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Balrog21
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Vor: The Maelstrom-- Please Respond!
Hi All Vor fans!
Just wanted to stop in and give a little news that 'might' be on the horizon.
First, after reading the posts..Mike 'Scuzzy Nielson holds the rights to Vor still since being the creator. Electronic gaming rights I do not
know.
Now, just to let you all know, I have been in contact with Scuzzy through a 3rd party artist friend, something that has been almost near impossible to
do since FASA's demise. It's only taken me 3 years to accomplish this small feat. =) But on to the meat and meaning for this post.
I will remain silent as to my identity for now, but suffice to say I am president of a gaming publishing company and what I want to talk about in this
post is VOR. I just wanted to post this to all the Vor fans out there, and dont really want to say too terrribly much so it wont jinx us in this
venture. Remember this post is not official in any way, just a 'could be' if you will if the go ahead is given I will be back to post more news and
info and make it concrete. So wish us good luck!
Our company is wanting to bring Vor back into print and production and get this great game rolling again. Our proposal has already been sent to
Scuzzy and we are just waiting to hear back from him with the go ahead.
We already have a website which is not public yet as a subset of our main website, and we will open it up once we have the go ahead. It's nice, clean
and loaded with all kinds of Vor goodies.
IronWind will be a MAJOR factor in Vor's success and I will be calling them this Tuesday to bounce some ideas around with them concerning the game and
production ideas and issues.
Some things we are working out the details on atm concernign Vor
A: The Starter Box Set
1. We are currently in discussion on giving the buyer the choice of which two starter armies the box contains. Be it a starter force of
Growlers and Pharons or Shard and Union the buyer will be able to choose which two armies (of the available 6)he/she would like to have to begin the
game.
2. 4 new pieces of terrain, not the same 4 pieces but 4 different pieces.
3. An evaluation card that automatically enters the sender to win free prizes
4. Main rule book, with new revisions
5. Scenario booklet with all new scenarios
6. The good 'ole templates
7. And the always needed dice
8. A full color fold out Map of the Maelstrom itself pinpointing the areas of the Maelstrom along with insert illustrations of the known
planets.
B: Comeback Kickoff
1. A massive year long Campaign Story Tournament which we will be providing in store game support, campain roster sheets, online info, and much
more. This will include prizes, online recognition, showcase spotlights and much more. This may even lead to Origins and GenCon with the top 3
winners receiving cash prizes.
2. Online contest to receive free game product
3. An Online painting contest - prizes STBD
4. A New Army and Force Book! - this is still hush hush atm
C: The Future
1. Some newly added mini's - these will be the named character models from all 6 force books - The God King, Goregut, etc.
2. 4 new races and source books(this includes the new one for the initial launch), and yes, new miniatures!
3. The create your own army force rule book
4. Some resculpts on some old mini's. TBD
5. Updated Army Source Books
Whew, well that is a tidbit of what we are wanting to do with Vor.
On another note, the Mashers and Ceru will most likely be deleted from the game. The golem are still on the decision making floor so to speak. We
came to this decision because no source books and very few if any actual models where even made or in production. We feel we can add new and better
armies and factions to the existing line.
Now, if you have any ideas, suggestions, input concerning Vor? Please respond to this post with them! I will be sure to read everyone and address them
with our designers and company heads.
Hope this wets your appetite a bit. So keep your fingers crossed!
Best,
Bal
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dneff23
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Hi Bal,
If this comes to fruition, this would be a fantastic development for the loyal Vor fans. After reading your post, I feel that you would be making a
step in the right direction with a re-launch for the game with new box sets, armies, updated army books and models. However, I would re-consider the
deletion of existing races from the game. I know that in my group of gamers there are a couple who would like to do Masher, Golem and/or Ceru forces,
but have not followed through due to a lack of models for either race (2 for Mashers, 3 for Golems and none for Ceru) or rules. I feel if an army
books and miniature lines were developed for these races that they would sell as well as any of the existing races.
Just my 2 cents,
Dan
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manic _miner
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Hi just like to say this is very good news.I hope it comes through as the game universe is amazing.
I agree withdneff23 that the Mashers,Golems and Ceru should stay.Many people that have the books would love to see these races explored more and see
thier forces on the tabletop.
I hope Mike gets behind this and brings his visions to the universe with the same enthusiasm as he had with the previous forces.
It would be so cool to see nem miniatures for al forces out at present.
Now I just have to get all my miniatures painted and post some pictures.
Andy C.
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MarkJ
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This is great news. I'd love to see Vor back again.
However you mention not having heard back from Skuzzy on all the licensing legals. We can only hope these legal issues have been covered but from
memory there were some.
If indeed Vor returns, why delete races? I knew people who were interested in playing them. Out of the Ceru and Mashers I'm not so certain about the
Ceru, but the mish-mash "kit-bashing" the Mashers did was of interest to a number of people.
I'd love to kick around with my Neo-Soviet's and Razorback's again! I think only used Razorfang once...
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Balrog21
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thanks for the posts! yeah, if we do decide to keep 3 of the not done races...it will be the mashers and golems. the ceru really seemed out of place
to me and several other people. still waiting on the go ahead but thanks for your input and encouragement!
best,
Bal
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NeoSoviet1
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This is some of the best news that I have heard all day! I have recently been looking through much of my Vor materials. I play a Neo-Soviet army, and
love the game and system. I'm trying to revive the game in my area by coaxing some of my friends to pull their old armies out of mothballs and
encouraging other friends who never played the game to try it out. I play Warhammer 40K, but I simply believe that this game is better and am glad
for one to see that someone is trying to revive it.
In regards to ideas for new factions, why not add another human faction to the mix. Using the force creation rules from the rulebook (which don't
work very well) I tried to create a new human faction called the Neo-Nazis. I think that this would be a great complement not only to the game but
also to the storyline (Democracy (Union), Communism (Neo-Soviet), Facism (Neo-Nazi)) and would give it a somewhat WWII flavor which most people
probably would like.
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Sallust
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Sounds like too much to hope for after all this time.
Some points though in hoping that you succeed. First the rules really need an update and had a lot of problems with some of the word choices used to
begin with. Everyone who still plays has a lot of home rulings and the VOR FAQ was getting a bit long. Also, fluff should not contradict the rules and
force abilities.
The new fluff should always have a reason for each army to face off against others of their own kind as it often happens in games.
For the starter boxes I recommend using Pharon in one and Golems in another. Simply because these two are "slaver" races and you could use the entire
other force to make one big army (I.E. Neo-Soviets Versus Pharon and the player could then use all the Neo-Sovs and undead if he choose).
If you need any writers or play-testers please let us old die-hards know.
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MarkJ
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I agree with what Sallust said.
The rules don't need changing, they just need minor updating and clarification. The original system , for the most part, played very well.
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dlatz1
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This is great news!
Although I, and the group I play with have never stopped playing, it would be nice to get things rolling again for those who have problems with
playing a "dead" game -- I've never really understood that sentiment...the game is out of production so I'm not going to play it...whatever. Having
new folks joining the ranks of the faithful is certainly something to look forward to. Anyway, good luck Balrog21!
And, one more thing. While I think it's great that everyone has ideas on things to change and how to make the game better, I think that just getting
the game back into production should take precedence over adding, changing and modifying it. Doing that would just take more time -- let's just get it
back in production and get some new blood involved first! Then, any changes can come as they will.
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pez0002
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This would be incredible! I have really been wanting to play a game of Vor recently and now here is news it might be coming back. Great timing.
I would however be slightly disappointed if the Ceru were left out. Its been a while since I have read the fluff but I thought that the Ceru were
interesting. There Mad Max scavanger mentality seemed to fit in well with all of the destruction and war that goes on in the Maelstrom. Of course
the beauty of Vor is once the custom force book comes out I could make the Ceru for myself.
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JamzTheMan
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May I speak for me and my 200lbs of painted metal...
WOOOOOOOT!
May I make a few suggestions?
1. Make it Vor 2.0 but don't change the core rules, they play great. But over the years there have been some GREAT faq's and small house rules we all
used (especially with morale and such).
2. Consider using lulu ondemand printing/pdf's if it gets more material out with less "upfront costs", (see Earthdawn Classic)
3. New mini's/material is a MUST. Please don't give us 90% old mini's for the first 6 months. Face it, I would think a HUGE chunk of people playing
at first will be us fans, and it's just a guess, but most of us fans have complete Union/Neo/Growler armies. Some missing Shard/Pharon would be great
though!
4. Rock on and good luck! My painted metal and resin will be here waiting if you can make it back (as will several of my friends).
5. For starter kit A. May I suggest a combo/hook up with Armorcast? They to just came back from the dead, and IMO, the best terrain out there for
mini's. It's a close tossup on if I have more Vor mini's or more Armorcast lol. But if you are looking for 4 pieces of terrain to put in it....maybe
even some "random" pieces. The plants are great as are the buildings. Oh, and vehicles!
6. Speaking of vehicles, make some! Or make a deal with Armorcast, a nice VTOL is always nice. We use a few of their tanks. But they are all treaded
-Jamz
PS. Feel free to PM/Email me if you want to discuss using Army Builder. I did all of the AB 2.0 files and would be willing to redo them in AB 3.0.
Oh, and sign me up for playtesting 
-Jamz
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manic _miner
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That is a Great idea to include Armourcast inthe plot.Find out what two forces would be included in the game then get armourcast to do two pieces per
force.It would be cool to see some Pharon Tech devices or Neo-Soviet damaged objectives.
The idea of Pharon and Golems would be cool as they dont have many miniatures out at the moment and it would get the older games back that want to
fleshout their forces.
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Sallust
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So now that I've got some more time here are some more detail on the suggestions.
There are a lot of good rules in VOR, but they need cleaning up to streamline gameplay. For instance before a Shard battle you roll to determine if
you're near the veil, and a Pharon battle rolls seperately to determine where they are in the Maelstrom. If you follow the rolls you could be near the
Veil and in the Inner Maelstrom... which makes no sense. So in every group I've played it has always been home ruled to just one roll.
Most of these rule changes were already in the VOR FAQ. Other things like modifiers to rolls and target numbers should be changed to modifying only rolls or only target numbers to make it less
confusing for new people. I'm certainly not advocating a major overhaul to the rules but simply tweaking them and taking advantage of many years of
play testing the rules have had.
Pharon of course need some rebalancing as it obviously was rushed to release and not playtested enough.
As for box sets here are my suggestions for the first two:
Neo-Soviets Versus Pharon.
You could launch this today because the models exist. You could also add new models, especially for the Pharon and garner interest in old and new
players. The Pharon didn't get a lot of play time before release and it would generate renewed interest. Also, if players are only interested in
playing Pharon and not two armies they get a lot of benefit out of this as the Neo-Soviet forces can be made into zombie slaves for the Pharon. The
advantage is that this box could be a quicker release as the force books and models exist for these forces.
The second one I would do is Union Versus Golem. Fewer models in the Golem line means a chance to show off and really attract older
players with new product. A lot of players back in the day were eagerly awaiting the Golem and you can't go wrong with Union. Like the previous force
list you can also just play them all as one Golem force with the Union figures as living slaves. The big advantage here is showing off a new force and
new models.
(End Part 1 - to be continued)
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Sallust
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On force books.
My complaints about the old force books are that they were too thin and the stories sometimes contradicted the rules.
Stories should NEVER contradict rules and it created so much rules lawyering from people who always wanted to play them by the story and not the
rules.
The books should contain more content. More stories, more pictures, and heck why not expand the forces while we're at it? They should include material
from Razorfang's Exodus. Furthermore to really make the books more worthwhile to print and enticing to buy I'd combine force books to be adversarial
groups. I.e. Union and Neo-Sovs. Growlers and Zykhee. Shard and Pharon. Golem and Ceru.
As for eliminating forces, I would only consider in the case of the Ceru who didn't seem widely popular. Even then I don't see any reason not to make
a few models of the Ceru and list them in the Golem force book as slaves and give people option to custom force and bit bash them into their own army.
It stays true to the background of the story, means you don't have to support them if they turn out to be unpopular but have the option of pulling
them out if they do turn out to be highly popular.
Mashers I think will be popular with the group of people that really like to customize models. I wouldn't drop them but would consider them a strong
candidate for the back burner or combining with another force that is more "robotic".
I look forward to new forces as I thought there was always a lot of room in VOR for them and sci-fi is all too unexplored with minis. Hopefully one of
them at least will be the robotic nemesis of the Mashers.
Enough for now and I wish you much good luck with bringing VOR back as some of us have been waiting a long time for it.
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Balrog21
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Thanks guys! Some great feedback! Keep 'em coming! I will post and update this thread as news becomes available!
Best,
Bal
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Karkared
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The one thing I would like is a higher status for Shards. Even if Axions are very evolved, the Shards are not the "superior" race they deserve to be.
Too weak, too low-minded. I would prefer an army of axions with each a retinue of mindless servants.
Also if you want to check on the Vor ML, I have posted several lists for Growlers.
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Balrog21
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Sneak Peak..New VOR LOGO!
As promised I would update as new things come in...
to bypass all the legal art rights and such we have decided to just redo the Vor logo. This may have to be done for all the source books until we get
a DEFINITE answer on who controls the rights to the original artwork...but nonetheless...
a little sneak peak at the new Vor Logo in progress..still a little more tweaking needs to be made..but it's pretty much done! Whatcha' think? Just
follow the link below! Vor is Trademarked to Mike 'Scuzzy' Nielson.
Best,
Bal
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NeoSoviet1
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Nice! So does this mean that you obtained rights to go ahead and produce Vor, or is that still in the works?
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Shard_Prime
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Any word my Razorfang need a few more Union troops to eat.......
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Balrog21
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still waiting...you guys will be the first to know here. that's a promise!
best,
Bal
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manic _miner
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Some of the comments concerning the Ceru not being popular might change with a Force book and more info plus cool mini's.I think they would still be
cool to have in games as you could have them still being chased by the Golems or attacking them to liberate others of their race from servitude.
The New logo looks good so far.
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Sallust
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It is hard to predict how popular the Ceru would be. That is why I'd strongly recommend making them a slave group of the Golem. Gives you the option
to go either way without making a commitment. When the main rulebook is redone I'd leave them out as a mention and just include a few of them in the
Golem force book.
The VOR logo works fine. Though it should probably be subtitled "2nd edition"
That is nice to write down, never thought I'd be able to expect a second edition.
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JamzTheMan
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Is that enough of a change of the logo? Outside of the bottom font it looks like you just made it red?
How about hosting a "logo" contest? I'm sure there are plenty of fans that would love to contribute
Lastly, how about a possible name change? Vor: The <insert cool name here>.
Like, maybe you start the fluff off with something epic that happened to the maelstrom? (of course it should still exist at some level, with planets
smashing and appearing and disappearing etc, makes for a GREAT environment and great reason why we are fighting).
Just thought it would sound cooler than Vor 2.0 yet everyone knows it's a NEW game and not some game that has been dead for 8 years with a couple of
new mini's...
Just my 2 cents.
-Jamz
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Sallust
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Balrog21
C: The Future
1. Some newly added mini's - these will be the named character models from all 6 force books - The God King, Goregut, etc.
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Bear in mind that either Razorfang or Myntokk are dead as the result of Razorfang's Exodus. There are also 4 more special named characters in that
book.
My advice is Chronologically a "2nd edition" (my words not yours) should move forward in time with the years. Some named characters might be killed
off and could be replaced with the characters from Razorfang's exodus or entirely new characters in the new force books. The other option of course is
to give 6 named model characters for each forcebook (with either Razorfang or Myntokk killed off as appropriate).
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Balrog21
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A little more news....
Had a great conversation with the Scuzz man Friday afternoon. Things are definately moving forward!
Now onto to some other news....
1. The new Vor will be Vor: The Maelstrom Version 2.0
2. The new version will take place 10 years in the future from the last known event that took place in the old game.
3. The complete customize your own force book will be out 1 month after launch or sooner!
4. If all goes according to plan the new box set will include the new rule book, dice, templates, fold out map, 4 pieces of new terrain, 2 for each
faction. The miniatures included in the box set will be the Golems and an entirely new race of miniatures code named 'Cold Fusion' atm.
5. At the games lauch..
date still YTBD there will also be the first new official source book of the two factions that were inlcuded in the new box set. (Yep. it would seem
that minds are on the same wavelength when another poster posted about combining 2 rival factions into one source book.)
Plus a nice new host of brand new miniatures!
Also, starter army deals packs for each faction. Price and mini #'s YTBD.
now, the bad news...
After talking with Scuzzy and getting the low down on some legal issues. We can not use any of the old artwork in any way shape or form. FASA which
is stilll holding a corporate identity has all the publishing rights to the artwork, BUT the good news is that it means all NEW artwork and gives us a
BIG incentive and drive to make Vor 2.0 even bigger and better than the original game.
So, all in all this means a brand new look for Vor:The Maestrom Version 2.0. A bigger and better core rule book, and some awesome new miniatures plus
lots more!
As things move forward and progress...once it is official..you will hear it first right here on the IWM boards. That is a promise!
Until Next Time..Best!,
Bal
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