The Role Playing Public Radio Forums
General Category => RPGs => : Dawnsteel August 14, 2010, 02:08:23 PM
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I am very interested in running two different games: Mouse Guard and Deathwatch. (Uh, not in the same session though.)
Mouse Guard: PCs are anthropomorphic mice, members of an organization that protects the Mouse Territories and its citizens (also mice) from predators and other threats. The rules are sort of a Burning Wheel Lite version.
Deathwatch: Forthcoming RPG from Fantasy Flight, the third in their Warhammer 40k line. It's a sort of companion to Dark Heresy, but the PCs are Space Marines who've been seconded to the Deathwatch Chapter, which in turn is the Chamber Militant of Ordo Xenos. The rulebook doesn't come out 'til September, but there's an intro adventure (which I'll modify a bit), quickstart rules, and pregen Marines that we could use.
Here's the bad news. I haven't GMed a game in at least six years. I'm sure I'm rusty as hell.
Anyone interested?
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Yes sir, I believe that I am interested. Let's go do some space marining.
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Ah, I should've asked for dates/times that work best for everyone. I'm on the East coast, but playing late won't bother me so long as it's a Friday or Saturday.
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Friday nights usually work well for me. I'm Pacific Coast so the earliest I can be online would be around 8:30 or 9:00 pm Eastern Time (I get off at 5pm and I'm 3 hours behind you).
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That's about perfect, because my children go to bed between 8:00 and 8:30, so I usually can't get show up until then anyhow.
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That's a good time for me. What's the combat like in Deathwatch?
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The core game mechanics are identical to Dark Heresy and Rogue Trader. That is, it's a percentile system, and your goal is to roll under your associated characteristic. The Kill-Team (your group of PCs) are much much better armed and armored than any group of Acolytes or Explorers, though. The Battle-Brothers are all capable of wrecking shit, but, based on their home Chapter, they get slightly different abilities and gear that reflect their specialized role. (The assault marine has a powerfist, the devastator marine has a heavy bolter, and so on.)
That said, a single enemy with a lasrifle is no threat to a Space Marine, much less four of them, so Deathwatch introduces rules for hordes of enemies, who can do awful things to you, like overpowering you, dragging you to the ground, and tearing you limb from limb.
Just like Dark Heresy and Rogue Trader, the PCs can spend fate points to turn the tides in their favor. In Deathwatch, spending a fate point will allow you to reroll a failed test, gain a bonus to an upcoming test, add an extra degree of success to a successful test, roll and automatic 10 for initiative, or even heal yourself.
In addition, each Battle-Brother can, once per session, trigger either his Chapter Demeanor or Personal Demeanor to accomplish something really awesome. At the least, a triggered Demeanor provides similar benefits to fate points, but the benefits could be much better if roleplayed appropriately.
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"Deathwatch introduces rules for hordes of enemies, who can do awful things to you, like overpowering you, dragging you to the ground, and tearing you limb from limb."
I like the sound of that.
Thinking about it, in the other RT game we are 1st lvl, so my problems with it combat feeling boring might just be the nature of being low level.
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Deathwatch combat is even more brutal than normal 40K combat. Everybody is a space marine so not only are you in Powered Armor, but Adeptus Powered Armor. Minimum strength bonus something like is +8 because the armor adds 20 to strength and then doubles the total bonus.
The thing is that Space Marines don't get small jobs. Deathwatch is assigned to the most dangerous small scale missions in the Imperium under the Ordo Xenos. Their whole existance is to purge the uncleanest of alien scum.
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I'm totally behind both, I've never played mouseguard but the whole concept has really interested me. As for Deathwatch, Destroy the treacherous xenos!
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Looks interesting and I'm East Coast too, so the 8-9 time frame could work depending on the date.
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Mouse Guard has really good game mechanics or at least I've heard that about burning wheel? Back when I played EQ2, I was a mouse so I'm interested in that game as well.
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Minimum strength bonus something like is +8 because the armor adds 20 to strength and then doubles the total bonus.
By my reading of the rules, your strength bonus is doubled before the +20 armor bonus. A Battle-Brother with 44 strength gets doubled to +8 even out of his armor. With the Mark VII armor on, his bonus is +10. Ouch.
Oh, toughness gets doubled the same way, except the armor doesn't provide a toughness bonus. 8 AP on all locations though, provided you can get the Space Wolf to keep his helmet on.
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8 AP on all locations though, provided you can get the Space Wolf to keep his helmet on.
God damn Space Wolves...
Give me the Black Templar anyday. Only three rules to remember.
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so is it a simple system, like BRP percentile or more complex? I've only glanced at Dark Heresy and Rogue Trader.
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There are Eight Characterstics which form the core of your character, ranked from 1-100. You roll against these values (with modifications) when using skills or in combat and try to roll under the number.
Trained skills use the base value of their linked Characteristic. Basic but untrained skills use half the value of their linked Characteristic. Advanced training adds to the base value when that trained skill is used. Circumstance provides bonuses and penalities alot of the time.
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so pretty simple?
Trained Skill
Attributes = Base Skill
Untrained Skill
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Trained Skill = Linked Attribute
Untrained Basic Skill = 1/2 Linked Attribute
Untrained Advanced Skill = No roll
Advanced Training = Linked Attribute +10
Farther Advanced Traing = Linked Attribute +20
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sounds good, i definitely want to play Deathwatch.
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RT is easy. Here an example of combat:
PC rolls, "I miss."
NPC rolls, "I miss."
PC rolls, "I miss."
NPC rolls, "I hit!!"
PC says, "I dodge. You miss."
J/K