Black Crusade (Extreme) Interest Check

Started by Jaded, December 21, 2014, 01:34:27 AM

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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.
A link for all of us who ever had a shouting match with our muse: http://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html

How to set this Muse ablaze (O/Os)

When the little angel won't appear no matter how many plum blossoms you swirl:  https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=135346.msg16474321#msg16474321 (Major update 5/10/2023)

HairyHeretic

I'm interested. One of these days I'm going to manage to play my Night Lord  :P
Hairys Likes, Dislikes, Games n Stuff

Cattle die, kinsmen die
You too one day shall die
I know a thing that will never die
Fair fame of one who has earned it.

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

Call me Shadow
My A/A


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.

Quote from: Prosak on December 21, 2014, 06:10:37 AM
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.



---Connection enabled---

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

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Accessing case files.

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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


Hairys Likes, Dislikes, Games n Stuff

Cattle die, kinsmen die
You too one day shall die
I know a thing that will never die
Fair fame of one who has earned it.

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? :)
Hairys Likes, Dislikes, Games n Stuff

Cattle die, kinsmen die
You too one day shall die
I know a thing that will never die
Fair fame of one who has earned it.

frost rose

Quote from: Prosak on December 21, 2014, 06:10:37 AM
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.
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It's gone now.

Beorning

Quote from: HairyHeretic on December 23, 2014, 03:12:20 PM
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?
Hairys Likes, Dislikes, Games n Stuff

Cattle die, kinsmen die
You too one day shall die
I know a thing that will never die
Fair fame of one who has earned it.

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?
Hairys Likes, Dislikes, Games n Stuff

Cattle die, kinsmen die
You too one day shall die
I know a thing that will never die
Fair fame of one who has earned it.

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.
Call me Shadow
My A/A

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. 
A link for all of us who ever had a shouting match with our muse: http://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html

How to set this Muse ablaze (O/Os)

When the little angel won't appear no matter how many plum blossoms you swirl:  https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=135346.msg16474321#msg16474321 (Major update 5/10/2023)

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.
Hairys Likes, Dislikes, Games n Stuff

Cattle die, kinsmen die
You too one day shall die
I know a thing that will never die
Fair fame of one who has earned it.

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.
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ChaoticSky

Quote from: frost rose on December 24, 2014, 08:23:01 PM
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

#23
Quote from: Darkling on December 24, 2014, 10:48:11 PM
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?

Quote from: DarklingTranshumanism 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!

Quote...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.
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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?