Reviews from R'lyeh: Warhammer 40K

Showing posts with label Warhammer 40K. Show all posts

Sunday, 29 March 2026

Inquisitorial Intelligence II

The Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum Inquisition GM’s Guide is more than a simple guide to the Inquisition of the Marcharius Sector. It does expand upon the background material given in the Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum Inquisition Player’s Guide—and arguably, between the two, there is some repetition, but not a lot—but it includes much more that the Game Master can use and even develop as part of her Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum campaign. It includes expanded notes on the Inquisition and its philosophies, a guide to running Inquisition adventures and roleplaying Inquisitors, looks at some of the most radical tools has to hand in investigating, learning about, and eradicating heresy, details a decades-long campaign frame work, and provides contacts, threats, and case files. If the emphasis in the Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum Inquisition Player’s Guide was on the Acolytes, that is, the Player Characters, and their Patron Inquisitor, in Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum Inquisition GM’s Guide, the emphasis on the Patron Inquisitor, his rivals, and the Inquisition in general. Lastly, unlike Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum Inquisition Player’s Guide, this is definitely a book for the Game Master rather than the player.

After a quick refresher about the three Holy Orders of the Inquisition—Ordo Hereticus, Ordo Malleus, and Ordo Xenos—and their goals, philosophies, and techniques, the Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum Inquisition GM’s Guide gives a quick overview of some the allies that the Inquisition can rely upon if needs direct force and intervention, it presents a more detailed examination of the philosophies of the Inquisition. This expands upon the information given in the Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum Inquisition Player’s Guide and adds further eight Philosophies. These include Horusian, the belief that the God-Emperor will return as a living god, requiring an appropriate vessel to embody, which will be facilitated by the power of the Warp; Libricaranism, which holds that the status quo within the Imperium must be maintained at any cost, that no-one, no matter their status, is beyond reproach, and every Infractionist, revolutionary, and heretic must be put to death; and adherents of Seculos Attendous believe that the Adeptus Ministorum is slowly corrupting and hampering the growth of the Imperium, that the Adeptus Ministorum is unnecessary to embrace the God-Emperor’s Power, and for Mankind to be free, the Imperial Cult must be removed from power. In each case, the tenets and modus operandi of each Philosophy is outlined and suggestions are given as how to roleplay an adherent of the Philosophy, along with a scenario hook. This highlights further how the Inquisition is not a monolithic organisation and helps the Game Master portray both the Acolytes’ Patron Inquisitors and those Inquisitors that appear latter in the book.

Further help for the Game Master comes in the form an examination of how the Inquisition relates to the Imperium in terms of means, methods, and power. It is backed with a good guide to running adventures for Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum that includes direct pointers on how to make a campaign feel like Warhammer and on how to make it feel like Imperium Maledictum. Thus, it suggests for the former that everything should be big, from thousand-layer hive cities to cathedral-like voidships; that Mankind relies on technology despite the fears and restrictions imposed by Imperial law; and that on some level, everyone is terrified and that fear is pervasive. Whilst for the former, it suggests both Noir and Gothic themes, deadly encounters, the application of brains over brawn, and the unique nature of the relationship between the Acolytes and their Patron Inquisitor. The advice covers setting up a game, running a campaign, handling an investigation, and more.

In terms of investigation, Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum Inquisition GM’s Guide includes a great guide to what to look for when investigating first signs of Chaos and then Xenos. The section is particularly good in listing the marks of Chaos for the four gods—Khorne, Nurgle, Slaanesh, and Tzeentch. In comparison, the signs of xenos are less colourful. However, as much as the Inquisition works hard to eradicate signs of heresy, there are Philosophies in the Inquisition that hold that heretical knowledge can be turned on the heresies themselves. The supplement examines such Radical methods via the use of ‘Forbidden Knowledge’ as a skill specialisation. This requires the ‘Forbidden Knowledge’ Talent, which an Acolyte can only gain with permission of the Game Master, and its use is very much not without its dangers. There are Philosophies that hold that even knowing such knowledge is heretical, which would put a knowledgeable Acolyte in peril, but there is also the danger of possession by a demon! Of course, learning such knowledge means that an Acolyte is likely to gain Corruption Points and definitely will if he is possessed! The degree of demonic influence—and eventual possession—is tracked on the Possession Tracker, which goes from one and ‘The Puppet’ to one hundred and ‘The Chosen’. With the latter, there is no hope of the Acolyte being exorcised or redeemed, but otherwise there is a possibility. All of which presents the possibility of an interesting roleplaying challenge for a player willing to have his Acolyte fall under demonic influences and perhaps find a way back…

The advice on roleplaying Inquisitors is also good, looking at both their greater interactions and actions across the Marcharius Sector and their lesser interactions and actions with the Acolytes, which will primarily come through the briefings and debriefings that the Acolytes will receive from their Patron Inquisitor. All this leads up to the presentation of six sample Inquisitors, each complete with their own secrets and their own Inquisitor Patron Sheets. Any one of the six could be the Acolytes’ Patron Inquisitor, but all six have a role to play in ‘The Heresies Macharia’.

Arguably, ‘The Heresies Macharia’ is the heart of the Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum Inquisition GM’s Guide. This is not a campaign as such, but a campaign framework around which the Game Master can insert her own content as well as develop and run the suggested mission outlines. It follows the death of Inquisitor Lord Hieronymo Drake that left the Marcharius Sector and its Inquisitors without an Inquisitor Lord, a position which his former Interrogator, now Inquisitor herself, Sylvestrine Horst, schemes for over the course of seven Conclaves. A Conclave is an opportunity to share resources ad information, determine threats which need to be addressed, and perhaps agree on the activities of the Inquisition for the next few years before the next Conclave. However, they are also a chance to ascertain the status of rival Inquisitors, both learn and substantiate rumours, discover secrets, get involved in intrigues, and more. For the players and their Acolytes, it is an opportunity to engage in politics and decisions that have sector-wide and Inquisitorial repercussions and consequences as their support their own patron Inquisitor. It is also a chance for the Acolytes to spend more time in the company of their Inquisitor than they would normally do, and if they campaign hard and succeed, may put them on the path to potential greatness on the coattails of their patron Inquisitor as he is elevated to the position on Inquisitor Lord. This can be a Patron Inquisitor already created prior to the start of the campaign or one of the six detailed earlier in the book, each of which plays a role in the campaign. This can include the instigator of the campaign, Sylvestrine Horst.

A number of plots run in the background to ‘The Heresies Macharia’, one connected to the activities of the late Inquisitor Lord Hieronymo Drake, another to an imminent threat from outside of the borders to the sector, and yet another one deals with an internal threat. The first Conclave involves all six Inquisitors detailed earlier in the supplement and they will continue to play a role throughout the campaign, not at every Conclave, but with more of presence to expose the players and their Acolytes to their various philosophies, Puritan or Radical. Besides the attendees, each Conclave describes the Intrigues and rumours and secrets that the Acolytes can get involved in and the Strifes. Each Strife represents a major issue or agenda that will be brought before the Conclave and discussed in terms of possible resolution. For example, at the first Conclave, one Strife concerns a missing, presumed dead Inquisitor, whilst another deal with the worrying rise of four cults on the world of Goros Pok that require investigation and either eradication or re-education, the latter two options varying depending on whether an Inquisitor is a Puritan or a Radical.

Each Strife has an associated mission outline that the Game Master can develop into a proper scenario or even series of scenarios. Some might take a session or two to resolve, but others might involve multiple sessions. Some may also be ongoing simultaneously such that the Acolytes can only be assigned to deal with one rather than the other. This enables other plots to unfold in the background whilst the Acolytes are dealing with one Strife plotline. If successful in a mission, the Acolytes will improve their Patron Inquisitor’s Legitimacy once they attend the next Conclave, but reduce it if they fail. Ultimately, if the Acolytes’ Patron Inquisitor has proven to be the most capable—as measured by his Legitimacy versus those of the other Inquisitors—of dealing with the emerging and growing threats, he is likely to be elevated to the position of Lord Inquisitor of the Marcharius Sector.

‘The Heresies Macharia’ has a grand scope with lots of play packed into some forty pages. However, the Game Master still has to unpack it and then develop the finer details of each Conclave, add numerous NPCs, and expand each of the given missions, as well as adding more of her own, in order to work it up into a full campaign that is ready to play. It presents a lot of work and effort. Of course, it means that the Game Master can make it her own, but at the same time, the reader is left wishing that none of this was necessary, that ‘The Heresies Macharia’ was ready to play. It is a great campaign outline, but it really deserves a book of its own.

With ‘The Heresies Macharia’ placed in the middle of the book, it does feel as if the first third of the Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum Inquisition GM’s Guide has been building support towards it, although there is plenty about that support which is useful outside of the campaign framework too. Contacts are barely touched upon in the core rulebook, but here the rules are expanded upon with guidance on finding, making, and maintaining contacts. This can be done both during a mission and during downtime, the strength of the relationship determined by the Influence that the Acolyte’s Patron Inquisitor has with the faction that the contact, but can be adjusted up and down depending upon the Acolytes’ actions and what they ask for. The mechanics are a good way in which to bring NPCs into play and they are supported by ten sample contacts from a variety of factions complete with the requests that they might make of the Acolytes and the rewards that the Acolytes in turn may receive.

Where the contacts can be inserted into any campaign, some of the supplement’s ‘Threats’ are more closely tied to ‘The Heresies Macharia’ framework. For example, ‘The Company of the Twisted Sickle’ is a traitorous guard regiment in league with Nurgle cultFists on Goros Pok, an agricultural world where the first Conclave will direct the Acolytes to investigate a number of potential heresies. Each threat is given a decent description, including resources, methods, and secrets. There are also Genestealer Cults, cults devoted to Tzeentch and Nurgle, and more. The creepiest of them is ‘Momas the Murmurer’, a rumoured fear that spreads from world to world across the Macharian Sector, seemingly capable of possessing anyone and directing their actions as if they were puppets, and then disappearing. In comparison to the more overt Chaos-related threats, this is nicely subtle and underplayed. Rounding out the Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum Inquisition GM’s Guide is a set of ready-to-play ‘Open Case Files’ and a short bestiary. As with the Threats, the ‘Open Case Files’ can be used with ‘The Heresies Macharia’ framework or the Game Master’s own campaign.

Physically, Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum Inquisition GM’s Guide is very well presented. The book is cleanly, tidily presented and an easy read. The artwork is also good.

With so much of the Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum Inquisition GM’s Guide dedicated to ‘The Heresies Macharia’ framework in one fashion or another, the supplement does not feel quite as useful as the companion Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum Inquisition Player’s Guide. However, there is plenty that is useful and that can be used with the Game Master’s own campaign rather than the ‘The Heresies Macharia’ framework. The Inquisitors and their Philosophies, the Contacts and the Threats, and more are all useful to that end as is the supplement’s good advice for running Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum Inquisition. Ultimately though, whilst the Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum Inquisition GM’s Guide does provide a great deal of support for the Game Master, at the same ‘The Heresies Macharia’ framework shows what a campaign for the roleplaying game would look like, but does not provide the Game Master with something that is really ready to play. It does provide the Game Master with a great basis for a very good campaign that she can work on until that ready-to-play campaign arrives.

Saturday, 13 December 2025

Inquisitorial Intelligence I

The Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum Inquisition Player’s Guide is not wholly for use by the players, but the majority of it is player- or rather Acolyte-facing. It can be roughly divided into three sections. In the first, it looks at Holy Orders of the Inquisition, its philosophies, factions, what it demands of its Acolytes, and guidance on creating the Inquisitor who will serve as patron to the Acolytes or be his rival. In the second, it expands upon Acolyte creation, offering new options in terms of skills, talents, psychic powers, and equipment, including Familiars. In the third, it looks at what the Acolytes are doing when they are on a mission and what they do between new missions. It does include checklists for both Patron and Acolyte creation, but both player and Game Master will still need to access the core rulebook.

What Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum Inquisition Player’s Guide makes clear is that despite the fact that an Inquisitor’s authority is second only to the Emperor himself and that an Inquisitor’s Acolytes are his eyes and ears, muscle and sinew, the Acolytes are more investigators than enforcers. Their duty is still to investigate, identify, and root out signs of heretical activity, but theirs is subtle task, what the supplement calls ‘Inquisitorial Espionage’, until, of course, everything blows up in their faces, and they have to go in, bolters blazing, or even calling in support—all the way up to Space Marine Chapters. Who or what the Acolytes will be directed to investigate will primarily depend upon the Holy Order that their patron belongs, to, either Ordo Hereticus, Ordo Malleus, and Ordo Xenos, which investigate heresy hidden within the Imperium, hunt down signs of daemonic activity, and fight against alien or xeno incursions respectively. The Holy Order that the Acolytes’ patron belongs to will, of course, influence the types of threats they will be investigating and the nature of campaign the Game Master is running.

Within each Holy Order, the Inquisitors—and thus potential patrons for the Acolytes—are primarily divided between two philosophies. Puritans tend to burn out any and all signs of heresy without mercy, whereas Radicals are prepared to use heretics and cults as tools to root greater evils. Both philosophies have their dangers. Puritans will destroy one evil before another might be revealed, whilst Radicals can allow a heresy to fester and spread whilst in search of other signs. Of course, the degree to which an Inquisitor holds to either philosophy varies—and many not even hold to either, but is further complicated by adherence to more specific philosophies. Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum Inquisition Player’s Guide describes several, including the pessimistic and bombastic, Monodominants who believe that Humanity will be wiped out if any enemy survives and so enemy must be permitted to survive; the Polypsykana want to nurture and develop Humanity’s psychic potential to the point where it transcends physical form and so protect psykers; Oblationists believe that any and every means should be used to root out threats to Humanity, including heretical ones; and Amalathians favour balance and tradition with a dislike of factional infighting. Amalathianism is said to have been the philosophy that drove Lord Solar Macharius to launch his crusade and consequently is the dominant philosophy in the Macharian Sector—at least publicly. More philosophies are detailed in the Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum Inquisition GM’s Guide.

Mechanically, Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum Inquisition Player’s Guide provides the means to create Patrons from all three Holy Orders, including their philosophies, demeanour, and Boons and Liabilities. The latter two will vary depending upon if a Patron is a Puritan or radical, and a range of new ones are added too. They include Beacon of Judgement, Death Cult Agents, Dubious Allies, and Hunting Hounds, as well as Crisis of Faith, Deadly assignments, Obsessive Objective, and Wheels Within Wheels. This is in addition to the Duty Boon of Limitless Authority that all Inquisitors possess and is physically represented by their individual Inquisitorial Rosettes, the badges of office that they forge upon becoming an Inquisitor. Technically it can get Inquisitors and their Acolytes everywhere, and they have been known to lend them, or facsimiles of them, to their Acolytes to enforce their authority in their Patron’s name. However, wielding such authority is not subtle and not without its consequences.

For the Acolyte, it highlights how dangerous their work is and how gaining recognition is rare, even though many aspire to become their Patron’s Interrogator and perhaps even an Inquisitor themselves. Mechanically, there are expanded Origins for the Macharian Sector, such as ‘Damned Useful – Daemonic Host’ or ‘Damned Useful – Null Persona’, ‘Death World Veteran’, ‘Penitent’, and more. The expanded Faction options focus on the relationship between each Faction and the Inquisition, whilst also enabling an Acolyte to begin play with a background in one of the three Holy Orders. In addition, there are four new Roles. These are the ‘Assassin’, the ‘Cruciator’', the ‘Explicator’, and ‘Seeker’. The Cruciator is both chirurgeon and interrogator; the Explicator is a data specialist, including forbidden lore and heresy; and the Seeker is judge, jury, and executioner of heretics and xenos, often hunting targets behind enemy lines or undercover. There are new skills such as ‘Lore: Major Ordos’ for each of the three Holy Orders, ‘Xeno-Cant’ for communicating with xenos, and Disguise, whilst the new Talents include ‘Blunt Force Authority’ by which Acolytes use their Patron in an overbearing manner to greater effect at a lose of Subtlety, ‘Cult Infiltrator’ which enables the Acolyte to infiltrates at a cost of Corruption, ‘Gut Instinct’, ‘Subtle Psyker’, and ‘Unwavering Will’. One strange Talent is ‘Subtle Mutation’, which marks the Acolyte as a mutant, but not an obvious one. With this Talent, the Acolyte has both a positive and a negative mutation, which his Patron may know or may not about, but which the Acolyte still keeps hidden. The new Psychic powers include minor ones available to all Psykers, like ‘Auditory Manipulation’, ‘Force Bolt’, ‘Mark’ by which a Psyker can leave physical mark of his psychic power on a surface or target and which can be tracked, ‘Induce Panic’, and ‘Stimulating Jolt’, zapping the target’s nervous system with a jolt of psychic energy to bolster it against fatigue and temporarily against falling unconscious.

An Acolyte can also arm and equip himself with an array of new weapons, armour, and gear. The new weapons include a mixture of exotic, daemonbane, null, power, tainted, and even xenos weapons, including the forging of Nemesis weapons. All of these are rare or only available to the wealthy, so for the most part out of the reach of Acolytes, unless they scavage them or are given to them as gifts. Literally, the most Radical of weapons is the Daemonblade, which has a daemon bound into it and has a feature like ‘Unholy Venom’ or ‘Mind Leech’, but also a quirk, such as “A baleful eye sits within the cross guard, and many teeth grow from the hilt, encircling the wielder’s hand in a none-too-subtle threat.” Wielding such a weapon carries with it the danger of Corruption. There are details for grenades and explosives too, and even rules for ‘Requisitions’, essentially gaining support from other factions should a situation demand it.

With the ‘Familiar Bonded’ Talent, an Acolyte can have a Familiar, and if he takes the Talent again, he can bond with a Cyber- or Psyber-Familiars. However, the Acolyte still needs to find and purchase such a Familiar and they can be expensive. Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum Inquisition Player’s Guide describes how Familiars can be used in and out of combat, how to train them, which often requires the Acolyte to invest further in his Familiar. Full rules are included for creating a Familiar with numerous ways in which it can be improved and enhanced. The rules are supported by a ‘Familiar Bestiary’ which includes well known ones such as the Cherubim, Cyber-Mastiff, and Multi-Task Servo-Skull, as well as a variety of rarer, and thus more expense ones. Once in play, a Familiar requires its own character sheet.

In terms of actual play, Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum Inquisition Player’s Guide adds a new mechanic called ‘Subtlety’. This tracks how aware heretics, cultists, and other Inquisitors are of the Acolytes’ actions and enables the Game Master to create a response to their increasing prominence. There is a balance to the rules since a high ‘Subtlety’ enables the Acolytes to operate in secret without the targets being aware that they are being investigated, whereas a low ‘Subtlety’ can become a demonstration of their Patron’s power and influence in shattering a cult or burning out a nest of xenos. Mechanically, what it means that with a high ‘Subtlety’, the Acolytes will gain a bonus to clandestine activities and a penalty to blatant ones, whereas with a low ‘Subtlety’, the reverse is true. It is a straightforward mechanic, but it provides a way for both players and Game Master to track consequences of their Acolytes’ actions and provide a mechanical effect as well as a narrative one.

Lastly, Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum Inquisition Player’s Guide suggests options for ‘Between Options’. These include ‘Inquisition Group Endeavours’ such as ‘Search for Xenos Infiltration’, ‘Punish Dissent’, and ‘Pool Knowledge’ alongside ‘Inquisition Individual Endeavours’ like ‘Cultivate Network’, ‘Erase Truth’ (or knowledge of heresy), ‘Familiar Training’ for the Acolyte with a Familiar, and ‘Mental Sanitisation’ through Imperial re-education to cleanse the Acolyte’s mind of the terrible things he has seen. Attentively, an Acolyte can enter ‘Inquisition Long-Term Endeavours’. These include ‘Craft Anointed Weapon’ to create a holy weapon, ‘Craft Daemonblade’ which could attract the attention of a Puritan Inquisitor, ‘Learn a True Name’ of a daemon, and ‘Research Cultist Network Ciphers’. These are intended to be combined with a random event and together these can have an influence on subsequent sessions of game play as well as give opportunities to roleplay between missions.

Physically, Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum Inquisition Player’s Guide is very well presented. The book is cleanly, tidily presented and an easy read. The artwork is also good.

Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum Inquisition Player’s Guide is a combined handbook for players and their Acolytes, explaining what their duties are as Acolytes, who and what their Patron Inquisitor is, and giving them new options terms of who the Acolytes are, what they can do, and what they can wield in the ongoing battle against enemies inimical to Humanity. As well as expanding player options, it provides details with which the Game Master can flesh out her campaign and help bring it to life. The result is that Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum Inquisition Player’s Guide is a solid combination of content that will enhance any Imperium Maledictum campaign.

Sunday, 2 March 2025

Your Imperium Maledictum Starter

The light of the Emperor’s divine might reaches everywhere—but not always. Only in recent years has the Great Rift begun to unseal and the mysterious Noctis Aeterna begun to recede, the Days of Blinding ended, and links reforged with worlds in the Marcharius Sector lost under its pall and beyond the sector itself. As communication, trade, and psychic links have been reestablished with Terra, the Imperium has worked hard to restore its rightful authority and ensure that no deviancy from creed has taken place in the Days of Blinding. Despite this still, heretics turn to the Dark Gods with their promises and falsehoods and corruption is rife, wasting the Emperor’s resources and wealth, and from without, there is always the danger of raids by Orks or worse, Tyranoids. Yet routing out such heresies and corruption is no matter, but an issue of politics and influence as well as loyalty and devotion. The Emperor’s great servants search out those they deem worthy to serve them and the Imperium, directing them to investigate mysteries and murders, experience horror and heresies, expose corruption and callousness, whether in in pursuit of their patron’s agenda, his faction’s agenda, the Emperor’s will, or all three. In return they will gain privileges far beyond that imagined by their fellows—the chance to travel and see worlds far beyond their own, enjoy wealth and comfort that though modest is more than they could have dreamed of, and witness great events that they might have heard of years later by rumour or newscast. This though, is not without its costs, for they will face the worst that the forces of Chaos has to fling at them, the possibility of death, and if they fail, exile and loss of all that they have gained. In the Forty-First Millennium, everyone is an asset and everyone is expendable, but some can survive long enough to make a difference in the face of an uncaring universe and the machinery of the Imperium of Mankind grinding its way forward into a glorious future.

This is the set-up in Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum, the spiritual successor to Dark Heresy, the very first fully realised roleplaying game to be set within the Warhammer 40,000 milieu and published in 2008, the very first roleplaying game that Games Workshop had published in two decades. Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum is published by Cubicle 7 Entertainment and now it has its own introduction to the setting in the form of the Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum Starter Set. Given that this is from Cubicle 7 Entertainment, there is the likelihood that this is going to be a good product. After all, since the publication of the Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay Starter Set, the publisher has been releasing one good starter set after another. Which begs the question, what is a good starter set? Essentially, it has to provide everything that the Game Master and her players need to play a good scenario that showcases the nature of the setting and what the players and their characters do in the game, explains the rules, and provide content that can be played beyond the confines of the box.

Open the Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum Starter Set and the first thing that the reader sees is a set of nice percentile dice and a gatefold pamphlet that screams, “READ THIS FIRST!”. This starts with a broad overview of the setting, shows you what is in the box, what Imperium Maledictum and a roleplaying game are, how you get started and what you need to play, and where to go next once the contents of the box have been played through. In four pages, it provides the reader—both player and Game Master with a solid introduction to the setting. As an introduction to roleplaying games, it is more basic, so the reader might want to look elsewhere. Nevertheless, this does not mean that it does not do a good job. Below this are six Player Character sheets, again done as gatefold pamphlets. On the front they explain who the character is and why a player might choose to roleplay that character, gives the character some quotes that player could use in play, whilst inside the actual character sheet for the character is presented, along with a breakdown of the sheet alongside it and a list of the character’s goals, connections to the other characters, and secrets. Lastly on the back of the character sheet is a full-page illustration of the character. These pack a lot of information into their three pages—four including the illustration—but the layout never threatens to overwhelm the reader, keeping everything to hand whilst the focus remains on the character sheet at the centre. The six include a Zealot, a Penumbra (a stealthy assassin and infiltrator), an Interlocutor, a Psyker, a surgeon of the Adeptus Mechanicus, and a warrior.

In addition, the box also contains a set of tokens that include the Inquisitorial Seal, a prop that is used to indicate who has possession of it in the game, Character Portrait and Environmental Trait tokens for use on a map (there are no maps provided Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum Starter Set), Superiority Tokens to track the party’s Superiority, and Fate Tokens. There is a set of reference sheets that in turn explain the basic rules, combat, criticals and wounds, conditions and environmental hazards, factions and influence, Warp and Psykers, and trading and gear. These are done on sturdy cards and contain rules and background needed for each aspect of the game, and all together serving as the rules booklet in the set.

The meat of the Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum Starter Set consists of two books, ‘Adventure Book: The Blazing Seraph’ and ‘Rokarth: A Guide to the Hive’. The ‘Adventure Book: The Blazing Seraph’ provides a full investigation in the depths of Hive Rokarth where the Player Characters’ patron, Inquisitor Halikarn, assigns them to investigate the site of a purported miracle, Acid Refinery Delta-64, which has exploded, leaving behind a possible survivor. The Adeptus Ministorum is investigating to determine if this survivor is a saint. The Player Characters have three days to investigate, locate the survivor, and confirm whether or not he is actually a saint, or merely very lucky. Inquisitor Halikarn also provides them with the details of a contact who can help, but before he does that, the Player Characters will need to find and rescue him. This is an opportunity for the Game Master to show how the game system works and how combat works in it, and thus for the players to get used to both it and their characters. The investigation takes the Player Characters from the dank industrial confines of the hive deep into its bureaucracy and out again to the governor’s table and further into the foul, fetid bowels of the hive to confront heresy and corruption.

The adventure is designed to provide a learn as you play experience and it certainly does that in its opening steps. It is a relatively straightforward investigation, though with marked changes of pace as the Player Characters navigate the labyrinthine bureaucracies of the Hive Rokarth and particularly in the council with the governor they have to attend. This is probably the most difficult scene to run. In the later scenes the Player Characters descend into the depths of the Hive are quite detailed and require careful preparation that perhaps might have been easier with the inclusion of a map. One element that the Player Characters do need to take into account of, is the fact that their patron does not want to reveal his involvement in the investigation. He does give them an inquisitorial seal as a sign of his authority, but he is never happy with its use. Further, its use will attract the attention of those who are likely to take exception to Player Characters’ presence.

The second book, ‘Rokarth: A Guide to the Hive’, describes the setting for the adventure given in ‘Adventure Book: The Blazing Seraph’, the hive of Rokarth on the world of Voll. Surprisingly, it is only six centuries old, home to thirty billion souls who dedicate themselves through the Cult Imperialis to work that sees hive manufacture material and materiel for the Imperium of Man’s continuing war efforts. However, the facilities are being constantly corroded from without from Voll’s caustic environment and from within by the caustic waste product, as well as the corruption and criminal activity. The supplement provides details of the factions within the Hive Rokarth from House Castyx, the governing family on down. This includes the other noble Houses, the Adeptus Terra, which constitutes the vast bureaucracies and organisations that actually run the Imperium and to which every Player Character and their Patron is associated with, the guilds that hold monopolies on certain goods, and all the way down to the Infractionists, the gangs that control parts of the lower depths of the Hive, some of which have ties to the noble Houses. There are notes too on how commerce, the manufactorums, and how both the open and black markets work, noting that there is a silent trade in xeno artefacts smuggled into the Hive. There is a complete description of the hive from top to bottom, breaking it down from the Spire at the top down through the Upper Hive, Lower Hive, and into the Bowels & Beyond. All of these sections include a lengthy encounter table and descriptions of places and locations found there. Each of these locations is accompanied by a plot hook, and there are almost fifty of them! For example, the Player Characters might be asked by Sister Celestia of the Orders Hospitaller in the Upper Hive to move the last victim of the plague known as the Shivers so she can conduct further research; to find out for Lawrenca Parnam why her family secretly donates to the Cathedral of Obligatory Modesty—out of loyalty to the God Emperor or a shameful history; or either put down a gang war or broker a truce between in the wake of the events of the scenario in ‘Adventure Book: The Blazing Seraph’. Lastly, ‘Rokarth: A Guide to the Hive’ describes the presence and activities of the four Ruinous Powers and their cultists in the Hive. Of course, the plot hooks need development, but for the Game Master willing to make the effort, there is a lot to work with here.

Physically, Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum Starter Set is very well presented. The artwork is good and the books are well written. The inside of the box is illustrated with a map of the Marcharius Sector, whilst the inside of the box cover shows an image of Hive Rokarth, though it is not very clear.

There is a lot to like about the Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum Starter Set—the production values, a meaty scenario, and the combination of setting and extra plot hooks, but it is not quite as good as the earlier Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay Starter Set. This is because it does not have the extended content, the mini campaign that is further supported with content in Ubersreik Adventures: Six Grim and Perilous Scenarios in the Duchy of Ubersreik and its sequels, instead giving the Game Master numerous plot hooks that do require development. What Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum Starter Set very obviously does provide is something that the Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum rulebook does not and that is a ready-to-play scenario. Hopefully, Cubicle 7 Entertainment will develop scenarios for the Marcharius Sector from this starter set in the same fashion as the Ubersreik Adventures.

Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum Starter Set is another good starter set from Cubicle 7 Entertainment, providing the Game Master and her players with everything necessary to start playing and learning the rules, along with a dark investigation into heresy and corruption.

Monday, 28 October 2024

Medicae Misconduct

Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum is a roleplaying game in which the Player Characters, in the service of their patron, have the opportunity to travel and see worlds far beyond their own, enjoy wealth and comfort that though modest is more than they could have dreamed of, and witness great events that they might have heard of years later by rumour or newscast. In return, they are directed to investigate mysteries and murders, experience horror and heresies, expose corruption and callousness by their patron, whether in pursuit of their patron’s agenda, his faction’s agenda, the Emperor’s will, or all three. This takes place in the Macharian Sector, catastrophically isolated from the rest of the Imperium of Mankind by the Great Rift for far too long, and only recently have communication, trade, and psychic links been reforged and the Imperium begun to re-establish its authority. Who knows what has happened in the time when the connections were broken? What Dark Gods, with their promises and falsehoods, have heretics turned to, how far does corruption run with its waste of Emperor’s resources and wealth, and when will Orks, or worse, Tyranoids, take advantage of the Imperium’s weak grip on the sector to conduct deadly raids or murderous rampages? What this means is that the Macharian Sector is a dangerous place and there is the possibility that the Player Characters might get hurt. Or rather, the Player Characters are definitely going to get hurt. Eventually. When that happens, they are going to need a Medicae Technician.

Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum: Diagnostica Obscurus is there to fulfil that need. It presents ‘Three Mendacious Medicae Technicians for your Grim And Treacherous Adventures in the Macharian Sector’. There for when a Player Character suffers more Critical Wounds than he can cope with, the supplement not only describes three NPCs in quite some detail, but it also provides their stats, information as to where they might be found and what their facilities are like, their background—and of course, secrets, and a Treatment Table listing the typical effects of their medical attention. Lastly, each NPC description includes a set of scenario hooks that ends with an apex mission. The latter to be played out once the previous scenarios have been played through and the Player Characters have earned the NPC’s trust—or enmity. In each case, the Game Master will need to develop the scenarios into something that can be readily played, but if she does so, she will have an ongoing story, lasting a session or two each time, which can be slotted into her campaign and played out over time.

The supplement’s three Medicae Technicians consist of Noxia Vex, Karzinth Half-Hand, and Genetor Erudir Phi-VI. Noxia Vex runs a back-alley clinic in the depths of Hive Rokarth, providing cut-rate medical care to all, heedless of their faction, and is protected by well-armed and intensely loyal guards with strangely milky eyes. For some patients though, she will offer her services in return for a favour and this ultimately, will put that patient in a dangerous situation as he is tasked with investigating a viral vector that Noxia is researching in the hope that she can find a cure for the guards who protect her before they go on a murderous rampage!

Karzinth Half-Hand is noticeably missing two fingers from one hand and why he does not replace them with bionics is the subject of some speculation amongst his rich patrons and secretly, a source of shame for him. He primarily offers his surgical expertise to the Mavins of Hive Praemiosus on Asterion, having fled his former position as a Chapter Serf to an Apothecarian and is deeply paranoid that his former masters are still looking for him. Currently he seeks wealth and the means to protect himself, which includes blackmail using information he gathers from certain patients whilst they are anaesthetised and under his knife! Karzinth Half-Hand might become a patron for the Player Characters or he might blackmail them with information gained whilst under his care to work for him. The hooks for Karzinth Half-Hand are not connected, but the apex mission is connected to his activities and is quite detailed in comparison to the others.

Genetor Erudir Phi-VI is an arrogant surgeon with some highly unorthodox ideas that verge on heresy. A member of Adeptus Mechanicus, he has established a clinic at the Grand Docks of Harjus where conducts radical surgical experiments whose subjects find themselves supposedly ‘improved’ with transplants harvested from xeno beasts! This lends itself to the possibility that the Player Characters might find themselves on ‘bug hunts’ looking for specimens to capture for Genetor Erudir Phi-VI’s experiments and one of them involves such as task through the tunnels of the Spear on which the surgeon has his clinic. His associated apex mission involves protecting him against a black mail attempt and like the one for Karzinth Half-Hand is longer and more detailed than that given for Noxia Vex.

The length of the apex missions for Karzinth Half-Hand and Genetor Erudir Phi-VI in comparison to that given for Noxia Vex does unbalance her entry in Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum: Diagnostica Obscurus slightly, though she has four missions as opposed to their three. The situations for all three NPCs in the supplement are quite flexible in that they can be as written or shifted to other worlds in the Macharian Sector, and the NPCs themselves used as patrons, as straightforward NPCs, or even as NPCs to be investigated on behalf of the Player Characters’ actual Patron. The latter option will need more development upon the part of the Game Master as it is only suggested in the text.

Physically, Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum: Diagnostica Obscurus is well presented and the artwork is excellent. It does need a slight edit.

Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum: Diagnostica Obscurus is a great addition for Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum. Using all three of its entries might be a challenge, but three skilled, but imperfect Medicae Technicians to add to the Game Master’s campaign complete with secrets and scenarios to be developed and brought into play is exactly what this completely unqualified not-a-Medicae Technician recommends.

Sunday, 14 April 2024

Your Wrath & Glory Starter Set II

In the far future of the 41st Millenium, the Gilead System has been isolated from the Imperium of Man by the Cicatrix Maledictum, the Great Rift that unleashed waves of supernatural darkness and malignant power from the Realm of Chaos. The system, rent by internal strife and disagreement from within as to how to survive and threatened by the Ruinous Powers and its allies from without, teetered on the edge of collapse, but hope arrived in the form of the Varonius Flotilla, a Rogue Trader fleet under the command of Jakel Varonius, bringing ships and forces which could ensure the system’s survival. The only vessels to have made contact since the opening of the Great Rift, the Varonius Flotilla is seen across the Gilead System as its saviour, but the fleet alone can only so much. There are wars across the system, the chances of starvation grow daily, and alliances have to be made, even with xenos. This is a time for heroes, for ordinary men as well the Imperium’s genetically enhanced super soldiers, the Space Marines, Psykers, scribes, and others to work together to withstand the Chaos and protect all those it would suborn and destroy. Under the command of Jakel Varonius himself, such agents will become the most distant, but worthy arm and blade of the Emperor himself! Can the agents save the Gilead System? Will ‘wrath and glory’ be theirs?

This is the set-up for the Warhammer 40,000: Wrath & Glory – Starter Set. Published by Cubicle 7 Entertainment, this is the second attempt at a starter set for the Warhammer 40,000: Wrath & Glory, previously published by Ulisses Spiele in 2019. It follows the same format as the Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay Starter Set in providing everything needed to play and get started in action, horror, and intrigue of the 41st Millenium. This includes ‘Traitor’s Hymn’, an adventure set aboard the Varonius Flotilla; ‘The Varonius Flotilla’, a guide to the fleet; six character sheets; three reference sheets; Wrath, Glory, and Ruin; and a set of eight six-sided dice, including a Wrath Die. ‘Traitor’s Hymn’ is a detailed adventure designed to introduce both the setting and the mechanics of Wrath & Glory, but ‘The Varonius Flotilla’ is designed to not only detail that setting, but also support further play with both background and further play with extra scenarios that will extend the usefulness of the Warhammer 40,000: Wrath & Glory – Starter Set.

Open the Warhammer 40,000: Wrath & Glory – Starter Set and the first thing that you see is a gatefold sheet with the words ‘READ THIS FIRST’ on it. This introduces the basics of everything about Warhammer 40,000: Wrath & Glory, essentially preparing each player for his first choice—what will he roleplay? Underneath is a sheaf of six gatefold character sheets, each of which details a Player Character or Agent. A lot of thought has gone in terms of the design of these gatefold character sheets. On the front of each, there is a summary of who and what the Agent is, as well as warning not to open the character sheet up unless the player is definitely planning to roleplay that character. Inside, the character sheet presents the stats and details in easy-to-read fashion, plus a background, and possible connections with the other Agents, secrets, and objectives. It includes notes on each Agent’s talents, abilities, and equipment too. There is a full-page illustration of the character on the back. None of the secrets are heretical, but they are often dark and may make life difficult for the Agent. The Agents consist of a Sanctioned Psyker, a Sister of Battle, a Rogue Trader, a Skitarius, an Aeldari Ranger, and a Space Marine Scout. The inclusion of an Aeldari Ranger, a Xenos, indicates the desperation which is driving the surviving factions and forces in the Gilead System to work together.

‘Traitor’s Hymn’ is the beginning scenario. It is designed to introduce the setting, the Agents, and the concepts behind the roleplaying game in a step-by-step process. As play begins the Agents are aboard The Herald Varonius, a voidship transporting notables to the Varonius Flotilla. They are attending a grand banquet for the guests aboard when everything goes awry. Before that, each Agent receives a flashback which allows his player to make a choice, roll some dice for the first time, and have some time in the spotlight. The events of all six flashbacks tie into the adventure. There is the chance to learn a few more clues before the action begins and the voidship is inexplicably thrown into the Void. However, the Geller Field which would normally protect the crew and passengers of The Herald Varonius is fluctuating, which means her Geller Field Generator is malfunctioning. Which means the Agents are going to make their way into the bowels of the ship in order to find the cause and if they can, fix it. Between them lie Chaos infestations and manifestations, cultists, and worse, via an entrail-strewn library, a combat turned execution arena, twisted hydroponics gardens, and more before they reach the bowels of the vessel and discover the real culprits behind the situation The Herald Varonius finds itself in.

Mechanically, the Warhammer 40,000: Wrath & Glory – Starter Set, and thus Warhammer 40,000: Wrath & Glory, is a dice pool system using six-sided dice. Rolls of four and five are counted as ‘Icons’, and a roll of six as ‘Exalted Icons’. Tests are typically rolled as combinations of an attribute and a skill, or just the attribute, the latter being fairly broad, with a Difficulty Number of three being ‘Standard’ difficulty and a Difficulty Number of five being ‘Challenging’ difficulty. If a player rolls a number of Icons equal to the Difficulty Number, the task is successful. Any ‘Exalted Icons’ rolls are worth two Icons rather than one. However, if enough Icons are rolled on a test and there are any ‘Exalted Icons’ left over, they can be ‘Shifted’, or removed from the dice pool. A ‘Shifted Exalted Icon’ can be sued to gain more information, make the Test exceptional and give an extra beneficial outcome, add an extra Effect Die in combat, or add a point of Glory to the party’s pool.

Included with any roll, is the Wrath Die. This is of a different colour. It works like a standard die, except when one or six is rolled. On a one, it adds a complication to the task, whereas a roll of six is counted as an ’Exalted Icon’, but also adds a point of Glory to the party pool. In combat, it indicates that a Critical Hit has been scored. A player also has access to Wrath Points. These can be spent to reroll all dice that rolled a one, two, or three on the dice in a Test, add a minor element to the narrative, or to take an Action to recover Shock which has either been lost through combat or misadventure. The party as a whole, has access to the Glory Pool. Glory Points can be spent to add dice to a test, to add more damage to a successful attack, to improve the effect of a Critical Hit, or to seize the initiative.

Combat uses the same rules, with an Agent able to take a Combat Action, a Simple Action, a Reflexive Action, a Movement Action, and a Free Action on his Turn. Initiative simply passes back and forth between the players and the Game Master until everyone has acted. Both Armour and an Agent’s Resilience stop damage, any left over being suffered as Wounds. The Wounded Condition means that the Difficulty Number for Tests increases, but a player can roll his character’s Determination. Any Icons from this roll convert Wounds to Shock, but suffer too much Shock and an Agent may end up exhausted.

Fear Tests are based on an Agent’s Resolve, failure giving the Agent the Fear Condition. Corruption Tests are based on the severity of the source of Corruption, a player rolling his Agent’s Conviction to withstand its effects. Corruption will increase the Difficulty Number for future Corruption and Mutation Tests. The latter will occur when the number of Corruption Points exceeds an Agent’s Conviction. The Warhammer 40,000: Wrath & Glory – Starter Set only provides a few options for Mutations, there being a more extensive list and advanced rules in the core rulebook for Warhammer 40,000: Wrath & Glory.

Whilst the Players have access to Wrath and Glory, the Game Master has Ruin. Points of Ruin are gained when an Agent fails a Corruption Test or a Fear Test, or the Game Master rolls a six on the Wrath Die. She can expend it to reroll failures on Test, to Seize the Initiative or have NPC act in an ambush, to restore an NPC’s Shock, and to make a Determination roll. Ruin is also spent to activate certain abilities on NPCs and creatures of Chaos.

‘The Varonius Flotilla’, the second book in the Warhammer 40,000: Wrath & Glory – Starter Set, details both the Varonius Flotilla and the Gilead System. This includes the major NPCs with their goals and agendas and their quirks and secrets, and the various ships of the fleet, the last being The Herald of Varonius. The latter is where ‘Traitor’s Hymn’ is set and it is also the reward which the Agents are assigned at the end of the scenario. What that does, is give them the means to travel back and forth across the Gilead System, undertake further missions, and do both with some agency. ‘The Varonius Flotilla’ notes that of Jakel Varonius, the rogue trader and commander of the fleet, has brought the shuttles across the whole fleet under his command to lessen individual ship control, tie the fleet together, and to give him an information network in the form of the shuttle pilots. Besides bringing support and relief to the Gilead System, the Varonius Flotilla is also searching for resources in the system to exploit, despite it having been settled and worked for millennia.

The ’Ports of Call’ section details the eight worlds of the Gilead System, including the major locations, NPCs, threats faced by the world, and important features. Notably, there is one of each major type of world found within the system, thus, Gilead Primus is a Hive World, Ostia an Agri World, Enoch a Shrine World, and so on. Each world is given a couple of adventure hooks as well. Lastly, there is a discussion of the Warrant of Trade that Jakel Varonius holds as a Rogue Trader, before ‘The Varonius Flotilla’ presents six further adventures that will take the Agents back and forth across the Gilead System. In terms of play, these are relatively, offering a single session each unless the Game Master wants to flesh them out further. In comparison, ‘Traitor’s Hymn’ will probably take tow to three sessions to play through.

One issue in terms of play between ‘Traitor’s Hymn’ and six extra scenarios is that the Agents are not going to improve or learn from their experience. To do that, the Game Master will need access to the core rulebook for Warhammer 40,000: Wrath & Glory. That said, a starter set is typically not designed to facilitate that aspect of play, the Warhammer 40,000: Wrath & Glory – Starter Set being no different here, and of course, the Game Master can adjudicate the rewards as necessary if her players want to continue playing beyond the confines of the Warhammer 40,000: Wrath & Glory – Starter Set.

Another issue is the player count required for the Warhammer 40,000: Wrath & Glory – Starter Set. There are six Player Characters or Agents, but ‘Traitor’s Hymn’ requires a minimum of five players. It can be played with four players, but one of the other Agents becomes a communal NPC. It is a high demand, and perhaps it could have been written with the lower player count in mind and allowed for an adjustment in terms of more rather than fewer players.

In terms of setting, the Warhammer 40,000: Wrath & Glory – Starter Set draws the Game Master, her players, and their Agents in a couple of steps. First, ‘Traitor’s Hymn’ gives an immediate experience of the milieu and sets them to explore the setting of the Gilead System detailed in ‘The Varonius Flotilla’. Together, the two books do the same for the wider setting of the Gilead System detailed in Warhammer 40,000: Wrath & Glory. However, there is a third thing that it should do as well, and that is follow in the footsteps of the Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay Starter Set which is supported by its own series of scenario anthologies, beginning with Ubersreik Adventures: Six Grim and Perilous Scenarios in the Duchy of Ubersreik. That enables the Game Master and her players to continue playing with the same Player Characters and in the same setting.

Much like the earlier Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay Starter Set, the Warhammer 40,000: Wrath & Glory – Starter Set is not a good introduction to roleplaying and nor is it designed to be. It just does not start from the first principles to do that, but that is fine, because as an introduction to Warhammer 40,000: Wrath & Glory, it does a very good job and does so in an attractive package. Similarly, the rules presented have been stripped down from the core rulebook, but there is more than enough to play through the contents in the Warhammer 40,000: Wrath & Glory – Starter Set. If the Game Master and her players have access to the Warhammer 40,000: Wrath & Glory core rules, it would be possible for the players to create their own Agents and play through the scenarios included here, but unless they adhere to the archetypes given in the Warhammer 40,000: Wrath & Glory – Starter Set, some of the nuances of the pre-generated Agents and their ties to the Gilead System and the events of the scenario in ‘Traitor’s Hymn’ may be lost.

Physically, the Warhammer 40,000: Wrath & Glory – Starter Set is a handsome boxed set. Everything inside is of good quality—the gatefold character sheets are particularly well done—and vibrantly illustrated. It does, unfortunately, need an edit in places.

Overall, the Warhammer 40,000: Wrath & Glory – Starter Set is an impressive introduction to the setting of the Gilead System and Warhammer 40,000: Wrath & Glory, its playthrough preparing the Game Master and her players for wider adventures. For anyone wanting to roleplay the action, horror, and intrigue of the 41st Millenium, the Warhammer 40,000: Wrath & Glory – Starter Set is the perfect place to make that stand against corruption, chaos, and Chaos!

Sunday, 24 December 2023

Whispers of Dark Heresy

The Imperium of Mankind has stood for some forty millennia and spans a million worlds across the galaxy. At its heart sits the Emperor, the beacon whose light touches the billions and billions of Humanity unquestioned and blesses them all. Some though, feel his benign imperial blessings more than most. For they are the lucky ones. They have been chosen from amongst the teeming masses to serve him through one of his great servants elevated in great service to forward the Emperor’s divine might and ensure the safety of the empire. At the direction of such a patron, these Imperial Citizens will gain privileges far beyond that imagined by their fellows—the chance to travel and see worlds far beyond their own, enjoy wealth and comfort that though modest is more than they could have dreamed of, and witness great events that they might have heard of years later by rumour or newscast. In return, they will be directed to investigate mysteries and murders, experience horror and heresies, expose corruption and callousness by their patron, whether in pursuit of their patron’s agenda, his faction’s agenda, the Emperor’s will, or all three. Their patron can help them, but not too much lest his involvement become too overt, or it can hinder their efforts, and whilst their success in any mission will ensure they retain his favour, failure can lead to death, exile, or worse. In the Forty-First Millennium, everyone is an asset and everyone is expendable, but some can survive long enough to make a difference in the face of an uncaring universe and the machinery of the Imperium of Mankind grinding its way forward into a glorious future.

This is the set-up for Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum, the latest roleplaying game published by Cubicle 7 Entertainment to be set in Games Workshop’s far future of the Forty-First Millennium. In scale it shares much with Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, Fourth Edition, but in terms of tone and scope, as well as what characters the players roleplay, it harks back to Dark Heresy, the very first roleplaying game to be set within the Warhammer 40,000 milieu and published in 2008, the very first roleplaying game that Game Workshop had published in two decades. Dark Heresy would, of course, be later published by Fantasy Flight Games and receive a second edition. Although the scale is similar, there are differences. Apart from being derived mechanically from Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, Fourth Edition and the Player Characters serving a Patron rather than a member of the Inquisition—although that is a possibility for the Patron—the major difference is the change in setting. Each edition of Dark Heresy had its own setting, and so does Imperium Maledictum. This is the Macharian Sector. Conquered and then founded by General Macharius, later Lord Solar and Saint Macharius, his death would result in the Macharian Heresy as his generals squabbled over who should succeed him and whole worlds he had conquered rebelled in his absence. Order would eventually be restored, but the sector would subsequently suffer further catastrophic losses as the Great Rift opened and the Noctis Aeterna spread, cutting off communication, trade, and psychic links with rest of the Galactic West that lay between it and Terra. Only recently has the mysterious Noctis Aeterna begun to recede, the Days of Blinding ended, and links reforged with worlds lost under its pall and beyond the sector itself. As the Imperium re-establishes and solidifies its authority, there remain dangers from within and without. From within, heretics turn to the Dark Gods with their promises and falsehoods and corruption is rife, wasting the Emperor’s resources and wealth, and from without, there is always the danger of raids by Orks or worse, Tyranoids.

Play in Imperium Maledictum does not begin with character creation, but with the selection and creation of a Patron. For the Game Master and her players, this is the most important NPC in the roleplaying game. The Patron, a powerful individual, employs the Player Characters, directs and supports missions he assigns to them, and rewards them for their successes. The Patron comes from one of nine factions—Adeptus Administratum, Adeptus Astra Telepathica, Adeptus Mechanicus, Adeptus Ministorum, Astra Militarum, Imperial Fleet, Infractionists, Inquisition, and Rogue Trader Dynasty—and each has a degree of Influence within the faction and owes a Duty to faction. Two roles are suggested for each Faction, for example, Astropath and Sister of Silence for Adeptus Astra Telepathica, and Criminal Mastermind and Guildmaster for Infractionists. These provide the Boon, which the players and their characters will be aware of, whilst the Game Master will secretly select a Liability for the Patron, one per Boon. The Patron has a Motivation and a Demeanour. Apart from the Liability, the creation of the Patron is a collaborative process between the players and the Game Master, and there are tables upon which can both roll for during the process.

Patron Faction: Imperial Fleet
Influence: +2 with the Imperial Fleet
Duty: Voidship Captain
Duty Boon: Voidship
Boon: Astropathic Communication
Liability: Dealbreaker
Motivation: Unity
Demeanour: Sombre

A Player Character in Imperium Maledictum is defined by his characteristics, Origin, Faction, and Role. The nine characteristics are Weapon Skill, Ballistic Skill, Strength, Toughness, Agility, Intelligence, Perception, Willpower, and Fellowship. The Origin is the Player Character’s homeworld, such as a Forge World or a Hive World, and it which provides bonuses to some of the characteristics and an item of equipment. The faction is the organisation which trained the Player Character and to which he belongs to. It provides bonuses to the Player Character’s characteristics, skills and skill specialisations, a Talent, Influence with the Faction, and equipment. These can either from the generic list or a Duty , which provides a complete package. For example, the Duty option for the Adeptus Administratum consist of Clerk, Officio Medicae, and Scrivener. A Player Character has a Role, of which there are six in Imperium Maledictum. These are the Interlocuter, typically investigators and diplomats; Mystic, Psykers who use Warp powers; Savant, scholars who conduct and retain knowledge; Penumbra, spies, thieves, and assassins who specialise in stealth; Warrior, skilled fighters; and Zealot, ultra loyalists who often put their loyalty before their lives. To create a character, a player rolls for his characteristics on 2d10+20 each, and then for Origin, Faction, and Role. At each stage—as per Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, Fourth Edition—the player can make choices or keep the results of each roll. If he does the latter, he earns extra Experience Points to spend on improving his character. That is, except for Role, which the Game Master—as the Patron—can select and the Player Character earn more Experience Points or choose himself and gain none. In addition, a player can roll for, or choose, a name, appearance, and connections, and then through answering a few questions develop some background, a Divination, and some goals for the character.

Name: Gaius
Origin: Hive World
Faction: Adeptus Ministorum (Missionary)
Role: Zealot
Divination: Mercy is a sign of weakness
XP: 200

CHARACTERISTICS
Weapon Skill 31 (3) Ballistic Skill 37 (3) Strength 36 (3) Toughness 31 (3) Agility 39 (3)
Intelligence 27 (2) Perception 31 (3) Willpower 39 (3) Fellowship 27 (2)

SKILLS
Discipline 49 (Fear 54), Lore 37, Melee 36 (One-Handed 41), Presence 44, Rapport 37

TALENTS
Faithful (Imperial Cult), Flagellant, Martyrdom

EQUIPMENT
Ugly Filtration Plugs, Autopistol, Chainsword, Laud Hailer, Robes, Holy Icon, Backpack, 200 Solars

APPEARANCE
23, old eyes, orange hair, pox marks

Mechanically, Imperium Maledictum is a percentile system for both characteristics and skills. Notably, there is a relatively limited number of skills, which are quite broad in what they cover, and then three specialisations per skill. There is a limit of how many advances that a Player Character can have assigned to a skill or a specialisation—four or a total of twenty points each—and an advance is worth a flat five-point increase. So, in comparison to Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, Fourth Edition, there is a certain streamlining to skills, specialisations, and advances in Imperium Maledictum. The core roll is of the percentile dice versus a characteristic or a skill or a specialisation. Success Levels determine how well a Player Character or opponent did and are determined by deducting the tens digit of the dice result from the tens digit of the characteristic, skill, or specialisation being tested. The situation or a Talent can alter the number of Success Levels generated. Advantage in a situation enables a player to swap the tens and unit dice around if it benefits his character, whilst Disadvantage forces the player to swap the tens and unit dice around if it penalises his character. Rolling the same numbers on the dice indicates a Critical result if successful or a Fumble if a failure, especially in combat.

Throughout the game, players will keep track of two important factors. One is Influence, ranging from ‘+5’ and ‘Honoured’ to ‘-5’ and ‘Hunted’, for each Faction. It can be derived from a Player Character’s own or Personal Level or it can from a Patron, although there may be consequences for bringing the Patron’s Influence to bear on a situation depending upon the circumstances. Influence not only represents standing with a Faction, but when Social Tests are made, indicates the number of extra Success Levels to be added to the roll, and these can, of course, be positive or negative, depending on the Influence value. Influence can be gained or lost through play. The other factor is Superiority, a group resource, which the Player Characters can gain via good play and preparing for situations and in combat by good rolls, and is then spent to add Success Levels. However, it can also be lost for the reverse. Superiority is also measured against the Resolve factor of an NPC and if greater can make the NPC desperate or even run away.

Combat in Imperium Maledictum uses the same core mechanics, typically fought out over two or three zones. As you would expect, the rules cover movement, the environment, actions, and more, with options or miniature or grid-based combat if the playing group prefers. A Player Character has a single action and a single movement per round. If an attack is successful, the number on the units die indicates the location of the strike. Critical wounds are gained when either a Critical roll is made on an attack or when the damage suffered exceeds the defendant’s total number of Wounds. There is a set of Critical Hit tables for each body part at the back of the Imperium Maledictum book. The rules also cover vehicles and vehicle combat.

A Player Character also begins play with three points of Fate. This can be spent or burnt. It can be spent to reroll a failed Test, to gain Advantage on a Test, add a Success Level to a test after it is rolled, to gain the Initiative in combat, and to ignore the effects of a Critical Wound or remove a Condition. It can be burnt to avoid dying (‘Die Another Day’), completely avoid one source of incoming damage (‘The Emperor protects’), to not develop a rolled mutation (‘Steel Your Soul’), choose the results of a test (‘For the Emperor’), and to gain Superiority (‘Turn the Tide’), especially when the Player Characters have none. It is also possible for a Player Character to gain Corruption, ranging from one points and Minor Corruption to four points and Major Exposure. This can include witnessing a Lesser Daemon or having contact with a Chaos Mutant or being exposed to the site of a Chaos Ritual or making a deal with a daemon. It can be resisted by a Fortitude Test or a Discipline Test, depending on the source of the Corruption, reducing the Corruption suffered by one point per Success Level rolled. If the amount of Corruption becomes too much, a Player Character can succumb to the Corruption and suffer from mutations or malignancies—and there is a table of both results.

It is also possible to play a Psyker, such as a Sanctioned Psyker of the Adeptus Astra Telepathica, and who have taken the Mystic Role during character creation. A Psyker can have minor psychic powers like ‘Call Vermin’ or ‘Jinx’ and study disciplines such as Divination or Pyromancy. To use a power his character possesses, a player rolls a Psychic Mastery Test, modified by the difficulty of the power, and if successful, applies the effect. The Psyker also gains Warp Charge for using the power, and as long as the total Warp Charge does not exceed the Psyker’s Warp Threshold—equal to the Willpower bonus—he has everything under control. To bleed off Warp Charge, the Psyker’s player must successfully roll a Purgation test, although is only required to do so in stressful situations, like combat. This also requires a roll on the ‘Psychic Phenomena’ table and gives results such as ‘Rot and Decaying’ destroying any foodstuffs in the area or unleashing a ‘Banshee Howl’. If total Warp Charge does exceed the Psyker’s Warp Threshold, a successful Psychic Mastery Test will still keep it under control, but if failed, the power of the Warp contained within the Psyker’s body is bled off catastrophically, requiring a roll on the ‘Perils of the Warp’ table, with results such as ‘Gibbering Wreck’ which causes the Psyker to scream as the insights of the Warp twists his mind, stuns him, and exposes him to Moderate Corruption or ‘Daemonic Emergence’ in which a daemon forces its way out of the Warp. Once a character has the Psyker Talent, he immediately gains a Minor Psychic Power and access to a Discipline, and can later spend Experience Points to purchase further Minor Psychic Powers and Powers within a Discipline. Purchasing the Psyker Talent grants access to another Discipline.

Imperium Maledictum has an extensive equipment list, which includes classic Warhammer 40,000 weapons like the boltgun and the power sword. Services and transport are also covered, as is augmetics, the replacement of missing body parts. There is guidance too, on what the Player Characters can do during between missions, which might be endeavours, like combat training, commissioning a new piece of gear, engaging in religious worship, and more. For the Game Master, there is a very good overview of the Imperium and how the Macharian Sector is tied to the Imperium, and in more detail, Macharian Sector and its history. The various factions and their motivations in the sector are discussed, there are descriptions of each of the major planets—nearly forty of them—and their notable features, personalities, particular cults, and so on. There is also a good bestiary, which provides details of various NPCs such as a Manfactorum Labourer of the Adeptus Mechanicus or a Voidsman of the Imperial Fleet, with advice on how to use them as well as their stats. Enemies include a range of cultists, rogue psykers, daemons, and more.

The advice for the Game Master includes game set-up and Session Zero, getting the tone right for the players, how to create and run investigations, and general advice on handling various aspects of the rules, like encounters and giving out rewards for the Player Characters. There is a map of the Marcharius Sector inside the front and back cover. What there is not in Imperium Maledictum is a beginning scenario and that is its biggest omission. There is plenty of background from which the Game Master can create her own scenarios, but there is no starting point to get the group playing straight away.

In terms of play style, the Player Characters do have limited, but powerful agency and motivation. Theirs is the agency to conduct investigations on behalf of their Patron, but also at his suffrage. If they fail, they embarrass their Patron at the very least, at the very worst they could be discarded and replaced by their Patron just as easily as he plucked them from their ordinary obscurity to serve him. They are also at the mercy of their Patron’s enemies, likely as equally powerful, if not more, so they have to be careful of Imperial factional politics in the Marcharius sector in a way they never had to be before. Consequently, potentially running foul of the system presents almost as much danger as the cultists, rogue psykers, Chaos daemons, and other threats they might face as the obvious dangers to the Imperium. This balance between the ordinary and the outré is one that really did call for a scenario to see how it works and to showcase how an investigation is handled in Imperium Maledictum.

Physically, Imperium Maledictum is very well presented with great art as you would expect from a volume with access to Games Workshop’s vast library of artwork. The book is also decently written and the rules are easy to grasp and understand.

Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum looks both backwards and forwards. Backwards to Dark Heresy and the first Warhammer 40,000 roleplaying game published in 2008 with its emphasis upon investigations into dark cults, Chaos, corruption, and mysteries in the Forty-First Millennium on a par in terms of power level with Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, but forwards because Cubicle 7 Entertainment uses its own setting and also a streamlined version of the same mechanics as Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, Fourth Edition, but designed for slicker, faster play. The result is that Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Imperium Maledictum is a solid introduction to roleplaying in the Imperium of Mankind and facing its perils.