I played v1 back a long time ago via SKYPE with some cool guys across the states and Canada. Had an awesome GM who literally got me back into playing TTRPG games. When the first adventure ended he was ready to start another but disappeared- literally. I haven't seen him reappear on skype for 5+ years, maybe more. We would Come online and wait the same old times and than we left the group as no one was willing to GM.

Now fast forward to here and now. I play with some cool guys from Florida and Colorado. I'm from Northern Virginia. We play FFG EOTE with all the supplements and cores. Me and another talked about running a DH game. So I knew some of the old rules and picked up a core 2.0 and a game master Kit- should arrive in a couple days.

So what should I expect? New rules? New style of character creation? What's the low down? Thoughts for someone coming back into it?

I want to make a small one shot that could carry on to more stories- i want to create a sorta prologue for them while incorporating the genre for them so they can learn as they go the setting that is WH40k...and how dangerous the galaxy is. So if there are player made modules that are really basic and fun that allow the story to show what the genre is about would be fantastic!

Thanks!

In my opinion, character creation is much more fluid and balanced; I love it. The base rule-set isn't much changed, but it seems a bit smoother than the few times I played 1st Ed.

I've run a 9 month campaign in 2nd Ed, and the main thing to keep in mind is the game doesn't seem lethal at first, especially if your PCs are careful. One or two errant rolls, however, and they can be in for a world of hurt.

House-rules at my table include increasing the damage of explosives by 1d10, applying an Attack roll to Spray weapons for the purpose of jams and measuring successes when they come into play and implementing a resource system to supplement the Requisition system. You can find the basics of that in the House-Rules if you want to do so yourself. https://community.fantasyflightgames.com/topic/194823-gelt-based-resource-system/

For the most part the game plays completely the same and quite a lot is compatible between 2nd ed and the previous edition and the other game lines.

Some major changes from first to second are:

Skills have been consolidated, so there are a lot less of them and many have the uses of several from first ed.

Talent list is much shorter. A lot of the cool fluffy ones who's usefulness was questionable or that lacked hard rules effects were removed, a few talents were somewhat consolidated, and some were probably removed for being too powerful, like fearless and heightened senses. Worth noting that many of the lost talents are still in Only War and its supplements and most are cross compatible.

No money anymore, there is an influence characteristic that is used to roll for equipment now. Influence is meant to represent a wide range of things from money in your pocket, to more general wealth, to your reputation and favors owed to you.

Character creation and advancement has changed quite a bit. In character creation you pick a homeworld, background, and role. More freedom in what you can purchase as there aren't career tables anymore. Things that don't line up with your character creation choices are just really expensive compared to things that do line up.

Psychic powers work way different. They make much more sense and are more in line in how they work relative to the rest of the system (use characteristic percentile rolls for casting like other tests)

Be warned if you use any of FFG's 2nd ed adventures many of the boss battles are very tough for low level characters. Depending on how combat oriented your party is and how many sessions/how much xp they get you may want to tone them down some. That being said Seeds of Heresy can make for a good introductory prologue campaign.
See the bottom of the player resources section of the support page for that adventure. It was the adventure used for the beta.

https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/products/dark-heresy-second-edition/

For the most part the game plays completely the same and quite a lot is compatible between 2nd ed and the previous edition and the other game lines.

Some major changes from first to second are:

Skills have been consolidated, so there are a lot less of them and many have the uses of several from first ed.

Talent list is much shorter. A lot of the cool fluffy ones who's usefulness was questionable or that lacked hard rules effects were removed, a few talents were somewhat consolidated, and some were probably removed for being too powerful, like fearless and heightened senses. Worth noting that many of the lost talents are still in Only War and its supplements and most are cross compatible.

No money anymore, there is an influence characteristic that is used to roll for equipment now. Influence is meant to represent a wide range of things from money in your pocket, to more general wealth, to your reputation and favors owed to you.

Character creation and advancement has changed quite a bit. In character creation you pick a homeworld, background, and role. More freedom in what you can purchase as there aren't career tables anymore. Things that don't line up with your character creation choices are just really expensive compared to things that do line up.

Psychic powers work way different. They make much more sense and are more in line in how they work relative to the rest of the system (use characteristic percentile rolls for casting like other tests)

Be warned if you use any of FFG's 2nd ed adventures many of the boss battles are very tough for low level characters. Depending on how combat oriented your party is and how many sessions/how much xp they get you may want to tone them down some. That being said Seeds of Heresy can make for a good introductory prologue campaign.

See the bottom of the player resources section of the support page for that adventure. It was the adventure used for the beta.

https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/products/dark-heresy-second-edition/

Thanks! I'll take a look! Is the adventures in the core of 2nd good starter too? I'll be getting my core today to look as well!

For my taste the Dark Pursuit adventure in the core rule book needs too much tweaking and planning on the GM's side to be a good starting point. Also, a lot of details are missing and you have to fill in the blanks on your own. Finally, the "end boss" (if you go for a straight battle, at least) is rather deadly.

For my taste the Dark Pursuit adventure in the core rule book needs too much tweaking and planning on the GM's side to be a good starting point. Also, a lot of details are missing and you have to fill in the blanks on your own. Finally, the "end boss" (if you go for a straight battle, at least) is rather deadly.

I'll start there- they may just want a one shot to see if they like it...so if they struggle and or die I think it will still work. >: )

The rules are pretty similar to first edition, but there are a lot of small changes (mostly for the better) that are easy to miss if you're used to the older rules. Try to read the entire book through as best you can to take in the changes, even stuff that seems like a repeat of earlier rules.

The rules are pretty similar to first edition, but there are a lot of small changes (mostly for the better) that are easy to miss if you're used to the older rules. Try to read the entire book through as best you can to take in the changes, even stuff that seems like a repeat of earlier rules.

Yeah it's a tough read...a lot of fluff mixed into the rules...a lot

The rules are pretty similar to first edition, but there are a lot of small changes (mostly for the better) that are easy to miss if you're used to the older rules. Try to read the entire book through as best you can to take in the changes, even stuff that seems like a repeat of earlier rules.

Yeah it's a tough read...a lot of fluff mixed into the rules...a lot

Yeah, beautiful books on their own, but I also dislike this phenomenon...

And nobody can release a distilled version because that would essentially be rereleasing the rules. FFG won't like that.

Be warned if you use any of FFG's 2nd ed adventures many of the boss battles are very tough for low level characters. Depending on how combat oriented your party is and how many sessions/how much xp they get you may want to tone them down some. That being said Seeds of Heresy can make for a good introductory prologue campaign.

See the bottom of the player resources section of the support page for that adventure. It was the adventure used for the beta.

https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/products/dark-heresy-second-edition/

Oh, but not "Dark Pursuits"? Traitor!

Be warned if you use any of FFG's 2nd ed adventures many of the boss battles are very tough for low level characters. Depending on how combat oriented your party is and how many sessions/how much xp they get you may want to tone them down some. That being said Seeds of Heresy can make for a good introductory prologue campaign.

See the bottom of the player resources section of the support page for that adventure. It was the adventure used for the beta.

https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/products/dark-heresy-second-edition/

Oh, but not "Dark Pursuits"? Traitor!

In my opinion Seeds of Heresy is more self contained and makes for a better one off or prologue which is what the OP asked for. We essentially used it that way. Dark Pursuits has a pretty high chance of ending with lots of loose ends since it is set up to lead into some of the other adventures more directly. At least in our playthrough a lot of stuff was unresolved or still a mystery.