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Help 40k GMs!
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Hey there fa/tg/uys, I'm looking for ideas to make my 40k RPG GMing plain better (specifically Dark Heresy but I'm not picky). So pick any prompt and share your experiences! Shit, if nothing else we'll get to share some good stories. Any or all of the following in reference to any of the 40k RPGs:

What is the most memorable scene from your campaigns?
What is something you've always wanted to see or do in game but haven't been able/allowed to?
What is something your GM did that was straight up BAD or boring?
What is your favorite houserule?
Do you have a favorite homebrew item?
What setting was the most striking for you, out of character?
Who was your favorite NPC and why?
What was your favorite plot, subplot or mission?
Is there a game idea you'd love to play but no GM has been willing to run it?

Anything else you want to share or ideas you have, feel free to dump that jazz.
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>>43946045
That you, J?
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>>43946207
Negative. But I bet he could use the advice as well!
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One time, in Black Crusade, a player of mine challenged a Greater Daemon of Tzeentch to make a battle of wits.
Now, this wasn't a challenge you could cut through with a powersword. It wasn't something you could tackle with lore skills too.
So, I dropped a player into 21-dimensional starmaze.
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One of my favorite settings was a paradise world that was home to an insane asylum run by the Sisters Hospitaler and guarded by Sisters of Battle. My party wound up on an ocean liner that was one part patient transport and one part luxury cruise for nobles where they could get sun and gawk and gossip over some of the more insane the Imperium had to offer. The murder mystery that happened onboard resulted in the party turning against itself with testimony from a pc in time revealing another pc had carved the symbol of Slaanesh in their back as a malignancy. Unfortunately the people who it was revealed to were the Sisters of Battle. Fun times had by all.
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>>43946382
...wow. How did you run it?
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One time we didn't all die horribly. That was nice.
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>>43946045
I'm a 40k RPG GM (Only Dark Heresy though) so I figured I'd fill this in from the other side of the coin.

>What is the most memorable scene from your campaigns?
I'd say it has to be when the players accidently made their nemesis. A Radical Inquisitor who'd helped them in the past, they accidently killed him in a fight and I used his only fate point to save him. His Daemonhost bought him back to life by transferring his soul into the nearest body, which just so happened to be an Astartes. They now have a Radical Inquisitor in the body of a Tech Marine and a Daemonhost at its beck and hall. He's not bitter though.

>What is something you've always wanted to see or do in game but haven't been able/allowed to?
Very dumb I know, but I want to run Metal Gear Rising Revengeance and the players are Imperial Assassins or some shit.

>What is something your GM did that was straight up BAD or boring?
Hardest one, but I know I've not fulfilled player fantasies for their characters. A player made a gritty noir detective and I couldn't cater to what he wanted from the game, it clashed a bit too much with the theme of the campaign overall.

I also don't define favourite NPCs of mine enough to the players enough, out of fear of it becoming "my speshul GMPC".

>What is your favorite houserule?
I don't think I use any?

>Do you have a favorite homebrew item?
Tend to avoid these as I'm not very good at it.

>What setting was the most striking for you, out of character?
I want the players to visit a number of worlds that I'm quite chuffed with. Fleishfabrik is a world of unending tundra, its native inhabitants have the thickest and shaggiest fur-coats imaginable, their skin is almost rocklike. The nobility in the sector pay big bucks for this fine skin, roaming bands of privateers scour the surface of the world armed with pick-axes and las-cutters attempting to procure as much of the fur as they can before frostbite sets in.
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>>43947232
>Who was your favorite NPC and why?
Inquisitor Pelmont Nayl, the above-mentioned Radical Inquisitor.

>What was your favorite plot, subplot or mission?
My favourite mission involved a PC winning the support of a chapter of Astartes by promising them the head of the BBEG, they've yet to deliver on this promise but it was immaculately role-played and I hadn't anticipated it.

>Is there a game idea you'd love to play but no GM has been willing to run it?
I'd love to play low-powered 40k. DH1 style, but without the easily accessible "nah you're good now" level. A shame.
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>>43947253
>I'd love to play low-powered 40k. DH1 style

That's the only kind of game I run. In fact I still use 1st edition instead of second. Low powered and gritty with creative solutions is my vision of how Dark Heresy should be played.
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>>43947902
Does second edition really rise the power level that much ? I'm running a second edition game and I'll say this. If it wasn't for the heritek or the group psyker they would've failed long ago.

Most gun fights end with the group desperado and assassin shooting up passers-bys while they miss the enemy horribly.
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>>43946818
don't you mean, When?
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>>43950232
It doesn't no, but you start out a little bit better (read, a little) and it escalates the same as DH1 or any 40k RPG.
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>>43946818
Like a literal elndless insane labyrinth of surreal realms. Even in the original puzzle rooms have weird names and descriptions.
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>>43950232
>Does second edition really rise the power level that much ?
Not really, but it did remove a lot of things I liked. For example, I think scrambling for cash and having to slum it when first starting out is an important part of the "unimportant cog" experience.
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I should have made this post and the last one a joint post, but I fucked up. Sue me.

>>43950232
>Most gun fights end with the group desperado and assassin shooting up passers-bys while they miss the enemy horribly.
I'm not overly familiar with 2nd edition, but based on the first, are you sure you're giving them the correct or favorable bonuses in combat? If they aim, +10 to BS. If they're at short range, +10 to BS, if they're point-blank, +20 to BS, if they have a height advantage over their opponents, +10 to BS, etc. You don't want to make your players feel totally ineffective. If they take the necessary precautions and engage their opponents favorably, a BS of 30 is quite manageable and they can find themselves hitting on 60 or even higher. Talk to them about it, it's not necessarily your responsibility to remind them about the bonuses they could be getting in combat.

Generally, unless there are conflicting factors or your players are idiots, they should rarely find themselves attacking at their base skill.
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>>43946045
Okay you've asked a fucktonn of questions and pretty much each one requires a post in response so pepper your angus I'm going in.

>What is the most memorable scene from your campaigns?

Probably the time we used a family arranged marriage of the BBEG's lieutenant to lure out the BBEG into a place we could actually try to capture/kill him and due to complications avoiding the ceremony and the families close attention to detail I ended up actually married to the BBEG's lieutenant.

Fun Fact: Due to planetary custom the marriage had to me 'visibly consummated' so I ended up banging her in front of the whole cell and my Inquisitor.
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>>43953542
>What is something you've always wanted to see or do in game but haven't been able/allowed to?

I wanted to play an Inquisitor but My DM wasn't game to do such a high power game
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>>43953560
>What is something your GM did that was straight up BAD or boring?

The DM was always too concerned with us getting good equipment, or getting rich, so he kind of kneecapped us in that area.

It would have been much better if he had just brought up a million small complications with maintaining a large arsenal and customs officers nearly blowing our cover because of our heavy weapons.

And as for being rich, it would have been better if we had rivals, and jealous siblings etc who were out to get our fortune and it was hard to maintain money
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>>43946045
What is your favorite houserule?
Our Weapon/Armor quality table.
Starts at "Broken" and goes all the way up to "Relic"

Broken -> Poor Quality +30 Technomat test
(1/10th of the weapons total cost in parts, Ubiquitous availability)
D10+5 Minutes of uninterrupted work

Poor Quality -> Common Quality +10 Technomat test
(1/5th of the weapons total cost in parts Plentiful availability
Or 1/2 of the weapons total cost parts in Abundant availability)
D100+10 minutes of uninterrupted work

Common Quality -> Good Quality -10 Technomat test
(1/2 of the weapons total cost in parts in average availability
Or 1/1 of the weapons total cost in parts in Common availability)
D10+5 hours of uninterrupted work

Good Quality -> Best Quality -30 Technomat test
(1/1 of the weapons total cost in parts in Rare availability
Or 3/1 of the weapon total cost in parts in Scarce availability)
D100+10 Hours of uninterrupted work

Best Quality -> Masterwork -50 Technomat test
(3/1 of the weapons total cost in parts in extremely rare availability
Or 10/1 of the weapons total cost in parts in Very rare availability)
D10+7 Days of uninterrupted work

Masterwork -> Artifact -70 Technomat test
(10/1 th of the weapons total cost in parts in unique,
Or 30/1 of the weapons total cost in parts in near unique availability)
D100+14 Days of uninterrupted work


Artifact -> Relic -90 Technomat test
(100/1 of the weapons total cost in parts. The unique parts must be Integrated into the plot of the story and in it's own right difficult to obtain or a significant item related to the plot of the game you may already have, only available at the discretion of the GM)
D10+21 weeks of uninterrupted work

Things like schematics, a multitool or toolkit, a forge on hand and workbench gave positive modifiers
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>>43953674
Do you have a favorite homebrew item?

Yes.

The Laniatus Blade.
A two handed, lathe-forged, power great-sword made of a single shaped and carved slab of depleted deuterium.
(the shit they use for the very tip of bolt shells) (Yes I know it's magic water irl, GW is dumb)
Crafted in the heart of a dying plasma reactor by a forge-saint, made a masterwork, scrimshawed, and fine tuned by the that same Forge-Saint.
Gifted to the Ultramarines, it found it's way into the service of the Deathwatch. It saw Hundreds of years of service before needing to be repaired.
It's repair made it function additionally as a psy-focus and psy-blade.
They bound the soul of a primaris-level pyromancer psyker to the blade so it forever burns a low simmer of white flame, a power that can be flared with the assistance of the wielder's psychic powers.
A strike from this blade results in more than cutting the flesh, it burns the very soul with holocaust-warpfire not only killing them but permanently destroying their souls.
The blade's esoteric runes, carvings and enchantments then soul-syphon the now dissipated soul-energy and warp-essence into the blade, fueling it and temporarily increasing it's power.
Additionally the handle was modified with nano-quicksilver, shaping itself to the hand of the wielder, making every use of the blade feel as though it were crafted for their hands alone.
Also a scum character put his lucky dice (memento, lucky item and keepsake in one item) on the pommel.

2D10+10+2X Strength bonus Pen: 10
Tearing, Lathe, Power-field, balanced, *Holocuast **Soul-syphon
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>>43946045
What setting was the most striking for you, out of character?

Probably the time we tried to imitate shoggy's Darwinian character creation and ended up with a man being saved by his brother and said "don't worry bro, I've always got your back" and then being shot through the head the very next round, his brother (the one who he saved) was left holding the dead body of his brother as the enemy were finally driven off.

Only war can be fucking brutal man.
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>>43946045
>Who was your favorite NPC and why?
Seppy the Re-caff sipping Arbiter.

They liked him so much they did whole side arks just to help him out and get him to hang out with the party more.
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>>43953772
>What was your favorite plot, subplot or mission?

The time we had to clear out a space station and used civilian vehicles to run down orks

We wrote a book later and included it as "nonstandard tactics"
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>>43953542
she a qtpi?
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>>43946045
Is there a game idea you'd love to play but no GM has been willing to run it?

Yes

Think "SCP containment and response team, run by the inquisition, in space"
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>>43953809
Yeah, she was pretty alright but also very heretical in the sense that she was doing mass cloning and making all the clones into weapons servitors, trying to make clones with souls and weaponizing the failures.
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>>43946045
A black market that specializes in Geneseed organs ripped fresh from Space Marines that may possibly be somewhat still alive. Instead of everyone doing their Imperial duty, they all bought an implant or two because no one can pass the chance to become a Counterfeit Marine.
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>>43946045
Favorite homebrew weapon is the Nabomb. Think napalm sprinkler with the stats of a melta bomb but beefier.
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>>43947232
>I don't think I use any?
100 is always a fail, 1 is always a success
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>>43953617
>The DM was always too concerned with us getting good equipment, or getting rich, so he kind of kneecapped us in that area.
That blows. The best way to handle special equipment acquisition in my experience is to make it the object of a quest. If they want it, make them work for it. And if it takes too much time, that might have negative implications for their primary mission.
>It would have been much better if he had just brought up a million small complications with maintaining a large arsenal and customs officers nearly blowing our cover because of our heavy weapons.
Customs is a bitch as well as security at any place that can afford it. Most places that are "nice" or "rich" won't allow you to traipse around with heavy weaponry. At worst you'll be arrested or fired upon, at best you'll be turned away or told to leave your weapons with security forces. This in turn requires creative thinking by a gun-heavy party. Do they want to try to smuggle weapons into wherever they're going? Are they willing to risk an open engagement? Would they prefer to stake out the location and hit it when it's less busy? Of course if they're somewhere less civilized or with a culture of common violence, they're free to carry around whatever the fuck they want. Plenty of ways to reign in the firepower of PCs without barring them access to it.
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>What is something you've always wanted to see or do in game but haven't been able/allowed to?

It's very hard to show a lighter side of 40k without it seeming out of character. It's not possible, but every lighter spot can very easily feel like a joke or a tragedy waiting to happen. It's also very easy to cheapen rays of light by immediately pulling the rug out from under them by showing the grimy, heretical underside. I get it that it's grim darkness and characters can be motivated even within that, but it's always nice to have a little sliver of silver lining.

>What is something your GM did that was straight up BAD or boring?

This is from WFRPG but still relevant. An otherwise good gm became very fixated on how awesome a villain was that the gm actively kept players from coming back to face him. Playing the characters against each other, making the encounter difficult, having the villain plan ahead and plan dangerously competently-that's all fine. Rendering fate points and other game mechanics at the players' disposal moot so that your villain can get away scott free, not so fine-he had someone who burnt a fate point land in a fatal position as part of burning that fate point. Cutting the plot so that future parties couldn't come back and figure something out and act against the same villain, also not fine. Characters should have a chance, even if it's just to run away, and plots you develop should continue to lead somewhere even if pcs failed the first time around.

>What is your favorite houserule?

Porting other line's variable lasgun setting rules into DH1 go a long way to making las weapons desirable.
Making dodge and parry opposed skills against the rolled BS/WS for both pcs and enemies. Combat is quicker since more hits get through and your players don't complain about those amazing shots they should've had.
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>>43956167
>Characters should have a chance, even if it's just to run away, and plots you develop should continue to lead somewhere even if pcs failed the first time around.
As a GM I can concur, truer words have never been spoken.
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>>43953704
I cringed tbhfam
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