Timewaster's Guide Archive
Games => Table-Top Games => Topic started by: Slant on May 31, 2003, 11:36:26 PM
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I just picked up some games pretty cheap. I got Inquisitor for ten bucks and Talisman for (and I'm not kidding) thirty bucks. Both brand new from a games store that is changing location and has to reduce inventory. Now I already know about Talisman, but I was curious if any of you have played Inquisitor. Anybody have any comments for good or ill about this game?
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We've been talking about Inquisitor in several threads...and we are a review site, after all, so there is a review that I continue to stand behind. Let me give you the summary: very cool ideas and very cool rules, but not complete enough to play as-is as either a wargame or RPG.
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Uhhh... fell, WD and Exterminatus increase its potential significantly. There was a good article about campaigns in one of the White Dwarfs, and the exterminatus magazines are chock full of goodness.
The website has both downloads and a sample campaign up
http://www.exterminatus.com
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I'm fundamentally opposed to a game that I can only play if I buy more magazines. This was supposed to be a complete game, not a serialized one. A few official books, codex-style, would be nice, because I could buy the ones I want and leave the rest; a regular magazine with updating rules, however, bothers me.
I don't like video games with constant streams of patches, either, but at least those are free.
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I did not say they were "patches", only that they increased its potential.
And GW will put the articles in the 2002 and 2003 compendiums... those are codex sized and priced with lotsa articels.
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I'll have to check those out. Are you still developing RPG rules for Inquisitor?
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Kinda yes. Some basic framework for the insanity rules got laid out - ive got 3 kinds. one is for normal everyday stuff, another combat (includes "The gore factor" and "combat fatigue"), and chaos related stuff (includes "corruption" and "insanity". first deals with being turned to the dark side, second is basically the Call of Cthulhu insanity rules).
And im not sure what system. =I= is the most obvious choice, but WHFRP is so easy its silly. Problem is which to go for. If it is =I=, i can skimp on the mechanics bit of combat and dont have to outline the imperium itself (i might do that anyway tho...), if it is warhammer, no mechanics at all needed but the whole 40k setting has to be outlined and made to fit in. In the mean time, i think i will just plug away randomly at whatever strikes my fancy.
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I'm inclined to keep as much of basic Inquisitor as possible, filling where needed with WHFRPG. And I hadn't thought of insanity rules and corruption, but now that you mention them I agree--they're absolutely necessary.
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ACtually, now i have your attention, have a proof read for me of the corruption rules. I'm not that good a writer, so bear with me. Im intending for a D100 system like CoC for the insanity.
Chaos Induced[/u]
Chaos is a horrifying force. It is a malign, hateful fascet of reality that seeks only to enslave and destroy the rest of reality. It has no readily understandable boundries or reasons, and it corrupts everything it touches.
Corruption
Corruption is less a disorder than a weapon of chaos, although to an extend even insanity is a weapon of chaos. Simply put, the Corruption trait increasingly prompts characters to join the fell legions of chaos the more they encounter the servants of the dark gods. Every time a character fights the forces of the dark gods, roll the characters widsom Trait. If it is passed, the character overcomes the urgings of the ruinous powers and maintains his purity. If it is failed, he adds 1D3 points of Corruption.
More insiduous and dangerous, however, is the threat posed by hidden servants of chaos. Whenever a character talks or listens to a servant of chaos, without knowing that fact, and agrees with his words or assertations then he must make a wisdom roll at -20 on a d100 roll. If this roll is failed, the character takes 1D6 points of Corruption. If it is passed, the characters inner strength and purity overcomes the urgings of chaos.
Whenever a character listens to or talks to a known servant of chaos and agrees with his words, he makes the same roll with the same consequences, but the penalty does not apply - in fact, he has a +10 on d100 bonus.
The GM may choose to apply other factors, such as the strength of devotion in the Emperor. These will take the form of further penalties and bonuses - a high priest of the Ecclisary might get a +15 bonus, while a downtrodden mutant might get a -10 penalty. A Space Marine should have a +40 bonus.
When a character has corruption points, the GM is entitled to roll against it at any time, but when facing chaos is a particularly appropriate time. I recommend you do not roll at all; this is excellent roleplaying for the other characters and will inject a sense of the insiduous nature of chaos in the players. In this case, talk to players whose characters possess more than 20 points of corruption and discuss the matter with them.
Characters who roll under their corruption score become servants of chaos, either knowingly or not. This does not necessarily mean they start shouting 'Blood for the Blood god!' and using a chainaxe on their best friends. Think how your character would look to aid the forces of chaos - would he start corrupting planetary officials, assassinate military targets or just go the good old demon summoning route? Either way, it will necessite a major change in the character, his perceptions and actions. Discuss with the GM how this can fit into his campaign; he might feel that it doesn't. In this case, the PC may become a NPC opponent, or might be killed off or retired. Irregardless, chaos is not a benevolent force, nor does it inspire kindness in all but the most misguided servants.
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I'm happy to do it, but give me a bit. I've got a lot of stuff to finish up.
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Sure, no problem. Not like i am running on a schedule here. Just rambling along in my usual way.
Besides, i think you have enough problems what with non-elucidean candy and cheese meteors.
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It reads plenty good for a first draft. I don't know much about the setting, but I think I follow how the corruption works. Kinda cool
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Don't feel bad about not knowing the setting. The Inquisiter book has about two and a half pages of background/setting and never seems to answer such obvious questions as: Why are these Inquisitors fighting? What exactly do Inquisitors do when they're not fighting each other? Why is 'everything that we've been told a lie'?
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uhm....
you obviously failed to understand the point of the book HoM.
Lie - the inquisition is a monolith of holy and unfailable men.
Thruth - its is splintered, full of heretics and is wracked by interal schisims.
And so on.
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I have to support Mustard on this. Those of us who know the history of the 40k universe can fill in the gaps, but the book itself is ridiculously, obscenely devoid of context. Mustard was pointing out the book's incompleteness, and frankly he's right.
Now, like I said, we can fill in most of those blanks. But someone like Saint, who knows nothing about Warhammer, would be completely lost if he tried to derive any background info from the Inquisitor book.
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Yeah, but remember who it is aimed at; hoary old 40k players. It is like complaining that the tau codex doesnt talk much about the imperium.
Big problem for first timers to warhammer. But who would go straight into =I= without playing 40k first?
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Thanks Fell...
The Tao Codex is a supplement to the 40k rulebook which explains all about the imperium. The Inquisitor book, while it is part of the 40k universe, is supposedly a stand alone book.
I will admit that it is aimed at 40k players, but, even as a 40k player I was stymied by many things. It gives precisely five sentences explaining the 'everything is a lie' premise, and four pages explaining the various factions. It doesn't explain why they fight, other than to say that they have competing ideologies. The premise of the game is that inquisitors are constantly fighting each other, and there is nothing to support that. When would they ever have time to hold inquisitions? :)
But who would go straight into =I= without playing 40k first?
One of the problems with =I= is that it is so different from a wargame that it appeals to a different crowd. It attracts equally wargamers and rpgers. Saintehlers is a beautiful example here (he's not beautiful - the example is): An RPG fanatic who has virtually no 40k experience.
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uhm...
Were you actually paying attention?
Two inquisitors. They come across a rumour of a daemon sword. One wants to destroy it - it is a blasmephy. The other wants to us it - it is a valuable resourse.
Why wouldn't they fight?
And on the point of not having enough time, think about 40k. If there was constant war all the time, how could humanity ever recoup the losses from battle? They couldn't Most of these inquisitor vs inquisitor, chaos vs imperial guard etc conflicts are rare. just as entire groups of systems will see little combat for decades, there will be little inquisition combat. The warbands and the armies represent the exception to the case.
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Denied.
What ever happened to "there is only war"?
I understand the occasional fighting over a sword or an ancient tome or whatever. However, inquisitor is designed for campaigns: inquisitors duking it out against inquisitors for eternity. It would appear, given the rules, that inq vs inq fighting is all that inquisitors do. There are no rules for fighting anyone else. There are no explanations given for them fighting anyone else. There are no scenarios in which, once they have procured said Daemon Sword, they use that sword to rescue the imperium (unless they're slaying another inquisitor).
Any way you look at it, you are having to make piles of assumptions. My point is that the book is incompete background wise, and you've offered no evidence to the contrary.
There are only two scenarios possible:
1 Inquisitors only fight other inquisitors. If this is true, why does the book never explain why this is the case?
2 Inquisitors fight other stuff too. If so, why does the book make it appear as though they only fight each other? Why are there no rules for fighting other things? As the game is designed, inquisitors can only ever fight other inquisitor warbands. Why is this?
The answer to both 1 and 2 is that the book lacks background, is incomplete, and is really only half of a game: merely a cool combat system.
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Denied.
What ever happened to "there is only war"?
Uhm... kinda like the whole 'any ship that enters the warp automatically dies on a 50% chance'. Uh, yeah.
The galaxy is huge, 1 million worlds in the imperium. Loads of space.
And i thought the book gave lots of ideas for fighting chaos - daemon swords do not appear by themselves after all. But they concentrated on =I=.
Note - the magazine has had articles on mutants, aliens and chaos characters and warbands. Including random generators for the first two, and a huuuuge list of psychic powers for the last. But that is not in the main book, although i could argu that the compendiums serve a similar purpose to the codexes. They focus on particular areas not covered that much in the main book, and expand and make them playable.
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We played our first scenario of =I= last night. I am still having some difficulty with the rules, but I am getting better. Half of us were Inquisitors, the other half were rogue traders suspected of smuggling Chaos artifacts. I played a trader named Kristoff Von Schlaeger. I had five actions per round, so I decided I would leap over the guardrail to the cargo bay below (where there was a pitched battle), fire two-handed three times (I was packing Navy pistols: not as deadly as other weapons, but boy do they look cool), then land on my feet in a crouch. Well, I only rolled two successes on the d6, so I only got off two actions. I jumped off the railing and fired, then fell flat on my face onto the cargo bay floor and knocked myself unconscious. After all the other players finished laughing themselves silly they just went back to their running battle and just left me there sprawled in a bloody splotch.
And to add insult to injury, the two shots I DID get off, missed their marks by a mile.
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someone like Saint, who knows nothing about Warhammer, would be completely lost if he tried to derive any background info from the Inquisitor book.
I'm completely lost anyway. I don't see what Warhammer has to do with that...
Oh... reading the rest of the thread, I see why...
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Yup slant, that is the beauty of the =I= actions system.
From your description, you seem to be playing with multiple players each with a single miniture. Interesting.
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Yes, there were eight of us divided into two teams of four. It was a lot of fun, my character's humiliation nonwithstanding, and we are planning to do another session soon.
Let me ask: did Inquisitor have it's own magazine? If so, is it still in print? I'd love to get my hands on some background material and new character rules.
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Yes. Exterminatus magazine, written four times a year by Gav Thorpe and Andy Hall.
I'll go over what each one covered. Each issue has a letters page and about 6 pages of colour pictures which go with conversion and painting guides.
1) alien char generators, 2 imperial guard characters, 1 alien character
2) vehicle rules, kal jerico rules & model, a chrono gladiator rules and model, a imperial guard pathfinder rules and model, genestealer cult rules
3) CHAOS!! new chaos psychic powers, hive ganger model & rules, chaos magnus model and rules, Inquisitor Q&A
4) Eldar rules & pathfinder model, kroot warrior rules and model
5) using space marines article, recap of purestrain genestealer rules & new model, a 4 scenario campaign, a space marine helmet sprue
6) Using daemons, daemon huntresses inquisitor rules and model, unbound daemonhost rules and model, tattoo painting techniques
7) Seeing the warp - navigators, their powers and organisation, navigator model and rules, imperial bosun models and rules, playing god - games mastering article.
Each issue costs $7. Well worth it, and a subscriptino for 6 issues is pretty cheap as well.
Oh, and it is still on the go. Inquisitor has a fanatical fanbase - go to its website http://www.exterminatus.com, then find your way to the forum and ask about it, all i can remember is that its a yahoo! one. I used to be on it, 2 years ago, and it was insanely active - 40 posts to it a day. I quit after i didn't check my emails for a week and ended up with 300 emails in my inbox.
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ooooo. Just checked that site, they are making a Tau water cast... must... resist... temptation...
also a campaign to use, and a whole bunch of .pdf downloads, some from earlier issues of exterminatus. They seem to be making teh magazines free to download after the magazine goes oop.
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Thank you for the information Entropy. I will have to see if my local games supplier can dig up some issues.
We played another Inquisitor scenario today. Aboard a rotting space hulk the players find a scrawny little guy encased in a stasis field. They release him and discover that he had been placed in the field because of the danger he represented back in the 21st century. The macho players scoff at him. Mutants attack and are quickly dealt with. In the attack, though, the skinny guy is shot and he begins to change very rapidly as if he had the ability "Wyrd-Warp Strength." I replaced the miniature that I was using for him with (wait for it)..... a Heroclix Hulk figure!!! Yep, the big bad space marines and inquisitors went toe-to-toe with an enraged Hulk that they found, oh so appropriately, on a SPACE HULK!!
Sometimes I am so evil that I give myself chills.
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BWAHAHAHA
HULK SMASH PUNY SPACE MARINE!
Like i said, you can get a lot of the info on the Exterminatus website - the magazines get the info to you a lot faster (at least 6 months), they look nice, and they are in print. Oh and lots of painting tutorials.
If you want earlier issues, just check the "resources" page of the exterminatus site... the alien generator and the vehicle rules are all available for download.