/40krpg/ 40k Roleplay General

A tomb on how to become a sorcerer.

The whole tomb?

And people wonder why these threads are dead.

Right. The way to jumpstart a thread is to talk about using another game system.

"""And people wonder why these threads are dead."""

Alright so the op post is saying that 2nd Edition DH is better than 1st? As I haven't looked at the actual books yet would 2nd be better for a party who is new to WH40K?

Only War with GM defined regiments would be better for a group that's new to 40k.

I think the players building the regiment together with GM oversight would be better as you can use that time to learn the system and a bit of the background as well.

To a degree, but you lose out on the simplicity of character generation and minimalism that pre-chosen regiments offers. Let them know this regiment has been chosen to get them into the game. Once they have a rough idea of the mechanics, the setting, what they want, and what they feel they need to do, then you can softly introduce a new regiment / let them build new regiment options. Or, if you think they can handle it, hard introduce the new regiment by giving them the option to call in artillery fire, and when it misses ...

I see. I heard Only War and DH 2nd are pretty close as well so I'll try that out OW first. We'll go into Inquisitorial stuff at a later date then. Any tips for the system as a gm? Besides the ones that apply to all tabletops.

I suddenly feel woefully underprepared for the Dark Heresy campaign I'm soon to start GMing.

Any tips for portraying hive worlds/hive worlders?

Considering the theme of the game, you don't need to pull punches, but still make things reasonable in terms of lethality.

Make sure they're aware that they operate as a squad and not solo rambo antics. Squad level rambo antics are fine.

Remember that getting back to base means a reset on equipment assigned to them, gear for the mission is given back and ammo and grenades are restocked. Things acquired beyond that, they may keep.

Remember that they can still interact with NPCs on base and off base.

Remember how absolutely huge hive spires are and the living conditions by altitude/level.

How should I go about creating a kind of run down, seedy, criminal hive segment and what kinds of things are good to put in there for players to explore?

If they aren't getting lost you're doing it wrong

Always amusing. I just love claw/fist weapons, very rarely are they done right and so I love 40K's power fist for being such a useful item (being a generally more potent power weapon).

Nope. Still working on it.

You're using Dogs in the Vineyard because you don't want a complicated system, but you're going through all the effort of making Dark Heresy work in a completely different system instead of just simply reading the rulebook

What's the best way to play as a 'johnny lasrifle' PC?

A what ?

Google the Kowloon Walled City, arcologies, Airstrip 1, Mega-City One. Take notes, and build from there.

>suffocatingly packed
>grimy and worn
>harshly lit or very dark
>can't even see the sky
>gangs are the law

1e is easily the worst 40K RPG system. I have no idea why people still play it, it's like playing Cyberpunk 2020 instead of Shadowrun. Archaic rules, weird power levels, and horribly linear progression.

I can't speak for others but I play 1E cause it's what I'm used to.

I've been wanting to try it. I've been assuming it'd work pretty one on one with monkey patching.

I still need advice. So far I've got "Everything is on fucking fire". This is a good start.

Anyone have stories from or tips for a Black Crusade game? I'm thinking about running the adventure in the back of the first book soon and I'm worried I won't be able to keep the players from stabbing each other in the back at every turn instead of every other turn.

Explosive collars. "Complete the mission as a team or die alone as dogs."

"Cooperation ensures survival."

"Failure of one is failure of all."

"Succeed together or die together."

"Big Brother is watching you."

Standard Evil party rules. When they generate characters, establish why they are loyal to each other/want to cooperate. Have it be known that betrayal is an option, but something that should only happen at the climax of the game and not be done lightly. Also, remind them that their characters are not idiots and know that having friends is useful.

After all investigation has been finished acolytes find out leader of Big Bad cult is an Alpha Legionnaire. What do?

Fucking die, it's a traitor legionnaire.

Running is always an option. However dying desperate, gritty, heroic, but ultimately pointless, deaths is more 40k.

Inform our Inquisitor, let him call in a Deathwatch squad or something. Traitor Spess Muhreeems isn't in our job description.

The Emperor's warp power is very real (despite the Emperor himself being more or less a corpse). To be completely honest, if the Emperor/the Emperor's soul fragment wants to control her body then it will - especially if she's in the Imperial Palace of all places. Not even burning a fate point (if you have that in your looser system) should save the psyker as fate points are fluffed as divine intervention by the Emperor.

What I'd suggest is that you try to make the experience a profoundly religious experience for your so far unsanctioned psyker. Rather than having an abstract "will" test decide her fate, have her enter into negotiations with the Emperor and the fragment of His power in her.

Assuming the PC is okay with this, there's a very strong argument for her to embark on the path of becoming a living saint. In fluff terms living saints are pious individuals who become empowered by a fraction of the Emperor's soul/warp power. Although it is heretical to say, it could be considered similar to a kind of "holy" daemon host. Usually this power burns out the "saints" body pretty quickly...

Since the psyker already has the Emperor's soul fragment all she really needs is the "piety" aspect. And that may be something she grows into. You can have her and the Emperor enter into a sort of compact, one that she won't fully remember after the sanctioning, of course, that the Emperor's ego will subsume itself to her if she continues her path for the glory of humanity and the Imperium...

Or something like that. It's up to you and the tone of the game.

Crap, that fits *really* fucking well. It also fits cause her body is actually dead. She's essentially a lich.

She teleported into space without a void suit and it revealed her body has been deteriorating like a corpse.

I'm going to need more information than that.

How did the players find out the Big Bad is Alpha Legion? Did they physically see him? Can the Marine see them?

What is the party composition? What resources do they have? What is the story of the campaign so far?

An Alpha Legion marine is basically "smarter than you." Period. It will have more contacts, resources, and plans than you might think possible. In "direct" subterfuge competition it will win 99 times out of 100. His greatest weakness will (probably) be pride and that's a flaw the team may be able to build on if recognized.

Any stories that I might use for inspiration?

For my own story, I got most of the basic inspiration from Fallout New Vegas' Dead Money DLC. It might work for you.

Another source of inspiration could be certain villain centric movies like Reservoir Dogs.

Can't post too much now, am bored posting at work, but boss is close by, will be back with more info.

I'm new to Deathwatch, not so new to 40k. Is Terminator armor really worth it? Compared to Artificer armor, which doesn't restrict your movement at all, gets two armor histories, and costs less requisition, terminator armor only has two more armor, costs more, and keeps you from running or dodging - the only redeeming quality I can see is that you can get Termie armor when you're famed instead of being a Hero. Is there something I'm missing, or is it really that unbalanced?

You cannot wield both a heavy flamer and a powerfist while wearing artificer.

You can also can't just requisition it normally as part of a mission, it has to be taken as signature wargear or you don't get it at all, so there's a fairly hefty exp cost and you need to wait until rank 7 if you aren't a techmarine.

Although all things considered, yes, Artificer is almost always better unless you want to be wielding heavy weapons one handed.

>With Primarchs coming back and gods walking about, things do feel smaller, but there are also more opportunities for fun and adventure.
>things do feel smaller
>but there are also more opportunities for fun and adventure.
>feel smaller
>more opportunities
Why is this a thing these days? Why do we so frequently seem to put two opposite notions into the same statement? This is a growing trend (not here on tha bords, but irl). When people say things nowadays, they very often seem to say one thing then almost immediately follow it up with its opposite. Almost like they're not confident in their first proposal? So they follow it up with a "yeah, but"? Like, they want to cover all the bases, maybe? Or does it reflect no confidence in any of their statements, so they just say everything?
I understand why it's done here - trolling. But people do it in real life, and they're not bein' deliberate trolls. They don't even seem to be aware of it: they will ask a question with two (or more) premises and expect a rational answer; when no rational answer is possible when posed two opposing 'questions'.
tl;dr - where did rational critical thought go?

Have any of you made a Ministorum Heirophant who holds mass and preach about the emperor?

Only War has a ton of options to get the most out of your trusty lasgun if that's what you mean, especially if you're building a weapon specialist. Mod your trusty flashlight until it borders on tech heresy, aquire all the BS related talents and advances, stack up on ammo cells and keep that overcharge going. As soon as possible get a hellgun/hot-shot lasgun and repeat the process.

I'm not as familiar with the other game lines, but I can imagine at least the extensive modding and basic talents should be possible to do in DH 2e or BC. I just asume you're not intending to play RT or DW because why the hell would you use anything Las but a -cannon in those games.

I agree that you should keep it subtle as long as she's behaving somewhat useful for the furtherment of human goals, even more so than just being pious or saintly.
When her behavior is at odd of what Emps decides is best, even if it's fixed in the imperial creed, make her just outright kicked out of her body and let her watch from some kind of limbo between warp and reality.

Make her question if what the ecclesiarchy preaches and what the sanctioned power within her seems to want are always the same thing.
If the veil is thin you might giver her the choice of jumping back into reality as some sort of temporary demon, or getting assaulted by demons in the meantime, or even both at the same time.

If whatever system you're using has a corruption mechanic you might think about it affecting her more or in a different manner.
Since her body is not really connected to her soul anymore don't threaten her with mutations, instead maybe give her another episode kicked outside her body, while she watches how her warp-self mutates in even more drastic ways, both hindering and beneficial, but gruesome and unholy in every way.
Then give her another chance to materialise besides her actual body during a fitting moment. Depending on how much at odds she is with Big E he might try to kill her semi-demonic soul with her very own cold, dead hands. Both a metaphorical and literal fight for her soul.

Hope that helped and is somehow related to what you want out of this. My mind kinda just spewed ideas.

can you move while prone? There doesn't seem to be any rules for it.

If you can, how fast?

There was something somewhere about it, can't remember which faq. It was suggested to give the person the crawler trait i.e. half AB for movement while prone.

I also can't find rules for it right now, but If I had to rule that on the fly I'd allow at least a half move action, if none of the others.
That or allowing half and full move as if slowed by difficult terrain, but no running.

I might also consider the reason why the character is prone in the first place. A sniper robbing through the dirt to get into firing position unseen is in a very different situation compared to an unlucky guardsman that got knocked onto his back by an orc with 7 DoF, lying there like a turtle that landed on the back of its shell.

I think my default ruling would be "slowed as if in difficult terrain, no running" though, regardless of the reason.
Things like dissallowing basic actions aren't something that should be done on a whim.

I used to DM 5e before school got too hectic, I was wondering how much more work DMing a homebrew game of Only War or RT would be than a simple homebrew 5e campaign.

Do you guys use maps or just theatre of mind. If so, are they hard to find?

Huh. So, after you can get Artificer armor Terminator armor is relegated to the heavy weapons guy. That's kind of lame, desu. Do you think it would be reasonable to buff Terminator armor a bit? Maybe work with a house rule that gives it a bit more durability. Make Terminator armor slow but tough, and have artificer armor be quick but (relatively) flimsy.

Dude this is great. Oh, heres the thing, she's been gaining insanity with every single casting, and seeing The Emperor's actual pragmatic ideals. Because she's got a tiny bit of the astronomicon infections.

You know roughly hate all psykers, love blanks, physically fuck xenos, metaphorically fuck xenos, metaphorically physically fuck xenos, etc.

That depends on what you're homebrewing.

That's like saying you still use a keypad phone because it's what you're used to. Just upgrade, it's not hard.

I really like the lore and stuff but I just don't know how difficult it would be to find maps of things like ships or different races fortifications, or a hive, for instance. I also wasn't sure about how much work it is to run the NPCs in charge since they seem to have a pretty important and recurring role in the game.

I think where Terminator Armor shines the most is when
>1) dodging is out of the question anyways and the enemy has no access to high-pen gear.
Fighting overwhelming hordes of small fry for example, in that case every single point of armor and the force field helps you to keep standing just a bit longer.
Against single enemies worth a 1on1 duel the slight armor boost might be inferior to dodging and a storm shield, but against several high magnitude hordes opening fire on with small caliber guns you every attack you negate passively and every point of damage you soak is worth gold. Also, there's nothing saying you can't take a storm shield and still wield an arm mounted heavy gun and a cyclone missile launcher at the same time iirc.
>2) Teleporters are in the mix.
Terminators always had this theme of walking out of a warp rift, right into the very heart of the action. Even though stuff like the RT teleportarium sadly invalidated the need to be clad in several inches of sacred plating to do so...
I don't know how your GM runs things, but both long-range and personal scale teleporters might spice things up and give an incentive to use Terminator gear just in order to arrive somewhere in a time sensitive fashion, meaning either early enough or at a very specific timing.
Meanwhile personal teleporters help out with the mobility problem once you're in the mix. Iirc the DH 1e Grey Knights book (i think it was called Daemon Hunter?) has rules for Astartes-Warp-Backpacks. Either that or an adapted version of Warp spider Jump-modules (RT Koronus Bestiary) might be worth using.
Since they are also allowed for power armor consider weaking or completely removing drawbacks while using them in Terminator-plate to reinforce the theme.
Like I said, I didn't like how RT cheapened long range teleporting to work for non-terminators, but that's just my headcanon.
> 3) consider homebrew melee weapons.
Chainfists are already Terminator only (cont.)

Can't help with finding tile sets, but if you do go with a grid, keep in mind that everything is measured in 1 meter increments.

What are some tactics an Only War party can use against Orks? Which weapons (that are practically accessible) are best, and how should you go about overcoming their numbers and toughness bonus? How to deal with massed Shootas, bikes and Tankbustaz in Trukks? How to deal with waves of choppa Boyz and the Nobz leading them?

First, list what specialties they have.

Sergeant, Weapon Specialist, Heavy Gunner, Psyker. The roles can be changed though.

I swear to fucking god fampire I cannot learn how to play tabletop RPGs like Deathwatch or any Warhammer game because I insist on my character being my niche favoured Chapter/faction whatever and they don't have rules for it.

I want to be a bitter unstable Red Talon who challenged his captain in the traditional Clan Morragul Autek Mor fashion in a duel to the death for captaincy of his company, only to lose and instead of killing him the Captain cruelly kept him alive and seconded him to the Deathwatch as a joke.

Also I don't have any friends, I have 'tism, can't talk to people and am a hikki so I can't play games anyway, fucking kill me.

What kind of regiment are they? Let's hear what they're issued.

you might think of other cool stuff to hurt heretics with that's outlandish enough only to be mounted on that humanoid tank frame.

Also to come back to the first point: Iirc shields add armor points to the worn arm and body as well? Maybe consider a relic shield or something that gives a defensive boost while doubling as a rather good weapon. Chainblades and power fields on the edges maybe, depending on how crazy you like your 40k. Although that might border on chaos territory, so maybe just consider a damn strong (storm?-) shield that grants a few more points of AP and good parry bonuses while eating up a ton of req or having other quirks worthy of a relic. Meltas and other can openers will still be a danger to you while yet power swords might have trouble actually harming you at some point, depending on what you fight.

> 4) relic Terminator armor
Once you're that far up the totem pole consider introducing legendary Terminator armor that's worth taking over artificier. Tougher force field, more mobile (might allow either run or dodge, maybe both, even if coupled with exhaustion or generator problems as a tradeoff if deemed to strong or odd?) and other cool quirks etc.
You could even design whole mission chains around finding and recovering those ancient suits, some of which might have seen the biggest battles of the great crusade.
Prestige and unique capabilities that don't just amount to pure tankiness are what should make you wear terminator plate at that point of your SM career.

Hope that helped.

Custom grip for everybody goes a long way.

Sergent should be using Get Them! every possible turn while everybody else uses Ranged Volley or Close Quarters.

In combination with the above, a heavy stubber for they gunner can shit out 1d10+8 pen 3, easily killing most non-nob boyz in a few shots. Even better if they use a heavy bolter as it will upgrade the damage to space marine tier heavy bolter damage.

For big infantry targets like nobs, a long-las or sniper rifle can help immensely to punch though all that unnatural toughness. Long-las for lighter armored big targets and sniper rifle with manstopper rounds for heavier armored big targets.

Against vehicles, they need high-pen weapons if it isn't open-topped. Otherwise, things like melta guns or lascannons are needed to take them down.

Regarding the thread question, remember a few things:
>The events in main 40k is very far away. It takes years for even news to travel (the Ordo Xenos in Calixis is still mostly unknowing of Necrons, despite them being known a few hundred years!)
>Regarding the previous post, change happens slow in 40k. Even with the return of a bloody primarch, there's gonna take time for the Imperium to redirect their efforts and to get the whole, cumbersome system on (mostly) the same track.
>There's going to be people stuck in their own grimdark mind who takes this as nothing else than misdirection. Surely, such wondrous news would be more widely heralded if they were true?
>The FFG 40k RPGs take place around 816.M41. Most of the "interesting events" occuring in the main 40k HASN'T HAPPENED YET.

But in general regarding new lore over old, I just piece together them in a way I find interesting. So far, my players hasn't complained.

>They don't have rules for it
>What is Rites of Battle?

Why not just learn the system instead of trying to cram it into 5e? It works perfectly with maps and all that

>You're using Dogs in the Vineyard because you don't want a complicated system
I would imagine he's using Dogs in the Vineyard because it already has similar core idea(you're given carte blanche to deal with any heresy you come across in both games) and Dogs in the Vineyard plays differently. Not because it's not a complicated system.

Good point on the storm shield. I may have to look into that if I end up getting a set of Terminator armor.

As for the teleporters, my GM is a bit railroady. And by a bit, I mean he flat-out refuses to let us kill things he doesn't want us to. If he does let us, then that would take care of the waddling problem quite nicely.

Homebrew equipment is probably out of the question (see above), but I'll remember this for later.

Relic Terminators are way too good to be true for my GM. This makes me sad.

Thanks for the advice, I'll give it a shot.

>You look up at the sky - pardon me, the ceiling!
>As you walk through the streets, the ground shakes slightly. Passers-by mumble about the unstable lower levels.
>The streets are absolutely empty. As the clock strikes 9 o'clock, hordes of workers appear from every factory door, grumbling all the way to their modest homes.

Whatever is good for fighting Orks, since we want to fight Orks and be part of a regiment that's good at fighting Orks.

That's what I'm talking about. I have no desire to try to cram it into 5e, I was just asking if it takes a lot more work to DM than something beginner friendly like 5e might. I've read most of the only war book but I just feel like it all seems a lot more intensive to plan than 5e.

It is just a matter of choice and preferences. Go though the regiment creation rules in core, hammer of the emperor, and shield of humanity and build to your liking.

My players didn't like the standard Indomitus armor too much. They took to Terminator armor a bit easier after the support crew built them some Tartaros and Cataphractii sets. Hopping and dodging through fire, then unloading autocannons and swords into people, ended up being a useful tactic, until they got their final relic armor each.

Only War specifically is actually fairly easy on the GM. Sure, you have to learn the system which might be more work than learning D&D 5e, but the actual GMing is easier than in most games, since the PCs will be part of a chain of command and thus can't do just ANYTHING. They might be(and in fact, should be) given leeway on how they execute the commands they're given, but unlike in D&D where the PCs can just decide to fuck off(unless you go out of your way to craft a situation where that's not an option - in which case you just might be called out on railroading), they pretty much have to obey the orders unless they want to get executed.

Drop the GM if he's that railroady. There's a difference between seeing the rails, and forcing the rails.

40k games fell about as complex as D&D 3.PF, mainly because they tend to do alot of things with specially written rules instead of keeping things simple and bound to core mechanics.

One thing that will be very difficult for players that learned on 5e is that combat options are almost all viable often times, so even simple things as "I attack" can either become a drag because the player is unsure if he wants to all out, swift, defensive or standard attack etc. or he doesn't consider his options at all and will suffer in performance because of this.
Especially in the human-scale games good base values are nice and necessary and all, but the true reliability comes from stacking and remembering all bonuses.
Also, even though most cases are clear some cases aren't clearly stated and allow for wonky argumentation. Just do a very quick ruling for one case there, write it down for future reference and keep it that way every time it comes up unless someone finds a better solution.

TL;DR: The Core game is simple enough and allows for good scaling between theatre of the mind and grid/map based gameplay. Just make it clear for the group that sometimes things might be a bit more abstract and given rules and stats are more guidelines rather than word of god.

The thing I have the most trouble with is keeping in mind the multitude of traits and talents. Where 5e entities have about 5 to 10 special features at the very maximum 40krpg ones tend to have 10 at least, around 30 in extreme edge cases.
You just have so much more to keep in mind that's not core gameplay that it's sometimes distracting.
For example you want to build an enemy very resistant to disables? Just giving him good defensive attributes (toughness, willpower, agility) won't cut it. Due to the way boni and mali stack you can even make the toughest Ork fail a "saving throw" with a very good chance, unlike 5e where they'd (if faithfully translated) have con saves that manage most effects even with (cont.)

Sounds unreasonably awesome. Did you use the Only War stats for Autocannons, or did I miss those in the rulebooks?

Thinking about it. Still, I want to give him a chance.

disadvantage. Instead you have to give them 3 or 4 traits that make them more resistant to stuns and other such effects, or let them recover faster. Now you already have a handfull of features for only one aspect of the character, and you still have to cover the other stuff. It takes some experience and dedication from everyone, both players and GM to get things to run in a smooth fashion all the time.

Thought experiment: A tech-melee-assassin

So I imagine that at minimum, the character would need: high WS to land attacks, high Ag to avoid attacks and stealth around, and high Int to still be adequate at tech tests.

What home planet/background/role combination would give you the aptitudes necessary to build something like that without spending an exorbitant amount of xp?

Sort of. Terminator armor is capable of mounting Reaper Autocannons, so that is what I used. They're in Black Crusade, I believe. When they were in normal power armor, I think they requisitioned a regular autocannon (the OW variant) once, before deciding near exclusively on bolt weapons and volkite guns as their preferred ranged weapons.

I guess this is for Dark Heresy 2? With official material, Admech background, Forge World homeworld, Assassin role. With homebrew? The Sicarian Ruststalker in the OP, though it's for Only War. It should be compatible though.

That's some pretty old gear. Is the game set in 30k?

No. 40k. They were brought in to solve problems, and no expense was spared. Most of it was made on the spot by a member of their support crew, if asked, though. The whole point of the game, Republican Commando, is mixing the power of 30k with the resolve of 40k, to prevent a terrible disaster from hitting the sector they at. A full legionary armorium was open, from volkites to fellblades, as well as the gear of 40k. They started as mere battle brothers, but they've ascended to Praetors.

We only have the grand finale left at this point, but we're running into scheduling hell. Should be sorted out soon though.

I think the fact as a regiment you wont really know what to expect since the uplifting primer is bullshit it may be best for predefined and you just have them go through training in transit

Mod your trusty flashlight until it borders on tech heresy, aquire all the BS related talents and advances, stack up on ammo cells and keep that overcharge going. As soon as possible get a hellgun/hot-shot lasgun and repeat the process.

Now I want to see a master crafted lasrifle.

Damn. I thought it sounded awesome before. Good luck on the scheduling, I wouldn't want to miss that.

Me again. I found 1d4chan.org/wiki/Emperor's_To-Do_List and I'm getting an idea~

Remember do not let Veeky Forums memery obscure what is actually supposed to be a intense thing.

For instance the Emperor never had to deal with Tyranids this should be odd for him.

I really really appreciate you taking the time to type all of that out. Thank you. That's exactly what I was asking.

Why bother assigning all those specific traits? You want a guy immune (or heavily resistant) to stun, just throw one in. Describe how your strikes seem to cause little pain to nerve-deadened flesh, or previous wounds that have yet to heal yet the entity takes no notice of them. If the players roll well enough, they can still stun them, otherwise they're immune. Simple.