So I’ve downloaded the ‘Forsaken Bounty’ adventure that showcases the new Warhammer 40,000 RPG ‘Rogue Trader’, which seems to be a combination of 40K and classic role-playing profiteering. The idea is that Rogue Traders travel on the fringes of Imperial Space with a license to plunder anything they find. The objective of Rogue Trader as opposed to Dark Heresy, from which it takes its (compatible) system, is to accrue profit and prestige.
One of the big differences seems to be the idea that the party are the head staff of an Imperial vessel and as anyone who knows the 40K background can tell you this means being in command of a vessel that is at the very least colossal and will have a crew of thousands. This means, in theory at least, that players can always call upon teams from their crew and fire support from their vessel and this has provoked fears that parties will pursue a ‘strike-from-orbit’ strategy to cleanse all resistance before they even set foot on world, indeed the designer’s even mention this is an entirely acceptable option.
The trick here seems to be to appeal to the player’s greed. Greed is a natural by-product of RPGs; we all want bigger and better stuff. The reason the Imperium still performs assaults on worlds instead of simply nuking them from orbit is because of the valuable infrastructure and resources on a planet that might be lost if it is reduced to glass by an orbital bombardment and there’s no reason that this can’t be true of Rogue Traders too, compelling them to raid planets rather than simply destroy them.
I’m also intrigued by the ship-to-ship combat that has been touted in the book. If it is a simple and manageable system that allows all players to participate then I think it will be a mainstay of any campaign I’m likely to run; however if it’s clunky I may just be tempted to abstract battles or use the wonderful Battlefleet Gothic rules instead.
All in all the idea of Rogue Trader has piqued my interest and I have the hankering to run the adventure, perhaps as a one-shot for my group before or after our Dark Heresy campaign. There’s an eerie feel to it that appeals to me and the ‘ship-in-the-void’ setting is quite different to the planetary based adventures we’ve enjoyed so far.
Showing posts with label Dark Heresy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dark Heresy. Show all posts
Thursday, 9 July 2009
Tuesday, 7 July 2009
Nobody expects the Holy Ordos of the Emperor's Inquisition
So D&D is slowly wrapping up and everyone's eyes are turned to things to come; Giz's freeform Space RPG is next up and after that we've all been stung by the Dark Heresy bug.
Dark Heresy has got to be one of my favourite games to play and the idea of running it intrigues me aswell. The grim darkness of the 41st milennium is a rich and (not so) vibrant setting with endless opportunities for adventure. It also has combat that is frequently quick, brutal and deadly and with Medium Dave's recent acquisition of the Inquisitor's Handbook; equipment lists that would satisfy even the most ravenous of equipment junkies.
It's shaping up to be quite a campaign, a sandbox world of interesting locales through which to perform our investigation and no doubt have shoot-outs and speeder chases in the best tradition of Ravenor and Eisenhorn.
What is better than this though is the thought and effort people have been putting into their characters. I thought I had put some effort in, but a quick brainstorm after D&D on sunday left us with a solid cadre of characters each with their own motivations and goals. In retrospect my own character seem a little bland by comparison.
Here's the run down of what we have:
Amanda- Playing Alessa, an alpha level psyker with a specialization in Biomancy who runs a brothel and houses some minor mutants to cater for her clients more exotic tastes.
Rachel- Reprises Nik, her assassin from our previous game who has gone on to have three kids and started her own Death Cult beneath a hospital.
Giz- Playing the bastard son of a noble household he is forming a web of spies and finding the secrets of his family so he can blackmail his way into a position of inheritence.
Medium Dave- Playing Tech-Magos Tiresius Kepplar, formerly of an explorator fleet he came into contact with tainted technology and has developed a penchent for the forbidden art of artificial intelligence. His goal is to create a machine with a sentient mind and he carts around with him he very realistic Janus Simulcra with him.
Myself- Inquisitor Eisen Alon Garvel, Ordo Hereticus. Operating under special exemption Garvel has fled to this planet to seek those who destroyed his apartments on Machaevo Primus and bring them to justice. A radical Oblationist he seeks forbidden knowledge knowing it damns him and turns the secrets within against the foes of the Imperium.
As you can see there's a fair bit of meat on these bones and it's given Hair Dave (who is running the damn thing) alot to think about. Having discussed it with him we did decide on a sand-box as being the best way to run the game and upon further thought I think a sandbox might be the best way to run Dark Heresy.
A sandbox with its multiple paths and 'on the fly' gaming gives the players a kind of universe without limits. Consider starting your game amongst the frozen spires and vent-gardens of Machaevo Primus investigating obscura smuggling that is funding a Pleasure Cult dedicated to Slaanesh; you could go many ways about this, interrogating the dealers, looking through manifests, kidnapping and interrogating cult members or just storming the place with a Flamer and a loud-hailer declaring yourself the Emperor's will incarnate. Even better, if the cult leaders break and run you can then persue them off world, possibly chasing them back to their dark masters.
The whole point is that it gives the players options, rather than relying on them to take the bait and get hooked into the story. If they ever slow down and become frustrated at their lack of progress do what Hollywood does and drop the plot on them. Maybe there's an assassination attempt on a party member's life? Perhaps they ump into their target by chance and get involved in a speeder chase amongst the huddled towers of the hive? The options are endless.
I think the sandbox method has also addressed a problem we had with our previous Dark Heresy sessions; the fact that the party felt like a glorified detective agency. A sandbox allows us to control the ebb and flo of the investigation and it feels lass like a static mystery that needs to be solved and more like a war of feint and counter feint as we try and prove our suspicions about our target.
In this case our target is the planetary governor who may or may not have been consorting with the powers of Chaos and from the way Dave has been cackling things could end up being very bad indeed.
Dark Heresy has got to be one of my favourite games to play and the idea of running it intrigues me aswell. The grim darkness of the 41st milennium is a rich and (not so) vibrant setting with endless opportunities for adventure. It also has combat that is frequently quick, brutal and deadly and with Medium Dave's recent acquisition of the Inquisitor's Handbook; equipment lists that would satisfy even the most ravenous of equipment junkies.
It's shaping up to be quite a campaign, a sandbox world of interesting locales through which to perform our investigation and no doubt have shoot-outs and speeder chases in the best tradition of Ravenor and Eisenhorn.
What is better than this though is the thought and effort people have been putting into their characters. I thought I had put some effort in, but a quick brainstorm after D&D on sunday left us with a solid cadre of characters each with their own motivations and goals. In retrospect my own character seem a little bland by comparison.
Here's the run down of what we have:
Amanda- Playing Alessa, an alpha level psyker with a specialization in Biomancy who runs a brothel and houses some minor mutants to cater for her clients more exotic tastes.
Rachel- Reprises Nik, her assassin from our previous game who has gone on to have three kids and started her own Death Cult beneath a hospital.
Giz- Playing the bastard son of a noble household he is forming a web of spies and finding the secrets of his family so he can blackmail his way into a position of inheritence.
Medium Dave- Playing Tech-Magos Tiresius Kepplar, formerly of an explorator fleet he came into contact with tainted technology and has developed a penchent for the forbidden art of artificial intelligence. His goal is to create a machine with a sentient mind and he carts around with him he very realistic Janus Simulcra with him.
Myself- Inquisitor Eisen Alon Garvel, Ordo Hereticus. Operating under special exemption Garvel has fled to this planet to seek those who destroyed his apartments on Machaevo Primus and bring them to justice. A radical Oblationist he seeks forbidden knowledge knowing it damns him and turns the secrets within against the foes of the Imperium.
As you can see there's a fair bit of meat on these bones and it's given Hair Dave (who is running the damn thing) alot to think about. Having discussed it with him we did decide on a sand-box as being the best way to run the game and upon further thought I think a sandbox might be the best way to run Dark Heresy.
A sandbox with its multiple paths and 'on the fly' gaming gives the players a kind of universe without limits. Consider starting your game amongst the frozen spires and vent-gardens of Machaevo Primus investigating obscura smuggling that is funding a Pleasure Cult dedicated to Slaanesh; you could go many ways about this, interrogating the dealers, looking through manifests, kidnapping and interrogating cult members or just storming the place with a Flamer and a loud-hailer declaring yourself the Emperor's will incarnate. Even better, if the cult leaders break and run you can then persue them off world, possibly chasing them back to their dark masters.
The whole point is that it gives the players options, rather than relying on them to take the bait and get hooked into the story. If they ever slow down and become frustrated at their lack of progress do what Hollywood does and drop the plot on them. Maybe there's an assassination attempt on a party member's life? Perhaps they ump into their target by chance and get involved in a speeder chase amongst the huddled towers of the hive? The options are endless.
I think the sandbox method has also addressed a problem we had with our previous Dark Heresy sessions; the fact that the party felt like a glorified detective agency. A sandbox allows us to control the ebb and flo of the investigation and it feels lass like a static mystery that needs to be solved and more like a war of feint and counter feint as we try and prove our suspicions about our target.
In this case our target is the planetary governor who may or may not have been consorting with the powers of Chaos and from the way Dave has been cackling things could end up being very bad indeed.
Saturday, 27 June 2009
Of Sanboxes and Imperial Worlds
Recently Hair Dave and I have been talking about running a high level campaign in Dark Heresy, and Dave expressed an eagerness to avoid the events of the previous campaign. This is not to say the last campaign was poor by any means; there were some good characters there and some suitably memorable events, however it did seem at times that our band of Inquisitorial Acolytes were less bearers of the Emperor’s wroth and more paranormal detective agency.
The other difficulty would be to run a campaign with such powerful characters, especially since the rules were never intended to allow players to be Inquisitors. Inquisitors cannot be questioned by any agency; they carry a Rosette that allows them to get their way in any situation and combine the two worst boons in role-playing Excessive Wealth with Status. In short it would be very dull to play as there would be no challenge in getting what we wanted.
To this end some compromises needed to be made by myself. I agreed with Dave that I would operate my Inquisitor under Special Exemption, meaning that whilst I had all my status and power I would essentially be on the fringes of the Inquisition, operating as a rogue. As such I would be keen to avoid drawing attention to myself I would try and avoid using my assets as much as possible and make a covert investigation. This is the best kind of compromise as it doesn’t remove something from the character but gives me a reason to explore other avenues first rather than just flashing my ‘Fix-It’ badge; which would make things exceptionally dull for all involved.
We also agreed to a Sandbox style game, which I think Dark Heresy is actually quite suited to. Slap a few stat blocks for menials, guards and the like on some record cards, generate a few places with ‘gothic’ names (I hear of something skulking over by the Generatorum, let’s check it out!) that seem like interesting locales, then decide on a mission. The mission can be very vague, just decide who’s at the centre and what they’re doing and then work outwards; who do they need? Who would be involved with their plans? What materiel will be needed to complete their plans? Each one is a clue (or red herring) that slowly allows the characters to rein the plot in. Drop in some chase scenes and combat when you feel it’s appropriate or the investigation starts to sag and it should lead to an interesting campaign.
The reason I think Dark Heresy really works for this kind of game is that it owes a lot to Dan Abnett’s Eisenhorn and Ravenor Trilogies, which are full of interfering Inquisitors, dangerous Psykers and traitorous governors. Whilst you can include all of these elements in an event based game quite comfortably a sand box gives an impression that the locale you are in, be it an Imperial City a Ministorum Shrine or an alien world, is more of a living breathing entity that exists beyond the preview of the game. Certainly there are soft boundaries there, but you’ll hit them less often than with an event based game and they will be less obtrusive.
More and more I’m finding Sandboxes to be a preferable way to play role-playing games. Some people like detailed plots and a more cinematic play style with carefully planned scenes and set pieces, and I certainly won’t argue against that as a style of play. However a sandbox with a good GM can have all this and more, memorable NPCs can leap out of a random roll and a funny voice, interesting locations can just spring to mind as you’re playing and when you want an intense scene or an epic encounter atop a cable car in a hail storm you can have it because there’s no plan that says you can’t.
The other difficulty would be to run a campaign with such powerful characters, especially since the rules were never intended to allow players to be Inquisitors. Inquisitors cannot be questioned by any agency; they carry a Rosette that allows them to get their way in any situation and combine the two worst boons in role-playing Excessive Wealth with Status. In short it would be very dull to play as there would be no challenge in getting what we wanted.
To this end some compromises needed to be made by myself. I agreed with Dave that I would operate my Inquisitor under Special Exemption, meaning that whilst I had all my status and power I would essentially be on the fringes of the Inquisition, operating as a rogue. As such I would be keen to avoid drawing attention to myself I would try and avoid using my assets as much as possible and make a covert investigation. This is the best kind of compromise as it doesn’t remove something from the character but gives me a reason to explore other avenues first rather than just flashing my ‘Fix-It’ badge; which would make things exceptionally dull for all involved.
We also agreed to a Sandbox style game, which I think Dark Heresy is actually quite suited to. Slap a few stat blocks for menials, guards and the like on some record cards, generate a few places with ‘gothic’ names (I hear of something skulking over by the Generatorum, let’s check it out!) that seem like interesting locales, then decide on a mission. The mission can be very vague, just decide who’s at the centre and what they’re doing and then work outwards; who do they need? Who would be involved with their plans? What materiel will be needed to complete their plans? Each one is a clue (or red herring) that slowly allows the characters to rein the plot in. Drop in some chase scenes and combat when you feel it’s appropriate or the investigation starts to sag and it should lead to an interesting campaign.
The reason I think Dark Heresy really works for this kind of game is that it owes a lot to Dan Abnett’s Eisenhorn and Ravenor Trilogies, which are full of interfering Inquisitors, dangerous Psykers and traitorous governors. Whilst you can include all of these elements in an event based game quite comfortably a sand box gives an impression that the locale you are in, be it an Imperial City a Ministorum Shrine or an alien world, is more of a living breathing entity that exists beyond the preview of the game. Certainly there are soft boundaries there, but you’ll hit them less often than with an event based game and they will be less obtrusive.
More and more I’m finding Sandboxes to be a preferable way to play role-playing games. Some people like detailed plots and a more cinematic play style with carefully planned scenes and set pieces, and I certainly won’t argue against that as a style of play. However a sandbox with a good GM can have all this and more, memorable NPCs can leap out of a random roll and a funny voice, interesting locations can just spring to mind as you’re playing and when you want an intense scene or an epic encounter atop a cable car in a hail storm you can have it because there’s no plan that says you can’t.
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