Hi all.
As the tittle says.
Im wondering how a Space Marine gains insanity since theyre pretty much immune to shock and all that happens is they get a penalty to WP tests.
So all of you out there, help a GM out with insanity for a space marine,
Thanks all
Something above and beyond the pale. IIRC all Astartes do not start with Jaded, so particularly brutal massacres--beyond "mere" piles of dead, but mutilated or cannibalized dead--might inflict IP depending on the circumstances.
In a game I ran, a Marine on an anti-genestealer mission was extremely distraught when he tore open the hatch of a captured APC only to find Genestealer-Kissed children inside who immediately dove at him with knives - pretty much impossible to hurt hum, but he was quite startled to realize how deep the infestation had gone.
Another moment, in Final Sanction, was discovering a large "spawning chamber" full of impregnated people affixed in "honeycomb" chambers inside of a massive furnace, with the hybrid offspring visibly moving beneath their flesh (some of this was taken from an existing Deathwatch novel). The players did purge the infestation, but the sheer inhuman scope and treatment of these people caused some IP.
I have my PCs a few Insanity points for the trip through the Hive Ship in Oblivion's Edge. That was pretty harrowing as an experience.
Alex
They aren't totally immune to difficult scenarios, though they are of a tougher mental grit than most. Usually it's how they respond to fear, in that they are more capable of fighting through it than normal humans. But it can still affect them. Just think of what would normally cause a person to be unsettled and freaked out, then up it a few notches and that's where a Space Marine would be at. Seeing a murder of any kind would probably require counseling for most people, but for a Space Marine, it's a normal day. But seeing a person torn into shreds and used as decorations for a macabre ritual to summon daemons as a sacrifice to a chaos lord would probably upset the nerve of any space marine.
I was thinking of having every character in the kill team make a WP test at the end of every missions. If they succeed, nothing happens, if they fail, they gain either a 1d5 or 1d10 insantity from the mission to represent battle fatigue and how constant battles, break down the space marines mind similar to Post Tramatic Stress Syndrome.
Now ordinary humans wouldnt get the test to resist seeing as their minds havent been fortified to deal with the constant battles like the marines are.
Any thoughts on if this is a good way to do it?
Remember that marines can get to be 100s of years old. If they got insanity after every second mission, they'd all end up insane.
Alex
I was thinking of having every character in the kill team make a WP test at the end of every missions. If they succeed, nothing happens, if they fail, they gain either a 1d5 or 1d10 insantity from the mission to represent battle fatigue and how constant battles, break down the space marines mind similar to Post Tramatic Stress Syndrome.
Now ordinary humans wouldnt get the test to resist seeing as their minds havent been fortified to deal with the constant battles like the marines are.
Any thoughts on if this is a good way to do it?
Yeah that's going to dump insanity like crazy. IP isn't supposed to be a generic currency of the game, otherwise they'd have to spend every other game session resting in game time or they'd have to make rolls or something to see how much IP they dumped before starting a new mission. It's not supposed to work like that. Marines don't gain PTSD. Space Marines are too hardy for that and are engineered to withstand those pressures. Read about gaining Insanity Points in the core rulebook on page 278. Insanity Points are only supposed to be gained from having witnessed or been a part of exceedingly traumatic events. The normal missions they face should not bring them insanity, they are well engineered to handle it. It'd kind of make no sense if Space Marines were incapable of handling basic missions that they were designed for without going insane. That'd be a broken product of the Imperium, not the Adeptus Astartes.
And yet at the same time, Space Marines clearly do go insane and deviate further from the normal human emotional baseline. Most of those Primarch's Curses come from observable behavior in chapter fluff.
Something above and beyond the pale. IIRC all Astartes do not start with Jaded, so particularly brutal massacres--beyond "mere" piles of dead, but mutilated or cannibalized dead--might inflict IP depending on the circumstances.
In a game I ran, a Marine on an anti-genestealer mission was extremely distraught when he tore open the hatch of a captured APC only to find Genestealer-Kissed children inside who immediately dove at him with knives - pretty much impossible to hurt hum, but he was quite startled to realize how deep the infestation had gone.
Another moment, in Final Sanction, was discovering a large "spawning chamber" full of impregnated people affixed in "honeycomb" chambers inside of a massive furnace, with the hybrid offspring visibly moving beneath their flesh (some of this was taken from an existing Deathwatch novel). The players did purge the infestation, but the sheer inhuman scope and treatment of these people caused some IP.
Very good point! Forgot that Marines didn't have jaded.
BTW another perspective would be if the marines themselves are ordered or forced to carry out such massacres. For example purging a human populaton on the orders of an Ordo Xenos Inquisitor to prevent a xenos infestation that the PCs see no evidence of.
Also I think any loyal marine turning traitor would initiate a WP or take insanity points (not many mind).
Personally I seperate the Shock Table which causes you to faint vomit flee etc from the actual horror of what is being faced. So encountering a deamon might still require a WP check not to take a insanity point or two.
While brain-eating is cool, I gave my players a few Insanity and Corruption points here and there after devouring the brain of millenia-old Chaos SMs. Witnessing the Emperor himself walking the battlefield during the Great Crusade: -10 CP. Witnessing everything after: +20 CP
My problem is that there's this one guy who just itches to try out the Primarch's Curse and welcomes every single Insanity Point. I have to figure out something quick.
All good ideas my friends.
Ill look into it and see how it works for the game.
So far after the first and half way thru the second, theyve seen Tyranids and mutants alike and almost got killed by genestealers surprise attacking them in melee.
Next up will be some truely horrific shiz as they board a hive ship.....
Also I think any loyal marine turning traitor would initiate a WP or take insanity points (not many mind).
I think it's more appropriate to inflict Corruption here.
Also I think any loyal marine turning traitor would initiate a WP or take insanity points (not many mind).
I think it's more appropriate to inflict Corruption here.
It could be both. I think gaining insanity from insurrection is something the book talks about directly. It would cause serious trauma if a battle brother turned on another.
Also I think any loyal marine turning traitor would initiate a WP or take insanity points (not many mind).
I think it's more appropriate to inflict Corruption here.
It could be both. I think gaining insanity from insurrection is something the book talks about directly. It would cause serious trauma if a battle brother turned on another.
Wouldn't that cause Insanity for the victim of the aggression, rather than the aggressor (if he survived)?
Also I think any loyal marine turning traitor would initiate a WP or take insanity points (not many mind).
I think it's more appropriate to inflict Corruption here.
It could be both. I think gaining insanity from insurrection is something the book talks about directly. It would cause serious trauma if a battle brother turned on another.
Wouldn't that cause Insanity for the victim of the aggression, rather than the aggressor (if he survived)?
Yes? But loyalty is a strong concept to the Space Marines. Wouldn't it cause trauma and be terribly upsetting to see the person who was watching your back with a chaingun turn it on your squad leader?
Yes, I thought you meant you would inflict Insanity on the traitor, not a bystander marine.
I'd consider insanity points for almost any failed WP test. The Chaos Marines are attacking and have Space Marine corpses mounted as trophies on their vehicles? DW Space Marines from the same or allied chapters might have to make a WP check with failure meaning RAGE, plus a few insanity points. I'd keep it low. Like you said, they are hardened, and they'll likely run into similar stuff a few hundred times in their existence.
Astartes are already insane by most human standards.