Warhammer 40K Roleplay: Wrath & Glory – Starter Set

Adventuring in the grim future of the Warhammer 40K universe has always been rather interesting. It isn’t for the faint-hearted with its hard regime and the feudal system of Imperium Government. But I have always found it fun and typically there is good amount of exploration and investigation involved and the opportunity to play a wide diversity of characters in a rich setting. The question then is what system to use?

I’ve played Dark Heresy and enjoyed it. It is quite an old system now and I don’t think the rule set is that well written and organised, but it has a level of detail which I like. However, it can be quite a challenge a times to develop your character and it does require a fair bit of familiarity to make the best use of the rules.

Step in Wrath and Glory. This roleplay system retains the theme of 40K very well and sets the players in the Gilead system. However, all is not well. Of course not, this is the 40K universe, but the Gilead system is shut off from the rest of the Imperium by the Noctis Aeterna, the Great Rift, a warp storm that has closed off the system from the rest of the Imperium. With this event the life of all within is in great peril, as it is alone and more vulnerable than ever to the threats that arise from the Warp directly or indirectly from within society. This is Warhammer and the threat of Chaos is ever present.

Choosing your system

When it comes to roleplaying games, two key traits usually determine which system you choose to use. Theme – some systems are dedicated to handle a particular theme, and Level of detail – some systems focus on the depth and level of immersion in character and world creation and development whereas others focus more on storytelling and abstract principles as a framework for play. No system is perfect, but there is a good variety of systems based how you want to play and what matters to you as a system. Wrath and Glory RPG is the same theme as Dark Heresy, but without some of complexity. Don’t get me wrong, I like Dark Heresy, but I also like the simplified storytelling approach that Wrath and Glory offers. This is where then, that Wrath and Glory shines.

A storytelling system

Wrath and Glory is a system that still gives a good variety of character options, levels of play, the rich theme and setting you want and yet cultivates a framework of play promoting roleplay and invention.

Skill tests are simple to understand. You’ll have a relevant statistic or attribute like agility or willpower and you’ll have a variety of skills to learn and develop like athletics or investigation. The value of the attribute and skill level combined is the number of D6 you will. Each 4 or 5 counts as a success and a 6 a double success. The Difficulty number assigned to the test (based on circumstances, opposition, hazards, environment etc) is the target number to equal to achieve success. Simple. Easy to work out.

Development is straightforward too. Each session of gameplay will allow your character to accrue experience or ‘XPs’ reflecting learning and achievement. There will be a set amount for taking part modified by how well the player has roleplayed, objectives achieved or missions completed etc. These points can then be spent on improving attributes and skills or acquiring other in game abilities or perks.

A few key rules – Wrath, Glory, Shifting and Ruin

Wrath is an in-game player currency to spend on gaining advantages to situations such as rerolling failures or adding details to the narrative that help the players. Players start with a small pool of wrath and for most tests, one of the dice used will be the wrath dice. A roll of a ‘6’ results in an exalted icon that can be converted into a point of Glory, more on that shortly, but a 6 is good as if you hit this cause a critical hit. A score of ‘1’ however causes a complication which doesn’t necessarily mean something deadly, but it is something negative like a piece of equipment is broken like a lasgun or the environment changes to something hazardous. Wrath and Glory leaves it up to the GM to either narrative his or her own choice or roll on a simple table. The point being, I like narrative flexibility here.

Glory is another resource pool that can be earned and spent in gameplay. This could increase the dice pool you use to roll for tests or increase the damage done.

Shifting occurs when you convert and remove from a test a result of a 6. This can be worth doing to increase the value or potency of an action like learning more about a topic or furthering a players personal storyline.

Finally, in this look at some key rules is Ruin. This quite simply is a resource for the GM to use to hinder the players or further the GMs own storylines. I like this. The Wrath and Glory system allows both players and GM alike to earn and gain currency to gain in-game advantages and develop the storyline. With the setting as rich as it is, a group of players, including the GM, with good imaginations can create memorable campaigns and storylines. This could in fairness occur with any system, but Wrath and Glory sets up a supportive framework to promote it.

Variety

Wrath and Glory also gives players the opportunity to not just play human characters – the Imperium, but also eldar, ork and chaos in the core rulebook. There are a few options for different tiers of play and combined with the rules for talents, faith and psychic powers, you have good depth to play with. Oh yes and rules on corruption too. It wouldn’t be Warhammer without it!

The Gilead system, being cut off from the rest of the Imperium, does open the open for all sorts of shenanigans and a player group could easily feature a mixed party of rogues of different species or perhaps short-term allies working against a share foe; it happens in the books where humans and eldar for example share a common objective.

Summary

Wrath and Glory is a simplified system for storytelling-based roleplay. That doesn’t mean its simple and without depth, but rather it gives a fair platform to build enjoyable and memorable campaigns which after all is usually why we play.