Board Thread:Warhammer 40k General Discussion/@comment-6078851-20150628150826/@comment-6078851-20150630134446

fantasy's fans were probably thinking along the same lines - "the story's going nowhere, it's all getting a little stale, it's cool though because the end times'll re-invigorate the plot... etc" now the world is gone and the fans will have to settle for playing the upcoming prelude-warhammer or continue to play the old warhammer which wont be catered for anymore. although i'm still surprised that fantasy was doing so poorly...

the problem i see with 40k's end times though is that gw probably don't have any idea on how to continue 40k after the end times in a way to satisfy everyone. if we look at the state of affairs within the milky way at the end of the 41st millenium, things look extremely bad for most of the races, and logically speaking things will/might/should get worse, and there's a variety of possible, and likely, scenarios that could result in the end of life in the galaxy. unlike fantasy though, 40k has a huge background for any number of games to be set in - 30k, necromunda, inquisitor, battlefleet, space hulk etc.

while i would like 40k's story to progress beyond the end times it would be a great end to the plot if it ended logically, for example tyranids eat everything and move on, or a psychotic necron gains control of the celestial orrery and activates the whole thing! :P  if this did happen though, i doubt 40k (or 30k if it becomes that) would suffer as a franchise: there's 10,000 years of astartes history, plenty of continual scope for novels and plot advancement (obviously any plot would be history but there's 10,000 years of space to add to), and even the final millenium would still have space to add to. added to this is also the fact that people have been playing 30k for years already with the advent of horus era models and rules. essentially 30k would still be 40k but with some better equipment for the imperium: the only major differences would be no tau, almost no necrons, slightly more eldar, and genestealers would be about the only tyranids in the galaxy, but then if you want these races in a game then you simply play a game nearer the end times :)

as always i'm mostly playing devil's advocate here - i do not want 40k's story to end at 41,000... although it could easily make sense (it is called the end times)... and be epic :) - but if it happened i think 40k's tabletop, model, and novel franchise wouldn't be harmed (except for the obvious cries from fans of "WHAT THE F**K GW??!! THAT'S NOT COOL!!!", and in all honesty i'd probably be joining in those cries :)