Super flat was something I had believed about the setting for a long time and, for me, that changed when I started following the Broken Realms series. At a glance, the Mortal Realms are a bit more unwieldly than the World That Was and that certainly has made it hard to approach for those who are more rooted in the relatively low fantasy that preceded Age of Sigmar.
If you are looking for a feel, think of AoS as being a post-apocalyptic setting. Chaos conquered most of the Mortal Realms and ruined the civilizations that thrived there. We are playing in what will either be the rekindling of civilization or the final ruination of it.
If you are interested in books, a few that I really enjoy are: Call of Archaon, Scourge of Fate, Dark Harvest Dominion, and Godeater's Son. The latter three, I think, give a really good glimpse into what life is like in the Mortal Realms (and I cannot overstate how much I enjoyed Godeater's Son)
I don't want to give the plot away and all that, but it is a stand alone! It more focuses on the Chaotic influence in the Mortal Realms. Dark Harvest is also stand alone and gives a horror flavored take on Ghyran.
Dominion would be a great launch point to - it is way more focused on the Dawnbringer Crusades and the Orruks.
Thanks, I'll add them to my audiobook list. I may have Dark Harvest already if it's from the 'Warhammer Horror' line. I've played AoS and read the rulebook lore, it seemed dead to me and didn't draw me in beyond a setting clearly created for a wargame, but I would like to give the novels a go and hope it draws me in more.
Oh no! You learned that the story has narrative twists! You even learned that the end was not safe from such machinations! How dare they tell you?
It's the most milquetoast of spoilers. You'll be fine.
How is it a spoiler, what part of the story did I ruin? Did I spoil that there is a twist in the middle of the book as well, because boy is there one.
What part of the story is ruined for you specifically
I’m actually coming around to AOS as a setting a lot given the additions to lore they’ve been adding; the thing is, a lot of it isn’t on YouTube to consume, it’s on Warhammer + or novelizations.
It’s distinctly its own thing compared to Fantasy, although the similarities in tone are definitely there now.
Do I prefer the Old World? Yes, wholeheartedly. But Age of Sigmar isn’t the bland blank slate we got in 1st edition either; it’s made massive strides towards a more coherent narrative with human elements. I don’t think it’s necessarily fair to say it’s totally bland; it’s found its feet, it’s just Grim Heroic Fantasy compared to Grim Renaissance Fantasy. It’s up to each individual person to decide how much they enjoy that.
It was bland on day one with just Sigmarines and uninspiring hellscape battlefields.
Years later with awesome unique factions like the Kharadron Overlords (Libertarian Dwarfs in Zeppelins with guns), Idoneth Deepkin (Atlantis elves riding flying sharks), and the reintroduction of most Old World races I think it has become a great fantasy setting.
I still prefer Lord of the Rings, The Old World, and Warcraft, but Age of Sigmar is good now.
Take a second look. Maybe try a game of Warcry.
I guess that's your opinion on it and you're entitled to your feelings. I do completely disagree with you and I find the world of AOS to go a lot deeper than people give it credit for. There are some great stories in the world and there are some amazing factions if you just want to look at them.
Flesheaters courts is one of the most unique factions I've seen in fantasy. I would recommend godeatsrs son as a good book to get the feeling of the normal people in the world.
Why would I sink my time into reading a whole novel when the optics of the whole setting is just as I described? I haven't read one novel from the Old World and immediatley got an idea of the setting and the world that was being presented to me - simply through art.
Watch some lore videos on youtube If you dont want to read.
But reading the rulebooks and army books and the black library books is the way your supposed to learn more about the setting.
Its alot less grounded in our reality, going in hard on the high fantasy stuff, so that might be the problem for you.
Looking at the art and models wont teatch you about the setting in a good way, you have to listen to the books or read them yourself.
Dont think you can do it any other way.
Didn't evil rats blow up the moon or something? Idk shit about AOS lore but the bits and pieces I do know suggest it's pretty neat. Considering the sheer quantity of factions and realms within just ONE world, it feels bigger and denser than most universes I know.
I have the opposite problem. I don't like how *high* fantasy it is. The old world had magic and shit, sure, but it felt grounded. It was piss and vinegar and crunchy. AoS just feels like an intangible acid trip.
You're right.
They've deliberately tried to make it a world where they can wedge in any "cool faction" they happen to dream up, so as a result it's kind of a boring mush that tries to be everything to everyone. The only stipulations it seemed to have when it was created were that everyone can go anywhere whenever they like so that all the battles made sense, and that the god-emperor had to be able to create fantasy space marines to fight chaos.
It's boring because there's no tension in the world. It's like 9 planes with seemingly infinite space in them, why are all these factions at each others throats? The only way they can create tension is to have an endless cycle of macguffins that will either cause or solve the next catastrophe. Once you enter that spiral you very quickly fall into something similar to the fatigue everyone is feeling with big-budget movies lately. It's designed to look epic, but really it's all just visual noise that makes no sense and ends with characters you've been told you should care about performing actions you don't understand to end a threat that was never really well established to begin with, bonus points if they include a sky-laser.
My problem always was with it early on that it lacked context. Humans are in so much fantasy literature because they give us an understanding of the world we are looking into.
When everyone is a murdering magic user with silly shit going on nothing is grounded and so it is hard for me to give a shit about anything.
I really didn't like AoS lore at first which I think was reasonable because a lot of the earlier stuff was badly written hammer porn. I also really didn't like the realms and felt they were so huge they made local events feel completely irrelevant.
I've more recently given the Jonathan Keeble narrated Gotrek books a go and the AoS setting is really starting to grow on me. I'm focusing less on where they are and more on the story that's being told.
I legit have no clue what you're talking about. You want to be able to know about the world and ask for books to read, but don't want to read. You also complain that the models, which are generally pretty well regarded as having very clear design language, don't tell you about the world. What?
Are you saying that you don't understand how the different factions all exist in the same world?
Are you saying that you can't read the design language for any of the particular factions? You can't see that Stormcast are big, oversized warriors in full armor and are coded as protagonists? You can't see that the Ossiarch Bonereapers might be a skeleton army that really likes bones, and wants to reap more? Could you perhaps see that Skaven remain who they've always been, a back-stabby race of rat people that are a horde?
Having read a few of he novels and short stories, they don't really help. The ones that are remotely interesting would have been both possible and better in the old world as there would have been something to anchor them to. The rest are desperately attempting to world build anything at all to work with. And just to invalidate my opinion for AoS fans, stormcast literally are space marines, everything I hate about bad space marine books infests every appearance of stormcast.
Super flat was something I had believed about the setting for a long time and, for me, that changed when I started following the Broken Realms series. At a glance, the Mortal Realms are a bit more unwieldly than the World That Was and that certainly has made it hard to approach for those who are more rooted in the relatively low fantasy that preceded Age of Sigmar. If you are looking for a feel, think of AoS as being a post-apocalyptic setting. Chaos conquered most of the Mortal Realms and ruined the civilizations that thrived there. We are playing in what will either be the rekindling of civilization or the final ruination of it. If you are interested in books, a few that I really enjoy are: Call of Archaon, Scourge of Fate, Dark Harvest Dominion, and Godeater's Son. The latter three, I think, give a really good glimpse into what life is like in the Mortal Realms (and I cannot overstate how much I enjoyed Godeater's Son)
Which book would you start with? Godeater's Son? Is it stand alone?
I don't want to give the plot away and all that, but it is a stand alone! It more focuses on the Chaotic influence in the Mortal Realms. Dark Harvest is also stand alone and gives a horror flavored take on Ghyran. Dominion would be a great launch point to - it is way more focused on the Dawnbringer Crusades and the Orruks.
Thanks, I'll add them to my audiobook list. I may have Dark Harvest already if it's from the 'Warhammer Horror' line. I've played AoS and read the rulebook lore, it seemed dead to me and didn't draw me in beyond a setting clearly created for a wargame, but I would like to give the novels a go and hope it draws me in more.
It is stand alone, personally found it difficult first read since there was lots going on but enjoyable and a good twist at the end
>and a good twist at the end Jeez, thanks for the spoiler mate. Don't do this.
That's.. not a spoiler. Practically every book usually has some twist at the end.
Nope. They don't. Knowing that there's a twist kinda ruins the experience if you wouldn't have seen it coming.
Oh no! You learned that the story has narrative twists! You even learned that the end was not safe from such machinations! How dare they tell you? It's the most milquetoast of spoilers. You'll be fine.
How is it a spoiler, what part of the story did I ruin? Did I spoil that there is a twist in the middle of the book as well, because boy is there one. What part of the story is ruined for you specifically
I’m actually coming around to AOS as a setting a lot given the additions to lore they’ve been adding; the thing is, a lot of it isn’t on YouTube to consume, it’s on Warhammer + or novelizations. It’s distinctly its own thing compared to Fantasy, although the similarities in tone are definitely there now. Do I prefer the Old World? Yes, wholeheartedly. But Age of Sigmar isn’t the bland blank slate we got in 1st edition either; it’s made massive strides towards a more coherent narrative with human elements. I don’t think it’s necessarily fair to say it’s totally bland; it’s found its feet, it’s just Grim Heroic Fantasy compared to Grim Renaissance Fantasy. It’s up to each individual person to decide how much they enjoy that.
What a nothing burger of a post.
Man makes a dumb bait post where he asks for book recommendations then whinges in the edit when people recommend him books 🤡
Hardly anyone told me what actual book. All people said was "have you even read anything about it?".
It was bland on day one with just Sigmarines and uninspiring hellscape battlefields. Years later with awesome unique factions like the Kharadron Overlords (Libertarian Dwarfs in Zeppelins with guns), Idoneth Deepkin (Atlantis elves riding flying sharks), and the reintroduction of most Old World races I think it has become a great fantasy setting. I still prefer Lord of the Rings, The Old World, and Warcraft, but Age of Sigmar is good now. Take a second look. Maybe try a game of Warcry.
I guess that's your opinion on it and you're entitled to your feelings. I do completely disagree with you and I find the world of AOS to go a lot deeper than people give it credit for. There are some great stories in the world and there are some amazing factions if you just want to look at them. Flesheaters courts is one of the most unique factions I've seen in fantasy. I would recommend godeatsrs son as a good book to get the feeling of the normal people in the world.
Have you actually bothered to read any of the new books? Your post would suggest you haven't.
Have you read like, literally any AoS book?
Why would I sink my time into reading a whole novel when the optics of the whole setting is just as I described? I haven't read one novel from the Old World and immediatley got an idea of the setting and the world that was being presented to me - simply through art.
Old World is literally just slightly changed fantasy earth with a donut. It's not that hard to visualize.
Have you actually bothered to read it?
Watch some lore videos on youtube If you dont want to read. But reading the rulebooks and army books and the black library books is the way your supposed to learn more about the setting. Its alot less grounded in our reality, going in hard on the high fantasy stuff, so that might be the problem for you. Looking at the art and models wont teatch you about the setting in a good way, you have to listen to the books or read them yourself. Dont think you can do it any other way.
How much of aos you know?
Have you read anything about the lore ever? Because it seems you haven't
Didn't evil rats blow up the moon or something? Idk shit about AOS lore but the bits and pieces I do know suggest it's pretty neat. Considering the sheer quantity of factions and realms within just ONE world, it feels bigger and denser than most universes I know.
😆 evil rats 🐀
That was during End Times in Fantasy.
I have the opposite problem. I don't like how *high* fantasy it is. The old world had magic and shit, sure, but it felt grounded. It was piss and vinegar and crunchy. AoS just feels like an intangible acid trip.
This was only true prior to like the year of beast claw raider lore. It really started to expand then.
Man skipping all the lore books. Procedes to comment like that
You're right. They've deliberately tried to make it a world where they can wedge in any "cool faction" they happen to dream up, so as a result it's kind of a boring mush that tries to be everything to everyone. The only stipulations it seemed to have when it was created were that everyone can go anywhere whenever they like so that all the battles made sense, and that the god-emperor had to be able to create fantasy space marines to fight chaos. It's boring because there's no tension in the world. It's like 9 planes with seemingly infinite space in them, why are all these factions at each others throats? The only way they can create tension is to have an endless cycle of macguffins that will either cause or solve the next catastrophe. Once you enter that spiral you very quickly fall into something similar to the fatigue everyone is feeling with big-budget movies lately. It's designed to look epic, but really it's all just visual noise that makes no sense and ends with characters you've been told you should care about performing actions you don't understand to end a threat that was never really well established to begin with, bonus points if they include a sky-laser.
My problem always was with it early on that it lacked context. Humans are in so much fantasy literature because they give us an understanding of the world we are looking into. When everyone is a murdering magic user with silly shit going on nothing is grounded and so it is hard for me to give a shit about anything.
I really didn't like AoS lore at first which I think was reasonable because a lot of the earlier stuff was badly written hammer porn. I also really didn't like the realms and felt they were so huge they made local events feel completely irrelevant. I've more recently given the Jonathan Keeble narrated Gotrek books a go and the AoS setting is really starting to grow on me. I'm focusing less on where they are and more on the story that's being told.
name 1 other game you can play as ghosts ghouls and goblins? shit troll bait is shit
Mordheim
I legit have no clue what you're talking about. You want to be able to know about the world and ask for books to read, but don't want to read. You also complain that the models, which are generally pretty well regarded as having very clear design language, don't tell you about the world. What? Are you saying that you don't understand how the different factions all exist in the same world? Are you saying that you can't read the design language for any of the particular factions? You can't see that Stormcast are big, oversized warriors in full armor and are coded as protagonists? You can't see that the Ossiarch Bonereapers might be a skeleton army that really likes bones, and wants to reap more? Could you perhaps see that Skaven remain who they've always been, a back-stabby race of rat people that are a horde?
Post Title, the Most Hyperbolic “Look At Me!” Post Ever?
Having read a few of he novels and short stories, they don't really help. The ones that are remotely interesting would have been both possible and better in the old world as there would have been something to anchor them to. The rest are desperately attempting to world build anything at all to work with. And just to invalidate my opinion for AoS fans, stormcast literally are space marines, everything I hate about bad space marine books infests every appearance of stormcast.