[BC] A Vulgar Display of Power: OOC/Discussion Thread

[Necronaut]

Hey gang,

 

I understand things are hectic for many of us currently, and Plunder EP III will be kicking off on 2 April, but I thought I would start this discussion to see if anyone would be interested in a spot of Black Crusade? I have a few campaign ideas I'm trying to sort out currently from my (extremely disorganized) collection of notes and character ideas, and I would be happy to accommodate either an all-human, all-Astartes or mixed group of 4-5 (maybe even up to 6?) players. The campaign would be set in the Screaming Vortex (the base Black Crusade setting), and would be set pre-Great Rift/WH40K End Times (for those who care).

 

My plan currently is to mostly follow the BC ruleset, perhaps with a few tweaks here or there, and my intent would be for this to be pretty grimy and gritty a la WHFRP or Zweihander. The campaign itself should be a hopefully enjoyable romp across the Vortex, with a good mix of combat, RP, dungeon delving and all manner of HERESY.

 

Please drop a reply here if you think you might be interested, and what your campaign preference would be with regard to character or party make-up. Recruitment will be a first-come-first-served affair, but I will open a separate thread for such matters with instructions at a later time once we have an idea of the general interest level, and once I figure out exactly what sort of meat-grinder I want to throw you scoundrels into.

 

 

For the Dark Gods!

 

 

Cheers,

Necronaut

Edited June 19, 2023 by Necronaut

[Lysimachus]

I'd be very interested... except that I have none of the BC ruleset books, and I can't see myself having the extra funds for non-essential items in order to purchase them in the current financial climate.

 

Pity, as I'm quite curious about how the rules diverge from the DW game, and I have several DIY renegade Chapters in the Liber Showcase that might be fun to create a character for!

 

Never mind, I'll look forward to reading your adventures instead!!!

[Necronaut]

@Lys, the books have not been in publication since 2016, and good luck finding a dead tree copy at the moment. The internet is a pathway to many out-of-print RPGs which some consider to be... unnatural. Feel free to send me an email and I can help -- would love to see what you could come up with.

 

Edit: also the books are selling for nose-bleed prices on the secondhand market currently!

Edited March 22, 2022 by Necronaut

[Xin Ceithan]

Gods help me. I’ll certainly keep an eye on this.

There is way too much attention on the followers of the Corpse God and Xenos do-gooders on this forum.
Even if it means I am selling  my black soul one black placeholder at a time ;) 

[Mazer Rackham]

Gods help me. I’ll certainly keep an eye on this.

There is way too much attention on the followers of the Corpse God and Xenos do-gooders on this forum.

Even if it means I am selling  my black soul one black placeholder at a time

 

I am watching the hell out of you.

 

Literally.

 

Can I be a Night Lord?

[Necronaut]

@Xin, always happy to have you and your fiendishly inventive fluff & character concepts!

 

I know it can sometimes be difficult for many of us to post with great regularity, so I would aim to as flexible as possible with my players and the narrative. Obviously I prefer not to have to pilot absent players/characters as NPCs, so I'll try to be as inventive as possible in that regard. As far as posting frequency is concerned (since inquiring minds will want to know), my target would probably be 1 major update per week, time/work/family permitting, though obviously this changes a bit if/when the party gets stuck in combat. Needless to say, it is not my goal to post at the blistering pace that Lysimachus seems able to sustain with Plunder; I will be happy to work with you or anyone else interested if you need a more irregular update schedule, and I will keep everyone in the loop to the best of my abilities with regard to scheduled updates.

[Necronaut]

 

I am watching the hell out of you.

 

Literally.

 

Can I be a Night Lord?

 

 

Let me think on that. My preference at present would be to keep it to the basic/starter archetypes, only because the advanced archetypes have extra mechanics strapped on, plus ~3,000XP of built-in extra spend, and trying to balance between the basic archetypes and the advanced archetypes gets out of hand in a hurry. I love the advanced archetypes, but I'm just not sure that I want to run a more high-powered campaign to start.

 

Edit: that said, if you just want the Night Lords flavor (sans added mechanics) to start, we can certainly talk. That's one of the drawbacks with Black Crusade relative to Death Watch.

 

Edit 2: If there is enough demand to play members of the Traitor Legions (or equivalent power level), then I may reconsider my stance.

Edited March 22, 2022 by Necronaut

[Mazer Rackham]

 

Let me think on that. My preference at present would be to keep it to the basic/starter archetypes, only because the advanced archetypes have extra mechanics strapped on, plus ~3,000XP of built-in extra spend, and trying to balance between the basic archetypes and the advanced archetypes gets out of hand in a hurry. I love the advanced archetypes, but I'm just not sure that I want to run a more high-powered campaign to start.

 

Edit: that said, if you just want the Night Lords flavor (sans added mechanics) to start, we can certainly talk. That's one of the drawbacks with Black Crusade relative to Death Watch.

 

Edit 2: If there is enough demand to play members of the Traitor Legions (or equivalent power level), then I may reconsider my stance.

 

Perfectly reasonable.  I'll have a clout over the books for something in scope.

[Trokair]

I’d be game, I don’t have the rules, so would need some assistance when it matters.
 
I do have  Culus73 (or another of his kind) that I would like another attempt at playing.

 

Mazer help me build him for his Magellan's Devils game  (a BC/DW hybrid I think it was). Obviously can be modified or changes as needed to fit the needs of this game, but it be a potential starting point.

Edited March 22, 2022 by Trokair

[Machine God]

I'm always up for a bit of a larf!

 

I'm the same as Lys as I don't have any of the books, but I'll jump in the Deep End anyway.

[Necronaut]

@Trokair: I would be happy to work with you in that regard.

 

@MG: not a problem, mate. We have ways of dealing with your kind!

 

@All: it seems as though the overwhelming preference thus far is for traitor astartes, which is absolutely fine. I'm going to leave this open for a while longer to see if we can ensnare any others in the Dark Gods' trap -- I mean scheme -- I mean machinations.

 

You're all, as they say in the business, "disposable assets."

[Mazer Rackham]

Culus 73's build should still be available, as the thread was locked, but not closed/removed, so should be easy to start there.

 

Magellan's Devils was BC first with DW elements after, so what was encountered in that game will be very familiar here, except for the tone, which is a tad grimmer in this one, if I understand correctly.

 

Are you using the ruleset as is Necro, or are we getting "Hands Bring Death" etc?

 

Deplorable  er, disposeable assets?  You don't say! :O

Edited March 22, 2022 by Mazer Rackham

[Trokair]

Thanks Necro, also happy to make something from scratch if is required/easier.

 

I am pretty sure I also saved Culus73 stuff on my computer, so if the stuff from the old game is gone from the B&C I should have a copy of his stats and so on.

 

Edit: Yep, found it as a word doc. Should I PM it to you Necro?

Edited March 22, 2022 by Trokair

[Necronaut]

@MR: I'm going to use the standard BC rules for the most part. I'm toying with the idea of employing the different armor marks from Rites of Battle and their accompanying rules/histories, with the added caveat that you also must roll on the BC armor properties table and accept that your armor has not been properly maintained for quite some time and a number of its systems are no longer functioning. You will get to choose your own adventure/priorities with regard to still functioning armor sub-systems per the Black Crusade power armor rules.

 

Edit: I'm also strongly considering using your house rule (Our Hands Bring Death) as the two weapon fighting talents are outrageously expensive in BC, and they really do feel like an unnecessary burden/chore for Astartes to have to acquire. Regular human scum will not benefit from this rule.

 

@Trokair: let's hold off on character builds and the like for now. I'm not yet at that phase of planning for all of this, and I don't want to get ahead of myself. Please hang onto it and I will be happy to review it in the future.

Edited March 22, 2022 by Necronaut

[Trokair]

Sure no worries. Shout when things need to happen.

[Machine God]

@Lys, the books have not been in publication since 2016, and good luck finding a dead tree copy at the moment. The internet is a pathway to many out-of-print RPGs which some consider to be... unnatural. Feel free to send me an email and I can help -- would love to see what you could come up with.

 

Edit: also the books are selling for nose-bleed prices on the secondhand market currently!

@Necro - Certainly a Bit Steep, $30 for a pdf copy

[Necronaut]

@MG & @Trokair I'll send you both a DM later tonight about that. Edited March 22, 2022 by Necronaut

[Lysimachus]

I know we're not at the point yet, but I really want to play this model I built:

from this Chapter: http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/372898-index-traitoris-lions-of-alba/

I'm thinking a Forsaken Marine would fit for a recently turned Renegade who is seeking vengeance on the Emperor...?

[Mazer Rackham]

Since we are just brainstorming a little bit - I know I suggested Night Lord, but I now know how and why Xin suffers with choosing between his amazing character ideas, because for some, ungodly reason, I'm having the urge to play as an Astral Claw/Red Corsair Corpse-Taker, also using the Forsaken Archetype.

 

It removes the temptation to purchase 'Ancient Warrior' as well, and so is more in scope with the original pitch and the two characters proposed so far.  Plus it gives the team a dedicated healer.

 

Thoughts?

[Necronaut]

Having slept on it, I have had a number of thoughts:

 

1. Because I'm an obsessive weirdo, I have spent a LOT of time thinking about how to game (if not outright abuse) the Black Crusade item acquisition system, and make very, very disgusting weapons (since weapons are the really interesting bits in 40K, as we all know) for use at character creation. Sorry about last time, Mazer ;)

 

2. I think it might be most fun for everyone if we (read: you) all were to start off as relatively new or more recently fallen warriors, so you won't necessarily be "limited" by the various ideologies and baggage of the sundry Traitor Legions. Not to mention the Traitor Legions primarily have the Eye of Terror as their playpen, whereas Huron and the Red Corsairs and their ilk have the Maelstrom as theirs. The Screaming Vortex is an interesting setting in that there is no strong, monolithic power that has risen to the fore (though to be fair, the Traitor Legions are not a monolith even in the Eye of Terror, despite what Abaddon might think).

 

3. To that end, and to keep things nice and gritty and grimy, let's have no Ancient Warrior talent for anyone. I'm open to your characters being from a Traitor Legion, should you so wish, but you would have been created from stolen loyalist gene-seed, or otherwise been a renegade and would be viewed as a second-class citizen within the Legion, so perhaps that's part of why you might have ended up in the Vortex, separated from your erstwhile brethren?

 

4. I want to encourage you guys to keep coming up with character concepts; nothing is off the table for now, per se. I am going to set a goal for myself to have a rough concept of the campaign bashed together by the end of this week that I can throw in here to give you lot something to chew on while you're developing character concepts, similar to what Lysimachus did for Plunder.

 

In the meantime, keep firing away with your questions and/or posting ideas you might like to explore. Feel free to DM me if you have anything you wish to discuss offline.

[Lysimachus]

Possible idea for development into a character bio:

 

Brother Sgt Oswyld (see pic in previous post)

Third Co. Lions of Alba

 

A Knight scorned. Believes his Chapter was betrayed by the Imperium, and therefore by the Emperor himself. Oathsworn to seek vengeance, by whatever means necessary. Sent by his Captain to make alliances and gather renegades to attack the Imperium. Honourable, stubborn, disdainful.

 

A swordsman, a skilled duellist in the fashion of the Lions and their Imperial Fist forebears. (Reached the last 16 in the last Feast of Blades, knocked out of the competition by the Marine who would go on to claim the title)

 

Carries his power sword and a plasma pistol. Bolter, usually kept holstered as prefers fighting at short range. Armour is relatively modern, in good working order. Proudly wears his Chapter's colours of quartered yellow and white. Some artificered plates, honour markings including a Crux Terminatus, but also some pieces scavenged from battlefield when replacement required.

 

***

 

 

 

Actually, while writing the above was wondering if Champion is a better fit for his Archetype than Forsaken...? It would mean he gets his power sword included in his starting kit, plus, given his knightly vibe, I wondered about using the option of a Lesser Minion to take a faithful pet - either a hunting hound-type creature or maybe a bird of prey, etc?

 

Regards Alignment, given the character's aspects of martial pride and bladesmanship I'd probably be thinking Unaligned descending gradually into Khornate...?

 

Gotta say, I'm slightly disappointed by the BC starting XP. 500 for an Unaligned CSM is what, 2 selections at most?

[Necronaut]

Yeah the starting xp for CSM is pretty pitiful at 500 -- I want to guess the designers did that so that the Astartes didn't completely out-class the humans, but, let's be honest here, a human is never going to outpace the raw potential of an Astartes unless they have access to some serious hardware (melta/plasma weapons). I would probably expand that to 1000xp to put us on the same footing as a new Deathwatch recruit, and to give a bit more flexibility when developing your character/build to start. An extra 500xp right at the start is not going to be game-breaking.

[Mazer Rackham]

An extra 500xp in a game without Mortals is quite generous and makes sense with players coming from DW playset.  The mechanic is definitely for balancing, as the Marines are Combat Monsters, whilst the Mortals are skills-rich to offset the problem, but the XP costs and Tier system for True/Allied plays into it as well, as some of the buys are dirt cheap, and don't need to be Elite Advances.

 

It gives me more ideas, as after reading up on healing, you can grab midi-kits for next to nothing, which will bump up the lack of a dedicated healer.  Although having a doctor would be good for the compact, since we can offer services to other units, protect minions, and get a drug factory up and running...

[Necronaut]

Yes, one of the challenges with Black Crusade (which makes it a goldmine for myopic powergamers) is that there are no tiers, per se, nor elite advances: any talent or skill can be bought right out of the gate, assuming you meet the requirements. Most munchkin-style players can easily fall into a trap of having a highly combat-optimized build which proves to be utterly useless when not splitting heads or spitting lead, so caveat emptor.

[Necronaut]

One other thing that irks me a bit 

 

Possible idea for development into a character bio:

Brother Sgt Oswyld (see pic in previous post)
Third Co. Lions of Alba

A Knight scorned. Believes his Chapter was betrayed by the Imperium, and therefore by the Emperor himself. Oathsworn to seek vengeance, by whatever means necessary. Sent by his Captain to make alliances and gather renegades to attack the Imperium. Honourable, stubborn, disdainful.

A swordsman, a skilled duellist in the fashion of the Lions and their Imperial Fist forebears. (Reached the last 16 in the last Feast of Blades, knocked out of the competition by the Marine who would go on to claim the title)

Carries his power sword and a plasma pistol. Bolter, usually kept holstered as prefers fighting at short range. Armour is relatively modern, in good working order. Proudly wears his Chapter's colours of quartered yellow and white. Some artificered plates, honour markings including a Crux Terminatus, but also some pieces scavenged from battlefield when replacement required.

***



Actually, while writing the above was wondering if Champion is a better fit for his Archetype than Forsaken...? It would mean he gets his power sword included in his starting kit, plus, given his knightly vibe, I wondered about using the option of a Lesser Minion to take a faithful pet - either a hunting hound-type creature or maybe a bird of prey, etc?

Regards Alignment, given the character's aspects of martial pride and bladesmanship I'd probably be thinking Unaligned descending gradually into Khornate...?

Gotta say, I'm slightly disappointed by the BC starting XP. 500 for an Unaligned CSM is what, 2 selections at most?

 

Off to a solid start! The cool thing about a Minion of Chaos is it can run the gamut from cybernetically-enhanced hunting animals, to servoskulls, to industrial servitors, to a horribly mutated gribbly beast, to a drug-addled hive ganger. Let your imagination run wild!