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.

That's heretical talk where I come from...

And being less than Calixis? Calixis was great and had some very interesting versions of standard 40k troupes and made them more than just "another hive/feudal/feral/forge/whatever world" in the Imperium. Also we seem to disagree alot, because in my eyes Calixis is the strongest setting they've produced so far. Really like the diversity and the various threats that threatens it. It really made me feel like the sector was pretty much under siege and every enemy dropped was a small scale taken off the Imperium's back.

Also I never found any lack for my Ordo Xenos game. I had the Slaugh, the Halo Devices, the Cold Trade and various Xenophiles and alien cults springing up all over the sector. Also due to the close proximity to the Halo Stars I never had any problem in bringing in new alien races eager to subvert or destroy the Imperium.

Calixis bored me purple. Totally uninspiring.

And the Tyrant Star was so dull even the writers forgot about it (i still maintain it was a Jokaero spawning pod, and when it goes pop fifty billion Jokaero will suddenly appear across all the worlds of Calixis)...

Koronuis Expanse was more interesting though, and i feel has a real sense of dread about it. It could do with a bit of expansion and a bit more detail filled in though...

So i'm very much looking forwards to what FFG come up with for this new sector. I'm hoping it'll engage me more than Calixis.

Calixis bored me purple. Totally uninspiring.

So i'm very much looking forwards to what FFG come up with for this new sector. I'm hoping it'll engage me more than Calixis.

Really? What would you like to see done differently? I hope you aren't advocating having the kind of setting that revolves around a single threat...?

There were nits I could pick with Calixis, but overall I enjoyed using it. My only major complaint was it's location in Segmentum Obscurus, thus ruling out using some iconic Ultima Segmentum adversaries...

Calixis bored me purple. Totally uninspiring.

So i'm very much looking forwards to what FFG come up with for this new sector. I'm hoping it'll engage me more than Calixis.

Really? What would you like to see done differently? I hope you aren't advocating having the kind of setting that revolves around a single threat...?

There were nits I could pick with Calixis, but overall I enjoyed using it. My only major complaint was it's location in Segmentum Obscurus, thus ruling out using some iconic Ultima Segmentum adversaries...

' I hope you aren't advocating having the kind of setting that revolves around a single threat...? '

DEFINITELY NOT!!!! I want a sandbox filled with awesome sand, and riddled with plot hooks, loose ends, half buried cool stuff, and ladeled with dripping 40k grim and steaming dark.

I want to pick up the new sector info and have my socks blown off. I want that feeling that makes you grin even though there's nobody to see it, and that gut wrenching impatience to just get stuck in and play through those great ideas.

My understanding was that Calixis was essentially GW giving the RP line a completely isolated sandbox that could be played in without feeding back into the '40k lore'. (That could be false rumour though).

Whatever, the point is that BI (and to a lesser extent FFG) could presumably do anything they liked in Calixis...and they did almost nothing with it.

Prove me wrong. Name me one truely original, exciting, or 'iconic 40k' thing about the Calixis sector.

I can't think of a single thing that i would point to and say 'THAT is awesome'. 'THAT floats my 40k boat'. 'I CANNOT wait to get into that plot thread, or play on that world'.

Its not bad (disjointed, poorly thought out, tired from the beginning, uninspiring, but not bad) its kind of worse really...its, just...bland.

I would love to have seen some of the key DH themes expressed in the setting. Decay in everything, 1 minute to midnight, etc. Maybe they were there and i just missed them?

Some of the later material (particularly after FFG picked up the pieces from under GW's shutdown-boot) was pretty good and DotDG had a really good stab at trying to spark some life into it but for me it never quite got there.

As i said Koronus is at least dripping with (for me) a feeling of dread. As a Rogue Trader you almost don't want to explore it. That's cool.

So, i have my everythings crossed that the new setting will drip with iconic 40k awesome.

I don't know much about the "bigger 40k Picture", so granted some of the worlds Calixis may seem uninspiring- but most of the responsibility of fleshing them out has been left to us.

I've done a number of great things with Calixis, and I love the sub-sector and would not leave it even in the event of moving to DH 2.0

Planets like Dusk [where the mist will take you...], Orbell Quill [Don't stray too far from the Capital, Old-timers...], Malfi [The Court of Miracles in the Slums...], and not to mention the ships: The Pale Sepulcher [by the manner of their death, ye shall know them...] & more places that I am going to be taking my players towards next: The Bountiful beast [A literal meat-grinder in space], Reshia the Hospital Planet [Only in death does Duty End...], Orendal's Tombs [Who was Orendal? What happened to him/her?]

Now to mention the myriad of other interesting planets, like Fenksworld and freaking Solomon, Cyclopea & The Threnos Zone.

The only planet I found "standard" was Scintilla, and even then, you had FIVE different settings with five different feels on that planet alone: Sibellus, Tarsus, Ambullon, Gunmetal City & "The Great Wilds".

Thats just the planets. And I've not mentioned most of them, of course. Lets not talk about the conspiracies. 200 Inquisitors and a book full of cults and creeps make for very interesting plot hooks.

Thats probably my biggest peeve with the new sector: "Only possibly one inquisitor is here, and it could be you."

So... where are the Conclaves and Oblationists plots, Istavanians politics and strategies, recongrator ideals, Phaenonites treacheries in the game of a "greater good only they can provide". Xanthites fightings monodominants and Amalathians trying to keep everything together while occularions warn the entire lot of them of the rebirth of the Midnight Child, something the Thorians would be very interested in chasing down and taking care of.

And lastly, the Tyrant Star. Even if FFG has forgotten about it- Good ridden I say. They've given us enough material in relation to that thing for us to work our magic with it. I would much rather they expand on other planets than answer that question for me: that would sure as hell kill the magic of the sector and turn it into, basically any other sector.

"Oh, its JUST the tyranids." or "Oh, its just... Necrons"- or whatever.

"Sadly, the way the story stops, it seems like there should have been a 3rd novel."

There was. Sandy Mitchell has the plot on his desk for "Suffer Not The Alien To Live", but he can't write it via Black Library - at the point the second book came out, Dark Heresy transferred from Black Library to FFG and Black Library ceased supporting publications for it.

If FFG were to bung him a wodge of cash, I'm sure he'd be happy to write it, but I'd imagine that would have happened by now. I'm not sure if they would have the rights to the characters, anyway.

If you ever meet him (Black Library Weekender's a good one), he's more than happy to tell you what the plot was going to be.

' I hope you aren't advocating having the kind of setting that revolves around a single threat...? '

DEFINITELY NOT!!!! I want a sandbox filled with awesome sand, and riddled with plot hooks, loose ends, half buried cool stuff, and ladeled with dripping 40k grim and steaming dark.

I want to pick up the new sector info and have my socks blown off. I want that feeling that makes you grin even though there's nobody to see it, and that gut wrenching impatience to just get stuck in and play through those great ideas.

My understanding was that Calixis was essentially GW giving the RP line a completely isolated sandbox that could be played in without feeding back into the '40k lore'. (That could be false rumour though).

Some of the later material (particularly after FFG picked up the pieces from under GW's shutdown-boot) was pretty good and DotDG had a really good stab at trying to spark some life into it but for me it never quite got there.

As i said Koronus is at least dripping with (for me) a feeling of dread. As a Rogue Trader you almost don't want to explore it. That's cool.

So, i have my everythings crossed that the new setting will drip with iconic 40k awesome.

As far as I understand it Disciples of the Dark Gods was actually pretty much written when FFG got the licence. The work had already been largely done by Black Industries (the book was advertised in one of the first books released by Black Industries. Not sure it was Purge the Unclean or The Inquisitor's Handbook), and then arrived mostly ready for publishing when FFG DotDG is by far the book that most grabbed me in any of the 40k rpg books produced. While not all of it was terribly interesting to me (the Plaguey cult were a bit meh), many of the elements in that book really gave me ideas of the kind of game I wanted to run (I still never had a chance to run a proper campaign... played 40k RPG quite a bit, but almost exclusively as a player). Even the adventure had various hooks that I had ideas to run with. Some of the various plot suggestions, and particularly the "documents" they provided actually gave me a little bit of the chills as I read them. It also gave further hints at the Dark Heresy... in a way to make it more usable in a plot, and a bit of a clue to what the Tyrant Star does, but without ever really giving any indication of what it was. Nothing FFG has produced since has been as good a read on its own, at least in my experience.

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.

I have to say I find the Calixis sector to still be the best of the various settings presented. The Koronus Expanse has, in my mind, been fairly under developed, and there is no real mystery about it (unlike Calixis). This is fine as a setting for the Rogue Trader game, but nothing about it grabbed me. The aliens... really didn't do anything for me (unlike the Slaugh, who I actually found quite interesting). I just find the whole setting fairly uninspiring. It feels a bit like the map the book presents, a bit empty.

The Jericho Reach... is frankly silly. It just felt like "What bad guys do we need to have?" "OK, well, you have to have Chaos in there... so we have to have to have a warp/real space overlap obviously. Can't have Chaos without one of those." Oh, we haven't had Tyranids or the Tau yet, so we should get them in there somewhere." "Ok. Throw them in. Oh, we could have a three pronged war!" "Oh, yeah, That's an awesome idea. Not at all kitchen sink like." "Oh, wait, the Tyranids and Tau are the other side of the galaxy from the other settings." "Oh, We could have a giant Stargate link them together." "Think that name has already been copyrighted somewhere." "Oh, call it a warp thingmy instead." Now, I get that the setting is of a different kind than Calixis, but they were able to have Chaotic enemies without yet another warp/realspace overlap. Also, the introduction of the Necrons to the setting just increased the kitchen sink feeling of the setting.

There were some aspects of the Outer Reach I enjoyed, especially the mystery of the Dark Pattern, until the reveal about what it was about, and I did like the idea of the Omega Vault (though the association with the Dark Pattern has soured that slightly). Basically, I am less keen on the gonzo "We are Space Mahreens!" aspect of it.

Black Crusade... Yet another bloody warp thingmy, and a bit of a cop out as well. "Oh, you get to play the bad guys... but fighting other bad guys." A much more interesting attempt would have been to make it about Chaos agents operating within Imperial space, but I accept that would be harder to do.

Only War. Meh... spoiled the Calixis Sector a bit in my mind, or more accurately more a nail in the coffin. The whole point of the Calixis Expanse was that it was meant to be a "quiet" sector, but then we have it supporting a crusade the other side of the galaxy (ok, in secret, so...), a schism that is of a level that it could destabilise the Ecclesiarchy as a whole and leads to a "minor" sector wide civil war (The Chaos Commandment). Then we discover there is a whole bloody war going on on the edges of the sector (Only War's Spinward Front, or whatever it is).

None of them have intrigued me as much as the original Calixis Sector.

And lastly, the Tyrant Star. Even if FFG has forgotten about it- Good ridden I say. They've given us enough material in relation to that thing for us to work our magic with it. I would much rather they expand on other planets than answer that question for me: that would sure as hell kill the magic of the sector and turn it into, basically any other sector.

"Oh, its JUST the tyranids." or "Oh, its just... Necrons"- or whatever.

I think the whole point of the Tyrant Star was that they didn't explain what it was, so that you could do what you wanted with it. There were bits and bobs to give suggestions, but not explaining it more fully was deliberate. And I am thankful for it. Big mysteries like that are usually best when not explained. If they are the explanation is usually a big let down.

Frankly I have not been much impressed with some of what FFG has produced background wise since. The "Dark Pattern" of Dark Heresy slightly perked my interest... and then it was explained... and I just felt it was a bit of a lame let down.

I don't know much about the "bigger 40k Picture", so granted some of the worlds Calixis may seem uninspiring- but most of the responsibility of fleshing them out has been left to us.

I've done a number of great things with Calixis, and I love the sub-sector and would not leave it even in the event of moving to DH 2.0

Planets like Dusk [where the mist will take you...], Orbell Quill [Don't stray too far from the Capital, Old-timers...], Malfi [The Court of Miracles in the Slums...], and not to mention the ships: The Pale Sepulcher [by the manner of their death, ye shall know them...] & more places that I am going to be taking my players towards next: The Bountiful beast [A literal meat-grinder in space], Reshia the Hospital Planet [Only in death does Duty End...], Orendal's Tombs [Who was Orendal? What happened to him/her?]

Now to mention the myriad of other interesting planets, like Fenksworld and freaking Solomon, Cyclopea & The Threnos Zone.

The only planet I found "standard" was Scintilla, and even then, you had FIVE different settings with five different feels on that planet alone: Sibellus, Tarsus, Ambullon, Gunmetal City & "The Great Wilds".

Thats just the planets. And I've not mentioned most of them, of course. Lets not talk about the conspiracies. 200 Inquisitors and a book full of cults and creeps make for very interesting plot hooks.

Thats probably my biggest peeve with the new sector: "Only possibly one inquisitor is here, and it could be you."

So... where are the Conclaves and Oblationists plots, Istavanians politics and strategies, recongrator ideals, Phaenonites treacheries in the game of a "greater good only they can provide". Xanthites fightings monodominants and Amalathians trying to keep everything together while occularions warn the entire lot of them of the rebirth of the Midnight Child, something the Thorians would be very interested in chasing down and taking care of.

And lastly, the Tyrant Star. Even if FFG has forgotten about it- Good ridden I say. They've given us enough material in relation to that thing for us to work our magic with it. I would much rather they expand on other planets than answer that question for me: that would sure as hell kill the magic of the sector and turn it into, basically any other sector.

"Oh, its JUST the tyranids." or "Oh, its just... Necrons"- or whatever.

I'm with you Saldre, I'm glad you offered a bunch of examples so I didn't have to.

I've always played for the sick 40k setting . I play for neither Full/Half Actions nor Action Points - it's all about superhuman Space Marines, inscrutable Inquisitors, mysterious Tyrant Star, fanatical Redemptionists, shocking Radicals, cunning Logicians and the like.

I'm a big fan of the Calixis Sector - I find endless possibilities there. One can say what one will about this choice of DH mechanics or that, but I think the Black Industry/FFG folks have simply knocked it out of the park with the 40k setting. And they've maintained that quality through all the books with great artwork & endless clever grim details.

I'm definitely curious about what they're going to flesh out for the Askellon Sector but I have no plans on moving out of what I find to be a fantastically fleshed out Calixis Sector. If I had any complaint about it, it would be that FFG didn't provide one meta-index on their website for all subject matter contained in all their books across DH1...but that complaint stems from the fact that there was such a crazy great amount of detail about the Sector. It'd be disappointing to have my players on Iocanthos and only later realize/remember there's some great very detailed stuff specifically about the Arbites on Iocanthos, of all places.

Black Industries/FFG have proven their creative chops for years - looking forward to see what dark grim things they weave for DH2....

...If I had any complaint about it, it would be that FFG didn't provide one meta-index on their website for all subject matter contained in all their books across DH1...but that complaint stems from the fact that there was such a crazy great amount of detail about the Sector. It'd be disappointing to have my players on Iocanthos and only later realize/remember there's some great very detailed stuff specifically about the Arbites on Iocanthos, of all places.

Funny you should say that- I started working on just such a thing a while back. Here is as far as I've gotten- about two-thirds of the DH books (then I'll start in on the Rogue Trader and Only War stuff...).

The recent announcement that FFG will be responding to fan criticism and making DH2 compatable with the previous WH40KRP lines rather than the heavy rewrite presented in the Beta proves that the squeaky wheel gets the grease. Hence I'll renew my pleas to set the new sector in Ultima Segmentum rather than adjacent to Calixis (where the Ordo Xenos loses access to some key 40K alien adversaries).

Pretty please...?

Why the Ultima Segmentum,Adeptus-B

set the new sector in Ultima Segmentum rather than adjacent to Calixis (where the Ordo Xenos loses access to some key 40K alien adversaries).

I think that may be one of the reasons they're avoiding that part of the 40k universe. It's more space marine territory. Ordo Xenos could definitely use some more to work with in 2e, though. The biggest threats I can think of offhand in 1e were the Slaught and the Beast House, which was really more of a human smuggling ring than a xenos organization. Eldar and orks got their mention, but were never really in the forefront as enemies (except some Eldar in Purge the Unclean, as I recall).

On the other hand, the Calixis area of the Imperium is pretty detailed as it is, having multiple adventures, sourcebooks, and of course the adjacent Scarus sector.

Speaking of which, I would fork out money for a DH Scarus Sector sourcebook, even as a standalone product.

Why the Ultima Segmentum,Adeptus-B

So that Tau and Tyranids (found primarily in Ultima, and largely unknown on the edge of Obscurus) could be included as major threats. The Calixis Sector is perfect for Chaos-fighting Hereticus- and Malleus-based campaigns, but Ordo Xenos has always gotten the least support in DH1 . Using Ultima as the new setting for DH2 would allow all of the Ordos to have their maximum range of Adversaries.

Calixis bored me purple. Totally uninspiring.

And the Tyrant Star was so dull even the writers forgot about it (i still maintain it was a Jokaero spawning pod, and when it goes pop fifty billion Jokaero will suddenly appear across all the worlds of Calixis)...

Koronuis Expanse was more interesting though, and i feel has a real sense of dread about it. It could do with a bit of expansion and a bit more detail filled in though...

So i'm very much looking forwards to what FFG come up with for this new sector. I'm hoping it'll engage me more than Calixis.

Howdy,

We though the Calixis Sector had some interesting background and a LOT of decent hooks. Not only did it have the typical (tired?) 40K tropes, it had some interesting ideas. The Tyrant Star was rather neat and VERY Lovecraft/Chambers in falvour. The story/scenarios revolving around it had a beginning/middle/end, so I am not shocked that other writers haven't continues with it.

Cheers,

Ken

Ultima Segmentum would indeed be interesting.

It could also have a warpgate which leads to Calixis *lol*

What a coincident...

To be honest I hope the new sector is up with the other settings around Calixis, in that corner of the galaxy. I think its good to have the various settings fairly close together so that one can interact with several of them with reasonable justifications.

Also, the Calixis Sector was pretty cool so I've got pretty much only praise for it. But I do agree that it could've used some more love for the Ordo Xenos.

To be honest I hope the new sector is up with the other settings around Calixis, in that corner of the galaxy. I think its good to have the various settings fairly close together so that one can interact with several of them with reasonable justifications.

Also, the Calixis Sector was pretty cool so I've got pretty much only praise for it. But I do agree that it could've used some more love for the Ordo Xenos.

I've also enjoyed using Calixis as the setting for my current Ordo Hereticus campaign, but how much unexplored potential is left in that 'corner of the galaxy'? What are they going to do adjacent to the Calixis Sector that they couldn't do in one of the existing settings?

To be honest I hope the new sector is up with the other settings around Calixis, in that corner of the galaxy. I think its good to have the various settings fairly close together so that one can interact with several of them with reasonable justifications.

Also, the Calixis Sector was pretty cool so I've got pretty much only praise for it. But I do agree that it could've used some more love for the Ordo Xenos.

I've also enjoyed using Calixis as the setting for my current Ordo Hereticus campaign, but how much unexplored potential is left in that 'corner of the galaxy'? What are they going to do adjacent to the Calixis Sector that they couldn't do in one of the existing settings?

I would say that nothing and everything is left to explore. The galaxy is after all a HUGE place so having some totally new things in a sector not far away from Calixis, Koronus and Vortex should pose few to no problems at all.

And with the timeline moved you can even throw in nids if you want them.

I guess my feeling is that the change in timeline (100+ years after DH1 ) minimizes the usefulness of setting cross-overs, so why not go for something completely new and different?

I guess my feeling is that the change in timeline (100+ years after DH1 ) minimizes the usefulness of setting cross-overs, so why not go for something completely new and different?

I'd say that the reasons are that since the events of the other gamelines, with the exception of Deathwatch, can easily be moved a century or so forward without causing any problems. Thus I think that with DH2's setting reasonably close to the other settings you can still use them.

And every new setting will be different and new. Just because its reasonably close don't mean that they can't diverge extremely much.

What lore items are people using that actually take the year into account? I've been playing this game for years and I don't think I've ever even noticed the sectors were separated by time in addition to space. I'm stunned that people think the stated year actually matters.

Well, if we think of the vastness of the Universe, the two sectors would actually not be close at all. They would be many light years in size and distance from each other. A lot of different things can happen in that massive size of a space.

What lore items are people using that actually take the year into account? I've been playing this game for years and I don't think I've ever even noticed the sectors were separated by time in addition to space. I'm stunned that people think the stated year actually matters.

In our first campaign I built a very-very long term riddle/clue into the header of all communiques the cell received from 3 NPCs, does that count?

Incidentally, don't try this at home. It got insanely complicated to add to it before the players noticed.

200 years isn't all that long for some of the characters in 40k. Also there's no reason why you can't alter relatively minor things like this anyway. If you're porting over your existing characters from 1e and want to deal with the time difference, either pretend there isn't a difference or make up a reason. Warp travel through time and space is the easy one, but what about having to travel to Askellion on an old pre-warp ship that's fitted with stasis pods instead? Or your characters have been busy for the intervening years but have been getting juvenat treatments.

For including Tyranids in Calixis or Askellion, there's plenty of splinter fleets to go around. Actually, according to these maps and the 5th edition tabletop rulebook, the remnants of Hive Fleet Tiamet were found in Segmentum Obscurus.

As for things like the Tyrant Star not being fully explained, I'm fairly certain this is intentional, and I actually like it that way. It means that I can look at what's presented in the books and decide exactly how I'll fit it into my campaign, instead of having to build my campaign around some inflexible plot device. It also means that, if my players cheat and read through the book they won't know what's going to happen.

-And the Tau? The Barghessi (sp?)? The fact is that Hereticus and Malleus agents have access to the full range of their standard opponents from 40K lore, but Obscurus-based Ordo Xenos agents do not.

I tend to think that if the Askellion Sector is 'adjacent' to the current settings, it will just 'read' as Calixis-lite.