Character Journal 2 - H. Tiberius Holocene

Matt's character logs continue to impress. Here's his character log for our 2nd session. I love the opening headings and the correct dating conventions. Such things make me grin inwardly with geekdom.

Day 128, 813M41
Log of Events
Ferral Wolf, comissioned 389M34
Captain H. Tiberius Odysean Holocene

Warrant of Trade # RV-426-G7-96-BFN4Y2

• Granted to Rogue Trader Hester Nathaniel Holocene 623M35
• Given leave to spread the light of the God Emperor to places unknown within Segmentum Obscurus.

Politics and intrigue. After encountering two other Rogue Traders, I realize now that I must be careful in what I say. The phrase silver tongued devil certainly comes to mind, and if I am going to succeed against such as these, I must be able to use every talent in my arsenal.

Footfall has shown that already this place, this Expanse does not operate under the same restrictions as the Imperium proper. However, just because law does not exist here in a traditional sense, it does not really give me leave to break my vows. Reputation seems to be as important, if not more so, than any amount of coin I carry, and I must ensure that mine remains intact, or this dynasty will soon find itself adrift.

I am honestly pleased with our trade agreement with House Kerin. While I am certainly wary of the prospect of them trying to extort us at some point, I know that they too have a reputation to consider. Moreover, my read of Nathaniel, their highest ranking member of their House here in the Kronus Expanse is of a person who is looking to do business and establish good relations rather than a cut-throat or a brigand. We will see in time if my hunch to form a trade agreement with them proves a good or bad decision. Still, we have, I believe, what weapons we need to start our colony, and have managed to procure at least basic versions of many of the supplies we will need to start it up.

I decided that it would be a waste not to look into the ruins on Vedic, the planet we're planning on settling. I have dispatched Sebastian and others to look into finding someone who will be able to take advantage of this, so that we might turn these ruins for a profit. Of course I dream of unique alien technology and relics either for our use or for sale, but there is something to be said about simply looking more closely into this seemingly extinct race. I find in this yet another joy of being out from under the oppression of the Imperium.

The encounter with House Narghast went, I believe, in my favor. The other Rogue Traders must know that just because we have been dealt a crushing blow, we are not fickle or weak, and I will not allow others to intimidate me. We still stand strong, and I will persevere. I will never trade for the "protection" that Lady Chorda was offering. While this might lead to hardships later, I know that the troubles we might face are nothing compared to being indebted to such as her.

House Ontiveros on the other hand was an entirely different encounter. I know our own Explorator was extremely interested in them, he did little to hide it. They have a sense of curiosity about them that seems like innocence. Perhaps this is their true nature, but I will, as ever, remain on my guard. Still, they seem trustworthy enough to deal with and perhaps work alongside.

The arrival of the Ghost Ship was something that caught everyone's attention. Honestly, I am glad that the Governor of Footfall had the three of us meet to discuss what would happen with it, because I do not think I would have come out on top of a skirmish, let alone a full scale battle. I am also glad that Admiral Balter accepted my invitation to appear. I would like very much to get a chance to catch up with him before he leaves in search of the Angvein fleet.

I was shocked at how easily I was able to convince the other houses that the ship should remain intact, and that I gained custody of it. I wonder what I really gave away with the deal with Chorda, and I fear that I won't know the true extent until it may be too late. As for Lady Ontiveros, I wonder what they knew when they said they would not help us in bringing the ship under our control. I only hope there is no animosity there, as I would enjoy forming an alliance with that dynasty if possible.

Now it is time to rally the troops in preparation for... well in preparation for anything. I have won the right to claim this ghost ship, now it is time to take her as mine!

Been Busy

So...I've not posted in a while. Been busy working on...things. We had our third session, however. I hope to post more soon.

Here's a peek at what I've been working on. As if you haven't already guessed.

Modding Them Up!

So, I said that I was going to be modding up some figures for Rogue Trader. Well, thankfully I had help. Here's the real and true star of the miniatures modifications I've done so far. A little white skeleton.

The skeleton here is part of a series of skeletons with guns that I got a while back from my buddy Mik. I got them for free and over the years, a number of their guns have broken off. In fact, the gun you see off to the right is one of those guns that broke off. When I was sorting through my bits, I noticed that these guys' guns look a little bit like bolt pistols. Perfect for Rogue Trader.

So, I took a lot of the loose guns that had broken off of the skeletons and put them right onto some of the figures I got for the team. Here's the Explorator. I just took off his axe and substituted it with one of the skeleton guns.

Now, I have to admit that I was a bit nervous about this, because I've maybe done something like this once or twice. But it was not as bad as I thought and it turned out pretty well, I think. The trick for me was to get the wrist right on the figure. If the wrist wasn't cut right, then the skeleton hand and weapon looked to be at an odd angle. I had to really concentrate and visualize where the Explorator's wrist should stop and his hand began.

The next guy I modded was the front-line Arch-Militant. He was a blast to modify. I started with sawing off one hand and replacing it with the large fist that I showed off in my last post. Interestingly enough, the large fist originally belonged to a cybernetic ape miniature. Ape X, by name. My friend Andy would probably see the poetry in this, since he's a big fan of the super-apes.

First I added the fist.

You'll note in the picture above that the pommel of the figures sword still remains. Here, it almost looks like it's sticking out of the fist. Instead of sawing the pommel off, it gave me an idea and I incorporated it into a further modification.

I thought to myself, what's a power fist without a power pack to give it energy? So I added a contraption onto the back of this miniature and made the pommel on the figure's wrist look more like an energy cord that attached back to the power core.

I then took off the other sword and mounted on another skeleton gun. The end result looks great, but I'll post that later.

EDIT: I totally forgot to post this - where I got the Arch-Militant's power pack from. I happen to play a lot of Warmachine and I also happened to have an extra Durgen Madhammer. I went through my bits to see what I could find to use as a backpack and I found my extra Durgen fig. The head of his hammer is what I used as the power pack. Thanks to oniakki for the reminder!

Meet the Team!

So, I came into some birthday money recently and I bought figures to represent each of the characters in the Warrant of Trade campaign. I did this for my previous Dark Heresy game, but only managed to paint up one figure. Bleah.

Why just one figure? Well, my soul got captured by the white dominatrix. You know. The one with the green ring and the sweet, sweet call of a cooling fan? Anyhow, after I crawled up out of the hole that was Dragon Age and Mass Effect 2, I got my life back and I'm back on the minis wagon.

Instead of buying really expensive Games Workshop figures, I went and bought some Reaper minis on recommendation by the guys at Minions of the Monster Master. Almost all of the figures I bought were fantasy figures and I decided to modify them to fit the campaign. I was more than a little nervous about this because I've hardly ever modified a miniature. And here I was going to do the whole lot of them! So here's what I started with:

The Explorator

Probably the best find of the lot. The figure looks very much like the Explorator from the book. He's got the mask and the hood. And a backpack full of stuff! The axe could probably be easily replaced with a gun. Jared's Explorator does look different from the one in the book, but this will get the idea across.

The Rogue Trader

This figure was another great find. The name of this guy was "Lord Jester, Mercenary". That title, and the sheer attitude for this guy fit the bill for our Rogue Trader. Matt's told me he wants to use Phineas Shea as his figure. If he still wants to do that, no problem. Lord Jester will still be mod up and paint.

The Front-Line Arch-Militant

This may be my favorite figure of the bunch. I just love this guy's pose. Patrick described his guy as basically the size and build of a pro-wrestler in armor. And that's exactly what this guy is. The fist you see on the ground is what I plan to use as the character's power fist. Which means, of course, saw off one of those great swords and replacing it with the fist. Sad, but necessary.

The Strategic Arch-Militant

Casey described his character being very much the commissar, with a large shield and rifle. I found this great officer figure. My hope is to use a shield from one of my Warmachine figures. Not sure what the right gun is, however. If the figure looks like he's leaning, he is. Haven't glued him into his base in this shot.

The Seneschal

Doug's going the creepy and sinister route with his Seneschal. I happen to have an old Necromunda figure that I think fits that bill. Plus, the flamer could possibly suggest a hellgun, which is what the Seneschal is using. Technically, the Seneschal looks like twelve different people in a day because he's always in disguise. However, his figure seems to be mysteriously blank enough that it might work.

The Void-Master

Last game, Tony created a charismatic, good-looking chap. So, it's appropriate that he's made a twisted and disturbing mutant for this game. Sad thing is, I don't have a figure that looks like a necromorph from Dead Space. Nor could I find one. However, this flagellant is a Warhammer 40k figurine that gets the idea of the "twisted man" across. Plus, he's already painted.

Next time, I'll start getting into how I modded these guys up!

More Narrative Combat - Aboard the Derelict Ship

The session closed out with the Explorers opening the derelict ship and discovering that it's infested with orks! We did some narrative combat to get the idea across of a battle with hundreds of troops to either side.

What I did was to use the squigs stats from Creatures Anathema. Then, I just wrote down a large number of hit points. What I ruled was this - the party had to do 400 points of damage to the general squig horde within 3 rounds. Failing that, their forces would be pushed back out of the ship and the ork horde would spill out into Footfall. Bad news.

So, instead of hardcore miniatures and tactics, I had them roll attacks and damage. Weapon Penetration added to the damage. At the same time, each round each member of the party was subjected to 2 squig attacks. Just 2 squig attacks a round was bad! One of the Arch-Militants had to spend a Fate Point to stay up!

The team was able to pull out a victory and push back the horde of squigs that attempted to pour off of the ship. To keep the encounter narrative, I allowed each player to narrate what their character looked like as he was inflicting damage onto the oncoming horde. It made for a great scene and allowed each character to shine.

Then, each party member had to make a specialized skill test to represent them pushing on into the ship. The seneschal was stalking and hiding through the ship as a scout, so he made a Concealment check. The explorator was spotting for trouble, so he made an Awareness check. And so on.

The results were interesting. Half of the party blew the rolls. Based on what rolls succeeded, I ruled that the party had kept their troops out of trouble. However, the blown rolls meant that their troops' morale was severely shaken. Right about that time, the Explorers rounded a corner and ran into an ork nob. We ended there on a cliffhanger.

Third Session - Footfall Explored

The second session of actual play started with a quick rundown of the status of the ship. Between sessions, the rogue trader's player wisely emailed me with a series of ship's orders. This helped expedite play and actually helped accomplish two of the objectives of the Explorer's first Endeavour.

Getting Things for a Colony

Upon landing at Footfall, I had the party make some choices. They had earlier indicated that they wanted to establish a colony on a distant planet. I ruled that they had the equipment and personnel to do so, but it would be a bare-bones operation. I gave the group a list of settlement "upgrades" similar to what a rogue trader ship might get.

Defense

For basic defense, I ruled that they had enough las guns and flak armour to give to the colony guards, but only the colony guards. They had to pick and choose from the following upgrades.

• Las-guns for All Colonists
• Armor for All Colonists
• Orbital Defense Weapons
• Nerve-Gas Defense
• Holo-Stealth Screen

Productivity

I ruled that they had enough equipment for the colony to farm and be self-sustaining. They could pick from the following upgrades. Each one would produce products over and above what the colony needed to sustain itself.

• Mining Facilities
• Farming Facilities
• Manufactory Facilities

The party ended up picking point defense weapons (which we made up on the fly), orbital defense weapons, as well as mining and farming facilities. What was neat about this was that the whole group could sit down and talk about what they wanted and I could just sit back and watch. This is my favorite kind of role-playing - one that requires as little GM input as possible.

I also liked this encounter because it's something that you just don't see in other game settings. You're negotiating and discussing equipment that may save lives. And you're working on a grand scale. You're talking about colonizing a planet.

Thereafter, negotiations were made and an Acquisition Test was made for each item they selected. Because their role-playing was so good, I ruled that they got their items no matter what, but a failed Acquisition Test would mean that their buying power would be crippled for a while and that they would have to wait a while until another purchase of any kind. Again, by stating these stakes up front, I was trying to create both tension and a sense of impartiality.

Other Stuff

Also while on Footfall, the party had a run in with two of the other rogue trader houses - The Naraghast and the Ontiverous. The group blew off an alliance with the Naraghast, looking down their noses at their piratical activities. Meanwhile, they did agree to an information exchange with the Ontiverous.

The group decided to look for yet another dedicated crew member to add to their roster - an individual who excels and exploring and encountering alien life. By consulting the local psychic oracle, they were pointed in the direction of someone known only as "Ishi".

Just as they went to go recruit another member onto their ship, the Ferral Wolf contacted the Explorers to alert them to a potential problem and opportunity. Mysteriously, a ghost ship pulled into port at Footfall and then proceeded to drift about, powerless and lifeless. All three rogue trader clans met to discuss how the ship should be divided. The whole table also gave a cheer when the local admiral of shoreleaven Imperial vessel spoke on their behalf. After all, it was the Holocene dynasty's sacrifice which saved a large portion of the Battle Fleet Calixis in the flashback of the first session. Finally, the party's rogue trader made an impassioned speech about how their dynasty should be awarded the ship.

Interestingly enough, the Naraghast dynasty acquiesced to this proposal...in exchange for a non-aggression pact with the Explorer's rogue trader dynasty. Which is precisely what the Naraghast Dynasty wanted out of the party in the first place. Again, another great example of why I like this game. It's all about deals, double-deals, and courtly intrigue. Unfortunately, I have a feeling that this deal will come back to haunt the party.

More on the derelict ship later!

When Failure Isn't Failure

The Problem with Social Skills in RPGs

For a while now, I've been working with a method of handling social skills and social rolls in roleplaying games. In the past, I really didn't know what I was doing. It was all sort of unconscious. However, after listening to a Fear the Boot podcast, I made me think about how I was specifically handing these things.

The dilemma is this - you have a character who is about to make a social roll. It might be Charm, or Command, or Diplomacy, or what have you. The player role-plays every well, making a good argument or impassioned speech. However, they blow the roll. Now what? Does the gamemaster go by what the dice say? Or does he let the roleplaying decide what happens?

This little quandary is two-fold. If the gamemaster decides to let the dice decide, then isn't he kind of being a buzz-kill? I mean, the player might have delivered a bang-up job at role-playing. Or, the player might have presented some killer points in his argument.

However, if role-playing rule the day, then is he being fair to the players at the table who aren't so good at schmoozing the GM? I really saw this point at a Gen Con I attended, where I ran a table for a guy who had enough self-awareness to realize that he wasn't a very charismatic individual, but made the point that he had the right to play a character who was. After all, he pointed out, you can play a character who is really good at swinging a sword, even if you can't.

The reason that this problem arises so often is because often the GM doesn't know what kind of rolls need to be made until the he and the player role-play the situation out. The GM might say, "Okay, the way you phrased this, that's a Diplomacy check." Or the GM might say, "Actually, you're trying to push your way through - that's an Intimidate check." The GM rarely has the opportunity to have the PC make a skill check first and then roleplay the result. Almost always, there is a role-playing scene followed by a skill check.

My Solution

What I've done to solve this little problem is to have it both ways. Here's what I do: A player's role-playing and description determines what is at stake. A character's skill test determines how much of the stake is gained.

So, for example, a PC might walk up to a guard and attempt to convince him to be let in through a gate. If the player does a good job at role-playing, I'll go ahead and say that the guard is convinced. However, I have the player roll a skill test anyway, to see if he or she gets anything extra. For example, the PC might have already convinced the guard to let him by, but a successful skill test means that the guard also gives the PC a piece of information. Or even becomes a contact for the PC. Also, the better the result of the PCs skill roll, the more I'll give to them. Perhaps the guard provides valuable information and becomes a contact besides.

Now let's say that Mr. Non-Charismatic Player comes up and just wants to attempt to skill-check his way past the gate. I'll try to pull some role-playing out of the player, but once I see that the player has reached his or her comfort limit, I stop. Then, I let the dice let me what happened. This happens even if I think that the person has done a fairly poor job of role-playing. If the player in question has really screwed the pooch, I might even say, "Actually, you succeeded on your skill check, so I can tell you that what you're saying will probably piss the NPC off. You sure you want to keep telling him that?"

As you can see, this method still gives an advantage to the guy who can role-play really well. If I'm a charismatic player and have a character with high social stats, I'll still be better than the guy who is not as charismatic and has a character with high social stats. So, to counter-balance this, I will let players I'll at least tell me generally what they want to say. They can outline their points to me. Thereafter, I'll come in and sort of cinematically describe what they do and how impressive they are socially, not unlike what I might do in a combat scene. This keeps the games narrative flowing and avoids the trap of, "I make a Diplomacy check. I passed."

But the main point is - if you're not so charismatic at the table, that's okay. You are not screwed. In fact, if your social skill is high enough to succeed most of the time, you will succeed and I will let you succeed.

Applications to Other Skills

So far, this technique has worked fairly well for me. Furthermore, as I'm refining this idea, I'm expanding it into other skill checks as well. This is particularly important in Rogue Trader. In our recent second session, I deemed that the Rogue Trader had successfully negotiated some equipment for their dynasty.

However, I still had them make an Acquisition Test to see if they could buy the equipment. I told the group up front that, because of good role-playing, they would get the equipment irregardless. However, I deemed that if they failed the Acquisition Test, they wouldn't be able to buy more new equipment for a long while.

That's one more thing that's worked for me with this stake-setting technique - after role-play, I try to state what is at stake upfront. By outlining the stakes upfront, I maintain my impartiality when it comes to the actual roll and it heightens tension a bit, because the players know exactly what they are rolling off for.