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Partially motivated by @Karak Norn Clansman, here's me just putting some thoughts down on paper, as it were, about something that I did and something that I might get back into doing. All while getting back into the wargame and painting some minis, because why the heck not. The Prelude... Back in the day, there was a kid played Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay (WFRP), which was in 1e in those days. Then another kid, with some other kids, played some more and someone decided to introduce what was then a Spirit Warrior ("Tuisich Novasmair") into the fantasy game, and 40k and WFRP were crossed over. Or over-crossed. Something like that. The point is, that I wanted to use a TTRPG to play in the 40k universe from that point. And, a little bit later, the wish was to come true and a fellow called "Andrew" (Fawcett, IIRC) would create a version of this using WFRP on a site called "Critical Hit". It was a little funky because, well WFRP is a bit funky mechanically speaking, but it gave you the tools that you needed to do a TTRPG in the 40k universe. Advance some years and preferences change. "Critical Hit" disappeared (though I still have a copy of the site) and I was no longer a fan of the system anyway. After playing a TTRPG at a frenetic pace of at least a system a week (sometimes more), I got tired of learning a new system and turned to a generic system with a silly name: GURPS. The Days of Yon (Portent)... So, back in the Dark Ages there was a site called Portent that ended up being a hangout place for people that really liked the 40k setting. Some of those, like myself, really liked the premise of either using it for a TTRPG or, related to that, filling in the blanks of the setting because that was fun to chat about and also kind of necessary to make a functional RPG setting. There were a ton of fan theories generated out of this time. Things like Brusilov's "Emperor's Daemons", astrological affinities with Primarchs, and even grand (and abortive) fan projects that aimed to create a whole Imperial sector containing around 21,000 star systems in detail*. Crazy times. (* More so than you see in the Calixis and Askellon sectors in the Dark Heresy RPG.) During that time, and Portent's lesser descendant, Warseer, I put together some working documents for GURPS covering some interesting parts of the setting but mostly necessary ones (can you do 40k without Marines?). Which brings us to... Now... After a hiatus from 40k for the past all-but decade-and-a-half, I was just getting over the hump in another TTRPG project (the Earthdawn/Shadowrun/Equinox meta-setting, again in GURPS) and just happened to take a look at the old 40k stuff. This was after I had bought some 40k minis in an attempt to persuade my son (yeah, that happened between then and now) and gotten bit by the bug again. A 3d resin printer later, some 40k adjacent fantastic sculpts and... Yeah. My general approach was to take the oldest materials as "true" and then layer on the latter explanations so that they integrated and So, digging out the 'ole fan materials to get back to writing (and to rewrite with new ideas and new background materials): Powers of the Mind. Psykers are everywhere, thus a key part of developing other setting materials. The system that I had created was, instead of the "random explosions" approach of Dark Heresy, based on the ideas presented in Ian Watson's Inquisitor (now Draco) where each psyker had a "psyker light" that grew brighter the more powerful they were and the more they used their powers. This was the slippery road to the City at the End and to damnation. I'm still working on the details, in particular the differentiation between the different Psyker Grades of The Assignment. That and trying to work out the the details on the Left- and Right-Handed Paths of Sorcery, Enuncia, and, of course, Eldar magic-tech. The Inquisition. An inescapable part of dealing with the release of Dark Heresy. This is pretty easy, with the only major difference being the inclusion of an "hidden order" to replace the Ordo Malleus after it was outed by Gav Thorpe (to the weakness of the setting IMO). Trying to figure this out is still a little bit messy given the nature of the Ordo Malleus. Otherwise it's all fairly simple and drawing information from other products in the line (e.g., GURPS Action 2 that deals with the kind of stuff that Inquisitorial retinues and retainers get up to). The Adeptus Astartes. Another inescapable thing. Plenty of work done on this, though it needs to be updated because of the "new" introduction of the Primaris. And, of course, new fan theories (I was intrigued by the Primarch "Tarot" that I saw somewhere on the board). The Adeptus Mechanicus. A slightly more progressive, less Canticles of Leibowitz, approach to the Cult Mechanicus based primarily out of the original Rogue Trader and information from Mechanicum and Titanicus. There's lots of fun to be had here balancing what used to be called the "Adeptus Me-Can't-icus" (they didn't know what was going on with respect to tech) and the "Adeptus Me-Can-icus" (they did know). Plus, figuring out The Mysteries and the Admonitions as they are generally known, and then the more secretive Prime Mystery and Admonition and the First Order Derivatives. From there to the Binary Dogma of Factionalism, the Paradigms of the Cult, and the hierarchy of what is, at its heart, a mystery cult. The Craftworld Eldar. Or perhaps just the Eldar in general. My favourite. A little bit of a different take on what GW has produced. Drawing inspiration from trinities across the different aspects of society and mythology... Governance divided into Ancestor (Past), Clan (Present), and Seer (Future) Councils. Limited number of Paths, but innumerable Ways... Etc. The Warp (untitled). A description of traversing the warp and its nature. A shorter piece, but one that goes into detail on Imperial space travel across the various editions and bringing it together into a (fairly) cohesive whole while also bringing in older materials (e.g. natural Warp Gates and how these relate to Warp Zones etc.). I'll be posting bits 'n' bobs here and there, but ultimately asking for perspectives and ideas for those willing to contribute them. Things generally become better when there are more eyes on the product (as it were). :)