[Game Full] Dark Hersey

[TheKhan]

I've got nothing solid yet, but I was wondering if there is anyone out there interested in a game using Dark Heresy? I know 40k isn't everyone's cup of tea, and it seems from my searches to have had a string of bad luck in E, but I thought I'd put it out there if anyone is game.

[Muse]

  *Pounce* 

  I'm game.  I never understood why this setting only showed up freeform in the past year or so.  They have a system that is both solid and simple. 

[TheKhan]

  *Pounce* 

  I'm game.  I never understood why this setting only showed up freeform in the past year or so.  They have a system that is both solid and simple.

That's what I think too. If more people are interested I may run something since I think there are a lot of interesting stories that can be told. If anyone's on the fence, here's something to consider. While 40k is darkity, dark, dark, I do have tendency to make it circle back on itself and apply humor to the setting,  just because it is so absurd. I'm also considerably more optimistic than most 40kers, even if you have to work for it. So if you're concerned Dark Heresy being too dark... Don't be.

That said,  Muse go get Sweetwater invovled in the conversation before I send a pit fiend to start trying to eat you all for a change of pace. :P

[HairyHeretic]

I'd love to see a 40k system game actually stay the course here. They've all seemed to have a string of bad luck.

[Aybara]

I'd be interested. Have you any designs towards things like starting level, would the Acolytes know what Ordo they work for and would the game be designed towards radicals or puritans? Oh and will it be in the default Calixis Sector... a wonderful little dire place that has consumed several hours of my time before or somewhere else like Jericho Reach or something home brew.

[Aoife]

I'm interested in either playing or running the game.  I've run a couple multi-year campaigns in the past, one based on the Ordo Hereticus (which ended up fighting for the survival of an entire planet and the most amazing RP experience ever), and one based on the Ordo Malleus (which never actually fought any demons...).

If I ran one now, we'd have to decide what people were interested in playing.  I write shoestring scripts and improvise along the way to what players do.

If I'm playing, dibs on an Assassin.

[TheKhan]

I'd be interested. Have you any designs towards things like starting level, would the Acolytes know what Ordo they work for and would the game be designed towards radicals or puritans? Oh and will it be in the default Calixis Sector... a wonderful little dire place that has consumed several hours of my time before or somewhere else like Jericho Reach or something home brew.

1) I would start at first rank.

2) I've actually got something a little different. The acolytes would have been recruited by a relatively small conclave of Inquisitors who basically share fresh acolytes to see who they fit with best to make everyone more effective in their goals. So they could end up one mission working for a radical Ordo Xenos and the next for a puritan Ordo Heraticus. I can also us this to allow you guys to come up your concepts for characters freely and have some input into the creation of your Inquisitor. 

3) Prepare for more PCs to be nommed by Calixis.

Also, on a side note, I have a couple of home made Ogryn Bone'ead characters if anyone's interested. My personal favorites being the Cleric who uses Commissars as the example of a perfect human ("Drive me closer, I want to hit them with my sword!") and the experimental Bone'ead Skitarii who insists he's a genuine tech-priest and can't be convinced otherwise by anyone.

[Muse]

Does that mean you're onyrested in buiilds?

[Cold Heritage]

I would like to try. Probably as a Guardsman.

I forget, does Dark Heresy do point buy, or are we at the mercy of Tzeentch the dice-roller Tzeentch?

[TheKhan]

Tzeentch  ;D

Although we can do point buy if people want. Tell you what, let me take the next day or two to figure out a general plot and how I want character presented. It looks like people are interested, so this should be good.

[TheKhan]

You have been chosen to serve one of the most esoteric of orders of the Calixian Sector, the Wandering Conclave. Gathered by a ship bearing the =I= of the Inquisition, your life is no longer what it was. Months of grueling tests, scenarios and deadly trials have brought you to the point that millions aboard your vessel failed to reach; you have the attention of the shadow and mysterious cabal of Inquisitors who plucked you from the stars to serve as their tools. And serve you will.

In the grim darkness of the 41st Millennium, there is only war.

Let’s go point buy instead of using the Random Number God-Emperor. You have 100 points for your nine characteristics and no more than 20 points can go into any one stat. For your baseline, use the regular homeworld baselines. We’ll start from first rank. I’m thinking about five people?

Character Sheet

Character Name:
Home World:
Career Path:
Rank Path:

Gender:
Build:
Height:
Weight:
Skin color:
Hair color:
Eye color:
Age:

Quirks:
Sexuality:
Partner Preferences:
Personality:
Imperial Divination:
Ordo of Interest:

Characteristic Scores:
Wounds and Fate Points:
Insanity and Corruption:
Skills and Talents:
Equipment:
Psychic Discipline and rank (Psyker only):

What will you sacrifice?
What do you desire?
What do you hate?

I’d also like you do include the following three pieces of information.

Three rumors you’ve heard about an Inquisitor(s) of the Wandering Conclave.
-All three can be for one Inquisitor, they can each be a different Inquisitor or they can apply to many members of the Conclave at once.

Two possible traits you’d like to see in the Inquisitor who chooses you as Proven Acolytes.
- I will incorporate one of the two from each person into the Inquisitor that pick you. Please don’t list one of the three major Ordos, however.

One unsolved case or mystery that ties into the character’s history that they insist on pursuing.
- Pretty straight forwards, this one is mostly plot hook.

[Cold Heritage]

Do you think it would be okay for me to play even though I've never read anything about the Calixian Sector?

[TheKhan]

Yeah, you'll be fine. Although there is pretty substantial section in the core rulebook on Calixia.

[Aybara]

I had been quite tempted by a guardsman but Cold Heritage has voiced an interest. I'm going to consider a few bits and pieces but I'm considering a tech priest of some kind.

Edit: Can we sell off any of our classes starting gear? I'm hoping to maybe sell the tech priests Las Carbine and Flak vest to get a Flak Coat to have more protection for example. I'm also considering the Cyber Mastiff alternate rank for Tech Priests in the book of judgement.

[TheKhan]

I had been quite tempted by a guardsman but Cold Heritage has voiced an interest. I'm going to consider a few bits and pieces but I'm considering a tech priest of some kind.

Edit: Can we sell off any of our classes starting gear? I'm hoping to maybe sell the tech priests Las Carbine and Flak vest to get a Flak Coat to have more protection for example. I'm also considering the Cyber Mastiff alternate rank for Tech Priests in the book of judgement.

Sure and sure.

[Aoife]

Caution: Wall of text after the spoiler break.  I'm trying something very different with this character, as my past experiences have me playing either a Psyker or a Sister. This character is really a point and click type character, with the vast majority of actual play in non-combat situations directly related to roleplay.

Another thing I haven't much played around with is the idea of a truly 'damaged' character.  So new things all around.

Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide

Character Name: Lucia Fel
Home World: Scintilla (Schola Progenium)
Career Path: Assassin (Sell-Steel)
Rank Path:

Imperial Divination: The gun is mightier than the sword.
Ordo of Interest: Hereticus

Characteristic Scores:

WS: 28
BS: 51
S: 33
T: 33
Ag: 43
Int: 33
Per: 33
WP: 33
Fel: 28

Wounds: 13
Fate Points: 2
IP: 0
CP: 0
Talents:

Basic Weapon Training (Las, SP)
Heavy Weapon Training (SP)
Melee Weapon Training (Primitive)
Pistol Training (Las, SP)
Thrown Weapon Training
Unremarkable

Skills:

Awareness (Per) +0
Concealment (Ag) +0
Dodge (Ag) +10
Literacy (Int) +0
Speak Language (High Gothic) (Int) +0
Speak Language (Low Gothic) (Int) +10

(Count as basic Skills)

Common Lore (Administratum) (Int)
Common Lore (Ecclesiarchy) (Int)
Common Lore (Imperial Creed) (Int)
Common Lore (Imperium) (Int)
Common Lore (War) (Int)
Scholastic Lore (Philosophy) (Int)

Traits:

Sheltered Upbringing: Take a –10 penalty on all Charm, Command, Deceive and Scrutiny Tests when dealing with the worst of examples of humanity (cultists, traitors, narco-addicts, gutter scum, mutants and the like).

Tempered Will: Whenever you would attempt a Very Hard (–30) Willpower Test, you only take a –20 penalty for your Characteristic instead of the normal –30.

Institutionalisation: The Acolyte has been indoctrinated into the belief that the Holy Ordos are infallable (after all, she was innocent, and his prison branding proves it) The Acolyte is immune to any attempts to Charm, Command, Deceive, or Intimidate him into acting against his Inquisitorial masters If he wishes to act against his own cell or the Inquisition he must succeed in a Very Hard(-30) Willpower Test.

Against the Odds: The character loses one Fate Point

Special Circumstances: The Acolyte gains +3 to every Characteristic and +1 Wound

Equipment:

Good-Quality Autogun (3 reloads)
Rebreather
Micro-Bead
Black Bodyglove

Advances: (400 xp)

Hive Gang Member (200 xp)
Proven Innocent (100 xp)
BS Simple Advance (100 xp)

Gender: Female
Build: Slight
Height: 6'2"
Weight: 135 (160 when recovered)
Skin color: Tan
Hair color: Brown
Eye color: Hazel
Age: 23


Quirks:

Abstains from any intoxicants.
Has a habit of speaking in long, drawn out sentences.

Sexuality:

Convenience (bi-sexual) - Not a primary drive

Partner Preferences:

Clean, Alive, Physically Intact (augments give her an uncomfortable feeling)

Personality:

Lucia, named after the Saint, is a member of the long and extensive Fel family - a noble branch with a long history of turning out notable service members for the Imperial Navy.  A Fel Admiral has, for the last two thousand years, been tasked with the supervision of the Scintillan home fleet, and this responsibility has directly colored the family's impressions of Imperial society. Militant and staunchly professional, all Fel children are referred directly to the Schola, rather than rely on private tutors.  Their trust in Imperial institutions, according to the family thought process, can only be up-kept if they show the same level of trust themselves. The children, once fostered in the Imperial Schola, and properly educated in the divine majesty of the Imperium of Man, are allowed to rejoin their families and begin serving with distinction in a Naval officer's role.  Advancement is based strictly on merit, and it is with some degree of pride that Fel officers hold many of the important fleet positions in the Calixis Sector.

However, through an entirely mysterious chain of events, the Fel family has managed to disappear from all records seemingly overnight. This had the cumulative effect of nearly every family member being directly tried as an impostor living under an assumed name, with much of the Scintillan fleet thrown into disarray at the news. Given the broad reach of the Administratum, it was assumed that no error could have been made, and the Fel family was, relatively quietly, allowed to disappear from the history books with barely a whimper.  Their family estates were seized by the Scintillan government, and the once proud family can now be found among the very masses they once protected.

Lucia was born at the height of the Fel power base, and was in her last few months of her Schola education when the erasure happened.  Schola officials were at first shocked, then highly suspicious of how such an event came to pass.  Believing that there had been at least some error, she was allowed to finish her courses - albeit she never formally graduated as she had no official person-hood to which a certification could be made out to.  Quietly returning to her family, she turned to self-destructive behavior which was bound to end poorly - in this case a back alley knife fight where only the barest luck and a discredited former surgeon were able to keep her alive.

Seeing how this chain of events was getting her nowhere, and having nearly died, something in Lucia's personality shifted, and she found new purpose in investigating the erasure itself.  She began diligently training in all manners of personal protection, receiving tuition not from formal tutors of the upper hives, but from the gunslingers, thugs, bounty hunters, and cut-throats of the under hive.  Their tutelage has made her much more capable of enacting the revenge she envisions when she finds the target of her obsession.  During this training period, she began to take on odd jobs for former contacts - quietly dispatching a merchant, intimidating a junior officer, and less savory activities.  This has provided her with a funding pool with which she has equip herself in poor (if well-maintained) equipment. this was bound to hit a snag eventually however, and her attempted assassination of an Interrogator masquerading as a minor Administratum clerk nearly proved to be her end.

Rather than abruptly ending her career for good, the Interrogator instead ran her files, turning up nothing.  Astonished, he contacted his Inquisitor, who requested Lucia be extradited to Inquisitorial purview. Under scrutiny and the ministrations of the Inquisition, she revealed the full details of her life history.  Seeing the potential use of a nameless Assassin, the Inquisitor offered her a classic carrot and stick example.  Serve the Inquisition, and it's resources will, when possible, be put to unraveling the plot against the Fel's. Refuse, and she would be executed for assaulting a member of the Holy Ordos.

With her new purpose in mind, Lucia had taken to working for her biggest possible benefactor.

Lucia is a highly driven individual, and deeply unstable on an emotional level.  Her defensive nature is one of someone who has grown up in high circumstances, and was subsequently forced into the lowest levels of society.  Quick to shift blame or otherwise defer onto another entity, she is finding it hard to keep up with the heavy duties expected of an Inquisitorial Acolyte.  Through the prickly and damaged shell is a young woman who does not fundamentally understand what has happened, and this constitutes a form of shock that is only now beginning to wane.  Nonetheless, she is staunchly loyal to those important to her, as her abrupt cessation of all contacts has broken off all former friendships.  She uses sex as an emotional hook to keep people close to her, and is deeply affected by minor slights or instances where individuals could be seen as 'pulling away'.

She is slightly emaciated, with a less than healthy constitution and a sickly figure, the results of unclean water, a lack of proper nutrition, and the ministrations of the Inquisition itself all having done their part to waste away her body. The return of proper nutrients has done her well, putting on a bit of weight and no longer at risk of abject starvation. She is a strikingly tall woman, who once may have been considered pretty before her life went through its string of hardships.  Now, a number of scars and gang tattoos mark her skin, tokens of fights, sexual assault, and identity branding in the lower hives.


What will you sacrifice?

Depending on the circumstances, anyone or anything. The lives of the few matter not before the lives of the many.

What do you desire?

-Resolution regarding her family. By extension, a place back in Imperial society, rather than being forced to live on scraps and her own meager earnings.

What do you hate?

Being in debt to someone or something.
Being powerless.
Lho-stick smoke.


Three rumors you’ve heard about an Inquisitor(s) of the Wandering Conclave.

-Inquisitor Gorm is both ancient and deeply unsettling.  Hushed rumors say he is a member of a faction secret even within the Inquisition.

-Inquisitor Valiant is deeply, some say insanely, pious.  Her drive to eradicate the xeno, witch, and heretic is nigh inhuman.

-Inquisitor Ravel is considered to be lazy and slovenly, and her hedonism knows no bounds.  How their presence was deemed necessary on the Conclave is a matter of great dispute.

Two possible traits you’d like to see in the Inquisitor who chooses you as Proven Acolytes.

- Staunchly Puritan, tolerating no deviancy or Radicalism of any sort, and hellbent on rooting it out.

-Quietly, but pervasively Radical. Their operating methods, if fully known, would have them branded a heretic and a traitor - as well as any of their trusted allies.

One unsolved case or mystery that ties into the character’s history that they insist on pursuing.

- Her family name has disappeared from all Imperial records, their generations long name broken off suddenly and with no clue as to the motivation. While this makes her an ideal agent (according to the Imperium she does not exist), her assets and any connections to Imperial society have been abruptly cut off. Her Inquisitor has pledged the restoration of her family name as payment for her services.

[TheKhan]

Awesome, looks great! :)

[Aoife]

Cool!

As a general thing, how familiar are you with DH Khan, and would you like some help running it?  I've run DH games for about three years now, including one group that ran for nearly the whole time period. I'm pretty savvy on the whole system, and am more than willing :)

[TheKhan]

Cool!

As a general thing, how familiar are you with DH Khan, and would you like some help running it?  I've run DH games for about three years now, including one group that ran for nearly the whole time period. I'm pretty savvy on the whole system, and am more than willing :)

Absolutely! I'm okay with, not as much as I'd like. Any help or advice is certainly appreciated as I don't have every in and out, but it should go smoothly.

Also as an FYI, I'm going to look at the first five people with appropriate character sheets for this game, so if you want in, toss your sheet up there so I Know.

[Cold Heritage]

What book is Special Circumstances in?  :o

[Aoife]

It's the Book of Judgement "Proven Innocent" Background Package.

Don't get fooled by the stat bumps, it's a pretty loaded package.  It comes along with both a lost Fate Point (I got lucky and rolled up 3, so it wasn't so bad), and this:

Institutionalisation: The Acolyte has been indoctrinated into the belief that the Holy Ordos are infallable (after all, she was innocent, and her prison branding proves it) The Acolyte is immune to any attempts to Charm, Command, Deceive, or Intimidate him into acting against his Inquisitorial masters If he wishes to act against his own cell or the Inquisition he must succeed in a Very Hard(-30) Willpower Test.


This means that you are bound to serving the Inquisition, and it's written into your very being.  Disobey, and your own will is subverted back around to doing it's bidding.  It's basically taking on the biggest disadvantage of the Mind-Cleansed Home World, except arguably worse (as you don't have a keyword, it just happens all the time).  Thus, say a Radical orders you to murder an innocent.  Your Inquisitor is part of the Inquisition.  Thus, you open fire unless you can pass a horrendously hard will test.  The only thing that even slightly begins to offset this penalty for me is that I'm a Schola Progenium trained individual, which lets me treat -30's as -20's.


As a general rule Khan, you're going to want to ban a couple things:

Thy Name I Keep background package
Untouchable (it basically nullifies any ability to scare a group with anything related to the Warp)
Autocannons are a HUGE no.  Get one of those with either bulging biceps or a bipod, and combat is no longer a challenge.  Allow them as vehicle only.
Cross-system (Rogue Trader, Deathwatch) equipment in Dark Heresy.  The systems are based on different power levels, and what may seem innocuous is far from it.  Most RT equipment is hugely better than it's DH counterparts.

[Cold Heritage]

Thus, say a Radical orders you to murder an innocent. 

"There is no such thing as innocence, only degrees of guilt."

;)

On a more serious note, thanks for the info!

[Aoife]

No worries!

[Cold Heritage]

Is the Wandering Conclave something that's from one of the Dark Heresy books? I'm looking through the core and I don't see it, but it's kind of late and I don't want to press ahead with the wrong info.

[MiaKage]

I think I've got it all down. I was curious about the Conclave as well, I will probably have to do a little bit of editing  ;D

Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide

Character Name: Lyra
Home World: Hive Sibellus
Career Path:Guardsman(Conscript)
Rank Path:

Gender:Female
Build: Scrawny
Height: 5'3"
Weight: 110lb
Skin color: Fair
Hair color: Brown
Eye color: Brown
Age: 23

Personality: Phlegmatic - Practical, careful, yet very reserved.

Background:
Lyra grew up in the middle hives of Hive Tarsus, her entire life she was surrounded by the buzzing comunity that the life of a hiver normaly saw. Once she had become old enough to work, she set out to one of the local Manufactorums. Most citizens of the Middle Hive would work their years in such factories, but young Lyra's fate had pushed her in a different direction. Before she could make it through the near endless line of people moving into the factory, she, along with many many others, were sectioned off and marched away. Scared and unsure of what was going on, it had turned out she had just been conscripted into the Imperial Guard.

Her training was brief, which end of the lasgun to hold, how to fire, reload, clean, basic squad manervours. It wasn't long that she was deep in the Lower Hive, doing sweeps clearing out sectors of Gangers who have become rampant. She had become close to many of her comrades, knowing that death just lay around every corner, they spent their free time partying, and her  mornings next to the man she thought she would spend the rest of her life with.

During one of their outings, the Gangers had ambushed her unit, nearly everyone died during the firefight that insued. Lyra, badly wounded but still fighting along with five others held the tunnel leading to a forward base they had established. Blacking out, Lyra couldn't remember anything from that point on, waking up in a medicae center of the upper hive, a place she never dreamed of visiting, lifting her hand up and feeling the scare over her right eye. From there, she was informed that she had been sent for, conscripted once again.

Quirks: Nervous tick
Sexuality: Bi-Sexual
Partner Preferences: Strong, Forward
Imperial Divination: "Kill the alien before it can speak it's lies."
Ordo of Interest: Xenos

Characteristic Scores:

WS: 25
BS: 45
S: 25
T: 20
AG: 42
Int: 25
Per: 40
WP: 25
Fel: 30

Wounds: 13
Fate Points: 2
Insanity and Corruption: 0


Skills:

Speak Language (Low Gothic)
Speak Language (Hive Dialect)
Drive (Ground Vehicle)
Awareness

Talents:

Melee Weapon Training (Primitive)
Pistol Training (Las)
Basic Weapons Training (Las)
Basic Weapon Training (SP)
Accustomed to Crowds:Hivers grow up surrounded by

immense herds of humanity. They are used to weaving

through even the densest mod with ease. Cwods do not

count as Difficult Terrain for hivers, and when running

or charging through a dense crowd, hivers take no

penalty to the Agility Test to keep their feet.
Caves of Steel:To a hiver, surrounded at all times by

metal, machinery and industry, the arcane mysteries of

technology are not so strange. Hivers treat the Tech-

Use skill as a basic skill.
Hivebound:Hivers seldom endure the horrors of the open

sky or the indignity of the great outdoors. Hivers take

a - 10 penalty to all survival tests, and while out of

"proper hab" the hiver takes a -5 penalty to all

intelligence tests.
Wary:Hivers are constantly alert for the first hint of

trouble, be it a gang shoot-out, hab riot, or

hivequake.


Equipment:
Sword
Las Pistol, 1 charge pack
Lasgun, 1 charge pack
Shotgun, 12 shells
Knife
Guard Flak Armour
Imperial Guard Uniform
1 week corpse starch rations
Imperial Infantryman's Uplifting Primer


What will you sacrifice? Will do what she must to fullfill her duty, though will try to avoid corruption.
What do you desire? Fight in the Emperor's name
What do you hate? The thought of never seeing home again.

(Rumours overheard by other Acolytes, before they vanished.)
"I don't know that much about the Inquisition...but I heard," Pauses and looks around, then leans in and whispers "They do experiements that could be considered boarderline heresy!"

"From what I hear, Metalus executed his entire retinue for heresy! Apparently they refused to execute a young lad who had shown signs of being a psyker."

"You didn't hear this from me...but...Inquisitor Quintilla is under investigation. It seems some beleive her last run in with the forces of Chaos have comprimised her."

Bravery, stories of their bravery precedes them.

Unrelenting, never giving up even in the face of defeat.


What had happened in the Tunnels in the Lower Hive of Hive Sibellus.