My Sister Militant loves her Voss Pattern Nightfire Flamer with chainsword combat attachment. It is so awsome it's borderline heretical!

Santiago said: How about a Doubleheaded Miniature Giant Spacehamster Double headed... does that mean a head in each end?

Dezmond said: +++++What happens if that encounter you've set up in advance which you thought would be a reasonable challenge turns out to be too difficult or too easy?+++++ Well, with no permadeath, you just dust them off and try to balance the next fight better. While retaining the ability of the players to understand the rules by which the game works instead of simply waiting for the GM to let them win, like he always does How would the players learn the rules better if you coddle them by taking away the risk of death? That's essentially the GM letting the players win, no matter what. Maybe you should check out Demon: the Fallen. Players are essentially immortal in that game, and it makes sense within the context of the setting. Or Paranoia... you're far from immortal, but you have multiple lives. Or, perhaps YOU should try GMing so you'll stop being so friggin afraid of the guy.

Grand Inquisitor Fulminarex said: The problem with prepping Giant Space Squid is the Amonia flavor. So nasty. Its not like normal squid. If you dont cook it shortly after its demise, it can never be eaten. I know this from my years as a Rogue Trader That's where plasma weapons come in though.

"Interbreeding" could simply refere to a heretical cult trying to combine human and xenos genes to create the perfect creature. That'd be hugely wrong and just the rumour would be sure to send the Inquisition sniffing. As mentioned, species can't usually breed, but there's plenty of ways to achieve the next best thing. And who can really tell the difference?

Varnias Tybalt said: Indeed. check out their website: www.noir.nu Of course its all swedish but if you can understand this obscure language (or perhaps you are a swede yourself) you will probably find it interesting. I think I'll manage... I had to take ranks in obscure languages when I played Drakar och Demoner some, oh, 25 years ago. Thanks!

Dezmond said: GM fudging is not an acceptable substitute for rules that work. It leaves the players with no way to tell if an action is within their capability, leading to players who can only sit passive, waiting for the GM to let them win. Theres no effort when you know the GM will just fudge it so it all comes down to an exciting conclusion... But you want RPGs to be World of Warcraft, so you don't really want a GM at all. The simple fact of the matter is that GM fudging is what roleplaying is all about. No game can hope to take everything the players might do into account, a GM has to get creative or any cold, inflexible rulesystem is going to break down. It's just a matter of time. So not only is GM fudging an acceptable subtitute for rules that work, it is the only way to have rules that work. Honestly, from reading your posts around here, I don't understand what you're actually doing here. You don't seem to want roleplaying games to have anything to do with, well, roleplaying.

Varnias Tybalt said: Oh well, I'll just shut up about the game for the time being, but its mostly this game i compare other rulessystems with. Its the high water mark in my RPG experiences... Sounds interesting. Will have to check it out sometime. Noir you say?

N0-1_H3r3 said: In my game, I've just made them primitive... so that Pen 6 applies fully against things like archaic plate, gang leathers and grox hide... but is quite a bit less effective against more sophisticated armour. I've been toying with a similar idea, but in the end I just don't think it's nearly enough to bring them down to a reasonable level.

BloodAngelAzrael said: Well, that takes care of that! I'll be sure to equip my tech priest with one soon. XD The Vanaheim assault shotgun is love.

I calculate semi-auto and scatter seperately. On three degrees of success, you get'd one extra hit from semi-auto and one extra hit from scatter (one for every two degrees of success). Not sure how official that is, but at least it's easy.

Dovre said: Doesnt some of the background packages state in text that you replaces your starting skills/talents? Thats what I read at least....is that a typo then? I am so confused ; As a general rule, background packages don't replace anything. Specific packages may do so if it's specifically mentioned. So unless the background makes specific mention of it, you don't lose anything. I can't off the top of my head recall a background package that does this, though.

Varnias Tybalt said: The tricky part is, is it plausible for a person to hide his powers even though he is being inducted into the Inquisition? And rules-wise, can a Wyrdling ever advance further with his abilities? (buying higher psy rating as elite advances etc.). Has anyone else ever found themselves in this kind of predicament? :S Sure I could've just rolled again on the divination table, but this result kind of appeals to me in a wierd way (cool character concept to say the least). I totally think you should go for it. Sure, the guy might not have a terrible long life expectancy, but it sounds like it could be a lot of fun while it lasts. As for progressing Psy Rating through elite advances, yes, rule-wise you can do that. Of course, all Elite Advances are up to your GM. But it isn't more impossible than what your GM wants it to be. Have fun!

I don't have the books with me here at work (big mistake, I know!) but... I actually thought fire bombs already had a chance to set people on fire. Don't they?

Cardinalsin said: 2) Fire bombs clearly ought to be flame weapons. There's a balance issue, because they will really suck if you have to roll to hit *and* then the target gets a free agility roll to escape the effect. So I'm thinking that the effects stay roughly the same, except that you have a chance to catch on fire exactly as though hit by a flamer. Does this make fire bombs over-powered? The Fire Bomb is already crazy over-powered. I suppose you could remove the Fire Bomb's penetration completely, and give it the Flame trait. Let the chance for unsoakable fire damage compensate for the lack of a base penetration. It'd be functionally different from the inferno grenade, rather than just better in every way.

Zarkhovian_Rhythm said: I've also figured that the high penetration stems from the fact that it's flammable liquid that will leak into the nice creases and crevices in the armor. There's no shrapnel or impact involved it's all splash. That doesn't explain why the fire bomb has so much better penetration than a flamer, then. If 'random household flamable' is really superior to military-grade flamer fuel, you have to wonder why the military even bothers.

Varnias Tybalt said: Its a perfectly viable tactic... Provided that everyone in the group have power armour and are armed with bolters (or heavier weapons) that can blast through any form of cover the enemies would try to hide behind. > Good point. Good point. I'm sure it'll come as no surprise that they don't.

The various Psy Rating talents will tell you what you can pick. Usually you will get the option of a number of powers from a discipline or the option to get a power from a new discipline.

ComicJam said: Slaunyeh said: Lanowar said: Alternatively you could just say that Toughness doesn't make any difference at all, and skip rolling entirely. Being contaminated with radiation has no bearing on someone's physical fitness/well-being/toughness. Believe it or not, I have been contaminated (externally, thankfully) and my fortitude did not help me. (I work in a hospital's radiation department, if you're interested). Cheers! You could make it a Fellowship test for all the difference it makes. It was more of a "should there be some sort of save against this or not?" conundrum. Having a save would mean some people break down a little slower than others. Without, you could set your watch to it. Depends on what ya want out of the system.

Fire Bombs are ridiculous. I've seen a lot of different house rules, most either making the damage primitive, or reducing the penetration. In my group we've reduced the penetration to 2. There's just no way a home made fire bomb that cost the same as a cup of cofee should be nearly as effective as a military-grade inferno grenade. Or a prometheum spewing flamer for that matter.

Lanowar said: The biggest problem I have though is Radiation I want it to replace Corruption but not sure how exactly without forcing people to roll every 5 seconds whenever they eat somthing! How about: Make a Toughness check whenever you come into contact with a radioactive source (contaminated water, nuke site, whatever). Each source has two radiation levels - one for those that make the toughness check, and one for those that didn't. Sources are either one-shot (touch this and you gain three rad points) or constant (take one rad point per minute of exposure) with a specified frequences (ie. how often you gain the indicated amount of radiation). Stuff like Rad-X would just decrease rad point gain for a period by X amount. That way you'd only have to roll once per incident. Alternatively you could just say that Toughness doesn't make any difference at all, and skip rolling entirely.

Xisor said: My understanding of tactics in such cases would be 'try to bring the roof down', mega explosive into the room, airstrike etc. Of course, those are trivial (and usually excluded) methods, but a canny/thinking PC will sometimes find more efficient ways of dealing with a threat than simply fighting it. The last Cthulhu group I gamed with had discovered the highly effective method of ending cults...by burning their secret HQs mid ceremony. after stealing all their goods. A few skills checks and you can avoid that. It's when you start introducing clever villains that things go back to square one...! I wish my players would fight a little smarter. All they seem to want to do is stand still and shoot 'till either they or the enemy is dead. I think we've played too much D&D in the past.

Lathi said: Yes, you begin play with all of the standard skill/talent choices presented by whatever career you chose. The background packages are alternate uses for the 400XP you start play with - you're buying those groups of modifications, rather than buying individual advances listed on the rank 1 table. Bear in mind that xp spend on background packages isn't counted towards your next rank. Essentially, they don't cost xp, but rather reduce your starting xp by a set amount.

Cifer said: 1) For characteristics, I'd allow a single +5/-5 deal representing the general slant of their mutation and upbringing. A "we don't purge them while they're still so useful" slave laborer might have toughness more in line with a feral worlder, while a smoothtalker might pass for normal because he can talk his way out of sticky situations (higher fellowship). Also, 1D5-1 in a group of, say, 4 players is quite likely to end with every mutation in the book. I'd suggest handing out one, with an option for a second one if the first is entirely negative (Malformed Hands and Misshapen). Also note that with random application of mutations, it's quite unlikely that characters can pass for normal as about 65% of all the rolls will result in very obvious mutations. 2) I'd also enable characters to get a single major mutation, either automatically as a "you're special, guys!" bonus or as an elite advance for, say, 400 XP (considering that a major mutation can, in the extreme cases, entail Unnatural Strength or a Psy Rating of 2 with a few really cool other traits). 3) Those two should be the other way around. Assassins have nothing in the way of social advances while Scum has them in far higher amounts than your average mutie. 4) Is there a special reason that you can only follow Tzeentch? After all, all the chaos gods grant mutations... 5) Also, you should think about in what direction you want your campaign to go. Are you playing the heroes of the down-trodden and ostracized masses or dangerous worshippers of the Ruinous Powers that prove the Imperium right in why mutants are to be feared and hunted? 1) That's a pretty good idea, with that one optional +5/-5 ontop of their mutations. I think I'll adopt that. As for the random mutations, I realize that many of them will leave the character pretty misshapen. Especially when we talk major mutations. But that'll be one of the major challenges of the campaign... getting around those inherent handicaps. One or two mutations might be better, as you don't risk getting something too weird. I was a little concerned with too few mutations because you could end up without being particular interesting. But hey! That's the lot of the mutant. I could then offer one major mutation at character creation (only) for all your 400 starting xp. Certain career might also be able to purchase mutations at particular ranks. 2) Good idea. The timing will be a little awkward (you pick mutations way before spending xp normally) but that should be manageable. 3) I'll have to switch things around a little for some of the careers, but I like the base layout so far. I don't have the book on me right now, but I imagine the Infiltrator being a little more social than a baseline assassin (instead of focusing so much on killing stuff beautifully). I think I'm okay with the Dreg for now. They should be a bit jack-of-all-trades. Of course, if the Infiltrator ends up being too similar to the Dreg, I'll have to switch things around again. 4) Originally I just wanted it to be a follower of one of the ruinous powers... but I don't think having one career cover all those bases would be feasible. As Lord of Change, Tzeentch made an obvious choice for a little mutie to find comfort - and it gave me an excuse to add an alternate psyker (which might also have worked for Nurgle or Slaanesh, but totally not for Khorne ). I don't intend the warp to be a major influence though, but rather a few particular demented indiviuals trying to spread the word of their dark masters - adding a little extra chaos to an already tense situation. 5) The best answer I can give is "both." I tend to run my campaigns fairly open-ended, leaving the ethics for the players to decide on. The players will essentially be playing secretive rebels against an opressive Empire that really just wants to exterminate them due to some accident of birth. The players will be fully justified in their actions... if all goes well, however, this would also justify the Imperium in fearing and hunting the mutant. The base idea is actually that this mini-campaign will be the stepping stone for a new campaign where Imquisitorial Accolytes will investigate the circumstances surrounding a mutant uprising on Scintilla. I thought it might be an interesting twist to have the players actually play through the background for the campaign, rather than me just making it up.

Agmar_Strick said: Bread and circuses indeed. Personally, I don't really see the Imperium being big on movies and what not. To me, the key to understanding the Imperium is: 1) Technology is rare and sacred. 2) Humanity is a replenishable resource. So. Essentially, when I'm to draw on some current-day elements to add to my games, I'll consider how to acomplish the same thing using a minimum of technology and, preferably, lots of people. So when it comes to movies and cinema, I think it's much more likely for the streets to be flooded with street performers, rather than organised movie houses. Instead of calling someone over a pay-vox, you send them a letter or, if you're illiterate, pay someone to deliver a message. This is a world where the Imperial Fleet can respond to a distress call a century too late. The Imperium is slow and cumbersome. But that's just my take.