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[nenjin]

It’s up to you. It isn’t a magic spell or psychic power, so there should be reasonable (for 40k) restraints on it.

[Grim Portent]

That said the restraints might be more in terms of what having a governor like you actually means rather than making the ability not let you easily befriend one.

Governor's have a lot on their proverbial plate (and often their real one ) and can't just give away stuff to a friend, especially not one who they don't owe any favours to. A foot in the door with important organisations, maybe some higher level contacts in the local military and law enforcement, perhaps a shinier handgun if the governor rules an affluent planet.

Remember that governor's are usually part of a large extended noble family, with in-house and inter-house rivals vying for the governor position, the Administratum pressing them for tithes being maintained or increased, Mechanicus contracts to negotiate and inter-planet trade deals to negotiate in general, planetary cultural matters to attend to, a large coterie of advisors and previous friends and obligations, and a whole host of other things that limit how much aid they can really give this firebrand preacher they've taken a shine to.

It's also possible the governor is just incompetent and basically a figurehead, that happens to sometimes.

[nenjin]

The limits to inquisitorial authority are poorly understood at best. That’s why I didn’t have any of my players be the inquisitior, they only played acolytes. It gave me a bit of wiggle room with npcs, because my PCs were very apt to go “we’re the inquisition, now give us exactly what we want!”

Which is part of the game but isn’t so much fun for a GM to role play out. It’d have been refreshing for my PCs to role play to get what they want, actually. Instead of just resting their metaphorical dick on every NPCs forehead.

Usually what my PCs wanted was expendable man power (bullet sponges). And imperial governors are plenty capable of giving that out.

On the other hand, there are plenty of examples where the inquisition and other imperial organizations come to blows over stuff like this, which should be where the restraint comes in for players. Executing corrupt or ineffective leaders is part of their job, but shooting up stuff over a turf or jurisdictional tiff can create real problems for PCs if they over do it. Either at the site itself or later on down the line through the organs of the inqusition or other imperial bodies.

[Grim Portent]

Expendable mooks are probably the least problematic thing to give to PCs though, at least provided they act they a bunch of cops/private guards rather than obediant robots.

[Digital Hellhound]

Yeah, you need to institute IC limits to throwing Inquisitorial authority around when running DH. Maybe the Inquisitor wants you to be subtle and will get angry if you misuse his power (but it's still possible, for the players). Maybe the local governor is a heretic and being public with your authority actually makes your operations harder in the long-term. Maybe a rival Inquisitor is in town and declares the players frauds falsely claiming Inquisitorial authority. It's a cool tool for the players to have, so it shouldn't be useless - it should just have consequences.

[nenjin]

Expendable mooks are probably the least problematic thing to give to PCs though, at least provided they act they a bunch of cops/private guards rather than obediant robots.

It’s annoying for combat though. I had to end up inflating the size of the fights due to this, just so they felt even slightly threatened.

[Egan_BW]

One of the most interesting things about the Imperium for me is that all these different military and government bodies like planetary governments, the inquisition, and the mechanicum are all essentially different factions who are only really supposed to be allied, usually. One of the jobs of the inquisition is to go and fight the parts of the imperium that aren't playing nice. Effective rank between factions is basically just a function of firepower and leverage.

So in DH, when the players try to use an amount of power that they technically have but effectively can't enforce, it's a good time to drop an ambush or something on them.
A decent prerequisite to strongarming the local government would be making sure that the Navy is on your side first. The imperial navy doesn't seem to that much focus, but they are the ones with the biggest guns.

[Grim Portent]

Expendable mooks are probably the least problematic thing to give to PCs though, at least provided they act they a bunch of cops/private guards rather than obediant robots.

It’s annoying for combat though. I had to end up inflating the size of the fights due to this, just so they felt even slightly threatened.

I suppose. I tend to lean towards fights being difficult if the party goes in unprepared and easy with the appropriate prep or a bit of luck, bar the odd boss fight type scenario where I expect them to either run away quickly or risk a TPK barring luck or devious thinking.

So if the party does their investigating and finds out where the threat of the day is and then goes and reports it to the authorities and go storm the place with support troops I kind of expect them to have an easy time, it's their reward for remembering that there are other people they can go to and use their social skills on rather than rushing in head first and relying on combat talents alone every time they meet a ganger or a cultist or a seditionist noble.

[Grim Portent]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I decided to revisit Alpha Legion for the first time since early 6th(maybe late 5th) edition. Managed to get a nice metallic blue/green scheme down for the first time.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Also have more or less finished converting Typhus into a Mousillon Marine. Needs based obviously, but I'm happy with how far he's come since I started the conversion process.

[Dorsidwarf]

One good trick to remember if they're a little too fond of the ol' "inquisitorial authority, be our bitches" is that inquisitors have theoretically limitless power, but in actuality they only have as much power as people are willing to let them. Inquisitors who openly throw their weight around are unlikely to make many friends, are highly likely to be noticed by the cults/xenos/xenos cults/grots in power armour that they're trying to find, and if they really annoy the authorities then their cavalry might get stuck in traffic, or receive the wrong address due to a cogitator error, or ring up the gangers 10 minutes before you arrive and let them know a raid is going down.

While the only people who ever really get away with saying "no" to an inquisitorial retinue with authority (sans Inquisitor himself) are ship captains and rogue traders, the higher up the vast sea of imperial nobility/bureacracy/rank you get, the more likely they are to take offense at a bunch of scraggly thugs from the inquisition ordering them about - and the nastier they get when they know they cant be hit back for it.

[nenjin]

Some of those things came in to play during the campaign I ran. But PCs being PCs, of course I got guff for it.

"We go to the Upper Spire."

"Ok, what are you bringing?"

"Uh, everything? Duh."

"O...k.......you start walking through the gilded walkways of the Upper Spire, taking in its majesty. Crowdgoers and pedestrians scatter out of your way, looking on in alarm, and before too long you're approached by the House Guard of a local noble house as you cross near their demesne. They point their weapons at you and demand that you stand down."

"What? That's bullshit. This is 40k."

"Is it bullshit? You're toting a Melta Gun, you've got two Autoguns out while walking around the rich people's shopping district. You're wearing combat armor, mirror shades, rebreathers and the Assassin is clearly jacked up on Frenzon. You're looking like a hit squad. You're the most heavily armed people on the street not wearing some official, recognized house, PDF or Arbites uniform. This isn't the Under Hive."

"Oh, well....yeah, ok, we only take our side arms."

:| <---- MFW players understand the world they're playing in but min/maxing and jaded PC experience make them forget how to behave in it.

Lessons for next time I suppose.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

I think the preponderance of fantasy role-playing games where you really shouldn't be allowed to bring an armory everywhere but are because of misinterpretations about the status of postindustrial weapons causes severe disruption in the judgement of people playing sci-fi role playing games that have things like "mass society" and "enforced laws". I see a lot of this sort of problem in Shadowrun too, and apparently so does everyone else from the infamous "go buy some fast food without getting yourself killed" starter quest.

[nenjin]

That's when the real shit happens though, IMO, is when you're going out for a cheeseburger and the best strap you have is a pistol, because it's the only reasonable thing to have at the time. That really forces players to think and act tactically, outside of the box. Versus: everyone shoots full auto at the guy in cover until the mass of bullets is so overwhelming he can't help but die.

So while they're not wrong, because as a GM if my players are lightly armed there's a good chance I'm going to try some shit just to spice things up, it's still annoying to have to constantly remind people of place and setting and get them to voluntarily dial back the power gaming.

And then you have the players who look at you and just point blank say "I'm bringing everything because that's the kind of character I play" and you are forced to drag them through a scene just to disarm them.

To be fair though, it was the first 40k RPG that anyone had tried to run, and after that we went to Black Crusade and Rogue Trader where, by and large, there was no reason or excuse not to be armed to the teeth at all times.

Reminds me of another time in Rogue Trader I sent an Assassin after the Rogue Trader captain in his quarters. Assassin gets in, shoots the Captain, I roll damage and he goes "oh it bounces off my power armor."

"Uh, I mentioned it's the dead of night when he attacked, and you were sleeping. Do you sleep in your Power Armor?"

"........yes."

*sigh* As a player I can appreciate the impulse to not let the GM hit you when you're at you're weakest. But as a GM it's damn frustrating to try and run any scene where the drama is anything but what amounts to a Final Fantasy 1 fight. I constantly have to argue with my group about surprise rules, setups and conditions because none of them ever wants to feel like something got the drop on them.

It's really a hold over of our first D&D experiences, playing shit like Temple of Elemental Evil. We hammered out a procedure to survive that module and other campaigns like it. "We listen to the door. We check the door for traps. We open the door. We have the thief Move Silently and Hide In Shadows. We have the thief check for traps." Every. Single. Room. Until it basically sucked all the fun and excitement out of traps because we mechanistically figured out how to trivialize them. (Although to be fair in ToEE, those traps were nasty as fuck.)

[Trekkin]

Well, if there's no cost to the player for being paranoid, they have nothing to lose and everything to gain by being eternally ready for everything. Time limits are one way to add such a cost, at least for the players constantly checking every individual brick for traps; making gear cost resources to maintain in readiness is another, albeit a clunky one, but there are ways to make it feel like a benefit.

[Grim Portent]

Social costs are one of my preferred things when people act wildly inapropriate. You don't show up to a noble meeting dressed like scruffy mercs or gangers and expect anyone to like you. If you're showing up armed and armoured you need to look either professional or fancy, otherwise you need to disarm and dress up, concealable weapons are a thing and most people should have at least one.

Doll the party face up nice and have the others try to look vaguely matching if possible, if you've got the cash then identical suits of good/best quality carapace and matching weapons so you look like a formal military unit is also pretty good for showing up at a noble's suite, especially if your face can play the dashing military commander role.    Earlier on in the career you likely can't even afford a dress uniform for everyone, so going too high up the ladder is likely not worth it when looking for help.