The Starter Set to Cubicle 7’s second Warhammer: 40,000 RPG, Imperium Maledictum, is out (digitally, at least)! Cubicle 7 is known for incredibly high quality starter sets, chock full of information to get groups started in their games. Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, Soulbound, and Wrath & Glory all have fantastic Starter Sets and Imperium Maledictum is no exception.

Like many Starter Sets, this one has a small packet about the game you just picked up. For those experienced with 40K and/or RPGs, it can be skipped over, but for those new to it all, it’s a great little resource. It gives a brief (one and a half pages) rundown of the current state of the Warhammer 40K universe and some specifics of the area the game focuses on, the Macharian Sector. There’s a little blurb about what the PCs are doing in the Sector and who their boss is for the adventure in this box (Inquisitor Halikarn). Of course, this doesn’t have to be the setup for your game. If you’re the GM, do what you want!

Hive, Sweet Hive

This 68(!) page book dives deep into the setting for the adventure included in the set, Hive Rokarth. Like most anywhere in the Imperium, the main factions of Imperium Maledictum are all represented in Hive Rokarth. Some get but a fleeting description, others much more detail. Unsurprisingly the Infractionists get the most detail here, including gangs such as the Scarred Hands, Cutters, Vylathi Knives, and Block 24-96. Each of these give character and life to the teeming masses of the hive as well as sources of NPCs, contacts, and enemies for players. While not an official faction within the game, a number of Noble Houses are also described. While they think they’re better than anyone (literally) beneath them, they often aren’t above being corrupt and often worse than the gangs below. Noble Houses Castyx, Nethecaré, Taj, and Vylathi are all detailed with history and notable figures.

Being a hive focused on producing goods for their tithe to the Imperium, Guilds are powerful and numerous in Hive Rokarth. Detailed are the Mercator Dilaquo- the Reclamation or Water Guild, Mercator Carnem- the meat guild of Voll, and Mercator Lenimen- the Chem Guild. Powerful organizations that PCs will invariably interact with during their time in Hive Rokarth.

All of these organizations are further detailed in the next chapter: Culture and Commerce. Live in general is detailed here, with places to go, people to see, and ways to sacrifice yourself for the God Emperor. Different manufactorums, places to trade goods and food, even the Black Market in the hive is given information for GMs to use. Like other city guides Cubicle 7 has produced (like Brightspear and Ubersreik for Soulbound and WFRP, respectively in their Starter Sets), the guide to Hive Rokarth does an excellent job making it a real, living place in an unbelievable world.

What About Maps?

There are maps! Here’s one of them:

Chapter IV, Rokarth Enchiridion, does its best to map out the massive hive. The city is divided into four sectors: The Spire, Upper Hive, Lower, and The Bowels (love this name). These sectors are each far too massive to properly map, so the images included in the booklet give rough ideas of where major landmarks can be found. We get some sweet, sweet tables as well, denoting the costs of things like transportation (that is divided into Lateral and Vertical), and small encounters GMs can toss in at the different levels.

Dozens of plot hooks are included as well, again like other Cubicle 7 products. I love these, as a little idea can spawn a memorable encounter, or even a side quest! This chapter is the bulk of the booklet, spanning 37 of the 68 pages! After describing the levels of the city itself, the Bowels and Beyond describe below and areas surrounding the hive city.

I love the expansion of the description beyond the city itself, especially the idea of ‘algal and tardigrade fields’ with giant tardigrades! If you don’t know what a tardigrade is, do yourself a favor and look it up. The idea that they farm these creatures for meat is hilarious and very creative. Another favorite area for me here is the Unsea, “Rokarth’s run-off mixes with Voll’s rains to form the Unsea, a subterranean swamp stretching from beyond the hive’s borders endlessly into its dark underbelly.” This is horrifying and so cool at the same time.

This chapter includes a handful of NPCs complete with profile images. Though they don’t have stat blocks, they are very well described for social interactions.

“Rokarth’s run-off mixes with Voll’s rains to form the Unsea, a subterranean swamp stretching from beyond the hive’s borders endlessly into its dark underbelly.”

When Diplomacy Fails

As a “Bad GM,” I love the enemies! There’s nothing like getting to play out your villain’s monologue where they divulge all their secrets because they know they’re going to win. Until their head blows up from a perfectly shot bolt weapon… This chapter begins with the more mundane enemies: gangers and criminals, before building up to more insidious problems, like Chaos cults. In a city of billions, each of the Ruinous Powers has multiple groups worshiping them in their own way. Besides these cults, other enemies of the Imperium lurk within Hive Rokarth with the Mireclaw, who come with a few enemy stat blocks, ready to challenge your players. These stat blocks include a Troop, an Elite, and a Leader to give some variety and range of challenge for the agents.

Time to Play

“The Blazing Seraph” is the adventure included in the Starter Set, and it’s a whopping 48 pages! To give some comparison, when we play and record 25 page adventures for WFRP like “Hell Rides to Hallt,” it takes 7-8 hours. So this is a meaty quest! The adventure is written to teach the rules as you go, so things start simple and get more complicated through the booklet. I haven’t read through the whole thing myself, just in case I get to play it (not as forever GM, one can dream), but I love how it’s perfect for new players with mechanics explained as you go.

The characters included in the box are, once again, exemplars of Cubicle 7’s style with these releases. Not only are they ready to roll, they’re ready for roleplay too! They come with personality blurbs, connections to other characters and NPCs (my players LOVE this part), goals, and secrets. I think the characters in these starter sets are a hidden gem in the RPG world, and I strive to follow a similar template when making characters for others.

What’s in the Box?

While I only have access to the PDF version at time of writing, I have absolutely preordered the box set. Not only does it come with the Hive Rokarth guide, “The Blazing Seraph” adventure, six characters in the awesome gatefold design like other Starter Sets, a Patron sheet, a Party sheet, rules reference sheets, punch-out tokens, it even comes with a set of D100 dice. So much! Some RPG starter sets can seem a little lean, but Cubicle 7 knows how to get the party rolling and the adventures started!

I give this Starter Set 5/5 Enormous Tardigrades.

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