When Only War appeared I was a bit surprised. Admittedly I was a bit surprised when Black Crusade came out after the original 'trilogy' of games but still, Black Crusade seemed to serve as a counterpoint to the other three, whilst Only War is another 'you're representing the empire' book.

I've always wondered whether there are likely to be further games in the 40K RPG setting. Not because there isn't already a wealth of material out there but because, well, FFG seem to keep finding new angles. Are there any hints or rumours out there, or are we still having the current lines mined for storylines and supplements?

Also, it occurred to me the other day, whilst helping a friend of mine who's a fan of the miniatures game glue his figure together, that Orks would be fun, stupidly fun, to play as.

Yeah, Ork rpg would be lot of fun. This alongside second edition of Deathwatch could renew my interests in wh40k. I would like to also see Horus Heresy and Titanicus rpgs.

It could be anything, really. There's such an enormous amount of potential still untapped …

That said, even though I'm absolutely no fan of it myself, the apparent popularity of the Horus Heresy novels does make this era a likely candidate. It might just barely be different enough to warrant a book on its own rather than being a supplement for Deathwatch, perhaps by including a strategic element similar to Black Crusade, where instead of commanding an army of cultists and renegades you've got your Legion and the Imperial Army. The player characters could probably be an Astartes command squad focused around a player-controlled Captain who leads his own fleet as part of the larger Legion. Then, you get to plan invasions, lead your forces into battle, and perhaps even have some minor diplomatic roleplaying when meeting with Imperial emissaries or the locals of a planet you just conquered.

All depending on how well the previous product lines have sold, of course.

I always thought something mechanicus would be fun, traveling the galaxy looking for STCs and fighting as skittari, techpriests (which you already can), or even a Titan princeps.

Either this or focus on one of the races of 40k that are similer to humans such as Tau, Eldar, or even Dark eldar. orks might be fun but im not sure how well it would go. Both tyranids and necrons seem unplayable as characters because of the inhumanity of them.

Another possible logical step from this would be the lost and the damned, They did this with Black crusade. in the 40k universe the possibilities are endless.

Two possible hints:

First, formerly frequent poster and freelance writer NO-1_H3r3 had some homebrew Eldar rules posted somewhere, and I heard in another thread that they had recently disappeared; combined with the sharp fall-off of his posts, I think it's possible that he is currently working on an Eldar-based game.

Second, the DH supplement The Lathe Worlds went to some goofy lengths to justify not including Skitarii (in spite of sever calls for Skitarii rules here in the Foums), nonsensically claiming that there are no Skitarii in the whole Calixis Sector (in spite of The Inquisitor's Handbook stating that there are legions of Skitarii based on the Lathe Worlds). I can't help but wonder if FFG requied Skitarii to be excluded from The Lathe Worlds in order to reserve them as a class for a Mechanicus-based game.

That said, I'd much rather see more support for the existing lines rather than new stand-alone games: an Ordo Xenos Handbook , a Calixis Sector Sourcebook , Creatures Anathema 2 , etc.

Adeptus-B said:

Still it would seem strange that they were left out completely , given the books' usual freedom for providing players with options that should by all means not be available as per some interpretations of the setting.

I'd be interested in seeing the Eldar books. I'm not a big Eldar fan myself (which is weird, as the trappings of a mystical and colourful race should be up my street, but then I've always veered away from elves in traditional role play too) but I think that, given sufficient history and details I might be hooked in.

Orks were my initial suggestion as they sound like they'd be fun, although I can see how a serious campaign might be a bit of a stretch. Maybe that's not enough to warrant a whole line of a seperate game, but I've already had players say they'd be interested in playing Rogue Trader with just Ork characters.

The Tyranids, as well, are not a race I'd immediately want to roleplay… but if they went back to the old rules of Genestealer cults and hybrids living at the fringes of human society… THAT could be interesting.

Maybe some of these would work better as bolt-ons to other existing games. Books dedicated to entire Xenos, that allowed you to play them independently of human leaders.

I'd like a second edition of the system, myself. One centralised core book with up to date, standardised rules, with DH, OW, BC etc released as supplements for that system. The same approach the World of Darkness games use. It'd increase inter-compatability a ton, and mean any ruleset updates effect ALL of the systems.

Adeptus-B said:

I would just love to have a Tau Empire RPG. I think that the setting has a lot of potential, and it would be refreshing to not to play with Humans.

I agree that they should build up these systems a little more before jumping off to another rpg but whta I think would be fun would be a RPG about Dark Eldar. Imagine players working together while simultaniously trying to undermine eachother through subtle and indirect methods. plotting an assasination of another character to look like an accident while out on a raid while simultaniously the other players are thinking up an elaborate way to indirectly kill you. Aliiances are made and broken between players but while out on a raid they all have a common objective so they need to work together for the time being.

I think something like this could have lots of story to it while simultaniously being about combat and strategy as all the players team up together temporarily but are also planning to rise to power themselves through any means nessecary.

H.B.M.C. said:

I may have read too much into the lines “In the wake of the War of Brass, the Skitarii Legions of the Lathe Worlds were in utter ruin.” (p.30) and “Although originally built from the remnants of the Lathe’s Skitarii legions-“ (p.40). Even if I misinterpreted those lines, the fact remains that players wanted Skitarii rules, which were inexplicably withheld.

Back around the time of Rogue Trader and Deathwatch, people kept asking if FFG would ever do the Horus Heresy, and the response was that they couldn't cover areas of the setting being covered elsewhere, hence why they had unique sectors, etc, for their lines.

If that still holds, I doubt we'd see anything covering the Horus Heresy era, sorry.

Adeptus-B said:

You can basically make Skitarii in Only War, given that Forge Worlds are a homeworld origin option as of Hammer of the Emperor.

Personally, I would rather see existing lines fleshed out a bit more before starting a new line. That being said, the Tau Empire, maybe a line named "The Greater Good", would seem the most logical. The fact that the Tau Empire is such a cosmopolitan faction it would be feasible for an RPG. Orks I think would be doable, with the Black Crusade Infamy system as a basis. Basically, your characters would gain in rep to the point where they lead a massive WAAAAAGH!!! (That could be the name of the game, too). Eldar also should be doable. I would think that FFG would see that Xenos players are chomping at the bit.

Adeptus-B said:

This is pretty much just my two cents,

Like a couple others, I'm more interested in FFG developing existing lines then starting new ones. In particular Rogue Trader but that's just my personal favorite. I'm still holding out for a book that focuses on characters more Trader then Rogue but at the same time I'm realistic about the fact that I'm in the relative minority on that front. On the other hand, a "Freebooters" book would be interesting, sort of Rogue Trader's own version of Lathe Worlds. The only problem is that most of the Ork archetypes have already been covered. Then again, there would still be plenty of gear, ships, and adventure ideas to cover.

Outside of the lines already developed… yeah I'd like to see a Tau game. Particularly one that covers all of the castes and allied races. Essentially identicial to the Imperium yet so different, the beautiful lie versus the ugly truth. That and I'd love to be an Earth Caste Master Engineer but eh. Other then that, the only other group I'd like to see get a full line is the Adeptus Mechanicus (yes, yes I know, Lathe Worlds. Lathe Worlds doesn't even begin to scratch the surface.)

I agree, for the most part, that the 40K RPGs already has lots of territory to explore with their existing lines (and I've not got that many of the books - I don't know how I'd have the time to use all the available information and run all the games) but since they have brought out new lines after the initial trilogy of books it's fun to speculate on what else might come… :-)

I think I'd have to say Dark Heresy and Rogue Trader are my favourites of the existing games, simply because they step away from the "only war" ethos of the miniatures game, and allow you to explore other sides. Rogue Trader perhaps pips Dark Heresy to the post because, whilst I like inquisitors and corruption based stories there's something about the exploring new horizons that appeals to the daydreamer in me.

I'm not overly familiar with the Tau, but from what I do know I'd be interested in seeing a book devoted to them, more so than a book dedicated to the Eldar. I think, in part, that's due to past readings of background matrial for the Eldar for the miniatures game. I like their tragic backstory but I'd probably play other RPGs if I wanted to do the tragic and elegant thing (or maybe I just don't like elves much). Books dedicated to Orks (as well as their fantasy counterparts), on the other hand, always had me laughing, and I could see an Ork RPG being a very different creature to most other RPGs out there. A bunch of hulk-like thugs locked together in a tin can floating through space, or tinkering with their vehicles on some barren rock between regular fights with a neighbouring tribe - that sounds fun.

Admittedly, it might not serve long range campaigns.

I could see an Eldar corebook working, maybe an expansion on just "pirates" with Aspect Warriors serving as classes (with Farseers and such), kind of similar to a low level Rogue Trader… with aliens. Though the argument could be made that Eldar could just be a suppliment for Rogue Trader (much like the Dark Eldar) I believe Only War started out as a suppliment to Dark Heresy and look where we are today.

Tau could also work. The cynic in me doubts we'll see another non-Imperial core release though, given how Black Crusade does''t appear ot have the momentum of the Imperial lines.

I guess FFG will concerns itself more with Star Wars RPG lines in comming years, at least in terms of new games. There are pretty good ideas for older 40k RPG expansions (like Alien Hunters, Puritans Handbook and Calixis Sector Sourcebook for DH), so let´s hope that Black Crusade and Only War* get some essential love.

*I really want to get sourcebook for imperial armour called What I Cannot Crush with Words, despite its lenght

Shadow Walker said:

Titans in a Mechwarrior/Mech Commander style system would be a lot of fun, actually.

Here's hoping for an Eldar or Tau game.

That said, I'd love to see some official work on transitioning Dark Heresy/Rogue Trader/Deathwatch characters to the newer rules.

Can't say I'd be interested in a Tau or Eldar RPG. I'd prefer aliens to stay as "alien" as possible. Of course, I wouldn't say no to a rocking Ork RPG.

BYE

H.B.M.C. said:

We've got rules for a Nob of sorts, a Mekboy, a Kommando, and a Weirdboy. The armory is all you could want. It's pretty much all there.

I intend to run an all-Ork game sometime soon.

Plushy said:

Great stuff. I hope to in the not-too-distant future, but I'd love to hear how your game goes.

On that note it does seem an idea that a few people have been running with already:

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=267811