Ok so I have some friends who are interested in the 40k universe but im not sure where to start explaining things to them. I often find this problem because the game is so vast its often called lorehammer in my game store. I grow up around it so im not sure how I started ether, I just picked it up slowly. How should I explain the universe to them so they can also enjoy the eternal crusade with me?
Present the factions to them, the one that sounds most fun/interesting to him expand his knowledge about it. After he is impressed and in love with one faction he will naturally learn more about the rest of the lore, start small.
OR you can do it like an ORK. Step 1: Club em in da Head Step 2: Tie dem up gud Step 3: Put all da Factions in front of Dem und day they learn a faction dat day Like Step 4: If em pick sumfing otha den da ORKZ! Repeat Step 1. Step 5: If they picked ORKZ Den they pick propa und day can't go no where cuz den youz gunna get in Trouble for getting em started like a true ork. Step 5: Get a new Name and move elsewhere and Find more players to repeat the process to
I think it would be best to not start off being formal about 40k and its lore. Start by explaining how ridiculous the universe is like millions of guardsmen being thrown into a battle for something trivial. Hordes of green fungal people and bugs ala starship troopers. Giant titan mechs that can obliterate armies in a single attack. Spaceships pulling off Death Star planetary explosions. You get the idea. If you know their likes in gaming preferences or even history that's even better. If your friend likes magic and the like show them Eldar. Maybe they're a WW2 buff, show them Imperial Guard.
I started off my 'career' as a 40K fan through random chance. I'm an RPer and while I was with a group for The Old Republic, we had a forum RP someone wanted to try with the Orks and an open detachment of Space Marines. It never got far enough for them to pick a proper Chapter or anything. It didn't catch with the group in total. I got interested just by hearing how ludicrous the Orks were explained to behave. I was an Ork lover initially because I greatly, grandly enjoy fucked up humor set to the tune of wild hijinks and over-the-top awesome. From there, my habits of just reading wikis to kill time spurred me along organically to growing a love for both the Imperium, and the sons of Lorgar. No regrets. Tl;DR -- Go re-read Djemo's post in whatever mental tone of voice you use to read mine.
(Sorry for double post but i'm tired and have no idea what i'm doing) It would probably be better to show them all the cool edgy stuff first, then save all the boring little details to explain for later, that way they can gradually get deeper and deeper into it without shoving too much stuff grimdark porn in their faces.
