FFG Warhammer 40,000 RPG

[Bagpuss]

1 Pathfinder Paizo Publishing

2 Star Wars Fantasy Flight Games

3 Dungeons & Dragons Wizards of the Coast

4 Dark Heresy/Rogue Trader/Deathwatch Fantasy Flight Games

5 Iron Kingdoms Privateer Press

Although, I don't know if I should trust that. Is Star Wars still in print? How could it top D&D?

Star Wars is not only in print it is a brand new edition that just recently came out, compared to D&D which it is well known that the current edition is being retired. So I'm not surprised it beats D&D in that sale chart, I'm surprised it is so high myself.

 

[delericho]

For example, http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/25377.html puts this order:

1 Pathfinder Paizo Publishing

2 Star Wars Fantasy Flight Games

3 Dungeons & Dragons Wizards of the Coast

4 Dark Heresy/Rogue Trader/Deathwatch Fantasy Flight Games

5 Iron Kingdoms Privateer Press

Star Wars beats D&D?! I'm genuinely stunned by that. I mean, I know SW is the new shiny, and that D&D is in the midst of an edition change, but still...

I would really like to know (but accept that I never will) just how big the gulf is between #3 and #4. Maybe the RPG market isn't quite as dead as I had feared.

 

[delericho]

To be fair, very few games support investigation and mystery where their resolution hangs on the success or failure of a skill check. Stick to the rule of three, imo. Otherwise most games of Call of Cthulhu would fall apart, and that game is (or at least can be) all about investigation.

Yep, the "Three Clue Rule" is gold.

 

[GhostShip Blue]

So, is there anyone running a 40K RPG game? I run a Deathwatch at RPoL and admit the combat system is ill suited to play-by-post. Mind you, very few are well suited for forum play. Contenders seems to work OK for forum play. I'd be interested to hear people's thoughts on streamlining combat for forum play.

If anyone's interested I do have a fun bit (at least in my opinion) of campaign detail that I'm eager to share. However, as the FNG® I'm leery of the "Ooh, ooh! I'm so frakkin' clever." post. Besides is not so much clever as it is fun, at least to me.

 

[delericho]

I've run "Black Crusade" once, and will be running another one-shot in a few weeks. I'm planning some more games along the road - the rules may not be perfect, but a lot of people really like the setting.

Several of the other GMs in our group also run games - there's a "Rogue Trader" game currently going on, and a "Deathwatch" campaign that runs intermittently. However, I'm not involved in either of those myself.

 

[TrippyHippy]

Star Wars beats D&D?! I'm genuinely stunned by that. I mean, I know SW is the new shiny, and that D&D is in the midst of an edition change, but still...

I would really like to know (but accept that I never will) just how big the gulf is between #3 and #4. Maybe the RPG market isn't quite as dead as I had feared.

Star Wars is a pretty big license. D&D is currently in limbo between editions.

Not that surprising.

 

[scourger]

I wanted to love the new 40KRP games. I even bought the first 3. I really like the Caiphas Cain novels. But the RPGs just didn't gel with me. And I missed playing 40KRP twice at a local con, so I traded away all the books. I like 40K a little more sci-fi and less gothic. I think Savage Worlds would do it well, and I am listening to a podcast that does just such a conversion: http://goblinbeat.com/category/podcasts/

 

[delericho]

Star Wars is a pretty big license. D&D is currently in limbo between editions.

It's the seventh version of a Star Wars RPG, it's eight years since RotS, and it hasn't even been properly released yet. Also, the last time D&D was beaten by anyone other than its... prodigal child... was back in the 90's when the "Vampire: the Masquerade" boom was exploding and TSR was busily imploding.

Don't get me wrong, this is a good thing (for everyone except WotC). But it is pretty significant, both that D&D is #3 and that the only game that could achieve this had "Star Wars" on the cover.

(Of course, it's also entirely possible that they've lumped sales of the SW miniatures game in with the RPG. That would explain a great deal.)

 

[frankthedm]

My main complaint with the rules (main experience is with Dark Heresy) is the character are so inept usually having at best 40% in their top skills at the start, often worse, and they don't improve that quickly either. So you can't have them relying on skill rolls to find clues in a mystery or else they are likely to miss them.

That ignores the Assist rules, Fate points and that Difficulties can fluctuate 30% in either direction.

Also failure is an option. Empty handed and some sanity lost from seeing the damage the Daemon of the week did to the locals, the PCs return to their Inquisitor with the knowledge they are not guaranteed to stumble onto the solution they seek. Some pointed chiding form their Inquisitor may help them in future endeavors.

 

[GhostShip Blue]

Also failure is an option. Empty handed and some sanity lost from seeing the damage the Daemon of the week did to the locals, they return to their Inquisitor with the knowledge they are not guaranteed to stumble onto the solution they seek. Some pointed chiding form their Inquisitor may help them in future endeavors.

I actually kind of like that. In SOME cases that might be an option, but the actual gaming session can be ruined (or at least vastly shortened). It might serve the campaign far more broadly, and failure is part of building drama.