I've never run a WH40k game before. My experience is with D&D but, having just got my hands on the books, I'm itching to play. As a result I'm looking for players who aren't going insist I change my decision when I get something wrong. After all the mechanics are always secondary to the story. I'll accept noobs but I'm also hoping there'll be some experienced players wanting to get involved so that it doesn't become the blind leading the blind :)
In my experience of running pbp games, I've discovered that pre-written adventures tend to work best. So, with that in mind, I plan to run the adventure Extraction, in the back of the Deathwatch Core Rulebook. If you'd like to play, please refrain from reading this adventure as it would most likely spoil the enjoyment of both yourself and others. If all goes well, I'll follow the adventure up with Final Sanction and Oblivion's Edge. Players who've played any of these adventures previously are of course still welcome to apply but just be aware of the potential to metagame.
As Battle Brothers in a Deathwatch Kill Team you'll be a force to be reckoned with but don't underestimate the forces I can throw at you. I'm a fair but relatively ruthless GM. You'll need to act like members of the Adeptus Astartes survive. Without carefull planning and teamwork you won't.
From what I understand characters in the WH universe are far more mortal than other systems and I won't be afraid of testing this theory. With the random determination of consequences of this system, in all likelihood, characters will die anyway. When this happens I'd like you to elaborate on the death and treat it as part of the story to be enjoyed just like the rest of it. At the end of the day it's only a game and the idea is to have fun.
I have a couple of house rules to make things run more easily.
We will be using group initiative for this game. Essentially you roll initiative individually. Some of you will get to go before your opponents and others will get to go after but, within each group, it doesn't matter who posts first.
Group 1: Angrom and Bertram
Group 2: Tyranid Warriors
Group 3: Nemiel and Zahariel
It doesn't matter that Angrom rolled higher than Bertram. All that matters is that he rolled higher than the Tyranid Warriors and therefore gets to act before them. If RojoGrande41788, whose playing Bertram, posts before Izual, whose playing Angrom, then it doesn't matter. The actions are considered to occur simultaneously.
Nemiel and Zahariel on the other hand must wait for the Tyranid Warriors to move before they can perform an action.
Whenever someone wants to use a fate point they must RP it using their demeanour. If they do a good job then they get to keep the fate point, if not they lose it. Incidentally a single line post will result in a lost fate point as will abusing the system. Space Marines without fate points cannot use their demeanour.
Characters receive three reloads of standard ammunition for their standard issue weapons and signature wargear weapons. Ammunition for special issue weapons must be purchased separately.
This brings me onto role-play. I like my games to be rich and colourful. I am going to try and bring the world to life around you, the least you can do is try to bring your character to life and add a bit of interest to the world yourself. This means writing more than a single line each time you post. If I just wanted to roll dice all day I'd be playing table top. I play (and prefer to play) pbp because it allows me and my players to weave a story together. That said writing too much can be just as bad. Individuals who write mammoth amounts each time they post have a tendency to put the less creative players off and I don't have time to read a novel every time I log on.
So what I'm going to do is reward players with 50 xp for every post containing between 50 and 100, in character, words. If you go over this limit a little from time to time I don't mind. This means you'll earn experience at a rate of 1000 xp every 20 posts.
This brings me to posting frequency. I'm usually in a different time zone to every one of my players therefore I'll probably post a maximum of once per day, excluding weekends. I expect my players to do the same. Posting more than once a day, is permitted but I'd rather a well thought out post than lots of sloppy ones, so I'm going to put a cap on experience to 50 xp per day. Therefore there's no incentive to post more often than once a day.
Therefore you'll earn experience at a rate of 1000 xp every 20 days. If we exclude weekends you'll gain experience at a rate of 1000 xp per month.
Because there are no character sheets I'd like every post to include a mini stat-block as the title to each of their posts. This way I can keep track of wounds, fate, fatigue and ammo. By-the-way, poor housekeeping will result in weapon jams and various other inconveniences.
I prefer posts to be in the third person past tense, the way most books are written. I expect posts to be fully spell checked and read through for errors. There's an edit button at the bottom of the post, use it! Rolls should be at the bottom of posts in spoiler threads. I don't want to see posts cluttered with roll tags, it's messy and disrupts your writing.
Like this
Characters should be created as described in the Deathwatch Core Rulebook. No other books are allowed at this moment. I want to keep things simple, remember this is my first time using these rules. As described there, you have 1000 xp to spend. However I will reward an extra 100 xp, to a maximum of 500 xp, for every 100 words you write in the Nature section of your character sheet. Beware, though, I value quality over quantity and will not be inclined to accept your character just because you've written a load of rubbish to make the word count.
I'll probably be accepting in the region of six players depending on applications. Ideally that would mean one of each of the six specialities: Apothecary, Assault Marine, Devastator Marine, Librarian, Tactical Marine and Techmarine. I have no illusions about commitment. I expect drop-outs and will probably take some reserves to fill in when players inevitably go missing.
Please post all applications in the thread provided using the template provided but remember to post in the advert too, to keep it alive. All rolls during character creation should be made in the thread provided and again using the template provided. You will need the Deathwatch Core Rulebook to play this game.
Requisition for the first adventure will be 50 points. Please note that ammunition for special issue weapons must be purchased separately. Characters receive three reloads of standard ammunition for their standard issue weapons and signature wargear weapons.
Please write at the top of all applications either:
*WORK IN PROGRESS*
or
*APPLICATION COMPLETE*
so that I know how many completed applications we have.