Warhammer 40K Rogue Trader: Reject Aeldari, Return to Mon-Keigh

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Warhammer 40K Rogue Trader: Reject Aeldari, Return to Mon-Keigh

Radia: Jul 14, 2021; And someday, together.. We'll shine.

so a random question ima drop in here - there were tons of lore dumps in the Pathfinder CRPG thread, which is fine, but i was getting tons of mixed messages from them. a lot of the same posters who loved the lore and detailed the sci-fi setting and poo poo also said that 40k was a satire and you're never supposed to take it seriously and that it's funny. and i just don't really understand what folks get out of the setting as a result, I think. Warhammer Fantasy did a mix of playing it straight and being pretty corny that I liked, but also was clearly not just trying to be a cartoon. (except ofc when it was and it owned). is the lore cool and engaging, or satire and silly?

# ¿ Jun 5, 2022 02:53

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ¿ May 11, 2024 22:19

Radia: Jul 14, 2021; And someday, together.. We'll shine.

sorry im sure i'm coming off more argumentative than i intend. my takeaway from that sort of description is just that it's.. another really grimdark "look how GRITTY our storytelling is" sort of thing, where people take the piss out of it occasionally, and that it's as a result.. just kind of skindeep. i dunno.

# ¿ Jun 5, 2022 03:04

Radia: Jul 14, 2021; And someday, together.. We'll shine.

ok i think im sold on the fun part of the setting by "orks painting their motorcycles red get a speed bonus and also they're space motorcycles". holy fuckballs

# ¿ Jun 5, 2022 06:16

Radia: Jul 14, 2021; And someday, together.. We'll shine.

CommissarMega posted:

Yeah, Orks are the funnest part of the setting- depending on how you read them or the writer themselves, they're either the only faction that gets the joke of 40K, or just doesn't give a gently caress. They're here to have fun, krump gits, and GO FASTAAAAA WAAAAAGH!

so see im not sure im following again! im struggling with the inconsistencies here i guess lol. cause your post was all about how good it was at serious stories, and how they clashed with deep and topical themes.

# ¿ Jun 5, 2022 06:32

Radia: Jul 14, 2021; And someday, together.. We'll shine.

pentyne posted:

If you talk about 40k you also have to talk about the fan culture that built up around it.

For a long time, it was dominated by a lot of pasty white dudes, and as you can imagine when that is the majority of your fan-base you get certain tendencies. The kind of people who lose their loving mind over the idea of female space marines and start yelling about lore accuracy for starters. Then you get into the more garden variety fash enthusiasts who treat it all very seriously and are huge fans of the Krieg Death Korps and I hope you can tell from that spelling just exactly what famous fascist military their uniform design was based on.

So, it was a problem, and since GW was in the business of selling plastic toys to a niche audience it wasn't something they were particularly aware of or cared about. As social media became more ubiquitous however, you started seeing it become much more prominent as the face of the fandom.

About 2 years ago, there was finally some major call outs of the hardcore unironic fascists in the fan-base. One of, if not the most popular W40k dedicated youtube channel, Archhammer was run by a real piece of poo poo and some others highlighted how just from popular search results alone this youtuber would be a lot of people's first impression into the franchise and how he was a racist neo-nazi.

Thankfully, GW responded with a social media post about how they wanted everyone to feel welcome and that racism/sexism/nationalists had no place in their fandom. When the predictable response of "you're losing my business" started GW simply said "good, go gently caress yourselves."

How much of that was sincere and how much was carefully planned corporate PR is up for debate, but GW has gone out of its way in the last few years to very publicly repudiate any alt-right adjacent behavior as being allowed.

If you want a deep dive, this is the video that got linked to me when it was happening
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SG3Q_HzUVZg

thanks for this and the context! most of my exposure to 40k before now WAS through either the fascists who loving loved it (and GW abided), or the people who would simultaneously say "it's just funny bro it's just satire" while talking about how they wish they were a cool space marine or some poo poo. i'll check out the vid!

# ¿ Jun 5, 2022 18:39

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ¿ May 11, 2024 22:19

Radia: Jul 14, 2021; And someday, together.. We'll shine.

Blockhouse posted:

I like to call it the Wow Cool Robot paradox.

in fairness, they were Very Cool robots

# ¿ Jun 7, 2022 02:27

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Warhammer 40K Rogue Trader: Reject Aeldari, Return to Mon-Keigh