Hi Dark Heresy fans!

I know that many of you have been eagerly awaiting news about what FFG plans to release this year for Dark Heresy—so enjoy Knowledge Is Power , a short booklet describing the 2009 releases (and a small short story by yours truly).

Click here to check out Knowledge Is Power!

**** you! I'll have to traffic in xeno artifacts just to afford these books, let alone get Rogue Trader.

The Imperium is driving me to commit heresy.

BRING THE PAIN!

My wallet quakes in fear, but my heart is bolstered with joy. Let none say I haven't sacrificed for my Emperor.

*edit* Also, seriously...A million forum points? ****!*

Ah Ascension...that'll be a good day.

But I'm also glad to see Radicals getting into the spotlight. I myself lean towards this bent, (with Xenos) and I'm quite willing to tread this path.

Good books on the way! Thanks for the read.

Wow! these books look amazing. I just can't wait.

I am particularly drooling over the Radical's Handbook. (Obviously, I am excited about Ascension too, but both the game where I play and the game that I run are a long time off from this.)

As your body grows bigger Your mind grows flowered It's great to learn Cause knowledge is power! It's Schoolhouse Rocky That chip off the block of your favorite schoolhouse Schoolhouse Rock!

FFG, you are officially awesome. Black Industries never would have done something like this.

They aren't around to show you any different are they? Making that statement needlessly insulting. If FFG can do this, it means GW has allowed it to be done, meaning BI would have had just as much opportunity.

I'm glad ascension is coming out, it should finally put an end to the ridiculous whinging about Dark Heresy. Who'd a thunk that the core book was a BASIC book and a supplement would be more advanced? apparently everyone that whinged DH wasn't epic enough.

I am very surprised and delighted to see so many books coming out, I would have been content to wait for Rogue Trader, but this is great. Grabbing the groz by the horns.

Hellebore

BI did a great job with WFRP, your claim is spirious and insulting.

Anyway.

The line up looks great, the Radical's Handbook is espeically iawesome looking.

I'd love to see a 'Guide to the Calixis Sector' Q1 2010 though.

Agmar_Strick said:

As would I.

Anyway, I am very excited and I plan to buy every single book that is released, which might interfere with my plan to save every cent I earn this year.

50 USD ??? Oh dear....

I fear for what prices will show up in Europe.

For me, it´s going to be:

Creatures Anathema (have to have it! NEED OFFICIAL RULES FOR MORE XENOS !!!)
Perhaps the Radicals Handbook (it´s got to be good for that amout of money!)
Ascension (since you are going to need the "next step" sooner or later... with the the about 2 gains in rank in about 3 missions...)

Great news!

First of all, thats a release schedule! The exact dates may shift, but at least we know that there are something to look forward to, instead of just sitting and waiting if anything shows up.

Radicals and Ascention are my favourite so far... But I want make any bets until I get the books.

Bad news - still no "Tome of Corruption" and "Guide to Calixis Sector" for me

Well, that's a great surprise!

Of the books presented, the radical book is the most interesting to me, but even more interesting would be the puritan counterpart. I was expecting that as I scrolled through the document, but alas it was not to be, at least not yet.

The ascension book is next up competing for my interest. Although I'm not sure we'll have a campaign run that powerful, but if the book delivers solid rules and good background and adventure potential I might consider it.

The adventure books are interesting, but I'll probably just mine them for ideas and content to plug into my own campaign.

And of course Creatures Anathema, that'll be a good addition to the game, although I tend to have my antagonists be human ... or at least, they were once human.

EDIT: missed the obvious question: what about Rogue Trader? How does that fit in the publishing plans?

/Magnus

Well done Ross/FFG quite a election of tomes, enough to annoy the missus i'm sure! I'm really looking forward to laying my hands on them if the great work to date are anything to go by.

Just one quick question though, does the Ascension book negate the need to publish the oft mentioned Rogue Trader supplement/expansion or can we expect "A Quick Spin Around the Stars: Rogue Trader Release Schedule 2009" as well? (Crosses fingers, makes sign of the Aquila and mutters a litany of hope to the God Emperor of Mankind).

I'm aware that FFG don't usually post on the forums, but i thought i would ask just in case.

Creatures Anathema - We knew that was coming already, a Monster Manual, definitely needed, even if you use an alternate system. Can't wait.

Radical Sourcebook - This is a surprise to me. A very shrewd move however, as this gives you both a ton of character options and a book of enemies depending on how you want to focus your campaign. I hope it includes a little more depth into the rationale and philosophy though of some of the factions, particulary Istvaanians. In short, I want to see DH finally increase the actual lore of the =][= instead of just giving us a system-specific interpretation of what was in Inquisitor.

Harlock's Legacy Trilogy - An Epic campaign for Dark Heresy? I'm so there. I only wish they would release it in hardbound version but for $29.95 a book I don't think it will be. However, I really wish they hadn't labeled it as "Epic" unless they're really going for the title. You label something Epic in the world of GW roleplaying and you're opening yourself up wide to criticism. They'd better release modules as detailed and interesting as the best the Enemy Within campaign had to offer, or they'd better don their asbestos suits.

Ascension - A lot of fans are saying "finally", but FFG should be careful. 3E/3.5E went down the "Epic Level" road and we'll still be laughing at the cliches on webcomics ten years from now. Too much l33t and you break the game, ending up with the Dark Heresy equivalent of a million-ton Traveller ship, or a 600pt GURPS character. Advancement needs to be done in DH, but it needs to be done without making the game a joke and this requires a lot of care.

Overall, I like the release schedule, it fills in things I think need filling in, with the obvious exception of a Calixis Sector Sourcebook and an Imperium Sourcebook.

Radical Sourcebook- Excellent! I am expecting this to be quite like the Inquisitors handbook with a new carreer path and all that new gear and whatnot. As well as elite starting packs for different carrer classes. I am glad to see the darker side of the inquisition getting its on book.

Ascention- I would like to differ from Lord Kruge. I think the ability to go beyond the starting carreer path's, and make the choice to become an interrogator or follow a different path in the inquisition. The DH books thus far dont directly say this, but it seems like we as acolytes need to "lay low and dont use the authority given to us". With Ascention, I think that offers a wealth of scenarios. Perhaps being able to commondeer regiments of Imperial Guardsmen to help crush out a cult while you look for the leader. I like it, and look forward to it.

Harlock's Legacy- If the scenarios were as brutal, but as rewarding, as the one out of DotDG, then count me in. Seems like a step up from the low-level scenarios given from Purge the Unclean.

Well I must say that I am pleasantly surprised. I really thought that with Creatures Anathema we wouldn't see any other products until Rogue Trader hit and we entered the next level of 40K RP.

Love all the products listed and I will be getting them as soon as they are released. Slightly worried by Ascension as this is more than just a sourcebook but represents a significant development of the core rules.

Roll on the rest 2009.

Well this is a very nice surprise

I must admit that I was not expecting DH to be so well supported; I thought that we would have to wait for RT for the next big "event" and I am very happy to be proved wrong. If FFG can keep to the high standards they have already set I will be very happy (and a lot poorer!!)

DW

I love the fact that we're not kept in the dark of what is coming up, but told up front. Now of course we'll have to listen to the constant cries of anguish when the Accention book runs late.

Still, these line of books look awesome, and I can't wait to read/play them. Something tells me though I need to start rolling new character concepts after reading the Haarlock legacy, my GM is brutal enough on his own, but that intro to Haarlock scenerio already killed one of my characters, at this pace I'll need a few more.

Radical book I guess I could do without on the surface (I play puritans) but the fact that they can be used as tools for my enemies makes me happy. New stuff to burn!

Looking forward to the Haarlock Legacy series. Looks like the adventure in Disciples is a Prologue to it. Very cool!

Ouch. My wallet is whimpering already ("Please master, I recognize that look in your eyes when you read about this stuff. Im begging you master, DON'T buy these books. You know you cant afford it! I CANT TAKE THIS SORT OF PUNISHMENT ANYMORE!")...

Anyhow, although I will probably buy Ascention, I have to say that our group have already worked out an interesting way to "go Inquisitor". We have decided that when our PCs reach 15.000 experience points (which is pretty soon, I might ad), they will storywise be promoted to Interrogators. And yes, they've definety earned it. You dont just take on an incarnate C'Tan along with several Necron minions and survive to tell about it, and then NOT get promoted somehow. Long story. A veeery long, epic and fate point burning story. I warn you: don't go to Klybo. Here be Necrons! (at least when the insidious Varnias Tybalt is acting Game Master >XD)

Then, when we resume playing, we will let the game time lag on for about half a century, and then we take up the mantle of our "new" acolytes (namely acolytes to our former acolytes who are now Inquisitors instead). That way, we can all try out different career paths (since everyone needs to create about 3-4 new PCs, one for each promoted Inquisitor), and we don´t have to put our old PCs "to rest" for being "to epicly powerful", since they can either act as NPCs or a PC but with a "leader role" for the current adventure/scenario.

I dont know yet how Ascention will handle this sort of transition, so Im a little curious if FFG have thought in the same patterns or if they will have completely different solutions. Anyway, in the name of the Emperor, I will have to get all of these upcoming books. However im still waiting for Creatures Anathema to be released. The bulk freighter must have been caught in an unexpected warp storm or something...

Looks like 2009 is going to be an amazing year for DH. I would rank them in "must have" order, but that would imply that I'm not going to order them all as soon as possible. *grins*

What Dark Heresy needs is more background about the day to day life in the Imperium, politics, views of the world, how technology work and stuff like this. Not another 3 books with gear, talents and rules.

Dishing out rule books with more stuff, skills and talents is cheap, because everybody will buy them to get "better". Sadly it seems to work in DnD (which is just a bunch of non-generlized skills and feats).

Write background-only books.

Answer questions like:

How does interstellar communications really work? (important!)

How does interstellar space travel really work? (important!)

How are mutants seen in DH?

How can it be that some technology deemed as tech heresy (see DoDG) is widely used?

How do "holy" powers work? Is there a holy force? I thought there was only warp energy powering "non-physical" stuff, which is certainly not "holy".

How does the economy in DH work?

What fraction of worlds are actually at war in DH (being grimdark and total war and all)?

How many guardsmen does an average planet have?

Explain the technology levels in dayly life. What is in use, what not? How do cogitators work? How are some of the tech rpiest powers explained? Do they really have "magical powers"? Or how do they unjam weapons with just a few words? Nanotechnology?

Is everything available on all planets? Why is a certain drug that comes from one planet available on all others? Why make most of the gear so specific anyways? Why not just give stats and say that is called differently on various planets and just uses the same stats?

I think the folks at FFG need to realize that they actually have to do world and sector building including some ideas about the economics, sociology, politics, transportation, communication, and much more, instead of just writing down skills and items.

I feel a bit silly here, but release date Q1, Q2 and so on?

Kennetten,

Q1 = 1st Quarter of the year

Q2 = 2nd Quarter of the year

And so on