Dark Heresy 2nd Edition: First Time GM, need help

[Gontran Theogal]

Hello people,

For reasons I won't detail here my group and I had a need to change our regular scheduled fantasy adventure and we decided that Dark Heresy sounded nice. Yeah let's try it.

Thing is none of us have actually played the game yet and has the one who will have to organise the thing I'd like tips on what to avoid and such. The plan is mostly to discover everything as we play but honestly I'd like some advice on what should be avoided or reccomandation from people with actual experience.


Anything is appreciated really.

Also I do have experience Dming just not with the systems. It's mostly related to the mechanic of the game.

[Braininthejar2]

I don't know what changed between editions, but if it's anything like I remember, don't give cultists too many shotguns - it's very thematic, but does cinematic amounts of damage at close range.

[Morty]

When assigning skill checks to players, make sure to give them at least a +10 bonus, if they're supposed to be relatively routine tasks. Starting PCs can feel very inept otherwise, and fail randomly.

[Dynodragon]

Haven’t played 2ed but played 1st ed a lot. DH is basically Call of Cthulhu IN SPACE!!! Turn every notch on your GM control board up to 11. If your players are not laughing and screaming at the same time your playing it too cautious. Having said that combat is incredibly lethal. 2nd ed changes the combat slightly in that light hits have no effect but go over a threshold (forget how it’s calculated) and they become incredibly dangerous and life threatening. So inform your players that their character should be considered disposable, it may take them a few lives to adapt.

As a World always remember that the most saintly actors are far worse than anything in history, the inquisition is the worse combination of nazi+communism possible, give the players impossible choices between impossible odds and horrifying outcomes. In 1st ed just having 1 lesser demon turning up could leave half the party disabled so plan for contingency.

Cackle manically whilst describing events and when rolling damage if you get a good result just make up a stupid number like 34 or 48 as the extra damage has very little effect, they were dead at 15-20, just scare the bejesus out of them.

[JellyPooga]

To echo what others have said; combat is lethal...

...BUT, don't be afraid to make it so. Players have a replenishing pool of Fate points they can use every session for re-rolls, damage mitigation and bonuses. MAKE. THEM. USE. THEM. Combat should be something that puts your players on the edge of their seat and DH2 has the tools to make every minor skirmish a nail-biting affair; Fate points are a big part of that because they are one of the few limited resources the players actually have to manage. If, every now and then, they have to burn a Threshold point to get out of a scrape, that's not a failure on their or your part as a Player or GM, that's the system working as intended. It's a dark setting and a gritty one; death should be lurking around every corner and the way DH handles Fate points enhances this aspect of it.

On other topics;

Use the Subtlety mechanics. I know they're somewhat abstract, but intentionally so. Use your noggin and see past the lack of rules to what Subtlety is for; to stop rampant murderhoboism. Yes, combat is a significant aspect of the setting (there is only war in the grim darkness of the far future, after all), but it's not the only one. It's what makes DH an intriguing and exciting game premise; it's solving the investigation that should be the focus of the game, not just a series of combat encounters. Constantly reinforce the notion that walking around with big guns and heavy armour makes the Acolytes stand out. Point put the racket they make when they start a firefight. Have NPCs look at them askance when they shakedown that merchant for information in broad daylight. Make the players paranoid that everyone knows who they are and what they are doing. Then make them roll against the Subtlety score that they can't be sure of. They'll soon be playing ball and stop reaching for a gun to solve all their problems.

[Morty]

Treating DH like some super-lethal murder fest is an exaggeration that doesn't really help anyone. Combat is deadly and the PCs need to be serious about it. But if they are serious about it, think tactically and stack the odds to their advantage, they should have a good chance of winning or at least surviving.

Remember about taking cover, since otherwise you'll get gunned down. Grenades are very valuable because they deal a lot of damage or disable enemies, and don't require a lot of BS. A missed grenade lands in a random direction and distance from the target, so it might still damage them if it's close enough. Suppressive fire can take enemies out of the fight and likewise doesn't require any real accuracy. Overwatch fire can be deadly if you get to prepare a kill-zone. Melee requires a lot more investment than ranged combat, in general.

[Gontran Theogal]

All of this sound good... I thank all of you, it's helping me a lot

[JellyPooga]

Treating DH like some super-lethal murder fest is an exaggeration that doesn't really help anyone. Combat is deadly and the PCs need to be serious about it. But if they are serious about it, think tactically and stack the odds to their advantage, they should have a good chance of winning or at least surviving.

Emphasis mine. Taking combat seriously is definitely key in DH. I've seen a ton of players treat DH like D&D, going in half-cocked and unprepared, thinking it like any other game...and get mown down like wheat. Coming from other systems where the expectation is several combats per day that the players are expected to survive on pure gumption; the "Heroic" model, if you will, DH can be a murderfest on the players. DH combat requires a little more than just gumption to survive even the most trivial of combats.

Remember about taking cover, since otherwise you'll get gunned down. Grenades are very valuable because they deal a lot of damage or disable enemies, and don't require a lot of BS. A missed grenade lands in a random direction and distance from the target, so it might still damage them if it's close enough. Suppressive fire can take enemies out of the fight and likewise doesn't require any real accuracy. Overwatch fire can be deadly if you get to prepare a kill-zone. Melee requires a lot more investment than ranged combat, in general.

Solid advice for players. Knowing the options ("I can do more than just 'attack'?), of which there are many in DH, is part of that preparation and careful thought DH encourages, both in and out of combat. I find that whether you're gunning down cultists, or investigating the local governor, DH wants the players to really think about their actions and actively punishes those that don't, whether that be with high lethality or a hit to subtlety or reputation.

[Wraith]

I would like to offer some observations of my own; I haven't played Dark Heresy for about three years, but I played it a lot and more than a few tips come to mind.

Be generous with Fate Points and encourage your players to use their Fortune Points often. The game is a lot more fun when people are succeeding at things and, despite the grimdark threat to life, limb and soul, can be a bit heroic - if they try something brave and succeed then reward them for it, rather than burning through all their FP early and spending the next few sessions struggling to get anything done.

Encourage your players to learn all of the combat actions. As Morty suggested, there's a lot more to do apart from "I aim and shoot", and they're all thematic and useful to a party under certain situations. Not only will they have an easier time in a fight if they remember that Suppressive Fire exists, but it's also more fun!

Don't be stingy with Insanity and Corruption points. Not every fight has to be against hordes of Daemons or a Chaos Space Marine tearing them to bits, but a lot of the fun of Dark Heresy is having one or two afflictions spread around the party; it makes the characters and encounters memorable, and gives them roleplaying topics to use every so often in a way that lots of other games don't have. Embrace the madness of the warp!

Be wary of Bolt- and Power weapons. Putting them into the game usually embodies a significant watershed in the power available to your party, and giving them access to the more impressive gear too early can make fights significantly easier.
Conversely, the upscaling of damage done by a Boltgun to one of your players is also significant; whereas any good roll can one-shot a player thanks to the Crit system, it's a big leap when you get such weapons turned on you.
Again, I'm not saying "don't do it", but prepare for things to get bloodier when you do.

If a psychic power goes wrong, roll with it.
Some of the best/worst stories that you'll hear about Dark Heresy are the ones that come from Psykers botching their roll and doing something horrible to the rest of the players. Usually they summon a daemon - which are often WAY above the average party's pay grade to deal with - or it's something equally bizarre, such as the Psyker switching bodies with a guy who is using some dangerous and unstable technology, or the likes.
My honest advice is that these things occur far less often than you read about, so don't fret. That being said, if it DOES happen... Let it. It might kill a couple of characters, but it will be fun and memorable so please don't be tempted to retcon it; your players SHOULD learn to fear the witch and the damage that they can do...

[houlio]

Another thing to keep in mind is that DH is a mystery game before a combat game (although rule-space might seem to indicate otherwise). As opposed to other mystery games though, the mystery tends to resolve around where the heresy is and then how best to purge it. Mystery games are a bit different to design than other kinds.

First, you should just give all the necessary clues to complete the adventure to your players. For example, at a scene of a suspicious looking murder, your players should just find the corpse’s gang affiliation via tattoo, which would be enough to lead them onwards. Skill checks can get them more information about what went down there. If you force them to make skill checks to get necessary info, they WILL fail and the game will seem to stall.

Next, spread your clues around multiple scenes. I like starting at one particular place and giving the players hints at a few other leads to follow up on. Branching out to multiple scenes will make your mystery more layered and give you more room to tell an interesting story about what is really going on. Stacking up all the clues in a linear sequence of scenes will make your mystery seem flat.

Last, a challenge to throw at the players is to have the bad guys trying to counteract them the whole time. They might try to wipe some clues clean, steal important evidence from the players, and very likely attack the warband. However, planning a million eventualities is a nightmare, and so I recommend thinking of a few set pieces or reactions and reflecting them to fit the current context. When the party finds X clues, the bad guys will threaten them and try to steal or destroy critical evidence. When the party has Y clues, the bad guys will hire scum mercs to ambush them at the next scene, and so on. This will help give your players a sense of being on the right track without giving up the mystery itself.

[Sinewmire]

Solid advice for players. Knowing the options ("I can do more than just 'attack'?), of which there are many in DH, is part of that preparation and careful thought DH encourages, both in and out of combat. I find that whether you're gunning down cultists, or investigating the local governor, DH wants the players to really think about their actions and actively punishes those that don't, whether that be with high lethality or a hit to subtlety or reputation.

Absolutely 100% agreed. Well said, that!

As a DM I'd advise
A - Having a chart somewhere showing the difficulties for quick reference,
B - Having a good idea of what skill is used for what, so that when your players come up with a totally off-the-wall idea, you know how to do it mechanically,
C - remember the characters will see and know things the players don't so don't be afraid to offer them hints or skill rolls without the player putting the dots together,
D - roleplaying IN COMBAT. As previously said there should be no "I walk up, I attack",
E - Repeat often and repeatedly injury, even limb loss isn't a ruined character. Some of my favourite DH roleplay was my critically injured guardsman determined to see the mission through, despite horrific injury. Make common-quality augmetic replacement reasonably painless so as not to punish the players too badly, and make injuries sound badass, especially if the player keeps fighting.
F - Don't be afraid to say no, you can't do that if it's a ridiculous idea... but at the same time, try to reward creativity. A difficult balance.