Deathwatch: Sons of Jericho IC

Game Master Rookseye

The Emperor Protects!

Welcome to the Deathwatch: Sons of Jericho Campaign. This thread will serve as the out of character posting for present and future players for the duration of the campaign.

Currently the game is full, but feel free to monitor this thread for any developments in the player roster.

Please use this posting to discuss Deathwatch rules, character advancement/concepting, and other assorted Blather.

Below are listed the GM's formatting preferences for posting on the IC thread:

• 1. Please post all OOC information, such as public asides to the GM, clarifications on game rules and actions, and results of die rolls in OOC tags. Involved discussion of character advancement, non-game associated dialogue, and lengthy rules discussion should be instead posted to this, the OOC thread.
  
• 2. Please post descriptions of character actions in standard text.
  
• 3. Please post character dialogue inside quotation marks.
  
• 4. Spoilers/private asides for the GM or other players should be posted in spoiler tags as needed.
  
• 5. We will be using either the embedded BBCode Paizo forums dice roller, or alternately, Invisible Castle for all die rolling. Please use your character's first name as the "Character" name when rolling if using Invisible Castle. Rolls, as noted above, should be posted into OOC tags.

There are only two rules for this campaign:

1. Have fun!
2. Hiatus Rules.

• If you are going on a hiatus of three days or less, please post this information to this OOC thread. I will gladly 'ghost' your character for a short period of time, as the storyline allows, remarking on his actions as needed to continue in-game action for the other players of the campaign.
• If you believe you will be unable to post for an extended period of time, and would like to remain in the game, please post this information to this OOC thread. If possible within the storyline, I will provide a reasonable reason for the absence of your character. Or, if needed, control your character during the events to come until such a time as you can post again.
• Finally, if you wish to withdraw from the game for any reason, please post to this OOC thread so that your character can be retired, more than likely as another casualty in the meatgrinder that is the Anchilus Crusade, so that another person can assume your slot in the game. Withdrawing will not hurt my feelings, we just want as committed and interested a group of acolytes as we can muster!

Below are listed convenient links to the campaign pages:

Deathwatch: Sons of Jericho IC Thread
Deathwatch: Sons of Jericho Campaign Wiki
Invisible Castle

Let the cleansing begin.

For the AllFather! For Russ!

No pity!
No remorse!
No fear!

We stand on the precipice of darkness to shed the Emperors light.

Illuminate them!!!

With honor and pride we go forth to glory for the Emperor!!

OK guys, now that you've had some time to make a first pass over the completed sheets, I'll list out the information that I still need. As always, some of this may be my mistake, as vetting seven sheets and comparing them to the Paizo profile posts with different formatting for the character information you sometimes miss the smaller details.

OK, here is what I have so far:

• Davi: Needs to choose his specialty Apothecary ability, needs to select a Tactics skill specialty.

• Rad: Needs to select a Personal Demeanor and a Chapter Trapping.

• Ellipsis: Needs to select a Tactics skill specialty. Is the Signature Wargear sniping weapon that you selected the Stalker pattern boltgun, Ellipsis?

• Catman: Needs to select a Tactics skill specialty.

Everyone should also double-check that any Chapter specific characteristic advances were added in.

Finally, if everyone could summarize in a post what advances they initially took, and from what category (i.e. Chapter Advance, Specialty Advance, etc.) that would help greatly. I am going to be keeping a separate spreadsheet with the advances for each character to track them. With so many advance tables it will be better to keep things organized ahead of the game. I appreciate it, as it will save me some digging.

Once we get this out of the way we can start talking history, personalities, and relationships between the Kill-Team members.

Davi: Needs to choose his specialty Apothecary ability, needs to select a Tactics skill specialty.

I took Enhanced Healing, I put it down under Traits. Honestly, I just forgot to choose a specialty. Taking Tactics(Assault).

EDIT: And both my advances are from the Apothecary skill set.

I gave Quintus +5 BS, INT(200XP ea.) and Cleanse & Purify(500XP) from the Devastator list

Ellipsis: Needs to select a Tactics skill specialty. Is the Signature Wargear sniping weapon that you selected the Stalker pattern boltgun, Ellipsis?

No, it's the needle rifle (p. 153), and I took Tactics (Recon & Stealth).

For advances, I took Exotic Weapon Training (500XP) from the Devastator List and Signature Wargear (500XP) from the General List.

Thanks guys, I'll update and re-post the sheets tonight.

Here is the final Kill-Team, after character creation:

• Brother Quintus (Lorm), Ultramarine Devastator Marine
  
• Brother Sepheren (Davi), Blood Angels Apothecary
  
• Brother Emeric (Eradico), Black Templars Tech Marine
  
• Brother Hrothgar (Radavel), Space Wolves Assault Marine
  
• Brother Eli Syne (Ellipsis), Dark Angels Devastator Marine
  
• Brother Lyriel Vex (Balfic), Dark Angels Librarian
  
• Brother Caledonii (Catman), Storm Wardens Tactical Marine

It looks as though there is a really good mix here. Brother Quintus and Brother Caledonii look pretty well optimized for leadership roles and fire support, the specialists are covered in Brother Sepheren (Medicae) and Brother Emeric (Technical), the team psyker, Brother Lyriel, and team stealth/infiltration specialist, Brother Eli, represent the Dark Angels as the only repeated chapter, and Brother Hrothgar comes in as the take no prisoners close assault expert.

Based on the Chapters, personalities, and roleplaying preferences of the players involved, we can start formulating the Kill-Team dynamic. Remember, as a newly formed Deathwatch squad, thrust together from chapters with vastly different traditions and beliefs, you now have to learn to function as a unit.

Are the Dark Angel's marines known to eachother? Are they aloof and secretive?

Does Brother Emeric resent or frown on the warp-tainted Librarian he is forced into battle with?

Will Brother Hrothgar see the Dark Angel's as rivals? Is the fact that Brother Eli was once in ceremonial single combat with one of his brethren (or perhaps Hrothgar himself?) a point of friendship or contention?

Does Brother Quintus have a degree of rivalry with Brother Caledonii for the hearts and minds of the Kill-Team as two of the more qualified leaders?

Is Brother Sepheren, as both Apothecary and Blood Angel, and susceptible to the Red Thirst and bloody rages someone you want ministering to your well-being when you've been shot? (Joking on this one, Davi, LOL)

I'll open things here to general discussion on this topic. Once everyone is feeling good about where things are, I will give everyone a short character survey and then construct the individual character info capsules similarly to how we did the Dark Heresy campaign wiki.

Based on my Chapter and Background I plan on being very secretive and standoffish. Figure looking to the mirror, and seeing what your reflection is capable of would have an affect on the Greatest of Men; including Space Marines.

As far as his Death Watch Librarian Advances: +5WP

Dark Angels Advances: Forbidden Lore Adeptus Astartes, Traitor Legions, Interrogation

Here are my XP purchases:

Techmarine Menu: Toughness +05 (simple, 200)
Intelligence +05 (simple, 200)
Security, Trained (400)

Black Templar Menu: Interrogation, Trained (200)

Rook, can you "mark-through" the following Space Marine abilities on my sheet: Sus-an Membrane and Betcher's Gland? Black Templar gene-seed does not include these enhancements. If you can't, that's OK. I'll remember that I don't get to chew through steel, spit acid, or go into suspended animation.

It looked cut-off and I couldn't see if Auger Array was listed on my implants. I got one free addition "common" craftsmanship bionic (p. 176) in addition to my servo-arm.

Chapter Trappings -- I'm considering dropping Devotion Chain and adding instead a tabard (Deathwatch/Squad Heraldry) since that would help w/group cohesion. Leave the Devotion Chain for now but depending on my character's background/motivation I may want to try to be more of a "team player" than one might expect of a Black Templar.

More to follow... thanks!

quick update

demeanor - gregarious
trapping - wolf pelt

Ceremonial single combat... with Brother Eli, plausible. Though prior to combat there must have been an eating and drinking contest reminiscent of the contest between the Emperor and Russ.

Being gregarious, Hrothgar will view the Dark Angels as worthy allies.

Phew, shoveling is finally done.

Thanks again for listing your advances.

I posted the updated sheets to the wiki, so please give them the once-over again. Overall the sheets look ready to go.

There seems to be a bug with CutePDF filler not resizing font-size for formatted cells, I'll adjust those sheets from work with the full Adobe program (which I do not have at home) to fix this.

Eradico, I should also be able to do strike-throughs for those marines without particular organs from the full software suite, I'll give it a shot tomorrow.

Do you guys prefer the +20 to Strength for the power armor to be added on the sheet in the Strength characteristic block (i.e. 42 Str reads as 62 in the characteristic block) or not? Currently only Brother Emeric is formatted this way. Armor is worn most of the time, so I'm leaning toward showing it, let me know what you all think.

I vote to add the +20 from the power armor.

For Rookseye

If we go into a situation without our armour, we most likely fouled up. +20 added to strength is acceptable.

I see Brother Quintus role as the one who keeps us running smoothly, being the go-btween, if there are problems between battle brothers. Being an Ultramarine, he would look towards being a leader, as he gets the skills and experience.

Hrothgar will probably be the joker of the group, challenging battle brothers to eating and drinking contests.

Is the fact that Brother Eli was once in ceremonial single combat with one of his brethren (or perhaps Hrothgar himself?) a point of friendship or contention?

Sorry Rook, I don't remember putting this in his background, I think you have Eli confused with someone else. Eli isn't the honorable single combat type, both because of my horrible stat rolls and his general aloofness from others. He won't have Vex's knowledge into the secrets of the chapter, but I plan to give him ghosts of his own. He is tough, mentally and physically, but he keeps his own council except when serving his Emperor.

I was initially concerned about roleplaying this with his high Fellowship score, but thanks to you guys he actually has one of the lowest scores on the team.

"But nevertheless, a son of the Lion must accept the challenge from a son of Russ. What say you?"

"But nevertheless, a son of the Lion must accept the challenge from a son of Russ. What say you?"

"Sons of the Lion shrink from no challenge, great or small."

"Then I challenge you to a contest! To the messhall!"

Russ before accepting the sovereignty of the Emperor challenged him to 3 contests involving eating, drinking and fighting.

My tactical choice is of course Armoured Tactics seeing the chapter he is from ;-).

Now as for the leadership...well he will find it hard to follow some one who does not know how to command a group. no command skill But he would expect everyone to be able to provide input, whoever is the leader at the time. That is as long as its not done while we are already engaged. That would be insubordination.

Rookseye wrote:

Is the fact that Brother Eli was once in ceremonial single combat with one of his brethren (or perhaps Hrothgar himself?) a point of friendship or contention?

Sorry Rook, I don't remember putting this in his background, I think you have Eli confused with someone else. Eli isn't the honorable single combat type, both because of my horrible stat rolls and his general aloofness from others.

Ellipsis,

On Eli's character sheet under Past Event is listed, "The Lion and the Wolf" which means Eli would have been involved in some sort of past (friendly?) combat w/Space Wolves. That must be what Rookseye was referring to anyway.

Of course it looks like it's moot since Brother Hrothgar is chomping at the bit to thrash the mess hall. :)

Excellent write-up, Eradico. This is exactly what I am looking for. Also, never worry about too long, as a GM I love reading player-generated background. It helps me understand the nuances of the character better.

I'm also of the opinion that the prejudices the Black Templars have against psykers should be minimized to an extent that the characters can get along, and I think your explanation is a great way to justify a more moderate approach. I particularly like how Emeric feels a certain guilt for his tolerance.

Obviously the Khamrian idea works well with being seconded to the Deathwatch, and I can see plenty of opportunities to use this in connection to the Ordo Xenos and the current campaign.

Good stuff.

Rookseye wrote:

Is the fact that Brother Eli was once in ceremonial single combat with one of his brethren (or perhaps Hrothgar himself?) a point of friendship or contention?

Sorry Rook, I don't remember putting this in his background, I think you have Eli confused with someone else. Eli isn't the honorable single combat type, both because of my horrible stat rolls and his general aloofness from others. He won't have Vex's knowledge into the secrets of the chapter, but I plan to give him ghosts of his own. He is tough, mentally and physically, but he keeps his own council except when serving his Emperor.

I was initially concerned about roleplaying this with his high Fellowship score, but thanks to you guys he actually has one of the lowest scores on the team.

Yes, I actually didn't have Past Event for Eli listed, so I rolled one randomly, Ellipsis, and came up with The Lion and the Wolf. It is just one possibility, if you would prefer to re-roll, or even pick another that better depicts Brother Eli, just let me know, that is perfectly fine.

The Space Marines in this Kill-Team seem to have pretty high Fellowship scores overall, but this can just as easily be reflected in force of personality, leadership skill and other aspects. This will aid the group overall when alternating leaders.

Making Eli more of a loner type works for me, it may even open up some other interesting roleplaying ideas down the road in this campaign.

My tactical choice is of course Armoured Tactics seeing the chapter he is from ;-).

Now as for the leadership...well he will find it hard to follow some one who does not know how to command a group. no command skill But he would expect everyone to be able to provide input, whoever is the leader at the time. That is as long as its not done while we are already engaged. That would be insubordination.

OK, thanks Catman, I'll post the updated sheet soon.

Yes, I actually didn't have Past Event for Eli listed, so I rolled one randomly, Ellipsis, and came up with The Lion and the Wolf. It is just one possibility, if you would prefer to re-roll, or even pick another that better depicts Brother Eli, just let me know, that is perfectly fine.

The Space Marines in this Kill-Team seem to have pretty high Fellowship scores overall, but this can just as easily be reflected in force of personality, leadership skill and other aspects. This will aid the group overall when alternating leaders.

Making Eli more of a loner type works for me, it may even open up some other interesting roleplaying ideas down the road in this campaign.

I was actually planning on making up my own background events, I've just been too busy to write copy at the moment.

Rookseye,

You probably already have this but I found a free Jericho Reach timeline available on the FFG site. Our kill team's timeline might be different from the "canonical" one found in the literature but it still might be a nice resource to have.

Go here: Know No Fear

I was actually planning on making up my own background events, I've just been too busy to write copy at the moment.

No rush at all, Ellipsis. I still a little ways to go finishing off the wiki and deciding how to format the character capsules.

If Eli is as well developed a character as Vincent, it is worth the weight anyway. Just give me a heads up when you decide on a Past Event and I will adjust it on the sheet.

Rookseye,

You probably already have this but I found a free Jericho Reach timeline available on the FFG site. Our kill team's timeline might be different from the "canonical" one found in the literature but it still might be a nice resource to have.

Go here: Know No Fear

Thanks Eradico, I did already have it, and if anyone else hasn't checked it out, it is a great resource. I try to cleave as much as possible to the canonical timeline in these campaigns, but as anyone from the Dark Heresy group can tell you, we've only put a dent of four days into the future.

They were an eventful four days, though.

I actually tinkered with the notion of advancing the timeline somewhat in the Jericho reach, but decided instead to run it more or less in parallel to the DH campaign, so the events in the Sons of Jericho will start around 817.M41.

Rook, can you "mark-through" the following Space Marine abilities on my sheet: Sus-an Membrane and Betcher's Gland? Black Templar gene-seed does not include these enhancements. If you can't, that's OK. I'll remember that I don't get to chew through steel, spit acid, or go into suspended animation.

Eradico, I've posted a new copy of the sheet with Adobe's red markup options through the Betcher's Gland and Sus-an membrane, hopefully this does the trick.

Sheets also have also been updated to fix the CutePDF bug and reflect the power armor change, we'll just have to remember on the rare occasions that you are unarmored your Str characteristic is -20.

Rookseye, question on weaponry: how much can we carry? I don't know that the rules clearly define this and the FFG messageboard has various interpretations listed. I'm open to whatever your ruling is but I wanted to know what my options were.

Could anything else be carried along with this "typical" weaponry:

Bolter
Chainsword
Combat Knife
A few grenades

For example with the above requisition could one also carry a hand flamer or bolt pistol?

If one wields a "heavy" weapon can you carry a chainsword?

Thanks!

P.S. Character sheet looks good to go!

Kill-Team Brethren,

I will not requisition charms from the armory. It costs six points to get one and its only manifest purpose is to have bad things happen to other "non-charmed" team-members (see p. 171).

Do what you want, especially if it's part of your character's make-up, but to me it would be a waste of requisition if all seven of us spend a total of 42 requisition points in some sort of "charms race."

That said I would view carrying a charm as an entirely different matter if a character earns one through game-play.

You may return to your duties.

More food for thought...

Assuming 50 points of standard/basic requisition here is what I will typically take:

Bolter (Godwyn) 5
Kraken Rounds 5
Chainsword 5
Combat Knife 0
3 Frag Grenades 0
3 Krak Grenades 0

Repair Cement 0

Combi Tool 15
Mulitkey 15

45 points total

I think it will important for the tech marine to have both the combi tool and multikey. The next item/upgrade that I would take would probably be red dot laser sights for the bolter but that would put me at 55 points. I suppose I could take standard rounds, add the laser sight, and forego the Kraken rounds. Remember too that Emeric has an auger array which is the equivalent of an internal auspex (saves me 12 points of req!).

Anything else considered "essential" for the tech marine?

For Rook

Here is the past event for Eli, the rest of his background is in progress still, but should be up soon:

Ghosts of the Past
Most souls never have the misfortune of watching a planet die, Brother Eli has seen it not once but thrice. Each memory is a bleeding wound in his soul, dripping perceptions not his own. As each world crumbled to dust before the unforgiving winds of the void, it came: visions of black armored angels, conversations without context, garbled declarations, and thoughts, thoughts of anger, fear, pain, rage, betrayal, death, and nothingness. Each night as he sleeps and each day as he prays they return unbidden as whispers and flashes. It is a message, he is sure, though comprehension lies just outside his reach. Perhaps his time in the Deathwatch will bring him answers.

Rites of Battle is now available!

Rad, Hrothgar, as you describe him is shaping up to be very interesting asset to the Kill-Team, he should make his importance felt very early in the campaign, particularly in the first scenario in the Emperor Protects trilogy. I'm looking forward to seeing him in action in that one.

Also, Rad I'll soon be shooting you an email soon with some information on another matter related to 40k.

Here is the past event for Eli, the rest of his background is in progress still, but should be up soon:

Ghosts of the Past
Most souls never have the misfortune of watching a planet die, Brother Eli has seen it not once but thrice. Each memory is a bleeding wound in his soul, dripping perceptions not his own. As each world crumbled to dust before the unforgiving winds of the void, it came: visions of black armored angels, conversations without context, garbled declarations, and thoughts, thoughts of anger, fear, pain, rage, betrayal, death, and nothingness. Each night as he sleeps and each day as he prays they return unbidden as whispers and flashes. It is a message, he is sure, though comprehension lies just outside his reach. Perhaps his time in the Deathwatch will bring him answers.

Nice write-up Ellipsis, I'll update the sheet and will be very interested to see where this goes. The dynamic brewing between you and the librarian, Lyriel, is going to be an interesting one, particularly if the non-psyker Dark Angel is the one plagued with apocalyptic visions.

Rites of Battle is now available!

Pre-ordered from Paizo, can't wait for Amazon for this one. Plus, Paizo was able to bundle it with one of my orders that was about to ship.

Also, Rad I'll soon be shooting you an email soon with some information on another matter related to 40k.

I await your email, Rook.

I am re-reading my space wolf omnibus to get the feel again. Ragnar Blackmane sure is a tough act to follow.

Rad, Hrothgar, as you describe him is shaping up to be very interesting asset to the Kill-Team, he should make his importance felt very early in the campaign, particularly in the first scenario in the Emperor Protects trilogy. I'm looking forward to seeing him in action in that one.

I wonder what sort of nickname Hrothgar will earn for such a contribution....

Just an update:

The light posting this week is just me spending my free time ramping up to launch the Sons of Jericho campaign. I'm hoping to have the last of the wiki components up by the end of this weekend and we should be ready to start the campaign shortly thereafter.

Balfic recently sent me his character background on Lyriel Vex via email, and I just want to offer the opportunity to the rest of you to do so if you would prefer to keep some secrets about your character. Many of you have my email already, but for those of you who have lost it, or never had it to begin with it is included in the spoiler field below:

I'd recommend that everyone do a little brainstorming about their character by reading the excellent suggestions on pages 28-35 of the Character Creation chapter of Deathwatch. These questions can help in filling in the details of each space marine.

A few other aspects I'd like to know for my purposes are these:

How old is your marine? Is he freshly minted battle-brother only a few decades removed from being a Neophyte of his chapter? Or is a seasoned veteran with a hundred or more years of service?

Even though space marines are remarkably similar in their superhuman builds and overall physical stature, what color are your eyes, you hair (if you even have any)? Are there any distinct physical characteristics you possess that set you apart from the other battle-brothers in your kill-team, or even your chapter?

As I said before, these are mostly talking points to get us ready, but the more information I have to go on, the better defined the initial information on the wiki will be, and the more details each of you will have to roleplay with at the start of the campaign. Don't get me wrong, I am a big proponent of developing characters over the course of the campaign and refining them as the story unfolds, but these details serve as a good springboard.

While we're discussing things, are there any features you would like to see on the wiki? Any recommendations for tracking the campaign on the wiki?

I did a read over those pages Rook. For Lyriel I have to say he is seeking Solace in a spiritual and a physical way. He is ponderous and questions his own humanity, and judges what is human. For what is more alien than one who turns away from the light of the Emperor?

The Death Watch is simply duty, nothing more. There is no zeal or heart in it. Its just what is required of him to do. He is quiet; words spoken are wasted unless they have meaning. He will weigh every decision with care, and generally shows little or no emotion. He simply has none to give.

I figure he is a younger marine, but events make him act far older than his age.

I figure Caledonii is fairly old. He has been through hundreds of campaigns before he was given the honor of serving in the Death Watch. Even with all the hardships that he has gone through he attacks every challenge as if he had just been awarded the right to wear the armor of a Space Marine. He sees this as an opportunity to expand the honor of himself and of his chapter.

One of the past events does dim his brightness and that is of the campaign on Vigil. It seems to have scared him both mentally and physically. The physical scar is proudly show on both his body and his armor, it runs from the upper right shoulder to the lower left hip. Both have been mended buy the best armorers and Medicae that was available. Its the mental wound that is still healing. Being bested by a maggot-man in single combat still makes him feel ashamed of himself and pushes him to regain the honor he feels he has lost though the other survivors count him as a hero for all the lives he saved by standing up to the leader of the quadrant armed with a large two-handed chain ax with only a stub of a claymore as his only weapon.

As to his appearance he has clan and chapter tattoos covering his body. Every one is significant to a battle or campaign he has been in. He even has darken the scar he received on Vigil. Its hard to say that if he really needs to shave his head or not as it is always smooth from the tip of his chin to the top of his head. Even with the apparent age showing with his hair the rest of him looks fresh and new as of a man in his early twenty's. His eyes are a pale blue like the predominant coloring of his tattoos. Though he is strong even out of his armor it the winning smile and charm he has that really shows through. He makes friends easy and he always seems to be approachable.