wh40k RPGs – grim adventure in the 41st Millennium
Warhammer 40,000 (wh40k) RPGs
Although I gave up tabletop war-gaming many years ago, I still have fond memories of Warhammer 40,000 (aka WH40k). In fact it was the first I actually owned, way back in 1987. I was pretty keen to give the Dark Heresy RPG a go, set as it is in the WH40k universe (along with Rogue Trader and Deathwatch). As well as playing in a number of campaigns now, I have also run the occasional game at ORC.
I first remember running many wh40k games on a pal’s dining table, including the Epic scale Space Marine and Adeptus Titanicus. I also have a first edition printing of the original wh40k rulebook featuring the cover where the Crimson Fists last stand against Orkish invaders. It’s interesting to note that there is no mention of Chaos or the Chaos powers, although mention is made of warp entities.
More information on the games I run and play in can be found in the wh40k section of the wiki. It also contains details of the PC (Player Characters) I played in other games.
Bleak Midwinter setting for wh40k
Bleak Midwinter is an idea that I’ve had percolating around in my head for a while (and I’ve mentioned it before): a proper crossover campaign, set in the Warhammer 40,000 (wh40k) universe. I’m not talking about just a couple of games involving Space Marines from the Deathwatch RPG, and an Inquisitors cell from Dark Heresy. Oh no, I’m thinking bigger than that (possibly even involving characters from Black Crusade, and Epic scale as well!).
Here’s the plan – a series of wh40k RPG games running at ORC and elsewhere, together with a series of wh40k battles, perhaps being run at Edinburgh League of Gamers (aka [elg]). Ambitious? Very much so. And that’s why I’m going to need some help with it (see below) – I’ll need folk to run and play the games, but also to organise the tabletop battles as I’ve no direct contact with any of the Edinburgh wargame clubs. I’m thinking that If I could organise things, we could probably start running the games in January 2012!
My concept is that Bleak Midwinter is set within the Midwinter Expanse, a nebula known for its White Dwarf Stars. It would feature Space Marines, Rogue Traders, as well as Acolytes of the Inquisition as the plot gradually develops, leading to large scale battles as the events unfold (each battle or adventure spins off a new plot or battle). We could see large scale space battles, hive worlds erupting into violence and a whole host of things happening that would make a fantastic campaign for all involved.
However, I’d need help. While I appreciate that Games Workshop (GW) would probably jump at the chance to help, I’d rather Bleak Midwinter remained in the hands of the gamers as it were, rather than become a marketing tool. This is a pretty ambitious project, so for obvious reasons I’m going to need some assistance. Here’s how I’m seeing things, breaking them down to their simplest requirements:
- Writers to help create the adventures.
- Volunteers to help plan the battles.
- I’d d appreciate some help creating the campaign itself.
- Someone to approach the Edinburgh Wargaming clubs to see if they’d be interested.
- GMs to run the games.
- Volunteers to run the battles.
- Someone to keep track of what is going on.
Obviously, I’ve got a major plot arc for Bleak Midwinter in mind, but there’s no reason why events have to follow it. Note that I’m not planning to make money off this; the only donation I’m looking for is time! 
Sarathis sector
I set a number of my games in Sarathis sector (information can be found on the wiki here), notably the Shadow on the Warp games (Part 1 and Part 2 are on the wiki).
wh40k Player Characters
Here’s a list of my current PCs and also those that have given their lives in the service of the Emperor!
- Whorl, an assassin from the Feral world of Malebolge. Tough and hard-bitten, he is now famous for using a combine harvester in a hit upon a target.
- Ferrus Roth - Arbitrator, an Arbitrator Enforcer (Dark Heresy). I see him as a kind of mixture of ‘Dirty’ Harry Callaghan and Gibbs from TV’s NCIS.
- Brother Sammeal, a Dark Angel Apothecary. Short in stature for an Astartes, he still managed to beat down a Space Wolf in their ritual contest.
- Diogenes Valexos, also known as Basilisk. A Navigator PC on the Rogue Trader ship Tranquility. Although a powerful Navigator, he is now more reptile than human, with sharp teeth and claws, the result of increased exposure to the Warp and enhanced Navigator powers.
- The Screaming Eagles Guardsmen PCs as featured in the Shadow on the Warp games (Part 1 and 2).
Downloads
Tick Tock Tick Tock
Today did not start well for me. Couldn’t get on the bus, so I hiked across to the Pleasance to get the 67 near Black Lion games. DENIED: the next bus was at 9.10, so I had to get another bus and hike the mile or so to work! I’ve had a pretty full day exercise-wise. I certainly felt the burn climbing the hill near the Pleasance! I’m finding things hard going to keep my head straight at work and at home – the flat feels very empty when LSD is away. It is difficult to manage my time – well, I can manage it but I haven’t got enough of it. At the weekend, all I want to do is relax and veg out – which means that I don’t have as much free time during the week as I used too. Here’s how my week breaks down at the moment:
- Monday - Up at 6.45am, to get the 15a bus to Penicuik (1 hour journey). Visit Mum in Currie and usually do some of things that she can’t any more, like lifting bags of peat and fertiliser. Stay overnight as I’m too tired to travel back to Leith.
- Tuesday - get lift to Penicuik, get home at 6.20pm. Laundry, housework (if not too tired), shopping at Scotmid, try and do some work on websites, write up games, answer emails, blog. Crawl into bed at 11pm.
- Wednesdays - try and cook a decent meal, usually eating at 8ish – try and get as much housework and admin (letters, bills etc.) done. Usually I try and work on games and web stuff until 11pm, accompanied by a bottle of wine
- Thursday: Off to work, then out to play Dark Heresy/Rogue Trader. I get home at 6.20pm, grab a bite to eat, go play. Back at 10.30pm – try and get some work done on Ashes of Freedom, other games like Cthulhutech.
- Friday: Work again, getting food in on way home, or ordering a takeaway (from the Ricebox) for us both. Collect LSD from station at 8.30-9ish, then relax in front of TV, although I’ll be working on AoF if I’m running a game the following day.
- Saturday: morning is spent getting ready for Ashes of Freedom or getting other stuff sorted. The afternoon is spent at ORC or taking it easy. LSD or I cook or order a takeaway. We’re both too knackered to do more than go out for a drink/meal or just watch TV at the moment!
- Sunday: the two of us try and relax, before LSD returns to Gateshead in the early evening!
The flat seriously needs cleaning – it’s not manky, it just needs spruced up and a proper spring clean is on the cards, but finding the time is the issue. I’d also like to get some of the work done to the windows alcove – it’s been two years since I had them done, and I still haven’t done anything about getting the internal woodwork treated. I’m loathe to do it myself as I’m certain it’ll trigger my allergy – I suffer acute congestion and headaches when oil-based paints or agents are used. The main door to the shared stair is also going to need some work as well, and the council are supposed to have organised a statutory repair to get the lock fixed. Hah. I’ll probably end up ringing them up to chase them again. Hopefully the door system is going to be replaced with a magnetic fob system – much less chance of there being a problem.
It feels like everything is piling up! I’m coping though and things are starting to reach a manageable level, or will do in the next few weeks. However, there’s one thing I don’t need to worry about any more: I managed to rollout Office 2007 to the 2,000 people at my work (in Bangor, Oxford, Wallingford and Lancaster) without any major issues, including Service pack 2 and the customisations. This was despite the fact that out site was about to undergo a scheduled power down. I’m glad that’s out of the way though, and I’ve got some kudos from it – but I don’t want to do something like that again for a while! It was fairly straightforward to create the customisations using the Office Customization Tool (and embedded SP2 for Office 2007 in there too), but we had to use a VBS script to shut down Outlook and any running Office XP packages. The final deployment was in done using Novell ZenWorks – we’re still using 4, but I’m comfortable with that. Basically, it checked for the presence of Excel, Word, and PowerPoint in the Office12 folder (so it wouldn’t reinstall on those that already 2007 installed). All went smoothly at CEH Edinburgh, although we cold-started the site network from scratch.
Gaming-wise, I’ve a new PC in Rogue Trader: Diogenes Valexor is the new Navigator. It took a while to create him and again the rulebook is badly laid out – yeah, it looks pretty, but two pages on how to create a PC would be nice! I’m hoping that he develops a little bit more, as I thought he’s a bit of a one-trick pony last game. I didn’t have much to do apart from translating the ship to the Warp, delaying us, then getting the Tranquillity (our ship) caught in the gravity well of a planet. Great start.
Finally, here’s the germ of an idea I’ve had for a Cthulhutech game:
2024: David Wilkinson, a happily married father of three, and an office worker at the Scottish Parliament with no history of criminality or mental illness calmly walks into the Parliament chamber and detonates a home-made bomb, demolishing the structure, and killing over 400 people in the blast. Forensic scientists are baffled at three unknown elements found in the bomb fragments. The NUN orders the transfer of Scottish government to Edinburgh Castle.
2033: Research into D-Engine technology at Cockenzie Power station goes badly wrong. A attempt to bring the power grid online using D-Engine technology results in a rift that swallows Port Seton and results in the area being quarantined by NEG forces. No one goes there any more.
2030-2045: A marked rise in psychosis and criminality in East Lothian residents cause the Seton Quarantine zone to be expanded. A large number of people disappear in the area before the zone is secured.
2046: The oil rigs of the North Sea are mothballed. The former Rosyth and Loch Fine naval bases are brought back online as NEG Naval bases.
2048: The Granton Arcology is the first to be built in Edinburgh.
2055: An unknown agency infiltrates the Beltane fire festival society. Only quick thinking by the GIA and Eldritch Society members prevent a catastrophe. The NEG pass the Hopkins Act, which makes any kind of neo-pagan or cult activity illegal without a permit.
2056: Protests against the Hopkins Act result in riots as NEG deploy violent force to control the streets during the Edinburgh Festival.
2057: Forces belonging to the Esoteric Order of Dagon attempt to establish a foothold in the Western Isles. They fail, and their underwater city of G’llho is believed destroyed by NEG forces, who field mecha for the first time.
2060-2063: Edinburgh is plagued by a serial killer. The identity of “the Handyman” is never discovered.
2063: Nazzadi and Migou bombings during the first Arcanotech War destroy much of the citys landmarks, including the Scot Monument and Holyrood house.
2079: The famed Nazzadi artist, Tanyla, is killed in reprisal for the Arcanotech wars during an exhibition of her work at the Edinburgh Festival. Her killer, Julie Milne, is later found to be suffering from Aeon War Syndrome.
2080: An outbreak of Enhanced Tuberculosis (ETB) causes a part of Leith’s Shore district to be quarantined. A fire later sweeps through the tenement blocks concerned and is blamed on a ruptured oxygen tank. No bodies are ever found.
2081: The Handyman killings resume.
2085: Rosyth Naval base receives their first Engels; three Hamshalls.
This is the Strange Aeon. This is the future of Edinburgh. This is Cthulhutech.
Into the grind
Well, back to the 9 to 5 tomorrow. Not really looking forward to getting back into that routine, especially with the weather being what it is! It’s still freezing in Edinburgh, and the goings pretty treacherous – the snows melts, then freezes again and it is lethal! When I got back from Gateshead last night I was walking past the Black Bull and went down on my back hard. After I got up, someone else went over – he nearly lost his phone when it slid away from his hands and stopped a inch from the drain (lucky!). As a result of the fall, I’ve a shoulder that was pretty sore last night but I’m feeling a lot better today. However, the joint aches a bit and I hope I’ve not damaged it badly.
LSD and I went shopping yesterday in Newcastle – on one block they have a Games Workshop, a Forbidden Planet, and another comic and RPG shop! Not bad. LSD bought me a few books: The Ultramarines and Blood Angels Omnibuses and Ravenor by Dan Abnett. I got the Eisenhorn Omnibus by him for Xmas and was riveted by Abnett’s depiction of the WH40k Universe – considering it was written in a hurry for the Dark Heresy launch, it’s still a gripping read. I also got the last 2000AD Nemesis: the Warlock omnibus – it’s OK, but I prefer the ABC Warriors! I’ve also picked up the new Terry Pratchett Unseen Academicals. I always find it a bit difficult to navigate in some of these flatter cities: I’m used to landmarks in Edinburgh: the Castle, Arthur’s Seat, etc. I’ve a pretty good sense of direction usually, but I got turned around by 180 degrees in Gateshead!
I need to get the next game of Ashes of Freedom planned and the adventure written for the 16th! I’ve quite a few players now and it is proving popular (although it may be the only game on some days at ORC)! I need to do more than flesh out a vague idea for the next game, as it could get rather complicated. I wish I could actually play in more games at ORC, but there only seems to be a few games on.
