Comparing WFRP 40K Homebrew - Italian and Australian Perspectives

 

(John Sibbick, instantly selling people on something wild)

100 posts for my blog. A nice milestone in general.

Before Black Industry made Dark Heresy from a somewhat mutated form of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 2E (WFRP), there were two attempts to make a 40K RPG from WFRP 1E. Quite a seminal game that solidified or created most of the core lore for Warhammer Fantasy about the Empire and broad strokes about the rest of the world. The egregious canon characters would have to wait for Warhammer Fantasy Battle 4E to get created.

 

WARHAMMER 40000 Roleplay

Unofficial Rules for the 41^st Millenium by Colin Taber

 

WARHAMMER 40.000: THE ROLEPLAYING GAME

By Simone Gatti and Roberto Di Meglio

Translated by Marco Bizzarri and Claudia Rege Cambrin

Appended to, edited and updated by Michael Andersen and Ian Ward

 

The first attempt for a 40K RPG is two short articles in an Australian RPG magazine called Australian Realms (AR). Really just an Ad Copy and homebrew series, for a moment in the late 80s and early 90s, it seems to have been a source of creativity for a country that otherwise produced very little RPG content. I’m comparing that to a deeper Italian writeup to make a 40K RPG. The first two chapters ended up in an RPG magazine called Kaos but the rest only came from the internet as a series of .txt files.

First the eras. AR made two articles about draping the 40K setting from the original Rogue Trader (40K 1E) book over a body of WFRP 1E. Issue 8 and 9 total 8 pages and were published Nov/Dec 1992 and Jan/Feb 1993. This is the Rogue Trader era (RT), just before the new 2^nd edition of the 40K wargame. After all the White Dwarf articles were published in compilation volumes, vehicle and hand to hand combat were redefined and Realm of Chaos were published. So 40K was pretty much as is, with only the doubling down on the Grimdark to come with 40K 3E. So, despite being based on the original RT rules, they were made at a time when 40K had post-RT developed the concept of the Horus Heresy, Daemons from the Warp and the codification of the space marines with non-beaked helmets. The rules mention none of these except Eldar Harliquins.

Anytime the AR RPG mentions lore to read, it refers to the RT book. Effectively locking the setting at that style and lore by default. The Italian version covers some 22 chapters plus appendices. This was published after the release of Codex: Necron in 40K 3E, so after 2002. 40K was already fully developed and remains almost unchanged.

Character Creation

The Italian RPG features Ogryn (Ogres) as a playable species. This is noteworthy because regular WFRP wouldn’t get around to creating official playable Ogres until I think WFRP 4E. The Italian RPG restates the entire character creation process and integrates their changes, the AR RPG just has changes to each step marked with a page number for when to slip in new rules or alteration. The AR RPG explicitly removes Night Vision from all but the Eldar.

The Italian RPG has a lot more new and specialized skills. While the AR RPG has some new, but gameplay-wise superfluous racial trappings. AR as makes some simple adjustments to the starting career trapping table. A random weapon starting chart is included as there is no guarantee guns are available.

The Italian RPG also devotes a section to converting wargame characteristics, something that WFRP 1E relegated to the back of Apocrypha Now in 1995 but was probably published in White Dwarf prior. Notable Space Marines are listed as effectively a separate species for generating stat lines. In the AR RPG, they are a career you enter and advance up in stages, like a Wizard (Psyker).

And a massive list of changes to carers and Advanced Career listed in a table, mostly for new trappings and some skill additions. Also Troll Slayer is now an Ambull Slayer. A list of careers not available is explicitly because AR RPG focuses on Imperial World campaigns. Forerunners to how Necromunda will dominate how the setting sees Hive Cities. The disallowed careers are because they are overtly rural, which does not preclude a less sophisticated planet.

Due to the length, Careers are at the end.

Weapons are slightly different. The Italian RPG benefits from having several editions of wargear available to stat out. They end towards Weapon Strength + some number of D6s depending on how the weapon feels it should work. Compared to the AR RPG which keeps to a more conservative Weapon Strength + D6 (2D6 for the melta). Likewise, armor in the Italian RPG is quite a bit higher while the AR RPG keeps armor at a maximum of 2 AP (not including overlapping sources). There are also lots more special rules in the Italian rulebook for specialized weapons.

If I may make an interjection, I feel a good addition to the AR rules would be to take the Armour Penetration straight from the rules, to emphasize how future weapons cut through armor as the RT rule book explained. Since according to the Italian RPG:

“The damage inflicted by the weapons was obtained calculating 1d6 for each point of damage inflicted on average from the weapon in WH40K (for example: Las Cannon, damage 2d6, average 7, therefore in the RPG damage is 7d6), adding the strength and finally the Save Modifier.”

Psychic powers in the Italian RPG are based on the wargame, each with detailed effects. AR ‘s RPG says to use Wizard spells (this came out prior to Colour Magic) and RT Psi powers. The AR RPG also says all other magic careers are possible, but some are renamed.

The Italian RPG devotes the rest of its chapters to lore. Most made by combining all the previous editions, codices and White Dwarf articles together and seemingly taking the latest source above the preceding. It’s quite detailed.

Then there are the bestiary (lots of creatures I’ve never heard of) and the availability of money, food, gear and guns on a world.

 

Overall, I think the Italian RPG is much closer to what we would get from a 40K RPG made prior to Black industry. The setting as it was at the time, with the wargame details extrapolated out into a massive list of things to acquire and careers to explore, covering every possibility you could want from the Imperium and the Eldar. In fact I think thi might cover nearly as much as the actual Dark Heresy RPG, excluding some of the more specialized roles which might not have existed in 40K circa 2002/2003, except as lines of homebrew or converted models to represent other things.

But I think the Australian Realms RPG is far more gameable. Not only is it much more succinct (at the cost of more lookup). It keeps harkening back to a more freeform setting, where the Imperium and Eldar were much more willing to cooperate and the galaxy was not quite so rigidly defined into total Grimdark conflict. That more 2000AD meet the contents of the miniature collection era.

Both would be fundamentally weakened by their reliance of Squats to fill out the roster of playable characters. When even Games Workshop was keen to sweep the “silly” stuff away from their increasingly satire-less setting. Dwarves are so integrated into the WFRP system, that they just assumed they are so required in 40K.

 

AR’s new Careers:
Basic:

Squat Biker

Gang Member

Guildsmen (Squat)

Imperial Servant

Judge’s Squire (separate from regular Squire)

Miner (prior to Stone & Steel for WFRP 1E)

Pirate

Test-Bed Slave

Eldar Wander

Unrevealed Psyker

Advanced:

Adeptus Arbite

Administrator

Alchemist (modified)

Astropath

Cadet Marine

Marine

Harlequin

Pirate Captain

Pirate Lord

Technomancer

 

Italian RPG’s new Careers are:

Pusher (Basic)

Courtesan (Advanced)

Technician (Basic)

Chronicler (Basic)

Space Pirate (Basic)

Vehicles Thief (Basic)

Avenger (Unwritten)

Drug Trafficker (Advanced)

Rogue Psyker (Unwritten)

Settler (Basic)

Bonesinger (Eldar) (Basic)

Aspect Warrior (Eldar) (Advanced)

Guardian (Eldar) (Basic)

Seer (Eldar) (Basic)

Cipher (Basic)

Ordinate (Basic)

Curator (Basic)

Harlequin Artist

Harlequin Soldier

Subordinate

Scribes

Prefectus (Advanced)

Recorder

Imperial Assassin (Advanced)

Imperial Guardsman (Basic)

Inquisitor (Advanced)

Crewman (Basic)

Preacher (Basic)

Scholastia Psykana (Basic)

Astropath (Advanced)

Primaris Psyker (Advanced)

Schola Progenium

Tarot Seer

Technician

Foreman (Advanced)

Hacker (Basic)

Tech-priest (Advanced)

Techpriest Apprentice

Adeptus Arbites Footman

Arbitrator (Advanced)

Genestealer-slayer (Squat)

Tyrannid Slayer (Advanced)

Imperial Guard Sergeant (Advanced)

Lawman

Menial

Sniper (Unknown)

Space Hulk Warrior

Space Marine Scout (Basic)

Space Marine (Advanced)

Space Marine Sergeant (Advanced)

Space Marine Ancient (Advanced)

Space Marine Techmarine (Advanced)

Space Marine Apothecary (Advanced)

Space Marine Chaplain (Advanced)

Space Marine Librarian (Advanced)

Space Marine Terminator (Advanced)

Astropilot

Settler (Basic)

Android Hunter (Advanced)

Mutant Hunter (Advanced)

Spaceship Captain (Advanced)

Exodites Farmer

Dragon Rider (Unknown)

Exodites (Unknown)

Missionary

Dean (Advanced)

Navigator

Navigator Chief (Advanced)

Pedlar (Unknown)

Prospector (Basic)

Corsair (Unknown)

Taxi-driver

Web Navigator (Eldar)

Fleet Admiral (Advanced)

 

Sensei (Unknown)

Commissar (Advanced)

Adeptus Judge (Advanced)

Exarch (Advanced)

Gunner (Advanced)

Warlock (Eldar) (Advanced)

Farseer (Eldar) (Advanced)

Governor, Planetary (Advanced)

Governor, System (Advanced)

Governor, Sector (Advanced)

 Death Jester (Eldar Harl.) (Advanced)

Great Harlequin (Eldar Harl.) (Advanced)

 Solitaire (Eldar Harl.) (Advanced)

Abbot (Schola Progenium) (Advanced)

Adeptus Sororitas Abbess (Advanced)

Adeptus Sororitas Sister (Advanced)

Artificer (Eldar - Bonesinger stuck in aspect) (Advanced)

Electro-priest (Advanced)

Engineer (Advanced)

Chemist (Advanced)

Confessor (Advanced)

Lore Warden (Unknown)

Runepriest (Advanced)