PDA

View Full Version : Dark Heresy



Comet
2009-04-21, 02:18 PM
Welcome to yet another thread of Space Nazis versus Cthulhu Dark Heresy, the Warhammer 40k rpg.
I made one of these threads a while back. I was just a player then but now I decided to give GM'ing a go.

The first problem I ran into when designing an adventure was the concept of "challenge rating" or rather, the lack thereof.

The antagonist entries in the rulebooks give the challenge ratings as Xenos/Hereticus/Malleus Terminatus/Majoris/Minoris/Minoria/etc. I have no idea how to translate these into actual estimations of the monsters toughness

In D&D the Challenge Rating system is really dominative. In other games I've just learnt to build enemies so that I can guess that the players can go up against them without dying. I'm not familiar enough with DH to do that yet.

Are there any guidelines to adjusting the enemies the Acolytes face in DH? The career paths and their different ranks resemble levels quite a bit so it's not impossible to have something resembling a Challenge Rating, is it?

For example: assume that the party is rank 4 (2000 xp or so). How much could they handle? Certainly not a Terminatus rank foe, but Majoris? Several Minoris? Dozens of Minoria?

Such are the things I'm pondering at the moment. I understand that there may not be any simple answers but I'm asking anyway.

Sgt. Fall
2009-04-21, 02:41 PM
I've GMed a couple of Dark Heresy games and, to me, the threat rating system isn't fantastically good. It does give a good idea on how tough enemies are, but there are so many factors that will influence how tough the fight is that it's barely worth noting. Factors such as your player's levels, the classes they pick, the skills and equipment they have and the situation they are in will all play a major part in deciding whether a foe is a push-over or a titan compared to the Acolytes.

What I would recommend is throwing the weaker enemies against the players first and see how well they do. Start increasing the difficulty (either in the same session or later on in the campaign) of the enemies and, if necessery, give the players a helping hand if the foe they're up against is proving too difficult, in the form of back-up or an environmental advantage (or you could be an evil GM and not help them :smallbiggrin:).

Hope that helps!

chiasaur11
2009-04-21, 02:47 PM
I've GMed a couple of Dark Heresy games and, to me, the threat rating system isn't fantastically good. It does give a good idea on how tough enemies are, but there are so many factors that will influence how tough the fight is that it's barely worth noting. Factors such as your player's levels, the classes they pick, the skills and equipment they have and the situation they are in will all play a major part in deciding whether a foe is a push-over or a titan compared to the Acolytes.

What I would recommend is throwing the weaker enemies against the players first and see how well they do. Start increasing the difficulty (either in the same session or later on in the campaign) of the enemies and, if necessery, give the players a helping hand if the foe they're up against is proving too difficult, in the form of back-up or an environmental advantage (or you could be an evil GM and not help them :smallbiggrin:).

Hope that helps!

Help? In the grim darkness of the 41st millennium?
Who do your players think you are, Ciaphas Cain?

Bulwer
2009-04-21, 04:17 PM
Just err on the side of too powerful-- they'll learn to run away when one or two of them die.

loopy
2009-04-21, 05:27 PM
Just err on the side of too powerful-- they'll learn to run away when one or two of them die.

As my wonderful smooth-talking nobleborn scum character discovered when a cultist blew his frakking arm off in the first round of combat he ever entered.

My character concept:
http://1d4chan.org/images/thumb/d/d3/Pimpin_Imperium.png/322px-Pimpin_Imperium.png

Bulwer
2009-04-21, 06:08 PM
As my wonderful smooth-talking nobleborn scum character discovered when a cultist blew his frakking arm off in the first round of combat he ever entered.

Yeah, and it turns out "I'm a cop" isn't a good defense against lots of people with guns. DH is very instructive with regard to things like that.

loopy
2009-04-21, 06:21 PM
Yeah, and it turns out "I'm a cop" isn't a good defense against lots of people with guns. DH is very instructive with regard to things like that.

It was more "oh **** covers blown hold till help arr-- *BLAM*... I feel... woozy."

*falls over*