WizardBiscuits

What the actual FUCK?!

The Trench Crusade website is just incredibly shite at introducing and explaining anything at all about the setting, isn’t it?

Let’s make it fairer, going to the Konflikt ‘47 site, another alternative World War wargame (WW2 this time but thematically close enough) I get, on the homepage, a blurb about the setting and blurbs for all the factions. Right there with minimal scrolling or clicking.

The Trench Crusade website is just incredibly shite at introducing and explaining anything at all about the setting, isn’t it?

At this point, I’m ready to give up. It’s not that I’m averse to reading lots of lore (I actually love it) or using my brain to figure stuff out, the problem is, there has to be a few basic things for it to latch on to, some brief, establishing statements. Vibes alone doesn’t let me figure it out.

The Trench Crusade website is just incredibly shite at introducing and explaining anything at all about the setting, isn’t it?

Things are becoming a bit clearer! There’s mention of places like Jerusalem, events like a gate to Hell opening, and even some biblically familiar personalities like Beelzebub. What’s missing is what’s where, I’ve still no clue about the *countries* involved, I’ve no map to help visualise this!

The Trench Crusade website is just incredibly shite at introducing and explaining anything at all about the setting, isn’t it?

Going back to the rest of the articles I can see some very evocative wording and imagery. But again, I’ve no context for any of it. I can pick out words like Papal States and Heretics and so on but I still can’t form an idea of the forces or even where they’re fighting (besides in trenches, obvs!).

The Trench Crusade website is just incredibly shite at introducing and explaining anything at all about the setting, isn’t it?

I’m not opening the PDFs yet, I just spotted something in the burger button called “The World”, maybe this is what I want! Well, here’s all the lore! Literally, there’s loads of it. All grouped into Lore Books and numbered. Let’s start with Book 1: World in Flames.

The Trench Crusade website is just incredibly shite at introducing and explaining anything at all about the setting, isn’t it?

It also mentions that it’s a “WW1 that never was”. Right, so the assumption is the forces are the same? Because I still don’t know. But wait, there’s some links on the Welcome page to the free (always good) rulebook and a warband book.

The Trench Crusade website is just incredibly shite at introducing and explaining anything at all about the setting, isn’t it?

Gave the first episode of VisionQuest a go. Nearly turned it off immediately when presented with “Edinburgh” consisting entirely of an American bar thinly distinguished as a pub in the middle of nowhere. Persisted only to be even more annoyed when London is introduced with a glamorous panoramic shot

I always underestimate just how water-repellent my rain jacket is right up until I realise it’s shed all the rain that’s hit it directly down the front of my trousers, soddening them.

What really hits with this is BioWare was a studio known for its stories and the wide diversity of characters that made up those stories, and the impact they had on everyone who played those games. It feels up there with burning books.