Dark Heresy (40K RPG) Review

Utsanomiko · Post by **Utsanomiko** » 2008-02-15 12:10am

Actually, it does seem the Inquisitor's Handbook coming out this summer will contain advanced career progressions and further info on Inquisitors, so there may still be opportunities to play out the field of explicators, interrogators and other inquisitorial apprentice positions.

The book in September sounds like it'll include a good selection of enemies of the Imperium such as aliens and daemons (though possibly more of the later. I'd just like to see Ork boys, Grots, and Eldar pirates, rangers, and exodites).

Following that we just have to wait for the book about Rogue Traders...

Oh.

On the hopeful side, if Warhammer Fantasy RP is anything to go by, they might just pick the project back up again in a couple years, again hopefully from where they left off.

Coalition · Post by **Coalition** » 2008-02-15 01:10am

Utsanomiko wrote:Actually, it does seem the Inquisitor's Handbook coming out this summer will contain advanced career progressions and further info on Inquisitors, so there may still be opportunities to play out the field of explicators, interrogators and other inquisitorial apprentice positions.

The book in September sounds like it'll include a good selection of enemies of the Imperium such as aliens and daemons (though possibly more of the later. I'd just like to see Ork boys, Grots, and Eldar pirates, rangers, and exodites).

Well, if you have the WH40k Codexes, you can hand-wave a few rules of your own, until the actual stuff arrives.

I.e. the Boltgun:
DH:
Range is 90m
ROF: S/2
Damage is 1D10+5 X
Pen is 4

IG Codex:
Range is 24
Str 4
AP 5
Rapid Fire

Bolt Pistol:
DH:
Range is 30m
RoF is S/2
Dmg: 1D10+5 X
Pen 4

IG Codex:
Range is 12
Str 4
AP 5
Pistol

So offhand, it looks like you do the following:
Range:
12 -> 10-30m
24 -> 60-100m
36 -> 120-150m (assuming the hunting rifle in DH = sniper rifle)
48 -> 120-300m (assuming the RPG is a missile launcher)
etc?

RoF:
Open to interpretation and reading of the rules

Damage: (rough guess so far)
Str/2 D10, plus the remainder * 3
(The Heavy and Assault features will cause this to change of course)

AP*2 = Pen, then the GM modifies it

Clip, Reload, Special, Wt, Cost, rarity: GM call

So there is room for expansion, or we could just post our ideas to here or Testing, and let others critique them. If anyone wants, I'll try to go over the Tyranid weapons in Testing.

Utsanomiko · Post by **Utsanomiko** » 2008-02-15 08:21pm

Converting DH stats by multiplying 40k equivalents by 10 only goes so far with 40k, considering how abstract and subjective are the stats in the tabletop game. Every model has to have stats and prices that puts them in range for reasonable unit sizes and roles within their small army versus other armies, so you don't end up with a box of Marines and a Rhino equal to 200 Guardsmen.

The Inquisitor specialist game might be a better reference for base stats in DH, since both are related to WHFRP. Some of the mental stats overlap or aren't equivalent, but six or seven out of nine correspond without much fuss. Although Inquisitor is adjusted for a different sort of gaming experience, with most characters' stats in either the 40s or 60s (suggesting they're scaled up by 20-30 points). A Marine's BS and WS are 75, with 200 Strength, 150 Toughness, and the mental skills generally at 65-75, for an extreme example.

I'm not very concerned about Ork and Eldar troops not getting represented in the supplements or website, though. More than likely they'll get released or the community will develop reasonable approximations, but either way I probably won't use those enemies for more than reference.

Imperial Overlord · Post by **Imperial Overlord** » 2008-02-15 08:37pm

Purge the Unclean, due out at the end of March, will have stats for an NPC Marine. Inquisitor numbers translate poorly. Eyeballing the numbers and guessing works fairly well if you have a good grasp of the system.

Utsanomiko · Post by **Utsanomiko** » 2008-02-15 09:18pm

Imperial Overlord wrote:Inquisitor numbers translate poorly. Eyeballing the numbers and guessing works fairly well if you have a good grasp of the system.

That was my initial thought as well. I never learned the rules to Inquisitor, but I gave it a quick browse tonight to see if it had possible relevance. They're definitely really high across the board.

Imperial Overlord · Post by **Imperial Overlord** » 2008-02-16 05:35pm

Last week we humped through forest and swamp to end up camping at an abandoned IG monitoring post. The assassin was on the roof with the auspex and his binocs at night when the xenos came back for payback. Guess who fell asleep on watch?

That would be the assassin. Who had also claimed our first set of IG flak armour we had obtained and then never taken point or lead from the front. Fortunately the Guardsmen watching from inside the bunker was awake. The big spotlight on the armoured vehicle was hard to miss.

The xenos started by blowing the assassin off the roof (he lived) and raking the bunker with automatic weapons fire and something like krak grenades. The other psyker through up his detect life and found the xenos and the big nasty, light adverse overpowered native predators (the GM admitted that he gave them way too much armour after the session) in the vicinity.

So predators held back. Some xenos moved to flank while the rest hosed the bunker with fire. So some of us jumped out the rear and others stayed inside and fought. The light proved to be armoured, which was a bitch but it eventually succumbed. I couldn't do damage worth shit the whole fight, but I did manage to lead one of the predators onto the xenos by somewhat unwittingly acting as a lure and then escaping with the help of distort vision.

The assassin coped to falling asleep, causing his status to plummet within the group. We captured the vehicle, a power sword no one is proficient with, and some jewelry we can probably sell for good cash once we are off the planet.

And we're running short on ammo and haven't fought any of the heretics we're after yet.

It's going to be rough.

Imperial Overlord · Post by **Imperial Overlord** » 2008-02-17 06:55am

So more blood and death as we were able to get close to an enemy watch tower guarding the area we needed to go by using a captured vehicle.

We stormed the building. The scum kicked ass and shot people to death. Then the assassin shot the arbitrator (by accident) in the leg and the arbitrator frenzied. The assassin got dropped and a bit latter the xenos bastards gunned down the arbitrator.

Many aliens with guns hitting us from above and below. Bastard in power armour dropped with lucky lasgun and chainsword hits. I healed my fellow players like a minor god my rolls were so disgusting. Then we fought the boss.

Psyker xenos in power armour with a power sword. Lasgun and chainsword go bye-bye. Feral worlder gets sliced and diced, but is only fucked up instead of toasted. Then I stab the boss man in the back of the head with a severed power cable and he goes down.

We are low on ammo. We've lost ranged weapons. We've been hurt.

We've also acquired sellable loot. A suit of power armour that has been consecrated by our tech priest and fits yours truly.

We're getting more pieces to the puzzle that is this world.

And I have enough xp to buy psy level 3 and pyromancy.

The enemies of the God-Emperor shall perish in fire.

andrewgpaul · Post by **andrewgpaul** » 2008-02-17 07:17am

Does "enemies of the God-Emperor" include apparently the Imperium's most incompetent assassin?

Imperial Overlord · Post by **Imperial Overlord** » 2008-02-17 07:26am

andrewgpaul wrote:Does "enemies of the God-Emperor" include apparently the Imperium's most incompetent assassin?

Nah. We're too damn low on fate points to get rid of bullet attractors. He gets arcoflagellant duty, minus the cyborging.

Aaron · Post by **Aaron** » 2008-02-17 12:13pm

If your running out of ammo, why don't you loot the dead Xeno's? That not allowed?

Hotfoot · Post by **Hotfoot** » 2008-02-17 12:16pm

Using Xeno technology is heretical, Acolyte.

Aaron · Post by **Aaron** » 2008-02-17 12:26pm

Hotfoot wrote:Using Xeno technology is heretical, Acolyte.

Not if your a Radical.

Utsanomiko · Post by **Utsanomiko** » 2008-02-17 03:18pm

Eh, most Inquisitorial requisitioned agents are illiterate and barely able to recognize and use their own technology, let alone an aliens'. A radical has to be rather careful about what xenos items he uses/equips his acolytes with and how obvious he does it, and I doubt any but the most redical want to hear that their acolytes resorted to using such devices to get the Emperor's work done.

Imperial Overlord · Post by **Imperial Overlord** » 2008-02-17 03:24pm

Cpl Kendall wrote:If your running out of ammo, why don't you loot the dead Xeno's? That not allowed?

The guns are different (shoot 30cm metal spikes). We're reluctant to use them, but the power armour tech seems to be of human derivation and the tech priest reconsecrated it. Who am I to argue with the wisdom of the Mechanicus?

We have some suspicions that the xenos might actually be human offshots, which would explain why so much of the tech is compatible. They are, however, definitely hostile.

Coalition · Post by **Coalition** » 2008-02-17 06:13pm

Just did the adventure in the mines last night. Part of it is where you have to cross a 'bottomless' chasm. Between 6 people trying to get across, even with the +20 bonus from using the rope, we wound up burning 3 Fate Points.

I raised the question of how did the miners even manage to survive down here let alone the Imperial Guard who went in, and the rough explanation was that the earth had shifted between when the IG company went in, and the two squads came out.

Our Scum was rolling hot though. Autopistol on full auto rocks (of course, a to-hit of ~80, and rolling a 4 helps). Out of the 7 mutants and critter in the mine, she did not kill one of them. The others were all killed by her autopistol. Of course, she especially rolled hot when shooting one group of mutants. Head shot on the first caused it to explode, and damage to pass to the second. Head shot on that one caused the head to explode, and the third was killed as well. Our Cleric in the lead went from facing three opponents pointing guns at him to spitting out brains from exploded skulls.

After that mission, between my techpriest and the Cleric, we bought her all the ammo she wanted.

For the psyker and my techpriest, we spent some time on the Hive World, and bought the full body flak armor (went from 3 protection on chest only, to 4 protection all over, for 300 Thrones). Later on, after we had finished with the adventure on the mining planet, the Guardsmen players said they wanted to try to buy some things. The GM explained that on a Mining world, they wouldn't find much.

I added a comment that they would be able to find a 'ore-house though.

Imperial Overlord · Post by **Imperial Overlord** » 2008-02-22 06:42pm

It Lives!!!!

GW sold the license to a bunch of its games to Fantasy Flight Games, including Talisman, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplaying, and Dark Heresy.

I'm happy that two RPGs I like will live, but I'll be fucked if I can understand GW.

Utsanomiko · Post by **Utsanomiko** » 2008-02-22 08:13pm

I still wonder what this means for the two planned books in development and if anything's going to be changed with the quality/format/development direction of DH. I haven't played around enough with the system to critically comment on it, but I do think the style and focus of the setting was just about perfectly nailed, so hopefully the new team will be giving it the same treatment.

Zablorg · Post by **Zablorg** » 2008-02-22 08:22pm

Imperial Overlord wrote:It Lives!!!!

GW sold the license to a bunch of its games to Fantasy Flight Games, including Talisman, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplaying, and Dark Heresy.

I'm happy that two RPGs I like will live, but I'll be fucked if I can understand GW.

So what does this mean exactly? They're going to continue developement?

Did someone steal GW's weed?

Imperial Overlord · Post by **Imperial Overlord** » 2008-02-22 08:29pm

I'm not a rabid fanboy of Fantasy Flight, but they have gotten a lot of praise for their game Midnite (short synapses: d20 game set in something like Middle Earth, one hundred years after the Dark Lord wins. Players get to fight evil after evil has already won). I don't know how well they'll handle the game, but a lot of the work will have been done for them with the basic game, Disciples of Dark Gods, and Inquisitor's Handbook.

andrewgpaul · Post by **andrewgpaul** » 2008-02-23 08:56am

I must admit, I'm looking forward to this. FFG have already released one old GW boardgame; Fury of Dracula, so it looks like this might have been building for a while. I'm also rather anamoured of some of their boardgames; Doom and Descent are both fun, and their production values are rock-solid.

Feil · Post by **Feil** » 2008-02-23 01:38pm

I was hoping that Green Ronin would get it, but I'm happy enough that somebody has it - even if all they do is keep it on the shelves.

SylasGaunt · Post by **SylasGaunt** » 2008-02-23 11:37pm

Did the Illumination scenario today (tweaked a bit by our GM).

Highlights include:

Our team's guardsman destroying a pack of maddened fanatics armed with cleavers solo. What makes it really strange is that he killed them one each round and did it the same way by scoring a double headshot that knocked out their wounds and drove their critical damage up to 10+. I wouldn't have believed he did it if I didn't watch him roll the dice myself.

The same guardsman utterly destroyed a flock of attacking Shale Crows with his shotgun. Just as with the cleaver wielders he scored the only hits while everyone else missed.. bastard stole all our mojo.. come to think of it.

Our psyker took out two groups of enemies in a mass combat. One by using unnatural aim to plink the bomb they were carrying, the other by commandeering a heavy stubber (nobody had any training for it) and re-enacting the final battle scene from Rambo. The guardsman subsequently stole the thing and is now doting on it like it was his firstborn.

My own techpriest.. was hit and miss. He passed every non-combat role with flying colors and did okay fighting a pack of local ruffians by beating one senseless with his staff (the Psyker got the cool takedown though by using Touch of Madness to send one into a screaming prayer fit that lasted some ridiculous number of hours). But I flubbed most of my shooting. Nothing ultra bad just never really hit anything and when I did my damage rolls were crap enough I inflicted I think 2 wounds on my highest damage roll.

Academia Nut · Post by **Academia Nut** » 2008-02-24 02:21am

Well, I played a short game with some of my friends, and while we did it kind of on the fly and haphazardly, we had a blast. Kind of literally considering what happened to the gangers that attacked us.

One guy got set on fire and dropped to the ground unconscious. Another guy got disembowelled creating a nice blood slick everywhere. Then a third guy slipped on the blood and fell next to the guy on fire. The guy on fire had his ammunition cook off explosively. The guy next to him took the brunt of the blast and was dropped to something like -15, so he was splattered all across the alleyway. Then a forth guy got hit with a las pistol that invoked Righteous Fury. The fifth guy ran for it.

End result was an alleyway that probably looked like an artillery shell had hit it. One disembowelled corpse, one chunky salsaed corpse, one burning chunky salsa corpse, one corpse on fire, and one Imperial Psyker knocked out after being blown through the air.

Our Tech-priest was quite pleased with the fury of her pistol's spirit, and considering the fact that she pretty much avoided everything, we decided that she came out looking pristine instead of the charred, blood splattered chic of the other two. Of course, her mechanical "Hey baby" didn't really charm the Arbites all that much. Fortunately the assassin managed to convince them to leave them alone. I wonder why...

Zablorg · Post by **Zablorg** » 2008-02-24 02:38am

Wow, can you actually flirt in that game?

I assume the game is run in a standard "Game Master decides what you run into" thing?

Academia Nut · Post by **Academia Nut** » 2008-02-24 02:42am

Technically it was a Charm attempt, which could be construed pretty much as anything, but since it was pretty badly botched and it was funny we decided that was what she tried, and failed, to do.

And yeah, like pretty much all RPGs, the challenges are what the GM presents before you.