Thursday, October 27, 2011

"...for in the grim dark future, there is only war."

I don't know if I'll ever get around to running this. When it comes down to the wire, I always choose The Game. But, expanding my horizons would be nice and I picked this up at my favorite used bookstore, 2nd & Charles, yesterday. I had some store credit, which made it fairly cheap, so I couldn't resist. While I've never played it in any form, I've got a soft spot in my heart for Warhammer! This is mostly from reading Black Library fiction, which I've been collecting for the past few years.

I read the first chapter. Random chargen. Emphasis made on the rules being subservient to the will of the GM. d100, d10 & d5.

2nd & Charles has also got a used copy of Rogue Trader and if it's still there next week...
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Posted by James at 9:25 AM
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10 comments:

  1. Joshua SherrerOctober 27, 2011 at 9:40 AM

    You should run it. I played a game or two a couple years ago and had a blast with it. The feel of the game is amazing and I love the dark and gritty universe of Dark Heresy. Definitely worth a run.

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  2. ChrisOctober 27, 2011 at 10:01 AM

    The DH/RT diptych are alright, but they're no WFRP.
    Both games garnered a resounding *meh* from our group once we'd got past the prettiness of the books.

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  3. JamesOctober 27, 2011 at 10:04 AM

    How similar is the system to WFRP? Also, if I were to pick up WFRP, which edition would you guys recommended?

    I do really dig the WH 40K Universe. :)

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  4. Sean RobsonOctober 27, 2011 at 11:06 AM

    I've played the current edition of WFRP and it is utterly execrable, and barely recognizable as a roleplaying game. Fantasy Flight went the 4E route with this one and then some. It really is more like a board game.

    I haven't played any of the earlier editions, but I've heard great things about them; especially 2nd edition, which a lot of WFRP fans seem to prefer.

    I haven't played any of FF's 40k rpgs, though I just recently read Deathwatch. It was an attractive game, but the excess of rules turned me off.

    I, too, really enjoy the WH 40K universe, and the WH Fantasy world.

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  5. AnonymousOctober 27, 2011 at 1:36 PM

    James,

    Dark Heresy and it's successors (Rogue Trader, Death Watch, and Black Crusade), are somewhat similiar to 1st & 2nd Edition Warhammer Fantasy Roleplaying game. It's d100 based with skills, abilities and talents that you purchase or increase with experience. Maximum them out advances you in a Ranks (leveling up so to speak) in a particular field.

    In 1e/2e WHFRPG, is d100 based, you increase skills, abilities, talents that you purchase with xp, but after you max out the career field there are no ranks, rather you have career exits. For example if you started the game out as a Charcoal-Burner, after makxing out all your abilities, skills and talents, you have a choice of pursing the career of Hunter, Miner, Scout, Vagabond, or Woodsman. All of which in turn have their own career exits.

    I kind of wished they would have done the same with DH and the successors, but it works well enough, and I've had great fun with DH and RT. Though RT took a bit for me to grasp the vastness of resources and things available to the players. Both games are quite deadly if played RAW. Which is fine by me.

    I only have 2nd Edition WHFRPG, and at some time in the distant past, I had 1st Edition. Those are the ones I would recommend. Not that I know much about 3rd Edition, though it seems like a good game in its own right and you can get it as a box set with the bits and pieces or just by the standard hard backs and get the dice and other stuff you need when you want to.

    As far as which to start with in Dark Heresy stuff, I'd stick with just DH to start with. Plenty of intro module stuff for free and the book has a decent adventure as well.

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  6. JamesOctober 27, 2011 at 3:03 PM

    Thanks guys! I think I'm gonna hunt ebay for a WFRP 2e and if my used bookstore still has that copy of RT next week, I'm gonna pick that up as well. :)

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  7. Dangerous BrianOctober 27, 2011 at 8:47 PM

    You really should. I've been toying with the idea of combining Deathwatch, RT and DH in a single troupe style campaign. Three groups of characters, one group of players: Inquisition and Deathwatch carried aboard a Rogue Trader, all traveling into unexplored sectors of space to bring the light of the Imperium to lost worlds. The idea being that the RT is the public face of the expedition, the players switch to the Throne Agents for the espionage/exploration stage and calling in the Deathwatch characters for when things get nasty.

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  8. JamesOctober 27, 2011 at 9:07 PM

    Hi DB! I think I'm gonna go up to 2nd & Charles tomorrow and if they still have it, pick up the Rogue Trader book.

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  9. thekelvingreenOctober 28, 2011 at 2:41 AM

    WFRP2 is a simpler system; although they share core mechanics, there are lots more fiddly bits in the 40K games than there are in WFRP2. I'd say they're roughly of the same kind of complexity as D&D3.

    I ran a fun Rogue Trader campaign, so I liked the game well enough, but I prefer the simpler WFRP system.

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  10. JamesOctober 28, 2011 at 6:47 AM

    Thanks for the link Kelvin!

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