After re-reading the Gaunt's Ghosts 'The Lost' omnibus and the Cain's Last Stand novel I was struck by the idea of a game set on an occupied world. Instead of playing regular guardsmen the characters would be either local resistance fighters or survivors of the battle for the planet, the remaining IG or PDF, fighting desperate a guerilla war against an overwhelming enemy. So, would such a game drum up any interest?
This message was last edited by the user at 16:00, Wed 09 Apr 2014.

Yup.  Wouldn't even mind playing pre-made regiment and or character to get an Only War game really going!  I like the idea of a guerrilla tactics, rather than light armor or other "gear" oriented games as well.  PDF might even be interesting, being a non Ascension like character is the appeal to me about the IG before the game even came out.  I think this might place more emphasis on players working together if planet is being overrun. or I could be completely wrong again.

What I cannot decide is what would be more guerrilla fun, overrun by hive minded 'Nids or long range weapon oriented Tau.  Or just Chaos being Chaos, me thinks the enemy would be important to what kind of guerrilla tactics ensue. Just my two sense.

I'd be in for that.

Overrun by 'Nids is a short campaign as they will devour everything on the planet and leave it a barren rock devoid of everything including the atmosphere.  Course finding a vessel to leave the planet would be fun, but any warp capable ship would likely be long gone making the prospectt more than simply dire.

In reply to Arbentur (msg # 3):

PDF v.s. 'Nids reminds me of a Ciaphas Cain novel, "Last Ditch" or one of them where the PDF and IG have to unite to fend off huge amount of 'Nids with seemingly no escape.  Used the capitol city of the planet, the swarms were so large even scum gangers united to fend off bugs. 

A city could be made for a lot of social interaction with guerrilla tactics. Urban combat against 'Nids, I could see a squad act like a WWII anti-tank group taking out the Biggun's.  Having to come to the aid of the poor, sick and whom ever can make it to that supposedly "last" void ship out.  Short and sweet, sounds like the campaign, a slow retreat taking out Nids on the way to safety?

Or Aliens III, only hand made weapons allowed;)

*shudders*

Alien III with only hand made weapons allowed would be like playing russian roulette with every chamber loaded. :P

But yeah the 'slow' retreat off a planet can be a nice compelling story as you have a mix of IG/PDF/Gangers/Random hivers all trying to get out and they can all be represented perfectly fine using Only War.

That would be very interesting.
I would prefer a more "humane" enemy than the Nids.
In my optic, there is NO hope when the Nids attack and the game would end  after 48 hour ingame time.

How about the good old orkish horde or the "normal" human anti-imperials?
They both give a wide reach of adversaries

I agree that the 'retreat' storyline might make a good story, but it's not exactly what I wanted to try. The idea was for a campaign where the planet it is set on is occupied, its remaining civilian population subdued, and the main battle essentially over. The players would then be the thorn in the side of the occupation forces, conducting sabotage, assasinations, gathering intel for when the Imperium comes back(?) etc with the rest of the resistance/survivors. Perpetually running low on ressources (ammo, weapons, manpower) they would have to be creative to have a chance. As for the enemy I was definitely leaning towards one of the more 'understandable' hostile races, those who would conceivably occupy a planet for whatever reason and not simply cleanse/devour it, the tau, orks, chaos etc.

There is a good Gaunt's Ghosts book set on a Chaos occupied planet.  That would provide a very good guide to a nice guerrilla war campaign.

I must admit I am very much intrigued by the idea. Tau might be a good enemy since they tend towards subduing/controlling over genocide, unlike most other 40k factions.

I would think for such a campaign starting above rank 1 might be a good idea. Theoretically, we already survived the s**tstorm of the invasion, and it would really add to survivability, given the overwhelming odds we would face.

This seems like an interesting idea, and the whole "mix of survivors" kind of thing would allow for a more easily diversified cast as opposed to something like "hey guys you're all Cadians". I always liked the diverse background options for characters in other 40k RPGs, it's just usually a little harder to squeeze out of Only War.

In reply to DethBySquirl (msg # 10):

Regardless of the enemy, I would be up for this in a heartbeat.  Questions of course though: )

Would there be regimental creation, or would this be bi-passed?  Would Dark Heresy characters be part of the fray?  Any idea about planet type?  No matter, I would play a one eyed Operator, without a vehicle with a gang of scum and Imperial scribes on an ice cold feral world against 'Nids and Tau just to get another crack at OW.

I would probably skip a joint regimental creation and simply create a regiment beforehand. I've tried to do the creation process on rpol but it ended up taking way to long, with players having tunnel vision as to what they each wanted to and not having an open mind to other ideas. As for DH char. being included, probably not since I feel the differences between the old and the 'evolved' system has grown too great. I was leaning towards a highly industrialized Imperial or Hive world for the setting as this would give me the widest possible options for both urban and rural mayhem.

I saw one game where each person was allowed to create their own 'regiment' while the GM created a Core Regiment.  Though in this case it would possibly represent multiple Guard Regiments on the planet that were destroyed and the PC's would be remnants from each.  Since after creation the standard kit wouldn't matter, the differences would be moot.  So if you were inclined you could make (or use a pre-gen) 'core' regiment for anyone that didn't want to build their own (or use a different one in one the books) and that would be a theoretical baseline so to speak for reinforcements/other good guy units we run across.

Tau and Chaos are also very good and diverse enemies.

I support that we only use the Only War rules. The system is diverse enough to create a "regiment" for ganger scum and a "regiment(s)" for agents of the inquisition.

Here is a quick example for a suggestion of a ganger backgound/regiment, just to show the possibility:
hiveworld, choleric, siege/costum, hardened fighters, scavengers

(hope it is not to many details to classify it as character creation as in references to the forum rules)
This message was last edited by the user at 19:59, Fri 11 Apr 2014.

And completely different mindsets.  Tau would likely more feel like a simmering rebellion against the 'oppressors' that many of the population likely buy into the Greater Good concept.  Chaos would likely feel more like shattered remnants in a constant post-apocolyptic situation hoping that the Imperium thinks the planet is worth sending reinforcements before everyone is wiped out, turned into slaves, used for Chaos rituals (Any of the Four major Chaos Gods and their debauchery).

It doesn't have to be one of the Big Bads, at least on an obvious level. A successful invasion/rebellion, perhaps from a neighboring planet/system, with the players as either the remnants of the defending PDF or just angry locals, deserters from the invasion force, or the survivors of the failed IG deployment to stop the invasion could be interesting. I'd imagine it with a similar environment to, say, Allied forces (with local resistance fighters and Nazi defectors) in occupied France during WWII. Perhaps with a subplot along the lines of the whole thing being Chaos orchestrated.

True.

Simply a number of planets trying to break form the Imperium to carve out thier own view on how it should all work/start their own empire would give a much harder setup as the remnants of those loyal to the Imperium since you woldn't know who is positively a traitor or a loyalist...especially if those in charge have the populace duped as it often is easy to do so talking from a 40k perspective.

Ok, it seems there is more than enough interest. So I'll put my thinking cap on and get to work on the game some time during the next couple of days.