Dark Heresy RPG on SD.net?

[Raj Ahten]

In the discussions about the new Warhammer 40k rpg, Dark Heresy, several people on the board said they would be interested in setting up an online game either here or on another board. Are people still interested in playing or GMing such a game? I am certainly interested in playing in one. (especially since I am without a regular group to meet with face to face at the moment.)

[Ford Prefect]

If I can actually decide what sort of character I'd like to play, I would most certainly be interested.

[Academia Nut]

I should get my book by the end of the week so I am very interested in playing a game here.

[Ayrix]

I know nobody knows me but I'd be more than happy to play.

[Hawkwings]

I would love to play, I even have character concepts already!

[Vehrec]

IN. SO VERY IN.
I will play anything from bouncy-psyker child to hard bitten deathworlder who will smack you so hard for disrespecting the machine spirit.

[Stark]

If I can actually decide what sort of character I'd like to play, I would most certainly be interested.

NEED TO MIN/MAX INSTEAD OF USING THE RANDOM SYSTEM! WHAT IS THE BEST COMBINATION!!!!!1111

I'd be tentatively interested, but I imagine an SDN game would be far too 40k for me. Gumshoe intruige in a hive? Good. Superwank avatars of muchkinson turning back space hulks full of demons with the power of love? Not so much.

[Hotfoot]

Dark Heresy is about the peons of Inquisitors. Superwank is not really in the cards if the GM is running things intelligently. Terror, Insanity, and Corruption are the lifeblood of the enemy...and the eventuality of all characters.

[Stark]

Dark Heresy is about the peons of Inquisitors. Superwank is not really in the cards if the GM is running things intelligently. Terror, Insanity, and Corruption are the lifeblood of the enemy...and the eventuality of all characters.

Thanks, page 15 of the sourcebook.

Given what most 40k fans around here enjoy and what they've said about the game already definately suggests that they're more interested in the 'zomg awesome I have mechadentrite lololol' aspect than the RP aspect. This isn't unusual, but I have no interest in a game about getting the +5 compact lascannon or whatever. The game itself doesn't lend itself towards that kind of play (particularly the reasonably high lethality), but 40k fans will be 40k fans. :p

[Ford Prefect]

NEED TO MIN/MAX INSTEAD OF USING THE RANDOM SYSTEM! WHAT IS THE BEST COMBINATION!!!!!1111

Oh Stark, you always have the best in mind.

[Stark]

Do you guys use some online RPG soft or do you just do it on the board?

[Ford Prefect]

Do you guys use some online RPG soft or do you just do it on the board?

It tends to just be on the board.

[Raj Ahten]

Do you guys use some online RPG soft or do you just do it on the board?

The specifics are all up in the air right now (there isn't even a GM yet), but in the past games have been run with some success on the board.

Edit: Also, as far as Munchkinism goes, I'd be looking to avoid that as much as possible. One of the best parts of online gaming I've found is it allows you to post exactly what your character is thinking, and you as player have time to figure out what that is.

[Academia Nut]

Pfft. Min/maxing is for chumps, creating inane and insane combinations that shouldn't work for character reasons is where its at. I have a character in mind, but I'm not sure how close I can approximate him with the system until the book arrives and I can take a look at the career options, see how close I can get.

I mean, I can understand random generation to a certain degree, but isn't the point of roleplaying games to be able to create the character you want to create? Doesn't necessarily have to be a combat god, just you know, your character.

And Stark, you're making the same fundamental flaw as the 40k people you rail against. 40k is not about the overwhelming firepower, its about cranking it up to 11 and revelling in the insane, over the top bullshit in a hilarious exultation of the the excessive and macho. We do not want a 10 on the energy weapons head critical table because it causes so much damage, we want it because that sort of insane shit is funny.

[Stark]

I'm making the same 'fundamental flaw' as the 40k people... by pointing it out? You'll have to explain that one, champ.

If the game is about making 'insane' 'over the top bullshit' that 'shouldn't work', count me out. The critical hit tables aren't 'funny', they raise important questions about the effect of armour during these hits.

Playing the game that is suggested, ie Acolytes investigating various shit at risk to their lives and sanity while serving the Inquisition more or less willingly, sounds like great fun. Being a part of some slapstick juvenile silliness does not.

[Academia Nut]

Oh, I'm not suggesting it will all be like that, it will of course be GM context sensitive, I am merely suggesting that all the over the top shit in 40k should really not be treated as masturbatory wank-fests over who can get the most damage, but merely as a means to an end, which is to cause things to explode.

Note I said things which includes the PCs. Having a PC get hit so hard by a daemon's claws that the splatter causes his buddies to go running in panic is both fun for the players in that the imagery is inherently amusing out of context, while still making this dramatic and tense. It's one of those, "Oh man, you remember when?" sort of deals, in that its both cool and causes you to swear at your misfortune and/or stupidity.

I'm saying that by automatically assuming people will do one thing you're falling into the trap of thinking that that is the end all and be all of what could be done. Just because the setting is inherently more than a little silly at times doesn't mean it can't be more than such surface impressions, you simply have to accept that silliness as part and parcel with the rest of the game. Some GMs will emphasize certain aspects more than others, and I am sure that the members here if the old Inquisitor thread is any example will be able to balance the suitably dramatic with the somewhat nonsensical over the topness that is part and parcel with 40k.

[Ford Prefect]

I'll be honest, a lot of the fun involved in Dark Heresy is that it doesn't take itself all that seriously. On the other hand, part of the reason I'm interested in playing is because of the fact it does deal with a lower class of character than other games; it is much more Necromunda than say, Inquisitor, where the person I'm playing is an actual factual Inquisitor with a daemon in his sword, a chip on his shoulder and a couple of total hardcases with chainsaws for hands on my back. Dark Heresy is interesting because it's much more dangerous; you're not as tough and you're not as deadly, and you're much, much more corruptible. You're going into this with the knowledge that you may not be coming out whole at the other side, but you can also expect to have some fun cutting off heads into the bargain.

[Stark]

I'm saying that by automatically assuming people will do one thing you're falling into the trap of thinking that that is the end all and be all of what could be done.

You're an idiot. The *reason* I pointed out the impact of general 40k fan attitudes (which you yourself support) is that Dark Heresy is compatible with much more mature and interesting play.

PROTIP - when I said 'I imagine an SDN game would be far too 40k for me', that DOESN'T mean I think the game only supports generic 40k silliness and suggests that I would much rather play a 'less 40k' game of Dark Heresy. Many of the lapsed 40k players I know are intersted in Dark Heresy specifically because you can play it in non-Bugs Bunny ways.

[Brother-Captain Gaius]

I doubt anyone here has any issue with your stated method of play, Stark (I certainly don't -- I <3 me some good RP). What I think Academia Nut is saying is that there is (or rather, can be if the player chooses) more to the game system than that, and what people get out of it. So in essence, hardcore RP is all well and good, but by the same token there's nothing wrong with giggling at some of the silliness that comes along for the ride, e.g., critical hits.

EDIT - And for the record, I'm interested in the game, though it looks like there's quite a lot of interest. I'm not really fantastic GM material so it's something I'd prefer to avoid, though I might consider doing it if no one else is interested.

[Academia Nut]

Precisely.

Okay, let me clarify what I was trying to say. Dark Heresy looks like the sort of game where you can play it out as an interesting, character driven, hard bitten detective investigation as you hit the pavement and root out the forces arrayed against you, and you could go for a very long time without ever firing a shot, but eventually the nature of the setting means that there is going to be fighting.

And because of the nature of the setting and from the way the rules are set up, fighting will involve fire and explosions and limbs flying everywhere. This is inherently unrealistic and ridiculous, but this is merely the nature of the beast, this is what Warhammer 40k involves, and the system includes this. You can't escape the blood and smoke and madness, otherwise why the fuck are you playing in this setting in the first place?

But just because some aspects are silly and stupid and over the top, why the hell must you automatically dismiss the whole damn thing, including the non-silly, interesting bits, out of hand? That was what I was annoyed at you with. If you don't like 40k, fine, its really very a silly place anyway. But to come in here and say that you don't want to play because you don't like it smacks of class-A douchery. If you're afraid "we'll make things too 40k" then don't fucking post here. If you want to play but are concerned about this sort of thing, then fine, air your concerns, but don't just be "lol 40k sucks" in a thread looking for people who want to play 40k!

This whole rant started because you automatically assumed that Ford Prefect's saying that he couldn't decide on a character meant he was trying to min/max to squeeze everything he could out of it, and not, you know, because he has a dozen interesting character concepts and he doesn't know what to try first. This whole rant started because you assumed that the first thing we would do would be some ridiculously power gaming bullshit, instead of saying something like "Well, I'd like to play, but can we avoid this sort of power gaming bullshit". This whole rant started because 40k is silly and stupid at times, but there is so much more that can be done with it that you seemed to just dismiss out of hand.

This is where that fucking bullshit "lol stark haets EVERYTHING" thing comes from. It's okay to poke the fanboys for being stupid, for being dumbasses, but at a certain point we don't care so long as we're having fun. Apply the good ol' Imperial Smackdown this board is famous for when people need skulls banging together, but if there is a bunch of people who want to get together to play an admittedly silly game, let us be fucking silly and butt out if you don't like it. If you want in, don't be a douche about the fact that the setting isn't as high brow and sophisticated as you might like, otherwise you have no business being here in the first place.

So what is it? Do you want to play but have concerns, or are you just trying to poke us 40k fans who want to have a little fun? Because one I understand fully, I don't want it to be a masturbatory power gaming munchkinfest either, while the other just pisses me the fuck off.

[Stark]

Y'know what's funny? Ford isn't an idiot: he knew I was kidding and even acknowledged the joke. Could I have made the statement more obviously outrageous?

I find it kind of pathetic you're 'arguing' with me by simply being offended and then agreeing with everything I said. You can use the setting multiple ways (holy shit, is that what I meant when I said you could use it in many ways) but 'standard 40k stuff' doesn't interest me, just as I said in the first post.

And honestly, grow a dick. You ask a question I answered IN THE FIRST POST. Yes, I'm 'tentatively interested', but it wouldn't surprise me if the kind of game SDNers go for doesn't interest me.

You know what? I was right. Oh damn, I hate everything! By acknowledging that different groups play differently (and that I likely wouldn't suit an SDN group) I somehow hate 40k!

[The Grim Squeaker]

I'd love to play, as soon as I acquire a copy of the book.

[Feil]

Y'know what's funny? Ford isn't an idiot: he knew I was kidding and even acknowledged the joke. Could I have made the statement more obviously outrageous?

The trouble is that we all know that Stark hates everything, so Stark hating one more thing seems only natural

On t'other hand, hate is the Emperor's greatest gift to mankind. So, carry on.

I'd definitely be up for a game. I'd rather go the PC route, since I'll be GMing my own campaign and this game looks really fun to play.

[Stark]

Is there anyone who is specifically interested in GM'ing?

[Zablorg]

I dare someone to have their inquisitor guy engage in hot tyranid sex.