So I just started looking into DH and am very interested (I'm playing a homebrew campaign made by a friend soon) in checking it out. However I see that a second edition is on the way so I'm wondering if it is worthwhile to pick it up now or just wait for DH2. Thoughts?

Personally, I'd advise you to wait. DH1 is showing it's age, and the upcoming edition is supposed to maintain a degree of backwards compatibility, so you will be able to pick up some supplements later and mine them for ideas.

What is the expected release date of DH2?

At this point, we don't know. Sorry!

Certainly not in the next few months, anyway.

I would assume they'd aim for GenCon next year, but base that on no inside knowledge at all.

DH1 by itself is still a good system, compared to the other four 40k games it may feel a bit aged, mostly because the ruleset was the first of it's kind from where the other 4 grew from.

I play it and I got no complaints from it, it's hard deadly and unforgiving for psychik powers instead of being a cake walk like the toher 4 games system.

I'd jump on the DH1e wagon. DH2e may well be quite a ways off, and since it's likely to be at least a pretty significant departure from the existing system, it's also likely to have all the usual childhood diseases that systems usually have when they break new ground.

No system is perfect, of course, but DH1e is primarily showing its age in the sense that the coherency & consistency of the rules, powers, gear and careers of the overall gameline (that's like 18 books or something) is a bit uneven. But honestly, I can't remember ever seeing an equally extensive line that didn't have just as many issues with contradictory optional rules & power creep.

A fair amount of the age accusations also boil down to player preference. A lot of people don't like having potentially nuclear psykers, or don't want fully automatic weapons to pound for pound be way more deadly than single-shot weapons. But those aren't rules weaknesses, they're matters of style.

DH1e does show its age in that it rejected having a real mechanical framework for things like spycraft, intrigue & social skills. Things plenty of contemporary games did, and did well. However, if the DH2.3 beta is any indication, there'll be no significant change in these areas. So that's no reason to hold out for DH2e proper.

Both DH1e and the DH2.3 beta are very, very deadly systems. Especially because PCs accumulate points that will eventually retire them from play, and do so at a pretty impressive rate. If you intend to play longer campaigns (10+ sessions), you should be prepared to tweak the system. Because it's really not balanced for that sort of thing.

If you do get DH1e, I'd recommend the Core Rules, The Radical's Handbook, The Inquisitor's Handbook, Disciples of The Dark Gods, and Creatures Anathema - in that order.

The Core Rules really is all you need, but RH is an amazing toolkit for both player and GMs, IH has the total overdose of player options & gear you'd expect, DoTDG is a nice grab-bag of stuff a GM can use as-is if he finds himself unprepared, and CA is a nicely done if extremely light-weight Creature Feature pamphlet book.

Get Dark Heresy. The books are fun and great reads. With the errata the mechanics are fine to.

Perfectly functional game with a suite of supplements already published. I think it's a good bet.

BYE

What is the expected release date of DH2?

If you can get it cheap, DH1 is definitely worth picking up. There's a crap ton of supplements for players and GMs and with the errata it's fairly stable. I only have experience with DH and Only War and I prefer DH, though that's more for setting than the system.

First, thanks everyone for the advice and information.

So my first game of DH1 will be sunday and although it uses some homebrew rules it should give me an idea as to how much I enjoy the game. Once I've got a few sessions under my belt I'll make a decision on whether or not to buy.

Be sure to check out the DH Errata in the 'Support' section of this website- it contains a lot of tweaks that will make your games run better.

Be sure to check out the DH Errata in the 'Support' section of this website- it contains a lot of tweaks that will make your games run better.

And if you do end up buying the core book, go through it with the errata and a pen and mark up where things have changed.

So I just started looking into DH and am very interested (I'm playing a homebrew campaign made by a friend soon) in checking it out. However I see that a second edition is on the way so I'm wondering if it is worthwhile to pick it up now or just wait for DH2. Thoughts?

Personally I'm not sure if it ever was. Too high bug-density.

However AFAIK the DH2 doesn't have even an estimated time of arival yet, so I guess it comes down to how patient you are.