So, thanks to the sale, I'm getting into Rogue Trader and Black Crusade. What I'm wondering is, what Dark Heresy supplements would you suggest to get for someone just getting into the Warhammer 40K universe?

Looks like Inquisitor's Handbook would be a good pickup.

Thanks!

IH in the first place, without doubts. In second place... depending on preference. For me it is "The Lathe Worlds", but "Creatures Anathema" or "Disciples of The Dark Gods" may be more useful.

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So, thanks to the sale, I'm getting into Rogue Trader and Black Crusade. What I'm wondering is, what Dark Heresy supplements would you suggest to get for someone just getting into the Warhammer 40K universe?

Looks like Inquisitor's Handbook would be a good pickup.

Thanks!

As has been remarked elsewhere, the Inquisitor's Handbook is really just "the rest of the corebook", stuff that was cut for pagecount or wasn't ready for deadline.

Blood of Martyrs has a lot of excellent information on the Church, which I have found useful. It also has the revised Sisters of Battle which... may be a tad more powerful than PC classes presented in the core book.

Lathe Worlds is useful for telling you about the Mechanicus and giving you ideas about the Forge Worlds of Calixis Sector.

A lot of people love the Disciples of the Dark Good, which i must admit I found somewhat boring.If you're only getting DH books to get a feel for the area/40k and not to actually play DH, I'd say skip it. Maybe some ideas for BC though.

Similarly with Demon Hunter - essential if you're playing Ordo Mallus, mostly irrelevant otherwise. Maybe some ideas for BC though.

I've used Book of Judgement a lot in DH, but again, Rogue Traders are above local laws for the most part (often literally) and while it also deals with enforcement of Imperial Law, Hostile Aquisitions is just more relevant.

You might want to have a look at Creatures Anathema mind you. Even if you're not using all of it directly, there are some nifty ideas to steal. And if you use the familiar rules from the Navis Primer, Mawflukes make awesome pets

Definitely get IH. Radical's Handbook is good too - it's like IH with a radical bent.

I liked Disciples of the Dark Gods - lot of cool villain ideas in there, plus new sorcery/psychic powers. I'd recommend that and Creatures Anathema if you're GMing.

If you're buying as a player, Book of Judgement, Martyrs, and Daemon Hunters are all good, but be aware the power level is on a whole different level from the rest of the earlier books. Lathe Worlds was the last and has the most powerful options. There's noticeable power creep, but they all have fun information. Pick whichever subject you're interested in.

Inquisitor's Handbook is a must have.

Other than that, I'd stress that for "getting into the Wh40k universe", a lot of the books are really more like FFG's version of said universe - which is not as exceptional as this may sound at first, because a lot of the official sources differ in various details from one another. There is no such thing as a universally consistent 40k setting.

That said, if you are not well accustomed with the 40k background already, you are probably "innocent" enough to not go into nerdrage about the contradictions. Just know that, technically, "everything and nothing is true", and that depending on who you play with your group may have to agree on a common ground that suits everyone, as per whatever they've read before.

For example, the Sororitas in Blood of Martyrs contradict even the ones in the Inquisitor's Handbook, both in mechanics as well as in background, and both books are Dark Heresy supplements. The reason for the difference? They were written by two different studios (Black Industries and FFG), whose designers and writers apparently had different ideas for them.

This difference in ideas is even alluded to in Alan Merret's foreword of the Deathwatch RPG rulebook.

Still, Tenebrae has provided a good list, and since you (as per your own words) rather new to the setting, you probably have not yet "declared allegiance" to one specific interpretation of the setting (as many of the veterans have), and thus you can pick freely what you think sounds best.

For what it's worth, in terms of writing style and ideas/inspiration, I like them all.

Welcome to the 41st millennium, and good luck with your game(s).

So, thanks to the sale, I'm getting into Rogue Trader and Black Crusade. What I'm wondering is, what Dark Heresy supplements would you suggest to get for someone just getting into the Warhammer 40K universe?

Looks like Inquisitor's Handbook would be a good pickup.

Thanks!

Wait- are you looking for DH books to use in RT and BC ? Or are you playing DH ? If it's the latter, then yes, Inquisitor's Handbook is a good bet; if its former, then IH won't be terribly useful to you- its basically a 'continuation' of the DH Rulebook . If it's inspirational 'fluff' that you are looking for, my favorite is Disciples of the Dark Gods - lots of cool plot hooks/adversaries/villainous organizations, and it has a lot of 'cross-game' utility.

Inquisitor's Handbook is a must have.

IF you're playing DH1, absolutely!

If you're getting DH books to use with your RT campaign (as I'm currently doing), not so much.

Yeah, I totally misread that... Fail due to lack of attention.

I'd say the IH would still be nice to have, but certainly not needed. In fact, given that RH and BC were already fully written by FFG, I might even recommend against it.

It might help what sort of campaigns the group would face, but on a hunch I suppose the Book of Judgment would be useful for its take on Hive worlds and the Arbites - both of whom might be useful elements for games where Rogue Traders visit on a merchant mission, or where Black Crusaders attempt to stir up unrest and incite the local populace into rebellion.

I'm not sure how much of Creatures Anathema and Disciples of the Dark Gods is reprinted in RH and BC respectively, but those might be two other candidates that spring to mind.

I appreciate any suggestions. I typically run games for my wife, so ideas are hte main thing I'm looking for,but always nice to be able to make up interesting NPC's for her to interact with.

I definitely don't have a link to any faction when it comes to history. So no nerdraging from me. Now L5R......

Thanks for all of the help!