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Nemesis: an all-star team of assassins fails their mission.
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# ? Aug 14, 2019 03:32 |
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# ? May 12, 2024 03:31 |
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Hot Dog Day #82 posted:So I am a big ol’ black library nerd and have read pretty much a bunch of series outside of the Horus Heresy stuff. I am wondering: if I know the backstory to the heresy would I miss much if I starting reading from “Solar War” going forward? As much as I love the setting I am an “all or nothing” kind of reader and if I start with book 1 of the Horus Heresy I’d feel compelled to read all 50something books and... and that feels like a tall order. For solar war, I'd recommend the first four books. Horus rising, false gods, Galaxy in flames (available as crusade's end omnibus) and flight of the eisenstein. I think those four will get you completely caught up for the events in solar war. There's a short story in Garro that adds some context during a certain fight, but I don't think it's necessary. Otherwise I didn't feel I was drawing on any other books, or missing anything. Edit: forgot to address your actual issue. I find flight of the eisenstein caps off a solid story Arc within the Hersey, so you can stop reading there. Plus it introduces some characters, getting them in place for solar war. While I enjoyed it, Solar war itself I don't think stands very well on its own, as it's basically a giant battle scene. Knowing some characters greatly improved reading the book. DARPA fucked around with this message at 04:54 on Aug 14, 2019 |
# ? Aug 14, 2019 03:55 |
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Moose-Alini posted:Anyone mind doing that? Battle For The Abyss - Generic Ultramarine teams up with drunk Space Wolf and a World Eater to fight Word Bearers who die like storm troopers to destroy a big ship. I think. I forgot most of it.
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# ? Aug 14, 2019 12:08 |
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Moose-Alini posted:Anyone mind doing that? Battle for the Abyss: The Word Bearers Built a Deathstar! Only Captain Ultramarine and his otherwise nominally traitorous marine friends can stop it! Nemesis: A bunch of assassins get together to try and kill Horus. They fail.
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# ? Aug 14, 2019 12:50 |
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Nemisis would have been a good stand alone cause it gave a really interesting unique pov of the assasins but is totally wasted as part of the hh
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# ? Aug 14, 2019 13:04 |
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Hot Dog Day #82 posted:So I am a big ol’ black library nerd and have read pretty much a bunch of series outside of the Horus Heresy stuff. I am wondering: if I know the backstory to the heresy would I miss much if I starting reading from “Solar War” going forward? As much as I love the setting I am an “all or nothing” kind of reader and if I start with book 1 of the Horus Heresy I’d feel compelled to read all 50something books and... and that feels like a tall order. Nah, this'd be fine. A lot of the more insane stuff doesn't really happen until you start getting daemon-Primarchs anyway.
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# ? Aug 14, 2019 16:54 |
I would add Master of Mankind to the list of the first four. It's excellent and also provides valuable context for why Emps can't get off the throne during the Siege. BL open submission window is up! https://www.warhammer-community.com/2019/08/14/your-chance-to-write-for-black-library/ I am going to try my hand at it this year, god that would be a dream come true. If anybody else is going for it I would be happy to swap work and we can help each other with editing advice or whatever. Edit: If anybody is planning on submitting, Track of Words has been doing a series of interviews with authors who made it in last year giving advice about the process. Very helpful: https://www.trackofwords.com/tag/writing-for-black-library/ D-Pad fucked around with this message at 18:04 on Aug 14, 2019 |
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# ? Aug 14, 2019 16:55 |
Well my first idea was a group of 5-6 from a penal legion breaking off during a battle to pull off some sort of heist that ends up being connected to an internecine inquisition squabble. I really liked it, but now I see the submission specifically mentions the Last Chancers, who I had never heard of, but they appear to be a penal legion group. I would imagine that would hurt my chances for being unoriginal. How about a group of tech priests who are waiting to be servitored after being accused of some minor tech heresy being giving another chance by an arch-magos if they can successfully steal something from a rival? I'm not sure I could pull off Admech, but I like the idea of the group being some sort of criminals or heretics instead of just another "heroic" guard group. I doubt Space Marines are what they are looking for here even though it doesn't specifically forbid it. Any ideas?
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# ? Aug 14, 2019 18:54 |
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Last Chancers are classic "the Commissar wants to frag us but we're too good at killing the Emperor's enemies only in death can I be redeemed for stealing a loaf of bread to feed the orphanage" folks. Very good at showing how easy it is to end up on the wrong side of the Imperium, very good at getting sent out to fight a bunch of orks in a minefield, very bad at having any political power.
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# ? Aug 14, 2019 19:01 |
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A bunch of hereteks, whose act of heresy was making lasguns 5% more efficient by teaching everyone in the squad that actually "Work for the Emperor's sake!" was a quicker prayer to their gun's machine spirit. Or some lady who picked up a Xenos weapon after her lasgun got destroyed and realized it worked better. Line troopers with Tau plasma guns?! You better believe that's a penal legioning.
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# ? Aug 14, 2019 19:07 |
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D-Pad posted:Well my first idea was a group of 5-6 from a penal legion breaking off during a battle to pull off some sort of heist that ends up being connected to an internecine inquisition squabble. I really liked it, but now I see the submission specifically mentions the Last Chancers, who I had never heard of, but they appear to be a penal legion group. I dunno, I think a Three Kings: Imperium Edition story could be cool. Penal legion guys breaking off to do more crimes is different from the main thrust of the Last Chancers.
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# ? Aug 14, 2019 19:07 |
Inspector_666 posted:I dunno, I think a Three Kings: Imperium Edition story could be cool. Penal legion guys breaking off to do more crimes is different from the main thrust of the Last Chancers. Three Kings is actually part of the inspiration for this idea. I just want to give myself the best chance and a penal legion group was mentioned specifically in the article so I think it may look unoriginal even if it is different than the Last Chancers. Now I am thinking about a group of criminals who successfully pulled off a heist against some planetary nobles and were only caught by being betrayed. They are awaiting being servitored when a magos gives them a chance at "freedom" if they can steal something from his rival. Close in premise but avoids the Last Chancer similarity and also keeps me from having to write about ad mech main characters (my second idea) which I don't think I could pull off. The leader would be a grizzled ex-PDF captain who was drummed out of the PDF for xyz reason and turned to crime. But he actually saw real action in the PDF so not the "incompetent and unexperienced PDF type. Edit: Once they are already doing the heist and it is too late to back out they realize they are stealing some kind of tech from the Inquisition and not the rival they had been told. I would like to write it in such a way that if I actually got chosen and it was well received I could write a full novel about subsequent adventures of this group. A really competent (but terrible unrepentant criminal scum) Ocean's 11 type group in service to the highest bidder. D-Pad fucked around with this message at 19:27 on Aug 14, 2019 |
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# ? Aug 14, 2019 19:21 |
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Oh, now they're asking for a group thing. My entry for their last open submissions window involved a squad of ne'er-do-wells infiltrating a quarantined planet to steal the relic of an Imperial saint, but unsurprisingly it went nowhere. Probably better to try to come up with something different this time, then.
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# ? Aug 14, 2019 19:38 |
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I remember reading Nemesis when it came out like a year ago
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# ? Aug 14, 2019 20:24 |
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The idea of Nemesis, The problem is the target. They're obviously not going to kill Horus. So make the target some other super high value target that's sufficently protected that you plausibly need a whole assassin kill-team to take a shot at. Master of a crucial forge world full of Titan who's about to defect to the Warmaster to just spitball the first idea that comes to mind.
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# ? Aug 14, 2019 21:09 |
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The Evesor scenes are suepr well written and really awesoem and stand in stark contrast to like 75% of that book
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# ? Aug 14, 2019 21:17 |
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pywjdJ7P-7o If the eversor scenes aren't just this then I'm not interested.
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# ? Aug 14, 2019 22:56 |
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D-Pad posted:Three Kings is actually part of the inspiration for this idea. I just want to give myself the best chance and a penal legion group was mentioned specifically in the article so I think it may look unoriginal even if it is different than the Last Chancers. They also mention Gaunt's Ghosts and "Guardsmen gently caress off to rob a casino" is literally part of Blood Pact. "Fuckup Guardsmen are told they will be spared from the Penal Legions if they successfully return from a suicide mission" also appears in the first Ciaphas Cain book. That said, I'd probably still go down the IG route. They're a comfortable staple and they're probably what you'd feel most comfortable in writing, since that was your first thought. Maybe something like "PDF troopers desert to go treasure hunting in the bowels of a hive city"
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# ? Aug 14, 2019 23:34 |
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A lot of the stories I'd like to write are not the kind of things BL really wants to make books out of. Comedic Ork hijinks or Abhumans banding together to get one over on the jerkass baseline humans don't exactly scream "GRIMDARK ONLY WAR". I'm still working on that Ork story. since I have no intention of submitting it, you guys might as well hear it's premise and judge. A Kommando, a Loota and a put-upon Grot plan the greatest heist evah: looting a warhound titan. I'm calling it "Sneakiest Fing I Nevva Saw."
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# ? Aug 14, 2019 23:44 |
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Arcsquad12 posted:A lot of the stories I'd like to write are not the kind of things BL really wants to make books out of. Comedic Ork hijinks or Abhumans banding together to get one over on the jerkass baseline humans don't exactly scream "GRIMDARK ONLY WAR". You should submit that on the grounds that it has the best title I have ever heard. If not to BL then to here, i'd read that.
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# ? Aug 15, 2019 01:09 |
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Arcsquad12 posted:A lot of the stories I'd like to write are not the kind of things BL really wants to make books out of. Comedic Ork hijinks or Abhumans banding together to get one over on the jerkass baseline humans don't exactly scream "GRIMDARK ONLY WAR". Submit it anyway. The worst they can say is "no".
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# ? Aug 15, 2019 01:20 |
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Arcsquad12 posted:A lot of the stories I'd like to write are not the kind of things BL really wants to make books out of. Comedic Ork hijinks or Abhumans banding together to get one over on the jerkass baseline humans don't exactly scream "GRIMDARK ONLY WAR".
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# ? Aug 15, 2019 03:00 |
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MMAgCh posted:Clarification needed: are we talking about stealing the Titan, or about the Ork equivalent of leaving a car propped up on a bunch of bricks in a bad neighbourhood? Looting the chassis and putting a proppa spiky jaw plate over the wolf head so it's good and flash. Even the priesthood knows better than to leave their pimped out rides parked in inner city streets. Arc Hammer fucked around with this message at 03:13 on Aug 15, 2019 |
# ? Aug 15, 2019 03:08 |
Arcsquad12 posted:A lot of the stories I'd like to write are not the kind of things BL really wants to make books out of. Comedic Ork hijinks or Abhumans banding together to get one over on the jerkass baseline humans don't exactly scream "GRIMDARK ONLY WAR". Actually, I think that is exactly the kind of thing they would go for. The last three Infernos definitely had some stories that weren't typical for BL. In fact, if you read the new author interviews about open submissions from Track of Words at the link I posted earlier some of them explicitly say that. The ork story sounds awesome, but I really think the abhuman story, if written well, would have a decent shot of getting accepted. Brothers in Arms is the premise and I definitely think versions of the premise that are different than the standard stuff we usually see have a better chance. If you are going to write these stories anyway there is no reason not to submitt, the worst thing that can happen is they say no. Either way, post them here please!
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# ? Aug 15, 2019 03:12 |
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Might feel less original after the Patience Kys short story and Pariah, but what about a group of kids in a 40k orphanage? Our group of future-meat-fodder find a seriously injured Interrogator hiding in some basement they're not supposed to go in who's master has been killed while investigating the school for cult activity. They help keep him hidden until help arrives and they have to be his eyes and ears as they start seeing weird chaos poo poo happening like a slow burn horror movie. Cultish sermons, spooky poo poo, daemonic posession, kids going missing, etc. Eventually our plucky kids have to band together and fight back until the cavalry arrives. Can have the devout kid, the troubled tough kid, the inevitable bullied one that gets seduced by simple promise of power to stand up to his tormentors and changes sides, etc. Picking off corrupted classmates and a Scooby Doo showdown with the evil headmaster/preist with with violent death ending. And of course, this being 40k the cavalry arrives and there never was an injured interrogator or inquisitor. Just a daemon whispering in the ears of a group of kids making them kill the Emperor's loyal servants. *EDIT - I'd have little touches like the Interrogator describing a member of his group who carved kill counts into his arm and being impressed when the future-psycho kid does the same as he reports back. The last "scene" would be the kids relief as the white lights appear as troopers storm in to help them. Followed by a short inquisitor report describing a routine action taking out a room of corrputed child cultists. Children show signs of daemonic mutation including self multilation. Dog_Meat fucked around with this message at 14:08 on Aug 15, 2019 |
# ? Aug 15, 2019 13:50 |
Dog_Meat posted:Might feel less original after the Patience Kys short story and Pariah, but what about a group of kids in a 40k orphanage? That's an absolutely amazing idea and you should definitely write it. Edit: The submissions editor is answering questions about the process on this twitter thread: https://twitter.com/MisterGarton/status/1161705284571738114 D-Pad fucked around with this message at 15:29 on Aug 15, 2019 |
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# ? Aug 15, 2019 14:46 |
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Galvanik posted:Carrion Throne is good. Real good. If Wraight keeps it up he'll be my favorite BL author. That book had a great line - I'm going on memory here, but it was (roughly): "He was middle-aged, in his late teens." That just sums it up.
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# ? Aug 15, 2019 18:06 |
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gene-stealer cultist youth heroically sacrificing themselves for the patriarch
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# ? Aug 15, 2019 18:16 |
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Relevant Tangent posted:gene-stealer cultist youth heroically sacrificing themselves for the patriarch I'm like 75-80% there's a scene in a book sort of like this. Maybe
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# ? Aug 15, 2019 18:17 |
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Is Mechanicum any good? I remembered Graham McNeill was average-to-good but I've just been reading Maledictions and his short story No Good Deed is just terrible and full of incredibly awkward attempts at dialogue between orphaned street kids. I'm hankering for some admech stuff though as I'm currently playing my way through Mechanicus. Any other recommendations?
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# ? Aug 16, 2019 16:16 |
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Owlkill posted:Is Mechanicum any good? I remembered Graham McNeill was average-to-good but I've just been reading Maledictions and his short story No Good Deed is just terrible and full of incredibly awkward attempts at dialogue between orphaned street kids. A lot of people count it as one of the good books of the HH but I thought it was really bad. There's some nice overarching plot stuff but the other 300 pages or whatever were kinda poo poo. That said I'm not sure there's a better book with that much Mechanicum fluff. Possibly Abnett's Titanicus.
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# ? Aug 16, 2019 16:52 |
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Owlkill posted:Is Mechanicum any good? I remembered Graham McNeill was average-to-good but I've just been reading Maledictions and his short story No Good Deed is just terrible and full of incredibly awkward attempts at dialogue between orphaned street kids. I just finished it and it was interesting. If you want to read about skitarrii and, well ad-mech guys its meh. Its mostly some tech adepts talking, and Knights and Titans loving poo poo up. It was ok but Titanicus felt more like a story about ad-mech armies clashing than Mechanicus did.
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# ? Aug 16, 2019 17:05 |
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Owlkill posted:Is Mechanicum any good? I remembered Graham McNeill was average-to-good but I've just been reading Maledictions and his short story No Good Deed is just terrible and full of incredibly awkward attempts at dialogue between orphaned street kids. It’s alright but not great, if you read one AdMech book read Titanicus.
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# ? Aug 16, 2019 19:10 |
The best 40k Mechanicum books are the Forges of Mars series.
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# ? Aug 16, 2019 19:20 |
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God, I wish they'd go back and redo Horus's fall. That was such a letdown.
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# ? Aug 17, 2019 00:20 |
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The cleverest bit was the chaos gods showing Horus the truth of the future he creates, but neglecting to tell him that part. It was too sudden though with no good payoff. Just 0 to 100 in terms of corruption.
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# ? Aug 17, 2019 05:57 |
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In BL's defence, it was the mid-2000s so their choice of authors was more limited, and if they'd made Abnet write all three of the opening trilogy then Galaxy in Flames would have come out last year.
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# ? Aug 17, 2019 06:04 |
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It was a strategic mis step because they'd planned the series to be 12 novels or something so they had allocated relatively little time to some big events. When they saw the sales figures the finance department stepped in and decided to drag it out but the result was that some major, major early events like Horus' fall got 1 novel treatment and then later on things like a random word bearer super ship getting destroyed got equal 'screen time'. So those early events feel even more rushed in comparison.
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# ? Aug 17, 2019 10:31 |
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*Runs into thread, hands waving* ADB's Night Lord trilogy coming to audiobooks. https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/178999...c3_lProduct_1_5
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# ? Aug 17, 2019 12:47 |
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# ? May 12, 2024 03:31 |
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Deptfordx posted:*Runs into thread, hands waving* ooooh cool
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# ? Aug 17, 2019 13:49 |