Is there anything scary in 40k?

[jorz192]

With the frequency of exterminatus to me it has lost it's sense of any drama in the 40k universe. In pretty much every Black Library book or GW codex there is at least one planet wiped out. The Imperium seems to have an endless supply of planets capable of sustaining life. The geo-form concept has only been mentioned once that I can remember.

In battles it seems that a couple million guardsmen or heretics can just be slaughtered and no one cares?
A continents worth of people, gone and who cares? The heroic leaders of factions refuse to die and kill a couple hundred Orks, Tyranids, or cultists and walk away like nothing happened.

More annoyingly is that we read that "insert name" is the most evil and most corrupted, capable of making planets go caplooie with just a thought. If you are one of the big guys you all have so much power no one has any power. In the HH books I think I have heard someone describe every Primarch as the Emporer's most loyal son.

I remember reading a post about a Khorne Berzerker that stopped to salute his opponent after they had killed several of his squad mates, for the big guys it seems that a couple berzerkers generally isn't even worth flinching at, unless you are a little guy then maybe if you have thirty mates you can take him.

I guess basically my feeling is that when you try and make everything dark and scary nothing is scary.

The rant is over, does anyone else agree?

[ChaosLord127]

I know something scary: Squats

[Grailkeeper]

The prices.

[murrburger]

40K isn't really a horror based game.

Some of the BL books have actually put a chill down my spine; Prospero Burns being the last one I read, and the Inquisition (Draco) series being the first.

Outside of Black Library, I don't think you're going to find much of anything that's very scary.

[Farseer Uthiliesh]

the prices.

hahahaahahahaahaha!!!!!!

[eldargal]

I think Dark Eldar would be quite scary when you think of what they would do to you. The most painful, degrading, soul destroying things that you can imagine and they mastered those thousands upon thousands of years ago.

[BrokenWing]

Also they aren't very nice.

[Farseer Uthiliesh]

I think Dark Eldar would be quite scary when you think of what they would do to you. The most painful, degrading, soul destroying things that you can imagine and they mastered those thousands upon thousands of years ago.

And all because it makes them stave off Slaanesh's hunger.

[Psychosplodge]

I think Dark Eldar would be quite scary when you think of what they would do to you. The most painful, degrading, soul destroying things that you can imagine and they mastered those thousands upon thousands of years ago.

People pay for that level of punishment....

[eldargal]

No, they really don't.:p DE would would make thumb screws, waterboarding, the rack, sleep deprivation and watching reality television seem positively benign. This assumes you are dealing with kabalites, if you get handed over the haemonculi its even worse. Wyches at least would just stick you in the arena and slice you up for lulz.

[Psychosplodge]

So the first half is a jaded middle aged S&M swingers party;),
and the second ancient rome...

but seriously the huge uncaring galaxy where billions can cease to exsist in an instant and nobody really notices, that isnt scary?

[jorz192]

So the first half is a jaded middle aged S&M swingers party;),
and the second ancient rome...

but seriously the huge uncaring galaxy where billions can cease to exsist in an instant and nobody really notices, that isnt scary?

Actually, that's pretty much what I am saying. A billion people disappearing is treated like nothing. It looses it's shock value when you read 40k fiction.

The Horus Heresy books are nowhere near as stale to me as other BL books. I think that's largely because the warp isn't painted as some typical alternate dimension place. It's more mysterious and you are right about "A Thousand Sons" in the end I did feel sorry for Prospero and Magnus.

And for the DE haha, they are really messed up. I would say they are way more frightening than chaos any day.

[Grailkeeper]

Necrons are pretty scary. Mostly because we know nothing about them other than the fact they're pretty much everywhere, they're mostly dormant, but when they do wake up they wake up angry.


I think these are part of the "less is more aspect" of horror. Like when no-one knew what a dalek looked like. How much of the fear they can generate may change when a new codex comes out and we learn a bit more about them.

[Count Fenring]

I don't think it was ever intended to come across as scary. The sense seems to be one of no hope, no peace for all time. Something like the book 1984 by Orwell (sp). The more you do anything, even terrible things in RL, the less it has an effect on you as you become conditioned to it. So reading about the 40k universe would be the same.

Madness, vicious and mindless brutality, no innocence, all is destroyed simply as a matter of course. The galaxy has been conditioned for exactly that for thousands of years. A blighted, feral existence and only the Eldar get to chill, sip wine by the pool and not screw to save their species:D

[Psychosplodge]

Actually, that's pretty much what I am saying. A billion people disappearing is treated like nothing. It looses it's shock value when you read 40k fiction.

The Horus Heresy books are nowhere near as stale to me as other BL books. I think that's largely because the warp isn't painted as some typical alternate dimension place. It's more mysterious and you are right about "A Thousand Sons" in the end I did feel sorry for Prospero and Magnus.

And for the DE haha, they are really messed up. I would say they are way more frightening than chaos any day.

Sorry the first bit of that was a reply to eldargals DE scary comment, only ythe second part was to the original post


Necrons are pretty scary. Mostly because we know nothing about them other than the fact they're pretty much everywhere, they're mostly dormant, but when they do wake up they wake up angry.


I think these are part of the "less is more aspect" of horror. Like when no-one knew what a dalek looked like. How much of the fear they can generate may change when a new codex comes out and we learn a bit more about them.

I preffered the necrons when they were like the sanctury 101 necrons and they were completely unknown, now they're almost start trek borg like in their threat assessment kill or ignore and worse have a speaking part (various books trying not to spoil them so keeping vague)

[Grailkeeper]

Well I haven't read those books, so by my knowledge of the fluff they're still like sanctuary 101 types. That said for fiction to be really scary it has to be as close as possible to real life, as has been already said by another poster.


I'd recommend hater by David Moody if anyone wants somethign pretty scary- very well researched book making it very realistic. Its sequel starts well but isn't as good over all.

[BrokenWing]

I think these are part of the "less is more aspect" of horror. Like when no-one knew what a dalek looked like. How much of the fear they can generate may change when a new codex comes out and we learn a bit more about them.

Having watched every Doctor Who episode that is still intact (and not the 6th Doctor) from 1966 to the present I can't remember a time when that was true. Perhaps you're referring to the 9th Doctor episode 'Dalek' in which they kept it hidden for awhile? The first episode with Daleks in it (which has too many names for me to try) didn't really hide them much at all.

Sorry, the Doctor Who freak in me kicked in.

I agree that in some cases less is more, but I think the billions dieing thing isn't about less is more, it's about it happens frequently and no one cares (no one in power anyway). *That* is the scary part. Billions die and people shrug, that doesn't disturb you on some level?

[BrokenWing]

Nm, just realized you meant the actual physical Dalek and not the combat casing, my bad. In that case, yes.

[Kawauso]

I don't think the intent in 40k is for the myriad horrors of the galaxy (and there are many) to be frightening.

I think it's supposed to be overwhelming in scope. The reason no usually flinches when whole regiments of Guard are wiped out is because it's supposed to give you an idea of how mind-bogglingly vast the Imperium is. Humanity is its most abundant currency, and individual human lives are worthless in the greater scheme of things.

That's the intended effect, I think. It's to demonstrate just how large an empire spanning a galaxy really would be.

For the record, though, I'm not sure I can recall a book where an exterminatus was treated casually. Every time it's come up in the fiction I'm familiar with, it's been treated as a last resort that no one is really too keen to enact. I'm not counting the fluff in the codices - this is particularly over-the-top because it's set-dressing rather than actual fiction. The codex material is cranked up to 11 all the time because it's supposed to get you excited about how insane/badass your army is.

In the books though? No one ever seems to keen to just casually dismiss an entire planet. While the Imperium has millions of them, they're ultimately a finite resource, and most of the time exterminatus leaves the resources a planet is valued for inaccessible or destroyed.

I've mostly read from the Heresy/marine books so far, but recently I've gotten into the Ciaphas Cain series and I'm enjoying it for one thing it's doing quite well that other 40k fiction I've read hasn't: it examines the 40k setting at very personal levels. Most of the time the stories are told from the self-centred perspective of the eponymous commissar, and this goes great lengths, I find, toward giving some perspective of 40k and its conflicts and settings from a human level you can actually relate to. And trust me, on that level, things like Necrons can be pretty frightening.

[BrokenWing]

I would say you're absolutely correct.

[jorz192]

The less is more idea is what I was getting at pretty much. And true I'm counting codex background so my perceptions are a little different.

I guess my idea of what is "Grim and dark" is based on a more personal scale. And when I read through the responses I am convinced that chaos isn't really meant to be the ultimate evil in 40k. None of the chaos gods are really that scary, I would like to see more variety in the potrayal of chaos maybe?
It's chaos so Khorne is (I guess) supposed to embody honor and war. Seems pretty focused and predictable.

I am really curious as to what the next Necron codex will feature for background.
One thing I liked about the DE background was when they show up to drive away the Orks from craftworld Iyanden and how the Harlequins seem to bring out some sense of personality in the DE, an appreciation for art for something other than self gratification.

In "Warriors of Ultramar" by Graham Mcneil Inquisitor Kryptman and the Deathwatch Use exterminatus on planets to simply prevent the Tyranids from harvesting the planet. It is scary that someone could do that but to me it lacks a human element.

[Nabterayl]

I think whether 40K is "scary" depends upon the scale you're telling your story. If you're telling your story from the perspective of the Imperium as a whole, no, pretty much nothing is scary, for the reasons people have mentioned. Even orks and tyranids seem incapable of threatening the Imperium once it actually gets things in gear. But that's because the Imperium doesn't have feelings, and due to its scope, pretty much the only thing the reader can be afraid will happen to it is that it will collapse - which is just not a credible threat given the way GW writes.

On the other hand, from the individual perspective, almost everything is scary, no matter who you are. Individuals can be afraid, and the reader can (potentially, anyway) identify with their fears. There's plenty for any given individual in the 40K universe to be afraid of. Just depends on how you decide to tell your story.

[Farseer Uthiliesh]

The Horus Heresy books are nowhere near as stale to me as other BL books. .

Agreed. I found the scenes where Horus was going around his capital ship and killing the non-coms (in False Gods) more disturbing than a greater daemon of Nurgle possessing a general, or the battle massacres.

[GrenAcid]

Hmmm...exterminatus is last resort not cuz it take lives of billions, as Imperium dosnt care about people, there always will be some to repopulate empty world, but it destroy a world completely.
Same gose for Astromnicon and thousands of bsykers burning out each day to guide ships.

For me 40k universe is scary cuz absolutely no one cares about anything but their "goal" and what take to acomplish it.

[MarneusCalgar]

The prices.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! :D:D

This is the PERFECT answer for this thread, congrats man!!!

Going to the fluff terms...

I think in the Eye of Terror must lie a vast terrifying catalogue of horrors, each one of them could cause men to madness...

But in the fluff that´s always named by side.

[Denzark]

Bear in mind the target audience... I'm sure I saw a re-post of an author's commentary telling us that they are linited in some ways - no sex scenes, much swearing etc.

I would therefore presume that there is a similar ban on outright SF horror that makes little timmy run screaming to his mum.

However, I have found some of the bits where Emperor's Children went banzai (HH books) a bit uncomfortable, and also the descriptions of some of the Chaos in Gaunt's Ghosts (where 9 assassins appear - shame they are killed relatively easily).

What happens to Agun Soric is a bit nasty as well...

[eldargal]

Read what happens to M'shen in Soul Hunter*, that is genuinely disturbing.


*I think. Soul Something anyway.

[Necron2.0]

I think Dark Eldar would be quite scary when you think of what they would do to you. The most painful, degrading, soul destroying things that you can imagine and they mastered those thousands upon thousands of years ago.

I work for a megacorporation. For me, that's a typical Tuesday. :D

[eldargal]

Fair point, actually, I wouldn't be surprised if the Dark Eldar factories are run along modern corporate lines. Just with more chains, whipes and physical brutality thrown in.

[Chronowraith]

Fair point, actually, I wouldn't be surprised if the Dark Eldar factories are run along modern corporate lines. Just with more chains, whipes and physical brutality thrown in.


Apparently you haven't been inside any Nike factories in Southeast Asia anytime recently. :D

[eldargal]

...

I wouldn't be surprised if the Dark Eldar factories are run along modern corporate lines.

:rolleyes:

[david5th]

Read what happens to M'shen in Soul Hunter*, that is genuinely disturbing.


*I think. Soul Something anyway.

Do you mean the Callidus assassin from the throne Of Lies CD?

[eldargal]

Could be, haven't listened to it. She was the Callidus assassin who killed Night Haunter or whatever his name was.

[MarneusCalgar]

Please, tell us!!!

I also didn´t listen to it

[Artein]

The single most scary thing in 40k is....

The Emperor.

His motives. His morality.

I cannot comprehend him. He's too alien.
I'm afraid of him.

[Kawauso]

Bear in mind the target audience... I'm sure I saw a re-post of an author's commentary telling us that they are linited in some ways - no sex scenes, much swearing etc.


Um...but there have been sex scenes in 40k novels.

Fulgrim comes to mind.

One of the remembrancers has sex with another remembrancer and kills him while he's in the throes of ******. :P

Also, I haven't seen anything in any of the novels I've read at all to suggest that they are written with 'little Timmy' in mind. They're a higher level of reading than most children's novels. And the content they deal with is frequently pretty disturbing and/or mature.

[Corvus-Master-of-The-4th]

I don't think the intent in 40k is for the myriad horrors of the galaxy (and there are many) to be frightening.

I think it's supposed to be overwhelming in scope. The reason no usually flinches when whole regiments of Guard are wiped out is because it's supposed to give you an idea of how mind-bogglingly vast the Imperium is. Humanity is its most abundant currency, and individual human lives are worthless in the greater scheme of things.

That's the intended effect, I think. It's to demonstrate just how large an empire spanning a galaxy really would be.

For the record, though, I'm not sure I can recall a book where an exterminatus was treated casually. Every time it's come up in the fiction I'm familiar with, it's been treated as a last resort that no one is really too keen to enact. I'm not counting the fluff in the codices - this is particularly over-the-top because it's set-dressing rather than actual fiction. The codex material is cranked up to 11 all the time because it's supposed to get you excited about how insane/badass your army is.

In the books though? No one ever seems to keen to just casually dismiss an entire planet. While the Imperium has millions of them, they're ultimately a finite resource, and most of the time exterminatus leaves the resources a planet is valued for inaccessible or destroyed.

I've mostly read from the Heresy/marine books so far, but recently I've gotten into the Ciaphas Cain series and I'm enjoying it for one thing it's doing quite well that other 40k fiction I've read hasn't: it examines the 40k setting at very personal levels. Most of the time the stories are told from the self-centred perspective of the eponymous commissar, and this goes great lengths, I find, toward giving some perspective of 40k and its conflicts and settings from a human level you can actually relate to. And trust me, on that level, things like Necrons can be pretty frightening.

I agree, especially as one thing i've read frequently is planets are the only thing the imperium really cares about, and will stop at nothing to stop them falling (granted this is not always possible) and try Eisenhorn it's a good personal look at the life of an Inquistor, oh and the Grey Knight triology... But thats just because I think it's awesome :L

[Corvus-Master-of-The-4th]

In "Warriors of Ultramar" by Graham Mcneil Inquisitor Kryptman and the Deathwatch Use exterminatus on planets to simply prevent the Tyranids from harvesting the planet. It is scary that someone could do that but to me it lacks a human element.

Sorry for the Double post... But that actually makes sense, seeing as the Tyranids benefit from any Biomass they gain, and they gain alot. So that is exactly the point, it is Lacking humanity. Again marines are designed for exactly that tbh :|

[Psychosplodge]

Um...but there have been sex scenes in 40k novels.

Fulgrim comes to mind.

One of the remembrancers has sex with another remembrancer and kills him while he's in the throes of ******. :P

Also, I haven't seen anything in any of the novels I've read at all to suggest that they are written with 'little Timmy' in mind. They're a higher level of reading than most children's novels. And the content they deal with is frequently pretty disturbing and/or mature.

I think there are some that are written like that, with nothing particularly graphic, mostly the one off novels, but the regular popular authors are more willing/able to push the boundaries....

[jorz192]

Sorry for the Double post... But that actually makes sense, seeing as the Tyranids benefit from any Biomass they gain, and they gain alot. So that is exactly the point, it is Lacking humanity. Again marines are designed for exactly that tbh :|

It makes sense but I never get the sense of loss or guilt over all the lives lost. I usually feel that the lack of empathy I feel for the guardsmen that die by the thousands is because it's in nearly every story and no one shows the sense of horror at the loss of life.

[Kawauso]

You're not really supposed to get a sense of lost or guilt from something like that, though...and the characters involved certainly wouldn't.

That's part of what makes war at that scale terrifying. The same thing happens with modern combat. When you're launching ICBMs from a warship in the ocean, or even gunning people down from the copilot's seat in a helicopter, you're not connected to the combat. You're distanced from the experience. There's no human element involved. You can't see the look on the face of someone you kill...so it's like you're not even killing anyone at all, really. You're eliminating enemies, not killing human beings.

How often have you heard of fighter or bomber pilots from WWII coming down with PTSD or shellshock or whatever compared to the rank and file infantry on the ground, who were right there in the middle of all that awful stuff?

Bombing a planet from orbit into oblivion would be a weighty thing, sure - potentially. But it would also be very easy to feel completely detached from it and sleep soundly that same night.

[BrokenWing]

If billions of people died in mass combat every single day, would it continue to affect you the same way? Basically, all the combat personnel in 40k are suffering from the same sense of disconnect and shell shock as many World War One soldiers went through. They've stopped caring because it's the only way they can keep going.

[Nabterayl]

It makes sense but I never get the sense of loss or guilt over all the lives lost. I usually feel that the lack of empathy I feel for the guardsmen that die by the thousands is because it's in nearly every story and no one shows the sense of horror at the loss of life.
I tie that more to the authors than anything else. People like Eisenhorn and Gaunt feel some sense of loss over lives lost, and they're both written by Abnett. I don't think it's so much that loss isn't felt as that not very many people telling stories about the universe care to dwell on that fact.

For instance, I notice that both McNeill and Ward (in his codices) are actually aware that the life of your average space marine is nasty, brutish, and short. McNeill in particular seems drawn to the tragedy inherent in elementary school-age kids choosing a terrible life far before they are capable of understanding the consequences of that choice, and by the time they are capable of understanding there's no way out except in a body bag. To me, that's pretty scary, and we know that McNeill finds it compelling because he's written about it in his prefaces.

But do his actual stories ever dwell on that aspect of space marinehood? None that I've seen. I'm pretty sure he could, he just doesn't.

[CouchViking]

Screw the dark eldar, getting sold off to Mars and their crazy tech priests would be the absolute worst. Loosing all cognitive thought and independent movement, becoming a "blessed" creation of the Machine God. Though I guess it would be the same if you were sold off to the homunculi.

[Corvus-Master-of-The-4th]

Screw the dark eldar, getting sold off to Mars and their crazy tech priests would be the absolute worst. Loosing all cognitive thought and independent movement, becoming a "blessed" creation of the Machine God. Though I guess it would be the same if you were sold off to the homunculi.

It'd be worse... You would loose the abbility to think, you'd be trapped with a body that you can not control, and you would feel the pain it feels, but having no way of stopping it, it would be constant agony (if turned into a wrack)... I dont even care to know what it's like being a Grotesque, oh and thats without them doing stuff to your brain, or something else of such a thing to make it even worse for you. Getting sent to mars will just get you lobotomised and then converted, the Tech Priests dont aim to cause there servants harm (even if they do), but the Haemonculi... Well lets just say the only part they really enjoy is the harming, and they very good at it too :L

[C.of.N.finity]

I think the horror of 40k is subjective really. Gav Thorpe once mentioned about Dark Elves (in a question about how their society functions) simply that it doesn't. When breaking down logistics, it just isn't possible but that wasn't what you were supposed to be focused with, just the individual details of things.

I think 40k is much the same way. Taken as a whole, the logistics just don't work; there a lot of assumptions you have to make and that in tiself can dumb down the horror as you lose that sense of reality.

However, when taken peice by peice, the 40k universe is terrorfying. Think about an IG grunt leaving your family behind to be thrown at a wall of alien species. What about the soldier being hunted by a tyranid in the shadows, or the stark terror in seeing that machine you destroyed peice itself back together and keep coming. Even on a grand scale (but again, not too far out) the mere scope of the 40k universe can be frightning to some.

[jorz192]

I tie that more to the authors than anything else. People like Eisenhorn and Gaunt feel some sense of loss over lives lost, and they're both written by Abnett. I don't think it's so much that loss isn't felt as that not very many people telling stories about the universe care to dwell on that fact.

For instance, I notice that both McNeill and Ward (in his codices) are actually aware that the life of your average space marine is nasty, brutish, and short. McNeill in particular seems drawn to the tragedy inherent in elementary school-age kids choosing a terrible life far before they are capable of understanding the consequences of that choice, and by the time they are capable of understanding there's no way out except in a body bag. To me, that's pretty scary, and we know that McNeill finds it compelling because he's written about it in his prefaces.

But do his actual stories ever dwell on that aspect of space marinehood? None that I've seen. I'm pretty sure he could, he just doesn't.

Brilliant!

[QUOTE=C.of.N.finity;142215]I think the horror of 40k is subjective really. Gav Thorpe once mentioned about Dark Elves (in a question about how their society functions) simply that it doesn't. When breaking down logistics, it just isn't possible but that wasn't what you were supposed to be focused with, just the individual details of things.QUOTE]

In the DE codex there is a set arena where the Kabals are allowed to engage in open war. That combined with the wych cults' performances feeding other DE I think their society does function on some level.

[Valkerie]

No, they really don't.:p DE would would make thumb screws, waterboarding, the rack, sleep deprivation and watching reality television seem positively benign. This assumes you are dealing with kabalites, if you get handed over the haemonculi its even worse. Wyches at least would just stick you in the arena and slice you up for lulz.

True. The best thing that could happen to you is to be thrown into the arena. It would be a messy, painful and degrading death, but at least it would be relativly quick.:)

[Thornblood]

I think there is a good point to be had; if everything Grimdark, nothing is. (see the film 'the incredibles').

However we are all a bit more desensitized because of our modern media. A tabletop game is never going to measure up to some of the sickest films like the SAW series. But then its not trying to.

I also agree that yes- the dark eldar have it. The Talos/Crono's spine and the way it separates from the skin and flesh being up there with Urien Rakarth's hump being the most disgusting visually for me. thats partially because they are new and we are all used to skulls and flayed skin and everything nurgley.

On the other hand the background could potentially write some really scary stuff, but this is a game that is being more and more marketed towards young teenagers, so i doubt thats going to happen.

Overall, no its not scary and never will be.

[C.of.N.finity]

In the DE codex there is a set arena where the Kabals are allowed to engage in open war. That combined with the wych cults' performances feeding other DE I think their society does function on some level.

I was referring to Dark Elves and not Dark Eldar but I believe the issue was the mass amount of sacrifices made on the alter of Khaine combined with slaves coming in, etc. Seemed like they were murding half a small country every week which just wouldn't hold up.

I know it was an odd reference to use in a question about 40k horror, but my point was simply that these are writers for a minuatres game. Sure, things must seem compelling thus driving the narrative of the game but they aren't economists or logistics experts so the overall picture (least with the DE and in my example, the horror of the imperium) seems to break down if you 'zoom' the scope out far enough.

[jorz192]

I think there is a good point to be had; if everything Grimdark, nothing is. (see the film 'the incredibles').

However we are all a bit more desensitized because of our modern media. A tabletop game is never going to measure up to some of the sickest films like the SAW series. But then its not trying to.

I also agree that yes- the dark eldar have it. The Talos/Crono's spine and the way it separates from the skin and flesh being up there with Urien Rakarth's hump being the most disgusting visually for me. thats partially because they are new and we are all used to skulls and flayed skin and everything nurgley.

On the other hand the background could potentially write some really scary stuff, but this is a game that is being more and more marketed towards young teenagers, so i doubt thats going to happen.

Overall, no its not scary and never will be.

This is exactly what I was getting at! Thanks for the post and everyone elses' replies!

[Necron2.0]

What's scary?

Consider: Rogue Trader was first published in 1987. As has been pointed out, the game is marketed to preteens. By definition, this means we're into a second generation of players, and perhaps even a third generation in some rare circumstances.

So, what's scary?

NERDS ARE BREEDING!!!!

:)

[Spirit Leech]

You want to know what is scary, the death korp of krieg is scary. Krieg serve the Emps with the entirety of there being to the point where they are little more then robots for the will of their commanding officers(which of course is the Emp's will). Read dead men walking and you'll understand how effectively mind washed they are (hell. it is even easier to relate with necrons then it is with them.).


Protip: Finishing dead men walking on christmas eve is a terrible terrible idea, never do it.

[Asymmetrical Xeno]

Horror is subjective - for me I find the Umbra and Enslavers to be "scary", body-horror stuff like that really freaks me out, its why I loved Carpenters The Thing so much. The Umbra because the idea of shadows ON me, including ones on my hands and under my eyes becoming weapons to kill me from a faceless black sphere is pretty nightmarish - and enslavers because the idea of becoming a living warp-portal for extra-dimensional beings to go through is utterly horrific - just hope to hell you are NOT psychic - because if you are, you ARE at risk. All the time.

[mikethefish]

I don't think anything in the 40k universe is particularly scary anymore - or creative or relative or anything similar.

For a long time the background has been turning into a parody of itself. It's become it's own cliche which is is really just quite sad. Reading the background, it feels as if the writers nowadays just sort of free write a bunch of nonsense, and then toss in a few hundred skulls, creepy cherubs, and tattered pieces of ancient parchment and call it a day.

[Anggul]

I'm sure that if you were actually there, 40k would be utterly terrifying. However, looking at a bunch of models on raised pieces of ground from above or reading a story about it is nothing like it would really be.

The sheer, unbridled insanity setting in as the air is choked with spores, you can't breathe properly and hurtling toward you is a tide of snapping jaws, jagged, slashing claws and untold venomous, acidic, crushing weapons of biological death. You've seen entire cities consumed by an indefatigable swarm, eviscerating soldiers and civilians, men, women and children alike. You tried to save her, you really did. The knowledge that the sight of the little girl being borne aloft by some winged horror will soon be gone at your death is the only semblance of meaning you have left. Not even the hope of reinforcements is there to comfort you, even the beloved Emperor's light is blotted out by the unrelenting darkness of these... things. Both physically and psychically you are doomed. Maybe the knowledge that someone would arrive and rescue the world, that you and your companions could give your lives for the people left alive, for the good of mankind, you would be calm before the end, but not even that is possible. The psykers are screaming out in some impossible alien tongue, clearly declaring the imminent doom despite the fact that you can't really understand them, even those who were bound to the Emperor and even bend the warp to their will can't stop this. The Commissar, a man you respected as nigh-on indestructible in body and in mind is dying slowly, slumped up against a wall, despite his heroic tenacity and inspiring stubbornness, he has been brought low before any alien has laid claws on him. The worst part? What was once you will soon be part of their swarm, your body will fuel their cause and there's naught you can do about it.

It's hard to truly comprehend the terror of living in such a galaxy, but be assured, it would be horrific.

[jorz192]

I'm sure that if you were actually there, 40k would be utterly terrifying. However, looking at a bunch of models on raised pieces of ground from above or reading a story about it is nothing like it would really be.

The sheer, unbridled insanity setting in as the air is choked with spores, you can't breathe properly and hurtling toward you is a tide of snapping jaws, jagged, slashing claws and untold venomous, acidic, crushing weapons of biological death. You've seen entire cities consumed by an indefatigable swarm, eviscerating soldiers and civilians, men, women and children alike. You tried to save her, you really did. The knowledge that the sight of the little girl being borne aloft by some winged horror will soon be gone at your death is the only semblance of meaning you have left. Not even the hope of reinforcements is there to comfort you, even the beloved Emperor's light is blotted out by the unrelenting darkness of these... things. Both physically and psychically you are doomed. Maybe the knowledge that someone would arrive and rescue the world, that you and your companions could give your lives for the people left alive, for the good of mankind, you would be calm before the end, but not even that is possible. The psykers are screaming out in some impossible alien tongue, clearly declaring the imminent doom despite the fact that you can't really understand them, even those who were bound to the Emperor and even bend the warp to their will can't stop this. The Commissar, a man you respected as nigh-on indestructible in body and in mind is dying slowly, slumped up against a wall, despite his heroic tenacity and inspiring stubbornness, he has been brought low before any alien has laid claws on him. The worst part? What was once you will soon be part of their swarm, your body will fuel their cause and there's naught you can do about it.

It's hard to truly comprehend the terror of living in such a galaxy, but be assured, it would be horrific.

From a readers standpoint we have heard imagery like that so often it starts to lose any real sense of horror. That is violence, while it shocks there is violence in the real world. I'm thinking more along the lines of things that can actually chill you.

[Anggul]

Well that's just it, it's terrifying for the guys involved. I can't really remember the last time literature chilled me, it's usually an account of someone else being scared, not me. It's not so much the violence of 40k which is really scary, but the other things, like the chaos cultists all around you, the shadow in the warp messing with pretty much everything, the creatures who come in the night through their jade-green portal and steal people away.

Writing is rarely scary as it is, let alone fantasy writing.