Want to start an Inquisitor Campaign

[Mage]

It seems quiet here, but, ahem, hello. First thread I posted in this area.

I want to start up an Inquisitor game. A few of the lads from my gaming group were up for playing quite a while back. Eventually we played a game that another member of the group GMed as he had played before.

Personally, with most games, I am getting tired of people putting together cheesey lists and using, not underhanded tactics but taking advantage of the rules in some ways against their spirit, or just being no fun whatsoever. Due to this and liking the fact we can convert our model soldiers and I love the fiction and role playing, I am leaning more towards narrative games lately.

So the game went ahead. Not fun. Not in the slightest. Another player and myself were very enthusiastic in the beginning, because, basically, we had ideas for our own characters and warbands. For me, this one game we played killed it.

Firstly, we had one character each. Fair enough. There were about 8 players in total, with each player using one model, on two sides. The GM, while a friend and a person who I game with, seemed to run the type of game with a minimal story, and I stress the 'm' word. It was basically everyone walking into a gun fight. Not so bad, to be fair, but if that was the case, I dunno, 40k would be better for just a combat game. There was no story, purpose, drive, motivation.

Also, the GM suggested Char gen in the following way: Use what you have on the models but roll on the tables for it that were in WD. While tables are good, I highly disliked this method. Your warbands and characters are basically not your characters in this vain. Gone was the enthusiasm, the converting ideas, the momentum.

When we talked about it afterwards (I cannot even remember if it finished, or if all of the following was afterward) the other guy who was interested felt similarly about it, but I don't think anyone was as deflated as I was (Hee hee).

From reading the old white dwarfs and seeing other articles, this game, I think, should be a compromise between a campaign based miniatures game (like Necromunda) and a 40k rpg (like Dark Heresy). I like the models, and like the idea of story driven campaigns and missions, but is this a format of play that is dying?

Anyway, now that the rant is over, a thread in the 40k forum about a rogue trader battle report fired me up and reignited my interest in doing this.

I have no idea what type of story there is, but may invite some of the guys up to the house to hang out and just bring up Inquisitor and offer to GM a campaign and drum up interest again.

In my collection at present is: A space marine, covenant, Tyrus, the arco flagellant, barbaretta, cherubael, and maybe one or two others. I also want to mail order some figures too. I think if start putting together models and getting character ideas, I can put together a warband or two and decide how the campaign might work.

I'm pretty excited about it now. I'm not going to narrate it into the ground, but want to run a game I would like to play, and hopefully play it a bit too.

Also, does anyone use other GW minis aside from the Inquisitor range in the game? I remember seeing an old giant converted into an Uber servitor in the rulebook. Looked great.

[MarcoSkoll]

It seems quiet here, but, ahem, hello.

It usually is on Warseer - most of the forum activity for Inquisitor can be found on the dedicated Conclave forums.

So the game went ahead. Not fun. Not in the slightest.

Well, Inquisitor can be dull if approached the wrong way.
What you say reads like a list of how not to do it - quite aside from a lack of story, things like a single character per player are usually bad, because it can be incredibly tedious if your guy just got stunned for 4 turns.

This game, I think, should be a compromise between a campaign based miniatures game (like Necromunda) and a 40k rpg (like Dark Heresy).

Pretty much, in simple terms. But in slightly more words, I think PrecinctOmega said it best:
Inquisitor is a wargame with the brakes off: a bare-back, white-knuckle ride that takes all the bits you like best about tabletop wargames (the rich context, the dark themes, the shock of conflict) and roleplay games (colourful individuals, the fate of the galaxy hanging by a thread, sudden changes of personal fortune in the time it takes to pull a trigger) and throws them into a single package. It's like a cooperative novel and a competitive action movie rolled up into one thing. It's wargaming for poets. It's falling to your knees in a sea of corpses, an empty stubber in one hand and a bloody chainsword in the other, screaming "If this is heresy, it feels SO GOOD!"

Ultimately, that makes it a bit of a bastard child to many people - not really part of either group. But in my mind, that's what makes it so interesting - it's unique and you really can't get the same thing elsewhere.

Is this a format of play that is dying?

Dying - yes, unfortunately, given GW's lack of support for it. Dead - no, not if the Conclave has anything to say about it. We're working pretty hard on keeping the game going.

Actually having a particularly developed campaign is a bit tricky in the single-day events we run at WHW, but we are running something called the "Chronicles of the Carthaxian Conclave", which links together the interactions between our characters, as well as retroactively grafting some extra story between the games we play. That's the way it is for a lot of us - we're in it for the story, and we love crafting the tales that develop between these various personalities.

And that's the way I recommend going about it - make sure that, even if the story isn't some Greek epic, it tells a tale the players want to hear the next instalment of.

Also, does anyone use other GW minis aside from the Inquisitor range in the game? I remember seeing an old giant converted into an Uber servitor in the rulebook.

Most of us will simply raid any bits that can be used. First example that comes to mind from my own collection is that my Kasrkin's hellpistol is made out of a 28mm guardsman's lasgun.

[Mage]

Thanks for the reply Macroskoll. Since my post I have looked through my figures and spare parts, and am thinking of doing an order and hunting on ebay for bits. I saw some pictures in a thread from that site you mentioned, and there are some beautifully done figures some of the forum members posted, I mean wow. I am also thinking of looking around a toy shop and finding a cheap remote control car to model into a working vehicle, and am working on the cast for the campaign I plan to run.

I suppose the best thing I can do with that game I played is to jot down a 'not to do list'.

[MarcoSkoll]

I am also thinking of looking around a toy shop and finding a cheap remote control car to model into a working vehicle

I may be misinterpreting you, but I wouldn't recommend that one. Vehicles which can be moved like any other playing piece is fine, but don't have anything motoring around the table.

[Mage]

I wouldn't motor it around in game, but I think it would be nice to have as a secondary thing.

Also, I am trying to figure out what types of characters would work under a rogue trader leading a 'warband'. With all the imperial based character types in the core rulebook its a little hard. Will have to browse through my saved filed for downloads.

[kaled]

What sorts of characters do you want in your warband? Don't feel like you're restricted by the archetypes in published material, just make up whatever characters you want - that's one of the great things about Inquisitor, you have the freedom to play as anyone in the Imperium (or from outside it's borders). That doesn't mean you have to take all the most powerful characters from wherever you can get them - if you want your Rogue Trader to be accompanied by a humble savant who's an ex-member of the Administratum and who wouldn't stand much of a chance in a fight, then that's a valid choice - not all scenarios are won by force of arms and sometimes brains are far more important than brawn.

[precinctomega]

Hi, Mage!

I hope you'll come along to the Conclave, as you'll get lots more inspiration there and you'll find out that the Inquisitor community is actually growing rather than shrinking.

You're dead right that the GM got it wrong. Apart from anything else, running 8 people in a game was sheer madness. I would normally say that 4 was the maximum a very experience GM should handle. A new GM should really stick to one or two.

You're also dead right that the fun of INQ lies largely in the character creation and seeing what happens when personalities collide. Some of the most memorable game events emerge from those collisions. The Inquisitor Grand Tournament format doesn't even try to impose limitations of people's characters as good GMing will level any playing field.

If you're interested in running a club campaign with a bit more bite, you'll find a number of pre-made campaigns linked from the Conclave, including a couple I wrote and at least one from kaled.

R.

[MarcoSkoll]

Pretty much as Kaled says, you can come up with your own character classes - just don't get too carried away writing something that's horrendously out of place for the universe.

However, if you want a starting point, likely companions for a Rogue Trader might include a Navigator, a rather burly bodyguard, a tech-adept (someone has to keep the RT's ship running), a pilot (who ever said an RT had to do their own flying?)... or perhaps a considerably overworked savant who has to spend his days doing the RT's accounting.

[gloriousbattle]

I think the secret to an Inquisitor campaign is backstory, backstory, and more backstory. Here is a campaign I did once

http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/...wilightsector/

Which was fun, largely because it had a lot of backstory.

However, one of the best and most overlooked poertions of the Inquisitor rulebook was the section where everyone took his turn as ref, and built on each other's campaigns. That way, no one really knew where the game was going, which added an interesting level of mystery to it.

As to the minis, well, heretic I may be, but I simply refused to convert to 54mm for this game. I used my 40K stuff, which worked just fine.

[Mage]

@kaled

For my warband, I am putting in a Rogue Trader as the leader, an Eldar pirate, an Enginseer, and want a fourth character but am not to sure what it should be yet.

@precintomega

Thanks for the invite, will check out the conclave. An Inquisitor GT? Awesome.

I’ll take alook at some of those pre made campaigns, could be handy getting to know the rules and run a campaign before beginning my own Magnum Opus.

@MarcoSkoll

Yeah, I think a tech adept or something would be very fitting. Navigator too. I like the idea of the savant. Might right up the stats for him and leave him on the ship. That way if an encounter goes bad someone can taxi the party home afterward…

@gloriousbattle.

Link saved! That looks like something fun to play and run.

Backstory is always good. Not enough of it in games these days. Using 40k for the game huh? Sounds very Rogue Trader. I’ve seen it done before myself years ago. Ain’t nothing wrong with it.

Here are some stats I rolled up:

Speed WS BS S T I WP SG NV LD

Rogue Trader 69 70 54 54 62 80 76 78 84


Eldar Pirate 82 75 50 67 91 75 80 85 92



Enginseer 50 38 53 52 47 66 65 57 54


I want something different in a leader, so a rogue trader is the choice I make. Same goes for the 'party power hose'. As opposed to an Inquisitor, daemonhost, arco flagellant, or space marine, an eldar pirate who I will arm with a diresword will fit the bill nicely. The enginseer is something that would be in a crew of a ship, and I'd imagine if my Rogue Trader is having run ins with Inquisitors and the like, he'd only keep his most trusted, skilled and immediate crew with him most of the time.

[Leviathan2009]

I know that I am posting this a little late, but I am working on setting up a small campaign for a few friends, and one of the ideas being kicked around is a Rogue Trader warband.

The one character my friend is doing sounds pretty cool, but it is basically a boarding trooper. Basically a Stormtrooper for boarding actions who has spent his whole life on a ship, and knows how to do close quarter fighting really well. That is both his advantage and disadvantage character wise since the game will not be taking place within a ship. We decided to base the character off the basic stat line for the Enforcer from the core rulebook, and then adjusted whatever we felt appropriate.

Its just an idea that I wanted to post for the rogue trader warband, I thought it was a really good idea when my friend told me about it.

[Mage]

That is a cool idea. I like it. It might be fun to model such a character. If you read the Dark Heresy rulebook (40k rpg) the voidborn character background is a person who has been on a ship or station all their life, and some have real pale or blue skin, I think.

Still, it could be a cool character concept. A voidborn who spent all their life on a ship and then doing the same fighting for the imperium, trapped in a 'cage' in space in such a life, only for his ship to crash, be rescued by a rogue trader, and finally be free. Just needs to get his land legs.

[precinctomega]

There are quite a few examples of Naval "stormtrooper" types that have been modelled by members of the Conclave. Here's a very old one from me: my Naval Regulator, Aldus Murphy:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...r/crusher1.png

R.

[gloriousbattle]

There are quite a few examples of Naval "stormtrooper" types that have been modelled by members of the Conclave. Here's a very old one from me: my Naval Regulator, Aldus Murphy:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...r/crusher1.png

R.

Pretty cool. Looks like the naval security troops that Eisenhorn is always having trouble with.

[Mage]

That model's gun is pretty cool, makes him look like serious business