I really hate it that this happens, but occasionally I'll get some players along in my games that are virtually clueless of 40k. Or, even lamer still, only have read through the Codexes and although those books are really nicely done (for the most part) they don't really provide any detail for anything more than the archetypical Chaos villain. Just looking to see the approach some of you out there handle this touchy subject. It really seems to kinda suck though for me, because I have had time and money to read a truely VAST array of novels and omnibuses, and yet I've met other 40k players that have played as long as I, yet bother very little look through these books. I'm not asking for everyone to be a ravenous fanatic like I can be :/ it's just that some of these books are really incredible, particularly the books by Abnett, Mcneil, and Aaron-Dembski. (Ben Counter, Gav Thorpe and James too.)

Note: I'm not bashing on anyone, just looking around to see the myriad of ideas to handle this turn of events.

UlricKessler said:

The way I see it, you have two options:

1. Demand that each player does extensive homework on the parts of setting you wish to explore, and don't let them play until they pass the exam. Enjoy writing fanfics as the players keep losing interest in your games.

2. Accept that not everybody is interested in 40k lore to the same degree that you are, and use the lore skills the characters possess to feed the players the most crucial bits.

For the record, I can kinda see where you're coming from, as I tend to be pretty obsessive in studying settings that I'm interested in, but I've long since accepted that I'm in the minority, and that players don't really need that much lore to play interesting characters. If any of your players share your love of game lore, be glad, maybe reward them sometimes with a hint or two that only someone who's read book X can get, but don't force the same level of savvy on everyone.

Sit down with your players and use all that lore in your head to give them a more balanced, broad and basic world view. Keep it simple, keep it brief and keep it relevant, but give them enough info that they can comfortably expand their characters beyond the stereotype.

Also make it VERY clear to them that the Imperium is a big, diverse place, and if they have an idea outside established cannon, encourage this idea by saying you can just make up a planet/system/Sector from were it can come and make sense. That way, they have an easier time incorporating what they want into the setting, without feeling constrained, and thus have more fun and more freedom in making their characters.

Sure you might end up with weird ideas like Capoeira Sorcerers, Cowboy Kroots and Sophisticated jungle hunters and psychic arbites judges, which looks pretty crazy on paper. However, having played all of the above, I can tell you they were all setting appropriate blasts. So whatever you do, don't shoot down concepts just because they don't fit into canon, and be very careful of shooting them down because you think they might not fit the setting. Players tend to get a little discouraged when they're constantly told they can't play what they think will be fun, especially when it's for non-mechanical reasons, and you tend to get shittier, less interesting characters because of it.

Oh I'm not shooting ideas out of the air, I end my sessions all the time asking for 'questions, comments, requests and concerns', thus giving the players a chance to fill me in on something they liked or didn't in each session. Secondly, I'll get the cat-of-nine tails cracking against these degenerates and before long they shall have achieved my degree of lore memory. Just kidding of course, I guess the thing I attempted to get across is just it really kinda hits my creativity abit having to go back and explains things like the Consanguinity, Sabbat Crusades, Sons of Sek, etc.

Additionally, the planet I have the story taking place on is a planet that originated from the Sabbat region in Segmentum Pacificus, consumed by storms and then spat out in the Screaming Vortex a couple decades later. The players themselves are the remnants of a group of raiders that had been operating in the Cellebos region in the Jericho Reach, but had to flee or be destroyed by the Imperials there, themselves encountering a storm and eventually ending up on H'desh (the planet thingy for my story). From here on out I've introduced them to my first 'friendly' NPC, Sormono, and if you're a fan of the original Conan the Barbarian (this and Mad Max are major themes in my campaign atm) you'd have recognized him as that japanese actor that played the sorcerer in both movies, even sounds like him.

My group when we started didnt know a thing about WH while I read whole Lexicanum at that time (im not joking). One of them though that necrons were post human robots ;d. Now after few years I still know more about lore and I'm the most obbsesed with wh but the rest of guys know a lot and 2 of our 4 were Gming for me and they were preaty good. Give them time and give them good fun. If they would like it they would read and ask by them self. Good luck and be nice

I encourage players with a lack of lore to play archetypes that aren't expected to know much. Like a Imp Guard troop from a backwater. They can then RP their lack of knowledge and when they are comfortable they can start a more involved character.

bobh said:

I agree with this completely. The first time I played a 40k RPG, was when a friend invited me to try a game he owned (Dark Heresy), DMing a one-shot on our D&D week off. I had never (and still have never) played the tabletop - or even really understood what Warhammer was.

For the standard Imperial, blessed is the mind too small to doubt, and an open mind is a fortress unbarred.

I played an assassin who had next to no lore skills, and I was able to actually experience for the first time, out of character, new things that my character would be experiencing for the first time, in-character. I felt closer to my character than the other players who had vast knowledge of the setting already. Without Forbidden Lore (Xenos), characters really shouldn't know much at all (if anything) about the various races they encounter, and while I responded with instinctual reactions to things like Eldar, the other players were always biting their tongue trying to not mention things like soulstones, farseers, etc etc that they knew all about but their characters wouldn't.

Without Forbidden Lore (Daemonology), even the names of the main chaos Gods were secret and taboo, and we are supposed to have no idea what the various types of daemons can do. The rules even say that a Forbidden Lore (The Warp) test is required to even deduce what the warp is.

So you, as DM, get to show them the world as you would like, revealing precious secrets when appropriate and happy in the knowledge that they won't just use metagame knowledge to put things together and go "Oh, this is obviously an attack by soandso faction of x race," without the in-game lores to back it up. If the players don't know something, but their character bought the correct lore skill, you can reward successful checks with stories and descriptions detailing that aspect of the world as it exists in your universe. It's a great chance to bring the player into the world, and reward him for actively buying lores to learn more about the world he knows nothing about.

Thing I'm trying to avoid having at the moment is just a bunch of 'typical' chaos villains is all.