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View Full Version : A new 40k website, and the tale of Emperor Eternal



EmperorEternalXIX
03-31-2011, 07:32 AM
Greetings all. Been a long time since I've posted around these parts. I wanted to drop by and ask some opinions on my new 40k site (that I hope will someday rival the big players like BoLS). You can see it at www.evildice40k.com. Even though it is not much, I'm very proud of it.

However, that is not the only reason I am here.

I am very fortunate to have been blessed with a decently-sized group of players who all treat each other with respect, game competitively, and share a love of all things 40k. It's been really amazing, and the fact that my club is doing so well locally is all due to the fact that I have somehow attracted a crop of reasonable people who also happen to be wonderful gamers. Because of this, I return their favor with labors of love, putting myself over the coals a bit to make sure they have a great setup at Evil Dice. One of the things I created, originally for the club only, was the THERE IS ONLY WAR campaign supplement (if any of you happen to be familiar with it). This 40-page monster is, to me, not my best work...but it was very well received, largely because I don't think anyone has attempted anything on its scale before.

Most of you who are also Warseers will remember me from that forum. You don't see me so much nowadays; I was banned some time ago. It was a first offense/last offense kind of setup they have over there; you get banned, no matter how mundane the reason, it is permanent.

Why was I banned? They tell me it was because I used the word "retarded" in a post (which is common slang here on the mean streets of Boston). This netted me a warning, which, coupled with two warnings from months and even years earlier, gave them what they needed to ban me.

It so happens that this all was hot on the heels of about 4000 downloads of my campaign, through a thread on their website. Within minutes of my ban becoming active, the thread was removed, and I was bombarded with hundreds of emails from people looking for an impossible-to-find update for it that was literally about to debut.

With some fighting I got Warseer to restore the thread, but not my account. Every few months a user looking for a campaign discovers it, which leads it to get thread-ressed, resurging my inbox with the emails of users looking for the PDF's password.

The fact that I was banned on a mild technicality (using ancient warnings from when I first joined up as warnings #1 and #2, and banning me abruptly on #3 for something that is done with alarming regularity over there), and the fact that they tried to destroy the campaign, leads me only to believe that they did this because of the campaign and it's huge success, for fear of the legal team catching on and bringing the humble Warseers to their knees for it.

So for those of you who knew me on Warseer, or knew of this campaign and were wondering what became of me, that is the story. "Operatives" representing my group (including my roommate) still follow Warseer, but to release another campaign to the public there is to invite disaster.

Flash forward to now. I wish to promote my website and make it a heavy hitter down the road in the online 40k scene. I haven't got a lot of anything to put there except my own incendiary opinions (which works, since my career background is in journalism and magazine writing). As a result I have begun work on a "sequel" to my campaign, a much more streamlined effort known simply as THERE IS ONLY WAR 2. The previous campaign exceeded 6000 downloads, and I am sure this one will do equally well, but I obviously can not release it on Warseer. Ergo, I seek to find a platform to promote the campaign (and by extension, my website) amongst like-minded players who will appreciate it (and if I can spite Warseer in the process, so much the better).

When the time comes, I was just wondering...would it be at all appropriate to publish the campaign here?

JxKxR
03-31-2011, 08:33 AM
It seems pretty cool man, but why would you want to release the rules here if you are trying to get traffic to your site? Why not just post a link when you are done with it? That way BoLS doesn't have to worry about GW getting up their bum.

p.s. You watch yor bum too! I love seeing home brewed rules and I hate to see GW come in and put a stop to them.

I'm going to go surf your site now, wish me luck.

EmperorEternalXIX
03-31-2011, 08:43 AM
Well, by posting it, I meant, I would like to announce its release publicly. It would still be hosted elsewhere.

The reason being, it really helped my club last time, but we had no real website worth viewing at the time. Literally thousands of people came to the page to get the supplement and then went on their way elsewhere.

Also, it is a personal thing. I feel very much that it is a very above-average homebrew thing. I am a graphic designer by trade with ties to the publication industry, and a lot of training in writing; it is of a relatively unprecedented quality and scope, or at least, that is what I gather given the reception of the last one. I would like to share this with the greater 40k community either way, but it so happens that now I have a website worth looking at, whereas last time I did not.

I also immensely enjoy the idea of it becoming a sensation like the last one started to, but it directly not involving any Warseer folks due to my banning.

I am also considering the incredibly bad idea of actually printing the supplement under a different name and shipping it directly to Jervis Johnson's desk. He has said in the past that he is open to fan-made bits, but he despises that people send him e-mails like "Make the Tau BS5!" and has said that he actually much prefers polished and finished documents to mull over.

I realize fully that such an action would likely result in the campaign mechanics being stolen or refurbished with no credit to me, but such is my love for the game that I would be happy with the knowledge that I helped to make it better for many people somehow.

JxKxR
03-31-2011, 08:51 AM
Oh ok then. You sound like you have a real love of the game, and that's always awesome.

also... Where is your first THERE IS ONLY WAR? I can't find it on your webstie.

Asymmetrical Xeno
03-31-2011, 09:10 AM
Great looking site , I hope it's a success for you as it's evident you have a lot of passion for the hobby. I bookmarked it and will check back on it occasionally. Not sure if your looking for guest-articles, and it's a long way (about 3 or so months) but I plan to write a massive article on how to make an Enslaver army with all the steps and photo representation - so if you'd be interested in an article like that id be happy to send it to you once it's done.

DrLove42
03-31-2011, 09:14 AM
The site looks really nice, definently will be flicking back over to you every now and then

As long as you stay away from the "Uber army Power Death Lists" and the "Look-how-much-i-can-manipulate-the-rules-tactic" it'll be more readable than the BoLs front page....and I won't have to block half of whats left cos its Warmachine rubbish *Mini-rant over*

nogg57
03-31-2011, 10:33 AM
Where can I find your first 'There is only war"? I tried registering on your forum but I still don't have permission to access the supplements section. I was able to download the pdf but it is password protected. Your old Warseer post indicated that the password was 'Astartes' but that seems to no longer work. Anyway I will try posting on evildice to see if I can get some info.

Also, I surfed your site for a while and it is absolutely awesome. So refreshing to see a blog that is well written and all about 40k. Reading about your club meetings has me green with envy. Sounds like you fellas have real good thing going.:)

Rapture
03-31-2011, 10:50 AM
Excellent website. You have secured a place on the links bar in my browser.

EmperorEternalXIX
03-31-2011, 11:04 AM
Not a day goes by that I don't thank whatever deity is responsible for gifting me with such a great club. In a funny way it is because of the swaths of jerks that are in the hobby these days (particularly locally). My group is comprised of equal parts enthusiastic new blood with no baggage and veterans with a love of the game and a disinterest in nitpicking it to death, and it really has made a world of difference as both have come to my group to get away from the more obnoxious stuff that goes on in other groups.

I'm glad to see the site so well received. When we put it up, I opted to take down There Is Only War from direct download, only to avoid drawing any needless legal dept. eyes on the site while it is so brand new. 'Astartes' was the password for 1.3; the latest version is 1.4, and the password is...well it's best I not share it publicly. But I'll give you a hint: a very commonly uttered word from the 40k mythos, that is also part of my login here... (alternatively you can just PM me or email me at [email protected] for it, as has been the case for some time now).

The pdf is still up in various places, it is just difficult to find.

Regarding the campaign, to be honest I am not particularly proud of it. I feel it is rather sloppy and needlessly overwrites commonplace game supplements and mechanics that players are familiar with. It's a lot of stuff and to go full-depth into it is rewarding, but difficult -- which is never what I wanted.

I also don't consider it one of my prettier books, but 6000 downloaders beg to disagree, I suppose.

EDIT: Great thanks for all the kind words. I assure you all that this will not be a site full of theoretical power lists and rules lawyer trickery...that's never been what Evil Dice is about, and as long as I'm breathing, it never will be.

Deadlift
03-31-2011, 02:50 PM
Book marked, great site :)

EmperorEternalXIX
03-31-2011, 03:50 PM
I'm hoping to keep it up to date at least twice a week, once a week minimum. Should give me something to do, since at the Evil Dice meetings each week I am usually too busy to play these days.

EmperorEternalXIX
04-07-2011, 04:44 PM
Apologies if a double post is against the rules here, but I wanted to inform everyone that Evil Dice 40k can now be found on Facebook, and that our Facebook page will automatically post updates when we have a new article posted on the site. It can be found at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Evil-Dice-40k-Gaming-Group/207341842627004?sk=wall

HsojVvad
04-07-2011, 10:30 PM
Without reading your post that got you banned, I as a father of a special needs child, really find the word "retarded" very offensive now. Too many people let the word fly loosely without thinking about it. It's not funny when you work so hard to just funcition like a normal person and then have people throw the word around carelessly.

I always try and tell people you are only one accident away from being retarded yourself by being hit buy a bus, car, falling down banging your head, being shot, or what ever. I use to use the word freely as well, but I do see how hurtfull it is on my child when ever someone says it. So we all do have to "grow up" and be more mature about it.

As an example I am getting my daughter to play 40K now. She is having a blast but I am always worried, that she worked so hard just to count to 5 for example which is a very big deal, then she hears someone yell at someone else and saying "don't be so retarded" for something so menial. While it can be menial for most people, it's a very big deal to her and me. It is not easy at all.

I know most people don't mean anything by it, but then again, ignorance is no excuse for hurting people. You will never know who hears it in earshot, or reads what you put out.

Still that is no reason to be banned from Whineseer.

I was also banned on Warseer as well just doing what others do, but I am not a big name. It all depends who you are on Warseer. It is very clique there, and this is why I love BoLS and DakkaDakka so much. I find almost all my time lurking on the 40K forums here in BoLS. I find it no loss from being banned on Whineseer or Warseer at all.

HsojVvad
04-07-2011, 10:32 PM
Forgot to say, bookedmarked the site. Reading some of the articles now. Good job.

Good luck.

EmperorEternalXIX
04-11-2011, 08:49 PM
Well, I certainly agree that it is not good to do anything that anyone may find offensive. However, that being said, I had considered myself well within my rights at the time.

In any case I am hoping that the website does well, though currently I am having a hard time finding people interested in posting there. I would like for it to not be entirely "my" website, as it were.