Character creation and setting discussion

What do you want to play and what would you like to know?

Where can I look to see the options and rules. Not familiar with 41 k at all...

For the rules PM me your email and I'll send you the link to the copy of Fate Condensed in my drive.

For the setting you might bounce around the fan wiki a bit here. I'll see if I can find a good synopsis somewhere.

This Youtuber has put together a number of interesting videos on both the original Warhammer 40K game and the lore of it.

As per the Fate Condensed rules I'm using, your characters 3rd Aspect should be a relationship aspect with another PC. So as we go along you all should figure out how you know each other. I want you all to work for/with the same Inquisitor NPC I'll create. I want you to have at least one relationship with someone else beyond that.

I'm making the following changes to Skills. Craft is now Technology. Drive is now split into Drive, Pilot and Ride. And I'm introducing a new skill called Psyker that you have to have a permission aspect to choose.

@ST: Those changes make sense.

@Everyone: OK team session 0 , let's get do this. What concepts are you all batting around in your brainbox? I would love to give some sort of Psyker a go, I am also interested in Mechanicum. I am open to change to fit the narrative.

I am.doing a bit of researching. Never played this. Don't know rules, or options for characters. And don't know.Where to get character sheets?

Use the Fate Core character sheet provided here on Gamersplane. Or if you want one you can print use the one included in the Fate Condensed pdf.

@Darpavien What questions do you have so far about Fate?

Hey Darpavien, maybe I can help with the lore bit. To start with our premise, we work for an Inquisitor, who in the Warhammer 40K universe has almost-infinite authority to stop threats from humanity. One of these threats is Heresy, which is quite literal in the setting, as Chaos is pretty much a parallel dimension that best translates to hell, where deamons live and the Chaos Gods constantly battle one another. Psykers draw power from the realm of Chaos (called the Warp) to work 'magic' and are universally distrusted and have to be sanctioned or they will be hunted down. In the meanwhile, on the subject of Heresy; Mortals turn to worshipping Chaos for promises of power or simply are unlucky enough to be corrupted by some other influence. Cults like these spread like tumors, and at some point an entire world may be corrupted. The Inquisition strives to prevent this and has the aforementioned near-unlimited authority to root it out. If all else fails, entire planets can be destroyed through the act of Exterminatus rather than lose it completely to Chaos. But naturally, this is preferably prevented as the loss of resources is often too detrimental to the Imperium (ps. No one cares about the billions of people who die in the process, if one resource is infinite in the 40k universe, it's humans).

But the Imperium spans the galaxy and is comprised of millions of worlds. Inquisitors cannot be everywhere at once in person, so they employ specialized teams to deal with uprisings of heresy in their stead. Sometimes openly, with their full authority, but often covertly, to prevent panic. Because you can be sure that panic starts when it's known an Inquisitor has taken an interest in your planet. Planetary governors rush to cover up the incident. Priests call for mass purges of heretics. The populace goes into a frenzy. Production falls. And so on.

These strike teams often employ highly talented individuals of multiple disciplines. Agents of the Inquisition themselves are often Interrogators, the lieutenants of Inquisitors who often hope to rise to the rank of Inquisitor themselves. Sanctioned Psykers are a resource that the Inquisition has access to, to fight Chaos with the power of the Warp. And the Imeprium's mightiest super-soldiers, the Space Marines, tithe some of their kind to the Inquisition for the most deadly of missions. But there are other powerful organizations and groups the Inquisition draws agents from;

The Adeptus Mechanicus, the tech-priesthood of Mars, are the keepers of Technology in the Imeprium. These half-men, half-machine zealots treat technology as religion, and they are the keepers of all technological knowledge. Without them, no spaceship would be built, nor the humble las-rifle. Their planets are Forge worlds, completely converted into production facilities of unimaginary scale, to continuously feed the Imperium with its needs.

Far humbler are Scum, singularly talented criminals who got snatched up by the Inquisition with a simple ultimatum; serve or die. Their knowledge of crime is often exceptionally handy when trying to uproot a hidden cult.

Priests of the Adeptus Ministorum, the faith of the God-Emperor, join the Inquisition as a holy calling to purge the Imperium of corruption. They have massive sway over the populace and often go into battle with flamers. The Adepta Soriritas are the Sisters of Battle. By ancient decree the Adeptus Ministorum was not allowed to have men at arms, which they circumvented by having an exclusively female order of zealots in power armor do their bidding. Their faith in the Emperor is so pure that some can even cause miracles.

A far less shiny, but extremely necessary part of the Imperium is the Adeptus Administratum. The administrators and bookkeepers of the Imperium. To rule millions of worlds and keep galaxy-spanning war effort going requires a staggering amount of bookkeeping. These scribes determine production quotas, keep track of every tiny resource, record all history and.. well, are very bookish. That said, even the Inquisition cannot ignore the Adminsitratum. Some Inquisitors recruit scribes or sages who have staggering knowledge at the ready, and the know-how to cut through red tape that sometimes can choke an investigation for decades.

Then there are the two military branches (not counting the Space Marines, who are a power in their own right); the Imperial Army and the Imperial Navy. The Imperial army comprises of everything on the ground, from the soldier to general, from the lasrifle to the Leman Russ battle tank, while the navy controls the enormous space ships that ferry them around and can bombard planets. This split is intentional and complete, to prevent one organization from both having the ability to move armies and conquer planets with them. Naturally, the Inquisition can commandeer these forces for their own needs when required, but they often prefer to recruit individuals permanently. Be it a very competent squad of urban warfare soldiers, or a dogmatic commissar to keep people in line, to maybe that one soldier who turned out to be strangely resistant to warp influence..

There are other groups which I'll cover shortly:
The Adeptus Arbites: The Police of the Imperium, ACAB on steroids. The average citizen of the Imperium is of little interest to the Adeptus Arbites, their job is to keep planets in line. They mow down riots with combat shotguns, but they often also have skilled investigators who are quite canny at uncovering cultist activity.

Rogue Traders: These individuals are the equivalent in power to an Inquistor, in that they technically only answer to the Lords of Terra. Their near-unlimited authority is used in a different way though; they are given space ships and armies and sent out to claim wayward worlds, or the unknown regions of space, to expand the Imperium. They are conquistadors in some right, and their Dynasties can span millennia, and become exceptionally powerful in their own right. Some field entire navies of their own and control dozens of star systems and hundreds of worlds. They are also uniquely free in that they have the right to freely traverse the Imperium, are allowed to contact Xenos species, and are free to act with unlimited authority in the name of the Imperium. Not many are 'employed' by Inquisitors. Some help an Inquisitor out of boredom, others do it to subsequently add the planet they just saved to their own holdings. The Inquisition doesn't care, as long as the planetary tithes are secured.

Officio Assassinorum: These Officio offer several types of ultra-specialized assassins to serve the Imperium, the best of their kind. These individuals are molded, sometimes even completely rebuilt, to be the perfect killers. Sadly, their personality is often the first thing that is sacrificed in order to achieve this. Capable of killing anything, even space marines, these assassins are rightly feared.

Extremely rare are the Psychic nulls, or Pariahs. These individuals are the anti-psykers. They cast no shadow in the Warp and are immune to psychic influence, something they also unconsciously project around them in a bubble. These anathema are universally despised as everyone who comes near them feels revulsion for them. But they are a very valuable resource for the Inquisition. They are the anathema of daemons and witches, capable of walking up to both, banishing the first and shutting down the other, who feels mind-numbing terror for the absolute soulless void the null projects. The re-emerging Sisters of Silence is comprised only of nulls, and is often battle-trained. In ancient times they collected psykers across the Imeprium in the Black Ships, a task they are taking up once more.

Whew! well, as you can see, it's a vast universe, and you can be pretty much anything. If anything is of interest to you to play, I'll happily point you to more information.

Thanks for the synopsis @Khulod. That was incredibly helpful.

Anyone thinking of playing a Space Marine?

Not I. Makes covert missions so hard, having a big boy around. Also singularly one-dimensional, that bunch. :D

I found this on the forum

Adding some visuals - When Heresy gets out of control:



And here's a nice discourse on the subject of heresy and how it's handled (and where our characters come into the picture):

@XohgrTHEOgre See the game info page for changes to character creation/stats.

Thanks on the lore. But I am trying figure out what the characters are and how to operate them...

Maybe I have been playing dnd to long. Are there character stats? Or explanations some where?

I'm learning the system at the moment and it's definitely a rules-light system, less complex than any D&D I've played. No D&D attributes that I can see. There's just the skills to decide on numerically as far as I can see. The rest is narrative.

Fate Condensed SRD

In Fate you have Aspects, which describe your character narratively and have a mechanical effect in the game. Aspects are the basis for your character. I’m at work right now. I’ll post more about making a character tonight.

Updated based on your modifications. How does this look as a template? I am not sure about the Vitals section though.

I like the Fate Core character sheet here on GP.

Didn't see that, yes I like it better too.

All right, character creation.

First you create aspects. Aspects are short phrases that describe who your character is and what's important to them. They can relate to your characters physical or mental qualities, history, beliefs, training, relationships, or even particularly important equipment.
The first thing to know about them is aspects are true. In other words, how you define your character is real and true in the story you’re telling. If you write down that your character is a Precog Sniper, then they are a precog sniper. You’ve told everyone that your character sees the future and is a crack shot with a rifle.
You’ll also use aspects in play to change the story. They give you permission to improve your dice rolls and establish facts about the world. Lastly, aspects can earn you fate points if they create complications for your character—so to make the most versatile aspects, you should aim for ones that are double-edged, working both for you and against you.
To begin, you’ll give your character five aspects: a high concept, a trouble, a relationship, and two free aspects. Start with the high concept and go from there.
Your high concept is a broad description of the character, covering the vital bits. It’s how you would open your pitch for the character when telling a friend about them.
Next is your character’s trouble—something that makes your character’s life more complicated. It could be a personal weakness, family entanglements, or other obligations. Pick something you’ll enjoy roleplaying!
Your relationship describes a connection with another PC. They may already know one another, or have just met. Good relationship aspects should introduce or hint at conflict, or at least an imbalance that gives the relationship a little momentum. This doesn’t mean they are openly antagonistic, but they shouldn’t be all roses either. If you wish, you can wait to write down relationship aspects until everyone has more or less completed their characters.
You can make your character’s last two aspects anything you want—there are no restrictions beyond the obligation to fit the setting. Choose anything which you think will make your character more interesting, more fun to play, or better connected to the world they occupy.

Next comes Skills.
While aspects define who your character is, skills show what they can do. Each skill describes a broad activity your character might have learned through study and practice or simply have an innate talent for. A character with Burglary is capable, to some degree, at all manner of crime relating to the fine art of burgling—casing a joint, bypassing security, pick-pocketing, and lock-picking.
Each skill has a rating. The higher the rating, the better the character is at the skill. As a whole, your character’s skills will show you what actions they are built for, which ones they’ll get by on, and which aren’t their forte. Use the guidelines provided on the game info page to select your skill ratiings.

Then comes Refresh. Your refresh is the minimum number of fate points your character begins with at the start of each session. Your character begins with a refresh of 6. Each session, you start with fate points at least equal to your refresh. Be sure to keep track of the fate points you have left at the end of each session of play—if you have more fate points than your refresh, you’ll start the next session with the fate points you ended this session with. Because this is pbp and not gaming irl, I'll set refresh points throughout the game, usually after three or four encounters.

After that is Stunts. While every character has access to all the skills—even if they are Mediocre (+0) at most of them—your character has some unique stunts. Stunts are the cool techniques, tricks, or bits of equipment that make your character unique and interesting. Where skills are about a character’s broad competencies, stunts are about specific areas of excellence; most of them give you a bonus in particular circumstances or let you do something that other characters simply can’t.
Your character begins with five free stunt slots. You don’t have to define them all right away, and may fill them in as you play. You may purchase more stunts by spending 1 refresh each, to a minimum of 1 refresh.

Stress and consequences are how your character withstands the mental and physical toll of their adventures. Characters have at least four one-point boxes for physical stress and at least four one-point boxes for mental stress. They also get one slot each for mild, moderate, and severe consequences. Your rating in Physique affects how many total physical stress boxes you have. Will does the same for your mental stress.

Finally give your character a name and description, and discuss their history with the other players. If you haven’t written down a relationship aspect yet, do so now.

A little later I'll create a character and make it public so you have an example of what a Fate character looks like.

Started a character that you should be able to view by clicking on Tordek Gotreksson on the Game Info page. So far I only have his Aspects and Skills done, but that will give you a good idea of what those look like. Also please note I didn't give him a relationship aspect because we don't have characters done yet. Perhaps one or more of you will come to know this Deathwatch Battle Brother as we create characters.

Does Tordek have a massive red mohawk and a nose ring with a chain to an ear ring?

Perhaps. It’s nice you got the reference.

So is Tordek going to be with us on missions? As I mentioned, a spess mehreen kind of stands out so I'm wondering how much of this game is a shoot 'm up, and how much is about grimdark covert investigation and all that.

No, Tordek is an example of character creation. I suppose if you called for major backup it might be him leading a Deathwatch Kill Team.

This game will be as much shoot ‘em up and/or investigation you guys want. I’m going to present situations and problems, you all deal with them how you choose. :-)

Ok so, do I make up this character? Their weapons, abilities, armor, skills, etc? No templates? Sorry I'm a bit lost...

@Darpavien yes, you make up the character. There is a skill list, and stunts to choose from if you don’t want to create your own. But you can play anything that works in the setting. I know this puts you on the back foot because you’re not familiar with Warhammer 40K. What kind of character do you want to play? Think of something that works in a dark Sci-Fi setting and we’ll help you figure it out. Please note that I want you to play a human.

Ok so human. And sky is the limit with the characters you mentioned? Correct?

I don't know if I'd say that, but I want you to feel like you can come up with something that we can then fit into the setting. And remember that you work for (or with) one of the most powerful authorities in the Empire. Why do you work for him? What did you do before coming into the Inquisitor's service? What circumstances lead to him choosing you as an Acolyte?

Got it. I think that helps. I was working with the fact of it being structured with templates and certain things I needed to know about each class etc... I'll re read you character descriptions, creation stuff and put something together for review.

The Inquisitor's name is Lazarus Killain. I'll come up with some more details for him soon.

@Darpavien Sounds good.

Inquisitor Killain is young for his position, having only held it for a little more than three decades now. You know he was formally an Acolyte to another Inquisitor, and they had some sort of falling out. Unlike many of his peers, he often deals with his Acolytes and agents in person, or at least personally, rather than through intermediaries or even dead drops. He often sends you on missions dealing with Xenos influence, seeming to put him firmly in the Ordo Xenos camp of the Inquisition.

Xohgr and I chatted, I'll play a psyker, and he'll likely play an Adeptus Mechanicus character.

Cool. So in order to play a Psyker your High Concept Aspect will have to indicate that you are one. Then you'll need to take the Psyker skill and some stunts that represent your powers. Has everybody had a chance to look through the Fate Condensed pdf on my Drive?

Hey all, one thing I noticed about the character sheet here on GP is you can't add more stress boxes past 4. Tordek actually has 7 physical and 7 mental stress boxes, so I just made a note of that in the extras section. I imagine some of you may have to do the same.

Finished Tordek's stunts. You will note he has ten of them. The first five were free, and I used them to represent the genetic modifications a Space Marine has. The next five each cost him 1 point of Refresh, bringing his refresh down from 6 (your starting point) to 1. This affects the number of Fate Points he starts each session with. This means it behooves him to let the Gamemaster compel his aspects more often, so he has more Fate Points to spend.

You cannot lower your Refresh past 1.

So I have a few ideas for characters and I could some advice on which would be the best fit for the game.

- A retired commissar who gained settlement rights on a conquered world before his home was destroyed in a xenos invasion.
- An Ogryn/Bullgryn Bone'ead either as a heavy with a ripper or as a tank with a shield and grenade gauntlet.
- A bounty hunter who grew up on a world which survived a chaos invasion (maybe he is a redeemed aspirant?)

After choosing which one to go with I may need a little help adapting it to the system but it doesn't look too complicated from what I've read of it so far.

The Commissar sounds really cool to me. :)

Only the ogryn would probably be not the best match for a more stealthy mission. And anything outside of combat, really.

The commissar and the bounty hunter sound like they have more interesting backstories.

Officio Assassinorum

Adeptus Mechanicus,
Are the two I am thinking of choosing from. Any thoughts

I think @XohgrTHEOgre is also thinking of an Adeptus Mechanicus character. There can of course be two, if that's what you want to play.

I'll go with the Assassinorum then

And I'll go with the Commissar. I think he is the most potentially interesting and probably the best fit character out of my ideas. I'll start working on the character sheet and post any questions here if I get stuck.

I’m considering one of three character concepts:I’m leaning towards either 1 or 3, but am open to thoughts or suggestions.

I like the Adeptus Administratum character.

Hey all, remember stunts are worth 3 shifts each in this game, so any stunt you would build that gives you a +2 bonus will give you a +3 instead.

I'm.working on my character.

So if I've got this right, so far we have a Psyker, a Tech-Priest, and Assassin, and a retired Imperial Guard Commissar. Is that correct?

So why is each of you working for an Inquisitor?

I cannot actually see Tordek's sheet. Can you make him public?

Assassin was told to by the guild for those hard negotiations.

@Khulod Try going to the character library and setting the filter for Fate Core.

@Khulod Or try clicking here.

Got it, thanks!

(Pending Xohgr's approval):

My character was a Primaris Psyker linked to the Imperial Guard who fought an enormous war on a daemon-infested planet. During the conflict my character was horrendously injured, but he was saved by the Magos (Xohgr's character) through invasive cybernetic reconstruction so he might be used in the final conflict. All was in vain and the planet was lost. The Inquisition pulled out the assets worth saving (including the Magos and Primaris Psyker) before unleasing Exterminatus to cover up the Imperium's failing. In order to keep the secret, our two characters remained with the Inquisition.

Shall we say Inquisitor Killain was the one that saved you? Perhaps despite the urgings of other Inquisitors?

Maybe Killain was the only Inquisitor at the engagement. Other Inquisitors may later have bickered at how he handled the situation, sure.

Then I'd like to change the reason for Exterminatus to Killain deciding the world was beyond saving. Whether or not he was right can be the subject of debate.

Just throwing ideas: I believe Xohgr wants to play a Magos Ordinatus. If there was an Ordinatus weapon on the surface and abandoned to destruction, Killain definitely would have received flak from the Adeptus Mechanicus. Xohgr's character may also be ostracized as a result.

That sounds fun. Btw, Killain will not be accompanying you on the missions he sends you on. He sends you all somewhere when he needs a problem tended to but can't give it his full attention.

Of course. Just throwing out ideas how our characters might have been recruited and the aftermath it might cause for our individuals characters. Xohgr has to like this too of course. I'll wait for him to weigh in.

My thought for the commissar was that during a xenos invasion of his settled planet he becomes a prominent leader in the local militia, helping to defend it with the inquisitors help. They could also have crossed paths during his active service if that works better?

@Sgt.Banter I like the first idea.

How does this backstory sound to you, DM?

I like it!

I am drained from work. My brain is fried. Sorry for leaving you all hanging. As was said, I am leaning toward Magos Dominus. I will try to be more involved after I recover.

No worries. What do you do for work?

Animal control officer. or as my kids say, paw patrol

That sounds cool.

So I have been working on my stunts and I have come up with these. How do they look?Any feedback is appreciated. For anyone else who is new to the system, I have been using this resource for inspiration: http://evilhat.wikidot.com/fate-core-stunts

Can you make Destroyer of Abominations more specific? The way it’s worded now you’d be using it in almost every conflict. Maybe make it specific to Daemons or Xenos.

The rest look great to me.

Whoops, I forgot. Stunts in this game are worth three shifts, not two. So all your +2s should be changed to +3.

Cheers, I'll make those modifications 👍

Ok, I probably jacked this all up. But take a look at my character to see what I should change please.

@Darpavien Please submit your character and I’ll review him.

How do I submit a character again?

Go to the "Game Details" page at the bottom of this page.

On that page, you should be able to submit a character using the dropdown and "Submit" button.

I'm a bit stuck on my 2 free character aspects and I think I am a bit hung up on the broad Ness of the character concept aspect. For example, I think a Commissar would implicitly have to be brave, merciless, zealous, inspiring otherwise he wouldn't have graduated. Ou would assume he also has military knowledge and knows ow to fight. So am I right in thinking I wouldn't need any other aspects to cover these?

Thanks

@Sgt.Banter yes, if his high concept includes the words "Imperial Guard Commissar" a lot of what you just mentioned is covered. What kind of Commissar was he? Throw an adjective or two in front of the nouns to give us something to play off of, something that tells me how we can Compel the Aspect to earn you Fate points.

If you all can't figure out all of your aspects before we start that's fine. You really just need your High Concept and Trouble. You'll just have less to invoke and I'll have less to compel out of the gate. You can figure out the other aspects as we go and you get settled into your characters.

Looking at stunts now. How will psionics work? Do I need stunts to be able to attack with it for example?

You can use the Psyker skill as a substitute for other skills like Shoot to represent psychic blasts. If you want to be able to do something that couldn't be replicated by someone else using a skill and gear, you need to create a stunt.

I want to pop out what I am working on for everyones perusal. Maybe get some input so I can improve.

Character name. Valsarius Malge, Magos Dominus of the Asynchronous Cloister.

High Concept Devoted tech-priest of the Omnissiah

Aspect: Converse with machine spirits.

Aspect: More arms makes less work.

Aspect: Not your average sawbones

Relationsship: Patched up a space marine.


can use some suggestions.

As for working with the Inquisitor. Fear is a powerful motivator or "It is the will of the Omnissiah" are both reasonable.

You need a Trouble aspect, and your relationship aspect should involve one of the other PCs.

I really like More Arms Make Less Work.

Thank you.

My connection was with Khulod. I wrote space marine cause I brain farted I meant
Patched up a Psyker.

The primaris part of his background made me default on Primaris marines. My bad.

Trouble: My faith is a shield and that shield is broken?
I am looking for something that might represent a crisis of faith like He Believes in the omnissiah but there is a thread of doubt that seeps into his being that makes him question if his faith is real.

That is an excellent Trouble.

Ok so I have written a bit of a biography and description of the commissar so hopefully from this you can help me come up with the aspects.Obviously these details are open to change if something else fits better, e.g. the invaders could easily be chaos or another xenos etc.So far I have that his High Concept is 'Former Imperial Commissar' and for his Trouble I thought he could be haunted by/sees visions of his deceased wife who perhaps acts as a sort of conscience to him. Not sure if that works. I think the commissar would have joined the inquisitors retinue rather than been requisitioned so perhaps his Relationship could be to another PC who is also on the staff? Again not sure, and the same for the last 2 free aspects.

A good Trouble might simply be Haunted By Visions Of His Dead Wife. That's certainly something I can compel to give you Fate points. If need be, the other aspects can wait and you can figure them out during gameplay. Although Served With The Adamantine Chimeras might be a good one as well.

Cool, I'll add those and submit my character sheet for you to look over.

Sounds good.

@Sgt.Banter Your character is approved.

I have a question for you all, as some of you are more familiar with the setting than I am. What kind of communication is used to cross interstellar distances? Only astropaths? Or is there technology that can be used.

Only Astropaths in the Imperium.

Thank you.

Can you take a look at my sheet GM? I added it to the game.

Hi all, so some stunts talk about one use per session. And your Fate Points Refresh every session. Obviously that doesn't work here in pbp land. So a session will be three or at the most four scenes. I want to keep those Fate Points coming so you keep spending them. :-)

Ok, so if I'm a telekenetic, and I want to be able to do Telekenetic stuff, do I need a seperate stunt for each? Attacking, defending, utility? How would I word those?

You can do telekenetic stuff just by using the Psyker skill, same as a character could lift something heavy with Physique. You don't need to come up with stunts to represent that. If you want to get a bonus to Psyker under certain circumstances, or do something that breaks the rules, you need to write a stunt for that. Here's an example. A wizard I played in a Fate game had access to magic through his aspects and a Magic Discipline. He could use the Shoot skill to attack with lightning. According to the rules you can only directly attack one target at a time. I wrote him a stunt that stated once per session he could use Shoot to attack everyone in his zone at once with lightning.

Can I make a stunt to be able to replace shoot with psyker?

Yes. Something like because I am a Psyker I can use the Psyker skill instead of Shoot when I attack.

Alright! And what about telapathy, how can I work that in? Reading minds, sensing people around me, turning the unwilling into flesh-puppets at my command?

@Khulod I've been thinking about your question, and I'm not sure I have the answer. I think for telepathy again I'll let you do things using the Psyker skill. Targets of attacks will resist you with their will.

Hey all, I know the character creation process here has been involved. Just checking in to see that everyone's still on board. Now that you've all gotten at least a beginning idea of your characters, I'll go ahead and start posting the game thread tomorrow so we can get rolling. You do not have to have your character finished by then. Just a name on a character sheet is enough so we can start playing.

I'm ready to rock and roll. Cheers for all your help with the character creation process. Can't wait to get started!

New game thread posted here.

I think that the Commissar has worked for the inquisitor for a short while. If anyone else has the same thought then I'm happy for us to work out a pre-existing relationship?

I have redone my stunts. Can you take another look?

And off we go!

@Khulod I think Master of the Tarot needs to be limited to once per session. The rest of your stunts look good.

Right, fixed! :)

I am still here. Spent the last couple days hunting a wolf through a near by town.....like a legit Arctic wolf. This is not a common occurrence where I live. I am writing my IC post. My character creation is kind of behind.

Mine is, too.

I really have to dig into this system: it’s more foreign than I thought it would be.

Yeah this system is quite alien to me too, especially with all of your equipment abstracted away but I like the idea. I think the aspects and stunts are the hardest to wrap your head around. Without playing the system I've found it hard to envisage how they're used, but my understanding is that you use them to get bonuses to rolls in game. I didn't finish all of my aspects but @JoshuaMabry said we could just fill them in as we go.

There are also compendiums online for aspects and stunts which are worth looking at for inspiration. I thought that the SRD was really good and easy to understand if you haven't read it already. I can see that once you get used to the system that character creation would be pretty simple.

@JoshuaMabry I was just thinking given Augustine's wealthy background, should his remaining free aspect be something along the lines of "Noble Beginnings" or something like that to reflect the knowledge he would have of nobility? On a broad scale, I feel like he would understand how noble houses operate, politics, general customs etc.

@Sgt.Banter I think that’s a great idea.

Severian started life as the seventh (and bastard) son of a minor noble of the Askellon Sector. Through familiy connections, a young Severian found a role with the Officio Medicae where he initially trained as a Chiurgeon and conducted research on the quarantine of worlds afflicted by Chaos-created plagues. Through this research, Severian became known to an Inquisitor of the Ordo Malleus who introduced him to a colleague in the Ordo Hereticus in whose retinue he later served as apprentice with a special gift for torture. Recently, Severian has been seconded to the retinue of Inquisitor Lazaraus Killian for reasons not entirely clear. Severian surmises that his attraction to Inquisitor Kllian is a consequence of his noble Askellon background, his expertise in the quarentibe of chaos-plagued worlds, his special powers of painful, but non-lethal, interrogation, or some combination thereof.

I think Severian's relationship aspects might be with either:

The Psyker - a shared interest and involvement with the Emoperor's Tarot, or
The Commissar - Some shared noble blood? Or
The Inquisitor - Perhaps Killian was the Ordo Malleus Inquisitor investigating chaos-plague worlds?

Inquisitor Killain seems to be in the Ordo Xenos camp. Although he hasn't stated that for the record.

@therecusant,@Blackheart How are you all doing with your characters?

@therecusant All of these can emerge from play. Have you read the game thread yet?

@therecusant Thanks. I think you've got enough of your character built to get started, and I'd like to get the game moving again.

@therecusant I am happy to share a relationship with Severian. In his backstory, Augustine's family are also minor nobles and his father served as an officer in the imperial guard. It could be that he and Severian are cousins and depending on how cordial we want their pre-existing relationship it could either be that we are directly blood relatives or it could be that Augustine is related to your siblings via their mother but not to you, meaning we are not blood relatives and perhaps that creates a bit of tension?

That second choice sounds like a lot of fun.

I would assume if you were a bastard child you wouldn't carry the noble name, you would carry your Mother's surname? You could have been 'recognised' as an heir but then would it make sense that you got sent to the Schola Progenium? Either way I'll leave that up to you. I envisage the de Gäel's as a military family so if you'd like to go the blood-relation route then perhaps both our Father's were involved in the military in some way? This could also still be the case for the non-blood relation route too. Perhaps another member of our family like an uncle or great uncle is teaches at/runs/is involved in the academy we attended? Whether there was a crossover of when we attended depends on how old your character is (Augustine is in his 60s).

I like this idea of us getting on but having an underlying animosity in the background. Augustine would respect you regardless for you abilities but he is very prideful and would likely view a bastard child as a mark of 'dishonour' on the family name and he probably had a poor relationship with your Father because of his infidelity. Not sure about the last point at this stage, but I think it would be more interesting if it wasn't coincidence.

Shall we get back to it?

Sounds like a good plan!