Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Home is where the Heresy is

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Traditional Games > Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Home is where the Heresy is

Cantorsdust: Aug 10, 2008; Infinitely many points, but zero length.

Crossposting from Recruitment, since most of you interested are probably here. I'm recruiting for a new game:

Game: Out of the Frying Pan...
System: Warhammer 40K RPG: Rogue Trader
Format: Voice Chat via Discord
Players: Up to 7
Description:

Grab your bolters and whisper a prayer to the Emperor--we're off to explore the Koronus Expanse, a practically uncharted sector of lost worlds teeming with humanity, harsh planets hiding vast deposits of minerals, and foul hives of Xenos demanding to be purged. But it's not just a sandbox. I also have a plot threaded through it all--one of intrigue and politics, conflicts both subtle and overt, over stakes that could change the fate of the Imperium itself--if you choose to follow it.

I'm looking for up to 7 brave souls to join me. Veterans and newbies equally welcome. I want to run the game slightly less grimdark and more in the style of "Heroes of the Imperium" with mighty characters, great deeds, and ample opportunity for profit.

# ¿ Oct 4, 2018 01:08

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# ¿ May 15, 2024 06:15

Cantorsdust: Aug 10, 2008; Infinitely many points, but zero length.

Yeah the way the Navis Primer goes into it, it sounds like the messages are visions deeply personal to the individual Astromancer that require some interpretation. Which I agree doesn�t really make sense with the straightforward interpretation of the message into text. How exactly does the statement �Meet here at these coordinates: xx,yy,zz� translate into a vision?

I treat it more like a standard data transmission that may get garbled with noise requiring correction to read properly.

# ¿ Oct 4, 2018 16:41

Cantorsdust: Aug 10, 2008; Infinitely many points, but zero length.

ShootaBoy posted:

Now I'm picturing teenage astropaths in the Schola, flicking the mental equivalent of spit wads and rubber bands at each other during lessons.

WH 40K magical high school game

Adeptus Astartes�jocks
Adeptus Mechanicum�nerds
Rogue Traders�rich kids
Arbitrators�Hall monitors
Inquisitors�teachers
Emperor�principal that�s always on vacation

# ¿ Oct 8, 2018 13:26

Cantorsdust: Aug 10, 2008; Infinitely many points, but zero length.

Tias posted:

Is there an Only War or Rogue Trader supplement that details in-world airships?

I'm trying to rulehack a setting for dirigible-based warfare, and my group isn't up for learning new rules at present.

RT does have rules for planetary vehicles and airplanes etc, under the supplement Into the Storm. But I agree with the above recommendation that if the dirigibles are being treated as independent ships rather than interchangeable units within a larger army, you�re better off mocking them up as reskinned Rogue Trader ships using the regular starship combat rules in the core rulebook. Should work pretty well IMO.

# ¿ Mar 24, 2021 22:01

Cantorsdust: Aug 10, 2008; Infinitely many points, but zero length.

Tias posted:

Deathwatch game coming up. How to engage the various squad specialties in the non-combat segments? I got some archives for the techmarine to wrangle and a ghost for the librarian, but I'll take any and all suggestions or good experiences you got

Semi serious answer: Make them play Nice Marines for a session.

https://twitter.com/gshowitt/status/1265954214460735494?s=20

# ¿ Sep 2, 2021 12:51

Cantorsdust: Aug 10, 2008; Infinitely many points, but zero length.

Arglebargle III posted:

Here's a question for DMing Rogue Trader:

I've noticed that the players' ship is reliably faster than NPC ships. Part of this is down to rewards the players have earned, but most of it is down to the way the Flank Speed action works, and the fact that any decent techpriest will soon have tech-use pushed into the 70s where he pretty much can't fail and is likely to push the ship's speed by a good 30%.

It's an adventure fiction staple that the heroes' ship is fast and well-handled, so it's not really a problem that they are faster than their class suggests. The problem is that not all of their opponents should be slow by comparison. It's hard to have an interesting stern chase if you know your frigate is likely to catch and defeat every raider you see, and is almost certain to outrun any cruiser.

The thing is, ships need to have command crews to use actions like Flank Speed, and I don't want to bother creating command crews for every NPC ship and determining whether they're going to be good at going fast or not. Any suggestions for how to vary the NPC ship handling, so that my heroes aren't guaranteed to run down any opponent they want?

One of the enemy ships has a flicker Warp Drive that lets them make brief jumps across the battlefield. Maybe it has to spend a turn charging up, though, so the players get a warning.

One of the ship's engines is powered by the consumption of souls, and the ship can be pushed to "flanking speed" by a massive, gruesome sacrifice with only a small chance of summoning demons from the Warp afterward.

The Ork ship is painted red. That's it.

Another Ork ship is just a big rock with rockets strapped to it. It can charge forward at double speed but only in a straight line, then has to spend a turn reorienting. It can't move less than double speed either with the maneuver.

The Mechanicus ship has an experimental "Acceleration Drive" that starts out relatively slow but increases in speed for every turn the ship spends moving until it's clearly faster than the PCs' ship. Good for chases, but not very helpful in maneuvering battles.

# ¿ Feb 17, 2024 20:30

Cantorsdust: Aug 10, 2008; Infinitely many points, but zero length.

Arglebargle III posted:

Dark Eldar antagonist had a clone field, needed to roll under a 72 to dodge the Explorator's heat-seeking missile. Rolled an 80. Incubus tried to step in front of the missile. Whiffed another agility roll. No more Dark Eldar antagonist.

The big setpiece of the breaching scene was a mounted Darklight Blaster position turning even the most heavily-armored boarding team into goo. The protagonists bravely assaulted it. It whiffed every shot and then died.

I was genuinely concerned one of the PCs was going to end up with a blaster beam to the chest and burn a fate point but apparently my NPCs just can't roll dice.

Grats. RT can feel like rocket tag at times, so I'd rather the PCs pull out an easier win than expected than eat poo poo.

# ¿ Feb 19, 2024 03:35

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# ¿ May 15, 2024 06:15

Cantorsdust: Aug 10, 2008; Infinitely many points, but zero length.

lines posted:

My character who has this is a Genetor so I'm not sure what the Biologis equivalent is.

Just make sure every prayer finishes with "End Dictation"

# ¿ Mar 1, 2024 01:02

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