Madmarttigan said:
Don't get me wrong the warhammer universe is aesthetically amazing. Love the games, love the look, but is there actually a storyline where there is a relatively good side for normal people to get invested on? I've never really felt like diving into the lore of warhammer because it is massive and it seems like everything is just different shades of evil and dark.
Have actually been on the private server of the old age of reckoning mmo playing that a lot.
As a whole? Honestly, no. Not really. It's kind of a thing actually for WH. It is supposed to be all shades of ****tiness. It's even a meme at times. (Some nuance there perhaps but that is in depth discussion that gets into the weeds of which I don't think you are there yet)
That being said, there are definitely lots of sub factions, plot lines whose schtick is NOT just being evil. Just mostly trying to survive in a universe filled with said evil. Claudes suggestion of Gaunt's Ghosts is a prime example of this. It's a storyline of just plain human soldiers in a unit that are tasked with fighting the horrors of their realities. It's actually really grounded and a classic tale of the little guys against the world. They are not evil, or even partly evil. Just regular soldiers fighting and trying to survive. A fantastic series that is an easy recommend to start dipping your toes in. That or Ciaphias Cain if you want a more tongue in cheek approach to the overall grim horror that is WH in general. Cain's whole thing is that he is a Commissar with a reputation of being an absolute badass and Hero of the Imperium for pulling off amazing deeds in battle. The thing is, is that he is actually a super coward at heart but puts himself in these situations because he feels like he has to because of that reputation and then things just tend to work out for him in the end. It's a pretty light hearted take on the whole WH thing and the writing is really well done. One of the best characters in the whole universe is in it too. Jurgen, my beloved! Also, an easy recommend to start off with that is not all evil and super edgy.
ETA: Will also add that not all the evil stuff is you typical evil to be evil stuff. In fact, with the right writers, some of the actual bad people in the setting end up having the most memorable stories and you can even end up sympathizing with them in the end. One of Black Libraries big authors (Games Workshop publishing arm), Aaron Dembski-Bowden is an absolute wizard at writing evil characters and stories into amazing works that has people falling in love with the "evil" factions all the time. One of his works is the Night Lords trilogy, which is universally praised and considered one of the high marks of the entire book selection that the BL has. The Night Lords are actual super evil dudes who do evil things to innocent people but in their shoes and through their eyes, you can't help but feel for their own plight and predicaments. Even the evil people in Warhammer 40K are often stuck in evil situations they don't want to be in.
Another of his works is probably my favorite of the whole Horus Heresy, The First Heretic. Again, he just has a way of really showing the thoughts and trials and tribulations and shows that sometimes, evil in itself is just a story to be told as to how it got there and why. It was a NYT Bestseller in it's own right.
