[BC] The Blackest Heart (OOC)

[Mazer Rackham]

I've been jawing things over with @Necronaut for a while about how to keep a BC game cohesive so it doesn't implode, and still provide a Sandbox for people to frolic around in. I proposed taking over the Vulgar Display game, but I thought too much water had passed, and I'm a sucker for Session Zero build-ups.

 

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.

Edited July 6 by Mazer Rackham

[Necronaut]

This... This is what I had originally wanted/intended to do with A Vulgar Display of Power. You have my chainsword without reservation. You have learned well from my mistakes, and fully absorbed my musings on the matter. I would almost further recommend that weapons be prohibited from starting gear acquisitions, relegating them solely to wargear, ammo, drugs, cybernetics, etc. to force/encourage scavenging, theft, tomb-robbing and other dastardly deeds for more potent firepower, but that is of course your decision.

 

Pencil me in for a forsaken or a sorcerer if we're playing as chaos marines perhaps, or as some sort of renegade trooper if a human.

Edited July 2 by Necronaut

[Trokair]

Count me in.

 

Spoiler

 

could not find the right clip/gif so this timestamped thing will hopefully do

 

Edited July 2 by Trokair

[A.T.]

Sounds interesting, though I have no specific character in mind. Perhaps something erratically psychic or techie this time around.

[Machine God]

Well if Trokair is in then we are stuck with Mortals then (Probably sort of Thing) 

 

Well that's enough thinking like Pippin!

 

Lets talk like BC characters.

 

"What about their legs? They don't need them!" 

[Xin Ceithan]

Another opportunity to fly the Banner of the Corsairs! 
And theysay the Gods do not listen! Those fools! 

I‘m in! 
 

 

[Trokair]

5 minutes ago, Machine God said:

Well if Trokair is in then we are stuck with Mortals then (Probably sort of Thing) 

 

If everybody wants a Marine then I can do a Marine quest thing.... :p

[Mazer Rackham]

1 hour ago, Necronaut said:

This... This is what I had originally wanted/intended to do with A Vulgar Display of Power. You have my chainsword without reservation. You have learned well from my mistakes, and fully absorbed my musings on the matter. I would almost further recommend that weapons be prohibited from starting gear acquisitions, relegating them solely to wargear, ammo, drugs, cybernetics, etc. to force/encourage scavenging, theft, tomb-robbing and other dastardly deeds for more potent firepower, but that is of course your decision.

 

I thought about that, then realised you need things to get things, but since you'll run out of bullets anyway, I thought it fitting you at least get a glorified club.

 

Maybe with a nail in it.

 

It works at night too. A night club. 

 

Spoiler

 

 

1 hour ago, Necronaut said:

Pencil me in for a forsaken or a sorcerer if we're playing as chaos marines perhaps, or as some sort of renegade trooper if a human.

 

Just a note on Sorcerers/Psykers, they will start as PR 1 if Human or PR 2 Marines. Basically this is to inspire the idea you have the talent, but cannot fully manifest it to the point to facilitate your escape etc...

 

I notice you have already begun to discuss Marine Vs Human campaign.

 

The game is afoot.

 

Spoiler

 

 

Edited July 2 by Mazer Rackham

[Necronaut]

@Mazer Rackham perhaps a knight club even? 

 

 

YYYEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH

[Xin Ceithan]

I do like the idea of a group of new initiates attempting to scale the path to Glory.

 

In ages lost, we had a RT game of a pack of Fenrisians going from scouts to battlebrothers, which was quite fun.

[Necronaut]

I, uh, wrote part of a campaign based upon Deathwatch rules which would have started the party off as a squad of Black Templar neophytes, who over the course of the first chapter would have had adventures and eventually seen them getting their black carapace and armour. Starting off as initiates or neophytes in Black Crusade sounds killer!

 

Edit:

@Mazer Rackham I sincerely wish I had just forced mandatory downgrades on all weapons and made the armour suits more ramshackle. These rules are fantastic and the thought of using low grade/rundown equipment has me giddy. Bog-standard astartes or IG kit will be prized possessions to be fought over. The baseline Black Crusade rules came close to capturing this but missed the mark. 

Edited July 2 by Necronaut

[Xin Ceithan]

BTW I recommend taking a look at the psychic powers in  “Imperium Maledictum” :

They either  combined a lot of the can style low powers from previous DH or expended upon them.

 

They also expended the existing disciplines a bit and added a few more options - e.g, the Pyro gets the ability to cauterise wounds to staunch bleeding and TK can disrupt gravity in the area to cause difficult terrain 

 

And while it uses bit of a different rules that, it’s close enough to the original DH set up that it’s probably easy to convert to BC

 

 

[A.T.]

37 minutes ago, Xin Ceithan said:

BTW I recommend taking a look at the psychic powers in  “Imperium Maledictum” :

They either  combined a lot of the can style low powers from previous DH or expended upon them.

 

The original DH with all of its expansions does the low level heretics quite well IMO - a lot of backgrounds for mutants, blade wielding psychopaths, witches, and warp dabblers, as well as really low-end gear like steam drills, industrial nailguns, and mine-slave augmentations. But it's all scattered out across a lot of books.

[Mazer Rackham]

47 minutes ago, Xin Ceithan said:

BTW I recommend taking a look at the psychic powers in  “Imperium Maledictum” :

They either  combined a lot of the can style low powers from previous DH or expended upon them.

 

5 minutes ago, A.T. said:

The original DH with all of its expansions does the low level heretics quite well IMO - a lot of backgrounds for mutants, blade wielding psychopaths, witches, and warp dabblers, as well as really low-end gear like steam drills, industrial nailguns, and mine-slave augmentations. But it's all scattered out across a lot of books.

 

This is roughly the trouble here, in that I don't really want to go clambering into a different ruleset, as if this goes ahead, I'll have plenty to do already...

[Trokair]

12 hours ago, Mazer Rackham said:

I notice you have already begun to discuss Marine Vs Human campaign.

 

On this, as MG has already called, I would indeed prefer to play a mortal, but as it is an either all one or the other choice I will go with the majority. That said, based on the premise I do think starting as mortals would be better, as even with reduced armour and such a marine is a powerhouse, something that Mazer’s game wants us to earn rather than be given.  

 

In terms of charter, no concrete ideas yet, but I think I would like to explore the ideas I started with Sakal in Vulgar Display. That is to say, a character that has not fallen to chaos from an imperial background, but one who was born into and grew up in a functioning chaos civilisation, worshipping a pantheon.  To them the culture and such of the Imperium would be strange.

[Necronaut]

@Mazer Rackham I reckon that the Black Crusade core rules plus the splatbooks will have more than enough to keep you busy.

 

@Trokair I had this idea for a game once wherein I would have pitched my gaming group a campaign of Only War and in rather short order have contrived a way to maroon them on an uncharted planet somewhere in the vicinity of the Screaming Vortex. The progression of the game from there would have bit by bit become Black Crusade, with them eventually escaping the world as a proper chaos warband, or somesuch. 

[Mazer Rackham]

1 hour ago, Trokair said:

That said, based on the premise I do think starting as mortals would be better, as even with reduced armour and such a marine is a powerhouse, something that Mazer’s game wants us to earn rather than be given.  

 

The armour and gear will be provided, it's just the better stuff you need to acquire to progress.

 

16 minutes ago, Necronaut said:

@Mazer Rackham I reckon that the Black Crusade core rules plus the splatbooks will have more than enough to keep you busy.

 

Just to clarify, the splatbook tomes will be a rare dip, as this is more of a renegade job than an all-out bad DoW Voice Actor pursuit of chaos glory. A futher clarification on minions - I'm referring to the human/marine variety.

 

Feel free to keep discussing what you'd like to see within the framework (as I said, this isn't set in stone, it's just a proposal at the minute) and we'll refine as we go forward. For example, if you wanted to alter the nature of the game, so that the Sector is actually in Chaos hands, such as being controlled by Black legion Adherents, and you're working for Huron, or vice versa, by all means float that.

 

If need be, we can run a poll.

[A.T.]

20 minutes ago, Mazer Rackham said:

A futher clarification on minions - I'm referring to the human/marine variety.

 

Would half a human count ?

 

(inspiration for an old never-used character with half mind-linked servitor attached to their back to deal with menial tasks like reloading guns, etc) :p

 

Edited July 3 by A.T.

[Mazer Rackham]

The gribbliness certainly adds charm...and since it's technically 'part' of a human character, I wouldn't have too much of an objection, since you'd either have to get it via XP or an Acquisition.

[Necronaut]

One thing in favor of playing as humans vs chaos marines in Black Crusade: more mutations, faster. CSM are granted a new mutation/gift of the gods at 10, 30, 60 & 90 corruption points, while the mortals accrue mutations at a slightly accelerated pace at 10, 20, 40, 60 & 80 corruption.

 

@Mazer Rackham as a fellow Huron appreciator, I think the extra scumminess and relative newness of the Red Corsairs makes them appealing for what you are trying to accomplish. The Black Legion just carries so much emotional baggage, despite being comprised of chaos marines and humans from many different eras of the setting. That's my 2p. 

[Mazer Rackham]

@Lysimachus has very kindly provided his fab Black Crusade google sheet, and I've dumped a copy in the usual folders, which I'll open at an appropriate time.

 

@Necronaut Yep, Corsairs are my initial choice/preference to allow PC's to come from anywhere, as Unkie Huron would be much disappoint otherwise - but wanted to show what kind of things were on the table.

Edited July 3 by Mazer Rackham

[Machine God]

Seeing as we will be playing Mortals.

 

See Bob, See Bob has a Ball, Bob's Ball is Red it is Fast. Bob's Ball is red as he is a Heretek.

[Mazer Rackham]

It has been suggested to me that a mixed party may be the way to go with this, since we are having people put forward characters they would rather play, instead of ones they will be forced to. Since I am more interested as a GM in play/game coherency, longevity and PC investment, I may therefore ease my previous restriction.

 

Big boy trousers: Don't get too attached to your mortal characters.

[Necronaut]

Hereteks are pretty sturdy fresh out of the box, and the renegade starting kit includes some some pretty potent firepower, so it's not like the mortals are slouches by any stretch of the imagination. I know the consensus on parts of the internet (read: Reddit ) is that mixed parties are a no-no in Black Crusade, but I personally think it can be made to work. For clarification: is the plan to start us off naked and afraid with the intent that we'll need to pry up loose floor panels and scrounge broken bottles for armour and weapons?

[Trokair]

34 minutes ago, Mazer Rackham said:

Big boy trousers: Don't get too attached to your mortal characters.

 

 

I'll start working on the gravestone(s) then.