Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Dark Heresy by Black Industries
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Book Reviews of Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Dark Heresy
Book Review: Fantabulous
Summary: 4 Stars
This product is simply a must-have for those of us who love the dark and gritty science fiction of the wartorn 41st Millennium and enjoy roleplaying games. A massive book crammed full of beautiful and inspiring illustrations, a helpful look at the universe and setting of Warhammer 40 000 and the galaxy-spanning Imperium of Man. The Calixis Sector provides a rich and bountiful setting to play in.
The rules, similar in design to those of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay but with a few notable differences, are easy to learn to use but overall very functional.
All in all a purchase I heartily recommend to anyone else who likes Warhammer 40 000 and RPG's.
Book Review: The future looks grim indeed! (no, really!!!)
Summary: 3 Stars
What is "40k?"
Well, if you took Mad Max (post apocalyptic low tech low life's) , Lord of the Rings (Orcs, Elfs, Etc), Star Wars (Space Ships and Laser guns, and Aliens -OH MY!)and the worst excesses of the British comic Judge Dread (Make sure everything look as over sized , ridiculous and out of whack as possible minus the self parodying humor) tossed in late Medieval Europe (She's a WITCH burn HER!), and sprinkle it with imagery from Tim Burtons "Batman" and H.R. Gieger's art and you have WARHAMMER 40K.: Dark Heresy, the Role playing game, based on Game Workshops Miniature war game.
DA RULZ:
Any one who has played either edition of the Warhammer Fantasy RPG, will be able to pick up on this game in a flash. All the elements and mechanics are there. 1st Edition players who found 2nd editions to clunky & crunchy, probably will not care to much for these either. There are few tweaks here and there.
The biggest and probably most disappointing change DH drops the hall mark "Career" system, that the fantasy game is famous for, and opts for a D&D like class based one. Apparently Professional mobility is some what limited in the 41 millennium.
There are other tweaks and changes, Perception is a new characteristic, corruption points join insanity points, etc. Most are welcome additions to the tested and true core mechanics , but as said above it's very much Warhammer through and through.
THE SETTING:
Fluff junkies and "Hard Core" 40k geeks(really can any one who pushes bits of tin about be called" hard core?") might be able to find fault with the metric ton of back ground contained in the book, but to the uninitiated there is a wealth of material provided to get the noob started, and keep them going for some time. If there is a problem to be found here by a one who is not a rabid 40k fanboi it's simply the amount you are expected to read and retain. The sheer tonnage of data e will, in all likelihood require multiple readings to retain all the information provided here. Fortunately, is written in such a way that reading through the mountains of text is to much of chore, once you get past the games love of pseudo Latin (apparently any word can be made impressive by adding the letters U and S to the end of it. Go ahead try it!). I suppose one of the more enjoyable parts for me is the material is not so desperate to convey the "Grim in Gritty, OH MY GOD! CHAOS IS EVERYWHERE! WE ARE ALL GONNA DIE!" tone that the 2nd edition books for WFRP laid on so heavy and thick it became stupefying
The Long and the short of it:
Well there ya have it. A decent system with a unique, quasi original , mish-mash of a setting . My big beef with it is, despite all the loving attention heaped on the game, it is really difficult to see how actual play will differ from it's Fantasy counter part, in fact since the theme of both games is the exact same they probably wont. The only difference is instead of whacking chaos mutants with a sword, and roasting them with a fire ball, you will be zapping them with lasers and frying them with partial beams......
AND NOW FOR SOME BAD NEWS:
Shortly after DH was released, Black industry announced they will be shutting their operation down, after the two final books of the 40k game are released. One has to feel a little sorry for those that waited so long for this game, they finally got what they all wanted and then had the doors slammed in their faces. Oh the irony!!!.
Book Review: The Good, Bad, and the Terrible
Summary: 2 Stars
I should start by saying that I really like Dark Heresy the game, just this book it horrible. The system is terrible, but the story behind it all is very good. The book had to be completely unedited for there to be this many childish gramatical errors, but it is full of some very high quality art and the the quality of the physical book should be strong for a long time. The game of Dark heresy is perhaps the most imersive and amazing example of a Sci-Fie Horror that I have ever seen, while simotaineously being the worst actual game I have yet to find.
The long and the short of it is, that I love this game and am currently buying everything that comes out titled Dark Heresy, vut I can't find out why. Recntly though I discovered something important; Black industries was most of the problem. Black Industries was the game factory that created and produced Dark Heresy in the first place, but they apparently couldn't be bothered to hire an editor or playtesters. Now that Fantasy Flight has it, they are creating quality books, while still trying to work around the terrible system.
I recomend buying and enjoying this game, but stay away from anythign Black Industries. Only buy Fantasy Flight.