Not a complete lack, mind you, but I picked up the RT book looking for a cool game to run. Ive liked the 40k setting in the abstract, as Dawn of War was awesome & all, but neither I nor my soon to be players know the canon. The book is sold as a one off complete experience, so I figured there'd be more actual xenos listed. Even the human targets seem kinda sparse. Since my group seems to want to focus on the exploration theme, it feels Im under-equipped in terms of quantity of aliens and cool things like that. I can do my best to wing it, but I wanted to know if there was any larger bestiary I can get? I know about Creatures Anathema, but didnt know if the stuff in there would be suited, being a separate game setting.

The DH creatures book is a good buy. There a few creatures in the daemon section with DH psyker powers, but most of them have RT techniques with the same name. The one or 2 pages of sorcery won't make much sense. Other than that everything else is fully compatible with RT. I'd say about 85% just works, and only a 3-4 pages worth of stuff needs DH. The Orks, genestealers and Eldar material doesn't over lap with RT entries and complement each other.

PS- I'm pretty sure the developers just expect you to create your own aliens and other NPC. I just write up the stats, add a few traits, and boom. There is also Dark Reign and other sites with lots of creatures and things.

Dalnor Surloc said:

I agree with Dalnor about aliens, few stat adjustment, dash of talents, mix the skills up and you got a alien race(same can be done with ships just a little more work.). I do admit that the background can be duanting but you dont have to develop world sociology, history, and all the other stuff. Only develop what you need for your story. For combat just look at the damage your group can dish out adjust defensive and offensive to give the a challenge.

The main races you'll meet are in the book that will be most encountered the sector, not saying their the only ones just the most common so you can still let you imagination go wild. The core book has the rules but the Galaxy is your to shape.

Supporting Dalnor on all points.

Creatures Anathema is a good buy if you want a bigger bestiary. Especially if your looking to include cannon stuff like Eldar, Orcs, Genestealers, or Ambulls. The Dark Heresy Core book also has a few important beasties, mainly the demons. Though if your using those, be sure to get a current edition or use the errata.

After that, or besides that, the system makes it really easy to make up your own xenos or other badies. My prefered way is to look through RT, DH, and CA for something similar to what I want then mix, match and adjust to fit my needs.

Here's an example, I wanted some deadly xeno construct to attack the groups. So I started with the Bronze Malifects from CA (you can find it's stats in the CA preview), another deadly machines. I'd described my creatures as four armed, with large eyes stuck to the sides of their heads that could let them see behind themselves. So I changed out the Malifects special attacks for a flat 3 attacks, dropped strange physology and unnatural senses, and added combat mastery. Now it fit the general idea of what I wanted.

Next I busted its stats to better match the parties power level. So I gave them armour plating for a total of 6 AP, so that their armour would actually matter against some guns. Then I gave them +10 Agi and the dodge skill, because I wanted them to be agile and dodge would make them live far longer. For increased offense I gave them a +20 to WS. Lastly I added Fear 1, because I though it deserved it.

I ended up with something very different from what I'd started with (one players thought I had used a weakened version of the genestealers), and the whole thing took me about 5 minutes.

In short, it's very easy to make up your own aliens and other baddies, but you should pick up Creatures Anathema because it gives you more places to jump off from.

Actually that not why you should pick up CA. You should pick it up for the 12 pages of GM advice in the back. The section on "More than just rolling dice" should be required reading for any GM, in any game.

Invent some, do what good Gms always do, steal a rough Idea for an alien from any source and then customize it to the needs of your group.

Besides it is great to introduce some new aliens because every player knows to much about the typical races... that orks are in fact mushrooms with an a big mood problem and so on... Or simple modify existing races, think about aquatic or arctic orks.

If you do delve into the background material you'll find a wealth of diversity.

Trust me, I know the pain of players who aren't well-versed in the 40k mythos. You have to look at it as an opportunity to introduce these stories, concepts and ideas.

lexicanum.com is your friend...

Some examples:

Hard time explaining Tech-Heresy and the Dark Age of Technology? Cylons. Watch Caprica on SyFy or On Demand. Ok, now there's a reason artificial intelligence is forbidden by the Emperor. At some point before the Great Crusade, there was Artificial Intelligence and the Imperium even employed Robots in battle. There was some sort of revolt, and as a result the Emperor forbid the technology and the research into it. Cybernetics, however was still OK. They (the Mechanicus, of course) got around this by making all their constructs Cyborgs, hence Servitors, Cyber-skulls, etc. And yes, Servitors can go 'rogue'...

So, in the vastness of space, on a mission of Exploration, they come across a world populated by sentient robots...

Squats. I.E. Homo Sapiens Rotundus

I hate the word 'Retconned'. So, your PC's stumble upon a long-lost Squat Colony World. Think of the technology! Are they connected with the Demiurg? Good place to pick up a new and very different PC? NPC?

Eldar.

If you want to include Eldar, they don't have to come from Ulwethe Craftworld. In the beginning, there were Eldar Pirates. Not Dark Eldar, but Eldar who are in a phase of their life akin to how Quaker kids bust loose before deciding to 'settle down'. Not a huge amount is said about Eldar society and Rick P. and Jervis both told me that many things are left open-ended on purpose because they don't want to stifle the players' creativity.

Maiden Worlds are places where 'primitive' Eldar colonize. Probably well-advanced by 21st Century standards, but not by Craftworld standards. Problem is, this is a lovely world ripe for exploitation and ...well, they're on it. It might even be a base for Eldar Pirates...

Orks.

Not all Orks are built the same. Blood Axe Clan are downright un-Orky in that they intelligent, disciplined and civiilized...well, for Orks that is. They're also mercenaries who love Imperial equipment and tactics. Rumor has it they might even worship the Emperor as it is fairly well-known to Xeno-sociologists specializing in Orks that the Blood Axe Clan considers Mork and Gork to be idiots. They're also rumored to love a good cigar and a snifter of fine amasec....

Grey Sensei

There's a huge conspiracy afoot (both in 40k fluff and Real Life) to expunge all mentions of these heretical abominations...if they indeed exist, which it's considered heretical just to know what they are. What if your PC's meet one? What if one of your PC's IS one? Sensei's and Star Children are great plot devices if you love conspiracies buried under the darkest of secrets wallowing in everything religiously forbidden.

All the way through "Avatar" I was thinking of Eldar Maiden Worlds. Probably because the aliens looked like W.O.W. Night Elves...

If you think about it, that planet looked like a Paradise World that they were trying to turn into a Mining World, but in reality it was a Death World....

I was thinking Kroot. With the Warspheres rising once the human started cheating with orbital bombardment......

I was thinking of an adventure where the PC's are sent to pick up some rare ore the Mechanicus needs relating to Ship production. When they get there, they find an independant colony which caters to xenos as well. Recently the Tau have discovered an Eldar Warp Gate, figured out how to use it, and are shipping as much ore as they're allowed to buy back through the gate (with the intention of building a fleet and invading the Koronus Expanse for the Greater Good).

I just wanted an excuse to bring Tau into the game, seeing as they're on the other side of the galaxy...

For starters the Dark heresy and rogue trader are not different settings, it's the same universe just seen from different perspectives and everything in the creatures anathema would be usable with rogue trader and theres tons on info on other races out there on the interwebs you can read up on.

Oh and about the orks: blood axes are not more intelligent og civilized than other orks, they just like uniforms and imperial weapons/tanks.