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Sgt Goon

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Posts posted by Sgt Goon

  4. Posted

    I feel for you Tisis. 

     

    But rather than fighting fire with fire (i.e. meeting his OP character with OP enemies), I'd suggest a different tack. Don't look for solutions in the rules - look for solutions in the story. 

     

    Change the nature of play to make this nob's character useless. He might be a unstoppable min-maxed cheese tornado in combat; but I'll wager that's all he can do. Good. Spend a few sessions in roleplay-heavy non-combat. Engineer situations where your other players have a chance to shine. Engineer situations where the other players inadvertently screw with his powers/plans. 

     

    All of these things are possible. He will eventually either decide that:

     

    1. You suck as a GM. He's going to go join a game where he's allowed to indulge all of his powergaming, rules-lawyering dweebishness; or

    2. Yeah. OK. That character's kinda stupid. Maybe he'll tone it down a bit. 

     

    Both are wins. 

    Tisis reacted to this

  5. Posted

     

    Why have a barracks of sleeping guards if they're going to wake up anyway? 

     

    Just a few off the top of my head...

     

    1) To provide a situation for a sneaky character to shine; perhaps to retrieve something from the room, turn a switch to unlock another area, or whatever.  

     

    2) To provide an incentive for the PC's to use quieter tactics against the guards in other parts of the locale who are on duty while also making sure that they don't raise the alarm.

     

    3) To remind the players that their enemies aren't a bunch of evil kill-bots but are actual people who do actual people things like sleep. 

     

    4) To enhance player immersion by creating a believable locale where people eat, sleep, shower, etc.; rather than just a linear path of set pieces restricted only to those of immediate relevance to the PC's presence. 

     

    Put it better than I could have Vorzakk. 

  6. Posted

    Out of curiosity, why would you impose such a complication on killing someone that's completely at your mercy? If you've managed to sneak up on someone that's asleep and stab them in the heart or somewhere else that's instantly fatal, I'm failing to see how the dying person can struggle and cause a ruckus. Would you impose a similar complication if the chirurgeon administered a deadly neurotoxin or extreme dose of tranq via an injector or if someone used a properly silenced pistol to shoot them in the head?

     

    If you're going to rule of cool a silent knife to the neck on an awake guard, why not rule of cool a silent knives in the dark murder spree in the barracks?

     

    I frame it thus: A silent kill is not completely silent. You can stick a guard silently if he's out on his own (e.g - the closest guard is on a nearby tower/guarding the next room), but you can't do it if there's another guard standing next to him. I don't care how well you rolled. If you stab someone in the neck expertly, they will die; but not without a certain amount of thrashing around. Maybe that's just the slip and scrape of boot heels in the pool of blood on the floor, but it's still a noise. 

     

    The reason I mention the barracks full of sleeping guards thing is a matter of personal experience. I was a player in a (non-DH) game where the resident powergamer/rules lawyer's super-duper stealthy assassin went on a murder spree in a barracks full of sleeping guards. He argued that because the rules said that if they were asleep (and thus he basically couldn't fail any of his stealth rolls) they were helpless, so he would be able to kill all of them silently. No more guards to worry about you guise! I kept my mouth shut, but it just seemed boring.

     

    By that I mean with no more guards, there's no more risk for the rest of the party to play off - so no room for cunning schemes, knife-edge escapes or hair-raising adventure. Or failure either, for that matter. 

     

    TL:DR - using stealthy silent murder to knock off one guard to get through a tight spot is cool. Killing all the guards with stealthy silent murder is not. My attitude to what you can and can't do is shaped by what I and my players think makes a cool game. 

  7. Posted

     

    Are they talking about going through a whole barracks of guards sleeping side by side, silently offing one after the other? Boo! Boring! 

     

    "You slink up to the first bed. It's too easy. Drawing the knife from your shoulder rig, you jam it into his trachea. He can't make a sound - but you weren't expecting him to flop about quite so much. The guardsman sleeping nearby's eyes flutter open in alarm. His gasps turn into a panicked scream."

     

    I'd be wary of doing something like this. You would be effectively denying the stealthy people their opportunity to shine and there are other ways to introduce complications for the scenario. I'd be inclined to allow the players to succeed in their stealthy assassinations but have to deal with the ramifications created by a room full of dead people. Sure, they managed to kill all of the sleeping guards but what do they do with the bodies? What do they do if a patrol swings by the barracks and sounds the alarm?

     

    I know it comes down to personal preference as a GM but having a sleeping guard thrash about in his death throes and wake up another guard would seem a bit unfair if I was a player.

     

    A good point - that said I wouldn't just spring something like that on a player. 

     

    If they were a warrior, I would flat out warn them that experience tells them that stabbing someone tends to lead to a bit of struggle and noise. If they were a chirurgeon, I'd give them some kind of warning too. But if it's the group's lily-handed loremaster, well. There will be "complications". 

  8. Posted

    Rule of Cool every time. 

     

    Would it be more fun if the players managed to sneak up on the guard and shanked him? **** right it's silent. 

     

    "You slip between the shadows and get within a couple of steps of the guard. He's bored - autogun slung over his shoulder, and looking like he'd very much rather be playing cards back in the barracks. Casting a couple of half-hearted glances towards the gateway, he pulls a lho-stick from his breast pocket and lights it. He's taking a healthy drag when you pounce."

     

    Are they talking about going through a whole barracks of guards sleeping side by side, silently offing one after the other? Boo! Boring! 

     

    "You slink up to the first bed. It's too easy. Drawing the knife from your shoulder rig, you jam it into his trachea. He can't make a sound - but you weren't expecting him to flop about quite so much. The guardsman sleeping nearby's eyes flutter open in alarm. His gasps turn into a panicked scream."

  9. Posted

    Agree Morbid - except for one point. I'd reverse Dark Heresy and Only War gear availability. 

     

    My rationale is that the Imperial Guard have the full weight of the Munitorum behind them - you might only get a lasgun and flak armour; but by the Emperor, it will be a lasgun and flak armour made on a forgeworld, damnit. 

     

    An acolyte cell is in cover, and will cobble together whatever they can get their hands on. Sure - they might have bolt pistols and carapace armour if they need to make a show of force; but the magazines are empty and the chestplates are held together with duct tape and spit. When push comes to shove, they pull out stubbers and hope for the best. 

     

    That's purely a personal flavour though. My DH campaign is desperately gritty. 

  10. Posted

    I agree. Go with what feels right to you. 

     

    Make sure the players know that whipping out a Bolt weapon is making a statement bigger than "D10+5X, Rending" though. Not just anyone gets a bolt weapon - you're obviously kind of a big deal if you're carrying one. It will have effects on subtlety. 

  11. Posted

    This is a very ambitious idea - one you'd really need the right group of players for. I reckon it could be absolutely amazing. 

     

    One more clue/bits of flavour off the top of my head:

     

     - A warehouse, thought abandoned, burned down during the "missing" period. A number of bodies were found inside, but were quickly hustled off to the charnel houses. If the players are quick, they may be able to bribe/talk their way into one such house, finding that some of the bodies have obvious gunshot/melee weapon wounds.  

    Magnus Grendel reacted to this

  12. Posted

    My Inquisitor is only ever a voice emanating from a servo-skull or penning a mission briefing and has never been seen. The warband does have occasion to interact with Interrogators sometimes, but they tend to be back-office types who don't directly involve themselves in missions, and are for the most part unhelpful jerks. 

     

    I use the maxim of "The interrogator/inquisitor knows anything that helps advance the story/gets the warband out of the dead end they're in/is cool". I do, however, avoid having them sitting there as a pool of lore skills that the warband can tap into. If the party ask the interrogator to answer questions for them, it has an influence cost, or reduces their subtlety, depending on the question being asked. 

  14. Posted · Edited by Sgt Goon

    A GM by my own heart. I love a good McGuffin. Especially one that not even I know the actual purpose of (there's a few sitting around in my game waiting for a flash of inspiration/cruelty). 

     

    As for the ashes...well...

     

    You could make it a slow burn. Nothing happens at first, but slowly, spooky things start happening around the base. The psykers get bad dreams. The veil starts to weaken. Psyniscience doesn't get any pings off the ashes. What's going on? 

     

    If they players resolve to destroy/dispose of/hide the ashes, they find them missing. One of their servants has taken it and hidden it in the base. It's a mystery. Do the players suspect their servants? How will they work out which one has taken the ashes? Maybe they can't.

     

    Just before it's time for the sorcerers/cultists/boogity-squad to show up (it doesn't have to be Thousand Sons - some other Chaos worshipper may have divined them) to seize the urn and torch the base, the characters find the servant in question babbling and scrawling glyphs that hurt the eye on the walls in their own faeces. 

  16. Posted

     

     

    Rulewise, yes. But if your GM allows it... consider leaving that game.

    And if one of my players asked, I would consider slapping them. 

     

     

    I still think there are better ways than that. GM vetoing stuff that RAW is valid should be kept to a minimum (remember the GM's rule of thumb to respond with "Yes, but..." so your players don't feel restricted). This one of those cases that you can perfectly get around by thinking about the possible ingame consequences, so no veto required imho. You might even do some story weaving around it that will lead to the Power Armor, thanks to the Adeptus Administratum player's info, rather than just handing it over. If the Power Armor becomes too much of nuisance, just roll to potentially make it malfunction at times or tip enemies off so they'll arrive in greater numbers or have the necessary weapons to take it out. The point of the RPG is to have fun, if your players want to go in that direction then let them, instead of potentially killing their fun.

     

     

    Agree - it's all about the fun; but having a player who demands RAW, and rules-lawyers everything so they can "win" is pretty much the antithesis of fun, IMO.

     

    That said; my group pretty much only look at the rules when all else fails (we're VERY big on GM fiat). I can see that kind of playstyle driving some people nuts as well. 

  18. Posted

    How about this?

     

    I don’t like sudden betrayals (especially if there aren’t previous hints). Instead, the players work for a puritan inquisitor (as they are puritans themselves) who has been taken down by a cabal of radical inquisitors while they were messing about with their dauntless cruiser “Senseless Sunday” [or insert the name of your choosing]. The cabal is now after the acolyte teams of the puritan inquisitor and has already killed off a few. The players arrive at their home destination and think they are in for a bit of R&R while the ship is refurbished.

     

    Instead, a contact of their master warns them just in time and tells them their master has been declared a traitor (maybe he burned the wrong person or just too many citizens and he had to ‘splain himself before a tribunal of his peers)  and that they need to disappear immediately or be killed themselves.

     

    They are officially fugitives from imperial justice….and all they have are the clothes on their backs and a rickety ship. Thus begins the odyssey of the “Senseless Sunday”.

     

    Your campaign can then go (at least) 3 different ways:

     

    1) they can become traders/free captains without papers, severing all ties to the imperium. (full sandbox)

     

    2) they can try to avenge their fallen master, 47 ronin style with their own ship, taking out radical inquisitors while dodging hit squads. (tightly focused campaign)

     

    3) they can try to locate secret assets of their former master, each asset providing assistance and a stepping stone towards something that might allow them to either take the cabal down or redeem their former master posthumously. Or perhaps their master has fled, leaving pieces of a star chart which must be put together to find the location of his hidden fortress. (mix of sandbox and tightly focused campaign). 

     

    I do love those ideas - but the problem is in their ability to run the ship.

     

    The Admech cadre doing the actual nuts and bolts stuff doesn't like them, and is only crewing the ship thanks to a deal with the Inquisitor. Once they hit port, they're off - and that's been revealed to the player group. 

     

    That said - I do like a little sub-plot about their former master having left a trail (potentially to some kind of McGuffin). I reckon that's getting incorporated into the greater narrative. My thanks, Ranoncles 

  19. Posted

    I would also suggest something powerful and potentially valuable that they can't really use - like Eldar Wraithlord weaponry. As much of a burden as a boon. 

     

    If you're feeling really saucy, go for something from an extinct race of xenos - no-one really knows what it is, or what it does; but everyone wants it (a McGuffin). 

     

    Man...I'm coming across as a bit of a **** to my players, aren't I. 

  20. Posted

    Put actual junk in there. Stuff that is useless to everyone. Stuff that is only valuable because its rare. Stuff that doesn't do anything.

     

    For example, paintings made by a Dark Eldar who doesn't want to destroy them, but doesn't want other Dark Eldar finding out about them. So he sneaks them into the trade shipments so that they will find their way into the hands of someone who will preserve them.

     

    Second this idea - one of my players has been carrying around a wooden box full of mirror shards for months sure that it's some kind of relic due to a success on a Scholastic Lore: Imperial Creed roll. 

     

    Nope...just a busted mirror dude. 

     

    I kinda like the idea of starting to give him bonuses on rolls due to his utter certainty that this must have been touched by some Saint...

  21. Posted

    To my fellow GMs...I'd like your opinion.

     

    I have a Dark Heresy campaign that is progressing well. It started with a couple of loosely connected adventures (mainly as my group had never played DH before and we weren't sure how it'd go); but it's turning into a more cogent campaign, we're having fun, loving the characters as they develop, and I want it to kick on.

     

    Currently, the acolytes are aboard a Dauntless-class light cruiser they assisted in recovering from a space hulk after it was lost in the warp around 50 years previously. Their Interrogator saddled them with acting as "honour guard" for its return to a civilised planet for refitting in the service of the Holy Ordos. The fun is in the fact that the ship is virtually a wreck. It leaks atmosphere, is riddled with warp-tainted remnants of the previous crew, has no void shields or weapon systems and has a Gellar field that's "a bit rickety" (as their Tech-Priest put it). The Admech contingent who are actually running the ship have nothing but disdain for them; and as the ship used to belong to a very dodgy Rogue Trader, it's full of heretical and xenos artefacts (none of which the players understand and have had the good sense not to mess with).

     

    The ship is a great setting - they've developed a bit of a love-hate relationship with it. I want to keep it around, but when they arrive at their end point, they'll have to hand it over. 

     

    I had an idea to keep it - and this is where I need the opinion of my learned friends...

     

    They are a fairly puritanical group. I'd thought maybe I could do a big reveal of their inquisitor as a radical who's stepped way over the mark. Over a series of adventures, they would learn this and have their loyalties tested. Finally, they would either join her as radicals (unlikely - they're pretty big on the "burn em all and let the Emperor sort em out" approach), or turn on her and reveal her to another Inquisitor, preventing her plot from all falling into place. 

     

    This would leave the holy ordos in an embarrassing position - they can't really acknowledge that one of their own has fallen and they can't just execute the acolytes (who have significant influence by this stage). They decide to get them out of the picture by procuring them a ship and a Warrant of Trade. 

     

    How magnanimous! But what shall our ship be...no...you can't mean...

     

    The next stage of the campaign will be the characters saddled with no money, a ship that could be amazing, but barely works and has virtually no crew (in Rogue Trader terms - a broken ship and virtually no Profit Factor). They have to use all their wit and guile to just get the **** thing moving. 

     

    Thoughts?

     

      

    eltom13 reacted to this
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