Dark Heresy (role-playing game)

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Dark Heresy
Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay
WH40kRPGCover.jpg
Cover of Dark Heresy, the first book of the Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay series
Designers Owen Barnes, Kate Flack, Mike Mason
Publishers Black Industries / Fantasy Flight Games
Publication25 January 2008
GenresGothic science fantasy

Dark Heresy is a role-playing game published by Black Industries in 2008 that uses the Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay system. A second edition was published in 2014 under Fantasy Flight Games. [1]

Contents

Description

In Dark Heresy, the player characters are agents of the Inquisition.

Gameplay

The players assume the role of a group of Acolytes working for an Inquisitor, who sends them on various missions. Depending on the type of mission, the gameplay can involve investigation, combat, intrigue, or a number of other genres. Therefore, the Game Master can tailor their campaign to suit their player group. As the players work for an Inquisitor, most missions involve rooting out heresies or matters relating to them, but the breadth of the game allows for many other missions, including wiping out dangerous gangs, gathering evidence of corruption, dealing with alien threats or eliminating rogue psykers. [2]

Career paths

Each player can pick a career path for their character, which is similar to a class from other RPG systems such as Dungeons & Dragons . There are 8 career paths in the core rulebook, and more added in several sourcebooks. They are:

Products

Development

A collector's edition of Dark Heresy - the first release of the game - went on sale on Monday, 10 December 2007, at 16:00 GMT. The 200 copies of the game, individually numbered with an accompanying 'signature' of an in-game Inquisitor, sold out in six minutes. [13] The regular edition was released on 25 January 2008, [14] and a demo booklet was distributed at Gen Con 2007. [15]

The game itself shares many design features with WHFRP2.

On 28 January 2008, Games Workshop announced that it would close Black Industries - thereby discontinuing Dark Heresy and all the other games published by the subsidiary - to allow them to focus on the commercial success of their novels and core business. [16]

On 22 February 2008, Black Industries announced that all Warhammer Fantasy and Warhammer 40,000 RPG, CCG, and select board game rights were being transferred to Fantasy Flight Games, who would continue to publish Dark Heresy. [17]

During late 2008 and 2009, Fantasy Flight started releasing autonomously-developed material for the Dark Heresy game: a collection of heretical factions to pit the player characters against titled Disciples of the Dark Gods, a monster manual called Creatures Anathema, and a mini-campaign in three parts dubbed The Haarlock Legacy.

Fantasy Flight also announced a manual on "radical" inquisitors (covering the most extreme factions, their tactics, equipment, and most prominent figures) and a major expansion allowing players to take their characters to the rank of interrogator, bestowed with an inquisitorial rosette, enjoying augmented prestige and able to summon more powerful allies.

On 9 September 2016 Fantasy Flight announced they would be ending their relationship with Games Workshop from 28 February 2017 for all shared products including Dark Heresy. [18]

Reviews

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References

  1. ↑ "Dark Heresy Second Edition official website". Archived from the original on 2 April 2015.
  2. ↑ "Official Fantasy Flight Dark Heresy website". Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 18 September 2014.
  3. ↑ Core Rulebook - Dark Heresy first edition | ISBN   978-1-84416-435-6 | Authors: Owen Barnes, Kate Flack & Mike Mason
  4. ↑ Core Rulebook - Dark Heresy first edition | ISBN   978-1-84416-435-6 | Authors: Owen Barnes, Kate Flack & Mike Mason
  5. ↑ Core Rulebook - Dark Heresy first edition | ISBN   978-1-84416-435-6 | Authors=Owen Barnes, Kate Flack & Mike Mason
  6. ↑ Core Rulebook - Dark Heresy first edition | ISBN   978-1-84416-435-6 | Authors: Owen Barnes, Kate Flack & Mike Mason
  7. ↑ Core Rulebook - Dark Heresy first edition | ISBN   978-1-84416-435-6 | Authors: Owen Barnes, Kate Flack & Mike Mason
  8. ↑ Core Rulebook - Dark Heresy first edition | ISBN   978-1-84416-435-6 | Authors: Owen Barnes, Kate Flack & Mike Mason
  9. ↑ Core Rulebook - Dark Heresy first edition | ISBN   978-1-84416-435-6 | Authors: Owen Barnes, Kate Flack & Mike Mason
  10. ↑ Core Rulebook - Dark Heresy first edition | ISBN   978-1-84416-435-6 | Authors: Owen Barnes, Kate Flack & Mike Mason
  11. ↑ The Inquisitor's Handbook - Dark Heresy first edition | ISBN   978-1-58994-457-2 | Authors: Alan Bligh, Owen Barnes, John French, Andy Hall, Tim Huckelbery, Andrew Kenrick, Mike Mason, Sean Schoonmaker, T. S. Luikhart, and Robert J. Schwalb
  12. ↑ "Enemies Within official page". Archived from the original on 2 April 2015.
  13. ↑ "Dark Heresy CE sells out in 6 minutes". Black Industries. 10 December 2007. Retrieved 24 January 2008.
  14. ↑ "Dark Heresy hits the streets early!". Black Industries. 7 December 2007. Retrieved 24 January 2008.
  15. ↑ "New Launch Date for Dark Heresy". Black Industries. Retrieved 1 March 2007.
  16. ↑ "Black Industries Announcement". Black Industries. 28 January 2008. Retrieved 11 February 2008.
  17. ↑ "Fantasy Flight/Black Industries press release" (PDF). 9 May 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 May 2008.
  18. ↑ "A New Path Forward". Fantasy Flight Games. 9 September 2016. Retrieved 19 November 2017.
  19. ↑ "Pyramid: Pyramid Review: Dark Heresy: Roleplaying in the Grim Darkness of the 41st Millennium".
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