Is it me, or does this sentence marks the latest supplement - 'In the grim darkness of the 41st millennium, there only...mechanical **** popes and Iron Man descendants?'

I mean, I am so disillusioned with this product. Bad quality art, and not so good 'epic' rules. Basically, you cannot fail on that power level (in terms of testing against skills), and I don't see the point in having your own army of followers. This rules are better for RT than for DH. I am inclined to believe it was even meant for that. But, the most disappointing thing is, as always, bestiary. It lacks any depth and variety, as always with all supplements and books. The one in RT is horrible if you buy just that book, and Creatures Anathema, although good, is somewhat lacking in depth. DH one is pretty horrible also. It just irritates me that I have to come up 1001 new xeno and malleus specimen. With hereticus, it's not that big of a deal.

But, on topic; why is Ascesion so horribly written? I mean, all the other books where great, despite that bestiary thingy, and very well written fluff and rulewise, but ASC is just going, in my opinion, in a very bad direction. I didn't even touched the matter of skills and whatnot. Am I the only one that thinks of it as a very mediocre, at best, product?

The "Skill Mastery" thing is pretty much a huge headache. Other than that the basic rules and upgrades are not that bad once you get your head around the numbers. Then it is up to the GM and players to make it all work out in a fun way. After all, Rogue Trader has plenty of "roll to colonize a new planet" crap too if you don't take the time to fill in all the details, plot development and STORY ELEMENTS....

Ascention and RT have one BIG thing in common. The sheer scale of the game. It is MASSIVE in nature, so the game has to provide what is essentially a skeleton of rules to hang the meat of your game off of, and that means lots of work for the GM as well as the Rogue Trader/Inquisitor player. You simply MUST put in the work for them or the game WILL suck!

Cut and paste adventures don't really work as well once you "go epic" with a game. No longer is the fact that the baddie you are trying to capture is hiding behind some hired hivegangers the real problem. What actions you take to overcome the gang and the repercussions of how you went about things and what other major powers think about them is now the true story. Did you infiltrate an assassin to murder the guards and whisk the target away in the dead of night or did you deputize a local PDF battalion and simply shoot your way through the scum? Either method will probably work, but what are the consequences of your decision on the grand scheme of things? THAT is epic level play.