Talk:OREhammer 40k:Main Page
Contents
The Basic Idea[edit]
"OREhammer 40.000 is meant to be a conversion of the Warhammer 40k Universe using the One Roll Engine. Originally started in a multitude of threads and generally approached in a haphazard way, this page is the first step in my efforts to actually get this conversion closer to playable. As you can imagine, help is greatly appreciated. ^_^" --Lord Minx 17:01, 17 January 2008 (PST)
Bits of Organization[edit]
Right now, this project is a place to collect and organize my various ideas and make them presentable. So the first step was to put the most important threads into the page, so I and everybody else can easily find them again. The next step is to browse them for any salvageable ideas and organize them in a way that hopefully makes sense. (Which I hope to do over the next few days.)
I'm still thinking about the basic organization, but I imagine a pretty basic split if the project along those lines:
- Main Page - General Overview, Introduction and the most important links.
- Collection of Ideas - Here, the usefull snippets will be collected and hopefully refined and there will be lots of chaos and reworking and lions will lie with lambs and so on.
- The Conversion - Once a part is somewhat polished (Not "finished", but closer to "readable" then in the Collection category), it comes here. There will be subpages for the various parts of the conversion like Character Generation, special rules, and so on. Nothing Special here.
I'll do my best to create the basic structure over the next few days as I browse the thread for useful material.
--Lord Minx 17:18, 17 January 2008 (PST)
Ork Company Rules[edit]
(Anyone can feel free to correct me for Correct Orky Feel, and Actual Facts, as I have mainly by-proxy experience of Warhammer generally.)
[Also, I really hope I'm putting this up the right way: Apologies for any incompetence I display]
ORK COMPANIES.
I've shifted the way Qualities interact for Orks slightly, in an attempt to reflect how they work.
First of all, Influence: Orks don't use Influence. This is a raft of options that is not available to them.
Might: Ork companies start with a minimum of Might 1.
Sovereignty: Sovereignty also works a little differently. For Orks, it is an average of Might and Territory. Against other Ork bands, the Sovereignty average has at least one subtracted from it unless your Company's Sovereignty is 3 or Higher.
This is intended to reflect the internal divisions within the Orks, and how deeply tied they are to their numbers. At a particular tipping point of arms and/or territory, it's presumed that a Boss is now involved and that things are a little more organised.
Territory: As normal.
Treasure: This is a little bit different. Initially, Orks get 1 Treasure for every *2* that is stolen in raiding or other actions against their neighbours. This doesn't have to be in one action, so if last month you got 1 Treasure, and this month you get another 1, then yours goes up.
Why is this? Firstly, because an Ork company's Might cannot be lower than its Treasure. If they're tied and Treasure goes up, Might follows. My reasoning for this is that Treasure is representative of the resources looted and stolen from other nations, and which is being retrofitted into Toyz and Gubbins. Initially, the Orks bust as much as they steal, which is why it's a 2 for 1 ratio.
If the Sovereignty of an Ork company ever hits 3, then the leadership provided by having a new Boss means they're more focused in their looting. Treasure from raiding goes back to a 1 for 1 increase. The parity with Might continues.
It's also worth considering that the higher a Company's Treasure, the more advanced the Company is going to be on the field. You can expect to see more magic, more Meks, and other such developments the higher the Treasure is.
You Do Not Want An Ork Company To Hit This Threshold.
If the Sovereignty of an Ork Company ever hits 5, then you have a whole new problem. At that point, it is large enough that other Orks nearby are going to begin gravitating towards it, let alone fighting the boss. If that happens, at the end of every month (or relevant time-period) roll Sovereignty + Territory with Difficulty equal to Might.
If the result is successful, Might goes up by 1 as the Ork company recieves reinforcements.
"Our campaign against the Orks has thinned out their numbers, commander!" (pause) "Well shit, they're back again."
You Do Not Want An Ork Company To Hit This Threshold.
Notes: Orks do not have access to any of the temporary raises for Qualities that normal companies do. The entire wierd Orky machine is running full-blast the whole time. Tactical variants like Fight from Entrenchments can apply, but only once Sovereignty has hit 3 and a Boss is on the field to persuade the boyz not to run out and start choppin.
Additionally, Orks are vulnerable to successful Head Hunting attacks once they do hit Sovereignty 3. It should be a game session in itself for feel, but if you do successfully kill the Boss then along with other consequences, the Company's Sovereignty falls by one. The Company loses any benefits it had of being over one of the thresholds if the number falls past that point.
Eradicating an Ork Company
Reducing Ork Sovereignty to 0 will certainly splinter the company, but will not eradicate the scourge.
In practice, since Ork Sovereignty is largely derived from Might and Territory, assaulting those directly will yield the best results. Tactically, Orks are also vulnerable to having their Treasure (and thus tech level) damaged.
Should you eradicate the Company on paper, then a new game begins. Take the Territory held by the Orks at the height of their power, and subtract 1 (or 2, if they rose very rapidly and didn't have much time at that level.)
From the Ork perspective, after 5 - (Territory - 1 or 2) Months, their Might will pop back up to 1 and the whole saga will begin again. This represents the Ork infestation producing wild Orks, as reinforcements for whoever escaped the last battle.
This number (which I will refer to as Infestation Score for the sake of argument) is reduced by 1 for each month (or relevant timeperiod) you attack it as normal, essentially to represent going through conquered territory and burning chunks of it and putting any Orky wildlife to the sword. This also stops the clock for re-infestation.
If there is a whole month in which you do NOT attack the Infestation Score, then the clock begins again with 5-Infestation Score months until more Orks appear and the Company revives at its most basic level of Might 1.
After that month, the first time you attack the Infestation Score does not reduce the number, but instead resets the clock to 0. The next month after that, you can reduce the score again.
Metadiscussion
The theory I was going for here was to make Orks a nuisance. They're hard to eradicate, unless you have nothing else to focus on but cleansing their territories of wild growth, and have a tendency to pop up again if you turn your back. And they have a potential to become exponentially more dangerous once they hit certain thresholds, to attempt to emulate an "Orkish pests, Orkish pests, filthy greenskins, OH GODS THEY'RE AT THE GATES!" vibe.
If anyone has better or more elegant suggestions for this, I would be very happy to hear them.
Orkish Unworthy Opponents:
The minimum Threat of an Ork Mob is 2, as even the most disorganised mob is at least as dangerous as wolves.
Ork Mobs are immune to magic-based Morale Attacks at any level less than or equal to their Threat, to represent how Orks gain confidence in numbers.
Ork Mobs are immune to Morale Attacks from individual humans as if their Threat were 1 point higher than they are, so a Threat 2 Mob of Orks is going to be immune to Morale Attacks lower than 4 using the Threaten manouvre, for example, because Orks just aren't scared by much.
However, little provides a Motivation boost to Ork mobs. They're already running on full bore, so unless the Warboss is physically there (a whole new problem in itself) what you see is what you get.
What do people think so far?
(Other discussion of this idea here: http://www.nemesis-system.com/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=93&func=view&catid=22&id=1082
- The Unshaven.
Corruption and Chaos Influences within the ORE.[edit]
Principles:
1) The Madness Meters are still tied into the choices made by the characters.
2) In the setting, Chaos is something that the characters can be exposed to, either unwittingly or unwillingly.
3) The best option is a synthesis of these principles.
Solution:
There are several parts to this:
1) Certain demonic entities and cultists within the game have a Chaos score, presumably along with the Warp. Exposure to Chaos Elements (which those more familiar with the 40K universe than me will have better ideas about) adds to the character's Chaos Score.
Bear with me. The Chaos score is an abstraction, and does not have mechanical consequences.
What the Chaos Score does is give the player an idea of how much Crazy Shit they have been exposed to. I imagine it on a 100 point scale where 0 is equivalent to Never Seen Anything Weirder than Aunty Nan's Herb Garden, and 100 is Seriously Fucked Up.
There would be gradiations at each 10 on the scale, with a quick description of what Most People would be like at that stage.
This is purely to give the players a point of reference for...
2) The Key of Corruption. (I understand that integrating TSOY's Keys into the game is on the cards anyway, so I thought this was a neat solution.
Be warned, I've never played TSOY or have practical experience with Keys, so I may have totally missed the point. I'm not sure whether this would be a Motivation Key or not, so I've assumed not for now.
The Key of Corruption:
Your character has begun the slippery slide towards corruption by the influences of Chaos, whether by accidental exposure or by an active search for power - itself potentially caused by accidental exposure. This is down to however you want to play it. Gain 1 XP every time your character acts upon their corruption, even if no one finds out, or it's not obvious. Gain 2 XP every time your character acts upon their corruption in a situation or a way that could expose their tainted nature. Gain 5 XP for either directly exposing your nature to further your tainted goals, or if someone you have exposed to Chaos (even if they don't know it was you) selects the Key of Corruption for themselves. Buyoff: Penitence. Choose to turn away from your dark path regardless of the consequences, either of exposure or of earning the wrath of the thwarted minions of Chaos.
3) The Madness Meters work as normal throughout, based on the choices that the character makes as-normal. This basically means that someone with the Key of Corruption is going to wind up exposed to weird and interesting shite, along with Nasty Decisions, and walk away with relevant hardened and failed notches as normal. No mechanical difference - and most importantly, there is no point at which the character becomes an NPC.
Basically, this means that the players are aware of exposure to the pervasive Chaos of the setting, and can choose to explore what happens to people in its grip.
Alternatively, the Chaos Score has validity even if the player never chooses to embrace the Key of Corruption. Why?
Well, if you're at 90 or so on the Chaos Score Chart and you're still normal, you'll have already gained a reputation - however quietly and behind your back - as someone who was walked through all kinds of shit, even down to the shitcovered plain of wailing baby-souls, and has not turned.
That's going to be noticed, and responded to accordingly. Depending on who you're dealing with, you might be seen as a true example of what humanity should be in the face of adversity... or perhaps that you're just hiding the taint really well, and are thus a cause of suspicion.
Certain character types, such as Psykers for example, are going to climb the Chaos Score Chart faster than others - but because it's an abstraction without mechanical consequence that shouldn't matter.
Embracing Chaos:
Just for shits and giggles, I think that if the player chooses the Key of Corruption, there should be an option for them to start changing physically.
Say, hypothetically, that once the Key of Corruption is chosen, the Chaos Score starts to have a mechanical consequence.
At each time you get to the 10s score (or similarly abstract measurement) the GM gets XP to that level to spend on your character. This will make them better! This will improve them!
In unpleasant or obvious ways.
I'm borrowing this hugely from a suggestion for how to run Aberrant using Wild Talents, and how to integrate Taint into that system. To whoever came up with this suggestion, it is raw deliciousness and I salute you.
I imagine there should be a chart for GM reference at this point, so that the changes under a certain level impart some benefit but aren't too obvious. Although if you're still on the Key of Corruption with a Corruption score of 95, when have been on the Key since you had a score of 10... tentacles wouldn't be at all out of the question.
What do we think?
I'm not particularly welded to the Chaos Score being out of 100, but it makes it really easy to get the idea across here. It also means that the score going up can be described as a counter for background radiation, or equivalent to losing Sanity through exposure to the Mythos in CoC - just without consequence unless the player chooses.
- The Unshaven.
