Warhammer 40K as d20...

[Desdichado]

I've always been intrigued (read: fascinated) by the Warhammer 40k universe, and I think with some minor tweaking (i.e. all the races aren't always at war with one another everywhere they meet...) it would be a great RPG setting. With the recent launch of FFG's Dragonstar setting, I can see it making even more sense in the d20 world.

However, I wonder how you'd do it. The basic stuff is tedious but simple enough: convert the basic troops, armor, weapons, vehicles, etc. into d20 terms (any 40k players want to help me out there?) but you'd almost need all new classes for psykers (and another class for each race, to be really true to the source material) with all new psychic powers, and some other tricky aspects. Any ideas out there?

 

[Gospog]

Joshua,

Check out the Judge Dredd RPG that just got released by Mongoose. Warhammer 40K was heavily influenced by Judge Dredd and 2000Ad in the old Rogue Trader days.

Adeptus Arbites ARE Judges. Necromunda IS Mega City One. And Judge Dredd has simple but cool rules for Psykers (Psi-Judges).

Fianlly, Judge Dredd has a really cool way of calculating Defence Value (AC) and working armor into it. I think it would port well into 40K.

So, if it's D20, you're probably going to want to use miniatures. Now where are you going to find Warhammer 40K miniatures?
Seriously, I am using some slightly converted Arbites for Judge minis in my games. Dead ringers.

Good luck, and let us know how it turns out.

 

[Green Knight]

Adeptus Arbites ARE Judges. Necromunda IS Mega City One. And Judge Dredd has simple but cool rules for Psykers (Psi-Judges).

Heh. This reminds me of when I got a squad of Arbites for use in Necromunda. I named the leader "Arbitrator Joseph Dredd".

 

[Desdichado]

40k is a synthesis of a lot of sci-fi that came before it: the resemblance between mega-city one, Judge Dredd and the hives and the arbites has always been pretty transparent. However, so is the similarity between the Tyrannids and Alien (and the lictor's and Predator, for that matter). Still, I hadn't looked at Dredd's "psyker" rules when I flipped through the book. Can you give me a quick-n-dirty summary of how they work? I was thinking of perhaps converting something out of Star Wars or the Psionics Handbook. But if something out there is already closer, that makes everything a lot easier.