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Author Topic: What is this board for?  (Read 17171 times)

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Offline Irandrura

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What is this board for?
« on: February 23, 2008, 02:52:43 AM »
Welcome to the Background board, especially to all our newcomers. There are a few things about this board that you might need to know, so here are a few points. Heed them well.

1/ The purpose of this board is the discussion of Warhammer Background (surprising, huh?). Anything to do with the game's fictional history and universe is appropriate subject matter here. All discussion of the Warhammer 40,000 tabletop game should be posted to a different board.

2/ You may see the term 'fluff' used here. It simply refers to the background. Similarly, the word 'canon' may also appear. Canon simply refers to the official background - that published by Games Workshop and subsidiaries like Black Library or Fantasy Flight Games. So what you read in a codex or novel, for example, would be considered canon, while personal interpretations, player-created background, Wikipedia, etc., are not canon.

A perspective on Games Workshop's canon policy may be found here. In essence, everything published is canon, even when it contradicts other canon. New canon does not overrule old canon, nor does old canon override the new, meaning that we as intelligent readers must keep a critical eye and make up our own minds.

3/ Your original creations should not be discussed here. Fiction should be posted to the Fiction Board, while background you've written for your tabletop armies should be posted to the appropriate army board. You may discuss general background elements relevant to original creations here, though. For example, if you were writing a piece of fiction about the Imperial Guard and wanted to know the appropriate rank for a character, you could create a topic asking about Imperial Guard rank systems.

4/ Warhammer Fantasy background may be discussed here or in the General Fantasy Board.

5/ Please be aware that many posters have their own different interpretations of the Warhammer 40,000 universe. While you should feel free to disagree with other interpretations, keep in mind that because an interpretation is different to yours, or what you believe the official intepretation is, it does mean that it is wrong or that you need not treat the person with it with respect.

6/ Finally, there are some topics that come up regularly here. Before posting a general question it's worth checking the Frequently Posted Topic Index and the Background FAQ to check if that question has been answered. Of course, if you wish to discuss any of the answers there in greater detail, you should not hesitate to create a topic for that purpose.

And, of course, all of the normal forum rules apply here as well.
Keep these points in mind and everything should be fine. Should you have any other questions regarding what is and what is not appropriate for this board, feel free to contact me, Gornon, or a global moderator.

Happy posting!
« Last Edit: December 1, 2009, 06:09:22 AM by Irandrura »
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Offline Gornon

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Re: What is this board for?
« Reply #1 on: April 19, 2010, 08:02:32 PM »
I wish to add and further reinforce what Irandrura has posted:


In regards to fan made matieral:
Posters are welcome to post their own fan made material   either to reinterpret GW's universe or fill in a blank they have found in the background.  However, they must make it clear that this material  is a theory of theirs and not canon.  If they are posting their theory as part of an original post and have made it clear they are deliberately bypassing established canon, other  posters should keep that in mind and judge the materiel based on its own  merit, not on what's posted on some rulebook page.  If the poster with the fan made material posts in an on-going debate, deliberately stating this is their own material, they should be aware their view will have the lowest 'weight' by default, as would any case of speculation vs hard facts.

Furthermore, any material that is written in narrative form should be kept in Fiction.  Examples of such material would be army background, character background, and fan-fiction.  As an example, if my post contained details about how my Space Marine Captain got his power sword from a fell champion of Chaos, that would go into Fiction.  A post asking how power swords work or a post about my interpretation on how power swords work would go into Background.  That being said, feel free to dig into Background's sea of knowledge to search for details to use in your fan-fiction.  To that end, a post inquiring how a item wielded by a Chaos warrior would effect a Loyalist Marine for a story being written is fine.

In regards to posters finding fault with fan-made material:
Just as GW has a range of skills and tastes in its authors, so do posters.  What's interesting and cool to one poster may not be to others.  So, well-meaning users will post original ideas, theories, and creations that are just going to be painful.  Keep some things in mind. 

We live in an over-the-top universe where giant space warrior monk super soldiers toting huge guns travel though hell in church-ships to battle psycho pointed-eared space clowns wielding ninja star guns riding in tanks made of solidified magic and primordial goo.  If the post in question still defies your ability to suspend your disbelieving, consider posting in a constructive way.  A flat 'No' followed by 'your idea is idiotic because'.....is not helpful.  If the idea presented in the post is still so terrible that even that is not possible, don't post.  The post will sink to the abyss of Page Two and that will be the end of it.


Quoting materiel.
This is a bit gray, I must admit.  While posting a few lines from a Codex or Black Library is fine, reproducing a whole page or two of text could be threatening GW's IP policy.  It's something I and other moderators will have to judge on a case by case basis.  As a rule of thumb to gauge just much, total length of this paragraph this rule is posted in should be about ok.  Keep in mind, no matter how big the snippet, use proper quotation.  Book, page number, ect.  This should help the forum avoid getting into trouble with Games Workshop.

Canon Material

GW once stated that all material printed by Games Workshop and any of its affiliated products are all equal and canon, irregardless of their source.  A 20 year old obscure article in a White Dwarf had as much weight as the latest Codex.  Recently, that has changed somewhat.  GW has marked some older Black Library books as 'Heretical Tomes'.  These are older books that GW claims do not accurately match the rest of the 40k universe.  See the discussion here.  What is this forum's stance?  GW does not state what parts of the books are obsolete.  So, I will leave it up to the posters to decide what parts of 'Heretical Tomes' are banned from the Emperor's Light and what parts are still good.  Posters should feel free to use 'Heretical Tomes' to back up their arguments in a debate, but just be aware the evidence to support their point of view might be weaker then it used to be.
« Last Edit: July 14, 2010, 08:38:26 AM by Gornon »
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