FFG REVIEW: Dark Heresy Ascension
Ascension, the latest supplement for FFG’s Dark Heresy RPG, finally allows us to play the Inquisitorial characters that we have been waiting to play since the game came out. Namely, Inquisitors.
The book is hardback and full color, same as all of the other DH books, and weighs in at 252 pages plus a few extra for a character sheet in the back. The art runs the gamut from high-quality full color pieces, to the typical little black and white John Blanch-esq pieces in the margins. (not to say that those are bad or anything)
The books contents cover everything you need to pump up the power level, and the stakes, of your Dark Heresy game. Whether you want to just start fresh with new characters, or take your already existing game to the next level.
Chapter one introduces some extra rules for ascended characters that give them new ways to kick the impossible to the curb but also keep them from getting too out of hand. It also introduces the Influence rules, which are central to an Ascended Dark Heresy game. They resemble the Profit mechanic from Rogue Trader, and replace the need for tracking concrete currency, as well as provide an abstracted mechanic for the tremendous power that an Inquisitor can wield.
Chapter two and three focus on making Ascended characters, whether from scratch or by ascending a regular Dark Heresy character. Ascended characters can climb all the way to rank 16 in one of 12 different ascended careers, including Inquisitor (of course), Magos, Vindicare Assassin, and Storm Trooper. One of the coolest things that really sets the Ascended careers apart though is that each one gets to choose from a small selection of unique “Ascended Traits” that let you do all sorts of wacky stuff, like auto-confirm righteous fury rolls and the like.
Chapter four details the ascended skills and talents, which not only provide new abilities and powers, but also replace and compact many other skills and talents to reduce clutter. This is really one of the best things about Ascension. Unlike the careers in regular Dark Heresy, which might have 20-30 advance options in each rank, ascended careers generally only have around 15. This goes a long way towards making those high rank characters comprehensible.
Chapter five details the ascended psychic powers, which gives psychers all sorts of new ways to melt peoples faces. (or id’s as the case may be)
Chapter six has rules for dealing with particularly fancy pieces of wargear, as well as including a few more mundane items. Of particular note are the Cadian pattern hellgun and hellpistol, which brings Dark Heresy up to speed with the new Imperial Guard codex’s AP 3 hellguns.
Chapter seven has a huge wealth of information on the Inquisition, its various factions, and how they all work together. (or against each-other) and is definitely a must read for anyone who is into the big =I=.
Chapter eight includes a ton of great advice on how to run games for characters who are not only individually powerful, but also can wield great influence on a sector wide scale, and dovetails nicely into chapter nine, which details a decent little handful of new bad guys including a rogue alpha level pyrokine, and a Dire Avenger Exarch (who will totally get womped by the also included Eversor Assassin).
And last, but not least, chapter ten includes a ready to run sample adventure that spans the last 50 pages of the book, both to let you jump in with a minimum of prep time, and also to give you an idea of what an Ascended adventure is supposed to look like.
Overall, I would say that if you like Dark Heresy, Ascension is definitely worth picking up. Heck, I actually haven’t played Dark Heresy that much (d100’s make me sad-face) and reading through this makes me want to play it again!
~Variations of the word “Ascension” feature 16 times in this review. This review is courtesy of Spanky Harrison, our brand new editor of BoLS Boardgames. Look for a lot more news and reviews showing up over there as he gets up to speed.
