Using IHMN for In the Emperor's Name/Warhammer 40K.

[Modhail]

I wasn't entirely sure where to post this, seeing that the ruleset (In her Majesty's Name) is VSF, but the setting is (arguably) sci-fi. Setting won out, so here I am.

To make along story short, IHMN and In the Emperor's Name (ItEN) are very similar, and nice, rulesets (seeing that they come from the same author, and such....), but I like IHMN just that bit better. So, I've set about trying to see if I can make the warbands and gear and such from ItEN work under IHMN.

I posted all the stuff I wrote down so far on my blog. I'm referring there so as not to clutter up this forum with my wall of text and numbers....

I'm not doing this to belittle the effort of those that made ItEN and IHMN great (It's an effort worthy of respect, to build a ruleset from scratch! And then do it again. ), or take off with their work, but just to satisfy my own desire to get the most (in my eyes) out of a ruleset and a setting that I really appreciate.

So, please have a look and tell me what you think, if you have any suggestions, derisions, offers of help...  

[Diakon]

Should work out fine. Let us know how it pans out. (BTW I thought the Space Marine rules seemed a bit extreme)

[Modhail]

Yeah, I had the most doubts when pegging those stats for Marines...  I was extrapolating by feel using basic humans (aka Guard and Gangers), who have equivalencies in IHMN, as a guide. 
The big problem with Space Marines in the 40K setting, I think, is the amount of confusion over their proper power level. On the one hand there are stories that describe them as almost godlike, on the other hand, in the tabletop rules they are rather to easily overshadowed by other races' warriors...
I'm sure I'll yet have to do a lot of tweaking on various stats.

[n815e]

I think if you are going to include Space Marines you should include them how they were meant to be, not what they became.

[Modhail]

That's true... It is, after all, my intention to game the setting, not what the current GW-produced rules have made of things.

Just did some rough calculations, using basic kit and estimated values for weapons I'm not so certain about, and it comes down to a single marine being around half of a 200 point retinue (and supposedly the equal of 3 guardsmen in basic kit, pointswise.) A Sister of Battle is about 80% of a Space Marine. And this is without Talents or such, just stats and what I consider to be basic kit.
Sounds feasible numbers-wise, but playtesting (once I get to that point) should prove or break this hypothesis.

Tonight or tomorrow I'll update the blog post to include what point values I have, as well as this example. (Edit: Just did so...)

[Craig]

Hello Chaps,

My spies have directed me to this conversation 

ItEN was written to reflect the W40K we old Rogue Traders fell in love with back in the 80's. It also lives to replicate the forces described in the numerous and mostly excellent novels. Thus we have Zoats and Squats! 

The stat's for Space Marines were discussed at length by the Forge of War development community. Eventually we mostly agreed that eight-foot super-humans in nearly impenetrable armour, and carrying the equivalent of heavy machine guns as sidearms, should be as shown in ItEN.

As for using IHMN for W40K please go ahead . Not though you need it you do have my blessing. I always support creativity in gaming.

You'll have quite a bit of work to do to balance it though as IHMN was designed to meet the requirements and technology of 1895 (with a VSF twist), whereas ItEN was designed from the ground up to suit W40K. Also ItEN has recently been overhauled by Gavin and the crew to take into account all the lessons they had learned from hundreds of playtests by the FoW community. I had no input into the 3rd Edition so all credit goes to them.

I'll drop by to see what you are up to by and by.

Note: if you do publish anything on your blog or elsewhere, cut and paste in the disclaimer I agreed with GW, out of the ItEN rules. GW can get sniffy if you don't show the appropriate respect bro'.

[Modhail]

Seems I've attracted someones attention... 
Hi Craig!
Thank you for making such a wonderful set of rules! Twice!

I know the 40K you wanted to replicate! I just missed it (having only found 40K in 2nd edition), but veteran friends showed me the "good old stuff"...
I loved the wildness and madness of it. Still do, and I miss it in the current iterations of the game.
The way I see it, ItEN and IHMN do have that sense of excitement and freedom I seek.

Thank you for the encouragement! And the advice, I'll amend my previous blog post.

I'm not too worried about balancing, I firmly believe one shouldn't let balance get in the way of a good game, or story.
Come to think of it, I think that IHMN being set in (and optimised for) an alternate 1890s, is actually a bonus. With the Victorian era being a transitional period from (often centuries old) traditional methods to modern industrial means (even moreso with VSF "weird tech" and Mysticism), means that it should be able to stretch the rules in both directions towards future  and past. In addition to VSF I could use them for Feudal/Questing games, moderns, as well as Sci-Fi/40k.
Heck, if I get things right, I might even be able to pull all three off in the same, single game!
That's why my goal isn't to replace the gear and stats from IHMN with 40K content, but instead add them to it, and allow the possibility for interaction between them.
I'm not making it easy on myself, am I?

[Craig]

As I have said elsewhere I'm not a great fan of balance myself, but I am a bit odd. I used to turn up to 1500pt W40K games with and optimised 1250pts and not say anything. Other players only notice if you have more points not less. The occasional win used to be far more satisfying 

In what heroic fiction novel or film do you ever see the protagonists have overwhelming force on their side? That's usually the bad guy's theme.

However, we do write these rules to played by others, so if we don't allow for balance a lot of them simply will not play. But those are the choices we make as authors - have  fun with your project and keep us in the loop on how it pans out.