Narrative Handling of Influence and Requisition Tests

[musungu 127]

Hi guys,

 

As a long-time Deathwatch GM, I recently tried my hand at running DH2E. I do like what I see so far - at the first glance the system appears to be quite nicely streamlined in comparison with the crunch in DW, but I still need to get the hang of the Requisition system. Now, I tried to read the relevant threads here, debates included, and don't get me wrong, I have nothing against the mechanic of testing Influence and generally following RAW (at least not at the moment - I'll see how it works after a few adventures). While not as elegantly simplistic as the Requisition in DW, I recognise that a simple check-out, check-in system couldn't work so easily in DH, and I'm actually keen to try it out, because it seems to have a lot of potential.

 

What I can't nail down so easily is how these Requisition tests are handled in the narrative - that is, how you as GMs describe these situations. Do you guys improvise a separate shop every single time? Or do the Techpriest always shop at the AdMech, while the Arbitrator goes to the local Precinct-Bastion? Or is there a local contact provided by the Inquisitor, tasked with running errands? What's your take on this?

[Gregorius21778 249]

Hey there,

in my current group most requisitions happen “off-time”. First and foremost I provide lists with gear to them, offering a set number of picks from it during each “downtime”. This is “personal gear” and what I offer them is based on my players needs and wants and the needs of my game. No dice rolls included.
 

During the mission briefing some additional gear is often offered to them that is “handed for the mission”  (because it is mission relevant) and they can ask for further gear. If this “further gear” is something where I say that they might not get it, I tend to roll. But, in all fairness, that only happens with stuff that has a “negative availability” by RAW (if ever).
 

Field requisition is a different thing altogether. If they act openly (as they do normally) they usually can requisite whatever they can get a hand on unless we are talking about rare/very rare gear or things like “three squads of armed men form an institution that has nothing to do with the current investigation”. In that case, I let them roll… but they are free to play the “my INQUISITOR wants that” card. In that case, it is the Influence of their Inquisitor, but they have to report to him directly and personally why they wanted it, what they did with it and why THAT was necessary.
 

If they need to get if from "other sources" I let them roll their "personal" Influence and add boni as I see fit. They are told up front if they have "cash at hand" (for that mission), so there are either penalties or boni if they really want to BUY something (or: bribe somebody). If you would like to learn more about how I do it, please read here:

https://gregorius21778.wordpress.com/2016/01/28/dh2nd-house-rules-acquiring-items/

Results: less looting, less bickering about equipment, focus on roleplaying instead of focus on gear-hording …and a VERY well-armed, well-armored and well-equipped group that needs a lot of thought on my part to challenge it in combat...

...but then again, I never envisioned agents of the throne to be of the feeble 400xp gunfodder types but always start out with them being 1000xp professionals .   Shall they have the gear as long as we all have fun.

Edited August 26, 2016 by Gregorius21778

[eltom13 34]

In my game, the players 'befriended' a bunch of Desoleum bondless-dealers right at the beginning. Now whenever they want to get new gear they first stop by at one of them and roll for influence (some of the dealers which they know for longer, and have helped in the past, provide a bonus between +10 and +30 on this roll). For some special gear, e.g., bionics for our tech-priestess, I let her go to the local machine temple to possibly obtain it there (again a requisition roll, but this time modified by the peer (AdMech) of the tech-priestess. For other special gear they sometimes go to someone they have a Peer talent for, e.g., they once needed noble clothing to infiltrate a masked ball in the apex, so our noble visited his fifth cousin, exchanged some pleasantries, and finally asked him for some last season's clothes he could spare (again an influence roll modified by the nobles peer talent). So far only once their inquisitor was visiting Desoleum, he also brought along some gear, so I gave the warband some free gear (without a roll). When they are to far downhive to realistically go to one of their dealers, they have to take up with some local merchant.

My warband takes subtlety very serious and so they very seldom try to acquire something which is very rare or even harder to find.

That said, they are a bunch of looters: armor, firearms, clothing, they are not too good to strip a dead heretic in order to find 'new' gear, and they will burn for it, at some point

Or maybe that want be a problem anymore since our pyromancer recently learned Inferno, so there will not be much left to loot ...

Edited February 26, 2016 by eltom13

[musungu 127]

in my current group, most requisitions happen “off-time”. First and foremost, I provide lists with gear to them, offering a set number of picks from it during “downtime”.  This is “personal gear” and what I offer them is based on my players needs and wants and the needs of my game. No dice rolls included.

 

During the mission briefing, some gear is offered to them that is “handed for the mission” and they can ask for further gear. If this “further gear” is something where I say that they might not get it, I tend to roll. But, in all fairness, that only happens with stuff that has a “negative availability” by RAW (if ever).

 

Field requisition is a different thing altogether. If they act openly (as they do normally), they usually can requisite whatever they can get a hand on unless we are talking about rare/very rare gear or things like “three squads of armed men form an institution that has nothing to do with the current investigation”. In that case, I let them roll… but they are free to play the “my INQUISITOR wants that” card. In that case, it is the Influence of their Inquisitor, but they have to report to him directly and personally why they wanted it, what they did it and why THAT was necessary and not anything else.

If they need to get if from "other sources" I let them role their "personal" Influence and add boni as I see fit. They are told up front if they have "cash at hand" (for that mission), so there are either penalties or boni if they really want to BUY something (or: bribe somebody). If you would like to learn more about how I do it, please read here:

https://gregorius21778.wordpress.com/2016/01/28/dh2nd-house-rules-acquiring-items/

Thanks for the quick and insightful advice. The off-screen, pre-mission requisitioning is a good idea (and it is fairly close to the system in DW I'm already familiar with), so I'll definitely give it a try. However, I wouldn't diminish the role of "field requisition" quite as strongly as you propose, since I plan to run a very off-hands Inquisitor who is rarely present during (or between) missions, and a self-reliant team of Acolytes. That means the need to rely on their personal connections and familiarity with their surroundings will still play an important role. I think the fact that the players can associate faces, names and places to the abstract Influence value representing their "connections" could greatly help their immersion in the universe, so I'm not in a hurry to completely discard (or effectively neuter) these tests during gameplay.

 

In my game, the players 'befriended' a bunch of Desoleum bondless-dealers right at the beginning. Now whenever they want to get new gear they first stop by at one of them and roll for influence (some of the dealers which they know for longer, and have helped in the past, provide a bonus between +10 and +30 on this roll). For some special gear, e.g., bionics for our tech-priestess, I let her go to the local machine temple to possibly obtain it there (again a requisition roll, but this time modified by the peer (AdMech) of the tech-priestess. For other special gear they sometimes go to someone they have a Peer talent for, e.g., they once needed noble clothing to infiltrate a masked ball in the apex, so our noble visited his fifth cousin, exchanged some pleasantries, and finally asked him for some last season's clothes he could spare (again an influence roll modified by the nobles peer talent). So far only once their inquisitor was visiting Desoleum, he also brought along some gear, so I gave the warband some free gear (without a roll). When they are to far downhive to realistically go to one of their dealers, they have to take up with some local merchant.

These are also very good tips, thanks! You gave me some initial ideas to run with - I don't plan much planet-hopping for the near future, so I'll have time to build up similar contacts in Desoleum. We're still only stumbling through the introductory adventure to make the 40k novices in the group familiar with the setting, so I'll have some time to test different approaches.