I'll be starting a game of DH with a group next week that has never played DH before. Some of them are familiar with the 40k universe and some of them are not so familiar with it. I normally get a broad spectrum of classes in the games I run but this one has thrown off my bell curve.

All of the players are playing combat oriented classes. Thankfully one of them has some stealthy abilities...

There are 4 players... 1 Assassin, 1 Guardsman, and 2 Arbitrators.

They are obviously going to miss some roleplay opportunities, how should I handle this? My thought was to make an NPC or two that are available for consultation on certain things.

Any other ideas?

Thanks!

Sounds like an ideal "field work" group to me. When they've proven themselves, hand them an adept and/or techpriest to do the paper-shuffling (aka research) off-site for them.

Arbitrators have access to a goodly amount of Lore skills, and they're better at snooping aroud than fighting anyway. (Personally I would much rather play a Columbo-vs.-the-heretics sort of Arbitrator than a combat monster, but that's just me.)

I would point out that absence of Lore skills means the group will be ignorant of well-nigh everything. Without Tech-Use the Guardsman can't even recharge his laspacks.

bogi_khaosa said:

Yes he can, the guardsman starts with his copy of the infantrymans uplifting primer which has some instructions on how to recharge his laspack, of course recharging them in this way will damage them over time.

Is this stated in the rulebook someplace?

The fact that a guardsman has the option of starting with a copy of the Imperial Infantryman's Uplifting Primer certainly is in the rulebook. The fact that laspacks can be recharged in a fire (damaging them in the process) is also stated in the rulebook.

There is, however, no rules-based advantage to owning a copy of the IIUP (such as knowing you can recharge laspacks in a fire). The IIUP does in fact include this method as a field expedient, but you would have to physically own a copy of the book (or have spoken to someone who has) to know this. It's sort of meta-knowledge based on in-universe props.

I know that sort of thing isn't everyone's cup of tea, but I'd certainly allow it. Hell, I'd even allow the instructions in the IIUP, or the Munitorum Manual, or the Tactica Imperium (or even the Liber Chaotica) to count as justification for buying certain skills as Elite Advances (assuming that the character in question had a copy of it, and the player was able to justify it with references to the actual book)

bogi_khaosa said:

P132 DH in a wee box. So all Guard can recharge without Tech Use but it's more a "in an emergency" tactic and takes a whole day!

I reckon your party will struggle a bit at first but should be able to get by till, like said, the Arbitrators learn some social/investigative stuff etc. For things like Tech Use your characters can learn it eventually and keep in mind anyone from a Hive World treats it as a basic skill. The Assassin learns sneaky skills and Security early as well as a few social skills so really I think your party will get by ok.

Allow them a contact for more specialised stuff and I think you'll have the bases covered

Alasseo,

hmmm. i think you have hit on something there which I must implement. the usage of 'meta-knowledge based on in-universe props' will add to the depth and meaning of the universe and to whom it matters most, the players. my compliments.

i'm sure the players of DH has their rules lawyers as any other RPG. that said i'd like to think ppl will rule more on the side of role play and entertainment than the RAW.

as for the party makeup. it seems fine though it will be alot more work on your part. as a good GM , which i'm sure you are, i'm sure that through game play you will be able to demonstrate their lack of certain crucial skills. maybe an NPC will make themselves known by selling their services, maybe a relativelly powerful and sympathetic patron, or simply sending a communique to their Inquisitor for a request for aid.

its a good party though. easily one that an Inquisitor can be proud of.

Cool, I was a little concerned at first but after hearing what you all have to say I think things might be good.

One of the Arbitrators comes from a Hive World while the Assassin and Guardsman come from Forge Worlds... which I think gives them Tech use as a basic skill if I am not mistaken. (Book isn't handy right now) The other Arbitrator comes from an Imperial world so she has access to some Common Lore stuff that the others don't. I can't wait to get started... in reality I would rather be playing in the DH game rather than running it but I guess if anyone aside from me is going to run it, its going to be because they liked the game I ran and decided to run one themselves.

Just a small note: Challenge the characters in the fields that they are proficient. This groups looks like it would enjoy a lot of combat challenges. Make sure the story can go on, no matter if the party fails a few Charm or Investigate skills. What the players choose to play is often an indicator of what sort of story they want.

If you have the IH, there are alternate backgrounds and career paths that will give the characters some much-needed Lore skills. For instance, somebody from Sinophia automatically has a couple of Forbidden Lores at the Basic level; a Warden of the Divisio Immoralis has access to several as well. And so forth,

I did give them the opportunity to use the IH for backgrounds and none of them wanted to use it. I did have one player choose untouchable from DotDG

Madness! Those background packages have huge amounts of character.

I wholeheartedly agree... and I was reading through them thinking... oh this is cool... oh so is this... but when they found out that some of them had d5 insanity they didn't want them. d5 aint much especially if you roll a 1.

drseuss620 said:

Our group uses them extensively, but most of the players weren't too fussed over the ones that handed out insanity points. The ones that handed out starting corruption points, however provoked more resistance. I took the Mara Landing Survivor pack for my guardsman, and the amount of times the resistance:psychic powers has saved me so far is ridiculous...

S.K

Go read Tech Use. It's not needed for simple, straightforward use of technological skills. It's for the tricky stuff. You don't need Tech Use to use a vox or recharge a las pack. To cut through jamming, repairing the shorted out servo skull or identifying the odd readings on the auspex is when you need Tech Use.

I must be weird. I love playing the character with the dark side, battling with corruption and darkness. Maybe it's the Call of Cthulhu player in me. How I long to make a Dark Pact (in some appropriate "I'm doing this for the Imperium!" rationalization sort of way -- which is where heresy starts). The roleplaying possibilities would be incredible.

Cynical Cat said:

It says specifically on p. 132 of the core rulebook that you need Tech Use to recharge a laspack. (Unless you just throw it in a fire and hope for the best.)

Insanity is comparably harmless in the system, but corruption makes up for it by being extra-deadly. Essentially, 10 points can end your character if you roll badly on your Malignancy and develop something obviously heretical - and we don't want to go to the Adepta Sororitas who can throw away her Pure Faith once she reaches 10.

Well, Pure Faith, which all Sisters have, allows you to avoid taking corruption points by spending a fate point. So I'm not sure that's such a big deal.

bogi_khaosa said:

Yeah, it does but that's from "any suitable power source", not a recharger. Slamming a power pack into the recharger slot in the troop compartment of a Chimera shouldn't require a Tech Use check, but draining a car battery into a power pack should.

Cynical Cat said:

Agreed

Well, Pure Faith, which all Sisters have, allows you to avoid taking corruption points by spending a fate point. So I'm not sure that's such a big deal.

The "spending a Fate Point" is the part where the deal gets a little bigger. A sister always has to balance her fate points between standard fate point use (which might kill her if she doesn't spend one in a dire situation that would merit it), use of Fate Points for Pure Faith talents (which are bloody useless if you don't power them with Fate) and use of Fate Points for avoiding corruption (which might irrevocably destroy her Pure Faith). Considering most adventures have a tendency to send the PCs home on their last legs, juggling between these uses can be quite difficult.

How big are the rechargers? How long do they take to recharge packs? Weither fluff or canoon I'd like to know. I'am about to start my first campaign. I have a tech priest that has read into the book and wants to carry around a laspack recharger or integrate it with himself (If it recharges packs faster than a minute). He either wants to have it so it runs off his Potentia Coil, or be able to recharge the recharger with Luminen Charge (every couple of laspacks).

I believe there hasn't been a description other than 'recharges multiple packs simultaneously, and can do so in ~20min-2hrs (depending upon load). The old pluff (and indeed the IIUP) has laspacks with a solar cell, which can recharge them after 2-3hrs in the sun (presumably more in cloudy weather, or the gloom of a hive).