u/Thraxmonger

Crushed to learn today about the lack of mod support. I realize this does not preclude the use of mods entirely, and that truly dedicated modders will still make the effort. But it will be an uphill battle, based on brute force, and will significantly restrict the modder base to the semi-professional mod community.

I'm not at all trying to throw shade on people who just want to play the vanilla game and wrap up a linear narrative in 35 hours. But the Star Wars game universe is already awash in narratively focused games. Zero Company should have been our chance for XCOM3. Instead, we are getting an on-rails campaign with no real sandbox dimensions, and extra cash demands for ARC Trooper skins.

Speaking as a hardcore strategy fan, this is a disaster scenario. Certainly not a Day 1 purchase. I would have paid $80 for a game with fulsome mod support. I guess the $50 price tag is fair, given the game we aren't getting.

Thanks to all who've been providing advice in my journey.

My players have gone through Session 0 and have now selected an Inquisitorial Patron, Ordo Xenos. I allowed them to pick Boons from the Inq books. Among those they chose was Arms of the Alien.

I'm trying to think of some realistic approaches for how to handle this. I'm well aware that simply having these weapons could be seen as heretical, and I do plan on this causing issues with other Inquisitors, and possibly AdMech contacts as well.

While I don't believe simply having Xenos weapons puts someone in the category of Radical, it certainly would lean in that direction. But I'm more concerned about the practical dimensions of this Boon.

• How do the players get replacement ammo?
• Besides Inquisitors and Mechanicus, who are the groups most likely to object to it being in the party's hands?
• Weapons like Pulse Rifles are highly analogous to Imperial weaponry in terms of function, but Shuriken and Splinter weaponry operates using a psychic link to the user. They literally don't have triggers! So how would I represent this in-game for any non-psyker classes? Or should I avoid this entirely?
• Speaking of Pulse Rifles: Is it me or are they linearly superior to almost everything else that's available via this Boon? Penetrating 6 with better range options, better average damage than all save a few Kroot guns? Their only downside is a slightly lower rate of fire on the Rifle and no Rapid Fire on the Carbine (though that gun also gets Close, which is pretty fun because it appears to be a one-handed long gun?!). Combine this with the fact that these guns would have the lowest barrier to entry for human users (save maybe the Graviton weapons), I can't think of any reason besides RP ones to pick anything but the Tau option.

PS: Some of the content in this supplement is WILDLY unbalanced. Giving the party access to Grey Knights, even as a once-in-a-campaign boon, feels crazy to me. I can barely conceive of giving them "Chapter Ties". (Though the "Once in a Campaign" restriction is the only sensible thing about it.) Arms of the Alien is almost an auto-pick boon and basically removes questions and gear questing for the entire ranged weapons portion of the early and mid game.

Thanks to all who have provided feedback on my journey so far (I've had a few threads on this topic).

So I have had a Session Zero (with throwaway characters) that gave the party a glimpse into Foundry VTT and IM mechanics. My group are RPG vets so it went pretty well. I think they have bought in.

I made Session Zero in such a way that resulted in their main campaign characters getting generated before their Patron got chosen. It's a good party composition, and they chose Inquisition as a Patron faction. I did not provide Inquisition Guide character creation options, as I wanted them to openly consider the core roles (and the story did not guarantee an Inquisition Patron). But I am allowing them to choose Boons and other benefits from the Inq books.

My question is: story-wise, and mechanics-wise, how do you bridge Core characters and Inquisition options for advancement? Talents and gear are easy, and if a new character needs to get rolled, I will obviously allow them to choose roles etc from the Inq books. Any other tips from GMs who have bridged characters between books?

Thanks to all who responded to my prior(1) threads(2) as a new GM.

I'm hoping people can share some of their favourite YouTube and/or Podcast content that features IM gameplay. My players are asking for it for "study" purposes, to get a better feel for the system, etc.

Bonus if the creator is using Foundry VTT, but it's not essential.

Thanks to everyone who responded to my thread about "preparing" my characters for their likely deaths.

One question that came up organically was the method of "XP inherit".

1. For death, rules as written only describe one method for this: If the character eventually dies in a manner that reflects their Divination, the next character created by that player begins with bonus XP equal to half of the deceased character's total XP. But it is also clear that many people house rule this, with most responses ranging from 75%-100% inherit from the deceased character.
   • So my question is: how do you use these rules? I actually love Divinations for the narrative flair and don't want to lose the uniqueness that goes along with fulfilling one. Would something like this be practicable?
     • Death without fulfilling Divination: 75% inherit.
     • Death fulfilling Divination: 100% inherit.
2. For Retirement, the retired character becomes an NPC under the GM's control, and the player receives a bonus equal to half of the retired character's earned XP to spend on their next character. Now I absolutely love the retirement concept, especially with the retired characters remaining in the setting, possibly becoming contacts, allies, patrons, informants, or mission-givers for future characters. And maybe even being reactivated.
   • My question is: 50% inherit is not a strong recommendation to retire, even if this person becomes a Pocket NPC. Would promising 100% inherit to your next character be too much? The baseline requirement of "fulfilling your long term goal" would still need to be met of course...

Thanks for the feedback!