Crothian
First Post
Disciples of the Dark Gods
Disciples of the Dark Gods is a book of Cults and secrets for the Dark Heresy RPG. The book was given to me to review and it is my first experience with the RPG and the whole Warhammer 40,000 universe. I have read the core book and a few others but I have yet to have a chance to play the game. This review is from the perspective of someone (me) that is very new to all of this. It is a little over whelming at times and it caused the review to take much longer then I had hoped to write. But the complexity of the setting and the great details it has to offer is awe inspiring. There is a lot of very creative and creepy items in this book.
Disciples of the Dark God is a GM oriented RPG supplement for the Dark Heresy RPG. The book is written by Alan Bligh, John French, Owen Barnes, and Mike Mason. The book is full color hardbound two hundred and forty page book. It has great art and a fantastic lay out. There is a lot of information through out the book so an index would have been very useful, but it does have a good table of contents that is a page and half long. It does have a price tag of $49.95 which sounds expensive but the high quality look and writing of the book does help explain the cost.
The book is about a lot of different secrets that will be very helpful for the GMs. There is a lot of information in this book about the different conspiracies. At times it does kind of blend together to someone who is not used to all the different groups and the differences of them. The book has a lot of side bars in it that I found to be very useful in understanding the different section and how to make use of the many different threats in the book. Each chapter has a simple title but when one reads through there is an obvious depth of each section. I can easily see a campaign just focusing on one of these enemies and enjoying the around of information on each to create complex campaign of threats and conspiracy.
The first chapter is a one of my favorites. It is filled with reports that can be used as hand outs for players. There are items like this also in the back appendix of the book. The reports are at times incomplete and not always true. But they are great examples that can be used as they are or inspire a GM to create his own to draw the players into a particular mystery or conspiracy. It is a short section but these full color reports of different writings can really add a nice level of detail to a campaign.
The next four chapters fall into a familiar theme. Each covers a different are in good detail. There is a chapter on the Heretics, the Xenos, the Malleus, and the Enemy Within which covers conspiracies within the Emperor’s Domain. There are rule options spread through out these chapters and it is because of that I feel an index would have been very useful. Unless one remembers where the different options are one can spend time looking through the book trying to find stuff. There are options in here suitable for players. There are a lot of secrets and items in the book though that a player should avoid. So, as a GM I would probably copy the rules options players might like so they could read them without risk or temptation of reading sections of the book that they should be staying from. The sections are very well written and I found the many parts interesting to read through and see how this all plays out. There are a few tables that allow the player characters to see what they know depending on the degrees of success they get. This is always useful for GMs because it can be hard to determine what a player character should and should not know.
The sixth chapter showcases seven dangerous heretics. The chapter though starts off with a nice bit on having a nemesis for the player characters. It is some good advice for using one and should prove useful for GMs. Each character is also not defined in game terms. There powers and abilities and hinted at but not set in concrete. This will allow a GM to craft the mechanics to fir how the character will be used and what is needed for the campaign. There is a nice couple of paragraphs specifically on the art of villain design that will help GMs that might not know where to start on crafting one.
The last bit in the book to talk about is the House of Dust and Ash an adventure for experienced Acolytes of around fourth or fifth Career Rank. The adventure has four parts with an additional aftermath section. It deals well with a conspiracy and fits the theme of the book very well. It can be used as a one shot or the start of a campaign that delves into the darker aspects of the game the book is all about. I like the adventure and how it sets up. But not having much experience with the game or setting it is hard to say if this is a typical adventure or not. It defiantly held my interest reading through it.
Disciples of the Dark Gods is a very well put together book for the Dark Heresy game. It has many secrets and enemies in it that will befuddle players and enhance a GM’s game. There is a lot of information in here and the amount of enemies possible in the book is a little over whelming but manageable.
Disciples of the Dark Gods is a book of Cults and secrets for the Dark Heresy RPG. The book was given to me to review and it is my first experience with the RPG and the whole Warhammer 40,000 universe. I have read the core book and a few others but I have yet to have a chance to play the game. This review is from the perspective of someone (me) that is very new to all of this. It is a little over whelming at times and it caused the review to take much longer then I had hoped to write. But the complexity of the setting and the great details it has to offer is awe inspiring. There is a lot of very creative and creepy items in this book.
Disciples of the Dark God is a GM oriented RPG supplement for the Dark Heresy RPG. The book is written by Alan Bligh, John French, Owen Barnes, and Mike Mason. The book is full color hardbound two hundred and forty page book. It has great art and a fantastic lay out. There is a lot of information through out the book so an index would have been very useful, but it does have a good table of contents that is a page and half long. It does have a price tag of $49.95 which sounds expensive but the high quality look and writing of the book does help explain the cost.
The book is about a lot of different secrets that will be very helpful for the GMs. There is a lot of information in this book about the different conspiracies. At times it does kind of blend together to someone who is not used to all the different groups and the differences of them. The book has a lot of side bars in it that I found to be very useful in understanding the different section and how to make use of the many different threats in the book. Each chapter has a simple title but when one reads through there is an obvious depth of each section. I can easily see a campaign just focusing on one of these enemies and enjoying the around of information on each to create complex campaign of threats and conspiracy.
The first chapter is a one of my favorites. It is filled with reports that can be used as hand outs for players. There are items like this also in the back appendix of the book. The reports are at times incomplete and not always true. But they are great examples that can be used as they are or inspire a GM to create his own to draw the players into a particular mystery or conspiracy. It is a short section but these full color reports of different writings can really add a nice level of detail to a campaign.
The next four chapters fall into a familiar theme. Each covers a different are in good detail. There is a chapter on the Heretics, the Xenos, the Malleus, and the Enemy Within which covers conspiracies within the Emperor’s Domain. There are rule options spread through out these chapters and it is because of that I feel an index would have been very useful. Unless one remembers where the different options are one can spend time looking through the book trying to find stuff. There are options in here suitable for players. There are a lot of secrets and items in the book though that a player should avoid. So, as a GM I would probably copy the rules options players might like so they could read them without risk or temptation of reading sections of the book that they should be staying from. The sections are very well written and I found the many parts interesting to read through and see how this all plays out. There are a few tables that allow the player characters to see what they know depending on the degrees of success they get. This is always useful for GMs because it can be hard to determine what a player character should and should not know.
The sixth chapter showcases seven dangerous heretics. The chapter though starts off with a nice bit on having a nemesis for the player characters. It is some good advice for using one and should prove useful for GMs. Each character is also not defined in game terms. There powers and abilities and hinted at but not set in concrete. This will allow a GM to craft the mechanics to fir how the character will be used and what is needed for the campaign. There is a nice couple of paragraphs specifically on the art of villain design that will help GMs that might not know where to start on crafting one.
The last bit in the book to talk about is the House of Dust and Ash an adventure for experienced Acolytes of around fourth or fifth Career Rank. The adventure has four parts with an additional aftermath section. It deals well with a conspiracy and fits the theme of the book very well. It can be used as a one shot or the start of a campaign that delves into the darker aspects of the game the book is all about. I like the adventure and how it sets up. But not having much experience with the game or setting it is hard to say if this is a typical adventure or not. It defiantly held my interest reading through it.
Disciples of the Dark Gods is a very well put together book for the Dark Heresy game. It has many secrets and enemies in it that will befuddle players and enhance a GM’s game. There is a lot of information in here and the amount of enemies possible in the book is a little over whelming but manageable.
