Howdy,

Does anyone know who is writing the fluff for the new sector?

The Calixis sector had a lot of fluff and two 40k novels set in it. I was wondering if the authors of the new sector had a hand in the sector design of the other games (which all had interesting backgrounds), or if they are new to the game line.

Cheers,

Ken

Wait, there were Calixis Sector novels?

Wait, there were Calixis Sector novels?

Yeah, Innocence Proves Nothing and Scourge the Heretic, both pretty good (and sadly out of print I believe).

As to the writers, I see that Owen Barnes from the original team is also involved in DH2. Don't know anything more specific than that I'm afraid.

Wait, there were Calixis Sector novels?

Yes, written by Sandy Mitchell no less! Sadly, the way the story stops, it seems like there should have been a 3rd novel.

Looked them up online, with pretty mixed reviews. They any good?

I liked it, but I like Mitchell's writing style. The main issue I have is that the series ends without really resolving anything.

If you like Ciaphas Cain you would like them I guess, they were much more "civil" than usual Inquisition and 40k stuff, but it fitted their inspiration. Last book was never finished/published becouse of the IP transfer of Dark Heresy to FFG (as only Black Library publishes GW tie-in fiction I dont know or to be entirely honest, understand the details.)

The new sector is the part that interests me the most! I'm a big fan of the Calixis Sector, but I do feel like I know more than enough about it (considering there is a limited amount of information they could reasonably supply - certainly there are troves more that could be published). I feel like the Tyrant Star was curiously underdeveloped, especially towards the end, considering it was the sector's initial hook (the Haarlock Legacy in particular suffered at the end due to an unwillingness to define what the Tyrant Star is, although there are lots of potential clues buried in Radical's Handbook fluff).

I liked the two novels as well, but like Baron, I love Sandy Mitchell's books in general. Ciaphas Cain is still my favourite series.

If memory serves, Andy Hoare wrote the new setting.

Jolly good. I like Andy Hoare's stuff.

The new Sector is the part I'm most interested in, too. It does sound like there's a very different approach being adopted.

A new sector means a new regional Ordos structure, which gives an opportunity to introduce a new style of play/interaction between acolytes/warband and Inquisitor. Calixian Inquisitors often felt like distant correspondents to groups of acolytes rather than the eccentric/terrifying individuals portrayed elsewhere in the canon. It'll be fun to see how the concept develops.

Looked them up online, with pretty mixed reviews. They any good?

Howdy,

The first one was decent enough - a solid investigation with an interesting cast of characters. A perfectly fine story that is a great illustration of an Inquisitorial retinue and what they can do. A nice intro read for players who are not steeped in the 40K universe.

The second book was was OK, but for some reason draaaaaaaags. In theory, it should have zipped along (part of it takes place on the Mesiricorde!), but it just plodded along as you followed the 3 different groups of characters as they meet up.

Cheers,

Ken

Has there been any official word on where the new sector is located?

I distinctly remember it being stated somewhere that it's nearby to Calixis, so it'll be easy to port over existing campaigns and characters.

Erm... quite hard, as the two are several hundred years apart. The new setting seems to be "modern-day" 40k, while the old settings where all "historical", ie set before the moment where the current 40k background stops (on the eve of the 13th Black Crusade), by quite some time.

Yeah, but honestly with how stagnant 40k fluff is, it's not hard for people to fudge things a little.

From the Beta's introduction, it seems Inquisitors may be less prevalent in the new sector than in Calixis (it mentions there aren't many of them, and acolytes may believe theirs is the only one in the whole sector). That sounds intriguing – nicely different from the teeming Tricorn. Perhaps that will lead to more involved, larger-than-life Inquisitors, as Lightbringer suggests.

It does feel like DH2 could offer games closer to Eisenhorn and Ravenor's adventures than DH1. That's an exciting prospect if you've come to the game from those sources, or looked to them for inspiration, as many of us have.

Erm... quite hard, as the two are several hundred years apart.

"The Warp did it."

Now, personally I'd think that a new environment is an ideal starting point for new characters, especially given that the new rules will probably promote some drastically different ideas than the old ones. But ... for those who really don't want to let go of their established dramatis personae, the setting certainly offers sufficient options. Even GW Codex fluff alone offers many examples of characters who got "lost" in the Warp for hundreds of years before reappearing little older than they were at the time of their departure. Though that's just the most tame and obvious approach. You could actually craft a little sub-adventure about the transfer by having your players get lured in a trap and end up in a stasis field, and when they wake up they have to (1.) find out what happened, (2.) find out what is going on now, and (3.) deal with their new situation, possibly even triggering a hostile reaction from Imperial authorities who have long forgotten about these Acolytes (or whose Master even ended up being excommunicated some time after their initial disappearance), before they can manage to clear their names. Maybe a rival dragged them the other sector this way to put them on display, Jabba-style...

Or pull a

It does feel like DH2 could offer games closer to Eisenhorn and Ravenor's adventures than DH1. That's an exciting prospect if you've come to the game from those sources, or looked to them for inspiration, as many of us have.

Ehhhhh,

I don't agree at all.

Einsenhorn was all about MULTIPLE inquisitors, politics, radicalism and puritanism - Inquisitor Lords and Inquisitor Generals and conclaves and groups and contacts and trials and a parade with HUNDREDS of [high ranking] members of the Inquisition attending...

I distinctly remember it being stated somewhere that it's nearby to Calixis, so it'll be easy to port over existing campaigns and characters.

So, still nearly impossible to have Ultima Segmentum-based xenos (Tau, Tyranids) play a significant part? Argh! If they are going to port over the main flaw in the Calixis Sector, why change settings at all...?

Einsenhorn was all about MULTIPLE inquisitors, politics, radicalism and puritanism - Inquisitor Lords and Inquisitor Generals and conclaves and groups and contacts and trials and a parade with HUNDREDS of [high ranking] members of the Inquisition attending...

For me, it's the overall feel of the new system – things like the more open class and advance buying systems – that bring it closer to Abnett's Inquisition stories. I see fewer restrictions and more opportunities for creativity. DH1 did support that sort of play, but DH2 seems to actively encourage it.

While I know that I am a fairly conversative in most things I do not want to make judgment before I have read about this setting, but what little I've seen so far makes me think that Askellon (or whatever it was called) sounds less than Calixis. To have a Warp storm as the big "bad thing" in the sector is much less original and enticing than the mysterious Tyrant Star, which has been tickling my imagination since I first read about it.

But the main important thing for the new setting as I see it is that there are good oppertunities for all the different sorts of enemies that the Imperium faces; from within, from without and from beyond.

Do I wish too much if I want more stuff about mysterious Ordo Chronos? After re-reading Atlas Infernal I got an idea about running fullblown Inquisitor Who-themed time and space travelling campaign as Beta test. So, I could use all 40kRPG settings and more.

what little I've seen so far makes me think that Askellon (or whatever it was called) sounds less than Calixis. To have a Warp storm as the big "bad thing" in the sector is much less original and enticing than the mysterious Tyrant Star, which has been tickling my imagination since I first read about it.

It's very hard to do less than Calixis did. Admittedly, I got some use out of the Tyrant Star in my Black Crusade game when we decided it was the womb of Malal, Lord of Chaos against Chaos and God of Truth (We altered his fluff a fair bit) and their campaign revolved around returning him to existence to become his first Daemon Princes (and Princess) and favored Chosen (Ground floor!). But otherwise, I always found Calixis really boring. It's pretty much just Space Victoriana and noble corruption all the way down, with almost nothing for the Ordo Xenos to do except the Slaugh, who had a lot of potential but I felt were quite underused. I mean, what on Calixis was actually all that unique? A Hive World full of NOBLE POLITICS, a Feral World full of WAR, a Feudal World of CRUSHING OPPRESSION, are these really anything special in 40K? I hope the new Sector is more interesting, and I suspect it will be mostly because the subsequent 40kRP settings were all better than Calixis. What I've seen from the beta document's descriptions of the main local Hive, though, does not fill me with confidence.

But that's fine. 40k is a huge, huge setting and it's really easy to ignore, add, or make up your own planets, settings, and subsectors/sectors. Part of the fun of 40k is that it's so big that a lot of the 'X must be Y way' stuff really doesn't apply and it's easy to alter the fluff, especially as its' been stagnant for so long. Also, feels good to finally vent a bit about Calixis. We mostly kept the place around to make fun of the locals and their toy soldiers, or for the Scintillan 17th to annoy the hell out of guardsmen in Only War.

I'd just like to point out that the Tyrant Star was the dark heresy of Dark Heresy. So much more could have been done with Calixis.

Having said that, what is the dark heresy of Dark Heresy this time around? Will it be three paragraphs of ambiguous doom-saying, or will it be done any justice? After all, one does not simply name an edition on its predecessor without merit.