Inquisitor (game)

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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. 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 Magi, Genestealer Cult Leaders or twisted Mutants.

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 Workshop, or as a PDF from the Specialist Games website. It gives very rich and detailed information about the Inquisition and the WH40K universe in general. The name, when written, is sometimes shortened to =I= by fans, or =][=, or -][- in homage to the symbol of the Inquisition as depicted on the cover of the rulebook.

Inquisitor uses a rules system based around the throwing of two 10-sided dice (known as a 'D100'), 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.

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 40,000.