Back in 1987, Rick Priestley (then of Games Workshop) created Warhammer 40,000. Actually, originally, its name was Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader. It was a tabletop miniatures wargame set in a dystopian science fantasy universe. I loved it!
To be clear, I don’t love what Warhammer 40,000 has become: a monolithic cash-cow for Games Workshop that (I believe) is in its eighth edition and has virtually no appeal to me as a gamer.
[Yes, I did used to work for them; no, I’m not bitter about the end of that part of my personal story in the slightest (just in case you’re wondering).]
The Grim Darkness…
What I loved about Warhammer 40,000 back in 1987 revolved around gaming at the border between tabletop wargaming at the skirmish (say, around 20-30 models) level and the possibilities of roleplaying. Whilst working with Games Workshop, I got involved with first Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 2nd Edition and then, later, Warhammer 40,000‘s long-awaited roleplaying game. All through that time, my mind would occasionally turn back to the original setting and those early days of skirmish battle.
Over the past few days, dickering around with some ideas for my own science-fantasy setting for roleplaying, one phrase has been echoing in my mind:
“In the grim darkness of the far future, there is only war.”
That phrase is lovely. It suited Warhammer 40,000 wonderfully, especially as it is a wargame and the phrase helps to justify the constant state of war in the universe within which the game is portrayed.
My thought is that I want to steal the first clause and do something different with the second:
“In the grim darkness of the far future, there is… something else?”
Grim and Perilous
Yesterday, feeling a bit low and certainly questioning my ability as a Games Master, I pulled the game of grim and perilous roleplaying off my shelf and began to read it. I am, of course, talking about Zweihander. And that, of course, is hugely influenced by (well, it started as a retro-clone of) Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay.
Reading Zweihander, I feel drawn to the dystopian themes from that work of fantasy. I started to roll up a character and felt the familiar warmth of distant memories stir. Grim and perilous is the theme I love most in gaming. But I’m a bit cheesed-off with fantasy right now.
And that got me thinking…
Future Dark
Could we develop a homebrew setting based on the ideas of grim and perilous mashed up with the far future and the dark themes of dystopia? Of course we could.
Dark, dystopian dreams of the future (nightmares?) are nothing new in science-fiction. That’s what I love about the idea of melding something new to that grim darkness quotation! We can steal from any of myriad cyberpunk, dark fantasy, and military SF sources to blend something new at my table.
Imagine huddled cities filled with myriad workers and ruled over by an aloof elite. Picture the industrial darkness that is symptom of environmentalism forgotten. Place yourself in the midst of the bickering masses, the politically feuding over-class, and those who dream dark in their pursuit of power.
This post is a proposal for a discussion. I am interested in talking some more about the grim darkness of the far future and finding out what else there might be other than war. And I’m interested in bringing some of those ideas to a gaming table near you.
Interested? Pop some thoughts into the comments below.
Game on!
Perhaps you missed it, but the Early Access PDF of Zweihander did include a WH40K ripoff called “Dark Astral”. If I understand correctly, the authors decided that it needed more work and left it out of the book (which is too long as it is, if you ask me). I think they might release it as a supplement in the next year or two.
Thanks for the heads-up on that. To be honest, I’m not much interested in playing 40K but it’s good to know. I think I have the Early Access .PDF somewhere if I ever need it.
I’ve also had similar ideas, inspired mainly from the fantasy end. I liked Fading Suns – but only had limited exposure to it before that group broke up. As I like ‘simpler’ these days I’m gravitating toward Traveller (specifically Classic) for its system. I think if for example you took CT and its tables you could re-skin it to have a darker feel.
As to ‘…other than war’. Well, a common theme in SF is decline and fall. Perhaps you can look at a potential recovery from a ‘long night’. So random ideas off the top of my head:
– discover a ruined world where all the worst predictions around climate change or nuclear war have happened. But its now being explored / plundered for its technological resources. So yeah, possibly a ‘dungeon crawl’ by another name. But there could be something else there as well.
– a world that was recovering until it was dealt a death blow by pirates. So a hook to anti-piracy type stuff. And then you find out the pirates are working for someone…
– a world that is recovering and has ‘missionaries’ seeking to help other worlds recover and join their commonwealth to bolster trade, the economy, manufacturing.
– Semi Horror: borrow the idea of Reavers from Firefly.
Are they the sorts of themes you’re looking for? There are a few horror games out there that are based in an SF milieu rather than modern day or Fantasy. Not sure if that is where you want to go, or something different.
There is also the recent HOSTILE supplement for Cepheus Engine / 2d6 SF that may be of help.
Thanks for the ideas, Alistair! Those were useful and constructive suggestions. I’m trying to avoid thinking about system right now and focus on some adventure ideas. I think the milieu itself will grow out of the adventures run, the NPCs and challenges that arise, and the characters the players choose. That said, getting the tone dark is a key aim.
Had a long response w a bunch of ideas n then it didn’t send n deleted it all 🙁
Agree that you often only need to sketch the setting to start with, and it firms up though play. I mainly mentioned CT because you’ve posted on it before, and I actually think it has good tools (tables etc) to help come up with stuff. System can be important from that point of view as an aid. I’ve also been quite entertained by looking at Maze Rats and Into the Odd – also simple, also with interesting tables for generating ideas. And sometimes a system, or a book or a film, will provide the answer about tone. So default traveller seems to have a tone quite at odds with Warhammer40K. And different from star wars. Do you have ideas about what specifically your dark tone is? You did say “This post is a proposal for a discussion” so what sort of responses are you after? Did you want some ideas, or commentary on ideas you’re going to throw out in a future post?
Please don’t think I’m unhappy with your comments – all good stuff! What I am looking for is ideas. Not saying I’ll use any, all, or some of them… but ideas be cool. What I’ll need to do is talk to my players a bit too, but it’s good to come with some pre-formed suggestions.
I am increasingly feeling that it’s a blend of Necromunda-like cities from 40K, Street-Level action adventure from cyberpunk, low-tech is common but high-tech is possible from Traveller, sprawling galaxy in the Long Night, and some magic and horror into the mix.
But ideas good.
Some thoughts. You mentioned a tagline – “In the grim darkness of the far future, there is only …”. So as an idea, complete that sentence, in which case “…” becomes:
1. Yourself – themed on character skilling up, self reliance, development, and also maybe that ‘one person can make a difference’.
2. The Family – the idea that big organised civilization may be going down the toilet, so all you have is family, in a general sense: real family, the family of friends, the ‘corp’, your crewmates, etc. Perhaps ‘Family/Companions’.
3. The City – cloud city, dome city, space habitat, arcology, canyon city, jungle pyramid city, etc. The city as a character along with whatever else you have happening. As per Blade Runner, or London in various 19th century dramas like ‘Penny Dreadful’ or ‘From Hell’.
4. Hope – because if its all grim and dark, that can be depressing. So if the actions of player characters can make a difference, probably a more positive experience. And perhaps something you work up to. At it’s more low key, a very ‘Man with No Name’ sorta thing, as per Clint Eastwood’s Spaghetti Westerns and Kurasawa’s ‘samurai’ movies.
5. Survival – perhaps suits a more ‘lowlife’ setting. And maybe works in well with ‘Hope’.
7. Horror – Survival horror, aliens/predator, many varied episodes from Dr Who.
8. The beyond (aka the Expanse, or the Frontier) – i.e. explorations, finding new worlds to start again and get away from the failing states you’ve left behind.
…and so on. The idea being that with a theme, you can start permuting things around that, but they’re permutations around a common thread so that provides thematic harmony. So for the city, you can work with all sorts of cities, but also the idea of the ‘not city’; perhaps this is farmed countryside, perhaps desert with a nomads – whatever, its a counterpoint to the idea of ‘city’ that you’ve previously established. And have a very ‘cyberpunk’ mission based set up with a more “man with no name / characters have the opportunity to restore hope by being minimalist good guys” type of theme.
I’ll stop there. Hope this helps.
Thanks – a whole pile of options! I like the idea of Hope as a theme. Was toying with the idea of a revolution from the underclasses and that idea could be strengthened by the theme of Hope. Also like the idea of teams doing missions, which would offer a change of pace from our fantasy gaming.
Glad it was helpful. Something from my current Traveller that you might find useful (but which was a theme in a fantasy game 20 years earlier). The PCs are employed by a patron who works for a library. In traveller terms its effectively a megacorp. It has a variety of education and knowledge based acquisition/retrieval/dissemination missions – and often those people involved in that need troubleshooter support – the PCs. In a dark/grim universe, the Library is a source of hope. Or at least that is how it presents itself to many. And researchers and teachers sometimes need someone to help them.