Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Reaching back


Alright so last night in a fit of nostalgia I ripped through my boxes and managed to dig up my copy of rogue trader (with no torn pages thank you very much) and while reading through what can be called the foundation of the 40k universe I realised something, we got screwed. Now let me explain my nerd rage for a moment, the original game, in essence was an RPG more then a table top strategy now given that it has evolved into a much larger entity, but in doing so GW effectively stripped out a majority of interesting fluff and units (and of course many other smaller races like the squats and the Jokaero) not only that but the emperor used to actually still communicate with the high lords of terra. In short I feel that in the transition from a classic miniature based RPG to table top strategy a lot of cool ability's and options and plot where lost. Ok maybe I am just being obvious but I l got introduced through rogue trader/3rd edition and I am now getting used to 5th edition and I feel cheated.

Ok so here is why I brought this up, my Sargent's that came with my black reach marines do not have bolters, instead they seem to be pointing at nothing in particular, so I thought "what if I can make a hand weapon without having to mod the model" well I did and damn it I converted it from a weapon found in rogue trader called "The Jokaero Digital weapon" now obviously I cant convert the stats to easily to 5th edition so here's what I did, I just took the stats from Yarricks Baal eye, since they are almost identical weapons in function I find it to work perfectly. Just a fluff option for casual games but still I think its a pretty nifty substitute.

So in lue of anything useful or interesting I posted this, its been a slow day, also if you have any RT marines or guard you would be willing to sell or trade send me a line. Questions and comments always welcome.


Cheers

Scott
BH Senior Editor




Images Copyright Game Workshop 1990-2009

7 comments:

  1. ditto. I ended up selling mine. I knew id regret it but they were very dusty and i wanted someone to have them that would give them some love.
    As for the storyline, its ever evolving with each new addition. I do lament some of the changes in fluff and the way they take the story line sometimes but it makes it MORE fluffy imo. You get to see the progression of the Imperium and other races instead of bieng stuck in one era.

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  2. See thats the problem, the story was never morphed, it was chopped up and phased out, the squats are the only race we realy know what happened to. I think it was more to do with GWs growth of the brand and spending less and less time on the game fluff and more on the rules and novels.

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  3. I look at the fluff as a living a breathing thing. It is ever evolving, and is mostly being written from the Imperial perspective.

    I hold an Orwellian view of the 40K universe. The background of the 40k universe has been constantly changing. Edition after edition has built upon or replaced the background of the 40k universe. As readers of the background, we know that GW is publishing new facts for the background. All Fluff has been published as fact at the time of its writing. So what makes one fact more correct then the other? This is where two camps emerge. Like the Inquisitorial factions, there are many shades in between the two and many viewpoints exist within even these categories.

    Puritan: The most recent fluff is correct. This is the only correct fluff, all the other background is superseded by this. You acknowledge the meta-game dimension of GW's control over the fluff.

    Radical (this is the Orwellian view.) : Fluff is like real life history filled with opinion, bias and propaganda throughout the years. Rather than seeing the most recent fluff as cannon above and beyond previous sources, you develop theories as to why the story was changed. You see that the majority of the fluff comes from the viewpoint of the Imperium and thus would be subject to distortion.

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  4. I am inclined to lean towards the Orwellian school of thought on this on, simply because, A GW are a bunch of shifty bastards when they are not walking around being decent and helpful people (and yes they are people) and B because the nature of the story of the imperium in and of itself is comparable to a perennial blooming flower, every new season it will bloom the same flower but in a slightly diffrent pattern or color. Simply put money, time and interest killed the squats not GW per say. I think that in the next 5 year cycle we may see the reintroduction of some of these elements in the form off additional suppliments or collectors sets.

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  5. FWIW, I spoke with JJ a few years ago about the Squats when I worked for GW. He said they were dropped basically because they couldn't find a clear vision for updating them. I really felt his answer was very genuine.

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  6. I would say thats probably an accurate statement, we wont be seeing much of anything new outside the codex updates over the next few years

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