Gorkamorka
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Gorkamorka is a vehicle-using campaign game produced by Games Workshop. It is set on the desert world of Angelis, in the Warhammer 40,000 universe.
The player takes control of a group of Orks, either Gorkers (worshippers of Gork, who have more Combat skills) or Morkers (worshippers of Mork, who have more Driving skills). The object of the game is to battle rivals and collect scrap, until the Mob's experience level reaches the maximum; after this, the Mob is retired, as they have earned their tags, which give them a place on Gorkamorka when it finally does its thing (see below).
The rules were roughly based on the second edition of Warhammer 40,000, with numerous extra vehicle rules added. Extensive campaign rules were also added.
The rules, unfortunately, were considered rather complex and the game itself was comparatively expensive. Even the release of the expansion pack Digganob couldn't save the game, which was slowly forgotten. Nowadays, there are only a few web-sites dedicated to Gorkamorka, but with the recent updates to Mordheim and Necromunda, Games Workshop will most likely not re-release Gorkamorka.
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[edit] Background
Eons ago, a Space Hulk filled with Orks on a Waaagh! (a huge Ork invasion), crashed into Angelis, plowing a massive canyon, "Da Skid", and devastating the world's ecosystem. The Orks, who can survive just about any catastrophe, promptly decided that this wasn't the Waaagh! and decided to find a way off-world as quickly as possible. They turned to their Mekboyz (Orks genetically pre-destined to be scientists) for aid. The Meks quickly set the other Orks to work gathering up all of the wreckage from the crash. The Meks began assembling this scrap into a huge machine- just what it was going to do differed depending on the ideas of the individual Mekboy.
Some thought they were constructing a new Space Hulk, others thought it would be a Boarder (a combination of tractor beam and teleporter, which would pull a Space Hulk into orbit then allow the Orks to teleport on board) while yet others thought that the machine, once completed, would spring to life, pick them all up in its hands and carry them to the Waaagh!!
Eventually one of the other Orks noticed that this machine resembled a giant Ork - it was the spitting image of Gork and or Mork, the Ork gods of violence and cunning. But which god the machine resembled became a bone of contention between the Orks- some thought it was Gork, others Mork. This eventually led to civil war, which destroyed the machine. Afterwards, the Meks decreed that from that day forward, the machine would be referred to as "Gorkamorka", which meant it could be Gork, Mork or both gods at once.
[edit] Races of Gorkamorka
- Orks
- a fungus/algal-based race whose culture revolves around war, Orks are the most common species in the universe of Warhammer 40,000. The Orks on Angelis are slightly mutated, as their culture is led by the Mekboyz instead of Warbosses. Orks live in Mektown, centred around Gorkamorka and the biggest (and only) city on Angelis.
- Diggas
- Before the Orks crashed, Angelis was being surveyed by the Imperium. Those humans examining the pyramids of Angelis were forced underground during the Crash, and gradually devolved into primitives. When the two races first met, Orks tried to enslave Diggas, but were slaughtered by the Night Horrors, the fearful allies of the Diggas. Since then, Orks have referred to the Pyramids and the land around them, the unchallenged territory of the Diggas, as "Morgarg-durlurk-gulskar-dregsnikslag", which translates as "Fortress of Ancient, Terrifying Power, Land of Waiting Death, Pain and Destruction", a name of utter dread amongst a species which fears virtually nothing. Despite these initial setbacks, Diggas and Orks have become trading partners, and Diggas revere Orks as the pinnacle of culture, often wearing green paint and ork-style gear when going into battle.
- Rebel Grots
- Despite the fact that the Gretchin (Grots) of Angelis fight and die for their Orkish masters, Grots do not and will never receive tags- which means they won't be allowed on Gorkamorka when the time finally comes. This was and is very upsetting for them, and many years ago there was a city wide revolution, which was brutally put down by the Orks. Some of the rebellious Gretchin survived, and fled Mektown. These were the ancestors and founders of the Gretchin Revolutionary Committee, led by the infamous Red Gobbo, who dwell in Skid Row- a massive, relatively intact chunk of Space Hulk which lies at the opposite end of Da Skid to Mektown. The Rebel Grots' mission is to earn equal rights, the opportunity for Grots to get on Gorkamorka too.
- Muties
- When the Space Hulk crashed, not all of the humans were forced underground. Some survived the crash of their own space ship, and continued to dwell within it. But the radiation and poisons pouring from the Hulk twisted and corrupted them, changing them into twisted mutant monstrosities. The most advanced race on Angelis, the Muties lead a holy war against all other races from their fortress "Etervigila" (based on the name of the crashed spaceship from which it was built, the "Eternal Vigilance"). They harbour deep resentment for the Orks, whose wayward space hulk pushed the Muties' ancestors out of the sky, and separated them from their deity, Magod - generally assumed to be the Machine God of the Adeptus Mechanicus.
- Night Horrors / Necrons
- (not a playable race) Originally, the true identity of the Diggas' monstrous allies never was confirmed, being referred to by the Orks as "dem fings wot built da pyramids", but illustrations in the rulebooks featured a Necron skull amids other debris, and Games Workshop published a scenario in White Dwarf which revealed the other beings to be an isolated crypt of Necrons, located in the pyramids above the Diggas' catacombs. An Imperial report of the pyramids, from before the coming of the Ork Hulk was reprinted in Warhammer 40,000 Codex: Necrons (Chambers et al, 2002).
[edit] Trivia
A video game based on Gorkamorka was planned for the Sega Dreamcast, but was scrapped shortly before the system died.
[edit] References
- Chambers, Andy, Thorpe, Gav, and Priestley, Rick (1997). Gorkamorka: Da Uvver Book. Nottingham: Games Workshop. ISBN 1-872372-55-4.
- Chambers, Andy, Haines, Pete, McNeill, Graham, and Hoare, Andy (2002). Warhammer 40,000 Codex: Necrons, 3rd Edition, Nottingham: Games Workshop. ISBN 1-84154-190-7.
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