The world's first academic conference dedicated to all things Warhammer
Warhammer 40,000 has drawn significant inspiration from American author H.P. Lovecraft and the genre of cosmic horror more broadly. Lovecraft stands as an icon of pulp and horror literature who has inspired countless contemporary works of science fiction and pioneered the genre of Lovecraftian, or cosmic horror. The alien nature and design of the Tyranids …
Game designer Rick Priestley has described the original Warhammer setting as a portmanteau-world: a universe inspired by real world history, folk stories, and fantasy literature, particularly the works of J.R.R. Tolkein and Michael Moorcock. Priestley’s subsequent science-fantasy game, 40k, took the same approach: drawing liberally on roleplaying games, comics, science fiction novels, and movies, as …
Abstract Games Workshop’s Warhammer 40K (WH40K) is widely regarded as the progenitor of the Grimdark genre: a simple tagline in a magazine advertisement that read ‘In the grim darkness of the far future, there is only war’ spawned a universe of hopeless, superstitious and terrifying visions of mankind’s future. It was a black mirror that …