I have not played any of the 40k rpgs, but from what I've read, the characters are all human. Are there any non-human pc's for 40k rpgs?

Not yet, but fanmade material for Abhumans, Orks, Tau, Kroot and Eldar does exist.

I probably wouldn't expect Xenos PCs in a game about the Deathwatch, the militant arm of the Ordo Xenos, who's duty it is to purge the alien.

I'd look to future supplements for Dark Heresy and Rogue Trader for that sort of stuff, since the only times Xenos are seen in human company with anything resembling regularity is when they are working with an Inquisitor, or with a Rogue Trader.

I would think the only game would be Rouge Trader were a PC could possibly play something other then a human and get away with it. (Besides Orgens and rattlings/sub human species). I mean, it immediatly means part of the party will be wanting to kill the other and that the xenos would have alot of special abilities and traits that could do a party wipe.

Ross and the others have stated that they acknowledge that this is a popular question/topic on the forums. Whether or not they actually do anything about it remains to be seen. But yes, in the meantime there is some decent fan material floating around.

sepayne7l said:

What you have to remember/understand is that the human society of the 40k universe is radically, violently xenophobic. They believe without reservation that non-humans are evil and should be killed on sight. Anyone who disagrees with that belief (and there are such people) are labeled as heretics and criminals and are likewise considered evil and to be killed.

So, really, you can't play non-humans in 40k rpgs and be playing in the Imperial society. Rogue Traders, who operate outside of the Imperium and do, sometimes, have non-violent contact with aliens are about the only place it might be possible... but I frankly find it unlikely that GW would allow it in an official product. They seem to take the general line that the Imperium's xenophobia is "correct" and more or less disallow non-human protagonists.

There have been some hints that there may be a RT supplement for playing xenos. At the moment we haven't really seen much in the way of releases for RT, so it's certainly possible.

LuciusT said:

Given that GW allowed you to play a Tau Firewarrior in a computer game, I do not think that the company has a stance against playing Xenos. Believe me, GW is more likely to allow something if it encourages sales of its miniature range.

Wilfred Owen said:

And the fact that there are a bunch of Xenos army lines they happily sell to anyone who wants to betray humanity...

Atheosis said:

I long ago betrayed humanity by consorting with the Eldar. Our superiors in every way.

Wilfred Owen said:

Report your heresy to the nearest Commissar at once!

Why the hell does everybody forget that Eldar rangers or pirates are playable in the Inquisitor game that is released by GW themselves? In the party of an inquisitor. Sure, they made a long article of how you never should mix Space Marines and aliens, but in the history of 40k there was enough the enemy of my enemy is my friending.

As said the imperium's xenophbic stance is hard to overcome and that means mixing humans and aliens is difficult. the best way to deal with this in a RPG setting would probably be to play all aliens or all human.

They have done something like that in the past for Warhammer Fantasy roleplay for the Skaven.

@Mjoelnir Cooperation was strained at best. There has been and probably always will be distrust and outright hostility towards aliens. Also the cooperation was only one a case by case base. It never was regular. When cooperation occured it was not the inquisition that started it. As there is a Ordo Xenos I doubt all inquisitors are wary when they have to deal with xenos. You do not want to get another inquisitor too interested in your actions.

Personally, I would like to have a little Eldar splatbook. It doesn't have to be linked specifically to any of the three games, DH, RT, or DW. Just give some stuff on their culture and all their profession/lifepath stuff. A hundred, hundred and fifty, two hundred pages, whatever.

I'd definitely want any such book to spend some time focusing on how wildly alien the Eldar are, to get away from the humans-with-funny-ears problem, but it might be neat to have a Rogue Trader crew with an Eldar PC, or have one along on a Deathwatch mission (Help the humans get in fights with Orks and Chaos? I don't see the downside.)

I can see how it would be a tough product to make, though, and doubtless FFG has other higher priorities.

Actually, the Imperium and certain Eldar Craftworlds get along just fine. Sometimes.

I remember reading somewhere about there actually being Eldar citizens in the Imperium. Rare, but not impossible.

The Wyzard said:

I'd pay anything for a book like that. I hope FFG reads your post!

Artemesia said:

A lot of folks seem to forget that the Imperium have Non-Aggression Pacts with both the Eldar and the Tau.

And they've even worked with some clans of Orks as well...

But from 4+ ed they decided its just war war war war war and nothing else in the game and forgot all about the co-op stuff that could happen..

Velvetears said:

There's a difference between ceasefires, temporary alliances of convenience, etc, and civilisation-spanning non-agression pacts.

What exists between the Eldar and the Imperium is not a non-agression pact. Partly because there is no singular Eldar civilisation (every Craftworld, Exodite Colony and Corsair Fleet is an independent political entity), partly because many Eldar view humans as little more than animals, and partly because the self-interest of the Eldar frequently outwieghs any notions of 'playing nice' with the humans. By comparison, human civilisation is built upon a philosophy of absolute human dominance of the galaxy... something which does not easily allow for other species to stick around.

Now, when it remains in the interests of both parties to 'play nice', then diplomacy and not-shooting-eachother occur... for a while. It might be a powerful mutual foe, it might be simply an understanding to not get in the other's way (as exists in the Calixis Sector when the Kaelor Craftworld passes through every millennium), or it might be some other reason... but that shouldn't be mistaken for a lack of hostility.

Similarly, while the Damocles Gulf Crusade ended in ceasefire (due to mass redeployment of Imperial forces to higher-priority warzones), that has not stopped violence between Imperial and Tau forces in the decades and centuries since - amongst other things, the Tau have aggressively expanded their territories, often conquering Imperial worlds, and the Imperium has fought back.

Imperial forces utilising Ork and Kroot mercenaries aren't exactly commonplace, but they happen often enough to be worth consideration... but these again tend to be short-term matters, inspired more by the idea that an alien that dies killing my enemies is preferable to a human dying to kill those enemies, as by any notion of peaceful cooperation.

I realize from reading the Horus Heresy novels that the Imperium doesn't like alien species and consorting with them is generally a bad thing, I guess I would just like to hear/play more stories outside of the space marines.

I imagine the work around would be to have people play in Tau space. You could get away with playing Eldar, Tau, Kroot, humans, ect. Some good roleplay from racial differences, without everyone frothing at the mouth screaming XENO and shooting.

It would be a nice thing to see, rules for playing an Alien race in 40k. WHFRPG system before FFG got it had rules for playing a Chaos Knight and other creatures of Chaos. Those were some fun games to run.

It wouldn't be hard to do up a little supplement style book to play various races. They wouldn't need to do much with their area of living. Just leave that up to the ST/GM/DM. I think running a Tau based game would be nice.

I am, very much so, going to put a psychic thought out into the universe that somewhere along the line, there will be a limited release of an Ork Freebootaz RPG book. That's right, much like Rogue Trader, you play the Boss or Nob crew of a Ork pirate ship. This should be the humourous 'black sheep' of the RPG line. Made up of equal parts Humour, ridiculousness, and inter-party fighting. Almost Paranoia in the 41s millennium. But with Orks.

C'mon.. you know you want this. an RPG where there is a stat block for what colour your vehicle is.. Or an area on the character sheet that says Dakka: and the proper response is NOT ENUFF! This must be made, and to direct this at the FFG powers that be, in proper (oxymoron to be sure) Ork fashion!

OI! YOU LAZY GITZ! KWIT MUCKIN ABOUT AND DO THIS!

Start supporting rogue trader.

It was my understanding in that the recent interview with Ross/Sam that it was alluded that such things (playable aliens) might be more likely than we might think:

Mord : As was asked back in the last interview with Ross, is there any chance of rules for Player Character Xenos? (Asked by lots of people and please say yes )

SS : Sadly, this is not something I can talk about at this point. However, everyone here in the office are big fans of 40k (not that it needed repeating!), so it's safe to say we share many of your interests and desires. Keep an eye on the website.

Of course, that could mean anything, but hopefully it means that we might at least see some of the local races as playable.

Darned NDAs.

Kage

Kage2020 said:

That does seem to hint at something .