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Hey,

I was recently browsing through a pdf of the Only War RPG rulesset which again sounded... kind of interesting?
Just wanted to ask if there are people around on Dakkadakka who are interested to give it a shot.

I have some experience with forum RPGs as player as well as GM in a fantasy setting (Das Schwarze Auge). From my experience the best chance to get this of is usually to have some very focussed scenario, more like a single scene or very clear mission to not get overwhelmed or bogged down to much. As I assume anyone interested would like to "build their own dude" what I could imagine would be something like:

1. a bunch of guardsmen from different regiments are hanging out off duty in their favorite bar/gambling den, but today... something just doesn't feel right. The bartender looks really twitchy and the once so chatty waitress has barely said a word today. Maybe it's just your imagination... or the bunch of burly dudes in slightly deformed trenchcoats that just entered and went straight into the storage rooms in the back of the hovel, who knows...
2. (stolen from one of Ciaphas Cains novels): A local sectorhouse of the Adeptus Arbites. A couple of garrison soldiers that seemed to have partied a little too hard last night are waiting in the arrest cells are waiting to be processed, some hopeful to get away with a warning and latrine duty, others dreading the arrival of their regiments commissar. All of a sudden shots ring from the plaza outside. What's going on? Why are the arbites barricading the door and why are the senior officers argueing so hotly? "... arm them? Are you insane?" "... only chance..." is all you can here from over there before one of them comes over with a determined look and the key to your cell in his hands.
3. The trenchline has fallen... to be more precise, the front has rolled right over it as well as the second line and is now 3 miles to your rear. By a miracle or the emperors grace the enemy seemed to have missed a handfull of foxholes, while some other Guardsmen dig their way out of a half collapsed trench. A rag tag group of survivors meets each other, realizing that not only 3 miles of no mans land but also some hundred thousand enemy soldiers stand between them and their allies lines... By the throne, what shall we do?

In the vain hope that this just went under over the weekend: anyone interested? I would offer to be the GM, but prefer to let a character tag along for the party banter

I could be interested but I'm currently a bit engaged with other PbP-games. Still if the scenario intrigues me I could be convinced to sign up.

I am interested and have some experience being a player in Forum based games, and in Dark Heresy. Never played Only War.

Ok, great. I found a nice little scenario at the end of the pdf, that should fit our needs. If you want to have a look on the character creation rules and don't find it online write me a PM and I send it your way.

A word regarding my "game master style": As I always have to GM in my rpg group but at least want a bit of player feeling myself I tend to have a character of my own around. But this one is usually an NPC created for party banter who will only do stuff the players come up with to avoid feeling like a Mary Sue. I hope that is OK.
I'm also a proponent of "story trumps rules" so if you have an idea - be it in character creation or in game - that fits the character, go for it, even if it's not technically legal. We'll find a workaround

Let me poke around and see if I can find a copy. I think a friend may have a copy.

Here is a useful short reference for the creation of characters and regiments that is a bit more compact than the full pdf:

http://gagetowngaming.wikidot.com/only-war

Yeah I think it'll be fun, I'm in.

Sounds cool. I don't promise anything but I'll try to get a definitive answer during the weekend.

And having look over my commitments, energy and such I feel that I must decline to participate in this. :(

It's OK Gurkhal,

In my experience these forum RPGs tend to take their time, so maybe if your freetime brightens up some day and you are still interested you can join in later. I'll ask some of the people on Dakkadakka with currently running IG projects including lore if they are interested directly. Maybe I can drum up some players more.

Cheers, Pyroalchi!

Best of luck to you and the rest of the guys involved with this game.

I do not feel comfortable enough with the rules to take the lead on character creation, but am willing to follow.

Do you imagine each player will be from a different regiment, or should the players work together to develop a regiment we are all from?

Mark me down as very interested. I've got some experience with Only War, as well, though it *has* been a while.

what must I do?

Hi Bob, nice to have you with us.

So here is my idea currently:
I have the three scenario ideas I listed in the starting post but also a small "Adventure" at the end of the Only War PDF. As that one is designed for the system we will be playing in, I tend to try and choose it and then improvise from there.

In short (and without to many spoilers): the player characters are part of a reinforcement force on a planet where pdf and Brontian Long Knifes fight against a mid-sized ork incursion. We have the initial landing (obviously with some fighting going on), then the potential for some scenes in the baracks/garrison (for some social play, to get hands on equipment etc.), then a recon/attack mission and as a finish a defense mission.
All in all there are points in this adventure path where every character can shine - the soldier , the brawler, the sneaky guy, prince charming, etc.


As Bob mentioned in a PM: yes the system assumes that the characters hail from the same regiment, but I would find it more interesting if everyone was free to choose his own if he likes to. The easiest way to get this result (and also an easy explanation for very diverse Squad compositions) would be that all our dudes are in for one or the other disciplinary failure. Therefore we have been "volunteered" for the first transport down in a kind of "Redemption Platoon". Basically all the "baddies" from different regiments thrown together for the opportunity to redeem themself on the battlefield and return to their regiments afterwards.
Alternatively, if we end with a more or less limited amount of different regiments or something like soldiers from two regiments + a commissar, a Techpriest and a Psyker we can assume that those are two depleted regiments that have been put together to fill up the numbers.


Oldmate had the excellent idea, that we try and ... lets call it "knit together" a common story, how our characters know each other, which relations exist between them etc.
So just to give you an idea I'll tell you what my (half NPC) character would be like:
He is from the 2nd Thoth Askaris (my homebrew regiment that I present in my thread).
In short: a backwater planet with desert/jungle climate. A tribal society with strong Ecclisiarchy influence and quite little knowledge of the wider imperium (but a very idealistic view of it), bad standing with the Munitorum and therefore poor equipment. They have a reputation of being involved in all kind of at best half legal activities to improve this - black market, battlefield salvages etc. High Command and the Munitorum also deem their combat effectiveness less then mediocre. On the plus side they are considered very loyal, and quite able in wilderness terrain and operations that expect very bad supply lines, in some cases "living of the land" for years.

To reflect this the regiment is created as:
Frontier World
Maverick Commander
Light Infantry
Survivalists
Scavengers
Poorly provisioned

Favourite weapons: likely Lascarbaine and Grenade Launcher (sound like the easiest to get and find ammo for)
And regarding equipment an additional laspistol, a sling (cheap, you can find ammo everywhere and it is still good enough to hunt) maybe a sword, maybe trade flakvest for a shield, and besides that stuff that carries across that they are involved in some black market activity: LHO sticks, recaff, porn slates, ammo for weapons they don't even have, spare grenades...
The character himself will be an older common Infantryman. So not the grizzled veteran that can kill a Tyranid bare handed, but the strange old guy who has been on a dozen battlefields and... survived. Nothing more, nothing less.



Oldmate also already gave me some character ideas, but I would leave those to him.

@ Easy E: how about that: if you read one of the others character idea and feel "yeah, I could see me playing a guy from that regiment", than go for it. If instead you have a certain image in your head what your dude (or dudette) should be like, pm me and we puzzle something together.



Also a word regarding equipment: I have absolutely no problem with sidegrades or downgrades. So if you want a Lucius pattern Lasgun instead of Galaxy pattern, an auto- instead of a lasgun, or a Stub Revolver instead of a Laspistol etc.: go for it. As long as the replacement is equally or more common, go wild.

If we go the penal route way of things, I could fit in a Krieg Grenadier that spent too long with Catachans and his regiment booted him to the Penals because he was growing too much a personality for the rest of the unit, lol. I'll think things over.

Thanks for some guidelines. I think I can come up with something based on the rules you posted previously. Give me a day or two.

@ Bob: the Krieger that caught a bad case of personality sounds awesome

Should we go the penal route it would of course be cool if we found a player taking a Commissar as character. Lets see, I'll keep advertising around

I'm pretty active on these forums and the ork stuff was fun. So I'm in. Just roll all the dice for me. I don't have time to read rules.

Sure thing, Dekskull.

Any idea what you want to play as a character? Any wishes regarding regiment? If you need any help, just ask.


@ All slowly making my way through the character creation rules: I would propose with characteristics we make a hybrid of rolling (the proposed "every stat = 20 + 2d10" =279 points on average rolls) and points distribution (100 points to distribute on 9 stats with 20 base = 290 points):
Roll your stats, than add/substract until your sum comes down to 290.
This way we have some variation instead of 20/20/40/40... characters, but everyone is more or less on the same level

I'll just be some scared White Shield conscript that has no idea what he is doing. You can do the character creation process for me.

Just give me a lasgun and something to point it at.

Sure thing. In that case I mark you down as Cadian White shield and coble something together.

So, so far we have:
The inexperienced scared Cadian white shield Conscript (Dekskull)
The Krieg Grenadier who caught a bad case of personality (Bobthehero)
The old Askari Survivor with a bit of shady business going on (myself)
Either a Karsk Grenadier (not unlike a Krieger but different...) or a Medieval Soldier suddenly pulled off world to fight for the Emperor (Oldmate)
+ to be announced (Easy E)
=> sounds just like the guys for a redemption platoon




Now apart from Game stats, I would work a bit on how our characters got into this mess and how we all stick together (or not).
Oldmate also made me aware of this pretty cool video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wES5ufXETdE
=> the interesting part I want to talk about is between 6:15 and ~ 17:00
This is in a way similar to what I tend to do with my pen and paper RPG group, just a lot more thought through. Basically we create our characters (not the stats, but who we are) and their relations towards each other together, as we are not in a vacuum. Quite likely some of us have already met each other or have certain expectations of each other. It starts with a rough description of what is your character concept together with possible links to another character.

Of course it does not have to be in depth or anything but in my experience RPGs run a lot more interestingly if there are already some relations within the group before we start.





One thing that immediately came up as an idea for me:
Tambo (my character) has found himself on the wrong end of the Commissariats attention because one of his dealings to improve his regiments equipment went awry. The guy in charge did not have the evidence that warranted an immediate summary execution, but enough for the redemption platoon. But here is the twist and potential relation: he is stuck in the classic prisoners dilemma with one of the other characters. Both have enough evidence to get the other into serious trouble. If only one confesses, he gets free, the other one gets shot, if both confess both get 10 years in the redemption platoon, if none of them talks both get 3 years. In a seldom turn of comradry both decided to keep their mouths shut, and are now sitting in the sh** together, torn between suspicion and gratefulness. Anyone who sees his char being that guy?

For these type of Play-by-post games, I do not get hung up on stats, more on "roles".

Trooper Njahl Pietrson will come from a Mechanized Platoon from a cold weather planet. Therefore, they spend a lot of time huddled up in their tin cans and then pile out for short, sharp firefights and breaching actions against enclosed, armored structures.

The character themselves will have seen some action, but did not like what they saw. As a result, they have lost their fighting spirit and shy away from danger, they prefer to find alternate solutions than fighting. This is what led them to the Penal battalion as their regiment prizes aggressive assault tactics and such "cowardice" as this character shows must be rooted out mercilessly.

Due to the mechanized and wintery nature of their regiment, it makes sense that this character has a bit of a mechanical aptitude to them for tinkering with heaters, hand warmers, stuff in the back of a Chimera APC, etc. Their home planet is a "blue-collar" place, so some mechanical aptitude is needed to survive.

So looking at what you sent over, I think the following:

- Class: Breacher (?) or Weapon Specialist

Regiment:
- Frontier World - St. Paulus
- Mech Infantry
- Breachers

Special Gear:
- 1 Krak Grenade
- Photo-Visor (to combat snow blindness)
- Survival Suit (For cold weather environments)

For a Tier 1 Talent 1 of the following (?):
- Technical Knock
- Initiated Maintenance
- Push the limit

Other than that I have no idea. What do you folks think? Is that workable?

It's interesting that we'd have a tech guy that isn't a Tech Priest. ¨
For the Grenadier, I am using the Stormtrooper as a base class, for the gear. As far as special things, I am thinking he got himself a Catachan Fang from his time with them, and a habit of not wearing his rebreather at all times.

@ Easy E: sounds good so far.
Regarding class: Operator sounds also fitting for the described character with a technical knack.
Regarding the talents: I don't see anything keeping you from selecting multiple talents, if you like. Each Guardsmen has 1000 XP that can be distributed between talents and skills.
I should say that the adventure I'm planning is set in a jungle. But depending in how much we stretch it out, maybe the survival suit comes in handy (don't know yet).

@Bob: sounds cool. Would be funny if he has some identity number that the Catachans read as a name. Like 808 => Bob

@ Dekskull: As it looks that we have no shortage of "guys with guns" how are your feelings towards your Whiteshield being a medic? The planet we will land on has just been nearly overrun by Orks. I could see a young promissing med-student suddenly being drafted and thrown into the grinder. Specifically because this way he might have had only hours to wrap his mind around the situation instead of weeks on the troops transport but would be quite important as a local

Well I already play a character called Bob somewhere, but that's neither here or there, lol, that's a good idea, though, let me see what I can come up with.

 Pyroalchi wrote:
@ Easy E: sounds good so far.
Regarding class: Operator sounds also fitting for the described character with a technical knack.
Regarding the talents: I don't see anything keeping you from selecting multiple talents, if you like. Each Guardsmen has 1000 XP that can be distributed between talents and skills.
I should say that the adventure I'm planning is set in a jungle. But depending in how much we stretch it out, maybe the survival suit comes in handy (don't know yet).


@ Dekskull: As it looks that we have no shortage of "guys with guns" how are your feelings towards your Whiteshield being a medic? The planet we will land on has just been nearly overrun by Orks. I could see a young promissing med-student suddenly being drafted and thrown into the grinder. Specifically because this way he might have had only hours to wrap his mind around the situation instead of weeks on the troops transport but would be quite important as a local

Sounds good to me! Tithes must have gone up on his home world lol!

You can get multiple talents as long as you have the XP for it and any prerequisites.

 Pyroalchi wrote:
@ Easy E: sounds good so far.
Regarding class: Operator sounds also fitting for the described character with a technical knack.
Regarding the talents: I don't see anything keeping you from selecting multiple talents, if you like. Each Guardsmen has 1000 XP that can be distributed between talents and skills.
I should say that the adventure I'm planning is set in a jungle. But depending in how much we stretch it out, maybe the survival suit comes in handy (don't know yet).

Sounds like the Munitorium, send the guy in the cold weather gear to a Jungle. LOL.

My take was Operator was like a guy who drive stuff around. This guy is a passenger more than a driver. That said, for party reasons it might make more sense to have Operator than another dude with a Las-gun.

What does everyone else think?