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Pharmaskittle posted:Holy poo poo, what page is that on? Page 10, if my DriveThru pdf is to be believed. I still don't know whether to thump the writer or buy him/her a drink. EDIT: Okay, just finished skimming through the book, and while I honestly have mixed feelings about the adventure, I definitely think that while it isn't as good as I hoped, it's much better than I feared. The book itself is divided into 3 acts. I'll keep really important stuff under spoiler tags: ACT 1: Your regimental dropship is shot down by fighta-bommas, and the Squad has to make a few tests to ensure you land alive. These tests aren't really all that onerous, though I do think that Final Testament should be done by somewhat experienced Squads. In any case, you'd better hope you're okay when you land, because you've just punched through a cave inside of which which the Orks are busily making the Ordinatus more shooty. Even if you rolled really well for the previous section and saved the whole regiment (except for the Commissars and officers, who all somehow died  ), there's just too many Orks to fight, and you organize a fighting retreat, guest-starring a few Dominate special forces guys just dropping in. Honestly, while I think this whole section's very railroady, at least we have an explanation about why it is so. Your regiment's shattered and right in the middle of an enemy stronghold. The only reason you make it out alive is mostly because both the Orks outside the cave and the Dominate troops don't think anyone could have survived the crash. ACT 2: This is where most of my mixed feelings come in. See, you escape, and end up at a nearby Imperial Guard encampment. You're debriefed by the commander, and because you were PCs who probably did awesome poo poo/were complete shits during the escape, you're recruited as the local go-to-and-do-everything guys, because you're just that awesome/everyone wants you dead. The beginning of Act 2 is mostly just there to get you introduced to the camp NPCs and see how you get along before the next part of Act 2, which covers the crazy dangerous missions your Squad will be sent on. Hell, the CO even volunteers to make life as easy as he can manage (not very much, sadly- he offers you better food, a slightly better armour selection, that kind of thing). I'll put my thoughts about that section in spoiler tags below. Here's the scoop- that nice CO? Is of course working for the Dominate, because he was all  about serving with the Inquisition and seeing just what that kind of job entailed. And the missions you're sent on? All attacks on Imperial defences, supply depots, loyal citizens of the planet, etc. It isn't so bad in the beginning- much of the loyal population looks like the Dominate's own loyalists, so perhaps the first mission you get can be mistaken for confusion. But the second mission can be solved via infiltration, and there's more than enough signs to show that these guys are on the Emperor's level. Yet, the book doesn't provide any outs for groups that catch on.That being said, this part can be very easily refluffed simply by switching the enemies to Orks and changing a few things around- which makes it even more surprising something like that wasn't at least included in a sidebar. I mean, after reading Act 3 I can kind of understand why the adventure put you on this path, but it can seriously leave a bad taste in the mouths of both pro-Imperial players and those who don't like being railroaded without cause. If the adventure proceeds as planned, then the Lord Commissar himself shows up to interrogate the Squad at the end. It takes at least 7 DoS from the Squadmembers' tests to fully convince him you're innocent, with one DoS making him think you fools or skilled liars. That said, it's all mostly cosmetic, since Act 3 begins moments after the Lord Commissar's made his decision. ACT 3: While recovering from Act 2 and dealing with its consequences, what seems like every Ork in creation starts rumbling up to your base, eager to use it as target practice for their newly-fixed Ordinatus. The Dominate also joins the fun, eager to seize the Ordinatus for itself. Your Squad's gonna have one hell of a time either wrecking or capturing that thing. Mind you, what comes after might be even more dangerous, especially since it's not really something a gun can solve... Mostly straightforward action here, but the fight to get out of the camp if the Commissar's not on your side can be tough, and getting to the Ordinatus itself even tougher. Your only hope is to infiltrate from behind or the sides, as the massive rush of Orks quickly outpace it. Handling the Ordinatus can be tough as well, and there are quite a few hard tests in it- hope you're prepared! I'd recommend a Tech-Priest AND a Hive-Born dude to assist him for this one. Now, here's where it gets interesting. Assuming you've managed to operate the Ordinatus, you can blast away at either the Orks and the Dominate, which requires a test to point it away from the Imperials- or you could just point it downwards a little, which destroys the massive majority of the Ork forces and Imperials. This gives your squad an in with the Dominate, and considering what happened over the past few Acts, the Squad might have good reasons for thinking they wouldn't be accepted in the Imperium anymore. Hell, if you attacked the Ordinatus without the approval of higher command- quite plausible, since the Commissar was in charge and was likely unreachable and/or unfriendly during the battle- your Squad might be put on trial for being dangerously independent. In which case, here's to hoping you made friends with the loyalist NPCs! With all that said though, there is a very easy fix if you want a somewhat more heroic game- just go with the 'killing orks instead' from the previous spoiled section, and have the Lord Commissar show up to greet your characters for propaganda opportunities or something. That way, even if there has to be a trial afterwards, it'd be more for show and to stick to regulations than any actual attempt to prosecute your dudes. Man, that's a lot of  for a game of pretend soldiers. Honestly, I'd write more, but it's 2:30 AM here and I need sleep. I'm open to questions once I wake up though, assuming I won't be breaking any laws by doing so.
CommissarMega fucked around with this message at 19:40 on Feb 2, 2013 |
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Feb 2, 2013 18:47
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Hodgepodge posted:How would the Vortex even react to a Pariah? Seems like an oil-and-water type of thing. I'm not entirely sure. I found rules for them in the Radicals Handbook and they seem pretty balanced. The Guys character apparently started worshiping chaos out of purely logical reasons, known only to himself, and it is his goal to get the Chaos Gods to notice him. I think my GM has his work cut out for him with our characters though, what with a Disgraced Inquisitor, a Female Chaos Sorcerer (Warp be hosed up yo) who believes that they are the queen of their Home Planet and the Warp itself, A Midget wielding two Chainaxes and a drug habit and a fellow who has massive precog powers and betrayed his whole planet to the Inquisitor because he saw that being the best option for him.
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Feb 2, 2013 22:47
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Ark of Lost Souls is out.
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Feb 2, 2013 23:36
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CommissarMega posted:I don't know what's worse, the fact that FFG put this in- or the fact that I'm still giggly over it: Wow, that beats the hell out of all the Falco/Der Kommissar stuff I shoehorned into the write-up on Commissars in OW Core. I'm not sure who did that, but I know who approved it, and I'm definitely buying him a beer at GenCon.
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Feb 3, 2013 00:43
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Solus posted:I'm not entirely sure. I found rules for them in the Radicals Handbook and they seem pretty balanced. The Guys character apparently started worshiping chaos out of purely logical reasons, known only to himself, and it is his goal to get the Chaos Gods to notice him. I seem to recall finding updated rules for them somewhere that work with the post-RT Psyker rules. A chaos-worshipping Pariah is odd, but I'm sure the player has something interesting mind. Maybe he wants a soul. The rest of the party honestly sounds par for the course for Black Crusade, honestly 
Hodgepodge fucked around with this message at 04:31 on Feb 4, 2013 |
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Feb 3, 2013 18:49
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CommissarMega posted:words So what level is this supposed to be for? It seems like higher level PCs are needed with a specific skillset and very specific placing of points to get through the whole scenario or everyone gets slaughtered/has no idea what they should be doing. Though to be fair that seems to be the FFG method of designing adventures in the first place. What skill checks are needed and at what difficulty anyway?
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Feb 3, 2013 23:48
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Well, I'm at work right now, but I do remember a lot of Awareness tests ranging from +0 to -20 that would save your group lots of grief, and there are definitely Tech-Use tests out the wazoo, so having a skilled Techpriest and/or or a few Operators to assist each other is absolutely essential. That said, social characters have a major impact on the final Act if they take the time to make friends with the majority of the locals, as the trial can prove to be more fatal/detrimental than everything up to that point.
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Feb 4, 2013 04:12
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My group and I played Only War for the first time yesterday - For me I've played Dark Heresy before, and the group has only played D&D 4e and some 3.5. We had a lot of fun. I pre-made characters, Catachans. We has 'Meat' the Ogryn, 'Sarge', 'Doc' the Medic, 'Butch' the Heavy Weapon Specialist and 'FNG' the Weapon Specialist with a flamer. By pure chance, the guy that was in the Reserves drew Sarge, which left me as the DM floundering a bit as he threw military terms at me, but the entire game was very lighthearted. We played the scenario from the Only War core book, and everyone took many an opportunity to quote every cliché war film they could. Catachans turned out to be a good pick for the setting, as it was jungle environment, they clashed well with the Mordians stationed at camp, and their Maverick commander was every cigar-smoking, whiskey-drinking, aviator-wearing man's man stereotype rolled into one. Combats were brutally quick, with FNG's flamer seeing off many a Gretchin, and Meat showing off how great a Ripper Gun is in close combat. Highlights included Meat trying to get involved in wrestling around camp, Sarge's constant "Don't call me sir, I work for a living!" and playing Fortunate Son while trundling through a jungle in a Chimera.
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Feb 4, 2013 11:41
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WAR FOOT posted:By pure chance, the guy that was in the Reserves drew Sarge, which left me as the DM floundering a bit as he threw military terms at me... I love it when people do this in my games as I just  ly inform them that as it's the 41st Millennium things have changed somewhat since the player was last in the Armed Forces.
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Feb 4, 2013 12:27
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Yoshimo posted:I love it when people do this in my games as I just But war... war never changes. 
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Feb 4, 2013 12:40
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WAR FOOT posted:My group and I played Only War for the first time yesterday - For me I've played Dark Heresy before, and the group has only played D&D 4e and some 3.5. I'm painting up Catachans for our group's first game, this is exactly what I wanted to hear. Thanks.
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Feb 4, 2013 13:15
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Tardcore posted:But war... war never changes. If a military player of mine replied that way without skipping a beat, I'd let them sperg out as much as they wanted. At least until I stopped laughing at the good reference.
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Feb 4, 2013 14:20
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Final Testament posted:“In the end, only the Emperor can judge you. Only He is qualified to Only He? Trad Games Reference? You be the judge! Jerkface fucked around with this message at 00:22 on Feb 5, 2013 |
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Feb 4, 2013 19:41
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My favorite thing about Only War is that while you can be the tech priest, or an ogryn, or the sarge or whatever, it is possible and viable to just be a Guardsman who does one thing, and one thing really well, shoot badguys with a lasgun. Between a good BS score, the lasgun barrage talent, and liberally using the overcharge settings on semi-auto, I was blowing away badguys left and right with my weapon specialist,  I rarely even used the flamer I was carrying.
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Feb 4, 2013 19:54
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Galaga Galaxian posted:My favorite thing about Only War is that while you can be the tech priest, or an ogryn, or the sarge or whatever, it is possible and viable to just be a Guardsman who does one thing, and one thing really well, shoot badguys with a lasgun. Yeah, it's nice to subvert the red-shirt normal mentality of the Guard every once in a while. Besides which, that's what the Comrades are for anyway 
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Feb 4, 2013 20:17
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The requisition table was also a lot of fun. The group ended up snagging a crate of Valhallan uniforms and a crate of lho sticks, which meant they were living like kings before being sent on Assignment.
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Feb 5, 2013 00:23
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WAR FOOT posted:The requisition table was also a lot of fun. The group ended up snagging a crate of Valhallan uniforms and a crate of lho sticks, which meant they were living like kings before being sent on Assignment. The requisition table is the best. I ran a short Only War game a month back over winter break, and one of the things they rolled for was the box with the Inquisitorial seal on it. Watching the players freak out was amazing, especially after everyone failed their Int checks and nobody had any in-character knowledge as to what it was. 
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Feb 5, 2013 01:20
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Acebuckeye13 posted:The requisition table is the best. I ran a short Only War game a month back over winter break, and one of the things they rolled for was the box with the Inquisitorial seal on it. Watching the players freak out was amazing, especially after everyone failed their Int checks and nobody had any in-character knowledge as to what it was. I would be seriously tempted to use that box as an excuse to give the group a Baleful Eye implant, just too see what they'd get up too with it.
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Feb 5, 2013 01:24
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Want to play a rogue psyker, wreaking havoc across the galaxy?
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Feb 5, 2013 10:03
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Question: Is it possible for a Space Marine to be a Pariah? Like at any point in the history of Space Marines. I ask because thats a thing that is happening in Black Crusade and it is as metal as gently caress.
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Feb 5, 2013 10:49
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Solus posted:Question: Is it possible for a Space Marine to be a Pariah? Like at any point in the history of Space Marines. I ask because thats a thing that is happening in Black Crusade and it is as metal as gently caress. I haven't read about any of the progenoid gland stuff requiring psychic powers, so sure. the thing is, though, that the kind of person who can become a space marine is, uh, pretty rare: in a population in the hundreds of trillions, there are a million space marines. Meanwhile the pariah gene is also vanishingly rare: about as rare compared to normal psykers as psykers are to normal people. So the odds of getting a person who is a) a pariah, b) capable of becoming a space marine, and c) comes to the attention of space marines who are currently recruiting is extremely low. Especially since you have like a four year window where you're old enough to try out but before you're too old.
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Feb 5, 2013 13:21
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Totally possible. In the spirit of fun and metal-ness, of course it is possible. If you want to try and look at the situation from a 'realism' standpoint, once an Astartes training facility recognizes one of their trainees is a pariah they will ship them off to the assassinorum or inquisition.
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Feb 5, 2013 20:05
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Pariahs also generally inspire a lot of disgust and hatred due to their gift. I think a pariah in the sort of environment that Space Marine recruits pass through would probably end up dead. EDIT: They inspire hatred due to how their aura affects others. Even if no one knows about it, they're likely to really, really loathe the guy.
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Feb 5, 2013 20:26
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Also immediately disrupts the whole brotherhood thing. It's called Pariah for a reason, I don't think they would be found appropriate for training or whatever.
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Feb 5, 2013 22:52
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TheLawinator posted:Also immediately disrupts the whole brotherhood thing. It's called Pariah for a reason, I don't think they would be found appropriate for training or whatever. That's not fair. Pariahs are unpleasant to look upon and be around, they aren't impossible to tolerate. There are a lot of pariahs in the books who work closely with people. And really, you think the Black Templars would ever have a problem with a dude who was immune to warpcraft? I don't care if he's the rudest, ugliest, most irritating guy in the galaxy, if he can make the cut then they'll chain some weapons to him and go murder some witches together, singing a happy song the whole time.
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Feb 5, 2013 23:05
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In terms of game stats, a Pariah suffers a -10 to Fellowship- not an insurmountable obstacle, especially if a player rolls well for it. And Jurgen from the Ciaphas Cain series is a blank (which is kind of like a Pariah), and it seems to manifest in people percieving him as a disheveled slob. That being said, Pariahs are way too rare to be placed in an organization like the Space Marines; any such kid being discovered would be more likely than not handed over to the Black Ships, where they'd not only keep the onboard psykers under control, but also be turned into Culexus Assassins on their arrival at Terra.
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Feb 6, 2013 00:02
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I've got a deathwatch guy I worked up for a game that's a "blank." My thinking was that his chapter realized he was a blank, and sent him off to serve the inquisition.
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Feb 6, 2013 00:08
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CommissarMega posted:In terms of game stats, a Pariah suffers a -10 to Fellowship- not an insurmountable obstacle, especially if a player rolls well for it. And Jurgen from the Ciaphas Cain series is a blank (which is kind of like a Pariah), and it seems to manifest in people percieving him as a disheveled slob. in the Navis Primer the pariah elite advance cuts your Fel in half, then reduces it by a further -20 when interacting with creatures with a psy rating or the psyniscience skill. And the space marines obviously don't hand over all their people with psychic potential to the black ships, or where would librarians come from?
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Feb 6, 2013 00:52
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Liesmith posted:
Pariahs are like the exact opposite of people with psychic potential.
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Feb 6, 2013 05:56
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HerraS posted:Pariahs are like the exact opposite of people with psychic potential. But I imagine since both psykers and pariahs are opposite ends of the same spectrum, they kinda fall into the same category of "Hey, if we train these right, the can be useful to us!".
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Feb 6, 2013 06:05
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Now I'm imagining a Space Marine Chapter that has "full of pariahs" as their gimmick. All their members really hate each other due to the pariah phenomenon, which manifests as constant passive-aggressive attitudes and acts of revenge. Maybe scuffing someone else's bolter after hours of purification rituals, or just silently glaring at each other over the morning meal. The ever-growing hatred is only burned off when pitted against the Emperor's enemies.
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Feb 6, 2013 06:06
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Liesmith posted:And the space marines obviously don't hand over all their people with psychic potential to the black ships, or where would librarians come from? The point I was trying to make was that Pariahs are just too valuable to be placed with the Space Marines; they're too rare to risk them being killed by a random Ork or Ripper. You'll want those soulless weapons deployed against psychic powerhouses, where they'll at least do some good before they snuff it.
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Feb 6, 2013 06:29
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So, I need some help. My character died.  My Militant-Savant ended up using a desperate casting of Holocaust to kill a freak-emergence of an Unbound Daemonhost, killing or at least mortally wounding it in exchange for my dude's life. In any case, I've decided to use this as an opportunity to try out a class I've been wanting to test for awhile now: the Tech Priest. So, if one were to build a Tech-priest from scratch with about 6000exp, how would you go about doing it?
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Feb 6, 2013 06:43
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Pyrolocutus posted:Now I'm imagining a Space Marine Chapter that has "full of pariahs" as their gimmick. All their members really hate each other due to the pariah phenomenon, which manifests as constant passive-aggressive attitudes and acts of revenge. Maybe scuffing someone else's bolter after hours of purification rituals, or just silently glaring at each other over the morning meal. The ever-growing hatred is only burned off when pitted against the Emperor's enemies. While that would be hilariously awesome, I think the dislike of pariahs comes from everyone being mildly psychic, so the pariah's absence of any sort of it makes even average citizens feel uneasy due to a subconscious detection of the "void". So pariahs wouldn't sense the lack of psychic powers in each other, and get along just fine (probably very well since they have something to relate to). That being said, I think your idea needs to be done. Having the players be petty and bickering between each other could be lots of fun.
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Feb 6, 2013 06:59
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bhsman posted:So, I need some help. My character died. If you have 6000 XP to spend, here is a good example of a "what has science wrought!" tech priest http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3531759#post412162982 Also kudos on the heroic, awesome death
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Feb 6, 2013 08:00
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CommissarMega posted:The point I was trying to make was that Pariahs are just too valuable to be placed with the Space Marines; they're too rare to risk them being killed by a random Ork or Ripper. You'll want those soulless weapons deployed against psychic powerhouses, where they'll at least do some good before they snuff it. Space Marine chapters generally get to decide for themselves if resources under their command are better off in the hands of the wider Imperium. They're a lot like the Mechanicus in that they're part of the Imperium largely on their own terms and are only tenuously under the authority of even the Inquisition and the High Lords of Terra. Typically, they control their own planets and/or systems, recruit and train on their own, and often even manufacture their own weapons and ships. They're actually a bit more dependent on the Mechanicus than the rest of the Imperium, because they do send Techmarines to Forge Worlds for training. They also tend to have religious beliefs that are outright heretical by normal Imperial standards, and some chapters have mutation problems that probably wouldn't get past the Inquisition under any other circumstances. Probably the most telling thing is that they don't take military orders. Planets or Imperial leaders ask nearby chapters for assistance and they respond at their own discretion.
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Feb 6, 2013 08:48
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In Emperor's Gift it's implied that there are Grey Knight Pariahs that're a secret brotherhood called the Ferrymen or something
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Feb 6, 2013 09:57
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In Final Testament, the Lord Commisar's ride is referred to thusly:
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Feb 6, 2013 11:54
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Scoobi posted:If you have 6000 XP to spend, here is a good example of a "what has science wrought!" tech priest Looks nice - I might tinker with it a bit but it looks like a decent starting point. quote:Also kudos on the heroic, awesome death Thanks!  It was the first major death in the group, and was pretty ironic considering the GM was feeling desperate that nothing was killing us and it ended up being a Daemonhost that appeared when a random mutant Perils'd.
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Feb 6, 2013 22:45
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If you want to play a Pariah marine it doesn't seem so wildly impossible that your GM should stop you. I mean sure it might be a little strange and unusual, but that's sort of stock for characters - lots of them have weirdness in their background. I mean it might not be very well received, and could easily be the reason that your dude is no longer chilling with his chapter and working with Deathwatch instead (or whatever). Basically the chapter decided they didn't need to be turning these people over, the Inquisition finds out and gets all grouchy, and the chapter compromises by agreeing to second them to specific important missions when needed. Space Marine chapters get up to crazy poo poo all the time. That ranges from the ones that are in all-out violation of some Imperial Creeds (like the Black Templars havng way too many members) and the Blood Angels having crazy cannibal rights. But it also extends to the ones that just throw a little wobbler and go power-crazy with their domains, like leading up to the Badab War.
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Feb 6, 2013 23:16
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