Black Crusade (Extreme) Interest Check

[Jaded]

I bit of a preface here.  I am not hugely familiar with W40k, so this is partly a learning experience for me as well.  The last game in the W40k universe I tried to run failed miserably due to my own failings.  The last villain game I ran also died, so be forewarned.

I am looking to run this as Extreme, and would like players who can (at a minimum) and will post at least once every three days.

I am willing to run this as one or two groups, either combined or with Disciples and Marines being separate.  However I want the players to help come up with the goals and links for the characters, instead of me trying to force them all together (mostly because nothing I particularly like has come to mind for this purpose). 

The Chaos Space Marines will begin with their normal 500 XP, plus 4000 XP, 12 infamy, and 20 corruption.
The Disciples of Chaos will begin with their normal 1000 XP, plus 5000 XP, 20 infamy, and 25 corruption.

This means that the advanced options on the Tomes of Blood, Fate, Decay, and Excess are available, though if you choose them you will only have 400 XP remaining.

So is anyone interested and, if so, do you have any thoughts towards a goal/link for the characters?

[Muse]

Hm.... 

You know i love your games, Jaded, and I'm kind of in a mood to play a villain in one of yours. 

That and I rarely play anything realy high level in this  universe.

[HairyHeretic]

I'm interested. One of these days I'm going to manage to play my Night Lord  :P

[Prosak]

Any rules on factions? Im interested, but wouldnt wanna bring a Ork to a Ultramarine game. So to speak.

[ChaoticSky]

Black Crusade is a Chaos game, your options are Humans or Astartes, a follower of Khorne, Nurgle, Slaanesh, Tzeentch, Undivided, or a self-interested soul using chaos for their own ends without really buying into the religion of it. Unless the GM lets you bring in a xenos from RT or something, but they dont tend to play nice with chaos like humans do.


Also interested.

[ShadowFox89]

 Interested.

[deadmanshand]

Definitely interested.

[Jaded]

Does anyone have any thoughts on goals or characters? 

I had two concepts originally, but couldn't get them to a place I liked.  The first was that they had been tasked by... someone, to bring down an Exterminatus on a planet (to open up an opportunity to acquire something, or simply to weaken the local forces).  That would be a bit of a sandbox.  The other was that they had been hired/tasked/something to acquire several objects to build a map (the skull of an imperial saint, a navigator's blackened third eye (from one lost in the warp), a book written by a madwoman in the blood of rats, etc.  But I stumbled on why they would be doing it (my thought was to acquire the location of a lost fleet). 

I didn't want to go with the starting adventure in the main book.  I did think about stealing (and modifying) the Deathwatch starting mission, at least for the Chaos Marines, but that brought up the issue of who they were serving, and why, once again. 

So I guess the questions that arise are.  If you could play any concept, what would it be?  Given the concept, what would be that character's main goal?  Maybe we can find something to bring them all together there.

Any rules on factions? Im interested, but wouldnt wanna bring a Ork to a Ultramarine game. So to speak.

It would be limited to Chaos. 

[HairyHeretic]

I've been trying to play a Night Lord a couple of times, but unfortunately the games never seem to last that long. This is the characters background.



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Thought for the day: Blessed is the mind too small for doubt.

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Cogitator savants indicate 85.357% probability the following incidents are linked to, or directly caused by the same individual. Mode of operation, Secondary and Tertiary evidence indicates behavioral patterns match that of Traitor Astarte's designation Night Lords, probability 78.213%.

914M41: The poisoning of 87 Soroitas novices in the Abbey of the Dawn training facility.

918M41: The destruction of the main heat exchanger in Hive Tembro on Solomon. Casualties estimated at 8000 approximate.

921M41: The assassination of Cardinal Ardell, found flayed alive and left on the pulpit of his Cathedral on Salvar II

927M41: The loss of the entire crew of the vessel 'Pride of the Throne', belonging to the Rogue Trader Hmari Udd. It was found in orbit of Ntharis. Investigation teams recovered approximately 71% of the crew, or the remains thereof. Several salvation pods and small craft were missing, location unknown.

938M41 - 939M41: The 'Red Jack' serial killings on Port Maw. Estimates range from 57 to 148 direct deaths. Copycat killings and opportunistic murders made to look like the Red Jack killings account for another 412. Tertiary responses, including the intercene gang warfare are estimated at another 134. Administratum savants reported overall station efficiency down 0.013% as a result of these. Without the increased Arbites activity, degradation was forecast at 0.024%. Confirmation of the explosion that severely damaged the Sword class escort Lord Ventaris being linked to the same individual is at 25.644%

954M41: The raid of the Unlidded Eye Kabal on the Ministorum pilgrim fleet in the Redemption system, with the loss of 141,359 souls. The handfull of survivors on each ship confirm the presence of a Traitor Astartes. He deliberately culled them from the captives and left them behind as a living message.

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  "Show your enemy mercy and he shall one day seek vengeance upon you for every petty, imaginable slight. Mercy is therefore a weakness; a crime waiting to be born. Mercy I have long since expunged, both from myself and my Legion."

        — Attributed to Konrad Curze, The Night Haunter, Primarch of the Night Lords Legion

The Night Lord known as Draugr is a former member of the 3rd Claw Terror Squad within the 20th Chapter. He wears heavily modified Mark 6 plate, complete with the distinctive skull faced helm of a Terror Squad member, and bears a weapon which he uses almost to the exclusion of all others, a Stalker pattern legion bolter named 'Last Breath'. Rumour has it the name comes because once his sights are upon you, you have time for but one last breath before the end.

We were the monsters you wanted, the weapons you shaped us to be. We sacrificed all to be what you needed, and you dare .. you DARE .. censure us for doing that, for doing just what it was you wanted? We brought scores of worlds to compliance, and for every one we visited, for every one where they learned to fear the night, five, ten, twenty would surrender for fear they would be next.

We are the ones betrayed. That bitch assassin was allowed .. allowed, not able .. to take our father. To prove the truth of his words. Well, listen to the truth of my words. I will burn one world in the name of each of my brothers, and when the ashes of those worlds burn cold, my fathers words will be all that remains.

He has sworn an oath of vengeance, an eternal oath of moment, to make the Imperium pay for all it has done. He doesn't particularly care how he does it. He's as happy to cause a world to revolt in civil war as he is to assassinate the PDF high command just prior to an invasion by Orks or Dark Eldar, or drop an asteroid onto the worlds capital. He knows he won't be able to wreak his vengeance alone, but there are plenty of tools he can use along the way.

Night Lord Terror Squads

Terror Squads were specialist squads of Space Marines utilised exclusively by the Night Lords Legion during the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy in the late 30th and early 31st Millennia. No Legion of the Legiones Astartes ever elevated the use of fear itself as a weapon to the extent that the Night Lords did. Through their fearful and bloody acts entire star systems were cowed into submission, often occasioning far less ultimate loss of life than a conventional war might have brought. The midnight and storm-clad VIII Legion served also as dark judges and executioners; they enacted the Emperor's retribution on Planetary Governors, recidivist cults and rebels alike, where their crimes proved severe enough to have called down the Imperium's wrath so utterly upon them.

When such punishments were intended to be at their most visceral and personal, the Terror Squads of the VIII Legion were unleashed. Head hunters and torturers, flayers and mutilators; within the ranks of the Terror Squads were found both the most coldly dispassionate and darkly imaginative of the Night Lords brethren, and where once the terrifying arts of murder and mayhem they perpetrated were a coldly calculated means to an end, as the decades of the Great Crusade progressed, the Terror Squads became a sink-hole for the most unstable and unsubtle elements within their Legion, many within them standing under their own sentences of death -- commuted so long as they proved useful to their macabre master, the Night Haunter himself.

Last Breath

Stalker pattern bolter 'Last Breath'
Merciless (Vicious) Stalker pattern Legion Bolter - Legacy of Slaughter
Class: Basic
Range: 200
RoF: S
Dmg: 2d10+5 X
Pen: 5
Clip: 24
Rld: Full
Special: Accurate, Tearing
Wt: 17

[Beorning]

I'm interested, too, although I'm not sure I'd be able to create a character willing to cause planetary destruction and kill innocents...  Would that be a problem? :-)

[HairyHeretic]

If he had an issue with the wholesale evilness, why would he be hanging around with this lot in the first place? :)

[frost rose]

Any rules on factions? Im interested, but wouldnt wanna bring a Ork to a Ultramarine game. So to speak.

You, sir, are underestimating the Orkstartes of the Deffwotch.

And definitely interested. I always like villain games, and this looks fun. I'll work up a character concept once I get a free little while.

[Beorning]

If he had an issue with the wholesale evilness, why would he be hanging around with this lot in the first place? :)

Well, I thought that Chaos worshippers don't need to be evil..?

[HairyHeretic]

They don't have to be, no, but chaos tends to corrupt over time, and regardless of how good your intentions might be, sooner or later ...

So what kind of non evil character did you have in mind?

[Beorning]

Well, I have this idea in mind of a woman that belongs to some military unit... from Imperial Guard, maybe? Her unit gets into trouble on a mission - they get sick, poisoned or something like that. The rest of her unit dies - and in her desperation, she calls upon Nurgle. And Nurgle saves her. So, with her whole unit dead and her faith shaken, she starts travelling the galaxy to make sense of what has happened. And as she does, she gets drawn more and more to Chaos...

She'd a worshipper of Chaos with noble intentions. So, she wouldn't really be into killing innocents... not initially, at least. What becomes of her, is another matter, of course...

[HairyHeretic]

So she'd probably be wanting to spread her newfound faith in Nurgle to others then .. the Emperor couldn't save us, but GrandFather Nurgle did kinda thing?

[ShadowFox89]

 Well, I was planning on a Guardsman but one more dedicated to Tzeentch. Former member of the Cadians, is in the middle of a mission when she starts getting searing headaches... A Thousand Sun finds her, turns her into his pet unbound psyker, and she's off to murder.

[Muse]

  I don't have nearly as much detail as those more experienced with this setting, but my idea was basically a lecherous corrupted space marine. 

[HairyHeretic]

Probably a Noise Marine, or at least one of the Emperors Children. Or maybe a Word Bearer, if you wanted to do daemon summoning.

[frost rose]

So, I've thought about this more, and on further reflection I am definitely in if things get going (and, y'know, things have room and all) as I have been utterly struck with character concept. Basically there were some subtle/barely there themes of transhumanism to Tzeentch in the Horus Heresy novels (or so I'm told, as I haven't actually read them I admit) which my discussions between me and my girlfriend have expanded a lot while talking about 40K, so now I've been sketching out in my mind a self-improvement  oriented former magos. I would undoubtedly be building suboptimally, as I'm looking over all the abilities and I think I'm going to end up fairly scattered and having to dip into a fair bit.

But when you have a clear character concept mechanics have to take backseat, I tend to think. And I can always hide behind the space marines and be what is admittedly a pretty good skill monkey.

[ChaoticSky]

So, I've thought about this more, and on further reflection I am definitely in if things get going (and, y'know, things have room and all) as I have been utterly struck with character concept. Basically there were some subtle/barely there themes of transhumanism to Tzeentch in the Horus Heresy novels (or so I'm told, as I haven't actually read them I admit) which my discussions between me and my girlfriend have expanded a lot while talking about 40K, so now I've been sketching out in my mind a self-improvement  oriented former magos. I would undoubtedly be building suboptimally, as I'm looking over all the abilities and I think I'm going to end up fairly scattered and having to dip into a fair bit.

But when you have a clear character concept mechanics have to take backseat, I tend to think. And I can always hide behind the space marines and be what is admittedly a pretty good skill monkey.

I wouldnt worry about it, you seem to be fine conceptually. At a guess from the terms your using, i think you might be used to DnD/PF type stuff? 40k is alittle different, 'Optimal' isnt really possible without extreme cheese and trying is more likely to get you slapped down than anything. Its also not combat focused in the way DnD is unless the GM decides to make it so, normally there is a great and mighty demand for basically every skill in the game (especially since BC cut out all the useless ones) and a character who is oriented towards being a multitool over a combat monkey is both perfectly valid and should be able to contribute a great deal. If your completely useless in a fight, just pick up some Minion talents (the supporting talents for that are mostly Slanneshi- or Un- aligned, so they are Allied to you for exp costs) and let your minions fight for you.  ;D

Transhumanism its self is pretty much par-the-course for members of the Mechanicus, so you might want to consider what exactly drove a wedge between them and their former colleges enough to send them into the warm embrace of Chaos (unless of course they leaped into said embrace face first ;) ) And I would point you to the Idolitrex Magos from Tome Of Fate, they are basically psyker-magos and if you fluff your character differently (ie, not from Forge Polix) I think it would make a excellent foundation for your character.

Anywho, advice and reassurance deployed!

[Jaded]

Muse, HairyHeretic, Prosak?, Darkling, ShadowFox89, deadmandshand, Beorning, frost rose.

I think that is everyone who has expressed interest so far.  Apologies if I missed you.

I don't think Chaos has to be evil, all the Chaos Gods have dual natures IIRC, but the path to hell is paved with good intentions and all that. 

Night Lord, Imperial Guard Noble Nurgle, Imperial Guard Unbound Psyker, Lecherous Space Marine, Tzeentch Magos.  I believe are the concepts suggested yet.

They all sound interesting so far.  Any thoughts on a goal or common theme that could be used to bring them together?

[ChaoticSky]

Slanneshi DJ for me, sonic ranged weapony/mass social focus. Silence Offends Slaanesh!

And at a thought... The lechmarine is a former NL, the two IG are from the same regiment, and my character got it into her head that the tzeentchian magos could make her a sick new sound system and had been following the poor sod ever since like a particularly determined lamprey. The whole is impossible to figure until we know more about each character though and what motivates them.... though im getting the sensation that we might all like to stick one to the Imperium who didnt appreciate our dedication.

[frost rose]

I wouldnt worry about it, you seem to be fine conceptually. At a guess from the terms your using, i think you might be used to DnD/PF type stuff? 40k is alittle different, 'Optimal' isnt really possible without extreme cheese and trying is more likely to get you slapped down than anything. Its also not combat focused in the way DnD is unless the GM decides to make it so, normally there is a great and mighty demand for basically every skill in the game (especially since BC cut out all the useless ones) and a character who is oriented towards being a multitool over a combat monkey is both perfectly valid and should be able to contribute a great deal. If your completely useless in a fight, just pick up some Minion talents (the supporting talents for that are mostly Slanneshi- or Un- aligned, so they are Allied to you for exp costs) and let your minions fight for you.  ;D

Actually, the core of my RPing experience, at least lately, has been Legends of the Wulin and FATE — the vast majority of the time I'm having fun playing magic tea party of in narrativist land. I am however rather deeply embedded in the RPG, um, analysis and design community? I'm actually a statistician professionally, and doing numbers on RPGs is my hobby. Ergo my immediate thinking about optimality and such. I'm always somewhat concerned, as I hate to be a drag on a party, although at least in the case of things online I tend to find they're often run a lot more loosely and with a lot more emphasis on the RP half, so it's rarely as much of an issue. I just want to be up front, especially since I expect I'll be nicking bits and pieces from all over regardless of strict efficiency and things like that. I will be awesome good at a couple things, and I will be super fluffy (char description/background incoming! Once I get a moment to do it, anyhow...) but that requires sacrificing things.

Maybe. That's a fair bit of experience, so I might end up surprising myself, and anyhow we have space marines for combat monsters.

Oh, thinking of chargen, how are we doing stats? Point buy, or GM rolls, or what?

Transhumanism its self is pretty much par-the-course for members of the Mechanicus, so you might want to consider what exactly drove a wedge between them and their former colleges enough to send them into the warm embrace of Chaos (unless of course they leaped into said embrace face first ;) ) And I would point you to the Idolitrex Magos from Tome Of Fate, they are basically psyker-magos and if you fluff your character differently (ie, not from Forge Polix) I think it would make a excellent foundation for your character.

Anywho, advice and reassurance deployed!

I will look into it! I actually have never read the Tome of Fate, but I do have access, since I'm actually just nicking a friend's collection and he has the entire set.

And it's true it's pretty hard to go too far in that regard, seeing how much heresy the techpriests manage to get away with already. As a two line summary I'm imagining it started with lots of archeo- and xenotech research in pursuit of human perfection, and got so bad that even Mars couldn't ignore it. Which I promise will be elabourated and made not awful when I actually give a full character history!

...and my character got it into her head that the tzeentchian magos could make her a sick new sound system and had been following the poor sod ever since like a particularly determined lamprey.

All the this. That is truly the best backstory for a relationship between characters.

[deadmanshand]

It's been such a long week that I haven't been able to give a character much thought. My original plan had been to bring over my psyker Nuriel from the other Black Crusade game that died shortly into play but I see at least two other former Imperial Guard and I'm now going to be playing an Astropath in a Rogue Trader game. So maybe something different. So while I do not yet have a solid character idea - something I hope to rectify on the morrow - I do have a character shortlist as it were.

It'll probably come down to one of these three:

A Fleshshaper of Melancholia
A Writhing World Sorcerer King
A Plaguemeister

I do have a question. Are Legacy Weapons cool to use?

[Muse]

Darkling, I'm so out of it, you'll have to tell me which chapter NL is.

Of course, I'm very good with exalted but don't get abreviations there, eithe.r

[frost rose]

Darkling, I'm so out of it, you'll have to tell me which chapter NL is.

Of course, I'm very good with exalted but don't get abreviations there, eithe.r

I imagine she meant the Night Lords, what with HairyHeretic's character concept and all.

[Ironwolf85]

wooo I check back in and I find this.
I'm planning an aspiring Chaos Bezerker named Ceno Kard. Since this is Elliquiy I'm guessing full on pervy stuff is where we are going here?

Keeping an eye on this one  ;D

[HairyHeretic]

I imagine she meant the Night Lords, what with HairyHeretic's character concept and all.

Yep, but I'm not sure that would be a good idea.

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Night_Lords

While most certainly Chaos Space Marines, the Night Lords scorn all forms of faith and respect only temporal and material power; indeed, many of them consider themselves free of the taint of Chaos and despise those they deem to be so corrupted

A former Night Lord who is now a Noise Marine would get little more than contempt out of Draugr. You could make them Black Legion, or Emperors Children, and have the two work together previously.

[ChaoticSky]

Yep, but I'm not sure that would be a good idea.

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Night_Lords

While most certainly Chaos Space Marines, the Night Lords scorn all forms of faith and respect only temporal and material power; indeed, many of them consider themselves free of the taint of Chaos and despise those they deem to be so corrupted

A former Night Lord who is now a Noise Marine would get little more than contempt out of Draugr. You could make them Black Legion, or Emperors Children, and have the two work together previously.

Didnt say they were a noise marine, just a lech, maybe he got alittle too interested tormenting the ladies as time went on, eventually fell to slaanesh and had to leave the legion because people who serve the Gods tend to get snubbed like hell in the NLs.

and i have to point out the GM didnt say they had to be nice connections!  ;D

[HairyHeretic]

Didnt say they were a noise marine, just a lech,

Well, you did say Slaaneshi DJ, sonic ranged weaponry, so you can see why I would think Noise Marine.

maybe he got alittle too interested tormenting the ladies as time went on, eventually fell to slaanesh and had to leave the legion because people who serve the Gods tend to get snubbed like hell in the NLs.

Another angle you can play up there to lead to their fall to Slaanesh is the ultra low frequency sound waves that cause feelings of fear, dread and so on in humans. Someone experimenting with that stuff, that could easily lead on going Slaaneshi.

If you also coupled that with a gift/mutation that let you sense their fear (as with one character in the Night Lords books) ...

and i have to point out the GM didnt say they had to be nice connections!  ;D

Night Lords aren't exactly big on the whole bonds of brotherhood thing at the best of times :P

[ChaoticSky]

Im not the lechmarine o.o, im playing a human slan DJ :P

The other marine is someone else.

*edit
Muse is playing a lecherous space marine, not a noise marine, i merely suggested they be a former NL as a way to link you two together. My entirely separate (and entirely human) character is a DJ with a sonic fetish.

[HairyHeretic]

Ah, my bad then. Sorry for the confusion.

[Muse]

*nods* :)  Yep, I'm the lechmarine.  : ) Predictable enough for me, but it's fun.  (And I usually play the other side of that equation in Jaded's games.) 

Now, where did I put my Black Crusade book, and how many that I don't yet have am i going to need to go through to figure out what everyone is talking about?  ^_^;; 

[Ironwolf85]

Ceno is going to be a hand to hand combat type. Other than greed and devotion to daddy khorne not sure what else.

[ShadowFox89]

 Sniper psyker for me.

[deadmanshand]

I must say that I am really begin to like the concept of a medic of the Departmento Munitorum slowly ground down and twisted by failures in the face of Nurgle's work. A growing obsession with disease and what makes people capable of surviving them. Add in a haunting failure, a hint of madness (I like hallucinations of the haunting failure), and you get a fair Plaguemeister. Plus I am amused by the concept of playing the healer in an evil campaign.

[ChaoticSky]

I must say that I am really begin to like the concept of a medic of the Departmento Munitorum slowly ground down and twisted by failures in the face of Nurgle's work. A growing obsession with disease and what makes people capable of surviving them. Add in a haunting failure, a hint of madness (I like hallucinations of the haunting failure), and you get a fair Plaguemeister. Plus I am amused by the concept of playing the healer in an evil campaign.

Its pretty fun, i usually go the psyker>nurgle>biomancy, or biomagos>medic>nurgle route and heal that way, but its great fun when people RP with you.

This will stop the pain *pokes with a needle*
.....Or was that my sample of Burnscor Pox?
Oh well, i guess well find out in two to three weeks  O:)

[deadmanshand]

I thought about the psyker route but I'm already playing a psyker in a different game. The heretek route was available but I've never been able to get behind a tech based character. Cybernetics and machines just don't work for me. But mad doctor? That's something I can work with.

[frost rose]

I must say that I am really begin to like the concept of a medic of the Departmento Munitorum slowly ground down and twisted by failures in the face of Nurgle's work. A growing obsession with disease and what makes people capable of surviving them. Add in a haunting failure, a hint of madness (I like hallucinations of the haunting failure), and you get a fair Plaguemeister. Plus I am amused by the concept of playing the healer in an evil campaign.

Maaan, the medicae skill is currently my bane. I've been char building because that's the kind of thing I do for fun, and I'm aiming to be sitting on huge piles of medicae as part of the entire surgical modification themes going on... as a follower of Tzeentch, so it's an opposing skill. I need to go find a corner to cry in now as I try to figure out how to not horribly overspend.

[ChaoticSky]

Wellll..... One could make the case that you dont need much Medicae if you dont want it, after all, why fix a broken arm when you can lop it off and replace it with a nice (better!) machine one?

If you do want it, pick it up before you become Aligned, you should beable to get a rank or two of it without too much trouble

[frost rose]

Wellll..... One could make the case that you dont need much Medicae if you dont want it, after all, why fix a broken arm when you can lop it off and replace it with a nice (better!) machine one?

If you do want it, pick it up before you become Aligned, you should beable to get a rank or two of it without too much trouble

But but but I want my bioengineering and mutable flesh! And that's more or less what I'm doing. Since we're a fair bit of experience in I'm trying to work out exactly what order things should be bought, seeing as *coughs* it's going to be stupidly expensive as is, for how far in I'm going to be buying, I think.

Now just to write up concept properly. Xmas got in my way and all.

[Jaded]

Oh, thinking of chargen, how are we doing stats? Point buy, or GM rolls, or what?

Allocation/Point buy (page 52)

Are Legacy Weapons cool to use?

Legacy weapons are fine. 

I'm planning an aspiring Chaos Bezerker named Ceno Kard. Since this is Elliquiy I'm guessing full on pervy stuff is where we are going here?

I'd like to include at least some adult content, the exact amount will be up to the players though.

and i have to point out the GM didnt say they had to be nice connections!

The main thing is that everyone should be willing to work together, and have a reason to.


Please continue character discussion here: https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=220210.0