Dark Heresy Second Edition

[Cynical Cat]

Dark Heresy was the first 40K rpg and it was followed by Rogue Trader, Deathwatch, Black Crusade, and Only War. Over the years the game mechanics have been tweaked and modified as well as new features introduced to suit the groups being covered by the game. This has resulted in both refinement of the system and drift away from the original mechanics and as such Fantasy Flight Games decided to do a second edition of Dark Heresy. Here's my review.

Over View: It's an improvement over the original. If you like the idea of being part of an Inquisitor's crew (or being an Inquisitor) and confronting all the overt and covert enemies of the Imperium then this game is for you. The nitty-gritty details follow.

Art: The usual high quality in the Warhammer 40K style.

Layout and Organization: Generally good, with a table of contents and index. Everything is dealt with in well organized chapters.

Game Mechanics: Dark Heresy runs off the standard 40K 1d100 system, which while not my favorite mechanic, is quite serviceable. It differs slightly from the one presented in Only War as there has been yet another iteration of reflection and tweaking. Importantly a problematic issue of how skills and game mechanics interact is partially relieved in Dark Heresy. The baseline difficulty for "normal" skill use is generally using the skill or ability in combat, which means that some GMs, especially novices, will default to excessively high difficulties for more routine non combat skill use as the baseline difficulty in the 40K systems is challenging. In this edition, each skill is accompanied by a small table that gives examples of using it at various difficulties which helps ameliorate this problem.

Character Creation: The game supports both point buy and random stat roll character generation. Players choose their Homeworld (Feral, Highborn, and Voidborn are examples), Background ( such as Adeptus Administratum, Imperial Guard, and Outcast), and Role (Assassin, Seeker, and Warrior to name three. They add up the bonuses and modifiers and then have 1000xp to round out the character. This includes the ability to purchase the Psyker (free for Mystics) and Untouchable elite advances allowing for such characters as unsanctioned hiveworld gunwitch (Hiveworld+Desperado+psyker elite advance), Adeptus Arbites Investigator (Arbites+Seeker), Secutors and Skitarri (Admech + Warrior), and Imperial Guard medic (IG+ Chirugen) and so on and so forth. This is obviously much more flexible than 1st edition with its rigid roles and I should note that its easy to create and customize new Homeworlds, Backgrounds, and Roles with the information at hand. Overall, character generation can be quick and easy and yes, you start with better gear than in 1st edition DH (unless you're IG in which case you stay about the same).

Gameplay: This section is vastly improved over 1st edition and very helpful for less experienced GMs. Advice on how to set up and handle social and investigation encounters is presented. Additionally, the challenge the players face of managing their characters' ability to work the machinery of Imperial power to do their bidding (Influence) versus the need to keep a low profile so their enemies don't suspect their presence and hide/bolt (Subtlety) is addressed in considerable detail. As one tends to interfere with the other, the players are when and if to change tactics to accomplish their goals.

Background:There's a good section on the background of the Imperium and its institutions and another on the Inquisition. There's a great intro short story by Dan Abnett. Unfortunately, while several interesting locations are covered in some detail, the sample sector falls flat.

NPCs and Gear: A fairly good gear list, covering graviton guns, Chimeras, and power armour as well as personal force fields and doses of Slaught and Spook. There's a very broad NPC list, some of it of the mook and boss variety as well as a diversity of people and creatures one could encounter on the worlds of the Imperium.

If you have questions, ask them.