Gurkhal said:

That said, for some reason I'd also love to see something like Fields of Blood for 40k - although this is less roleplaying and more about realm management, I could see it being tied into the other lines easily, with people taking on the roles of Imperial Commanders, Rogue Traders, Chapter Masters or Chaos Warlords who have managed to gain control of one or more planets.
On the other hand, this too could be a single book, as there is probably not much material the writers could use to "stretch it out".

I suppose you have a point in that it is certainly possible to create an entire RPG line just for the Guard (or other Adepta) - it worked for the Marines as well, after all. I maintain that a xeno race would offer more potential for content for multiple books, simply due to being "more different", but I would have to agree that the IG is overall likely more popular than, say, the Tau (which I'd see as the primary candidate for their own line).

Gurkhal said:

Tau aren't even that popular amongst the armies... Enough to be around yet, but...

Anyways, I imagine the Mechanicum book for Dark Heresy will do that for the Mechanicum at least. We've gotten about half the splats covered (if not a big more) once the IG one comes out (We still need the Daemon Hunter one, and the Arbites/Scum one before that too), so it's no doubt coming.

Dulahan said:

Because the number of people who play a particular army in the tabletop is a perfect estimator of their popularity in setting. </sarcasm>

N0-1_H3r3 said:

You should have said, Nathan. I have all the Gorkamorka books and pretty much know all the fluff from it inside and out You'd have been more than welcome to have borrowed them for research purposes

While we could have done Deathwatch as an expansion to Dark Heresy, I think it would have turned out to suck. And unlike the arguement that could be made, that Rogue Trader (or even Black Crusade) could make use of almost everything found in Dark Heresy, you couldn't really do that with Deathwatch. All the homeworlds would be useless and the Careers would require so much alteration that it'd be simpler to throw them out and start over. The Grey Knights are one career, not a whole game, and I'd bet my I teeth that the rules they get will fit better in to Deathwatch than Dark Heresy.

But I digress...

I think, if they make a new game line, and it's one of the Xenos races, it'll be the Eldar or the Orks. I'm leaning more toward the former because it frankly has a lot more potential. Dark Eldar, the Craftworlds, Corsairs, Exodites, Harlequins. You could go a lot of ways with things, and it leaves the potential for plenty of expansion. Not to mention that the Orks aren't known for their exploration of ancient mysteries, the battling of ancient enemies that are returning to plague the galaxy once again, etc. Even the Space Marines have a hundred times the potential for that sort of stuff, in comparison to the Orks.

Yeah orks could simply be a supplement for Rogue Trader. A small book containing enough info to be able to clash amongst other orks to see who's in charge and go out and hunt down booty. The mass battle rules in the Battlefleet expansion would work well with a massive Waaugh!

A full workup stand-alone game? I would agree with the Eldar. They have plenty of aspects to work through, not to mention the angle of the Dark Eldar. They play heroes and villains in many different fields across the galaxy.

From there...a small supplement of the Elder and working in a bit with the other books would be a way to play as a part of the Cabal and the mysterious things that they do in which the Eldar play a role. And then maybe a workup on the Dark Eldar city in the Webway and the Black Library.

The Tau wouldn't be bad, but I would think to play it off of Deathwatch instead of a full workup. Small teams sent into the Jericho Reach to eliminate major threats or play as diplomats to bring worlds into the greater good. Sort of scout/diplomat/kill-teams.

Tyranids...normally an enemy Horde of Hive mind enemies. Players could play as some of the beats that have limited autonomy, or one of them could take turns as playing as the head of the splinter Horde. Not a whole lot of interaction though except for "here food" or "here threat". Mostly it would be going from planet to planet to devour worlds.

Necron...soulless beings. Mindless to are they not? If they do have intelligence left to them, what about a game where they are sent on missions? You know it comes back to a variation of the Deathwatch theme except maybe they are seeking Tomb Worlds and sleeping C'Tan for their masters. Small supplement at best.

Administration? Going out into the galaxy and collecting tithes? Seems more like a simple career option for Rogue Trader.

Imperial Governor and his Chief Staff people? Stationary to one world, the players go through the motions of adminstering and defending the world they have gained command of. Could be former Imperial Guard who won a world back into the fold and thus were awarded it as a homeworld. PDF characters, Commisars, Confessors, and so on. More of a Dark Heresy supplement though they may not have ever been a part of the Inquisition.

Timeline Supplements. World of Darkness did this a lot though I don't think that stand alone games are really needed for this since the basic info is in the parent games. Horus Heresy, Age of Apostasy, Great Crusade, War of Unification, and so on. Horus Heresy being as popular the series of novels is would make for a fine supplement.

Crusade. Players are leadership role position in Imperial Guard, Imperial Navy, or Space Marines to go out and reconquer the worlds that have been lost to the Imperium or to deliver crushing blows to the enemies of man before they can rise up to be a major threat. Lots of massive battles in space and on the ground. Rules for killing worlds should be contained here to blaze away worlds too tainted by chaos to be redeemed. Or conversely, lead elements in a Abbadon the Despoiler Black Crusade in throwing down the reign of the False Emperor. Might be enough material for a book as thick as a stand alone, but I'd call it a supplement for all of the other games.

I'm not sure there needs to be another line. At first I thought it would be cool to play Eldar since back in the day when I used to play the TT game it was Eldar that I ran with. However I don't see them having much in the way of RPG material. I'm going to borrow from WW on this but I think what would really be awesome is if next year kicked off the Year of the Xeno. In which they released several books that detialed all the games Xeno races and rules for adapting them to the various lines. You could put in notes for making them PC's and what not.