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SEE POLL

I'm trying to thin the herd with my gaming stuff and am looking now at my RPG books.

I'm thinking of going with just one of these but I'm not sure which one.

It doesn't help that I haven't played any of them... nor does it help that I like everything 40k (even Squats).

Can you folks offer any insight on a certain choice and why?

Hmmm.
Dark Heresy has the best background stuff because it is so detailed, and it is best suited towards mission based play.
Rogue Trader has some good fluff and is a great sandbox game, but the rules can be clunky and character creation is often not that relevant to what your characters actually do in game.
Black Crusade has a great character creation system but the fluff is not as good as the other books in my view and I didn't like how easy it was to get mutated or corrupted and so on.
Deathwatch is more of a tactical miniatures game than a RPG from my one play. Some fun ideas but I'd only pick that one if you love epic level play or really really love space marines.

Dunno anything about Only War.

Dark Heresy. It's the game I like the most. It's the most 40K-y to me - a small band of folks hunting down the horrors that lurk in the shadows. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the other games (or the other games I've played - not played RT or OW yet), but DH remains my fav.

I was figuring DH would be the one to keep. Thanks for the input folks.

Black Crusade-- a more refined/recent rules set, and a hybrid of human and marine means players can choose either of the major players. I'd say an imperial equivalent if one existed, but, since one doesn't exist, BC

DH: not only it's normal folk facing the grimdark galaxy FOR DA EMPRAH and all that, but it is also the game with the most sourcebook and the first game that every other are based from

To me rogue trader simply because it is so open that you can any type of game you want.

Personally, I'm leaning towards Only War, chiefly because it has the most developed and open ruleset of all of FFG's 40k RPGs. It's almost as easy to modify as Green Ronin's Dragon Age RPG, which means you'd have little problem to add virtually anything you'd want and turn the game into whatever floats your boat - a major boon, considering the many different interpretations and foci of the setting that individual players and groups will sport, some of which remain unsupported by the official material. Various crossover projects have already sprung up, and the game was just released! The ruleset also contains various general improvements compared to the earlier games, from attack bonuses all the way to how unnatural traits are handled.

In short, whilst each of the games may present a different theme, the OW ruleset gives you the tools to tailor your game to any single one of them, or even a combination. Or touch upon entirely new angles ... Necromunda hivegang RPG anyone?
On the most basic level and aside from extensive modification of the official material, it's also a helluva fun just playing a squad of grunts trying to make it through the day alive.