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Aside from the fact the setting itself and some of the unit designs are so outrageous, they can be hilarious (looking at Sisters of Battle here), do you think Warhammer 40k would benefit from having a more consistent tone?

What I mean by that is whether to promote black humor (like in Ciaphas Cain) by making fun of the dystopian setting and how people don't give a gak. "Daemons are on me? It's only Tuesday." Or GW can get rid of all the funny bits altogether, by cutting all the humor on the Orks. This type of humor is seriously old-schooled and you have to be in your 50s to laugh at them. I don't like the fact the Orks have a monopoly over the humor while the Aeldari, Tau, and Necron are so damn dry. The difference in tones is very jarring. It's like watching a TV series where the theme is very serious but there is this one character who keeps doing stupid things and crack dumb jokes every here and there to alleviate the atmosphere. I find it more annoying than good character portrayal.

There is an abundance of jokes that can be said about the Aeldari and the Tau, poking fun at the former arrogance and the latter naivety.

In my opinion, humor should apply to all races or not a single race at all.

Part of the strength of the setting is that so many different authors can use different tones. Ciaphas Cain being a good example of how you can turn the usual grittiness of the setting on its head, and have it still work great.

Making the tone uniform across the setting isn't really necessary. You can find some really grim Ork stuff out there (usually from the perspective of those fighting them.)

Things are fine as is.

 Drudge Dreadnought wrote:
Part of the strength of the setting is that so many different authors can use different tones. Ciaphas Cain being a good example of how you can turn the usual grittiness of the setting on its head, and have it still work great.

Making the tone uniform across the setting isn't really necessary. You can find some really grim Ork stuff out there (usually from the perspective of those fighting them.)

Things are fine as is.

I am mainly referring to official materials such as Codex, Rulebooks, Supplements, and Campaign. These are consistent in terms of writing style, but the part with the Orks are intentionally made to be awkwardly funny (such as the Red Waaargh!).

bibotot wrote:

 Drudge Dreadnought wrote:
Part of the strength of the setting is that so many different authors can use different tones. Ciaphas Cain being a good example of how you can turn the usual grittiness of the setting on its head, and have it still work great.

Making the tone uniform across the setting isn't really necessary. You can find some really grim Ork stuff out there (usually from the perspective of those fighting them.)

Things are fine as is.

I am mainly referring to official materials such as Codex, Rulebooks, Supplements, and Campaign. These are consistent in terms of writing style, but the part with the Orks are intentionally made to be awkwardly funny (such as the Red Waaargh!).

I'll agree with Drudge. Things are fine as is.

There is no ‘Comedy’, Citizen, you are in error. Return to the Reactor Room and continue with your Shielding assignment.

"Take the ork humour away"?

BURN THIS HERETIC! (but smother him in jam first)

bibotot wrote:

 Drudge Dreadnought wrote:
Part of the strength of the setting is that so many different authors can use different tones. Ciaphas Cain being a good example of how you can turn the usual grittiness of the setting on its head, and have it still work great.

Making the tone uniform across the setting isn't really necessary. You can find some really grim Ork stuff out there (usually from the perspective of those fighting them.)

Things are fine as is.

I am mainly referring to official materials such as Codex, Rulebooks, Supplements, and Campaign. These are consistent in terms of writing style, but the part with the Orks are intentionally made to be awkwardly funny (such as the Red Waaargh!).

Orks are only funny due to dramatic irony. We, as the audience know that an Ork setting someone on fire and getting them to do the “burny dance” is funny in a gallows humour way but in-universe they are fething terrifying.

40k is a satire so humour is intrinsically linked to it and always has been. Removing the humour just leaves you with edgy tryhard 40k. Its fine as it is.

Necrons, not funny?

Nemesor Zahndrekh and Obyron are pretty damn funny. A Necron who sees his enemy as other Necrontyr and believes himself to be flesh and blood, to the point where he orders massive banquets to feed himself and his guests despite not actually being able to eat? And the potential revelation of the entire thing being an act and massive practical joke?

Zahndrekh is the best Necron.

 Sgt_Smudge wrote:
Necrons, not funny?

Nemesor Zahndrekh and Obyron are pretty damn funny. A Necron who sees his enemy as other Necrontyr and believes himself to be flesh and blood, to the point where he orders massive banquets to feed himself and his guests despite not actually being able to eat? And the potential revelation of the entire thing being an act and massive practical joke?

Zahndrekh is the best Necron.

No Trazyn is. The fact he is just the collector form Marvel.

He has a fulgrim clone in stasis for crying out loud. The guy is crazy.

Although I appreciate the satire of modern society, the satire is not overly original. And therefore when I see original attempts at humour in 40k it tends to fall flat imo. I come to 40k for the dystopia not for the humour.

 SeanDavid1991 wrote:

 Sgt_Smudge wrote:
Necrons, not funny?

Nemesor Zahndrekh and Obyron are pretty damn funny. A Necron who sees his enemy as other Necrontyr and believes himself to be flesh and blood, to the point where he orders massive banquets to feed himself and his guests despite not actually being able to eat? And the potential revelation of the entire thing being an act and massive practical joke?

Zahndrekh is the best Necron.

No Trazyn is. The fact he is just the collector form Marvel.

He has a fulgrim clone in stasis for crying out loud. The guy is crazy.

Trazyn is the reddit of necrons. Rick and Morty to Zahndrekh's Bojack

The Orky sense of humour is a huge part of why they're terrifying to face.

It speaks of a species solely out to entertain itself. Sure, you might successfully bribe them with firearms/vehicles etc to leave you alone. But as mentioned in the Codex, that won't stop them turning them on you more or less straight away if think it'll prove entertaining.

They're a race of natural bullies by human standards - always picking on the weak, rarely challenging actual authority.

But to the Orks, that is simply life. They all know, none question it. If you get duffed up, the duffer upper is clearly in charge. If you duff him up, you're in charge, until someone bigger and meaner comes along.

They're somewhat beyond amoral, after a fashion. Indeed their mindset is surprisingly alien, once you peer past the thin 'football 'ooligan' veneer.

Take away the humour, and you're just left with 'oh noes, scary Barbarian!' stuff, which simply isn't as interesting.

They tried this a few years back with Daemons in a now obscure WD article when it (can't even hazard a guess which!). Essentially, it explained that Lesser Daemons lack sufficient personality to question anything. They're so focussed on their one area, they simply cannot conceive of someone not wanting to do that.

Didn't work quite as well, and certainly didn't seem to stick. But an interesting read all the same.

Imperial 'humour' comes from
the callous nature of totalitarian governance
the dysfunctional totalitarian bureaucracy
the mindless devotion/repetition of the religious/obedient

Or any variation on those themes. Catachan jungle fighters getting merged with Elysian drop regiments because some faceless scribe saw two understrength units and put them together is tragically hilarious. Its funnier when it somehow works out and you get excellent airborne catachan flamer warfare.
A hardbitten light infantry regiment specialising in stealth having a band assigned to them.
A tank company without fuel being forced to fight on foot.

Ork humour comes from a dark satirical reflection of human war - focusing on ignorance, barbarity and cruelty of might makes right hierarchy, internecine feuds, constant unrelenting violence.
Orks played straight would be kind of boring- its the addition of conniving, mistreated grots and weird an-cap mad science meks that make them interesting.

Eldar are either comically sadistic jerks or comically proud vegetarian lifestyle cultists. That or literal comedians, dressed as jester clowns.

Oldcrons weren't funny beyond the deceiver's monologuing and tricks, I understand the newcrons have more scope for robohumour and dynastic shenanigans.

Tau were never funny beyond their naivete. Cain got a little mileage out of Tau sympathising humans as activist protestors.

A bunch of monsters invades your world, destroys everything and kills everyone you know.

They did it because they hate you and want to exterminate your kind from the Galaxy? I mean, that's still scary and awful, but it's also very relateable. Human, even. It's a familiar motive. See, for example, most of the history of our own species.

They did it because they're hungry? Not quite as relateable, perhaps, but still basically understandable. They're just Galactic locusts. Scary, but not incomprehensibly alien.

They did it because they're sadistic slavers? Again, scary but not really all that alien. Sadism and wanting to capture slaves are pretty common motives for violence among our species.

But doing all that just because they were on a drunken bender? Slaughtering your friends and family because they were just, like, there? While seeing the whole thing as just a bit of fun - not in the sadistic sense of revelling in your pain and terror, but actually seeming slightly bemused that you don't find it all as amusing as they do? For whom violence is not a carefully considered act of deliberate cruelty, but rather a sort of gleeful, childlike whimsy? That's real cosmic horror stuff right there.