Is it crazy to want to give one of my players access to a Titan?

[Artreas Bethor 0]

Fluff and rarity of such technology aside (Trust me I have read almost all of it) I want to include an epic titan on titan battle in my game. I havent seen any threads about such an encounter so I thought I would ask if anyone else has had the same urge to want to see these godly machines included in a story arc?

[Gregorius21778 249]

To answert the topic question

Yes, it its

Setting aside the destructive power of one of such things and the support it needs to operate...

 

A titan crew needs to be trained to be a titan crew. I don´t think that any member of any cell would have the knowledge or could aquiere it in any reasonable amount of time.

If you are into the "big guns", I would suggest to stick to sentinels, tanks and/or guncutters. Most careers offer skills to operate them and/or their weapons.

 

 

 

[Ikkaan 0]

Well, the urge is hard to suppress...

The player would have to be a moderati to use a titan, and i wouldn´t know which sense it would make to have a vehicle the size of a small town.

Or to put it an other way: Which improvement would it have on roleplay to include a major tactic asset that only applies to warfare?

Plus, the player would have no control as where to go. The Titan is transported from warzone to warzone, on decisions made on strategic plans. Ideas like "i don´t want to go to armageddon, its boring. Lets invade the eye of terror!" will never be accepted. Its just not going to happen in any setting. A Titan is relying on a lot of support troops, smaller warmachines, submoderati, techpriests, supply ships, titan landing ships, warp capable craft standing by....this leaves no freedom for a player at all.

In the end its just like tabletop gaming...but i could imagine a one-shot where the players pause their ususal characters and take control of a group of moderati, unveiling a conspiracy to cripple or destroy the titan, like a good old fashioned detective story.

 

[Dezmond2 0]

We can easily see a titan seconded to the Inquisition to combat those threats for which you need a Titan to battle - giant godzillla sized demons for instance.

When the cloverfield monster starts chewing on the hive, it is your PC titan who goes to work.

Such a campaign might owe much to the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and related works - play out much the same as a regular Dark Heresy game, but at the conclusion the badguy summons/transforms into/awakes/whatever a Titan sized opponent and a fight ensues.

Work would be needed to ensure that all the players are involved in all stages of the game - so there is noone sitting in the Titan waiting for the giant sized enemy to reveal himself, and that everyone is involved in the giant robot fights.

[Artreas Bethor 0]

I do like that idea Ikkaan, and I thank everyone else for the responses. I do understand it is crazy, and I kind of like it. But the idea was not to go super sentai ala "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers" as cool as that would be (Theres a Mecha vs Kaiju d20 system coming out soon so I'll get that out of my system soon enough.) The Titan wont even be mentioned till a much later point in the game where there is an Armageddon scale war, but the idea loosely behind it (Im still tinkering with the reasoning and story but..) An Imperator Emperor Class Titan has gone rogue, the Princeps being cut off from his MIU link to the machine spirit by the main antagonist's interventions, the titan in response attempts to defend itself as it runs through its AI protocols but in the massive assault the main antagonist manages to board the Titan's attached cidatels through Stalin-esque tatics of choking it with bodies till they get through and once there unleashes a greater demon of nurgle and hundreds of other demons and all sorts of fanatics... etc etc. The idea for the players was to lead the assault of just as large a scale to save the Princeps and the Moderati and the assure that they save the Imperator Titan and with the Inquisitions orders redirect the titan back to the frontlines to finish the fight. Of course these are all ideas, so nothing is concrete yet. There is alot to work out but that is the rough idea of what I want to attempt.

[Vinterdraken 35]

Yes, its definetly crazy. But sometimes crazy is just what you need. If it works for you in your chronicle, then do it. Just take some time to think through it properly first.

[Gregorius21778 249]

Okay, so if you really want to wage war with titans...

...how about a smaller one? The "Knight" Titan class is operated by only one pilot.  Every player could have one. Or take a scout class titan. Something like a Warhound. Stil enough destructive power, but a little more believable.

By the way: do you want your acolythes to controll the titan or will they play the controllers of the titan for the scene of battle? The later thing would be a more "realistic" approach (as much realistic as you can get talking about TITANS) since you do not hand over such a acient and holy weapon of mars over into the hands of some wannabes. Even the most mistrusting =I= would size the controll of the crew as well as the titan, not the one thing without the other.

[Nojo509 3]

Well, yes, it is crazy.

But when you have the urge, you have the urge.

This is so over the top, you might want this to be the ending battle of a long campaign. I did that in a FRP that had a SF element by having the players take over a "Grey" flying saucer. One pilot and the rest had gunnery stations. "Roll 2d6 and multiply by 10,000 for damage!"

The thing is, how can you top that? So if you have a big story arc, it might just makes sense to end it with hot Titan on Titan action.

By the time you get there, Rogue Trader will be out and you can start a new campaign.

However, this gave me a Titan idea of a different kind. Titan as setting. The acolytes are not the crew, but something wicked is happening to the crew, and the acolytes must find out and stop it before the Imperium loses control of one. Perhaps they are stuck inside when the Titan goes rogue?

[Velvetears 0]

I had a year or so back seen some amazing cutaway blue prints of titans of various sizes, but i cant find them on my HD anymore (or for that matter in my Fave-Links folders). I'll look around, but for scope, some of them have cathedrals on each shoulder, you just need to work out some Access Routes for the players to run around.

The Warhound class is to small for an adventure internals wise, especially if you look at the Forgeworld models, which give you pretty much all you need for layout on one of them (same with the Reaver Class)

[Agmar_Strick 2]

 I say go with it! If you're going with crazy-awesome over-the-top action, then just run with it. Espaically if you have a suitably OTT bad guy (like full-scale Daemonic incursion)

I'd encourage you to plan it properly though, place some logical restraints on what the titan does, how much damage it does (on success Kill 1D10*10 ground troops), how the Acolytes influence it, etc.

 What would be awesome, IMO, is to have a running battle on the top of an Emperor Titan, while it blasts away at whatever needs serious blasting.

[Luddite 38]

Is it crazy to want to give one of my players access to a Titan?

 

No you're not crazy.

Your PCs are members of the Inquisition right?  If the situation warrants it they should get access to an entire Titan Legion.

If your story / campaign leads the PCs that way and you want to put a Titan in, i say go for it.  Its a hell of a lot more '40k' that Dark Heresy's 'mooks grubbing about in the hive sump' approach...

 

That said you'll simply not be able to model a titan using DH rules so you're looking at it as a background setting against which your story will play out. 

Perhaps the PCs will be passengers directing the Titan crew into the fight?

Riding the Titans observation deck watching the terrible destruction it wreaks at the PCs durection could be very powerful...

[Shockwave 177]

IF we are talking about "There is a soon to be seen Daemon presence that we are not sure we can stop" type event happening, then yes, a Titan Legion in transit, could be diverted to help out. But the PC's  will have little interaction with the Titan itself. At best they could reveal a secret they have found in the middle of a battle with the titan's opponent. "It's weapon is it's power" type of affair.

 

Be really cool that the Ordo Titanicas release a titan with a close-combat weapon (Second rate by some, meta-gaming players) as the Titan, yet a chain-blade to the weapon wins the day.....

[Artreas Bethor 0]

Agmar_Strick said:

 What would be awesome, IMO, is to have a running battle on the top of an Emperor Titan, while it blasts away at whatever needs serious blasting.

 

Thats the plan actually, the Imperator is a version of the Emperor Titan, if you read my post above I mention that there will be a massive fight within/outside with a dramatic boarding scene.  I am probably going to work out some rules this weekend if I can find the time between jobs.

[Jephkay 0]

I'm going to do this,  When I first read the thread title, I also thought "Yes. It's certifiable." 

I have recanted.  Looking at an Imperator, one can see the layout pretty obviously. Heck, bury one up to the shoulder-walls, and it could just be a big castle.  Go any deeper into the thing and "Woah... this is a Titan? Cool."  

Either that, or the PCs get aboard it anyway...somehow, they need to be on board.  Perhaps a submoderati is up to no good, or some commander insists on evacuating a colony with one, or something. I'll think about it, and post anything I come up with.   

[Kaihlik 50]

One thing, once your players have freed the Titan then they will need to direct it back to the battle, for this they would need the Princeps or at the very least a moderati who is going to get a very quick lesson on how to control a Titan, the acolytes will not be able to actually steer the thing. If they try the would at the very least be taking a -ungodly WP check or they would go insane or even die. Titan crew are picked from any walk of life if they have the mental properties to control a Titan because finding the individuals that can survive the experiance and remain sane and in control is immensly difficult.

So yes the idea is good if you are talking about using a titan as staging platform for an epic fight to save the world but not to have players piloting Titans.

Unless the acolytes try and you allow one of them to suceed on the condition that they lose their character to the Titan legion.

Kaihlik

[Artreas Bethor 0]

Kaihlik said:

 

One thing, once your players have freed the Titan then they will need to direct it back to the battle, for this they would need the Princeps or at the very least a moderati who is going to get a very quick lesson on how to control a Titan, the acolytes will not be able to actually steer the thing. If they try the would at the very least be taking a -ungodly WP check or they would go insane or even die. Titan crew are picked from any walk of life if they have the mental properties to control a Titan because finding the individuals that can survive the experiance and remain sane and in control is immensly difficult.

So yes the idea is good if you are talking about using a titan as staging platform for an epic fight to save the world but not to have players piloting Titans.

Unless the acolytes try and you allow one of them to suceed on the condition that they lose their character to the Titan legion.

Kaihlik

 

 

 

 Of course, the idea was not for them to directly pilot the thing themselves but instead pass off inquisitorial orders to the Princeps and the Moderati so that righteous killing may ensue.  I have the 40k Apocolypse rule book and every time I read through it I cant help but want to put this fight scene in my story, makes me wish I still had my Luca Turilli CD  Prophet of the last eclipse.

As to your post Jephkay:

Its great to see the idea spread

 

 

 

[Artreas Bethor 0]

Velvetears said:

I had a year or so back seen some amazing cutaway blue prints of titans of various sizes, but i cant find them on my HD anymore (or for that matter in my Fave-Links folders). I'll look around, but for scope, some of them have cathedrals on each shoulder, you just need to work out some Access Routes for the players to run around.

The Warhound class is to small for an adventure internals wise, especially if you look at the Forgeworld models, which give you pretty much all you need for layout on one of them (same with the Reaver Class)

 

The Lexicanum has some pretty basic images of the titans, when I looked up about the Emperor class they had the Epic 40k models to show, and a black and white rulebook sketch. If you do find thoes pictures again that would be pretty awesome to have.

[Kaihlik 50]

In which case have fun with it, its one of the great things of Dark Heresy is the ability to have epic places to run adventures rather than going into a cave or walking round a medieval vilage. Its just that the tread title gives the impression that you were wanting a player to have control of a titan, which is kinda daft, rather than setting an epic fight on a Titan which is awsome. I would try and make it as fast paced and frantic as possible, keep describing how the battle is going and make it apparent that without control of the Titan soon things will go very badly, should lead hopefully to some quick thinking and improvisation.

Good luck with it when you do it.

Kaihlik

[Mal4 0]

If you was to write it up as mabey the team being onboard a titan and giving orders to the crew, but it is highly unrealistic to think they would be able to control the titan by anything but proxy.

I quite like the knight titan idea, but unless your on mars or one of the major forge worlds, thats not gonna happen, they just don't make those anymore, and once again there is the training required to use it, its not quite the same as a rhino.....

[Maxim C. Gatling 3]

I can't, for the life of me, figure out how you could justify a PC driving a Titan.

However, as a one-off plot device it could be cool as hell.  Sorry I didn't have time to read the whole thread...I'll edit tomorrow if need be.

The PC's don't necessarily have to drive/operate the Titan to be in control.  Perhaps the majority of the adventure is merely convincing the Legion to provide the resource. 

I'm TOTALLY tempted to figure out a way to get my players into a really big mega-battle just for an excuse to break out my EPIC minis again.  It would be fun, them dodging Titans...trying not to get stepped on....

Of course, you'll let the players control the Imperial forces and let them roll the dice...it's not their actual characters driving the thing, right?

I'm assuming you're not intending to ...give..them a Titan...like you would hand out a Plasma Pistol as phat lewtz...right?

I don't see how that would work out, but using Titans in a one-off scenario...HOT idea. 

[Maxim C. Gatling 3]

...just a note on my own campaign...

My players have a hardcopy of designs for an STC Scout Titan (bit like a Knight, not a Warhound).  Problem is it's a hardcopy and it's in Orkish....

Needless to say, they haven't figured out how to build one yet.  But they have an STC!!!

[Artreas Bethor 0]

Maxim C. Gatling said:

I can't, for the life of me, figure out how you could justify a PC driving a Titan.

However, as a one-off plot device it could be cool as hell.  Sorry I didn't have time to read the whole thread...I'll edit tomorrow if need be.

The PC's don't necessarily have to drive/operate the Titan to be in control.  Perhaps the majority of the adventure is merely convincing the Legion to provide the resource. 

I'm TOTALLY tempted to figure out a way to get my players into a really big mega-battle just for an excuse to break out my EPIC minis again.  It would be fun, them dodging Titans...trying not to get stepped on....

Of course, you'll let the players control the Imperial forces and let them roll the dice...it's not their actual characters driving the thing, right?

I'm assuming you're not intending to ...give..them a Titan...like you would hand out a Plasma Pistol as phat lewtz...right?

I don't see how that would work out, but using Titans in a one-off scenario...HOT idea. 

 

Yeah thats the same that Ive heard the entire thread, and yes I have elaborated away from the title of this thread, not being able to re-edit the thread title like I hoped. It is a point where the players command the Princeps and the Moderati after a long and epic battle, as well as give ground orders to the supporting troop colums.  Im not crazy enough to give out a Titan like a plasma pistol... or am I?

[Ikkaan 0]

Maxim C. Gatling said:

...just a note on my own campaign...

My players have a hardcopy of designs for an STC Scout Titan (bit like a Knight, not a Warhound).  Problem is it's a hardcopy and it's in Orkish....

Needless to say, they haven't figured out how to build one yet.  But they have an STC!!!

Having an STC written in Orkish is the first step on building your very own titan!

Step 2: Finding someone able to translate it

Step 3: Either having the suitable financial means to bribe a forgeworld to build your titan OR having the suitable military means to enslave a whole forge world to do your bidding.

Step 4: Now you have your own titan, but you still need a ship, so apply Step 3 to force or buy.

Step 5: Profit!!!!