
                          WARHAMMER 40.000: THE ROLEPLAYING GAME
                          ======================================

                          By Simone Gatti and Roberto Di Meglio
                   Translated by Marco Bizzarri and Claudia Rege Cambrin
              Appended to, edited and updated by Michael Andersen and Ian Ward

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    | Give me one thousand men fool enough to want to conquer hell...     |
    |                                      and we'll conquer hell!"       |
    |                                               - Warmaster Solon     |
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1.1 History of the Game
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 Warhammer 40,000 (WH40K) is a tactical tabletop game produced by Games 
Workshop, set in the far future, where the Imperium of mankind is under attack 
from all sides and, as if that weren't bad enough, threatening to come apart 
from the inside.  The Eldar stage seemingly random attacks on planets of the 
Imperium for reasons unknown, the Orks seek to overcome all planets they come 
across in the green tide, Tyranid hive fleets ravage the Imperium for fresh 
genetic stock and Chaos oozes insidiously from the vents in reality known as 
the Maelstrom and the Eye of Terror.  Against this backdrop mankind struggles 
to come to terms with it's own evolution as a psychic race, equally under 
attack by Chaos from within, every psyker a possible doorway for the demonic 
denizens of the Warp to invade reality.

 This is the roleplaying version of that game, Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay 
(or WFKRP).  The impression given by the WH40K first edition, Rogue Trader, 
was as if Games Workshop intended WH40K to be a roleplaying game rather than a 
tactical game.  After a few years, however, and after Necromunda appeared to 
be just another set of rules for urban fights, Simone Gatti and Roberto di 
Meglio started work on an unofficial WH40K roleplaying game.  The game started 
to be published in Italian magazine "Kaos", but only two articles made it to 
print, the introduction and a method for generating characters from WH40K army 
lists, and a list of basic careers.  These articles were later translated to 
English by Marco Bizzarri and Claudia Rege Cambrin.  A dual WFRP/WH40K 
adventure, The Seed of Evil was also written and translated.

 Over time, many people have contributed to this game as it has been developed.  
Some started it and later stopped, when after a short time others would come 
and take it up again.  Shortly after the Kaos articles were published and 
translated, it appears, progress by the italian group stopped.  However, 
others continued work.  Oddbjorn Lona, Ian Ward (myself), Arne Dam, Arno van 
der Kwast and (probably) countless others worked.  As such,the result that is 
this piece of work was influenced by many people.  Many thanks to any whose 
work went into this but who are not acknowledged.

 When Simone and Roberto had to decide whether to adopt the tri-dimensional 
game rules (with a few changes, such as an increase of PC wounds), or to adapt 
the Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay rule set, the choice, after a lot of 
game-testing, was the second option.  Rather than by the imminent release of 
the italian translation, Martelli da Guerra, this choice was affected by the 
possibility to exploit the available advancement system for characters (the 
careers), that had been already tested by many RPG players.   Actually, they 
didn't want "to put too much meat on the fire", at the same time retaining 
some coherence with the GW production.

 Knowing GW, it's just like them to introduce new races, equipment, etc. that 
may not be covered in the game (yet).  [[editors note: check out the Necrons 
in WD217 - see what I mean?]] It shouldn't be too difficult to adapt this new 
source material to use them in the RPG, or to develop careers corresponding 
to the main figures of the universe of the 41th millenium.

 The following pages come from the desire to play true campaigns of WH40K and 
to roleplay characters, which fight, sweat blood, and (in particular) shoot, 
not for an inner hope for ransom but for their survival.


1.2 COPYRIGHT STUFF
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 Warhammer is a Trademark of Games Workshop.  The characteristic names of the 
universe of Warhammer 40000 cited in this work are (c) Games Workshop.


