I got some advice a while back, though I can't find the thread- and finally have the time to properly post about the group I've accrued on Sundays to pit against a backwater solar system, full of Abominable Intelligences, Demons, Cults, a fleet of Tyranids, C'tan shards, rogue psykers, Lamenters and players who know how to weave interesting backstories. I share the game every other sunday with another player who also runs an interesting Dark Heresy game, but doesn't know nearly as much of the lore Let me preface this by saying that it started as one idea, a fairly shitty one conceived during the hour I had to plan, as one of the players decided "Fuck it, let's give it a try". And I don't regret a single moment after that.
Let me elaborate on the merry crew.
Ryder Miller
This fuck is the player who pushed the game to start, and provides the venue. A pretty, black table with heavy poly lower shelf, all hand made, wood, stained to perfection- with an elevated platform for the DM, and two screens.
First name Ajax, last name Lacroxx, comes from a feral/feudal world, on its' way to becoming civilized when murderous death cults showed up after alien invaders pillaged and burned with lightning speed, leaving distressed natives to turn away from the light of the Emperor. The result was a twenty year long war that engulfed the planet, spawned warp storms, and ended with La Croxx's father turning into a Chaos Space Marine- after besting a champion World Eater in melee combat and taking up his enemy's sword, his own hammer, tainted heavily with the blood of minor demons, cultists and chaos space marines, was retrieved by his son- after that son had saved his own life by putting a surprise boltshell in his commissar's head, and explaining all of this and more to the Radical Inquisitor who he now owes his life to.
Ajax is at the moment, a moderately tall man, bald everywhere due to overexposure to fire- of which he has a serious phobia, exacerbated by his close proximity to a pyromancer sister of battle.
Carter Barnes
The second person in the squad is the person always standing at lest two meters behind Ajax unless the situation calls for alternate strategies. A Mechanicus adept from the local forge world, Ashe has taken a liking to the idea of making herself look as human as possible while still accepting major augmentation. She's adept wth sniper rifles, and recently decided that being the quiet sniper wasn't always the best plan. That being said, she has a sniper rifle. And she uses it to great effect literally everywhere, while committing atrocious tech heresy everywhere- with her main schtick being adapting her combat styles to make use of Eldar shuriken and power weaponry, namely shuriken pistols and a recently acquired Cratworld Eldar power sword, and only recently after fighting sorcerous servitors have I heard Ashe's player talking about going Null, as the only two things that can seem to jack or shit to her are fast enemies who flank Ajax, ranged opponents with the ability to make her dodges harder, and GODDAMN PSYKERS.
She's Major if Major had a mechadendrite eye.
Isaiah Roberts
The third member of the party is a previously mentioned pyromancer. Originating from a local shrine world, Dawn was a Sister of Battle- who preferred to fight fire with even more fire. And this penchant for pyromancy appears to have paid off- as she's now able to command fire with her goddamned mind. Fearing this, her sisters reported this to the local Inquisitor, who decided she was just willful enough to serve His inquisition. Only recently has she come into her full potential- rolling around like the aforementioned Ashe- in "Recently Acquired" Sister of Battle power armor and Magnus pattern fists- to hide the fact that these fucks seem to be able to light people on fire by thinking unpleasant thoughts at them. For the most part, due to player absence, she has more often than not stayed aboard the ship to counter boarding efforts during operations where the "Away" team isn't going to be able to defend the ship loadef with a dozen imperial guard squads, a team of freshly trained Adeptus Mechanicus maintenance and combat personnell, and a Leman Russ- taking up one of three landing pads and tons of cargo space.
Blake Campbell
And then there's Viktor. Not much to say abou him. His home has been exterminatus'd after he willed some of his creations to life on a civilized world. Being called a Sorcerer- he patched himself back up like a proper Heretek- and fled, intent on finding a way to finding a way to Ferrus Manus himself, with the "Greatest chance" coming from their recently acquired, yet highly dangerous Soul Devouring Necron Sword. He also has a pair of Dark Eldar slaves, one of whom is clearly the dominant party in a very bad situation.
Mason Foster
The last merry member of the gang so far, replacing a character who went off the grid, is a former Captain of the imperial navy- who watched her crew die in one swing of the sword hinted above when it was in the hands of Jacosta- a decieved high ranking member of the Sisters, who had her mind dead set on killing the enemies of mankind, and had a few friendly casualties on her way to that lofty goal. When she escape podded from her ship, it was then boarded, hijacked, and force-fed to a planetary defense missile system.
By far she's one of the more amazing characters I've had the joy of interacting with, and devising a backstory for. Imperial navy, using the additional baground rolling tables gave her 18 years old, and a side roll made her Captain in the imperial nay, which made a lot of sense considering she was the only person with the will to survive a weapon built to steal the souls of a shipfull of attackers.
By far, the youngest captain in the local imperial navy, with enough strength to carry and fire (Read: Bulging Biceps) an Autocannon, with the authority to boss little ships around and the knowledge to do anything she wants on a 3d plane, Castella now serves as the group's main form of space travel navigation in-system, and serves as the more visible damage dealer and Crit Machine in the party. I'm not kidding, it's heavy weapons girl.
Jeremiah Mitchell
More on this in the future. Not sure where to g from here besides cataloging the group and in future threads, noting what happens. I need to collect my notes. Any questions in the meantime are appreciated.
Brandon Reed
>La Croxx's father turning into a Chaos Space Marine Haha what the fuck? That's not even possible. >Eldar shuriken and power weaponry, namely shuriken pistols and a recently acquired Cratworld Eldar power sword Wew lad. Beautiful cyborg AND uses ultra rare guns. >Fearing this, her sisters reported this to the local Inquisitor, who decided she was just willful enough to serve His inquisition Using unsanctioned psykers is extremely dangerous, and heretical. Her sisters would give her the Emperor's mercy. >yet highly dangerous Soul Devouring Necron Sword. He also has a pair of Dark Eldar slaves Wow. >By far, the youngest captain in the local imperial navy, with enough strength to carry and fire (Read: Bulging Biceps) an Autocannon Literally mary-sue, same backstory as the original Star Trek FF character. Also how in your brain is a teenage girl strong enough to carry a fucking autocannon?
It's your game and all, but why do you think that having a bunch of super special snowflakes fits with 40k?
Dark Heresy is about a bunch of outcasts and rejects desperately trying to survive one of the worst jobs in the Imperium. Almost everyone in the Inquisition below interrogator is a canary in a coal mine.
It just seems to me like you're missing the point. It's the grim darkness of the 41st millennium, not mahvel comics. Things should be dark and oppressive. Character's lives should be cheap, short, and end horribly.
Ian Cooper
I thought it would be interesting to have a system with many plans playing off one another, with an inquisitor there to make sure no one else's plan function that aren't beneficial to the Imperium. Hence why a group like this exits; so far they've been closer to a strike team of assassins than inquisitors, if only because they found the heresies I had planned and outplayed an amateur DM, then did everything in their power to screw their subtlety score.
And the only reason I'm allowing the autocannon bullshit is due to her being ripped, the gun having a counterbalance, wearing fuck all for armor, xenophobic as hell, and on the verge of murdering the squad. Probably the only two people who could be construed as "Puritans" in the group.
Anthony Russell
If you want authentic 40k its your job as a GM to maintain the grim darkness. If your characters all want super special toys you tell them no. if they want dark Eldar slaves you tell them no. if they want to be naval captain despite being a child, you tell them no. If they want to be an unsanctioned psyker, and a SoB, AND part of the Inquisiton, you tell them no. If they want to be a cyborg without being an ugly techno freak, you tell them no.
If they want to break the cannon over their knee, and make characters more special than named heroes of the setting, you tell them no. If their characters routinely perform heresy they won't last long in the Inquisition.
Otherwise you aren't playing real 40k. The window dressing might be the same, but the core themes and setting are not.
The only place a party like this would kinda work, keyword kinda, is with Rogue Trader. Which has a completely different set of rules to the other games. And even if they were Rogue Traders, they would have to constantly dodge the authorities to avoid excommunication.
Grayson Morris
That, and I didn't feel like penalizing a dice roll in the character creator. It was rolled, it was random, and it was fair. Same with the requisition rolls. It's the party itself that brightens the setting, with actual planning and enough thought to get around it.
And the only reason they're not excommunicated, because you made some valid points, is due to unconventional thinking and being outside of actual imperial space, while also being inside a system claiming to be it's under the Imperium's jurisdiction. All the players were new, the DM has only done Dungeons and Dragons before, and while grim darkness is all well and good- it's also fun to nip at the heels of explorator fleets.
That, and the only other reason it isn't as "Grimdark" is still hidden to the players, although they've received hints.
Cameron Murphy
>Literally mary-sue, same backstory as the original Star Trek FF character. Also how in your brain is a teenage girl strong enough to carry a fucking autocannon?
Howdy mate. Mary Sue Captain Castella here. Lemme ask you a question here. Y'ever heard about... fun? About utilizing improvisational skill to make enjoyable characters in a game where character creation can be very easily randomized down to the color of your character's hair? About being a good game master and allowing your players to help craft and shape the isolated game world because even the wargame-inspired Dark Heresy is first and foremost a Roleplaying Game? If you've answered yes to any of these questions, kindly open your mouth and shove your foot inside.
Zachary Peterson
>It's the party itself that brightens the setting A fundamentally flawed statement. When every single character in your game flies in the face of the bedrock themes and cannon of the setting it means you aren't playing in that setting.
You can't have Star Trek where the Federation is a dark authoritarian regime. You can't have 40k where the Inquisition is an open and tolerant agency.
Roleplaying is about making a character within the confines of the setting, not bending the setting around your character. Maybe you're used to DnD where the entire planet revolves around the PCs.
There are no circumstances within the established cannon in which any of these characters make sense. It's fine that you want to play an alt-40k, but don't try and tell me that your shit fits.
Jace Price
Never really intended seriousness. If anything, it's a training experience for when I learn the material a bit better. Hence why, for now, it makes some sense.
That and the bedrock is still there. the players are just abusing some of the luxuries that come with being inquisition. For instance, why the inquisition would hire anyone with knowledge of daemonology, hereteks- which exist in the expansion books a playable classes, and people from daemon worlds, who would normally be summarily executed if the circumstance were the normal day to day. But if you're simply playing the monotony of life as an average imperial citizen who works till he dies, you're not being very inquisitive, are you?
Andrew Flores
Man, miss me with that elitist shit. If I wanted to play a strict, by the books, no way to make my own inputs or interpretations of the 40k-verse, then I'd play the fuckin' video games. But I'mma say it again. This is a Role Playing Game. You can talk all you want about the game part, sure. If we're using mechanics wrong then let us know. But we're playing roles that we made and we're having a blast. Who gives a flying fuck if it breaks lore
Carter Roberts
>If anything, it's a training experience for when I learn the material a bit better. Not really. As a GM it's best to immerse the players headfirst into 40k, without any prior knowledge. When your level one acolytes run into daemons, and the players have no idea what the fuck a daemon is aside from "monster that will fuck you up", then the real magic of the setting happens. Dark Heresy is CoC in space starring the Gestapo. Not Pathfinder with guns.
A'ight 'mah du'e. Firs' thin's fir's, coo' it wit' all 'dose fuckin' aposrophes. Second off, did you miss where I said >It's fine that you want to play an alt-40k I don't have a problem that you're teenagers using RPGs as a wish fulfillment fantasy. But don't tell me you're playing in the grim darkness of the far future when nothing is grim or dark about it.
Josiah Wood
Wish fulfillment nothing, I just know how to enjoy myself. And by the way, just because a setting is dark and gritty doesn't mean there can't be levity. In fact it's kind of required in order to be engaging on a narrative level. Nobody likes all grit all the time.
>can't be levity 40k has notes black comedy, and its totally consistent with the setting (see: Orks).
Playing deviant art OCs is not.
Grayson Ramirez
I agree that they are having bad-wrong-fun.
However it is their game and I have enough painted plastic spacemen to know that I have no right to judge.
Luke Morgan
There you go! Now you're getting it.
Angel Taylor
Son if I were playing a deviant art OC shit'd be a lot more ridiculous than that. Captain Castella is by no means a wish fullfillment character. she's mechanically legit and easily made in the DH system. In fact most of her creation was left up to dice rolls, including her rank. The only thing I really put into her character that was my own idea was her name.
Ryan Long
>Who gives a flying fuck if it breaks lore
Gronards, homie. I can assure you that the moment you start flying in the face of the setting you are going to rustle some jimmies.
I know this for I feel them rustle...
At the end of the day, you are right though. Have fun with your friends and enjoy yourselves.
Connor Wilson
Wait, you can get Bulging Biceps at character creation? I remember that being gated by needing super high Str and only available later on in the tree.
Also where are there tables to roll your rank for a Guardsman?
Nicholas Gutierrez
I joined the game later in the campaign so I was given an equivalence of exp to the other party members. I had already rolled pretty high for strength so I used that as a base for enhancing the character. Because of this I basically started off with bulging biceps. As for the rank roll, that was a GM decision. I had been rolling for everything else about my character, including their age, stature, and hair, so I asked if I could roll for rank too. I did so, and got a 01
Brandon Johnson
I couldn't make her an admiral given Dark Heresy, and because that would be way too much bullshit, s I gave her a station befitting an upstart with high potential in the imperial navy- being her background. Captaincy of an old, rotting systems defense ship in the midst of escalating turmoil. Something she ultimately failed to keep, if only due to other actions within the party.
Nevertheless, she had enough experience, and enjoying a nice, even playing field, everyone has a roughly similar allotment of EXP, at the moment being 7750, and at Castella's time of creation- 7000 flat. Given that, it's entirely reasonable that a strange prodigy could train herself to do that degree. Especially considering she's the only member of the crew to be completely unaugmented.
