Perfect Is The Enemy Of Inspiration

Slightly catching me by surprise this week was the news of a new edition of Blood Bowl, Games Workshop's somewhat curious American Football Warhammer spinoff. I'm not really sure why I was surprised, you can normally set your watch by new editions of GW games and it's been five years since Second Season was released, so by their standards it's long overdue. Anyway, for those interested here's the trailer.

I do like those Brets... Anyway Blood Bowl is one of those games that as someone who enjoys dabbling in game design has always both fascinated and inspired me. Back in the day its 1988 2nd edition, with the polystyrene "Astrogranite" pitch, was probably the GW game that as kids we actually played the most, indeed to celebrate publishing our 2nd issue the first thing I did was go buy myself a copy again off eBay.

There's just a lot to love about it. It is, of course, absolutely ridiculous and that's even by Warhammer's standard. As I've said before, more than any other game they publish it's Blood Bowl that has remained truest to the spirit of 80s Warhammer. It's also something I point to when I say that games are an important part of social history and, even in small ways, help build up a more complete picture of our pasts, one that you don't get if all you obsess over are the antics of Great Men.

After all, when Jervis Johnson first designed Blood Bowl, Games Workshop wasn't the global phenomenon it would become, so why was the very first spinoff of their flagship product a spoof of American Football? Think about that for a second and it might tell you something about how the UK was changing in the 1980s as our exposure to, and emulation of, American culture exponentially increased.

Notably in regard to Blood Bowl, the early 80s saw Channel 4 starting to broadcast NFL matches just at a point where homegrown football (not, never soccer) was at its lowest ebb, marred by violence, changing tastes and demographics and with the revitalising glory of Italia 90 still way on the horizon and the Premier League but a dream

At a time when British kids could still play in WW2 bomb sites, Americans were flying around the place with jetpacks. It was impossible not to cast envious eyes across the Atlantic where as a child everything seemed bigger, so full of life, colour and excitement. Certainly we spent many a lunchtime beating the snot out of each other, trying to emulate the larger than life characters with names like The Refrigerator we saw on TV.

And so Blood Bowl, in its odd, very small way, tells some of that story.

(Just as a tangent I've often wondered what might have happened if C4 had started showing Kabbadi in the 80s rather than 90s, it certainly would have lent itself to a violent miniatures game just as well. Though knowing GamesWorkshop fondness for satirising national stereotypes and the cultural sensitivities of the time (or lack of) it's probably for the best.)

For all that though the most important thing for me about Blood Bowl is that every time I think about playing it I get excited and every time I play it I can't help but feel disappointed and frustrated. For many reasons it never quite lives up to the game that exists in my head, but then in so many ways that's what I love about tabletop games. No other medium gives you a better opportunity when faced with a sub-par experience to roll up your sleeves and do something about it.

Like Blood Bowl, roleplaying games as a whole tend to massively over promise and often under deliver, not because people are terrible designers or the games themselves are bad but just because the idea of what they can be is so powerful, any attempt to realise that inevitably falls short (there's probably something clever about Plato's Cave I could say here so let's just assume I did. Annoying, sure, but that then in turn inspires us to become creators ourselves rather than passively grumble.

It's often said that the earliest editions of D&D were borderline unplayable, at least as intended and unless you happened to have sat in on several games with Gygax and Arneson or played games like Chainmail previously. But in so many ways it's that what contributed to its success as people rushed to try and fill the vast yawning gap between the game in their head and the one they often encountered at the table and, in doing so, created the underlying culture of roleplaying games that still exists today.

Imagine if D&D had been perfect from the off, I doubt we'd still be talking about both it and everything that came downstream of it 50 years on. I doubt the new edition of Blood Bowl will fix the many problems I have with the current one, but you know what I might just have a few ideas what to do about that. So here's to the frustrating games, the bad games, the games that race, stumble and fall as they try to take flight. Long may they continue to inspire us.

John x

Buy a mag so I can possibly afford to buy the new edition of Blood Bowl and be annoyed. Seems like a good deal.

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Just an update on last week's trade chat, we've been firing off parcels to the US all week and early days yet but so far we haven't had any problems. Hopefully by the end of next week we'll have a clearer picture and we can push on with the bulk mailout of the new issue.

So if you're already a subscriber this is a last shout to update your address, and if you're not and you want to be amongst the first, anywhere in the world, to get your mits on the new issue you still have time to buy a copy or take out a subscription saving you money on the cover price and shipping.

Just in case you need a nudge here's a couple of spreads from the new issue that we shared on social media this week.

Awesome old school art here from Gavin Mitchell, for our feature by artists Tammy Nichols on the Oldhammer scene and why she finds it so inspiring.

Undaunted is undoubtedly one of the best wargames of recent years, so having glowingly reviewed it before in the mag we wanted to dig deeper and so Dan Thurot spoke to the entire creative team behind it to find out more.

Then we have this feature on the RPG Triangle Agency cleaned up at the Ennies this year, a game of reality bending corporate horror we sent Samantha Nelson to speak to its creators about how they went about upending conventions.

Remember we also have a discounted mega bundle of issues 3-6 available at the moment, so if you really want to get stuck in then now is the perfect time to.

Crowdfunding campaigns for things both diverse and interesting...

Asher's Ridge

Asher's Ridge is a no-GM, no-prep RPG where you play as the director and stars of the titular TV show, a paranormal drama in the mould of Twin Peaks or The X-Files, set in the hauntingly beautiful and beautifully haunted surrounds of the Lake District.

We're always a sucker for RPGs that give us something to do other than hit goblins and roll dice and Asher's Ridge delivers in that regard as you use letter (Scrabble basically) tiles to create plot lines and playing cards to determine locations for each episode.

You'll create a logline to provide a synopsis of the episode and then in the grand tradition of these things play to find out. Working through the various scenes, see how the different plot lines you've created can intersect and build off each other, pushing the narrative forward as you take riskier actions.

I have to say that I have absolutely no idea how this would in fact play out and, you know what, that intrigues me more than any old school dungeon crawl right now. It doesn't hurt that it looks gorgeous too with an A2 map, bespoke playing cards and even carved wooden letter tiles available if you're feeling particularly fancy.

Find Asher's Ridge on Kickstarter
Campaign ends September 15

Previously featured on The Gazetteer & still running...

Cörk Børd - what happens when you wrap Mork Borg up in a nice old wooly jumper? well, murder and misery of course. On Kickstarter, campaign runs until September 11

Another Adventure Double Feature! - it's a double bill of old school mayhem from The Merry Mushmen with two new modules that see you take on a droughtwyrm and get embroiled in a labour dispute at the Dragonmeat™ Processing Plant. On Kickstarter, campaign ends September 15

Being where we share all the other stuff, gaming and related or not, that's held our attention this week...

++ It may have only run for 6 episodes but Garth Marenghi's Dark Place remains one of the greatest things to have been shown on British television. Seriously if you've never had the pleasure stop what you're doing now and just go and find it online to watch. Your boss can't stop you, hell they'll probably join in.

Anyway in the two decades since its release its reputation, and indeed that of its auteur Marenghi, has only grown, so who better to host a season of classic horror films that will make you laugh, cry... and shit yourself all at the same time.

++ Last week we tipped Casper Dudarec's lovely little war/strategy/boardgame zine Deepest Valley that he'd just made a computer game version, basically because I needed more of you to own it so we can play it (it's multiplayer only). Anyway I still would like more of you to grab it so we can organise a tournament or something in the coming weeks, so do check it out (I believe Casper's just added a new mode that doesn't add an AI opponent to play against but does let you practice the game).

++ As spaceship artists go Chris Foss is one of the GOATs so it's no surprise that back in the 90s Games Workshop asked him to work up some ideas for, I presume, the soon to be released Battlefleet Gothic. Exactly how this giant rainbow coloured, dinosaur headed space liner would have fitted in with Warhammer's grim dark universe I don't know (and clearly neither did GW as it certainly never got further than this) but still it's made me long for a wider peek at a universe where it would have.

Prelim illustration by Chris Foss for Warhammer 40,000 (1997)
— Scifi Art (@scifiart.bsky.social) 2025-09-02T23:55:17.608Z

++ Are crowdfunders on their uppers? Anecdotally y's certainly been a more difficult year for many so it's interesting to dig into some actual numbers.

++ A nice piece by Florence Smith Nicholls in The Guardian about games with an archaeological bent and the archaeological preservation of games themselves.

++ Talking of game preservation, this is exceptional work.

++ An interesting look at Rascal's state of play after their recent subscriber drive, turns out they now have 2294 more paying subs that we do, which means they're bringing on a new staff member.

++ Let's stat Smaug!

++ London's Element Games are 40 and they're throwing a party this Saturday to mark the occasion. He'd down to St Paul's Church, Long Lane for a day of games (including Call of Cthulhu and MiniBX games starting at 11, plus Blood on the Clocktower and demonstrations of loads of others throughout the day).

++ Ben Cooper x Neca x Dungeons & Dragons toys? There are circles within circles my friends.

++ Always worth checking in with what Josh Reynolds is up to, plus there's a new short story to enjoy.

++ Alec Worley continues to be one of my favourite writers on old genre films, this week he tackles An American Werewolf in London

++ And finally, this week's musical coda. There's a simple rule you, cover Song to the Siren I'm going to at least listen to it. you cover Song to the Siren and you get Julianna Barwick involved then I'm going to love it. It's a good rule for life and remains undefeated.

It's so close we can almost smell the ink...

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