Specialist Arms Forum

Battlefleet Gothic => [BFG] Discussion => Topic started by: Madness on July 17, 2009, 11:06:58 AM

Title: Going crazy chasing the canon
Post by: Madness on July 17, 2009, 11:06:58 AM
I'm trying to undestand how much is canon and how much is fanfic in the BFG universe, for instance are Eldar Wyrmship canon or is something the guys from tacticalwargames made up? Where did they appear first?
Title: Re: Going crazy chasing the canon
Post by: horizon on July 17, 2009, 12:04:07 PM
Wyrmship was designed by Sigoroth at the specialist games forum in 2005. Thus fanmade.
Title: Re: Going crazy chasing the canon
Post by: trynerror on July 17, 2009, 12:21:09 PM
Maybe someone (Ray ?) can provide us with a list like in the old forum. Official rules - experimental rules - houserules. Anything missing on the list surely is unofficial.
Title: Re: Going crazy chasing the canon
Post by: Madness on July 17, 2009, 01:29:03 PM
Mind you, I'm more concerned with the fluff side than the actual gameplay, so if has no rule but has a canonized history, I'm fine.
Title: Re: Going crazy chasing the canon
Post by: Admiral_d_Artagnan on July 17, 2009, 09:06:17 PM
Fluff side, you just stick to BFG rulebook, Armada and some of the PDFs at the SG site.
Title: Re: Going crazy chasing the canon
Post by: RayB HA on July 19, 2009, 09:47:09 PM
Official BFG background can be found in the rule books and any articles written by the HA as a whole. (So solo written fleets like the Black Templars are non canon where as the Mechanicus fleet is canon, as it was written and reviewed by the HA). However GW being GW they will change key chunks of background if it suits them (usually for the better).

Cheers,

RayB
Title: Re: Going crazy chasing the canon
Post by: Madness on July 19, 2009, 10:08:33 PM
Very interesting, but what does HA mean?  :-[
Title: Re: Going crazy chasing the canon
Post by: Admiral_d_Artagnan on July 19, 2009, 10:12:49 PM
High Admiralty. The group that decides all things related to BFG. Anything they decide on is official.
Title: Re: Going crazy chasing the canon
Post by: Madness on July 19, 2009, 10:13:48 PM
How can I know what's approved and what's not then?
Title: Re: Going crazy chasing the canon
Post by: Admiral_d_Artagnan on July 20, 2009, 12:41:06 AM
BFG Blue Book and Armada have the official fluff. Some other PDFs which were in the SG site but not sure if they're still there. Haven't visited in a while.
Title: Re: Going crazy chasing the canon
Post by: horizon on July 20, 2009, 04:22:07 AM
Black Library is also canon within the GW universe. But takes position behind a codex but is never untrue.
Title: Re: Going crazy chasing the canon
Post by: Eddie Orlock on July 20, 2009, 04:58:43 AM
Black Library is also canon within the GW universe. But takes position behind a codex but is never untrue.
Black Library material is apocryphal at best, and subversively misleading at worst. Nothing they print can be trusted.
Title: Re: Going crazy chasing the canon
Post by: Admiral_d_Artagnan on July 20, 2009, 05:34:10 AM
Black Library is also canon within the GW universe. But takes position behind a codex but is never untrue.
Black Library material is apocryphal at best, and subversively misleading at worst. Nothing they print can be trusted.

Amen.
Title: Re: Going crazy chasing the canon
Post by: Madness on July 20, 2009, 12:02:47 PM
Gh. Ok, I give up, I'll never be able to fix the Lexicanum pages source by BFG stuff. Any sacrificial lamb wants to help?
Title: Re: Going crazy chasing the canon
Post by: horizon on July 20, 2009, 07:06:42 PM
Admiral and Eddie, your personal stance is not useful. Everything BL prints is official, GW pays money to make BL possible.
Title: Re: Going crazy chasing the canon
Post by: Eddie Orlock on July 21, 2009, 03:07:24 AM
Well we're on about personal stances, Horizon, neither is yours.

They fund the library to sell books, and little more. Gone are the days when the material was reviewed against the god books and creator of the universe granted his blessings. They have stated that they're not in the business of building a consistent setting. Library works are more akin to star trek books than star wars novels.
Title: Re: Going crazy chasing the canon
Post by: horizon on July 21, 2009, 04:16:07 AM
Ehm...that isn't my personal view. It is a view that has been given by GW/BL.
Title: Re: Going crazy chasing the canon
Post by: Admiral_d_Artagnan on July 21, 2009, 01:51:27 PM
Sorry Horizon but they never gave a definitive"Yes" to your query before. I will agree that the general outline of the history is officially accurate but that's because that's what they had to follow. Otherwise, you'd be reading books where the Horus Heresy never happened. The details of a lot of the books, however, really are very questionable.

If they're ALL official, I want my Dreadnought carrying Land Raider.
Title: Re: Going crazy chasing the canon
Post by: Madness on July 21, 2009, 01:59:00 PM
If they're ALL official, I want my Dreadnought carrying Land Raider.
Sorry pal we lost the STC.
Title: Re: Going crazy chasing the canon
Post by: Xisor on July 26, 2009, 10:45:57 PM
Everything 'published' by GW (i.e. presented by GW as any sort of official GW thing) is canon.

However, canon=!official.

In terms of BFG Fluff, it is wisest to assume that an heirarchy exists with Rulebook>Armada>Online Rules*>Magazine>FOM (Fanatic Online Magazine)>Else, where lots of Else simply isn't 'official' at all.

* The 'short time only' Tau's Commerce Protection Fleet, the Adeptus Mechanicus etc.

Now, as I said, all GW publishes (i.e. something which is GW copyright and sanctioned to be published) 'is' canon. This doesn't mean the same as it does for, say, Star Wars. GW's policy is 'everything is canon, especially the contradictory bits'. So in that regard Squat fleets should be just around the corner.

The rule is a blanket rule which enables them not to enforce (or arguably waste money, time and effort) canon by stressing out over whether a ship is 3km or 3.5km long. One need only look at Dan Abnett. His works are often rather enjoyable reads and they certainly are amongst the BLP's best-sellers, but they often trundle over folks' ideas of canon like a steamroller over some flimsy origami birds.

By the same token, Codices and Rulebooks make mistakes all the time. There's a loose 'hymnsheet' to which the studio attempts to be singing off of, but let's not stress too much, as long as we're in the same ballpark. Or maybe even just on the same dreamscape...

Title: Re: Going crazy chasing the canon
Post by: RayB HA on July 29, 2009, 07:41:32 PM
Xisor is right on the money. There is a basic backbone of the 40K universe background, the rest is quite vague allowing writters of varying recognition not to mention every day gamers to be quite creative.

Cheers,

RayB