War is Hell in Ulisses Spiele's Wrath & Glory

Hello, and welcome to the new Ulisses North America news round up. We'll be covering news and gameplay from Ulisses regularly here on EN World. Ulisses produces RPG Torg Eternity and the new Warhammer 40,000 RPG Wrath & Glory. Now, on with the first update!

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War is Hell. In the far future of the 41st millennium, battles constantly rage across the galaxy. Humanity is in trouble in a brand new RPG from Ulisses. So, what's happening in the world of Warhammer right now? To begin with, we're now playing in the era of The Dark Imperium. The short version is that half of the galaxy is now cut off from earth and the Emperor of Mankind due to a massive rift in The Warp. Your players will be operating within the realm of the now cut-off empire. The role playing and action possibilities are endless.

Wrath & Glory just came out this year and there looks to be a plethora extra items, adventures and expansions coming up. A starter set for the game is coming up this month and available pre-order at the official Ulisses North America website. Per the website description, the set will include special dice, tokens, beginner rules and character sheets for the game.

You can grab a copy of the core book (which is required to play) in digital form at Drive Thru RPG for $29.99. and get some players together (the game recommends a maximum of six players for playing comfortably. Your experience may vary) for a 40K experience like none other. We're excited to see how Wrath & Glory plays and looking into the game's bright future.

This article was contributed by David J. Buck (Nostalgia Ward) as part of EN World's News Columnist (ENWC) program. We are always on the lookout for freelance columnists! If you have a pitch, please contact us!

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

W40K is a good example about how the sci-fi IPs grow old very bad and new generations miss current high-tech. And the human empire is a dystopian too cliche to be enough grimm. Now this stereotype is boring and annoying. Fanboys like dark settings but when there is a true challenge for the heroes who bring a new light of hope. At least in Warhammer Fantasy and Age of Sigmar there was that hope what lacks in W40K.

I dare to say we can see a reboot of W40K in the next years. Why not after Age of Sigmar?

 

[Ghal Maraz]

That is, just, like your opinion, right?

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Yes, it is only mi opinion, like saying piercings soon will so old-fashion as punk chrests. The eclesiarchy has got a really horrible background, too plane and simple, hating all was different. The mutant-hunters from X-Men comics or the Technocracy from "Mage: the Ascesion" have got more personality. The eclesiarchy is too easy to be parodied.

The lore of Starcraft is dark, but at least there is a piece of hope for a better tomorrow. In W40K the reward for the humans for surviving and defeat the khaos hordes is to keep living in a dystopian nightmare.

 

[Kite474]

So far I've really been enjoying the system. Though I think it will be on the back burner after this (very short) campaign is done.

I feel that due to the games lack of laser focus it can be a bit difficult to really run campaigns beyond the D&D style "rag tag of mismatched idiots". When further books come out I will happily grab them if they allow me to play with the the themes of the original Rogue Trader, Death Watch, and Only War games without the massive amount of problems those systems had.

As for the conversation happening. I mean Dark Fantasy has a place so does Dark Sci Fi really. Implying settings need to always have some epic heroes championing against the light has its own problems and cliches. The setting may not just be for you man, and thats ok. But for many the Grim Darkness of the 41st millennium is what drives many to 40K.

 

[TrippyHippy]

I'm not sure the setting is really the thing that strikes me as being problematic - the IP remains one of the most recognisable and popular gaming settings in the world today.

While the D6-based system was a change (and was ok), there was a shift in emphasis from highly specific premises like Dark Heresy, Rogue Trader, etc, in a kitchen sink deal. Everything is detailed in the one book, with then some discussions about how to create more specific campaigns within it. While this sounds advantageous, it does put some more work on the GM, wheras in the previous editions the themes and general set up was a lot more guided.

My own personal beef, however, is that there were a lot of errors in the writing (in the initial PDF anyway - they may have updated since), while the layout itself seems to be very 'wall of text' in a lot of places. I didn't find the presentation of the game as well done as the previous version of the game(s).

 

[Jiggawatts]

Does this game allow me to play a Space Marine Librarian? Preferably of either the Salamanders or Ultramarines.

 

[imagineGod]

Serious questions remain regarding Imperial psykers in the Imperium Nihilus half of the galaxy, especially with the expected dearth of the Blackships and the loss of training on Holy Terra? Anyone here have insights?

 

[TrippyHippy]

Does this game allow me to play a Space Marine Librarian? Preferably of either the Salamanders or Ultramarines.

You can certainly play a Space Marine, Salamanders and Ultramarines are listed as Chapters, and it certainly discusses Librarians as roles, although I can't see them listed in the Archetypes charts, so maybe I'm missing it somewhere.

So, I guess so...

 

[Cergorach]

W40K is a good example about how the sci-fi IPs grow old very bad and new generations miss current high-tech.

Erm... 40k is now more popular then ever, they are now generating more revenue and profit then ever before, and while the other games like AoS, BB, Necro, AT, etc. contribute to those numbers, 40k is still the major mover and shaker at GW.

Now, I find the 40k RPG Wrath and Glory feel far too kids friendly, FFG did a so much better job at giving us a good 40k RPG.

As for 'grimm' AoS isn't very much in the tabletop minis game, they try but not really, it's like making a cheerful happy christmastree into something grimm dark... And to be honest WFB wasn't that much better, the 1st/2nd edition WFRP did this a lot better. But the old WFRP was much more manageable then 40k as a setting because it was far more familiar (historic Europe), 40k is pretty much the bureaucracy from hell that Dark Heresy captured quite well, Rogue Trader did a lot of good if you wanted to play more of an alien/exploration RPG. The problem with Death Watch is that Space Marines are pretty much vampiric monks that are quite inhuman, most people only know the happy go lucky bright SM models from the miniature game.

As for a major reboot, that's just not gonna happen anytime soon.
1.) The WFB => AoS move was one of desperation, 40k isn't there (yet?). AoS is still on the 'mend' so to speak, it might be a lot more stable in 1-3 years.
2.) 40k got a major revamp with 8th edition, Primaris, a Primarch returned (at the end of the last edition), split most of the galaxy down the middle, moved the timeline forward (drastically) in a long, long time.
3.) Sales are still strong for 40k, they have been since the release of Assault on Black Reach years ago.
4.) There is a huge amount of negativity from vocal posters on the Internet that doesn't represent the customer base at all. Just like ENWorld doesn't represent a large part of the D&D customer base...

There are many who didn't like xyz in the last 30 years (since 1E RT), dislikes that break the game for those people. Personally I always viewed 40k books/sources as perspectives from different people, there is no 'truth', just opinions in the 40k universe, many of them wrong. I can easily still play a game before a Primarch returned, the universe is big enough for it. If players read something from a sourcebook that might be the reality they face... Just like I would much more prefer a game in the Old World then in AoS, we have Forgotten Realms for high magic settings ;-)