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English Assassin wrote:

Red Comet wrote:I feel like the timeline could easily be expanded and they could go about it slowly. Very slow in fact. I like the whole feel to 40k and I wouldn't want it to be ruined, but at the same time it needs some progression.

Seriously, bearing in mind what has already be written in this thread, what do you really think the addition of a few decades would add to Warhammer 40,000's themes?

Please take it as a given that Games Workshop are not about to end their game universe in a colossal 80-page team-up.

Did I ever say that I wanted an 80 page team up? No. That's very far from what I'm suggesting. What I'm suggesting is that it doesn't hurt the fluff if we move past 40,999 already. GW doesn't have to do a huge write up. It makes no sense that so much happens right before the end of the year 40,999 and it all happens for apparently no reason except for the fact that GW called the game Warhammer 40,000.

You could have small excerpts in a codex that possibly move it up a few years. That way things don't get so scrunched together as they are now. You could also do novels and do the kind of control that GW is doing with the Horus Heresy novels that way nothing moves that far forward that it ruins the whole setting. I'm merely saying GW should allow things past the 40th millenia if they go back from the 40th millenia.

Red Comet wrote:I'm merely saying GW should allow things past the 40th millenia if they go back from the 40th millenia.

So you've said; what I asked was, what would it add to Warhammer 40,000's theme and background to do so?

Well, I, too, got tired of things being stuck at 999.M41, so I set my Dark Heresy campaign in the far-off year of 729.M42!

You know what's changed?

Nothing.

The Imperium doesn't move that quickly. A hundred years, a thousand, makes very little difference.

The AdMech have supposedly discovered a metallurgical process that will make adamantium armor more resilient to solid-impact attacks. Initial phase trials are expected to begin within the next three or four centuries.

Some Planetary Governors have different names than those given in the books. Their planets are still the same as the book says.

Some Rogue Trader returned from the Koronus Expanse, raving about some xeno species of Silica Animus that wiped out his crew and nearly took over his ship. The Inquisition is considering sending a small investigative element from the Ordo Xenos... eventually.

In other news, Chaos is still a threat, the Eldar are still sneaky, the Tyranid are still hungry, and the Tau are still far-off and useless. Water is still wet.

English Assassin wrote:

Red Comet wrote:I'm merely saying GW should allow things past the 40th millenia if they go back from the 40th millenia.

So you've said; what I asked was, what would it add to Warhammer 40,000's theme and background to do so?

It would add a sense of continuing grim dark not stagnation. How 40k is now it makes it look like 40,999 is the most important year ever, but yet the buildup is essentially to nothing. What are all of these events signifying? Nothing. Nothing is gonna happen when the year 40,999 ends. They should build all of that up to something instead. Something incredibly grimdark, but instead they prefer stagnation and just repeating the same old same old.

Essentially, 40k is stuck in "5 minutes to midnight" perpetually.

In a 5 minutes until it all goes to hell in a handbasket kinda way.

Psienesis wrote:Well, I, too, got tired of things being stuck at 999.M41, so I set my Dark Heresy campaign in the far-off year of 729.M42!

You know what's changed?

Nothing.

The Imperium doesn't move that quickly. A hundred years, a thousand, makes very little difference.

The AdMech have supposedly discovered a metallurgical process that will make adamantium armor more resilient to solid-impact attacks. Initial phase trials are expected to begin within the next three or four centuries.

Some Planetary Governors have different names than those given in the books. Their planets are still the same as the book says.

Some Rogue Trader returned from the Koronus Expanse, raving about some xeno species of Silica Animus that wiped out his crew and nearly took over his ship. The Inquisition is considering sending a small investigative element from the Ordo Xenos... eventually.

In other news, Chaos is still a threat, the Eldar are still sneaky, the Tyranid are still hungry, and the Tau are still far-off and useless. Water is still wet.

Sounds kinda cool. How did the Dark Heresy campaign end?

It's still ongoing. The characters, now all Ascended into actual Throne Agents instead of Inquisitorial Flunkies, are cooling their heels at the Lathes while they have traded a scrap (like, just a scrap, a 4" x4" torn off corner) of an STC blueprint in exchange for repairs to their ship (which got shot the hell out of in a poorly-conceived battle I advised them was an unwise choice of action)...

... meanwhile learning that former disciples of the Here-tek they're chasing are now high-ranking officials of the AdMech on this same installation... the same installation that the Interrogator and several other party members are having augmetics installed. Just how far do they trust the AdMech?

They're also encountered another Retinue, characters similar in role and rank as themselves, who serve another Inquisitor, who is rumored to be quite the Radical (their own Inquisitor is Amalathian)... that retinue has helped them out from time to time, but just how much of that help had strings attached?

Having developed an appropriate sense of paranoia and dread, I'm going to let them run around the Lathes for a bit before sending them off chasing clues on Sentinel and Seedworld AG-whatever number that is in the Calixis Sector before they go off to the Jericho Reach to get into big fights with Tyranid and Dark Mechanicus forces and probably die. Probably.

Sounds intense and well thought out, thats awesome though ha

The Ultramarines books are now set in M42 I believe as it was 999.M41 when they started and things have moved on a year or more since then.

Has anyone actually put together a huge, defintive timeline of everything in the 40k universe. i mean like every event that takes place in all of the books aswell as the battles that take place that are detailed in every codex.

I've only read the Horus Heresy stuff and have read a few codexes and it would be cool to see whats been going on in its entirety rather than just the small snapshots i have. plus we can see all of the mistakes GW will probably have made which is always fun. i always think that if we find enough of them then they will do something about it instead of sitting there with their finger on the pause button.

Lexicanum has a pretty good timeline.

Garviel wrote:Has anyone actually put together a huge, defintive timeline of everything in the 40k universe. i mean like every event that takes place in all of the books aswell as the battles that take place that are detailed in every codex.

I've only read the Horus Heresy stuff and have read a few codexes and it would be cool to see whats been going on in its entirety rather than just the small snapshots i have. plus we can see all of the mistakes GW will probably have made which is always fun. i always think that if we find enough of them then they will do something about it instead of sitting there with their finger on the pause button.

It would be confusing as so much has been retconned. The Ultramarines for instance were not originally a first founding chapter or legion, they were a replacement chapter for one of the chapters that turned to chaos. I saw a timeline somewhere that listed all the events by source material as well. The dates for the nid invasions have changed for instance but the "history" of the galaxy does seem to be firming a bit more so hopefully no great departures from canon in the future.

I don't think events need to move beyond 999.M41 as the game is Warhammer 40K, not Warhammer 41K. There are 1000 years in the 41st millenium which is plenty to work with. Look at the Badab War that Forgeworld has fleshed out, hopefully they'll do the same with the Sabbat Crusades (755 -?) and come up with rules and minis for that conflict.

I'd love to see 6th edition leave 5th edition alone in the 41st M and go to the heresy (all 5e stuff stays legal).

Give the Eldar (dark and lost) one book, and the orks a book, and the tyranids can regain cult rules.

Break the legions into groups of 4 or 5..

The loyal CC legions one book
The traitor CC legions one book
The loyal gunline legions one book
The traitor gunline legions one book

Imperial Guard would get a new book (with PDF, that's planetary defense force, rules).

As a new faction: AdMech could replace Tau

Great Crusade and Great Scouring (enter Chaos new rules) supplements could be turned out.

Primarchs et al would be the new Apocalypse game type (call it "Legion" games).

All the old would stay, and I think all the new would sell as fast as they got it out.

To be honest, I dont think that going further is really worth it. As mentioned, its a setting, not a story. How would advancing the time possibly help the game?

Either they'd have to kill off some species, or bring the end of days, which would obviously be bad for the game. Even if they dont retire it after that, nobody will want to play a faction that is doomed to die. It's a much smarter idea to simply let the players make and play out their own doomsday scenarios.

Ok, arguably, they COULD advance time a little in each edition to justify giving new equipment and units to various factions, but I generally would think that the setting is vast enough to justify everything, even new races, without moving the time significantly forwards. But the faction balance cannot and should not change if the game is to remain fun.

Going back in time with an expansion is a better prospect, like horus heresy. The main problem with that though is the fact that releasing minature ranges etc for THAT setting removes resources they could pour into 40k. Frankly, if they were going to take the effort to make an entire new system, I'd expect they'd do something slightly different than normal 40k.

I DO expect them to have Horus Heresy rules etc as a specialist game/expansion though, possibly with some character minatures. It would be a cool thing for the converters and more hardcore crowd.

People don't whine about Star Wars video games being stuck in a limited period with no progression.

If you, say, want to play a game set during the Galactic Civil War, you're limited from what, 15BBY to 0ABY (I'm not much of a an authority on Star Wars).

My point is, it's not unusual for sci-fi to constrain you. Rather than asking what date it is 'now' you should instead view the timelines as an outline of a period in which you're playing.

In some ways I guess that WH40k is a lot like historical games in that you're just playing in a given period which you have to accept starts and ends at a given point. It's a setting, not a narrative.

If you mean the Galactic Civil War taking place in Ep 4-6 films, you have 1BBY-10ABY. BBY stands for "Before Battle of Yavin", which was the end of A New Hope. and the storyline advances roughly 5 years per film.

20BBY is the Clone Wars.

Like 40K, though, the SW universe has all sorts of historical periods to stage stories in, as well as the EU taking the storyline well after the end of the films.

Indeed, it is ever evolving - with the Legacy era having recently pushed beyond the "100 years after the movies" mark.

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_publishing_eras

Clearly, GW has now started to explore a second era of its own franchise in more depth as well - the Horus Heresy. If they think it works out nicely ...
Really, imho the only thing holding them back is that weird hype they kicked off about something terrible/awesome/amazing absolutely having to happen at the end of 999.M41. Oh well. If they want to chicken out, I maintain that the least they could do is fill in a couple other centuries or millennia in the past rather than stuffing more and more events into the "end days".

GW just has to realize that the setting they have created is not only concerned about the "right now" anymore. Some of their writers did, but as a company there's still a lot of reluctancy, it seems.

Why doesn't 40k use a wiki page like SW?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
In order to establish some sort of timeline

Initiate in Waiting wrote:Why doesn't 40k use a wiki page like SW?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
In order to establish some sort of timeline

The lex?

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Main_Page

Oh right. That's what I meant to check out when it was posted before, thanks.

Lynata wrote:Indeed, it is ever evolving - with the Legacy era having recently pushed beyond the "100 years after the movies" mark.

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_publishing_eras

Clearly, GW has now started to explore a second era of its own franchise in more depth as well - the Horus Heresy. If they think it works out nicely ...
Really, imho the only thing holding them back is that weird hype they kicked off about something terrible/awesome/amazing absolutely having to happen at the end of 999.M41. Oh well. If they want to chicken out, I maintain that the least they could do is fill in a couple other centuries or millennia in the past rather than stuffing more and more events into the "end days".

GW just has to realize that the setting they have created is not only concerned about the "right now" anymore. Some of their writers did, but as a company there's still a lot of reluctancy, it seems.

Yes but to actually pay attention to the Expanded Universe invites madness. Used to roleplay on SL during the Legacy Era and it was... eurgh...

No moreso than trying to RP with the multiple-editions of near-ever-changing-fluff from GW.

There's a 40K veteran in my DH group, returning to the hobby after many years of not keeping up with it.

He really, really, really wanted to play a Squat.

I try to keep my game-setting as fluff-current as possible, with some allowances made for the rule of cool.

You see the problem?