Couple of questions 'n things I'd like to run by you...

[GhouraAgur]

• Should a power armor breastplate confer any strength bonus?  I'd think not, but then, is power armor only ever bought in complete suits?
• I was wondering more how it could be said that a female Inquisitor has a background with the Adepta Sororitas?  And would such a background prevent her from claiming any familial ties?
• Where exactly are the rules for "Knockback?"  I've a feeling it's in plainview, but I can't for the life of me find them.
  
• I just thought of something....Isn't one of the biggest complaints by Guard vets about Lasguns is that they cauterize wounds instantly?  Meaning, shouldn't wounds from las weapons be unable to cause Bleeding?
• I read a suggestion that someone look to the Dark Heresy books for expanded rules, such as currency.  Would you care to suggest a particular Dark Heresy book?
• As we'll be just starting out, what are your feelings in regards to having players control their player characters, instead of their player character and retinue?  My thinking is it might add a certain dynamic intimacy, having characters think of themselves, and perhaps be hesitant to go along with the orders of their Leader's wishes.
  
  For instance, Acolyte Bob might be very willing to do whatever Inquisitor Jerry tells him, when they're both played by John Doe.  But when Acolyte Bob is controlled by John Thompson, he might be a little more hesitant to run into the dark room where all the srceaming's coming from, or to draw the enemies fire so Inquisitor Jerry might charge the enemy position from behind, and John Doe can hog all the glory/stay alive.
  
  Regardless, it'll have to be that way at the start, as we've not enough models to go around.  
  Thoughts?  Comments?  Scathing criticisms and a stab of the rapier wit?
• What's the difference between stubbers and Autopistols?  Autopistols fire faster, are heavier, and are worse at a distance.  And, stubbers, well, are the opposite, really.  But then I see that Magos chap in the Character's section of the Rulebook, and the think he's carrying I'd be tempted to classify as some sort of bolter, or a heavy stubber even!
  
  I only ask so I can understand the character of the weapons.  Which would and enforcer be more likely to carry?  A Guardsman?  A Hive Ganger?  A bounty hunter/mercenary?
• Where are the rules for Genestealer cultists and the like?  Or should I just use regular cultists and demagogues, with a genestealer to add the appropriate character?  (I've a mind they might carry banners and posters with slogans like, "Aliens are People too!" before they get gobbled and digested by the Hive Fleet.
• What would an electro nine tails look like?  I would have said an advances form of the cat o nine tails, but, well...
  
  
  
  That doesn't look length 4 to me...So for a diciplinarian type character, would an electo-flail, electro nine tails, or a nueral whip be more appropriate?
• What would you think of a character who carry's no single close combat weapon, but simply has a chainblade attached to his firearm?  Potentially, he might lose his close combat weapon and ranged weapon in a single unlucky fight against a chap with a power weapon.  But might it speak of professionalism?  Efficiency?  Laziness?  What does it say about the guy?
  

[MarcoSkoll]

In order:

- Power armour is only ever a full suit.
- You could have an Inquisitor who was a Sororitas. As the Sororitas are supplied by the Schola Progenium, family ties would obviously be dependent on that. Not all Progenii are orphans, but almost all have been cut off from the family officially. So, they may have living relatives, but not officially.
- Additional rules section near the back.
- I'll be covering this in the Revised Armoury. Short version is that they're treated the same for simplicity. The additional damage is considered to be caused by loss of circulation due the cauterisation. Of course, the dedicated could choose to ignore this, but I think it's a complication that isn't needed.
- Sorry, no experience with Dark Heresy.
- Playing where each model (even those strictly allied) is controlled by a different player is perfectly viable, and can actually be pretty enjoyable.
- I've defined Autopistols and Stubbers in the Revised Armoury as just SMGs/Machine Pistols and Semi-automatic pistols respectively. But that doesn't always hold in the background. Generally, the best (and most universal) way to look at is is that Auto-pistols are more mechanically sophisticated weapons, Stubbers less sophisticated. So you're more likely to find Stubbers in the hands of Gangers, and Autopistols in the hands of Guardsmen, Arbites.
I wouldn't categorise Magos Gruss' weapon as a bolt weapon (doesn't fit the standard design), nor a heavy stubber - that's more a category for "heavy" machine guns.
- Check the links in my signature, it's amongst the PDFs on the hosting.
- I imagine error on GW's part. Personally, I see it as an electro-whip. I suggest Character A in the first image as an idea.
- I'd guess it was probably someone trained with bayonets, but who wanted something more aggressive. In short, Chain weapons tend to speak of an aggressive, brutal character - one who works by brute force rather than finesse, and wants to maul their opponent.

[Simeon Blackstar]

• What would you think of a character who carry's no single close combat weapon, but simply has a chainblade attached to his firearm?  Potentially, he might lose his close combat weapon and ranged weapon in a single unlucky fight against a chap with a power weapon.  But might it speak of professionalism?  Efficiency?  Laziness?  What does it say about the guy?
  

I would think it looks awesome too: http://simeonblackstar.wetpaint.com/page/Sgt+Kaden+%22Barking%22+Larke 

My reasoning is that Kaden's used to close-ranged firefights which can easily become close combat.  Furthermore, his background sees him doing this against Orks.  My reckoning is that he wouldn't always have time to switch to another weapon (and carring a lasgun in your off hand while fighting would be awkward anyway), and agains such tough foes you really need something with a bit of a punch to make sure they stay down.  It does help that it's intimidating too.  He does carry a few other weapons, but doesn't tend to use them.  His knife is just because Catachans put a lot of importance on their knives, and the axe is an all purpose tool for him.

I think any of those qualities you suggested could be true.  People will choose weapons for different reasons, but "will it hold up against a power weapon?" is quite a niche thing to consider when you do so.  I can think of lots of reasons someone might have to pick a chainsword - it's loud, intimidating, standard issue to sergeants, who may keep theirs after retiring, reasonably common outside of the Guard too, more reliably puts someone down than a normal sword, pretty gory if they're into that, a stus symbol...  Sure, it might break if you cross it against a power weapon, but how many people have those (fluff-wise, not warband-wise!)?  Heck, if someone charges at you with a power sword, gun them down.  If they're wearing armour to thick for your gun to get through, leg it!

[Tullio]

Like Marco said, power armour comes in a full suit - mainly because the "power" bit comes from the design - it's heavy armour with artificial muscles to help move and support it.

I would imagine that a Sororias Inquisitor would be more likely to have connections with her adopted family - ie, her old Sisterhood. Let's face it, she's a lot more likely to have an emotional connection to her Sisters than to her biological family

I don't like the idea that Lasgun burns cauterise a wound ... if I remember my rudimentary physics correctly a las-burn would likely prove nastier than a bullet wound - the laser explodes on impact (Supported by the background as well, incidentally) so you're looking at burnt and shredded tissue. Hence a certain amount of bleeding as well as a burn.

Playing Inquisitor in the style of a roleplay works to a certain degree. The rules support the roleplaying aspect, but a dedicated roleplaying sessions demands more than Inquisitor provides - a classic example is that intelligence and knowledge is more or less lumped into one statistic which proves completely inadequate for roleplaying. Playing just one character apiece does nicely encourage the extra detail that makes a game an interesting story rather than a skirmish, I have noticed that.

Electro-weapons of all kinds can be thought of as some kind of whip, plus the 'leccy. You dpon't really need a real-world comaprison for this sort of thing

Tullio

[MarcoSkoll]

People will choose weapons for different reasons, but "will it hold up against a power weapon?" is quite a niche thing to consider when you do so.

The other factor to bear in mind is that although they MAY consider it as a possibility, do they have the resources to act upon that?

Power weapon resistant weapons are limited to other power weapons, force weapons, shock weapons, daemon weapons, lathe weapons, and some blessed weapons (although Emperor knows why... perhaps superior construction. I don't know). None of those are easy to come by - and force weapons only work for psykers, anyway.

[Tullio]

some blessed weapons (although Emperor knows why... perhaps superior construction. I don't know)

No reason, except to make religion seem like a relevant factor. Frankly, I wish there was more of this about - I've lost count of the amount of times I've seen people roleplay Tech-Priests as minor annoyances, like if Mormons decided to start trying to get people to bless thier hard-drives for example. Same goes for priests, who for some reason attract a lot of eye-rollery from the gunslingers.

Tullio

[precinctomega]

Should a power armor breastplate confer any strength bonus?
No.  Be sensible.

INQ2 introduces "powered" as an upgrade to any armour, but it must begin with the chest area (representing the power source) and can then be set to run a number of powered systems from other pieces of armour to auspexes and autosenses.  The more additional parts run from the power source, the heavier the power source becomes.

The strength bonus and weight-off-setting property of INQ1 power armour then become emergent properties from combining the right pieces of powered armour with the right power source.  So a powered breastplate alone is possible and might power, say, an auspex, a helmet's autosenses and a refractor field, but would confer no strength bonus without powered arms, nor offset any encumbrance without powered legs.

I was wondering more how it could be said that a female Inquisitor has a background with the Adepta Sororitas?

Absolutely possible.  A move from Sister to Sister Repentia to free-thinking Inquisitor is perfectly likely.

And would such a background prevent her from claiming any familial ties?

Not explicitly.  Most sororitas are recruited from the Schola Progenium, at least implying that they are technically orphans.  But it seems probable that plenty of sisters are also recruited from other sources simply to keep up with demand.  That said, it would seem likely - albeit not canonical - that a sororitas of any order would be required to renounce their family ties in order to become daughters of the Emperor.

Where exactly are the rules for "Knockback?"  I've a feeling it's in plainview, but I can't for the life of me find them.

Advanced Rules.

Isn't one of the biggest complaints by Guard vets about Lasguns is that they cauterize wounds instantly?

Regardless of ill-informed BL authors, las weapons cannot be pure laser weapons.  If they were, then thermal blooming and atmospheric effects would make them next-to-useless in any environmental condition but vacuum.  I theorize a two-stage weapon using a laser as a tracker path for a particle packet that has an impact effect almost identical to a kinetic weapon - so cauterization would not occur; or, rather, what cauterization did take place would be mitigated by the impact of the particle packet a millionth of a second later.

I read a suggestion that someone look to the Dark Heresy books for expanded rules, such as currency. 
Would you care to suggest a particular Dark Heresy book?

Dark Heresy is a book.  See that for details of income, expenditure and Thrones (although note that Thrones are not, in themselves a currency but rather a sector-specific exchange rate).

As we'll be just starting out, what are your feelings in regards to having players control their player characters, instead of their player character and retinue?  My thinking is it might add a certain dynamic intimacy, having characters think of themselves, and perhaps be hesitant to go along with the orders of their Leader's wishes.

Starting with one character each is a good way to learn your way into the rules.  However, the lethality of events in INQ mean that if you play this way regularly, players will often find themselves out of the game within the first two or three turns, which will be a bit frustrating.  I tend to give beginners two characters each once they've got the hang of the game.  They should be encouraged to roleplay any tensions between characters and the GM should be prepared to step in an enforce such inter-character play occasionally (but not all the time!).

What's the difference between stubbers and Autopistols?

The firing mechanism.  Neither one is more likely that the other to be found in the hands of any of the character archetypes you list - it's entirely down to personal preference on the part of the character and the models you choose to use.

Where are the rules for Genestealer cultists and the like?

Genestealers are in the "Feat the Alien" article.  Cultists are up to you.  Hybrids don't have official rules.

What would an electro nine tails look like? 
That doesn't look length 4 to me...

You're quite right.  It should be Reach 3 at most.

So for a diciplinarian type character, would an electo-flail, electro nine tails, or a nueral whip be more appropriate?

Up to you.  My commissar character uses a neural whip.

What would you think of a character who carry's no single close combat weapon, but simply has a chainblade attached to his firearm?

Sounds fine.  I would generally recommend at least a knife as well, if he's a military type, though.

R.

[Adlan]

AR-15, more accessories than barbie.

[GhouraAgur]

• What do we know of the Dark Mechanicum?
• How do Inquisitors like Tyrus get around?  It's gotta be hard to get the drop on a cult when everyone in the Hive is talking about the walking tank in gilded armor that showed up at the spaceport this morning.
  
  How about an Inquisitor that doesn't like getting his hands dirty, so to speak.  He let's his acolytes and Interrogators do the investigative work, and when it's all said and done, he shows up in the plate armor with a flamer in each hand.
  
  I think it would make for an interesting endgame experience in a campaign.
  The Boss is here?!?  The Grox dung has officially hit the fan.

• What's the nature of the relationship between the Tau Empire and the Imperium of Man?  For some reason, I remember reading somewhere that it's something besides, "Kill it with fire!"

• What sort of corruption can stem from handling Xenos tech?  I mean, the consquences of messing with Deamons is pretty easy to comprehend; the notion of Daemons isn't so very far from that of demons, and therefore, the notion of spiritual corruption isn't that hard to impress.  I think, therefore I could quite easily convey to my players a sense of dread when it come to handling warp stuff.
  But what sort of examples can I give to make them stop and consider their Character's souls before picking up the "uber-alien-awesome-rifle-of-super-shooty-death"?
  
  Most horror stories about aliens, even in 40k, involve them killing you in some particularily nasty way.  The 'Nids will recycle you, the Dark Eldar drink your soul, and the Necrons do something similarily final.
  
  But it's very hard to impress on the players, I think, the notion that "If you touch it, you might be damning your soul!"
  
  They're too utilitarian!  
  "It's a gun!"  
  "Lemme shoot it!"  
  "Fine, but consider you might be damned for touching it xenos-tainted filth!"  
  "It's a gun!"  
  "It's an ALIEN GUN!"  
  "So it's a better gun!"
  *ahem* I can just imagine the conversation going.
  
  I think the answer then would be to ever so often, have a Ranger showing up to plant a shuriken in the brain of the bastard that's using his deceased friend's rifle, or the Deathwatch, who are very interested in where Inquisitor Jerry found that Gauss flayer he's been disintigrating people with left and right.

• What would you call a local security force detective?

• How about a Rogue Trader who styles himself "Commodore" (not for the actual rank, but for the sound) and think's he's Macharius re-incarnated(which might attract more attention from the Inquisition that anyone should like.)?  (Sorta if Patton was a space-pirate?)

• How are Hives lit?  Surely to be completely seperated from the sun isn't healthy?  Are Hivers assumed, then, to be sickly pale?  I doub't one could obtain a healthy complection under a fluorescent bulb.

• "The Loxatl use unique weapons known as flechette blasters...mounted on mechanical armatures that fire the weapons through a mind impulse device...The blasters fire deadly shot-bursts filled with millions of razor-sharp filaments that shred armour and cause grievous wounds in their target's flesh."
  
  What do you think?  MIU linked automatic shotgun, or an autogun with flechette rounds?
  
  Also, as
  "Their natural environment is under water - outside of water, their vision, hearing and sense of smell are dulled, and they rely on their powerful senses of taste and vibration to hunt and corner prey."
  
  I figure a negative modifier to awareness tests when it comes down to vision, whereas both hearing and smell can be sorta balanced out with a postive modifier.
  
  The reasoning being that, even if they can't hear the vibrations of sound in their ears, they can feel them, with, well, whatever they feel them with.  And tasting the air is just as good as smelling it.  So, maybe no bonus there.
  
  Also, as they smell pretty nasty, there's a good chance somebody else could detect them without them being in LOS.  Of course, unless they know that the Loxatl smell like rotten milk and mint, they're probably not gonna switch off their safeties for the dumpster behind the chewing gum factory/dairy farm.  
  

[Heroka Vendile]

• What do we know of the Dark Mechanicum?

The fractured nature of the Dark Mechanicus means there isn't really a single source of correct information. The main point of the DM is that the best-known portion of what they create is machines for Daemons to be trapped inside so they can control them, causing the daemon to stay on the material plane nice and safe in its casing instead of facing the various problems that can arise from a daemon being au-natural in the material plane.

• How do Inquisitors like Tyrus get around?  It's gotta be hard to get the drop on a cult when everyone in the Hive is talking about the walking tank in gilded armor that showed up at the spaceport this morning.
  
  How about an Inquisitor that doesn't like getting his hands dirty, so to speak.  He let's his acolytes and Interrogators do the investigative work, and when it's all said and done, he shows up in the plate armor with a flamer in each hand.
  
  I think it would make for an interesting endgame experience in a campaign.
  The Boss is here?!?  The Grox dung has officially hit the fan.

You kind of answered yourself here; lackys. Hundreds, maybe thousands of personnel commanded by the Inquisitor do do whatever he orders.

• What's the nature of the relationship between the Tau Empire and the Imperium of Man?  For some reason, I remember reading somewhere that it's something besides, "Kill it with fire!"

Due to the location of the Tau Empire and the attacks made by various other factions (such as Nids and Orks) it has proven prudent for a handful of short-term alliances to occur to fight a more dangerous foe than each other. Other than those incidents, 40Ks tagline of "There Is Only War" rings true, even if there are sometimes lulls in the conflict.

• What sort of corruption can stem from handling Xenos tech?  I mean, the consquences of messing with Deamons is pretty easy to comprehend; the notion of Daemons isn't so very far from that of demons, and therefore, the notion of spiritual corruption isn't that hard to impress.  I think, therefore I could quite easily convey to my players a sense of dread when it come to handling warp stuff.
  But what sort of examples can I give to make them stop and consider their Character's souls before picking up the "uber-alien-awesome-rifle-of-super-shooty-death"?
  
  Most horror stories about aliens, even in 40k, involve them killing you in some particularily nasty way.  The 'Nids will recycle you, the Dark Eldar drink your soul, and the Necrons do something similarily final.
  
  But it's very hard to impress on the players, I think, the notion that "If you touch it, you might be damning your soul!"
  
  They're too utilitarian!  
  "It's a gun!"  
  "Lemme shoot it!"  
  "Fine, but consider you might be damned for touching it xenos-tainted filth!"  
  "It's a gun!"  
  "It's an ALIEN GUN!"  
  "So it's a better gun!"
  *ahem* I can just imagine the conversation going.
  
  I think the answer then would be to ever so often, have a Ranger showing up to plant a shuriken in the brain of the bastard that's using his deceased friend's rifle, or the Deathwatch, who are very interested in where Inquisitor Jerry found that Gauss flayer he's been disintigrating people with left and right.

Tell them that imperial citizens are taught from age 0 that alien contact is as bad for the soul as daemons, psykers and witches. The Imperium is at its core an extremely xenophobic society. Also the imperial citizens are fairly technophobic (it varies planet-to-planet), they'll use it, but only when they know the Mechanicus have given it the correct ministrations to sate the machine spirit (even in devices that don't have one).

• What would you call a local security force detective?

Whatever you want. If it's a law enforcement agency unique to a single planet, system, sector or whatever then it be called what you wish.

• How about a Rogue Trader who styles himself "Commodore" (not for the actual rank, but for the sound) and think's he's Macharius re-incarnated(which might attract more attention from the Inquisition that anyone should like.)?  (Sorta if Patton was a space-pirate?)

Nothing technically wrong with such a thing, although I would have thought he'd be more likely to be of interest to the priesthood than the Inquisition at the beginning. Also, I can't think of any re-incarnations mentioned in the fluff, only of people being "possessed"/guided by a saint of some sort.

• How are Hives lit?  Surely to be completely seperated from the sun isn't healthy?  Are Hivers assumed, then, to be sickly pale?  I doub't one could obtain a healthy complection under a fluorescent bulb.

This is a fairly safe assumption. Just remember that not everyone never sees the light of day, just the dregs  who live in the core of the Hives base and the underhive.

• "The Loxatl use unique weapons known as flechette blasters...mounted on mechanical armatures that fire the weapons through a mind impulse device...The blasters fire deadly shot-bursts filled with millions of razor-sharp filaments that shred armour and cause grievous wounds in their target's flesh."
  
  What do you think?  MIU linked automatic shotgun, or an autogun with flechette rounds?

either would work well I imagine.

Also, as
"Their natural environment is under water - outside of water, their vision, hearing and sense of smell are dulled, and they rely on their powerful senses of taste and vibration to hunt and corner prey."

I figure a negative modifier to awareness tests when it comes down to vision, whereas both hearing and smell can be sorta balanced out with a postive modifier.

The reasoning being that, even if they can't hear the vibrations of sound in their ears, they can feel them, with, well, whatever they feel them with.  And tasting the air is just as good as smelling it.  So, maybe no bonus there.

Probably best to playtest any ideas you have, tweak it around and try different modifiers.

Also, as they smell pretty nasty, there's a good chance somebody else could detect them without them being in LOS.  Of course, unless they know that the Loxatl smell like rotten milk and mint, they're probably not gonna switch off their safeties for the dumpster behind the chewing gum factory/dairy farm.  
[/li][/list]

Just another part of your job as GM - of course, you might decide that they'll only notice the smell if they're moving at a walk or slower (including being stationary), or taking a Pause For Breath.

[Tullio]

Good point about the Hivers ... I can't remember if it's similar for humans, but tortoises need UV light to develop shells properly. It is possible that lighting in the middle hive and above might well account for that.

Tullio

[MarcoSkoll]

What's the nature of the relationship between the Tau Empire and the Imperium of Man?  For some reason, I remember reading somewhere that it's something besides, "Kill it with fire!"

As Heroka has already said, not completely favourable.

But, unlike the Orks, the Tau don't make war just for the hell of it; unlike the 'Nids, they don't destroy for dinner; and unlike the Eldar, they're not aloof bastards who manipulate anyone and everyone else for their own ends.

In other words, they're a race that's perfectly willing to exist alongside humans, unlike many other Xenos. (Indeed, there are humans within their Empire). However, the Imperium isn't all that keen to exist alongside them...

The point is probably best illustrated by the "Imperial Infantryman's Uplifting Primer", where there's a passage "taped in" that declares the Tau to be all different kinds of dirty aliens - in contrast to the few words of the original passage that can still be seen, which include "could be negotiated with".

Still, the two are races that COULD be allies, probably to the mutual benefit of each other - one of the few unique cases where this could happen in 40k. But as you already know, it's not going to, of course..

-What sort of corruption can stem from handling Xenos tech?

In most cases, there's no corruption from handling Xenos tech. Using a pulse rifle doesn't mar your soul.
Still, the Imperium teaches all of their subjects that this IS the case however.

Next, possession of Xeno tech would get you all kinds of attention from the authorities you don't want.

Also, for any Imperial character, bear in mind Imperial propaganda claims that its technology is the superior. Many characters wouldn't think that the Xeno weapon actually was an "uber-alien-awesome-rifle-of-super-shooty-death".

This is an issue with player/character separation - the player may know it's superior. The character probably doesn't, thinks it'll corrupt them and wouldn't want the attention they'd get for carrying it.

You need to stress to your players the difference between what they would do and what their characters would do.

[Simeon Blackstar]

Or, just have their Inquisitor master find out they've used alien weaponry and decide a suitable penance.  Be as harsh as the Inquisitor would...


Off topic, what does a shell-less tortoise look like?!

[Tullio]

Off topic, what does a shell-less tortoise look like?!

Dead. Not useful I know, but I feel compelled to stress that a tortoise's shell is as living as your bones are.

Tullio

[Adlan]

In other words, they're a race that's perfectly willing to exist alongside humans, unlike many other Xenos. (Indeed, there are humans within their Empire). However, the Imperium isn't all that keen to exist alongside them...

I'm not sure where I recall this from, but arn't there small area's within the Imperium that are alien enclaves? Alien Societies that are too much trouble to destroy (right now) and arn't an active threat, are isolated, any trading done through licensed and controlled dealers (Rogue Traders maybe?). Of course, these will probably be one system, not a small empire like the Tau has.