So first of I would like to say this is not a topic for bashing Fantasy flight, or the writers of the 40k rpg games.

I will first talk about my issues with the Gm Masters kit then what I think could be used to improve it.

So The only war GM guide, what do you get? so you get card board Gm screen which is nicely done, but the quality for me was pretty low. I carried it around in work bag ( a military Style rucksack ) so I could try to memorize, it as best I could, so I did not have to rely on it. about a week of walking to and from work, which was a twenty minute journey, the screen got so badly ripped up that it would not fold properly, one of the board sides fell off and I just ended up pulling my pocket knife out ,and carving it up into reference boards I would hand to players. I was not man handling my bag, as Im a trained first aider, and carry with me a first aid kit as part of my job working in security. The only other thing in that compartment, was my plastic lunch box, and the paper Gm adventure.

Now to the paper booklet, okay, you give me the start of a cool campaign, a few random tables related to that campaign , that I nicked and expanded, and three pages of Gm advice... okay. So on the back it states in capitol letters The essential gms reference. Which imply's I must have it. But what Reference to I get out of this booklet? I get a few pages talking about comrades in more detail, I get a few on chain of command, I get some tips on how to be a better gm for only war and tips about campaign, but apart from the stat blocks, what am I referencing ? because I read it once or twice, and got the general information they were putting out , and ive not looked back at it since, today.

Also the pricing of this ? I paid £16 ish on amazon ? not much, but when you see that a full 100+ pages of hammer of the emperor or shield, is only £10 more , and has alot more rules, and stuff I look back on, it's hard back, they both have lasted, being carted about in my bag. With little ware . It makes me think, is this worth it ? not really.

So the real issue is, how is this worth it to me, as a Gm ? I get the start of a campaign, cool, But I think most people run there own made up ones, or the full Booked campaigns. I get a few paragraphs of advice, which could have been in a dev diary, and I get a cardboard gm screen, that was pretty rubbish, and all of that stuff is in the book, which I photo copied using a printer and scanner , then stuck what bits I needed in my note book.

So What Do I propose to do to improve this ? I understand that suggestions I am requesting will impact on the pricing, and if it inculded these things I would more than happily pay for it..

Tables

First of all I would like, a hard backed book, which includes allot of things that a Gm would find useful, such as a few pages of missions seeds, random tables, that would include encounters in different settings, such as city's , grasslands, ect, weather random tables, really a hole section on just random tables, that while playing, I can just roll on and say, okay this , this and this happens. Npc random tables, anything you name it. While I can make all these things my self, and I do , It's very time consuming. illness and disease tables would be great! if you look at the only war core book, it would have you think from a rules point of view your guardsmen only go mad, not get a bout of the runs

World Generators

Again a section of the Gm guide, that helps me as a gm, generate a world, with a few simple rolls, Just to give a me a ruff outline that I can then expand on. Again this can be done with random tables or by other means. or give me a CD with the gm pack, that does it all for me, that I can click a button and wait 30 seconds and bang,

Campaign/ Mission Generators

So If I want to come up with a quick one shot that I want to play, I think this in the book would be great, something that I could just roll a few dice, Look at, go okay, here is what is going to happen. Something that combined with the world generator, and the table generator, I Can have it done with in a hour, and be ready to run a say six hour one shot, so it takes alot of work off my back. again could come as part of a piece of software on a CD.

Tokens

Okay so I would like a section, of the book or pack , that has tokens. be that a few pages, of tokens that I scan then print, cut out and stick together, or cardboard tokens that I can just pop out and use, or you know both! Or even include these on the said mentioned CD above , that I can just print off and use.

More advice for the GM

So while there is some in the booklet, there is not really alot, some more advice, on how to handle different types of players, how to get them more involved, how to handle meta gaming, and how to get people who might not normally play role play games into roleplay games. tips that help me as a Gm talk describe things to a player, more about how to prep for games, how to run bigger or smaller games. How to take feed back from players, how to just deal with that one player , that we have always had that just ruins it.

Lore

( well aware that this is in the core-rule book, but something a bit more)

While there is some in the booklet, about command structure and things, give me more, that's not in the core rule book. Tell me things about the Imperial guard, that I do not know, give me full in-depth information about the spin ward front, with more maps Tell me more about what the imperium plans for the future to be for this area. Expand on what we already have. Because there is alot of confusion about, things like Commissars, priest, tech priest, storm troopers, cooks, scribes. Tell me what goes into making an army. Tell me what is in a regiment, because ive had players come to me, and say, " there's no cooks in a regiment!" or " why do we need a tech priest, because when we made the regiment, we did not pick any vehicles". Something that makes a gm feel more informed about, basic things in the world.

Hand outs .

Okay so handouts, there are non in this book, No blank hand outs that I can write stuff on, like for example a data slate, that I can jot mission objectives down on and hand to my players. There's no newspaper style hand outs that I can write stuff in, to give to my players, no medals that I Can print off or copy, to make into card board medals that I can give to my players . Or digital version of these.

End game content

There could be things in this package , to help me create things for the game, when the game is no longer supported any-more, to help me as a gm, keep going . Advice on creating new talents, or classes.

Cards

Talent and skill cards for players, that I can give out, because every game, I my self, and players go, " what did that do again?" then we break the narrative of the game, and look through the book, and go, oh okay, that's what it does. A card with a picture on it and a description of what that talent or skill does, that is a quick reference, great!

Could even do it with weapons and equipment.

at the moment Ive taken to writing it down on a word document, and stapling it to my character sheets. Or If im using roll 20, writing it down

What else do you guys think could have been included to make this better?

Also, I would be more then welling to pay an extra £20 for this.

What do you guys think?

I don't think the majority of what you're suggesting is necessary. Though an additional "accessories & extras pack" wouldn't be too bad - I just wouldn't want it in the GM Screen pack, which I like as it is.

I too think that there is plenty in the GM kit, as well as enough material in the other books. Are there supplements I would like to see? Sure. Would I need or use most of the stuff you just suggested? Probably not.

I like the random table ideas.

¿Do you know similar (free) resources from other games where we can get ideas from?

Random encounter generators for different enviroments sounds great to me, as random one-shot mission generators or some kind of randomizers for a campaign.

I tend not to stick to these kind of tables, but they let you brainstorm ideas for an actual game.

The Stars of Inequity book for Rogue Trader has a random star system generator, which works out well for designing a planet in OW. I typically generate a world, then generate a world map on donjon.

I don't think the majority of what you're suggesting is necessary. Though an additional "accessories & extras pack" wouldn't be too bad - I just wouldn't want it in the GM Screen pack, which I like as it is.

Yes what I am suggesting is not necessary, but expansion books are not, nether are the adventure books. The game masters kit is not Essential, as you dnt need any part of it, but suggestions here would make it more worth wild. But then In big bold letters on the back it says , The essential gms reference.... * looks around* could be considered misleading.

I too think that there is plenty in the GM kit, as well as enough material in the other books. Are there supplements I would like to see? Sure. Would I need or use most of the stuff you just suggested? Probably not.

* looks around * you think there is plenty? a 36 page booklet and a cardboard screen ? with the Esesential gm reference on the back. Warhammer fantasy has in it's core box ,

• 4 comprehensive rule books provide all the knowledge you will need on the Old World
• Over 30 Custom Dice give you unprecedented options for story-telling
• Party sheets provide new skills and abilities to keep everyone engaged
• 30 different careers and 4 different races offer a multitude of character options
• More than 300 cards keep you in the game, no need to look up skills or abilities
• Three character keepers designed to hold everything your hero will need each session

Not Including the players guide, and gms guide. There is not plenty here and the other things you can get that will assist you.

The Stars of Inequity book for Rogue Trader has a random star system generator, which works out well for designing a planet in OW. I typically generate a world, then generate a world map on donjon.

Yes it does, but for some one let's say on a limited budget and can only afford to buy into maybe one roleplay game, it's not really feasible, to go out and buy anther book. You could always get an Illegal PDF online, but myself, I like to buy my products. I know some groups of people, that pool there money to buy into Rpgs.

Yeah I think the GM Kit has plenty, as does the CRB for the most part. It's a system that encourages you to think about things on a lot of levels, rather than just reading through a couple thousand pages to find one particular RNG table that -might- be helpful in a very specific scenario.

As far as limited budgets go, if you add all this stuff to the GM Kit, then the price logically goes up with it, making it no cheaper than buying the splatbook anyway, and I personally wouldn't use the vast majority of the things you suggested. Instead of tokens, I use actual Warhammer 40k miniatures.

I'm a pretty creative guy with a pretty capable brain, I honestly don't feel a need for any aids beyond the CRB - I can homebrew anything I need on the fly, if I really want anything.

Yeah I think the GM Kit has plenty, as does the CRB for the most part. It's a system that encourages you to think about things on a lot of levels, rather than just reading through a couple thousand pages to find one particular RNG table that -might- be helpful in a very specific scenario.

As far as limited budgets go, if you add all this stuff to the GM Kit, then the price logically goes up with it, making it no cheaper than buying the splatbook anyway, and I personally wouldn't use the vast majority of the things you suggested. Instead of tokens, I use actual Warhammer 40k miniatures.

I'm a pretty creative guy with a pretty capable brain, I honestly don't feel a need for any aids beyond the CRB - I can homebrew anything I need on the fly, if I really want anything.

Because you have time to, does not mean others do not. What we are talking about here is making the Gm kit, worth something, rather then it not really be worth it. You know you say you use 40k minis, but not every one can afford those, and it's not realistic, in many cases to cart around minis.

You know every one is quite creative, but alot of us, just do not have time to sit down and go, okay, between A to Z all this will happen, and alot of the time, it's just not worth it. So for alot of the time I just do one shots ,along side my group of normal players, because people just drop out of games.

Two examples of this, are on this forum, where Ive needed players to fill the gaps, and they drop out, one group, I had to close, down, because people were coming and going all the time.

Thus Instead of spending hours making these lovely worlds, going through a few dice rolls, going , okay it will be this this and this, then when we sit down to play the game, I have random encounter tables to fall back on.

At least a good Gm kit, would be nice, lot's of games have them.

Just because you can "homebrew it" does not mean that there should not be a gm kit, that takes alot of pressure of gming.

Because every Gm has had the pressure of it, if gm's did not feel those pressures, there would not be adventure books.

Part of the problem you may face is the nature of the game itself - you are meant to play as a group of Imperial Guardsmen. This isn't D&D, this isn't Dark Heresy, this isn't Rogue Trader. The players are given a mission and told to go do it. They don't really have a choice. They will be confined to base, stuck on a voidship, sent to a different planet, or stationed in a space station. While this restricts the PCs choice in what sort of scenery they are in and what things they are doing, it makes the GM's life a whole heck of a lot easier.

Why do you need a random environment generator, when a whole campaign could conceivably be set in a single set of trenches? Why do you need 30 careers when the players will be doing the same one for their usually short lives? Why have handouts when the grunts are never given anything other than verbal orders from an angry lieutenant?

You may disagree with me, or feel that you as a GM truly do need 300 lacquered cards with weapon stats on them. The point I am trying to make is that the game has a much smaller scope, less player agency focused, with a much more minor role for the PCs - at least compared to other games. It doesn't really need a whole lot of extras to play the game, just a time dedication to know the rules and understand what things do. I have been playing for a little over a year and I have a very good understanding of what all the special qualities do, and the rules for injuries and so on and so forth. If there is a gap in my knowledge, that is what the rule book is for, or at least the GM cheat sheet at the end of the GM kit.

I don't "have time". I work a 42 hour week, and take part in 4 RPG sessions of 3-5 hours in length each outside of my work routine. I barely have any time at all, frankly. I quite literally just improvise the game as I go a lot of the time, referencing the generic statblocks and modifying things accordingly on an as-necessary basis.

If playing with miniatures is out of one's price bracket, chess pieces or even coins will work on a tac-map if you feel they're needed. Anything suffices provided you can distinguish.

Hell, the game is designed intentionally to be run without any sort of map or visual aid being necessary.

I'd just want critical charts(vehicles and void ships included), weapon charts, talent lists, weapon trait lists, status(fire,suffocation) descriptions, and a few stat blocks from different enemies for a bit of inspiration.

I don't need it, but sometimes I don't remember exactly how someone dies when depressurized, or what a -6 is to the arm. So I just use printouts, couple index cards, and make a quick ruling if I have to and hope it's close. And I've seen so many stat blocks for weapons and especially NPCs, I'm comfortable with just making them up on the fly. What would help me is something to help keep track of all the stuff from new splatbooks, which I sometimes find harder to remember. Most GM kits can't exactly help with that, but it's why I love stuff like the 40k rpg armory site.

Is how we do it. Printed out crit tables, the GM screen for weapons and the rulebook if we need to do any more intensive referencing.

While I could argue for days, the virtues of having random tables, both for players and gms, and argue for years about rail roading gms, and how I disagree . Do not get me started on not having enough time, cause I think i would win. The Idea of this topic, was to try and get product improvement?

cause if this is not shifted back to it, there is no point in carrying on. Or this will just end up being pointless debates, over the internet.

While I could argue for days, the virtues of having random tables, both for players and gms, and argue for years about rail roading gms, and how I disagree . Do not get me started on not having enough time, cause I think i would win. The Idea of this topic, was to try and get product improvement?

cause if this is not shifted back to it, there is no point in carrying on. Or this will just end up being pointless debates, over the internet.

I don't think FFG takes any input at all from the players in order to develop their products (sadly).

On the other hand, I think this thread is quite interesting in thinking about things we (as fans) can develop to improve the GM kit.

I will try to develop some expanded random encounter tables and some random enviroments/planets generators. Could be fun.

What I can't think about, though, is the random mission generator. How could that work?

There is an item on DarkReign called "100 Missions for Only War" which I think was posted on here at some point. Just convert it to a d100 table and roll for it. Many of the missions are non-combat so that is nice, too.

Yeah a random mission generator can be as simple as a madlibs plot hook.

[bad guys] are involved in [event] at [location players are sent in to [resolve the situation in a messy way], it turns out that [plot twist] and the players are sent scrambling trying to escape with [macguffin] and their very lives!

Tada. I mean, that might not be quite as in depth as you mighta imagined. But stuff like that can serve as nice inspiration for a simple 1 or 2 session long adventure.

....Which is why I don't get all this fuss over the GM kit. The only random generator that would be used often would be the mission one, which has already been done on the forums and on Dark Reign. Why reinvent the wheel?

....Which is why I don't get all this fuss over the GM kit. The only random generator that would be used often would be the mission one, which has already been done on the forums and on Dark Reign. Why reinvent the wheel?

2 weeks ago you opened a thread expressing your concern about the lack of threads and ideas in the forum. Now you (and others) despise a 150-word post by a fellow forumite.

I don't despise it at all personally. I wish the screen was better, but better by virtue of being both simple, and incorporating all the extra splat gear and qualities. Which isn't a very realistic wish on my end I don't think. And I do enjoy talking about gm screens, but I enjoy talking about lots of things.

....Which is why I don't get all this fuss over the GM kit. The only random generator that would be used often would be the mission one, which has already been done on the forums and on Dark Reign. Why reinvent the wheel?

2 weeks ago you opened a thread expressing your concern about the lack of threads and ideas in the forum. Now you (and others) despise a 150-word post by a fellow forumite.

I made that post, yes, but I never said that I was going to like or agree with every single thread posted on the forum. I just wanted more discussion on this board, and that is exactly what we are doing here!

Personally, I think if FFG releases anything new, it should be an expansion about vehicles, higher level characters, or the experience of different types of regiments. I don't think that a "fix" to the GM kit is necessary.