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Inquisitor (game system)

From Lexicanum

Inquisitor is a tabletop miniatures game based in Games Workshop's Warhammer 40,000 Universe. Whereas Warhammer 40,000 is based on squad based tactical warfare, Inquisitor focuses on a small group of adventurers and plays a bit like a Role-playing game. Inquisitor has its own website¹ and 55mm scale models are available as "Specialist Games" from the Games Workshop catalog².

Players choose a warband, usually made up of an Inquisitor and his/her henchmen, but also potentially led by any of a huge variety of rogues and heroes from throughout the Imperium such as Rogue Traders, Space Marines or Tech-priests. It even offers the chance to take on the guise of some of the Imperium's greatest enemies, such as Chaos Sorcerers, Genestealer Cult Leaders or twisted Mutants.

1 The Game
- 1.1 Source Books
- 1.2 Campaigns
2 Characters
3 Sources

The Game

The game is supported by Games Workshop's "Specialist Games" division, which periodically releases new rules for the game through the specialist games website. The game is intended for older wargamers, aged 16 and up. The Inquisitor rulebook is available as a hard copy from Games Workshop³, or as a PDF from the Specialist Games website.

Inquisitor uses a rules system based around the throwing of two 10-sided dice (known together as a d100 or d%), generating a percentile value, with one die representing the "tens" and the other representing "units". Standard six-sided dice are used for several of the game's mechanics also.

There are, technically, no limitations on the effective power and equipment of a player character - there are no hard and fast rules that prevent a player from creating a character armed with terrifyingly potent combinations of equipment and skills, although the game rulebook includes an optional "points" system that the organisers of a campaign might use to limit or guide their players. The expectation is that players exercise common sense when creating their characters. Unlike a tactical wargame or Role-playing Game, Inquisitor describes itself as a "narrative" skirmish game, and the emphasis is on spinning a good story along the lines of a great action movie or adventure novel, rather than focusing on winning at all costs.

Source Books

There are a few additional companion rulebooks for the Inquisitor game:

Thorian Faction Sourcebook:

This book details the background and history of the Thorian philosophy and those who follow it. The book details the pursuits of Promeus, an early Inquisitor, and his desire to resurrect the Emperor of Mankind. It traces his, and his follower's the Promeans, pursuit to achieve their end and involvement with their rivals, the Horusians, lead by Moriana. After thousands of years, the two factions slowly disappear, but their history and achievments have paved the way for a new group, the Thorians, to rise and seek out a new way to approach the divine nature of the Emperor⁴.

The book details additional characters and how the followers of the Thorian philosophy interact with other Ordos of the Inquisition. It also provides additional weapons and powers to be used by the newly introduced Thorians[4].

Campaigns

There are currently three campaigns in the game and each has a Conspiracies book¹²:

Death of an Angel: contains three different campaigns.
Heavenfall: contains two campaigns with details on important characters and background.
The Cirian Legacy: details the planet of Cirian V that is controlled by Tech-Priests of the Adeptus Mechanicus. Inside are 3 individual campaigns, lists and details on important characters, groups that deal with Cirian V, and background on the Scarla sector surrounding Cirian V.

Characters

Player characters are usually represented in-game by 54 mm miniatures purchased from Games Workshop, roughly twice as large as the standard 28 mm Heroic scale of WH40K miniatures. The models available represent existing characters (such as Witch-hunter Tyrus, or Inquisitor Eisenhorn) presented in the rulebook. Players wishing to depict their own unique characters are generally required to extensively convert their models, or give them unique paint schemes. However, the distances given in the rulebook are written as yards, so that players can use any scale of miniature they wish, including the same models with which they play standard Warhammer 40,000³.

There are many different groups that players can play. These are the ones put forth in the Rulebook³:

The Inquisition: They are an order that defends the worship of the Emperor of Mankind and defends the Imperium from its alien and heretical enemies.
The Adeptus Astartes: They are the "Space Marines," a legion of warriors that serves the Emperor of Mankind and operate as a powerful army of genetically altered super humans.
The Adeptus Mechanicus: They are the engineers of the Imperium and are focused primarily on technology and research.
The Rogue Traders: They are bands of merchants or similar people whose allegiance may vary.
The Cultusts and Fanatics: They mostly serve the Ecclesiarchy and worship the Emperor of Mankind.
The Imperial Guard: They, like the Adeptus Astartes, are the army of the Imperium but they tend to be normal humans.
Desperados: Like Rogue Traders, their allegiance may vary.
The Enforcers: They serve the Imperium but may also operate as independent/rogue groups under the command of a disloyal commander of an individual ruler of a world.
The Mutants: Mutants are humans warped by the power of Chaos. They are hunted down by Inquisitors who deem any mutation as a threat against humanity and the Imperium.
The Ecclesiarchy: The priest/religious organization of the Imperium and worship the Emperor of Mankind.
The Arco-Flagellant: Heretics deemed by the Ecclesiarchy to gain redemption through using themselves as mindless living weapons against the enemies of the Imperium.
The Assassins: Trained warriors who specialize in assassinations in the name of the Emperor of Mankind.