Deep beneath the towering spires of Hive Primus, in the dark corridors and dust-swept domes of the Underhive, legends of long-lost riches and hallowed archeotech of miraculous powers are often told. Most of these tales are simply embellished fancies of the desperate scum that infest the drinking holes of underhive settlements or scams by prospective rumour-merchants. However, news of priceless artifacts unearthed and strange, outlandish discoveries arrive just frequently enough to ensure that there is never a shortage of adventurous fools to venture into the dark.
One such tale is that of the Old Mourner, a bounty hunter of legendary renown who is said to have amassed a fortune large enough to buy himself into the hive nobility ten times over. Why he never did so, the tale does not tell - only that he disappeared and left it all in a place known only as the Mourner's Mill.
This fabled location was thought either long lost or entirely a myth, until one night, a sickly, raving guilder stumbled into the minor settlement of Wastelake. The delirious man claimed to have found the Mourner's Mill, and personally witnessed the glorious wealth within. The word began to spread well before the broken guilder had succumbed to his illness, and by the next week the settlement was swarming with treasure hunters, mercs, scummers and bounty hunters eager to join an expedition into the depths...
***
Greetings, hive scum! This thread is dedicated to the play-by-post Necromunda RPG, The Expedition. I'll be the GM, so feel free to PM me with any questions you have regarding this game. Now, some basics and the rules:
That's all for the technical bits - now let's get this show on the road!
***
Alright then - time to start introducing your characters to the story, people!
One such tale is that of the Old Mourner, a bounty hunter of legendary renown who is said to have amassed a fortune large enough to buy himself into the hive nobility ten times over. Why he never did so, the tale does not tell - only that he disappeared and left it all in a place known only as the Mourner's Mill.
This fabled location was thought either long lost or entirely a myth, until one night, a sickly, raving guilder stumbled into the minor settlement of Wastelake. The delirious man claimed to have found the Mourner's Mill, and personally witnessed the glorious wealth within. The word began to spread well before the broken guilder had succumbed to his illness, and by the next week the settlement was swarming with treasure hunters, mercs, scummers and bounty hunters eager to join an expedition into the depths...
***
Greetings, hive scum! This thread is dedicated to the play-by-post Necromunda RPG, The Expedition. I'll be the GM, so feel free to PM me with any questions you have regarding this game. Now, some basics and the rules:
In case you're not familiar with the concept, a play-by-post RPG is a form of text-only narrative game played by posting (duh). The players each create a player character and then detail the character's actions in their posts. The games master helps resolve conflict situation (ie. when two player characters get into a scuffle or someone tries to do something that has a chance of backfiring or failing spectacularly) and generally tries to keep it all together without restricting the players too much.
FIRST OF ALL
This RPG is mostly about writing a compelling story collectively, rather than intricate game mechanics or trying to 'win' the game. As such, the rules are very much on the light end of the scale, and most of the time won't be needed at all.
CONFLICT
Since we're going to be having multiple cooks in the kitchen at the same time (so to speak) there will likely be situations that need arbitration, like players disagreeing with each other, starting a fight with NPCs or attempting to do something difficult or dangerous. These are the key scenes of the story - it'd be awfully dull without them! This is where the conflict resolution mechanic comes in. Each conflict can be broken down in four categories or parameters: motion, safety, pride and co-operation. In each of these categories you can either fail miserably, gain a partial success but make some compromises, or succeed fully.
Motion: how close you get to your goal.
Pride: how you and others feel about your actions.
Safety: your physical (and possibly mental) well-being.
Co-operation: is whether you need your allies or manage on your own.
The categories are independent of each other: you can survive with your pride intact despite failing at your goal, or you can get through a fight unscathed despite needing an ally to bail you out later. Each of these parameters is either at a failure (0), a partial success (1) or a full success (2).
Motion: If you fail, you make no headway to your goal. If you have a partial success, you likely succeed, but must pay some price for your victory. Full success: you succeed.
Pride: If you fail, your behaviour may antagonize other people or make your character deeply ashamed of themselves. If you have a partial success, your behaviour is not seen as acceptable or indicative of strength, and you lose face. If you have a full success, you act with honour (such as it is for hive scum) and decisiveness.
Safety: If you fail, you’ll be heavily injured or end up cornered. If you have a partial success, you’ll be somehow harmed or at a disadvantage. If you’re lucky, you’ll have a full success and escape without harm. See Wounded below for the effects.
Co-op: If you fail, someone comes to help you, but you’ll both be in trouble. If you’ve got a partial success, you’ll need a mate to help you succeed. If you’re entirely successful, you can manage on your own. When another one needs to help you, you have to break off your story at a cliffhanger before it’s entirely unraveled. One of the other players will have to jump in the story and finish it himself (according to the parameters of course). He can also use an NPC for this if he’s not present. If the PC is entirely alone, tough luck, the Badzones are dangerous for the lonely!
These ‘rules’ only apply when somehow there is some meaningful conflict. You don’t need the GM to describe how your character holds his liquor in a drinking den, but you will if you want him to ambush a host of scavvies. After writing his piece, the GM will hand you the parameters and subtract them according to the situation. The rest of the story is up to you!
It goes like this: 1. GM posts to frame the setting, so you know where your character is. Use your imagination to fill in the blanks. 2. You post what your character does, what happens in that scene. If it involves something your character could not do on himself, or involves conflict, you will need the GM to: 3. Post the parameters of the conflict. 4. After that, you post how you resolve the story, according to the parameters (which you have or haven’t altered - more on this later). Sometimes, when co-op is low, you have to break off your story and let another finish it.
Generally, the GM frames and sets the conflict and you make the story.
CHARACTERS
There are some ways to add bonuses to these conflict parameters to increase your chance towards full success.
Flaw and Strength: Everyone is at least good at something and everyone has a weak spot as well. Your strength is what your character is renowned for. It could be the huge frame of a Goliath, the silvery tongue of a natural-born merchant or even minor psychic powers. Other examples would be being an expert shot or a knack for stealth, or indeed any skill or trait that may come in handy downhive. A flaw is not exactly the opposite - it is the ugly facet of your character's person. Recklessness has been the downfall of many an adventurer and cowards are liable to let their allies down. Greed has reduced many an expedition to petty infighting and paranoia has influenced many a betrayal.
Using your Strength gains you a bonus you can assign to one of the categories (you can bring a failure to a partial success and a partial success to a success). ‘Using’ means you have to do something for it: in your tale you describe your character benefits from his strength - you'll have to invent a plausible scene to show how your character uses his skill to his advantage.
Flaw works similarly. You can use your flaw to switch the penalties on one category over to another of your choosing. (For instance, you can change a failure in Motion to a failure in Safety) Again, this only counts if you can tell it. You could narrate how, by recklessness (=flaw), you taunt the enemy away from your employer, thereby keeping him safe (motion towards your goal in the combat) instead of going for the GM’s Motion 0 (failure) and Safety 2 (success). You end up with a failure (0) in Safety for yourself, but a successful goal. A flaw can therefore be an important advantage for the player.
Using a flaw has an additional advantage: you (re)gain a Grit point, a token you can exchange for a bonus (+1) on one of the categories.
Don’t take ‘failing’ too personal. Without flaws, characters are quite boring, and the Underhive is full of dangers even for the most stone-cold killer. The rules will hopefully make those sacrifices count!
Goal: a goal is what your character want’s the most on the long run. Maybe he’ll never achieve it? It could be as simple as wanting to prove you're the hardest bastard out there, or as lofty as ascending to the hive nobles' ranks. By making this clear, you open your character up for other players and the GM to become involved in your story in a way that’s relevant.
Greatest Fear/Moral Principle: Everyone lives, therefore everyone has something he fears the most, and even hive scum have principles. When you’re faced with your greatest fear, you’re going to avoid it, even if it breaks your deepest principle. This makes great opportunities for roleplay and drama. Only rule here is that you’ll gain a Grit point (used to manipulate the categories) each time you break your principle to avoid fear. Sometimes though, you’ll want to face your fear, go straight into the conflict, and burn those accumulated points to overcome the odds! By doing great things, such as facing your fear, you will ‘level up’: you will increase your Total Grit points, which increases your maximum grit points. That’s probably all for leveling rules-wise.
Wounded: When your Safety is at ‘partial success’, you have somehow lost physical integrity, you’re harmed. We’ll call this ‘wounded’ ruleswise. One way is by being actually ‘wounded’, other effects could be an increase in animosity from others or another disadvantage. You lose the ability to burn grit points for the next conflict. Tick this off on your sheet or remember it. If you’re entirely unsuccessful, tick it off twice, you’re unable to use any bonus and have to play the parameters straight. See next bit.
Do not forget to keep track of your Total grit points (goes up) and you Current grit points (this will fluctuate) as well. Both start at 1, Current grit points can never be higher than Total points.
When you present your character here, along with a description, write a line or two for each trait: Flaw, Strength, Goal, Fear, Principle. Think about it. Envision the burdens and hopes of you character.
COLLABORATIVE STORYTELLING
To make a good story look good, we’ll have to agree on a few layout issues. I suggest writing story in a quote for starters, and everything else (such as rules, discussion) in plain text or hidden under spoilers. That should keep the thread nice and tidy. Secondly, we have to agree on a tense and a ‘narrative mode’. I think the most universal and easy is to write in the past and use the third person, even about your own character. We can use quotation marks or italics for direct speech.
You don’t have to write long texts. If you’ve read on to everything so far, sometimes a small sentence can keep the story going. Sometimes though you’ll want to write a few paragraphs on how your character angsts over his emotional conflict, or on an elaborate battle scene. Use your imagination and try to write interestingly. Sometimes the GM will start a pm conversation with one or more players, to pursue a side story privately. The players can also always PM the GM to ask anything or start a secret/private plot.
That’s it for the rules. Tell good stories and tell them well. Avoid slovenly writing, make interesting characters, care for them (and kill them). The badzones await...
This RPG is mostly about writing a compelling story collectively, rather than intricate game mechanics or trying to 'win' the game. As such, the rules are very much on the light end of the scale, and most of the time won't be needed at all.
CONFLICT
Since we're going to be having multiple cooks in the kitchen at the same time (so to speak) there will likely be situations that need arbitration, like players disagreeing with each other, starting a fight with NPCs or attempting to do something difficult or dangerous. These are the key scenes of the story - it'd be awfully dull without them! This is where the conflict resolution mechanic comes in. Each conflict can be broken down in four categories or parameters: motion, safety, pride and co-operation. In each of these categories you can either fail miserably, gain a partial success but make some compromises, or succeed fully.
Motion: how close you get to your goal.
Pride: how you and others feel about your actions.
Safety: your physical (and possibly mental) well-being.
Co-operation: is whether you need your allies or manage on your own.
The categories are independent of each other: you can survive with your pride intact despite failing at your goal, or you can get through a fight unscathed despite needing an ally to bail you out later. Each of these parameters is either at a failure (0), a partial success (1) or a full success (2).
Motion: If you fail, you make no headway to your goal. If you have a partial success, you likely succeed, but must pay some price for your victory. Full success: you succeed.
Pride: If you fail, your behaviour may antagonize other people or make your character deeply ashamed of themselves. If you have a partial success, your behaviour is not seen as acceptable or indicative of strength, and you lose face. If you have a full success, you act with honour (such as it is for hive scum) and decisiveness.
Safety: If you fail, you’ll be heavily injured or end up cornered. If you have a partial success, you’ll be somehow harmed or at a disadvantage. If you’re lucky, you’ll have a full success and escape without harm. See Wounded below for the effects.
Co-op: If you fail, someone comes to help you, but you’ll both be in trouble. If you’ve got a partial success, you’ll need a mate to help you succeed. If you’re entirely successful, you can manage on your own. When another one needs to help you, you have to break off your story at a cliffhanger before it’s entirely unraveled. One of the other players will have to jump in the story and finish it himself (according to the parameters of course). He can also use an NPC for this if he’s not present. If the PC is entirely alone, tough luck, the Badzones are dangerous for the lonely!
These ‘rules’ only apply when somehow there is some meaningful conflict. You don’t need the GM to describe how your character holds his liquor in a drinking den, but you will if you want him to ambush a host of scavvies. After writing his piece, the GM will hand you the parameters and subtract them according to the situation. The rest of the story is up to you!
It goes like this: 1. GM posts to frame the setting, so you know where your character is. Use your imagination to fill in the blanks. 2. You post what your character does, what happens in that scene. If it involves something your character could not do on himself, or involves conflict, you will need the GM to: 3. Post the parameters of the conflict. 4. After that, you post how you resolve the story, according to the parameters (which you have or haven’t altered - more on this later). Sometimes, when co-op is low, you have to break off your story and let another finish it.
Generally, the GM frames and sets the conflict and you make the story.
CHARACTERS
There are some ways to add bonuses to these conflict parameters to increase your chance towards full success.
Flaw and Strength: Everyone is at least good at something and everyone has a weak spot as well. Your strength is what your character is renowned for. It could be the huge frame of a Goliath, the silvery tongue of a natural-born merchant or even minor psychic powers. Other examples would be being an expert shot or a knack for stealth, or indeed any skill or trait that may come in handy downhive. A flaw is not exactly the opposite - it is the ugly facet of your character's person. Recklessness has been the downfall of many an adventurer and cowards are liable to let their allies down. Greed has reduced many an expedition to petty infighting and paranoia has influenced many a betrayal.
Using your Strength gains you a bonus you can assign to one of the categories (you can bring a failure to a partial success and a partial success to a success). ‘Using’ means you have to do something for it: in your tale you describe your character benefits from his strength - you'll have to invent a plausible scene to show how your character uses his skill to his advantage.
Flaw works similarly. You can use your flaw to switch the penalties on one category over to another of your choosing. (For instance, you can change a failure in Motion to a failure in Safety) Again, this only counts if you can tell it. You could narrate how, by recklessness (=flaw), you taunt the enemy away from your employer, thereby keeping him safe (motion towards your goal in the combat) instead of going for the GM’s Motion 0 (failure) and Safety 2 (success). You end up with a failure (0) in Safety for yourself, but a successful goal. A flaw can therefore be an important advantage for the player.
Using a flaw has an additional advantage: you (re)gain a Grit point, a token you can exchange for a bonus (+1) on one of the categories.
Don’t take ‘failing’ too personal. Without flaws, characters are quite boring, and the Underhive is full of dangers even for the most stone-cold killer. The rules will hopefully make those sacrifices count!
Goal: a goal is what your character want’s the most on the long run. Maybe he’ll never achieve it? It could be as simple as wanting to prove you're the hardest bastard out there, or as lofty as ascending to the hive nobles' ranks. By making this clear, you open your character up for other players and the GM to become involved in your story in a way that’s relevant.
Greatest Fear/Moral Principle: Everyone lives, therefore everyone has something he fears the most, and even hive scum have principles. When you’re faced with your greatest fear, you’re going to avoid it, even if it breaks your deepest principle. This makes great opportunities for roleplay and drama. Only rule here is that you’ll gain a Grit point (used to manipulate the categories) each time you break your principle to avoid fear. Sometimes though, you’ll want to face your fear, go straight into the conflict, and burn those accumulated points to overcome the odds! By doing great things, such as facing your fear, you will ‘level up’: you will increase your Total Grit points, which increases your maximum grit points. That’s probably all for leveling rules-wise.
Wounded: When your Safety is at ‘partial success’, you have somehow lost physical integrity, you’re harmed. We’ll call this ‘wounded’ ruleswise. One way is by being actually ‘wounded’, other effects could be an increase in animosity from others or another disadvantage. You lose the ability to burn grit points for the next conflict. Tick this off on your sheet or remember it. If you’re entirely unsuccessful, tick it off twice, you’re unable to use any bonus and have to play the parameters straight. See next bit.
Do not forget to keep track of your Total grit points (goes up) and you Current grit points (this will fluctuate) as well. Both start at 1, Current grit points can never be higher than Total points.
When you present your character here, along with a description, write a line or two for each trait: Flaw, Strength, Goal, Fear, Principle. Think about it. Envision the burdens and hopes of you character.
COLLABORATIVE STORYTELLING
To make a good story look good, we’ll have to agree on a few layout issues. I suggest writing story in a quote for starters, and everything else (such as rules, discussion) in plain text or hidden under spoilers. That should keep the thread nice and tidy. Secondly, we have to agree on a tense and a ‘narrative mode’. I think the most universal and easy is to write in the past and use the third person, even about your own character. We can use quotation marks or italics for direct speech.
You don’t have to write long texts. If you’ve read on to everything so far, sometimes a small sentence can keep the story going. Sometimes though you’ll want to write a few paragraphs on how your character angsts over his emotional conflict, or on an elaborate battle scene. Use your imagination and try to write interestingly. Sometimes the GM will start a pm conversation with one or more players, to pursue a side story privately. The players can also always PM the GM to ask anything or start a secret/private plot.
That’s it for the rules. Tell good stories and tell them well. Avoid slovenly writing, make interesting characters, care for them (and kill them). The badzones await...
CHARACTER SHEET AND EXAMPLE CHARACTER:
If you wish to enter the story, make sure you post this information next to your intro story (or separately). If you want, copy it on paper so you can keep track of your points in pencil or use it for inspiration or sketching.
[Character description]
Name:
Age:
Nickname or function:
birthplace:
Contacts, friends:
Strength:
Flaw:
Goal:
Greatest Fear:
Principle:
0 (Wounded)
(unable to use your Grit points)
0 (severely)
(unable to use any bonus)
Total grit points: 1
Current grit points: 1
Example character: Brucke
A mercenary of long standing, no one quite knows how Brucke came to be ousted from the great clan house of Orlock, only that he never talks about it. In fact, he rarely talks about anything, and keeps to himself unless the job requires co-operation. Despite his cold personality, Brucke is a prized bodyguard for his tight-lipped nature and ability to keep his cool even in heated situations.
He is a short but stocky man with grizzled features and a scraggly hair and beard. His shotgun's barrel is notched with a dozen kills and he has a small gang's worth of wicked-looking knives hanging from his belt. His clothes are of Orlock make, but all symbols of the house have been filed off or defaced.
Name: Brucke
Age: 29
Nickname or function: -
birthplace: Habzone 2856.12, Orlock territory
Contacts, friends: Employed by the Guilder Cairistiana as a bodyguard-slash-enforcer
Strength: Nerves of steel - Brucke is stoic and dispassionate even in situations that make most scummers lose their cool.
Flaw: Distrustful - Brucke has a low opinion of most other people, and rarely trusts them with sensitive information - or any information at all, for that matter.
Goal: If he has one, he isn't telling.
Greatest Fear: Being used by others.
Principle: Don't betray your employer, unless he betrays you first.
0 (Wounded)
(unable to use your Grit points)
0 (severely)
(unable to use any bonus)
Total grit points: 1
Current grit points: 1
If you wish to enter the story, make sure you post this information next to your intro story (or separately). If you want, copy it on paper so you can keep track of your points in pencil or use it for inspiration or sketching.
[Character description]
Name:
Age:
Nickname or function:
birthplace:
Contacts, friends:
Strength:
Flaw:
Goal:
Greatest Fear:
Principle:
0 (Wounded)
(unable to use your Grit points)
0 (severely)
(unable to use any bonus)
Total grit points: 1
Current grit points: 1
Example character: Brucke
A mercenary of long standing, no one quite knows how Brucke came to be ousted from the great clan house of Orlock, only that he never talks about it. In fact, he rarely talks about anything, and keeps to himself unless the job requires co-operation. Despite his cold personality, Brucke is a prized bodyguard for his tight-lipped nature and ability to keep his cool even in heated situations.
He is a short but stocky man with grizzled features and a scraggly hair and beard. His shotgun's barrel is notched with a dozen kills and he has a small gang's worth of wicked-looking knives hanging from his belt. His clothes are of Orlock make, but all symbols of the house have been filed off or defaced.
Name: Brucke
Age: 29
Nickname or function: -
birthplace: Habzone 2856.12, Orlock territory
Contacts, friends: Employed by the Guilder Cairistiana as a bodyguard-slash-enforcer
Strength: Nerves of steel - Brucke is stoic and dispassionate even in situations that make most scummers lose their cool.
Flaw: Distrustful - Brucke has a low opinion of most other people, and rarely trusts them with sensitive information - or any information at all, for that matter.
Goal: If he has one, he isn't telling.
Greatest Fear: Being used by others.
Principle: Don't betray your employer, unless he betrays you first.
0 (Wounded)
(unable to use your Grit points)
0 (severely)
(unable to use any bonus)
Total grit points: 1
Current grit points: 1
That's all for the technical bits - now let's get this show on the road!
***
Alright then - time to start introducing your characters to the story, people!
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