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I'm GM ing a gmae of rogue trader, and one quest involves an on-ship murder mystery. The plan is that some of the suspects will be in the common room playing poker, but i realized I don't know if people in the imperium play either a variant of poker or SPASE POKER (Like Sabbac in Star Wars). Is this addressed in the fluff?

They have Spess Chess, it's called Regicide. I'm not sure on the Spess Poker though.

It's probably called something else.
I'd also imagine IG would have some card games of their own.

Just label them as games of chance, or gambling. Can't go wrong with that.

nurgl wrote:It's probably called something else.
I'd also imagine IG would have some card games of their own.

As history has proven, where there are soldiers, often there will be gambling of sorts. In fact where ever there is humanity, there will be a form of gambling whether it's for dice, cards or whatever else. If you wanted to make it 'poker-esque' just come up with your own name for it but keep the rules of Poker. You could also rename the cards & suits as well unless you're a wizard with the ol' photoshop stuff and want to print out your own deck on card.

In HH, Mersadie Oliton the Remembrancer teaches some of the Imperial Army who escort her to play a game of cards.

Ciaphas Cain, from the homonym novel series, repetedly states his love for games of Tarot, some sort of card game (with cards bearing the same symbols of the Imperial Tarot used by psykers to perform divinations; we can infer they are real Tarot cards or maybe something like our 40, 52 or 54 card decks, with the figures being symbols from the tarot (the Emperor as the king, the Inquisitor as the Jack and so on)) with rules resembling five-cards draw poker. If you are interested, they are playing a game at the beginning of the second chapter of "Death or Glory".

If you want to add a nice touch to your game, or even involve your player in some gambling, I've googled some cards you could use:

http://aerion-the-faithful.deviantart.com/art/Imperial-Tarot-The-Emperor-210731442?q=gallery%3Aaerion-the-faithful%2F273980&qo=10
http://aerion-the-faithful.deviantart.com/art/Imperial-Tarot-The-Harlequin-220842416?q=gallery%3Aaerion-the-faithful%2F273980&qo=6
http://inquisitorminmi.deviantart.com/art/Three-of-Adeptio-Assassin-II-67843093?q=boost%3Apopular%20imperial%20tarot&qo=23
http://inquisitorminmi.deviantart.com/art/Mistress-Adeptio-SororitasII-156533907?q=boost%3Apopular%20imperial%20tarot&qo=20
http://inquisitorminmi.deviantart.com/art/Knight-of-Adeptio-Commissar-81836587?q=boost%3Apopular%20imperial%20tarot&qo=21
http://cronevald.deviantart.com/art/Dark-Heresy-Character-4-186364268?q=gallery%3Acronevald%2F169755&qo=14
http://cronevald.deviantart.com/art/Dark-Heresy-Character-3-149390852?q=gallery%3Acronevald%2F169755&qo=13
http://cronevald.deviantart.com/art/Dark-Heresy-Character-2-149390486?q=gallery%3Acronevald%2F169755&qo=12
http://jaggeh-dub.blogspot.com/2010_04_01_archive.html

(obviously, most of those are original art from various artists, so I suppose it would be kind if you could ask for their permission or thank them for their artwork, should you fancy using one)

It's 40k - just like any novel author, you're free to make stuff up as you go. The fluff of the setting isn't truly consistent.

Here is a list of RL card game names - perhaps you can twist one of them to sound more 40k'ish, or just pick one of the lesser known games whose name might fit as it is.

That said, are there any novels your players think are cool? If so, perhaps taking an example from them would be better than coming up with something yourself. It's not that they are any more "canon", but you would probably evoke some sort of positive recognition effect, which is always nice.

Do you reckon they have their own version of a wargame in the 40k universe. It would probably be 'historical', as winning a game using sculpts of Orks would be deemed heretical. Thinking about it, their games would be way more fun (as would their history lessons). Imagine playing a game set in the Dark Age of Technology, with the forces of Narthan Dume and the Panpacific Empire fighting the bloodthirsty legions of Kalagann of Ursh!

Imagine that...

'Both players sat beside the steel table, the sole light coming from the cogitator displaying charts, data and rules for the extraordinary game they were playing. As one of the players began to move his pieces, the other began to strike up an interesting conversation.
"You know, Karek," he spoke thoughtfully, "have you ever wondered that all of... this - our lives, or our wars, or our worlds - are all just a massive game, like we are doing now?"
The other player, who's name was Karek, paused in moving his tin playing pieces, and looked at his compatriot quizzically.
"Nephret, we have this conversation every time. A caste of players has no control over our lives. There is no random element that will allow humble Guardsmen like ourselves to somehow kill a rampaging Ork. However, in this game, there is that random element. Speaking of which, your Cy-Condottieri need to make their armour saves. I just fired a Lascannon at them."
Nephret smiled. "That's okay," he muttered cynically, "They have 'Feel No Pain'." '

lol, someone pitch that scene to ADB or so to include in a novel.

And I could definitively see a kind of tabletop game within the 40k setting. At least on some worlds. Not for the ordinary citizens, mind you ... but for the nobility, especially for the officers.
I mean, that's where tabletop originated in our real world, too!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wargaming#History
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kriegsspiel_%28wargame%29

And here's how the table of that Prussian game looked - this particular one was gifted to King Friedrich Wilhelm III:

I could totally imagine this being seen as a socially fashionable sport amongst the nobility of Praetoria or Valhalla, or as a training method for junior officers of the Cadian Interior Guard.

And little kids of the various lords grow up collecting small tin soldiers looking like Imperial Guardsmen and Space Marines. D'aww.

Now I'm probably going to write a piece of great crusade fiction about some noble boy on a frontier world. Wargames, emotions, and Space Marines that are actually funny. I could go on about how the Great Crusade marines were better because they were more human (nowadays their all just 'For the God-Emperor!!' and stuff) and could actually tell a joke.

"Where are the tanks?! Don't tell me they've been destroyed!"
"Then I won't, Brother-captain, but their not here anymore..."

There'll be different rules for different strata of folks, of course, but there might be a little legal ambiguity here, if you want for extra spice:-

'GAMBLING

Any soldier caught gambling in any form will be flogged and incarcerated for an unspecified time. (Art. 0834/19h)'

'The Imperial Infantryman's Uplifting Primer, Damocles Gulf Edition, P.9'

Might apply if you've got some grunts in your group, or as you will.

You know what you be hilarious? If they had war-gaming in WH40k.
Many a mind shall be blown that day.

CthuluIsSpy wrote:You know what you be hilarious? If they had war-gaming in WH40k.
Many a mind shall be blown that day.

CthuluIsSpy wrote:You know what you be hilarious? If they had war-gaming in WH40k.
Many a mind shall be blown that day.

At the risk of getting rather meta, would their wargames be even grimmer and darker, or would they be lighthearted and jolly?

Most likely the latter, to the point it starts tasting like sugar mixed with pure joy extract every time you play it. Or not.

moom241 wrote:Most likely the latter, to the point it starts tasting like sugar mixed with pure joy extract every time you play it. Or not.

Ah, so they play Tau.

I imagine it would be like the table on the photo posted above, just with fancy miniatures, and then young officers go about playing war in a way that has them ending up merrily ordering whole companies of men into a bayonet charge. Grimdark? Not in my propaganda!

"Very well, I see the ol' chrono saying it's one o' clock... that means it's time for the assault! Leftenant Mellows, be a sport and rally the men, please."
"Jolly good, Sir! We'll show those Orks what's what."

English Assassin wrote:

moom241 wrote:Most likely the latter, to the point it starts tasting like sugar mixed with pure joy extract every time you play it. Or not.

Ah, so they play Tau.

Maaa Haaa!