Rolemaster Played Again

I've just finished my second Rolemaster game as a player. I like the basic mechanics, but it does seem very tactics light. One thing that struck me in character generation however was that it certainly could be a grim &/or gritty rules set.

I had a certain amount of success using rolemaster for 40k in the past, however it suffered from a "sameness" of enemies and a lack of tactical complexity. 

So my goal would be to add a bit of tactical variation to Rolemaster without burdening the rules. Some weapons are going to bounce off armour, others are going to penetrate it, some are going to do immediate damage, others are simply going to slow or encumber their target. In some ways the critical system with it's bleeds, stuns and on-going penalties is good. 

What I'm not so sure about is the "it always hits" aspect of the charts. I think the spread is too large, I would prefer charts with a narrower band of success, perhaps using damage multipliers rather than adding bonuses to charts. I think the mechanics of the system are such that +15 material bonus is the most that can be used before serious change to the distribution occurs. This actually has good synergy with 40k- decrepit or poorly manufactured gear should have minuses, higher breakage numbers etc. High bonus gear should be really rare in 40k

Characters

This is a synopsis of the characters played in the Dark Heresy Campaign as it stands so far..

The % ratings are a general indication of the involvement or power in that aspect. 50% is the moderate baseline except for insanity and corruption which start at 0.

Feel free to make comment and I will adjust these ratings

Captain Mac (Rogue Trader, Glimpse from Beyond)
Xenophile 80%
Radical 5%
Heretic 5%
Insanity 25
Corruption 0
Melee 50%
Ranged 25%
Stealth 75%
Social 100%
Technology 55%
Psychic 50%

Kali (Death Cult Assassin, Moriat Reaper)

Xenophile 75%

Radical 5%

Heretic 1%

Insanity 25

Corruption 0

Melee 100%

Ranged 0%

Stealth 100%

Social 51%

Technology 50%

Psychic 50%

Holt (Vindicare Assasin, Null)

Xenophile 70%

Radical 75%

Heretic 50%

Insanity 25

Corruption 0

Melee 65%

Ranged 95%

Stealth 95%

Social 5%

Technology 55%

Psychic 0%

Lyra (Astropath Transcendent -> Primus Psyker)

Xenophile 30%
Radical 70%
Heretic 30%
Insanity 19
Corruption 0
Melee 20%
Ranged 40%
Stealth 30%
Social 30%
Technology 50%
Psychic 85%

Tassa (Explorator -> Sage)

Xenophile 30%
Radical 70%
Heretic 50%
Insanity 72
Corruption 6
Melee 40%
Ranged 80%
Stealth 20%
Social 30%
Technology 90%
Psychic 5%

June 18, 2011 3:57 PM

Dark Heresy Game Log 22_5_2011: Subdual of the Sigard System

At the request of the Carcharadons, Captain Mac and Holt as the carrier of Inquisitorial Seal, investigate the Sigard System. Their cause was to establish if there were areas of sympathy or resistance to the Imperium, what military resistance would be encountered, what forces might be brought to bear against the Carcharadons if they attempted to subdue the system and return it to Imperial control.

They performed a distant survey of the system and announced themselves using standard Rogue Trader protocols. They observed 3 asteroid citadels and 3 major belt colonies and half a dozen ship colonies. Two system ships , heavily armed and in astral claws livery responded and ordered them to heave to. The "Cunning Plan" was actively scanned with intrusive sensorium beams. They were then escorted to the nearest asteroid citadel.

Various automated defence platforms were observed guarding the port. Negotiations with the port authorities and local traders revealed the Astral Claws subsuming local planetary defence and naval forces into their structure, including auxiliary troops with integrated space marine troops.

The trader's guild hall was supplied with a noticeably musky air.

Agents Wanted

Inquisitors Frain, Marr and Aquirre seek suitable Agents of the Throne for classified work in the Badab Sector
Pure citizens prepared to sacrifice all in the name of the Emperor apply in comments:
Special consideration given to Judges, Crusaders, Hierophants, Seneschal and Adeptus Astartes




1 or 2 RolePlayers wanted for Ascension level Dark Heresy game held every 2nd Sunday Afternoon, Brisbane North
Some adult themes, familiarity with 40k universe useful, no knowledge of rules required
Combination of action, trading, conspiracy and Grim-Dark craziness
Game uses Dark Heresy Ascension in combination with Rogue Trader and Deathwatch, fairly large scale

Yes, I'm looking for a spare player or 2 to push my group to 5 or 6 players- the rules are fast, the game heaps of fun but if I lose a player to other commitments (which is cool) I tend to lose a session- an extra player will solve this and also make some of the interactions more... complicated :))
And the mechanics are quite fast enough to allow 6 players at least, I reckon

The post I just put up on RPG.net..

http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?574207-Brisbane-QLD-Oz-Dark-Heresy-Ascension-GM-Recruiting-1-or-2-more&p=13861365#post13861365

Brisbane QLD Oz - Dark Heresy Ascension- GM - Recruiting 1 or 2 more

Play Location/Method: North Brisbane Queensland Australia (my favorite console is a table and chairs)
Game/System: Dark Heresy style with Ascension, Rogue Trader and Deathwatch rules
I'm the GM in this campaign
Time/Frequency: Alternate Sundays 1400 to 2100hrs ish
Genre: Science-Fantasy, 40k with Inquisition and Rogue Trader Houses
Current needs: Additional player or two
Accept Drop-In Players? Yes with notice
Accept Spectators? contact first, not really the idea but maybe try before you buy
Short description of the setting/campaign:
PCs are Throne agents and currently center or radical. They are trading for wealth and hunting heretics in Koronos Expanse, Badab and the Imperium in general. The Scale is large- 25000 crew ships, 400 man assassins's guilds, landing barges, 4 month journeys for trade. The rules are light.
The fantastic, warped and psionic are common if hidden from the common man. Xenos pirates, factions of the Inquisition, factions of the Adeptus Mechanicus and other houses are the setting's "enemies".

Come get some! I mean, ..eerr for the Emperor! 

Culexus issues and the cult

One of the issues with the various temple assassins is the level of control exercised from a central authority. The advantage from a player perspective to being a member of an autonomous death cult or mafia like organisation is that you aren't beholden to some huge organisation that has some galaxy wide super-headquarters.
Of course, if you are interested in the politics of such a galaxy wide organisation, then a temple assasin is a good choice. If you want to choose your own missions, not so..

An issue with the Eversor and Culexus is that they are strongly anti-social. A fully fledged Eversor has a fear rating of 2. That's Tyrannosaurus Rex scary. The Culexus is worse. A Culexus does a range of things to those around him including lowering "leadership". I'd call that Fellowship and Willpower. By 25%. That's not a penalty on folks he's trying charm.. That's an effect on the orc warboss howling at his gretchin up to 25 meters away. That's causing traitor Black Legion space marines to think twice about following Abaddon's last command. It's dropping Eldrad Uthran, a millennia old farseer's chance of getting a spell off. This is some fairly serious mojo. And you can't turn it off, because you don't like it. Only folks like Noise Marines, Daemons and Tyranid Synapse creatures are immune and even they have their psychic powers dampened if not their resolve.

Of course this doesn't mean that you can't play one, just that it might not be allowed out a lot...

So when I say "Null Projection" what do I mean? well.

1. Soulless: -20, -25 or -30 to Fellowship in a radius equal to twice your willpower bonus in meters

2. Psychic Abomination: Fear rating 1, 2 or 3 to Psykers

3. Etherium: Any person wishing to target you must make a willpower test or choose a different target

4. Animus Speculum: 25 meter range psychic attack using the capacitive charge caused by the absence of connection to the warp. Like lightning it originates where it appears to strike. Willpower test to fire, Ballistic skill to hit, ignores armour, (is affected by fields) 1d10 for every success+twice willpower bonus. Firing is a half action and a free action for every psyker in range.

5. Life Drain: touch range, melee skill to hit (more like just getting really close), opposed willpower test, causes 1d10 wounds to the psyker irrespective of armour or toughness.

and then there is the psykout grenade and the psyocculum (counts as a mind impulse unit red dot scope for psykers ie +20 to hit)

Dark Heresy 24_4_11 Game Log: Badab-Koronus macrocannon run

I thought I would start a game log. Players are welcome to add info. Because this is meta-game, rules, meta-data will be added. In game material will be in a different font.

After some discussion the Cunning Plan's crew scanned the local system (Bellephron's Fall) and identified Tritium and Kernite on the moon of the 3rd planet (a gas giant). The inhabitants (90k of them) are 40% stable mutants- abhumans, somewhat furry with thick skulls, they have the innes-salient look(ref. innesmouth) They described themselves (the shan'sar) as Freemen but apparently technology had been restricted to palaeolithic era. Negotiations with  the freemen resulted in Magos Spirit descending to the surface and using his hull-breacher in combination with charge-powder from the macro-cannons for mining. The lack of experience with demolition and mining in general resulted in some dangerous explosions but the Magos's massive machine frame was un-damaged.


The resultant mining reached the Kernite layer, some 250m below the surface. Kernite in it's raw form is crystalline and milky, sometimes shot through with purple. It has been worn by the shan'sar as jewelery, being only accessible from the surface via deep crevices at the poles. Tritium is an oily brown carbon material prone to releasing  vapors that can explode in the presence of flame. It is traded with imperium profiteers who ship it to Karthan refineries for the manufacturing of promethium,  various plas and crete materials.


The dust from the large scale mining of Kernite proved toxic however the shan'sar were happy with the revelation of great vaults of the material.  The explorers culled herds on the nearby feudal world of Bellephron IV for the shan'sar to feast on and constructed hab units of   white plas-steel for the workers to live in. With their hulls full of kernite the explorers departed the system for Baraspine. (21 weeks successful mining endeavor)


The navigator, having glimpsed the mind shattering truth from beyond was unable to plot a clear course to Baraspine. His previous notes made months before were strangely indecipherable to him. The voyage was long and several weeks in the gellar fields flickered...


At first it appeared that nothing had gone wrong. Later members of the bridge crew reported that a vessel had appeared on sensors, running parallel to them in the warp. Cautious of any sensor reading in the warp, the Navigator was sure that the lost cruiser "archangel" was within reach. The tech priest however observed a machine spirit flitting between cogitators on the bridge. Using tech-reconsecration rites learnt from the Exorcist Stormraven's  data-stacks and it's mono-servitors the tech preists isolated and destroyed a daemonic meme-virus.


 More to follow. Man, this was a long session! (from a plot/detail point of view) I have located a ship building excel spreadsheet.
by this guy http://rtrpg.blogspot.com/ who is obviously ship crazy :p
Crazy Cool. 

More on Dark Heresy

I am half way through a digital version of "Rites of Battle". It's fairly obvious that marines are going to be tough, but there are rules here to make marine heroes absolute killing machines. There are also rules for the different marks of armour and single marine kill teams..
Some of the gear is a bit over the top.. like warhound titan rules!
I also have some great detail on Watch Fortress Erioch and the Tower of Brass, the local Inquisitorial Enclave
:)

Lots of fun.
I have digested Cameron's email in relation to the "where to capn'" post. I was thinking I should put it up as a comment.
I have also been reading "carnage amongst the stars", which has some pretty cool inspiration about going to exotic places and killing the locals.

Not enuff dakka

One problem that has concerned me from early on in Dark Heresy is the lack of damage dished out by basic weapons. Without worrying about the issues of hitting being converted from d6 to %
- guardsmen with 30 Ballistic skill effectively hit on average once using semi-auto 40% of the time unless under half range, where they get 60%.

So i did the maths based on the following premise. The wounds are probably under estimated, but lets assume fatigue, un-healed wounds and the like drop them back a little.

Imperial guard, 10 Wnds, 3 Toughness bonus, 4 armour

That means a lasgun should be doing 1d10+5 if it has a penetration of 0.

Marine, 14 Wnds, 8 Toughness bonus, 8 armour

This means that a boltgun should be doing 1d10+7 with 4 penetration.

This also means that the bolt gun is going to have a better than 70% chance of taking out the guardsman. The problems are- 1 deathwatch gives every marine 19+ wounds, but you could argue they are deathwatch.. and the players expectations are already scaled. Hmm.

I think the biggest issue is how much tougher the marine is in the rpg than on the tabletop. That isn't a real problem but it makes scaling other stuff a bit tricky. And it means fighting a sea of orks is impossible. Which is a shame :p

Anyway, I think there should be a bigger gap between pistols and basic weapons, so i might experiment with these stats for lasguns and boltguns. I think I 'll leave special and heavy weapons as they are. I might increase vehicle mounted heavy weapons so they do appropriate amounts of damage but I'm happy with the hand held ones at the moment.

If anyone has any thoughts feel free to make comment.

*edit. Apparently a spacemarines bolt gun does 2d10+5... as opposed to, what? , a normal person's boltgun which is stuffed with party crackers?

The Lure

I spotted this,

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_minisite_sec.asp?eidm=154&esem=1

I like how fantasy flight always has tasters.. it's just sometimes is quite a few months till they hit the shelves . I can't wait!Again!

I have Battlefleet Koronus. The only bad thing about all these supplements is that you need a compendium to keep track of them.

Dark Heresy Threads, Which way Capn'

The following are threads that folks playing the dark heresy campaign might like to keep in mind (i'll add things here as they come up):

The Cunning Plan in outer system orbit of Mara

Now making it's way to Bellapheron's Fall

The Cobra class Destroyer mostly buried in the swamps of Grief

The Dauntless class Cruiser floating with the remnants of the previous group on the driftward side of the calixus sector

The general imperative to hunt heretics beyond the edges of the Imperium as described by Korbas Aquirre and Captain Raul of the Carchardon Astra

What has Inquisitor Frain requested assistance for?

Investigate the withholding/redirecting of tithe by the Astral Claws, Lamenters and Mantis Warriors

What ruinous end may come pass now that Haarlock has been banished?

Perhaps an inquisition without a common goal that ignores the forces disturbed by Haarlock falls prey to the Slaugth.

Discussions on Rolemaster

After a detailed look and some discussion it is apparent that a "traditional grim and gritty" warhammer world will not do for the sorts of character folks are likely to choose.

In short we are looking at Murlocs, skaven, blood elves, werewolves, a few other sorts of elves and maybe undead. So in a rich anime environment this is fine but not in a quasi-realistic one.

The advantages of taking an existing enviroment is that you don't have to draw maps, build cultural history and the players have reference material that the GM doesn't have to create- the dis-advantage is that there are pre-conceptions about that world, baggage if you like.

So I'm hunting for alternatives. Reasonably friendly (?) worlds with plenty of background and maps but not to restrictive. Fantastic maybe?

World Eater Legion

Prologue:

I guess part of the question is why? And the answer is something like- "i don't like the lack of flavour in the current khorne / world eater armies" I think they should be more legion like and less like rabble. And that some of the great themes suggested over time should be followed through on.

HQ

Daemon Prince with Mark of Khorne

Bloodthirster

Ravager Champion with Mark of Khorne

Legion Captain

Elite

Company of the Chosen: Beserkers that may take jump packs and blind grenades (smoke launchers for troops), subject to rage

Terminators: could have mark of khorne and be upgraded to aspiring champions

Dreadnoughts

Bloodletters

Troops

Tactical Chaos Marines, 8 man squad

Berserkers

Blood slaughterer (max 1 for every tactical squad)

Fast Attack

Tactical Chaos Marines with Jump Packs

Bikes

Fleshhounds

Slaughter-fiend

Heavy Support

Devastator Marines, 8 man squad

Obliterators (max 1 for every devastator squad)

Cannon of Khorne (possessed vindicator)

Land raiders

Predators

Cauldron of Blood (possessed redeemer landraider)

Really the style of the army is dictated by the assault method:

Drop- Jump-packs, flyers, pods, teleporters

Gate- Daemon engines

Space Hulk- Daemon engines, mounts

Planetary Landing- Rhinos, Predators, Land Raiders

You could do this reasonably effectively with blood angel rules - but how would you differentiate death company stand-ins from vanguard from sauguinary guard etc Too messy. They have particular styles and that needs to be respected.

Drop:

HQ:

Winged Daemon Prince

Legion Captain with jumpack and beserker guard

Terminator Armour Legion Captain

Ravager Champion in Drop Pod with Beserkers

Elite

Terminators with Mark of Khorne (8 man unit for

Beserkers with jump packs

Dreadnought in drop pod

Bloodletters

Troops

Tactical Legion in Drop Pod

Tactical Legion with jump packs

Beserkers in Drop Pod

Fast

Hell Blade Attack Aircraft

Flesh hounds

Possessed in Drop Pod

Blood Thirster (deep striking)

Heavy

Devastator Legion in Drop Pod

Obliterators

Hell Talon Bomber

Soul Grinder

Not a stand alone Carcharadon force

Just found out they use SpaceWolves rules as a their variant on Vanilla. Bleh. i thought it was black templars. Never mind. The Exorcist's as greyknights is cool though...maybe use excorcists in red with runes armour for the base marines

Thoughts on 40k

I'm putting these here for lack of somewhere else..

Anyway.

Armies that I have components of that I would like to finish some time:

Terminator Strikeforce

Rules: Dark Angles. Deathwing, terminators only

Now the rules for this are "deathwing using belial" but this is fairly boring- especially if you are going to paint 30-33 terminators.. So it is an accumulated strike force representing terminators from multiple chapters. The improvement in cyclone launchers, the abuse of thunder bubble, a chaplain, multiple attacks and feel-no-pain (for one unit), maybe a librarian if using apocalypse.

It's probably a bit painful for some armies, the mixed terminators are only so good on their own. A good player will own this but it will be fun anyway.

Gunline Great War

List using Tourney capable rules (would require some "counts as"):
http://metagothic.blogspot.com/2011/04/gun-line.html

Rules: Imperial Guard. Infantry Platoons, Conscripts, Heavy artillery on wheels and drawn by horses, light horse (rough riders). Would require consent due to forgeworld rules

Fielded in it's true form- as a heavy immobile artillery line supporting hordes of infantry with some small artillery (field guns) and the occasional heavy machine gun or sniper rifle it's probably a recipe for disaster. But it'll look cool. and if you win it will because you brought murderously heavy guns down on the enemy. Hoo-rar. Uses standard imperial guard army with forgeworld immobile guns if folks allow them. Steel legion models, with a little work pretending to be WW1 germans. Some forgeworld stuff to be bought.

The lack of ability to field this in it's true form is what has held me back from buying gun carriages etc. The gas-masks on everything including the horses is what spurs me on!

Harlequins, dance without end

Rules: 3 troupes of harlquins then I'm stuck. Dark eldar have the raiders, eldar have the other models which would look good

Dark eldar list heavy with Harlequins? Still haven't worked out a way that is thematic, interesting and has the faintest chance of being successful.

What I'd like is harlequins on raiders, wraithguard, jetbikes and some pirates or patsies for cover. Maybe the eldar list is closer, but a raider would look way cooler than a wave serpent with harlequins all over it and done up with bunting etc. I'm not 100% sure it would even work to put Harlequis in raiders because the amount of incoming fire would be huge and the Shadow Seer abilities provide some resistance to that. So I guess some anti-tank provided by raiders who will soak up fire. The problem is I don't see anything left at the back of the field to hold ground.

More head scratching to follow.

Ultra Heavy Mechanised Infantry

Rules: Chaos Space Marines or Space Wolves or Black templars...

This is a Landraider heavy list- each troop choice is a troupe- a mechanised unit in a landraider. Might work better using spacewolves instead of Chaos, or even black templars, allowing heavy armour and power of the machine spirit to bolster the effectiveness of 4+ landraiders, or I could just go with the super cheap chaos ones. Obviously orks will hate this list and lance and melta heavy lists will eat it for breakfast. Even nastier thought- space wolves with land raider achilles for the wolfguard. I think of these guys as renegades and paint them in a modern military green with iron warriors insignia. Sort of like red corsairs from an iron warriors base instead of an astral claws base.

Lamenters

Rules: Blood Angels- must be able to deep strike

I like these guys- fleet based marine chapter. But I might have to paint a second fleet based chapter- the carcharadon astra. Anyways the lamenters are blood angel related but without much "death company". My take on fleet based means limiting myself to units that can deep strike with some minor footbased exceptions So:

Chaplin boss with jumpack

Terminators

Sternguard (as deathwatch)

Sanguinary priests (reputed to have a lot of them)

Tactical squad with drop pod

Assault squad- love the 1st edition jumpack marine art

Land speeders

Land raider

Dreadnought

Stormraven

Devastator with drop pod

Considering my hankering to try Carcharadons I might only get one of each of these units done although i already have 2 units of tacticals spray-painted.

Hive fleet Giger

Rules: Tyranids

The idea here is as much "acid for blood" "implant attack" and "crazy psychology impacting stealth" as possible. ie, Aliens. (mostly without shooting)

I have had fun with genestealers including their brood lords before. I guess the real question is- do I want to do away with rippers? Who would have thought that 6 troop choices was the issue..!

the build here would be something like

HQ: Tervigon, Parasite of Mortrex

Elite: Deathleaper, lictors

Troops: Rippers, Termagants, genestealers

Undecided- Zoanthropes and "Old One Eye". The termagaunts aren't perfect having missile weapons and all, but the Alien Queen egg-sac dropping Tervigon conversion is just to good to pass up

I like the look of the Zoanthropes- very giger, but they don't fit the feel. Hmm. Maybe with the right powers. Maybe Old One eye in Heavy to give a bit more stiffness to the synapse issues and paint him up as the hybrid in alien 4.

The Captain's Compliment

Rules: Witch-hunters

This is basically an assembly of the minis from the Rogue Trader//Dark Heresy game I GM.

There is a core around the Inquisitor - so warriors, mystics and such, a death cult assassin and buddies, techpriests, Adeptus Arbites Squad and naval crew of various levels of proficiency. Various landers and shuttles. Maybe with spacemarine support if they are lucky but certainly with orbital bombardments.

World Eater Legion

Rules: Chaos Space Marine or Blood angels

The truth is that you can field World Eaters, as described in slaves to darkness, almost exactly,. using the Chaos Space Marine codex. It would be crap but you can do it. It would be way too expensive for what it does. The only thing you couldn't do would be give your company of the chosen jump-packs. (These are not "chosen" as described in C:SM rather assault marines with the mark of khorne) Beserkers with jump packs and blind grenades. Nasty.

You also get really crappy generic demons instead of khorne ones. Hmm. Make a custom codex- one of those ones that gamesworkshop are surprised we don't make more of... yep excellent idea, except no-one could be bothered playing you because it's not practice for tournaments.