Quote:

It is the 41st Millennium...
For more than a hundred centuries, the Emperor has sat immobile
on the Golden Throne of Earth. He is the master of mankind by
the will of the gods, and master of a million worlds by the might
of his inexhaustible armies. He is a rotting carcass writhing
invisibly with power from the Dark Age of Technology. He is
the Carrion Lord of the Imperium for whom a thousand souls are
sacrificed every day, so that he may never truly die.
Yet in his deathless state, the Emperor continues his eternal
vigilance. Mighty battlefleets cross the Daemon-infested miasma
of the warp, the only route between distant stars, their way lit
by the Astronomicon, the psychic manifestation of the Emperor’s
will. Vast armies give battle in his name on uncounted worlds.
Greatest amongst his soldiers are the Adeptus Astartes, the
Space Marines, bio-engineered super-warriors. Their comrades
in arms are legion: the Imperial Guard and countless planetary
defence forces, the ever-vigilant Inquisition and the Tech-Priests
of the Adeptus Mechanicus, to name but a few. But for all their
multitudes, they are barely enough to hold off the ever-present
threat from aliens, heretics, mutants—and worse.
To be a man in such times is to be one amongst untold billions. It
is to live in the cruellest and most bloody regime imaginable. These
are the tales of those times. Forget the power of technology and
science, for so much has been forgotten, never to be re-learned.
Forget the promise of progress and understanding, for in the
grim, dark future there is only war. There is no peace amongst the
stars, only an eternity of carnage and slaughter, and the laughter
of thirsting gods.

If you'd be interested in playing an Only War game, post here.

The game won't start for at least another month, due to online access issues and suchlike. Three players minimum, six or so would be near the max. Schedule would be evenings EST/EDT, days can be determined later.

For those of you who needwant books, here's some PDFs: http://wh40klib.ru/rpg/Only%20War/ Be warned, some are biggish.

Regiment Creation: The players have 12 points to distribute. (Optional regimental flaws can grant extra points.) The players must have a consensus about their regiment. If the players can't agree (or don't want to bother), I will create a regiment for them.

Homeworld

Death World 3pts You're all from a world that tried repeatedly to kill you.
Fortress World 3pts You're all from a world that dedicates itself to war.
Highborn 3pts You're all noblemen and such.
Hive World 3pts You're from a massive city-world.
Imperial World 1pts Typical Imperium citizens.
Penal Colony 2pts Everyone's a convict.
Penitent 3pts The regiment atones for the real or imagined sins of themselves or their ancestors.
Schola Progenium 3pts The regiment was trained at the special military schools of the Imperium.
Agri-World 3pts You're from Nebraska.
Feral World 4pts You're from a wild world.
Feudal World 3pts You're from a world with nobles, fiefs, knights, and peasants.
Forge World 4pts You're from a factory planet run by the Adeptus Mechanicus.
Frontier World 4pts Wild Wild West (In Space)
Mining Colony 3pts "We were deep in the earth, with our faces to the coal."
Post-Cataclysmic World 3pts Someone threw giant rocks at your planet (or something), and you survived, poor bastard.
Shrine World: 3pts Your entire planet is a church.

Commanding Officer
Bilious 2pts Your CO is a paranoid
Circumspect 2pts Cautious and careful
Choleric 2pts Leads from the front
Fixed 1pts Never changes his mind
Maverick 2pts Doesn't follow directions well
Melancholic 2pts Hesitant and pessimistic
Phlegmatic 1pts Whatever.
Sanguine 2pts "Means hopeful. Also, point of fact, means bloody."
Supine 1pts Religious and traditional

Regiment Type (This is very important and should probably be decided first.)

Armoured Regiment 4pts TANKS 'nuff said
Reconnaissance Regiment 3pts Scout Walkers or Chimera APCs
Drop Troops 3pts "AIRBORNE!"
Hunter-Killer 3pts FLAMETHROWER tanks. Or Scout Walkers. (One per squad.)
Light Infantry 2pts Maneuverable and fast, lightly armed
Line Infantry 2pts Standard guys with lasguns
Mechanised Infantry 3pts The squad gets an APC.
Siege Infantry 2pts "We dig 'em, then we die in 'em."
Artillery Regiment 4pts Big, big guns
Guerrilla Regiment 4pts Stealthy fighters
Grenadiers 4pts Opposite of stealthy fighters
Heavy Reconnaissance Regiment 8pts Everyone gets a Walker
Rough Rider Regiment 5pts Everyone gets a pony
Close Assault Regiment 3pts Specializing in hand-to-hand combat
Mechanised Reconnaisance Regiment 3pts Instead of a walker, you get a recon tank (based on the Chimera.)
Rapid Reconnaisasance Regiment 8pts One Tauros rapid assault vehicle (think armed dunebuggy) per player (two players can instead have a Venator two-man vehicle.)
Salvage and Recover Regiment 3pts Your tank has a bulldozer blade. Instead of a cannon.
Super-Heavy Armored Regiment 7pts Your superheavy tank eats regular tanks for breakfast.

Training and Special Equipment Doctrines (You can choose two total; they are optional; they can be from the same category.)

Training Doctrines:
Close Order Drill 2pts Close formation fighting
Die-Hards 3pts Harder to kill
Favoured Foe 3pts Pick your enemy
Hardened Fighters 2pts Hand-to-hand fighting
Iron Discipline 3pts Never break
Sharpshooters 4pts Everyone aims
Survivalists 4pts Eat bugs, and like 'em.
Anti-Aircraft 4pts Shoot down flying things
Anti-Armour 4pts Shoot down tanks
Close Quarters Battle 5pts Don't shoot until you can see the whites of their eyes
Heavy Lancers 5pts For Rough Riders, heavy troops
Infiltrators 4pts Clandestine operations
Skirmishers 4pts For Rough Riders, light troops
Crusaders 3pts Holy Warriors, offensive
Defenders of the Faith 2pts Holy Warriors, defensive
Defenders of the Omnissiah 3pts Work with the Adeptus Mechanicus
Demolitionist 4pts Get a demo vehicle and other cool things to go boom
Sappers 3pts Build things! Unbuild things!
Snipers 2pts Replace your main weapon with a sniper rifle


Special Equipment Doctrines:
Augmetics 2pts It's easier to get replacement body parts
Chameleoline 3pts Camoflauge https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdUq-7oLx2M
Combat Drugs 2pts Drugs are good, mkay?
Demolitions 3pts Easier to get things that go boom
Scavengers 3pts Easier to get... anything. Bad if you get caught.
Warrior Weapons 3pts We get SWORDS!
Well-Provisioned 3pts Extra consumables, such as ammo and food.
Cavalry Mounts 5pts Ride 'em, cowboy
Covert Strike 5pts Easier to get stealth gear and weapons
Electro-Vox Warfare 4pts More electronic toys
Forward Observation 4pts Stealth, binocs, cameras
Vanguard 6pts Extra demo / siege gear
Automated Artillery 2pts The squad gets a sentry gun.
Bonded to the Machine Cult 3pts Bonus to get advanced tech items
Cyber-Enhanced 3pts Everyone gets free cybernetics
Breachers 2pts Get a Hades Breaching Drill
Reliquary 1pt The squad gets a holy item. This makes the squad more faithy.
Servitor Accompaniment 2pts Replace your Comrade with a Servitor

Regimental Drawbacks (Optional, these provide extra points instead of costing points.)
Cloud of Suspicion 3pts Big Brother is watching YOU.
Condemned 6pts You're sent into suicidal missions. Because, you know, you've been bad.
Cult of Chivalry 3pts Everyone thinks they're Knights of the Round Table.
Dishonoured 3pts Now you must prove how you're not a miserable failure.
Doomed 7pts YOU'RE ALL GONNA DIE. But if you take this flaw, it'd be particularly horrific.
Honour Bound 4pts Like antebellum Southerners and 17th century Europeans, you settle your disputes by offering to kill whoever offends you.
Incompetent Leadership 5pts http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GeneralFailure
Lost Home World 5pts Alderaanian regiments, sign up here
Mistrusted 3pts No one likes you.
Poorly Provisioned 4pts For chow today, the mess hall is serving last week's dirty laundry!
Regimental Rivalry 2pts It's all those guy's fault.
Scarred by Loss 4pts Everyone has PTSD
The Few 5pts There's not many of you.
Conscripts 3pts You were drafted, and you're not happy about it
Iconoclasts 3pts Your religion is weird, and the Ecclesiarchy watches you carefully.
Primitive 5pts You'd much rather have your trusty flint spear than this weird lasgun thing. Not available to vehicle regiments.
Tainted 3pts The warp wants YOU.
Warp Delayed 4pts Your regiment was dispatched decades ago. You'll have trouble resupplying, since you don't exist any more, and all your family are dead of old age.

Any points not used are not wasted; they can be used to upgrade the Standard Kit every Guardsman will start the game with (and will be able to resupply on a regular basis.)

These options are listed in the Only War core rulebook and in the Hammer of the Emperor sourcebook. These are the most important books for players; if you don't have them, download them at the link given above.

Shield of Humanity lists other options for specialists that I didn't list. We'll only use them if we do a mixed regiment with lots of Support Specialist characters.

I'm interested in doing a Special Operations regiment of some sort; as the missions assigned to that sort of unit would be more diverse and dramatic. Even basic sentry duty becomes more important when you know your unit got the call because it's a particularly high-value asset you're guarding or a heavy attack is expected. Bigger risks, bigger rewards, more excitement.
I'm not as familiar with Only War as I am with the 'core three' games; so I'll defer regiment creation attempts to others. I'd like something where I can play a marksman type though.
-Edit- Just taking a quick stab: Fortress world, Maverick CO, Guerrilla regiment, Well-Provisioned and Covert Strike; drawback: The Few.
-Re edit- Just realized that Cadian Kasrkin are in Hammer of the Emperor. Great armor, good guns, and a chimera. What's not to love?

OK, I just finished editing to add all the options. Some have been intentionally omitted.

As PCs, be assured that all your missions will be diverse and dramatic, except for the ones that intentionally aren't.

An interesting alternative to the "Special Forces" type is the Hunter-Killer Regiment, who gets to be big damn heroes a lot and also has a giant flamethrower on a tank.

Infiltrator is also an interesting training doctrine to consider for SpecForces regiments.

Any regiment has room for a sniper-type character, except perhaps Superheavy Armor. Even armored regiments can use one, since the Leman Rus doesn't fit large squads (especially if the Operator brings his comrade aboard.) You can play a Weapon Specialist who takes an Advanced Specialty later, or a Ratling.

I will allow mixed regiments, but there should be a good reason.

Here's an interactive character sheet: http://www.daemonstorm.com/sites/default/files/Only%20War%20Character%20Sheet%20%28high-res%29_0.pdf

Thanks for the sheet.
The Rapid Recon regiment kinda tickles my fancy too; just because the Tauros is a fun model. (Everbody gets a Warthog!)
But I've got a soft spot in my heart for the Cadians, and the Kasrkin are the badasses from planet badass. The Kasrkin as listed in Hammer of the Emperor get an auto-cannon armed Chimera; that's basically a light tank in its own right as well as being able to haul the entire squad and all their toys. And it's got a hullmounted heavy flamer for the pyro. It's no Baneblade, but against anything short of a landraider equivalent it can get the job done. Plus it only needs a crew of 2 (Operator and Comrade) whereas the Leman Russ needs 4-6)

Anyways; I've got a character pretty much as 'done' as I can be without knowing what kind of Regiment we're going to be. Rolled max on my Ballistic Skill and took Weapon Specialist. Obviously the details are waiting on more information on our regimental homeworld and focus.

Just remember when arming vehicles that the squad has to resupply their ammo using Logistics checks. Autocannon is easier to get ammo for than, say, a heavy bolter, but the only weapon that doesn't require resupply is the multilaser.

I thought that the whole point behind a regimental standard kit was that it was the stuff that was always available. Wouldn't, say an armored regiment ship out with a massive supply of Battle Cannon shells for their Leman Russes?

Yes, and they'll be locked up safe and sound in the regimental ammo dumps until you present paperwork in triplicate with proper authorization stamps on forms 1273F, 3245H, 253243N, 234B and C.

The game is unclear about how much ammo you get for things like this, but my rule of thumb is: You get a full clip (for the given weapon) and a couple of reloads (depending on the size of the clip, and taking into account such traits as Well Provisioned.) These ammo reloads become a virtual part of your "standard kit." Unfortunately, sometimes you just want more dakka http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MoreDakka than the Munitorium thinks you need. Extras have to be requisitioned by the squad based on what they think they need (and what they think they can get away with.) Often, such ammunition will be considered Mission Requirement, which makes things easier to get (and much more comical when you end up with a duffel bag of dirty uniforms instead.)

There's no such thing as a free lunch.

Hey, I am interested in playing a medic in the squad that Finny is playing in. A Cadian regiment I believe. I will have to learn the rules but I am a fast learner. Thanks

-Alice

Hey, Spry Sam here with a good amount of interest in playing Only War! I'm thinking that, as a brawly sort of fellow myself, I'd play towards a Brawler character.

Kasrkin for the Win!