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Disciples is a 240 page hardcover with full color throughout. It’s a high end gaming product clocking in with a price tag of $49.95. For those who enjoy high quality art, layout and graphic design, this price will not be an issue. Now mind you, a lot, if not all of this art, is reused from other aspects of the setting like the tabletop game. I recognize bits from the army books as well as art books but that doesn’t diminish the strength of the illustrations. Editing, as always, is the dreaded foe of the game industry. When looking at some page references for example, we get not the dreaded page XX, but the dreaded page @@! Some of these tools, like the Tyrant Star, a plot based conspiracy, are left extremely vague with details that the GM can turn into a whole campaign. Too much work for me. The numerous ‘written’ sightings didn’t do it for me. I like it laid out and with lots of plot hooks in the text as opposed to reading about some crazy survivor. On the other hand, those who like the vague and unknown, will find it perfect for customization.
In terms of game mechanics, they go right alongside the section they occur in and aren’t in a separate chapter. For example, when dealing with Psykana Obscura, which takes place in the Heretics section, there are new psychic powers that are aimed at monstrous or villainous types with a note that with GM approval, they can also be made available to players via Elite Advances. If you want to arm your villains with something different yet familiar, try some sorcerery. Based on the same game mechanics as psychic powers, it’s easy to insert into the game and provides a different flavor to the enemies that players will run across. Of course some players just want new ‘shinny’ and there are several new Xenos items here like the Eldar Shuriken Weapons.
For GMs looking for new foes to throw at the characters, there are dozens. There are several different cults and each one comes with its own bad boys. Look at the Temple Tendency Assassination Cell. Here we have packages ranging from Shade Priest to Arco-Flagellants. If you’re more interested in hunting down mutants, the Pale Throng section includes numerous mutants like the Witch-Kin Infiltrator or the mighty Twist Hulk. There are enough adversaries here to keep a campaign going for a long, long time.
Some might want more than game stats though. The book has you covered with Chapter VI, the Hunted, where seven criminals are listed out. Each villain comes with background details and a great illustration. In an interesting twist, no profiles are provided so the GM can highly cater these bad boys to their own campaign. On one hand, it’s a complete cop out. Part of the joy of killing someone like Orucs is bragging about it. The bragging rights can vary tremendously since one GM may completely under power someone like Ferran Chast, a renegade Inquisitor while another may make the Burning Princess so powerful, that even an awakened Emperor couldn’t handle her. However, for a game that isn’t Dungeons and Dragons, and isn’t completely dependent on player’s power levels, it’s probably a wise move as it prevents layers from coming up with ‘official’ strategies for beating these powerful individuals and from crying foul if the GM makes changes to their versions. Some GMs may need a little more to continue their own campaigns though. All of the examples and sample baddies in the world may not equal one adventure. The book has you covered there as well with an adventure, the House of Dust and Ash, where the players, some experienced characters mind you that should be in the 4th or 5th career rank, are set to view the auction of Rogue Trader Erasmus Harrlock and see if any heretics or wanted enemies of the empire show up. Of course what happens is much more than their Inquisitor planned on. The section has a few nice sections on not only using the adventure, but also advice for the game master. Also included are maps, and player handbouts.
In some ways it reminds me of the Warhammer adventure, The Four Feathers, a relatively short adventure that contains a ton of NPCs and a lot of ways to play it. This gives it some high utility in reusability factor with different groups as the GM can run it a few different ways with a few tweaks to the NPCs.
Primarily aimed at Game Masters, the book is bursting with ideas, advice and utility. For those who want more of everything, Disciples of the Dark Gods is a perfect match.
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