[DW] Blackthorn/Swordhand Episode III: Recruitment Thread

[Trokair]

 

Oh and we saved a planet.  That was nice.

Have you ever seen the TV show The Expanse? Your entire tale and especially this bit at the end put me in mind something Amos would say.

[Mazer Rackham]

 

Have you ever seen the TV show The Expanse? Your entire tale and especially this bit at the end put me in mind something Amos would say.

 

 

Never seen the show, but I have one of the books - yes, Amos is a bit like that :)

 

MR.

[Trokair]

If you get the opportunity watch the show. I enjoyed it almost as much as the books.

[Steel Company]

Interested to hear from the previous players what some of their personal highlights of the campaign have been so far, if you'd indulge us?

 

Oh wow, there have been a few.

 

As MR pointed out, how the friendship between Tyber and Akkad started was for sure a highlight!

 

As he said, shipping containers were thrown, words were said, blades were drawn and grenades were punched.

 

To elaborate on it, we were tasked to do a Red vs. Blue, with all the heavy weapons stacked on the blue team and all the assault elements stacked on the red team. Well, the blue team hid like Gorx Sows. Tyber is ambitious, not reckless, so rather than charge down an impacted Heavy Bolter and Frag Cannon, he came up with the idea to toss in a shipping container or two, to dislodge the guns before charging in. We did, we dropped the Space wolf, and Tyber got stuck in against Akkad had him on the ropes then Akkad punched Tyber in the face with a Krak grenade.

 

As the two of them waited for the match to end, they started to chat and laid the groundwork for a friendship between the two of them, with Tyber looking up to Akkad like Akkad was an elder sibling... despite the size difference.

[Reyner]

As Vaidan setting lots of Genestealers on fire before being overwhelmed in the governor's palace was good fun.

 

As Vorr trying to play a marine with some deep guilt/anger issues due to his friend dying horribly in front of him (think Mac and Blaine in Predator) was also fun but firing more missiles than a whirlwind has been VERY entertaining.

[Mazer Rackham]

Oto Yeng (Apologist) Vorr (Reyner), Tyber (Steel) and Akkad (me) walk into a field that's got a Lictor doing a Predator thing in it.

 

I blast the HB at it, Vorr lets off enough daisy-cutter missiles it's WW III, and yet, there's only blood.  No bodies.  We hit NOTHING.

 

Then we unleash our secret weapon.  A nine foot Astartes missile, clad in midnight black warplate and armed with a sword the length of a Rhino APC, uses his jump pack to hurl himself at it.

 

He gets his head caved in and goes down unconscious for the rest of the fight.

 

MR.

[Steel Company]

Oto Yeng (Apologist) Vorr (Reyner), Tyber (Steel) and Akkad (me) walk into a field that's got a Lictor doing a Predator thing in it.

 

I blast the HB at it, Vorr lets off enough daisy-cutter missiles it's WW III, and yet, there's only blood.  No bodies.  We hit NOTHING.

 

Then we unleash our secret weapon.  A nine foot Astartes missile, clad in midnight black warplate and armed with a sword the length of a Rhino APC, uses his jump pack to hurl himself at it.

 

He gets his head caved in and goes down unconscious for the rest of the fight.

 

MR.

 

 

And save Yeng from getting gutted in the process.

[Mazer Rackham]

 

And save Yeng from getting gutted in the process.

 

 

To be fair, it was awesomely heroic.  Remember that time I got flung off the APC and spent all battle rolling around on the floor like a toddler in the food aisle?

 

MR.

[Steel Company]

True! all you were missing was a saxophone!

[Reyner]

Oto Yeng (Apologist) Vorr (Reyner), Tyber (Steel) and Akkad (me) walk into a field that's got a Lictor doing a Predator thing in it.

 

I blast the HB at it, Vorr lets off enough daisy-cutter missiles it's WW III, and yet, there's only blood. No bodies. We hit NOTHING.

 

Then we unleash our secret weapon. A nine foot Astartes missile, clad in midnight black warplate and armed with a sword the length of a Rhino APC, uses his jump pack to hurl himself at it.

 

He gets his head caved in and goes down unconscious for the rest of the fight.

 

MR.

Haha I forgot we did that! That was epic.

[That Beyond the Light]

After some advice from some of the experienced players...

I need to change a couple of skill/talent items as after further reading they will be useless to my character and not in keeping of him.

I have at least 1000xp to use again and want to know what key items would you use them on for a Tactical Marine? Bearing in mind he comes from the black Consuls who are a extremely Codex strict chapter, some say stricter than the Ultramarines that they are from...

Cheers

[Steel Company]

Okay, my first question is, what ability are you going with?

 

Bolter Mastery or sharing squad modes?

 

Next question is, what is his long-term goal? Does he want to be a captain, chaplain, champion, first company vet?

 

The third question is, do you want to be more fluffy or do you want to go more gimmicky through system manipulation?

 

Knowing that information can help narrow down things.

[That Beyond the Light]

Okay, my first question is, what ability are you going with?

 

Bolter Mastery or sharing squad modes?

 

Next question is, what is his long-term goal? Does he want to be a captain, chaplain, champion, first company vet?

 

The third question is, do you want to be more fluffy or do you want to go more gimmicky through system manipulation?

 

Knowing that information can help narrow down things.

Q1. Sharing squad modes

Q2. In his native chapter he was a squad leader, so I think he would be wanting to progress further. Captain or first company vet would be goals.

Q3. If you mean by fluffy, sticking with hard-line Codex and rulebook chapter description then no. I think all characters no matter of their chapter have the ability to become more than their sum. Especially in the DW as they are sure to forge bonds with characters they would not normally be in constant close quarters. I want him to have the ability to grow and become even better or worse (sometimes falls from grace make you better) than his current state.

 

Help at all??

[Komrade_Atomic]

 

 

Then we unleash our secret weapon.  A nine foot Astartes missile, clad in midnight black warplate and armed with a sword the length of a Rhino APC, uses his jump pack to hurl himself at it.

 

Launch me closer I wish to hit them with my sword!

[Commissar Molotov]

I have sent emails regarding the First Post to: 

 

New to the Watch: Jeremy, Adesro, Ashlander, Argent

 

The injured brethren of Swordhand: Petragor and AHorriblePerson 

 

I'm currently working on the Gallowbane brethren (Lysimachus, Komrk and Komrade_atomic) and Apostle (our Star Phantom) 

[Mazer Rackham]

 

Okay, my first question is, what ability are you going with?

 

Bolter Mastery or sharing squad modes?

 

Next question is, what is his long-term goal? Does he want to be a captain, chaplain, champion, first company vet?

 

The third question is, do you want to be more fluffy or do you want to go more gimmicky through system manipulation?

 

Knowing that information can help narrow down things.

Q1. Sharing squad modes

Q2. In his native chapter he was a squad leader, so I think he would be wanting to progress further. Captain or first company vet would be goals.

Q3. If you mean by fluffy, sticking with hard-line Codex and rulebook chapter description then no. I think all characters no matter of their chapter have the ability to become more than their sum. Especially in the DW as they are sure to forge bonds with characters they would not normally be in constant close quarters. I want him to have the ability to grow and become even better or worse (sometimes falls from grace make you better) than his current state.

 

Help at all??

 

 

 

I don't mean to pre-empt Steel here, as he does damn good work, but the Sharing of Squad modes in Mol's game is a given since Forging the Bond is a hard requirement.  Bolter Mastery might serve you a little better, since when the team is out of Cohesion (Squad Resource) you'll drop back into Solo Mode and re-gain your Bolter benefits, having lost nothing.

 

MR.

[Commissar Molotov]

I don't think all of the new players having taken Forging the Bond. Forging the Bond also has increased cohesion costs, so there is still a space for Tactical Expertise, should a Tactical Marine want to use it.

 

In future, I might have to look at adopting some of the bonus rules you've included in your game (though it would likely necessitate XP rebates)

[That Beyond the Light]

 

 

 

Okay, my first question is, what ability are you going with?

 

Bolter Mastery or sharing squad modes?

 

Next question is, what is his long-term goal? Does he want to be a captain, chaplain, champion, first company vet?

 

The third question is, do you want to be more fluffy or do you want to go more gimmicky through system manipulation?

 

Knowing that information can help narrow down things.

Q1. Sharing squad modes

Q2. In his native chapter he was a squad leader, so I think he would be wanting to progress further. Captain or first company vet would be goals.

Q3. If you mean by fluffy, sticking with hard-line Codex and rulebook chapter description then no. I think all characters no matter of their chapter have the ability to become more than their sum. Especially in the DW as they are sure to forge bonds with characters they would not normally be in constant close quarters. I want him to have the ability to grow and become even better or worse (sometimes falls from grace make you better) than his current state.

 

Help at all??

 

I don't mean to pre-empt Steel here, as he does damn good work, but the Sharing of Squad modes in Mol's game is a given since Forging the Bond is a hard requirement. Bolter Mastery might serve you a little better, since when the team is out of Cohesion (Squad Resource) you'll drop back into Solo Mode and re-gain your Bolter benefits, having lost nothing.

 

MR.

So following on with what CM also said, would it be better to take Tactical Expertise instead of forging the bond and keep the sharing squad modes? The Ultramarines have some good tactical moves In squad attack and defend?

Really open to your expertise and Steels...

[Steel Company]

Just woke up, give me a couple of hours and I'll get back to you on this. :)

[Mazer Rackham]

I don't think all of the new players having taken Forging the Bond. Forging the Bond also has increased cohesion costs, so there is still a space for Tactical Expertise, should a Tactical Marine want to use it.

 

In future, I might have to look at adopting some of the bonus rules you've included in your game (though it would likely necessitate XP rebates)

 

I forgot that some of the players had eschewed it.  An XP cost would certainly be viable, or perhaps make the thing a (Choose One) Special Ability type deal.

 

 

So following on with what CM also said, would it be better to take Tactical Expertise instead of forging the bond and keep the sharing squad modes? The Ultramarines have some good tactical moves In squad attack and defend?

 

Really open to your expertise and Steels...(Expertise?  Me?  You kind soul!) :)

 

Edits mine.

 

As per my notes above, you probably want to take Tactical Expertise for theme then, and as Mol says, cheaper for you.

 

MR

[ashlander47]

To put my beak into this totally unprompted, from what I can see the Forging the Bond talent seems like FFG's attempt to fix their oversight when they realised they put all these interesting chapter squads modes in a game about an institution that blends chapters into a cohesive unit and then soft-locked that dynamism behind the Tactical Marine's special ability. Sure, if you had another member of your Primarch's legacy in the squad then you two could share chapter modes, but the rest of the gang is ironically reinforcing the solo paradigm by dint of the exclusionary nature of the chapter modes themselves. It does reinforce the idea that the Tactical's role is to exist at core of the battle but does so while placing the onus upon the Tac to be both proactive and decisive with his squad modes, and to some degree turns him into the default director of the players and their flow.

 

In the same vein where they state that the chosen Squad Leader for a mission doesn't technically get to boss around the other players, they wanted to avoid the Tactical slotting into the Party Decision Maker role -- what if your Kill-Team didn't have anybody who wanted to play one?. So the FtB talent rids that exclusion at the cost of some XP, inflating the Cohesion costs with it.
 
So I see the trade offs like this:
 

Tactical Expertise --

 

Does not cost XP.

 

Allows you to share your Chapter's Squad Modes with others regardless of their chapter, talents or anything else - they need only accept your sharing.

 

Requires a Command Test that gets progressively easier as you rank up.

 

Deprives you of the Bolter Mastery ability, which is a potential +10 to BS and +2 to damage when using a bolter. How often are you gonna use one of those as a marine?

 

"Feels" more thematic by virtue of the naming and its source.

 

Forging the Bond --

 

Requires 500 XP.

 

Allows you to share your Chapter's Squad modes only with others who also possess this talent. (A great majority of people are seeming to pick this talent up so those who don't have it will be far and few between)

 

Makes these shared Squad Modes costs an extra 3 Cohesion, although that gets lessened as you rank up, but only ever to a minimum of 1 extra.

 

"Feels" less thematic and more like an XP tax for the sake of a clumsily implemented system mechanic.

 

 

 

[Commissar Molotov]

As per Ashlander's great post above: 

 

- Tactical Expertise allows you to share your Ultramarines abilities with other members of the squad, without any penalties.

- Forging the Bond allows you to share your Ultramarines abilities with other members of the squad (but it costs you more cohesion.) It also allows you to benefit from the squad modes of other Marines who also share the talent. 

 

 

As Ashlander says it isn't the most elegant of systems - although the Ultramarines defensive stance does allow you to regenerate Cohesion, which can help things work.

Edited February 2, 2021 by Commissar Molotov

[apologist]

 

I apologize that I am taking so long to get my Character sheet done up and finish up and post Pallan in the character thread but the rules part is... a little overwhelming.... for me. So many options and having to scroll through thirty pages just to find a definition of something etc. For someone who has never really played any sort of role playing game it is rather challenging. This on top of little to no sleep is messing with me. I promise I am attempting to get somewhere with it though. Just bear with me.

I'm the same with rules and being a RPG newboob too, but picking up bits and pieces as I'm completing the character sheet. It is though really confusing trying to find the right bits and how much or what you can do. Nothing to do with the group, I think it's down to the book and rules themselves. But the guys on here have been nothing short of awesome in directing me and helping getting things sorted.

I'm sure by the end of the story we will be able to help out the new recruits in the same situation

 

 

To offer some reassurance to both of you, I was – indeed, still am – in much the same position. Prior to joining in here, I'd rarely done any roleplay, and had no experience whatsoever with the particular ruleset. The rest of the group are very supportive and helpful; and in most cases, I write something up and then the ever-resourceful Commissar Molotov translates it into rules and effects.

 

My suggestion is to fill out the character sheet as best you can, then share it for the more experienced members of the team to offer ideas and check it. Of course, that really relies on you knowing your character – you'll get options for how to progress, or what weapons you use, or how cooperative your character is. Only you can answer those.

 

Secondly, step back from optimisation. Filling out the points and using up options efficiently is a perfectly acceptable approach, but it's not the only one. My character, Yeng, for example, has very basic equipment, purely because I found that a bolter and chainsword is all his background really justified. Having less to learn made it easier for me to follow what was going on. That (hopefully) doesn't stop him being an interesting character. He still has little knickknacks and cultural nods (like his claviger honorific mace), but they don't need to have formal in-game rules to still have effects. Mol is very creative in allowing the narrative to colour the interactions.

 

In short, being narratively led – that is, getting your character fixed in your head – will go a long way to making sense of the minutiae of the rules.

[Reyner]

 

 

 

I apologize that I am taking so long to get my Character sheet done up and finish up and post Pallan in the character thread but the rules part is... a little overwhelming.... for me. So many options and having to scroll through thirty pages just to find a definition of something etc. For someone who has never really played any sort of role playing game it is rather challenging. This on top of little to no sleep is messing with me. I promise I am attempting to get somewhere with it though. Just bear with me.

I'm the same with rules and being a RPG newboob too, but picking up bits and pieces as I'm completing the character sheet. It is though really confusing trying to find the right bits and how much or what you can do. Nothing to do with the group, I think it's down to the book and rules themselves. But the guys on here have been nothing short of awesome in directing me and helping getting things sorted.

I'm sure by the end of the story we will be able to help out the new recruits in the same situation

To offer some reassurance to both of you, I was – indeed, still am – in much the same position. Prior to joining in here, I'd rarely done any roleplay, and had no experience whatsoever with the particular ruleset. The rest of the group are very supportive and helpful; and in most cases, I write something up and then the ever-resourceful Commissar Molotov translates it into rules and effects.

 

My suggestion is to fill out the character sheet as best you can, then share it for the more experienced members of the team to offer ideas and check it. Of course, that really relies on you knowing your character – you'll get options for how to progress, or what weapons you use, or how cooperative your character is. Only you can answer those.

 

Secondly, step back from optimisation. Filling out the points and using up options efficiently is a perfectly acceptable approach, but it's not the only one. My character, Yeng, for example, has very basic equipment, purely because I found that a bolter and chainsword is all his background really justified. Having less to learn made it easier for me to follow what was going on. That (hopefully) doesn't stop him being an interesting character. He still has little knickknacks and cultural nods (like his claviger honorific mace), but they don't need to have formal in-game rules to still have effects. Mol is very creative in allowing the narrative to colour the interactions.

 

In short, being narratively led – that is, getting your character fixed in your head – will go a long way to making sense of the minutiae of the rules.

I agree, before this all I had done roleplay wise was play a bit of DnD with some mates but that was more drinking and dice than roleplaying :D

 

Last year before "the event" I had an alright grasp of the rules but now I don't really know what I'm doing other than declaring actions and writing some fluff around them. But Mol is great and does all the dice stuff for me.

[A.T.]

I think it's down to the book and rules themselves.

 

It is. I've got a complete collection of the physical books and i've been playing the system for years. I still jumped at the humble bundle pdfs to have a search option to try and find all the obscure sub-rules (FFG has a bad habit of hiding important things in little grey boxes off to the side of a random page).

 

Most of it you don't need to worry about though. The only 'extra' area that i'd read through for character creation would be the rites of battle deeds from page 79 to 88 - they contain a few unique options that may apply to a characters background such as having been previously wounded in battle (and sporting bionics), extra gear for tactical marines, or access to a specialist skill such as forbidden lore or command.