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View Full Version : In the grim darkness of the 41st millennium, there is only confusion.



D20ragon
2014-03-18, 08:15 AM
I'd like to grab one of the Warhammer 40k rpgs. The question is, which one? I've played none, so I really have no clue.
Opinions? My mind is a blank slate. I just really like the flavor of the setting.

Lord Raziere
2014-03-18, 09:13 AM
Rogue Trader for the most open sandbox one.
Deathwatch for the most combat-focused, allowing ya to play a elite marine and kill things awesomely.
Dark Heresy for investigation work and politics
Black Crusade for being ambitious heretics working for the Chaos Gods and being cool while doing it

....and Only War......we don't know why its there, its combat focused but focuses on the gritty mass of normal men and women fighting....but hey, if you want to play a normal soldier focused game...its there.

Spacebatsy
2014-03-19, 04:06 PM
If you ask me, definitely Dark Heresy. If you want to explore the setting then this is the one. You could probably include many of the aspects of the ones listed above since the missions could be sending the players anywhere into any situation. I love it because of the interaction and the opportunity to go from investigation to horror when the players least expect it. :smallamused:

But do you know what you’re looking for except from the Warhammer 40k setting? Genre-wise?

Trekkin
2014-03-19, 05:22 PM
At the risk of sounding dismissive, none of them really struck me as exceptionally good RPGs; if all you're after is the setting, it might be more enjoyable to modify something else to use 40k than to try to get through their rules.

That said, as source material they aren't bad; if you have parts of 40k that you particularly like, you can look them up on Lexicanum and see if any of them come from a particular sourcebook.

Aedilred
2014-03-19, 06:46 PM
From what I understand, Dark Heresy, Rogue Trader and Deathwatch are all functionally the same RPG but with ascending "power levels", so which one to go for will be largely dependent on what sort of game you want: if you want a WFRP-style grubbing around in the roots of the 40K universe on backwater planets and half the party dying every time you get into combat, then Dark Heresy; Rogue Trader if you want to be running around having adventures, and Deathwatch if you want to go all SPEHSS MAREEENS. I don't know enough about Black Crusade, but I guess that's where you're working for the bad guys. Or rather, the other bad guys.

For what it's worth, I think the base system's quite good, although I admit I haven't played any other than Dark Heresy (and WFRP).

Also, just to add my usual caveat every time it gets mentioned, don't trust Lexicanum. It's basically the 40K version what people used to think Wikipedia was like. It's less important for a RPG, of course, because you'll be doing some setting development yourself, but just to bear in mind.

Rainman3769
2014-03-19, 06:46 PM
The 40k universe is awesome to roleplay in, even more so if you all are familiar with the universe and lore!

I played the 40k tabletop game for years before I did my first Rogue Trader campaign, and I feel it made the RPG much more enjoyable. There was a noticable difference in fun levels however, split among players who knew the universe against those who did not. It in no way means you shouldnt play a 40k based game, just know that it could be a factor.

I only have experience actually playing RT and I love it. The whole concept of the game is your group has their own ship with tens of thousands of crewmembers and you answer to no one but yourself, the sky's the limit! I read in the RT corebook that Dark Heresey campaigns can slide into an RT campaign very well should you want to consider that routeas well.

I did sit in on a Deathwatch game one time, and while it was cool to see Space Marines killing the **** out of things, I felt it was very limiting in roleplaying opportunities. With a few exceptions, most Space Marines pretty much all act the same.

Anlashok
2014-03-19, 07:21 PM
At the risk of sounding dismissive, none of them really struck me as exceptionally good RPGs

Yeah you should just play cthulhutech

Gavinfoxx
2014-03-19, 07:31 PM
As far as rules systems, Only War (the original), is the most polished of the sets of rules, and people have been doing versions of 'Rogue Trader using the Only War rules' or 'Dark Heresy using the Only War rules', or other homebrew options. In general though, the setting shines when you have access to LOTS AND LOTS of the books and pick and choose the rules from each that you like to meet your needs... if you have to actually go with a small number of traditionally purchased, physical books, you'll be more limited.

In that case, it depends on what theme you are going for. With Dark Heresy, remember that you are very, very low power and supposed to fail at things most of the time; this is intended, actually SURVIVING is a big deal. Think of it this way -- you are the sorts of teams that Inquisitors send to scope out of a problem, if you actually survive, it wasn't that big of a problem anyway, and if whatever issue it is eats three Dark Heresy teams, than maybe it is a problem worth paying attention to, and the Inquisitor might want to send some actually competent people to figure out this problem...

Trekkin
2014-03-19, 07:58 PM
As far as rules systems, Only War (the original), is the most polished of the sets of rules, and people have been doing versions of 'Rogue Trader using the Only War rules' or 'Dark Heresy using the Only War rules', or other homebrew options. In general though, the setting shines when you have access to LOTS AND LOTS of the books and pick and choose the rules from each that you like to meet your needs... if you have to actually go with a small number of traditionally purchased, physical books, you'll be more limited.


Ah, that might work. What did they fix, particularly?

The Grue
2014-03-20, 12:02 PM
For one thing, the skills are no longer all over the place with two thirds of them locked behind "can't use unless trained" walls.

Picture the 3.0 skills system. Now picture what 3.5 did to make it not less ridiculous.

Rhynn
2014-03-20, 03:58 PM
If you ask me, definitely Dark Heresy. If you want to explore the setting then this is the one.

Agreed, Dark Heresy is the best one to start with. All the rest are saddled with more unusual circumstances. Rogue Trader can be hard to even conceptualize (the PCs wield incredible power, influence, and resources); Black Crusade is about playing Chaos marines and heretics, with a high likelihood of PvP; Deathwatch PCs are enormously powerful in combat and have a boatload of talents and skills to keep track of; not familiar with Only War, but obviously playing Guards is going to be a bit limited.

Dark Heresy is the simplest start with the most straightforward approach and access to the setting. Too bad the rules of the games all differ a little...

Granted, personally they all just make me want to run Fading Suns, or a WFRP 2E campaign where the PCs are an inquisitor's retinue or part of an army or Chaotics...