Hi Dark Heresy fans!

This is going to be a busy week for me, there is a lot going on in the grim darkness of the far future. Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay has got a great year ahead of it! This week’s designer diary is intended to showcase some of the highlights of 2009.

Adepticon Bound

This weekend is Adepticon, an independent miniature gaming convention held in Lombard, IL. It’s a big, three-day miniature gaming convention that promises to be a major event for all fans of Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000.
Fantasy Flight Games is one of the sponsors of Adepticon, and we will be there with plenty of Dark Heresy stuff to show off, both from the existing library and some sneak peeks at upcoming books! I am really looking forward to attending Adepticon for the first time, and I love to meet the fans of Dark Heresy and Rogue Trader. Definitely stop by if you plan to attend and say hello!

Masterminds

There are two writers who have helped me guide the direction and purpose of Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay since the start. I am very pleased to introduce John French and Alan Bligh, the twisted geniuses behind such books as Disciples of the Dark Gods, Tattered Fates, and the lead writers for the upcoming Radical’s Handbook. John and Alan have been with Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay every step of the way and I look forward to working with them on many, many more books in the future.

John French’s Bio:
John French is a freelance writer and games designer who has written for Dark Heresy since 2006. Working in collaboration with Alan Bligh and alongside many other talented writers and developers, his work can be found in the Dark Heresy Rulebook, Inquisitor’s Handbook, Games Master’s Screen, Disciples of the Dark Gods and the forthcoming Haarlock's Legacy series of books that begins with Tattered Fates. In times past and days remote he also contributed to Necromunda Magazine, Town Cryer and Fanatic and has been involved in table top wargaming and roleplaying games since the beginning of the nineties. When he is not thinking of ways that dark and corrupting beings can destroy realty and space, John enjoys talking about why it would be a good idea, and making it so with his own traitor legions on the gaming table…that and drinking good wine.

Alan Bligh’s Bio:
Alan is a freelance fiction writer, editor and occasionally game designer whose day job sees him bound to the service of a wildly known Forge World. Previous employment has included stints in the voluntary sector and throwing misbehaved people out of nightclubs, as well as time studying the Humanities and Strategic Studies. He’s been interested in history, sci-fi, fantasy and horror longer than he cares to remember (because it makes him feel old) and has been an avid gamer since he was big enough to grasp dice. He is also fond of moving pictures, book learning and such, and being English believes there should be a ‘u’ in armour.

The Next Step
Look for more information about Tattered Fates coming soon, and I am putting together some bits and pieces for a diary about The Radical’s Handbook as well. Keep your eyes open for more glimpses into the future of Dark Heresy. Until next time, may the light of the Golden Throne guide your way. 

Dark Heresy is a roleplaying game set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe, the grim darkness of the far future. Players take on the roles of Acolytes serving the Inquisition, rooting out heresy and corruption from within the galaxy-spanning Imperium of Man.

Our journey thus far has been relatively safe. Aside from the Umbra Spider, we have not encountered anything malicious. I fear this trend will not continue as we descend further into the dungeon. Our group, all though small, is well prepared and well armed. Trusting our newest compatriot, we follow the Gladiator further into the dungeon proper. The library gives way to a beautiful view of the Outer Region, and I am surprised at our sudden altitude. Birds are seen wheeling through the skies beyond, and the breeze is welcome after the dank air of the library. Distracted by the blue sky, we find ourselves caught unawares by the Goblin Marauders boiling up from behind us. Daggers drawn, they advance like the tides. I draw my sword, and our group prepares to meet them in battle.

Having caught a glimpse of the board layout, we are now able to discuss some of the new menagerie awaiting in the Dungeon expansion. Keeping true to the flavor, all of the encounters in the Dungeon are specific to it. From trap doors and snake pits, to cave-ins and lost dwarves, the Dungeon has plenty to immerse you in the darkness. Even more, the followers found in the Dungeon are able to stay with you and provide a benefit outside the Dungeon. Most notably is the Tunnel Fighter, a welcome addition outside the Dungeon, and a fantastic fighter inside the Dungeon.

We find ourselves battered, but victorious. The Goblins are no match for our group and the remainder slink back into the shadows to find easier prey. We bandage up our wounded and proceed down a darkly lit corridor. The Gladiator is a welcome addition, providing his own Helmet, and he seems to be trained with his armour, as each of the blows against him seem to have less impact. Although I am unsure of his motives, I am sure of his abilities. We proceed down the corridor, wary of further attacks. At the end of the passage, we see torch light. As we approach, a bony figure commands us to halt. Startled, we can only stare at this skeleton guard. He demands a "toll" in order to allow us to pass. Before we make our decision, the Gladiator leaps at him, weapon drawn.

In addition to the traps and treasures in the Dungeon deck, many of the new creatures will push the adventurers to have a decent Craft. Many magical denizens will do a fair amount of damage to the unwary, and the chances of running into a creature, such as the Lesser Demon, are good. Not all of the inhabitants are quite as powerful as the Lesser Demon, but you will need to prepare as there are both Craft and Strength values as high as 8!

The guard defeated, we proceed to our first staircase. The stairs spiral down, and flickering shadows dance on the walls. The passage is warmer, and the smell of burning is thick in the air. We make our way down the staircase, weapons at the ready. The bottom is a scene from a nightmare. The walls are bathed in flame, and the air is acrid with smoke. Breathing hurts, the temperature too hot for comfort. We spot the door and head towards it as fast as we can. In my haste I run into the back of the Gladiator, who is standing quite still and staring up. I raise my head and stare directly into the eyes of terror. A Demon stands before us! Scrambling we prepare for the fight, the Demon watching with a faint hint of amusement. It stalks forward and snatches one of our group, flames licking from its skin. The beast casts our former member aside and heads for me. I am a warrior, but staring into those eyes froze me to my soul. Hand outstretched, the Demon walks right at me. Suddenly the Gladiator bellows out unfamiliar words. As he yells, the Demon wails in pain. It falls to the ground stricken, and explodes into a cloud of cinders. Staring in wonder, the Gladiator replaces the scroll he picked up earlier. "Thought this might come in handy." With that he heads back towards the next room.

Our party did return from their harrowing adventure, and the story they returned with was shocking to say the least. Evil awaits them at the end of the Dungeon, evil and the potential for wealth beyond their wildest dreams. Until next time...

For the first glimpse into the Dungeon, check out The Path Ahead.

Greetings Rogue Trader fans!

This week I want to talk a little bit about something cool and new coming up in Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Rogue Trader. What I’m referring to are “Roles,” positions of command responsibility on board a starship that can be filled by the player characters. Some Roles are weighty and traditional in all Imperial vessels, whilst others bear many names and emerge only out of necessity. Put simply, the Ship Roles are a means by which a player character group can take more control over the functions and activities of their own ship, should they choose to do so.

So what is a Role aboard a spaceship? Roles are a separate category from Careers; a character’s Role defines his place, duties, and his powers aboard the vessel. Each Role brings with it the benefits and obligations of rank: subordinates who will accept orders, but whose well-being and protection is an obligation, the recognition of the Rogue Trader's dynasty, and a pledge of fealty that may require much toil to uphold.

I came up with the concept of Roles when I realised that a character’s Career wouldn’t fully encompass the idea of being the Lord-Captain of a ship. In addition, I wanted something that could be added on to a character’s Career, which would allow almost all the Careers (even those from Dark Heresy!) to have several choices determining how they could contribute towards the overall welfare and operation of the starship. Some specific Careers are limited to the Roles they can occupy (such as Navigator and Astropath Transcendant), but most Careers are not automatically locked into only one role on board the vessel.

Roles are entirely optional; if a character chooses not to fill a Role on the ship, that Role should be filled by an NPC under the Game Master’s control if and when it becomes needed. The players and Game Master should discuss whether they want to flesh out these NPCs with their own personalities and motivations: how much of a focus on the Rogue Trader's crew and internal machinations do they want in the game?

In Rogue Trader, taking on one of the Ship Roles has both an in-character and in-game effect. For the former, a character who has chosen one of the Ship Roles has great responsibilities and powers aboard the vessel—he may command thousands of men, or he may have a position that impacts the entire crew complement. The choices and challenges before such a character take on an entirely new dimension when he is in such a position of awesome power.

All of the above exists alongside the in-game benefits of a Ship Role. During combat between ships in space, characters who have a Ship Role may take certain Extended Actions that can affect the course of the battle. These Extended Actions ensure something I am very keen on—that every character has the option of doing something during a space battle that may effect the outcome!

Rogue Trader will present many Roles that a character may select from, many more than are presented here. Below, I’ve chosen four particular Ship Roles to showcase as a teaser (including a handful of example Extended Actions commonly associated with those Roles!):

Lord-Captain
If a starship is a mighty fortress, its Captain upon the command throne is a feudal Lord who accepts pledges of allegiance and fealty from his advisors, the commoner crew, and their elected spokesmen. The Lord-Captain is the ultimate decision-maker on matters of strategy, void-law, and negotiation, responsible for the lives and souls of all who pledge to his banner. The fate of thousands hangs upon his decisions, though a wise Lord-Captain takes council with his advisors and bridge crew, and considers their words before giving his orders.

Extended Action: Hail
The character contacts one ship using his ship’s vox systems. He may use social Skills to accomplish certain goals, such as the Intimidation Skill to convince an opponent to surrender.

Ship’s Confessor
The Ship’s Confessor is the uppermost hierarch of the shrines and clerics aboard the vessel, responsible for their scriptural purity, and by extension the spiritual well-being of all aboard. The God-Emperor protects the righteous who abide by the holy laws of Ministorum and Imperium, and it is His will that keeps the warp at bay and guides weapons to strike true against foul xenos. The Ship’s Confessor pledges to uphold the faith and courage of the crew against all adversities, and so make the void-ship a true cathedral of the Imperial Creed, echoing with the prayers of the holy and blessed in the God-Emperor's sight.

Extended Action: Put your backs into it!
The character makes a Challenging (+0) Intimidate or Charm Test. If he succeeds, he can choose to add +10% to a Ballistic Skill Test to fire a Weapon Component, an Emergency Repairs Action, or an attempt to put out a fire made during this turn. He may aid an additional BS Test, Emergency Repairs Action, or firefighting attempt for every three degrees of success.

Ship’s Chirurgeon
The Chief Chirurgeon is master of the void-ship's medicae wards and their staff: doctors of physik, medicae, alchemists, and a horde of apprentices. Accidents, maladies, and agues of a thousand varieties afflict common voidfarers, and a crew unattended by medicae and physik will soon enough lapse into illness and the safety of the vessel will be at risk. The Chief Chirurgeon pledges his talents to maintain the crew’s spiritual wellbeing, and further to make of his wards and supply vaults a scourge upon disease, injury, and sicknesses of the mind.

Extended Action: Triage
The character makes a Difficult (-10) Medicae Test. If he succeeds, he reduces any damage to Crew Population by 1, plus 1 for every degree of success to a minimum of 1. Triage may only cancel out Crew Population damage suffered during the previous turn.

Master of Whispers
Men and women are wilful creatures, given to secrets, deceit, disloyalty, and subterfuge. The Master of Whispers inhabits this realm: they seeks out and purge the crooked timbers and weak spars in the Rogue Trader's crew. Their agents hunt for the very same elements in rival Rogue Trader missions—but for the purpose of advantage and deception. Spies pledged to the Master of Whispers roam far beyond the void-ship's bulkheads in search of precious knowledge, untended resources, and hidden weaknesses that can benefit the Lord-Captain's mission.

Rogue Trader is a roleplaying game set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe, the grim darkness of the far future. Players take on the roles of Explorers aboard a Rogue Trader's ship, searching for profit and adventure in the uncharted regions of space.

With the machinations of Shub foiled, if only temporarily, the members of the Silver Twilight Lodge have been messing with things they have no business associating with. This week you will be faced with a terror you thought had been sealed away. Prepare for the renewed force of the cold as Ithaqua tries to force his way through the opening the Lodge has created.

Arkham Scenario 4 (pdf, 697 kb)
Calvin Wright (png, 715 kb)

For those of you new to the league, check out the league guidelines. To see what has been happening surrounding these events start with Chapter 1.

A new ShadoWar story is now available on the UFS Support section. Go there to read Part 1 of the Tablet of Gilgamesh under the ShadoWar Fiction heading. Be sure to keep checking back as the story unfolds.

Also, while you're in the Support section, be sure to check out the recently added Astrid bio in the ShadoWar Bio heading. Read up on this ShadoWar character and become familiar with this Norse femme fatale.

ShadoWar is an original IP created by FFG currently being released as one of the new Universal Fighting System base sets.

Questions have been answered, answers have been cleaned up, and after the brief vacation, the FAQ has returned bright and shiny.

Descent FAQ (pdf, 1.81 mb)

Any further questions can be directed to our rules questions page!

Greetings, Dark Heresy fans!

This week I have a bit of a surprise for you—the designer diary you see before you isn’t about the newest book or even what’s around the corner. No, this designer diary is about a bit of the past.

Edge of Darkness was one of the first adventures available for Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay, first appearing on the web back in 2008. Since that time, Edge of Darkness has been downloaded innumerable times. It is famous for the first glimpse of the sinister cult of the Logicians. The adventure is quite well written, and it has a strong investigation focus that really draws on the core experience of role-playing an Acolyte of the Inquisition. In addition, the adventure contains quick-start rules for Dark Heresy and serves as a brilliant introduction to the game iline. Alas, due to a series of unfortunate events, Edge of Darkness remained a well-written but simply presented textual PDF for months on end.

Until now, that is!

Thanks to the hard work of our redoubtable RPG intern Trent Urness, Fantasy Flight Games is now able to present Edge of Darkness the way it was always intended—as a 48-page, fully-laid out and illustrated spectacular! This free PDF is a fine addition to any Dark Heresy fan’s hard drive, containing the same great adventure its always been, spruced up with Dark Heresy graphic design and Warhammer 40,000 art. This adventure has always been one of my favorites for the Dark Heresy line, and I am very proud to say that it now looks the part.

Edge of Darkness is the creation of writer Alan Bligh, one of the two minds behind Disciples of the Dark Gods and Tattered Fates. In Edge of Darkness, the Acolytes are called by the Inquisition to investigate an unusual murder in the Coscarla District on the hive world of Scintilla. The adventure has a flexible structure to allow for different approaches to the truth, and the final confrontation is a very exciting challenge that your Acolytes will not soon forget.

If you’ve already enjoyed Edge of Darkness in the past, I encourage you to pick up this free PDF to add to your collection. If you’re looking for a great way to begin your adventures using Dark Heresy, this is exactly what you need. If you’ve never given Edge of Darkness a try, now is the time. What are you waiting for? Go download the free 48-page adventure Edge of Darkness now!

Dark Heresy is a roleplaying game set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe, the grim darkness of the far future. Players take on the roles of Acolytes serving the Inquisition, rooting out heresy and corruption from within the galaxy-spanning Imperium of Man.

Before getting into the previews this week, I would like to make a quick announcement regarding the format for the Path of the Master main event. Just to make sure that there is no confusion about the format for Path of the Master, it will be Block 3 Format and Set 12 will be legal for this tournament. We are excited and confident that players will enjoy playing with the entire Block 3 card pool at this great event.

However, this does not mean that this is the only tournament going on during that weekend! We are planning on having a wide variety of side events, depending on player interest. These possible side events include Legacy, Sealed Deck, and Set 12 only tournaments. I hope many of you fans are looking forward to this amazing weekend!

Now, on to the previews!

This week, instead of concentrating on the new mechanics, I decided that it might be better to give you guys a look at some simple, straightforward, and solid attacks. One of the main things I really like about Set 12 is that it fills in many gaps that I felt were present in the format for Block 3 while simultaneously introducing new concepts into the game for both veterans and beginners to enjoy.

One such gap that needed to be filled was statistically-powerful, well-rounded attacks. By well-rounded, I mean attacks that would not be classified by most as finishers on their own, but at the same time, nicely fill that need for attacks that are above average damage. The two attacks that I want to highlight today are Hammer Uppercut and Midnight Launcher.

Hammer Uppercut is simple, brutal, and elegant. Honestly, there is not much to say about an attack that has a high base damage and also has a little added versatility to it. The enhance ability will make this attack an excellent answer for most annoying characters that you do not want to deal with during your turn. This attack also works as an excellent lead off for any attack string that you want to throw at your opponent during your turn. If your character has Death or Fire, might I recommend the next card below?

Midnight Launcher is an excellent follow-up attack that will make your opponent second guess focusing all of their defenses against your first attack. Between the low difficulty and the high damage output, this attack is a sure-fire threat that your opponent will definitely have to watch out for! To add to the pressure your opponent will be facing, the attack’s enhance ability denies your opponent from using any defensive actions during this Enhance Phase.

I hope you guys enjoyed these previews and are looking forward to some more soon!

UFS (Universal Fighting System) is the premier fighting game TCG where all of your favorite console fighting game characters get to slug it out in the Arena of Champions. UFS is right now celebrating its third blockbuster year. For more information on UFS, check out our UFS minisite.

Hello all,

Due to a corrupted file, the Descent FAQ is currently down. Have no fear, it will return next week, newer and better than ever.

Thanks for all your patience,

Kevin and J.R.

+++Incoming Astropathic Transmission+++

Hello Folks,
Well with the impending release of Tattered Fates, the first separate book of the Haarlock's Legacy campaign, Ross, by the medium of transatlantic aetheric mematronic relay (or ‘email’ as I believe they are more commonly known) has asked if we could supply a few words by way of a designer diary to whet the appetites of passer-bys and lure them inside to the dark wonders contained within.

We of course were glad to oblige, but this wasn’t quite as easy as you might think, for Tattered Fates, you see, is a mystery adventure, (with a few bloodbaths, fraught battles for survival and sanity-shredding occurrences along the way of course, but a mystery at its core none the less) and frankly we wanted to keep the adventure’s secrets—well, secret until it hit the shelves at least.

So, instead of a detailed preview of what you are going to get inside, who’s involved and whether or not the ++Deleted by the Inquisition++ turns up and everybody dies, we thought we’d offer you, at Ross’s suggestion, a few lines about our inspirations while writing Tattered Fates, the Haarlock's Legacy Trilogy,  and what aspect of the finished thing we most liked or were proud of. We hope you forgive our literary sleight of hand and find it interesting regardless!
Alan & John

In Media Res
“…and now you are fighting for your lives”

In writing, playing in (yes both Alan and I have played in our own adventures) and running Tattered Fates my favourite thing is how it begins; not with a slowly building mystery but with a bestial roar that punches you into the middle of events which you have to deal with right now! The acolytes begin Tattered Fates having been stolen away, stripped of equipment and aid—a classic device of the adventure genre. Waking in a situation that they are not prepared for, and has all the trappings of a somewhere where your player characters really don’t want to be.

As a player I have loved the desperation and immediacy that this set up creates; “move or die” is the motto, and the sessions where I have seen players shouting at each other to grab the sharpened bone dropped by an NPC as they die, and spending a full session of fate points in ten minutes to get away are some of the most tense and exciting I’ve experienced. You can feel the “Oh no! This is for real, my character might actually die down here” right from the start of Tattered Fates and that feeling gets stronger as events unfold. Once you are past the first scramble for survival the mystery of the situation starts to come out: “Why are we here? What is going on?” not to mention a good old dose of “Someone’s going to pay for this!” The fact that the acolytes have had to fight for their lives make them really want to know the answers, and what more could you want from the start of an adventure of mystery and blood?

–John French

Changing Lanes
“A party? A party? Don’t you know where I’ve been? What I’ve done?”
(In-game comment by a Tattered Fates play-tester)

Tattered Fates, and indeed the Haarlock's Legacy Trilogy started out many moons ago, (and this isn’t telling too many tales out of school I hope) as part of an initial series of scenarios designed to test out the as yet unpublished Dark Heresy game, which was indeed a very different animal back then. It was the intention right from the start to encompass a lot of different styles and paces of play in them, ranging from survival horror, to intrigue to research and investigation as these were all things very close to our hearts as what we though the core experience of playing the then nascent (there’s a good word I don’t get to use often) Dark Heresy should be. Now a lot of proverbial water has flowed under equally proverbial bridges since then, but one of my favourite things about Legacy, and Tattered Fates in particular, is the speed with which the narrative of the adventure ‘changes lanes’ now and again, plunging characters from one kind of play experience to another, making for something of a cold shock when the players don’t see it coming.

"Why is this a good thing?" you may be asking yourself, and the answer to that is pretty simple; quite apart from the fact that a bit of variety is a never bad, and in any mystery worth the name there should be a few unexpected twists along the way, the real answer is because at some point everybody gets to shine.

You see in a ‘heavy combat’ adventure, your cold-eyed gunslingers and your back-flipping assassins get to strut their stuff, but other character types can sometimes find themselves playing second fiddle to the glory-hounds. Only being called on to breeze over some old parchments, or charm the dusty-coated adept every now and again, and visa-versa in adventures where the tables are turned.

So much the better I have always thought when you make each of these aspects as interesting and vital as the others: So, for example when what involvement a more cerebrally or socially aligned character has in the adventure is every bit as important, and has the life and death of the whole group riding on it just as much, if not more than any gunfight. Tattered Fates is unapologetically built to be that kind of adventure.

So, for the players of those hard-as-nails guardsmen and steely-willed arbitrators out there: If you perhaps one day find yourself on the run, trapped in a nightmarish labyrinth of bladed, shifting tunnels without help and the Spindle-Maws closing in, don’t let the bookish adept or the ranting cleric fall too far behind, no matter the temptation, because you might well need them at a later formal engagement…

–Alan Bligh

The (Un)usual Suspects
Well neither of us are strangers to writing for the Warhammer 40,0000 universe, both for Dark Heresy and other projects, and the whole shadowy splendour of the Imperium and its manifold enemies are something we both love. But these have not been our only inspirations in writing the Haarlock's Legacy campaign, and Tattered Fates in particular. There are some great works out there that have influenced us, and have all filtered into our febrile minds, all drawn through the distorting lens of the Dark Heresy, and of course been given a gun and sent out to do battle with daemons! These have included noir mysteries (with Hammett’s Red Harvest being a particular favourite -Alan) and ‘Hitchcock-ian’ foreshadowing. The opulent fantasies of Clark Aston Smith, the nasty supernatural vengeance typical of the stories of M R James and of course Coleridge’s Ancient Mariner (Mr Haarlock, I’m looking at you), right on to the Quay Brother’s Street of Crocodiles animation, just for the sheer strangeness of it. While the delights and often macabre folklore surrounding Venice’s great and historic Carnival have played a major part in forming our creation of Quaddis and key events in the adventure. Of course, none of these things ‘are’ Tattered Fates, but rather things we writing types have mutually enjoyed and been inspired by; our common language if you like when we came to crystallise what we were writing. If the Haarlock Legacy has an overriding theme it is of the sins of the past coming back not just to haunt the present, but tear its throat out—Very Warhammer 40,000 in other words…Oh, with some kicking in the door, bolt pistol in hand and shouting “Imperial Inquisition, step away from the altar!” of course.

+++The Next Step+++

Hello again Dark Heresy fans! Having wrested control of the designer diary back from John and Alan, I would just like to add that instead of talking about what's coming up, I would add some bonus content for this week! You will find an interesting Inquisitional document available for download, which serves as both an in-character preview of Tattered Fates AND as a player handout! I'm sneaky like that! At any rate, until next time, let the Golden Throne light your way.

–Ross Watson

Dark Heresy is a roleplaying game set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe, the grim darkness of the far future. Players take on the roles of Acolytes serving the Inquisition, rooting out heresy and corruption from within the galaxy-spanning Imperium of Man.

Tattered Fates is the first book of the Haarlock's Legacy Trilogy, a set of three epic adventures that explore the Calixis Sector. Tattered Fates is due to be released in Spring 2009.