/40krpg/ 40k Roleplay General

Do weapon upgrades/downgrades apply when trying to elevate or keep a legacy weapon?

>What was the encounter, fight, or situation that you remember the most, be it as a player, or a GM? What made it so special?

Well, our first encounter of the campaign was the Acolytes busting down a door and blowing the heads off two cops (and crippling a third) in one round, then executing the last one, all without actually learning a damn thing.

They did so, and got the stun/surprise, by using a laud hailer servoskull as a sonic grenade.

Are there any weapons that make you question why they exist or exist as they are?

The first Only War session I ran ended in a TPK

>Weapons Specialist (Sword-fluffed-machete, because Rambo) charged through a wall of smoke
>All cultists on the other side had a few rounds to prepare and take aim at the first thing through the smoke
>Medic fails Medicae, Logic, and then a general Intelligence test to not inject the xenoplasm from a slaughtered mutant ("He seemed so good at healing, I thought...)
>Goes batshit
>Heavy Gunner is pounced on first
>Heavily wounded from fighting the mutant the first time
>Torn to shreds
>Sergeant pulls pins on two grenades and bearhugs the mutated medic
>Just enough damage to kill him, mutant is still standing
>Psyker fucking bolts
>Pulls a Scooby-Doo and swings out on a doorframe of an elevator
>Mutant charges straight over the edge
>Psyker wanders the spacehulk
>Goes mad and starves

Everyone was pretty pleased

>What was the encounter, fight, or situation that you remember the most, be it as a player, or a GM? What made it so special?
well, I want to say it was the time in Rogue Trader a Chaos Warband Leader Ascended into a Demon Prince midcombat with him.
>he was a Black Crusade Character from another campaign
> He finally killed his arch-nemesis, reaching 100 infamy
>he turns into even more of a murder-machine
>I'm playing a missionary with a power greatsword, pic related
>charge into melee
>Rosarius blocks every hit.
>truly the Emperor Protects

Most of the guns in Lathe Worlds, especially the fucking plasma gun that is basically a very fancy bolter. I also strenuously hate shootas and sluggas being strictly worse than vanilla Imperial SP guns. FFS, give them a higher RoF, Damage, Tearing, Unstable, Proven, whatever the fuck, something. Not all of those at once, obviously, just make it make some degree of logical sense that some gangers and heretics might like using them beyond pure "This is a greenskin gun".

My DH players have cornered a heretical techpriest (Somnius Halbrel, from Dark Pursuits) in an orbital station. What are some thematic heresy things to have, holed up in his last stand?

Aside from the little display room of dusty, red velvet cushions with twisted, leaden artifacts, I was thinking a larger-scale tech-heresy. Majoring altering the hull of the station to admit a heavily modded escape shuttle, profane tech rituals to shut down any external access/camera/airlock control to the area, etc.

Should I just fill in the gaps by describing how the fanaticism of his converted lackeys and the abnormality of his servitors?

To what degree of tech-heresy?

As a GM it was probably my last Only War game's ending
>Squad has spent the last year fighting Tau on a jungle planet.
>Space Vietnam
>Their transport crashed, and the Rogue Trader that they were working for abandoned them, having already gotten the artifact he was after
>last remnants of Tau resistance are slowly hunted down
>regiment is disbanded and given land to work
>Last image is the Krieger's gasmask hanging from a scarecrow over a field of wheat

I've always wanted to play a Sororitas that throws herself into battle for a heroic last stand, and slowly go insane because she keeps surviving and disappointing the Emperor.

Do SoBs get the same corruption-becomes-insanity thing in RT?

No one is playing as an AdMech, and 2 of the 5 have never played any 40k before (1 has, merely as that grenade-bearhugging Sergeant).

Subtlety is not the name of the game.

you can do a lot with abnormal servitors
>one of the scariest things to a loyal tech-priest is free-willed machines, Men of Iron style

Tech-heresy can range from not properly honoring the machine spirit to stuffing daemons into as many things as possible.

>Inquisitor takes all the credit for the successful mission
sounds about right.

As I've played it thus far, the heretek is really more into incorporating xenotechnology than warp shenanigans. An alien weapon or two in the display cases for them to covet seems too minor, and a Kroot mercenary seems too overt.

Actually, the Kroot thing sounds okay...

I'm naive for asking if there's any recorded stats for servitors besides the basic drone, combat, and repair ones in DH, right?

Servitors equipped with xeno weapons like a gauss flayer on one.

40krpgtools.com/bestiary/
>Type
>Servitor

Thank you. I am a fool.

So how often are player characters likely to die/burn Fate points in Only War? I haven't GMed for it, but I have for Rogue Trader, Dark Heresy, and Black Crusade, and PC death can seem fairly rare.

Respostan' as the last thread mysteriously died...
Daemon-world psyker player here again, just a quick recap since it's been a while...
>born on a Khornate daemon world
>every disappointing power result or just flat miscast adds minor/major doubts in his mind to his psyker-ness
>was doing really poorly, and taking to using slightly more chaotic effects as they felt comforting to him
>ie. asks in front of Inq and party for a bowl of blood to use Scrier's Gaze
>just before this mission now took Tainted Psyker

>we're on a garden world for political reasons
>supposed to be relaxing...
>of course we run into another Inq retinue and interrupt their mission
>they're known to be far less competent than us so we start taking over the reigns a bit
>next thing we're busting into a mansion filled with Eldar

>I can use my newfound Pyromancy, but it's all single target stuff and there are so many Eldar...
>fuck it, let's Dominate
>find I can just mentally slap these Eldar around
>gone from failing plenty of power tests and being useless to controlling half of the fight
>ohh no, this really isn't good...
>my character is power fucking hungry by the time we finish and take 3 Eldar back with us for interrogations
>one Eldar is being snappy at me as I gloat to them a wee bit
>Telepathic Link
>I break into his mind (yet again) and make some retort based on a remark he made, that he doesn't have the willpower to resist me
>aand I roll doubles
>everyone's breath is knocked out of them
>Eldar was shaken by me being able to so easily slip into his mind...
>then his demeanour changes as he feels the phenomena
>he mutters something in the Eldar tongue
>I fail my linguistics roll, just hear him praising my power
>our Interrogator succeeds: "You do not know the powers you mess with"
>Interrogator doesn't bother to enlighten me since I'm looking so happy

Whelp. The interrogations were a whole other story, things got pretty dark pretty quickly after that...

Does Black Crusade count for this thread? You guys like filthy heretics? Cool.

Been starting up games of Black Crusade with my players, they seem to have instantly fallen in love with being filthy Slaaneshi heathens, and all of the sex, drugs, and rock n' roll (and hair spray) that includes.

One thing I'm having trouble with though, is:
What would be the exact turning point of a Player Character being aware of what Chaos is enough to know more about who they worship, and what would encourage a PC that was previously a member of the Imperium to go full antag against the followers of that filthy, decaying corpse god?

Getting Forbidden Lore (Daemonology). Lust for power, greed, revenge, etc. Remember that Black Crusade is also the game you can switch to when a PC in another line gets 100 Insanity or 100 Corruption.

Would someone craving for a father figure want to buddy up with Nurgle?

If they didn't to the emperor first. People usually turn to nurgle out of a fear of death or pain and suffering from disease.

A bit a tabletop RPG experience but first time Rogue Trader player here, being egged on by a GM who is really, really, REALLY into 40K.

Any pointers for rolling my first character and making my ship?

Discuss with other players and your GM first.

What that hell do I even discuss though

I know so little about the setting it's crazy.

Everything.

You might have to read Lexicanum if the GM's really not giving you the rundown on the setting. Or even If the Emperor had a Text to Speech Device on Youtube is alright.

Really though he should be sitting you down and just covering the setting kinda front to back, it's what I did for a few people once when they wanted to learn a new system/setting.

What 40k RPG is best for ERP? I can't decide between DH, RT, and BC myself, with OW being a minor contender.

OW has comrades so you can bring your own waifu with you.

That's true, but it's harder to juxtapose erotic elements with the horrors of war than it is include them in spying/investigation missions, Rampant Debauched Capitalism, or Daddy Issues + Cocaine Addiction: The RPG.

>Daddy Issues: The RPG

Is ADB making a new sourcebook?

It may just be me, but all the games of BC I've been in have been FILLED with IC daddy issues, even for the non-marines.

Alright folks, I'm about to run my first proper session of Dark Heresy 1e (or any 40k rpg) later today. I'm not new to GMing, but I am new to the system.My question to you is:

What things do first-time DH1e GMs and players forget most? What do you wish you had remembered/known about the rules when you were starting out? What nuggets of wisdom can y'all pass down?

Keep track of all expenditures of anything on scratch paper. A player (and character, for that matter) with accountancy skills is vital for a successful inquisitorial acolyte cell.

Situational modifiers. Have the list of actions available to you so that players (especially first timers) can know exactly what they CAN do. Remember that everyone gets a reaction a turn they can use to dodge or parry to keep them from getting dead. As a GM, have a list of random names and halfassed plot threads, becasue if there is one thing I have learned playing DH, it's that your players will take the most unexpected route to try and find information no matter how much to clobber them over the head with the "right" path they should take so it's good to be able to come up with throw away NPCs and situations on the fly easily.

How well would a BS focused Weapon Specialist handle being dropped in Dark Heresy v2?

What does unnat sense in DH2e actually do for you? Is there any advantage to it?

Many thanks to both!

On the note of Accounting, I was thinking of using gaming stones fro ammo counters and such. Is there a better way to do that?

On the note of combat actions, I've got the GM's screen, and two corebooks to go around. Sounds like I should swing for at least one combat-actions printout?

If you've got someone with a las weapon, gaming stones will take up most of hte table. Just keep track of it by hand; if you have to, make an 'ammo counter' printout, label it, laminate it, and have a paperclip you move down as ammo is expended.

Black Crusade, with everyone being a follower of Slaanesh.

Depending on the gun's ammo capacity, you could always use other dice. 6 ammo in each clip? Use a 1d6 to represent ammo count, and tick it down from 6, to 5, to 4, etc.

Alternatively, you can always use flat tokens that can just be shoved in a small bowl or tiny cup. Just start removing tokens with each bit of shooting in to another container. At least that way they won't be all over the table.
Or just use tally marks on a paper, if you're really low-budget.

Many thanks for your wisdoms!

And to you, fine servant of the Emperor!

...

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Now, would anyone run such a thing?

...

Who indeed

Is that an offer user?

Seconded morbid curiosity

Ah, partly a pity; but i'm glad to have aroused your curiousity, user. I'm always looking to pique people's interest in things; it's not easy to do so, but I never shy from taking the long, hard route--alas, if only we could see the treasure at the end, but without a GM it's merely fantasy.

Unfortunately, I am already running a game, otherwise shenanigans could happen. But that's no reason why you can't delve in to the wonderful world of Slaanesh yourself! Be the one to do the thing!

Nothing can go wrong at all with this plan.

...

Yegods, I have one recurring game on hiatus, just starting up my first run of DH, and another game on a rotational when-people-want-it basis.

Not to mention the four others I'm scheming. I'm afraid my dance card is full

Good man for picking up the slack, at least.
I've actually got two games of Black Crusade going, and thinking about merging them at some point.
The groups are rather far apart, however - one's in the Koronus Expanse, and the other's somewhere in the Calixis sector, IIRC. At the very least, one group has access to a transport voidship - fully stocked with fancy cheeses, wine, and servitors, of course. So it could turn in to a single group campaign at one point or another, shenanigans or that-which-must-not-be-named withstanding.

That's some damn fine work!

Also I maybe have like... three other games I also play in so like... is less me taking up the slack (though it is a little of that) and more like... Holy bazongas we play a lot of RPGs in retrospect...

Also, that's a hell of a supply for a player party that aren't Rogue Traders! How did they come to be so wealthy?

Aren't DH2e and OW fairly comparable in terms of character power, save that OW has an advantage in combat and DH2e has an advantage in noncombat and psykering?

We are using some Rogue Trader rules here and there. Only War's a pretty valuable asset for the vehicle rules, too.
There is a nice book for Rogue Trader as well, called Into the Storm, that has information on flight combat and spacecraft as well.
Truth be told, they may be expected to hand back the ship at some point as it's given under the pretext of a temporary borrowing, but we'll see what happens.

Yeah, I run two games already, I don't feel like I could run a third; I'd really like to get away from foreverGMing, in general.

I believe that Only War is considered the lowest character-power game in the fantasyflightgames line. You are pretty much just an Imperial Guard, aka a meatshield for seven-foot-tall dudes in human-shaped tin cans.
Of course, depending on your regiment, your players' level of power can scale from:
"I'm literally just spamming flashlights"
to:
"HAHAHA BASILISKS EVERYWHERE!"
Has anyone ever run an Only War campaign with an artillery regiment? Is it as hilariously entertaining as I dream it could be?

Hold on, who did they "borrow" it from?

Also what class of ship are we talking here?

>Most of the game is about having tea and giving eachother sass
>At one point the line breaks and everyone dies during a horrific night attack because none of them are trained in frontline combat. Glorious victory

They got on the good side of a Rogue Trader, mostly through a lot of lying and a lot of not-lying.
It's not an extremely well-off ship, I wouldn't consider it to be anything good to fight in. It's mostly just something to get them from point A to point B, and also most of the servitors are just for the Apostate who has high fellowship and plenty of experience shoved in to multiple instances of Lesser Minion of Chaos.
They're playing a semi-covert approach to disciples of chaos, as opposed to busting down the door and shouting "TIME FOR MURDER AND COCAINE!", so there's some level of interaction they can actually do with members of, or people working with, the Imperium without getting immediately hunted down like the filthy heretics they are.
At least until the mutations kick in, or someone bursts in to that-which-must-not-be-named.

Very exciting! Also glad to hear tales of a Black Crusade game with a bit more nuance. I've had a lot of hesitation to look into it mostly because I was worried that it would only be murderizing and cocanium

Is it odd that I would that heretic?

Well, after all, some of the time a Black Crusade campaign starts because another campaign went terribly wrong and now everyone's a corrupted, insane asshole.
A previous campaign I ran in Only War, the player playing as a Sergeant was talking a lot about overthrowing the Imperium to put Catachans on top and rule everything. (Catachan regiment.)
I had a Black Crusade book ready when they inevitably became corrupt assholes. How deep down the rabbit hole do you want to lead your men, Sergeant?

Also, if your players are playing Disciples of Chaos (standard human types) instead of Chaos Space Marines (all the subtlety of Khorne in a butcher shop), they can do a lot more social interaction and covert play without drawing so much atttention to themselves.

I personally prefer Disciples of Chaos over CSM in Black Crusade, if mostly because you can actually have good roleplay with normal humans. CSM tend to be specialized for combat, and little else. Usually.

Also I'm running out of safe-for-work chaos to post, everything else is very Slaaneshi. Anyone got more Heretic art?

...

I need stats for guard dogs/rabid mutts. Do we have any?

Canid
Traits: Bestial, Natural Weapons, Quadruped

WS: 30 BS: - S: 30 T: 25 A: 30 I: 15 P: 30 WP: 15 F: 10

Adjust as necessary if too strong/not beefy enough.
Pg. 139 of the Black Crusade book mentions Canids, which are basically just dogs, as lesser minions, but also follows up on the next few pages on traits. There's always giving it the Multiple Arms trait for a mutated dog, allowing it to do more natural weapon attacks in the form of clawing.
Hell, give it Undying too so it can SURVIVE IN THE VACUUM OF SPACE and hunt down your players.

Wait, what are you using these for again?

One thing I'm running in to trouble a lot with lately is fighting ranges. Since everything is determined in meters, and weapons can have ranges around 100m, and then be able to TRIPLE their range with appropriate penalties, how do you manage this on a gridded format? Have really big maps, or have every square count as 3-5m and still find a way to make melee combat work fine with this?

That is wrong. You can quadruple it.

Have maps that depend on where they're fighting. Sometimes it is close, cramped rooms and corridors, sometimes a large battlefield, maybe the inside of a grand temple or a church.

So does this mean most in-door combat is gonna be 1m squares, and a lot of short/close range bonuses for everyone?

close quarters combat is a fast, bloody, messy, deadly affair, so that's just realistic.

If they're in non-highclass bedrooms or such, yes. Ranges up to 30m with various objects and furniture to use as cover with corridors going up to 80m or more.

Remember how the Imperium of man builds things.

Also make sure your players remember the basics of CQC and get a melee attachment for their weapons or a melee weapon.

How should outdoor combat be handled, where there may be larger open space, or someone may be attempting to snipe extremely long distances?

Is it "outdoor" on the inside of a hive or properly outdoor where you can see the stars? Is it a commercial or residential district with lots of tall buildings and probably long stretches of walkways and roads?

Depending on where you live, you can look outside and at local maps for inspiration and insight.

I don't use a grid for long ranges. I just keep a note of the rough distance between the combatants. If they're at 300m, it will take at least 8 rounds at a full run before anyone gets close enough for exact distances to matter. Assuming they don't die closing the distance, just move to a grid once they're about 50m away.

Cheers, mate. I'll keep this in mind.

Or ditch the melee weapons in favour of pistols!

My favorite part of Dark Heresy is how viable a pistolero is.

DH2 question: how would you change the adepta sororitas background special ability so as to not make them immune to corruption, but still keeping about the same level of usefulness (or a little less)?

I'm asking because it really feels off that people can be immune to corruption, even Sororitas. Add to the fact that a Battle Sister gains actual bonuses from insanity, it becomes just too good.

For now i was thinking keeping somewhat a resistance to corruption, like reducing the amount gained by 1 every time, or make them utterly immune to mutation instead of corruption in general... But i'm not sure, they feel a little underwhelming.

Have you tried actually using it before making changes based on nebulous feely feels? FFG probably made that their theme.

Yes i did, not seen a battle sister in action, but an adepta sororitas character yes, and that "nebulous feely feel" hit very hard, as a very strong theme of DH is "you either die or live long enough to become corrupted". So i came asking for advice, not for a patronizing comment drenched in misguided assumptions.

Anyone got any examples of Daemon Weapons.Items they've made for games, stats and info included?
Bonus points for custom artwork for them

'Replace Incorruptible Devotion with Hardened Soul' would be the obvious answer.

Yeah, i guess that can work

Thanks

I'm running my first only war game this weekend playing a regiment specialising in operating behind urban siege lines. Any advice that I should keep in mind?

We were also thinking of ditching the comrade system as the players dislike it, does this break the system too much?

Why don't they like it?

The Comrades are mostly there to provide support for allies, such as helping to brace weapons, or keeping a belt-fed weapon going, or even just servitors for the techpriest to aid in tech use skills.
They can be very helpful for players, and the types of commands they can be given (albeit sometimes limiting) helps solve some rudimentary problems.

However, I can see getting rid of it to some degree. Some archetypes lean on it more than others, but they can be ignored if necessary. If anything, you can just bring in comrades whenever. There's no real issue to having reinforcements show up to fill in comrade slots if it doesn't work leaving them out.

As for operating behind urban siege lines? Any building can be a potential trap, any high window can be a fortified sniper position, and a tank barreling down the street is instantly potential cover, or a potential disaster as it could easily take down plenty of housing around it.

Consider a good use of motorcycles and walkers, as well - the latter in more areas loaded with rubble where difficult terrain doesn't really impede their movement. Giving this to the players or the enemies is up to you. A walker with a flamer attached to the underside and a heavy stubber on a 360' gunner seat can be a great, challenging fight to throw at a party if backed up by a couple of snipers in some windows, or a couple of dudes hiding behind cover with autoguns and stub revolvers.

What are you planning on having them fight? Ork invasions? Filthy heretics, or traitor regiments? The first landing zone of a Tyranid swarm tearing ass through a city? Genestealer cults?

Also, jump packs might be good for maneuvering through downed buildings or rooftops too.