Dark Heresy (40K RPG) Review

[Cynical Cat]

My group played the game for the first time and had a blast. Below is my review in detail

Art: The usual mix of new and old art that one expects from a Games Workshop product. Overall: Quite good.

Organization: Good. Index in the back.

The Meat: The game uses a modified version of the Warhammer Fantasy Role Playing Game mechanics. Characters play agents of the Inquisition, essentially combination troubleshooters/investigators that get in over their heads all over human space. The mechanics are easy to use and work pretty well. Easy for a novice to learn quickly.

They really nailed the feel of the game. There's lots of little details that help convey the universe from quotes at the beginning of sections to the art to little details in the starting gear and character generation that help convey what kind of universe they players will be playing in.

Characters start in one of several career paths: adept, arbitrator, assassin, guardsman, imperial psyker, priest, scum, and tech priest. At higher levels the careers branch into more specialized roles: for example, guardsman can lead to shock trooper. In addition the the talents and skills players learn along their career paths there are rules for picking up abilities that you may be exposed to in play (for example the language of the horse barbarians you've been spending months with).

Overall: Very good. Two of our group were 40K noobs (although they did know Warhammer Fantasy) and picked up the flavor and the nature of the setting right away. The mechanics do a good job. Players are skilled agents, not well equipped super soldiers although they might be that near the end of the career path. Lasguns and autoguns do a good job of killing most heretics, but mutants in carapace armour are harder nuts to crack.

[Hotfoot]

A quick question:

Would this system allow someone to play an Imperial Guard Officer with a necklace of broken Eldar Soulstones?

Just asking.

[Cynical Cat]

Yes, if you're creating experienced characters.

[Hotfoot]

Well then, very interesting.