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Wraithy
2009-04-26, 09:07 AM
My group has played through a few systems: 3.5, GURPS, Microlite20. But we've decided to move onto Dark Heresy now. At the moment we've yet to hold the first session (mainly because we don't really know how to play it properly, the rule books are a maze).

Is there anyone who's played the system who knows an easier way of remembering combat rules?

Here is my character: (Just in case I've made some awful choices)

Name: Fidelis Arma
Assassin
Prophesy: "A mind without purpose will wander in dark places", gain one fate point

Imperial Worlder
Blessed ignorance: -5 on Forbidden Lore tests
Hagiography: Common Lore (Imperial Creed), Common Lore (Imperium), and Common Lore (War) as basic skills
Superior origins: +3 willpower
XP Spent: 750, XP remaining: 50 (we did start with more xp)

Skills –
Speak Language (Low Gothic)
Awareness
Dodge
Tracking

Talents –
Melee Weapon Training (Primitive)
Ambidextrous
Basic Weapon Training (SP)
Basic Pistol Training (SP)
Heightened Senses (sight)

Base rolls –
Fate Points: 3 (2+Divination)
Wounds: 13 (base8+5)
Weapon skill (WS): 33 (7+6+20)
Weapon skill (BS): 46 (6+10+20+10) (includes 2 upgrades)
Strength (S): 25 (3+2+20)
Toughness (T): 36 (8+8+20)
Agility (Ag): 30 (7+3+20)
Intelligence (Int): 24 (3+1+20)
Perception (Per): 30 (6+4+20)
Willpower (WP): 32 (7+2+20+3homeworld)
Fellowship (Fel): 26 (3+3+20)

Gear – (We received 2 extra months of income)
Thrones: 48
Rifle (Silencer added for no real reason)
Revolver
Hand Cannon x2
Man-stopper bullets x24 (Our GM said he would just let us have infinite standard ammo to make things easier)
Sword
Knife
Stimm (3 doses)
Charm (corpse hair)
Black Bodyglove (common quality)
Flak Jacket
Flak Helmet
Recoil Gloves
Micro-Bead 20T


Otherwise: is there any good advice for roleplaying in the grimdark future?
(At the moment my character has "blessed is the mind too small to doubt" as his creed).

Sgt. Fall
2009-04-26, 05:55 PM
In truth? There's no real easy way of remembering combat rules, especially when first playing them.

My advice would be to start off with brief combat, something easy to defeat that you and the other players shouldn't take too long to finish off, but still long enough that everyone gets a chance to act.

Keep the actions page and the list of bonuses/penalties open/bookmarked in times of combat and make sure the GM has written down all the skills and attributes of the NPC you're fighting (you'd be surprised what gets forgotten in the heat of a fight). What you could also do is either scan and print the combat rules or write them down on paper so that they can be viewed side by side, rather than having to scan through the entire book for each bit of information.

Most combat situation bonuses/penalties are easily remembered, such as if it's dark or you're out-numbered in a melee fight, but some are easily forgotten, such as fatigue penalties and range. Try to put yourself in the shoes of the combatents and visualise how the situation would affect your combat ability.

You could perhaps view some of the Dark Heresy campaigns here on these fine boards and take note of how the combat flows in those games.

At the end of the day, you, the other players and GM are only human (so I assume) and mistakes will almost certainly happen. Simply take note of the mistake and continue play, nothing is more tedious than working out how to resolve a mistake that happened a turn or two ago.

As for your character, they look pretty good as you've laid them out. I'm not a huge fan of Ambidextrous myself, since you can only attack twice (or more) in a turn if you have the appriopriate talent(s), so it reallys goes to waste in my opinion.

I'm a little confused at why you have a revolver and 2 hand cannons, unless the revolver is the las pistol starting gear you selected and the hand cannons are guns you bought. You might want to sell the revolver for a couple of extra thrones (at the GM's discretion) since I doubt you'd be using it over the two hand cannons.

The silencer should come in handy, as will the armour. However, you'll need someone in your group to have an Injector in order to administer the doses of Stimm (or any other Drug for that matter).

As for roleplaying tips, try taking these things into consideration:

What kind of world was your Imperial Worlder born on? How did they feel about that world? What were their family like? What was life like growing up? Was there much Imperial doctrine in their life? How did she come into the employ of the Inquisition? What's her stance on Xenos and Heretics? Will they do anything and everything to do as the Inquisition wishes or do they put moral values first? How do they feel about their team-mates?

Answering these questions should give you quite a built up backstory and a very good idea of your character's behaviour in a given situation. Again, try and put yourself in their shoes and think how you might act in such a world.

Hope my answers give you some ideas and some help.

Wraithy
2009-04-26, 06:22 PM
As for your character, they look pretty good as you've laid them out. I'm not a huge fan of Ambidextrous myself, since you can only attack twice (or more) in a turn if you have the appriopriate talent(s), so it reallys goes to waste in my opinion.

I'm a little confused at why you have a revolver and 2 hand cannons, unless the revolver is the las pistol starting gear you selected and the hand cannons are guns you bought. You might want to sell the revolver for a couple of extra thrones (at the GM's discretion) since I doubt you'd be using it over the two hand cannons.


The multiple guns is more for reloads than anything else. I'm bothered that all my close combat guns need 2 Full rounds to reload, so I'd planned on using up one, then switching to the other, and in a last-ditch effort, turning to the revolver. I'm not really dead set on that though.

Krrth
2009-04-27, 09:41 AM
The multiple guns is more for reloads than anything else. I'm bothered that all my close combat guns need 2 Full rounds to reload, so I'd planned on using up one, then switching to the other, and in a last-ditch effort, turning to the revolver. I'm not really dead set on that though.

Check out Rapid Reload. It cuts the reload time in half.