/40krpg/ 40K Roleplay General

thanks man this is some nice advice, i had an idea or an encounter of a relatively civil bazaar like area after the first armed encounter of cultists or whatever, not sure how the underhive population would react to a group of fresh face guardsmen in full kit showing up.
Probably not well i assume.

also plan for some chaosy pic related down the line to spice it up a bit.

The opening scenes of Rules of Engagement?

I can see parallels between the Sandbox and an underhive. If the people around aren't hostile, make nice, don't try too hard to be sneaky, etc, if they go hostile, WASTE THEM.

also where do you remember me from? creeping me out man

There's always the Dominate I guess. Would add another few factors, namely that they were there for war anyway and everyone hates them if they reveal their allegiances even more so than typical hive shit

I'm trying to make a junior Guard officer who is mostly a paper pusher. What role would he have? I'm not sure if Sage and Seeker are really fit.

>mfw when the "Eldar corsairs" we fought turned out to have neurotoxin-laced weaponry.

Though, as it turns out, Kabalites are pretty shit if you pin them. Although being hit WILL hurt, what with that Pen 3 and Toxic (2). Now, just to geek the High Marshal and take over the ship.

The hive got attacked by orks.
The hive suffered such widespread rioting and gang warfare that the planetary governor panicked and called in the Guard.
Chaos cultists in the underhive.

Well, people tend to be nice to those armed to the teeth. Until they can be ambushed, at least.

>creeping me out man
I knew you'd say that.

Isn't that you ?

So, I may just know where to get rosettes fairly cheap.

I found this guy on eBay that makes 40k stuff out of plastic and epoxy. Really well made, ships quick, I bought a Rosette on a chain from him, as well as an Aquila pin and a winged rosette pin. jesusgold7 is his user name, check his stuff out.

He's got a silver version of the Rosette with chain up right now. And a Tanith pin.

ebay.com/sch/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ssn=jesusgold7&rt=nc

(and no, its not me shilling my own shit. If I wanted to do that, I'd point out the MEGA link. Wait. Shit.)

How does manifesting psychic powers look like generally? I get that shooting lightning or chargin mah meltabeam is pretty obvious, but can the less flashy stuff be used undercover (disregarding psyniscience, phenomena or perils)? Say, a biomancer needs to stop some hive mob hardcore and goes all iron arm on them, would the mob be any wiser that he's a psyker apart from someone connecting dots of his fists caving in skulls and him shrugging off sledgehammer hits with his forehead?

Pretty subtle, actually. If I remember correctly the main difference between a psyker and a sorcerer is that the sorcerer needs to chant and gesture to call upon his power, while a psyker can do it just by concentrating. I mean, some use chants, litanies or hand movements to help them concentrate, but they don't have to. So a random hive mobber would probably wonder, why that guy was closing his eyes and frown for a moment before kicking his pals' asses, but unless he knows how psykers work, he probably won't make the connection. Although if he sees someone tank construction equipment, the first thought in the average imperial citizen's head will probably be "WITCHCRAFT!"

bump

Are space marine helmets wearable by normal humans? I ask because one of my PC's is obsessed with them and is psychotic enough to believe he is one, and managed to loot one from a previous battle. It would seem like, since space marines presumably have normal sized heads, that they'd be fine for human use, if a bit cumbersome to wear.

I imagine they'd be far too big - and super heretical to wear one.

So Spess muhreens have huge heads?

According to DW core book "man’s reach exceeds his grasp" on p.146, the machine-spirit is probably gonna rebel. Anyways, it's disconnected from a power pack.
So I'd say no auto-senses, just raw AP.

But nothing prevents him from wearing it afaik.
If you're feeling villainous, you can make him remove the lenses to be able to see while wearing it.

They'd be wearable, though I'd imagine unpowered it wouldn't be much good. I imagine they're designed such that they don't have eyeholes so much as cameras that project onto the wearer. It'd be bulky as shit too. Hard to turn and move in.

Compared to a normal human, yes. I'd guess they're still proportional to their bodies. If they had similar head size to unmodified humans, their noggins would look comically small in their frame.

Yes, and...?

For a second I forgot what setting we are talking about, I stand corrected.

About to play Rogue Trader for the first time, and it seems I've been nominated by the group to be the titular character.

I've got only passing experience with the setting; should I just treat him as a space pirate captain, plundering xenos as I go?

You certainly could. Consider yourself the 40k incarnation of Cortez or someone like him. Go where no man has gone before, find the xeno, kill (and/or enslave the xeno), take the xeno's stuff, sell the stuff at a steep markup.

The motivation of "Glory, Gold and God(-Emperor) works excellently.

It's one of the possible takes on the character. It's a pretty original one, too, and it allows to visit freeports while staying 100% loyal.

Technically, you'd be a privateer/corsair, though, 'cause you got a Warrant of Trade.

What are some of the best items for fighting demons/chaos in general (any 40k system)?

See 2E's most recent splat for updated versions of sanctified gear. The Incinerator is particularly nasty.

Also, get yourself a Santic Daemonologist psyker. Psykers aren't really people, so I'm including them as an "item."

Where can I download Forgotten Gods Dark Heresy 2 ???

You can go for almost any kind of character as an RT. A swashbuckling pirate who uses his warrent for treasure (perhaps even hijacking and plundering xenos ships), an ex navy captain wishing to increase the power and presence of the imperial navy, a pious captain wanting to spread light to the ignorant masses of the imperium, a hunter who scours the unknown for the finest prey.

Adding in various Rogue Traders from my games
>Ex-soldier looking to make a real mark on the world
>Spoiled noble brat forced to actually take the helm and be a leader
>Dutiful wife taking the reins from her dead husband
>Several different dynastic brats born to a millennia old legacy of backstabbing, looting, and fame and fortune.

I was not expecting to have so many options; this is sounding like it's gonna be way more fun than I thought. Will still probably go full Conquistador, but will talk with the group first. Thanks!

The Warp is heavily influenced by belief, so it depends what your psyker is like. A feral guy might have some animal spirit shit going on because he was raised as a shaman

You can also go full-blown french fop on top of any of the other options.

Fois gras is always a justification.

The players start as underhive gangers/escaped criminals, the city is under attack by a Tyranid scourge and its anarchy as Hive authorities struggle to control the terror. When they make their way out, they find that they only way off the doomed Hive City is by being press ganged into a Penal Legion thats being formed from the remaining Hive Scum.

Two points about RT, from personal experience.

Even if you have a rogue trader/party leader, it's often best to have someone above every player character. It may be the master of the dynasty half a galaxy away, the titular rogue trader being in a coma and the player acting as a regent, a loan shark having a mortgage on the ship, and so on...
It doesn't remove freedom from the game, but provide some appreciable safeguards in the worst cases.

I find it best to have secondary player characters for specific situations. For example a bunch of pilots for dogfight situations, or Sgt. Markov and his squad for boarding actions.
RT can have pretty diverse gameplays, and it sometimes excludes a lot of the party. WIth this system everyone at the table will always have a role to play.
Besides, it allows every player to be in charge from time to time (the rogue trader can play the rookie pilot in the squadron, while the missionary can be the squadron leader,...), and makes high-mortality games and TPKs easier to manage.
I'd go with one secondary character created with the standard method, and NPC profiles for the rest if the need arises.

>I understood that reference.jpg
The Three Musketeers is great in its portrayal of french noblemen. Vain, disdainful and morally grey at best according to our standards, but with a lot of virtues nonetheless.
It got a scene where they go drink champagne and eat fois gras on the middle of the battlefield to taunt their famished enemies, while taking potshots at those that come too close.

It doesn't even need to be a penal legion- many normal regiments are formed from the underhive riffraff.

In first edition Dark Heresy, about what experience level should the player characters be to face a daemon host?

I'd say about 5,000 xp, assuming a four man party of reasonably combat capable acolytes fighting an average host. Planning on throwing one at your players?

Depends on their loadout and how they've spent their xp

Don't have the core handy, but I believe... rank 5 ish they should be able to handle an unbound host. The rank that's named for their class, most of the time, like a Tech-Priest has the level listed as "Tech-Priest" for example.
Basically, by about then they'll have been able to take some good skills, get the essentials like Dodge covered, not have too many crap stats and maybe have a few extra wounds. Provided they have decent gear, they might get through it with no casualties.
Also, how bound is this Daemon Host?

So how tiny is a primarch's head, then?

Well I am writing up my first campaign now, and wanted to get a feel for the time frame that they should be facing one.

I haven't rolled one up yet, but I was thinking probably once or twice bound.

The characters are not the same size as the minis, people, christ.

Is anyone else bothered by the fact that DH2 doesn't include any rough 'tiers' of player power based on either XP or Influence. Even BC says "this much influence roughly equates to this", but all we have is "75+ influence to be an Inquisitor".

Define not too many crap stats. I've got a little over 10k experience but most of it went into talents and skills

Anyone have any advice on how to build a melee-capable Adept in DH 1e? Is it a doomed concept?
I'd say if you have at least a bonus of 3 in all your stats besides something like Perception or Fellowship, and preferably have 4's in the combat related abilities (WS, BS, S, T, AG), you should be okay. With crazy talents and true grit you'll be fine though.

Twice bound should be fine to give them a fright.

If I remember right they get swift attack pretty fast, and cheaper than some combat classes. Shock training too.

oh yea forgot about that post

Is there any good tutorials on how to DM these.

Character creation and the rules themselves are clear enough but I don't know were to start on balancing encounters or making NPCs.

I've wanted to since before Rogue Trader and own DH, DW and OW so it's time to just wing it.

Make npcs like how you would make a regular character but just choose what their characteristics, talents, skills, and gear are according to what they're supposed to be and their role in the campaign.

What game are you thinking of running? I can give you some broad strokes for DH and DW

Dark Heresy:
>Remember that the focus is on investigation/horror.
>Combat is a *big* deal. Healing is difficult and slow, so a fight can seriously affect a character's ability to function.
>Rank 1 characters should be facing cultists, gangers etc. Armor should be scarce, weapons should be basic. A single Lesser Daemon is a serious challenge to rank 1 chars, and could easily kill them all.
>At higher levels, start giving enemies armor, more advanced weaponry, and grenades etc. The usual rule of thumb I have is 1.5 enemies for every pc, so a party of 4 will face about 6 or so enemies, usually with a "leader" of some kind wielding a fancy weapon or using minor psychic abilities.
>It's okay to occasionally put the players up against something they *shouldn't* try to fight. Running away is always a viable option. They're the intel team after all, part of their job is passing on the info that will get used by Storm Troopers/Assassin Cells/ Space Marines to clean things up when it gets intense.

Deathwatch
>Use the Errata bolters. Saves you a headache
>Focus on objectives. Like a good Superman comic, the interest is not whether the Astartes will defeat their opponents, but how and at what cost.
>Usually, two or three Magnitude 20-30 Hordes and a few Elite rank enemies is a good challenge. Mix in heavy weapon teams/snipers etc to give the players an extra threat and something for their snipers to shoot for.
>Elite enemies deployed solo are usually a good 1-to-1 challenge for the team, while a Master enemy can hypothetically take on a team by itself I usually give it a small bodyguard to keep it from getting blasted in a single turn.
>Don't be afraid to mix things up and throw stealth missions, bad intelligence and friendly fire at the players. War is hell, even for an astartes.

Both:
> REVIEW ANY PSYKER PC'S CAREFULLY! Psykers can break the game very easily!

Plan on running a Black Crusade game soon for a group of players who are more used to the Imperium-side of things in 40k. Only thing is, I'm sort of debating whether to do a mixed CSM party with humans or just pure humans. Two players have expressed interest out of a party of six in potentially being CSM's, and I know mixing the group might make combat heavily weighted in their favor. I understand that a good way to counter-balance that is by showing off how humans are better infiltrators/socialites, but I'm just curious to hear people's experience with it and if they had any advice in regards on how to run things with a mixed group.

I think I'll start with OW because i've clicked with it being a typical /k/ommando and it gives me an excuse to limit all the characters to be pretty similar make life easier. Only thing I'm hesitant about there is the lethality and whole extra NPC stuff I still don't quite understand (i just got it today).

I acknowledge I should run DH but I think it's a little setting heavy for my friends who are largely new to 40k.

Deathwatch got me interested in the idea of running a game but honestly I think I alone will get too silly too fast and it's not a good introductory game for RPG scrubs.

I've only played a handful of RPG games and never with full character sheets so I'm struggling a bit.

Save yourself the headache and go full human.

It can work easily. The best counter to the CSMs combat ability is hordes.

Holy fuck, one round of Horde damage can kill a CSM dead. It happened to me, my CSM lost a leg in a single round.

All human games can be more interesting, because CSMs generally follow the combat applications of their God whereas humans can do anything.

Loyalist game so I dunno how useful it will be for you, but I'm playing a Killmarine in the current DH game I'm in. In general, the GM has balanced things wonderfully. While I can do some serious damage in a fight, everyone still contributes, and I'm utterly useless when it comes to subterfuge/keeping a low profile. I actually had fun with the "sitting in a van" aspect, where I'd stay behind while they investigated and occasionally give useless advice over the microbead.

You might want to run a game using the Vostroyan Firstborn. They get a good starting equipment kit, good armor, not too much odd fiddly bits...they're generally an idiot-proof starting regiment. Plus you get to look like streltsy with laser rifles.

/40krpg/, please tell me stories of your times playing the games that rival or is greater than the freakiness and horror that is the Frilled Shark.

I was thinking that comparing the starting modifiers. At least two of my players are Russaboos to boot.

I'll probably just go Cadian tho to keep everything as generic and graspable as possible. That and I have boner for Armoured Infantry and might start things with a theatrical Chimera ride.

Thanks for the replies everyone it's much appreciated.

If you go Cadian I would swap out the autopistol with a laspistol, unless you and your players don't mind juggling weapon training for SP and las.

Sage.
No one else is bothered because the book covers it in the section called encounter building.

i had the same idea to introduce players to the game.

>Players get conscripted from their planet and train on the 2 week ride over to the other system
>they are in ship 1 while ship 2 has some delays
>Chimera ride of the first wave against supposedly 'untrained unarmed cultists'
>massive armor formation across semi open fields, everyone is hyped
>chimera gets hit/throws a track in the middle of the cultist kill zone
>obviously intel was wrong
>pile out and get butchered slowly while being told to advance on foot
>tell them to reroll characters and tell them they are on ship 2 as it arrives in system

planned for their second characters to be semi veterans of a scouting regiment, not directed at you but id though id just share the idea

Which book has rules for a Multi-Laser?

OW corebook has one.

Those teeth. Not a fan

They're a reminder that only death is in the ocean.

Does anyone know if there are alternate career ranks in Rogue Trader? I have the PDFs, but I'm too lazy to go through and check them all. If there are, I can compile them all into a single PDF. Same guy who wrote up the list of Dark Heresy ones.

There are, yeah, most of the supplements have a few.

Ok, thanks. I'll work on putting that pdf together tomorrow. It'll be posted in my Mega folder, which is in the OP labelled as "Additional Resources"

Same guy. Do people want me to include alternate career ranks from Fear and Loathing/The Fringe is Yours? Or would you guys prefer official stuff only?

I'd prefer official only. Not sure if anyone would appreciate a separate 'kitchen sink' file. (probably)

ok. Should be up by Saturday at the latest

I need tips on roleplaying as a female Tau Diplomat.

My problem is that I don't know much about the Tau, other than they have a caste based society, and iirc that the Water-caste are their diplomats, correct?

What I'd need to know is how she'd act, either when meeting new xenos and with humans, and how Tau are named.

I'm planning for her to be a recurring character, so I want to go a bit in-depth here and all.

>how Tau are named.
Tau names go
>Caste (In this case, Por) ' Rank (Probably La or Ui, for a starting character), so Por'La or Por'Ui
>Given name (s), pick something vaguely East or Southeast Asian and replace random vowels with apostrophes or break down syllables with same, like, say, M'Ko'To. Repeat anywhere from 0-3 times, depending on tastes. More names roughly correspond to more prestige.
>Deed name(s): Mark any especially important deeds with a deed name describing it, using wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Tau_Lexicon . Keep the english translation handy as a nickname. Your character may not have any deed names if she's brand new. Ask your GM.

Dammit, I forgot the sept name. Fuck me.

Thanks a ton mate! This'll help a lot!

Not sure if this is an odd question or not, but what would Tau think of inter-species love/romance? The question just came to me right now as I remembered that if you discount the possibly 1984 theme they might have, (Can't remember how it actually is, as I've said before that I don't know much about Tau) they seem like the most 'reasonable' of all the factions, iirc.

Not that I'm actually going to use that roleplay-wise of course, though it might prove interesting, were it to be even close to allowed.

Tau have a eugenics program forcing them to mate with others of the same caste. There's not really much to say that they do engage in anything inter-species, but I'd say that it's not a preferable option.

That, and of the options available to them
>Kroot have no genitalia or indeed anuses
>Demiurg almost never meet anyone in person
>Vespids are fucking bees
>Nicassar are psychic zero gee flatbears
>Humans are too tall and bulky, and they're all...smooth and pink and weird-looking. Not that you'd say that out loud, it's rude.

Ah, I see. I suppose that makes sense, fits in the 1984 theme they have. They do have that, right?

Honestly, I feel like Tau /d/ would be filled with Human porn. And that /d/eviants would still do Vespids.

>fits in the 1984 theme they have. They do have that, right?
They're equal parts 1984, Communist China, India, and the more patronizing parts of the British Empire. They do horrible fucking things, but they genuinely think it's ultimately for the greater good (Pun intended). After all, it's not the humans' fault they're savages whacking buttons with their dicks, it's the fault of their backwards retard culture stifling potential and innovation. They need tau culture to civilize the poor things.

Alright, got it, I think.

So, semi-naive, and wanting to uplift the noble savages sort of thing?

Pretty much, yeah. Though depending on the tau, they might not see humans as especially noble savages.

Eh, close enough!

Anyways, my boyfriend is going to play the Rogue Trader for the campaign, and I'm thinking I want to be a/the Tau Water-caste diplomat (in-training/new diplomat?) sent to foster relations using his influence.

Would be different enough, and it sounded like fun to me, so I thought I'd gice it a try. Though, I've not played Rogue Trader before, just Only War.

So in an upcoming RT game I'm going to be the Seneschal in a game consisting of the following;
>Rogue Trader
>Arch Militant
>Navigator
>Void Master
>Explorator

I was wondering how does someone play a Seneschal well? Anyone have some tips or interesting stories?

Which is why I wanted to ask on here so I'd know how to roleplay as one, not knowing much about Tau beforehand except a few little tidbits, as well as the small bits of background info our DM gave when meeting and/or fighting them in OW.

So now I just need to read up and figure out how to roleplay her and I think I'll have the basics down.

As Seneschal, you are the captain's most trusted subordinate. You keep the books, you handle the day to day minutiae, and you take out the trash. You are the Alfred to his Batman, the Walter to her Integra, the Baldrick to his Blackadder, etc. You're the butler and the head subordinate, but you are a badass one (Or not, if you prefer).
Cultivate that supercilious, snarky subservience, and be loyal to your RT. The number one thing I see seneschals fuck up is being backstabbing dickholes. Don't be that. Back up your RT unless he is a complete retard. If he is a complete retard, try to steer him while slipping in snark where you can.

Or better yet, if he's a complete retard you have to clean up behind the scenes, and make sure things go smoothly. So long as the other player understands that's the thing you've got going on, you'll be fine. If the player's a retard, good luck.

But lasweapons blow aesthetically.

I'm just picturing this guy as a Seneschal now.

>implying that's not a perfectly valid interpretation of a seneschal

> this guy
> doesn't explain any further
Wait there while I telegram my librarian.

Hey, sorry for the wall of text, but your questions made me want to write a sort of crash primer on the Tau. Some of this is my opinion/speculations, and may conflict with "pure" canon, so be warned.

My thinking on Tau is that they are actually fairly close to humans. I like to focus on their initial appearance, when the darker aspects of their culture were kept neatly under the hood and vaguely hinted at instead of going full blown forced sterilization and all that.

Anywho, unlike Eldar or Orks, a big part of the Tau is that their habits are fairly familiar to humans. Tau like to get drunk, they like to have fun, they have dreams and ambitions, they have prejudices and resentments, all in a very human manner.

In general, they take their work very seriously. Work is determined broadly by birth, and fulfilling your job is akin to following your destiny. There's still some flexibility, for example an Earth Caste can be anything from a day-laborer to an advanced mechanical engineer, but aspiring to something too outside your Caste is *strongly* frowned upon. Iirc, there was an Earth Caste battlesuit pilot, but he was a very rare exception, possibly unique.

Their sexual relations aren't heavily touched upon beyond breeding being restricted to within caste. There's not much mention of forbidden cross-caste romance, so it can be assumed that it's seen as something shameful rather than romantic, whether it happens enough to be mentionable at all in the grand scheme of things.
(Cont.)