ak-73 said:

Eh, I'm not of the 'rocks fall, everybody dies' school. Railroading the players really doesn't work with these guys, they just sit there and make choo choo noises if I try. (**** you, Aaron Williams!)

Besides, if you can't think on the fly, you shouldn't be in the GM chair. When I was still a player, we drove the GM to be committed. I was elected to replace him.

BaronIveagh said:

I prefer more leniency both as player as well as GM, makes for more relaxed form of gaming. If a GM ends up railroading too much , I give him some feedback afterwards when the occasion is right.

Alex

BaronIveagh said:

You make it sound like your proud of that? Maybe you should just have your group learn to be a little more respectful to the people who put time and effort into entertaining you instead of making silly noises and being disruptive.

UncleArkie said:

oh, we didn't make silly noises and be disruptive for him. We had a little session as group where we tried out Ravenloft with me DMing. He started shrieking, and then rolled up in a fetal position on the floor, and tried to stuff his coat into his ears. After a few more moments, he threw himself out a window.

After all, how was I supposd to know that luridly detailed descriptions of children being eaten alive could have such a powerful effect on him? Perhaps the discovery of what his character had been snacking on was a bit too much for him? But alas, it was our first, and last, horror session. I had such ideas for V:tM. Oh well.

I'm actually quite proud that I could drive a man to madness with a tale I had woven. It was somewhat King-esque for my own tastes, though. I much prefer the players mentally filling in their own worst fears then to bludgeon them with torn entrails. Though perhaps having taped the sound of myself tearing apart raw chicken and some screams being played under the ambient music might have also contributed to it.

BaronIveagh said:

I just coffeed myself.

+1

AJC

BaronIveagh said:

O.o

I've ran quite a few horror-type stories, including my current Dark Heresy campaign. I've had very succesfull ones and thus I'm not afraid to to introduce some really personal horror themes, but (thankfully) I've never had such a strong reaction. I think the best (or worst, depending on view) I've had was one player admitting that he would prefer not to play in one campaign because it was causing anxiety through fear in him. Then again, many of my players work in military or medical profession IRL so we are quite jaded bunch to start with

Well, it just goes to show, getting one's players from a state institution is an interesting way to form a party. Thank god for budget cuts.

BaronIveagh said:

Okay, you're all ex-soldiers hanging out in a deserted bar when suddenly a door opens...

Alex

ak-73 said:

LOL No, wrong kind of state institution. It was one of those ones where the insane and handicapped are supposedly converted back into useful members of society.

Me: impulsive/compulsive

The Real Man: lost an arm

The Real Roleplayer: recovering alchoholic/dwarfism

The loony: ADHD/macromastia

The munchkin: anger management issues

The Rules Lawyer: obsessive compulsive/midget

At various points we've also had off and on players who were: developmentally disabled, nymphomaniac, MS, a paraplegic, two psychotics, a paranoid schizophrenic, the bionic man (had half his body rebuilt surgically after an accedent), and two deaf persons. and a whole lot of fun along the way.

Our group has one female player. She is not interested in playing a male character and too many of us are 40K diehards to stomach the idea of a female Space Marine. What our group has decided it that she will be playing the part of an Ordo Xenos Inquisitor / Psycher (likely a telepath). She will be well equipped with good armor and perhaps one of the assorted force fields that Inquisitors sometimes employ. She'll also have the added benefit that the 5 or 6 members of the Deathwatch Kill Team will also be acting as her bodyguards.

What I wonder (and why I am dying to get a copy of the rules) is whether or not having an Ascension-level Inquisitor / Telepath will work okay if the group includes a Librarian? In our RT - DH games we have found that the Psycher character (pyrokenetic) has a tendency to overshadow everyone when the group is in combat situations.

So that is my main puzzle right now. Should we leave off the possibility of a Librarian since we will have a fairly potent Telepath in the group? Is a Librarian character, or the Telepath, going to be a show stealer (like the psycher in our DH - RT game)?

Lots of points to ponder. Now if I could just get hold of a copy of the core rulesbook, maybe I could answer some of them.

Edsel62 said:

Couple of bits of info that might help:

1) Deathwatch Chars start at 13,000 XP which is the end of Rank 8, begining of 9 in Ascension

2) Librarian's lean toward combat Psy - My suggestion is if your player doesn't want to be a Librarian, she should focus on investigative Psy powers

3) 2 x Psykers would be Psy heavy in an ongoing game. IMHO It would unbalance the game - to have enough of a challenge for a pair of Psykers, the rest of the party might feel left out.

4) Just because she doesn't want to be a Deathwatch marine (her choice), doesn't mean she should get carte blanche and out weigh what the rest of the players want - Use whatever normal procedure you use for balancing out the party (If you also have a player that wants to be a Librarian, they should roll for it and if she looses she should pick a different Ascended class).

Good luck

Darq said:

I like an occasional imbalanced party. Plus my experience with Final Sanction has convinced me that no kill-team is going to be imba wrt the enemies of the Imperium. ;-)

Alex

Hmm, couldn't people play the Callidus in the Final Santion is they were really that desperate to play a female character? I mean you could give her the same amount of points the marine characters have, as well as two unnatural characteristics like agility and toughness. Then give her the Temple assassin trait from Ascension, homebrewed shapechanging trait, and a limited set of relevant skills. For equipment I'd give her a synskin, fractal blade, and a needle pistol.

You could also use the Inquisitor mentioned in FS as a player. Give her the same stats and two unnatural characteristics such as willpower and toughness. Then give her a moderate psy-rating, a full line ascended psychic powers, and a limited set of relevant skills. For equipment I'd give her a suit of Ignatus-Pattern Power Armor, Force Sword, Ryza-Pattern Plasma Pistol, and Psy-Focus.

Thus, instead of adding more tactical marines to a party, you could use the alternative provided above.

Well, one thing to consider is that many people seem to be very tied to the official rules set and what they say is and isn't possible. With things like Dark Heresy you've got the core rules and several add on books that allow high-powered female characters. In what is presumed of the core Deathwatch book? Not so much. In my mind that simulates the premise of the Deathwatch and the Marines in general, but obviously others aren't overtly fond of this stance.

Is it possible to include females with the same level of "power" as Space Marines? For sure. Then again, I find the premise of this thread in some ways more spurious than the "female Space Marines" one, but YMMV.

Kage

Kage2020 said:

Spurious Logic? Now if I only could remember in which rpg this was a skill of UTMOST importance...

Alex

You misquoted me again and, indeed, seem to be trying to play some game of oneupmanship. Not interested, I'm afraid.

///Kage

Kage2020 said:

Oh, I see, you didn't respond verbatim but in role-playing out the correct answer. Yes, it has been PARANOIA .

Alex

Originally my group thought about playing Final Sanction when I first obtained a copy. However our group is still involved in a RT game whose plot is hot while we try to finish dismantling a rival RT clan that has been declared Excommunicate Traitoris by the Inquisition (its a long story).

Since the other campaign still has another two or three sessions in it, I decided that I'd wait until the core rules were released before I began running Deathwatch. This means that once I have the rules I will need to do some work on Final Sanction and Oblivion's Edge to bring them up the the full rules. My current idea is to have the female character already on the planet. She will have been a member of the former Inquisitor's retinue; and one who is due to be raised to full Inquisitor, providing they survive the adventures on Avalos. I haven't yet decided where in Lordsholm I want her to start at though. I figure I will have her turn up just as the first battle is winding down, or place her at (coincidentally) the first location the Kill Team decides to head for.

Edsel62 said:

I thought as much too. You could have it so that Syndalla did participate in the battle with the Broodlord and dragged her back while the rest of the retinue sold their lives dearly to buy them time. Thus when the Kill-team make their spectacular arrival, she could be waiting inside the chapel wounded while Syndalla directs the combat outside in her guise as the Captain. If your group has a Apoc, he could give her enough medicine to get her on her feet and then the battle could continue as scripted.

As for what to make the female character, I would suggest making her an Interrogator. Man if I ever run FS again, I need to test out some of these ideas.

Hmmm... have been exparimenting and the major problem I can say that the female character player has been that Space Marine power armor has been spanking anything she can be outfitted with. Even at the same level, stormtrooper does not equal space marine. Weirdly enough, the reverse seems true with an Inquisitor (pyrokine). The space marines are having a hard time keeping up.

Ah, the joys of balance issues...