Clarification here:
When I talk of the original Warhammer 40,000, it is the Fantasy Flight Games version of d100 (the very first version for the purists, was actually just called Rogue Trader by Games Workshop, and I never played it).
The earlier Wrath and Glory was also a d6 dice pool system, but the production values were inferior. I do not know if that prompted Games Workshop to seek new publishers in Cubicle7, but could be, who knows.
Hold on, this is a bit confused/confusing.
Warhammer 40,000 - Rogue Trader was the name of the original
Games Workshop publication for the miniatures game. It was released in
1987 and was significant for becoming largely the game that elevated Games Workshop from being a retail and mail-order business based on importing roleplaying games from America to the UK, into an international juggernaut. They had produced the Warhammer Fantasy miniatures game before, but W40K was different because it was, at this time, mainly a skirmishing game using less miniatures (making it a much easier buy in), while the rules were written in the same manner that a roleplaying game would be written like - heavy on background and lots of evocative art. Some critics felt it actually could have been a roleplaying game, at this stage.
Move forward about 20 years, and Games Workshop decided that they might start producing a few roleplaying games again, based on their immensely successful IPs and commission a new RPG through Black Industries, their publishing arm. This was
Dark Heresy, a full blooded roleplaying game that used a percentile system that was similar enough, albeit slightly different, to their long time popular fantasy game,
Warhammer Fantasy Role-Play (or WFRP), published in 1986, and also redone in a 2nd edition, with the help of
Green Ronin a few years previously.
Dark Heresy sold out on pre-order in a matter of
minutes, after establishing plans for two more supporting games targeted as future releases:
Rogue Trader and
Death Watch. Each game was meant to compliment the others by covering a different aspect of playing in the 40K universe. In Dark Heresy, you played an Inquisitor’s Retinue; Rogue Trader had you playing the eponymous captain and his crew, and in Death Watch you played Space Marines.
Rogue Trader was deliberately named here as a throwback/homage to the original Warhammer 40,000 skirmishing miniature game from 1987, although it was actually much more specific about playing a Rogue Trader retinue than the war-game ever was.
Despite selling out and being a huge hit, in rpg terms, Games Workshop decided that roleplaying games weren’t profitable enough for their standards (noting that their miniature games market dwarfs that of RPGs) and decided to close down Black Industries Publishing,
literally the next day after Dark Heresy sells out. After some consternation from fans,
Fantasy Flight Games steps in to buy the license to continue to publish Warhammer RPGs, including the 40K line. They then publish Dark Heresy, Rogue Trader, Death Watch and extend the line further with
Black Crusade (about Chaos cultists) and
Only War (about playing Imperial army platoons). They continue to publish for several years, along with a less well received
WFRP 3rd edition (which made a large box set of fiddly bits, custom dice and new rules), before dropping the license some time around the point they gained the
Star Wars licence instead. They finally published a
2nd edition of
Dark Heresy, which was slightly more open than the 1st edition had been, in terms of gameplay.
When the license was dropped by FFG, the German company
Ulisses Spiele, decided to take it on instead. They set about making a single new game,
Wrath & Glory, rather than the multiple game series, that was more inclusive of all types of character and campaigns from the 40K universe. Some fans were also critical of the previous percentile system, and wanted a more dramatic system. The D6 dice pool system provides this, and some also think it meshes better with the D6 dice pool system used in the miniatures game also.
While the system and premise of the new game was quite well received, the quality of the layout, art and editing of the book fell way short of the high standards found in the previous 40KRP games. Fans complained. Ulisses Spiele dropped their licence in some agreement with
Cubicle 7, who already had the WFRP licence. Its taken them a while, but Cubicle 7 have clearly done a lot of work on layout in what could be almost be billed as a second edition of the
Wrath & Glory game. Should be a fan favourite.
