Ciaphus Cain: Hero of the Imperium

Once again I find myself vindicated for being so in love with the world of Warhammer 40,000.

A co-worker is letting me borrow "Ciaphus Cain: Hero of the Imperium," and it is quickly becoming one of my favorite series.

I actually started this post a long while ago, I was so psyked, but I wanted to finish the collection first before singing its praises.

For those of you unfamiliar with Warhammer 40,000, it is one of (if not the) largest Sci-Fi IPs out there. There is an incredible amount of background to the world, and Games Workshop does a great job of maintaining this by asking two questions for every one it answers. It is a grim and gritty pseudofantasy, full of gut-wrenching (and eating) terrors. Life can quickly go from bad to worse, no matter who's side your on. Especially because there's not really a 'good' side and a 'bad' side. There's the "kill them before they kill us" side and the "kill/eat them all" side.

40k's tagline is: "In the vast darkness of the far future, there is only war." Obviously, the galaxy is a serious place, 40,000 years from now. Which is what makes Ciaphas Cain such a delight.

It's hilarious. Dark, sarcastic humor that plays alongside epic Bond-quality action.

Cain is a Commissar in the Imperium of Man. The Imperial Guard army uses the Commisariat to insure that Morale doesn't drop too low. In standard practice, this means putting the fear of the Emporer into soldiers by any means neccessary - which generally ends with an unceremonious on-the-spot execution. As can be expected, most Imperial Guardsman don't like the Commissars attached to their ranks.

However, Cain is a coward. He doesn't plan on dying any time soon and does whatever he can to lesson the danger posed to himself. Amazingly enough, this usually ends up getting him in the worst danger possible, which he generally escapes by the skin of his teeth. Due to this unnatural fortune, he's garnered an incredible reputation for being the best mankind has to offer. Which, of course, gets him into even more trouble.

If anyone is looking for a good sci-fi series to get into, or are new/old fans of Warhammer 40k, or really dig the Dawn of War series, I highly recommend checking out Sandy Mitchell's work. You won't be able to put it down.

Warhammer 40k MMOG

Courtesy of Kotaku: News on Vigil Games' (THQ) Warhammer 40k MMOG.

Essentially, Warhammer 40k's MMOG will have big battles and 'the coolest looking characters of any MMO, ever.'

Says creative director Joe Madeureira:

"All of the races important to Warhammer 40,000 lore (not to mention the fans) will be represented."
"We want each and every race to have weight in the game world... and feel distinct."

Note that he doesn't say, all races will be playable.

This doesn't bode well for Warhammer 40k, and I hope THQ leans hard on Vigil to teach them what they learned from Dawn of War.

Players want to play as their favorite race.

With arguably the largest Science Fiction setting in the world, it's very easy to alienate (no pun intended) half your audience, by only including the easiest races to make. For players like me, it's as simple as this:

Include playable Tyranids, I will give you money.
Don't include playable Tyranids, I will never give you money.

I worry that a half-assed MMOG will do no favors for the 40k universe. It's part of the reason why I haven't pursued a career with THQ in Austin - I couldn't handle watching people who claim to know what they're doing, wreck something I love so much.

In the grim darkness of the far future, there is more than just war.

Gamasutra or Bust

After that C & D letter, I really started to think about how companies view their Intellectual Property.

I'm still quite bitter about TEARDOWN being told to shelve their amazing Space Hulk remake until further notice - which hasn't come yet. Thankfully, you can hoist your sails and still find the game being torrented.

As I continued to dwell, I realized I wanted to publish an article on how fan-made products can be a really good thing for the IP's community, if fostered and cared for correctly. Harry Potter has a HUGE amount of fan-fiction written about it. How engrossed would fans feel, if Rowling picked a few of the best authors to help her write the Harry Potter encyclopedia? I'd have a lot more respect for Rowling, that's for sure.

Looking back to TEARDOWN, I'm very curious as to how many of the 327 Gigabytes downloaded, went to players who hadn't played 40k since they played the original Space Hulk board game. Or even better, how much nostalgia was nurtured. How much curiosity was piqued. If I were in the Public Relations offices of Games Workshop and THQ, I would love to get my hands on the curious folk who haven't paid attention to the IP in a decade or so. Chances are, they would absolutely love where the games have gone. Now, however, all they see is the traditionally cold Games Workshop preventing them from having fun.

Not cool.

This is gonna germinate for awhile.