Another DM philospohy question:

I'm sure other run into this too. 40k is a dark, harsh setting; darker than most players are used too. Myself, I'm a 40k fluff guru, all about the grimdark. This question is about how much you would bend the setting/rules for your players?

In our group we have an explorator. It is his first exposure to 40k, he didn't know what he was getting into. I'm trying to gently coach him into the role, but there is no way someone who wasn't familiar with 40k could be prepared for the horror that is the ad-mech.

He is really having issues with the nature of his class. A priest of the ad-mech will slowly replace more and more of his body with 'holy' machines, eventually being unrecognizable as a human. Many enhancement provide a benefit as well as a hinderance: improving toughness at the expense of agility for instance. He is obviously not comfortable with this.

Last night he came to me with this problem and proposed his character could focus more on developing nano-machines, biomancy, and natural looking bionics. I talked to him a bit about the in-universe issues with that, but said I would get back to him. Here are my thoughts:

Solution 1) Roll up a new character for him, obviously he doesn't want to run an explorator. This is fine, but feels like a cop out, and like I am robbing the game of some interesting possabilities.

Solution 2) Roll with it, but in an in-universe way. This has several interesting possabilities. On the one hand, he would have to do research into archeotech and xeno tech. Heretical research. He is going to have to find teachers who can teach him these things, radical or heretical ones. He is going to have to be careful to hide his research and devote entire endevors to finding what he needs. If/when they find out both the inquisition/ad-mech are going to want to have a stern 'talk' with him. Finally, it would be expensive XP-wise and he will be absorbing insanity/corruption points left and right.. His feats are going to cost more due to not having as many physical costs.

My overall thought is that as long as a character is willing to pay the price, both storywise and in XP, it is good for the game and thus worth it. If you can get a character invested in the endevor, making real enemies and taking risks for what their characters want, you have the makings of a great game. And though the character himself may no longer LOOK 'grimdark', the situations that arise will enhance the FEEL of 'grimdark'.

But what are your thoughts fellow DMs?

Being a self-professed Ad-Mech junky, I have a few thoughts on this.

First, is to remember that the Ad-Mech are not all phystical engeneers. They have the Geneitors, Biologicus, etc. Some of these even hold very important jobs, like monitioring the Space Marine Geneseed and planing the founding of new chapters. It would not be, infact, unreasonable for someone exposed to raticals among these groups to become obsessed with 'biological machinery'. He does have, I beleave, the most important part, with is the belief that we are born physicaly flawed, and need to be upgraded.

Also, remind him that just because a part become 'machine' doesn't mean it has to go to huge steam-punk. Many of the higher ups use human-shaped cybernetics, some of which are described as quite beautiful, if inhuman. Nano-tech and such like that tends to fall outside of Imperial Technology, but if he's radical enough, could lead to some interesting endevors. Let him be seen as a radical, or a bit off to most of his peers, however, when some doors close, others open.

There's something to be said for bending the rules just enough to let him enjoy the game. I can understand the grimdark of the 40k, but don't push your player into a zone that he finds uninteresting or even repulsive to play. I actually think that an explorator having second thoughts about replacing his body with machine parts is very interesting. This just means he'd make for a different kind of explorator, I like the biologis that quicksilver mentioned. Or maybe the route you mentioned with researching alien technology.

And remember, not all alien technology is evil. In fact, there are several alien civilizations that are less evil than mankind. Not every other option needs to blast away his sanity and corrupt his soul. While he'll have plenty of chances to unearth such things, give him the chance to find some tech that won't just screw him over too.

Go for option 2 and just roll with it. It's not unheard of to have a more 'human' looking tehc priest. Concrete example: the novel 'Titanicus' from Dan Abnett. it includes a high-level magos who actually almost looks perfectly human, blonde hair, blue eyes, winning smile. it's a cleverly constructed cybernetics and bioware to have him look like the due from 'The Mentalist' so he can more easily interact with humanity and the rest of the Imperium.

Bend it, mould it, gamesmaster it; no need for all tech priests to look like post-steampunk Dr. Mengele's. The fact that the Tech priest is on an explorator ship means that he's not one of the 'common tech-folk'. So what if he wants it to be a bit more 'exotic', it doesn't have to be alien tech, just rarer mechanicum stuff. Perhaps he has/had a rather excentric Magos Biologis as a mentor. Perhaps it's a clever ploy of the Adeptus Mechanicus to hjave their envoys looking a bit more human and subtle in order to strengther their ties with specific faction within the Imperium, etc etc. Whatever the explanation you give it, it's a great starting point for a memorable character.

One of my players is a 40K layman as well, knowing nothing nothing of the background; He plays a tech priest as well and after a few sessions he 'got it' how the Adeptus Mechanicus is and he's enjoying his character immensely.

Quicksilver said:

Quicksilver said:

Well, not necessarily. The Pro/Auto-Sanguine talents are basically the tech-priest replacing his blood with nanites.

The player of the Explorator in my own group has a similar outlook to the typical Mechanicus Tech-Priest who differers from a Servitor only in which parts of his brain are still present. He's playing his character as a Mechanicus Radical who believes in creativity and invention, and non-standard implants that compliment rather than replace the human form.

The party's ship rolled up the "Blasphemous Tendencies" and "Reliquary of Mars" traits, and this was what convinced me to allow this as the ship's Magos. I decided this combination meant a splinter sect of the Adeptus Mechanicus had built the ship using Archeotech patterns that many in the Priesthood of Mars consider to be Tech-Heresy. Therefore, the mainstream Mechanicus won't have anything to do with the ship, and all the Tech=Priests are from radical fringe groups.

This means that they have to chase down radical or outright renegade Tech-Priests to fill out the engineering crew and seek repairs at places like Footfall rather than Port Wander. But all these things have been giving an extra dimension to the game, rather than punishing the player for not wanting to turn his character into a cyber-zombie.

Errant said:

Hence 'tends'. Its one of the few noted uses of nanotechnology. Most of the Mechanicus' stuff is macro or micro techonlogy instead. Necron are more known for their nanites.

You don't "have to" do anything really with the Explorator along the lines of the archtypical views, mine is a little bit of a Priestess/Diplomat of Mars with Fel 50, noble background and a few elite advances in social skills. Very conservative when it comes to proscribed technology, has none of the big, physical impants, no mechanderites, the generic tech priest implants and a metric tonne of good quality headware floating up in whats left of her hyper-intelligent brain. Heaps of 'Peer' talents and contacts where it matters.

Sort of fills a support role of being a bit of a seneshal, medic and techie.

The various explorator talents can have their fluff reskinned to be more organic. "The Flesh Is Weak 1" can become "The Flesh Is Strong 1". And as people have pointed out, there are factions of the Mechanicus who love their biotech.

wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Techpriest#Magos (Magos Biologis)

wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Techpriest#Genetor

One of my players (an explorator) once figured he'd make his own Space Marine chapter. He aquired himself a couple of fresh Space Marines (these were insanely hard to come by, but with effort and many Profit Points he managed) which he kept in stasis and on drugs while he thoroughly examined them and took samples. Somewhere along the way of the PCs earlier adventures, the Explorator had been rewarded with governorship over his own planet by the RT due to excellent services rendered. There he secretly set up his own secret Space Marine central on the north pole, including cloning vats, mind/physics rehabilitators and basically everything you might need to raise your own Space Marines. Then, after haggling and lying his MIUs off to his original forgeworld, he managed to convince them to share with him the blueprints for basic Space Marine gear (bolters, power armor and some other equipment), purely in the interests of "science" and the "Omnissiah".

Sadly the dear Explorator was killed by a power-crazed astropath a few years before his first draft of Space Marines would be ready. Regardless, a magos with genetics, medicine and anatomy skills can do wonders if you just have some ideas and some incentive. The sky's the limit!

It is also perfectly valid to bend it a bit for the character, with provisions. You could for instance insist that the character only sports the best quality of implants as they are very sophisticated and fully integrated. He or she will be seen as a bit of a splinter sect, but there are mentions of such people ('Glavians' from Eisenhorn'), so if you as a GM can work with it, go for it.