Could a careers list work for 40k?

[Ghost Whistler]

WFRP uses a careers system, but none of the 40k rpgs have done the same thing. They are just class based and you stick within that class.

Obviously the Imperium is a much more rigid society: you don't go from Rogue Trader to Navigator. But could something closer to wfrp ever work?

 

[Edgewise]

Sure, why not? You might want to make it a bit harder to switch to a new profession, or change the setting a bit. Or you could play characters who would be in a situation where they could move fluidly between careers - like in one of the hive arcologies. You certainly wouldn't play Space Marine as a career, for instance.

 

[David Johansen]

Yeah, I've always wondered why they went so rigid. For Adeptus Mechanicus, Space Marines, and a few other rigid institutions you probably have a few careers within the institution but can't really leave. But for ordinary people it seems you could go from the guard to the ecclesiary or colonist.

 

[Brock Savage]

Ghost Whistler
Hey man I love the career system in WHFRP but feel that the static nature of Imperial culture makes lateral career moves highly unlikely.

That said, a career system would be fun and fun is more important than verisimilitude. Hell, Medieval society was static but that didn't prevent me from enjoying WHFRP's career system.

 

[Ghost Whistler]

That's

Ghost Whistler
Hey man I love the career system in WHFRP but feel that the static nature of Imperial culture makes lateral career moves highly unlikely.

That said, a career system would be fun and fun is more important than verisimilitude. Hell, Medieval society was static but that didn't prevent me from enjoying WHFRP's career system.

Right, there's probably too many character choices incompatible with this approach that would make it pointless to use.
But for a game like Dark Heresy it's probably more doable - start out as Hive Scum, become a Bounty Hunter, then a Custodes, or something

 

[David Johansen]

It's particularly apt for Eldar who, go from one path in life to the next.

 

[Brock Savage]

But for a game like Dark Heresy it's probably more doable - start out as Hive Scum, become a Bounty Hunter, then a Custodes, or something

Yeah man that's more like it. The career approach works better for street level games because most of the iconic careers of the Imperium are for life.

 

[Simlasa]

Yeah man that's more like it. The career approach works better for street level games because most of the iconic careers of the Imperium are for life.

That's been something I've wanted to change about Dark Heresy.
Having most of the available 'Career Paths' be hard-core Imperial jobs... rather than all the stuff the 'little people' probably get up to... didn't fit my idea of the setting (which was NOT playing iconic factions from the wargame). Too locked down, too orthodox.
Most anything I'd really want probably comes under the 'Scum' category... I wanted PCs who might not even know they were working for the Inquisition at first.
There must be some job that involves going into drains and vents looking for mutant rats... might come with a small but vicious cyber-dog.

For Rogue Trader it made a bit more sense, since the paths are actual positions on the ship (and I assume the same holds for the military versions like Only War... that a career would be tied into the hierarchy of the guard/marines.

 

[Brock Savage]

Having most of the available 'Career Paths' be hard-core Imperial jobs... rather than all the stuff the 'little people' probably get up to... didn't fit my idea of the setting (which was NOT playing iconic factions from the wargame).

Generally speaking, I find street level play in the 40k universe more interesting than hard core Imperial roles.

There must be some job that involves going into drains and vents looking for mutant rats... might come with a small but vicious cyber-dog.

Exactly! This is the kind of character I would love to play in a 40k RPG.

For Rogue Trader it made a bit more sense, since the paths are actual positions on the ship (and I assume the same holds for the military versions like Only War... that a career would be tied into the hierarchy of the guard/marines.

I believe this is correct but haven't looked at the books since 2013 or so.

 

[Edgewise]

Most anything I'd really want probably comes under the 'Scum' category... I wanted PCs who might not even know they were working for the Inquisition at first.

That sounds fun, sort of like Edge of the Empire for WH40K. Could be fun to be a smuggler or something like that.

 

[Raleel]

isn't the notion of career flexibility functionally a product of culture? I am by no means a 40k person in any form, but

Obviously the Imperium is a much more rigid society: you don't go from Rogue Trader to Navigator.

sure seems like it's a cultural aspect. as someone mentioned rogue trader has you move around on the ship. the Imperium stuff we think of is literally military.

 

[Simlasa]

sure seems like it's a cultural aspect. as someone mentioned rogue trader has you move around on the ship. the Imperium stuff we think of is literally military.

That's why I don't want the PCs locked into 'Imperium stuff' for careers.
But most all my 40K ideas harken back to the original Rogue Trader book... where the setting was much more diverse and it was possible to find just about any scifi trope in some corner of the galaxy. So a PC's background would be much more localized. My idea was to go with something along the lines of the backgrounds and cults/brotherhoods from Mythras, which seems more agile in depicting a wide variety of origins than a small list of classes (career paths).

 

[Raleel]

That's why I don't want the PCs locked into 'Imperium stuff' for careers.
But most all my 40K ideas harken back to the original Rogue Trader book... where the setting was much more diverse and it was possible to find just about any scifi trope in some corner of the galaxy. So a PC's background would be much more localized. My idea was to go with something along the lines of the backgrounds and cults/brotherhoods from Mythras, which seems more agile in depicting a wide variety of origins than a small list of classes (career paths).

nod, it reminds me of the bit for military careers in The Gift of Shamash.

I was just looking at the Space Marines of 40k - the chapters pretty much follow the cult/brotherhood guidelines in Mythras as far as ranks go - chapter master, captain, lieutenant, sergeant, battle-brother for the main body map very nicely to the 5 brotherhood ranks. aspirants and neophytes are not in this yet. Librarians also follow this.

anyhow, seems like focused on space marines you might break out a bit into marines, librarians, chaplains, apothecaries, tech marines, vanguards, etc but otherwise, that's pretty much one culture/career

 

[TristramEvans]

I feel like the brilliance of Warhammer Fantasy Role-Playing was to eschew the wider setting of the war game to instead hyper focus on the daily lives of citizens of the Empire. I think a 40K version could do this just as easily by focusing on the daily lives of the inhabitants of a single massive ?Hive World, a situation where a careers list would make a lot of sense.

 

[Simlasa]

I think a 40K version could do this just as easily by focusing on the daily lives of the inhabitants of a single massive Hive World, a situation where a careers list would make a lot of sense.

I'm guessing things went the way they did because the Fantasy setting didn't have quite the same degree of singular factions as 40K (at least not when WFRP first dropped). Most of the factions of the fantasy wargame were a mix of heroes and canon fodder... like, Bretonnians had knights in armor, but also Villains and Rapscallions (who could resist playing a Rapscallion?)... but in 40K pretty much every group was a monoculture of big badasses (except maybe Imperial Guard). There wasn't much presented at the 'Rapscallion' level (though Necromunda aimed for just that sort of thing).
So yeah, a Necromunda/Hive World RPG would have been a closer sister to WFRP's approach.

 

[Gringnr]

Zweihänder has a chapbook called Dark Astral that uses the Zwei system for sci-fi games. I haven't seen it, dunno how complete it is or any of that. Might be worth looking at.