Warhammer Adventures

[Zor]

GW is releasing a series of Age of Sigmar and 40k side material targeting a younger audience

This puts a smile on my face. I hope its good.

Zor

[U.P. Cinnabar]

Targeting a younger audience? Ohhhkay

[Gandalf]

Targeting a younger audience? Ohhhkay

Considering that they're the perfect age to get hooked on the franchise, it's a pretty sweet idea. Also, as they mature they can move on to the "darker" material.

[Elheru Aran]

Yeah, while at first 40K would seem a bit... mature for younger kids... there's things you could do. Adventure with Magos Indyjones seeking artifacts of the ancient eldar in a cursed tomb of the Necrons. The Inquisitor must discover the source of the plot against the Imperium. Is Young Biff tough enough for the Space Marines? Is Scout Biff going to make it back from his long range mission scouting against the Orks?

Basically, just kiddy adventure stuff, with a 40K flavor. Don't make it too gruesome or too deep, engage in 'mild peril' rather than ACTUAL peril, and it should pass.

[Elheru Aran]

Here's a quote from the Warhammer Community (official GW page) that should help. Emphasis mine.

I’m delighted to be bringing the adventure, excitement and thrills of life in the 41st Millennium to a new generation. There are going to be space battles and monsters, fearsome aliens and dangerous villains. But there will also be friendship and bravery in the form of our three lead characters; ganger Talen, Martian Mekki and explorer Zelia. They already know that life in the Imperium is tough, but they never expected that it would be this challenging, that they would find themselves lost and alone. As their quest begins, they will have to quickly learn who they can trust and what risks are worth taking. Above all, they will learn that need each other to survive.

In other words: standard preteen adventure fare. Less in-universe realistic, more using basic youth writing tropes to teach values via simple adventures and broad examples. See: Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew, Animorphs, Goosebumps, Choose Your Own Adventure (which would be totally *boss* in legit 40K actually), etcetera. It can be done with more curiosity and less blood splatter than one might expect.

[U.P. Cinnabar]

Yeah, while at first 40K would seem a bit... mature for younger kids... there's things you could do. Adventure with Magos Indyjones seeking artifacts of the ancient eldar in a cursed tomb of the Necrons. The Inquisitor must discover the source of the plot against the Imperium. Is Young Biff tough enough for the Space Marines? Is Scout Biff going to make it back from his long range mission scouting against the Orks?

Basically, just kiddy adventure stuff, with a 40K flavor. Don't make it too gruesome or too deep, engage in 'mild peril' rather than ACTUAL peril, and it should pass.

Oh, derr, like HeroQuest.

[Bedlam]

Yeah, while at first 40K would seem a bit... mature for younger kids... there's things you could do. Adventure with Magos Indyjones seeking artifacts of the ancient eldar in a cursed tomb of the Necrons. The Inquisitor must discover the source of the plot against the Imperium. Is Young Biff tough enough for the Space Marines? Is Scout Biff going to make it back from his long range mission scouting against the Orks?

Basically, just kiddy adventure stuff, with a 40K flavor. Don't make it too gruesome or too deep, engage in 'mild peril' rather than ACTUAL peril, and it should pass.

I don't know if you've actually read it or if this is a conincidence but Biff Tundrish was actually the name of an Imperial Fist space marine back in Ian Watson's 40K novel 'Space Marine' back in the very early 90s.

[Zixinus]

Considering that ABSOLUTE GRIMDARK is a cornerstone of the franchise, I would like to know what expression the writers and artists put in charge of this had when they learned just what they have to work with. I mean, this is a franchise where using humans for computing power is not considered noteworthy. People use actual human skulls as decoration. They are either going to play very fast and loose with the canon (such as it is) or are going to avoid the extremes.

[Elheru Aran]

They are either going to play very fast and loose with the canon (such as it is) or are going to avoid the extremes.

I'd say this is probably a safe given, yes. They aren't dumb. It is possible to tone this stuff down. That said, it's not unusual for kid-lit to get rather dark at times. The writer just has to be careful to avoid explicit imagery-- you could have a Khorne Berzerker shouting BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD, just leave out the splattering blood and flying bits of people. Think about the Goosebumps series-- you wouldn't think a horror series for kids would be possible, but it is.

[Sea Skimmer]

Pah stop underestimating kids.

When I was young I got told very real stories about how you have to pin down your buddy who had his arm blown off because his brain wont accept what happened and he won't let a medic treat him without physical intervention. And I turned out fine as long as you ignore all the problems.

The biggest problem with grimdark and a younger audience is just that younger readers might not have enough background knowledge to appreciate the dark humor behind the grimdark that makes it entertaining. But in terms of how 'bad' any of it actually is, 40K still tends to fall short of real life events, and often goes to such cartoonish limits that it mitigates it's own honor by turning into not subtle comedy. Often it basically mitigates it's own horror by inventing some actual reason why XYZ took place that's automatically far more reasonable then Himmler said so.

[Gandalf]

I thought the grimdark of 40k was supposed to be comedic?

[The Grim Squeaker]

Pah stop underestimating kids.

When I was young I got told very real stories about how you have to pin down your buddy who had his arm blown off because his brain wont accept what happened and he won't let a medic treat him without physical intervention. And I turned out fine as long as you ignore all the problems.

There are a lot of books/stories/biographies from the holocaust that are recomended reading for children. I read "Run Boy, Run" when I was ~10, and that's infinitely darker.

When it comes to British Dark fantasy, Robin Jarvis has been traumatizing younger kids than this for far longer. (He is absolutely vicious when it comes to killing of characters, in nasty ways. Said characters being children, young animals, main characters, or all of the above makes no difference). Fantastic books