Hi,
To be fair many GMs have to attempt to rp many of these things in a single session, albeit on a more temporary timescale. Hopefully, with either Tau, Eldar, or any other xenos, enough fluff will be included that even the most inexperienced 40k'er would be able to make a go of it. As has been pointed out already, many of the "human" concepts currently available are so far out of our 21c terran existence we may well fall short of accurately rping them also?
Be fun to have the option though..
I think it's time we took a stand and demanded the Xenos RPG that we all really need. GRETCHIN!
We get rules such as how best to avoid being sat upon by our Orkish masters or how not to be kicked. How to rig those explosives taken from the pinkskins to work and set them off as doing so under the Boss' throne would really tork him off (and be quite funny). How to make some zany inventions work (and survive the testing). The merits of squig tending (and not being eaten while doing so)
Character creation here involves two character sheets. One for starting character stats and one to adventure on. That way a new character could just be copied/modified from the starting sheet tending to from the often (and many humorous) deaths of the pcs.
Ditto on the eldar, Great concept, hard to pull off. Part of the lore that makes them mysterious is the fact that they are unknowable/inhuman/alien witches. I would still love to play a warp spider. Or even a DE on a helion.
I'd jump at the chance to find out just what a Reaver Jetbike can really do.
Oh! What about Snotlings! You have a couple of things you could do.
1. Wander around thinking "Don't get eaten! Don't get eaten!"
2. Press buttons thinking. "Wonder wot dis does?"
3. Crap pants as being grabbed and roughly stuffed into a Shokk Attack Gun and sent through the warp to land on the bridge of an enemy vessel. Screaming and raving "What the Gork just happened!" and "Enemies" before being quickly crushed.
Previously, I had thought that an Ork RPG would be pointless. Because it would be only about violence and not complex plots.
This morning I realized an Ork game maybe it wouldn't be so different from Deathwatch. Only change abilities, talents and gear. Instead of Squad Mode Abilities and Solo Mode Abilities, have Waaagh! abilities. Less elaborated tactics, but maybe more dynamic gameplay.
Obviously an Ork RPG wouldn't be so demanded as the Space Marines RPG. But in terms of gameplay, it would be very similar.
Oomie Wotch... I think has been suggested a couple of times, but yeah paint marines green and they're more or less the same kind of violent animal who fights a lot and is hard to kill.
Problem with a lot of sci-fi/RPG aliens is they're mostly just human analogues of some sort with two arms, legs, eyes, ears etc that have a large amount of often extreme reflections on human society. Its not often that there is anything substantially different from humans in some ways that sci-fi writers are lazy in cultivating a uniquely alien society by just aping some of the more quirky sides of human nature and player characters, GM's alike see fit to be comfortable with those 90-degree quirks. Not taking it much further than just being humans with pointy ears or weird skin colours... or in our case as RP'érs, slightly different stats at their most basic makeup.
If they come up with some uniquely freaky **** that is genuinely uncomfortably weird, I'd allow them as player characters, but having a couple of self rightous pointy eared ******* and green skinned yobbos doesn't really interest me.
MKX said:
I think that's primarily because the vast majority of people would be incapable of accurately portraying something else anyways. Or even liking it. It's difficult enough for most players to roleplay humans in the 40k-setting without falling into some sort of trap due to one's modern way of thinking or a mistaken cliché...
Aaaahhh orks.
Joe Grunt gets up, gets himself ready (weapons and whatnot), gathers his little crew of spore-children and walks to work (it's a nice day after all). On his way he sees Greg Bloodhammer on the corner.
Joe: "Oy Greg"
(Joe punches Greg, who falls to the ground, gets back up, and punches Joe back.)
Greg: "Oy Joe."
This is only the announcement of a six minute battle which leaves Greg laying on the ground in a pool of blood, his left arm on the ground next to him.)
Joe: "See you 'morrow, Greg"
Greg sits up and holds his severed arm on, calmly waiting to the tissues to heal.
Greg: "'Morrow, Joe."
No malice. No cries for vengeance. Violence is like hello. It's an opening preamble to barter for something. It's the bartering and then the thank you for the bartering. It's simple.
I understand the concept of Oomie Wotch, but really? Teams of Orks being sent out on Kill-Team missions? Why send a few Orks when we have ten thousand waiting to go do something? Waaaauuuugggghhh! It up!
Or you get down to a small band of Orks.
"We need to eat tonight. Go kill something."
Or.
"Go down to the local hang out, bust up enough heads so we have enough teeth to eat"
Well...all that in Ork speak anyways.
Teef would be the way of buying things, but they would be gone at the end of the session.
Orks could do things such as be Freeboterz, learn how to be Weirdboyz, or build up enough strength to lead a Waaugh for themselves. Board a passing Space Hulk and go anywhere their little fates take them to.
Though really, secretly an Ork just wants to win at the Gorkalympics (or Morkalympics...plenty of debate and bloodshed on that.)
Gretchin Kicking Contests.
Booze Drinking Contests.
Junkyard Battles for Mekboyz.
Fort. Orks builds ramshakle forts and then use catapults to launch Squigs at each other's forts. Last one standing wins.
Gather up around some of the Weirdboyz (the ah psychic ones) and yell at them to see who's head doesn't explode after a set amount of time.
Shouting Contests (though sometimes this is held against an echo)
Eating Contests (though not all Orks leave with all of their own fingers uneaten so voracious do they eat)
vastrix said:
as much as i would love (dark) eldar or orks or whatever els in 40k. i realy don`t think most ppl could well roleplay them well
yes you get too play orks and kroot in RT and that make kinds sense in that setting. that being lotsa mercs (human and kroot) and lots pirats (normal one, chaos one, ork ones and eldar ones (dark and not so dark)
eldar think 99% of humans are no better that animals. dark eldar so humans as a eas slave capture, and craftworld see them as something thats in the way but is sometimes useful becaus there`s so many of them lets redirect what ever is coming toward the humans so we don`t have too fight and die?
and dark elder serving chaos, not likely. them useing sorrery too gain some kind of power yes. make a deal with a deamon for a powerful item or something maybe. serve not if they can help it.
and eldar they try too stop, burn, trap or distroy any sign of any deamon they can get too!
so yes i would be cool too see an eldar rpg, don`t see it happening. and a ork one? what would be the plot??
I disagree, for one major reason: the Dark Eldar hate Chaos. They hate Slaanesh most of all, but they hate all the other Chaos gods too. They're the truest successors of the Eldar Empire of old, and they will not demean themselves by bowing their knee to an oversized warp creature that deems itself a god!
If you want to play a Chaos-worshipping Xenos, play a Rak'gol.
and how would one play a 8 limed semi aracned formed brutal xeno race we know almost nothing about sept for the fact they have a intrest in yu`van aritfacts?
and didn`t i just say i don`t seen the dark eldar serving anyone but them selfs?
(kind like the normal elder do too, but DE so it with so much more style)
Don't get me wrong, the Dark Eldar would make a great PC option in Rogue Trader, but not in Black Crusade.
Like I said, you want to play a Xenos, play the Chaos-worshipping lizard-taurs. They've got a portion of Edge of the Abyss dedicated to fluffing them out.
nick012000 said: Published on 6/5/2011 - 11:40:53
Don't get me wrong, the Dark Eldar would make a great PC option in Rogue Trader, but not in Black Crusade.
Like I said, you want to play a Xenos, play the Chaos-worshipping lizard-taurs. They've got a portion of Edge of the Abyss dedicated to fluffing them out.
you mean the bit about there being cyber-enhaced 6/8 limbed brutal killing alien then yes they get explained. how one could turn that info a PC one would want too play no clue
I personally think eldar are interesting to play. my current RT character is an Eldar Corsair who (even by what litte of Eldar standards i can understand) is borderline insane. when he takes on anything, he purposfully chooses the most difficult, least effective, and hardest to pull off option to get the job done. his reasoning? "it was the only way I could think of that challenged me." He doesn't get along well with anybody, even the other Eldar My GM pits against me. I Don't know if i'm playing him "alien" enough though, so i think it would be interesting to see what canon Eldar thoughtprocess is in an RPG for them.
Eldar don't even strike me as that alien... its played up how eerily similar eldar are to humans, complete with the direction human civilization is headed. They might be alien to modern humans, but their extreme xenophobia and whole post-post-scarcity everything's crumbly feeling rather means that humans and eldar who stare at each other may as well be looking into a mirror. Socially, eldar encompass everything from monomaniacal ultra-disciplined obsessive weirdos to pirates who **** around. Its difficult for me to conceive of any sort of "alien mind" to a future humanity that has repentias and eversors.
The differences aren't so much mental in nature as they are differences in technology, history, and abilities.
nick012000 said:
I disagree, for one major reason: the Dark Eldar hate Chaos. They hate Slaanesh most of all, but they hate all the other Chaos gods too. They're the truest successors of the Eldar Empire of old, and they will not demean themselves by bowing their knee to an oversized warp creature that deems itself a god!
If you want to play a Chaos-worshipping Xenos, play a Rak'gol.
I'm sorry I'm late to the party; please forgive me if any of my subsequent points have already been addressed.
On Eldar & Chaos:
Granted, from what I've seen from the previews, only Crone World Eldar are likely to fit the ascension/descension model, and we don't know much about them. I understand and agree with the point that Dark Eldar don't like Chaos, however, that doesn't stop them from brokering with it to save their own souls; if they don't, Slaanesh will consume them in the end. Craft World Eldar wear their Soul Stones for good reason (beyond just planning to create a death god).
On other Alien races:
...and thats all the major alien races I can think of off hand.
In RT orks are described as uncorruptable. So, it would be a poor choice for BC, I think.
Lord Ork said:
The P&P going its own way again, it seems? The Daemonhunters Codex featured some Nurgle Chaos Orks with a few more plot hooks mentioned in the Adversaries section, and back in the days of Rogue Trader there were actual miniatures for Orky Khorne Berserkers . Further research on the internet also yielded a White Dwarf article about Chaos and other races, which not only included something about Orks but also featured some appropriately converted miniatures. I was not aware that GW would have changed this, though maybe an Ork player would know more about it.
On that note, I don't think that you'd actually even need Chaos Orks to have them fight for Chaos. If a Rogue Trader can get them into his employ, so can a Chaos Warlord. There are still Ork pirates and mercenaries, after all, aren't there?
Also, the C:DH Adversaries section featured one pretty funny suggestion where a bunch of Orks began worshipping Nurgle simply because they stumbled over one of his temples and thought he was Gork or Mork. And Nurgle made use of this, too.
Lynata said:
The P&P going its own way again, it seems?
No, instructions issued by GW's IP department - I was told in no uncertain terms that Orks becoming corrupted is so rare as to be essentially unheard of.
N0-1_H3r3 said:
Lynata said:
The P&P going its own way again, it seems?
No, instructions issued by GW's IP department - I was told in no uncertain terms that Orks becoming corrupted is so rare as to be essentially unheard of.
That's just what those chaos-warped greenskins in GW's IP department want you to believe, heed not their lies!
Nah, seriously, I think Xenos character's are pretty hard to do right in the current game lines because they mostly come from a very human perspective; the Imperium flat-out hates xenos, seeing them as a barrier in their conquest of the stars, and while those who follow Chaos will probably have more truck in dealing with such species or using their technology, I think direct cooperation is still unlikely. Sure, you can manipulate that Ork warboss into attacking the planet you wish to see scourged of life in preperation for a soul-destroying ritual that will release Ul'Garesh The Ever Flaming from his prison of a million years, but I can't think of many human radicals, heretics or Chaos Space Marines that would willing choose to travel around with a greenskin, even if it claimed to worship the Dark Gods. Humans may split on spiritual difference between worship of the God-Emperor or Chaos, but their innate sense of racial superiority has been ingrained into the species since the Great Crusades, and untold thousands of years of warfare with aliens makes it difficult to see any but the most deranged or desperate actively travelling with such aliens.
N0-1_H3r3 said:
Man, the setting becomes less solid with each month in 5E. I guess they exchanged a few people too many over the past years and the new guys in charge have a different idea of things should look like.
Lynata said:
N0-1_H3r3 said:
Interesting, considering that this does apply to a lot of other things in the RPG books as well which are then conveniently explained away with the idea that player characters are exceptions by default. So is this another retcon, just like the new Grey Knights stuff?
Man, the setting becomes less solid with each month in 5E. I guess they exchanged a few people too many over the past years and the new guys in charge have a different idea of things should look like.
Has the 40k setting ever really been that solid? The jump from RT to 2nd was huge, as was the move to 3rd. I think 4th might have been the aberration.
RT>2E was extreme, yeah, but I was under the impression that things were pretty stable following 40k's "baby steps", minus the whole deal with the Squats (I never understood the reason to retcon their existence entirely - the Tyranids seemed like a good "solution" to explain their disappearance).
Of course, it could also be that I just missed something... Whilst I love researching details, my background knowledge is, probably like that of most fans, relatively focused.
Oh well.
