By the way, in terms of antagonists are there any signs or such of any new sector-specific xenos race?

Certainly not years. The Black Ships can pick up psykers on the one end of the Imperium and take them to Terra for training in less than a year.

I'm not arguing with you, but do you have a source on this? I always imagined that the League of Blackships more or less "trawled" an entire sector and it's registered worlds before returning to Terra, or maybe even moving from sector to sector and then sending auxiliary ships "home" to Terra with the loads.

And thus I also imagined that someone could theoretically spend a very long time on the Blackships before actually starting their training, leading me to believe that "The Assignment" was done aboard the Blackships.

Uhm, warp travel? With the way time is distored it is possible to spend a long time onbaord but have the trip take a week in real space time. Also it's even possible for a ship to arrive before it left. So the black ship beeing ablte to get around sectors and back to Terra in a year is highly likely. The BS probably has some pretty potent and skilled Navigators aswell.

Isnt it like there are "safer" more stable routes and such routes that are rather dangerous to travel ?

Does real time distance have any influence on that, or is it pure randomness ?

Not much really. The best you can hope for is skilled Navigators and lots of Geller field emittors (keeps the daemons out during warp travel) and warding sigils. (black ship should have tons of those)

Besides that it's either the webway (normally eldar only) or travel at sublight speed. (or the necrons going "screw physics we got technology!)

Some influence but it is still very random. There are some more or less constant, stable routes that are less dangerous and easier to navigate

From the new diary:

"Players steeped in the lore of the Calixis Sector and its connected regions may recall scattered mentions of some other locations – the Scelus and Ixaniad Sectors, the “Dread” Madrigal Sector, and an unnamed region bluntly labelled “Access Denied.” This once-forbidden sector is the region in which Dark Heresy Second Edition is set, and the reason for its ominous designation quickly becomes clear to Game Masters and players that dare to enter."

~ alemander

I am disappointed with this Askellon being in the Obscurus Segmentum nonsense. ESPECIALLY being, what? A sector removed from Calixis? I understand having to update the core rules of DH? But to blow off the fluff? I mean, technically its plenty close if you still want to use Calixis but now there has to be a whole new collection of splatbooks detailing the setting when we had a perfectly good one that was by no means mined of ideas. And was kindly created in such a way that all the other 40k game lines could be incorporated. Granted, with work on the crunch, but the fluff doesn't vary...I understand us having to buy more books is business, but still... gah. On top of that, I've read over what's been given per sector details about Askellon. I'm not impressed. Calixis drew me in. Askellon is just so... Bleh... I shall continue with my own sector construction as begun for Only War. I think it should prove more fun.

The game is set 999.M41, so 100+ years "after" the stuff in the Calixis Sector.

Wow, I knew it would be set later than DH1 , but I didn't think it would be that late. Since one of the themes in WH40K is 'two minutes to midnight', and it is constantly implied that the turn of the millennium is The End, that doesn't leave much wiggle room. My DH1 campaign is coming up on two years of 'in-game' time...

And that's not even that much. Really, depending on travel times, "downtime" and such, two years is nothing. I wonder if it was a concious decision by the developers, or something Games Workshop forced on them, because I personally see no way how you can run a game that won't jump into m42 rather quick.

Games starting in 814-817m41 (I *think* that's the full range of stated starting periods in FFG WH40kRP books (pre-DH2) was perfect, because it's late in the 41st Millennium to make most things applicable (although these dates not being stated often enough leads to problems, such as the Blood Ravens in Deathwatch), but not too late as to muck too much with the state of the universe.

I think it was stated quite early on that DH2 would be set in 999m41 (or at least hinted at) and it's yet another reason I'm unlikely to really ever get into DH2, other than to mine it for influences and ideas.

The creators went as far as they wanted to with the Calaxis, and at the end of Apostasy Gambit even entered the option to have much of it burn to the ground with all out civil war.

They wanted to make something new.

Since all 40k fluff is supposedly subjective based upon various perspectives, history, lies, etc; we really don't know that THE END means utter and complete destruction of the Imperium. It could mean the end of its current incarnation or a change that is coming that will forever change the Imperium forever such as the death of the Emperor or his reawakening, maybe a lost primarch returns or some other event. Prophecy is usually quite vague and subject to interpretation.

If you want to play Askellon 150 years earlier in the timeline, it probably won't make all that much difference. But even if you stick with the date given it might not matter since the turn of the millennium might turn out to be about as devastating to the setting as Y2K was IRL.

That'd be really entertaining actually. Everyone freaking out about everything then, it's all fine. The Golden throne wasn't failing, it was going through a soft reset with a few systems, it's all good now.

That'd be really entertaining actually. Everyone freaking out about everything then, it's all fine. The Golden throne wasn't failing, it was going through a soft reset with a few systems, it's all good now.

Actualy already happened. It gets mentioned in a bit of timeline fluff in one fo the later rulebooks.

Slight hiccup in the golden throne, astronomican offline for 5 minutes: several ships lost in the warp and mass panic amongst astropaths.

Custodes 1: "Oh help, they report teh astronomican is down, Is the Emperor all right?"

Custodes 2: "Yeah so far but the golden throne was making this weird noise and then it stopped. Better call the adeptus mechanicus"

Fabricator genreal of mars: " So you have problems with your golden throne? Have you tried turning it off and on again?"

Custodes 1: "It's the bleedin' Emperor of mankind you idiot! we can't just go switching off the golden throne!"

Custodes 2: "It's ok! the throne is functioning again and i hear the astronomican came back! Praise be!"

Fabricator " On/off. Always works. heh heh."

that's more a full on system forced restart.

Better than blue screen of death.

Custodes 1: "euhm guys? were gonna need a new Emperor. Take Roboute Guilliman out of stasis!"

Custodes 2: "Do we still have warranty on the golden throne?"

It's probably even more simple. Someone probably tripped over the power cord and pulled the plug.

The creators went as far as they wanted to with the Calaxis, and at the end of Apostasy Gambit even entered the option to have much of it burn to the ground with all out civil war.

They wanted to make something new.

There's no need to do everything in a temporally linear fashion, it's all optional scenarios and adventures. The Apostasy Gambit is just one potential result or scenario depending on the player's actions, the GM:s interpretations and even what adventures they choose to play.

There's a lot of things left hanging in the Calixis sector, and there's no reason new content could not focus on other parts of the Calixis Sector, or take place before the Apostasy's Gambit, if you feel a need to really place it on a time-line. Especially the Tyrant Star, comes to mind.

Let's not forget the fact that Only War's default setting is the Calixis Sector, and Only War is likely the last old-WH40kRP line that'll bite it.

Either way, yes, I can see many reasons why they wanted to move away from Calixis, I just think that the argument you presented was weak. It really doesn't need to be more than wanting to do something new, after feeling that they've fleshed out the Calixis Sector well - a conclusion I don't necessarily agree with, but it's their prerogative. I'd still like to see a proper Gazetteer for the Calixis, but.. there's a lot I'd like to see for Calixis and a lot of things I want for WH40kRP that'll never happen, c'est la vie.

But I still question the decision to move the time-line to 999m41. It is an uninteresting and jarring shift that can potentially be hand-waved away or ignored, yes, but nevertheless changes base assumptions and becomes potentially constrictive simply because the official narrative refuses to move onward, on the cusp of collapse as it is.

I believe that was likely more suggested by Games Workshop than anyone. That's just my theory, and I'll be watching for assassins from now on for that opinion likely.

However Note I said option, as you said it's one possible outcome.

Wait, this is now in the year 40,999? Yeah, one average Warp transit would easily take you 1 year into the future, even a handful of years.

That seems... ill-advised.

Also, isn't there a massive warp storm in this sector? So, that's going to make travel even more perilous and probably take more (realspace) time.

Question: Is anyone actually using the DH2E system in Askellon?

I don't think it gives that date (or ANY date) in the rulebook. The first place I saw it was on these forums by someone who interpreted "as the 41 millennium draws to a close..." to mean literally the last year in the 41st millennium. Which is dumb.

When talking about a millennium, even the last 50 years of it is "drawing to a close."

I think it was stated quite early on that DH2 would be set in 999m41 (or at least hinted at) and it's yet another reason I'm unlikely to really ever get into DH2, other than to mine it for influences and ideas.

You know you can "get into DH2" without the need to use the setting, right? All our DH1 sessions were set in M42.

BYE

I think it was stated quite early on that DH2 would be set in 999m41 (or at least hinted at) and it's yet another reason I'm unlikely to really ever get into DH2, other than to mine it for influences and ideas.

You know you can "get into DH2" without the need to use the setting, right? All our DH1 sessions were set in M42.

BYE

I get the most out of the setting(s), fluff, stories and content like that. The rules are just rules, and I don't really want to spend the time to fully flesh out my own setting. I wish I had the time to do it, and had enough GM experience to actually do these things "on the fly", but I don't.

I'm a sucker for setting and story content, and just like with rules, kicking at these things until they give in and then make them mine.

Changing base assumptions such as time and place will invariably affect the presentation of rules and offered content, as alternatives offered will almost always be tied to the setting - as I think it should be, I think you get the most out of it that way, and it's not just a sheet with rules, but something that can be potentially interesting - and seeing as how DH2 is tied to Askellon and 999m41, I just don't see it offering much that I'm interested in at all, other than what little I'll manage to pilfer and use for better setting(s).

I think it was stated quite early on that DH2 would be set in 999m41 (or at least hinted at) and it's yet another reason I'm unlikely to really ever get into DH2, other than to mine it for influences and ideas.

You know you can "get into DH2" without the need to use the setting, right? All our DH1 sessions were set in M42.

BYE

I get the most out of the setting(s), fluff, stories and content like that. The rules are just rules, and I don't really want to spend the time to fully flesh out my own setting. I wish I had the time to do it, and had enough GM experience to actually do these things "on the fly", but I don't.

I'm a sucker for setting and story content, and just like with rules, kicking at these things until they give in and then make them mine.

Changing base assumptions such as time and place will invariably affect the presentation of rules and offered content, as alternatives offered will almost always be tied to the setting - as I think it should be, I think you get the most out of it that way, and it's not just a sheet with rules, but something that can be potentially interesting - and seeing as how DH2 is tied to Askellon and 999m41, I just don't see it offering much that I'm interested in at all, other than what little I'll manage to pilfer and use for better setting(s).

You can always turn the question to your players if some aspect of the setting needs to be made up on the fly. Pick the player whose character would most likely know about it and ask them what their character knows about the subject. If the player gives you something silly but everyone else likes it, that may be a hint that they want a silly game, likewise for darker stuff.

I think it was stated quite early on that DH2 would be set in 999m41 (or at least hinted at) and it's yet another reason I'm unlikely to really ever get into DH2, other than to mine it for influences and ideas.

You know you can "get into DH2" without the need to use the setting, right? All our DH1 sessions were set in M42.

BYE

I get the most out of the setting(s), fluff, stories and content like that. The rules are just rules, and I don't really want to spend the time to fully flesh out my own setting. I wish I had the time to do it, and had enough GM experience to actually do these things "on the fly", but I don't.

I'm a sucker for setting and story content, and just like with rules, kicking at these things until they give in and then make them mine.

Changing base assumptions such as time and place will invariably affect the presentation of rules and offered content, as alternatives offered will almost always be tied to the setting - as I think it should be, I think you get the most out of it that way, and it's not just a sheet with rules, but something that can be potentially interesting - and seeing as how DH2 is tied to Askellon and 999m41, I just don't see it offering much that I'm interested in at all, other than what little I'll manage to pilfer and use for better setting(s).

You can always turn the question to your players if some aspect of the setting needs to be made up on the fly. Pick the player whose character would most likely know about it and ask them what their character knows about the subject. If the player gives you something silly but everyone else likes it, that may be a hint that they want a silly game, likewise for darker stuff.

I.. I get the feeling that that response wasn't intended for me, or this thread. Either that, or I believe you just had a stroke, Nimsim, because I have no idea what you're on about.

Thanks.

Sigh ... homebrew sector it is. How does the name 'Thanatos Sector' sound...?

You could save yourself some work an use this one: http://1d4chan.org/wiki/Setting:Tiji_Sector