The setting at present

[Doghouse]

I think for me it boils down to the need to release of an edition with a big plot hook to begin and end each one to tie in with big boxset release and a Primarch to end the edition. Guess it's Russ this time.

[ThePenitentOne]

 

 

I think this is a definite problem.  It certainly explains the copy and paste sensation I get from recent codexes.  @Indy Techwisp mentioned the various story threads that've happened in the last wee while, all tied to the 'Big Box' that launched the edition.  I find it baffling that GW doesn't have the launch box be a campaign box with a book, similar to ye olde 'Armageddon' or 'Eye of Terror' (or to supersize it, the old Imperial Armour books) with a different chapter each time.  There's a full campaign with a definite start, middle and end, and you can play it as an isolated thing, outwith standard matches and such.  It's something Necromunda still does.

 

In point of fact, the Launchbox WAS a Campaign- the BRB in that box contained the Tyrannic War supplement- it was the only BRB that did. The book includes a campaign system, bespoke Agendas, Requisitions, Crusade Relics, Battle Honour tables, expanded skill trees and either 15 or 21 Crusade missions, including asymmetric battles. 

 

Not only did the launchbox include the Turannic war supplement, it was also published separately as a companion to the stand-alone BRB. There was a world-wide campaign, though I think that's hyperbolic compared to previous world wide campaigns- basically report your results in Tyrannic War games in any format, and winners got their entire range previewed first at... Nova, I think?

 

Then the White Dwarf Bunker ran a three month siege of Bastior Crusade campaign, though again, not as high quality as, say 6 months of Flashpoint support, like we got in 9th. I think if you combine what was in the Dwarf with Tyrannic War and the bespoke content from the dexes of the players... well you've got a lot of material to work with- I think Ordo Xenos Deathwatch provides an excellent structure- both the Tyrannic War campaign and the WD counterpart are three round structures, and the Agents Threat mini-game also involve generating three discreet threats, which need to be investigated and eliminated in a certain time frame. 

 

If you look at Pariah, it's had three editions, and its impact has been spread across them. 8th saw the introduction of Kyria Draxus to Anchor the Ordo with a plastic model, who'd influence is likely to extend beyond the Nexus. Many of the new Necron units released in 9th were first encountered in the Nexus. Truth be told, I've never heavily engaged with Pariah, though by all accounts the Crusade book for the conflict has more content and is a much better books. One of the cool things White Dwarf has done recently (503 I think?) is convert the matched play mission deck for Pariah into a Crusade equivalent. It's fairly simple, but it's really workable. It integrates well with other Crusade content.

 

Support for Pariah in 9th was not as complete as the support for other factions- Pariah got no Hardbacks and I think only a single Crusade pack. It was so close to the Pariah Book from the Psychic Awakening series that additional hardbacks weren't really an option, so the PA book sorta filled that role. There's a part of me that wants to get Pariah- just to see the evolution. Some of the Crusade content from the Mission Packs and Flashpoints might still be compatible. I know there are good story hooks for Sisters, Templars, Deathwatch and Ordo Xenos. It's just that getting involved with Pariah, for me would require an investment in Necrons, and I'm not sure I can do another faction.

 

 

[Antarius]

I think it’s not just a question of everything old being good and everything new being bad, nor do I think it’s just a question of nostalgia for “the good old days” on the part of people who preferred the old stuff.

 

I think a big (perhaps the biggest) part of the problem is that they’ve painted themselves into a corner, with the combined need for moving the storyline (but not actually moving it, in the sense that noone can die etc.) and a need for a constant rush of releases that need to be supplied with lore and tied into the storyline. I don’t think GW lore writers are generally terrible, but I do think they’re put in a position that hardly anyone could really do anything truly good with.

[Orion]

I don't see the appeal these days in a lot of ways.

Seasonally bringing in Primarchs is like someone is trying to entice Marvel fans.

To me, demigods are much more interesting when you don't see them.

 

And the idea of Guilliman resolving anything is also really dull. Like how does the idea of him settling infighting improve the setting?

[Marshal Reinhard]

 

Right then.

So the Tyranids are here and eating half the galaxy, right?

Except, we've kinda heard nothing about that since the Leviathan box.

 

And now, a whole 2/8ths of an edition later, we're back in NECRON LAND, baby!

We couldn't even focus on the 'Nid threat for a whole year and we're back to the 9th ed story beat!

 

In other news:

The galaxy is still split in half, not that we're really talking about that.

The Dark Angels have taken the Blood Angels' Job in protecting said Imperium Nihilus, leaving the Sangy Bois jobless.

The T'au are trying to convert Chalnath again, I guess.

 

That's... kinda it?

Everything else is just the classic WH40k "Constantly spiralling towards destruction without actually moving an inch" situation.

What do you expect? If the Imperium actually falls the setting ends

[Timberley]

 

 

In point of fact, the Launchbox WAS a Campaign- the BRB in that box contained the Tyrannic War supplement- it was the only BRB that did. The book includes a campaign system, bespoke Agendas, Requisitions, Crusade Relics, Battle Honour tables, expanded skill trees and either 15 or 21 Crusade missions, including asymmetric battles. 

 

Not only did the launchbox include the Turannic war supplement, it was also published separately as a companion to the stand-alone BRB. There was a world-wide campaign, though I think that's hyperbolic compared to previous world wide campaigns- basically report your results in Tyrannic War games in any format, and winners got their entire range previewed first at... Nova, I think?

 

Then the White Dwarf Bunker ran a three month siege of Bastior Crusade campaign, though again, not as high quality as, say 6 months of Flashpoint support, like we got in 9th. I think if you combine what was in the Dwarf with Tyrannic War and the bespoke content from the dexes of the players... well you've got a lot of material to work with- I think Ordo Xenos Deathwatch provides an excellent structure- both the Tyrannic War campaign and the WD counterpart are three round structures, and the Agents Threat mini-game also involve generating three discreet threats, which need to be investigated and eliminated in a certain time frame. 

 

If you look at Pariah, it's had three editions, and its impact has been spread across them. 8th saw the introduction of Kyria Draxus to Anchor the Ordo with a plastic model, who'd influence is likely to extend beyond the Nexus. Many of the new Necron units released in 9th were first encountered in the Nexus. Truth be told, I've never heavily engaged with Pariah, though by all accounts the Crusade book for the conflict has more content and is a much better books. One of the cool things White Dwarf has done recently (503 I think?) is convert the matched play mission deck for Pariah into a Crusade equivalent. It's fairly simple, but it's really workable. It integrates well with other Crusade content.

 

Support for Pariah in 9th was not as complete as the support for other factions- Pariah got no Hardbacks and I think only a single Crusade pack. It was so close to the Pariah Book from the Psychic Awakening series that additional hardbacks weren't really an option, so the PA book sorta filled that role. There's a part of me that wants to get Pariah- just to see the evolution. Some of the Crusade content from the Mission Packs and Flashpoints might still be compatible. I know there are good story hooks for Sisters, Templars, Deathwatch and Ordo Xenos. It's just that getting involved with Pariah, for me would require an investment in Necrons, and I'm not sure I can do another faction.

 

 

But did the campaign book(s) have a definite beginning, middle and end?  Or was it just the beginning? 

 

Edit: You've highlighted that unit 'X' appeared in new plastic to coincide with the release of 'Y' box. That's broadly what I'm driving at: the campaign is there to give you the new plastic, but it reaching a definitive conclusion isn't in the book. Fighting a living campaign is great, but I'd expect them to give updates and scenarios that guide the overall narrative to a conclusion over the 3 years of the edition. 

Edited September 18 by Timberley

[Gamiel]

 

 

Not really no, the bulk of the lore probably up until the rise of Black Library (circa 2008?) was in the Codex for your army and main rulebook. The specialist magazines were more old school alternative rules for existing games in line with fanzines and never really considered mainstream enough to consider 'official' by most players. The naming of the second Legion is a good example in one of them. People used to come to me for advice on making their own army lore or Codex or asking questions and I have never referred anyone to any specialist magazine.  

 

White Dwarf articles were mostly reprints of the codex stuff maybe with a bit more of insight from designers and their thoughts. Even Black Library wasn't considered canon at one point but I think the Heresy series probably changed that mentality.

 

I personally think the 2nd edition Codices were best for lore.

Will have to disagree since the stuff like the Index Astartes, Index Xenos and similar articles, were not parts of the Codexes nor was much of the information in them. And if you wanted information about any Chapter not of the 1th Founding or Black Templars was the Inferno! magazine more often then not the place to get it, even if chapters like the Silver Skulls and Soul Drinkers got their own series and the Mortifactors were suporters in Warriors of Ultramar. Gaunt's Ghost gave us lore about many regiments that did not appear in the IG Codex. If you wanted Necromunda lore it was White Dwarf, Inferno!, Warhammer Monthly, Fanatic, Necromunda Magazine, and The Citadel Journal, that you had to read since the rulebooks were not that many.

 

 

[Indy Techwisp]

 

What do you expect? If the Imperium actually falls the setting ends

 

Speaking as a Chaos Player, that is the ideal outcome.

 

I just wish they'd actually use the plot point they dragged us all into 10th with.

Tyranids are always used as this "Uber-threat" that will wipe out everything, but they're rarely ever actually treated like a major threat in lore.

So it's really annoying that they started this off looking like they were going to actually give Tyranids their time in the spotlight, only to get basically pushed aside after 1 year in favour of the Pewter-cast Tomb Kings with Rayguns getting yet more spotlight time after already being the main villains of 9th edition.

 

I think a lot of people were hopeful the whole "never advance the setting" thing had ended, but it seems we just swapped that out for "freeze the setting in the Skeleton Nexus" instead.

[Scribe]

 

What do you expect? If the Imperium actually falls the setting ends

 

Exactly why we are stuck with.

 

1. A static SETTING. It is the second before midnight, and its not the major players but THE PLAYERS STORIES which matter.

 

OR

 

2. A metaplot that continues to waffle between doing anything with the set pieces, betraying the history of the setting, or just retconning at will.

 

There is really no other option. We have been told for decades that the Imperium is about to collapse, that the Universe will end. Any other result would just be laughable, and yet, they are not going to 'end' 40K. Its not going to go out like Warhammer and turn into AoS.

 

So what to do? Nothing really. Go back to a setting, and put the emphasis back on the players telling their story.

 

If it was good enough to give us First Claw, its certainly better than "How Rob saved the Emperor again."

[TheTrans]

 

 

Exactly why we are stuck with.

 

1. A static SETTING. It is the second before midnight, and its not the major players but THE PLAYERS STORIES which matter.

 

OR

 

2. A metaplot that continues to waffle between doing anything with the set pieces, betraying the history of the setting, or just retconning at will.

 

There is really no other option. We have been told for decades that the Imperium is about to collapse, that the Universe will end. Any other result would just be laughable, and yet, they are not going to 'end' 40K. Its not going to go out like Warhammer and turn into AoS.

 

So what to do? Nothing really. Go back to a setting, and put the emphasis back on the players telling their story.

 

If it was good enough to give us First Claw, its certainly better than "How Rob saved the Emperor again."

Spot on mate, 1. also stops there being any 'latest thing' so people will/should be happier digging back further in the setting for themes and :cuss:. 

'Up to date' stuff strips so much of the :cuss: out of the history of the game. I want an Iyaden prior to the invasion, I want Astral Claws, I want Vraksian Militia. But in currenty 40k, all the :cuss: becomes very anachronistic when fighting a primaris marine, or primarch who we know appeared in M.42XXX etc.  

[Scribe]

 

I just wish they'd actually use the plot point they dragged us all into 10th with.

 

They cant. The internal consistency in the setting is not great, never has been and never will be, and so everything is both over the top epic crazy, and utterly non-impact.

 

The 'we want a metaplot' folks have put GW in a no win.

[gideon stargreave]

 

 

Exactly why we are stuck with.

 

1. A static SETTING. It is the second before midnight, and its not the major players but THE PLAYERS STORIES which matter.

 

OR

 

2. A metaplot that continues to waffle between doing anything with the set pieces, betraying the history of the setting, or just retconning at will.

 

There is really no other option. We have been told for decades that the Imperium is about to collapse, that the Universe will end. Any other result would just be laughable, and yet, they are not going to 'end' 40K. Its not going to go out like Warhammer and turn into AoS.

 

So what to do? Nothing really. Go back to a setting, and put the emphasis back on the players telling their story.

 

If it was good enough to give us First Claw, its certainly better than "How Rob saved the Emperor again."

Agreed. One of the beauties of early black library was that it told the stories of small players, or (eg the excellent Khârn story in inferno), gave us a small snippet of the past. Having to keep up with the background because a major player did a thing is boring and frustrating. 
id be happy if they made models for primarchs etc with no new lore. They could make a Russ for example and let us imagine the wolftime ourselves. My favourite characters back in the day were always the ones already dead, I don’t need Dante to find x macguffin I wanna find it myself 

[Marshal Rohr]

 

 

They cant. The internal consistency in the setting is not great, never has been and never will be, and so everything is both over the top epic crazy, and utterly non-impact.

 

The 'we want a metaplot' folks have put GW in a no win.

Ah, but there was a metaplot! It was grand!

 

On the far east of the Galactic Frontier a new super power had risen, slowly encroaching outward because of limited technology but was more dangerous than the worst conquering enemy because it came with something that the Imperium has no answer for: a better life. 
 

Nearby and all along the galactic rim the Tyranids were eating worlds and left no option but to incinerate their own planets as a fire break to slow them down, but even that no longer worked as the newest fleet began encroaching from below the Galactic Plane. 
 

Closer to the Galactic Core on the borders of the Segmentum Solar the greatest Ork Warlord since Urlakk Urg had united every Ork Klan in his reach and thrown themselves at Armageddon potentially breaking open the very Imperial heartlands. 
 

Across the Galaxy worlds we’re going silent as the ancient Necrons awakened, their superior technology and weaponry requiring massive expenditure of resources to combat, and most terrifyingly, no one knew how many of these tombs lie beneath the soil of secure Imperial worlds. 
 

Crowning these mortal threats to the Imperium’s survival was Abaddon returned in his largest Crusade slowly grinding away the defenses of the Cadian Gate, the true and final death knell of the Imperium. 
 

Now we have literally all of that but somehow worse. The Wish Brand pre-8th Metaplot. It’s like they sat down and decided to wrap up all their story lines by starting over with less detail, and at the same time reboot their flagship model line by also starting over with less detail. The took it back the drawing board but didn’t erase the drawing board. Just shuffled some stuff around and said they didn’t need half of the galaxy to matter. 
 

 

[calgar101]

 

Ah, but there was a metaplot! It was grand!

 

On the far east of the Galactic Frontier a new super power had risen, slowly encroaching outward because of limited technology but was more dangerous than the worst conquering enemy because it came with something that the Imperium has no answer for: a better life. 
 

Nearby and all along the galactic rim the Tyranids were eating worlds and left no option but to incinerate their own planets as a fire break to slow them down, but even that no longer worked as the newest fleet began encroaching from below the Galactic Plane. 
 

Closer to the Galactic Core on the borders of the Segmentum Solar the greatest Ork Warlord since Urlakk Urg had united every Ork Klan in his reach and thrown themselves at Armageddon potentially breaking open the very Imperial heartlands. 
 

Across the Galaxy worlds we’re going silent as the ancient Necrons awakened, their superior technology and weaponry requiring massive expenditure of resources to combat, and most terrifyingly, no one knew how many of these tombs lie beneath the soil of secure Imperial worlds. 
 

Crowning these mortal threats to the Imperium’s survival was Abaddon returned in his largest Crusade slowly grinding away the defenses of the Cadian Gate, the true and final death knell of the Imperium. 
 

Now we have literally all of that but somehow worse. The Wish Brand pre-8th Metaplot. It’s like they sat down and decided to wrap up all their story lines by starting over with less detail, and at the same time reboot their flagship model line by also starting over with less detail. The took it back the drawing board but didn’t erase the drawing board. Just shuffled some stuff around and said they didn’t need half of the galaxy to matter. 
 

 

 Sad but true.

[Tyriks]

 

 

Speaking as a Chaos Player, that is the ideal outcome.

 

I just wish they'd actually use the plot point they dragged us all into 10th with.

Tyranids are always used as this "Uber-threat" that will wipe out everything, but they're rarely ever actually treated like a major threat in lore.

So it's really annoying that they started this off looking like they were going to actually give Tyranids their time in the spotlight, only to get basically pushed aside after 1 year in favour of the Pewter-cast Tomb Kings with Rayguns getting yet more spotlight time after already being the main villains of 9th edition.

 

I think a lot of people were hopeful the whole "never advance the setting" thing had ended, but it seems we just swapped that out for "freeze the setting in the Skeleton Nexus" instead.

Tyranids in 10th are getting pretty much exactly the same treatment Necrons got in 9th. Most of the stuff that came out in 9th was about Chaos again.  3 of the 4 Necron novels that came out had nothing to do with the Pariah Nexus (I don't think it's even mentioned in any of them) or anything going on in the "present."   The only one that did came out at the launch of the edition, and was more a space marine book that happened to have some Necrons in it and I have yet to meet anyone that liked that book.  So I would bet Leviathan gets more follow up in a few years, as is happening with Pariah Nexus. There really was not much follow up for it in 9th.

Edited September 19 by Tyriks

[ThePenitentOne]

 

But did the campaign book(s) have a definite beginning, middle and end?  Or was it just the beginning? 

 

 

I'm away from my book collection right now (back home tomorrow), but I will look into the development of Pariah... Though honestly, I'm still undecided about the 10th Crusade book- it's too expensive for what I'd get out of it. I'll read as much of the Tyrannic War stuff as I have; I think it's new to 10th, so theoretically, it's still possible that the storyline will be developed. What I will say is that the campaigns have 3 phase structure, so that if the fluff doesn't have a beginning, middle and end- the campaigns that we play very much do.

 

So the campaign defines the Formidye, Kastayl, and Pyremoat systems. So you play a 3-phase campaign in each system to determine control of each. Or you use one of them for the first phase, one for the middle phase and one for the last, if you want to deal with the entire Bastior sub-sector in a single campaign. GW doesn't go into the specifics of how to map the campaign you run to the fluff provided- they leave that to us (as they should- flexibility is critical to player engagement).

 

Now at some point, GW probably will say who won which system... Or at least update the battles. That will move the narrative forward, but they might keep this Warzone active for a while- as I said, the Pariah Nexus has received material over three editions. I suspect GW probably wants 3-6 Warzones active over the course of an edition depending upon season length and number, and if they hit that, then they wrap up one every edition and strat another for the new edition. The end of one Warzone and the beginning of another makes a suitable transition event to get us to the next edition. Son in the 9th/10th transition, Gallowdark ended and the Fourth Tyrannic War ended.

 

In Other, and Still On-Topic News 

 

However, I did pick up White Dwarf 504 today, and it is the best Dwarf I've read this year. I mentioned that the game support in 9th was better than it has been in 10th, but this issue felt like a return to better days. The have the usual Bunker Mission- I haven't gotten to it yet, but those are usually decent. What got me was Warzone Chalnath! So what they do is define some of the territories being fought over- Mangrove swamps on a moon that is an Agriworld. There are Imperial fortifications in a ring around the moon's Astropathic link, but they are fairly isolated. Tau forces class with Imperials at these locations while the Kroot rule the wilds between.

 

They develop the Tau leader- a named character with a distinct personality- one of Shadowsun's lieutenants or something, and then they detail a couple of Shapers that are leading Kroot forces fighting in the Guerilla war. One of them gets a short story, while the other is the Warlord of a combat Patrol (and is the only character of the three who gets rules, so the Tau Commander and the other Shaper are left as templates for "Your Dudes."

 

Then they provide alternate army construction rules for Kroot armies... Though these aren't really anything special once you take them apart and look at what they do- you're still going to be using the detachment from the Dex that favours Kroot; the list limits how many Tau you can take and prevents any of them from being a Warlord, but they still use greater good.

 

But they also provide Crusade rules for Kroot that allow them to form Pacts. These are written in such a way that a Kroot player in a campaign could use them to interact with other other player factions. Each pact has a patron. These include Trusted Ally, Reliable Contact, Neutral Party, Shady Go-Between, Scheming Lieutenant, Terrifying Warlord. So all the Kroot player has to do is figure out which other players these apply to, and see if those players are interested in a bit of cooperative storytelling as a sideline to the campaign main-event.

 

Finally, there's a mission designed for Kroot on Kroot action, and it includes rules for neutral NPC beasts. These are given profiles and base sizes, but players are encouraged to model their own monsters. What's really cool though is that the monster rules can be extracted from the mission and repurposed; two sets of Wych Cults could use these to recruit beast packs, Catachans might be disturbing nests as they wait to ambush an Imperial convoy, the monsters could be substituted for unit (the Ambull is an awesome substitute for the Hulking Brute Monster template). These rules also interact well with the Monster Hunter skill tree in Tyrannic war.

 

And it's ALL part of the Warzone.... Though many, if not all of the rules can be extracted and repurposed. I myself have been highly critical of White Dwarf as a gaming aid in 10th edition so far... But this is an amazing introduction to the Warzone, timed perfectly with the release of KT's return to Chalnath. If GW maintains this calibre of support and timing, they very much CAN create amazing narrative campaigns.

[Helias_Tancred]

 

I’ve said this before, but one of the big problems here is actually that 40K, as a setting, stopped having a story. It stopped having a direction or an arc or a comprehensible “present”. There’s a lot of plots - so many plots! - but they don’t lead anywhere, or even feel like they ever will.

 

This guy ^ ... 120% on target.

 

IMO its because GW has figured out, or believes (without substantial fact), the current status quo is the most profitable for them.

 

 

Edited September 23 by Helias_Tancred

[Deus_Ex_Machina]

2000 AD prided themselves to have the ability to constantly introduce new villains for Judge Dredd, kill them off and come up with new ones. GW on the other hand is incapable of doing that. Give us a special character each edition (NOT a Primarch) for each of the first founding SM chapters with the exception of the big four (you have enough stuff already for the next twenty years). Let them have a story arc, kill most of them (galaxy is a nasty place after all) and come up with new ones again. This would be more interesting than seeing a dozen different Primaris Lt. on the shelf each month. 

 

 

[Kallas]

 

2000 AD prided themselves to have the ability to constantly introduce new villains for Judge Dredd, kill them off and come up with new ones. GW on the other hand is incapable of doing that. Give us a special character each edition (NOT a Primarch) for each of the first founding SM chapters with the exception of the big four (you have enough stuff already for the next twenty years). Let them have a story arc, kill most of them (galaxy is a nasty place after all) and come up with new ones again. This would be more interesting than seeing a dozen different Primaris Lt. on the shelf each month. 

Do the same with the heroes too, the main reason people get out of joint about characters like Yarrick being trashcanned is because it's one of dozens that somehow stick around 'forever'. If the whole lot was actually changing every so often because, well, time it wouldn't be so jarring.

 

And it's not like they have to not have rules anymore - Tycho and Cortez had rules for several editions, despite having definitive deaths. Dead characters aren't less interesting just because they end; the fact that they're gone makes room for more charcters and more stories. We've got (well, had) 10,000 years of room for characters to occupy, with however many years ahead as well, there's no reason we have to have Calgar forever just because - it does, in fact, kind of stymie storytelling because (as people have pointed out before) these heroes always end up surviving; so it becomes expected and then it becomes boring. We know Guilliman isn't dying any time soon, so any story where Guilliman is in peril really does not matter: he'll survive, and that takes all of the teeth out of that 'threat'.

[Rogue]

Arthur C Clarke sometimes has the protagonists of his stories die towards the end, especially when the character has been the main focus of the narrative (rather than a particular concept, when characters will tend to disappear once their connection to that concept comes to an end). It means you get to see the whole narrative arc of that character - his rise, his successes and failures, his final blaze of glory or ignominious end. I could certainly stand to see more of that sort of thing in 40k.

 

I mean, let's imagine that there's a definite death for Mephiston - he goes down under a mound of carnifexi whilst simultaneously blowing the local hivemind wide open, condemning the tyranid fleet to destruction and saving the segmentum from certain doom. Well done him.

 

That shouldn't make him less playable in games. After all, Mephiston dies on hundreds of tabletops, year after year, in all sorts of different ways. I've killed him at least twice, and with different factions to boot. So at least one of those can't be canon.

 

And I like the idea of (sometimes) playing in a semi-historical setting. Not everything has to be happening 'Now', as it were. A game could be happening 100 years ago, when Mephiston was still alive. It's no less valid as a game. And if we have characters who 'could never really meet' then fine, it's a What If... scenario. Honestly, I've played enough loyalist marines versus other loyalist marines battles that justifying a minor time-slip really isn't a big deal.

 

In short, I'm happy to play characters even if they're canonically dead, because I can set my games whenever I like.

[phandaal]

 

And I like the idea of (sometimes) playing in a semi-historical setting. Not everything has to be happening 'Now', as it were.

 

See - Badab War, Eisenhorn & Ravenor, the Sabbat Crusade, Damocles Crusade, the Gothic War, the Macharian Crusade, et cetera. All of that took place within the 41st millennium.

 

There are a ton of awesome "historical" events for people to set their games in that are still close enough to the modern setting to at least hand-wave having the usual suspects participate.

[One Paul Murray]

Couldn't agree more with the last couple of comments. 

 

It is a whole Universe, they should use it. Write about interesting successor chapters, isolated IG units from planets unknown in war zones you've never heard of, Imperial Navy folks breaching space hulks and going mad because of narratively interesting Xenos devices that they unleash that require full story arks to resolve...

 

Write books about the Deathwatch and resist the urge to have three of four of them be from first founding chapters.

 

Write more about Xenos and Chaos, but don't feel the need to have them always trying to destroy the Imperium. What is Abaddon doing about the Tyranids? If he does nothing then there won't be a galaxy left for him to conquer.

 

And I also totally agree about killing off characters and letting new ones come to the fore. I appreciate that it must happen, as people on here say it consistently enough, but the idea of Legends models being unusable is absolutely insane. The very first GW product I ever bought was the WHFB box set with a cardboard Grom the Paunch, who was very dead by the end of the scenario in the box. It never would have been frowned on for that model to lead any army in that game setting.

[SvenIronhand]

 

Couldn't agree more with the last couple of comments. 

 

It is a whole Universe, they should use it. Write about interesting successor chapters, isolated IG units from planets unknown in war zones you've never heard of, Imperial Navy folks breaching space hulks and going mad because of narratively interesting Xenos devices that they unleash that require full story arks to resolve...

This, I can agree with.

[MaximusTL]

yeah, kill off a few named characters. please. of course, no one wants their faves canned, but there's a reason Cadia's fall is one of the most loved moments in recent 40k.

 

I think Russ' (inevitable) return at the end of 11th could be done in an interesting way. You know what i would want? Have Magnus storm Fenris (possibly with support from the Emperor's Children, since they're gonna be new and shiny), and have Russ finally return. they throw hands, and unlike last time, Russ is defeated, losing a limb in the process. Fenris is destroyed, leaving the wounded wolves a fleet-based chapter.  Also while you're at it, kill off Logan Grimnar when his Khorne Axe pulls itself out of his grasp to spill tzeentchian blood, leaving him unarmed at the wrong moment as he's cut down.  

[Scribe]

 

Cadia's fall is one of the most loved moments in recent 40k.

 

Is it? I'd trade that entire era, literally all of it, to go back to the setting it was before.