I would like to bring across how the PCs are capable of taking on hardships where mortal men would fail. This is a staging issue that still eludes me. I mean, in Oblivion's Edge I had a scene where the PCs and the stormtroopers were trapped in an organic tunnel aboard the hiveship when the hiveship was suddenly flexing its muscle and the walls closed. The Marines could (with a liberal interpretation of Feat of Strength) keep the walls from crushing them but the Stormtroopers that were not in their immediate vicinity were hosed, very messily so. That was of course one way for me to point out to the new players this Solo Mode ability and to convey the epic strength that lies in their bodies compared to ordinary men.

But how do I convey to players properly the epic ability of Space Marines to weather hardships, pain and exhaustion in their cause for the Imperium of Man? How to convey the extraordinary endurance and the unbreakable spirit of Astartes? The question occured to me while watching the intro of the Ultramarines movie where in one shot you can see the Marine silhouettes walk single file as if through a sand storm, not being stopped nor even slowed by the elements.

I should add that this is less a crunch issue but a staging issue. Any suggestions would be welcome.

Alex

ak-73 said:

Hmmm, thoughts that spring to mind off hand (and may not be that good but might get someone else going)

• Like the sandstorm, have the KT work where they're teamed up with some non-astartes and the whole lot of them get cut off. Supplies of all sorts run low; the guardsman/mortals have to worry about the local diseases eating away at them, trenchfoot, and dying of simple infections once the antibiotics run out. And food- the humans are going to start taking penalties as they starve while the astartes, even once their recycled food runs out, will take far fewer penalties.
• Another idea, if the KT works with a number of acolytes or an Inquisitor and retinue, have some blast effect or stunning weapons cinematically knock everyone down, but leave the humans dazed and unable to fight for a time, but let the astartes make a toughness or willpower check to shake off the effects of whatever blast hit them (psychic, artillery, whatever, less crunch more staging). More of a one shot than an ongoing theme of an adventure, but you could sprinkle this type of encounter over an adventure or campaign to reinforce the idea.
• The group, along with some humans of your choosng, have to treck across some seriously difficult terrain - with or without supplies - be they mountains, a desert, a swamp, or a deathworld. With supplies might make it more obvious here- the men carry heavy supplies that slow them down, it takes them more time to setup and teardown their camp, let them always lag just behind the astartes.
• Have the KT designated to help defend a reinforced position. There is a group of guardsman there with them who rotate out to keep watch. The KT sit stoically, not needing to stretch their legs, go to the bathroom, eat, or sleep. The guardsman may sip caf or smoke, chat amongs themselves to pass the time, and then rotate out every few hours for a fresh batch of watchmen. Perhaps they whisper quietly about the KT, perhaps the KT admonishes them for smoking and ruining their night vision or for talking and not paying attention to their task. Or perhaps a charming marine talks with them, trying to keep their spirits up before the inevitable attack.
• Take any of the above and take the 'side kicks' out of the picture, and simply use narrative to describe what they're doing as being more than human- tell them 32 hours into their watch they finally see something on the horizon, and that will be the first itme they've moved to stretch themselves out for the whole period. If the PCs have ever been in that positon before (and most of us have at some point had to make a 'stay awake' roll) the simple lack of roll and basic description may do the trick.

little thing from one of our sessions.

KT helped badly mauled IG squad witch was fighting orks, they refused to let them die and decided to take them with them to extraction point. Sadly few members of KT were wounded and almost all IG troopers were in bad shape, for Marines 200km run without even one break was cake walk, guardsmen were nearly dead after 5km. What supposed to be quick evac turned into two glorious sessions, behind enemy lines, half equipment without ammo, 40 bolt rounds for whole team, and twenty squishy funny little humans around with laser pointers pretending to be proper weapon.