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AndrewGPaul wrote:

 EnTyme wrote:
That's honestly the best way to handle any RPG. Some scenarios work great with Theatre of the Mind, but you should always be able to use minis for the encounters where positioning and cover are important.

Only if you've got a table handy. I've played 3rd ed D&D and the IKRPG 2nd edition without miniatures with no issues. In fact, using miniatures with the IKRPG was worse because we were all crowded round a coffee table.

I don't mean that it should be required, just that their should be rules to support either method of representing combat.

 Adeptus Doritos wrote:

 Mr Morden wrote:
Indeed the Cain novels Schola was much more interesting to me - mostly typical British public school but with live firing on prisoners and interrogation classes. Just as dark but a bit more subtle.

They may adjust it - All Commissars used to have to be men - not now, same with the newer version of the Imperial Knights - that's gone.

As I understood, you didn't have to 'kill' every other Cadet. There was just a brief story in the Tempestus Scions book where a guy was told to take a laspistol and shoot his friend in the school. The results of that aren't stated- for all we know, the pistol could have not fired. It was also implied that the two were getting far too close, something they don't want Commissars doing.

And I'm not sure where Commissars being all men came from, it might be true- but it did seem like they tried to put as many women as possible in the Sororitas

Older fluff - it used to state that (IIRC) Men from a Schola could be Inquisitors, Navy officers, Commissars etc. Women could only be Inquisitors or join the Adepta Sororitas.

More recent codexes tend to be more like BL novels and ignore that.

Be interesting to see what the RPG says - I seriously doubt it will have any gender restrictions except with regard to the Astartes and the Sororitas / Sisters of Silence, maybe Custodes - that's not clear but seems to be only male?

Every other Imperial organisation broadly does nt care although it can mean some headaches for say Commissars sorting out interpersonal relationships etc.

The commissar in that comic is a woman (at least, it looks like that's the case?) so the RPG's already (hopefully/thankfully) ignoring that part of the codex.

They have shown an image of a female commissar previously with the promo art of the rpg.

Is it me or the rules seems a bit bland so far!

Not saying that they are bad, but they don't seem to be particuliarly original either. Must say that I really like the comic though

 streetsamurai wrote:
Is it me or the rules seems a bit bland so far!

Not saying that they are bad, but they don't seem to be particuliarly original either. Must say that I really like the comic though

Prefer ones that work to ones that are original - hopefully it will be the former.

 streetsamurai wrote:
Is it me or the rules seems a bit bland so far!

Not saying that they are bad, but they don't seem to be particuliarly original either. Must say that I really like the comic though

Eh, as long as dice and a notepad is all you need, I'm calling it a win. Bonus points for skipping the Sword of Bookkeeping +3 requirements.

 streetsamurai wrote:
Is it me or the rules seems a bit bland so far!

Not saying that they are bad, but they don't seem to be particuliarly original either. Must say that I really like the comic though

When they said they were going to do a full d6 based system this is pretty close to what I imagined. I was thinking vampire masquerade style and it seems to be extremely close especially with the wrath die and all. However that isn't a bad thing. I think the thing that will make or break the game for me will be character creation and classes.

 Galas wrote:
They have shown an image of a female commissar previously with the promo art of the rpg.

We can go back farther than that. The miniature released for Games Day 1998 was a female Commissar.

 Iron_Captain wrote:
And losing half your cadets is no problem when you have as much people as the Imperium does. Life is expendable.

Actually, no, it is a problem because Commissars are prime human material. The best of the best. You're not talking about shooting some recruit from Bumfuck, Nowhere, type of manpower Imperium has excess of, you're talking about shooting a SAS/SBS/SEAL officer. Which is why that part of the new fluff is ridiculously stupid and grimderp to the point of grimdumb. Someone achieving 96% score needed to be a Commissar would still be perfect Tempestus leader, IG officer, of PDF commander. Throwing such men away - for no reason whatsoever - would make you dumber than the Nazis, because when they wasted their best recruits for comically stupid ideological reasons, at least it was in combat, not doing the enemy's work for them.

 Iron_Captain wrote:
No, you said it is "horribly edgy" when in fact it fits in seamlessly with the general tone of 40k as a whole. It is not edgy if it does not stand out from the rest.

It does though. Do you see Space Marines (well, at least the sane Chapters) wasting half of their geneseed by telling two scouts to murder each other? Do you see Custodes halving their numbers by having Initiates duel to the death? Sisters of Battle? Sisters of Silence? All other elite branches? No, they all want to keep as much potential recruit pool as possible alive, because prime human material that meets their standards is rare. New Commissar fluff is the odd one out, which is why it's so jarring and actually doesn't fit the Imperium. There is difference between spending lives, which Imperium does, and pointlessly trashing them for no gain...

 His Master's Voice wrote:
An indoctrination programme coupled with intensive chem therapy that would make the Commissars unable to form emotional attachments to other human beings would fit with the general tone of 40k. Executing your best friend is the kind of stuff one expects from a dystopian YA novel.

Maybe in Mechanicus. Or Krieg, at best. In normal IG, a 'morale officer' who doesn't understand their charges, and can't relate to them, is a liability. Not an asset. Cain repeats that million times in his diaries, and even then, he means someone callous and willing to shoot without thinking, not a literal automaton who doesn't 'get' other humans at all, which would be much worse.

Even then, Krieg uses people deemed not worth of being in the Guard as the enemy, sure they'll kill a few Kriegsmen in training, but its not cutting Krieg's output of soldiers in half.

 Mr Morden wrote:

 streetsamurai wrote:
Is it me or the rules seems a bit bland so far!

Not saying that they are bad, but they don't seem to be particuliarly original either. Must say that I really like the comic though

Prefer ones that work to ones that are original - hopefully it will be the former.

Actually I think that’s the perfect thing for an RPG; bland, simple, functional core rules that enable you to get on with a wild-ass story. It’s one of the things I really like about DND 5ed., instead of having to trawl through the books or debate about whether the random action someone just thought of is a +2 or +4, you can just say “gives you advantage” and crack on. The excitement should come from the story and the players, not the rules.

 Jadenim wrote:

 Mr Morden wrote:

 streetsamurai wrote:
Is it me or the rules seems a bit bland so far!

Not saying that they are bad, but they don't seem to be particuliarly original either. Must say that I really like the comic though

Prefer ones that work to ones that are original - hopefully it will be the former.

Actually I think that’s the perfect thing for an RPG; bland, simple, functional core rules that enable you to get on with a wild-ass story. It’s one of the things I really like about DND 5ed., instead of having to trawl through the books or debate about whether the random action someone just thought of is a +2 or +4, you can just say “gives you advantage” and crack on. The excitement should come from the story and the players, not the rules.

This. Overly complex rules can absolutely ruin the flow and excitement of the game.

I can remember reading a blog post a while ago about an Aliens RPG with a very complex combat system. The devs tried to show it off by recreating the "eat this!" moment from the film, what should be a quick and awesome moment. It took ages to resolve and ended up not even recreating that moment.

EDIT: Found the game system. It was the Aliens Adventure Game. Apparently a combat encounter between 2 PCs and 5 to 6 aliens could take 5 hours to resolve where you had to resolve each round fired individually, which required at least 5 charts, and the guns typically fired in ten round bursts.

Apparently a combat encounter between 2 PCs and 5 to 6 aliens could take 5 hours to resolve where you had to resolve each round fired individually, which required at least 5 charts, and the guns typically fired in ten round bursts.

Utter insanity, the simpler the rule system the better imo. The more time spent having fun and the less time studying the rules bumf the better! It also creates more room in the book for background material which is much more inspiring.

 Kroem wrote:

Apparently a combat encounter between 2 PCs and 5 to 6 aliens could take 5 hours to resolve where you had to resolve each round fired individually, which required at least 5 charts, and the guns typically fired in ten round bursts.

Utter insanity, the simpler the rule system the better imo. The more time spent having fun and the less time studying the rules bumf the better! It also creates more room in the book for background material which is much more inspiring.

Personally I agree - especially now I am getting old and can't be bothered but I do recall in younger days we did in fact have the time and sometimes it was quite fun. Also some people do really enjoy "crunch" - Rolemaster ad their ilk

 Irbis wrote:
Actually, no, it is a problem because Commissars are prime human material. The best of the best. You're not talking about shooting some recruit from Bumfuck, Nowhere, type of manpower Imperium has excess of, you're talking about shooting a SAS/SBS/SEAL officer. Which is why that part of the new fluff is ridiculously stupid and grimderp to the point of grimdumb. Someone achieving 96% score needed to be a Commissar would still be perfect Tempestus leader, IG officer, of PDF commander. Throwing such men away - for no reason whatsoever - would make you dumber than the Nazis, because when they wasted their best recruits for comically stupid ideological reasons, at least it was in combat, not doing the enemy's work for them.

You also forget, the Commissars in question that I recall were implied to be forming bonds with other students, and you can't have that. I would chance it to say every now and then, it's perfectly understandable if they want to make sure the guy who could be responsible for ensuring the loyalty, morale, and discipline of thousands of men on a crucial planet has no bonds. If that means he's gotta pop his playmate in the skull with a stubber behind study hall, then so be it.

It's also implied that every Schola is different in some ways. And it never said this was the norm in all the schools. Hell, you have drill Abbots that will smash your skull in with a hammer for disobedience. I'm pretty sure they have a standard of 'acceptable casualties'.

Also, while we're pretending 'kill your buddy' is the worst possible thing in 40k, there's that whole thing about Crimson Guard in Star Wars. And in IDW's earlier run on GI Joe, Cobra Vipers were trained in squads of 5-7, and 'success' meant one came back alive from their live-fire exercise. Oh, and Spetsnaz used to lose like 30% of their guys in training all the time. This isn't exclusive to 40k.

Calling out other stupid fictional “training” programmes doesn’t make this particular one less stupid.
Also, a man with no attachments is one that will run at the first sign of trouble because why does he care if the mission is a success?

 Mr_Rose wrote:
Calling out other stupid fictional “training” programmes doesn’t make this particular one less stupid.
Also, a man with no attachments is one that will run at the first sign of trouble because why does he care if the mission is a success?

But Commissars *do* have attachments. Or an attachment, rather: The Imperium. Theyre supposed to be fanatically loyal to the cause, not the people. Theyre supposed to make sure that everyone does as theyre told, no matter what.

That said, its still a stupid piece of fluff.

 Adeptus Doritos wrote:

 Irbis wrote:
Actually, no, it is a problem because Commissars are prime human material. The best of the best. You're not talking about shooting some recruit from Bumfuck, Nowhere, type of manpower Imperium has excess of, you're talking about shooting a SAS/SBS/SEAL officer. Which is why that part of the new fluff is ridiculously stupid and grimderp to the point of grimdumb. Someone achieving 96% score needed to be a Commissar would still be perfect Tempestus leader, IG officer, of PDF commander. Throwing such men away - for no reason whatsoever - would make you dumber than the Nazis, because when they wasted their best recruits for comically stupid ideological reasons, at least it was in combat, not doing the enemy's work for them.

You also forget, the Commissars in question that I recall were implied to be forming bonds with other students, and you can't have that. I would chance it to say every now and then, it's perfectly understandable if they want to make sure the guy who could be responsible for ensuring the loyalty, morale, and discipline of thousands of men on a crucial planet has no bonds. If that means he's gotta pop his playmate in the skull with a stubber behind study hall, then so be it.

It's also implied that every Schola is different in some ways. And it never said this was the norm in all the schools. Hell, you have drill Abbots that will smash your skull in with a hammer for disobedience. I'm pretty sure they have a standard of 'acceptable casualties'.

Also, while we're pretending 'kill your buddy' is the worst possible thing in 40k, there's that whole thing about Crimson Guard in Star Wars. And in IDW's earlier run on GI Joe, Cobra Vipers were trained in squads of 5-7, and 'success' meant one came back alive from their live-fire exercise. Oh, and Spetsnaz used to lose like 30% of their guys in training all the time. This isn't exclusive to 40k.

Thanks for the clarifcation - if its the usual - well this bit of the Imperium does it this way but tis not the norm thats all good for me.

Corsairs! Avast, ye scurvy spacebums!

Uniform/outfit seems to be pinching in places...

More nice artwork though, and that's a good thing!

The best depiction of Eldar armour for me is the Cinematic Trailer of DoW 3. I love how the armour of the banshee look.
But yeah, nice artwork.

 Galas wrote:
The best depiction of Eldar armour for me is the Cinematic Trailer of DoW 3. I love how the armour of the banshee look.
But yeah, nice artwork.

Agreed. No one else captures the alien bone craft like that trailer did. But yes still a sweet concept

 Mr_Rose wrote:
Also, a man with no attachments is one that will run at the first sign of trouble because why does he care if the mission is a success?

We used to have a saying, "A Marine on duty has no friends". Attachments for a Commissar cloud their judgement. He must learn that he cannot bond with someone, it could make him vulnerable. Don't like the fluff? Ignore it and drive on.

 Adeptus Doritos wrote:

 Mr_Rose wrote:
Also, a man with no attachments is one that will run at the first sign of trouble because why does he care if the mission is a success?

We used to have a saying, "A Marine on duty has no friends". Attachments for a Commissar cloud their judgement. He must learn that he cannot bond with someone, it could make him vulnerable. Don't like the fluff? Ignore it and drive on.

Except that is patently not the case. The bonds forged by Cain, Yarrick and Gaunt were what made them so successful as leaders and what made the men under their command so willing to fight, and die, for them.

 A Town Called Malus wrote:

 Adeptus Doritos wrote:

 Mr_Rose wrote:
Also, a man with no attachments is one that will run at the first sign of trouble because why does he care if the mission is a success?

We used to have a saying, "A Marine on duty has no friends". Attachments for a Commissar cloud their judgement. He must learn that he cannot bond with someone, it could make him vulnerable. Don't like the fluff? Ignore it and drive on.

Except that is patently not the case. The bonds forged by Cain, Yarrick and Gaunt were what made them so successful as leaders and what made the men under their command so willing to fight, and die, for them.

Might be better in its own thread.

The Eldar pic is nicely done.

 Mr Morden wrote:

 A Town Called Malus wrote:

 Adeptus Doritos wrote:

 Mr_Rose wrote:
Also, a man with no attachments is one that will run at the first sign of trouble because why does he care if the mission is a success?

We used to have a saying, "A Marine on duty has no friends". Attachments for a Commissar cloud their judgement. He must learn that he cannot bond with someone, it could make him vulnerable. Don't like the fluff? Ignore it and drive on.

Except that is patently not the case. The bonds forged by Cain, Yarrick and Gaunt were what made them so successful as leaders and what made the men under their command so willing to fight, and die, for them.

Might be better in its own thread.

At this point yes, definitely.

Stephan Rhodes is our guest as we discuss the upcoming brand new Warhammer 40K RPG – Wrath & Glory from Ulisses –US. You can find out more via the home page here:

http://www.ulisses-us.com/games/warhammer-40000-roleplay/

There you can find the comic strip explaining the rules and all the monthly updates as well.

Link: http://fanatic.libsyn.com/2-march-2018-wrath-glory-40k-rpg

From Facebook:

You never know what you're going to find beyond the Rift. A good Tactical Marine is ready for anything.

Artist: Alberto Bontempi

That sterile, white background really takes away from that picture. I guess that they're trying to maintain consistency, but they should have put that picture on a darker background.