Dark Heresy: A WH40k RPG

[Jak Snide]

In the grim darkness of the far future, there is only war. Or at least that’s what the tagline would have you believe. While humanity in the 41st Millennium is beset on all sides by vile aliens, traitorous splinter factions and worse, not every world is ravaged by war. Many are prosperous metropolises, others have their surfaces covered with truly gargantuan hive cities, while others remain firmly in the dark ages, with technology as simple as a revolver being something strange and frightening.

Of course, it being a Warhammer 40k setting, these places have more than their fair share of problems as well, and beyond the usual worker riots, pretty crime and other general nastiness humans are often all too willing to enact. Some turn away from the light of the God-Emperor of mankind, trying to incite mass rebellion and install themselves as lords and kings. Others fall prey to cults, some revering strange alien beings, some worshipping far more sinister entities, and far more heresies beyond these exist. But where am I going with all this?

Dark Heresy is a recently released RPG set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe in which the PCs are acolytes to an Inquisitor. The Inquisition is an organization (though it stretches the definition of the word) unbound by the petty laws that restrict the rest of the Imperium and charged with hunting down the threats within (and without, at times). It is feared throughout mankind for the methods that can be employed to quell heresy, as well as the power it can wield over almost any level of a planet’s society. Inquisitors themselves are highly skilled and able individuals, utterly dedicated to their cause and equipped with the best tools mankind has to offer. But they can’t be everywhere at once, which is why they relegate the less dire tasks to cells of acolytes. Players start out as recently recruited servants banded together into a cell and sent off to carry out their master’s will, At first they will be charged with relatively minor tasks, perhaps quelling a mutant uprising, though with time they will earn the trust of their Inquisitor and become more able themselves, which will result in a few rewards and increasingly dangerous missions.

I’m ideally looking for 4 or more players (6 would be good, but I could go higher if I really need to) with games being run on this board here. I was originally going to go with AIM chat, but decided that a board RP, while slower, would remove the scheduling issues for a few interested parties (which include myself). What you’ll need is listed below.

Dark Heresy Rulebook PDF Warning 110mb in size and a little shoddy, but very serviceable. Chapters 1 and 2 should be your first point of call, though everything up to chapter 7 is within the realm of player knowledge. If you’re new to the setting then chapters 9, 10 and 11 will be useful to you, though a fair bit of what you read will be beyond common knowledge for characters. I’ll be providing an overview on character generation in a subsequent post, giving a rough idea of the capabilities of each class and what sort of people they can represent, as well as a quick guide to how the game works. An alternate download source can be found here, if my web space is proving too slow.

Character Sheet If this is too large for your liking smaller versions can be found here and here.

Some Dice Dark Heresy uses a percentile system and a d10 on pretty much every other occasion. If you have real dice feel free to use them for character generation, since virtual ones often prove treacherous.

The Ability To Take Part If you’re likely to get dragged off by other commitments when a game is going then please don’t apply. Obviously stuff will crop up from time to time and, while I’d prefer to be notified of unavailability in advance, sometimes this isn’t possible. Families who frequently steal you away for hours at a time, prolonged connection failures and such like, while not your fault, will leave everyone else twiddling their thumbs and waiting for you to get back (or having your character NPC’d and ending up as fodder).

With that said, scroll down and take a look at the post on what sort of characters you can play. If you have any questions, feel free to ask them here or contact me by AIM or email. My AIM SN is Jak Snide, and my email address is jaksnide AT hotmail DOT com.

[Jak Snide]

The two most basic choices you have when making a character are “where do they come from?” and “what do they do?” The Imperium is a truly vast place, and any attempt to catalogue all the worlds within it is doomed to failure. It is also equally varied, some planets being not unlike our own, while one may have it’s cities built on rocky outcrops perched above the clouds, and another may be nothing but vast fields of crops with it’ entire industry dedicated to producing food for nearby planets. In game terms, though, your possible origins are broken down into four groups.

Feral Worlds: Primitive and harsh worlds, the natives of such places are well adapted to the hard lives they lead. Such people tend to be superstitious and unfamiliar with technology, but they make up for it in self sufficiency and physical prowess. Further information is on pages 14 and 15.

Hive Worlds: Hive worlds are usually barren wastelands, the natural environment decimated by centuries of heavy industry. The vast populations live in vast hive cities, some spread out across entire continents, others reaching up kilometers into the sky. The toxic conditions (or the high living of the noble classes) leaves hivers less resilient than most, but far more used to dealing with their fellow man from the constant hustle and bustle of hive life. More info can be found on pages 16 and 17.

Imperial Worlds: This category covers the largest variety of worlds. This category includes agri-worlds, low-key backwater worlds, worlds dedicated to the Ecclesiarchy and the worship of the Emperor or a paradise world for the elite of the sector. It also includes even odder planets, such as vast ice-worlds where the population lives in subterranean cities or vast fortress worlds where military service is the norm and the threat of invasion looms constantly. Imperial worlders are, compared to the stranger varieties of humans, pretty average. More information can be found on pages 18 and 19.

Void Born: You are a strange sight to the rest of mankind. Born aboard a space faring vessel, orbital installation or perhaps even a ship undergoing warp travel, you are touched by something and find it hard to relate those who weren’t born aboard. You may find the universe outside of your ship as strange as a feral worlder does, but you are more at ease with the strangeness and oddities having grown up around the psykers necessary for warp travel. More information can be found on pages 20, 21 and here.

Your homeworld will colour how your character thinks and behaves. If you need inspiration or want to pick an example, look at pages 32 and 33. Guides and randomization charts for your appearance can also be found later on in chapter 2.

Once you’ve chosen your home world your next step is to choose your class. Each class is split into 8 ranks or "careers," each giving some definition to your potential abilities. The later ranks of each class can split down different paths, each focusing on an aspect of your class. There are 8 classes in total, though only those from Imperial worlds have the luxury of becoming any. See the home world pages relevant to you to see what classes you can be.

Adept: Adepts are the masters of knowledge, this class encompassing the myriad of scribes and bureaucrats pepper the Imperium, along with anyone who puts serious effort into study. They may not be as skilled in a fight as one of the more martial careers, but they will almost certainly know more about most things than anyone else. They make fine investigators, researchers and are fairly good at dealing with people, too. For more information, see page 44.

Arbitrator: More than mere planetary police, the Adeptus Arbites preserve Imperial law and investigate matters concerning the greater needs of the Imperium. As such they are the most likely of all careers to encounter an Inquisitor or his servants during their duties. Arbitrators are part investigators, part riot police. That’s what the shotgun is for, after all. More than anything, though, they are smart, tough and determined. For more information, see page 50.

Assassin: An assassin comes in a myriad of forms, from the skulking blade-for-hire to the high-society poisoner to the demented death-cult assassin. All assassins are good at one thing, though: dealing death. A soldier can take a slug to the chest and keep on fighting, but in terms of raw killing power the assassin excels. He is skilled and quick, though he has little use for brute force or the camaraderie of others. For more information, see page 56.

Cleric: Whether a respected member of the Adeptus Ministorum or a more informal missionary, clerics are charismatic men of faith. No other career can demand such attention from the masses, nor inspire them to such feats of bravery and zeal. The cleric is no slouch in combat either, though his prowess often relies more on fanaticism than training. Clerics bring the light of the God-Emperor to both the faithful and to the heretical. In the latter case this is most usually on the business end of a flame-thrower or a chainsword. For more information, see page 62.

Guardsman: The guardsman is a man of action, pure and simple. This career encompasses more than those recruited from the vast armies of the Imperial Guard, covering local planetary defense troops, mercenaries and tribal hunters from feral worlds. They are strong, though and able. When the shooting starts you can rely on a Guardsman to win the day. For more information, see page 68.

Imperial Psyker: Imagine wielding incredible power; the ability to mend flesh, hurls bolts of telekinetic energy or cast your vision vast distances. Now imagine that the price of this is a door. Should you ever turn your attention away from this door, even for a moment, hordes of demons will spill through and bring ruin on what they find. Now imagine this door is inside your head. The Imperial Psyker is both blessed with incredible abilities and cursed in that he takes a great risk each time he uses them. The terrors of the Immaterium, or the Warp as it is better know, are drawn to then like bees to honey, for it is through them that they might enter the material realm. Even though they have been tested and sanctioned by the Black Ships of the Inquisition these individuals are regarded with fear, mistrust and often outright hatred by the common man. The Imperial Psyker is weak in body but strong in mind and, if he manages to survive against the odds and develop his power, a truly terrifying foe. For more information, see page 74.

Scum: This career covers perhaps the widest range of people, from back-alley muggers to dashing rogues to underhive gangers. They all share one thing, though: they are outsiders to Imperial society in general and make their own way in the world, and often have questionable opinions on topics such as morality and legality. Scum are alert and quick thinkers, quicker on their feet, and even more so with their tongues. They don’t excel in a fight, but they know how to handle themselves. For more information, see page 82.

Tech-Priest: The 41st Millennium is not an enlightened age. Technology is a strange and arcane thing, and only those versed in the correct rituals and observances know how to attend to it. A soldier may be able to strip and perform maintenance on his las-rifle, but he will have little, if any, idea of how it works. He just knows to rub the sacred oil here while reciting the appropriate litany. The Tech-Priest of the Adeptus Mechanicus are a society unto themselves, even having their own concept of the Imperial Creed. They revere the Omnissiah, popularly believed to be an incarnation of the Divine Emperor, who is the source of all technology. Technology itself, of course, represents a higher form of evolution than mere biological life. As they rise within the ranks and learn more of the secrets of technology a tech-priest replaces more and more of his weak and feeble body with the True-Flesh of machinery. Their proficiency with machines utterly dwarfs that of any other career and their augmentations leave them highly resistant to damage. Notably, though, they care little the illogical, such as emotion, instinct and most other humans. For more information, see page 88.

Next up we’ve got your characteristics. If you look at the character sheet you’ll see you have 9 of these, which are also listed below.

Weapon Skill: Your aptitude with melee attacks.

Ballistic Skill: Your aptitude with ranged attacks.

Strength: You physical strength.

Toughness - How easily your shrug of injuries, resist toxins, poisonous environments, diseases and other physical ailments.

Agility: Your quickness, reflexes and poise.

Intelligence: A measure of your acumen, reason and knowledge.

Perception: How well you perceive your surroundings and how acute your senses are.

Willpower: Your ability to withstand the horrors of war, the terrors of space and the awfulness you are bound to encounter in your missions.

Fellowship: Your ability to interact with others and how well you can deceive, charm or befriend them.

You will have a base score of 20 in most of your characteristics, though this varies depending on your world of origin (see page 23 for the base scores of each character). For this RP you’ll get to roll 10 sets of 2d10 (each yielding a result of 2-20), pick the best 9 and assign them to whatever characteristics you want. For example, let’s say you roll 8, 20, 14, 7, 11, 9, 6, 9, 6 and 4. You discard the 4 and apply the rest to your characteristics. If you were playing an Adept from an Imperial world (20 as base for all) you may end up with these characteristics.



You also have a derivate stat for every characteristic except for WS and BS; your bonuses. These are the first digit of your characteristic score. Using the above example, we would have a Strength bonus of 2, but an Intelligence bonus of 4. Note these down in the areas to the right of each characteristic on the character sheet. Now would also be a good time to fill in the information and effects of your homeworld traits. Our adept here is from an Imperial world and, as such, counts a number of skills as basic rather than advanced (he can attempt to use them untrained), takes a penalty to all Forbidden Lore tests and gains a +3 bonus to his Willpower.

The next step is to consult your starting skills, talents and gear on pages 24 to 27. There will be some choices to make here. For example, the Guardsman has to choose between taking the talent Pistol Training (Solid Projectile) OR taking the talent Pistol Training (Las). If you chose to be a Tech-Priest you will also receive all the augmentations listed on page 27. If you chose to play an Imperial Psyker then you must roll a d100 and consult the Sanctioning Side Effects table. The processes used to determine whether a psyker is strong enough to resist the perils of the warp are many, varied and largely unpleasant. You also get to choose a number of Minor Psychic Powers equal to ½ you willpower bonus (rounding up). Select these from the list on page 165.

Next, on page 28, you take care of miscellanea such as wounds (how much damage you can take before suffering critical injuries), fate points (a measure of destiny, divine purpose and plain luck) and movement. You also determine your starting funds based on your career. You also have 400 experience points to spend, as do all starting characters. This represents your experiences before being recruited to serve the Inquisition. You can use these to buy characteristic advances or skill and talent advances from the starting rank of your career (see the previously linked class pages). Make sure to update the bonuses of any characteristic and remember to note down your advances both on the main body of the character sheet and the “Advancements Taken” section at the bottom of the left hand page.
The last thing that needs to be rolled for is on page 34: your Divination. Roll a d100, consult the table and note down the effects on your character sheet. Your character’s appearance is up to you, as is their background, though I recommend you read page 35 before finalizing the latter. Pages 30-31 will provide an idea of what your character might look like, and pages 36-37 can help you decide on a name if you’re really stumped.

An example of a finished character can be seen here.

[Justice Augustus]

As I said to you, I am interested. I would be available Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday (or other nights if not too late) but one of these nights might be D&D (I'll find this out this week).

[Capntastic]

I'm too lazy to learn the system but if you help me with that I'd be up for this perhap.

[Kelne]

Damn my incompatible schedule. Damn it, I say.

Though I will loot that shiny rulebook. And paint it red so that it goes faster.

[Jak Snide]

The system is pretty simple, with almost every action being resolved in the same manner:

1) roll a d100 2) Is the result equal or less than the score of the relevant characteristic? 3) If so, success! For example;

Julius and his comrades are in a shoot out with a band of rebels. He leans out from behind his cover and snaps off a shot at the closest one with his lasgun. His player rolls a d100 and compares it to his Ballistic Skill of 40. The dice say 38, which means the shot was true.

You may notice a starting character will have characteristics ranging between 25 and 35, which doesn't leave much chance for success, you might think. This is where modifiers come in. A single shot in combat at standard range is a Challenging task, which means no modifier is applied to the character's characteristic. Easier tasks apply a bonus (+10, +20 or +30) while more difficult tests impose penalties (-10, -20 or -30). For example;

Caius and his fellows are trying to gather information on the local goings on, but so far their research has turned up nothing He approaches a church goer and tries to extract some info. Despite his slightly forward manner, the pious man can see that Caius is a cleric and therefore feels he can put a fair deal of trust in him. Caius has a Fellowship of 35, but the GM decrees that this is an easy test due and, as such, a bonus of 30 is granted. Caius now needs to roll equal or under 65 to gain useful information.

Penalties work in the same way. Taking a shot at a running target, for example, imposes a -20 penalty, while an slightly obscure fact might take an hour and a Hard (-10) test of the relevant lore skill. The only other thing to take into account are skills, of which there are two categories. Basic Skills are ones which even the untrained can attempt, such as dodging the thrust of a knife or intimidating a cultist into surrendering. The others are Advanced Skills which a character must be trained in if he wishes to attempt them. Examples include piloting a ground vehicle or suturing a wound. There are 4 levels of proficiency in a skill.

-Untrained
-Trained
-+10
-+20

Only basic skills can be used untrained, and when you do so you use 1/2 of your relevant characteristic as your effective score. Trained applies no modifiers, while +10 and +20 apply an appropriate bonus to your characteristic for the purposes of testing that skill.

[Capntastic]

Yeah, I'm certain I'll be able to pick up the basics.

But you'll really have to hold my hand, because I'm insecure when it comes to learning these things. That and the fact I'm not as comfortable with the setting as some folk.

[Idran1701]

And also Zero just likes people holding his hand.

[Capntastic]

Hey Idran what dice do I roll to determine which base I'm at? d6/2?

[Jak Snide]

Edit made to first post, altered relevant bit into italics. I'll be wanting to run this on the board now because a fair few people are raising fists about scheduling.

Edit to post about edit: On top of the listed choices for starting equipment your character might have a memento of his old life, home and such like. This can be any sort of useless trinket but a list of ideas (in the form of a randomised table) lies below.

[NamagomiMk0]

As I have told Alex over IM, I am interested. Also, a few questions:

I...can't properly process the charsheets you linked. That would require an image processing program that could and would process text(Paint, for me, will not.). Does this mean we are to create our own charsheets, or is there a specific charsheet 'generator' for these things?

Where are we to send/post these sheets, for the count? I'm certain others would like to know as well, so...

Okay, questions over for now.

[Jak Snide]

The character sheets are in jpg format, and I can open them just fine in paint. They're black and white, so theoretically I could save them as monochrome bmps if neeed.

Also, keep your character sheets to yourself and send me a copy via IM or email. Everyone loves secrets.

[Idran1701]

The character sheets are in jpg format, and I can open them just fine in paint. They're black and white, so theoretically I could save them as monochrome bmps if neeed.

If you're going to do that, you should probably just save the original scans as monochrome BMPs instead. You've already lost file information from saving it in a JPG format, and it looks like the program dithered in some non-B&W image data from a quick conversion check of my own.

(And honestly, it probably would have been smaller in the first place to save it as a PNG and run it through a compressor. :D)

[Besyanteo]

As mentioned via IM, I'm interested. I'll make a character sheet as soon as I can.

[Jak Snide]

If you're going to do that, you should probably just save the original scans as monochrome BMPs instead. You've already lost file information from saving it in a JPG format, and it looks like the program dithered in some non-B&W image data from a quick conversion check of my own.

(And honestly, it probably would have been smaller in the first place to save it as a PNG and run it through a compressor. :D)

Problem fixed!

And awesomesauce. We've got 4 people now (Doug, Gus, Zero and Bes). Got room for one or two more, I reckon.

Edit: Make that 5, a Kelne joins the fray. If one more person wants to hop on board they're welcome to, but otherwise we'll get this thing rolling once character sheets are done.

[Jak Snide]

Righty-oh, boys and girls. Seeing how the gang is mostly together now it's time to choose your master. I've picked a selection that I think presents a good range of mindsets from the book (no going and reading up on all the details) which are presented below. Cast your vote for who you'd like to be the one sending you into peril.

Inquisitor Astrid Skane - From your brief meeting with Inquisitor Skane you got the feeling that while stern and commanding, she considered you more than just an asset to be exploited. Her appearance and attire reminded you of a military commander, and one who cared very little for pomp and prestiege.

Inquitor Globus Vaarak - What was immediately apparent the first (and so far only) time you saw Vaarak was that he had suffered some horrific injury in the past, the entire lower half of his body having been replace with bionics. What next struck you was his calm demenour, swiftly followed by the shock of hearing a man of his position tell a self-depreciating joke. Not exactly what you'd expected, given the stories you'd heard about the Inquisition.

Lady Olianthe Rathbone - Clearly a woman who traces her origins to one of the great noble families of the Calixis sector, the Lady's finery did little to mask her piercing gaze. She has a keen intelligence, that much you can tell, as well as somehow managing to that suggest that you are very much her inferior without actually stating it out loud.

Inquisitor Vownus Kaede - Kaede appears exactly the way you'd imagine one of the much-feared Witch Hunters would. Despite this, though, he strikes you as a charismatic and affable fellow who possesses a great deal of knowledge. Even when discussing the most dire matters with his aide you got the impression that he was in control of the situation and optimistic about the outcome.

Get voting, gents.

[Kelne]

Vownus Kaede for Inquisitor!

A vote for Kaede is a vote for stagnation!

You don't want progress, do you, citizen?

[Capntastic]

Kaede, be because he is so clearly an homage to Solomon Kane.

And I'll continue working on my sheet. I hope you guys are ready to smash some and (Xenos) and (heretics).

[Besyanteo]

Astrid Skane

[NamagomiMk0]

Astrid Skane

[Justice Augustus]

Why I believe I shall vote for a third party candidate!

*BEATINGS*

Vownus Kaede shall lead us to glory for the imperium of mankind!

[Edit - THE MAN TOOK MY VOICE]

[Shinigori V2]

Skane.

[Jak Snide]

It appears we have a draw. Unless my other housemate scurries onto the internet just for this (the prospect of me nagging him to post regularly is slightly discouraging), one side will have to convince one of the other side that they want to change their vote.

Failing that, I'll flip a coin. But I'm sure you amicable fellows can come to an agreement.

Edit: Do feel free to contact me about character creation. The sooner those sheets are done the sooner we can start.

[Justice Augustus]

I seem to note that the loyal Kaedians have been quite vociferous and energetic in promoting their candidate, whilst those of the Skane camp seem to have very few words of praise for their chosen leader, perhaps this is a sign that they lack faith in their subject?

[Besyanteo]

I know little or nothing about either of them, aside from what Jak has posted. I just prefer that a leader in a military situation be a no-nonsense person. Skane treating her troops as more than a resource to be expended when convenient is always an added bonus, of course.

Kaede has the whole creepy/neat old man going, but frankly so do alot of hobos. Do you want to be lead into battle by a hobo? Come on, man.

[Capntastic]

Are you calling an Inquisitor a hobo?

[Besyanteo]

Yes.

[NamagomiMk0]

It is more a sign that I posted in a hurry while trying to get ready for school this morning.

[Shinigori V2]

Alex likes my character the most.

[Jak Snide]

I'm afraid you've got stiff competition this time around, given what I've seen of the other characters so far. And remember: this one hasn't killed a man with a single punch yet.

[Shinigori V2]

Nobody else is playing the lovechild of Sammy J and Malcolm from Unreal Tournament.

[Besyanteo]

Character is done, other than the backstory; I know basically what I want to do, but I'd like to talk to you about it before the game starts Jak.

[Jak Snide]

No votes have moved, so a coin has been flipped. Your Inqusitor is Astrid Skane. Extra doses of jaunty hats and flame weaponry will be injected to counter the lack of Kaede.

I've got 3 of your sheets, with two more near completion and one to be rolled. With luck I'll get the initial post up on Sunday.

[Jak Snide]

Thread is up, RP has begun!

Edit: Since I forgot to mention earlier, we'll be using a 2 day rule here. If there's any decision to be made or an opporunity to take action I'll wait up to a maximum of two days for people to post before moving stuff along. Characters who aren't posted for will follow along and will take whatever action seems likely for them in combat.

[Jak Snide]

While we wait, now would be a good time to familiarise yourselves with combat actions/the options available to you under most circumstances. Handy screenshot below, but I highly encourage reading the rules of the game you're playing.

[Christian]

Hey, I play 40k!

Mind if I join up with this Jak, or is it too late?

[Jak Snide]

We've already begun, I'm afraid, and got a good group size of 6. If anyone drops out you can step in to take their place, though.

[Christian]

No worries, no worries. :) I'll keep an eye on the thread just in case.

[Jak Snide]

Seeing how things will devolve into violence at some point I figured I best lay down the rules for how we'll be handling it.

Firstly, we'll be using a square grid for combat. Each square represents a 1x1 meter area, and each character occupies a square. Moving one square horizontally or vertically takes 1 point of movement (as a reminder:characters can move up to their agility bonus as a half-action during combat, though faster movement options are available), while moving diagonally for the first time that turn costs 1 and 1/2. Thus if you had 3 points of movement you could move two squares diagonally. If you had 4 points of movement you could move 2 squares diagonally and 1 square vertically or horizontally. The grid will always be lettered and numbered, so feel free to say "I move to B5" or the like.

Secondly, everyone will declare their action at the beginning of the round. Those who score higher on the initiative roll will act first, but everyone makes chooses what they'll be doing at the same time. If you decide to wait for an opening or your character's action becomes impossible during the events of the turn I'll try and get in contact with you on IM to resolve things or, failing that, have them act appropriately. This will also happen if you don't post within 2 days of a round beginning.

Thirdly, try to be specific about what you're doing. Feel free to write what you wish for an in-game description, but note OOC exactly what the character is doing. For example "He scurries for cover, snapping off a shot as he ducks behind the wall" could be your description, while what you're doing is (Half-action move behind the wall at D7 and a single attack on the goon in H5). The image I posted earlier in the thread lists the usual actions available to you during combat if you need a guide to what you can do.

If any of this needs clarifying, or you want to ask question, feel free to ask her or IM me.

[Capntastic]

Work has been grinding me into a fine mist and I've gotten sick and unable to post :( I'll do so when I can BUT NOT BEFORE.