I'm a new GM and will be starting a campain soon.

So, i would like the opinion of the older and by far more experienced players and gms arround here on this topic:

What are the good/must have/ger it! suplements for the DH line?

Main Book

Inquisitor's Handbook

Disciples of the Dark Gods

Radical's Handbook

Ascension

You do not "need" Disciples and Radical's unless you intend to use the types of things they deal with. Creatures Anathema, though slim, and not sized right for its' price imho, is **** fine as well.

Then again I use everything from DH and RT as well as some supps from WFRP 2nd edition (Tome of Corruption, Sorcery Book, and Creatures book are all great for a Feral/Feudal/Deathworld) in my games.

Alexis

*smiles*

I think Ascension is the most important, but I like most of the books.

If you all are just starting, get the Inquisitor's Handbook and Disciples of the Dark Gods. Both are outstanding and have TONS of adventure ideas for adventures.

Ziek

Nemezis said:

Thats one of those questions which everyone is going to answer by giving you a random list of supplements, everyone will have different opinions...

Obviously, you can play the game with just the core rulebook (despite what people may tell you - we all started with just the core rulebook when it was the only thing released!)

Inquisitors Handbook gives you more career options and equipment, plus an overview (throughout the book) of different elements of the setting. I see this one as the other half of the core rulebook in some respects. I'd flag this one as essential.

Beyond that, its personal choice. Disciples Of The Dark Gods gives you the bad guys and the conflicts for the setting in terms of the Inquisition. It also contains the first adventure in the Haarlock's Legacy campaign (continued in the three Haarlock Books).

Creatures Anathema expands Disciples (although you don't NEED Disciples to use it in terms of rules), adding more details of Tech Heresy, Death Worlds, Chaos and Xenos races (Eldar and Orks are in here, as are the Genestealers).

The Radical's Handbook covers the fine line Inquisitors and Acolytes walk between combatting the Enemy and falling to it. Its one of my favourite supplements, but you probably don't need it right at the start of the campaign, Radicalism won't really start to become an option until you've played a few sessions. Similarly, Ascension is the high level careers book, the shift from Acolyte to Inquisitor, for example - so you don't need that right away either, play a few sessions first.

Finally, Purge The Unclean and the three Haarlock books are adventures, they contain lots of nice info about the setting, but its up to you if you want to use them or not.

Hope that helped.

Aside from the core book itself, I'd view the Inquisitor's Handbook as almost mandatory. More career ranks, more interesting gear, and a good overview of some of the particular planets, people, and quirks of the sector itself. It does a great job of rounding out the setting. Aside from perhaps the layout, I can't find anything this book detracts from the game by possessing, at any level.

After that, Radical's Handbook is nice. It's like the IH mentioned above, but not as comprehensive and only really essential if your players WANT to turn to the dark side, so to speak, or you REALLY want to pull out all the stops with well-established radical elements as antagonists.

Creatures Anathema and Disciples of the Dark Gods are **** good at what they do: providing new antagonists, contacts, and detail into the setting for their respective areas of influence (aliens and beasts, and heretical cults and factions). Unfortunately, you probably won't need these unless you really want a solid, long-term, 'canon' springboard for ideas.

The adventures are, well, adventures. Again, good at what they do, but they're not that important unless you're stuck. I wouldn't pass up the opportunity of flicking through them to get an idea of a "standard" adventure though if you're stuck, but personally I use them for nothing more than getting more 'canon' information of locations and the like.

Ascension isn't really worth getting anytime soon. Not only is it way out of your league (not trying to sound elitist, but it's designed for veteran players with characters who have finished with regular DH shenanigans), but by the time you get to actually needing it, FFG will likely have put out a reprinted version with a few fixes. That, and a fair few people understandably hate it in general. No harm in checking it out to see where your players will end up, but you shouldn't need to reference anything in it for a long time.

That's all my take on it anyways.

Measured by "What do I use most of the time for preparing/runing my missions" it is clearly "Inquisitor Handbook" and "Disciples of the Dark Gods".


While I do use the other books, those are the once I use the most (in addition to the core rules).

Inquisitor's Handbook is practically mandatory. I don't think I could imagine a game of DH using just the core rulebook.

Other than that...they're all good books, but Disciples of the Dark Gods and the Radical's Handbook probably come out on top. Creatures Anathema is great, but presents single foes rather than organisations and cults for the group to face (which is what DotDG does).

My thanks.

This was realy helpfull.

I've ordered the inquisitor's handbook and creatures anathema.

My first game will not use them but i hope the core is enough for a few games.

Nemezis said:

It definitely is, but creating characters is so much more fun with Inquisitor's Handbook at hand. You might want to consider this.

Inquisitors Handbook offers the following at Character Generation:

• New Origins: Forge World, Mind Cleansed,Noble Born and Schola Progenium.
• Specific Locations for Origins: Battlefleet Calixis, Dusk, Gunmetal City, Maccabeus Quintus, Sinophia, Volg Hive
• Background Packages which can be purchased with starting XP for each Career Type, too many to list, but Arbitrators can choose to have been involved in notorious cases like The Calixian Pattern Killings or The Red Vaults of Luggnum, and Guardsmen could have been through the Mara Landing Massacre, for example. These generally provide a modification to characteristics, skills and talents (plus a cool origin story)
• Sisters Of Battle are added as a starting Career Class
• Alternative Career Paths are added, but most of these require you to have gained a few Ranks in the original Career before switching, apart from the Metallican Gunslinger, Reclaimator, Warden of the Divisio Imoralis.
• Elite Advances (although you normally offer these in the game, not at generation)

Of course there's a shedload of equipment and setting information in there as well.

That should be enough detail to help you decide whether to wait for the book or not.

It's all been said, but I wanted to throw in my wholehearted reccommendation for the Inquisitor's Handbook. It's extremely useful for the GM and the Players, it's also pretty nicely balanced agaisnt the core book, adds a lot of cool stuff for use at character creation, tons of new toys and Calixis Sector lore, the works. They even added a special career that makes Savant Militant Psykers not suck! It's a great book!

I'd say it's impossible to run a campaign for DH without the Inquisitor's Handbook

and Disciples of the Dark Gods, and they are fun reads.

Balseraph said:

I don't know about that... while I do own the book, my players have only used one thing from it (schola progenium home world) and I've not used anything except for the very scant planet and setting info that is scattered around it. It's definitly my least favorite suplement, but I'm not exactly normal and definitly in the minority here.

If you plan on writing your own adventures, I strongly suggest getting Disciples of the Dark Gods. It is the book that explores who your players are going up against and, fluff-wise, it is the best thing in the DH line. Creature Anathema is a good read too but DotDG is meatier and better, imo.

The Inquisitor Handbook has lots of extra options for character creation and development plus a boatload of equipment and some setting info but I wouldn't say it is an absolute must-have. You can do well with what's in the MRB unless you're a rule-addict.

The Radical Handbook is for later and Ascension is for later still (or not at all).

If you are writing your own stuff, or soon planning on it, certainly go with the Radical's Handbook, Inquisitor's Handbook, and Disciples. They have a LOT of detail in them that you can mess around with.

After that and the creature's book, it kinda becomes a loaded question. I know my group uses the rules for plasma weapons from the RT book, but it's very much how you wish to set it up.

If you'd rather have something prewritten to kick your stuff off, the corebook has a decent written adventure, as does Edge of Darkness. After that, it's again a loaded question. Some people love the Harrlock line, some loathe it. Same with the Purge the Unclean.

Graver said:

I can sympathize I like the book, and have used some stuff from it, but I think it's more a question of the potential it offers rather than what is actually used. YMMV after all. My only misgiving regarding the IHB is that the weapon tables don't have a page reference on the weapon (and equipment) lines. Would be nice to know where each weapon is in the book instead of having to browse page by page hoping to find the item you like from the table (esp if there are special rules that cannot be included on the weapon stat line).

All that aside, I would still recommend IHB, Disciples and Creatures Anathema as very handy supplements. They definitely enrich and expand the flavor of the game!