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Ted_Stryker
2008-04-20, 01:12 PM
Anyone here play it? Any impressions of the game you'd like to share?

I've just played a couple of sessions after advancing a void-born Psyker up to Aspirant (rank 3 in the career path), and it was pretty fun. I managed to saddle to other PCs with the first insanity points of the campaign. They certainly won't be the last...

Myshlaevsky
2008-04-20, 01:42 PM
I love the game. Really like the feel and theme of it, but I don't begrudge that it feels a little, well, little at times. Hopefully the supplements might fix this somewhat. The grim hopelessness of it is what gets me, I guess.

Psyker is undoubtably my favourite character type, and is nowhere near as dangerous as some people I know have made out (especially if you're a biomancer). As a long-term Inquisitor player I knew I'd enjoy it, but I think it was up to my expectations.

My group (Arbiter, Assassin, Santioned Psyker and Cleric) ran through the provided body-snatching adventure first, then did a few more routine investigations, stole some Adeptus Mechanicus documents and started chasing a renegade inquisitor across the system. Play has since petered out though, and I've been looking for a game online.

Ted_Stryker
2008-04-20, 03:09 PM
Perils of the Warp are dangerous enough, especially if you don't have any major psychic powers to deal with the fallout, which my PC won't for another 300 XP yet. Even then, I'm not sure if I'm going to go the Biomancy route. I'm already counting down the XP needed to get my Psyker Favoured by the Warp (4300, if my math is correct).

Myshlaevsky
2008-04-20, 03:24 PM
Biomancy is incredibly useful for corpus conversion, that's why I decided on it. I'd say the really important thing with psyker powers is never to overuse them and to always use the minimum number of dice needed to get the power off. You are right in that it's a lot more dangerous early on though. Once you've got power well, corpus conversion, discipline focus and invocation +20% everything becomes a lot easier.

Out of interest, are you playing in the Calixis sector? What's your Inquisitor like, as well?

kjones
2008-04-20, 04:36 PM
I got a chance to look through the rulebook, and I was really impressed with the mechanics of the system. d20 everything is starting to wear a little thin on me, and I was really blown away by how simple yet powerful a system based on d% rolls could be. I also really like their approach to leveling (buying stuff with XP, but more XP means more options - it's a combination of skill-based and class-based leveling) among other things. I'm not that familiar with the setting, but fluff is always mutable.

Wish me luck finding my own copy of the rulebook, though - they're going for a pretty penny on eBay.

Prophaniti
2008-04-20, 05:25 PM
We just finished our first campaign with this. Great stuff. My group has been a hard-line D&D/D20 group for some time now, so it was slow going at first, while everyone learned the new system and got used to how unforgiving it can be. I think everyone was pleased with it, I especially liked how lethal the combat can be, a pleasant change from loads of hp, damage reduction, and impossible-to-hit ACs. I, for one, love the system and the setting and if I had time to continually pump out interesting adventures I'd keep playing it. Sadly, it is someone else's turn to DM for a month or so, and they have opted to go back to D&D for their run. Still, it won't be long before the shadow of taint and heresy blackens the stars again, and when it does we shall be ready to stand and fight against it once more.

Hmm... I seem to be waxing poetic today for some reason. Best not look into it too deeply.

Ted_Stryker
2008-04-20, 05:52 PM
Biomancy is incredibly useful for corpus conversion, that's why I decided on it. I'd say the really important thing with psyker powers is never to overuse them and to always use the minimum number of dice needed to get the power off. You are right in that it's a lot more dangerous early on though. Once you've got power well, corpus conversion, discipline focus and invocation +20% everything becomes a lot easier.
Power well + discipline focus are definitely high on my list of things to take once my PC hits Rank 4, and I think Invocation +10 happens at Rank 4, too, so I'd take that as well. I hadn't planned on taking Biomancy with Psy Level 3, though. I may have to re-think that, since you can get a lot power points with it....

...actually, I just looked it up, and Corpus Conversion isn't available until Rank 5 for the super-psyker route. So maybe Biomancy will be my second psychic discipline, or maybe I'll go the Savant Militant route, which gives CC at Rank 4. You don't get nearly the access to psychic powers that way, though. Something to think about, I guess.


Out of interest, are you playing in the Calixis sector? What's your Inquisitor like, as well?
We are playing in the Calixis sector. I don't play the 40K war game, so my familiarity with the setting is somewhat limited.

Regarding my Inquisitor, that's an excellent question, but I don't have an answer for it. I came in after a few sessions of the campaign had already been run, and everyone wants to play so GMing responsibilities rotates on an adventure-by-adventure basis, so it hasn't really come up yet.

=================

RE: Buying the main rulebook, I had to go through a third-party vendor at Amazon to get the book at MSRP, so you might have some better luck that way as opposed to eBay.

littlebottom
2008-04-20, 06:39 PM
hey, im about to play dark heresy in a couple of weeks and i liked the % system in WHFRP so im hoping its pretty simmilar any one know how simmilar the two games are gameplay wise? our GM picked up a copy so ive not got to read it yet all i know so far is its based on WH 40k and that it uses a percentile system

Myshlaevsky
2008-04-20, 06:50 PM
Power well + discipline focus are definitely high on my list of things to take once my PC hits Rank 4, and I think Invocation +10 happens at Rank 4, too, so I'd take that as well. I hadn't planned on taking Biomancy with Psy Level 3, though. I may have to re-think that, since you can get a lot power points with it....

...actually, I just looked it up, and Corpus Conversion isn't available until Rank 5 for the super-psyker route. So maybe Biomancy will be my second psychic discipline, or maybe I'll go the Savant Militant route, which gives CC at Rank 4. You don't get nearly the access to psychic powers that way, though. Something to think about, I guess..

Yeah, when I looked at the psyker paths, I pretty much automatically chose the 'Scholar -' route. It seemed more interesting. I guess, background-wise, the Imperium's safe psykers will be along the Savant Militant path. Less power, but more control. Given that humanity can only rarely reach the psychic mastery that the eldar or chaos devotees exhibit unaffected, it makes sense.


We are playing in the Calixis sector. I don't play the 40K war game, so my familiarity with the setting is somewhat limited.

The Calixis sector was invented solely for the purposes of Dark Heresy, so it's probably better in that case. If it comes up in the course of the campaign, you'll need to tell me what your tyrant star is.


Regarding my Inquisitor, that's an excellent question, but I don't have an answer for it. I came in after a few sessions of the campaign had already been run, and everyone wants to play so GMing responsibilities rotates on an adventure-by-adventure basis, so it hasn't really come up yet.

Fair enough. If you're rotating you may want to get together and decide how important the Inquisitor is going to be and get a rough guideline, to keep homogenity of the story. Do you know the Ordo, or if it's one of the rulebook Inquisitors?


hey, im about to play dark heresy in a couple of weeks and i liked the % system in WHFRP so im hoping its pretty simmilar any one know how simmilar the two games are gameplay wise? our GM picked up a copy so ive not got to read it yet all i know so far is its based on WH 40k and that it uses a percentile system

Your characters will be weaker and capable of less on their own than in WFRP. However, many more things will give you bonus modifiers and typical successes will be automatic. You will advance in a completely different way. Lots of things are inherently more risky and/or brutal. It's more important to be careful, especially if you're a psyker. Perils of the Warp are more dangerous than miscasts. Criticals are insane. Characters are more vunerable.

The system is fundamentally similar, but not the same, and it differs in many quite major ways. I personally don't hold one over the other: WFRP is better for Warhammer Fantasy, Dark Heresy is better for Warhammer 40K. If you like Warhammer and WFRP you'll probably enjoy it. Since I have played, I feel I'd much rather play it than WFRP again, but that could just be novelty.

EDIT: Regarding the book, I guess we just have to hope Fantasy Flight Games do a reprint soon.