What games have copied Warhammer fantasy themes?

By Emirikol, in Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay

The dark, grim world of Warhammer Fantasy roleplay..now in d20! <just kidding>

What games do you guys feel have tried to copy/rip-off the Warhammer themes of old?

Jay H

Do Warcraft and Starcraft count? Heh he h heh

Genre wise, the only ones I can think of that are even close are Savage World's - 'Solomon Kane' and that indie game 'Witch Hunter'. Maybe if you stretch things a bit, 7th Sea.

System wise... There aren't many D100/Skill systems out there apart from Dark Heresy/Rogue Trader. Maybe Chaosium's 'Basic Role-Playing System' (which I always thought they should have refurbed retried the market on that one - Oh wait, they did in 2008) and Strangely enough Savage Worlds (not d100, but sort of similar in it's handling of skills and such).

I've always liked Savage Worlds. The shear number of community created settings is amazing. I've played Alien vs. Predator, Weird Wars (Vietnam Horror), Battle Tech (roleplay), Modern Horror, Deadlands, Fallout, and yes, even Warhammer using that system. It even has a really spiffy Fantasy Grounds II ruleset, which is where I've played most of these games. My favorite setting for Savage Worlds is Necessary Evil. The back story on that game is slick.

NezziR said:

Genre wise, the only ones I can think of that are even close are Savage World's - 'Solomon Kane' and that indie game 'Witch Hunter'. Maybe if you stretch things a bit, 7th Sea.

R. E. Howard's Solomon Kane novels were written far before the birth of the Warhammer world. The Warhammer witch hunter's are claerly based on Solomon Kane (though Solomon Kane was a hero, not a homocidial maniac), just like the ones in the Witch Hunter RPG.

WarCraft I or II were surely inspired by the Warhammer world, but WarCraft III is a different issue.

Yes. Savage Worlds handles Warhammer pretty well. I just playing thousand thrones with it.

I think the Diablo computer games have used o lot of the grim atmosphere. A sort of Blood for the Blood God theme...

And after all I think Jay owes us a session demo video gran_risa.gif

Emirikol said:

What games do you guys feel have tried to copy/rip-off the Warhammer themes of old?

Which games have tried to copy or rip-off Warhammer? None. Are there games that evoke similar themes and setting? Yes, but there were many of those which existed before Warhammer and others were created afterwards by people with little/no experience of WFRP. Dark, gritty fantasy games such as Warhammer or Dragon Warriors were common during the eighties, Warhammer was just one of the most successful.

macd21 said:

Emirikol said:

What games do you guys feel have tried to copy/rip-off the Warhammer themes of old?

Which games have tried to copy or rip-off Warhammer? None. Are there games that evoke similar themes and setting? Yes, but there were many of those which existed before Warhammer and others were created afterwards by people with little/no experience of WFRP. Dark, gritty fantasy games such as Warhammer or Dragon Warriors were common during the eighties, Warhammer was just one of the most successful.

Warcraft 1 was originally going to be a Warhammer RTS game but the licensing fell through. The themes and settings being similar is deliberate.

There is also nothing wrong with this. Your answer is little besides semantics. "No games copy Warhammer, some games just euphemism-for-copy it."

Certainly "dark fantasy" does not mean "Warhammer derivative," but to say ALL dark fantasy is NECESSARILY NOT a Warhammer derivative is duplicitous and silly.

You would kinda be hard pressed, at times, to determine if something has just similar roots to Warhammer or actually taken from Warhammer itself.

Most fantasy has its roots in myth and legend that has been around for hundreds or thousands of years.

****, being a huge Heroes of Might and Magic fan, it's a shame I forgot about it... Yeah, Heroes5 armies are clearly inspired by Warhammer. You mentioned the dark elves of the Dungeon, but there are some more. Sylvan has Wardancers, Haven has Inquisitors which remind me Sigmarite warrior priests, and Inferno's new Devil is more like a Bloodletter. Oh, and in Beta, Treants looked exactly like the Treemens of the Wood Elf army.