I had this idea for a campaign and I wanted to bounce it off of people. It's still in the works but heres the break down. It would be a connected game between the 4 lines that featured the 4 Horsemen of the Apcocalypse as an overriding theme.

Dark Heresy Horsemen would be Plague. Since disease can be viewed as a corruption of the body it stands to reason that Dark Hersey fits just fine as representing Plague Horsemen.

Rogue Trader would be Famine. This is a long the idea of an internal thrist for knowledge that can not be quinced. Thus pushing people to explore more and more.

Deathwatch is oblivously War.

And finally Black Crusade would be Death.

This is just the basics of what I have but the idea is exciting and I felt like sharing.

Sounds like a cool basis for a game. I look forward to seeing it get fleshed out a bit more.

Would the players be assuming the respective aspects of the 4 horsemen (inadvertently or on purpose)? Or would each game line's horseman be a villain the PCs are expected to overcome? With 40k I could kind of see it going either way.

For some reason I now had this strange image in my mind of four Chaos Undivided Champions, each assuming the role of one of the Horsemen ...

@Steve-O: Yeah it's still in the idea stage so I don't have much more than that. I'm not sure if one of the PC's from each group would be one of the Horsemen or possible just it's Avatar.

What I had considered is that each theme had a paticular Item that they were in search of or had that was causing all the trouble a long that theme. Then I would work to tie all 4 games off into one climatic battle. Likely having them all meet on one planet unbeknowist to the players before hand.

@Lynata: I was thinking Chaos Undivided as well. I'll likely flesh that aspect out more after Black Crusade comes out, but it made the most logical sense for me. Maybe the 4 Horsemen are attempting to join to become a darker more power god like being.

Kael said:

Actually, why not have them meet on that planet even unbeknownst to themselves? As if those Champions were driven by a prophecy or vision they themselves have yet to understand - like some sort of wicked "anti-saints" protected by their respective Chaos Gods, but ultimately mere chess pieces on the galactic gameboard ...

You could create a really colourful troupe out of this. A few first ideas:

• The White Champion (Conquest/Slaanesh): a charismatic but ruthless Imperial noble or Rogue Trader who is sick of being on the run from his enemies
• The Red Champion (War/Khorne): a Feral world barbarian driven by revenge, believes the Imperium is responsible for the fate of his tribe
• The Black Champion (Famine/Tzeentch): a malnourished young Hive girl from the ghettos of Tranch, has the psyker-gene and often acts in a weird/creepy trance
• The Pale Champion (Death/Plague/Nurgle): a former Guardsman who fell sick to an unknown disease on some planet and got left behind

I was leaning more towards items than people as the "Champions". But now that I think of it, I could mix and match. For instance Plague could come in the form of an ancient tome that list every disease known to the galaxy. Death could come in the form of an ancient sword. Famine could be a person, most likely a psyker. Meanwhile War could be the battlefield that the Space Marines are defending. When all 4 are in the same location or at the battlefield the meld into the Avatar of the Horsemen.

I notice you used Conquest. I thought the 4 were Famine, Plague, War and Death. If not whats the difference between War and Conquest?

Kael said:

An interesting idea as well - perhaps the people are even lesser pawns, somehow bound to the will of the daemonic artifact they carry? This could have the potential of the threat returning if someone else happens to pick them up after the original owner gets killed ...

Kael said:

Heh, I had to read up on the details myself as I really only knew the basics... Death and Plague are basically based on differences in biblic translations, but they mean one and the same rider (corpses make people ill, ill people make corpses). The differences between Conquest and War seem to be very small, with one being about (internal) strife and the other about spilled blood - maybe they could also be seen as the General and the Soldier, respectively? Conquest bears a crown, but War carries the sword.

Hmmmm now I need to sit down and figure out if I want to do War, Conquest, Famine and Death or if it would work better with War, Famine, Plague and Death.

Lynata said:

The identification of the Four Horsemen with the Chaos Gods has always been a pet theory of mine - the parallels are too sweet not to make use of, though in my interpretation I equalled Conquest to Tzeentch and Famine to Slaanesh.

First, I think that the themes of Tzeentch, like accumulation of power and subjugation of others fit a lot more. Tzeentch has always been more extrovertic - where Slaanesh cares only about experiencing new things, Tzeentchian plots are always in relation to others, seeking to improve the god's or his cultist's standing. That's what I took Conquest to mean.

Then you have Famine as Slaanesh. The description in Revelations notes how after the coming of Famine, there will be no food, but plenty of wine and oil. So there will be no basic nutrition, only substances used for indulgence, which I guess is a pretty good parallel with Slaaneshi cultists always being unfulfilled and desiring more. It's not the hunger for food so much as the thirst for new experiences.

Just a thought.

Aye, I found it a bit tricky to assign each Horsemen to a proper corresponding Chaos God. Three is easy to do, but the fourth one ... phew.

I have chosen Conquest for Slaanesh because of the image of a finely clothed king enjoying the spoils of his victory and reveling in the glory he had attained, whereas the connection between Famine and Tzeentch was more or less a result of them being the leftovers - though I have rationalized it by famine being both a result as well as the origin of change (hence the mutant hive girl as its harbinger). That said, change can be found in war, conquest, death and plague as well ... there are many ways to draw a connection here. Aside from Slaanesh's most prominent aspect as the Dark Prince of Lust, I am also aware of gluttony being one of his/her domains as well, so the idea of placing Famine here did not occur to me - but your explanation has a point, too!

I think it boils down to the artefacts or characters that end up embodying the Horsemen; their descriptions and backgrounds would serve to strengthen the otherwise relatively generic bond between Horseman and Chaos God (at least in the cases of Tzeentch and Slaanesh) sufficiently to give them the proper image.

I'm not sure I'm going to tie them to the 4 Chaos Gods. The Horsemen and the Chaos Gods goals may not line up well in the grand scheme of things. That and I would really need to wait and see how Black Crusade turns out.

I had also considered adding more biblical elements. Perhaps the cult that supports the Horsemen beleive they are following the will of the God of Abraham. Their militant arm could be Knights Templars in the 41st.

I'm not certain of the biblical version of things, but if you follow Marvel Comics (and I think Rifts), the Four Horsemen were War, Famine, Pestilence, and Death. These four served Apocalypse as his main servants in all of his different attempts to take control of everything. So it could be a central being using items to transform people into the Four Horsemen.

vastrix said:

Yeah I recall how they were used by Marvel and in Rifts. I do miss Rifts though. What I want to achieve though is more of a moral grey. I've decided that making them Chaos agents is too easy and maybe a bit too played out. I probally won't answer the question of where they are drawing their power from by their worsphers will see it as a herald of the end times.