"Calling all Vorites...Vor 2.0 announced!" Topic

VOR 2.0 (Whispers from the maw)

Hey folks
Yes its true VOR 2.0 is in the works. I've been working on it for a bit now. And let me say I've been having quite a good time doing so. It's also true that a certain "red shirt" got in touch with me recently in regards to VOR (how he tracked me down is a mystery, i think he used sorcery). Nothing official with that at this point but certainly some potential.

Regardless tho, VOR 2.0 is going to happen. The details on it's release, format, etc are still pending.

So what facts can I give you…
- Updated rules
- Advanced storyline (10 years further)
- Full comprehensive scratchforce rules (!)
- Full campaign system
- Uber huge battle terrain table (D1000)
- New additional races plus all the originals
- Plus lots more

This is just off the top of my head. I'm currenly planning it to be a large hardback book for ease of handling and stocking (plus VOR always deserved a hardback dammit!). Obviously new miniatures are vital but the core game needs to be refreshed and available first and foremost.

Let me ask you folks for feedback tho. What are wanting or not wanting to see in VOR 2.0? What things are absolutely vital? what things do you think must change? How would you like to see it released? PDF? hardback? boxset? Give me some feedback.

Sincerely,
Mike "Skuzzy" Nielsen

link

I want to see the build your own troops points list. And as a new Vor palyer Id love to see a boxed set full of great plastic minis. Dont really need a hardback book if its going to cost $50+ dollars. Id rather have a cheaper softcover book so I can spend more money on figs.

yeah, what chuck says

and dont go padding out the rulebook with fluff and modelling tips and artwork

I would also NEED to see the build your own troops points list in the first book. A physical rulebook, and don't pad it with extraneous stuff. Could care less about the plastic figures/box set as I've got plenty of the original metal, but as an introduction for new players to VOR it might not be a bad idea.

Al | rivetsandsteam.com

Old ;) (and still on the first page too! Tsk tsk!)

TMP link

And I don't think Skuzzy(Mike Nielson) posted this here to be responded to directly. Rather someone saw his post on the Ironwind Metals forum and transplanted it here for information purposes.

I want a rule book crammed full of everything that you can think of and at least 2 playable armies. All of this I want in a box.

like they said, have the "make your own" rules in the main book, I also would like plastics in a box set rather than metal, though a comprehensive main book you wouldnt need a box set as you could use the minis you already have:-)

@ palaeoemrus

Thank you. You are correct, I saw this on Ironwind Metals and posted it for informational purposes for fellow VOR enthusiasts.

My apologies for any confusion this might have caused and for not having noticed the previous post on the subject.

Two words: plastic armies!

Brandlin: … and dont go padding out the rulebook with fluff and modelling tips and artwork

Seeing as how Vor's USP was the setting, that's the worst possible idea I can think of, Brandlin. Frankly, I'd rather have the rulebook looking like Warhammer Ancient Battles than like DBA. It's not like there's an Osprey series on Forces of the Maelstrom; Neo-Soviet Power-armoured forces 2120-2125.

Any included miniatures should be from the new races; it's the only way you'll shift units to Vor fans. I have no interest in buying a boxedgame which includes more Union and Growler forces; I've got them already.

- New additional races plus all the originals

Well, that's different to previous announcements, that the Golems and Ceru would be removed. I hope they're staying; both of those races are better than the godawful 'Mashers'.

Brandlin: … and dont go padding out the rulebook with fluff and modelling tips and artwork

Seeing as how Vor's USP was the setting, that's the worst possible idea I can think of, Brandlin. Frankly, I'd rather have the rulebook looking like Warhammer Ancient Battles than like DBA. It's not like there's an Osprey series on Forces of the Maelstrom; Neo-Soviet Power-armoured forces 2120-2125.

I disagree. (but then i would as you've disagreed with me:-) )

The setting in VOR is designed to be 'open ended' it isn't prescriptive, in fact it positively screams "here's a setting that allows you to let your imagination run wild".

And frankly i'll scream if i buy another set of rules that tells me how to pain, base figures and use a tape measure. I can understand the need for a newbie to wargamming to have this information but many rso called rule-sets are padded beyond belief with material that either

1. does not add to the rules but fills space you can be charged for
2. creates 'canon' for the game which limits rather than encourages imagination.

just my 2p… and slightly off topic…

either way i'd like to see vor back, especially with plastic – and especially for growlers. I only have around 70 of these, and thats simply not enough variety to mount a really good "attack of the yellow fungus monsters" campaign !!!

:-)

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So, what kind of setting material would you like? I mean, saying "The maelstrom suck in species from all over the galaxy, and forces them to fight for survival. Off you go." would be a failure.

The Vor rulebook and forcebooks were crammed with 'fluff' – some of the forcebooks were 50/50 rules and fluff. I don't remember that stifling anyone's creativity – the web was full of custom forces when Vor was popular. Even with that, in my experience, the custom forcebooks were a gimmick, that was never fully exploited. the real attraction was the backstory; Razorfang's Growler pack taking up home in Siberia/Alaska, his feud with the Zykhee Marshal Myntokk (which was never resolved, annoyingly), the nature of the Shard and Pharon, their ancient half-forgotten knowledge of the nature of the Maelstrom, the connection between the Pharon God-King and the heart of the Maelstrom, and their long-term plans for escape. All of that gave the setting depth, made it more than just a lifeless "lets have these Space Marines fight those Cybermen and Rebel Commandos" crossover-fest that it would have been without it.

An SF game needs a pretty comprehensive backstory, because there isn't the same sort of 'generic' SF world as there is in, say, Fantasy – there's no SF equivalent of the reams of bad sub-Tolkien "elves, dwarves and wizards" fantasy novels that guarantee you can round up 4 random high-schoolers for a game of D&D and have them all know how the world works.

I suppose people's ideas of what constitutes value are different. I expect the game rulebook to give me at least a digest of the background – that goes for historical games, too.

As for a modelling/painting section, IMO, 10 pages or so is enough to be getting on with. Add a couple of pages into the forcebooks, and you're golden.

Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fresh chew-toys for my Growler pack!

Andrew – i guess we'll agree that we are looking for different things in a game. I have no doubt that the books will have lots of material in them i wont use/read…

Vor has a pretty rich background. Like most FASA products, I enjoyed reading all the fluff and picked up all the novels I could find (unfortunately several turned out to be real stinkers). The Vor universe was to be very diverse, but have major players and the occasional aliens you run across once in a while. Sort of like the Star Trek Universe, you had Humans Vulcans, Klingons, Cardassians etc and then the occasional alien with a different bump on his forhead show up for an episode or two.

Personally I'd hope that there's more fluff in Vor 2.0 in fact I'd love to hear more about what's progressed in the past 10 years. If you simply want rules, force customizing rules, and no fluff, check out No Limits! It's basicall Vor mechanics with a much more detailed and expanded force builder rules. It's completely open ended and it's free.

I agree that they need to have something new in the starter box. Same old Union and Growlers will not cut it. Anyone that's been interested in Vor probably already has a boxed set. However, Union were pretty much the bread & butter of the Vor Universe (standard recognizable shooty army that most are familiar with) and the Growlers were sort of unique at the time. Putting two completely alien forces in the boxed set may make it a bit unfamiliar for new players.

1) Keep the Union forces and include another adversary other than Growlers.

2) Include new Union models, either resculpts of the standard troopers or units that were in the forcebooks but don't have models represented.

3) Go with a different combination like Neo-Soviet vs. Pharon (like in the cover of the rulebook). Again possibly consider new sculpts and/or new units.

4) All new conventional force instead of Union or Neo-Soviet. New models and a new forcelist which would attract new and old Vor players alike. NATO was predominately mentioned in the fluff. It would still be a familiar shooty army but different from the existing Union and Neo-Soviet. I drafted up a NATO forcelist for Vor that was far more than a variant of the Union force list and it even had variant options for NATO member states.

I there a company behind the new Vor? If not, we're not going to see a box set full of plastic minis. If the announcement is asking if we want to see a hard copy, or PDF, I doubt there's money to make plastic injection molds, if there is you won't see a box set for a couple years I would think.

I seriously doubt any plastic will be coming out. Economics for it would be very prohibitive.

The Vor game mechanics are much more skirmish to battle level (similar is scope of Warzone Ultimate Edition), which dosn't lend well to hundreds of minis on the table. Hopefully they keep it that way too. I prefer rules that allow me to do more with less minis than spend more time putting minis on the table and then taking them immediately off as the first shots are fired.

Dumbing down the ruleset to justify apocalyptic scale play as a way to get quick return on investment is what turned me away from 40k and I won't go back. I've heard the same argument from Confrontation fans as well.

"I've heard the same argument from Confrontation fans as well."

Which is amusing considering that Confrontation has only now gotten above what I would consider RPG scale skirmish.

The two elements of Vor that are attractive are going to appeal to somewhat different crowds.

The folks who love the setting will want to see it updated, and flashy settings and pretty pictures are what keep a game in retail exposure.

The folks who want to adapt other miniatures are far more interested in the custom force rules, and many couldn't care less about the Vor setting. These are the people who will keep a PDF or mail-order game going.

Happily, it sounds like Skuzzy is planning to hit all the bases. Will the model-bashers be able to tolerate all that "useless fluff"? Most of them have for years already.

First request: stop using computer nomenclature to refer to non-computer things like game rules. This means call the game Vor 2nd edition or Future Vor, or Vor Revisited or whatever. Not 2.0, 2.5, etc. That is just silly.

The campaign system is a good thing. I would especially like like to see a skirmish/campaign system (necromunda like).

Another thing that always bugged me with VOR was that lower rolls were better than higher rolls.

It'd be great if they did the force lists for Warzone this time. FASA announced that pretty much the day before folding. I suppose it's extremely unlikely to happen given the license and all.