How much comedy do you have in your 40k Games?

On the subject of

sonichu.com/cwcki/Chris_and_English#Written_language

I found what you might consider a horror story if that sort of shit bothers you.

>horror story
That man's life is one.

Chris Bishop, or "Chrishop."

You're welcome.

What the ever loving fuck have I just read?

Boy you would just love learning german.

Quite a lot. Mostly because it annoys this one "MUST BE SERIOUS ALL THE TIME" guy in the group that gets on my nerves.

But dammit, I like the notion that even Inquisitors have to wait because the proper paperwork was filed in triplicate, but some words have typos, and the issue needs to be resolved.

I've always wondered about this. Would the Imperium be bogged down by bureaucracy or would they just push shit through because fuck xenos? Are Inquisitors trusted enough that they don't have to go through red tape? Is it possible to make typos when your brain is half machine?

Bloody hell, imagine being the scribe who has to tell him?
>DAMMIT, YOU LOWLY PEON, I NEED THOSE SORORITAS-ISSUE PENIS ENLARGERS RIGHT NOW!
>Sorry sir, but there was a mix up. I do however have a shipment of 'benis emlurgers' for you, with the proper seal of approval from... what appears to be a badly-drawn walrus.

I always thought of it as the Inquisitor as the one making the typo.

And at least personally, I've always preferred the 'flavor' of grimdark where yes, everyone has to go through the same, stupid procedures. That Humanity COULD still be on top, despite all their problems, if they weren't constantly shooting themselves in the foot.

I know that's not to some people's tastes, but I never really bought the notion that the Imperium is doing the best job possible line.

I feel a fairly high level of comedy is expected in a 40k version for two reasons.

The first is because that's just the nature of gaming groups. I remember someone once asked how to run an Archer game, and another user pointed out the core theme of Archer--a bunch of skilled professionals who constantly fail because they're all dysfunctional assholes--basically applies to all parties.

The second is 40k itself is a fairly absurdist setting when you get down to it. People who take that setting too seriously are fucking annoying.

The answer is... both.

Part of the beauty of The Imperium is in how, as it is so massive and poorly run, you can have places where a planetary defense only recieves reinforcements 500 years after the planet already blew up due to a literal mountain of paperwork building up on their office-chapel planet, and also have a world where an inquisitor sending seven batallions of guard to a worl,d without doing any paperwork, just because it was unusually rife with botflies and he suspected Nurgle was afoot and wanted to get the drop on any potential chaos corruption.

A decent amount, but me and the 7 or so people I know who play 40k only do so with each other, as we live out in the sticks.

Putting on voices for our characters during challenges , idle comments when the unexpected happens, running gags, and (in the case of team games) the occasional casual betrayal in favour of personal glory, usually spurred on by the other team. Anytime anything funny happens it's usually narrated by someone as an eccentric story.

Probably helps that we've all engaged in RP at some point, either in D&D, WoW or Dark Heresy.

favourites include:
>the camp Archon who tickles opponents to death with his agonizer and bags them up for later
>the jovial Nurgle lord who sounds like he's constantly gargling marbles
>the Blood Ravens army led by essentially Indrick Boreale
>any non-character ork who does something notable (including vehicle pilots) being referred to as "Rutgob" (even in games with multiple ork armies)
>the Dark Eldar player and the Eldar player who constantly betray each other
>an ork player whose 4 BW's are usually all dead by turn 2 creating the "Battlewagon graveyard" meme
>claiming to be a tactical genius when doing anything cheesy (IG parking lot, for example)
>entering the "cheating phase"

You probably had to be there.

"The cheating phase"
Come on user, you don't blueball Veeky Forums with storytimes, spill the haricots

Absurd 40k is best 40k, but that needs some clarification. I mean that it should be completely, obviously and ridiculously OTT in it's presentation and idea, but play it utterly seriously at first glance. Like, if you had no prior knowledge, you'd think it was being serious, but when you've been into it for a while, you slowly realise it's taking the piss out of itself and the source materiel mercilessly. Tongue-in-cheek is the order of the day.

>Yes, i'm mad.
>i

Serious 40k can work beautifully, but only when it's highly surreal and told from the POV of an ignorant character.

Which is kind of what I meant. Serious in all aspects but the meta-reading. In my experience, anything surreal by it's nature has a quality of 'is he fucking serious?' that goes with it. And that, the unsureness of whether it's a joke, is intrinsic to the comedy of 40k. You're not sure whether to laugh hysterically or cry manly tears, and you end up doing both. Maybe ironic hyperbole is the right phrase here? It's a difficult feeling to get a grasp on, so I'm having a little trouble reificating it.

>cheating phase
Tell me more

Generally more than my DM would like.
We've toned it down, but his world is pretty grim dark, and I can't help but rebel against that.
Also, I'm currently playing a WM sorc, so it's hard to keep too straight a face when you grow a feathered beard before turning into a pot plant.

Shit, missed it was only 40k relevant.
Most comedy comes because I'm incredibly new and no idea what I'm doing, there.

The cheating phase is an all-important hidden phase that players can enter at any point during their turn. You don't have to declare that you're entering it.

During this phase you're free to cheat as cheekily as you dare, and it's up to the opponent to realise you're doing it. This allows you to do things such as

>sweeping advance with terminators
>move immobilized vehicles
>assault out of close-topped vehicles
>recast already cast psychic powers
>use finite weapons that have already run out (bombs, etc)
>make use of wargear a unit doesn't actually have
>time travel back a phase to move/shoot with something you actually forgot to

If you are found out -during your turn-, you will be told that you've "entered your cheating phase" and will be jeered loudly for the rest of the game by the other players and spectators, and subsequent attempts to enter it will be considered highly unsporting.

However, in the case of "time travelling", you may announce to everyone that you are entering your cheating phase on the hope that they will sportingly allow you to do so, as it's just a game. However, doing so will invite scrutiny upon your later actions and players will jump at the chance to draw attention to misplays or subsequent attempts to cheat, again causing you to be jeered loudly throughout the rest of the game.

Falsely advertising a list can also be done via the cheating phase. Such as taking more than 3 Heavy Support in a standard FoC.
>user, why do you have 5 heavy support choices?
>what? I don't
>4 Battlewagons and a Looted Wagon
>one BW is a dedicated transport for the Warboss and the LW is a dedicated transport for the burna boyz
>ooh, okay
>nailedit.jpg

It's all in good fun.

Doesn't capitalize the 'i' in the middle of his last sentence.

Well, you may be incorrect but at least you're consistent.

>It's a place where boats tie themselves onto land.

>doesn't greentext the misdeeds of his peers

I play IG, so my favourite tactic during the cheating phase is re-adding guardsmen to depleted squads.

As a fellow IG player, my cheating phase was usually spent not having LoS to a target from an officer issuing an order

Cool

Every Techpriest. EVERY SINGLE ONE is hilarious/cute in their own way.

>i'm