Side Table Talk - general discussion and ideas thread

[Necronaut]

@Mazer Rackham I have been reflecting on The Blackest Heart (the story thus far...), and I have come around to fully understanding the logistical nightmare of running a mixed warband as a GM. You really do end up needing to run a mixed warband as two separate parties with wildly different objectives and methods (though a human Renegade can certainly wade in with the spiky boyz a bit if clad in light power armour and wielding advanced ranged weaponry, or otherwise remaining at long range, etc.), in which case, you might as well have the party be either all astartes or all humans. 

Edited yesterday at 09:22 PM by Necronaut

[Mazer Rackham]

Yeah, that's always the problem there.

 

It does give me an idea though...

 

Random, scribbled thoughts:

 

We could take this opportunity to do some re-organising of Blackest Heart. We could take on some more Players if we split the Party into 2 distinct Part-ies, of Mortals and Marines exclusively. This would then allow operations to be split between ones each Party can solve and be challenged by en group.

 

This would require a second-chair GM, though.

 

As for introduction, there is the chance of an interlude, for completely new group of folks, as long as there's not many, to whisk through a prep mission as an 'interlude' and then everyone is brought together for the re-org. Alternatively, re-org can be forgone, and everyone piles onto one target, but that means your threat level goes up, yadda, yadda.

 

Thunks?

[Xin Ceithan]

I think BC is indeed a game which either needs a pretty stringent set up and a lot of planing to make adventures / encounters work in mixed groups. 
 

But If I‘d run it again in any form, I‘d either split mortal and Marine Characters either as much as possible on different storylines / objectives or create focussed / themed groups that make them   Dependent upon the others as much as possible in ways that give each enough room to shine in their specialty  - a single Astartes „Heavy“ to buch of Hereteks / an alpha class Psyker to a group of Astartes or something.

 

Or make it a sort of RT game where the mortals are the key figures  in command on a raider / blockade runner ship and the Astartes do the messy stuff  like boarding actions and such ?

 

I think BC might be good game to run a broader spectrum of characters / games around a common goal / set up, where players might build something of main / twink characters in MMO terms and might switch from adventure to adventure as needed and depending on their commitment.

 

Given the scope of 40K in General and in relation to „Blackest Heart“ where you  already sketched out quite  a bit of sandbox, there is a lot of possibilities there. 
There is lot of room for splitting storylines between the two groups already and even different groups of characters and different GMs for different aspects / adventures. Sort of an anthology  - maybe with @Mazer Rackham in an editorial / continuity function for guest GM‘s so it keeps to the general theme but without the need to GM everything - e.g. there might be an adventure focusing on  cult on oared  Sector Fleet Warship preparing a mutiny. Getting together to have general idea of the local navy to adhere to the broad Spektrum so it feels „ right „ in regard to other events of the campaign but the Game itself can be run on it‘s own?ä

Does that make sense?
 

[Trokair]

5 hours ago, Mazer Rackham said:

Alternatively, re-org can be forgone, and everyone piles onto one target, but that means your threat level goes up, yadda, yadda.

 

 

As one of the mortals, I have no problem with being ‘out of mortal depth’ and facing Marine level danger. I chose to play a Mortal, and will live (and die) with the consequences. Also is probably rather fluffy, any mortals fighting alongside or against Astartes of any flavour are in for a bad time.

 

In terms of splitting the game into a mortal party and a Marine party, if there are stuffiest interested player than happy to go along with it.  I assume that if a second GM can’t be found then the game would alternate between the two parties, one active while one is on pause or some such.

 

[Mazer Rackham]

1 hour ago, Xin Ceithan said:

Does that make sense?

 

Yes, that was an underlying intention, in the fact that it's a 'setting' similar to the Screaming Vortex, not a fixed situation, so there's plenty of bits and pieces for other forays by GM's or 'Directors' shall we call them, who want to use the game as a backdrop and take part in the narrative in a different way.

 

20 minutes ago, Trokair said:

As one of the mortals, I have no problem with being ‘out of mortal depth’ and facing Marine level danger. I chose to play a Mortal, and will live (and die) with the consequences. Also is probably rather fluffy, any mortals fighting alongside or against Astartes of any flavour are in for a bad time.

 

Understood.

 

RIP. 

 

20 minutes ago, Trokair said:

In terms of splitting the game into a mortal party and a Marine party, if there are stuffiest interested player than happy to go along with it.  I assume that if a second GM can’t be found then the game would alternate between the two parties, one active while one is on pause or some such.

 

Yeah, it's about number handling and encounter management more than anything.

 

RIP - wait, done that one. 

 

Of course, Lysi/someone could come up with something of their own which makes this moot, but for speed, half the work is done already. Red Corsairs can take anyone, so we have some scope for a different Legion/Chapter from Huron And His Homeys, but I would still prefer Renegade SM as opposed to real Spikeybois, FWIW.

[Lysimachus]

I don't think I currently have enough of an idea to put a game together... the Scouring thing was really just a random thought, and I'm not sure where I'd take it?

 

The idea of being a 2nd chair GM for the Blackest Heart setting is intriguing. Again, I'm not sure I've got any ideas for a storyline, but if @Mazer Rackham has something in mind and was able to give me the broad strokes of it, then maybe I could run it?

 

However, I could obviously only GM for the mortal Party (if that is how it was split) because if the Marine side of BH is playing, Hagga (and Eska) wants in! 

[Mazer Rackham]

1 hour ago, Lysimachus said:

I don't think I currently have enough of an idea to put a game together... the Scouring thing was really just a random thought, and I'm not sure where I'd take it?

 

It's an interesting possibility. A retreat from Terra to the Iron Cage was my first thought, but I'm biased. 

 

1 hour ago, Lysimachus said:

The idea of being a 2nd chair GM for the Blackest Heart setting is intriguing. Again, I'm not sure I've got any ideas for a storyline, but if @Mazer Rackham has something in mind and was able to give me the broad strokes of it, then maybe I could run it?

 

My sketchy plan is to get the recently interested Fabius, IFF and Aknoby into a rough and tumble to get them onboarded. So come up with something like a Rogue One, where they deliver the location of the  Death Star  Necron Asteroid to Huron's Agents (maybe even the Alpha Legionnaire Harrowmaster). That way we have something that gives us flexibility and doesn't interrupt the current state-of-play and we can do/go what/where we want.

 

Once that's done, the reorganisation can be discussed further - although since Tro has mentioned it, another option has sprung to mind - a mixed party could be run, just with fewer players, as long as they are briefed appropriately. The 'Compacts' system is flexible enough to allow for this, and the game world is big enough that there are always 'side missions' since Rome wasn't toppled in a day, and neither will this sector...

 

The most important thing is to get people Playing.

 

1 hour ago, Lysimachus said:

However, I could obviously only GM for the mortal Party (if that is how it was split) because if the Marine side of BH is playing, Hagga (and Eska) wants in! 

 

But of course! Doggo got posties to bark at.

 

All we really need to do, is replay the opening prologue to Blackest Heart with a twist on it. That's it - it's all there. When we get into the re-org, we'll divvy everyone up - since we don't know what these reprobates will want to play as!

[Lord_Ikka]

I rather enjoy playing Crux'as the Smiler, he's fairly unique in his own devious way.

[Mazer Rackham]

@Iron Father Ferrum @FabiusV4lcoran @Aknoby

 

Please let us know if you're interested in this BC game - we can set something up for you. Please take time to trawl the posts above, and most importantly, if you're up for something like this, have a good, long look at the Blackest Heart: Data Thread, where you'll find the Campaign Rules and restrictions.

 

If we're going ahead with this, I think we should continue in the Blackest Heart OOC thread where people should pose questions/thrash stuff out.

 

Thoughts?

[FabiusV4lcoran]

8 hours ago, Mazer Rackham said:

@Iron Father Ferrum @FabiusV4lcoran @Aknoby

 

Please let us know if you're interested in this BC game - we can set something up for you. Please take time to trawl the posts above, and most importantly, if you're up for something like this, have a good, long look at the Blackest Heart: Data Thread, where you'll find the Campaign Rules and restrictions.

 

If we're going ahead with this, I think we should continue in the Blackest Heart OOC thread where people should pose questions/thrash stuff out.

 

Thoughts?

I am DOWN.  Reading through the data and trying to get a character figured out.