good balance, but as always, I’ll take the feedback into account and adjust as needed for next year.
5. What were some of your favorite memories or stories from the event? Any great moments or stories?
There were definitely some great moments this year. The relic ceremonies were a highlight for me. On the tables, totally unrelated to actual gameplay I guess, but we had a player break out some Kenny Loggins and aviator glasses on the “Danger Zone” map. I won’t hold it against him that he was playing Eldar Since they were also a beautifully converted Exodite force. I saw a guardsman hit a Porphyrion with a shovel. Did not end well for that guy. Getting my Warlord Titan blown up was memorable! I actually got to play a game this year during the Titan Battle!
6. Will you be back next year? Any hints at ideas or changes you may implement?
We will definitely be back next year, but you’ll have to be there to find out what happens!!!
And remember, Frontline Gaming sells gaming products at a discount, every day in their webcart!
