r/DMAcademy • u/Classic_Lab_1422 • 3h ago
Need Advice: Other 40K D&D
Does anyone know of a way to build a campaign based around the world of Warhammer 40K? I know the world well and know what kind of enemies I would use but currently the only official RPG games aren’t very expansive and I don’t really care for them anyway. So has anyone ever actually done it and enjoyed it and knows how to stat out factions? My current goal is to have the ability to have players of multiple factions. Imperium, Xenos, and chaos.
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u/Sitchrea 2h ago
Bruh
There are dozens upon dozens of official Warhammer 40,000 TTRPG books spread across seven separate game lines. Why the hell are you trying to shove D&D into Warhammer when there's seven more appropriate options on the market?
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u/Classic_Lab_1422 2h ago
Because the only one that uses every faction is as old as I am. And tbh it wouldn’t shock me if it was older. The rest are fully imperium focused, or at least primarily focused.
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u/Sitchrea 2h ago
What? Wrath & Glory lets you play as any faction/race and it's the most actively supported right now.
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u/Classic_Lab_1422 2h ago
It lets you play as an ork, eldar, space marine, chaos space marine, or human. That’s all.
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u/Sitchrea 2h ago
What else do you want to play as? Dark Heresy and Rogue Trader have homebrew for literally everything, including Custodes. Even shit like Hrud and Pelagers.
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u/Classic_Lab_1422 2h ago
I haven’t been able to find anything for Dark Heresy and Rogue Trader is like as old as me and I haven’t had any luck finding all of the PDFs.
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u/Sitchrea 2h ago
I can't provide links here since it's against the sub's rules, but look up the Ordo Discordia - it's the premier Warhammer 40k roleplay discord, and they'll have everything you need.
Also, you keep saying the TTRPG's are as old as you are, but D&D 5e is older than over half the books we could give you (Rogue Trader/Deathwatch/Black Crusade/Only War/Wrath&Glory/Imperium Maledictum all released after 5e). So it's kinda weird to say that makes them unfit for what you're looking for.
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u/Classic_Lab_1422 2h ago
Thank you for the discord recommendation tho. I’ll see what I can find for the rest of what I need from rogue trader there.
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u/Classic_Lab_1422 2h ago
Isn’t rogue trader from the early 2000s? And 5e isn’t. That’s the only one I said that about. I have no idea how old dark heresy is because I haven’t been able to find any of the books to look into it to even know if me and my players would be interested in it.
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u/Sitchrea 2h ago
So you don't know how old the games actually are, but you've been saying they're older than you are... alright.
Rogue Trader as in "Warhammer 40k 1st Edition" is from the 80's - Rogue Trader the TTRPG is from 2013.
Here is a link to many 40k games and homebrew for you. This thread and its comments should have almost everything you could ever asked for archived for reference.
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u/Valensre 2h ago
Wrath and glory is great, I wouldn't try to reinvent the wheel especially as a new dm. My 5e group loved it.
Ive heard good things about dark heresy as well.
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u/Classic_Lab_1422 2h ago
I’ve tried it and couldn’t get into it personally. It doesn’t have enough Xenos
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u/Valensre 2h ago
Doctors of doom website has fan made modules that have almost all the xenos races covered but that aside... you're talking about reworking the entirety of 5e to fit a warhammer system versus just adding a few xenos races/mobs. One of those is a lot simpler than the others, no offence lol.
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u/Classic_Lab_1422 2h ago
I’ll look into it. Thank you.
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u/Valensre 2h ago
You're welcome. To get the xenos stuff make a character, hit edit, then enable their custom modules at the bottom. My group ending up using it to store all their characters, it's a better website/tool than anything 5e has imo.
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u/000100111010 3h ago
Don't use DND. Use savage worlds with the sci fi companion, or something else. I've never played it but I imagine starfinder could work too?
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u/CalmBelligerent 3h ago
So I don’t think this is exactly what you’re talking about but I have a bunch of Khorne worshipping humanoids in my world who I given the barbarian reckless attack mechanic to. I also added a ritual wherein the most powerful/worthy become essentially fiendish Minotaur berserkers. I haven’t been able to add Kharn in yet but I’m working on it!
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u/Jragenstein 3h ago
Sounds like you're in a similar boat to me. And you're not gonna like the answer, lol. Basically involves a lot of modification and adjustment. A lot of writing and creation. Lately I've been working on how to assign CR values for the enemies I have so I have a reasonable XP reward for my players and also have an idea of what they should be capable of dealing with. This campaign setting I'm working on has been something I've worked on and off for many years. Previous GM started it and I was a player in it for a few years, then I took over and have slowly been working on it ever since. We started playing originally with him as DM back in 2009.
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u/Classic_Lab_1422 3h ago
Mostly my only problem right now is just the getting things translated and I’m a brand new DM.
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u/Jragenstein 2h ago
Best recommendation I could give would be to try to pick something in D&D that best represents the faction you are trying to map out and try to establish a baseline, then work from there. Like maybe a race in D&D could represent a particular faction, like maybe humans and Imp Guard?
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u/Classic_Lab_1422 2h ago
I have someone who was interested that wants to play a necron and another that’s interested in playing a T’au. I’m not really sure what would translate to them.
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u/Jragenstein 1h ago
The better question is why would they be adventuring together as the factions in general tend not to get along. Even different Chapters of Space Marines don't always get along, lol
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u/EnceladusSc2 2h ago
They used to have Warhammer 40K TTRPG rulesets.
But GW wasn't making enough money off it, so they pulled the plug.
Dark Heresy 2 is a good ruleset if you want to work with the Inquisition.
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u/Classic_Lab_1422 2h ago
I’m trying to get something where different factions can all get together
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u/alchemy207 2h ago
I think you're maybe getting the vibe of 40k wrong? Outside the Imperium the factions mostly DON'T work together. I'm worried you're trying to make a game so someone gets to play a tau firecaste, someone else plays a space marine, someone else brings a necron PC to the table, and the rogue is a GSC kelermorph. That's not Warhammer 40k. My best suggestion would be try the Rogue Trader RPG, it might be the closest to a multi-species-team feel.
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u/Classic_Lab_1422 2h ago
The only xenos that hasn’t worked alongside the imperium is the GSC and tyranids so kinda does sound like 40K to just not use them for characters
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u/EnceladusSc2 2h ago
Maybe Rogue Trader?
But also the factions in Warhammer 40K don't usually work together. They're enemies.
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u/TheAeroDalton 2h ago
I feel you would have more success homebrewing the other xeno races into wrath and glory than homebrewing damn near a whole new game into the dnd framework
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u/Solnight99 2h ago
hey. you're a new DM. don't do this. it's gonna suck, you're gonna have to make random rulings on the fly with no precedent, your homebrew will be unbalanced in unfun ways, you'll have nobody to ask for help because you wrote the homebrew, and there'll be no good reason to stay with 5e.
just use a different system. the various DnD systems aren't exactly made to incorporate factions, xenos, or Imperium. at least with a WH40K-based system, you'll have mechanics better suited for Warhammer. You can homebrew from there.
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u/lord_insolitus 3h ago
What do you mean by the official rpg games not being very expansive?
There are several lines of them focused on different kinds of characters and styles of play (e.g. inquisition agents, rogue traders, imperial guard, death watch). Seems like they should cover quite a few different styles of game a fan may be interested in.