Empire of the Dead upcoming West Wind game!

[Anatoli]

I have not played or seen the Vampire Wars rules so I can't comment on it. I know the Vampire Wars rulebook was an epic fail according to pretty much everyone who bought those rules though, but I think lessons might have been learned from that last attempt and they seem to have put a lot of time into this game with delays to straighten out rules and design choices of the book itself.

I am willing to give the game a try, having a completely "untainted" approach towards the rules.

[thebinmann]

Nw I know why I have avoided GH board and this thread for months, these are perhaps must buys!

Hope they match foundry Victoriana

[thebinmann]

Or perhaps not, then I won't HAVE to buy them!

[Gibby]

Sort've leaning towards the viewpoint shared by some others in the thread; don't like the cartoony figures, but hope the rules are good. Thing for me about Horror is I likes it dark and grim, rather than goofy and such. Maybe Call of Cthulhu's folder will suit me better

[Anatoli]

Demo rules and a small scenario have been posted on the new West Wind forum.

Just glanced at the contents, the document seems to be pretty bare bones so it's hard to make an opinion about how the rules might be or turn out just yet. There are things that look promising in the game mechanics, and I'll try to get a game of these demo rules going during the week to come and see how they play.

http://anatolisgameroom.blogspot.com/2012/02/empire-of-dead-quickstart-rules.html

[jet]

Well, they look really great to me. I'm more than happy with Chaos in Carpathia but, based on this demo, I will be buying the rulebook and trying it out at the very least. I'm curious to see if the full version allows one to make up characters or to use existing miniatures. I have 40 or 50 miniatures from Westwind's Gothic Horror line painted and on my shelf at present.

I should add, I thought that the minis shown on page 3 of that document look quite nice.

The only issue with the starter is the setting. I have lots of terrain to reproduce backwater Eastern Europe, Old Graveyards, and Underground Crypts. What I don't have is Victorian Urban. I guess I could test the rules with a Eastern European mod using what I have.

[Anatoli]

Yeah I hope that the game will not be based upon a urban setting alone as I have the same problem.
I think I'll have to transport the Ripper to some central European rural village when I play the demo scenario. It should work just fine.

[aggro84]

Thanks for the heads up Anatoli!
I downloaded them right away. I imagine they will will have a lot of scenarios for rural locations as well.
I'm not sure how I feel about the shorter snouted, Lon Chaney style werewolves in the PDF.

I love your blog by the way. 

[Anatoli]

Thanks 

[ianh]

Well a few snippets have gleaned that respond to some of these posts.

The rules have gone to print so as predicted Salute will be the grand unveiling, but you probably all already knew that.

The game has an in-built campaign mechanic so people can most certainly build their own characters.

For those that haven't played it yet the demo scenario is great fun and for a demo has quite a few tactical twists if you read into them.

Expect more updates in the next week or two as the teasers start to flow out.

[Skrapwelder]

Any chance the full rules will be available as a download?

[ianh]

I think there is more chance of me winning the Lottery tonight to be honest.

Like anything I guess massive amounts of time and effort go into rules writing and publication so not unreasonable to sell the fruits of labour.  Of course I don't know for definite but I'd be really surprised.

[Skrapwelder]

I'm sorry, I wasn't clear. I did mean a purchased pdf when I said download. There are companies that offer their rules as such.

I have the teaser set of rules and am quite impressed. I'm running a convention game in late May and was considering a switch to these rules over the CinC rules. With a mid April release date a pdf sale would be the only way I could see a full set in time to be able to use them in May.

[Chairface]

I'm sorry, I wasn't clear. I did mean a purchased pdf when I said download. There are companies that offer their rules as such.

You were pretty clear

[fastolfrus]

I'm sorry, I wasn't clear. I did mean a purchased pdf when I said download. There are companies that offer their rules as such.
I have the teaser set of rules and am quite impressed. I'm running a convention game in late May and was considering a switch to these rules over the CinC rules. With a mid April release date a pdf sale would be the only way I could see a full set in time to be able to use them in May.

Maybe you should email them? They may be able to send you a pre-release copy of the book - they must have one for proof reading etc, and if they are releasing at a show they should have some in stock before the show date