The Final Sanction - OOC thread

[Dosjetka]

I am looking at being the DM for a game here on the B&C but I have no idea what people would like to play. We have a DH game running already but that's it as far as I can see. Is there any interest to launch another game? I need at least three players to get something going.

Multiple votes allowed, votes are public so I can see who's interested.

Cheers,

Dos

[Commissar Molotov]

I would think something small, basic and self-contained would be the best thing to ensure it doesn't get too much to handle. Something that, to begin with, doesn't have a lot of worldbuilding. I think Deathwatch works best for that sort of thing.

 

My vote would be for a small game of Deathwatch. I think you as the GM also need to consider the balance between roleplay and rollplay - the game will slow to an incredible crawl when it comes to rolling dice unless you put measures in place to get things moving.

[Tyear]

Sure I'd love to dust off Brother Raphael of the Angels Encarmine.

[A.T.]

I always feel it's best to go for the game you think you can stick with and regularly update. The problem with play by post is never finding players but rather keeping them by keeping the posts rolling along.

 

Deathwatch is probably the easiest but also often a series of combat encounters - good if you thing is spectacular set pieces and well thought out 'arenas' where players have more options than 'shoot' and 'punch'. I think i've got the beginnings of a consecrator somewhere.

[Dosjetka]

Thank you for your thoughts and feedback, brothers. If I keep the scenario short and simple, I will be able to see it through to the end and Deathwatch does seem to fit the bill for such a scenario.

 

So far we have:

• Brother Raphael, Angels Encarmine [Tyear]
• Brother ?, Consecrators [A.T.]

One or two more and we're good to go. :tu:

[Commissar Molotov]

I'd be interested in a Castigator!

[reckoning]

I might be interested based on the scenario and style.

[Dosjetka]

What kind of scenario and style are you looking for?

[Steel Company]

I'm down for Deathwatch.

 

Brother Tyber of the Dragons of Caliban. Tactial Marine specialist.

[Xin Ceithan]

Warming up to Play by Post and agree that DeathWatch is probably easiest to handle. Bloody loyalists or not ;)

So I' m pretty hyped. Would like to know a bit more about the scenario before settling on a role and chapter, though I am reluctant about playing Techmarine since I already run a Techpriest currently.

[Dosjetka]

The scenario I have in mind is a pre-prepared one that I found called Final Sanction.

Lordsholm is a sprawling city on the Agri-world of Avalos. An unremarkable world, Avalos rests on the edge of the Orpheus Salient between Hethgard and the Well of Night, but has thus far been spared the attentions of the Imperium’s enemies. Recently the world came to the attention of the Ordo Xenos and Inquisitor Kalistradi, who arrived with her retinue to uncover rumours and signs of a Genestealer infestation. What she discovered was far worse that she could have anticipated.

 

A very simple mission which will allow me to get to grips with the system. And because it is straightforward, we should be able to wrap it up quite quickly and, potentially, move on to something a little more complex. :tu:

[A.T.]

...though I am reluctant about playing Techmarine since I already run a Techpriest currently.

I might switch to iron hands in that case (or even an IH psyker, I seem to remember them being rather indiscriminately destructive)

[Morovir]

I'd be interested in joining, with Brother Verros, a Marines Malevolent Apothecary.

[Commissar Molotov]

I certainly agree with Reckoning that 'style' may play a factor. I think with Deathwatch there are two challenges:

 

Firstly, that the players aren't all just trying to be as edgy and combative as possible. Especially when it's rules-based and people are trying to make the most uber-elite super hardcore awesome killer character that is miles better than the peers - I do worry about that. Especially as people begin to select Chapters that are known to be awkward and difficult. Yes, the Deathwatch is about marines from disparate Chapters having to overcome their differences - but it's also about brotherhood and unity.

 

Secondly, I worry about the pace of the game, and rules geting in the way of roleplay. To take a random post from the Rogue Trader game currently running:

 

 

 

 

With the warning of the Explorator preceding her rounding of the corner and having her a bolt pistol already drawn, she quickly makes sure that she isn't going to be firing a mass-reactive round into the back of their mechanically inclined compatriot before opening fire on the...thing.

 

Initiative (4AB + 2 Arch-M Ability): 1d10+6 16

[ooc] Assumption is that the thing is within Short Range of us since it recently attempted to Melee the Explorator and I'm some distance behind him.

BS 53 + 10 (Semi-Auto) + 10 (Range) = 73; no half-aim since I moved into the corridor[/ooc]

Ballistic Skill Test vs 73: 1d100 64 = 1 DoS only for 1 hit, missing a 2nd by 1

Damage: 2d10+7 19 = 13 X Damage, Pen 4, Clip: 6/8 (Rolled 2 6s')

 

Not even bothering to warn the Explorator that she was opening fire; assuming that he had to have something that let him know she was there what with all the replacement parts.

Most certainly not a direct attack at Slips - but one consideration for you is working out the 'crunch'. My preferred playstyle would be players' posts being mostly narrative, with an OOC section at the bottom of the post explaining intentions or any rolls they want to make. The GM would then make those roles whilst also explaining the effect of them in a suitably narrative way. Something like:

 

Brother Yetugai staggered under the force of the blow, his helm-display momentarily streaked with static. His twin heartbeats thudded in his ear like the tribal drums of Chogoris, a sound he had not heard since his youth. As the alien venom coursed through his system he could feel his blood burning, could see a half-remembered face - was that his mother? It mattered not. She was long dead - just as the entire Kill-Team would be if he left the Xeno-breed unchallenged.

 

With a feral roar he righted himself, his fingers finding the trigger of his bolter. The White Scar would find justice this day.

 

OOC:

I'd like to fire as many actions as I can, using my bolter to shoot the enemy that attacked me first. If unable to do so, Yetugai will retreat to cover and ready a grenade. if the others dispatch the target first, he will wait for orders from the Librarian.

Something like that - my knowledge of Deathwatch rules and the nomenclature is a little fuzzy, but you get the idea.

 

Using the starter scenario sounds good to be, although I would suggest not even to be that specific about where it takes place - that way things can move as you wish.

 

Looking forward to seeing what you come up with!

 

 

Mol.

[Sun Reaver]

Though I would like to play a marine with BA geneseed, being the stealthy guy is always fun too!

 

Lucanus Nero from the Knights of Raven Chapter, at your service. 

[reckoning]

Mol hit it on the head. We had a fun DW Rp going but it quickly fizzled out. I don't know exactly why but Im a little apprehensive about dice based pbp now. Not that I attribute the game falling off to people lying about their characters or rolls, everyone in our group seemed honest to me.

 

The narrative pbp Mol is running right now has been fun so far and I think a lot of that has to do with its simplicity. That and the group we have. I think our DW game might have lived longer had it been kept simple. Just an opinion of course, no hard facts to support my position, and Im still relatively new to all this.

 

The being said, Id love a game of DW as they're one of my favorite groups but you have quite the roster as it is. Im available if one more is needed though.

[A.T.]

With a feral roar he righted himself, his fingers finding the trigger of his bolter. The White Scar would find justice this day.

I'd imagine it's going to be tricky to do without it becoming very... pulpy. Dark Heresy has a lot of variety in its setting but Deathwatch tends towards big men with big guns shooting everything all the time, and there are only so many ways to type "I want to try and hit it with my sword" :p.

[Commissar Molotov]

There's a balance, of course, but the thrust of my point was encouraging gamers to role play and suggesting the GM handle most of the rolling to streamline things. At the end of the day, Dos will do as he sees fit; I'm just trying to offer advice.

[Tyear]

Yeah I've DM'ed quite a few deathwatch games and it certainly is easier if the GM is doing all of the dice rolling, it lets him 'create' the narrative he wants, in combination with the player's input as well as what the dice gods say should happen.

 

Just as an example:

 

Brother Yon:

I take aim at the chain holding the turret of the Stormhammer hovering above the tank the Mek and his crew are working on before letting loose a single bolt from my stalker pattern bolter.

 

Me:

Rolls dice, 1, so success!

 

The chain snaps as the bolt effortlessly slices through the material, the massive turret seems to float in the air momentarily before it crashes down. There's a moment where it looks like nothing as has happened before the fuel cells within the plasma cannon rupture, the weapon overloads and a catastrophic explosion rips through the building. Even with the comfortable cover you have set up around you, the explosion still deals damage, *dice roll*, several hot fragments of the tank and it's surroundings rip through even the hardened ceramite of Astartes battleplate cutting deep into your abdomen. The larraman cells within your blood kick in swiftly, starting to congeal and seal the wound.

 

However with the destruction of the Stormhammer, you have alerted the Ork camp to your prescence.

 

Ps,

 

And I'd probably be running a Sanguinary Priest, it's a BA & Successor's special Apothecary class, which basically gives me all of the 'perks' of the three 'careers' you can choose for one.

 

It just costs all of your starting XP

[Dosjetka]

Thank you for the advice, folks. It's appreciated. :tu:

 

I've gone ahead and created the in-character thread for this scenario. If you're interested in participating, please read the first post and follow the instructions contained therein.

[Xin Ceithan]

I support the narrative style. I remember being halfway through writing a reaction, then thinking "is still a half-action?!" Always liked putting munchkin second and story first. When I want to worry about half an inch of range more or less, I prefer to play an actual tabletop game ;)

 

So, is there an intended time frame in which to apply to "DeathWatch has Talent"?

[Dosjetka]

I'll give people the weekend and first few days of next week to think it through and submit their dataslates to Watch-Captain Ebarra. So the deadline is Wednesday morning (for Europe/Africa; Tuesday evening for the Americas; Wednesday evening for Asia/Down Under).

[A.T.]

...[+AWAITING VERBAL OR WRITTEN INPUT+]...
...[+ // // // // //+]...

 

Lamech viewed the pad silently, questions that needed no answers but were yet demanded. He considered scars he did not remember receiving, fleeting senses of familiarity without context. Was this a test of past or one of memories lost...

 

One hundred and sixty eight years. His service as an astartes. Before that his world did not measure time in Imperial standard units nor did his achievements or attachments matter to him in his life past. All he still carried of it was a sword with which he had once dared challenge the might of the astartes as a reminder of his failure.

 

He had been arrogant, a supreme warrior, able to avenge himself absolutely for any slight real or imagined. When the sky warriors came as the stories had foretold he held no doubts, but he was as a child before them in body and mind. What was a warrior before a god.

 

...Rank/specialisation: Tactical, Consecrators.
 

For his years Lamech held only three battle honours, no other conflict considered worthy of note. Action against the secessionist of Badab, the Pandorax campaign, and the boarding of the hulk Ahkna. It was the last and the xenos creatures it concealed that had guided Lamech to the Deathwatch, his inexperience had almost cost the chapter the relic of technology lost that he had been entrusted to wear into battle and he could not allow himself such weakness.

 

Lamech secured the pad against intrusion and returned it to the scribe. "Emperor be praised"

[Dosjetka]

*ahem*

 

[..] please post the filled in form in the OOC thread and an in-character reply of your interaction with the scriptor here. (i.e. in the scenario/in-character thread)

Emphasis mine.

[A.T.]

Emphasis mine.

 

Wasn't sure if this particular character would be a go - I think someone else was eyeing a tactical/DA too.