Warhammer 40K's story, how is it even remotely appealing?

[Blaster395]

Much of the setting is so fucked up simply to give an explanation for why every faction is simultaneously at war with each other (and themselves) and also sometimes allies with all potential combinations of alliances.

 

[Dys]

Isn't it based off of the bible? The emperor is jesus, horus is judas etc. Pretty edgy and politically incorrect to call it childish

 

[Canadamus Prime]

I don't know, but I have to wonder why you care so much. Why do you let it get to you that it appeals to other people? Aside from the fact that your friend won't shut up about it, that is. Even so you could just accept the fact that it appeals to him without stressing over the why of it. Just saying.

 

[NiPah]

-snip-

While I get the logic behind this statement it still baffles me. This is less "Chocolate or Vanilla" and more "This universe literally breaks rules that writing instructors put down to avoid making poor stories"

Reading this immediately made me think of the phrase "Those who can do, those who can't teach".
The fact that the story breaks rules on what makes good stories and yet people (and lets be honest, a lot of people) greatly enjoy it means that those rules are wrong, simple as that.

 

[Zhukov]

Yeah, I've always found it pretty silly. It just seems to be trying too hard to be "dark" and "extreme".

"So like, EVERYONE is at war with EVERYONE! And everyone is more BADASS than everyone else! They have spaceships the size of planets that blow up EVERYTHING! And there are these guys called the DOOM STAR KILLERS OF DEATH DOOM who drive tanks bigger than mountains! With BADASS spikes!

It's feels like a setting based on the margin doodles of a nine-year-old's schoolbook. I suppose it could be fun if it was done right, but it's all played so damn straight. It doesn't seem to realise that for all the grimdark-doom-death to have any weight you need to have something to contrast it with.

 

[TheEndlessGrey]

-snip-

Yeah I wasn't clear, but I'm aware its a tabletop strategy game, and I don't mind that as it looks fun enough.

But I'm not talking about people who find the game fun or cool looking, I'm talking about the people who take the story 100% seriously.

But either way you have a point.

Curiosity, are you talking about people who take the story 100% seriously, or the people who take the lore 100% seriously? Because the story, in my opinion, is not meant to be taken seriously. It seems to me that they deliberately crafted it to be as bombastic and over the top as humanly possible. "In the grimdark future of the grimdark, people SPEAK ONLY IN CAPITAL LETTERS!" It has also been crafted to prevent any changes in the centuries old stalemate between the factions, but every race has a personality, and motives, and even a philosophy. These things are expressed through personal stories within the greater story of the basic conflict itself. The tale of Commissar Angryface, and his fabled Rough Stuff regiment. Colour Sergeant Saltydog in particular. This is what people draw out of the story and take seriously, I think. A comprehensive knowledge of the lore represents a level of expertise and investment with the material, and lore discussions therefore become a venue for True Believers to express how much they love the item in question. Unsurprisingly, lore discussions are rarely anything other than 100% serious.

 

[Saulkar]

I personally found the games quite entertaining but the moment the story kicks in I just shut down and the game with it. It is just not for me to the point that it can actively kill my interest or outright make me despise the game.

It doesn't seem to realise that for all the grimdark-doom-death to have any weight you need to have something to contrast it with.

I think you hit the nail on the head for me.

 

[Insanity72]

Personally I love 40K more than any other universe I've ever gotten into, I can talk about it for hours, I've gotten many of my friends hooked into it. But that is just our opinion, there is no point questioning why people like a certain franchise, It's like asking people how the Twilight series or Justin Beiber have any appeal. Everyone has there things they like and dislike, don't bother questioning it.

 

[Artemis923]

I play 40k, and I have Chaos Space Marine, Daemons, Sisters of Battle, Eldar, Dark Eldar, and Black Templar armies.

I don't really care how dumb people think it is. I love cheesy sword and sorcery, and chainswords and sorcery is even more awesome.

Don't like it? Then may the Warp devour your soul. =D

 

[Warachia]

Admittedly this might be due to over-exposure from a friend who won't shut the hell up about it, but I really can't see the appeal of the story of Warhammer 40K. (I emphasize story because the games are pretty fun gameplay wise)

I read through some wiki pages and listened to my friends and have played enough of the games to know the basic premise and factions; and I couldn't give less of rats ass who wins. 90% of the characters are jackasses and the ones who aren't are probably dead knowing this setting, and that's not getting into how there are no actually "good" or even "meh" characters.

I think you are confusing story with premise, the premise is everyone is at war and none of them have a great chance of winning, the wiki might tell you why all of the factions are at war, but then it's up to the books to tell you what happened, and the campaigns to tell you what will happen, and there are plenty of good stories that focus on the different factions fighting/helping each other.

Saying that there are no good or okay characters is also a little short-sighted, so far my favourite book for it's characters is the new Necron book, in the book all of the characters have different motivations and personalities, but still work together, You've got the king who wants to retake the land his empire formerly had, the morally bankrupt scientist, the diviner, the commander who wants to unite his people (and his loyal bodyguard), you have the soldier devoted to waking the rest of the Necrons before something can find them while they're defenceless, and finally you've got the collector, who couldn't car less about the Necron race, so long as he can collect old sacred objects and recreate grand battles with his holograms.

If you look at these characters you can definitely make great campaigns with good stories using them (and I'm sure people already have).

 

[Drizzitdude]

Chainsaw swords. Nuff said.

 

[Rad Party God]

Well, the Dawn of War games are pretty cool and I like them, but not exactly for the story. It's pretty amusing though, watching everyone killing each other, I really don't give a shit if it's justified as a cool campaign scenario.

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

Yeah, I've always found it pretty silly. It just seems to be trying too hard to be "dark" and "extreme".

"So like, EVERYONE is at war with EVERYONE! And everyone is more BADASS than everyone else! They have spaceships the size of planets that blow up EVERYTHING! And there are these guys called the DOOM STAR KILLERS OF DEATH DOOM who drive tanks bigger than mountains! With BADASS spikes!

It's feels like a setting based on the margin doodles of a nine-year-old's schoolbook. I suppose it could be fun if it was done right, but it's all played so damn straight. It doesn't seem to realise that for all the grimdark-doom-death to have any weight you need to have something to contrast it with.

Hence the existence of Commissar Ciaphas Cain HERO OF THE IMPERIUM! And the Orks.

One is a WW2 era Red Army Commissar who is (in his view) an abject coward who'se only wish is to find a nice safe posting. Unfortunately his superiors believe that he is a hero and throw him from one terrifying war-zone to another.

The other is based off football hooligans and their mass migrations/conquests have been described as "part Jihad part pub crawl".