I was wondering where Deathwatch could go now that we have Honour the Chapter and the various world books for Jericho Reach. I am really looking forward to this book, since I always liked the mysterious and Lovecraftian horror more than a straight up bolter fight.  The little bits about the Dead Cabal are intriguing. 

 Moving beyond the Crusade is the right step for Deathwatch. There are plenty of stories to be told about the war effort, but ultimately this is what the Deathwatch is all about: going out, finding new and interesting xenos cultures, and blowing them right the hell up.

Interesting!  I look forward to it.

I know it's superficial but 'Dead Cabal' did something for me. I frankly can't wait for my 'Keeper' to be inducted into it's ranks. That & the fact that when I GM my next campaign Necrons are certainly going to be the overarching evil & it'll be be nice to have a deeper rule set for them (that's to say, deeper that those found in the 'Black Crussade' core book).

We had a blast testing this one. The Necrons make for a great enemy!

Cannot wait to see the finished product.

BYE

 Necrons - finally!

Necrons are cool and everything, but I hope that we´ll see some realy creepy and lovecraftian horrors in there. Something like Umbra

Or Enslavers. Or Hrud. Slaught. Children of the Kingdom. Khrave Mindeaters… 

I am struggling to actually see what the book "is" if that makes any sense (adventure? Background? Bestiary?), but it certainly looks interesting.

To me it looks like a sourcebook for Game Masters (such as Achillus Assault and Jericho Reach), funny that these expansions are since Disciples of Dark Gods best parts of each 40kRPG game line

Looks interesting. The Jerico Reach setting has always been my least favorite part of Deathwatch; this could go a long way toward changing my opinion…

Starglyte said:

Maybe you should play Dark Heresy?

Kshatriya said:

I personally like the idea of being super powerful and still not being able to do anything against the horrors. Alternatively, a Dark Heresy party investigating something super horrifying on some dead world will die in the first encounter, while a group of Astartes can survive tougher fights. They have the durability to get through horrifying things, and you then have them conserve bolt rounds and spare limbs.

 I do have Dark Heresy and I like it. But when I think 40k, I think Space Marines, and a supplement that helps makes  Deathwatch more like Lovecraftian horror is a big plus in my book.

To me it is a little different. I like to throw "horror" at my players but obviously a KT of Astartes is not going to fear the same way a cell of acolytes is…because they're biologically designed not to do so. A thing that would casually give IP to a Space Marine might make a mrotal's heart stop with dread; conversely, a thing that is jarring to a mortal won't make a Space Marine flinch.

That said I also think the different FFG game lines have very big and separate themes. DH is paranoia, investigation, the occult, horror, facing insurmountable odds with inferior quality. RT is exploration, profit, empire-building, and more wondrous than any of the others. DW is strongly combat-focused, more on the special ops side. Whereas OW is focused on combat from the grunt and trencher's side of things, with some investigation thrown in. BC is really mutable in that its theme is more about moral corruption in your chosen method than a particular method in and of itself.

What I mean by this is that you can certainly do occult investigation in DW, but the baseline game theme is superhuman combat where you are demigods among men when it comes to fightan. Whereas the base theme in DH is a lot of horrific investigating and feeling very small in a big nasty universe.

DH themes can work in DW, the game itself is somewhat less suited to it since Astartes are not built for investigation, deception, covert social situations, or experiencing horror. It really depends on the players though and understanding that a Rank 3 acolyte of virtually any stripe is probably a better investigator (on the skills end if not the characteristics end) than a Rank 3 Space Marine.

Necrons at last! Diving into Tomb and fighting C'tan Shard would be awesome. It also gives little hope that FFG finally understood that Deathwatch should be about fighting Xenos not Chaos.

Shadow Walker said:

Amen! If I want to play Space Marines fighing Chaos, I'll build a campaign around the Grey Knights rules from the Dark Heresy supplement Deamonhunter, and stay true to the core concept.