Warhammer 40K Lite?

[Morlock]

I'm new to GURPs and I'm looking at it (and a few other systems) as a base to create several different games. One is a light version of 40k. I mean light in two ways here - rules light, and low-powered. In the first sense, I want to start out with GURPS 4e lite and add as little as possible rules-wise while capturing the essence of a 40k-like setting. I say "like" because I'm not at all interested in strictly adhering to the lore. Along the same lines, I say "low-powered" because I want to flatten out the power scale of the setting. Having powerful demons or imperial big-wigs is okay, but space marines statted out like superman to be faithful to the lore is the opposite of what I want. I want something more "realistic," i.e., pretty much no one as a class (space marine, inquisitor, etc.) walking around feeling like a mere peasant with a bolter can't put him in the grave.

If it helps, just think of this as a setting inspired by 40k, rather than 40k.

Anyhoo, what I'm asking for is advice on what bits to incorporate. Every 40k adaptation I see goes in the opposite direction from what I want, so I suspect it will be easier to look for GURPS material (official & fan stuff welcome) that I can reskin to my purposes.

[Mister Negative]

Rather than doing '40K Lite', you might just consider restricting your setting.

While superhuman space marines and inquisitors do exist in the setting, the average Imperial citizen (heck, the average Imperial soldier), doesn't ever see them in the flesh.

By picking a focused setting that doesn't feature those 'exalted' types, you can have a more 'realistic' setting without altering parts of the universe that your players might expect to know from Warhammer 40,000. If they have knowledge of the setting, it won't require them to 'relearn' the universe so that their expectations are different.

Imperial soldiers at war, local law enforcement on a planet, spacers on the fringe of Imperial space, gangers in the underhive, bounty hunters, witch-takers, explorators, etc. all can be fun and interesting parts of the 40K setting without ever interacting with the Space Marines.

Plus, the types of weaponry and armor (ammo throwers, lasguns, ballistic armor) that those 'mere mortals' typically get is fairly well represented in GURPs rules (including High Tech) already, rather than having to make up (and dial down) rules for power armor and bolters. You can have peasants with slug-throwers threatening your players, rather than bolters!

And if you set this on the edge of Imperial space, or on a backwater planet/system, you can deviate almost everything from 'standard' 40K lore, while still staying 'within' 40K lore! The tech level, the details of 'Imperial' religion, the attitude towards Imperial rule, the relationship towards technology, etc. are all a good bit more 'uncontrolled' out on the fringes!

[Morlock]

Yeah I've been thinking about the issue you raise. On one hand, you have the mighty 40k universe. It's a big draw, and typically, players are going to want "fan service," for lack of a better term. On the other, you have what I like about the lore, which is a fairly small fraction.

And your recommendations are a good try at how to square the circle. And to be fair to the source material - it's a big galaxy. There's no real reason that a very non-cannon setting can't be squeezed in without actually violating cannon.

Plus, the types of weaponry and armor (ammo throwers, lasguns, ballistic armor) that those 'mere mortals' typically get is fairly well represented in GURPs rules (including High Tech) already, rather than having to make up (and dial down) rules for power armor and bolters. You can have peasants with slug-throwers threatening your players, rather than bolters!

Yeah, as soon as I submitted my post I started thinking about it and realized that stuff like Ultra-Tech and Space would probably cover a heck of a lot of my needs.

Edit: on the other other hand, Space Marines are cool. I suppose my thinking was, wouldn't it be nice to tone them down to the point that I can put them in the story? My real question wasn't so much "how do I do this without violating cannon" as it was, "where do I get some statblocks for this toned down version of 40k I want to do? I don't want to spend a year statting all of this up..."

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Morlock

Yeah, as soon as I submitted my post I started thinking about it and realized that stuff like High-Tech and Space would probably cover a heck of a lot of my needs.

You might want Space for other things but the 4e version of that book has no gear in it.

When we played Dark Heresy there were no Space Marines but our gear tended to run from TL6 to TL 10. You need UT for TL9 and 10.

[Morlock]

Just corrected - meant Ultra-Tech but typed High Tech.

Speaking of Tech Level - anyone have any recommendations for how to handle the luddite (AI bad, networks bad, etc.) aspects of 40k, Battlestar Galactica, etc? Ultra Tech has some stuff, but more would be welcome. I ask because I'm interested in the space between "AI is a thing" and "AI/Networks banned" that would allow for Cyberpunk style hacking. Edit again: I phrased that badly, because I'm not interested in AI per se; I'm interested in where a society that had banned AI would draw the line, with an eye toward making things liberal enough to have some networking, hacking, etc.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Morlock

J I'm interested in where a society that had banned AI would draw the line, with an eye toward making things liberal enough to have some networking, hacking, etc.

That sounds like tL8. We don't have any real AI but we do have hacking. You might even want to restrict things to early 80s tech.

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by Morlock

I want something more "realistic," i.e., pretty much no one as a class (space marine, inquisitor, etc.) walking around feeling like a mere peasant with a bolter can't put him in the grave.

A possible way to describe this: are you looking for play in a WFRPG style: low-powered, gritty and grimy, in a W40K-inspired setting?

In any case, Horror is likely to be useful to you. It has a lot of good material on campaign design in general, and on what makes things weird and frightening in particular, plus TL8 character templates.

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by Morlock

Edit: on the other other hand, Space Marines are cool. I suppose my thinking was, wouldn't it be nice to tone them down to the point that I can put them in the story? My real question wasn't so much "how do I do this without violating cannon" as it was, "where do I get some statblocks for this toned down version of 40k I want to do? I don't want to spend a year statting all of this up..."

If you're toning them down anyways, I suppose its just a matter of picking a template and a point level for the space marines. My gut instinct is to raid the "experiment" template from Monster Hunters 1, or maybe the enhanced(bioenhancement) upgrade on the gunman or muscle template from Monster Hunters 4. That gives you a 400 point character. As a bonus, the series also has stats for demons and templates for psis. Its a high point level, but not insurmountable.



If you want to go yet higher, stick enhanced (bioenhancement) on the commando, warrior, or even techie or psi for a 600 point character.

[Rolando]

you will be better using Ultra Tech and hand picking each piece of equipment to recreate the available tech toys, then making all the background tech as just that, background decor and atmosphere.

I think I share your feelings for 40K, I like some of it but really dislike the over the top, childish uber everything. Is like hearing to children on too many candies trying to top each other, one say his soldiers are big and nasty, then the other says his soldiers are nastier, and bigger with spikes, etc, etc, etc.

[Morlock]

A possible way to describe this: are you looking for play in a WFRPG style: low-powered, gritty and grimy, in a W40K-inspired setting?

Yes - good intuition! I will put Horror on the list.