Warhammer 40,000: Inquisitor – Martyr Action-RPG with Tabletop Roots

If you’ve been following the development of NeocoreGames’ upcoming action-RPG Warhammer 40,000: Inquisitor – Martyr, you might also be interested in its tabletop roots. If that’s the case, you’ll probably enjoy reading this PCGamesN article that does a good job of describing what Warhammer 40,000: Inquisitor was all about and how it was nothing at all like the action-RPG it inspired. An excerpt:

To be clear, I’m just having a little fun. I’m not saying Neocore are really this blasé about handling the Warhammer IP, nor am I saying Warhammer 40,000: Inquisitor – Martyr actually came about as a result of a conversation like this. I’m saying it could have. It is not a faithful adaptation of the Inquisitor tabletop game, you see.

And I’m not mad about that. I wasn’t holding my breath for such an adaptation so I’m not disappointed that it is not happening. I also understand that Necromunda is (almost certainly) a squad tactics game, and two games in the same genre from the same licence risks cannibalisation.

So I get it. But here’s the thing: Inquisitor is great. I played one campaign with two friends over the course of several years – we are quite bad at getting together – and it was terrific. Think XCOM crossed with Dungeons & Dragons in the 40K universe: it has a competitive side, in that there are two opposing squads and detailed rules for combat, including an ‘overwatch’ ability; several types of armour; rules for psychology, wounding, and cover; along with dozens of character classes and hundreds of pieces of equipment with which to deck out your squad.

And yet, unlike Warhammer’s larger-scale games, the conflict in Inquisitor is hinged around a story. Scenarios are overseen by a games master and often include NPCs and variable, contextualised objectives (there was a heavy tendency towards macguffins in our own stories, but hey, we were kids.) Squad members have biographies and thus motivation.

Warhammer 40K’s almost farcically corrupt and intrigant Inquisition provide a wealth of material to drive conflict, even within itself: my Inquisitor was a cynic and an iconoclast, more interested in killing daemons than worshipping at the altar of the Emperor. When he came across a fanatical colleague – Arnaud ‘burn the witches’ Bezier, played with disturbing zeal by my friend Dave – the conflict was inevitable and gripping.