Fanon/Tabletop Games

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Examples of Fanon in Tabletop Games include:

Tabletop RPG

• The Ordial Plane is a concept that turns up very frequently in Planescape fan work, based on the assumption that the Astral and Ethereal Planes should have a third counterpart in accordance to the Rule of Three and which would complete the circle between the Inner, Outer, and Material Planes.
• Many players assume Abyssal Exalted are undead. They're actually living people "tainted by the essence of the Underworld", much like Half Vampires in many other settings.

War Games

• Warhammer Fantasy deliberately leaves a lot up in the air concerning some of its mysteries, but a great deal of fanon proclaims definitive answers to these questions. One common example is the nature of the Bretonnian goddess: many fans declare that she is merely a deception by the Wood Elves to be holy writ, but this is only one of several possibilities vaguely hinted at by the actual canon.
• The above applies to Warhammer's sister game Warhammer 40,000 as well. There's even some (semi-) Ascended Fanon.
  • There are fans who insist that the Eldar created the Tau Ethereals, based on some vague hints in the Xenology book, which had a decidedly Unreliable Narrator (and the narrator himself dismissed the idea out of hand.)
  • Also, most issues related to memes that aren't pure gameplay bugs (and some of those, too) seem to have some fanon to them. E.g. it's canon that Ultramarines are generally by-the-book sort (the book in question happens to be written by their Primarch), think themselves "first among the equals" and try to act accordingly, though they do use unconventional moves if necessary. Fans tend to extend this toward more obsessive or stuffed and arrogant "Ultrasmurfs" a la Matt "Spiritual Liege" Ward. Like this.
  • The fandom seem to be easily fascinated... in various ways... with the concept of Death Cults - and loves to build upon this.
    • Rogue Trader has "death cult" as one of 20 common ship complications, but start discussing the ship quirks and...

Anonymous 1: I love the emerging theme that, given any excuse at all, a crew will form a death cult. It's not a question of IF a ship will have a death cult, it's a question of how long until it DOES get one. Anonymous 2: Of course they will, it's the Imperium. The real questions are whether or not it's heretical and whether or not it's useful.

• • • There was that joke about temple assassins (as grim professionals) showing resentment toward death cultist assassins (as annoying fans, Harley Quinn style). It doesn't help that at some point death cult assassins somehow became bouncier than Dark Eldar Wyches.
  • Then there was that whole deal with the Squats...
  • Dreadnoughts theoretically are "revered", but there are... inevitable issues. Fanon has the quintessential "Grandpa Dreadnought", but existing ones tend to be interpreted as having various "Cranky Grandpa" personalities too. And they fit for this, though it's probably would be more accurate to assume they are trying to stay more than a part of a ritual and have little time for chat.
    • Bjorn the Fell Handed of the Space Wolves. He is the oldest human alive in the Imperium, not counting the Emperor. He evidently has superhumanly keen instincts, and even back then was a berserker who can keep his head cool - which is to say, one of the most dangerous things around. Which is also the obvious reason why Leman Russ left him to look after his "boys". Fanon: Bjorn is awakened every century or so, to let the Space Wolves learn from his ancient wisdom - that is, ask him to tell the newbies of the few best known stories about Leman Russ - then it's back to sleep... and he is understandably fed up with this.
    • Black Templars have Tankred (from Damnation Crusade, comic about Black Templars), who supposedly is in it for the bitches (and booze). Also, Tankred endures. One, he refers to himself in third person. Two...
    • There's a meme of a Dreadnought that wakes up and voices his complaint - coming from Turn Signals on a Land Raider, but with many variations from NSFW versions that expound on the details to a page with Tankred. The latter take makes it not clear whether this was plain truth, a joke to brush away other concerns, a way to guilt-trip his Battle-Brother, or all of the above. It's not even that his revelation only barely stays within Double Entendre territory, it's that Dreadnoughts have No Indoor Voice (and why would they?) - as far as he knows, a whole Company may hear this:

Tech-Marine: Hello, old friend. Dreadnought: You have awoken Tankred from a particularly good dream involving two Sisters of Battle. Tech-Marine: It's time for war. Dreadnought: Twins they were.

• • Alpha Legion is everywhere. And behind everything (unless it's Tzeentch or some Eldar Farseer this time).
  • Speaking of the eldar messing with the humans, "Eldrad Ulthran is a dick".
  • Speaking of the manipulations, various Stormtrooper (Tempestum) units may be unwitting pawns/allies of various forces, possibly including Alpha Legion and/or Isha (why else those guys are unusually resistant to diseases?).
  • Speaking of the eldar being friendly with the humans... how many Eldar-Human hybrids there really are around?
    • Love Can Bloom...

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