>>6734012
>>6734049
Both of these are good ideas.

Also, how is the setting? Is focusing this much of it on Kronus acceptable?

>>6734050
The maddening thing to Tau about Chaos is that it's not entirely grounded in physical reality. Knowledge of Necrons won't turn any Tau into a gibbering mess, but it will instill a sense of fear and paranoia into them.

I think the only time the Necrons would induce insanity would be in a combat situation. Of course, this would happen with any race though. You see what can happen to our war veterans if they've been at it too long.

>>6734089
For Tau? Sure. The Empire's small.

>>6734108
Yes, indeed.

Does studying Necron weaponry summon more Necrons, or do you have to be messing with Necron bodies?

>>6734089

As long as you don't stay on Kronus the whole campaign. Are you going with the Tau ending for DC? If so, some of the characters can be veterans of the campaign, maybe make a career for Firewarriors that have been through Kronus. There will most likely be tensions between the "liberated" humans and the Tau occupiers, so make sure to include that.

>>6734149
It's best to just not mess with Necron stuff.

There's actually an interesting theory that the Tau are the way they are to add to the Necron army after someone pointed out some striking similarities between the Tau and the aliens that the Necrons are formed from.

Wouldn't be surprising since GW decided to make the C'Tan responsible for FUCKING EVERYTHING.

Necron Lore would be maddening in the same way the Necronomicon would be maddening, especially to your average Imperial citizen, since I'd imagine that sort of knowledge is heavily suppressed.

"Pft, this moldy old book's a bit creepy, but all this shit about 'Necrons' and 'C'tan' is all a load of hokum. Everyone knows that humanity are the most important species in the universe and the God Emperor is the most powerful being in it!"

ONE ENCOUNTER WITH A NECRON LATER

"Oh sweet merciful Emperor, what if it's all true? The Necron was real, maybe the Emperor isn't as important as all that. These star-gods have been around for a lot longer, maybe they'll be around long after the Imperium has faded into dust. THERE IS NO GOD EMPEROR, IT'S ALL A LIE, THE C'TAN ARE THE ONLY TRUE GODS WE SHOULD WORSHIP THEM TO TRY AND GAIN THEIR PROTECTION"

>>6734153
There will be some, certainly, although most of the humans on Kronus (which needs a different name; I was thinking Shar'ilis) were put into reeducation camps to avoid rebellions breaking out. But there are some who've escaped and may be launching guerilla campaigns against the Tau, so they could be some (probably early) foes.

>>6734149

I don't think it has ever been revealed how a tomb world activates. However, it seems that outsiders can inadvertently activate a tomb if they endanger the warp portal of the tomb.

Most of the time, you can't study Necron stuff unless you're inside a Necron tomb. Since they teleport away when they die, you will never ever be able to retrieve or come across artifacts of battle.

>>6734050

Necrons are bewilderingly frightening if you know anything about them. An ancient race whose knowledge was such that they can rip conventional physics a new one, who can devour stars, who have troops that can appear as if from nowhere, who do unspeakable things to those they giht and could be lurking beneath the surface of any planet? They are positively Lovecraftian.

To say nothing of the horrors of pariahs. Tau may not feel the OH GOD WRONG sensation of being near them that an Eldar or human would feel because of their small souls, but it would still be a hideously frightening experiance.

>>6734149

Well, the Imperium has no problems arming each and every Callidus with C'tan Phase Swords so just messing with their weapons seems to work out OK. Remember that living metal weapons will not work on Necrons though. Read Xenology for more info.

>>6734184
I actually think that that's why the research facility was built (probably) partially within what was left of the Necron tomb after the Tau collapsed it. Or it might have been a lucky coincidence.

>>6734182

In the previous thread there was talk of a "US in Iraq" feel to it, with safe zones and no-go zones filled with insurgents. You could go with that for a start.

>>6734050
You're talking about Corruption right there. Insanity points are gained through exposure to horror, trauma, stress, disturbing information.

Corruption is warp exposure, and while yes specific knowledge of the warp *can* be maddening (trying to puzzle your way through a Tzeentchian labryinth, for instance), it can *also* be corrupting. It need not be both. Some Slaaneshi prayer to make people horny? Corrupting, not maddening. Witnessing a sacrificial rite to Khorne? Corrupting and Maddening. Witnessing a Necron flayed one slashing its way through a crowd? Maddening.

>>6734195

There are very few assassins though, and the Imperium tries to hide the origins of the things. There may have been some reverse engineering as well, because I don't think they just steal the things from tombs and give them to the assassins just like that.

Studying Necrons in the wild is often a very, very bad idea, as countless lost Adeptus Mechanicus explorator teams can testify.

>>6734222
Ah, right. I suppose that, while the Necrons might not be at all corrupting, they could be quite maddening. One hopes that studying their remains won't be quite as bad, especially since the Tau proved that the Necrons aren't unstoppable.

Basically, corruption is just exposure to the Warp in whatever form it might present itself. Insanity is simply insanity, how people normally go insane from witnessing certain events too many times or slowly becoming more paranoid and deviant from the regular society.

>>6734253

What remains? Necrons teleport out to "somewhere" once they have been defeated. With the occasional head on a pointy stick, you don't get any remains. Unless you have one in a stasis field or something. Which is also a problem, because if you take it out it will eith go beserk or teleport away anyway.

>>6734253
Oh, yeah., I absolutely wouldn't make my players take WP checks or risk insanity points for poking at Xeno artifacts.

It's just the whole "old as the stars," "unfeeling, undying, army of the unlife" can be kind of scary when confronted with it? The same way the "endless fanged biomass stretching the length of a galaxy" that is the Tyranids can be soul-crushingly depressing.

Was it worth archiving the other thread?

>>6734284
The Tau victory over the Necrons states that a few pieces of shattered warriors were left behind and didn't teleport away.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRcilDtlV9I&feature=related

>>6734291
That's true, but the Tau know that they can win against them in isolation, and since the Necrons tend to pop up from underground individually, they'll probably keep fighting them in isolation. I certainly won't deny that they can be terrifying, though.

>>6734296
It's archived, yes.

>>6734304
Just someone who's never played DoW scrolling pass this thread...

What the fuck is this shit.

>>6734304

But that's the thing - they are only a few broken bits of an unfathomably complex machine. I honestly don't think there is a lot they can get out of it. I'm not knocking the Tau here, but the Necrons are scary advanced when it comes to science. It would be like a caveman trying to work out how a half an internal combustion engine, three wheels and a brake light work. he might get something out of it, but almost only by accident.

>>6734350
Only a few of the bodies were left behind, but quite a bit more of their weaponry was. So it'd involve the cavemen having an intact, loaded gun alongside everything else.

>>6734339
Really. Is an explanation ever offered why some stuff doesn't go away?

>>6734320

...individually? Where did you get that? Individual Necrons waking up is usually just the prelude to masses of them awakening. To say nothing of scarabs and Tomb Spyders, who don't even slumber at all.

The Necrons as they appear in Dark Crusade are not very close to how they tend to work in everything else.

>>6734350

Well they got some living metal and a few Necron weapons. At the very least, they could make a phase knife or something.

>>6734304
And Relic knows fuck all about canon, amirite?

>>6734369
I have the Necron codex, but I'm beginning to think I missed something. How do Necrons work in Dark Crusade that's different from anything else?

Also, back on topic: How should non-Tau races be integrated into the campaign?

>>6734366
Also, DoW's not canon, right?

>>6734372
Relic isn't totally off base; bits and pieces of Necron do get left behind sometimes.

You should read more books about WH40K Exalted. Practically everyone who likes WH40K also enjoys the books.

>>6734393

Are you going to allow the creation of Kroot, Human, Nicassar, Vespid or even Demiurg PC's? Because half of those don't even have DH stats.

>>6734402
Aren't most of them Imperium-oriented? I still don't really like the Imperial setting.

>>6734402
Whoa, whoa, whoa. Let's not lie here. Most BL books are shit.

Dan Abnett's good. Ciphas Cain too. And some Horus Heresy books

Firewarrior was okay too, if a bit too much "This Tau is awesome" for my tastes. Exalted would probably love it though.

Some good Warhammer books too if you're interested in Fantasy.

>>6734427
What about it don't you like?

>>6734425
That's what I'm not sure about. Since the focus of Outreach has changed quite a lot from my original conception, I don't know if they'd include non-Tau members.

>>6734427

Yes, most of them are Imperium centric. However, that doesn't mean that all of them are about Space Marines doing Space Marine things. There are many other interesting books that delve into how the other races operate.

>>6734436
It's dark, depressing, slightly boring because of those two facts, and there's little in fiction I hate more than someone evil being portrayed as on the side of good. I don't know why, and I'm not saying that it's bad, but I hate it.

>>6734370
A phase blade is literally just a sliver of inert necrodermis, so yeah maybe.

Although I imagine the Tau making some shrapnel round out of it.

>>6734440

I would only include Kroot and Gue'vesa with the Tau. Other aliens like the Vespid are simply too alien to be effectively played in this setting.

>>6734460

Necrodermis-coated bullets? Seems a waste. Maybe a phase bonding knife?

>>6734453
>>6734460
it goes beyond that.

humans have tons of reverse-engineered eldar stuff lying around, and they can use their eldar files to translate necron things.

tau can't even decipher ork files, so you can forget about tau hacking imperial, eldar or necron files.

>>6734469

That, and there's too little information on them.

>>6734453
Dan Abnett's "Double Eagle" was kind of uplifting!

Warhammer is a bit more shades of grey than you're making it out to be. I mean the Tau are all pheromone controlled caste-slaves, y'know?

>>6734453
>Imperial fiction
>and there's little in fiction I hate more than someone evil being portrayed as on the side of good.

>Durr i dont get Warhammer lemme get back to Naruto and Superman

>>6734453
Wait, wait. So you don't like the grim or the dark? Maaaaaan. How the hell did you get into 40K? And they are portrayed as "Well shit sucks in this galaxy, and we have to act like shit to survive, but every thing's still breaking apart. But damn it, we fight on because it's what we do! For the Emperor!"

>>6734447
Like what?

>>6734469
Hm. Both of them are much more susceptible to corruption than Tau are, though...

>>6734488
Hey, let's not be rude. We can civilly discuss opinions.

>>6734476
When you can rail-rifle a Greater Daemon in one shot as opposed to running up and stabbing it with a knife, it's hardly a waste.

And that's really more the way Tau think. Maybe they'd stick it on a drill tip to enhance some mining rig or something. But a melee weapon? Pssh, no.

>>6734491
Oh! I get it! Is it the over the top ridiculousness? Ciphas Cain's great for that!

>>6734487
I don't think that being controlled by pheromones is even possible. The most you could say about them is that they're calmed. But I'll keep the book title in mind.

>>6734491
Actually, I originally got into it for the express purpose of trolling Imperium fans. Then I started to actually appreciate some other elements of the setting, but I still don't really like grimdarkness that much, which is why I do love the Tau.

>>6734491
Also, I really, really don't think they have to act like shit to survive. I think they just do out of habit.

>>6734497

For you, a good book to start with would be "Hero of the Imperium." It's a collection of three novels and three short stories about the adventures of a disillusioned commissar. It details his encounters with a Tau aligned human world, Tyranids, Necrons, Orks, blah blah...

>>6734469
Well there's the Nicassar, but Nicassar "limited physical mobility" prevents them from showing up on ground battlefields.

Which for a faction that is all about skimmers, anti-grav drones, and robot power suits this is just a big "What the fuck are you talking about?"

>>6734536
>Also, I really, really don't think they have to act like shit to survive. I think they just do out of habit.

>I know absolutely nothing about the pre-Age of Strife history of mankind, when mankind sought peace with aliens everywhere but was only confronted with war.

You really don't have a clue about Warhammer 40,000.

Get rid of that tripcode you dumb faggot. You're unworthy of running around with an Exalted related trip. You're like a faggot trying to remove the AWESOME out of Exalted, or the silly out of D&D. You, you ruin games.

>>6734526
>>6734536
...This is very strange. So you don't like the majority of the setting, one of the major elements it's based upon, besides one race? That's odd. If I were in your shoes I'd find a setting more suited and less grimdark. But whatever.

And a lot of it's situational. Humanity as a whole has been thrown back from greatness so many times. Emperor nearly got the Imperium running quite well, but Chaos fucked it up. And now shit's breaking apart. So they kill the Heretic, because a few chaos worshipers could doom a world potentially. They kill the Xenos, for the Xenos picked the bones of a lot of our previous greatness and most of them are dicks due to the grimdarkness of the galaxy. And they kill the mutant because... just because. We've lost our knowledge. We've lost our path to greatness. And we blame the Heretic and the Xenos. They will pay.

Basically a lot of zealousness. Which I like.

>>6734563
All right. I'll keep that in mind.

>>6734584
I'll cease bringing that up if we can avoid having an argument about it in this thread.

How plausible is it for gue'vesa or Kroot to join Outreach, really?

>>6734526
Eh, it's in the "Xenology" book that the Tau lesser castes have huge olfactory sensors in their mouths and are highly susceptible to various advanced chemical compounds that the ethereals produce.

They are basically mind-drugged to madly support and love the ethereals. Like an ant colony.

>>6734600
I love the Tau for the contrast they make to the rest of the grimdarkness. It makes their light shine all the brighter.

I'm also fond of the Orks, who are funny and optimistic in their own way, and Chaos has its moments of coolness.

>>6734618

It depends on how you define the Outreach Program, but I'd say perfectly acceptable. The Outreach Program requires people with special skills and knowledge outside of with at the Tau possess. They can bring Kroot on board since they are excellent hunters, trackers, assassins, or fighters. They can bring humans on board since they have a longer life span and are more adaptable.

>>6734651
Wait, wait. So the species that lives and does nearly nothing but war, the Imperium despite what is said actually does still have art and stuff, and Space Hell is okay but not the Imperium.

I too like the Tau, but more that I view them as a flickering light that exist a moment before a cruel wind blows them out.

>>6734584

This man has a point. I mean, goddamn, you're trying to make a Tau-based version of Dark Heresy while actively denying there is anything bad about the Tau empire.

... and I don't even think them being pheremone-controlled mindslaves is even that bad! But then, I'm a firm believer in the theory that the Tau are just new stock from the Necron geneseed created in case the Void Dragon needs some actual living soldiers who are still soulless technological adepts and incredibly easy to mind-control.

>>6734698
Just because 40k is about GRIMDARK, doesn't mean you have to make up silly shit.

>C'tans did it herrrp

>>6734626

It's also strongly hinted in Xenology that the Ethereals were genetically engineered by the Eldar.

>>6734686
Fair enough.

I do think that the Vespid would be useful too, since they seem to be the race most loyal to the Tau Empire aside from the Tau themselves, even if they are quite alien.

>>6734696
It's hard to explain. I don't like Chaos for anything more than some "evil is cool" glamor, although the Orks are, well, funny.

I don't really like your interpretation of the Tau, as I prefer to have their triumph be possible, but I need to go for a while to eat dinner.

>>6734698

There practically isn't anything bad about the Tau Empire. The only canon bad thing mentioned so far is that the Communion Helms that the Vespids use are a mind controlling device. Dawn of War doesn't count (although the Tau had a justifiable reason for doing that), and Xenology doesn't usually count because it has a bunch of weird fluff mistakes.

>>6734717
It's not as silly as it sounds. Guy once pointed out there's a lot of similarities between Tau and the guys the Necrons are made from who I can't remember the name of. There was also some other stuff, but I forget.

>>6734618

I would say it was a case-by-case basis. They might let a human in because he's an ex-mechanic who could help them disassemble or work some ancient human tech they found. Or maybe the let a very charismatic human in to act as a "face" when dealing with human settlements. Likely, though, they would be restricted to humans born on Tau-controlled worlds who had proven before that they were loyal to the Greater Good.

Kroot, I would say, would be mercenaries who had worked with Outreach before and had proven their skill to the point that Outreach put them on an effectively permanent contract, "joining" the organization and being granted insider knowledge in exchange for more pay and exclusive status as a member.

>>6734733
The Imperium's funny. Have you seen the ships? Walking castles as weapons? Hell the whole AdMecha and the fact the Emperor is now worshiped.

>>6734717

I see nothing particularly exciting about remarking that the Tau are physically frail, technologically adept, susceptible to mind-control and soulless (well, weak soul/no warp presence but whatever) - EXACTLY like the Necrons were before they took up machine form.

Anyway, it's a pretty popular theory, I just happen to find it pretty credible due to GRIMDARK. You can claim that Tau actually are shining points of light in an otherwise horrible universe, but I think that would be making up silly shit since it doesn't mesh with anything else in the entire 40k universe. To each their own.

>>6734736

Don't Gue'vasa get chem-gelded? Not that the Imperium doesn't pull that shit all the time, but still.

>>6734788

I think that non-Tau would be NPC "contractors" or "liaisons" for particular Outreach missions. Not permanent party members, in other words.

>>6734736

What I find interesting about the OP's setting is that he is explicitly keeping the Dawn of War Tau, along with Kronus as the start of the Outreach program. If he also accepts the Tau ending as the canonical one to the campaign, then he also has to accept the whole slave camp and human genocide bits. seems a bit paradoxical to me.

>>6734822
Nope, the current Gue'vesa are descendants of IG who surrendered to the Greater Good, and are said to be "content."

Says a lot about how many wimminz are in the IG, I think.

>>6734829
Because OP is a dumb faggot from /v/. That's why.

>>6734822

Why would they need to be? Not all people of the Imperium are carbon copies of one another. If you've read some more fluff, the humans on the edges of Tau space tend to welcome the Tau. There's even an instance of a human and a Tau drinking together in a tavern.

>>6734829

>slave camp

"reeducation" camp. I imagine they killed off the more fanatical empra-worshipers, screened the rest and let them go. Although some kind of Tau Abu Ghraib scenario is possible.

>human genocide

Forced birth control. At most it's ethnic cleansing. But really it just makes sense since humans are walking daemon beacons just waiting to attract some warp-based bullshit.

>>6734878

I smell me a xeno lover...

>>6734829
Oddly, that's orders of magnitude more humane than what the Imperium would do in a similar situation.

"You get to live but not make babies, because of treason" is nicer than "You get to die, because of treason".

>>6734878

It was more the bit about feeding humans to the kroot I took the genocide bit from.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYAjyJvPFfI

>>6734878
Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't the Tau just disbelieve in all the warp stuff and think that daemons are just another alien race?

I remember someone posting that they used almost all their military resources to take out a greater daemon of Slaanesh and thought that it was Slaanesh itself.

>>6734913

Oh absolutely, no question. But it is one of the things that gets pointed to in "The Tau are actually quite GrimDark / Dark Crusade doesn't really count" arguments.

You know why I think the Tau are interesting?Because they're another take on the 40k universe, a different kind of Grimdark.

Unlike the Imperium, or Chaos, or just about everyone else in the 40kverse, they don't want to kill everyone else. They're the only guys out there who legitimately want peace and prosperity for everyone.

But that's where their flaw lies. Their vision of peace and prosperity under the Greater Good is a utilitarian doctrine. The Tau are small, and poised on the brink of a huge choice as a race: how much is acceptable for the Greater Good? There's hope for the Tau, hope that they can retain their purity of purpose and unite the galaxy; but most likely they will either be consumed by a larger power, or their quest to unite all will drive them to further and further utilitarian calculations that will eventually make them no better than their enemies.

That's what makes them grimdark. Sure, they look good NOW. But can they stay that way? Can their hopeful light turn into a beacon of goodness in the darkness? Or will their quest to do so darken them the way it did all the rest? The almost inevitably of their fall is what makes them grimdark.

>>6734921

They are what you would call the secular race in the 40K universe. They are far too young to have gone insane with constant fighting, but they will learn, oh, but how they will learn...

>>6734921
They killed some Slaaneshi leader, believing with the death of this "Slaanesh" they crushed the might of the Chaos hordes.

:V Fu-cking dum-bos.

>>6734929
Actually, the sterilization thing was never proven; it wasn't even presented as likely. The narrator said "MAYBE this happened," in pretty much that tone of voice, right after saying that the Tau's reeducation camps were single-gender.

And yes, I think that I will allow Kroot and humans as PCs. Vespid too, unless someone has a good reason why I shouldn't.

>>6734945
Nurgle was here.

Tau ain't got shit on me.

exalted is a girl

>>6734960
No, no. They just heard the word Slaanesh, heard it before and knew it was important. So they assumed this guy was just a fearsome warlord.

I don't think the Tau believe in the Chaos Gods. It's still funny, it just shows they don't know much about the universe not that they are necessarily stupid.

Don't mind me, just waiting until the Tau create a sector-spanning AI system in control of missile silos and drones.

There will be blood.

>>6734964

I thought Vespids can't even talk to non-Vespids without communion helms. And only Vespid leaders get communion helms.

>>6734945

How the fuck are you supposed to make nice with the major races? What could they possibly offer to the likes of Eldar and Orks?

They are fools in their belief of the Greater Good. The only sane solution is to exterminate everyone else before they manage to do that to you...

>>6734964

And what about the "footnote in the annals of history" that the human population became after the Tau took over?

>>6734945
I think that Tau are interesting because of this too, although in my favored theme, they definitely can win. It's hard, but possible.

>>6734988
Ho, stop right there.

Tau heard from Eldar and human merchants about the horrors of Chaos, but they didn't believe it.

Tau = fucking stupid.

>>6734736
Mind control, castelock system, expansionists? Wait that sounds suspiciously like the Imperium of Man. Go figure.

Also
come on, the Imperium has living saints that glow with golden light who heal the sick by being so much as looked upon.

>>6734913
There are a lot of factions in the Imperium. A rogue trader would probably be like, "Hey let's go adventuring together." So whatever.

>>6735008
That's also why I love the Tau.

There are Grots running around Ork camps with more wisdom than all the Ethereals combined.

>>6735006
>they definitely can win

2/10

>>6735000
That could be a good reason, I suppose.

>>6735004
That's because there were tons of Tau and Kroot emigrating to Kronus.

>>6734964

I always thought that the narrator was giving the official Imperial line, but the visuals were showing what was really going on. Different strokes, I guess.

Vespid are a hivemind / insect race. You might have one with one of the helmets so that they can actually communicate with the rest of the group, but I'd keep them in the background. They could potentially act in the same way as Inquisitorial Stormtroopers - a quite rare resource that are deployed to combat specific threats.

Kroot are fine. You could give their career some advantageous mutations as talents. Could have one path being more about tracking, the other about front-line combat.

>>6735021
That's a good interpretation as well. It's interesting how the narrator never mentioned the shot of gue'vesa troops in the ending scene.

Now I'm wondering how we'll do planetary divisions and suchlike with humans and Kroot added...

>>6735006

Win?! There is no fucking winning. If you look at it this way, then the Imperium won (twice). Look what that has gotten them...

You can't defeat Chaos because change is the way of the universe, there is no way anyone can kill all of the Orks.

You might get lucky with the (Dark) Eldar and Nids. Fuck knows what the Necrons have got cookigns...

>>6735057
The scale of the galaxy is huge. The players probably won't be able to save the whole thing, but they can triumph in keeping the Empire safe.

>>6735014
Grots have more wisdom than everyone else in 40K combined, period.
"There might be guns that way. Let's go this way."

>>6734988

They aren't stupid, they are attempting to apply sane methods to a completely insane universe.

I think of them like investigators in Call of Cthulu - happy, normal rational folks who don't realise quite how screwed humanity is until it starts raining tentacles.

The Tau cannot possibly win.

The only way the Universe can survive is when the Imperium crushes Chaos and utilises the powers of the Warp to destroy the Necrons and Tyranids.

Tau cannot use the Warp as a weapon and are therefore defenseless against the Necrons.

If you're defenseless against the Necrons, you're already stillborn.

>>6735008

Not stupid exactly, just extremely naive. It's the same as when a religious nut runs over to you and starts screeching about hellhounds on his heels, you might think that there is some truth to the story, but that he is merely bloating the whole thing because he's nutters...

>>6735079

That's how I view them as well. In DH mechanical terms, I'd make Tau characters very resistant to Corruption (because of the Blunt trait as described in the previous thread), but they'd gain Insanity easier than human characters since their outlook and upbringing doesn't prepare them for the horrors of the 40k universe in the same way as the Imperium does.

>>6735076

Nowhere is safe as long as the Chaos gods are merrymaking in their filth.

>>6735111
I think that I'll do this. But insanity is easier to get rid of as well, thanks to Ethereal counseling sessions, and it's possible to get rid of one's disorders and drop madness levels.

>But insanity is easier to get rid of as well, thanks to Ethereal counseling sessions, and it's possible to get rid of one's disorders and drop madness levels.

Why don't you drop the difficulty of the encounters with three levels?

Not only are you a horrible world-builder, you're also a shitty DM.

Dark Heresy is supposed to be dangerous and deadly.

Are you fucking stupid? Go play D20 or something.

>>6735146
I wouldn't put it in such a rude manner, but yeah. I wouldn't base this off Dark Heresy with the direction you are going.

>>6735130

Get them used to counseling sessions, then kill off their Ethereal somewhere with no access to support. Watch them turn rogue or go mad.

>>6735146
Technically this is Ethereal Dawn, not Dark Heresy. But how am I doing shittily at world-building?

>>6735172
You must be Chris-Chan.

It must be.

>>6735168
Many of the themes and roles that the characters play are quite Inquisition-esque. The mood and other themes are different, but it seems closer to DH than RT.

>>6735171
This could well happen if the Ethereal is killed somehow, yes.

>>6735168

I dunno, why not? Combat will still be deadly. However, OP I'd make counseling restricted or maybe incur an XP cost to balance it out. There may be "permanent trauma" events, like whenever a player needs to spend a fate point to have the character survive, the character will not be able to get rid of the madness points incurred during that event.

>>6735193
You can still do spying stuff with RT. It's just DH is ALL over the grimdark. And you aren't, so it seems like it's not the right system for you to use.

>>6735202
Someone came up with the idea of having players be forced to retire if they gain too many insanity points over the course of their careers, no matter how many are removed (because they probably can't handle Outreach work well anymore), and I think I'll do that too.

>>6735214
I think that's mostly because the Imperium is so grimdark. The Tau Empire is much less so, and an Inquisition-like body operating in it would be necessarily less as well. I think that "nobledark" is what I'm going for; the setting is dark, certainly, but the people on your side are generally good to each other.

>>6735130

It shouldn't be too easy to drop insanity. Read the section in the Dark Heresy rule book (pp. 234-7). It takes 100xp and months of therapy to go down a single Insanity Point.

Let's accept that the Tau somehow are better at this than humans. Very debatable, but OK, fine. But given the mind-breakingly awful things that are out there, nothing short of a full on lobotomy is going to help some things.

The Imperium has mindwipes for when valuable people see too much. The process isn't pleasant. You can play as one if you have the Inquisitor's Handbook. The process involves a Pysker basically burning out all of your memories and personality and then building you a completely new set in its place. It doesn't always work very well.

The Tau don't have psykers, so they can't do the old brain wipe. If we assume that they have something similar though, only using cybernetics, drugs and hypnosis, you are still left with a somewhat broken personality who may be nothing like the individual he or she was before.

I just think it's a bit too easy on players and not true to the setting. I know you are trying to make the Tau be a lot more noble and bright, but it doesn't make that much sense in this case.

>>6735240
Well yeah. But even in normal DH the people THINK they are noble. For the Emperor, blah, blah, blah.

I am more addressing the fact that these Tau will, instead of defending the Empire valiantly (Which does happen, but only after much death) will instead be spending a lot of time dieing in humorous and insignificant ways. No offense, but this doesn't seem your style. RT involves a lot less death.

>>6735240

Incidentally, I don't think you should forget that Tau would have very few fate points. Technically they should have none since fate points are supposedly representing a kind of subtle influence on the warp nowhere near on the scale of psykers but still a surprising capability. But since fate points are pretty important to survival, I'd say just drop down the number of fate points the players get at game start.

>>6735298
What exactly are the differences, if they use the same basic ruleset?

>>6735286
The rulebook doesn't say that months of therapy are necessary, only that the XP are spent. There are multiple possibilities; I think that the Tau Ethereals can speed up the process.

One reason I'm doing this is because it's easier for Tau to gain IP in the first place.

>>6735214

The system is just a mathematical abstraction of physical events; Exalted can use the Dark Heresy system for whatever the hell he wants. You're confusing the setting of the game with the system of the game.

>>6735334
RT characters are a LOT more powerful that DH characters. They can survive a lot longer and don't get raped as much, because it's less about the grimdark of 40K and more about the over the top.

Hey Exalted, what fluff of 40K have you read so far?

>>6735334
>I think that the Tau Ethereals can speed up the process.

Don't these Ethereals have better things to do than rid stupid dumb grunts of Chaos nightmares?

Remember how the Ethereals deal with soldiers who have seen too much.

The Fire Warrior from Fire Warrior (durr) got strapped to a bed, forever in delirium by drugs, in a secret bunker.

>>6735334

"All buying back of Insanity Points should be properly represented as time and effort spent by the character in game."

Prayer, fasting, mortification of the flesh.
*LONG-TERM PALLIATIVE CARE*
Recuperation in quiet and pleasant surroundings.
Contemplation of the great holy works or other articles of faith.

No, technically not therepy. I was counting the palliative care one as therapy. Given the fact that they are removing insanity points I assumed that they would be treated in a sanatorium or asylum where therepy would be part of the treatment.

>>6735378
I've read the Tau, Necron, Tyranid, Chaos Space Marine, Witch Hunter, and Eye of Terror codices. And the stuff in the Dark Heresy rulebook.

>>6735387
That guy was probably too far gone for the Ethereals to help much. He was up against the Imperium and Chaos, alone, for too long. And he didn't even succeed in rescuing the Ethereal he was supposed to.

>>6735396
Those were all separate options, not all requirements.

>>6735387

I would say that the first recruits of the Project Outreach probably have a very hands on Ethereal on hand - someone like Aramaki in Ghost in the Shell's Section 9. There are probably very few of them to begin with, so each member is worth more to the group. Any losses will be sorely missed.

Once the group gets bigger (ie. once the players become more experianced and the project has been shown to be useful), the Ethereal will simply not be able to spend as much time with the teams, even if they wanted to.

>>6735397
Hey Exalted I suggest you give some good Imperium fluff a try. Dan Abnett's cool, read his Eisenhorn.

I know you don't like the Imperium, but give it a chance. It might get you to not hate the whole heresy persecution thing as much. Plus it also shows him slip into more radical behavior as it progresses.

Few fluff mistakes though, but the writing is good enough for it to be forgiven. For one thing, Psykers are safe in his books and do not asplode.

>>6735449
This does make sense. I think, though, that the teams will have regular Ethereal counseling sessions, to make sure that they're not going crazy (or corrupt). They want to keep all of their people intact.

>>6735463
It's not heresy prosecution that I mind so much; I see that institutionalized paranoia is useful, perhaps even justified, when it comes to Chaos. It's the xeno genocide that mostly gets to me.

>>6735475

An Ethereal's time is valuable. Regular counseling will be provided by trained Water Caste personnel. In cases of severe debilitating trauma or significantly disturbed behavior, the Ethereal may take the time to counsel the individual in question.

Stealing this.

My players want a Tau campaign.

I think I'm going to do a campaign where the PC's are Farsight rebels who need to take out the bunker of a newly organised "Secret Tau Service", by planting a curious computer virus in the bunker.

>>6735495
This might depend on how large Outreach is, and how many Ethereals there are. Things will probably be easier earlier on, though.

>>6735475

I would suggest that you ask players beforehand whether they are OK with the constant insanity cleanups. Some may prefer not to, as for many DH players the buildup in insanity is as much a part of charecter development as experience. It might seem a bit rail-roady to take it away.

You could leave the "brain-washing" safety net as standard during the early levels (say up to about rank 4 or 5), and then after that ask if the players are ok with it becoming more permenant. If you are playing as the very first Outreach group, then the Ethereals gradually moving back suggests that there are many more teams for them to worry about and one or two of the more experienced members may slip through the cracks. If people are happy to keep being de-maddened they can keep up the regular therepy, but it also won't penalise people who want to play characters that slip through the cracks.

>>6735526
I suppose that makes sense. I do want the tone of this to be player-driven, after all.

>>6735514
I should use that in my own campaign...

I'll bump this thread, in case anyone wants to contribute before I let it die.

Got to go for a bit, but you should try and think of a couple of career paths for each class. Something like:

Fire Caste - Scout OR Battlesuit
Scout paths get the sniper/railgun training, pathfinder training and eventually stealth suit training at top level.
Battlesuit path starts as a standard fire warrior, moves up to a squad leader/elite warrior (the guys with the white helmets) and ends with training to use an experimental battle suit (something akin to power armour, but with some flaw to represent the bugs that the Earth Caste have yet to work out)

Earth Caste: Drone Control OR ? (vehicles? all rounder engineer type?)
Drone Control - constructing and controlling a series of more and more powerful drones.

Air Caste - ?

Water Caste - "Adept" or "diplomat"
Adept functions as the Lore monkey. Diplomat is party face.

Kroot warrior - Tracker or warrior.
One path is closer to a scout, the other more frontline combat. Nearest analogue in Dark Heresy should be an assassin - quicker and more lethal under some circumstances than a standard soldier, but less armoured and with less ranged firepower.

>>6735912
Earth Caste seems like it's the trickiest to design; I'll work on that. I don't know if the Air Caste will be playable at all.

>>6735912

I like the Fire paths.

Earth Caste: Machinist (tech use, interfacing, jury-rigging) or Drone Operator (gets various different flavors of drone, advances allow operation of more drones at a time)

Air Caste: Pilot or Gunnery

>>6736007
>>6736076

Earth Caste is basically the techpriest career with servitor control as a standard instead of the militant path.

Air caste could be interesting, but only if you are running a shipboard Rogue Trader type game. I'd keep 'em as NPCs

>>6736076
I don't know if Drone Operator is that fitting for the Earth Caste... maybe the other career path would be a scientist of some kind. They might be better loremonkeys than the Water Caste, who are basically diplomats and administrators. Although they might be spies...

Hmmm, the Tau would surely be interested in the Necron and Eldar warp portals, as it's a better way of travelling than they currently have...

>>6736269
The Necrons have warp portals? I thought they hated everything to do with the Warp.

Here are some Tau Water Caste equipment from an Inquisitor supplement:

>The Tau Water Caste are often accompanied by small drones that incorporate both defensive and offensive capabilities, albeit minor ones. These drones are nimble and compact, propelled by small but efficient anti-grav units, and are similar in design to the larger drones used by the Tau in battle. They act not only as protectors for their masters, but also as tools of their trade; escort drones can be programmed to record and deliver complex messages, guide prospective clients to the Water Caste envoy, and record every exchange that takes place for later dissection and study so that future transactions can be better tailored to the individual in question.

>Tau Escort Drones follow the rules for Servo-skulls, with the following exceptions:

>* Escort drones generate D6+2 forcefield protection for both themselves and their masters whilst still active.
>* Escort drones are fitted with simple projector arrays that can display information onto a flat screen. With typical Tau ingenuity, these also incorporate twin pulse-pistols (in fact this takes up 90% of the projector array's bulk!). The Escort Drone has a BS of 50. The pulse-pistols have the following profile: Type: Pistol Range: E Mode: Semi 2 Acc: - Dmg: 2d6 Shots: 10 Rld: 1

>>6736290

They have portals that link up different worlds instantaneously. It's more evidence of there having "Oh God wat" levels of high technology than Warp technology. They can do that sort of thing without needing the warp at all.

>>6736349
Even better. Necron-tech is warp free, and extra tasty to The Tau. Imagine what they could do with that.

If the Necron's don't nom them in the process.

>>6736375
>Even better. Necron-tech is warp free, and extra tasty to The Tau. Imagine what they could do with that.

>If the Tau survive the 10,000 years of decoding Necron data.

>>6736326

>HPD (Holographic Projector Device)

>The gizmo is capable of projecting a sophisticated hologram, using a refined version of the technology employed in the Tau XV15 Stealth Suits. Designed specifically for the Water Caste, it can project holograms of others (such as the Tau's employer) or even the Tau himself to distract and befuddle his enemies. Many lucrative deals have been clinched in this way with the envoy hidden safely nearby in case things don't work out…

There are two patterns of HPD: Messenger pattern and phimera Pattern. A Messenger pattern HPD plays a prerecorded message. In the heat of battle, it is advantageous for the Tau to use this function to project an image of a fearsome warrior charging forward, thereby distracting his foe. A Chimera pattern HPD projects the image of the Water Caste Envoy himself.

>>6736410

>Man-portable Disruption Pod

>Some Tau vehicles are equipped with Disruption Pods- sophisticated scrambler devices that blur and contort the outline of their hull, making it more difficult for enemy weapons to draw a bead on them. The gizmo incorporates a small, man-portable version of the disruption pod, distorting the image of the envoy and making it extremely difficult to draw a bead on him.

>Polyglot Hedron

>The gizmo is the signature linguistic device of the Water Caste that instantly translates and transmits whatever the Envoy says in the native tongue of the character he's dealing with. This invariably has a positive effect on any deals the Water Caste Tau intends to close.

>The Tau only needs to sub-vocalise the words he is forming for the gizmo to pick up and broadcast them, so the net result is that it seems the Tau is chatting away fluently in the language of those he is facing. Alternatively, he can speak out loud in Imperial Gothic so that his companions can understand what he is saying even as the gizmo translates his words into the requisite alien tongue. Even when the Tau is speaking to an individual whose first language is Imperial Gothic, the Polyglot Hedron picks up the appropriate dialect, and broadcasts the envoy's speech in that pattern.

>>6736429

And my personal favorite:

>Alpha-Category EMP Device

Tau electro-magnetic pulse technology is used mainly by the Fire Caste to disable enemy armour. However, such powerful surges of energy can be used to disable all manner of machines from the humble blast door to the mighty Land Raider, and Alpha category EMP devices, although extremely rare, are said to be able to shut down anything up to an entire hab-block's power supply for a short time.

The gizmo incorporates an Alpha-category EMP device which can be triggered by the expenditure of a single action. When it is triggered, no electronic devices may function within 6D6 yards of the character that activated the device for the next D6+1 turns. This has the following effects:

>Power weapons are rendered as normal weapons of the same type for the duration of the pulse. Hence, a power axe would do the same amount of damage as a normal axe, an electro-flail the same as a usual flail, and so on.

>Power armour is rendered entirely dysfunctional, robbing its owner of any characteristic bonuses or special abilities conveyed by it for the duration of the pulse. The full weight of the armour will also act as a massive encumbrance to the wearer, reducing his or her speed by 1. Force fields are nullified whilst the EMP is in effect.

Ah, lovely. Thanks for the devices.

>>6736453

>Any bionic parts will not function at all for the duration of the EMP pulse. Therefore a character with bionic legs will not be able to move faster than a crawl as he drags himself along, a character with bionic eyes will be rendered blind, and Emperor help a character with bionic lungs…

>The following items of wargear are rendered completely useless for the duration of the pulse: all lasguns and laspistols, multi-lasers, digital weapons, lascannon, plasma blaster, plasma gun, plasma pistol, Xenarch death-arcs, Gauss flayers, Neural shredders, chainblades, chain weapons, shock mauls, Dark Eldar Agonisers, Electro-flails, Neural whips, smoke grenades, Blind grenades, photon flashes, haywire grenades, stasis grenades, all force shields and fields of any type, temporal phase distort generators, all auspexes and gunsights, cyber-mastiffs, psyber-eagles, psychic hoods, servo-skulls, cogitator banks, mechadendrites, vehicle engines and any other electronic device at the GM's discretion. Needless to say, the Adeptus Mechanicus aren't too keen on EMP devices…

How expensive are these EMP weapons?

Since Tau don't massproduce them...


You can just as well talk about Vortex grenades, Shokk Kannonz, D-guns and Kai guns if they're rare.

>>6736464

>Archeotech

>This arcane gizmo is an item of indeterminate function but immense value,a relic of a glorious age of technology unearthed from the deepest strata of the underhives that the Tau has managed to swindle out of some unfortunate prospector. Up till now, the Water Caste envoy has been unaware of its function, and has not attempted to use it, preferring to let the Earth Caste give it a thorough examination. However, in the heat of battle, sometimes the element of choice is removed…

>Roll a D6 on the chart below to determine its function:

>1.The Archeotech emits a symphony of beautiful music, but has no useful game effect.

>2.The Archeotech is a powerful force field that springs into place around the Tau, surrounding him in a blue sphere of crackling light.

>3.The Archeotech is a stable anti-gravitic propulsion unit that bears the Tau into the air.

>4.The Archeotech is a personal teleport unit.

>5.The Archeotech is an immensely powerful beam weapon comparable to a multi-laser in potency.

>6. The Archeotech uses sophisticated field technology to create a localised anomaly in the gravity field around the bearer.

>>6736504
>4.The Archeotech is a personal teleport unit.

FUCK YEAH TORN IN TWO

INSIDE THE WARP!

>>6736487

Alpha category EMP devices are quote "extremely rare" unquote so it's not like the party is going to be walking around with a backpack full of them. But for extremely dangerous missions, I can see the Water Caste requisitioning one.

>>6736521
>4.The Archeotech is a personal teleport unit.

FUCK YEAH NECRON TELEPORTER

>>6734803
By "shining points of light" I think he just means that theirs is a society that isn't as doomed to split between hedonism and wretchedness like the empires of mankind or elf. Maybe their society is a bit rigid, and a bit fundamentally ignorant about the nature of the universe ("Hey guys, we killed Slaanesh!"), but they're still a young empire, still optimistic.

>>6736658
Quite so. That's exactly why I like the Tau so much, and, truth be told, I would hate to see them fall.

>>6736464

>The following items of wargear are rendered completely useless for the duration of the pulse: Gauss flayers

>Gauss flayers

TAU EMP CAN DISABLE NECRON WEAPONS

PUT THAT IN YOUR PIPE AND SMOKE IT ALL YOU "THEY'LL NEVER FIGURE OUT THAT SUPER ADVANCED NECRON TECHNOLOGY" FAGS

>>6736487
>Since Tau don't massproduce them.
>Tau
>Don't massproduce

...
Wut?

>>6736779
>implying you need to know how something works (e.g. a nuclear missile) in order to disable it (hit it with a big rock lots)
>implying necrons aren't just using crappy weapons because it's no fun curbstomping people otherwise
>implying smurfs aren't giant faggots

>>6736866
Well, at least it's a start. It says that gauss flayers work by some means that can be stopped by an EMP.

>>6736866

You don't get it.

>such powerful surges of energy can be used to disable all manner of machines

Such as, for instance, a damaged Necron Warrior attempting to phase out. Presto, one disabled necron available for study.

>>6736884
Not really surprising. Flayers, IIRC, drag atoms and molecules off their targets via some sort of EM attraction. EM pulse would fuck with that.

On the other hand it's really silly of them not to use a better weapon for all their troops - why not arm ALL their warriors with heavy flayers, or antimatter teleporters or other stuff. They've had enough machine power and time to build it. Just another piece of evidence why this war is just a lulz strategy game for them.

>>6736464
There is no way an EMP is going to disable the majority of grenades (they're chemical, not electrical), or a psychic hood, and what the fuck "all gun sights?" Your EMP has rendered my telescope useless!

So please apply some logic if you're going to toss in EMPs. Secondly there is such a thing as "hardening." ...and I'd probably let an AdMech with ferric lure attempt phase-canceling to shield himself.

>>6736926
Right but an entity that can at will MOVE THROUGH SPACETIME is probably resistant to a dozen yard burst of electromagnetic radiation.

Otherwise you've fried all the circuits as well as wiped whatever data was stored.

>>6736926
You'll note that it states all sorts of fields, weapons and devices but NOT teleporters.

Barring DM fiat, no canon dice.

>>6737057
Psychic hood is a focusing device implanted in a psyker's brain - it's electronic, or whatever the Imperium uses in place of electronics.

So yeah, loss of power to the psychic hood would mean a Librarian's psychic powers would be somewhat less acutely powerful, and he might be unable to snuff out other psykers' spells. He wouldn't be unable to wield his powers, though, unless the hood is built without failsafes and the induced power surges jumped straight from the machine into his flesh, causing brain damage.

>>6737057

That's not some homebrew, dude, this is a canon description of a device featured in the Inquisitor game.

>majority of grenades (they're chemical, not electrical)

You'll notice the grenades listed are electrical. Haywire grenade, photon flash, stasis... the smoke grenades are a dubious case but apparently those are electrical too.

>and what the fuck "all gun sights?"

Poorly worded but it logically means all electronic/bionic gun sights and auspexes.

>Secondly there is such a thing as "hardening."

Not from an Alpha Category EMP.

>>6737116
No man a psychic hood is worn over the head and is an alignment of psychically infused crystals.

You're thinking of a psy-booster.

>>6737227
It was a call for logic. And considering there's no treatise on hardening I'd probably let "best," or reliquary/archaeotech gear possibly function.