Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay (license up for grabs?)

[Arthur_Parker]

Linky

MARCH 14 2006 (Nottingham, England) 2007 will mark the 20th anniversary of the first publication of Games Workshop’s legendary Warhammer 40,000 game system. It’s no coincidence that March 2007 will also see one of the most eagerly awaited events in gaming history – the release of Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay (40KRP)! Rumours have been circulating in the roleplay community for many years about such a game. Now Black Industries, fresh from the success of the revamped Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, can reveal that it really will be happening, and in a way no one is expecting. Because there won’t be one 40KRP game, but three!

Warhammer 40,000: Dark Heresy will be the first 40KRP game, allowing players to take on the role of an Inquisitor’s retinue. Their task is to uproot the taint of Chaos in Imperial society, to smash dark cults and foil sinister plots. It’s a game of investigation and will be an ideal introduction to the dark and gothic universe of the 41st Millennium. Dark Heresy is just the beginning, however. After this basic game, two further games released eighteen months apart will allow the players to progress and explore the universe first as Rogue Traders and alien pirates, and eventually experienced players will be able to roleplay the devastating warriors of the Adeptus Astartes Deathwatch.

All three games use the same game system, which is itself based in part upon the award-winning Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay. Players will be able to progress from one system to the next, as they gain experience and a measure of understanding of the vastly detailed universe of Warhammer 40,000. Each of the games will consist of a core rulebook accompanied by regular releases of sourcebooks and adventures.

Game design is being handled by Green Ronin, the team who helped create the sensational new version of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay so successfully in 2005, and much of the background is being handled by the Black Library’s team of writers.

For more information as it becomes available keep an Inquisitorial eye on www.blackindustries.com. But remember, heretic: innocence proves nothing.

Wasn't sure which forum to put this in, but as I'm hoping for a 40K mmorpg thought here would do. 

Mythic have the rights to Warhammer online and suspended Imperator last year, so it's not much of a stretch to assume that if Warhammer online is a success in 2007 then a 40k mmorpg license deal is now more likely.

This was touched on in a Mythic chat log last december, here

Denkim: Do you think you might ever do a 40k game ?
MBJ: We love 40K and we would love to see what we could do with that down the road as well.

[5150]

Unlike WFR I cant really see a 40k RPG working _unless_ they set it in something like Necromunda and the players are inhabitants of the spires.

The problem you run into with any other scenario (including Inquisitor) is that some classes would be uber (Space Marines) and other would be gimped (Guardsmen) and thus you'd end up with everyone being a Marine and no one being anything else - this is before you take into consideration the integration of the alien races given that its largely every race vs ever other race with the occasional alliance between the more 'intelligent' races

[HaemishM]

Wow, I get to roleplay an Inquisitor's retinue? HOW FUN!

Inquistor (DM): Goeth forth and investigate that rattling, demonlike sound in that dark passageway.
Retinue (Players): YES SIR!

/sounds of gargling, flesh rending and ass-raping

Inquisitor (DM): Time to get another retinue.

That'd be about as fun as LARPING Aliens with a latex Alien mask on the grill of a Buick in a parking lot, chasing around geeks who think they are Marines.

[Murgos]

That'd be about as fun as LARPING Aliens with a latex Alien mask on the grill of a Buick in a parking lot, chasing around geeks who think they are Marines.

Sounds like fun to me, I got dibs on driving the buick err, being the Alien.

[Lt.Dan]

"eventually experienced players will be able to roleplay the devastating warriors of the Adeptus Astartes Deathwatch."

WTF.

There are so many interesting stories in warhammer 40k, unfortunately none of them are these.

[Morfiend]

Are we sure this isnt Turbine working on this? Sounds like them. Get a great license, and make some thing horribly boring with it.

[Hoax]

They already have a great RP system, that involves the inquistion.  It is called Inquisitor, and while it is a bit complex it is the only PnP system that has ever even remotely interested me.

[5150]

They already have a great RP system, that involves the inquistion.  It is called Inquisitor, and while it is a bit complex it is the only PnP system that has ever even remotely interested me.

Inquisitor is not really PnP RPG nor is it tabletop battle its a hybrid of the two (I think they called it a narrative tabletop game or something) your not really RP'ing (and not one persona at that) and its still a tabletop warfare game, but you do need a GM to come up with the scenario (which is seldom balances in the 40k/fantasy game sence) to play any NPC's and to rule on situations not covered by the rulebook.

I've got some Inquisitor stuff (models are very cool) but we seldom play it because finding correct scale terrain is very difficult (GW [uk] have only made 1 piece and Forgeworld only made some bits of wall and furniture - some of the 40k [forgeworld] terrain can be used as well though)

[Hoax]

I'd actually argue that you could play it either w/ regular scale wh40k models or no models at all.  Making it a different scale (while it resulted in some great looking pieces) was just a typical GW money-grab.

[5150]

I'd actually argue that you could play it either w/ regular scale wh40k models or no models at all.  Making it a different scale (while it resulted in some great looking pieces) was just a typical GW money-grab.

Agreed - I did just have to have some of the models though (which reminds me, I still havent got the space marine yet)

The only thing I'd point out playing it with 40k scale is that the rules for Inquisitor include a few things that 40k doesnt really concern itself with (i.e. elevation) and as such 40k terrain tends not to feature much to accomodate these rules (IIRC while some of the forgeworld buiildings feature multiple floors, none display any means of traversing these floors because this isnt something covered in the 40k rules - unless you are using the Cityfight or house rules)