Dark Heresy

[Vaporisor]

For those of you who have never heard of it, it is my current favorite of RPG book games. It is essentially a 40K RPG, but limited in print due due disagreements with the publisher. Why it is my favorite however, is that it is a very action, and freeplay style of RPG. The rules are very liberal. There is no leveling, it is a purchase with exp per skills. Exp, is also determined by the GM on their opinion of how had the encounter was and how well the players did as apposed to an interpretation based on difficulty an average team would have. Many non combat skills.

Being futuristic, lots of guns etc. However, it is a very tactical shooting. Example, last game, our party was escaping with an daemonic artifact, and got a roadblock ambush. We beat it by, myself laying down a supressive spray of autofire, the driver ramming out of the way one roadblocking vehicle, and lastly my bro threw a grenade at another blocking vehicle to prevent pursuit.

For those that like action, but deep role playing. (also knowledge of 40K is important), I recommend trying to find a copy of the rule book. It is well written and layed out so that you only really need one book to play. The player sheets are as such so you do not really need to reference much.

[Dinky]

Yup it is a very nice system and is based on WFRP in regards the combat, skills, stat building et al.

It also provides a good way to blend 40K and Cthulhu what with insanity points and chaos taint working perfectly with the established mythos.

[Xaq]

That sounds REALLY cool! I've always loved the setting of the 40K universe... I'd love to get my hands on a copy of that!

[Vaporisor]

It is really awesome for GMs in how the rules are layed out. There are distances for statistics, ie movement and range, but does not tell you how to apply them, be it a grid, hex or straight up measurement. It is kinda fun to build the miniatures as well for it. My guardsman at only 4 cm high on a 2.5 cm base is made up of 20 different parts. And like I said, best thing is that you really only need one book to play, that is all we use the one book. Modules and expansion stuff is free online and any sort of additional weaponry and enemies can be had by getting the stats out of the miniature's game codex and modifying slightly.

[Pookajoe]

There is the one important question.... Can you Play a Space Marine?

[Vaporisor]

In a manner of speaking. There is no space marine class, but you can get the skills and the gear to be outfitted like a space marine. Essentially the play is like many RPG's where you are just one amongst (trillions) And how you get to where you are going is all the roleplaying. If you decide to play a character dutifully serving the empire, there can come a time when you are able to go into combat wearing full heavy power armour shooting a plazma rifle. you just need to be good enough to get there

[Pookajoe]

You may have Full Heavy Power Armor, and A Bolter, but you're still not a genetically superior Super soldier devoted to crushing the unholy Foes of the Emperor of Man. You're still not a Space marine.

[Kimq]

That sounds REALLY cool! I've always loved the setting of the 40K universe... I'd love to get my hands on a copy of that!

Xaq, DD in Toontown had some copies of Dark Heresy. It is where I managed to get my own copy. Alan S was very helpful.

[Vaporisor]

You may have Full Heavy Power Armor, and A Bolter, but you're still not a genetically superior Super soldier devoted to crushing the unholy Foes of the Emperor of Man. You're still not a Space marine.

Ahh, but you can! My character is is being rp'ed as a devout faithful of the empire and believes with all of his essence that he is invincible until he meets the one destined to kill him. Via upgrades and leveling, etc, one can become that genetically superior character. That is if you role play it that way.

As such, it is my main attraction. It does not really govern game play that much, just the base mechanics. In that sense, it is not much of a beginners game. While it is possible for a new player/gm to play it, one much truely have rp experience to fully use the mechanics of it. Unlike the ablility to charge in and hack like many games, this one will mean pretty much death to do that. So, in the end, if you want a space marine, all one has to do is to rp the story line until you can become one. Actually, since the emperor's grace is upon you, you can become uber marine. IE a pair of plazma guns... Right now, my guard dual wields a pair of modified las guns in most situations, but when more tactical entry is needed, a grenade launcher. The favorite of my character though is the Heavy stubber currently hauls around, when something a bit more defensive is needed. Mmm.... close range full auto spray. +30 for full auto and +30 for close range for a total ballistics skill of 108. Ahh, guaranteed hit, often multiple.

Oops, off track, but yes Marine able.

[Susan Calvin]

Marines carry around an awful lot of modifications to themselves, not all of it readily available. And even if you would copy their gear, training and 300+ years of experience, you wouldn't still be one of the brothers.

The Marines don't strike me as ideal PCs, if you aren't going for the more extreme side. One of the characters at the con was a Dark Templars Marine, who tried to pose as an incognito friar and therefore leaving out his armour. It was all a bit over-the-top, and ended with us getting a skyscraper thrown away, with us inside (and surviving it).

[Kimq]

Considering that Dark Heresy would have likely been only the introductory rulebook in a chain of expansion supplements, if it was not cancelled, it is entirely likely a player would have been able to play a rules canonized Space Marine. No, there are no rules specific for marines in the basic book.

With that said, however, every campaign element lays strictly with the GM. The book is very good and it would not take much to create homebrewed rules for creating Space Marines. The moment a GM labels a particular character “Space Marine” is the moment it is true for their tabletop campaign and there is nothing that can be done to effectively argue or change that.

So it is not necessarily appropriate to say that a PC cannot be a Space Marine. It would just need a little extra development.

[Susan Calvin]

Technically you could create a PC Space Marine. Having an NPC Space marine model is also useful. I'm just cautios about allowing super-powered PCs.

[Vaporisor]

Technically you could create a PC Space Marine. Having an NPC Space marine model is also useful. I'm just cautios about allowing super-powered PCs.

Well, a space marine in game would be the same as a high level character in any other game. Nut you were correct, it would take fine and precision roleplaying and game writing to work an accolyte into being one of the devout, supersoldiers of the imperius space marines. It also couldn't be just the one player. Just by nature of how the marines function, it would have to be a group effort of the whole party. For the purity of the marines would not allow idle time outside that which strives to cast out the mutant, the Xeno and the Heretic!

Mind you, I do not follow the space marine fluff so much as I am an orc player. No green skin though, I play chaos orcs. most of my stuff is modified from other things. My cybork nobs are made from chaos terminators, dreadnoughts are SM dreadnoughts, going to use sentinels for killa cans, dark eldar jet bikes for death coptas. And I am custom making my stompas, the concept art has them sort of looking like zaku's from gundam seed. Lastly, my orc trucks are stripped down basalisk artillery chassis.

[Martenzo]

Well, this is certainly interesting. Good thing I found this thread. I'm certainly interested. Also, I have DMing experience with this. Oh, and there is an extra book out there, the Inquisitor's Handbook. I have it (but the difficulty of getting one was comparable to going to Mount Doom and back). The handbook adds some homeworld types and a few new careers (I can name Schola Progenium and Forge World from the homeworlds and Adepta Sororitas Novice from the careers. I didn't look it all the way through when I got it because the finals were rearing their ugly heads and I never got back to it after the finals.

Anyway, I hope to see a game building up from this

EDIT:Also, I think I actually have a stat template for a space marine....somewhere.... I hope I still have it. I'll try to look it up. And for the record, my DMing experience is 4 IRC based games, all of which ended up with no players showing up after a few sessions. I also had the ugly tendency to avoid sections of rules I didn't understand that well. And I had myself a Psyker who was on the second career rank and could pretty much take out a 10-20 member gang with a few well thought-out tricks (as long as he remained hidden from sight).

EDIT2:Oh, and as near as I could tell: No, you cannot create a PC Space Marine. Let alone a PC Grey Knight

EDIT3:For those who think they need to know more about the WH40k universe: wh40k.lexicanum.com

[Pookajoe]

Bah, Grey Knights are Over-Rated.

I'm a Space Wolves Kinda Guy myself.

[Levi Kornelsen]

There is the one important question.... Can you Play a Space Marine?

Only if you use the unofficial (but still spanky) rules created by the guys at Dark Reign. Loads of stuff for the game over there.

Otherwise, as noted, you can still gear up and get weird in the same direction, but the basic rules don't let you go whole hog.

[Martenzo]

Sweeeeeeeet. Thanks Levi

By the way, I'm willing to be DM, if everyone else wants to be a player. But let's get one thing straight, if I'm going to be DM, then I won't allow Space Marine characters. Stuff from the Inquisitor's Handbook is still allowed, but no Space Marine characters and ask me about stuff from the Dark Reign site before assuming it's allowed or forbidden.
Actually, forget that. I've never been a player in any game before. So I'd like to try out that side of gaming also.

btw: I'm more of a Black Templar guy myself. Well, I would be, if I could get my hands on any WH40k miniatures in the god forsaken backwater that this island is.

[Martenzo]

Oh, and here's a current complete character I have done. Starting level, too.

Aw crud... .doc isn't allowed.
http://www.dndonlinegames.com/attachmen ... ntid=27859

”Silent Shadow”

Home World: Iochantos (Imperial Agri World)

Appearance:
Although Silent is young, the years have not been kind to him. He has a serious burn scar on the left side of his face, covering his cheek, chin, a small part of his neck and much of his shoulder. As he is an assassin by profession, he does not wish to be easily recognizable, and usually wears a mask (Balaclava) to cover his face. His strong build and bright green eyes are his most remarkable features. Especially his build, as he is always seen in a black, somewhat tight fitting bodyglove. "Off duty", he usually wears a black/gray cloak that covers his neck and face enough to hide make him quite nondescript. His voice, although not obviously threatening in any way, has some degree of inevitability and authority in it, making chills run down the spines of many who have heard him.

Background:
Note: The first section of background gives away stuff that would be a lot more fun to find out in-character.

Silent was born Enoch Rath, a bastard son of one of the many warlords on Iochantos. He often heard tales of what his father was, or is (no one in Enoch's hometown heard from his father after he and his army left) like. When another army passed through the town when Enoch was 17, he decided to join it, in search of a more interesting life. In the warlord's army, Enoch ended up being a driver for an old, scavenged Chimera. In Enoch's third battle, his chimera was hit by a krak grenade and the Enoch was singed by the fire the explosion caused, but easily survived. One day, the warlord's army was attacked at night, when they were camping. Enoch's side won, but just barely. The survivors were practically without supplies and stranded in the middle of a desert.

Two years later(3 years ago), a shady figure with a burn scar on his face emerged in Port Suffering, calling himself Silent Shadow. He quickly proved to be an above-average sniper and spy, whose talents were often sought after by lesser crime lords and others who needed “somewhat complicated and delicate” jobs done. A few months ago, he was recruited into the Inquisition by a trusted acolyte of an Inquisitor. Possibly, the recruitment was also some sort of test to the Acolyte who recruited him. After being recruited, Silent began gathering information and looking for contracts on people the Inquisition wanted dead. When his profiteering came under scrutiny by his superiors, he defended himself by claiming that he would not be able to serve the Inquisition on this planet as well as he had been thus far, if it became known he was one of its agents. He claimed, that he needed to have a "local" excuse for assassinating someone.

Personality:
Silent is, despite his simple background, quite a complicated person. He always prefers know and being certain to hoping and believing. He knows the Emperor has done much good to mankind and that He guards mankind from things that man is better not knowing about. But as he sees it, the Emperor helps mankind as a whole, but leaves the individual alone to struggle for themselves. And his life has been nothing but proof to his opinion. He is, of course, wary around those more “pious” than him, and especially around zealots with authority. He tends to hide his true emotions around people, often seeming like a living, emotionless machine. The fact that people believe that it is because he is an Assassin, helps him a lot in this matter.
He has a taste for fine music and he likes being alone, thinking about, well, in truth, only he himself and the almighty emperor could tell what he's thinking about when he's like that, but he always looks sad when he thinks.
He is willing to sacrifice his life, even his soul, for the good of Mankind, but not for the Emperor. For the Emperor, he would be, perhaps, willing to sacrifice some money, or his reputation. Of course even for Mankind, he is only willing to do those sacrifices if he knows that it will not be for naught. His desires are somewhat fickle, but he tends to have a practical, one-day-at-a-time outlook on life. He wants things that are useful and immediately practical. He has no interest in money, but he has much interest in things that can be bought with it. Such as a Long Las, or a good set of armor.

[Susan Calvin]

My favourite group to play is the Adeptus Mechanicus. I'd consider putting together a Techpriest costume if I ever needed one. But with the ideas we have now, cybernetic costume props might come in handy.

Off-duty? All citizens should always be ready to serve and die for the God-Emperor. :p

[Vaporisor]

Yeah, got ahold of the new book as well, the inquisitorial.

Oh, and found out why out of print, apparently, GW yanked the dark industries licensing to to some money skimming or something. The books supposedly will go back into print by a different company it seems. Or at least that is what I was told by the local distributor here.