Quote from: Axiomatic;429044So do you agree or disagree with the claim that Dark Heresy is actually 1/3 of a game which is actually comprised of Dark Heresy, Rogue Trader and Deathwatch?

Because the aforementioned claim is mistaken, wrong and incorrect.

I should clarify that I do not believe that if you add up DH, RT and DW you get a full game, either.  They are each one-third of a game that if somehow mashed together (and from what I understand that can't really be done) would make up maybe 2/5ths of a game.

RPGPundit

To really throw a monkeywrench into all of this.....:

Couldn't the whole WARHAMMER 40K setting be done just as easily with a simple mod of either Mongoose TRAVELLER or classic TRAVELLER ?

After all the same career choices or lifepaths are covered in the regular TRAVELLER character creation systems.


- Ed C.

Quote from: Koltar;429310To really throw a monkeywrench into all of this.....:

Couldn't the whole WARHAMMER 40K setting be done just as easily with a simple mod of either Mongoose TRAVELLER or classic TRAVELLER ?

After all the same career choices or lifepaths are covered in the regular TRAVELLER character creation systems.

Yeah. You'd need to hack in some kind of insanity system, IMHO, but that's not too hard.

You could also do it very easily with Dogs in the Vineyard.

Quote from: Thanlis;429337Yeah. You'd need to hack in some kind of insanity system, IMHO, but that's not too hard.

You could also do it very easily with Dogs in the Vineyard.

I would more say that "Warhammer 40k would make for an interesting setting for DitV"* which is, I think, a different assertion. (Imagine conversely 'it would be interesting to play GW's Warhammer Historical "Legends of the Old West" to enact battles against the backdrop of DitV versus "You could do DitV very easily with Legends of the Old West.")

* Or Paranoia - wonder whether RPG or storygame would produce a funnier alpha complex. But then, for me the draw of 40k is mostly that I find it hilarious.

Quote from: Thanlis;429337You could also do it very easily with Dogs in the Vineyard.

I recommend Exalted.

Guys, I was somewhat serious about using TRAVELLER, particularly 'Mongoose' TRAVELLER.


- Ed C.


 (EXALTED ?? Everyone knows thats better used with the STAR TREK Universe!!)

Hmmm...not insanity rules, corruption rules.  Everyone's nuts already.

I'm sure a complete 40k rpg would fit in one book but it wouldn't be modelled on WFRP which simply isn't a dense or tight enough system to manage it.

GURPS is actually a really good basis for a detailed narrative 40k, as is Spacemaster Privateers.

But if you really want a custom 1 200 pg book 40k rpg you need at least half the book to be art and half of the remainder to be setting.  That means about 50 pages of rules.  Which is fine.  Heck you can even fit in hit locations and criticals under that.

What you can't do is huge laundry lists of careers and special abilities.  An aspect warrior and a guardsman might just have to both be fighters or have some of the same skills.  Cry me a river.

Quote from: Koltar;429486Guys, I was somewhat serious about using TRAVELLER, particularly 'Mongoose' TRAVELLER.

I figured you were serious; nothing wrong with that. I'm not as familiar with Traveller as I ought to be, but how well does it do with characters who really outmatch regular people physically speaking - Space Marines are basically low-grade superhumans.

Quote from: Koltar;429486(EXALTED ?? Everyone knows thats better used with the STAR TREK Universe!!)

Well, it's not the natural fit that Metal Earth is, but it'll do in a tight spot!

Quote from: Koltar;429486Guys, I was somewhat serious about using TRAVELLER, particularly 'Mongoose' TRAVELLER.

Instead of morphing a relatively straight SF game to 40K I'd maybe start from the fantasy end... maybe with Stormbringer.
It's halfway to being 40K already.

I think nowadays, you'd be far better off combining Starblazer and Anglerre for this.  It has all the necessary points covered, and has a more appropriate spread of power levels than traveller.

RPGpundit

So in your "new" RPG book about 40k, how would you go about designing careers?  Would you do a skill system only, but then how would you differentiate between the very real caste system that largely decides your role in life and ultimate fate?

Would Space Marines be selectable characters alongside Tech Priests, Adepts and Arbites?  Imperial Guard alongside Eldar?

Tell me how.  Then we'll talk about Practicality in Publication and Fidelity to Setting.

Quote from: Simlasa;429507Instead of morphing a relatively straight SF game to 40K I'd maybe start from the fantasy end... maybe with Stormbringer.
It's halfway to being 40K already.

Win.

Quote from: Simlasa;429507Instead of morphing a relatively straight SF game to 40K I'd maybe start from the fantasy end... maybe with Stormbringer.
It's halfway to being 40K already.

There's potential there - given the imperium's attitude to how technology works it might be expressed as lawful Virtues as well as anything else. Choose elements from Stormbringer and the BRP gold book?

I always figured the emperor of mankind was inspired by granbretan's Huon in the first place...

Quote from: Blackhand;429609So in your "new" RPG book about 40k, how would you go about designing careers?  Would you do a skill system only, but then how would you differentiate between the very real caste system that largely decides your role in life and ultimate fate?

Would Space Marines be selectable characters alongside Tech Priests, Adepts and Arbites?  Imperial Guard alongside Eldar?

Tell me how.  Then we'll talk about Practicality in Publication and Fidelity to Setting.

While I do like DH etc., I don't think this is impossible to do. I'd use a BRP-variant and simply have people choose their "race" as Space Marine, various xenos, or ordinary humans from various worlds. Space Marines get higher stats but fewer skill points, ordinary humans get tons of skill points but lower stats, and xenos are in-between. Then, PCs each pick a skill package based on their background and spend points as appropriate.

This wouldn't be too hard a conversion because DH is already fairly similar to BRP.

Quote from: Blackhand;429609So in your "new" RPG book about 40k, how would you go about designing careers?  Would you do a skill system only, but then how would you differentiate between the very real caste system that largely decides your role in life and ultimate fate?

Would Space Marines be selectable characters alongside Tech Priests, Adepts and Arbites?  Imperial Guard alongside Eldar?

Tell me how.  Then we'll talk about Practicality in Publication and Fidelity to Setting.

Was this for me?

Basically, I'd go the WFRP route: create a setting that is very similar to but not the same as 40k, and when I say that 40k, I would use the 40k of the original Rogue Trader, the only 40k universe that was playable and made fucking sense.
In terms of the power level issues, again like WFRP: you start out with a set of random careers that are all very beginner level and can work your way up based on what you've started with through advancement trees.  I might make them a little more rigid, ie. the "suggested careers" would not be suggested but a closed list of possibilities, but that's it.

RPGPundit