Dark Heresy General

[Ragnar Blackmane]

Just getting our foot in the door! Pyro, if you happen to read this, is it possible we can get the RPG section again? Thanks!

EDIT: Thank you O mighty Author!

[Maugan Ra]

Right. Game tonight, as before. I have a psychology workshop starting at 4, but it hopefully shouldn't take too long to do (it'll mainly be handing out assignments and a brief discussion with the group), so for now assume that the 5pm start time is correct.

Time to see folks answer a few pointed questions from the Inquisitor...

[Maugan Ra]

So. That went well. The investigation of Master Helios and his allegations about his family members have ended with the acquisition of some solid evidence to support those claims, and a rather large number of injuries spread throughout the team (we had another session on Tuesday, wildly improvised on my part, during which Mark decided to go back to the bank after having just escaped it).

Here's the physical state of the party after the mission is over.
- Solasmar has, as far as I can recall, several broken ribs and a series of nasty facial burns, including eye damage.
- Elsa has three cracked ribs, severe internal injuries, a fractured skull, and fourth degree burns to large sections of her body.
- Praetus is missing his left leg below the knee, has first and second degree burns to his arms and torso, and is missing his nose. Oh, and he has about a dozen bullet scars.
- Delmar is dead, with his skull exploded into messy fragments.
- Metalus, having arrived at the last minute to do a big damn heroic rescue, is the least wounded of all of you. He's just on -1 wounds, with a few minor fractures to the bones of his right hand.

So yeah. Hospital, I think. Where the doctors will pump you all full of lovely, lovely drugs and generally do their best to heal you. Even under the care of the best chirurgeons, it's going to take at least a month, possibly two, before everyone is back on their feet and ready to continue their service to the Holy Ordos.

Committing the entire team to the care of your average hospital for six weeks or so is going to cost roughly 2,800 thrones. Each. And here's where things get interesting.

Someone else is entirely willing to pay your medical fees. It's not the Imperial Inquisition. What it is is a living plot hook, and a way to create an extremely interesting plot arc. You'll even get to play with all manner of McAwesome gadgets. Trust me, this will be great.

[Maugan Ra]

So. Here's what you know/will learn. Having hammered out the plotline, mostly in my head (it's fairly flexible), I can reveal the name for the upcoming plot arc. From the same sort of mind that brought you "Snakes on a Plane", I give you:

The Mechanicus own our organs

A few days into your long stay in hospital, you wake to find yourself feeling rather better than you think you should. Interrogator Theta is in your hospital room, which has been neatly cordoned off from the rest of the ward. He listens to your report, comends you on your work, and then explains the situation you find yourselves in.

In short, the good Magos-Biologis Tarn of the Adeptus Mechanicus has offered to pay for your medical treatments. Since it is currently being paid for by the Inquisition, they have decided to take him up on that offer, as they don't like spending such quantities of money on such lowly operatives. In return for his generosity, the Magos would like you to grant him a small favour. There is something he needs doing, and for various reasons he cannot do it himself, nor can he use Mechanicus assets to achieve it.

You are, of course, free to refuse to help him. However, the Magos has already made the requisite payments to the hospital, entirely legitimately, and thus you all legally owe him rather a lot of money. Should he formally collect the debt and you prove not to have the requisite funds (which none of you currently do), then by the letter of the law he is empowered to recoup his losses in any way possible. In your specific case, this would likely involve selling your internal organs and using the remainder of your flesh to clothe servitors.

If you accept his offer, then it should not take too long to work off your debt to the good Magos, and you may well get quite a bit out of the deal. After all, no one has better gear than the Mechanicus, and Tarn isn't likely to send you into danger unprepared. You do, after all, represent something of an investment.

[Maugan Ra]

Ran a quick piece earlier tonight, introducing Tarn in-character to most folks. Folks made some requests for gear, and thus the debt of each person currently stands thusly:

Solasmar owes 2,999 thrones.
Metalus owes 2,960 thrones.
Praetus owes 4,500 thrones, but gets a shiny new bionic leg out of the bargain.
Elsa owes 2,200 thrones (before extra cost for gear)
Dice.... doesn't actually owe the Magos anything, as for mysterious reasons he wasn't present while the shooting was going on

Metalus and Elsa were willing to act as test subjects for some of the Magos's experimental implant systems in return for a reduction in their debt. The implants are special glands that use hormones to increase the user's strength, with possible psychological side-effects. Solasmar refused to have them implanted.

In any case, Tarn has laid out the first little task he would like from you folks (and Dice, who is under no actual compulsion here but may want to help out anyway). An unspecified item was stolen from him recently, and he wants it back. He also wants the people to stole it to wind up dead. He knows where the thieves are (in a hab block in the mid-hive regions), but that's all he knows/has told you.

Retrieve the item and terminate the thieves, and he will reduce your debt by 300 thrones each. Dice might just get that amount of fancy gear as compensation instead.

[Rahvin]

Dice was not present due to mysterious reasons. Those being that BT are a bunch of barnacled hussies who wouldn't know reliability if it walked up to them and defecated down their throats.

Also, I don't mind Dice being included into the ranks of the maimed, if it's easier than having to handwave away the reason he wasn't present. There's only so far that beauty sleep goes to cover things

[Xisor]

Also, I don't mind Dice being included into the ranks of the maimed, if it's easier than having to handwave away the reason he wasn't present. There's only so far that beauty sleep goes to cover things

Suit yourself.

Roll a D5 +1. Then roll that many D4 twice, once for 'damage type' (I, E, X, R) and once for location (Head, Arm, Body, Leg). Then roll a D10 for what injury was applied.

That's how badly maimed you were.

If I were to roll for you, you'd have:
#1:R,Leg - 7: Very badly broken such that, until repaired, count as having only one leg. Also blood loss (transfusion!)
#2:R,Leg - 5: Spray of bloodloss as your leg is opened up, exposing bone, sinew and muscle.
#3:X,Head - 6: The target's head explodes under the force of the attack. Needless to say this is instantly fatal.

Presuming we drop that last one a little, to a 5, then Dice has much of his face flayed (but well repaired thanks to hospital) and his eardrums burst.

Except the bone-breaking leg-damage, the rest of that's mainly cosmetic. Except the burst eardrums!

Sound good for Dice?

(Also, I patent this Xisor's Dice-O-Matic Maiminator)

[Maugan Ra]

The Dice-o-matic Maiminator is approved for use in this game.

Don't worry if you get a lost limb result on the roll, the Magos will equip you with a shiny new bionic limb to replace it. With the disadvantage of putting you much further in debt, of course...

[Rahvin]

Well, I rolled em, and... well, Dice ain't in such good shape anymore

1: Explosive damage to the left leg - 5 (part of the foot blown off)

2: Rending damage to the head - 4 (right eye scooped out)

3: Explosive damage to the right leg - 7 (entire leg exploded and lost, blood loss)

4: Explosive damage to the right arm - 7 (entire arm exploded and lost, blood loss)

[Xisor]

Y'know, this is perhaps a really good way of speeding up our fight encounters...

[Maugan Ra]

Right. I've hammered out the campaign setting in my notes now, and I'm rather happy with how it's turned out. And yes, it's a proper campaign, not just a solitary mission or anything. Still, it should be rather fun to play through, and is very flexible.

I'm essentially going for a strong "Cold War" theme, which is something I've been wanting to do for a while. There will be a strong focus on espionage and covert warfare. You'll have the opportunity to influence folks, trade favours with some very powerful people, and climb the rungs of society.

Of course, given that it's a Cold War themed campaign arc, exactly who you work for is entirely up to you. You could stay loyal to the Inquisition. You could continue to work for Magos Tarn and his as-yet-unknown allies. You might even get your revenge and betray the Magos to his enemies. If you're especially ambitious, you might work for everyone at the same time, or oppose them all equally and strike out on your own (though this is not recommended until you are strong enough to survive the retaliation...)

The "Paranoid" talent might be an excellent investment

[Maugan Ra]

As the post subject says, folks need to roll up new characters. 2,000xp I think, and I'm lifting the restrictions on Noble Born.

Why? Because Sigma Cell just suffered a Total Party Kill (well, for all intents and purposes anyway). Having been sent to eliminate a small team of Mercenaries, the cell managed to wind up having tea with them in their hab. They were lightly armed and armoured, since they went there posing as members of the Church interested in hiring a bit of protection. And then, spotting the McGuffin they needed to recover, attacked the Mercenaries. Who were all wearing body armour and had weapons to hand.

End Result:
- Praetus (Mark) unconscious on the floor, with a significant chunk of his chest missing after an encounter with a chainsword.
- Metalus (Phil) dead of Blood Loss after getting his internal organs pulped by a hail of autogun rounds.
- Solasmar (Jamie) dead of Blood Loss after he got his left arm shot into a million bleeding fragments.
- Elsa (Frank) very, very dead. Massive internal injuries, and both arms got shot off.

Now. This does mean that Praetus, Dice and Praeceps are all technically alive. However, Praetus has been captured by men in service to the Brotherhood of the Horned Darkness, who are a daemon worshipping cult of significant power. I really don't think we want to reflect too closely on what fate lies in store for him.

Dice and Praeceps, due to being Not There, might well be alive. However, most of your cell is dead, and the mission has failed in the most complete way possible. For Dice, this would be an excellent point to fake his own death and retire. As for Praeceps... well. He's a Phaenonite, and I think we can probably imagine what they're likely going to do to him for such utter failure.

So. New characters, please, while I put together the last few pieces of the new campaign. This time, you may go into it having some idea what to expect from me as a GM and the game system as a whole.

[Ragnar Blackmane]

Shit. I don't even get to play my Phaenonite

Fine. Fuck this with double chocolate sauce. We don't have enough fire power huh? Too weak?

Adeptus Sororitas it is.

[Corrigan Phoenix]

Was less "we don't have enough firepower" and more "we didn't have it with us".

Some of the gang thought it would be clever to attack the five heavily armoured veteran guardsmen (who were cleaning their weapons, by the by) whilst we were lightly armed (because we had gone over to do some light recon in the area).

But never the mind! Onwards with new characters!

[Rahvin]

So I just about manage to get my internet working properly and I come back to find that somehow, in my brief absence, you guys have managed to kill everyone. Smooth moves. And to think, I was almost starting to feel bad about my aim to completely derail george's nice campaign, and now it's all moot anyway.

Okay, new plan. We play in Heavy Mythril \m/ \m/

[Xisor]

I've a sneaking suspicion that the mess was my fault this time. Rag, I think Forceps (sorry, Praceps) was a pretty neat concept. You might want to consider just using him again and pretending we hadn't seen him directly under Tarn. His 'master' could easily still be someone else.

I'm a lot more hopeful with this Alvar chappie I've created. Much more...my style. And I even got a fun (if rather difficult indeed) power for Wyrdliness!

[Ragnar Blackmane]

Tarn wasn't his master.

Anyway, he will be showing up later in future campaigns.

[Pipitán]

Just wanted to say, I'm afraid I'm probably not going to be properly venturing into either RT or DH in the near future - I need to properly dissimilate the rules (for both systems), I have very little free time at the moment in the evenings, and my computer's problem with group chats is very annoying and I need to sort it out. However, when my exams are over in the summer I'd love to join in properly, if that's alright with everyone. From the write ups it does sound like a hell of a lot of fun.

[Rahvin]

Well, first thing, sorry if I missed anything yesterday, work shenanigans led to an unexpected 11 hour shift.

But onto a question. Rogue Trader items in non-Ascension Dark Heresy. Specifically, cybernetics and implants in this case, but other items could be included as well. Looking through techpriests in Dark Heresy and just what they could do, I realised that Rogue Trader (and to a lesser extent Into the Storm) add a bunch of cybernetics and augments that really don't have a reason not to exist in Dark Heresy - things like the Calculus Logi Upgrade, Memorance Implant, Locator Matrix or Scribe Tines, for example. The only stumbling block is that they aren't priced.

Now, we could just say that these things are just too rare and/or expensive to get in Dark Heresy. This rationale does start to fall down when you still get things like Cortex Implants and Hermetic Infusions in Dark Heresy (good-quality versions of which will run you around 15 and 17 grand respectively), but it is the easiest way to say 'No Dan, stop being greedy'

Alternatively, we could hash up some costs for them based on everything else dotted around. This would be actual work though.

Or we could just leave it all up to the GM to decide if/where they can be found and what we'd have to pay for them.

[Maugan Ra]

Well, if I was still GM, I would probably just allow you to request specific items and I'd invent some prices for you. Of course, I'm no longer GM. Unless Mark mysteriously vanishes...

*looks sinister*