A new worldwide narrative event will start on the 31st of January, and run until May 1st.
The Path to Story podcast and The Great Weave have united to bring to you all “The Hungering Steppe,” a narrative Age of Sigmar Event!
This event will focus on the Path to Glory system and encourages players to explore new aspects of their personal narratives, contributing with games played locally to a grand story shared by players worldwide.
Out in the Hungering Steppe of Ghur exists the Amber Stampede, a horde of beasts mutated by the realmstone of Ghur. The land itself has been barely touched by the powers of the grander alliances and is a prime location for a new settlement. The factions of the Steppe survived through the Age of Chaos and the coming of Sigmar thanks to the local Warlords combining their forces to defeat any would-be invaders. Now, in the Era of the Beast, these warlords are inviting explorers to the Steppe in the hopes that these newcomers will help advance their schemes against their rivals.
It will be a perilous adventure into these wildlands as enemies will come from all sides. Each step of the campaign will guide players as they tie their Path to Glory progression into settling into the Steppe and interacting with the story and local power struggles.
We chatted with the lead NEO for the event, Will Simpson (@SevvirElon), about what players can expect from it.
Q: Please summarize the event for us, and what players can expect.
A: The Hungering Steppe campaign invites generals and explorers to enter an area of Ghur yet unclaimed by the Grand Alliances. Using the Path to Glory system, players will be able to build out their strongholds and spread the legends of their warlords, using the Steppe as a narrative starting point.
The event will consist of 5 phases spread out over several months. Each phase will provide players with choices that will help guide their own paths and stories. They’ll be able to participate in battles between the various factions battling it out in the Steppe and eventually join them in the hunt of the Amber Beasts.
While there will be repercussions to your actions that affect the overall narrative, we want to emphasize that this event will focus on expanding on your personal narratives within this framework.
Don’t worry about not being able to play games of Path to Glory or even games of Age of Sigmar. The Great Weave is a site that allows you to share your narrative and you will still earn campaign rewards for building out your story.
Q: How will the interaction of players’ Path to Glory ruleset work with the campaign itself? Can Players participate only through Path to Glory games?
A: While we are heavily encouraging players to participate on the tabletop, it is not a requirement for players to play Path to Glory games! For those unfamiliar with the system, there are existing rules in the Core Rulebook that allow you to make progress in your personal campaign without participating in Path to Glory specific battles. We are expanding on this idea for the Hungering Steppe as we use it as a framework for your personal narratives. The true purpose of the system is to create a shared language for everyone to use regardless of whether or not they play games.
Outside of playing games of Age of Sigmar, you will be able to contribute to the campaign through other means. The Great Weave allows you to submit writing, hobby photos, or other art as a way to flesh out your narratives. You are able to link out to these posts when you submit your quests and they will be hosted on the Hungering Steppe campaign page.
The ‘quests’ that players will pursue each phase will include additional glory, territories, and bonus enhancements as rewards for your army. If you are participating in Path to Glory, these will be tangible benefits for your games. However, if you are unable to get regularly scheduled games in, these rewards will be narrative hooks for your story. Many of these rewards will be either new territories to add to your Stronghold or Artifacts to add to your Vault. Even if you don’t play games of Age of Sigmar, you will be able to find a way to weave in weapons such as the Bane of the Amber Beast into your Warlord’s story through art, writing, or converting a miniature to represent it.
Q: What kind of team dynamics and strategic actions will players be able to experience?
A: While there are existing factions in the Steppe that will call for your aid, you do not need to join any one. Specific phases will call out for potential opportunities to join up with one of the local Warlords. However, you are not ‘locked in’ to providing aid to these groups. You may offer a pledge of loyalty to the aelven tribes of Packhome in the second phase and then fight against them during the third phase. However, there will be an end-state where some of the local Warlords will be able to achieve their goals and others will not. On top of that, if the players don’t want any of these Warlords to have power, there are ways to prevent that from happening.
We want players to hop into The Great Weave discord server to discuss their intentions, strategies, and to find potential partners for collaboration (be it through Tabletop Simulator games, writing or other creative ideas). I know a few players are already in there, role-playing and forming a foundation for a collaborative story.
One thing we want to emphasize is that even though there are ways to join and betray alliances, that any animosity in the campaign exists purely in the fiction of the Hungering Steppe. The Discord and other online gathering places are there to help make connections and support each other in our hobby efforts.
Q: What other Narrative innovations and special rules will you be deploying in this event?
A: On top of the above, we have a few additional rules for the event. The Hungering Steppe itself is split into three regions, spreading the story across the Plains of the Steppe, the Swallowing Bogs, and the Fangwood. Each of these regions will have terrain rules to help enhance your stories and battles. If you choose to play games in these regions, you will receive additional Glory as a quest reward.
Q: What would you like to say to players out there, to motivate them to join the Hungering Steppe campaign, and accompany you and your co-hosts in the Path to Story podcast?
And perhaps even join you for more narrative play over there in Wisconsin?
A: We want players to know that this event’s main purpose is just to provide another opportunity to craft your personal stories. We have a lot of set dressing and have narrative hooks to pull you deeper into this slice of the realm, but the real storytellers will be you.
In the podcast, the results of this campaign will have an effect on the stories that Paul (@pjschard) and I are trying to create. If any of the local Warlords rise to power, then they’ll certainly play a major role in our narrative and the Hungering Steppe moving forward.
Also, come hang out in The Mortal Realms Discord to learn more about the podcast that sparked the event! We have a lot of narrative gamers hanging out in there and many are happy to roll some dice and play some games.
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Thank you, Will!
We will be following the event online, so please share your players’ submissions on social media with us!
You can find the Event Rules page here for more details.
Path to Story podcast links:
The Show – @pathtostory
Paul – The Spider King @pjschard
Will – @SevvirElon
Spencer – Ms_Photon@spencer_hulsey
What do you think about this event?
Do you have any questions for the NEO, and how to get your group of players to engage with this campaign with many players all around the world?
Leave your comments below!
Narrative Event Organizer Network 