Game in the Brain

 +Ken Kthulhu  warhammer game just opened my eyes to how powerful a Gateway hobby Warhammer 40k. I thought WoW to DnD was powerful, but WH40k blew me away by the numbers.

Ken’s statistics 

• 50+ separate player posts (can I join your game)
• 400+ views on roll20
• 10+ comments on google+
• 14 confirmed ready-to-go players
• 5 continents
• 7 countries
• Ken deleted three forums on roll20 with possibly 200+ views 

Ken and I were talking about it and it eventually became an Interview 

“Mr Kthulhu what prompted you to run WH40k…” 

Madness, sheer madness prompted me to run 40k. 
if you want an interview then sure.
it all started 18 months ago.

Were you expecting this level of response?
What were you expecting?

Well I was going to run a free game at a local event last year. if players play, then you get to run the game. if not then you play something else. so everybody has fun.
I got there a bit late, and had 1 taker, but the games had already started so no go. so I didn’t get to run Dark Heresy.

This was around your area if I remember correctly?

Yes local in Brisbane Australia. but I knew people played it, so I bought all the books. There’s about 10 in the complete set.
And then I ran it again 6 months later.
no takers again – not even a bit. maybe a walk past my table and “so what’s this then?” or “warhammer, I’ve heard of that”. But no gamemastering for me that day.

Figuring that Dark Heresy had run it’s course (released around 2006 maybe?) I gave up and switched. Tried to run a Blade Runner game with my own rules-light system.
No game


Meanwhile I had been building a following on roll20. had so many players I had to split the groups according to timezones, because I couldn’t handle all the posts. I became very busy with prospective players and didn’t get into the game.

Ahhh so Patience and Timing factored into such a great numbers turn out?


spent hours chasing emails instead of game prep.

Patience? no. I quit. Took a break. Didn’t know ho I was going to do thi crazy thing. Then some people (Justin + others) convinced me to run just one game and pick the time to suit myself. But I was worried that I wouldn’t get any players in Australia – a big ocean with not many fish. So I advertised on some more google+ forums – WH40k roleplaying, G+ RPG asia-pacific, and when combined with the people from the roll20 forums who still hung in there and didn’t care about the timezones, I had enough. 


Damn, you might need a Co-GM.


well i had offers of co-gm. this thing was huge. people could see what was happening without me saying anything.

…
Ken has been really busy setting up the game so we had to end with this. Anyway, I don’t know if there is a feature in Roll20 that would allow Co-GMship. One person to set up and logistics while the other continuously narrates would be awesome.

wow, this is my “second” interview.

My Take away is that WH40k has a lot of players and few GMs, so GMs who are looking for players can try at the setting if they are a fan of WH40k. WH40k also has a lot to offer to a Business Student who is look at the Niche market of RPGs as a thesis. Looking at Games Workshops success in making so many players, and the complicated feat of having such a well defined product is also something to marvel at.

I don’t play WH40k btw nor am I a big fan, I just appreciate it. My Spielmeister would run it with a WW2 theme as we played IG in GURPS.

Now I’ve done a system overview which I will post later on. But basically it is a money making machine and i’ve got to hand it to them. It got me thinking in how to further bring down the cost of Figs, but thanks to Roll20 and Tabletop Connect and Blender it seems Minies will be cheaper and more portable virtual.

The lesson of Board and Wargame synergies, Tabletop Connect is in a good position to make its App and Its connectivity a great Board and Wargame platform for “Miniture gaming” where you see Wargamers on their phones and tablets fighting it out in 3d Minis as they connect to each other via bluetooth or wifi.