Hello

I have been a GM of Warhammer Fantasy since the early 90s and a fan of both war hammer 40K and warhammer fantasy world since the same time. I found now myself in need of a change. So many years as a GM in the same setting together with the new edition of war hammer have sucked out my energy.

So after reading some reviews I have decided to try the W40K line for a few sessions.

Which game do you recommend me to start with? and which published scenario (to start with I will run during a weekend 4 to 5 sessions)

Are the rules in between the different books 100% compatible?

I have read that a starting Rogue Trader character is roughly equal to a Dark Heresy character with 5000xp and that a starting Deathwatch character is roughly equal to a Dark Hersy character with 12000xp. Does it mean that with a few modification characters of one book are compatible with characters of another of the books?

Cheers,

Yepes

Well, the rules are somewhat interchangable but I would not recomend it because the line has developed. For example some mechancis work complelty different in Dark Heresy than they do in Black Crusade or Rougetrader. This ranges from simple talents or combat rules to complete overhauls of the psycic power system or the charakter creation. So I hardly recomend to stay into one system.

So, for your other question:

Do you like heavy combat situation? Perhaps even larger scales of confrontation? - Deathwatch

Do you like the feeling of beeing a grunt in the imperial Guard? - Only War

Do you prefer beeing independent and seeking for your own/personal fate/luck? - Rouge Trader

Do you want to safe the Imperium from its darkes threats and mysteries? - Dark Heresy

Do you like the idea of standing on the other side an killing innocent cititens? - Black Crusade

If you have no preference at all I would recomend Dark Heresy, its rules might be some kind of old but its the most expanded line that allows some kind of guided journey for your players.

The other option is picking a rulebook that you enjoy the mechanics of and then just running the type of game you want.

For example I'm using the rules from only war but running a DH game. The actual mechanic differences between all the lines is fairly small. The only exception is that the DH rules for psychic powers aren't used in any of the other books, everything else is pretty similar. The real differences are in how players get new gear and what type of adventures they go on.

My personal recommendation for someone just starting out roleplaying in 40k is to go with Rogue Trader as it's by far the most open in terms of roleplaying possibilities and the rules are pretty solid. It's also the closest you're likely to come to the traditional 'adventuring party' if you're coming from a fantasy setting.

I have to admit, running Rogue Trader is difficult as hell. It's very sandbox, and the players have enough resources that most situations can be solved very easily unless you're rather creative. Dark Heresy shows its age as a system, IMO. I can't recommend Deathwatch, really.

Black Crusade or Only War are your best bets.

Plushy said:

I'm using Only War and I'm really happy with it so far. The system feels a lot better compared to when I ran straight DH. Because I'm running a DH themed campaign(low level Inquisition Acolytes) instead of an Imperial guard game though I've gotten slightly creative with how I'm handling loot. For loot I'm using the RT system and starting them off with 10 profit factor and then giving them 5 more profit factor every time they achieve a new "rank" and giving them +/- 2-3 depending on how they do on each mission. Seems to be working well so far. By the time they hit Rank 8 they should have around 40-50 profit factor which seems appropriate.

Thanks for the replies so far.

I think that taking into account our playing style DH or RT are the best options. Dw, OW and BC sounds to me a bit restricted roleplay.

Then there is the matter with the rules as I can see. May be I just start with DH or RT as they are, and if we like them I will look to what you guy propose i.e. playing DH with OW rules and so on.

Thank you a lot.

Yepes

Yepesnopes said:

Well, I think BC is not really restricted. Even Daemonhood is open to you after all… It is just that you play the "evil" side so to speak.

I would start with DH (even though the core rules might be better in OW (or BC)) especially for a start and even moreso if you played WFRP orginally. It is somehow on a very similiar "powerlevel" to WFRP and it is better suited to get in touch with the 40K universe imo.

My group and I also started with WFRP at around 1989 and (with a few breaks) switched to Dark Heresy in 2008. Never regreted it so far (except one of the plyers from time to time), even though most of the players knew about nothing of 40K at the start.

RT has less restictions maybe, but that is part of the problem. The PCs are very powerful from the start away and the game is very sand-box (as already mentioned). We tried it a few times and my players (as well as me) had problems to get to grips with it.

Start DH with a session of Edge of Darkness (for free on the FFG homepage) on your mentioned weekend. I am sure you and your players will like it.