So a friend of mine discovered a sidebar on p.331 in the Only War setting chapter that is a major spoiler for the Apostasy Gambit trilogy. Like, it pretty much spoils the big reveal for the entire trilogy.

I was gearing up to run Apostasy Gambit for my group and my player basically telling me about the spoiler being printed in another line, not even in a "GM eyes only" chapter really pissed me off. Even if it was in a GM-only section, I consider it very poor form to spoil a major plot point that is central to a TRILOGY-length adventure for one game line very quickly and offhandedly in the core rules book for another game line.

Has anyone else been spoiled because of this? I'd encourage anyone who wants to play Apostasy Gambit or is currently playing it NOT look at it, but I'm curious if anyone else got majorly spoiled by this bad editing decision. =

I noticed the spoiler in question. While I don't have plans to run or play in the adventure, I agree that it was extremely poor taste for FFG to put it in there. The spolier doesn't add anything to Only War.

I have to agree that there should have been a more of a warning. While the section was put in the Gamemasters session there should have been a "SPOILER WARNING:" or something similar before it.

On the other hand I like that I now know what is going on in the "official" DH adventures (at least in a very rough outline) in case I ever plan on having the events of one game relate to those of another.

Have they ever put a spoiler warning on anything before? Why would they suddenly do it here?

The aftermath of the Apostasy Gambit plays a role in the setting of Only War and the development of the Calixis Sector as a whole. Would you rather they ignored it?

Furthermore there has to be a statute of limitations on these things. Chaos Commandment came out ages ago.

And finally Dark Heresy and Only War are separate game lines. It is never assumed that you’re reading things from other lines. The setting has to stand on its own.

BYE

(1) The aftermath and the Big Reveal are two different things. You can easily mention a cult rebellion based around the Cult of Saint Drusus without giving a big reveal for the driving plot of the trilogy, the BBEG for the trilogy, or the deeper levels of the conspiracy that frame those adventures. And for the record, we're not talking about spoiling a 20-page module printed in a setting book, we're talking about spoiling the major point of an adventure trilogy, each part of which had to be purchased separately. Big difference.

(2) The setting doesn't stand on its own if the setting is unified, and it is. OW printed descriptions of the major setting areas for DH, RT, DW, BC, and itself, which is honestly something completely new in the way FFG is presenting settings - it's not like DW goes into setting detail for Calixis or Koronus,a after all. And if the Spinward Front needs to stand on its own, sure that's fine - it's closely tied to Calixis, that doesn't mean the DH-type machinations of Calixis need to be offhandedly mentioned in discussing a potential setting for Imperial Guardsmen. One shouldn't assume that people who buy one FFG line are reading others, but that would sort be be the hope, wouldn't it? Especially on profititability and brand goodwill levels?

(3) There doesn't need to be a statute of limitations on major spoilers, that's idiotic. So because DW's TEP has been out forever, you think it's OK to spoil the major points of that adventure in a future publication? That's bull. I would think FFG would want people to keep buying old adventures and running them, but if the plot points are spoiled in general sections of future products, what's the point?

I don't know the end result of the Haarlock trilogy, I'm currently playing in it, it's been out for much longer than Apostasy Gambit, and I'd still be pissed if it was throwaway-spoiled in a new product I paid money for, as if the spoiler didn't matter one bit.

And in the end, that big reveal added nothing to OW, it was just a crap editing decision. See point #1.

To my knowledge they haven't spoiler warned anything before. Also to my knowledge, FFG has never published such blatant spoilers in another game line before, either.

"GM Guidance: [information Purged]

[information Purged] is an adventure trilogy for the [information Purged]"

Those few starting sentences might have been enought to tell somebody who is playing [information Purged] gameline that this might contain something they shouldn't read.

This is just my penny for the thought but I couldn't keep my mouth shut so I chose to add gasoline to the fire