So HBMC had a hand in this, eh no comment…  Must say though I like the sound of the Crimson Guard though, AdMech Storm Troopers sound like an appropriately intriguing option.

But yeah, as others have said, we could use a book (or another) to try and bridge the gap between different power levels.  Maybe a follow-up book for Explorator and Magos level characters?  Options for running Rogue Trader campaign with an Explorator ship and crew?  Though sounds like I need to look up Percipre now…

Lightbringer said:

That was probably one of the coolest things I liked about DH during BI's brief control of the product. I never made anything myself, but when I first discovered it I loved going through everything that people had written about the planets and reading it for inspiration.

Might go looking for some of that right now. Are most of them up on the Wiki now?

Blood Pact said:

They're certainly around on the internet. Lexicanum seems to have most of them, though they jumble up aspects of Reth & Percipre on the same entry. This website contains a lot of the collated data. Don't quote me definitively on this, but the fan made ones that BI approved are, as near as I can tell, Belacane, Hilarion, Karrick (I think), Percipre, Reth, and Siculi. I wrote Reth and Belacane, but I think Percipre is by far the best fan made entry.

I agree with you, the fan interaction with writing up worlds was a massive draw for me, too. It's a shame that the project died a bit of a death.

FFG have followed a different approach, with sector maps that are far more "open," and a tendency to add new, previously unmentioned worlds to the Calixis Sector map. With regions like the Koronus Expanse and the Jericho Reach, this approach makes sense, as they are, to a degree, unexplored and maps are subject to revision.

However, I do miss the inclusiveness of the old approach. I think the Calixis Sector has a lot of potential for expansion, and I would love to see more background material for its various worlds, whether fan written or not.

Many people have suggested that the perfect way to do a "Sector" background is to have a mix of FFG-made and fan-made worlds in the same Sector. FFG identify certain worlds which will always be "theirs," certain worlds which will always be "untouched," (ie ones which won't be developed, so GMs can always have them as "their" worlds) and open up the rest for competitive fan entries edited by FFG staff. In this way you have the best of all approaches - you draw the fans in, you leave room for FFG to expand their setting, and you keep GMs happy.

I don't know how things are currently going with the Anargo Sector Project, a massive fan effort at constructing an entire Imperial Sector, but if you like this worldbuilding stuff, that might be worth a look, too.

The book's out!!!

Can't wait for my copy to arrive. Now we get to finally see the artwork!


Lightbringer said:

Just speculating here, but that might have dropped off because of the whole transition from BI to FFG. I’ve seen some of the worlds that were created for it. They were quite good.

BYE

H.B.M.C. said:

Great news!

Is there a pdf version I can buy somewhere?

Well there likely will be, but not for a few weeks. I'm not sure how PDF releases are organised (sometimes they happen quickly, sometimes they take months). Maybe it's based on how quickly a print run sells.

In any case, a PDF should show up eventually.

BYE

H.B.M.C. said:

Yeah, that makes sense. Pity. It would be nice to see that whole project resurrected in one form or another…

So, who has it already?

Can we get some basic summary of its contents? I would especialy like to know what are the new backround packages, origins, alternate career ranks, cell directives and elite advances alongside with short summary of each, please, please, please.

*returns to hypnotise thebookdepository* 

My copy is on its way (hopefully it'll arrive by the end of next week, Thursday if I'm really lucky!). It is out though, so I can talk about the contents. I can't go into a lot of depth, but I can give some basic information though.

Some people in this thread were hoping for some "Rank 1" alternate careers, in other words alternate careers you take right at the start of the campaign that alter your character. The Crimson Guard (Venatorii) and Lathesmasters (think non-Servitor Forge World work-force) are those sorts of careers. There's the Mech-Assassin, which you've already seen in the preview, plus the Cult of the Pure Form guys from the preview I wrote (these guys were fun - psychotic anti-cybernetic cultists). Malatek, which is basically an expelled Tech-Priest (not a Heretek). Factor of the Lathes, which are Mechanicus diplomats. And finally the Agents of the Lords Dragon. As we know the Ad Mech doesn't like outsiders poking around in their business, especially the Inquisition. But they have their own Inquisition - the Lords Dragon. There's a decent amount about them in this book (and the Panopticon Orbital). There's more than what I've said here, but I'll leave that for you guys to discover yourselves.

The armoury is full of all sorts of new items, from the Integrated Weapons of the Venatorii, to new Servitors, cybernetics and even some pieces of Archeotech. The other sections cover many different worlds (the three words of the Lathes, Lacuna, Opus Macharius, Ryboth and so on) and the history of the Lathes, an overview of some of the many factions. Plus loads of NPCs and adversaries. And the adventure sees the players going into the heart of the Lathes to stop an experiment gone wild!

Plus loads and loads of new Ad Mech artwork that I am just dying to see. Did you see the Crimson Guard artwork? How awesome was that!!!

BYE

 Anyone have a list of the cybernetics in this thing?  I have an Augmeticist Psyker Interrogator that's interested…

I'm not 100% certain on what the full final list is (which is wierd given I wrote the armoury), but I'm fairly certain that the following cybernetics are in the book (once my copy arrives (hopefully) next week I'll be able to confirm these):

Alatus-Pattern Jump Pack - it's a cybernetic Jump Pack that requires Mechanicus Implants.
Enhanced Potentia Coil - Boosts lots of the various Tech-Priest abilities like Luminem Blast and Ferric Lure and that sort've thing.
Integrated Weapon - Technically not a cybernetic, more of a weapon mod, but you need to be partially cybernetic for it to work.
Perinetus-Pattern Servo-Harness - It's a non-Astartes Servo-Harness! And it has thrusters for moving around in space!
Servo-Claw - A mechadendrite/servo-arm that, for once, is actually designed as a weapon, rather that just being naturally good at killing things as a byproduct of its basic functionality. If you search out GW's ancient Adeptus Mechanicus miniature collection (the one you could get with the Skullz promotion), you'll see the Magos has a very small claw like mechadendrite that sits at about his mid-section. That's basically a Servo-Claw (and the weapon he's holding is an Omnissian Rod, which you'll find out about once you have the book!).

There are a couple of others (I'm 99% sure of this), but that covers most of them. Thing is, the DH Core Rulebook and Inquisitor's Handbook did a pretty good job of covering the basics. The way I see it there are only so many ways you can write "bionic arm" before you just end up repeating yourself.

BYE

 

As my character (try to guess his name!) is a rank 10 Magos, I am really looking forward to the Armory part of the book, especially the bit about the cybernetics. I like the basic stuff that's been available since release, but somehow the Ascension items didn't really manage to perk my interest. What I am really interested in are upgrades to the existing bits and pieces, such as the Enhanced Potentia Coil you've mentioned. Or perhaps it would be nice if there was a system that allowed to generate additional abilities for various bionic items (kinda like the prefixes on Diablo items… "Dextrous Hands of the Ambull: A bionic arm upgrade that grants its owner the Ambidexterity Talent and +5 to contested Strength tests"). 

An Omnissian Rod? Sounds interesting, especially since it's a bit bothersome to run around in public with an Omnissian Axe, even though it is not only a weapon (and a quite potent one at that), but a sign of status. 

 Crimson Guard sounds amazing; I've been waiting for something like that since DH's original release. Can we get any delicious news on them?

Ok so the folks at my hobby shop are actually saints. I now have a copy of The Lathe worlds and am willing to answer any questions you guys might have. BTW the Crimson Guards are AWESOME!!!! 

Just for my own personal sanity, can you do a quick list of the items in the Armoury?

BYE