Hey guys,
Here's an e-mail I sent Tim and Adam; I'm still yet to hear from Adam. Its a long one, but it pretty much gives an idea of what I'm thinking about the campaign, how it'll run, perhaps one or two practicalities to sort. Having said that, if you're playing, its your game too, so I'm open to feedback and suggestions...
" Firstly, I’m going to give a bit of a health warning. Whilst Dark Heresy is set in the 40k Universe, you won’t see many of the things you’re used to seeing in games of 40k. There are two reasons for this. To fit in the background, it is only a small proportion of Imperial worlds in certain locations which are subject to 40k/Apocalypse/Epic 40k style warfare. Most Imperial worlds are peaceful affairs. Most of the Inquisition’s work is within these worlds, seeking the enemy within, and this is where Dark Heresy is set. Game mechanic wise, as cool as Genestealers and Marines are, they are designed for massed warfare, and will absolutely rage your acolyte characters. Having said that, to bring those two reasons together actually reinforces one of the key (and personally my favourite) themes of Dark Heresy, which makes it so gripping; there are millions of bigger, scarier and nastier things out there than a bunch of poorly equipped, puny humans.
If you want a better look at the background and the type of thing you’ll be doing in the game good places to look are: -
- The Eisenhorn and Ravenor novels.
- Fantasy Flight Games Official DH website: -http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/dark-heresy/
- Dark Reign. This is a great website for a lot of good quality, fan produced material. Some of it is likely to end up in future FF publications.
http://www.darkreign40k.com/
- Some of the background materials for Inquisitor game. These can be found at: -
http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/conten...d=4900004. Of particular interest are Summoning the Muse, which may help character creation, and the Thorian Sourcebook. Despite being written by Gav Thorpe (the writing style isn’t amazing) there’s plenty of good info on more Puritan Inquisitors.
Feel free to explore these materials (and others you might find) as fully as you wish. The only thing I would ask is to refrain from reading campaign/mission articles; they might spoil a lot of the surprises and twists I have in store for you all…
If you’re looking to buy the rulebook etc, the Orc’s Nest had a good stock last time I checked a couple of weeks ago.
http://www.orcsnest.com/. Their mail order service is great, and they’re easily accessible in central London, just off Charing Cross road near the junction with Shaftesbury Avenue. A map is available on their website.
If you could let me know a bit about your roleplaying history, what games you’ve played in the past, how long ago, what kind of characters you play and what sort of things you enjoy in a game, let me know so I can tailor the campaign to suit. Also a mention of what DH materials you’ve read would be handy.
I’m willing to accept characters from the main rulebook, Inquisitor’s handbook. Additionally I will accept any fan made career paths etc. In a previous campaign I played a Commissar from a career path put up on Dark Reign, and had an awesome time with it. At the end of the day, this is just as much your campaign as it is mine, so I’m relatively easy going on that kind of thing. About the only things I won’t accept are marines; they will ruin the combat balance (unless everyone is one) and most of the missions you will find yourself in are undercover investigations; an 8ft tall guy in power armour isn’t that able to blend in. Also, if you are considering an unofficial career path, I would appreciate it if the rules or link could be sent my way first, just to make sure its using a well written set of rules and I know what party I’ve got in front of me. I’m quite happy to let you character create in your own time; however hard you make your characters, I will simply raise the difficulty to suit to keep the game challenging.
Once you’ve decided on your character, feel free to get a roughly 28mm model and get him/her painted. You can use whatever models you want; they don’t necessarily have to be GW; again, it’s your campaign after all.
The final point on the campaign/gaming aspect itself is to do with the Inquisitor you shall be working for. I’m currently fleshing out a background for him, and was thought it would be cool to let the players choose which Ordos he belongs to. Bare in mind that you will still face all kinds of threats; an Inquisitor may uncover heresy which isn’t relevant to his primary remit, but will still work to destroy it.
Finally, I’m briefly got a couple of queries as to practicalities. Firstly, at the moment, you are the only two people who I have spoken to who seem interested; we could do with another 2 or 3 players to make the party of acolytes complete. If you know any mates who might be interested let me know. Feel free to forward this e-mail to any friends who are interested. Likewise, once we have got our players sorted we could do with working out a venue and a time to play which is convenient for all. Atm, Tim has kindly offered use of his place and I’m thinking weekly sessions if possible. However, we should probably keep an open mind until we have all of the players together. Finally, I was just wondering if any of you had a
Hope you’ve made it through this essay ok, any feedback whatsoever is appreciated to make this campaign as best as it can be."
Matt