Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Dark Heresy [Hardcover]

Black Industries (Author)

Book Description

You are an Acolyte in the service of the Emperors' Inquisition. You stand in the front line of a great and secret war where your duty is to hunt out the foul stench of heresy, the vile alien, and the twisted influence of Chaos. You will tread where others fear, venturing to distant planets, ancient space hulks, and the unsavory depths of the under-hive. You will never know fame nor reward, yet if you stand resolute your deeds will be whispered to the God-Emperor of Mankind and your name will be revered for millennia! The Dark Heresy core rulebook contains everything you need to start your roleplaying adventure in the Warhammer 40,000 universe.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Black Industries (January 25, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1844164357
• ISBN-13: 978-1844164356
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #950,779 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Solid RGP, and It DOES have a future!!!, February 27, 2008

By 

bigjimleo "JML" (CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Dark Heresy (Hardcover)

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.

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Terrific RPG in the world of Warhammer 40,000, July 31, 2008

By 

Valnastar "Man With No Name" (Deep 13, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Dark Heresy RPG: Core Rulebook (Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay) (Hardcover)

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)

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Warhammer 40,000 roleplay book is high quality and fun., February 12, 2008

By 

Valnastar "Man With No Name" (Deep 13, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Dark Heresy (Hardcover)

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)