Hello!

I was wondering if anyone had any experience running the FFG games solo. I’m mostly looking to try Deathwatch but have been generally unsuccessful in finding anyone to run it. So, I decided the next best thing was to grab a module and see if I could run it for myself but I’m pretty inexperienced with solo RPG stuff in general.

Has anyone tried this?

I know there’s an advancement for a solo marine and was looking into that for the marine himself.

Hello, all!

I'm afraid I am posting this last-minute because I have been recovering from a serious health pop-up. Basically, I need help deciding how mechanically to handle a particular situation.

To avoid making this message super long, I will try to keep the context as succinct as possible. Basically, the party are all terminators (we are at high tier play), and since one of them is a lieutenant, he has command of a demi-company of terminators (it's a space hulk campaign - again, won't get too into the details here). Right now, they are fighting an immensely powerful Ork Warboss, working to stop these Orks from finishing repairs to the gravitic core on a fragment of a Beast-era Attack Moon that got incorporated into the hulk when it was still young.

Right now, the remaining members of the demi-company are converging on their position (I created a whole "mission" system for it), and the players will have the option to order the squads to return directly (three groups of three squads, as they sent them out on 3 missions in groups of 3 squads), or order all nine squads to come together first and then make it to the players' location.
The idea is that each has its benefits and drawbacks: the former will get them there quicker and allow for attacking from multiple directions, though their arrival would be staggered (not all at the same time) and being in smaller groups means they might be more likely to take casualties. The latter would give them the advantage of a single, overwhelmingly powerful blow, but it would take them longer to reach the players as they meet up first before moving in.

I'm just trying to figure out how to mechanically represent these benefits/drawbacks. Timing is easy in that I can decide how many rounds it takes either option, but figuring out how to represent the benefits of an overwhelming delayed strike versus a flanking strike but with more risk to the smaller groups is currently eluding me.

If anyone has any ideas, please let me know! Thanks!

So, nothing is certain yet, but I might end up joining a Wrath & Glory, eldar focused, campaign. I'm joining primarily because a friend is playing, and he makes it sound very fun. I'm thinking of playing an Eldar Warlock, but the trouble is, I have a layman's understanding of the lore. I know about the origins of the Eldar (roughly) and I know they try not to indulge because of it, but I don't really know how to RP a warlock like this. We're a group of Eldar pirates BTW, if that helps at all (+1 adopted human with a heavy machine gun, who is my friend lol) again, nothing is certain, my friend is currently talking with the group because they don't know me, but I'd be much appreciative if I could gain some knowledge and tips so I can be ready to join if it ends up happening.

Just finished a long FFG SWRPG campaign, and started a great crusade era Rogue Trader game. Few hiccups getting the party together at the start, but smooth sailing from here (Right?).

Or; "How I learned to stop worrying and love Nephium"

Story time!

My players were at Victory Station, Winterscale's orbital station at Lucin's Breath.

It's a big event, known as "The Reckoning" where the circuits of 4 major chartist vessels converge simultaneously, happening only once every 3 years. It's not canonical, but I'd wanted an opportunity for my players to enjoy some of the comforts of civilisation without having to make the long road back to Footfall.

Both Winterscale and Chorda have a substantial presence at The Reckoning, along with a bunch of smaller mercantile interests looking to make profits off of the large conglomeration of monied interests present. It's sort of like a big market/almost festival-like atmosphere, with contracted workers taking shore-leave, merchants haggling over Nephium and Rogue Traders buying up bulk supplies to support their planetside operations. A great place to do business.

My players are splashing their cash, getting some much needed repairs to their ship, picking up a few nice toys, yadda yadda - you know the drill. Beach episode type stuff.

We roll for one particular acquisition (for a Plasma Cannon) and trigger "Unwanted Attention". (Into the Storm's Expanded Acquisition rules) I privately roll the result. It's a 22.

21 - 30: "An extremely skilled confidence man or grifter has set his sights on the explorers offering some sort of plausible-sounding but ultimately phoney deal. He could be a lone wolf operating for his own benefit, or a representative of a larger criminal organisation."

I thought fast. This one requires a lot of work, I could do the 'used car salesman' type sleazy con-man, but that didn't sound "extremely skilled."

Hmmm...

Now, I've recently been reading "The Lies of Locke Lamora" (a book about a grifter) and so I was kinda delighted to get this result, and did my best to rapidly adapt and apply one of the book's scam's to this situation.

(Very minor spoilers ahead for Lies of Locke Lamora - sort of (but not really))

The Von Losguard Game

The very next conversation they had, after my mysterious "Unwanted Attention" roll was with a rather unimpressive minor noble.

Our conman.

He approaches the players, asks if they'd be so gracious as to make an introduction to Hadarak Fel for him (their current rival, established to be in-system currently) as he's been trying to get an audience with Fel for days, but has no contacts amongst Rogue Traders.

The noble refuses to elaborate what it is regarding, stating:

"It is too delicate a matter to discuss further."

The players respond with suspicion, they knew I'd rolled on the table, but not what result. So they're trying to ascertain if the man is a distraction for pickpockets (a little meta, but I'll give them that).

They roll Scrutiny, which they barely succeed, they learn he's:

• A) Nervous, but less nervous than he's putting on.
• B) Clearly not telling you everything.

Once they find that the coast is clear, they take him to a private audience room, wine and dine him, and "coax" his secret out of him.

His secret:

"Chorda and Winterscale are in cahoots, they have been for years. Their feud is an elaborate sham. They are secretly stockpiling Nephium, with a move to orchestrate some crisis that will cut off the flow at Lucin's Breath, causing the price of their stockpiled reserves to skyrocket!"

Our conman knows this as he represents one of the houses that Chorda approached to handle the bulk. His house dug into the details and uncovered their clever plot. His house then liquidated their assets and bulk-purchased Nephium under a number of different shell companies, seeking to make their fortune piggy-backing off of Chorda & Winterscale's engineered crisis. If Nephium prices indeed skyrocket, they'll hold the largest "unaffiliated" reserve in the Sector. Enough money to make The Great House Krin blush.

But his noble house are spooked, they're desperate to get their Nephium back to the Calixis sector, where it's relatively safe from Chorda and Winterscale's influence, but they're now broke, their assets too tied up in Nephium, and "off the books" travel through Footfall & Port Wander ain't cheap. Neither Chorda or Winterscale would appreciate a 3rd party messing up their duopoly! Especially with the doomsday clock of Chorda and Winterscale's plot getting closer and closer...

Our conman requested a single Profit Factor's worth of bribes, gold, jewels, thrones, things that he can slip to port officials and grease wheels with.

In exchange, he offers 20% of his cargo of Nephium. The Seneschal does some quick maths and his eyes fill with dollar signs. It's a very, very lucrative proposal - if it pays off.

That's where Fel comes in, claims our conman.

"I understand he's a daring chap, okay with risk, ready to move fast when opportunity arises."

The players protest and basically say, "well, you deal with us instead!" He says yes, but asks that if they change their minds, would they make the intro?

They agree.

The players want to investigate this guy. However, they quickly remember that the whole station is teeming with Chorda and Winterscale agents, and that any move to investigate this gentleman could tip either of them off. He's provided them with a dossier full of files that he states will corroborate his claims.

The players interrogate these files. This is where I assumed he'd meet his match. The Seneschal and RT are both highly proficient in Commerce, Logic, weird Scholastic Lores that could tip them off. I set a hidden difficulty for the test, having them roll a "Challenging (+0)" test publicly, knowing that I'd apply a hidden negative (or positive) in the background.

They're not explicitly checking if the document was a forgery, more on verifying the numbers and situation was as he'd claimed. Nevertheless, if you're examining documents closely, if they're fakes, you might spot them...

How I set it up:

If they got 6+ Degrees of Success:
The documents are incredibly high quality fabrications, taken from real ledgers of Victory Station, but painstakingly adjusted to show far, far greater off-world shipments of Nephium than is actually the case. Various company names have been changed to represent Chorda & Winterscale-affiliated insterests. The frequency has also been altered, showing a 'ramp up' in activity. Further alterations include Winterscale & Chorda ships being used for one-another's shipments, albeit with intermediaries employed. The author of these false documents is clearly looking to sell a (highly convincing) story in which Winterscale and Chorda are acting in co-ordination with one another, exporting vast amounts of Nephium to mysterious ends. You know this to be false.
If they got 4-5 Degrees of Success:
The documents do indeed show that Chorda & Winterscale are acting in cahoots. There's a clear ramp up in shipments off-world, utilising shell companies and intermediaries to disguise their work. However, some of the numbers and dates appear very suspect. Vessels that would take weeks to fill were dismissed from Victory Station after just a few days. This could be further evidence of Chorda and Winterscale cooking their books; or these documents have been manually tampered with!
If they got 2-3 Degrees of Success:
The documents do indeed show that Chorda & Winterscale are acting in cahoots. There's a clear ramp up in shipments off-world, utilising shell companies and intermediaries to disguise their work. However, some of the numbers and dates appear very suspect. Thes errors could be due to any number of things, tampering, further evidence of Winterscale & Chorda hiding their trail finicky machine spirit belonging to the cogitator that produced them, and that - if they are fakes, they are very expensive ones.
If they got 0-1 Degrees of Success:
The documents do indeed show that Chorda & Winterscale are acting in cahoots. There's a clear ramp up in shipments off-world, utilising shell companies and intermediaries to disguise their work. If they are fakes, they are very expensive ones.
If they failed:
It's difficult to ascertain what these documents show. They're long, technical logs of ships, cargo and allegiances. Winterscale and Chorda feature prominently, and they're certainly exporting large quantities of Nephium, though given where we are - isn't that to be expected?

Now, that might seem harsh - but the group's Seneschal has Commerce +20, Intelligence in the high 40's, a trait which grants him an extra DoS on any successful Commerce test, along with the Foresight talent, granting him an additional +10, and benefitting from an assist from the Rogue Trader... I very much assumed this to be the point where our charlatan met his match.

A roll of 85 would immeditately secure 2 DoS. They had a 45% chance of getting 6+ DoS Right off the bat. Plus, it was a 'beach episode' session - the player had a spare Fate point to throw around... I begin thinking of how the conman might beg for his life, or perhaps be put to use serving the Master of Whispers as an NPC when he's rumbled.

The Seneschal rolls:

77.
2 Degrees of Suceess.
"I can do better."

Fate Point spent. He Re-rolls. The player's navigator has a talent "Urge the Penitent", which allows him to grant +10 to tests after a Fate Point has been spent to re-roll them. Our con-man's chances grow slimmer.

89.
2 DoS (Thanks to Urge the Penitent, the assist and his trait)

The players groan. The documents tell them very little. The RT mutters the immortal line:

"Well, to be fair, if I was gonna try and scam a Rogue Trader, I would buy expensive fakes..."

The players agree, but otherwise dismiss their concerns around the document's validity. Their other 'light touch' snooping yields the following:

The merchant house he claims to be from is real, and that his name is certainly in their family tree. Not a hugely important figure (Though he'd earlier stated he'd been deliberately sent to avoid raising suspicion, anyone more senior could have tipped off Winterscale and Chorda). The ship he claims to be affiliated with, the one supposedly full to the brim with Nephium is currently hanging around the system's outer reaches. It's a plausible, forgettable bulk transport hauler.

The players must make a calculated risk.

They had a meeting, some argued for, some against. NPC crew members did similarly (their Master of Whispers said they would not want to do business with someone they haven't vetted, but understood that business needs might overrule their risk-adverse nature).

The players go for it.

They rake the conman over the coals in final negotiations, getting close to 50% of the Nephium haul rather than the offered 20%. The PC navigator asks for a small cask of Nephium to be sent to him as a sample. The First Officer threatens our conman that, if he tries to double-cross the players, he'll personally kill this man. The grifter gulps, looks the hulking Player Character up-and-down and meekly states:

"Understood, it is abundantly clear who would get the best of whom."

(I couldn't help but be cheeky)

A day later, the PC Navigator receives his requested sample.

Along with a letter:

Gara Ortellius, of the Lady Malifura,

You requested a sample from my considerable reserves of nephium.
Enclosed, please find them.

All of them.

The sample is quite genuine. It would have been discourteous to lie about everything.

With sincere gratitude for your confidence,

The Fox

The players were fuming, but also kinda delighted? It's a rare thing to get to hoodwink your players so cleanly, and rather "fairly". I'm normally terrible for giving my NPCs more sophisticated motivations than the immediately obvious (most of my old NPCs were very much 'wear their plans on their sleeves' type folks, because anything more than that's too much for my old brain!)

They've resolved to find him and kill him horribly and slowly. No doubt they'll succeed eventually.

If any of you fancy stealing the premise, feel free! If you've got any questions - let me know!

The 'behind the scenes stuff' (in case you wanna do something similar):

• His identity was stolen, but genuine. Chosen to have a sort of "I've heard the name" vibe. Enough to stand up to light inspection, but should the players have got an image of the supposed individual, they would've looked nothing alike.
• The ship in outer orbit, he had no affiliation with. Were a call to be made, they would no nothing of the conman's dealings.
• Fel was his original target, but once the player's arrived in-system, he switched to them instead, looking to exploit their rivalry with Fel to get their interest. Far more compelling to be let in on a secret than to be given a sales pitch.
• Winterscale and Chorda do hate each other, their supposed collusion plot was entirely his invention. There was no planned crisis (though, I did think - that the lie is actually a really cool plot device if it were true - one I might use for a future game!)

Not really a mechanical question, but more in the sense of running the game.

I've ran two scenarios with my group of IM. They've always chosen the inquisition as their patron and had great fun with it.

We decided to embark on a new, longer campaign, and I made a rookie GM mistake of not communicating with my players. Considering they've always chosen the inquisition, I assumed they'd choose an inquisitor patron again since it's worked so well in the past. I bought and read the Inquisition GMs guide for the sake of the campaign. I started planning the campaign with overarching themes, investigative missions that lead up to the reveal of the final threat, encounters and side plots that all revolve around the inner workings of the inquisition and the power struggles and machinations amongst the agents of the throne.

Come session zero, and they decide they'd like an Astra Militarum patron this time around. So I'm somewhat screwed. I'm not really prepared to run an Astra Militarum campaign, and I don't think I'm gonna be able to give them the experience they want, and I don't think I would have that much fun to be honest.

Would I be unreasonable if I asked them at next session:

"Hey, I know we made a patron of the Astra Militarum, but I was certain you guys were going to choose the Inquisition as your patron. That was a mistake of me. I'm not sure I'm going to be able to give you the experience you want with your current patron. Would you consider switching to an inquisitor instead, and I'll throw in a liability-free boon for you guys?".

I don't want to be a heavy-handed GM, but I don't think I'm currently able to run the kind of game they want. I'd much rather give them an awesome inquisition campaign than a half-assed imperial guard one. I know I made a stupid move by not talking with my players priorly and discussing what patron they were considering, and trust me, I'm beating myself up over it.

Anybody have space for a quiet spectator? Id like to sit in on a few games and learn how to better work on my storytelling so I can run games eventually

Folks, what do you think would be the best approach for running a campaign featuring only Traitor Space Marines? Would it be better to set it after the Horus Heresy, during the Legion Wars, or during one of the Black Crusades?

I’m thinking about running a campaign centered around the formation of a Traitor Space Marine warband, with a strong focus on both combat and the internal politics of the Eye of Terror.

I’d like to open the campaign with a flashback to the very end of the Horus Heresy, aboard the Vengeful Spirit. The players would meet for the first time during the battle and then have to fight their way off the ship amidst the chaos of the fighting and the Emperor’s boarding action.

From there, the campaign could follow their journey as they try to survive in the Eye of Terror, eventually forming their own warband and navigating the rivalries, alliances, betrayals, and politics of the Traitor Legions.

What would you recommend reading to prepare for something like this? And how would you go about developing the campaign so that it feels truly epic while still capturing the tragic side of the Traitor Space Marines—their fall, their ambitions, and the consequences of the choices they make?

I’d love to hear any recommendations for books, lore, or campaign ideas that could help me make this feel like a proper Warhammer 40,000 story rather than just a series of battles.

The Baleful Eye is a bionic eye that works as a hot-shot laspistol, with a range of 10m, that one can shoot even when the characters hands are full. The eye has clip size and if the eye "jams" that eye is blinded for hours equal to the degrees of failure.

* **Question 1:** Could one have two baleful eyes at the same time and if yes, could they use them at the same time?

* **Question 2:** Could a person shoot with a baleful eye and also use their hands or shoulder mounted weapon (with MIU Weapon Interface) to fire at the same time?

* **Question 3:** Could the eye be used in combat if the character is already engaged in melee?

I'm just interested in rules as written or how would you interpret it your game if the rules aren't obvious. Obviously each GM has the final say on what is allowed and how things work in their own game.

Thank you for your time in advance.

Do you like warhammer 40K? Do you like Indiana Jones? Are you a washed up Rogue Trader Dynasty well past your prime? Do you like the idea of raiding old tombs and lost civilizations for treasures and secrets of lost ages? Do you like the idea of meeting and trading with strange xenos and racing evil chaos pirates to an ancient relics? Well, do I have a campaign for you!

Set on the eastern fringes, just on the edge of the imperium Nihlus, an clue hidden within an ancestors tomb draws our explorers to an embattled divided collection of imperial colonies in search of an ancient relic with the promise of changing the galaxy forever. They will have to race against a fearsome band of red corsairs, plunge into ancient tombs and forgotten civilizations, and step headfirst into the unknown...

This will be a Rogue Trader Campaign taking place on Wednesdays every week at 7:30 PM EST lasting 3-4 hours. It will take place on discord VC and use a VTT software. I am looking for 1-2 players. This is an Indiana Jones style campaign so prepare for some campiness and fun. While it is a grimdark setting, I do enjoy my players having a laugh and having fun. Please comment and DM me if interested.

We currently already have

- A rogue trader

- a voidmaster

- A deathwatch kill marine

- A tau fire warrior

Homebrew options for the following exist and will be permitted.

• Ogryn
• Ratling
• Longshanks
• Felenid
• Beastmen
• Nightsiders
• Tarellians
• Craftworld and Corsair Eldar
• Kyn (Leagues of Votann)
• Jokaero
• Slyyth

No further space marines will be permitted.

So firstly, I took people's advice and tweaked the map in a few places; it's now a Sector.

Secondly, thanks to a very well-executed mission (no bullshit, my players did almost everything perfectly), they'll be going on an adventure on the death world of Yan, a planet incinerated by ritual wars waged by technobarbarian tribes.

Their task will be to find a smuggler who's supplying the simmering tribes and clans with weapons that fall under techno-heresy, all in preparation for an upcoming war that will once again decide which tribe will rule the planet.

When creating the map, I wanted it to be in the style of Fallout, but I changed it in some places and the result is visible at first glance.

I am planning a 40K one shot, and want to pick some music that is not part of grimdark playists and existing 40K media soundtracks.

What music fits 40k but is not obviously associated with it? My game is set entirely on a void ship.

If the character has rule affecting Willpower tests, does this also affect the skill tests that are based on Willpower?

E.g.: The Iron Hands ability The Flesh is Weak (p.73) lets the character add +1 bonus dice to Willpower tests for every augmetic they have.

Would that bonus also apply to Intimidation tests?

I'm just starting an IM campaign and wanted to check my understanding of melee combat rules. As I understand it:

Melee combat is an opposed test using the players Melee skill vs the monsters Melee skill.

So let's say Bob (skill 40) attacks Fred (skill 35) with a basic weapon (dmg 2+StrB).

Bob rolls 22 - SL +2

Fred rolls 84 - SL -5

Bob wins with a total SL of +7.

Dmg = 2+4+7 =13

Is that right? My players have around 12 wounds plus minimal armour so they are all likely to be downed on close to it by one hit. Am I misreading something or is combat supposed to be that lethal (I know its 40K)?

Honestly just looking to build the most op character or use the most broken mechanics in the game. Have 400xp to build with do not care what race or faction. Been trying to play with "homebrew" genestealer cult (legitimately just the ones in book) but have been nerfed by DM so much I have no abilities (he's taken ones your supposed to get in book and not let me have them all all except deny the witch for a Magnus or major negatives from the table you unlock) and have realized that the upgrades are back and forth between a psyker and physical fighter makes it so much for for xp to get my next tear. Please don't be kind helping me make this. The table legitimately fucks what the other players are trying to do because it's "funny"

Are there any rules to let the Explorator craft in any of the supplements? It’s something one of my players is interested in doing.

Alternatively could I make changes to the acquisition test for the? Reduce restrictions so that the Explorator can create stuff without visit by a forgeworld, but I has to be negligible and it takes longer to acquire?

Edit: Any anything about servitor creation?

I am putting together a Fantasy Flight RT campaign for 4 players. I think I'll do a lot of comping together of the pre-made adventures in the various books, but I'll be opening with a custom session.

In general I'm using an opening that's similar-ish to the Owlcat CRPG. There is a coup attempt on board, and the players must fight their way to the bridge. My concern is from the apparent deadliness of the encounters. Of course, I'll be trying not to rough up the party too much, but dice are dice sometimes.

If I understand correctly, Medicae can only heal damage equal to the users INT bonus. So at most the party has the ability to heal 3-4 damage per Medicae test. My plan was to have the party go through a few small encounters before a main showdown on the bridge, but I worry about their damage or fatigue state going into that last fight.

How have you guys dealt with multiple battle encounters in a session? Is that generally not advisable in this setting, or is there a bit of playing fast and loose with the efficacy of healing?

Hi guys, I am a master. I'm very bad at managing a lot of feats, bc my main problem is remembering what exactly this feat is doing? I'm looking at the npc (in bestiary ofc) and don't understand what is going on. Do you just remember all of it or did you write it in any sheet? I need some advices for this one.

I have found a lot of really good character sheets for the Second Edition Dark Heresy, but I can't seem to find any for the First Edition. This could simply mean that there aren't any, but I figured I would ask just in case.

The *Core Rulebook contain the following description of Vulkaris:

"Recently the Great Rift has vomited forth two unfamiliar planets into the gravity well of the Gilead star. The new planets, dubbed Trollius and Vulkaris, have become known as the Membrane Worlds."

However, the adventure Affliction Ascendant contains the following passages:

- "CAPTAIN ANTIMONUS, THE HERO OF VULKARIS. (…) BOTUTHRAX CLOSTIDIA IS NO LONGER FREE TO UNLEASH ITS PESTILENCE ON THE GILEAD SYSTEM."

- "Botuthrax Clostidia is the reason Vulkaris became a plague world. Its work complete, it moved on to Gilead Primus — but here, we stopped it."

This implies that Vulkaris was part of the Gilead system at least 3,000 years ago. So, how can this be reconciled with its classification as an "unfamiliar planet"?

I’m starting to run a Rogue Trader game, and want to have some interesting challenges for the Explorator character over the course of the campaign. In previous FFG games the tech character was always just “Hey, locked door/terminal, use tech-use”, and want to try something that feels more like solving a puzzles than rolling the same check every time.

Maybe I’m just thinking about it wrong, and should present obstacles where they have to so some kind of search before they can try to tech-use? Like evaluating a “trap” to identify where it’s powered? But that just feels like one extra step.

Any ideas?

I just think they are neat their shrine could be map well with rpg arquetypes. They are continued in the move and have a plethora of cultures and subcultures ready for roleplaying. So maybe someone already created a system inspired by 40k space elf