Vor 2.0??

Well this is a rather unusual post for me, but I'd very much like to draw the attention of my fellow wargaming fanatics towards a rather unique and interesting project. VOR: The Maelstrom, an older gamer originally released by FASA, has a chance to make it back into the scene with some help of the many, many gamers out there.

The story so far...

A quick couple of sentences to explain what we're dealing with here. VOR is an old gaming system which had its own miniatures line and a very inventive ruleset (more on this below) and was initially released by FASA. In the early days of the game (well over a decade ago), for reasons never really made clear the entire franchise was sold off to Wizkids Inc.

VOR effectively takes place in an alternative reality in which massive US and Sovjet blocks have formed and are fighting eachother for the domination of the Earth. Nothing too special there right, but then all hell breaks loose and the Earth itself is cast through the void of space into the space anomaly referred to as the VOR. The VOR is effectively a warpstorm that randomly draws in new worlds (and its inhabitant), who slowly drift towards their doom as they draw ever closer to the Maelstrom (center of the Vor).

Still nothing too special there, but here comes the real kicker - the game rules allow you to put together your own units and characters to represent new civilizations drawn into the Vor. You truly control and decide everything! The actual rules for the game are very reminiscent of Warmachine and Hordes, in fact those games borrowed heavily (Trollblood are very close to VOR's rather cool Growler race) from the mechanics originally introduced by VOR.

Due to the sale to Wizkids the entire game was effectively put into the freezer, that was until Wizkids decided they didn't want to do anything with VOR afterall and the rights were returned to the original IP creator Mike Neilson. Mike has been working to get back to VOR, finish all the extra supplements (as the advanced rules and full customisation rules were never published) and get an updated rulebook out there again.

Support and Kickstarter.com

Thanks to the rather cool initiative of Kickstarter.com (allows small initiatives and businesses to attract investors and people who want to support a project) we may be able to see a full return of Vor: The Maelstrom. The idea behind kickstarter is pretty simply:
- each project (everything from games, movies, music and art projects) gets a certain run time
- during that period people can pledge money towards the projects cash goal (usually the people behind a project will give goodies or stuff depending on the level of pledge)
- now here's the interesting part, this isn't a direct investment
- unless the cash goal for the project is reached by the end of its runtime nobody puts any cash into it at all
- in other words, only if and when the total pledge is reached will their actually be a transfer of cash

Interested?

If this has peaked your interest I'd suggest you all go and have a look at the VOR 2.0 project site:

HERE

And if you like what you see and read, you may want to consider making a pledge yourself. Heck even a single buck will help out if enough people join in. In doing so you will help to keep a great gaming system alive, updated and will benefit from a very flexible set of rules you yourself can use with your friends in your own games!