[BC] The Blackest Heart (OOC)

[Lysimachus]

Indeed, great fun so far, really nice work everyone and thanks to Mazer for a cracking story to play!

 

 

Re: rewards, that makes my choice easy... I will take Swift Attack please, GM!

 

 

 

If we'd gotten Infamy* this time, it would have been much harder to choose, as I really want that upgrade of Eska from Lesser>Normal Minion ...although she isn't here, so I guess doing that wouldn't actually benefit me very much (at all!) at the moment! So Swift Attack it is! 

 

 

 

*I'm not far off, another 7 Infamy points will mean Hagga meets all the prerequisites for a regular Minion!

[Mazer Rackham]

Much obliged, everyone - thank you for your participation thus far.

 

As always, a game without players has no heart. A story without readers has no soul.

[Machine God]

@Mazer Rackham - Thank you for a great adventure GM. 

 

I won't be taking the 500XP for Kraggan as I believe his Whirlwind of Death acquisition was an overspend. 

 

 

[Trokair]

I have gone for a WP simple Advance, as I said I would, and also a simple Fel advance as I need to get that up for the eventual upgrade for Mithra to normal Minion. I had 300XP unspent before and I guess that is still the case now.

 

Based on p278, as Tarh is Unaligned the GM should pick on which god’s disorder table I roll on.  

 

[Mazer Rackham]

Athough the Encounter is technically not over, I shall roll randomly and the 'problem' can be applied when the shooting formally, finally stops, yes?

 

I have determined thusly on a 1D4 = Tzeentch.

 

[Trokair]

d100: 27 

 

Conspiracy Theorist: The character sees conspiracies everywhere, even in the most mundane situations. Conspiracies seem to be the only subject he is capable of discussing, and he finds a way to work his theories in to every conversation. He suffers a –5 penalty to all Interaction Tests that do not involve others who agree with his theories or directly relate to “uncovering” his current pet conspiracy. 

 

 

"The Hydra Comander from eralier and Cyrandras Rakash are trying to kill us all...."

 

 

Sorry Xin, I think Tarh will be even more distrustfull of your chararcter now. Untill you cna feed him a different consipracy :p

[Mazer Rackham]

5 minutes ago, Trokair said:

"Cyrandras Rakash....trying to kill us all...."

 

Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you...

[Lord_Ikka]

Hmm. I have to look over my "plan" for the Smiler, as right now I think I mis-typed some things and need to re-work them. So until next week when I will have the time to re-evaluate, I will refrain from spending XP for Crux'as. 

[Mazer Rackham]

1 minute ago, Lord_Ikka said:

Hmm. I have to look over my "plan" for the Smiler, as right now I think I mis-typed some things and need to re-work them. So until next week when I will have the time to re-evaluate, I will refrain from spending XP for Crux'as. 

 

Plenty of time to sort it out, chap. No rush.

[Xin Ceithan]

2 hours ago, Trokair said:

d100:

2 hours ago, Trokair said:

… Cyrandras Rakash, … trying to kill us all...."

 

 

Sorry Xin, I think Tarh will be even more distrustfull of your chararcter now. Untill you cna feed him a different consipracy :p

Challenge accepted!

 

And I think I’mam saving my XP to upgrade the Psy Rating on Rakash’s, so…

 

The inherent Meta Joke here is that I actually decided against playing an Alpha Legionaire here because I didn’t want to make it more complicated in  the way of “ no one’s gonna trust working with a former Alpha”. Now look how that turned out! 

[Mazer Rackham]

It's a double-bluff - don't buy it Tro!

[Trokair]

29 minutes ago, Mazer Rackham said:

It's a double-bluff - don't buy it Tro!

Probably a tredecuple-bluff! 

[Mazer Rackham]

3 minutes ago, Trokair said:

Probably a tredecuple-bluff! 

 

That's the spirit.

[Machine God]

Bump

[FabiusV4lcoran]

It looks like y'all have a fair amount of psykers already; I was leaning towards a mortal follower of Tzeentch/aspiring pyromancer.  Is there room for that or is there another role that would be better filled?

[Mazer Rackham]

IIRC we have Xin as a Marine Sorcerer, and our Nurgle psyker is likely busy doing other things, so your Tzeentchian Flammenchucker should be alright. We've got more techies in the Mortal side, so a ritualist might be handy.

 

Just to briefly say, whatever gear or powers you snag will mainly have to come from BC Core. Some of the others have a pip or pop from the Tomes, but it's really few and far between. I'd rather not get into wonkier stuff in this game, but I do consider case-by-case on Character history/background.

 

We're waiting on a couple of other interested parties, so I'll hold off sorting out your sheet for now - how about spit balling some of your ideas for this unnamed, soulless deviant?

[FabiusV4lcoran]

Awesome!  I'm not in any rush; I tend to be faster on concepts than I am on building sheets.  I really like how y'all treat the fact that we have real lives. 

 

As far as origins; I like the idea of the wyrds hanging out in the backwaters, plying their magic as best they can until they get scooped up by something bigger and better.  Maybe he was cast out of his village or settlement (or, more likely, escaped the angry mob).

 

OR maybe born of the slave clans that must be inhabiting this crew's ship?  Notice for his psychic abilities and drafted into a corps of psykers they keep around for 'uses' and he's just lucky that the sorcerers on board haven't burnt him up in a summoning.

 

ALSO, I said Pyro earlier but another aspect of Tzeentch I like is the Change/mutation, and looking at the core book on Tzeentch powers I like that too, so I'm not sure which way I'd want to develop him. 

Edited December 20, 2025 by FabiusV4lcoran

[Mazer Rackham]

Sounds like it's beginning to form up - if you don't know which way to go, you could do like our esteemed Lord Ikka does and leave it to fate, and randomise it on a 50/50 or a D3 or what have you.

 

Might be appropriate for your character...

 

Just As Planned!

 

In other news, I've had a minute, and set a sheet up for you. We use a google drive with google sheets designed by Lysimachus which should be fairly intuitive. Please record all your build on this sheet, and have a look at the other sheets to see how they're set up, and the format we use if you're not certain - or shout up in here, no worries. All I need from you is a PM with a Gmail-based email address you're comfortable with me having, and I can give you access.

 

In the google drive you'll also find my copy of Black Crusade Core, and the Errata, both of which we'll work to, in case you need them. They are obviously not for further distribution (so we don't contravene rules and such). Don't worry, it's just a disclaimer, I have to say it to everyone. 

 

You obviously know your business, so I'll let you crack on with Chargen, and work up a profile to dump in the Data thread. Keep an eye in the OOC, and dump more queries here if you have them. I'm not sure when we'll get cracking, but I won't delay too long, as I want to get you Playing, ASAP. Again, shout up if you need help.

 

In the mean time, if you haven't already, take a quick peak at the story so far, and also drop into a few of the other games to get a feel for how the different GM's run the games, since this is my Game, but as discussed I intend to work with Lysimachus to 'second-chair' your section/onboarding as Game Director.

 

@Lysimachus Shortly, I'll drop a few thoughts about a quick mission as briefly mentioned in the 'Side Table' thread.

 

Edited December 20, 2025 by Mazer Rackham

[Mazer Rackham]

So then, Fabius and I have been in dialogue as he works through the stuff, but I haven't heard anything from the other interested parties yet.

 

One idea Fabius had was something I thought quite solid as a starting point - his character background will be from Ithyca-II F, aka 'Penitence'. This means he's down in a prison facility, in the system you're all currently plotting against.

 

I was thinking that maybe a small number of survivors were in a prison transit vehicle that somehow gets either ambushed, or totalled, and the survivors and ambushers are our new gang of ruffs. The main handler of this would be an agent of the Harrowmaster, not Torun Valex himself. Perhaps there is an officer aboard the transport with an access key to systems plans, or has a singular piece of info.

 

This could accommodate any archetype or character, and whilst it's a bit of a repeat of our intro (as I mentioned) the new Players haven't had that pleasure, so...

 

Thoughts?

[FabiusV4lcoran]

I think that's a solid idea. 

 

Were you going to have the vets ambush and free us n00bz, or newbs being both? 

Edited December 21, 2025 by FabiusV4lcoran

[Mazer Rackham]

Cool.

 

No, I wasn't initially intending on getting the other established Players involved, since a smaller game will be better to get you lads used to the rhythm, it was just a broad brush for Lysi to kick off with, and do it more narratively than crunchy - albeit a few tests to get you used to rolling dice will be a good thing.

 

 However, if the other dudes don't shout up, I'll pick a couple of our regular victims from volunteers. 

[FabiusV4lcoran]

Hail the Changer!

[Machine God]

Place holder filled:

 

https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/383296-bc-the-blackest-heart-part-i-ic/page/11/#findComment-6070043

 

 

 

 

 

[Mazer Rackham]

With the new  sacrificial victims , er, Players, I will wrap the previous episode of Blackest Heart, in prep for fresh operations and the new intro game. I won't be giving out XP or Infamy, as the main campaign is not about to restart. It will allow me a chance to clear up outstanding loose ends, personnel, and plots, though.

 

I'll detail everything IC. Please do not post until given express permission. Your co-operation is appreciated.

[Trokair]

  

5 hours ago, Mazer Rackham said:

All livestock and familiars of the crew who are to remain on Brimstone are deployed there, the beastmaster taking care over the giant tortoise among them,

 

Thank you.

 

5 hours ago, Mazer Rackham said:

although when put in the pen some wag steals inside and glues a large bayonet to the top dome of its shell, and scrawls 'Lord Pickelhaube' on a board outside the single enclosure.

 

Tarh, and Mithra I presume as well, are not ammused. Some privat vengence might be in order, in due course. 

 

 

5 hours ago, Mazer Rackham said:

*= Tro mentioned hungry, hungry caterpillars - very prescient...

 

I honestly can't remember if this was a good thing or a bad thing, probably the latter.