Dark Heresy Flavour

[Weasel of Doom]

Hi everyone.

A couple of my friends have just joined our Dark Heresy group but have no experience with the background of warhammer 40k. The fluff is the main reason the rest of us play dark heresy so it seems a shame for them to miss out of what's so important to the game.

I was wondering if any of you could help me summarise the fluff of 40k and dark heresy (mostly just the parts that'll help them as imperial acolytes because summarising the entire fluff of 40k might take a while)

They're reading the rulebooks and I've linked them to the tv tropes page on 40k and the 1d4chan page on dark heresy but is there anything else? Maybe something going a bit more into the conspiracies and plots which fill the imperium?

Thanks

[Telasi]

You might be interested in some of the various factions within the Inquisition itself; there is quite a variety of different philosophies floating about. Off the top of my head:

Amalathians - seek to preserve the status quo within the Imperium.

Recongregators - seek to purge and reorganize the structures of Imperial society.

Istvaanians - believe that conflict strengthens humanity, and try to promote strife both within and without.

Horusians - believe that the tools of Chaos are the best means to combat it; the most likely group to use daemonhosts, Chaos artifacts, etc. within the Inquisition.

Thorians - believe that the God-Emperor is occasionally re-manifested, and watch for exceptional individuals with some of his greatness. Often, they attempt to promote the creation of such individuals, as well.

Monodominants - believe firmly in humanity's right to rule the galaxy. The most rabidly puritan faction, as they detest psykers of any sort, and likely to conflict even with other loyal agents of the Holy Ordos.

[Lycan 01]

Read Eisenhorn.

Seriously. Pick up the Eisenhorn Omnibus, and start reading. By the end of the third chapter of the first book, you will know exactly what you're getting yourself into. But don't stop there. Keep reading. Keep learning. You will not only quickly grasp the setting and fluff of 40K, but you will reach a perfect understanding of Dark Heresy and its themes & concepts. Seriously, if I'd read Eisenhorn before I started Dark Heresy, I would have been able to grasp the game a lot faster.

If you're the GM, you ESPECIALLY need to read Eisenhorn, since it gives excellent examples of adventures, plot twist, story developement, enemies, allies, and other important things.

...

Dangit. Now I want to read Eisenhorn AND play Dark Heresy.

[SmartAlec]

It's Matthew Hopkins, Witchfinder General does Blade Runner meets Aliens meets Event Horizon. With a dash of Foundation.

My earnest advice is to keep it simple, though. Don't bombard them with all the setting's details right away; if you can figure out some kind of adventure that breaks things down to basics (this guy is a heretic, kill him), and then just mention the rest through detail (you don't need to tell anyone who the God-Emperor of Mankind is; with a name like that, it's self-explanatory) and hopefully, if they get into it, they'll do some research themselves. Then you can bust out the more complex stories.

[hunt11]

At the start of most 40k books there is a good summary of 40k fluff. Also show them this site http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Main_Page. Though their are more in-depth sources for 40k, it does have a lot of useful information on most of the big events/organizations in 40k.

[Kiero]

Read Eisenhorn.

Seriously. Pick up the Eisenhorn Omnibus, and start reading. By the end of the third chapter of the first book, you will know exactly what you're getting yourself into. But don't stop there. Keep reading. Keep learning. You will not only quickly grasp the setting and fluff of 40K, but you will reach a perfect understanding of Dark Heresy and its themes & concepts. Seriously, if I'd read Eisenhorn before I started Dark Heresy, I would have been able to grasp the game a lot faster.

If you're the GM, you ESPECIALLY need to read Eisenhorn, since it gives excellent examples of adventures, plot twist, story developement, enemies, allies, and other important things.

...

Dangit. Now I want to read Eisenhorn AND play Dark Heresy.

Although it will give you a completely skewed set of expectations about what your character should be capabe of.

[DwarfFighter]

Read Eisenhorn.

Seriously. Pick up the Eisenhorn Omnibus, and start reading. By the end of the third chapter of the first book, you will know exactly what you're getting yourself into.

Yup.

Eisenhorn: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Eisenhorn-Om...2165234&sr=8-1

Ravenor: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ravenor-Omni...2165263&sr=1-1

-DF

[Lycan 01]

Although it will give you a completely skewed set of expectations about what your character should be capabe of.

Not really. Acolytes drop like flies in Eisenhorn just like in Dark Heresy. Shoot, it gives pretty good examples of how Dark Heresy players can expect to die - randomly, brutally, and of little consequence in the grand scheme of things.

[hamishspence]

And if you really want to play a full Inquisitor, there is the Ascension splatbook.