Would this be terrible idea?

Hi there. Wasn't sure where to put this, hopefully this is the right subforum. I'm one of those guys that has always been interested in PnP, but never bumped into anyone that played and didn't really like the idea of play-by-email/forum. Anyway recently a certain popular video series (*cough* RollPlay: Dark Heresy *cough*) showed me how this could all be done online now and pushed me off the fence; now this is definitely something I want to do. The problem I have now is that there don't seem to be a huge number of Dark Heresy GMs about, most of the people LFGing on this site for Dark Heresy game are basically in the same position as me: New to roleplay and specifically interested in a game system that doesn't seem that popular among more experienced roleplayers. I was lucky enough to fall into a group with a GM, but that has probably fallen through now and I doubt I will find another unless I change to a more popular game like DnD or Pathfinder. So essentially there are loads of green Dark Heresy players about and no/very few GMs for them. What I was thinking of doing (because GMing interests me anyway) is setting up a group of 4 or 5 totally new players and running through one of the prebuilt 40k campaigns (the Only War one looks pretty good) with me as GM. My theory being that if everyone  is new we won't have to worry so much about being terrible, and with a "script" to fall back on I hopefully won't screw up too  badly. Obviously this could back fire horribly, with no experienced players or GM to hold things together it may just descend into a mess within the first hour. Basically what I'm posting this topic for, is to ask for advice from more experienced players and GMs about whether this sort of thing can work? If it can, what can I do to help improve the experience as much as possible? If this is just a disaster waiting to happen what do you recommend instead? EDIT: Well I look retarded: "Would this be terrible idea?" Nice grammar from me there.

Every GM has to start at some point, so first off: congrats for having the guts to try it. :) That said, it could be a terrible idea - but you won't know if you don't try. The most important part of roleplaying is really to get a group together that has the same expectations. Characterdriven? Railroad? Modified module? Sandbox? From one combat scene to the next? Roleplayed (!) in-group conflics a yes or no? Should players take notes or are they allowed to ask you about the same stuff every five minutes? All of these have to be agreed upon, and even then there is probably stuff I forgot and - of that I have no doubt - someone else will mention. What kind of players you want and what kind of play you enjoy (especially as the GM as you tend to put in the most work) is something else that you will most likely discover with time. I myself was a horrible railroader at the beginning until I learned how to prep interesting situations and NPCs with their own motivations instead of writing down every step the group HAD to absolutely take or nothing would move forward. Ahem. Sorry, rambling a bit here. My advice? If you want to go with a prebuilt campaign, don't hesitate to change things on the fly. Your group should have agreed with you beforehand to work with you on this plot/that they have a bit less freedom (but hell, in heresy when do you have freedom as a character :) ?) so its less likely that they will accidentally sabotage the whole thing. Other than that...? Its basically improv acting, have fun with every NPC.

Oh. Also incredibly important... You are NOT the players' enemy and vice versa. Seriously.

Dark Heresy is also designed to support random character generation, which can be extremely fun. I played the game once, and ended up with a Scum that was the face of the party, but couldn't succeed a Willpower roll to save his life (and, in fact, almost died because of a failed WP roll...) I think it's worth pointing out that Dark Heresy's rules for automatic fire weapons are kind of broken. (My Scum picked up a basic auto fire pistol and completely murdered a demon boss the combat-spec characters were having trouble even hitting, much less beating.) I'd recommend looking at the rules in the other 40k games and possibly house-ruling it. Our group would have played the game more, but one of the players constantly wants to play Tau, or have Tau stuff. We had the same problem trying to play Deathwatch and Black Crusade -- the same player kept wanting Tau, Tau, Tau. With Dark Heresy, it's important for the players to understand that as far as the setting is concerned, they're nameless drones, and nobody will care if (read: when ) they die. (Another fact that Tau guy simply couldn't stand.)

Lewis W. said:   Obviously this could back fire horribly, with no experienced players or GM to hold things together it may just descend into a mess within the first hour. Basically what I'm posting this topic for, is to ask for advice from more experienced players and GMs about whether this sort of thing can work? If it can, what can I do to help improve the experience as much as possible?  A number of people learned how to play RPGs in just this way - I wouldn't worry about it.  Even experienced GMs have had games that descend into a mess within an hour too.  You've shown the desire and capacity to GM already, which is the hardest part and everything else is gravy. Since you're familiar with the format and the ebb and flow of gaming through actual play videos, I'd just focus on knowing the game system as best as you can.  Beyond reading the rules, check out the game's forums and another online community to see where people have had questions about the system and try to learn from other people's mistakes before you make your own. Other than that, try to have as much fun as possible and don't sweat the details.  Good luck!

Brian said: I think it's worth pointing out that Dark Heresy's rules for automatic fire weapons are kind of broken. (My Scum picked up a basic auto fire pistol and completely murdered a demon boss the combat-spec characters were having trouble even hitting, much less beating.) I'd recommend looking at the rules in the other 40k games and possibly house-ruling it. What is it that makes them broken (just so I know what to change)? It's +20 to hit plus 1 extra hit for each degree of success right? So I guess you would pretty frequently hit for double or triple damage, which does seem overpowered. It would probably be worth wasting the ammo just for the +20 bonus alone. With Dark Heresy, it's important for the players to understand that as far as the setting is concerned, they're nameless drones, and nobody will care if (read: when ) they die. (Another fact that Tau guy simply couldn't stand.) Yeah awesome character syndrome is something I'm worried about. Any advice on dealing with people that want to be the action hero in there own personal adventure? Mouse said: Every GM has to start at some point, so first off: congrats for having the guts to try it. :) That said, it could be a terrible idea - but you won't know if you don't try. The most important part of roleplaying is really to get a group together that has the same expectations. Characterdriven? Railroad? Modified module? Sandbox? From one combat scene to the next? Roleplayed (!) in-group conflics a yes or no? Should players take notes or are they allowed to ask you about the same stuff every five minutes? All of these have to be agreed upon, and even then there is probably stuff I forgot and - of that I have no doubt - someone else will mention. What kind of players you want and what kind of play you enjoy (especially as the GM as you tend to put in the most work) is something else that you will most likely discover with time. I myself was a horrible railroader at the beginning until I learned how to prep interesting situations and NPCs with their own motivations instead of writing down every step the group HAD to absolutely take or nothing would move forward. Ahem. Sorry, rambling a bit here. My advice? If you want to go with a prebuilt campaign, don't hesitate to change things on the fly. Your group should have agreed with you beforehand to work with you on this plot/that they have a bit less freedom (but hell, in heresy when do you have freedom as a character :) ?) so its less likely that they will accidentally sabotage the whole thing. Other than that...? Its basically improv acting, have fun with every NPC.  Thanks. I'll try not to railroad too much, but would it be fair to let players just die if they do something too  stupid? EG Your party needs to cross a minefield and one guy decides to run across it in a straight line. In that situation I would probably make them roll to not explode. Dave D. said: Lewis W. said:   Obviously this could back fire horribly, with no experienced players or GM to hold things together it may just descend into a mess within the first hour. Basically what I'm posting this topic for, is to ask for advice from more experienced players and GMs about whether this sort of thing can work? If it can, what can I do to help improve the experience as much as possible?  A number of people learned how to play RPGs in just this way - I wouldn't worry about it.  Even experienced GMs have had games that descend into a mess within an hour too.  You've shown the desire and capacity to GM already, which is the hardest part and everything else is gravy. Since you're familiar with the format and the ebb and flow of gaming through actual play videos, I'd just focus on knowing the game system as best as you can.  Beyond reading the rules, check out the game's forums and another online community to see where people have had questions about the system and try to learn from other people's mistakes before you make your own. Other than that, try to have as much fun as possible and don't sweat the details.  Good luck! Thanks.

Thanks. I'll try not to railroad too much, but would it be fair to let players just die if they do something too  stupid? EG Your party needs to cross a minefield and one guy decides to run across it in a straight line. In that situation I would probably make them roll to not explode. That depends on you, but once more it is important to let your players know that as every GM handles things differently. Me, I try not to let players die to stupid stuff like a single botched roll, but if they want to run straight over a minefield they can be damn sure I will roll for that and their chances won't be great simply because its an effing minefield o.o With other GMs, they would let them die from one bad roll. For some players, that is the lure of a luck/random game like pnp. Others still want some randomness but don't want to die immediately, so to speak. So yes, your approach would be just fine :)

Thanks for your, I've decided to go ahead with my hair brained scheme: <a href="https://app.roll20.net/forum/post/335496/looking-to-start-dark-heresy-beginners-campaign-gmt-weekends-ill-gm/#post-335496" rel="nofollow">https://app.roll20.net/forum/post/335496/looking-to-start-dark-heresy-beginners-campaign-gmt-weekends-ill-gm/#post-335496</a>

Lewis W. said: Brian said: I think it's worth pointing out that Dark Heresy's rules for automatic fire weapons are kind of broken. (My Scum picked up a basic auto fire pistol and completely murdered a demon boss the combat-spec characters were having trouble even hitting, much less beating.) I'd recommend looking at the rules in the other 40k games and possibly house-ruling it. What is it that makes them broken (just so I know what to change)? It's +20 to hit plus 1 extra hit for each degree of success right? So I guess you would pretty frequently hit for double or triple damage, which does seem overpowered. It would probably be worth wasting the ammo just for the +20 bonus alone. Full round aim beforehand also stacks with the FA bonus, for +40 BS. Point-blank range also stacks for an additional +30 BS, although combat modifiers cap at +60. (You can't use ranged attacks in melee unless the weapon is a pistol... but an Autopistol is freaking cheap.) 40+ Ballistics, Aim, Point-blank, and Full auto means you've got a 5% chance to miss (by rolling 96-00, an auto-miss which will also cause a weapon jam), and a very high chance to multiply your damage. With an Autopistol and exactly 40 Ballistics, that's a 49% chance to hit with all 6 bullets, for 6d10+12 impact damage. (Edit: And let's not forget Righteous Fury. When you roll a 10 on a damage die, you roll to-hit again; if that extra attack roll would connect, add an additional 1d10 to the damage... and keep adding 1d10 until you stop rolling 10s. For a FA attack I interpret the rules as giving you a separate chance at Righteous Fury for each bullet that hits. And since we're talking about a 95% chance to hit, every bullet on a 1d10 damage weapon that hits has a 9.5% chance to add at least 1d10 extra damage...) Semi-auto requires two degrees of success for each extra bullet (and has a lower maximum damage), but you can do it more before reloading, and you can half-round Aim before it, letting you do the whole action in a single turn (Half Aim, Point-blank, Semi-auto = +50 BS; +60 if the weapon has the Accurate quality). With Dark Heresy, it's important for the players to understand that as far as the setting is concerned, they're nameless drones, and nobody will care if (read: when ) they die. (Another fact that Tau guy simply couldn't stand.) Yeah awesome character syndrome is something I'm worried about. Any advice on dealing with people that want to be&nbsp;the action hero in there own personal adventure? All I can suggest is to make sure the players understand that in Dark Heresy, you aren't the main character in a grandiose story. A DH campaign is the stuff going on in the background. The Imperium of Man doesn't care what happens to you -- hell, the Imperium is sometimes surprised when they get taxes from planets they'd forgotten about entirely. If the government can forget your planet, they sure as **** aren't going to remember you. Thanks. I'll try not to railroad too much, but would it be fair to let players just die if they do something too &nbsp;stupid? EG Your party needs to cross a minefield and one guy decides to run across it in a straight line. In that situation I would probably make them roll to not explode. In Dark Heresy? Hell yes, kill the character when the player does something stupid. It's one thing to kill a character in a game like Exalted or Scion where the players are very clearly the focus of the world's story. In DH, the player characters are, almost literally, cannon fodder. If the player does something too stupid, I wouldn't hesitate.

Yeah, you got the right plan. just read the book write a scenario, recruit and start playing. New guys will not gripe they are too bus learning, but as GM know what you are saying. welcome to the life. Good luck with it. 40K is not my flavor but others like it.