Dark Heresy: For the Emperor! (Inactive)

Game Master bigrig107

Hello! Welcome, acolytes, to the famously grim dark setting of 40k, and the Dark Heresy system. Before we begin and you introduce yourselves to your group and Inquisitor Vervize du Bordaal's Interrogator, I have a few disclaimers.

First, this is a completely new system to me. I don't have any experience with it, and as such, I will likely be somewhat shaky with the mechanics in the beginning of things. I'm sure I'll get the hang of it quickly, but you'll have to give me some time to get used to it. We'll be doing the intro adventure in the core rulebook to begin with, to help everyone get acclimated.

Second, this is the Warhammer 40k setting, with all the nasty dark stuff that entails. This will be a more adult-themed campaign, in terms of violence and such. I won't go out of my way to describe anything horrendous or unnecessary, but there will be gratuitous violence, blood, gore, and death. With all the horrors awaiting you in the 41st millennium, you will need to be strong of mind and spirit. You have been warned.

With that out of the way, feel free to introduce your character here, and talk about any small choices you may need to change to make the group work. I'll get the intro post up on the gameplay thread in a bit.

Thanks for the selection GM - humbled as it you had some rich pickings!

New to the system also - so looking forward to embarking on this journey most grim with you chief.

Calidus is a Hive Worlder; born and raised within Hive Gulgatha of the system capital of Gilead Primus. He and his family are line workers within the Hive's many manufactorum, and that would have been his life if not for the itinerant preacher - Brother Vagaris. The firebrand's sermons to the workers galvanised them and lit a fire within Calidus. His zeal was recognised by Vagaris who proselytised the youth into his service as a zealot-novitiate (potentially part of Frateris Militia?). The Hiver brought the same ethos of hard work and fanaticism to his Ecclesiastical "work" as he had on assembly line shift of his youth.

Not one of the ravening mob, instead Calidus is one of those faithful individuals who pursue zealous self-sacrifice in the name of the Emperor and his faith. His Frenzy talent makes up for lack for training when in comes to close quarters.

As discussed in the recruitment thread I'm open to any suggestions and build tweaks to bring more balance to the group.

Looking forward to burning the heretic, killing the mutant and purging the unclean with you all :)

Thank you for having me, feels good to be back in the ol' 40K again.

Havelock was raised on a Feudal word, to a family of rich merchants, and was most likely heading towards an arranged marriage in an attempt by the family to enter the nobility by way of a marriage to an impoverished noble family of some sort or another.

And then the black ships came...

Turning out that being a "witch" wasn't such a good thing when you want to raise your status.
So, off to terra to be tested.
And he was strong enough to not only avoid getting nommed by the corpse lord, but also to avoid becoming an astropath.

So, as a Sanctioned psyker, he was snatched up by a templar order, where he was instilled with martial training, and a powerful crusader spirit, partially born out of trying to "make up" for what he is.

So, he's kind of conflicted about his own nature.

First, this is a completely new system to me. I don't have any experience with it, and as such, I will likely be somewhat shaky with the mechanics in the beginning of things. I'm sure I'll get the hang of it quickly, but you'll have to give me some time to get used to it.

I'm in exactly the same boat so no worries, we will all muddle through together.

Second, this is the Warhammer 40k setting, with all the nasty dark stuff that entails. This will be a more adult-themed campaign, in terms of violence and such. I won't go out of my way to describe anything horrendous or unnecessary, but there will be gratuitous violence, blood, gore, and death. With all the horrors awaiting you in the 41st millennium, you will need to be strong of mind and spirit. You have been warned.

Don't threaten me with a good time ;) this is exactly why I applied to this game in the first place

Hi all, very pleased to be selected! Looking forward to gaming with you in the grim darkness of the far future where there is only etc.

Morvius is high-born, and caught the inquisitor's eye in the worst possible way: by falling under suspicion when his cousin was found to be in a Chaos cult. The best way to prove his innocence (or at least, his lack of guilt for this particular crime) is to co-operate with the investigation. The threat of execution lends a magnificent edge to one's senses, and after 50+ years (although he looks much younger) of having all his whims catered to, there's a certain pleasure to be found in the danger of adventure.

His strengths lie in influence and subtlety, so my preference would be for us to run this more like a spy game (or a Call of Cthulhu investigation, even) where we have cover identities, or at least do our best to keep things quiet as much as possible. If we go flashing our Inquisitorial badges all over the place and getting into fights, his usefulness will be much less as his WS and BS are not the highest, to say nothing of his Toughness.

He's also going to be very good at supplying the group with weapons and armour because he counts everything as being one degree less rare (he also has the Peer talent with the Rogue Traders). Think of him as your fixer and influence-peddler, and try your best to keep his noble blood from getting splattered across the nearest bulkhead, and you will have a useful friend.

I'm already seeing an interesting dynamic between Morvius and Brother Calidus :) Subtlety will assuredly not be his strong point... not with a Hand Flamer, Chainsword and Laud Hailer as part of his current inventory selection (which I'm happy to change up if necessary).

That being said don't want to ruin the game for anyone, so I'm sure we'll find a happy medium between subterfuge and the righteous immolation of heretics!

Wounds: 8 + 1d5 ⇒ 8 + (3) = 11 Just noticed I'd never rolled for Wounds... Oversight corrected

Both Havelock and Morvius seem to be professionally trained, while I see Calidus as a (very) enthusiastic amateur. I would imagine the Inquisition's rationale for recruiting Havelock and Morvius is pretty clear cut - a Psyker and a Fixer. A zealot on the other hand is more likely in the event things go south - an expendable asset?

+1 on not wanting to cramp anyone else's playing style! This being 40K I'm sure there's going to be lots of opportunities to righteously immolate heretics, unbelievers, evil-doers, xenos, and people who talk at the theatre.

Thinking some more about the mix of the group, given that we have a sanctioned psyker I'm almost certainly going to row back on the whole 'hearing voices' angle that I had going. It was one option I was considering but there's lots of other directions I can go with this character instead.

Both Havelock and Morvius seem to be professionally trained, while I see Calidus as a (very) enthusiastic amateur. I would imagine the Inquisition's rationale for recruiting Havelock and Morvius is pretty clear cut - a Psyker and a Fixer. A zealot on the other hand is more likely in the event things go south - an expendable asset?

I hadn't thought of it like that... I see Morvius as a dabbler in things rather than someone who has had professional training or *shudder* something so vulgar as a job. But yes, he has a background with the Administratum which means he knows how the game is played.

Hahaha, sounds like we have a frightful snob amongst us. Working for a living? How...pedestrian! (I'm joking of course)

That does make me wonder how Havelock is going to relate to him at first?
He was after all raised to marry into just such a family, though on a Feudal word, probably a lot less low scale of course.

Maxim grew up the son of a chief Medicae chirurgeon, running an administratum hospital on the mining world of Merydian V. Maxim was bright and learned at his father's side, who expected his son to follow into his profession. And indeed Maxim desired much the same, they'll growing up on a mining world, he had longed to serve the imperium of man as a mighty soldier in the Astro militarum. Merydian V had not been called on to found regiments (It's population was dedicated to the mining work), so he joined the Planetary Defense Force instead. Hiding his medical training and knowledge, he was drafted into a scout unit that patrolled the hinterlands beyond the major mines. After a conflict with some raiders, maxim saved the lives of three other soldiers with his medical skills. This led to him acknowledging both his ability, and being reassigned into a PDF hospital. After his term of service, he left the PDF and returned to work alongside his father.

Then the ash pox came and ravaged his world, took his family, and lead to a chaos uprising... But that's a story for another time....

So, Maxim Ashvayne (he abandoned his surname when he joined the Inquisitor's retinue) is a pragmatic and caring, yet sarcastic individual. He is first and foremost a Medicae, and quickly after a capable marksman. His wide patrol work has given him some measure of stealth, though it's a skill he would like to hone as he serve the inquisitor more.

There is definitely a nice mix of backgrounds and personalities in the retinue, It should make for some interesting scenes.

I will take a look over everyone's skills later and see if there are any gaps in our company.

Hahaha, sounds like we have a frightful snob amongst us. Working for a living? How...pedestrian! (I'm joking of course)

That does make me wonder how Havelock is going to relate to him at first?
He was after all raised to marry into just such a family, though on a Feudal word, probably a lot less low scale of course.

Morvius has Fellowship 40 so he's one of those nobles who puts people at ease rather than tries to put them in their place - think Hugh Grant rather than Tywin (or Joffrey!) Lannister...

@Maxim - good to have a medic on the team, given my character only has Toughness 25 I suspect he might need your attention fairly regularly. I admit I haven't looked at everyone's skill-sets so I don't know what gaps we might have.

Yea, figure I will do a little spreadsheet to give us an overview and help get our thoughts together.

Skills overview would be great Maxim, will allow us to tweak if necessary or redirect build XP where/if required.

I have the gameplay thread up, feel free to dot. I'll have the first intro post up by the end of tomorrow, and we can get started after that.

Feel free to move around any skills you may or may not need, but of course try to keep the core character concept you're going for the same.

Thanks for the selection! I’ve been crazy busy at a timber sports competition, I’ll update the alias later today.

Timber sports, sounds exciting! I assume that is like chopping down trees and axe throwing?

Okay, linked HERE is the spreadsheet I started to look at our skills coverage. We have pretty decent support across most skills, with a gap in the "rogue-ish category (no character has the Finesse aptitude). The Assassin applicant pulled out, and the Desperado didn't finish - either of them would have filled the role. Below are skills that could use support.

NO COVERAGE
acrobatics, intimidate, operate, sleight of hand, survival, trade

LIMITED COVERAGE (1 character)
athletics, commerce, deceive, interrogation, medicae*, navigate, psyniscience, security, stealth, tech use*
* = both only have 1 character with the skill, but that character is specialized in the skill, so better off than most.

GM of the Hive Any consideration for each character getting a free Aptitude (to give us easier access to more skills), or perhaps a bonus couple known skills? Just a thought.

Not so much chopping down of trees, but it’s all about cutting logs of varying sizes in a variety of ways.

Timber sports, sounds exciting! I assume that is like chopping down trees and axe throwing?

Here in Bonnie Scotland timber sports are tossing the caber and log lifts - sounds awesome regardless :)

@Maxim - thanks for pulling that list together - great job mate!

I can have a look at Skill picks again - took Trained +10 in Scrutiny but could reinvest the 200XP in one of the skills we're lacking...

On a separate note I've a want to create Heroforge mini versions of my PCs - gives me an idea of their dynamics and overall appearance. Have popped a link to Brother Calidus into his profile array. Pretty he's not!

Of the skills we lack, I'd say Operate is probably the one that strikes me as most important.
It's usually a good idea to be able to commandeer a vehicle.

I took Logic with Maxim, but seeing two others with it, can definitely swap it out. I can take Operate for the same XP cost (100) as well.

This is my best approximation of Ptah!

Here we have Maxim ready for trouble...

Great work on putting the skills together! In my experience, most groups lack the capability to do everything - and in most cases, that actually adds to the story as the party has to find work-arounds instead of going directly from point A to point B. I'm not too fussed if there's a handful of things we can't do.

That said, if there's an obvious gap that Morvius can easily fill with a quick shuffle of skills/XP then I'm happy to do that if you think it's needed.

@Ptah & Maxim: Bravo, those renditions are superb.

Echoing Morvius - am happy to reinvest the 200XP spent on increasing Scrutiny to Training +10. Intimidate fits well with the good Brother, so can select that instead.

Before we get this wonderful totally-happy adventure started, I did want to just check in with everyone, for two reasons.

One, wanted to make sure everyone was happy with their character choices and the skills and such were locked in.

Two, I want to ask everyone to describe their familiarity with the lore of the Warhammer 40k universe in terms of knowledge of both themes and the technical details. I don’t mind explaining out some of the smaller details like cogitators or servitors and the like if I need to, just curious what everyone’s level of experience is with the actual lore of the setting. Not this specific system/sector, just the universe in general.

Well, I've read several dozen of 40K novels, I've played several campaigns in Only Wars, Dark Heresy (only 1st edition to date) and Rogue Trader (both as player and GM).
I've played the tabletop previously, I used to have a Tyranid army.
So yeah, I'm no expert, but I know a fair bit of the lore.

And as an aside, I'm quite looking forward to the Rogue Trader crpg, I've been wanting a proper 40K rpg game for along time.

By the way, since we're talking about lore and such, how many of you are familiar with Mutant Chronicles?
In their youths, 40K and Mutant Chronicles were in fierce competition for the fans.
Obviously 40K won big in the end...

Hey GM

1. Am pretty much there - just need to confirm if we have a consensus on Calidus picking up Intimidation o'er his Trained rank in Scrutiny.

2. I'm an enthusiastic novice when it comes to 40K lore. Read alot into the system and its background -was a GW fan when 40K and WFRP first were released and loved the lore then. Its developed massively from then into a much grimmer setting (which I love). More familiar with the Space Marines/tabletop version via Space Hulk game etc, but the more I dabble and reacquaint myself the more I'm harking back to those halycon days of the 87 when 40K release became key texts over all my school studies lol.

As a comics fan been reading Warhammer Monthly online to get more re-acquainted with the old/new world of the Imperium and that's been helpful.

I've delved into the lore of the Ecclesiarchy as part of my creation of Brother Calidus, but might need to guidance on the finer points of the various Adepts branches etc.

@Havelock: Yeah remember Mutant Chronicles - was on my radar at College, but vied for playing time with Shadowrun at the same time. Seem to remember there being a comic book also? Bisley art if I recall (was also a big 2000AD fan)

I’m a pretty passionate fan of Warhammer lore. I’m not the most familiar with exact specifics of the area that the game’s gonna take place in, but I’m well-versed in the setting and it’s terminology.

Ptah should be set in terms of selections.

Well, I've read several dozen of 40K novels, I've played several campaigns in Only Wars, Dark Heresy (only 1st edition to date) and Rogue Trader (both as player and GM).

I've played the tabletop previously, I used to have a Tyranid army.
So yeah, I'm no expert, but I know a fair bit of the lore.

And as an aside, I'm quite looking forward to the Rogue Trader crpg, I've been wanting a proper 40K rpg game for along time.

By the way, since we're talking about lore and such, how many of you are familiar with Mutant Chronicles?
In their youths, 40K and Mutant Chronicles were in fierce competition for the fans.
Obviously 40K won big in the end...

I love Owlcat's games, can't wait for the Rogue Trader game as well!

I'll be getting the gameplay post up tomorrow, so sorry for the delay! Figured we'd get it started then.

I've played the tabletop previously, I used to have a Tyranid army.

You, sir, are a xenos-loving traitor to humanity. Space Wolves till I die.

I played a few editions of the tabletop game and have read a couple of books so I'm not completely unfamiliar with the lore, but it was a while ago so anything from the last 15+ years will be new to me. I haven't kept up with the computer games either - I played Dawn of War but then real life intervened and I haven't looked at the newer stuff.

I confess I've never heard of Mutant Chronicles.

@Calidus - having Intimidate might be useful if you don't mind making that change.

Other that that I think I'm good to go.

What I found interesting about Mutant Chronicles vs 40K was the general attitude.
Both of them are a lot alike, but the attitude is very much a "Glass half empty Vs Glass half full".
That and some other contrasts.

In 40K, every xeno is more or less an enemy, either now, or in the future.
In MC, there ARE no aliens.

40K is spanning millions of planets and systems.
MC is just our galaxy, with one extra planet discovered.

40K is fighting a losing battle against an enemy constantly growing stronger.
MC is fighting an enemy that is slowly losing the fight, and victory is just in sight.

There are similarities as well, but due to different reasons.
In 40K, technology is controlled by the Adeptus Mechanicus, who are repressive fundamentalists that refuses to innovate, and thus things have stagnated.
And because of the Men of Iron rebellion, the Empire do not use AI.
MC also do not use AI because the enemy can infect them, as well as too powerful computers. This means you can't use them to make the most advanced pieces humanity has discovered.

Neither side have "proper" FTL, 40K uses the warp, MC uses naturally occurring warp gates.

You get the idea.

Intimidate acquired folks - Brother Calidus ready to go. Looking forward to this one :)

I have similarly loved both the Pathfinder Games by Owlcat, and am very hopeful for the upcoming Rogue Trader crpg. I was so disappointed by Inquisitor Martyr when it came out a few years back.

History with 40k I got into 40k back in the late 90's, when my first army was Chaos Space Marines drawn from the 2nd Edition Chaos Codex. Since then I have played off and on across the multitude of editions. I have read all of Abnett's Inquisitor series (Eisenhorn/Ravenor/Bequin) and most of the Gaunt's Ghosts series. I am about a third of the way through the Horus Heresy portfolio. I have some experience playing and running the 40KRPGs, but no experience with Wrath & Glory. As such, I don't know much about the Gilead System, but am excited to learn.

Character Questions
I swapped out Logic for Operate (surface).

Below are a couple questions I posted in the Recruitment or Discussion thread:
1- Any consideration for each character getting a free Aptitude (to give us easier access to more skills), or perhaps a bonus couple known skills? Just a thought.
2- did you give any consideration to the alternate weapon options in the Macharian Handbook? I am still considering swapping Weapon Training (Las) for (SP) as discussed in the recruitment thread.

I love Abnett's Inquisitor series, just finished it a few days ago with Penitent. It's what convinced me to run this, and you might notice some influence in the overarching campaign we end up running through.

The problem with adding more options in is that I don't 100% know what the basic options do. I'll be more open to adding in new weapons and systems and such when I have a complete grasp on the system's mechanics.

Amongst many of the more "serious" Sci fi circles, 40K novels have a pretty bad reputation, but apparently, most people follow that up with "Except for Dan Abnett".
I can see why, the man is quite skilled.
The most depressing novel I've ever read was a 40K novel by the title "Fifteen hours".
A relentlessly grim look at a typical war from the perspective of a Imperial guardsman fresh from training.
The title of the novel is the average survival time of new recruits arriving at that particular front.

Gameplay is up! Feel free to do the pre-briefing roleplay introductions if you wish, you each made your way to the safehouse separately before Katarinya speaks.

Unless anyone wants to add anything, I think we've run that scene. I'm happy to move on :)

Yes, I think it's time to get stuck in.

I’ll get the story rolling as soon as I get off work, sorry for the delay!

Sounds good!

Slammed at work folks - will likely be well into the weekend before I'm afforded some free time.

Please bot Calidus as necessary.

I want to apologize if you feel that your character’s role here isn’t very applicable. I promise to make sure everyone has their time to shine, but you know how the beginning of an investigation plays out. The face needs to get the people talking, but everyone will have their turn.

No worries! There’s a time and a place for each character. At least for myself, Ptah was built with some specific use-cases, so I’m happy for others to take the lead outside of those.

Apologies everyone, looks like my last post didn't go through, must have left it on preview. And then somehow I got logged out of my account, So when I loaded the character page, it showed no new posts to the campaign. I will catch up now and post shortly.

All good, things happen! Welcome back.

Just a heads-up that I have a major family thing this weekend so might not be able to post much until Monday.

Update: travelling today and tomorrow, I will post as I can. Back to normal on Wednesday.

Thanks for bearing with me, back now.

I’m really enjoying the friendly (ish) theological rivalry between Calidus and Ptah.

Hey guys, sorry for the delay, but I’m suffering from some food poisoning after a very unwise meal. I’ll be back to update when I feel a bit better, sorry about that!

I’m really enjoying the friendly (ish) theological rivalry between Calidus and Ptah.

Me too mate. Great dynamic and adds more flavour to our two theologians (of sorts)

Hey guys, sorry for the delay, but I’m suffering from some food poisoning after a very unwise meal. I’ll be back to update when I feel a bit better, sorry about that!

Sorry to hear that! Get well soon.