I've never played an RPG before,but i do play lots of games including 40K.

I've read a lot of the 40K universe books and am wondering a few things about the RPG:

1) does it feel like ravenor/eisenhorn or more like guant's ghosts or the horus series?

2) how approachable is it with little to know RPG experience?

3) how essential is having a large group, or in other words is a group of 2 people going to get a lot out of the game?

thanks for any replies.

Lars said:

More Eisenhorn/Ravenor, but if you have read Scourge the Heretic, that is a little better. The power level is nowhere near Eisenhorn/Ravenor.

Lars said:

With a lot of background in the 40K universe it is very approachable as is RP experience if you have no experience in the universe.

Lars said:

Three would be the absolute minimum - one GM and two players.

Lars said:

You're welcome.

3) Minimum players for most RPGs is 2 (1 to GM, 1 to play). Ideal group size varies to taste and game system. I find GM + 3-5 players to be ideal for my style of play.

2) As far as rules, DH heresy is one of the simpler systems to grasp the basic mechanics, and if you do your first characters randomly you'll be started quick. You should be able to pick up the broad strokes fairly quickly.

1) If you run the game as written characters start out as lowly foot sloggers just signed on to work for the Inquisition. As in the vast majority of RPGs you start out as a peon and work your way up from there.

Haven't read Eisenhorn, Ravenor, or more than 1/2 of the first Gaunts Ghosts novel. Read only 1 HH book (Descent of Angels) and was vastly diappointed, so I really can't answer your questions in that regard.

Welcome to Dark Heresy

Lars said:

It's slated as a game that is focused on investigation, so more Eisenhorn than Gaunt's Ghosts (i.e. combat focus). You can play it either way, of course, but you're going to have to spend a lot of time customising it yourself if you play away from the central themes of the game.

Oh, but one thing that you're going to have to remember is that you don't take on the role of the Inquisitor. They are a nebulous patron figure who hands out the missions and whom you might never meet. Rather, you play "acolytes" of the Inquisition.

Lars said:

One of the strengths of Dark Heresy is that you can basically sit down, pull out the book, roll up some characters and start play. The simplicity of the system also means that whomever elects (or is forced! ) to be the GM also has a much easier time of it. The system is also evocative of the more "medieval" approach to the 40k setting, so in many ways it plays you into that mindset for the Imperium. If you were going to hit any stumbling blocks it would be that, arguably, there are some absences in the background to the game. Since you've played the table top wargame, though, this shouldn't be a problem, so all is good.

Lars said:

Not essential at all. One player and one GM is all that is needed.

Kage