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View Full Version : [Dark Heresy] Ordo question and anything else, also starting a game here.



Prophaniti
2008-06-02, 10:51 AM
I'm getting ready to pick up my campaign again and am just looking for some opinions on which ordo would be more fun/interesting to work for. When we left off, the characters still don't know, most don't even know the Inquisition has ordos. The players mostly don't care, and those that do are tied, so I'm just looking to what other people think.

Seeing as theirs so much 4E talk right now and there never was much on this one, those of you who got it can also feel free to talk about the system itself if you like, and share any fun stories.

I gotta say, I love the system, especially the combat. It's wonderfully brutal and short, with every single point of damage mattering and none of the triple-digit hp and damage silliness you get in d20. A single well-placed round or sword can put you down, while many heavy weapons are virtually guaranteed to. It's a good dose of realism (which is surprising, given the usual over-the-top style of WH40k) and I find it makes combat a lot more fun.

All in all, the system they use is making me like d20 less and less.

Bryn
2008-06-02, 02:44 PM
Personally, I'm a big fan of the Ordo Xenos, much as a result of IA4 and Xenology, but really the choice depends on the plot. If you want delicious Cosmic Horror (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CosmicHorror), bring in the Ordo Malleus. If you want some Alien-style horror, the Ordo Xenos is perfect, especially when combined with the Adeptus Mechanicus. If you want to go up against mainly human enemies, for example for crushing rebellions or simply burning good old-fashioned cults, bring in the Ordo Hereticus; however, both the other Ordos can also deal with cults and they leave other options open for antagonists.

That, or pick one of the lesser known ones (http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Inquisition#Orders_of_the_Inquisition). Most of those have pretty small niches however.

As I mentioned at the beginning, I am a big fan of the Ordo Xenos (http://z13.invisionfree.com/40K_Online/index.php?showtopic=652), but that's not a strong preference. If you tell us about what's going on, it will be easier to make a decision.

DiabolicalFurby
2008-06-02, 03:01 PM
I'm personally a rather large fan of one of the lesser known Ordos. The Ordo Obsuletus gives you a lot of leeway in creating new content from scratch instead of huddling over your various codex's looking for your next big threat. It allows you to blend elements from the big three Ordos and even surprising your die hard 40K players by springing something new and terrifying upon them. IMHO anyway.

Illiterate Scribe
2008-06-02, 03:39 PM
Meh, there should only ever have been three Ordos, the rest are Orders.

Harrumph :smallmad:.

Anyway, I prefer inquisitor to Dark Heresy, although I've adapted some of the skill system across.

My personal favourite, Grand Inquisitor Belisarius Reliquitus of the Ordo Malleus had a little infamy over at the Conclave boards for having a planet with a subsurface torture chamber where he'd torture daemons - he was a little funny in the head.

Myshlaevsky
2008-06-03, 02:04 AM
An Inquisitor fan? Joy of joys!

He's totally right about the orders/Ordos as well.

I'll throw in a vote for Hereticus. In a wierd disagreement with the personal above, I actually see them as having the greatest remit of all the Ordos. They're also the largest Ordo, and the one with the closest ties to the institutions of the Imperium.

Remember that an Ordo is at best, a loose connection tying to the Inquisitor to those kind of interests. Inquisitors may just join an Ordo to further their own specific, individual purpose or life's work, and can change Ordos or be unaffiliated throughout their lives. Don't feel restricted by the Ordo you choose, Inquisitiors can and will do anything with their time. And they're not going to say "No, I'll not investigate the alien I just shot the face off of, because I'm not Xenos. Sorry". A well known inquisitor character on the Conclave, which Illiterate Scribe mentioned above, switched from Hereticus to Xenos because of the increasing Tyranid threat.

EDIT: You should check out the specialist games website and read some of the Inquisitor articles and Thorian sourcebook. A lot of this stuff became a part of Dark Heresy, and there are some other nice pieces of fluff and ideas.

Illiterate Scribe
2008-06-03, 05:32 AM
An Inquisitor fan? Joy of joys!

Another? I thought that we were a dying kind.


I'll throw in a vote for Hereticus. In a wierd disagreement with the personal above, I actually see them as having the greatest remit of all the Ordos. They're also the largest Ordo, and the one with the closest ties to the institutions of the Imperium.

Yeah, Hereticus are cool, as their remit is essentially 'anything that poses a threat to our hearts and minds'.


EDIT: You should check out the specialist games website and read some of the Inquisitor articles and Thorian sourcebook. A lot of this stuff became a part of Dark Heresy, and there are some other nice pieces of fluff and ideas.

Meh, the only ones I'm possibly willing to accept are Sicarius, but I don't see them making an organisation just for that. The zombies one though ... :smallsigh:

Myshlaevsky
2008-06-03, 06:19 AM
It was more a recommendation to the original poster, but I agree with you there. The plague zombie threat is practically the definition of an order. A whole bunch of different folks coming together to combat a limited threat for a while, instead of what they usually do.

I'd also agree that Sicarius has a reasonable claim to being an Ordo, but seems more likely it'd just be an ancient and highly organised cabal, though.

The others ones don't really have any claim to the title Ordo at all.

Prophaniti: Sorry to be off-topic, but I did offer helpful advice as well. Forgive me. :smalltongue:

Prophaniti
2008-06-03, 07:55 AM
@Sharikov: Heh, don't worry about being off topic, just read the second half of the thread title. Heck, you guys can talk Inquisitor too if you want. I played it for a bit.

As to where our group is at, I actually just ran them through the adventure in the manual, the daemon trying to break through on Iocanthos. From there, I've a couple of ideas and didn't plan on having the Ordo their Inquisitor works for limit my ideas in any way, just change the general focus.

Personally, I lean more toward Malleus of the three main ones. The more I think about it, I think that's the one I'll end up going with. Maybe I'll have one of those smaller orders come in for a bit though, some interesting stuff there. Thanks all for the replies, and feel free to continue any discussions in this thread.

Ghal Marak
2008-06-03, 06:53 PM
Sweet! Dark Heresy rocks.

Oh, and snazy link. I had forgoten about the Lexicanum. :smallsmile:


The others ones don't really have any claim to the title Ordo at all.

I don't know about the others, but Ordo Militum seems like it is nessisary enough to warrent being an Ordo. I mean, it polices all of those armies and the Commisarate.

Prophaniti
2008-06-03, 07:06 PM
Hey, we should try to set up a Dark Heresy game on the forum. Who's with me?

And, yeah, I'd give Militum the full Ordo title... Frankly I'm surprised it hasn't been used more in the novels or games. Seems like it would be the best source of the 'authority figure getting in the heroe's way' trope.

EDIT: Put up a gauging interest thread here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=82222), so sign up if you like the idea.

Ghal Marak
2008-06-03, 07:34 PM
WOOOO!!! Awesome. I'm already playing Sharikov's game, but there are never enough games. :smallbiggrin:

Back to Ordo Militium, I would think they would have their hands full with just the Imperial Guard. The Commisarat does handle the majority, but as it said, they can't handle some of the worse things. I'm thinking thats the point where a whole platoon of Storm Troopers become corrupted by Khorn and start slaughtering regular Guardsmen in some deep hell-hole of a jungle.

Myshlaevsky
2008-06-03, 09:40 PM
I'd love to sign p for this, but I'm too busy with other things on the forum at the moment.

Back to Militum, though... I just think that that's the job of Hereticus. It falls within their remit, and therefore I can't see that there'd be seperate Ordo just for it, especially when you consider that a 'new' Ordo is incredibly unlikely to have a membership rivalling the big three, and Hereticus is the largest of those. I could see orders and cabals devoted to policing Imperial institutions, but that kind of job really is what Hereticus were made for.