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I always thought Starcraft started as a 40K gamebefore GW pulled out taking their IP with them, at which point Blizzard filed off the serial numbers, reskinned a few things and released Starcraft instead.

I don't think it is bad that 40K is inspired by all the best sci fi stuff it could cram in. That is what makes it great! In fact, I wish it would go back to that, as the stuff it writes nowadays is pretty constipated and has lost it's sense of fun and wonder.

Bran Dawri wrote:
I always thought Starcraft started as a 40K gamebefore GW pulled out taking their IP with them, at which point Blizzard filed off the serial numbers, reskinned a few things and released Starcraft instead.

Again, replace "Starcraft" with "Warcraft" and yes. Starcraft definitely wanted to be a 40K game, but there was zero relationship with the two companies at that point since GW had already given the license to someone else years before.

 Da Boss wrote:
I don't think it is bad that 40K is inspired by all the best sci fi stuff it could cram in. That is what makes it great! In fact, I wish it would go back to that, as the stuff it writes nowadays is pretty constipated and has lost it's sense of fun and wonder.

Agreed! Better be inspired by the best there is.

The treatment gw deserves lol

Wasn't 40k supposed to be a parody of all the dystopian future stuff out at the time anyway? I kinda feel like "ripping off" the things you're parodying is par for the course.

And, of course, there's the "Simpson's did it" thing, where pretty much everything has already been done anyway, so the best you can hope for is to create something that is just inspired by something else.

40k was indeed satire. Once upon a time.

Martel732 wrote:
40k was indeed satire. Once upon a time.

Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka and his vendetta against the miners on Golgotha...

 Kriswall wrote:

changemod wrote:
I’d actually argue that the dune elements are fairly minor. Oh sure, we have navigators, the order famulous is kinda the bene gesserit if you squint and an inhuman emperor who’s ruled for thousands of years, but overall it’s one of the least important of the early influences 40k has, and we’re missing the vast majority of core elements of the dune series.

No sandworms, no spice, no magic shields that cause nuclear explosions if a laser hits them (lets be real: This would not deter 40k factions from shooting at the shields), very little focus on noble family squabbles, despite the regressive tech cult Mentats aren’t a thing, (they just use a mix of non-sentient computers and hypocrisy) and quite possibly biggest of all: No excruciatingly long philosophical rambles. (when people call Dune unfilmable, this is why. The plot and setting aren’t difficult to capture on film at all, but the dense philosophy? Can’t film that.)

Ultimately if I was describing the foundational influences of 40k to someone I’d say it’s an in-space version of an existing Tolkien/Moorcock ripoff setting with a big dollop of 2000AD for flavour.

Just off the top of my head, these three are generally considered to be the major influences from Dune.
1. Immortal God Emperor of Mankind guiding humanity's growth over time? Check
2. Space Travel requires mutant Navigators and is mostly controlled by a 'Navigators Guild'? Check
3. AI caused some real problems in the past and thinking machines are now forbidden? Check

Things like Spice, sandworms, mentats, and the shield/lasgun mix are a bit too on the nose. The would move 40k from being inspired by the Dune universe to basically being set on Arrakis.

For me, the thing that 40k stole from Dune is the sense of isolation each planet has. In most sci-fi, outside of the hard stuff, there's usually handwaving about "hyperdrive" which allows for reliable and widely available space transport. Dune does have reliable navigation, but it's controlled by a cartel. This leads to the consequence of each world needing to be fairly self reliant outside of a handful of trade goods. So, more early Age of Sail than steamship level connection. 40k bends that in a really interesting way, by replacing the spice mutation with psychic powers, and the reliable hyperspace of Dune with the literal Hell of the Warp (itself nicked from Asimov's description of early hyperspace leading to hellish hallucinations).

40k is a pretty rich gumbo, but the idea of an essentially feudal space empire led by a transhuman god emperor is pure dune.


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Martel732 wrote:
40k was indeed satire. Once upon a time.

I mean, it had satirical elements. In a lot of ways, it was a pretty punk production.