Customer Reviews

Dark Heresy RPG: Core Rulebook (Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay)

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

First: Absolutely this does have a future. With the success of the first release, Fantasy Flight Games has picked up the rights to all of the GW "non-miniatures" games. Now, I think that's a weak move as GW is pretty much giving up a cash cow for the US market (but I doubt they know the US market!), but on to the Review!

Pros:
First:
Its a d100 based system. I like that. Too many games try to use cute systems that too many people don't understand the probabilities in play. d100 is simple.

Second:
Combat seems to have all the elements covered without being to draconian. Also, see point one

Third:
Quick character creation. I like that.

Fourth:
Seem to have covered most of the bases for what you're likely to run into in an inquisition based game IF and only IF you are looking to model a campaign on Ravenor/Eisenhorn. Even Gaunt's Ghosts would be covered in large part. A Necromunda style RPG is definitely doable.

Fifth:
None of the problems currently plaguing d20 system with out of control Feats etc.

Cons:
First:
As noted by others, very little material for exploring other aspects of 40k is included. This may be deliberate to keep conflicts between source material down to a minimum, but it's lame. You're outta luck on Space Marines, Eldar, Orks, etc. The predominant members of the Inquisition seems to be Ordo Xenos, but little info on Aliens is presented! More Ordo Hereticus opponents are presented, and few Xenos are presented.

Second:
Character Advancement runs into walls, although I don't know how quickly this would happen. Others have mentioned it, so I won't belabor the point. There does seem to be a "advanced" rule book coming out later in the year, so by the time its an issue for most groups, it may not be an issue any more!

Third:
Too much emphasis on the Inquisition. Admittedly, the Inquisition is a natural source of plot hooks and all of the other peripheral style points you need to keep a game believable, but there's a million other things someone may want to do. I'm not bashing the Inquisition plot line, but other plot lines are completely doable even in the constraints of the source material.


In summary:
If you are a role player and also a 40k player, this is what you've been waiting for. My "cons" are quibbles, you can certainly work around them. The system is one that does enable story to dominate your games, but also doesn't seem to have too many glaring holes so the mechanical bit will be fun too. This is refreshing when the landscape is dominated by an increasingly mechanical group of RPGs hiding under the d20 banner. There's enough things you can do with characters, yet starting characters don't seem excessively weak, and while I haven't proven it, I think this game is likely to be ok with PCs at differing levels of experience, allowing for some interesting party composition.

This roleplay game set in Games Workshop's Warhammer 40,000 universe is brilliantly produced and is luckily back in print thanks to a deal between Games Workshop and Fantasy Flight Games. The book is hundreds of pages long and filled with high quality color illustrations and background information embellishing the thoughtfully produced roleplay game rules and extensive background information. The best parts of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay are present like the career system with all of the dark science fiction aspects of Warhammer 40,000 (40K) intertwined and built on top of them. Although the basic system is set up for characters to play henchman in an inquisitor's warband, there are a lot of different types of characters to be played. Coupled with a "gamemaster" and players who have a lot of imagination, this game has great and extensive creative possibilities.

The first print run of Dark Heresy earlier this year sold out extremely quickly due to the great fan reaction to the high quality of the book.

Fantasy Flight Games has a contract to continue publishing Dark Heresy and its supplements and other popular Games Workshop products previously published by Black Industries.

For those interested in the entire Dark Heresy game system, there are several more products due for release throughout 2008, all of which are likely to be available here on Amazon. These include:
-Character Record Pack
-Dark Heresy Game Master's Kit
-Purge the Unclean Adventure Anthology
-Inquisitor's Armoury, Weapons of the Righteous (detailing weapons and equipment)
-Inquisitor's Handbook (player handbook)
-Disciples of the Dark Gods (sourcebook for Chaos)

This roleplay game set in Games Workshop's Warhammer 40,000 universe is brilliantly produced. The book is hundreds of pages long and filled with high quality color illustrations and background information embellishing the thoughtfully produced roleplay game rules and extensive background information. The best parts of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay are present like the career system with all of the dark science fiction aspects of Warhammer 40,000 (40K) intertwined and built on top of them. Although the basic system is set up for characters to play henchman in an inquisitor's warband, there are a lot of different types of characters to be played. Coupled with a "gamemaster" and players who have a lot of imagination, this game has great and extensive creative possibilities.

The first print run of Dark Heresy sold out extremely quickly due to the great fan reaction to the high quality of the book. The only other negative here is that Black Industries (BI), the producer of this game system, is being shut down later this year in a consolidation move apparently sparked by Games Workshop's restructuring due to stock price and profitability concerns. It's a real shame because BI produced a lot of high quality product, like the Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay system.

The good news is that Fantasy Flight Games has a contract to continue publishing Dark Heresy and other popular Games Workshop products previously published by BI. The next print run of the Dark Heresy core rule book and the first available from FFG will be available in July 2008.

For those interested in the entire Dark Heresy game system, there are several more products due for release throughout 2008, all of which are likely to be available here on Amazon. These include:
-Character Record Pack
-Dark Heresy Game Master's Kit
-Purge the Unclean Adventure Anthology
-Inquisitor's Armoury, Weapons of the Righteous (detailing weapons and equipment)
-Inquisitor's Handbook (player handbook)
-Disciples of the Dark Gods (sourcebook for Chaos)

I just read this book, and I have to say "good work!" to the producers.

I gave it just 4 stars just because I think it's a little hard to get the right atmosphere if you're not an expert of WH40k.

The book is amazing, well written and easy to use at the game table. Every aspect of the Inquisition is well described, as the core mechanics of the game. Despite of the huge number of pages, I think it should have a little more focus on Xenos (aliens) and veichles, but in the end this lack does not mean less amusement in the game session.

In the end... get it, you won't regret!

You can see Dark Heresy's roots in Necromunda and the Inquisitor Games Workshop minitatures rules. The RPG updates these concepts into a more playable RPG system along the lines of the WHFRP.

I am disappointed in the lack of future support for the system. There's one GOOD thing about this though, Black Industries won't nerf the rules with a 3.0 release a year from now.

I needed to respond to the comments in some other reviews about what this book is missing. Any Gamemaster worth his salt can make up for it with other sources. With regard to the lack of races, spacemarines, Chaos magic, etc. Take a look at the character stats. They are very close to 40K stats if you take a basic DH career and account for some XP advancements. Take the equivalent 40k stat multiply by 10 and add a d10 to get the 'ones' value. So I'll use 40K block stats for races not covered. I also plan to convert Inquisitor and Necromunda rules for equipment not covered by DH. And I'll use the WHFRP books for additional Sorcery, Chaos (Tome of Corruption), and Monsters (Old World Bestiary)


I guess what I'm saying is yes there are limits to the book. But in the world of the Warhammer multiverse, there are already lots of other sources a GM can draw upon to fill the holes.

As a stand alone product I won't knock it for BI's lack of foresight/support. It's still an excellent basic RPG system with rich background for any 40K fan. So 5 stars it is.

This is a big fat solid book. It has excellent artwork and descriptive text. The setting is compelling. My faults are with the game system itself and with playing a character in the game. Basically if you like playing a character who fails to succeed a lot, this is the game for you. If you are trained in a skill based on one of your better stats you will still fail about 70% of the time. For easy tasks, you only get a 10% bonus, so you fail easy tasks 60% of the time, despite having that skill and a good stat in the relevant characteristic. If you have a mediocre stat and are untrained, look to fail about 90% of the time. Initial characters only have a few skills. The classes are not well balanced, so some characters will be vastly overshadowed by others characters, especially by ones who get superior armor or weapons. When I played, the GM seemed frustrated because characters kept failing their rolls to get clues for the scenario. We were doing the right things to get the clues, just failing our rolls because the game system gives a very small chance to succeed.

Everything about Dark Heresy is very well done. The d100 mechanics used for skill checks/combat is very well written and quite functional. The character generation includes some very nice features such as history generation. Most of all, the career path system for advancement is well conceived and well executed. The book has been a joy to read and will be a permanent addition to the short list of RPGs that I play regularly.

The game mechanics are simple and easy to learn. Game-play flows nicely. The setting is rich, and full of opportunities for intense role-play. However, I wouldn't recommend for anyone under the age of eighteen, as the setting is extremely dark ... graphically so. But for older, advanced players, it is a fine game.

So I only recently got into the Warhammer 40K universe, but have been an avid role player for a while. After looking through this book, I decided I had to have it. I ran our group through the campaign in the back of the book and we had a fun time. Although it was difficult to implement the Tech Priest class into the game. Overall, the different archs that the training gives you allows you to play the same class as someone else but have a completely different feel for who your character is. The mystery of the game allows the players to delve into the game and try to solve a problem, not always by simple martial prowess. It was very funny to see how the group I ran through it solved the problem, even though I thought they were going to die throwing them against it.

The book itself has wonderful art throughout, some of the best I have ever seen in an RPG book. The rules are fairly simple, and overall it is easy to read. This is one of the few RPG books I could sit down and read in one sitting. I love the Psychic power system and have a friend thoroughly scared of the Warp.

The only thing I wish they would have done was put a concise table system for some of the rules (like seen on the Game Masters Kit) that allows for a simple fast finding of some of the weapons, rules, and tables.

Overall I would highly recommend this book if you are looking for something set in the futuristic role play heavy era. It is a lot of fun and has some good horror elements to it.

This book is easily worth the $50 retail price tag, let alone the major discount you'll get here.

It's chock full of incredible background material on the 40k universe. Oh, and there's a pretty darn good RPG in there too, that isn't a crapped out d20 clone.

Black Industries is shutting down it's RPG side, and the last books out will be shipped in September (So we're still getting the Inquisitor's Handbook/Armory, the adventure, and the heretic sourcebook). And who knows, perhaps this will be the one that turns it around. They're completely sold out of the book at the moment, and didn't even keep enough for their own website.