Ladies, Gentlemen, Princeps, Moderati and Tech-Priest, ready your God-Engines, it is time for a Walk.

This game was original envisioned for 3 to 4 players (One Princeps, one or two Moderati and one Tech-Priest) playing co-operatively to control a Warhound Titan.

However given that the OW game that was due to start soon is now paused for a bit and there are likely more interested players I could see this game having more players by either:

• Having a second Titan, making space for an additional 3 to 4 players

 and/or

• Some players take on the roles that are ancillary to a Titan Crew on the understanding that their play/participation might be more limited during any actual Titan Walk segments but otherwise are full members of the party. This is my preferred option as the vague story line I have in mind was based on a one Titan game.

Such ancillary roles can really be anything as long as you can justify the inclusion to me.  

For example a member of the Secutarii, or one of the Autokratoris (they are to Titans what Sacristans are to Knights, ie the maintenance and care specialists).

Perhaps a liaison form another Imperial Institution, such as an Ministorum Cleric there to bless and sanctify the Walk.

Fluff

The Titan Crew belong to a cadet branch of one of the Big Named Titan Legions. I don’t know enough about the named Legions to go into more specifics, it should not matter for the story.

Other players if there are any are either ancillary to the same (Secutarii, Autokratoris and such) or from a separate background as relevant and agreed.

For narrative purposes Titan Crew (and any ancillary) should assume that while they are part of the same Titan Legion none of you have met in person before this mission (as you will see from the game into when that goes ahead), though you can decide on a case by cases if your character has heard of the other characters (by reputation, gossip, etc).

Mechanics

I am going to be using Dark Heresy (1^st Edition) as the base for general game play, with the Vehicle Rules as per Deathwatch Rites of Battle with some modification.

Characters

Aside from the Tech-Priest I am not aware of any Carerer Paths that are a good fit for this, so my general thought was that player chose one that vaguely makes sense in terms of available skills and talents. For an example the Moderatus could be based off the Adept or maybe a Guardsmen for one more militarily trained. Feel free to make suggestion.

Also as Titan crews are well trained and valuable I was thinking of starting character of at a higher rank. The extra XP should help players build their character into something relevant to the game scenario. Initial thought is 4,000 XP, which is a third of the way into rank 5 (3,000 to 5,999). I would ask that you limit spending on higher rank table choice to what you would have been able to do if this was progressive starting from rank 1. As rank 5 starts at 3,000 XP you can only spend 1,000 of your starting XP on rank 5 choices. As rank 4 is 2,000 to 2,999 you could spend up to 2,000 of your starting XP on rank 4 choices, however doing so would cut into you rank 5 allowances if that makes sense.

Titan Crew regardless of which Career Path chosen will start with the following (as applicable):

• Mind Impulse Unit: Best for Princeps and Tech-priest, Good for Moderati
• Dress uniform: Princeps and Moderati
• Walksuit: Princeps and Moderati – Think of this as the Titan equivalent a flight suit for pilot – AP4 All Locations , counts as Voidsuite, Helmet includes Micro-bead.
  While in the Titan you have to wear this, outside of this you can wear other gear you have from character creation or otherwise obtained.
• Standard issue side arm: Princeps and Moderati, Tech Priest can choose to have it as well. Autopistol with +2 Damage, +2 Pen, RoF of S/3/6 and Reliable
• Mono Edged ceremonial Sabre: Princeps
• Common Lore (Machine Cult, Imperium, Tech, War, Titan): All
• Scholastic Lore (Heraldry, Tactica Imperialis, Titan): All
• Forbidden Lore (Archeotech , Adeptus Mechanicus, Titan): Tech-Priest
• Command: Princeps

Titan

I am using the Warhound Titan on p186 of DW RoB as a starting point with the following modifications:

Instead of having an overall Armour and Structural Integrity value the Ttian has individual values as listed below. Hits are allocated the same way as hits to players, except that the Legs are one unified entity and not two separate, as critical damage to a leg is probably going to be pretty lethal for the entire titan.   Critical hits will use the same tables as if it was a player character (modified as need by GM fiat to make sense in context).

Head: Armour: 45 Front and Side, Structural Integrity: 10 – The head cannot be hit from the rear, any hits that are allocated to the head from the rear hit Torso instead.  

Torso: Front 50, Side 45, Rear 45, Structural Integrity: 30

Right Weapon: Armour: 45 All Round, Structural Integrity: 10

Left Weapon: Armour: 45 All Round, Structural Integrity: 10

Legs: Armour: 50 All round, Structural Integrity: 30

Reactor Level 

• Low – Energy reliant weapons cannot fire, movement is limited to half action, reduces Detectability by auspex/sensors by -20
• Normal -
• Stressed -
• Critical Low – Detectability by auspex/sensors by +20,
• Critical – Detectability by auspex/sensors by +20, Went Plasma Titan Action and Emergency Repair Titan Action are at -5
• Supercritical – Detectability by auspex/sensors by +20, Went Plasma Titan Action and Emergency Repair Titan Action is are at -10, Emergnacy Power Down Titan Action at -10 (on the Tech-Use Test) Additionally If the reactor level would rises above Supercrittical the Torso takes d5 Structural Integrity Damage. Each subsequent Reactor level rise (if the reactor level has not been lowered since the last such rise) increases the tests modifier by 5 (so +25 Detctability, -15 for Plasma Vent/Repair/Power Down, then +30 & -20 and so on)

Titan Action

The Warhound Titan will have 2 Titan Actions (or 4 Half Titan Actions or 1 Full Titan Actions and 2 Half Titan Actions) per structure time round. A Titan Action is a normal player action of the same type (i.e half or full) that dose anything of the bellow lists. As there are three or four players crewing the titan you need to coordinate who does what, the remaing crew can take other actions from the normal lists of actions as applicable, including potentially assisting in some way with the Titan Action:

Titan Action List:

• All vehicle movement Actions (full or half as appropriate)
• Shoot Titan Weapon (Half, Full, SAB, FAB etc)
• Shoot another Titan Weapon (Half, Full, SAB, FAB etc). If 2nd Power Drawing weapon then raise Reactor Level by One step                                           
• Went Plasma (Full Action, Challanging (+0) Tech-Use: Pass reduce Reactor Level by one step, 3 or more Dos Reduce Reactor level by two steps)
• Emergency Repair (Full Action, Challanging (+0) Tech-Use, on Pass restore d5 Structural Integrity/Critical damage to one location
• Restore Voidshiled (Full action as per p186 of DW RoB)
• Use Enhanced Auspex Arrays as per p186 of DW RoB
• Use Long Range Comms Array (Full Action, Ordinary (+10) Tech-Use to use comms up to: 25km (secure) or 150km (open))                                           
• Emergnacy Power Down (2 Full Action: Hard (-20) Tech-Use & Difficult (-10) Pilot Test performed by two crew, if both pass: Titan powers down, voidshields turn of and Reactor level drops to Low, if only one test passes then same but take d5 Structural Integrity Damage to Torso)

Other actions that crew can take:

• All normal actions in the combat section of the rules as applicable
• Push Reactor – Challanging (+0) Tech-Use, raise Reactor level by one unless 3 or more DoS. Success on test allows one of the following:
  • Increase Tactical Speed by 50% for any Titan movement actions the same turn
  • Provide +30 Assistance to Enhanced Auspex Arrays/ Long Range Comms Array Titan action used the same turn
  • Allow Plasma Plastgun to fire on Maximal Setting
  • Create a third temporary void shield for d5 rounds
  • Allow a Third Full Titan Action this turn
• Use Auspex/comms for shorter range/more local things
• Assess damage (Full Action: Challanging (+0) Perception Test, Pass provides +15 Assistance to Emergency Repair or Went Plasma Titan Action this or next turn) Note: Can be stacked if multiple crew perform action 
• Aim for a weapon (Half or Full) - Allow one crew to aim a weapon and another to fire that weapon in the same turn
• Assist other Crew Member – Full action, no test, provide +10 to other Crew Members action this turn

So erm yes, here is the somewhat rushed and work in progress start of this experimental game idea. Comment and complaints away.         

Edit: updated                                                                    

---Message Transcript---

Security Clearance Approved  

Message origin: Order Convent, Lethe Enclave, Elysium Forgeworld

Message from: Canoness Superior Oksanna – Order Minoris: Fides ex Machina

Message destination: Collegia Titanica Cathedral Ship Voice of Evening

Message to: High Princeps Felka – Titan Legion: House of Tarakam

Greetings Felka

I hear congratulations are due on your new position, albeit from what I gather I fear I am a decade or so late in saying so. Nonetheless it gladdens me to have heard that you are well and prospering.

I have appended to this message a report of one Senior Magos Arrestor, vassal of Archmagos Bascule of Elysium, Magos in charge of the Adeptus Mecanicus mining and forge enclave on Erantim XCIV that may be on interest to you and your House.

In summary, prospectors found something that a subordinate of Senior Magos Arrestor believed might be Archeotech. The Senior Magos has requested that a Technoarcheologists be dispatched to safely recover the find, a request that the Archmagos has granted. The Archmagos however in turn requesting assistance from my own Holy Order given our past with the Order Minoris Pronatus and the preservation of holy relics.  

While at the time of writing the Technoarcheologists Rho-V-Aleph  is still en route to Erantim XCIV a follow-up report has been received by the Archmagos, which while he has not shared with me, he did, in a private in person conversation earlier this evening, enquire if I knew anybody of the Collegia Titanica.

I am sure you can read between the lines as well as I and that you may want to send some of your people to have a look at this find on Erantim XCIV.

I remain humbly your friend and servant,

Oksanna

By His grace and gift we both Walk in his name.

---Message Transcript End ---

---Order Transcript---

Security Clearance Approved  

Message origin: Collegia Titanica Cathedral Ship Voice of Evening

Message from: High Princeps Felka – Titan Legion: House of Tarakam

Message to:

- Lord Muster of the Household Delch Norrington – House of Tarakam

- Master of the Feet Dou Gryph – House of Tarakam

- Senior Autokratoris Suph-Mar-Welf – House of Tarakam

- Marshal Run-Yon – Secutarii Secondment to House of Tarakam

Delch, Dou, Suph-Mar-Welf and Run-Yon

The House has been passed intelligence that is suggestive of a fallen God-Engine. I know that we are stretched thin between multiple fronts and can spare little, but we have all suffered of late and a recovered Engine would be a great boon from the Emperor.

Delch, find me a crew, we cannot spare any on active duty or in reserve rotation. You will have to put together one from scattered personal, look to the wounded and recovering, men and women with experience.

Dou, a Ship, what can we spare? Is the Light Escort Nostalgia for Infinity flight worthy despite the lack of armaments?

Suph-Mar-Welf, do you have anybody we can task to this without comprising our ability to maintain our fighting strength?

By the Omnissiah, we will not let one of his manifestation lie as dead, you have your orders, make it so.

High Princeps Felka of the House of Tarakam

---Transcript End ---

Four and a half Terran years have passed since the recovery of the Pride of Kings by the infamous Kill-Team Cutlass. Talek Varn's plans have moved ahead just as he ordered, and the Iron Gods have grown in strength, tightening their hold on the Solios Nebula and deepening their influence on the worlds around its border. In the ongoing upheaval of Abaddon's 13th Black Crusade, more renegades have joined Varn, increasing his pirate fleet and bringing the number of Iron Gods veterans up to near the two hundred mark.

However, this number has been greatly augmented by the work of Magos Octavius and Chief Apothecary Vesalius, using the genetic laboratories transferred from the Pride to the Crag to create more than one hundred new Astartes. Years of tireless work are now coming to fruition as this first generation of recruits have been implanted with the Black Carapace, and are now ready to begin making use of the vast stores of MkVI power armour taken from the Pride.

Hundreds more neophytes are progressing through the initiation process, and in years to come will follow their older brethren into battle. The Iron Gods have been recruiting from all around the Solios Nebula; taking male children from brutal Feral World tribes, from the criminal gangs of hives or voidships, or from anywhere that the banner of rebellion and insurrection has risen. The geneseed used in the creation of these Astartes is a secret known to only a handful. Perhaps it has been looted from some defeated foe? Or maybe it has been taken from the Iron Gods themselves? Perhaps it is some hideously experimental hybrid of genelines? Maybe it is the genetic material of Talek Varn himself, replicated a hundred times so that these warriors can truly be called his sons?

Whatever the case, all of these brave young warriors will undoubtedly be needed.

Only a few months have passed since the Great Rift, the Cicatrix Maledictum, opened, and suddenly the backwater of the Solios Nebula has found itself only a few Subsectors away from a vast new warfront against the most terrible of enemies, the devotees and daemons of Chaos. Armies of the damned have marched forth from the Rift, killing and enslaving. Latent psykers have erupted with sudden power, ravaging their own kind. Xenos forces have made best use of the disruption of Imperial strength, raiding and reaving with impunity.

Varn has extended the borders of his personal Protectorate, declaring that he will shelter the people of all his worlds, even if the Imperium cannot or will not. The Solios Nebula, with the Crag at its heart, will be a bulwark that will defend mankind.

It seems possible that the words of prophets, both human and xenos, are coming true… Perhaps Talek Varn and his Iron Gods are… saviours?

Prologue: New Blood

You stand in the vast, dark, echoing stone chamber that is the Crag's Auditorium.

Almost a hundred Astartes have gathered on the wide tiers that lead downwards towards the brightly lit podium. A high proportion, perhaps eight or nine of every ten, are like you - youthful, largely clad in beaked MkVI armour painted in the grey and red of the Iron Gods. Some wear heraldic patterns or devices reminiscent of Feudal Houses. Others bear randomised camouflage designs. Pictograms and slashes of feral origin are oddly similar to and interchangeable with the gang tags and graffiti of Hive slums.

There is an air of excitement, eagerness at this first prospect of battle, of glory. The hubbub is tremendous, as young warriors jostle and mock in friendly - and sometimes less friendly - rivalry.

The few veterans of the Iron Gods who are present do not hold themselves aside from you, but nevertheless each one stands out in your midst. For the most part, their wargear is a mishmash, decorated with a wealth of trophies and knick knacks. In manner, most seem outwardly cool and calm. Some even appear bored. However, a few are almost as raucous and eager for bloodletting as the new recruits.

Either way, whether they run cold or hot, each one has open space around him, respect demanded - and given - by their younger brethren.

Atop the stage, another Astartes waits. He has stood silently, unmoving in shadow, towards the rear of the podium as you filtered in. Even as the Iron Gods veterans are lions amidst wolves, this figure is yet another step beyond - some monstrous apex predator of myth. He is clad in ill matched Terminator warplate, and armed with a wicked axe and a brutal power fist/storm bolter combi-weapon. His helm has become a new source of legends whispered over the last half-decade, a terrifying, grimacing skull mask with piercing green lenses.

Talek Varn.

He steps forward and raises his axe aloft, and silence falls immediately, a deathly hush. With remarkable precision, the fingers of his unpowered glove reach up and delicately remove the skull-faced helm, revealing the cruel, patrician features of the Lord of the Solios Nebula.

He nods to someone in the darkness to one side, and a moment later the hololithic emitters create a huge, glowing orb of light in the air above his head. A planet, a temperate world of broadly even division between landmass and blue seas. All is given a grayish cast, an all-pervasive haze that suffuses the atmosphere.

“Iktab III.”

Varn's voice is a deep, gravelly rumble.

“One of our vassal worlds in the Ultima Segmentum, located a short distance beyond the north-western border of the Solios Nebula. It lies directly between our home and the ‘Great Rift’. Iktab III is a mining world, sending a vast wealth of raw materials to the Adeptus Mechanicus… and diverting a much smaller percentage to the Solios Nebula. However, that fraction is not small to us. In fact, it is vital to our ability to continue to grow.”

“We have lost contact with Iktab. Reason unknown. It was only a matter of weeks since our last communication. All was well at that time, but the ship that was supposed to be carrying our supplies never arrived, and no answer has been forthcoming since.”

“We are not aware of any movement of Imperial forces that would account for this sudden silence. Perhaps it is something out of the Rift, Chaos worshippers? Maybe Xenos? Equally, it could be that some more independent Imperial group - a Rogue Trader, Astartes… even the Inquisition? - has arrived unscheduled at Iktab.”

“You will go in Company strength, aboard the Avarice. Degier will lead, aided by Ghoran. For many of you, this will be your first mission with the Iron Gods. A new generation of our brotherhood. It is your opportunity to begin making a name for yourself. Prove your skill, your loyalty, your value. You will be rewarded, with glory, with wealth… and with the knowledge that you are having a share in building something better for Mankind than the moribund Imperium.”

Whether Varn says it openly or not, whether each of you understands it or not, to a discerning listener the truth is clear. The resources of Iktab III cannot be that important to the Iron Gods. There are always other ways to find what is needed.

So, this mission is a test. The odd breakdown of communications with the mining world is a perfect opportunity to turn loose and evaluate the new warriors that have been created at the Crag. A trial run, before the next generation of homegrown Iron Gods - several hundred more Astartes - reaches deployment readiness in a matter of months. Eighty-plus Astartes, even new-minted ones, should be more than enough to bring this world back into Talek Varn's fearful fold.

And if something truly terrible has engulfed Iktab, something beyond the ability of such a force to defeat? Well, the Pride of Kings has given Varn temporarily deep pockets in terms of weapons and armour…

…and there are always more young rebels ready to take up those arms against the hated Imperium…

***

OOC: Well, firstly, apologies for the delay in getting things started! 

I'm still not in a great rush to get things going, but I thought I could start up the IC with an opening post. If people would like to add posts to introduce and/or describe their characters, please do. Feel free to interact with one another if you wish, either during the hubbub before Varn begins his mission briefing, or after it has concluded.

++ AN ONLY WAR CAMPAIGN ++

+ THE MOUNTAINBREAKERS +

+ PROLOGUE +

+ THE GRAVEYARDS OF KULTH +

Incipe:

This is just a quick snap of prologue to move the game on until Mojake has the time and space to return. Obviously this is his game, I'm just the one in the drivers' compartment for the moment, so Throne help you all, because it's my jib to try and demoralise you into begging me to stop the pain. However, beating will continue until Squad Morale is restored.

Setting:

You are advised to apprise yourself of the absolute state of Kulth. It's a charnel pit. Be most aware that Kulth tastes of ash. Everything is tainted or tormented by it, as everything has been burned and repeatedly blown up for the past 83 years. It was once as pretty and glorious as Mirador, but now it's a hole, a rather deep one filled with churning and disgustingly pungent effluvium.

Welcome to Kulth.

Objectives:

Low intensity, but RP-rich interactions, or as much as we can achieve, maybe even a small fight. I'm not prepared to go into great detail over maps, I'm not autopiloting, and if you do something daft, please fully expect to get your head blown off. No punches will be pulled, and whatever you choose to do is your choice, so if you get your intestines rearranged to be externally mounted on your chin, don't blame me for allowing you to pogo-stick through Saboteur Ork Boss Splodey McBoomsnagga's favourite 'Doomblasta  Deff to Gits' Mine Field^TM.

Situation:

You've just landed at Fort Drusus, it is the premier Imperial Bastion on this world, and sees more turnover in squaddies than mattresses in Miss Licky Primrose's Shack of Negotiable Boot-knocking. Start your posts with arrival, either with the Squad (Section, if you prefer - bonus points will be given) and making muster. You will have been given orders to go to Bastion Aleph, one of the many mustering stations for new arrivals. Feel free to dawdle, there are lots of folks milling about, try to find your Regimental Comrades and staffers. Your ever-so-helpful, and thoroughly charming Garrison Sergeant-Major Henrik Jekyll will be along to give you further directions in a few short kicks of the arse.

Business/Housekeeping:

Questions in the OOC before your boots hit the ground.

Remember: GM Voice (and only the GM voice) is: Orange

All OOC in any IC post should be: Green.

Well? What the bloody hell are you slack-jawed, knock-kneed, scum-slurping, malcontents and doggerel-gobbling lazy bastards doing? Move like you've got a purpose - or that purpose WILL BE CORPSE STARCH!

(Looks around for a volunteer for press-ups. Copious press-ups).

What is Only War?

Since most of you in this forum are familiar with the FFG range of Warhammer games, you'll know this one as 'the Imperial Guard game'. You can intuit a fair bit of what the game is like from that, but the broad strokes and differences from other lines are:

• This is a combat-heavy game and is slightly more rail-roady than other RPGs in the sense that you are given a mission/orders and are expected to complete them or face the firing squad - the nuance comes in how you choose to complete the objectives.
• The game is lethal, the average guardsman starts with 8+1d5 wounds, Tb of 3 and armour with AP4. The humble lasgun does 1d10+3 damage... Fate Points will be used liberally. It's a game about brotherhood, heroism, sacrifice and survival - how the normal human surviving against the insurmountable odds that the galaxy throws at them and how they use their wit, their equipment (if the Departmento Munitorum don't short-change the squad) and their cameraderie to face down the kind of foes that a Space Marine or Inquisitor can steamroll.
• For anybody unfamiliar with the full FFG range, character creation, skills, talents, combat and psychic powers are all pretty much the same as Black Crusade, Deathwatch, etc. 
• The players start by determining their regiment, which we'll probably do in this topic. I'm unsure exactly how, but likely a voting system with opportunity for players to discuss the options. The regiment selected will have direct effect on the game and the missions the squad are sent on; e.g. a Cadian mechanised infantry squad will be sent to complete different tasks than an Ecclesiastical Crusader squad, a Tallarn tank squad or a Catachan scout squad. The regiment is almost as much a character as the PCs, with traditions, culture, etc. that help bring the game to life.
• Each player picks a specialty (class), and it's a good idea to have a balanced selection for the squad - don't disregard the humble infantryman. Teamwork is vital in OW, you aren't playing as a one-man army, no matter what the Imperial propaganda mill might say.
• Each specialty (with some exceptions) gets a comrade. These are NPC characters under direct control of the player and are assets which interact with combat by being given 'orders' by said player, which occur on the same initiative step, if they are within 5m of each other. Comrades are squishier and more stupid (they don't act independently) than PCs and therefore are expected to have a high rate of turnover (even higher than players!), so getting attached to a comrade and keeping them alive will be another challenging facet of play.
• Acquiring gear is done through the Logistics system. The squad will have a Logistics Rating instead of an individual acquisition skill, which can be modified by victories, defeats and whatever else is appropriate. 

GM Expectations / My Game

Here's a stream of unordered points around this specific OW game:

• Prospective start date is latter half of June/start of July.
• I'm provisionally looking at capping the game at 8 players as it's my first time running a PBP. I'll gauge the interest after a week or so before I commit to this.
• I mentioned this will be a slightly slower paced game. I'm going to aim for a posting frequency of 2-3 days (depending on post length), with small posts dotted between as I get free time. I would expect players to do a narrative-progressing post every 48 hours, with a bit of pre-warning if they can't make it. If 48 hours has passed and I'm writing up a post, I'll assume your character is acting in line with their latest action. If we're in combat and 48 hours have passed without you posting, Initiative will progress without you until it is an enemy's turn, at which point I'll GM your character's turn and move on (basically meaning other PCs can jump ahead of non-posters after 48 hours of waiting).
• Sources available for character options are anything from the OW Core Rulebook, and at GM's discretion; Hammer of the Emperor (HotE) and Shield of Humanity (SoH). I'll lean towards allowing most things. If anybody can weigh in on the consensus in the Nook for providing copies of the FFG books, I'd appreciate it. I have PDFs of all books but don't want to share them willy-nilly if it's frowned upon.
• I'll create a separate OOC thread like other games have done in the Nook, which is a place for discussions and planning. In order to keep things moving, I'll try and just go along with the majority vote if decisions haven't been made after roughly 48 hours.
• Most of the time, the RP side of the game is the interactions within your squad, with quartermasters, with your commanding officers and with other squads. So more of the heavy-lifting than usual to actually make a story out of this game is tipped towards the players... Think of your favourite war movie or series (if it's Band of Brothers, you get a gold star) where, almost always, the main connection to the story and its conflicts is through the bonds between soldiers. The main upside of the slower GM posting pace is it leaves quite a lot of room for your characters to talk amongst themselves, and I absolutely encourage having conversations with yourselves, your Comrades, and with other players' Comrades.
• Your Comrade will be a character under your control, including roleplaying (one of the few advantages of PBP over in-person games is that talking to yourself doesn't look odd). There may be rare occasions when I will speak through with your Comrade's voice, but I'll keep it to a minimum.
• PVP can only happen with agreement from all parties involved. It should be rare in OW, but sometimes squadmates do resort to fisticuffs to settle differences. Killing other PCs or their comrades needs agreement and a very solid narrative reason. Commissar characters may get to do this more often than the norm, but agreement and justification are still required.
• Don't game the system when it comes to Logistics. I won't put a hard limit on number of rolls a squad can make, but lots of requests in a short space of time will attract attention from the Departmento Munitorum.
• Since you'll be playing as a single squad, the party won't tend to split to the extent that it does in other games. That's not to say that the sergeant and corporal can't divide the unit into combat squads temporarily to achieve two parts of the same objective. On that note, personal objectives aren't defined in the rules, but can be handled narratively through RP.
• I'm a believer in giving minor XP rewards for good roleplaying. I'm an even bigger believer in letting the players decide when these happen (through the OOC thread).
• Outcomes of large battles will have a random element to them, but can of course be modified by the players' actions.
• I'm currently turning over in my head how to handle dice rolling - whether just going fully trust-based or using Orokos. I'd appreciate any input from the current GMs on this, feel free to private message me your thoughts or drop a reply below.
• I may use AI to generate maps and occasionally images for the game. I am not an artist and I don't have the time to meticulously craft big maps.
• I've played a couple of Dark Heresy 2e campaigns, a Deathwatch campaign and a Black Crusade game, and I'm also currently in haitus for the IRL Black Crusade game I run; so I have an okay amount of experience with the FFG rulesets. I've by no means memorised every rule though (as MG can attest to ), so please allow a degree of leniency if I do forget a rule or miss a modifier. Just tag me in the OOC thread if I've made a blunder - I can guarantee you that I won't have done it intentionally to make things difficult (Hanlon's Razor rearing its head again).

I've been drafting this post on and off for two hours now, so may have missed some blindingly obvious things that I should have stated expectations for - feel free to drop any questions or requests for clarifications in this thread too  

Welcome to the Out of Character and General Discussion thread for the ‘A Knocking Afar’, an Eldar themed Dark Heresy RPG rule based mini adventure. 

I have created a series of Eldar Character that are good to go as is or can serves as a template for more customisable characters if you so desire.   

Available are:

• Guardian – Can be styles as either Storm Guardians or Guardian Defenders, or as a generalist
• Ranger
• Dire Avenger
• Striking Scorpion
• Howling Banshee
• Fire Dragon
• Dark Reaper
• Swooping Hawk*
• Wrap Spider*
• Warlock*

*Please note that these three are a tad more complex to play than the others and I would prefer if they are in the hands of more experience players, that said, if you want to play one of these, even with no experience, then we will make it work.

Ideally the player team will consist of a good mix, with only one of each Aspect present. However don’t let that stop you playing what you want; we can always make it work even if everybody want to play the same sort of character. A Team of Scorpions and Banshees might excel in some areas and struggle in others compared to a balanced team.  

This game is designed with new players in mind, so if you have no experience with play by post RPGs, or RPGs in general, or Fantasy Flight Game’s series of 40k RPGS or whatever really, and want to give it a go then welcome.  

The Game

Our game will start on the minor Craftworld of Dandrame, which is currently hosting a multi Craftworld cultural exchange festival, with visitors from many of the major Craftworlds, Corsairs, Exodiets, a Harlequin troop is due to put on a show in a few days time and all sort of other Eldar from across the Galaxy.

This game will use the Dark Heresy (1^st edition) rule set as a base, with a few modification as needed to make it work with Eldar character, and a few modification to make it easier for everybody. The game itself has a fairly set path, and is intended to be a short game with a fixed goal and tight(ish) pacing.

My intention is to start mid to late June /early July (date to be determined) and to have a main game post go up once a week (provisionally Fridays) that moves things along. As such players should ideally be able to commit to one post a week minimum. This can be as little as a placeholder post that just sets out what you want your character to do so that everybody knows, and you can fill it out later once you have time.

Obviously we all have lives and will be unavailable form time to time, that’s fine, and if it is going ot be for an extended stretch just let us know so we can work around that.  

Changes from Dark Hersey Core

In sort, several mechanics have been taken out of this to make it easier for new players and less book keeping for myself for this trial game.

• Experience – progression in this game will not be via Experience Points, in large part because Eldar dont have any progression trees or lists of EXP spends. Instead at the end of each segment of the game I will offer each player a number of choice from a list of potential upgrades.   
• Critical damage for non players – if you see a skill, ability or whatever that deals with critical damage on non players ignore it
• Ammunition – while counting your remaining ammunition and such can be fun and lead to tension and such in game play for this game you will have all the ammunition you need. The only thing you need to vaguely keep track of is your weapons current clip count, as reloading will take time if it happens to be in the middle of combat. Most weapons either have large ammo count per clip so it is unlikely to come up, or a very low count which should be easy enough to keep track.
  One use items, such as grenades, however do have a strict count and when you are out you are out.
• Cary capacity, weight of items and gear, jumping distance/height, pushing strength etc  are all not applicable as long as no one abuses it. So no you cannot carry an armouries worth of weapons, but equally I am not going to quibble if you are a half kilo over that your character should be able to lift.   

Customising your Character

Once you have selected your character type from the list above and I have given you access to Google doc folder with all the character sheets please have a look at your chosen pre-generated character. If you are happy to play as is then let me know.

Otherwise you can make the following customisations:

• Character name and home Craftworld, all pre-made characters have a name and are from Dandrame. Your character can be from any Craftworld, and this is a purely narrative choice in how you want to play the Character
• Previous Paths, you can list one previous path that your character has been on. This is again for primarily narrative and character role playing purposes. For example it could be a the first path the character trod and was formative to their nature, or the most recent and there is some residual mentality bleedover, or in the case of an Outcast, perhaps this is the path that made you reject elder society.
  Guardians may instead choose up to three past paths, with the first listed being the characters current civilian path when they are not on duty as Guardian Militia
  The Paths are any job or role you can reasonably picture an Eldar doing in Eldar society, you are not limited to named paths (as most of them are military or adjacent as the source is a war-game after all) and can invent your own.
  I may grant some small bonus, skill, trait or gear to go alongside with any chosen previous path to help along with the narrative/role-play of your choice. These are unlikely to affect the game, but will help you further customise/differentiate from the template.
• Description – free for you toll fill is you wish
• Stats, if you wish you can generate entire new stats, in order to do so set one of your stats to 30, two to 25 and the rest to 20. Then add 2d10 to each. You may reroll one set of 2d10.
• Strands of Fate – if you wish to engage with this we will have a private conversation to work it out.
  Basically you can select something that the seers have foreseen as being a crucial point of the characters fate. This can be as grand as saving the Craftworld or as mundane as baking the perfect soufflé. While this might inform your role-playing of the character and is unlikely to manifest during the game, if it dose it will have profound effects on your character for the rest of the game.
• Equipment option, some of the characters have a ‘or’ choice in their starting equipment, pick one. Additionally any player may present a case of why your character should have any additional equipment, if it seems in character and appropriate you may get it (possibly as a trade or a cost!)

There is probably other things I need to say at this stage, and I’ll come to it when I remember or you guys point out the massive flaw in what I have said so far and haven’t seen.

So, who is up for a Eldar Adventure?

It is early afternoon as you stroll through the grand parkscape that encompasses most of Dandrame's central hall. The Festival has already been going for several days and was set to continue for many more. As you wander the meandering paths you may see a troupe of Harlequins preparing a grant stage for a special performance tonight, one unmatched for generations, or so the rumours said.

Elsewhere there is the Bazaar to explore, with traders from many places, Craftworlds and others intermixed, even some Exodiet worlds.  Speaking of the arcadian cousins, on one long track of parkland there are reptilian mounted races as various champions and contenders vied to show their skills. For the more adventurers there were even armature races, where after a few hours of instruction form the Exodite handlers anybody could try their luck riding one of the cold-blooded steeds.

There were many a smaller gatherings to admire the arts, from poetry to sculpture, music to martial. Dotted throughout were places to rest and relax, places to eat and drink, or just to gather and meet friends and strangers alike.

As the day wares on you find yourself heading for a secluded branch of the great park, to the Garden of found Tranquillity. The Gardens were not normally open to the public.  Instead they were persevered for those that needed a sheltered place to find themselves once more, whether from the mind fatigue of wearing the war mask to long, or the uncertainty of current reality that plagued some on the path of the Seer, or those unfortunate soles whose internal discord has grown into a cantankerous malice that thread their steps on the path they trod. In crude summary a place of healing for those thinks more subtle and deeper than mere flesh and blood of the healing houses.  

Perhaps you had come here by chance, perhaps curiosity to see the gardens normally closed to you, perhaps you had been here before and come to see once again for just a little while.  Perhaps you had picked up one of the flyers inviting the world at large to a gathering.

However you came to be here you are now standing in a clearing of the Garden, with perhaps two or three dozen people scattered around, some chatting with each other, while others just waited. A small commotion catches your eye, a group of for ceremonially dressed guards of the Infinity circuit are escorting two Eldar dressed in the colours of one of the Hauses of Care. Between them the two support an elderly figure, one who struggles to walk and retain his balance, a graceless and crude ambulatory motion for any Eldar, and yet all this individual seem dot be capable of.

Another follows behind with a specialised chair, which she positions with care before the Healers help the elder to sit and recline. The ceremonial guards took up position around the figure while everybody else stayed a respectful distance back. Natives of Dandrame may recognise the elder, but if they do it is a distant memory as this Farseer has not been seen in public in many many decades.

“Welcome one and all, and thank you for your time, however you found yourself here today.” His voice was weak, and did not carry well, but all in attendance remained silent while he spoke.

“For those from other hearths and those that I have not met before, my name is Jalut ibn Harun al-Dram, Farseer by path and centuries, and I have a favour to ask of any willing to grant me such a kindness.”

 “Allow me a moment longer to set out the heart of request; some of you will know this already, but for the benefit of any visitors a little history. In the age before age, when the Gods had not yet warred in Heaven that which eventually became our home, Dandrame, carried a Loom of Ways and crawled across reality weaving a few of the many branches of the Webway. Later, in that fading of our kind before the Fall, that which would become Dandrame, carried a World Engine, retreading many of its previous journeys through the real and life-forming suitable places.”

“Many of our ties to the Exodites that are visiting this festival stem from this time, where we helped them breathe life into their homes to be. However not all places upon which we let the World engine work were settled by our kind, and other failed, some lie half completed, or forgotten after the turmoil of the fall.”

“Even with the dark times we tried to keep an eye on those places that Dandrame had worked its purpose, both in the ages past and on the second cycle of the real. It is with one of these worlds that I am now concerned with, and to which I would ask a few souls to travel. The guardians that had been left in place to guard the connection to the webway woke not long ago, and then, then nothing. Silence, nay absence.”

“When word reaches us of this, several of my colleagues and I sought to consult the skein of fate. To no avail, they are not just silent, but play no acknowledgment to the fact that something may be amiss, that the guardians woke and are now incommunicative. The Synod of Guidance therefore concluded that the event is of no consequence to us or the wider Eldar realms, and the Leadership of Dandrame will not send an official expedition to investigate.”

“I fear that they are mistake, and would go myself.” Here he paused to reach forward and draw his simple garb aside, showing his feet. They were far along the transmutation into crystal that befall any Seer of great age, the long-term exposure to their craft and its dangers catching up with them. From the earlier observed stiffness you can guess that the condition is far more advanced than just his feet.

“Alas I cannot walk far these days, let alone leave these halls. I can see that the nature of the favour dawns on you, and indeed I seek out volunteers to travel to this distant world and investigate what disturbed the guardians in their slumber. However I am obliged to warn you, the skeins of fate are oblivious in this, and were I to consult them on any one of your fates they would show me many and plentiful, but not a trace of accepting, or even hearing this very request. If you do go then know that you are going without guidance, without fate. This is why I can only request a favour, and hope that there some of you brave enough, or curious enough, or foolish enough or any of the myriad reason why you might say yes, to say yes.”

“In all my time I have never seen the skein so reticent, even the most unlikely of events always had its trace, however far down the slope of probability and reality. This none-ness worries me deeply.”

He sighed with weariness.

“Forgive this aged one, but I am tiered and need to rest. Please think on what I have said, and if you still have it in your heart to grant me a few days of your time then please come back here just before dusk, and if you do acquiesce then my apologies now for missing the Harlequins performance this evening, for you will already be on your way before their curtain opens.”  

Players, you may now post freely as to your character's day leading up to, during and after the scene above, going as far as just before dusk would set in.

What brought you to the Garden, what did you feel or think as you heard the aged Farseer’s tale, why is your character agreeing to go on this journey? You can interact with each other and any reasonable NPC you might think is in attendance. The Farseer himself will not answer any questions at this stage, and his entourage of healers, assistants and guards will politely decline.  You can assume that the only Eldar that will volunteer are the player characters, and that only the player characters are the ones that will appear just before dusk, assuming you want to go on this adventure.

The game itself will start next weekend, this is your prologue (and infodump).

THE MOUNTAINBREAKERS

-  8^th Miradoran Pioneer Regiment "Mirador Rooks" of the Imperial Guard  -

"Sacrifice is the nature of service to the God-Emperor:

Labourers offer up their toil, Priests pledge of their faith, Guardsmen give their lives."

- Scrivener Cellivar Gehan.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Dramatis Personae

C-5-2 Squad Members:

• Sergeant Tekolotl "Tek" Cervantes [@Necronaut]
• (Acting) Corporal Stormtrooper Conrad "Blackjack" Thorne [@Mazer Rackham]
• Trooper Cal Molina [@Lysimachus]
  • Trooper Roland [Comrade]
• Trooper Pridbor "Por" [@Trokair]
  • Trooper Jarrow [Imaginary Comrade]
• Trooper Max Rockatansky [@A.T.]
• Trooper Maks [@Machine God]
• Trooper Althus "Doc" Culvain [@Lord_Ikka]
  • Trooper Cutter [Comrade]
• Trooper [@BadgersinHills]

Squad Logistics Rating: 10

Other Characters:

• Regiment Command
  • Colonel Matric "Landslide" Salazar
  • Adjutant Lucas Garnica
• C Company Command
  • Major Hanna Alvarez
• 5th Platoon
  • Lieutenant Aric Saavedra; 5^th platoon CO, C-5-1 command squad leader
  • Sergeant Eduard Ixcara; C-5-3 squad leader 
  • Sergeant Hektor "Two-Toes" Vidal; C-5-4 squad leader

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Honoured Dead

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Mirabor III

Home World: Mirador III

System: Mirador

Sub-Sector: Josian Reach

Sector: Calixis

Segmentum: Obscurus

Population: 25,000,000
Capital: Ladanta
Founded: 303.762M.40
Class: Mu, (μ-class) Frontier (Originally Feral, re-classified after Compliance)

Tithe Grade: Solutio Particular
Tithe Aestimare: C600, mainly agricultural, but production value low, as population sparse.
Topography: Highly diverse; featuring rugged mountains, active volcanoes, fertile valleys, extensive lowlands, cooler highlands retreating from the equatorial band, and low temperatures approaching the central highland peaks
Produce:  Maize, vari-beans, tomato, vanilla, a unique comestible called xzhocolatal - a mild stimulant and sweet alternative to recaf beans or leaves
Natives:

• Prohibited mutants (Homo sapiens variatus) hunted to near-extinction by Imperial settlers
• Jungle-dwelling sanctioned mutants (Homo sapiens minimus) conscripted to serve as hunters and guides
• Unsophisticated agricultural city-states of sanctioned mutants (Homo sapiens gigantus) built similarly to the Petén style of ancient Terra with a reliance on ouslite and volcanic glass, conscripted for labour

Notable Fauna: Primarily Sauropoda 
Notable Flora: Continent-spanning plains of pampas grass 
 

Imperial Guard Regiments:

• 2nd Brontian Longknives (original settlers)
• 1st Miradoran Pioneer Regiment
• 2nd Miradoran Pioneer Regiment
• 3rd Miradoran Pioneer Regiment
• 4th Miradoran Pioneer Regiment
• 5th Miradoran Pioneer Regiment
• 6th Miradoran Pioneer Regiment
• 7th Miradoran Pioneer Regiment
• 8th Miradoran Pioneer Regiment

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Rules & Expectations

Regiment Rules & Equipment

Back in the day, I ran a game called Beneath a Hateful Sky, which was a half-baked precursor to the excellent and successful To Plunder The Stars, by our own @Lysimachus and was a Deathwatch game set on the Secessionist side of the Badab War. I also tried another similarly themed, but pure BC Ruleset with Magellan's Devils. Seems I just can't get away from Uncle Huron...

This time, with a hardened cadre of Players, I thought I could make another go of it.

The Dastardly Plan:

So, I wanted to float a few proposals. One is that I would prefer a homogenous Party. Either all Mortals or all Marines, but basically we blend the theme of the BC Intro game Broken Chains as the part gen and start you off all in the Big House. You could either start as mortals and get implanted, or could start as neophytes or recently elevated neophytes (up to you) of a Renegade Chapter. Huron does not get on well with legions, so no Legions builds, nothing advanced. It's BC Core ALL the way. You pick your Archetype and Class, and then start with a loincloth and a tin whistle, if you're lucky.

Alternatively, you may all join from mortals into a legion who have raided the prison planet - but it's ONE legion. BC Core applies. You're not vets of this legion, you're ne'er-do-well's in the front line holding a sharp stick and a pair of tin underpants (where on your person you wish to wear them, is your choice, and we will not judge).

No crazy stuff with millions of rules, no robots with cigar lighters for eyes, no instant armpit tentacles.

On the Party, no splitting. Either you do it together, or not at all.

Then you're appointed to a Red Corsair (or a Legionary) 'Advisor...' and sent to destabilise a region in your own, rather beaten up and run-down barge.

An Imperial region (which can be post-Cicatrix, if you desire).

Infamy Rating, and Security Threat:

Infamy works as the book with a few extra bells and whistles.

Each Infamy Point a PC possesses will result in a corresponding Imperial Threat Rating, so as your Infamy scales up, your enemies will scale up, but that's not all. Each zone of the operational area (AO) will have it's own Security Rating, which will be fixed. Now, all that means is that your Threat rating + Security Rating means Quality and Quantity of opposition, or the forces already established therein. The Imperial Defence plan is a designed as a constricting net of steel, formed into concentric rings, each collapsing onto the disturbance in order of economy of force. You can see this in the Battle for Armageddon.

Example:

Moroc is a Chaos Space Marine. He has a ball and and 2 Infamy Points. The ball is red, and very bouncy! See Moroc run and play! Unfortunately, Moroc has been kicking this ball against a wall, and has invoked the wrath of Old Man Jenkins, who is a Justice of the Peace, and saw Moroc widdle on his prize water-lilies last week.

His threat rating of 2 means (for example) Moroc will be looking a herd of PDF troops in a Level 2 Security Zone, but because he is a complete asshat, he's crossed the border into a Level 3 Zone, and now he's looking at a couple of squads of Arbites. He's beats them up, and gains another Infamy Point, so now he's Threat Rating 3, and so if he breaks Jenkins' window, the Arbites are going to bring a Rhino, and support troops, possibly with a Sororitas, and now he's dead.

Poor Moroc.

Missions will be 'Compacts' as described in the book - from small ones like a supply raid on a fuel dump, to large ones (required) on the Precinct House. The bigger the Compact, the more your Infamy goes up, and therefore...poor Moroc.

You will be required to scout for, and establish, hideouts in your chosen Operation Zone. Every time you undertake a mission, there is a chance Imperial Intelligence will get wind of your hole (in the ground, you Slaneeshi perv), and go and kick over the rocks. This could mean losing your assets. Undertaking a big mission will reduce these chances, all the way down to zero.

Let me be clear: if you keep low-balling to dodge the claws of retribution, and avoiding high-level missions to actively combat your persecution, you will eventually be found, and they will kill you off, Infamy or no.

The Imperium is looking for you - always.

Alignment:

The alignment system is, to me, pish. I hate it, and I think it's one of the weaker aspects of the ruleset - albeit I know what they were doing and where they were going. Now, unfortunately, pulling the ruleset apart is a no-go, unless I start a gofundme for Imperium Maledictum, and we can try that instead, but I digress. Alignment will rely on what you do, not what you pick - however - and I stress this, it will still count. It will be assumed that your choices show the predilection your PC has for which way they are going to fall. Now, if you wish to follow the path of Khorne (and his big red ball), then you can do things dedicated to him, but, if your Alignment is contrary, then you're going to get the attention you deserve, uh, of someone else.

Gear:

You get jack and nowt, and jack already left town with the best stuff. If your Party chooses to be Marines, you will be equipped with Legion Power Armour. However, this is not without caveats. You will roll for a random number of pieces of different armour marks. Deathwatch Rites of Battle Histories will not and do not apply. Armour customisation will be GM moderated, since, quite frankly, some of the options are garbage.

Every armour piece will require a D10 roll to see how awful it actually is. On a 7+, the armour piece is knackered, and provides 1 AP lower than standard.

Weaponry is the same. It's busted. You want better stuff, you'll have to beg, borrow or steal it. Everything beyond starting Acquisition rolls is one bracket higher than normal. Further, you have a choice of either:

• One of your Starting Weapons or Items is gone. The rest is unaffected. 
• All of your staring Weapons or Items downgrade (you may pick) by one penalty (cursed metal etc).

The PC's will have full access to as much intelligence about the AO and Imperial Ops as your Harrowmaster can muster. If you want more, you'll have to get it in a raid.

You may not start with a Minion.

Allies and Resources:

There will be people who want to defect to the side of tentacles and blood. These informers can provide intelligence on targets for raiding, personnel capture, or loot. They won't repeat. As your influence and power grows, so will your allies. You will be able to requisition (Infamy) vehicles, support squads, artillery, air power and comms support. All these can be lost if the Imperium manages a reversal.

The Four Kings and the Crown:

To prevent a reversal, and to ease the grip of the Imperium on your throats, you must defeat the four rulers of the sector who govern over each of it's main arms, such as the Fabricator Maximal, the Sector Bishop of the Adeptus Ministorum, the Planetary Defence Commandant, and the Administratum General.

Above them, sits the System Overlord, and Lord Commander Sector Imperialis.

These five beings cannot be attacked directly. It is impossible, and any attempt to assault their power will result in instant failure. Each one of these august Imperial lackeys has a number of things which may topple them, removal of key commanders, exposure of dirty secrets, inability to meet quotas, that kind of thing. The Adeptus Arbites and the mighty Adeptus Astartes are independent actors, and thus, incorruptible.

This is the proposal and my general thoughts on the layout of how this game will operate.

Nothing is set in stone, but I won't be wavering too far off these tenets.

Feel free to have at it below - do note that Silent Architect is in hiatus, and I need to leave that one on the shelf for now, as I've lost my way with it a little bit, so it will be either this, or Architect I will be running for the foreseeable future.

Thanks for looking.

+ A BLACK CRUSADE RPG ADVENTURE +

++ THE BLACKEST HEART ++

'From the Maelstrom's deepest pit, I spit at thee! Should my chest be fit with cannon,

Wouldst I fire both my Hearts upon it! My vengeance knows not the cold of mercy,

Nor does it shrink with terror in the dark, for wherever you should hide my due,

Even buried in your in your souls, e'er will I rake for it...until the stars burn out.'

- Lugft Huron, The Blackheart, Tyrant of Badab, Master of The Maelstrom.

+++++

PROLOGUE:

Assault on CARTHAGE XIII:

When the siren begins, it is a klaxon heard by all as it screams a shrill warning across the surface, skies and subterranean vaults of the planet. Purpose-built as a wilderness of violence and wickedness, decorated with oases of Imperial sanity, power and civility built deep into bedrock, shudders. This is not the ruckus of expected supply drops; or the harsh tocsin of a prisoner transfer, but something altogether more alarming still. Weapons emplacements pan and traverse across the prison yards, the gears of a machine grinding - a mighty shrugging of the Imperial pinions contracting.

+ PENITENTS, REMAIN CALM, FOR SALVATION IS AT HAND. THE EMPEROR’S MERCY HAS BEEN GRANTED TO ALL. AVE IMPERATOR. +

A serene, controlled statement, given in a firm, calm voice. In juxtaposition, it merely stirs the populace into paroxysms of glee and terror, depending on the severity of heresy in their soul, their expectation of punishment or release a heady mix of personal poison. It is an announcement never made before on this scale.

The inmates of this network of dungeons know the voice, for it is the judgement of those on high, the Word of the Master of Mankind himself. It is said by Judges, by Imperial Soldiers, by Commissars, by the Guildmasters of the Forges and Workhouses.

By Executioners.

Normally, death is rooted to a sector or block, where the culling of the wicked sinners is enacted through neutron bombardment, their belongings, cybernetics and chattels all used for the next raft of prisoners, or sent off-world to pay the debts of the incarcerated.

++ PENITENTS IN BLOCKS A, B, C, D, SHALL RECEIVE THE EMPEROR’S WILL ++

The guilty and innocent shriek in howling wails as the Penitentiary rouses for a mass slaughter, but the wise amongst the old hands, the few lowly trustees, that something else is wrong. There is threat not just from within the walls, and the souls dwelling there, but from without.

Some of the inmates go berserk. They run at the walls, the gates in a mass panic, attempting to overwhelm the security, to breakout via a press of flesh and tide of blood. The throaty roar of emplaced weapons cut them down, exploding bolt rounds tossing charred gobbets of flesh in minced, bloody confetti. The grisly perfume of burned meat clogs throats and nostrils, even as the thunder of giant hammers resonates on the walls outside, causing huge blocks of masonry – plascrete and rockrete, painted dark with grime and blood over the pocked surface – to spall onto the huddled, broken masses beneath, crushing many and ending their cries for mercy, for forgiveness or curses brooking damnation to end with a brutal, gavel thump of finality.

In the open segments of the prison, Perdita squads of the Adeptus Arbites swing into action, shotguns bellow, flamers cough in throaty swathes as many of the prisoners outside the Purgation Zone are cut down or boiled alive in blessed promethium. In the skies above, glimpses can be seen of Imperial Lightnings duelling with angular blades zipping around the skies.

Bulk landers crash hard into the prison walls, making breaches in the low-level security zones. A guard tower crumples, and a neutron array fires prematurely, obliterating all living within its deadly caress and scope, before dying a heartbeat, and firing again. The sentries within are flung against the armaglas with such force, they lie broken and staring from the collapsed Babellian* overwatch, now brought low.

Miraculously spared by the momentary pogrom, an old man, wearing nought but tattered rags, exposes himself obscenely to the crashed tower and Prison Judges therein, cackling at their fate, his tattoos of the Eightfold marking him as a true believer. He tears the mouldering garment free, and capers in wanton abandon.

‘Hahaha! Take that you fu-’

The tower explodes, tearing a crater in the pit of the prison earth, slaying friend and plucky, rude foe alike, punching great runnels in the ground and plascrete. It is then, and only then, when the squalid prison carcass is broken open for the straggly innards to be devoured, that giant shapes punch through the choking dust to feast. Dark figures cleave through the miasma of floating silt, in a cacophony of thunder - explosions billowing amber in the murk - and the skirl of whirring, chainsword teeth. Black and red, a melange of gold and steel, titans come with guns and blades.

Almost as one, the hordes of darkness unleash, the Black Hand, the Ravaged Claw of Badab tears at the walls, raking out the charnel pit in a long harrow of screams and pleading, eager for fresh meat and raw victims to clutch to his cause.

+++++

+ [ AVE REGNIS CREUI ] +

++ THE BLACKEST HEART ++

'The Imperium suffers the painful throes of many deaths, and I have planned them all as repayment.'

- Huron Blackheart.

(CHARACTER/DATASLATE THREAD)

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:

RENEGADE SPACE MARINES OF THE RED CORSAIRS:

• Hagga Rykaz, 'The Heart Eater' - Lysimachus
• Ukalegon Moros 'The Twice Lived' - Necronaut
• Cyrandras Rakash - Xin Ceithan
• Issekar Grimm - Ancient Sobek
• Obadiah Barzani - Iron Father Ferrum
• Varne - Mojake

THRALLS OF THE TYRANT OF BADAB:

• Xerxes - A.T.
• Crux'as 'The Smiler' - Lord_Ikka
• Tarh Teshub - Trokair
• Kraggan - Machine God
• Dul'thrac Zayon - Viking Slade
• Atesh Sapik - Fabius Valcoran

PERSONAE CALAMITUS:

• Red Corsair Agents

++ CONDITIONS OF PLAY ++

CAMPAIGN RULES:

Party Composition:

No Party splitting. Either you do it together, or not at all.

Players may choose from either Mortal or Space Marine Archetypes.

Player Characters and Game Attendance (AUTOPILOTING):

Players have to deal with real life, I get that. People who are busy will not be penalised, but I can't autopilot for long periods of time, since I have a lot to do on my own account. Therefore, if a Player enters a Compact, (goes on a mission etc) and cannot attend for whatever reason, the character will be deemed to be present, but otherwise unavailable, occupied, or what-have-you. They will take no part in the combats, either dealing or taking damage, and will to all intents and purposes be in the GM Bag Of Infinite Holding.

Note that I will massage the numbers and quality of the enemy to compensate, but I will not run your Character. I simply have too much to do.

Infamy Rating, and Security Threat:

Players will have an Infamy Threshold of 85 for this Campaign.

Alignment:

Gear:

Crafting:

Upgrading or running vehicles etc takes supplies. This is based on Availability and an example (is provisionally) as follows:

• Upgrading a Common Weapon's Quality or Repairing it: 10 Components.
• Upgrading a Good Weapon's Quality or Repairing it: 20 Components.

Quality upgrades follow the improvement path as Characteristics do. You have to buy Good -> Best -> Exceptional etc in sequence.

You get the idea. Armour is the same. Fuel, Medical and Supplies all run your force or are used in certain applications (i.e. upgrading a Flamer takes 10 Components, 10 Fuel, if you're making up a medkit, it's 10 Components and 10 Medical, and so on). Generally, what runs your force is abstract and malleable by me to fit the size and scope of your undertaking, but suffice to say, if you get more, you can do more.

Note that supplies do not replace Acquisitions. You still test Infamy to get stuff, but then running it will eat into your reserves.

Allies and Resources:

ADVERSARIES:

+ [PLAYERS MAY NOW POST] +

I was thinking about the Character Archetypes in BC, and I was thinking it's a shame we don't have the other Astartes specialists, especially if a game were running a Marine-only party?

(I know there are Archetypes in the Tomes that probably fit the bill, but these are at a way, way higher starting point. I thought it might be cool to come up with some options for use in line with the crb starting Characters?)

So, Techmarine is obviously a Marine mixed with a Heretek, but much lighter on his rules/gear to compensate for his innate Astartes-ness (and as usual gets 500xp less!) The Apothecary is built from the Chosen, as I thought the Special Rule works for both Archetypes.

Techmarine/Junior Warpsmith:
Must be Astartes
Starting Skills: Common Lore (AdMech, Tech), Intimidate, Tech-Use
Starting Traits: Mechanicus Implants
Starting Talents: Enemy: AdMech, Technical Knock, Mechadendrite Training (Utility and Weapon), Cold-Hearted or Lesser Minion
Starting Equipment: Servo-Arm, 1 Good Quality Cybernetic, Combi-tool
Wounds: 15+1d5
Special: Traitor To Mars
Included above - Gains Mechanicus Implants, 2 Good Cybernetics (1 must be Servo-Arm), and Binary Chatter (Cybernetic Minions gain +10 Loyalty)

Apothecary/Corpsetaker:
Must be Astartes
Starting Skills: Dodge+10, Interrogation, Medicae, Scholastic Lore (Chymistry)
Starting Talents: Cold-Hearted or Sound Constitution, Hardy, Jaded or Lesser Minion, Lightning Reflexes
Starting Equipment: Narthecium = Good Medicae/Torture Mechadendrite (with +20 to Medicae tests, don't need Mechanicus Implants or Mechadendrite Training to use), Legion Chainsword or Legion Bolt Pistol
Wounds: 16+1d5
Special: Anatomical Training (Cold Killer)

Any thoughts/suggestions?

Beginners looking to take the plunge are welcome, we'll handle the crunch, but please bring your own lunch.

Premise:

Third War of Armageddon.

Location gets chosen to allow everyone to get the band together, so Hemlock River, Equatorial Jungle (probably this, or some bloody awful plonk of desert somewhere), possibly in a hive, so it's Cityfight all day, every day.

My initial thoughts (restrictions):

• Only Armageddon Chapters
  • No homebrew or Marines who simply have no lore being there.
• No Relictors (They're busy stealing stuff)
• No Blackshields
  • However, 1 x Player (with GM work) may buy the 'Return to Duty' deed, which will make the Marine a DW Veteran. This then opens up the full gamut of DW stuff only for that Player.
  • This Player cannot be a Libby.
• No Tyrannic War Vets
• No Goddamned Tom Cruise
• No human, or Xenos characters
• 1 x Libby character max, highly GM/Player engineered (i.e: I will work with you)
  • No other restrictions on Specialty
• No Deathwatch training (all RF will require Tests)
• Spec Ammo restrictions
  • Ammo comes from a limited D10 pool of types I randomly roll, can be taken by whoever, no need to Req
• Ammo = Rule of 3.
• Start Play as Rank 1
  • Start with 1500xp
• Start play with 20 Renown (Respected)
• All Marines get 3 Fate Points (you don't roll, it's 3)
• All starting weapons are Standard Marine gear, no shot selector, extra flamer damage, etc.
  • Deathwatch gear may be Req for Sig Wargear
  • Deathwatch gear will be available to obtain/req at plotpoints.
  • Chapter Trappings are unaffected.

Squad Modes:

Normal. Codex, Chapter etc. Cohesion works as normal.

XP and Rewards:

Limited. If the game goes to extra chapters, we do it, if not: Morituri te Salutamus.

Comments, complaints, screaming and peanut throwing welcome.

IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE CABAL OF DEAD INK...AND THE RPG NOOK, PRESENTS:

=][= A 'Deathwatch' Roleplaying Game =][=

++ THE SPECTRE OF ULLANOR ++

+ In-Character, Play-by-Post Thread +

'Green iz best. Kopta Greenz iz bester.'

- Rozgob Flashdakka

LOCSIT: Imperial Hive/Industrial World/Armageddon

SECTOR: Segmentum Solar

PLANETSIDE: Armageddon Secundus

LOCALE: Hive Acheron, Plains of Acheron

SITUATION: Critical Xenos Threat

Introduction:

The Third War for Armageddon rages. Beset on all sides by the Ork fleet, their numberless troops, their brutish atrocities and callous war-make, the Imperial Defenders are hard pressed to rebuff the onslaught of an age. Not even during the previous Orkicide, are times so desperate. Imperial Guard march to war in Brigades of stoic millions, the Faithful Adepta Sororitas and mighty Legions of the Collegio Titanicus stalk the rubble-strewn, corpse-haunted wastelands the Xenos wretches have brought, giving battle in the name of humanity, of survival, even of spite.

Victory is not assured, even though the legendary warriors of the Astartes plunge through the rank muck and foetid air of the embattled planet, Bolters barking, they too are almost detritus, spilled by the terrible conflict. In the depths of Hive Acheron, treachery brews - and although the Emperor has seen fir to deploy Colonel Schaeffer and his last chancers to cull the villainous turncoats, other poisons steal into the well.

In the jungles, and the deserts, the war grows hot, bloody. Attrition of the secretive forces employed by the Inquisition steady abrades the careful scalpel-like strokes, but Ghazkhull and top chieftains are no so easily murdered. Blunt force is brought to bear against the threats - with hammer blow strikes from Space Marine Squads across the embroiled sectors...

One thing is certain: there can be only Waaaagh!

Location:

Acheron Hive. The largest and best defended. The best prepared. A bastion of the Imperial resistance, a rallying point for Armageddon's beleaguered defenders. Yet all is not as it seems. Many months ago, the voice of Herman Von Strab, once thought dead, confirmed by the Imperial High Command, rings out across hijacked Vox channels once more:

Perhaps the traitor's fate has been exaggerated, but the intention has not. Loyal courtiers and nobles who cling to the desperate need for position and prestige linger, sending their own House Troops and mutated slaves into the tunnels and alleys, fighting the loyal Armageddon Steel Legion, and myriad pockets of Imperial Guard, the Arbites and whatever other forces are stationed within.

This time, Von Strab must not escape. His fate has been evaded many times, and now those with suspicions of his true loyalties suspect a dark hand behind the dubious reprieves...

The Green Menace:

Ghazgkhull Mag Uruk Thraka has assembled over four million Orks to take Armageddon as his own. The lands, the rivers and skies are polluted by this foul menace, and even as the Imperial defenders swell, with gangs of cutthroats standing shoulder-to-shoulder with regular soldiers, and the mighty Space Marines, the war rages on every bluff, around every poison-stained cloud, and each barricade formed by broken tanks. Bored now wth the stalemate, and possessed of a terrible will to begin his own blasphemous kroosade!, he musters his nearest allies to leave the planet.

Imperial Strategos reports the unified tides now ebb and flow, and in the long months before the Season of Fire, the Imperials now have the chance to tip the balance.

Acheron Hive is to be one of these lynchpins.

Securing the monolithic bastions will provide great boons for the Imperium, and once again give a solid wall against which the righteous can safely place their backs.

+++++

Somewhere over the deserts of Armageddon, Five minutes out from Drop:

The propellyblades thumped quiet above him. The pilot was good 'un, because ''e was one of Flashdakka's Nobz. Not quite a Chinork, this was a smaller, fasta bird, painted with black and purple cammo, wasn't it? A Black-Ork Kopta. Single penny-farving setup. One of Da Masta Mek's design to Bespork Speccyfikayshun. He didn' know 'ow 'e knew dem wordz, 'e just did. He was grateful for the time an' space to fink. Like really Fink, ya know? The Kopta was enclosed, armoured cabin an all, lucksyooreeus, even. How 'e'd 'ad the idea, 'e'd never know.

One of dose Smartboyz, sumwun said, although 'e kronked 'im fer it and took 'is teef. A brainbox, Markari said, and dem Wishy-bones Wierdboyz all cackled like dey was throwing a fit. Below, the hot sands scoured across the lads darn dere, ruffin' up with the Humies. Good scrappin' in dem Browncoats, lots of guts, like his Boyz in 'ere. Surrounded by a Krak team, from his own Parashootaz Reggiement, dey was on a secret mission from the Big Ork, hisself - and not even Da Boss or Da Flashdakka or Da blimmin' Mad Mek was supposed ta know.

That Humie Git, Von Strab, or whatever - more like Von Cack-blather! Ha, ha! Wuz goin to leave a big door open fer 'em so's dey could get in the slagheap and cut some throats. Course, dem Humies wouldn' like it and give 'is Paras a duffin', but 'e wasn't too bothered. Nah. Da real trubble, was dem Beaky out in the wastes, but 'e 'ad a plan see? He was finking proppa snagga, and them Humies, dat blabber-gob and all dem Beakies was gonna be fer it.

'E just 'adta get it fixed. Big Ghaz warned 'im. 'Now dun you klunk it, ya git! I's got de Eye of Gork and Mork, and I sees you klunk it, I'z gonna chop ya.'

The Black-Ork Flight thundered up, and up, into the Humie's front door.

+++++

Welkom ta Armageddon, ya mugz!

+++++

THE ACHERON OPERATIONS ZONE (AOZ):

A diverse and intense combat zone, the best defended hive attracted the most determined Greenskins to attack it. From tank battle graveyards, abandoned gun emplacements, hastily erected fortifications (now swamped in sand) and Ork Snipers under every rock, the AOZ boasts knee-deep Ash Wastes, the Greater Acheron Crater, the Lesser Acheron Crater, Manufactorums and the infamous Motorway Two-Five (M25) which is the most dangerous over-and-under zoom on the planet. A network of irrgation tunnels into the Eumenedies river allows for human water replenishment and hive core cooling. Random Imperial and Xenos minefields, dead-falls and quick-shift (a sand dune that isn't as stable as it looks) create a deadly battlefield for the unintitiated.

Your operational area (AO), is a 500 klom radius around Acheron, with a semi-permeable 250 klom buffer zone which contracts and expands by the hour, given conditions and opposing force distribution. See the map below for a guide (with thanks to Lysimachus for the original).

Chapter Deployments and Player Briefing:

The Players will be split into loose groups. Who pairs off with whom is up to you, but I would suggest that the bikers stick together, since the Chapters' bloodline allows for that, and the Salamanders, Angels of Fire, and Celebrants enter the AOZ from the Southeast, coming fom actions along the Hemlock River after massed assault with the Titan Legions (Invigilata remnants etc) and everyone else approaches from either Northeast or East.

You should endeavour to have iny introductory posts end with you making way or arriving at the ERV, marked above. Once there, the Ordo Xenos Team will brief you.

What's left of it.

Ork hunter-killer-eater patrols are rife, along with operational groups of Speed Freeks, sporting battlewaggons, trukks and buggies. Ork air patrols are frequent, and almost uncontested in the skies above Acheron. The hive's air defences, casement batteries and light ordnance are functional, and are keeping the enemy at bay for now, but this cannot be expected to continue. All circumstances are exceptionally fluid on Armageddon, and that relates to the defenders as well - sallies made by the Regiments within the bastions thicken and thin the Orks as well as the Emperor's forces.

The Xenos armoured threat presented by the Speed Freeks is rooted firmly in the outlying environs of both the Eumenedies and Avernus Munitorium Forges. Ork airspace superiority has been noted, but their airfields are as yet undected, with suspicion they are underground. Long range Ork artillery bastions are constantly pounding Acheron, with sometimes no proper laying at all, resulting in bizarre and haphazard mortaring and shelling. Ork boomguns and flakkers are generally assisted by Grot Gliders or Balloons, which cause problems for Navy ground-attack aircraft.

Strategos reccommendation is to travel at night, and minimise signature by maintaining single file.

'The Imperium will win - because the Imperium always wins - but at the moment, even as we bleed from every denial we inflict upon the greenskins, and for all the fire in my men's hearts; that victory seems a long night away.'

- Major Kreavus, Armageddon Steel Legion, XIII^th Stormtrooper Regiment.

++ FORMAL OPEN: 03 NOV 2025* ++

++ THREAD IS OPEN FOR INTRODUCTORY POSTS ++

Ad-hoc squads of survivors formed and died within hours; brothers forever in death.  Some claimed that the Gorgon and possibly the lord of the XVIII had fallen; and the berserker rage that had claimed many of the Iron Tenth suggested there was truth to that.  Still some lived and fought on, most in the north, where Lord Corax was last seen.  These were not noble and honourable clashes, but brutal and close; often settled with pistols, blades or even hands and teeth.  

It would become known as the Dropsite Massacre, but at this moment it raged on, for the doom of some Astartes did not lie on Isstvan’s forsaken sands.  In the chaos of the battle, which raged not just on the surface but in the sky above and space beyond, some craft were able to survive that perilous journey to the surface to save those they could, fewer still made it back to a ship in orbit.  But one craft, a black thunderhawk, Mons Nobilis, surprisingly in the colours of the first legion, had indeed survived and disgorged an understrength squad onto the sand.  As it descended it’s sponsons had cleared the immediate area, at least for a moment.  It’s pilot bound to the cockpit chair by his previous injuries and direct connection with the craft, warned that every moment they stayed was to chance death.

The craft would stay upon the sand for less than 90 seconds, and in that time most of the squad it discharged were lost.  But others came seeking the chance at salvation it offered...

Words lots of words:

Force Fields (DH/RT/DW):

I'll build this out as we go, yadda, yadda, suggestions can either go below or into another thread to keep this clean, up to you guys.

PDF might be available if I/We/You have the time.

I am gauging interest in a 30k based "Deathwatch" campaign.  The basic idea is that the players are a small group of survivors of Isstvan that have a Sword Class Frigate, a beaten up Thunderhawk, and at least currently, very limited supplies of any kind.  With little idea what has just happened and who to trust, you would need to survive, scavenge wargear and figure out who to trust.

Now one thing I should note is that in the state any fleeing survivors of Isstvan find themselves in we would be tracking in detail exactly what weapons, ammo and other supplies you have available to you, down to the individual bolt shell you fire, at least until you secured enough that it would no longer become relevant.  This means that you might have some really cool wargear, but no or highly limited ammo for it.  There also, at least initially would be really no other forces at your disposal, the Sword has some naval armsmen, but less than you would like as a Legion vessel that should have an Astartes contingent aboard.

Of course the obvious legions of choice would be Salamanders, Raven Guard and Iron Hands, but I would be willing to consider a good case and backstory for a member of another legion.

Expect a desperate fight for survival where not all may survive to see the end.  I don't generally run campaigns with too many rails, generally once you resolve whatever the current crisis situation is, you will have several options presented as to where you can go next.

The forum icon, circled in goldenrod, normally indicates that a member has new unread posts in a forum. With clubs (and other redirects, such as to a blog category or an album category), the icon doesn't work the same way. With the forums, the icon doesn't appear or is faded if there are no new unread posts in that forum. With the other features (i.e., the redirects), the image always appears in its full brightness. This is the reason for the redirects having special icons:

With the Nook now having a redirect icon from the Forums, we have two options:

• Since the Nook is a club, we could use the normal Clubs redirect icon, or
• The members of the Nook can create a custom redirect icon

I have a feeling I know which option y'all want to go with, but I don't want to be presumptuous.

If you're fine with the standard icon, easy peasy - I'll make that the icon post haste.

If you'd prefer to create a custom icon, there are some requirements/limitations:

• The image must be 48 pixels wide by 28 pixels high.
• The actual icon should be no larger than 28 pixels wide by 28 pixels high, centered in the 48x28 area.
• The icon must work with both the dark and light themes (i.e., there must be contrast).
• The image must be a .gif with a transparent background.

I'm happy to assist with the creation of the icon, including taking your suggestions and coming up with a suitable image that meets your description.

I'll give y'all some time to discuss and come to a consensus.

=][= A 'Deathwatch' Roleplaying Game =][=

 THE SPECTRE OF ULLANOR

+ Character/Data Thread +

'How could you possibly fathom the depth of outrage, the silent scream of the very granite beneath our feet?

Men forget - mankind has struggled to eclipse all witness with time, denial, and distance.

But this world is old...it remembers what it once was, and evermore is it stained with our bloody suppression.'

- Astropath Gaius Terchian, Adept Quartus, Hades Hive, shortly before destruction by orbital Rok-strike.

Setting:

The Third War for Armageddon rages. Beset on all sides by the Ork fleet, their numberless troops, their brutish atrocities and callous war-make, the Imperial Defenders are hard pressed to rebuff the onslaught of an age. Not even during the previous Orkicide, are times so desperate. Imperial Guard march to war in Brigades of stoic millions, the Faithful Adepta Sororitas and mighty Legions of the Collegio Titanicus stalk the rubble-strewn, corpse-haunted wastelands the Xenos wretches have brought, giving battle in the name of humanity, of survival, even of spite.

Victory is not assured, even though the legendary warriors of the Astartes plunge through the rank muck and foetid air of the embattled planet, Bolters barking, they too are almost detritus, spilled by the terrible conflict. In the depths of Hive Acheron, treachery brews - and although the Emperor has seen fir to deploy Colonel Schaeffer and his last chancers to cull the villainous turncoats, other poisons steal into the well.

In the jungles, and the deserts, the war grows hot, bloody. Attrition of the secretive forces employed by the Inquisition steady abrades the careful scalpel-like strokes, but Ghazkhull and top chieftains are no so easily murdered. Blunt force is brought to bear against the threats - with hammer blow strikes from Space Marine Squads across the embroiled sectors...

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:

• Brother Hierax (Raptors) (Necronaut)
• Brother Kurkov (Angels of Fire) (Lord Ikka)
• Brother Incario (Celebrants) (Lysimachus)
• Brother Uldyssian (Salamanders) (A.T.)
• Brother Kur-Dawa (White Scars) (Trokair)
• Brother Enkush (Storm Lords) (Machine God)
• Brother Nolites (Marines Malevolent) (Grailkeeper)
• Brother Layuun Zoesys Cymentaris (Deathwatch) (Xin Ceithan)

=][= DEPLOYED DEATHWATCH KILL TEAM =][=

PERSONAE CALAMITUS: THE ORKS

• Warboss Gorrblud Gruntkruncha, 'Da Krumpin'-King'
• Skwadron Leada Ruzgob Flashdakka
• OverMek Mad-Mekaniak, Geargutz Deffkrank, Master of Gubbins
• Lord Herman Von Strab, Deposed Tyrant of Armageddon (Reported KIA, 998.M41)
  • (ADDENDUM, ORDO XENOS CONF: re Colonel Schaeffer/13^th Penal Legion: Operative Report #3499)

LOCATION:

• Hive Acheron (Underhive, Factory Complexes (East/West), Von Strab Memorial Gardens/Arch, Motorway etc)
• Plains of Acheron (Ash Wastes, Ork Rok Forts)
• Hemlock River (Hemlock River Tunnel, Hemlock River Dam)

++ CONDITIONS OF PLAY ++

CAMPAIGN RULES:

Submerged Combat Conditions:

Player Characters and Game Attendance (AUTOPILOTING):

Squad Modes:

Normal. Codex, Chapter etc. Cohesion Mechanics work as normal.

XP and Rewards:

Limited. If the game goes to extra chapters, we do it; if not, we don't.

Advanced Training:

Ammunition:

 A drukhari game?  I'm new to the forum and I'm keeping an eye out for any pbp games that I can jump in on; you're making a drukhari game?

My post is as per the title, how might you, dear reader, come up with the Rogal Dorn Tank for the Only War RPG?

My hope is to see what it could look like, as the RPG predates the Tank kit and its rules, thus it wasn't an option yet.

Still, please, weigh in and see what you think! I'm curious as to what it might look like, especially since it's pretty clearly a solid tank, just, how to make it balanced is the question.

Thanks for looking in advance, and please, let's see if we can make a fully functional and fun to play Rogal Dorn Tank!

My initial takeaway for the tank is halfway between a Leman Russ and a Baneblade, however, that's often easier said than done!

AND

+ NEW PLAYER GUIDES +

(Revised by Mazer Rackham)

General Guidance:

As you may know, the PBP Games Subformum has relocated, and long known by it's denizens as the Nook, a formal affair and official naming has taken place. The rules and guidance we adhered to has now followed us, and, since we have evolved, they have too. Please remember that the PBP Club (I have to get used to that), generally has a set of GW/Board Authorised games systems represented within. A list of these can be found below, a mix of old staples and newer blood.

Most of these began as Fantasy Flight Games, or Black Industries and later moved under the banner of Ulysses and Cubicle 7.

They are, in order of publication:

• Dark Heresy
• Rogue Trader
• Deathwatch
• Black Crusade
• Only War
• Dark Heresy II

Since then, the following have been added:

• Wrath & Glory
• Imperium Maledictum
• Horus Heresy RPG (announced, due 2026)

These are the official rulesets you should find, arrange and discuss games for. Anything else is not recognised by the Bolter and Chainsword, and if beyond board scope will be the subject of Moderation action and may be removed. If you are retrofitting a system to accomodate a Warhammer 40,000 campaign, please ensure you have appropriately modified all equipment, stats etc to match both the Mission and Purpose of the board.