I've been a huge fan of 40K for about 17 years. The latest edition of the table top game has me bummed...I'm just not a fan of all the randomizing. Or the outrageous prices.

I've since turned my enjoyment of 40K fully to the RPG. I own nearly every publication, and those I do not own are currently on order. Patiently, I wait...

I'm preparing to start a new campaign- I've compiled notes, visual aids, maps, and spent many hours reading through the mountain of material I have available.

I've come to the personal decision that Black Crusade is the most flexible core mechanic model throughout the five game lines. I know there are many people who are jazzed about the Aptitude system of Only War, but I feel that it's just too restrictive...of course it makes sense in terms of the Imperial Guard- everyone has their Specialty niche, their focus, their forte. But, if you want to host a game with an organic progression of Character development, and threats that increase in their severity at a more granular pace, Black Crusade is where it's at. I guess if I'm going to host a free-style game (as is my style), then I guess preferring a free-style core mechanic makes the most sense.

Transposing the Aptitude system from Only War requires quite a bit more cross referencing, whereas with Black Crusade I simply need to take a few minutes to assign an Alignment to Talents (I'm speaking specifically of the new Talents presented in Hammer o/t Emperor).

Black Crusade is also well complimented by Rogue Trader, particularly ship-to-ship combat, the themes of exploration (such as of ancient ruins with hidden treasures) and conquest, the depth of RT's Xenos development (both PC and NPC/adversary). Heck, I have Daemonhosts from Dark Heresy, Dark Eldar from Rogue Trader, Tau, the forces of Chaos, and Tyranids from Deathwatch, and vehicles from all those plus Only War that I can inject into my Black Crusade game. There is no Inquisitor or commanding officer looking over the PCs' shoulders. Just a great big open sandbox. I guess it helps building sand castles when your sandbox is overflowing with sand...or, in my case, 40K RPG publications.

If FFG stopped producing this stuff today I'd be disappointed, but certainly not empty-handed.

I could go on in far greater detail, but I think you get my point.

So, let's hear from the rest of you. Which of the five game lines is your favorite, and why?

I'd have to say my favourite is Black Crusade just because I like the weird and wonderful and also playing characters that are not the norm which BC gives you the opportunity in buckets (Of course the majority of people replying on this forum would probably say the same thing just as those on the other forums would be more likely to choose that line).

Like you I also prefer the skill and talent progression method which is far more organic and doesn't cut you off from any options like the earlier lines too. I don't have a problem with Only War's aptitude system either as both suit the purposes of their games. You are right though about it being easier to transfer skills from other lines into BC than it would be of OW.

My second favourite game as far as concept would have to be Rogue Trader as I love the freedom it allows having players able to operate outside of Imperial Law and forge their own destiny among the stars. This is the big selling point for me for both BC and RT as they allow the biggest amount of freedom and work great for sandbox games where as the other three, despite their strengths, rely largely on following orders and completing set missions, largely limiting what character autonomy.

As mentioned above though the one restriction I don't like about RT is that if your character's archetype doesn't have the skill and/or you're not at a high enough level then you have no potential to be able to learn it. I was toying with the idea of using a hybrid BC/RT skill/talent progression for this, i.e allowing characters to purchase skills or talents at the unaligned experience point cost for those they don't normally have access too (or possibly at the one aptitude cost of OW).

Thinking about it though it might be more realistic to allow it at the opposed or no-aptitude cost to represent the fact that it's not a skill the character would normally be familiar with. While this would mean that advances for non-archetype related skills would be extremely rare it would give the players the opportunity to buy that skill or talent that really suits their character concept by saving up their hard earned xp.

Anyone have any pros or cons for this idea or have implemented a similar concept successfully?

The Skill/Talent progression in Dark Heresy, Rogue Trader and Deathwatch are likely laid out with an eye toward each specific Career's "fluff" taken into consideration. Meaning a Seneschal learns Skill/Talent X because that's what he/she needs to be more efficient in his role as a Seneschal. But, even though I've always felt the Elite Advance option of paying extra XP for a Skill/Talent is sufficient, I'm in agreement with Amroth in thinking these "out-of-box" Skills/Talents would be better served with a home-brew system that defines how specialized they are and how difficult one is to master than is another.

The most simple way of doing this is with the Elite Advance option, wherein acquiring a Skill/Talent early, or acquiring one a PC Career simply never has access to would be +50 or +100 XP (per core rules). Now I think about it, this convention is "weak". I like Amroth's suggestion, with perhaps some more clarification:

In Dark Heresy, Rogue Trader or Deathwatch, if a PC wants to learn a Skill/Talent early (meaning it is in the Career/Specialty Rank listings somewhere but the PC wants earlier access to it) he/she would pay the Unaligned/Allied XP cost, and if a PC wanted a Skill/Talent that is not at all listed in a Career/Specialty Rank listing he/she would pay the Opposed XP cost.

They are fixed XP costs, so it's not like a lot of extra calculation work need be done. Simply a matter of looking through the Rank boxes and determining if 1- the Career/Specialty eventually has access to a Skill/Talent, or 2- the Career/Specialty never has access to a Skill/Talent, and using the Skill/Talent Advance Cost tables on pgs 77 and 78 of the Black Crusade Core Rules as the basis to determine XP cost.

Obviously, you'd still want to make sure PCs meet all Prerequisite obligations for Talents.

It definitely makes Skill/Talents more expensive in terms of XP, but it's better than a handout at +50 or +100.

That clarification works well, I like it, I like it a lot.

A curious idea. I'd be interested to see how well it works. I do like the high structuring for Dark Heresy and Rogue Trader, because of the firm archetypes that each should be following. I think the freeform development in Black Crusade lends itself well to the huge diversity of heretics. Guardsmen are recruited for a variety of backgrounds for a huge diversity of purposes, so the Aptitude system makes sense to me there as well.

I think the idea of more free form character creation and development for Rogue Trader could work, but I like how constrictive Dark Heresy is. When a low level character picks up a chainsword, the response SHOULD be "What precisely are you trying to do with that thing?"

I'd imagine more of the point is discouraging players from buying advances for things they just plain aren't going to get. As an example, if an Arbitrator develops Heavy Weapon Training in Las, he or she is going to be disappointed when they realized that they are unlikely to use that skill in the near future. For a more experienced group, I'd say that they are aware of the risks of purchasing outside the boundaries of the career path and the system you two have suggested works admirably well.

I love the free form character development in the newer books. I'm currently playing in Black Crusade and having a blast, and I've run all of them except for Rogue Trader at some time or another. I much prefer the 'revision' that took place with Black Crusade, and prefer to run OW or BC for that reason. Here's hoping the other games get updated.

For Black Crusade I kind of understands the need for some kind of free form given Chaos chaotic nature, but I don't hope they bring that into Deathwatch or Dark Heresy. Those careers and specialities works fine with me.

deathwatch having some... structure works. but I think an inqustion based game needs some more freedom truthfully

I love the freedom that BC and OW use for skill and talent acquisition and using the hybrid rules for the earlier lines or if FFG come up with an up to date system more like BC or OW it still encourages the most relevant skills to be picked as they are cheapest for the concept but still gives the option to spend more on a particular skills that suits your concept.

It's quite easy to come up with an in-game reason to have learned the skill and the inflated price represents the more time/resources/extra training etc that your character would need to spend on a skill/talent not usually associated with their profession.