# Interest Check: Eldar or Titan RP



## maelstrom48 (Sep 5, 2012)

I have a couple of solid ideas for roleplays, but before I start planning in depth, I wanted to see if either idea would generate any interest. And if so, which one people would be more interested in doing. If you're interested in either, please give some feedback!

1) *Stolen Sun* - An Eldar RP - This would focus on a mixed bag of Eldar slaves held captive in one of Commorragh's many Wych arenas. The Succubus of an up-and-coming Wych Cult is holding a series of games, and her surprise finale is certain to please the bloodthirsty crowd. Your team is the spectacle. You will battle for your lives against the deadliest creatures the galaxy has to offer, all for the baying masses' enjoyment. But little does the Succubus know that you have plans of your own. Some details:- Your character will be a captured Craftworlder, Exodite, Dark Eldar or Harlequin (though you will need _strong_ justification for the last). Former Aspect Warriors and specialist Dark Eldar such as Incubi would be permissible, even encouraged.
- You'll be fighting a series of progressively more difficult challenges, ranging from Orks to Guardsmen and perhaps Astartes.
- Envision 'Gladiator' meets 'The Great Escape'. You'll start out in the Wych Arena before ultimately making your possibly-foolhardy bid for freedom. This "static" setting will change very suddenly.
​2) *Let Slip the Hounds* - A Titanicus RP - This idea is much less developed but has a lot of potential. So I'll jump right to the bullet points.- You are a Princeps in command of a Warhound-variant Titan. This means you will tell the story from the point of view of your Princeps, Titan, or both--since in combat, the Princeps melds his mind with his Titan's Machine Spirit.
- The relationship between the Machine Spirit and the Princeps will be very important. All Titans are bellicose, to varying degrees, but it's safe to say that each machine has its own personality. So does your Princeps.
- You will also command your Titan's crew--its two adepts as well as its techpriest. This is important because your Titan will be damaged or disabled from time to time, so you will be forced to coordinate repairs, maybe even intervene personally to ensure your survival.
- Enemy will likely be a Chaos Titan Legion, although I'm also considering Eldar, Orks, or Tyranids. In each case, there will be teeming masses for you to kill. Or vice versa.
- No Reavers, Warlords, or Imperators. Sorry. They're too awesome. You'll be sticking to the Warhounds (Mars, Lucius or another variant pattern).
- RP will begin in orbit, where you have the chance to introduce your Titan and its crew. Then comes planetfall, and ensuing shenanigans.
​Let me please reiterate that these are concepts, subject to change. If there are any questions or concerns, let me know so I can improve the ideas!

Eldar and Titans will be tricky to portray properly. In either case, I'd expect participants to do plenty of research before submitting a character sheet.

If there's interest, I would post the recruitment thread in approximately 1 month.

If someone wants to steal either idea, cool with me. I'll absolutely join either RP.


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## Jason_kharo (Jun 6, 2013)

I love the sound of a Titanicus RP, really different. Especially considering the player is a 25 foot tall God-Machine...


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## Romero's Own (Apr 10, 2012)

*Stolen Sun:* An interesting idea that looks and sounds like you have put quite a lot of though into it. I think this would be a good RP, particularly with some of the new kids around the block and some regulars alike.

*Let Slip the Hounds:* An idea similar to one I personally toyed with the "Titan" Comics. An interesting and quite fresh idea.

Personally I have to say that both would likely receive interest.


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## emporershand89 (Jun 11, 2010)

I like the "Let Slip the Hounds" idea you have there malstrom. I would definitly be interested in trying this out if you do start it. Though I think you would have to grant individual Titans as a single crew might be a little tedious and become boring real quick.


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## Jason_kharo (Jun 6, 2013)

Romey Baby, will you be the Tech-Priest to my Titan's Broken Heart? 

Saying that, the Eldar one is quite a good idea, I can already think of a good character for it too, yet the prospect of walking around in Titans is very tempting.


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## Romero's Own (Apr 10, 2012)

Jason_kharo said:


> Romey Baby, will you be the Tech-Priest to my Titan's Broken Heart?


What have I created? 

But on topic, I was always weary of Titan RP's as the temptation of god-modding is so much bigger, they are "*God*-machines" after all.

Its too easy to just go "I shoot it and it goes boom. Really big boom."

Not shutting down your idea because you can work around it, it's just kept me away from attempting them personally.


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## Jason_kharo (Jun 6, 2013)

I assume that it wouldn't be just based around the Titans, obviously there is all the powering aux systems, re-routing stuff, managing weapon cooldowns and chatter between the crew of it. I can understand where your coming from though...


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## maelstrom48 (Sep 5, 2012)

Good point on the God modding. That's partially the reason I decided I should keep it to Warhounds. After reading the Siege of Vraks books, I can appreciate that even a Reaver is nigh unstoppable. At least in his Night Lords trilogy, ADB demonstrated that Warhounds are killable.

It also helps that Titans are only involved in conflicts of epic scale. So I could easily introduce enemies capable of harming them, such as Shadowswords. Or in the case of Tyranids, enough god damned Gaunts to crawl up the Titan's legs and clog the joints, immobilizing it.

And I'm curious to see how people would pull off POV in a Titan RP. At the least, it'd be a good writing exercise for people.


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## Romero's Own (Apr 10, 2012)

Of course, I'd jump at the opportunity to try out RP'ing as a Titan. I was just suggesting a problem there might be.

I've always thought that the Tyranid Bio-Titans are pretty scary, but then thinking about having to physically fight off Gaunts armed with a spanner would be awesome!


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## Jason_kharo (Jun 6, 2013)

After reading about the Bio-titan in the Ultramarines Book, they scare me.

I dunno now, I'm split between the opportunity to play a Titan, which I can see as being more so favoured towards shooty shooty, action, meanwhile the Eldar one could be seen as more personal type interaction.


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## Deus Mortis (Jun 20, 2009)

My concern with the Titan RP would be what else would you do other than blow stuff up? For me, the Eldar one has more promise in terms of all round RPing (character development an interaction + fighting + problem solving + etc) where as I would be worried the Titan RP would just be 25 foot tall bolter porn.

Just my two cents...


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## Jason_kharo (Jun 6, 2013)

Deus Mortis said:


> My concern with the Titan RP would be what else would you do other than blow stuff up? For me, the Eldar one has more promise in terms of all round RPing (character development an interaction + fighting + problem solving + etc) where as I would be worried the Titan RP would just be 25 foot tall bolter porn.
> 
> Just my two cents...



I agree with the above. I change my vote to the Eldar one.


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## Angel Encarmine (Jul 5, 2011)

I'm definitely in if you start up an Eldar RP. I like the concept of a gladiator/escape type RP, and the eldar are definitely badass enough to make it interesting.


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## maelstrom48 (Sep 5, 2012)

Alright awesome! _Stolen Sun_ was my original RP concept and I'm glad it's well-received.

Concerning _Let Slip the Hounds_, I think it could still work. RPs generally follow this pattern: You have your exposition where you introduce your characters, followed by your first team interaction, then minor action, interim, major action, etc etc. 

The Titan RP would adhere to that same pattern. You have your Princepe interacting with each other on the transport vessel, receiving their briefings, prepping their war machines for planetfall. Then you have the planetfall scene, combat to secure the landing zone, then another interim in which the Princepe receive details for their second mission. Throughout each combat, you have interaction between the Princepe via vox link, as well as each Princep's dealings with his crew and of course, his Titan's Machine Spirit. If anything, this RP would have the same level of interaction as a standard RP. It's not as if your Princeps will be in his Titan ALL the time.

Now keep in mind that Warhounds are Scout Titans. Frontline combat would occur, but it won't be the sole duty. I envision a campaign similar to IA9: Doom of Mymeara. A sort of running battle where smaller Imperial Titans pursue enemy war engines across a whole continent, engaging in running battles throughout. Finding the enemy is the Warhound's true role. The difference between Titan scouts and your poor bloody infantry is this: Warhounds can not only find the enemy, but they can engage him with a good chance of success. And there would definitely be times where the maniple splits up in order to recon more ground. Like a lone Astartes, an individual Warhound can take perfectly good care of itself.

Lastly, a Scout Titan Princeps has good potential to be a dynamic, interesting personality. A meek soul won't be granted command of a God Machine. You need iron willpower to get a Titan's Machine Spirit to cooperate with you. Not only that, but the scout role demands an independent personality and quick wit, able to operate effectively even when far removed from the chain of command, or even the rest of your maniple. A Scout Titan Princeps must have the ability to take the initiative.

I really don't mind which RP I start, but I just want to make the case that either RP could work well.


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## Roy-o-Roma (Apr 16, 2013)

Maelstrom you pointed out exactly all the items of potential I was going to point out withthe titan rp, as the gm you already acknowledge these points, so I see the titan rp having a high.chance of success. I would say bonus points as the gm you sometimes take on the role of machine spirits forcing writers to have to convince the machine spirit/you to cooperate, once convinced you can tell the writers they can have their machine spirit back under their rp control.


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## Ouroboros (Apr 2, 2013)

I could suggest even a combination of the two. Place it in the 13th black crusade with the short lived alliance of the imperium and eldar, it provides a enormous scope for the RP and I imagine many of the other enemies of the imperium would crawl out of the woodwork to leading to a variety of missions available. But, allowing people to play a eldar revenant titan pilot would also add the whole cross species conflict especially when dealing with the mechanicums view of xenos technology. In the novel farseer the eldar also need human help to travel through the warp, and its a terrifying experience for them so if they required human assistance to transport there titans to a battlefield not connected to the webway I could see that having interesting plot implications to. Tell me please if it sounds stupid but just adding my 2 cents.


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## unxpekted22 (Apr 7, 2009)

"You'll be fighting a series of progressively more difficult challenges, ranging from Orks to Guardsmen and perhaps Astartes."

.....heh......heh...ah, man.


A question about the titan one, the concept portrayed is built around a one player rp it seems. Would all players control their own titans and if so how many players would you be thinking? Or would the group of players be the crew of one titan?


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