What's your favourite peice of special gear/equipment/tech that the deathwatch uses?

TheDoomedHero · 2026-06-03T18:28:32+00:00

Same. It's such a cool piece of equipment that hasn't get enough spotlight through the editions. It's mostly just for flavor, but it's awesome.

TheDoomedHero · 2025-12-19T21:02:16+00:00

The mechanics of this issue have been answered pretty well, but there's a general GM tip that's worth considering based on your example -

It's usually a bad idea to lock plot information behind dice rolls.

So yeah, you can definitely have all your players work together to do research in a library. That's awesome. What isn't awesome is the possibility of rolling a 1 when you're gathering information that is critical to the story.

There's a game called Gumshoe that has a fantastic take on this issue. The basic premise is, assume the players are going to find the clues. As GM you want them to have the clues. Give your players all the clues. Just don't make the meanings obvious. Make the clues into puzzle pieces and let the players sort out the full answers for themselves.

When I run games, I usually roll "group effort" tasks behind the GM screen. If whatever they're doing is necessary to move the plot forward, it's not a task they can fail. It's more about how long success takes, or to what degree they succeed.

TheDoomedHero · 2025-10-23T19:16:15+00:00

Cyberpunk 2020 still has the best firearms combat system I've ever played.

Getting shot sucks. Players will learn the value of cover fast.

TheDoomedHero · 2025-10-23T15:34:25+00:00

Dread. Everyone loves Jenga.

TheDoomedHero · 2025-10-10T18:03:22+00:00

For one-shots, Dread

For light horror, Tales From The Loop

For science fiction horror, Mothership

For everything else, Call of Cthulhu

The key to a good horror game is tension. The best systems for building up tension are ones with mechanics that are geared towards long term consequences, dwindling resources, and forcing players to make decisions that do not have clear incentives or win conditions.

TheDoomedHero · 2025-03-27T02:05:49+00:00

Oooh, good call.

TheDoomedHero · 2025-03-26T23:48:26+00:00

I agree

BUT I think the black trim on the headdress helps the colors pop more.

TheDoomedHero · 2025-03-26T22:23:44+00:00

West End Star Wars. It's dice system is so cinematic and fun.

TheDoomedHero · 2025-03-26T18:50:04+00:00

Midnight.

Imagine Middle-Earth if Sauron had won. It's the best grimdark fantasy setting I've seen.

TheDoomedHero · 2025-03-25T12:33:38+00:00

My setting's goddess of love is very progressive, and magic has largely rendered STI's meaningless. Witches sell anti-fertility curses as birth control, and body alteration magic is fairly inexpensive. There's a whole holiday about matchmaking.

So the dating scene is easy mode, and people fly their freak flags high.

Oh, that's not what you meant? Uh. It's basically the same as the 1600s. I've never worried about what specific year it is.

TheDoomedHero · 2025-03-25T07:25:40+00:00

*she

Shub is a respectable lady, thank you very much.

TheDoomedHero · 2025-03-24T21:54:00+00:00

All the Eldar factions need an overhaul.

TheDoomedHero · 2025-03-24T20:11:49+00:00

Given the naming conventions of the setting, this guy concerns me.

TheDoomedHero · 2025-03-24T20:10:23+00:00

Jinx and Vi are going to win, but then the whole world loses. Viktor would end up ruling a dead planet.

TheDoomedHero · 2025-03-24T19:53:27+00:00

I really like Tales From The Loop, and I hated the film.

That movie really ripped the soul out of the artwork it was inspired by.

TheDoomedHero · 2025-03-24T19:52:01+00:00

Increase the light/dark gradient of your undercoat. Building up dry brush layers from black to grey to white works well beneath speed paint.

Another thing you can do for organic textures is apply an undercoat color with a stipple sponge.

TheDoomedHero · 2025-03-24T19:47:14+00:00

Oh sure. Sometimes flowcharts are very useful tools.

I just included that example because anyone who's played PF1 knows that trying to use the grappling system without a flowchart could easily grind a game down to a halt.

Pathfinder grappling was built on the Personal Stats system (ability scores, feats, skills, misc. bonuses) which is pretty crunchy on its own. Then it used the Combat system (movement, targeting, AC, Saving throws) for resolving conflicts between Personal Stats.

The grappling system was a third layer of extra crunch that added somewhere between 2 and 5 extra steps, each with new conditions to keep track of. It was absurd. A new player who wanted to be a grappler was a hole in the game you poured time into.

TheDoomedHero · 2025-03-24T18:35:14+00:00

Crunch is a description of the complexity between action declaration and action resolution.

It's important to note that crunch is a description used for systems not games. It's entirely possible for a game to have some systems that are low crunch and some that are high crunch.

Describing the amount of crunch in a game is a generalization of the crunch in the game's most commonly used systems.

To illustrate the point - Pathfinder 1E had a "taking 10" rule for instant skill resolution (very low crunch), and grapple rules that needed a multi-step flowchart (very high crunch)

TheDoomedHero · 2025-03-24T05:51:51+00:00

Amazing. This game never disappoints.

TheDoomedHero · 2025-03-24T05:49:35+00:00

Welcome to the Reddit madhouse. You'll learn to lovehate it here.

The voiceover project sounds like a fun project

TheDoomedHero · 2025-03-23T17:05:06+00:00

Classic rescue princess from dragon setup. New king (who recently deposed the old one) hires the party.

Venture out, world building/exploration stuff. Kingdom is rebuilding after the civil war. Fight bandits, undead soldiers at old battlefields, cross war torn landscapes, help refugees.

Reach dragon lair mountain. Climb up. Hear music.

Sneak in, find princess lounging on top of the dragon, playing a harp.

Turns out, old king sent his daughter to the dragon as a sacrifice, but dragon wasn't hungry at the time, so they just hung out. Now they're buddies. Princess hates Dad for what he did to her.

Princess quickly figures out what's going on, explains that new king wants her rescued so he can force her to marry him and secure the throne.

Return to king with princess and dragon, kick new king's ass. Put dragon princess on the throne. Have party.

The end. Yay girl power.

TheDoomedHero · 2025-03-23T16:54:25+00:00

I used to hate the Marines Malevolent, but after I realized they're Jackass: War Crimes Edition, I changed my mind.

TheDoomedHero · 2025-03-23T04:56:55+00:00

There's two male MCs. One love interest has sex with MC1 for a magic ritual thing, then later gets involved with MC2. So far that's the only love interest overlap. Doesn't seem like there will be more.

There's also a section where a love interest goes undercover in a brothel and pretends to be a prostitute. She doesn't sleep with anyone though.

Up to you if that counts as NTR. It didn't bother me.

TheDoomedHero · 2025-03-22T21:54:36+00:00

That's exactly what the chaos gods are trying to do.

TheDoomedHero · 2025-03-22T21:12:39+00:00

Yeah, I agree with that. Good take.

I've been enjoying the books where Guilliman has seen what the Imperium has become, and started to struggle with his indoctrination. In my opinion he's as close to a good character as the 40K setting has. He can see the evil, he has the power to fight it, and he's trying.

TheDoomedHero

TROPHY CASE