Rogue Trader - The Frozen Reaches (OoC)

[Lucretia]

Even at the greatest penalty, a system-system jump can only take, at most, 40 days. Unless they are close by. In that case, they can only take at most 4 days. With the Miloslav engine, we cut that in half. So, presuming we aren't moving across an entire sector, the most time we can spend in flight is 20 days.

Of course, if we're moving across the entire Calixis, we might end up in transit for 120 days. That would be bad. I think the ship has 6 months' supplies at the moment, so moving across an entire Segmentum in a single bound might be a little too ambitious.

On the matter of the GMNavigator, I'm okay with it. Warp encounters can be tedious, and with the GM in charge, any encounter we face will be either part of the current plot or a hook for the next. Unless he has a thing for warp encounters. In which case we'll become hardened daemonhunters before we get to Dionysus.

[Winthrow]

I'll make one more attempt at shopping seeing as some of the crew have made several rolls.

Photo-contacts
(1d100)[51] vs 50 Very close miss, but I think I used all my modifications

Stormtrooper Carapace armor
(1d100)[25] vs 30 Success!

[Lucretia]

Should've tried for commerce!

[Baveboi]

Luc, dear, did you ever noticed how you call Damaris by a different name every time? Are you sure you don't have something for Tzeentch or, let's say, the Eldar clowns?

Oh, yeah, but our engine also gives us the beautiful disadvantage of rolling encounters every 3 days, not 5. So at a 20 day trip we have 6 chances of being even MORE delayed. Check out page 187 of the Rogue Trader core book. The chart is mostly inoffensive, but 4 out of 11 events would makes us take even more time. Of course, if we can just skip these occurrences and add it as a footnote when we translate back there is no reason why not to, unless it's something very interesting that everyone would like to chip in.

I am of the opinion warp travel is cripplingly dangerous. Most ships rarely make long warp jumps, only entire fleets of the Navy have the strength and support necessary to shake off prolonged warp weather. I also don't believe this will creep our gameplay, so eh. It's just fluff, really.


PS: I am good. I am not a material person so I only have few worldly possessions.

[Lucretia]

I can't remember Damaris. I get the vowels mixed up sometimes, so instead of trying and being off by an A or an I, I just go with Daenerys or whatever.

Yeah, Warp Encounters can be juttering. That said, I'm not sure how many would take over 24 hours to deal with. The storm and the shoals are really the biggest ones, by my judgment. Even then, only the storm would seem to take a gratuitous amount of time to rectify.

Yeah, fluff-wise people don't just leap into the Warp on a lark.

[Winthrow]

I had thought I already burned my bridges with the commerce roll in trying to use it for that solo boltgun... really really wanted that rifle. *sighs* though I could perhaps do a fate re-roll...

[Lucretia]

You can try commerce for each acquisition check. However, you can only make one commerce check before you make the acquisition check, for better or worse.

[Winthrow]

That would make for a lot of rolls... but may just be worth it. Would probably have gotten me those contacts.

[Maugan Ra]

Originally Posted by A PM entitled 'can you please post more often'

Me and another player were talking about it, and we noticed you're online a lot, but don't seem to post much. We'd appreciate it if you could post at least once every few hours while you're online.

Thank you.

Short answer? No.

Long answer is - I visit this forum for more than just my PbP games. Of which there are several, both in which I play and one which I run. And since I've still been managing to get in a post for this at least once a day or more on average, I'm not going to try hurrying that any more.

Beyond that, Lucretia, the modifiers you're going for there are heavy Feral world troops. That would mean, roughly, fighters with hide armour and heavy stone clubs at best. Feral world tech and capability caps out at Bronze Age level at the latest. There's no-one even remotely like that living on Footfall which is, after all, a space station.

[Lucretia]

Originally Posted by Maugan Ra

Beyond that, Lucretia, the modifiers you're going for there are heavy Feral world troops. That would mean, roughly, fighters with hide armour and heavy stone clubs at best. Feral world tech and capability caps out at Bronze Age level at the latest. There's no-one even remotely like that living on Footfall which is, after all, a space station.

I would argue against that for two reasons:

One, back in Dark Heresy (admittedly, not Rogue Trader, but same universe) Feral Worlds are a legitimate starting point for characters. In Rogue Trader, there is the Death World which sounds similar but is arguably different enough to not be synonymous. In DH, Ferals aren't limited to hide armour and heavy stone clubs, so saying that feral troops are strikes me as peculiar. It seems to me that the penalty for their being unfamiliar with the technology is the -2 they take to Power.

Two, the description of heavy infantry isn't dependent on the world choice. If it was dependent, I don't see why Battlefleet Koronus would even have options other than Modern. Fielding an army which isn't comprised of people who have at the very least a lasgun would be suicide in this setting.

I was making my unit based on the archetype of the Catachans, or at least of Death Worlders in general. Hopefully this shows that it isn't an entirely poorly thought out selection.

[Henry the 57th]

Lucretia, you don't mind if we roll commerce on our behalf, do you?

Also, Ra, it is possible to get cybernetics here, correct?

[Lucretia]

I would rather we not make any more acquisition rolls -- unless it's someone who hasn't made any yet.

[Henry the 57th]

Originally Posted by Lucretia

I would rather we not make any more acquisition rolls -- unless it's someone who hasn't made any yet.

Well, I did in all honesty forget that I wanted to get this.

But if you really don't want to, I can edit the IC post.

[Lucretia]

I'd really rather not, especially a cybernetic. With 12 hours before we leave Footfall (well, ~12 hours that is) he'd have to be on the medicae deck, presuming it's usable. That would mean for, what is it, 2d10-TB days he'd be out of commission. While you might roll super well and be up after a single day, it's unlikely -- and if you didn't, that would mean that the crewmember who fires the guns will be unable to participate in ship combat.

[Henry the 57th]

Fine. Editing.

[Lucretia]

Thank you!

[Winthrow]

I'm not sure if I ought to be making knowledge rolls for this stuff. What I've said so far I would consider falling under basic knowledge in my Common Lore - Imperial Navy and Forbidden Lore - Xenos.

[Maugan Ra]

Usually, knowledge rolls can be assumed to be passed with regards to relatively mundane things like that. It makes sense for your character to know it, after all.

And I deliberately avoided combat against the mutants because it would just sort of slow us down for no real plot-related reason. There will be fighting later, don't worry about it.

[Henry the 57th]

Fine with me.

Forgive me if I seem a little eager. As I told my players on my BC thread, I am a huge combat buff. And Luff, of course, is looking for some interesting stuff to fight, kill, and pose atop.

[Baveboi]

Grumble mumble ****ing time frame mumble grumble children mumble grumble no internet.

Okay, I am here, hopefully not too late. Am I still under the obligation to attend the bridge My Lady? Scrap that, of course I am. It's just so sad that Astropaths have very little to do besides screaming.

[Henry the 57th]

Sorry, Baveboi, Luff is kind of a racist when it comes to mutants. The Imperial Creed and the horrific decade-long guerilla war against mutants that saw many of his friends killed horribly kinda do that to man.

[Baveboi]

Do not apologize, my friend. I like that. Of conflict we spawn the stuff of which good prose is made of. I could be a Navigator with a warp eye and any numbers of horrid mutations, so Luff might feel a little lucky that he got the most normal looking psyker of this sector.

Besides, I will love teasing him even more.

[Henry the 57th]

Taunting the heavily-armed man in power armor with a deep and lasting hatred of mutants probably isn't the wisest idea.

Technically speaking, I should have to pass a willpower roll right now or try to tear your head off. But I'm going to assume he has a slightly higher degree of tolerance for navigators and astropaths both because of their IC special status and OOC convenience.

[Baveboi]

Psykers are not really mutants per the book. They have a mutation for psychic capabilities, but it's considered a curse of warpcraft or the Emperor's Gift. The Astropath's case being the later, you should be at least slightly tolerable to Carlyle's unnerving presence.

Besides, who would shoot their own cellphone just because it has an ugly design? And at least Carlyle is the prettiest of the ugly phones.

[Henry the 57th]

I am tolerating it. My background says quite literally that I must pass a willpower test when confronting my hated enemy (in this case, mutants) or attack them all-out. I'm assuming a greater degree of tolerance than normal by not rolling for it in the first place.

Someone who's seen his friends and family die brutally at the hands of other cellphones.

But seriously, I'm not going to shoot you unless you attack me. Liff will continue to be racist, however.

[Winthrow]

I don't know about shooting it but if my phone started sendings texts directly into my brain I might end up dropping it and "accidentally" step(stomp) on it a few times.

[Henry the 57th]

Also, can astropaths get bionic eyes? Because I can't remember.

[Baveboi]

Are you kidding Withrow? It would be awesome. Imagine how fast and how easy it would be to communicate with others! But it is beside the point of the metaphor I guess...

Do not worry, Henry, I don't presume you will, in either case. My background also tells me to answer threat with threat, violence with violence, but there is nothing threatening about a friendly banter between crewmates. Carlyle also knows for a certainty that Astropaths don't come easily, or cheaply, so Luff will surely refrain from destroying Lady Xanatov's possessions.

I might be an ugly, trauma inducing and overly paranoid cellphone, but I am HER cellphone after all.

PS: Bionic eyes? Yes. But what for?

[Henry the 57th]

So he can, you know, see. Like normal people do.

Also, to be able to pretend not to be an astropath when it's convenient. Like, say, when there's a lynch mob about, looking for a witch to hang.

[Baveboi]

Haha! Yes, that could be useful, but Astropaths are able to "see" just fine. Astropaths can read, paint, write and play "who blinks first" normally. They can't, however, be blinded by normal conditions such as a blind grenade or camouflage or darkness. Warp-induced conditions are obviously a yes, as well as physical manifestations, such as rain, fog and smoke.

Extract from rogue trader core book, pg72:

Spoiler

See Without Eyes:
An Astropath Transcendent is blind yet at the same time has a strange ability to perceive without using his physical senses. An Astropath Transcendent is functionally treated as if he can see normally (including seeing colors and being limited by walls, etc.). However, Astropaths Transcendent are not affected by effects that target their vision, such as blind grenades and cameleoline. They are, however, completely incapable of seeing Untouchables.

So begets the question: Eyes? What for?

And Carlyle already looks fairly normal. If he puts a pair of shades on (nothing too hard to find, I bet) and change his attire for something more inconspicuous he would be nearly unidentifiable. But then again a psyker of his caliber has ways to get people not to burn him alive.