40K RPG: Here’s What We Learned About Wrath and Glory
Wrath and Glory is the upcoming 40K RPG, and if we learned one thing, it’s that it will be Broad and Inclusive.
Gen Con 50 was full of big reveals and announcements–one of the more exciting ones was a closer look at the upcoming 40K RPG, Wrath and Glory. We had a chance to talk with Ross Watson, a name longtime BoLS Fans might recognize, and have the scoop on what’s coming up. We’ve also dug up the Ulisses developer panel for you as well, which is definitely worth checking out–there’s a lot of cool stuff upcoming from these guys. They’re the ones responsible for the English versions of The Dark Eye, which is basically the D&D of Germany (and won the Silver ENnie for Best Setting), and they’re also bringing you the new TORG Eternity and Fading Suns. So quite the pedigree here, folks.
Most of the details are still a little vague, but the game is still a year or so away, so that’s to be expected. But here’s a few things we know for sure.
The game itself is designed to be very broad and inclusive–that’s basically the game’s catchphrase, but with good reason. The goal of the game is for players to be able to tell the kinds of 40K stories that are exciting, all the way from a squad of inept guardsmen trying to take on a mission that is way above their paygrade, to the Eldar rangers hunting down mystic relics and adventure, to the squad of veteran space marines stomping through a seemingly-empty space hulk. It’s an ambitious goal to try and have one system that’s expansive enough to include the full range of 40K possibilities (well, excepting Tyranids, of course), while also remaining balanced.
The Eversor, seen here, has great balance.
But they want to keep the game focused around campaigns–rather than having a separate line for Rogue Trader or Dark Heresy or whatever, they want to be able to have one game that can support all kinds of adventures. And campaigns are the way they’ll delineate the various parts of the game. What do they mean by campaign? Well, a good jumping off point for understanding what these are might be the Pathfinder Adventure Path system. Each campaign will have a series of linked adventures as well as new options for players and a look at the setting, kind of like the Adventure Path, Player’s Guide, and Campaign Setting books that accompany an adventure path.
Wrath and Glory’s campaigns also help to narrow the focus to one aspect of the 40K setting. Rather than say “here’s everything go for it” they’ll let players focus on a particular angle–the first one centers around the Imperium Nihilus, the region of space cut off by the Cicatrix Maledictum. There you’ll have the adventure that takes players into the Dark Imperium and beyond, but you’ll also see something like a Player’s Guide which will have all the options for players like new skills or abilities or races or what have you, capped off with a setting book that really explores that particular region of the galaxy. And that’s the plan per campaign at the moment. Again, the game isn’t out yet–but it sounds like they’ve really hit the ground running. Watson mentioned plans for another campaign–this one all about the Doom of the Eldar, before going on to talk about how he was hoping that this game would let us see the more unusual parts of the 40K setting.
I’m real excited to see what that looks like. After all, the galaxy in 40K is full of possibilities. You have crazy artefact worlds full of ancient technology, weird Eldar webway ghosts, alien shrines, chaos-infected wastelands–we almost never see a planet after it’s been exterminatus’d–or going on some kind of Orky rampage. All of these could offer up a new perspective on the galaxy, which I’m excited to get into. Wrath and Glory might define the overarching theme of 40K, but there are so many different ways to come at it.
Players will be able to play as humans or xenos as they see fit. We can safely say that Humans, Aeiouldari, and Orks will be among the playable races, and we’ll probably see the other fun xenos types as well–harlequins and dark eldar were specifically mentioned, so keep your eyes peeled for those. Or don’t. The dark eldar will probably peel your eyes for you anyway.
Whatever it is, we’ll peel it! Stop by today for our patented triple-stacked service. That’s right, you get a Peeling, Scraping, and Flensing all for one convenient price.
The other big piece of news is that they’re working closely with the GW team to explore the story. While GW advances the timeline of the narrative, Wrath and Glory has a chance to flesh it out. To take a magnifying glass to a particular area of the galaxy, especially if they’re going to be releasing these setting books to accompany the campaign. The first adventure they’ve announced is an Anthology that takes you to different parts of the galaxy where you can do things like visit the Black Library, etc.
As far as actual mechanical details go–those are few and far between. Aside from the playable races and the fact that the game will be “broad and inclusive” and have rules for vehicles as well as for individual people. we don’t know much as of yet. The game’s central mechanic will be a bunch of d6-based dice pools that represent your various skills and allow the game to be “broad and inclusive.” The other big detail we know is that there will be a critical hit system, and it will be incredibly brutal, in keeping with the storied tradition of the 40K rpgs of yore.
You can watch the developer commentary below for the full details and some quetsions–but either way, this looks pretty exciting. Check back for more Wrath and Glory details.
via Ulisses
Wrath and Glory info starts at 30:20
Wrath and Glory is slated for a release at Gen Con 2018.
