This article (found on the BBC website this morning) caught my eye. It concerns Games Workshop and Warhammer 40K. The comments make interesting reading. There's no denying that the Warhammer fans enjoy their games, but I can't help thinking that if they sat down with an experienced GM for a couple of hours they'd get bags more enjoyment playing an RPG.
40K is badwrongfun.
ReplyDeleteRogue Trader - the original 40k - recommended that players have a GM to set up the scenario and introduce a plot to the skirmish campaign. It has obviously changed a lot in the 25 years it has been around, but there is an OSR movement of sorts emerging in the world of Warhammer as well that values that type of DIY old school play.
ReplyDeleteI've still got a copy of it tucked away somewhere. You can trace 40K's heritage back even further to a game called Laserburn from 1980, and written by Bryan Ansell long before he became the big bad boss at GW.
ReplyDeleteyep - The Laserburn books are neat. And talk about true to it's time, I have a published solo scenario for Laserburn - a long way from the Warhammer tournaments of today! I chuckle when young 40k players tell me that they haven't ever role played as if RPGs are a notch further down the nerd food chain. However, most of the older players I know do both and the fantasy flight 40k RPGs will likely only close the gap between the two forms of play.
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