Gauging interest for a new Black Crusade game

[Noctus Cornix]

Good afternoon, folk!

So some of you may remember that I was trying to recruit for a Black Crusade game almost three years ago but then suddenly sort of dropped from the face of the earth due to personal issues going on in my life. PBP roleplaying is a very important thing for me and It's been more than a little heartbreaking that life had gotten in the way of something I enjoyed so much. There's something really special to me about being able to use my write and weave a narrative for others to not only enjoy on a consistent basis, but also for them to be able to engage with and interact with the story itself.

As with all downs comes the up. Life has been good to me now and I feel a lot better about my personal situation (both mentally, physically, and financially) so I thought what better time than to try and get back into doing tome PBP roleplaying.

I have to admit, this is the second time I had actually written this post. The first iteration was going to be a post to sort of gauge what people were interested in, maybe see what kind of system they'd like to play while laying out a couple of my thoughts on different story ideas I had for some of those systems. The more I wrote though, the more I realized I was just talking myself into wanting to do Black Crusade again. I love Chaos far more than any other single faction in the game, so I'll admit it probably wasn't very difficult...

So I've decided that I do want to create a Black Crusade campaign and I'd love to be able to weave a tale with you guys, for those of you who are interested, of course. This isn't necessarily a recruitment page for full character sheets and everything (though we can eventually turn it into that) but I'd like to see who might actually be interested in this and just what kinds of stories you guys would be hoping for.

Before I end this though, I feel it's important just to lay a few basic ground rules, just to sort of help you guys understand who I am as a GM and what you can sort of expect in the story. I am of the belief that you can only have a good game if you have a matching GM that meshes well with what you're hoping for. With that in mind, I am always trying to be honest with who I am as GM so here's a couple things.

1.) A very important aspect of Warhammer for me is the darkness, the absolute blackest existence filled to the brim with an overabundance of grim imagery and horrific tones. What I love most is being able to explore those kinds of things, to really dig down into the nitty gritty of those kinds of experiences. In this, a lot of the roleplaying here will be about trying to push you guys and create a (hopefully) accurate portrayal of what it's like to be a renegade in the 41st millenium, what it means to worship the Gods, and what it's like to live as part of a warband of likeminded traitors and heretics.

2.) I will not be using the actual game system. I have been doing PBP roleplaying stuff for a long time. And, to be honest with you, trying to actually use integrated game mechanics just really doesn't work at all.... the game mechanics are awesome when you're sitting down and playing with people at a table or over discord. But just with using posts, it can really bog down a game and certainly makes combat scenes kind of a nightmare. We might use the character creation system as stats and skills can give me a better idea of more your character's abilities, but everything else will be entirely up to me and what will be best for the story. If dice rolls are absolutely necessary, I'll be doing it behind the scenes and you won't be bogged down with the details.

3.) There's no one specific way to do this. We can play a mix of Chaos marines and humans as a normal game or we can go with with just humans or a game with just Astartes. One of the best parts of choosing a party of only one or the other is that it really opens up a lot of options. If everyone is human the we have the option of doing something more bare-bones and nutty gritty. Instead of starting as high-scale heretics, everyone is a member of a single Chaos cult in the underground of a hive city. From here you all have to pick yourselves up from the dirt, clawing your way slowly to prominence, gaining followers and doing battle with rival gangs while trying to avoid the eye of more powerful forces in the Imperium. An all Astartes force can be equally interesting. Everyone could be part of one squad, a band of outcasts from their respective legion in a renegade warband, or we could start all the way from the very beginning where you are members of the same Legion and go through one long, continuous session where you can experience the Horus Heresy all the up to the 41st Millenium. Honestly, there's so many options of what we can do.

If you guys have any other ideas, let me know :) Edited June 25, 2019 by Noctus Cornix

[Steel Company]

I'm down for a BC campaign (along with the DW one we are both in).

[Noctus Cornix]

I'm down for a BC campaign (along with the DW one we are both in).

Glad to hear it Brother Tyb- I mean Steel Company.. I had finished up my post since you posted so take a read through :)

[Steel Company]

Looks good Noctus, I'm up for any options, mixed, Astartes or mortal only. I'm also more of a fan of using narrative play for PBP games as we've seen in the DW game, game mechanics can slow things down, especially in combat...

 

There is a lot of truth to the D&D joke of "only game where an 8 hour walk takes 5 seconds and a 5 second combat takes 8 hours..."

[Xin Ceithan]

I,Xin Ceithan, rise to the Call of the Eightfold Path... and wait, this isn't the Call of Chaos, isn't it? :p

 

That is p, if you will have me and my rather erratic posts on this. But that is the nature of Chaos.

 

Chaos is what has drawn me into 40k back in the day and which brings me to table, to painting and to this every single time.

 

Make no mistake, I thoroughly enjoy our DW group and I will sing the praises of Mol's hard work at GM'ing far and wide.

 

But at the end of the day, I feel the pull of the Warp and long to walk the Path to Glory....

 

Might actually be the spark that kickstarts my recent writing block also.

 

 

And I am all for narrative gaming. There are entire sections of the B&C dedicated to the Dive Gods.

Let's keep this story driven!

 

And while I am an avid fan of Chaos Marines, that Cult idea is also appealing...

 

Long squabbling short:

Yes. Please.

 

:)

[Noctus Cornix]

Glad to have you lads aboard! I'd personally prefer to probably keep it at either one or two updates a week with a consistent time frame of when the update will come. That way the story moves at a consistent pace and everyone knows when yo get their post in. So it could be say one post a week with every update on Sunday, or two posts a week with every update on every Tuesday and Friday. Something like that, though those are just hypotheticals. I think maintaining consistency is important to keeping a good RP going so if we can set that early on we'll be good to go.

 

I wish we could also draw more people in to using this PBP section but it's sort of off in the corner of the B&C so it's a little hard to properly advertise to more people. :P

[Mazer Rackham]

Hmmm.

 

I am....tempted, I'll admit.  I have fancied playing it, but I don't know how well I could explore a chaos character.  I'm a bit of a Goodboi.

 

And yet.

 

I must ponder this...offer...the price of entry is a soul you say..?

 

MR.

[Steel Company]

Dosen't say it has to be your soul MR.. ;)

[Commissar Molotov]

All the best in your endeavours, Noctus!

 

Would probably be a good idea to share this in the main announcements forum - as you're posting in a sub-forum of a sub-forum and it's likely 99% of the board's users won't be aware it exists. Got to get some new blood in!

[Mazer Rackham]

All the best in your endeavours, Noctus!

 

Would probably be a good idea to share this in the main announcements forum - as you're posting in a sub-forum of a sub-forum and it's likely 99% of the board's users won't be aware it exists. Got to get some new blood in!

 

This is a good call, but please let me check to see if a post in Amicus Aedes is alright as realistically, what happens in RPG should stay in RPG!  Especially Black Crusaders!

 

Steel - I wasn't suggesting my soul! 

 

MR.

 

Edit: Noctus - PM sent.

Edited June 26, 2019 by Mazer Rackham

[Xin Ceithan]

I think this will need a lot of preparation ahead of actual playing anyway. "Evil" themed RP can always bring out something unexpected in some people, sadly. I like the idea of exploring that side of the setting but I don't want it to lead to a last man standing chainaxe massacre... among the players.

 

We will probably have to get a good grip on who and what and esp cially WHY theses people are together and what they want to achieve as to establish some working condition. If I am just looking for an excuse to gun my fellow heretics in the back, that is a quick way to ruin the fun for everyone.

 

An evil campaign don't has to be ... should not be a "toxic" campaign.

(And for once, I'll spare anyone the Nurgle puns).

[Mazer Rackham]

This is an outrage.

 

Here I was looking forward to playing Axelman McMurderface and Xin bursts my pustulent murderhobo bubble with all this talk of common cause and mission and stuff.    Isn't 'Death to the False Emperor' good credit around here anymore?

 

MR.

 

PS, was thinking of a Forsaken...just not sure which Legion...hmm.

[Steel Company]

I was thinking either chosen or champion... maybe veteran of the long war....

 

Maybe I'd even try my hand with a sorcerer...

Edited June 26, 2019 by Steel Company

[Noctus Cornix]

I think this will need a lot of preparation ahead of actual playing anyway. "Evil" themed RP can always bring out something unexpected in some people, sadly. I like the idea of exploring that side of the setting but I don't want it to lead to a last man standing chainaxe massacre... among the players.

 

We will probably have to get a good grip on who and what and esp cially WHY theses people are together and what they want to achieve as to establish some working condition. If I am just looking for an excuse to gun my fellow heretics in the back, that is a quick way to ruin the fun for everyone.

 

An evil campaign don't has to be ... should not be a "toxic" campaign.

(And for once, I'll spare anyone the Nurgle puns).

 

Now, see that's one of the advantages of doing an all human or an all Astartes campaign.

 

In a campaign of all humans where everyone is a cultists, you are brothers and sisters, joined together in a familial bond away from the prying eyes of the greater Imperium. As cultists, you're all allies, if not in goals then in purpose and desperation. There's a specific, set goal in mind for each of you and that offers some great opportunities. Oh certainly, the backstabbing can occur, but it's always not until much later in the campaign once the cult has grown as a group and ambitions have been allowed to grow in something that's more organic. 

 

For an all Astartes campaign, that begins amdist the Horus Heresy itself or within that general timeframe. Each of you, (or atleast the overwhelming majority of you) are from the same legion. You're all brothers fighting in this civil war and the true seeds of doubt and treachery have yet to fully develop into their horrible fruition. Again, backstabbing can develop, but once more this is a situation where you're not going to find yourself in such a situation until likely much later, but even then there will still be that bond of brotherhood that even the cultists don't have. 

 

That's not to say it CAN'T happen with an average campaign. You have to remember that a proper campaign should always be goal oriented, but Black Crusade is kind of one of those games that can get dangerously close to 'do whatever you want without repercussions' which is one of the things I hate so much about games like D&D or Pathfinder. Another major issue is just the natural animosity between humans and Astartes that always happens (and rightly so.) 

 

There's a lot of options, so really it just depends on what we decide to do.

[Xin Ceithan]

I solemnly swear that if anyone names their character "Axly McMurderface" or something along that line that I will make it my personal quest to bring him down and feed his defiled remains to the Ruinous Powers. THEN I will find out where his player lives , get there, kick your door in and BURN any physical character sheets you made!

 

I take role playing veeery seriously. ;)

 

 

Like the Horus Heresy idea btw.

 

Until they release Codex Traitor Knights next week, when I won't imagine anything cooler than playing out the Fall of House Kraken....

 

:p

[Noctus Cornix]

Actually... now that you mention it.. doing a roleplaying game where everyone plays as members of a Knight House or Titan Legion could be pretty friggin cool..

[Steel Company]

I've done a baneblade crew before... worked fairly well.

[Noctus Cornix]

I've played as a tank crew before with friends and it was incredibly fun. That being said, I can't say for certain if something like that would translate well for a PBP game. However, what I was thinking was something more along the lines of everyone is a knight with their own vassal suit, or each player is a titan princep of a maniple. Edited June 26, 2019 by Noctus Cornix

[Steel Company]

Oh, that is very interesting indeed! But perhaps another time, as I can see it being a huge time sink to work out all of the kinks.

[Xin Ceithan]

I think a Titan Based campaign Is an indeed EPIC idea, but way out of scale...

 

And while I pitched the Knight House idea mir was a way of demonstrating my errant excitable inner fanboy, it is growing on me...

A Knight U.S. just an over sized Power Armour and with more narrative Player, we do Not need to worry about representing it stats wise...

 

There is also plenty of room for non Knight characters in a household. And plenty Story options away from the battlefield.

 

It could be like a Chaos Version to Game of Thrones....

 

On the Otter side: Chaos Marines !!!!

[Noctus Cornix]

Honestly, a 'GoT'-esque Campaign where everyone is members of a single Imperial Knight Household trying to keep its head above water in the midst of political strife and inter-war could be hella cool. 

 

The more I think about it, the more I really wanna run with that idea.

[Morovir]

Slightly belated, I confess, but I would be interested in a Black Crusade campaign as well.

[Noctus Cornix]

Nothing belated. You're all good Morovir. 

 

I'm actually in the process of working on something more formal as well as an ad to post out on the General Discussion for other people to see. Maybe we can get some new blood that way. 

[Beren]

I'm curious about the subject, though I haven't any experience in the matter.

[Mazer Rackham]

Welcome to the beginnings of dark and tumultuous events, Beren!

 

Have you Roleplayed at all before?  Or is it the Black Crusade system you're not familiar with?

 

Just so we can get a feel of how we can help. 

 

MR.