Wushammer 40 K

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Wushammer 40K

A simple mechanic and some suggestions for running a game set in the 41st millenium.

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Calling on the Ruinous Powers

The Ruinous Powers hunger for souls to the point that they will answer the call of a mortal at almost any time and place. Those that repeatedly seek their aid earn greater and greater rewards, until the point where the person’s willpower, health, or just general luck fails them and they become a pawn of Chaos. Those with weak faith in the Emperor may succumb to the temptations of the Warp and gain temporary strength by trading bits of their immortal soul.

The Perks: At any point, characters can call upon Chaos for aid. Characters can add details above and beyond their normal cap, earning Chaos dice through normal details. The details added should somehow relate to Chaos and the corruption it indiscriminately causes to its wielder and those around them. These details should highlight the nature of Chaos, and the damage that it’s use causes - the GM should make sure that players are using appropriate effects. Chaos dice may be held for the scene, but if unused by the end of the scene they will disappear. Each character begins with a Chaos rating of 2. This number represents the maximum number of Chaos dice that may be added to a single roll, as well as the number that is tested against for various reasons (see below).

Example: Karl, psyker-extraordinaire, is a bit lacking in piety and has no qualms about relying heavily on the Warp’s power to enhance his own. In once scene, he has been heavily wounded (Chi 3) and wants to call for aid from his allies across the planet. Knowing he’ll need the extra power to get the call across, he opens his mind to the Warp to supplement the call. His player gains additional Chaos dice by including a description of how the supplemented mental call wipes out the minds of uninvolved civilians in a wide path between Karl and Karl’s allies.

Gaining Favor: Those that call upon the Ruinous Powers more often earn greater attention and greater rewards than others. The first time during a scene where Chaos dice are gained, the character makes a single roll against their current Chaos score. On a successful roll the character’s Chaos rating increases by 1. If the Chaos score is ever raised above 5, all further rolls to increase it are made against a target number of 5. This test cannot be taken more than once per scene, regardless of how often Chaos is called upon.

Our friend Karl from above has had dealings with Chaos before, and his current Chaos score is 4. When he makes the mental call to his allies, he adds his max of 4 details. Since this is the first point in the scene where Karl has gained Chaos dice, he gets to make a roll to potentially increase his Chaos rating. He rolls 1d6 against his current Chaos score (4) and gets a 2, which is a success. Karl’s Chaos score is increased to 5, allowing him to add more Chaos details in future actions, as well as making it easier to succeed on Chaos rolls.

The Price: Aside from the corruption involved in invoking Chaos, there is a risk of feedback from the Warp or even losing one’s mind to the grasp of a Daemon. At any point during a scene where a character gains a number of Chaos dice greater than their current Chi, they make a single roll against their current Chaos score. On a successful roll, they lose a single point of Chi. This test cannot be taken more than once per scene, regardless of how many times the situation occurs.

But Karl is a reckless man. His current Chi (3) is lower than the number of Chaos dice he gained on the roll to contact his allies (he gained his then-current max of 4). This means that he is of insufficient mental strength to fight of the corruption of Chaos and might lose more Chi in the process. He rolls 1d6 against his Chaos score at the moment he gained the dice over his Chi (which was 4), and gets a 6, which is a failure. If he had scored a 4 or less, Karl would have been punished for his recklessness by losing 1 point of Chi!

Characters who call on Chaos are considered to be traitors to the Imperium, and regular contact with the Warp will leave a noticeable stain on a person, physical, mental, or otherwise. Inquisitors, Psykers, and Ecclesiarchs will be the first to notice such taint (Chaos 2–3), and by the time the character has reached Chaos 5, the corruption will be obvious to anyone. There is no mechanical effect for this, but it should be roleplayed by the corrupted character(s) and by those that interact with them.

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Minor Changes & Suggestions

  • Chi becomes Wounds or Soul, and Yang/Yin becomes Attack/Save, in keeping with the tabletop game’s terminology.
  • If you want something a bit more gritty for a sanity-type mechanic, Bailywolf’s Call of Wushulhu has a good alternative that can easily be converted to fit 40K-style horror. Or you could run a game without any mechanical Sanity system and just depend on the players to contribute through their role-playing.
  • For grittier games, such as one concerning Guardsmen, a dice cap of 3–4 would work. For games with Inquisitors or Marines, or more cinematic games altogether, a cap of 5+ might be more appropriate. Mixing Astartes and normal humans might cause problems in immersion, unless you want to deal with the less-than-neat method of different dice caps for different players in one game…
  • In a Play-by-Post game where the GM makes all dice rolls, he/she may narrate all of the side effects of the corruption mechanic above. This prevents the players from under- or over-powering them.

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Sample Characters

A few example characters from well-known fiction, as done by the fine folks on RPG.net?:

Inquisitor Gregor Eisenhorn
Abilities: Amalathian Inquisitor 5, Master Swordsman 4, Psyker 3
Flaw: Emotionally Unavailable 1

Midas Betancore
Abilities: Hotshot Pilot 5, Glavian Reflexes 4, Charmer 3
Flaw: Adrenaline Junkie 1

Alizebeth Bequin
Abilities: Untouchable 5, Temptress 4, Quick-witted 3
Flaw: Fear of Rejection 1

Uber Aemos
Abilities: Prolific Genius 5, Talkative 4, Augmetic Frame 3
Flaw: Data Addict 1

Godwyn Fischig
Abilities: Arbites Chastener 5, Gun Nut 4, Imposing 3
Flaw: Rigid 1

Commissar Ciphas Cain
Abilities: Commissar 5, Duelist 4, Humble Hero 3
Flaw: Cowardly Under Fire 1

Jurgen
Abilities: Untouchable 5, Master Scrounger 4, Heavy Firepower 3
Flaws: Whats That Smell? 1

Inquisitor Gideon Ravenor
Abilities: Delta-class with Psi-boosters (5), That Peerless Intellect (4), Armed and Armoured Force Chair (3)
Flaw: Confined to His Chair (1)

Interrogator Carl Thonius
Abilities: The Things He Knows (5), Suave, Sophisticated and Dapper (4), Throne-trained Agent (3)
Flaw: Fastidious (1)

Harlon Nayl
Abilities: Ruthless Engine of Destruction (5), ex-Bounty Chaser (4), Not Just Dumb Muscle (3)
Flaw: Lost Too Many Friends (1)

Kara Swole
Abilities: Dancer-acrobat (5), Natural Infiltrator (4), Compact and Voluptuous (3)
Flaw: Sucker for a Sob Story (1)

Patience Kys
Abilities: Telekine (5), Hard-Edged Killer (4), Undeniably Sexy (3)
Flaw: Don’t Ask About My Past (1)

Zeph Mathuin
Abilities: Knuck-muscle with a Rotator Cannon (5), Street-smart (4) Sex on Legs (3)
Flaw: Strong, Silent Type (1)

Wystan Frauka
Abilities: Untouchable (5), Rough and Tumble (4), Too Cool (3)
Flaw: Chain-smoking Porn-addict (1)