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jjjetplane209

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Posts posted by jjjetplane209

  1. Posted

    I would suggest caution on what you all create, as Asymptomatic has a point. By generating it yourselves, you limit what I can provide in terms of assistance. There are also cases where a success on your dice roll may not in any situation be a success. Attempting to procure a Nova Cannon on Rhodin IV for instance. you might roll a 1, meaning automatic success, but seriously, there aren't any Nova Cannons to be had on the planet.

     

    I enjoy and encourage the small things, as most of you have done so far. Small details make for a better story, and your input is welcome. If you feel like it matter though, you should state what you are testing and roll. Leave the rest up to me.

     

    Also, Dracon would be testing Athletics as opposed to Agility and Strength. Climbing is a core feature of the Athletics skill, which I have down as an untrained skill for Dracon, so an automatic -20.

     

    Nothing you all have done so far has been particularly crucial to your success or failure in this venture, and you all have role played it admirably. I haven't felt the need to override you, but be cautious with critical events.

  2. Posted · Edited by jjjetplane209

    No worries Sukrai, we'll keep the options open for you if you wish to join us again in the future.

     

    To the rest of you, I apologize for my own delay, bad weather and extenuating circumstances have made it difficult this week for me to post. Let's get on with it.

     

    Rounding the outlying structures, you find an open square, prefab buildings on all sides. The general appearance of the place is what you would expect from a Mechanicus mining facility, square corners, exposed fasteners, mono-tone industrial beige paint intended for corrosion prevention more than any sense of style. Over it all is a coating of the ubiquitous red dust courtesy of the mining equipment arrayed in ranks in the center of the square. A large crowd has gathered, men, women and children alike, most probably the entire population of this community minus the current shift guaranteed to be in the depths. The people have found perches amongst the industrial equipment hoping to get a better look at the center. Towards the front they stand pressed together in a great mass.

     

    As you approach, you begin to get an idea of what this is, for you catch the odd word raised in prayer to the Emperor, the fiery oration a familiar thing to each of you having been raised in the Imperial Truth. You work your way through the crowd, on the lookout for food and unsupervised affects, finding a comfortable position from which to observe the service.

     

    At the very front, a priest rails from a makeshift pulpit, his paunch barely concealed beneath ostentatious robes. In one chubby fist he carries a staff, its entire upper surface plastered in prayer notes. On the other side, a massive chain sword rests across his hip, its gilt edges glinting in the fire light of gas torches spread around the base of the massive statue that looms behind the man.

     

    The statue itself catches your eye, for it seems familiar, but different. After a moment you connect the symbolism, Dracon recognizing it as resembling the pendant given to you in the refinery. The Emperor, wrought from dark metal, stands 3 meters tall behind the priest. His face is cast in smooth slabs of metal, devoid of detail as is so common of artwork of the Emperor. In his right hand, a sword, tip down in the earth, in his left a shield. Across his broad, armoured chest is the Imperial Aquila, containing the same odd fire motif to be found on the pendant. In this case though, the fire is very much real. Pouring forth from the Emperor's chest in great gouts, the flames rising and falling to punctuate the words of the sermon. The priest continues, the heat not seeming to bother him at all despite his proximity to the flames, and the obvious discomfort of his nearby menials.

     

    "So I say to you again my children, FEAR NOT! Reach deep into your hearts and feel the fury of the Emperor burning in your chest! Fan the flames of your faith and trust in him! We have suffered the loss of a great man, an honourable man, an example to us all, but his loss will not go unanswered! We seek justice for him, for the miners, for all the men and women toiling for the Mechanicum! We are the righteous, and we will make use of whatever means necessary to expose the TRUTH!"

     

    With this exclamation a great burst of flame erupts from the statue, escaping through hitherto unseen vents in the neck and shoulders of the form. The crowd cries out, ecstatic at the words. Robed acolytes, their faces obscured by solid rebreathers, move forward into the press carrying glowing brands kept hot from braziers rigged on their backs. The crowd parts for each acolyte, but as they pass hands reach out to grasp the hot metal, coming away with a fresh brand. Each of the newly marked is quickly overcome by the pain, and others of the crowd support them as fresh devotees surge forward into the openings.

  3. Posted

    The noise of the gathering is drifting in and out as though the crowd is responding to something. While not overtly hostile, it's not exactly joyous. The tone is serious and you catch the odd approving shout.

     

    Ting, are you intending to look for some food around the Land Crawler, or the town? What's everyone else doing?

  4. Posted · Edited by jjjetplane209

    No worries Sukrai, with your assistance they can navigate without a test for this instance. Ting, Asym, I applaud your role play. There will be an incentive in it for each of you once we reach a break that would constitute a traditional RPG session.

     

    Harlocke and Dracon rejoin the group, apparently interrupting a personal conversation between Oliver and Jaspar, the two militant men seeming to strike a chord with one another. Leaving his workshop behind, Harlocke guides you through the depths of the Forge. Rounding a corner, you see the doors leading into the refinery behind you, a missed turn having led you to this new companion, though you wonder where this ones loyalties will lie once he determines the nature of your investigation.

     

    Deviating from the Executor's directions, Harlocke leads you to a small vehicle depot. After a brief pause scanning the depot's compliment, he points out a Land Crawler, a tracked work vehicle normally used for clearing overburden from mine cuts. This one, battered though it first appears, has been recently overhauled and is scheduled to return to the miners. Harlocke spends a moment conversing with another Tech-Priest, arranging the use of the vehicle for the short trip out to the main residential complex.

     

    With a nod, Harlocke signals that the vehicle is yours, for the small price of its final delivery to the deeps. You clamber aboard, trying to avoid the worst of the grease stained surfaces, hard to do as it appears a century of the sludge coats some surfaces. Though a hard wired servitor is capable of navigating the heavy piece of machinery independently, Jaspar slides into the driver's seat, poking around, familiarizing himself with its layout. Unsurprisingly, it has much in common with the Chimera, so familiar to any man of the Imperial Guard. After a brief pause, Jaspar finds the ignition and put's the lumbering machine into gear, a broad smile on his face at the chance to tear around the mines, even if it's not as fast as his bike.

     

    The journey to the worker habs is several kilometers, circumnavigating the bulk of the Forge and it outlying processing plants. Harlocke points the way, nudging Jaspar to keep him on the right course. All around you, the industry of the mines continues, even at what must be a late hour. The habs themselves though are alive, some sort of gathering taking place in the center of several large prefab buildings set into the recess of the mine wall. Jaspar halts the Land Crawler short of the perimeter, shutting down the engine. In the quiet you can make out the mass of raised voices, though from your current position you can't determine the exact nature of what's going on.

  5. Posted

    Guys, feel free to split up and move around as you see fit. I like the character interaction, I'm just hanging back until you all decide to take an action. Remember, if you get moving again, we'll need to test navigation, though you'll have some help from Harlocke if he's assisting. Also, keep in mind where you're heading and be descriptive when you make an action.

  6. Posted

    Gentlemen, glad everyone is back. Let's try to get this moving along again if we can. Now that the introductions have been made, let's keep the explanation short since Sukrai has no doubt read along.

     

    The refinery worker bows low, his knuckles intertwined in the symbol of the mechanicus.

     

    "I'm glad I could be of assistance."

     

    He nods to each of you in turn and leaves the way he came, returning to his menial task in the hot refinery.

  7. Posted

    Having run three prewritten adventures for my group, I recommend the freebie Broken Chains. The concept is interesting, gives players a reason to come together as a single warband, despite their disparate pasts, and opens them up for later adventures. Bonus interaction with a daemonhost that could easily provide plot hooks for other stories.

     

    Lots of hate for prewritten scenarios here. Personally, I don't think any of the BC ones are as bad as the DH2.0 one.

  8. Posted

    I had a thought for a grand adventure hunting down one of the lost Gloriana-Class Battleships, and I'm curious on the take of other GMs. This is an adventure chain that would take players well outside the Screaming Vortex, but has sufficient pieces to make for a long campaign, and rewards enough to make them prominent in a Black Crusade of their own.

     

    In particular, my thought was to find the Macragge's Honour, the Ultramarines Gloriana that was lost in the warp after ship to ship action with the Word Bearer's and Kor Phaeron which disabled it's Geller field and left it stranded. Since Kor Phaeron is still apparently floating around in the 42nd millennium, it seems likely that there would be some sort of record of the encounter. I see a campaign playing out something like this:

     

    1. Find a sect of Word Bearers with the account of Kor Phaeron's 'scuttling' of the Macragges Honour (even though Kor Phaeron was actually defeated, perhaps some intrigue to be had from that). This would provide PCs the last known location and heading of the missing Gloriana, and is itself a series of compacts as the PCs either earn the trust of the Word Bearers or sufficient wealth to trade for the information.

     

    2. Acquire a contingent of Navigators, preferably of a well known and established house. My thought here is to create a grand ritual using the Navigators as sacrifice. Use the Navigators, channeled through a particularly powerful psyker to create a map of the warp in the vein of a holographic image above the ritual. Then use them to turn back the clock on the map to when the Gloriana was lost, chart the position and heading of the lost ship, then turn the clock forward again charting the ships course through the intervening warp tides. This bit assumes some level of logic to warp tides, which is a bit absurd, but its a first shot at locating the vessel.

     

    3. Once the region of the warp has been narrowed, the PCs will need a potent relic of the Ultramarines to be used as a psyfocus, capturing and tracing the aura of the Ultramarines in attempt to scry for the Gloriana in the narrowed space. I feel like this could be done by a coven of psykers, or better yet a group of Dark Eldar Medusae inducing a trip to Commorragh.

     

    4. The PCs, once they have the location and the ability to narrow in on the vessel will need a small fleet of recovery vessels to make the trip into, most likely, Imperial space.

     

    Then the fun begins, because the Gloriana's were home to the Primarchs. No telling what riches they left behind, let alone the fact that it would have been home to at least a couple of chapters of Space Marines and all of their support equipment. Better in the case of the Macragge's Honour because it was the largest Gloriana, and because it spent the last 10,000 years in the warp. Maybe dangerous warp entities have roosted there waiting for the ship to be rediscovered. Maybe the Word Bearers boarding parties and the Ultramarines are still alive and locked in an epic struggle for the ship. Maybe some contingent of the Ultramarines survived and went into stasis, only to reawaken to greet intruders. Maybe all of the above. I feel like boarding the Macragge's Honour is just the halfway point in the campaign as the PCs struggle to salvage her. Lets not forget, her Geller fields were disabled, so the PCs have to struggle with either getting them running again while still in the warp, or find some way to shunt her into real space so they can start clearing her out. All the while, vulnerable to predators of all kinds.

     

    And, again, think of the loot. All the support vehicles for a Primarch and a good chunk of his legion, all the geneseed stored for replenishing troops, all that power armour, and the Gloriana itself, one of 20 such vessels that could destroy traditional battlecruisers with one broadside. Then what do you do with it all? Turn it over to Abaddon to add another to his fleet? Go back to the Screaming Vortex and dominate the war moons of Talax so you can recruit the entire body into your budding army? Start whole new chapters of Chaos Space Marines?

     

    I'm curious on what others think of this idea. Its a huge undertaking, probably too big for all but the most dedicated of groups. But oh the possibilities. There's so much for the PCs to do, so much they could dictate themselves. And it would culminate in an epic reward.

     

    I'm also curious on what others think the stats for a Gloriana should be. The whole idea of them has been altered over the years. Ships that started out as battlebarges became Gloriana's, so existing stats from BFG are somewhat poor for their latest description. Not to mention you need some way to put pen to paper on what is actually IN the Gloriana that can be salvaged/rebuilt. Tallies of support vehicles and types, weapons lockers, munitions, etc.

     

    Any ideas for embellishing/fleshing out the story are welcome too. Really just looking for brainstorming.
     

     
    n00b f00 and Talon of Anathrax reacted to this

  13. Posted · Edited by jjjetplane209

    "Tech-Priest Harlocke, these men had a close run in with Overseer Hresh in the refinery after they got lost on their business. They could use a guide familiar with the workings of the forge and the mine complex beyond, one friendly to all and not just those of the forge. I immediately thought of you. The workers would see it as a great favor if you could accompany them, and safeguard the Legio's business."

     

    The man keeps to one side, respectful of the tech-priest, and admiring of his work.

     

    "If I may leave them in your capable hands? I must return to work or the Overseer will begin to question their presence once more."

     

    He pauses, awaiting confirmation from the priest.
     

     

    //   I'm wary of using the spoiler tags as OOC. You won't know if you're looking at a comment from me, or opening up a dice roll that maybe you wanted to be left in the dark about. I was mainly using the Spoiler for those readers who might like to know what effect your tests, and NPC tests are having on the story. Quote would be a suitable alternative if all agree.In either case, I would rather see your rolls in the open as you have done all along.

    ciaphascainfan1990 and Arkio_Gannys reacted to this

  14. Posted · Edited by jjjetplane209

    The man's grease stained features split in a delighted grin.

     

    "It's a pleasure to meet you Oliver. I know of such a place," he says, gesturing for you to follow before turning and disappearing into the surrounding machinery.

     

    "I knew you for supporters of the princeps, though it's obvious you ain't his servants. We never see them down in the body of the refinery, the overseer was right about that. No reason for any of Legio to be down this far, unless they didn't want to be seen for some reason. It's clear from the way you all speak, and your manner, that you aren't from Rhodin IV, and haven't been here long."

     

    The servant takes you out of the refinery through a side door into a narrow corridor. The area is quiet as you move past door after unmarked door in the desolate space.

     

    "We can't take long, Hresh will be expecting me to return to my maintenance duties shortly. But, I can take you to someone who can guide you better, wherever it is that you are headed. He's a good man, for a clanker. Far friendlier to the unaugmented than the rest you're likely to meet on this polluted rock."

     

    He stops in the hallway, and turns back to you, pulling some small trinket from beneath his heavy rubber overalls.

     

    "And take this. A small thing, but maybe it will help you. It'll let others know of your support for the revered dead, and that you stand with the miners. You get lost again, just show that, but don't let a tech-priest see it."

     

    The trinket is small necklace, a chord of salvaged wire, the pendant a hand worked piece of local stone. The Imperial Aquila stands to the fore, at it's back crudely carved fire, engulfing the religious symbol.

     

    "Over here, he's been working in this area of late. Should still be here."

     

    //   Sukrai, this is where you come in. I'm going to let you decide what it is you are working on, and introduce yourself how you would like.

  15. Posted · Edited by jjjetplane209

    //   Trying to make good use of the Forum here, so let's give spoilers a try.

     

    Tech Priest Scrutiny: Per: 43 - 20 untrained. Roll: 32. 1 DOF 

     

    The tech-priest looks back and forth between Jaspar and Dracon, the organic parts of his face lined with confusion as he tries to reconcile the sincerity you appear to be displaying with the records before his eyes. The confusion turns to anger as a series of tones begin to sound from his lectern. A screech of binaric sears the air, and the servo-skull's arms slacken before the things tears off at break neck pace through the forest of tubing. The priest dismissively waves an arm at your small group, before turning his bulk back to the lectern properly.

     

    The menial before you heaves a sigh of relief before placing the wrench once more on his shoulder. He reaches up to release the rebreather mask from his face and approaches you with a wry smile.

     

    "Odd to see the Legio down here, your folks don't get 'lost' very often." The man gives Dracon a wink.

     

    "Don't worry. The workers support the Legio over the clankers any day. Your quick thinking got you out of that one, Overseer Hresh has given me permission to see you out of here. Better one worker stops working than a dozen standing around to watch what goes down. That, and it sounds like a pressure vessel is near breach. Hresh'll be in a heap of trouble if he lets one pop because he was distracted.

     

    A shame too, I was ready to open up that steam vent. Would've fried that little bastard of a skull, and covered our way out. So, where are you really headed?"

     

    The man busies himself wiping the grime from his face, and looks at you expectantly.

  18. Posted

    Sukrai, for the most part it looks good. However, Technical Knock uses Intelligence and Tech as its two aptitudes. You only have Intelligence, which means it would cost 300xp, not 200. You've spent 800xp on the rest, so you'll need to either adjust your xp expenditure or buy something besides Technical Knock.

     

    Also, given the location, I'm going to push you to Peer(Ecclesiarchy) at best. That in itself is odd for a Tech-Priest to have, I'll need a tremendous background story as to why, but Peer(Adeptus Sororitas) is just one too far.

  20. Posted

    Certainly Sukrai. We can bring you on. We are currently in the middle of the game, so there are some restrictions on character generation. Check out the Titanomachy thread. That's where the story is taking place. Most likely you'd be restricted to Homeworld Forge World Rhodin IV. Give me some ideas on your character and we'll draft it up. Requirements as I'm sure you've read are DH2 rules as written.

     

    For the rest of you, I'm going to pause the story for just a moment to see if we can incorporate Sukrai. Feel free to post though if you have something you want to do in the current situation.

  21. Posted

    These can work as rituals as well, especially in the Ward from Warp talent it mentions that it takes hours to perform. It is a ritual.

    You might want to take a look at that.

     

    madMAEXX, what's the source for the Ward from Warp talent? It's not in the DH2 Core Rulebook is it?

     

     

    On a slightly different, but I believe relevant note, I just came across the rules for Sorcerers in Disciples of the Dark Gods. Standard humans enacting micro-rituals to approximate psyker powers, albeit more wildly and less successfully.  Perhaps another avenue for ritualizing 'magic' in DH2? This is the first time I've seen non-psykers be able to pick up pseudo-psyker as a talent. I own all of the BC splat books and haven't seen anything like this, and it made me so giddy. Did this ever get ported to any of the other systems?

  22. Posted · Edited by jjjetplane209

    The servo skull floats closer to Jaspar, mechadendrites waving gently in the air. A whirring sounds within the soulless sockets of the long dead Mechanicus servant. The Tech-Priest on high shifts his body, hunching closer over his lectern in an effort to get closer to you, subconsciously mimicking the drone. The air above you is not quite so busy with the passage of skulls. It's obvious your presence is a distraction.

     

    "Correction: Your presence is reducing maintenance efficiency by 7.6%. Informational: Your noospheric readings indicate you are of the Legio Manus Flammeus suppport cadre. The refinery is located 7 levels below the Legio's lodging allotment. Additional: Your service record, Canto Redeel, Identification Number 86215649, indicates you have resided in the same lodgings since induction 4.3 local standard years ago. Demand: Clarify situation"

     

    Several of the servo skulls mechadendrites stiffen, their pointed tips producing arcs of power and the smell of ozone. As work slows around you, the rubber clad menials once tending the refinery's workings stop to watch. One, a broad shouldered man carrying a wrench the size of a heavy stubber with distressing ease, leans out from a cluster of pipes to look up at the priest. His face, once exposed to the harsh overhead lights, is covered in grease except for circular outlines around his eyes, courtesy of the goggles now resting on his forehead. He glances back at your group, before quietly slipping his wrench around a nearby valve.

  23. Posted

    My own intent was to both allow an Adeptus Ministorum character to further utilize his background in a meaningful way, and to find some logic and consistency to the 40K universe. 

     

    The rituals themselves may not in all cases be expected to have a strong mechanic-based effect. Would I expect a preacher to be able to blindly create a relic weapon from rote repetition of a beginner level text? No. I wouldn't even begin to suspect Ecclesiarchy Cardinals would be capable of that or the Ecclesiarchy would be cranking out relics gangbuster. But it is reasonable to assume that the church of the Confederation of Light has a certain amount of trappings that they themselves believe serve a meaningful purpose. Their rites and rituals would have some effect, even if it would only be to reinforce the faith of the church's adherents. More than that would certainly be up to a player and a GM to decide on the level of expertise required to achieve a more tangible result, but I could certainly see the case being made for things such as bonuses to Willpower tests made against psychic powers, sealing locations against the intrusion of the warp, blessings of weapons in various degrees and more. The Inquisition would be expected to maintain a certain stranglehold on the potentially dangerous rites and rituals, sealed within long forgotten data vaults, yes. Perhaps that in itself is a story hook. And perhaps that is the decision that a player and a GM come to as well, yes it is possible but not at your level of understanding.

     

    I must agree with Lynata's take on the science of emotion and faith in the 40K universe, though I doubt I will be as eloquent. Oddly, I think the Orks provide the strongest potential example. Each with a latent psychic ability, each contributing to the communities overall power, and directly influencing the physics of the universe around them due to their belief. An Ork believes a weapon works,  his tribe believes it works, and so it works. Larger bodies of Orks are capable of raising larger and larger weaponry. Remove the Ork from the equation and the weapon stops working. Perhaps the average imperial citizen lacks the psychic strength of an Ork, but what is to prevent them from utilizing the same mechanism? Whats more, perhaps human emotion, which is obviously such a key component in many of the 'magics' of 40K, is what gives humanity the edge.

     

    This argument is further reinforced by the circumstance requirements of many chaos rituals. First, create a environment of high emotion to thin the barrier between realspace and the warp, then enact a ritual which sends the clarion call to an entity strong enough to tunnel through. The Word Bearers used this during the invasion of Tanakreg, using the emotional turmoil associated with the deaths of billions to physically transport a world into the warp. There are numerous examples of this strong emotion being used by Chaos, but what if the emotion was hatred of Chaos? What if revulsion was at the center of the rite/ritual, would you not expect even an untrained but particularly hate filled individual to have some effect?

     

    I'm very glad this got at least some discussion, and now I have some additional sources to check. I for one, if I ever to get to play my Priest, will be making the case for Imperial rites and rituals.

    Asymptomatic and Lynata reacted to this

  24. Posted · Edited by jjjetplane209

    The accordion's soft music is lost to the clang and whir of industry all around you. You move through the refinery looking for some clue as to the direction you should take. All around you the menials continue their slow, methodical crawl over the pipe works, turning valves, tightening junctions, releasing pressure. The servo skulls buzz around you, ducking and diving amongst the infrastructure. One nears you, it's skull a dirty brown, the sockets devoid of life but alight with an artificial glow. small mechadendrites thrash about it, scanning, searching. A speaker juts from its open skull, secured with fine silver wire. It passes you, careening at speed between Oliver and Dracon, before turning abruptly. It's sudden stop causes it to nearly collide with a support stanchion, but it drifts to the left narrowly avoiding the obstruction. Above your heads, another skull turns acutely, dashing off in the direction of the first skulls destination.

     

    The skull before you sidles closer, the speaker buzzing to life, crackling with the distortion of so many other signals being broadcast in the space. A burst of machine code pours out of the speaker, followed by a long pause. When its evident that you are incapable of understanding the speaker crackles again.

     

    "Informational: Access to this space is restricted, and your presence is reducing maintenance efficiency by 2.4%. Demand: Vacate the refinery premises immediately."

     

    Looking around you find that a tech-priest on a nearby lectern is watching you intently, even as his mechadendrites scramble around his control lectern maintaining his control of the refineries processes. Clearly this priest is the one controlling the servo skull.

  25. Posted · Edited by jjjetplane209

    Looking for tips and commentary on what others think of adapting the Rites and Rituals rules of BC for use as an Adeptus Ministorum Preacher.

     

    A bit on my thought process. There are numerous examples of inquisitors using blessed relics to combat daemons, hexagrammic and pentagramic purity wards holding back the warp in one form or another, and in general items imbued with the light of He who sits the Golden Throne. There is even a rule for this in DH2 where weapons can have the Sanctified trait, though no weapon has this trait other than those touched by the Sister of Battle Canoness and wielded by the Grey Knight reinforcements. I was pondering how perhaps an Adeptus Ministorum agent might go about executing a ceremony to bring about such ends, or others, in a similar way to Tech-Priests that perform rites to appease a disgruntled machine spirit, and I thought of the Rites and Rituals of BC.

     

    This made some level of sense to me as it would seem to be entirely in keeping with the inner secrecy's of the Ecclesiarchy and not all of the Rites and Rituals require the participants to be psykers. They do require some level of forbidden lore, typically daemonology. My thought was to substitute this for Forbidden Lore (Occult) or perhaps (Numerology) in the case of the hexgrammic/pentagramic wards, thus requiring training in the exercise of such activities. The rite/ritual would still require some level of setup and circumstance, the right components, even utilizing rules like wrought for purpose, but to the end of the Imperium rather than chaos.

     

    Obviously we're not going to be summoning the Custodes, or notable Saints, as one might summon a bloodletter. At least not without DIRE consequences, but this would perhaps allow for another creative avenue for characters? I'm thinking an actual use to the Sanctified trait or an autoseance ala Eisenhorn? The latter clearly requires some level of psyker but you get the idea.

     

    I'm open to thoughts and criticism on this. Would it be a waste of time to players? Too much fluff with too little gain? Too close to outright heresy? Or, as I like to think, just the right amount.

     

    Has anything like this ever been covered by other source books from DH1? I certainly don't own all of them, but I haven't come across anything like this yet.

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