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[Kot]

I always wondered how an entire faction of unmodified squishy humans who would die if sneezed at by pretty much any other unit in existence, suddenly acquire a strength on par with Power-Armored demigods and Orks just by being promoted to a Comissar or Commander. This is entirely judging by the computer games, I have no experience with the fluff or the miniature games.

Well, the computer games need to be balanced, y'know, and nobody really wants your commander to die from stray bullet. But there are examples of stuff happening just like that in Universe, and the most sane explanation is Emperor (or Tzzentch) helping them. Some of Guardsmen are so badass and awesome that they catch his attention (which, understandably, usually happens when they're noticed by superiors and get promoted) and he proceeds to keep them alive. Most Commissars get at least weak version of this as standard equipment, after all, they're orphans that spent their whole life praying at least half as hard as Sisters Of Battle. And Sisters Of Battle cause miracles on daily basis.
That... or insane batshit crazy amounts of pure luck.

[KingofstarrySkies]

Yeah, and 40k isn't really about individual characters; there's very few individuals that could survive adventuring in the 40k universe on their own, and the majority of them are Space Marines or Chaos demons.

If you made a game of it you could just control a large amount of guards using something similar to the swarming of locusts.

Actually, it would be much funnier if that was one guardsman. You would die a lot, that's for sure, but with incoming promotions and better gear (if you live), possibly even getting to drive a tank or something, your chances to live would incerase, up to the point where you would have to be really unlucky to die. It would really give a meaning to what you have achieved because you need skill and insane amounts of luck.

It actually reminds me of "All Guardsmen Party" and "Darwinian Character Creation". That's how I would want my Imperial Guardsmen game.

I always wondered how an entire faction of unmodified squishy humans who would die if sneezed at by pretty much any other unit in existence, suddenly acquire a strength on par with Power-Armored demigods and Orks just by being promoted to a Comissar or Commander. This is entirely judging by the computer games, I have no experience with the fluff or the miniature games.

Because, armor? And that GW is terribad?
Anyway, I love the IG, simply because it's the only army that is fully and totally aware of the fact that 90% of its men are jelly.

[Sergius]

I always wondered how an entire faction of unmodified squishy humans who would die if sneezed at by pretty much any other unit in existence, suddenly acquire a strength on par with Power-Armored demigods and Orks just by being promoted to a Comissar or Commander. This is entirely judging by the computer games, I have no experience with the fluff or the miniature games.

Well, the computer games need to be balanced, y'know, and nobody really wants your commander to die from stray bullet. But there are examples of stuff happening just like that in Universe, and the most sane explanation is Emperor (or Tzzentch) helping them. Some of Guardsmen are so badass and awesome that they catch his attention (which, understandably, usually happens when they're noticed by superiors and get promoted) and he proceeds to keep them alive. Most Commissars get at least weak version of this as standard equipment, after all, they're orphans that spent their whole life praying at least half as hard as Sisters Of Battle. And Sisters Of Battle cause miracles on daily basis.
That... or insane batshit crazy amounts of pure luck.

I think it's also a symptom of something I can't exactly name, but a little theory I have about Universes where "Anyone Can Die!"(TM) where people lives are like so much used tissue paper... yet there is a group of people who consistently avoid death despite not being superhuman, that strains credibility. It's something I should probably talk about in the Pet Peeves/Movie Nitpicks thread tho.

Also Authority Equals Asskicking plays a big role in WH40k from what I can see.

[KingofstarrySkies]

Tzeentch is a fuck. But we have something he doesn't. We have...

Spoiler: Ahem. (click to show/hide)

CREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEED!

[EnigmaticHat]

I always wondered how an entire faction of unmodified squishy humans who would die if sneezed at by pretty much any other unit in existence, suddenly acquire a strength on par with Power-Armored demigods and Orks just by being promoted to a Comissar or Commander. This is entirely judging by the computer games, I have no experience with the fluff or the miniature games.

Well, the computer games need to be balanced, y'know, and nobody really wants your commander to die from stray bullet. But there are examples of stuff happening just like that in Universe, and the most sane explanation is Emperor (or Tzzentch) helping them. Some of Guardsmen are so badass and awesome that they catch his attention (which, understandably, usually happens when they're noticed by superiors and get promoted) and he proceeds to keep them alive. Most Commissars get at least weak version of this as standard equipment, after all, they're orphans that spent their whole life praying at least half as hard as Sisters Of Battle. And Sisters Of Battle cause miracles on daily basis.
That... or insane batshit crazy amounts of pure luck.

I think it's also a symptom of something I can't exactly name, but a little theory I have about Universes where "Anyone Can Die!"(TM) where people lives are like so much used tissue paper... yet there is a group of people who consistently avoid death despite not being superhuman, that strains credibility. It's something I should probably talk about in the Pet Peeves/Movie Nitpicks thread tho.

Also Authority Equals Asskicking plays a big role in WH40k from what I can see.

Warhammer 40k is a universe where individuals are meaningless.   Even people who "matter" only have power because some faceless faction or functional god gave it to them.  Unfortunately this doesn't make for good gameplay OR good storytelling, so GW writers are constantly backtracking or ignoring their own rules.

Probably the most extreme example of this is Rogue Trader.  Want to set a tabletop RPG in a universe where the individual is irrelevant and being a special snowflake is punishable by death?  Its cool, just invent a new type of person that breaks every rule of your universe.

Rogue Traders:
Are allowed to interact with xenos and heretics without being killed
Don't have to necessarily take orders from a higher power and are basically immune to the imperial beaurocracy
Are allowed to engage primarily in economic actions without being serfs (THERE IS ONLY WAR, unless you're this particular person)
Have nothing to defend, no real stake in any of the galactic conflict, and are thus largely immune to the whole "genocided through no fault of their own" thing that basically everyone else is subject to.

Basically, they don't belong in the 40K universe but have to exist because a character that makes sense wouldn't be a good RPG character.  Ditto for imperial guard badasses.  Does that even make sense in this universe?  No, no it does not.  Not on a literal level or a thematic one.  But it needs to happen for meta reasons.

Funnily enough the reverse is also true.  For the Eldar and Space Marines to have survived as long as they have would need to be individually and as a group unparalleled badasses capable of easy victory facing odds of 100:1 or worse.  But workable gameplay terms they need to be weaker than that by far.  Both seem to trade about 1:4 with imperial guardsmen, which are literally just ordinary humans handed guns that even the Imperium considers shitty.  Eldar/SM also trade about 1:2 with orcs, which is just sad considering that orcs are arguably MORE expendable than humans (there's some silliness involving spores that makes orcs into omni-present pests).  It gets even weirder when you consider the supposedly young race of the Tau does BETTER than either of them in gameplay terms, considering fire warriors are their IG/guardians equivalent and battlesuits are their terminator/aspect warrior equivalent.  Going by the gameplay the SM and Eldar should have been wiped out in a single human generation.  They simply aren't powerful enough for the odds they keep throwing themselves into; yet supposedly they've lasted unimaginably long.

[itisnotlogical]

I wish a AAA game would attempt trippy, mind-bending surreal horror. On the order of Yume Nikki or LSD: Dream Emulator levels of weird and freaky, but done high-tech.

[JoshuaFH]

I wish a AAA game would attempt trippy, mind-bending surreal horror. On the order of Yume Nikki or LSD: Dream Emulator levels of weird and freaky, but done high-tech.

I'd say horror is just very hard for AAA to do correctly, if only because AAA has such a hard time with introspection.

[itisnotlogical]

I mean, in terms of mindset, AAA would probably never create an experience like Yume Nikki. But a surreal horror game, using all the fancy big-budget tech afforded to games like Call of Duty, Elder Scrolls, etc. would definitely be my new favorite game.

The weird thing is, I say "surreal horror" but I actually don't find Yume Nikki all that scary. I mean, there's scary things in it, but a lot of it is optional and even out of the way. It's more of a trippy sight-seeing tour than a horror game.

[Kot]

I always wondered how an entire faction of unmodified squishy humans who would die if sneezed at by pretty much any other unit in existence, suddenly acquire a strength on par with Power-Armored demigods and Orks just by being promoted to a Comissar or Commander. This is entirely judging by the computer games, I have no experience with the fluff or the miniature games.

Well, the computer games need to be balanced, y'know, and nobody really wants your commander to die from stray bullet. But there are examples of stuff happening just like that in Universe, and the most sane explanation is Emperor (or Tzzentch) helping them. Some of Guardsmen are so badass and awesome that they catch his attention (which, understandably, usually happens when they're noticed by superiors and get promoted) and he proceeds to keep them alive. Most Commissars get at least weak version of this as standard equipment, after all, they're orphans that spent their whole life praying at least half as hard as Sisters Of Battle. And Sisters Of Battle cause miracles on daily basis.
That... or insane batshit crazy amounts of pure luck.

I think it's also a symptom of something I can't exactly name, but a little theory I have about Universes where "Anyone Can Die!"(TM) where people lives are like so much used tissue paper... yet there is a group of people who consistently avoid death despite not being superhuman, that strains credibility. It's something I should probably talk about in the Pet Peeves/Movie Nitpicks thread tho.

Also Authority Equals Asskicking plays a big role in WH40k from what I can see.

Warhammer 40k is a universe where individuals are meaningless.   Even people who "matter" only have power because some faceless faction or functional god gave it to them.  Unfortunately this doesn't make for good gameplay OR good storytelling, so GW writers are constantly backtracking or ignoring their own rules.

Probably the most extreme example of this is Rogue Trader.  Want to set a tabletop RPG in a universe where the individual is irrelevant and being a special snowflake is punishable by death?  Its cool, just invent a new type of person that breaks every rule of your universe.

Rogue Traders:
Are allowed to interact with xenos and heretics without being killed
Don't have to necessarily take orders from a higher power and are basically immune to the imperial beaurocracy
Are allowed to engage primarily in economic actions without being serfs (THERE IS ONLY WAR, unless you're this particular person)
Have nothing to defend, no real stake in any of the galactic conflict, and are thus largely immune to the whole "genocided through no fault of their own" thing that basically everyone else is subject to.

Basically, they don't belong in the 40K universe but have to exist because a character that makes sense wouldn't be a good RPG character.  Ditto for imperial guard badasses.  Does that even make sense in this universe?  No, no it does not.  Not on a literal level or a thematic one.  But it needs to happen for meta reasons.

Funnily enough the reverse is also true.  For the Eldar and Space Marines to have survived as long as they have would need to be individually and as a group unparalleled badasses capable of easy victory facing odds of 100:1 or worse.  But workable gameplay terms they need to be weaker than that by far.  Both seem to trade about 1:4 with imperial guardsmen, which are literally just ordinary humans handed guns that even the Imperium considers shitty.  Eldar/SM also trade about 1:2 with orcs, which is just sad considering that orcs are arguably MORE expendable than humans (there's some silliness involving spores that makes orcs into omni-present pests).  It gets even weirder when you consider the supposedly young race of the Tau does BETTER than either of them in gameplay terms, considering fire warriors are their IG/guardians equivalent and battlesuits are their terminator/aspect warrior equivalent.  Going by the gameplay the SM and Eldar should have been wiped out in a single human generation.  They simply aren't powerful enough for the odds they keep throwing themselves into; yet supposedly they've lasted unimaginably long.

Rogue Traders arguably make some sense, as they don't exactly operate in Imperial space and giving them freedom to do stuff is basically only way Imperium is going to have some presence outside without making a huge crusade which they can't really have a lot of.
As for the rest, it all can be explained by Gods.

[Akura]

I'd really like to see this in playable form.

Then again, chances are it probably already is.

[Bohandas]

An RPG that does for sex what Merlandese's "The Last Word" did for conversation and debate. (IE replacing combat as the core interaction and using a system designed to actually fit the new format rather than just being regular rpg combat with the serial numbers filed off)

[Sirus]

I'd really like to see this in playable form.

Then again, chances are it probably already is.

I would have imagined more bullethell in a Touhou FPS. That just looked like CoD: Anime Girl Edition.

[EnigmaticHat]

An RPG that does for sex what Merlandese's "The Last Word" did for conversation and debate. (IE replacing combat as the core interaction and using a system designed to actually fit the new format rather than just being regular rpg combat with the serial numbers filed off)

Oh god, I'm imagining so much borderline-between-arousing-and-awkward video game cutscene sex.

[Bohandas]

An RPG that does for sex what Merlandese's "The Last Word" did for conversation and debate. (IE replacing combat as the core interaction and using a system designed to actually fit the new format rather than just being regular rpg combat with the serial numbers filed off)

Oh god, I'm imagining so much borderline-between-arousing-and-awkward video game cutscene sex.

Not cutscenes, it would be partly abstracted and take the place of jrpg combat

[JimboM12]

An RPG that does for sex what Merlandese's "The Last Word" did for conversation and debate. (IE replacing combat as the core interaction and using a system designed to actually fit the new format rather than just being regular rpg combat with the serial numbers filed off)

Oh god, I'm imagining so much borderline-between-arousing-and-awkward video game cutscene sex.

Not cutscenes, it would be partly abstracted and take the place of jrpg combat

JimboM12 uses Penis! It's super effective!
Girl uses Grip! It's super effective!
JimboM12 has been knocked out!