Hey everyone. I'm a newbie both to the game and to game mastering, and 'm going to try to run a one-shot game t get more people on campus interested in the game. Since I've only played a few games before, I'm having trouble establishing difficulty bounds for the encounters they're going to encounter.

Here's a basic overview of what I have planned:
4-5 characters with 1000 experience.
The setting is a feudal world where things have been running amok. Psykkers on the planet have been having strange nightmares for months, and the previous team of acolytes disapeared without a trace. They will be met by their Inquisitor's contact in the capitol of Nemo. My plan is for them to take a trek to the capitol city in a commandeered Chimera. During the trek they are waylaid to help some travellers who appear to be pilgrims, who are actually cultists. These cultists subtly focus their attacks on Claudius, but they are defeated fairly easily. Then at the capitol city they will investigate the happenings and attempt to deduce what is going on.

If they havn't figured out where they need to go by the third in-game day, then Claudius goes missing-Good news and bad news-He's easy to follow because he took the chimera with the tracking chip (+20 tech use). The bad news is that he took the chimera, leaving the acolytes to find their own transportation. Depending on how they roleplay this, and what they attempt to do, they'll end up doing anything from taking donkeys to calling in a new chimera from the port.

On the way, they'll have one encounter with some more cultists. This battle shouldn't be any more difficult than the previous one.
The arrive at the destination, deep in a forest, to find a crumbling ruin with a triangle-shaped door. Obviously this is an evil place. Just as obviously, Claudius has descended below, although for what purpose, they cannot say. They descend through a small maze and find several small rooms that have been abandoned for years. At the end is a triangle-shaped chamber supported by three circular pillars with a pentagram on the floor. As they enter, they hear Claudius scream. Then enough plaguebearers (Yay nurgle!) to be a serious, but not quite lethal, threat. When they either triumph or decide to retreat, the ruin begins to crumble. They need to run away, taking a few agility tests to avoid taking damage.

Then they drive like hell back to the capitol. Behind and occasionally in front of them, vegitation wilts and dies. When they come in sight of the capitol, it is on fire. If one of them looks through the magnifier, they will be able to see the core law enforcers ad guards of the city leading a fighting retreat towards the port. A successful perception check will allow them to identify that in the center of the retreat is none other than the Baroness herself. They can either join in the battle, attempt to rescue the baroness without joining battle, or leave her to perish. This will obviously affect what happens in the climactic finale at the spaceport.

Convinced that everything is going to hell and the handbasket is just around the corner, and recieving calls from the port saying that they are under heavy attack, they retreat to the port. If they helped in the battle, the Baroness and a handful of her top guards (including a veteran sergeant that the Donian commander detailed to be her bodyguard) pile into the chimera before they leave. If they just rescue the Baroness without winning the battle, then the only person to come with her is that same sergeant. If they leave her to perish, no one comes with them (obviously), and half of the Donians guarding the spaceport are dispatched to attempt to save her, meaning that the acolytes will be more pressed for time at their destination.

They arrive at the port to find it under earnest attack from another feudal lords’s forces, this one obviously in league with foul warp entities. His forces are accompanied by more plague bearers, and his followers seem to take more punishment than they should. They radio in frantically to let the chimera through, and they pull into the ground vehicle bay. What they do next is up to them, but they will most likely make for the shuttle that is still on the ground. Then they find out that they have to complete several actions before the shuttle will be ready. The squad of guardsmen detailed off to guard the shuttle will do so, and they rescued the Baroness, she will get aboard. The sergeant and soldiers, if present, will accompany the party (The sergeant is of equal level to the party.)

The tasks they must complete are:
-Open up air traffic control and contact the Misericord in orbit around Caligula. (Fight some feudal warriors to gain entrance, then hold them off for a few rounds while the tech-priest completes the necessary rituals)
-Rescue the technicians who can refuel the shuttle (Kill several plaguebearers standing guard outside the dormitory, escort them to the main hallway)
-Shut down the auto-air defense grid which is in emergency mode (Have the tech-priest deactivate these in the security station, right next to the commissary)

Then, as the players successfully shut down the air defense grid, the food on the trays rots and corrupts. The acolytes feel a scuttling on their skin, but when they look, nothing is there. If any soldiers were rescued with the Baroness, one of them drops his mouth agape, tries to say something, and then has blood flow out his ears and eyes as bloodboil kills him. Around the corner comes none other than Claudius-A new Claudius. A Claudius who is sickly, with a scaled, bloated form and two small horns projecting from the top of his head. The acolytes will need to make a fighting retreat back to the shuttle, hopefully killing Claudius the Daemonhost before he kills them.

QUESTIONS: I’m working on a table to have extra enemies (only feudal warriors) appear as the turns go on, so I would appreciate any advice here.

If anyone has any suggestions for how many and what sort of statline these fellows should have, that would also be appreciated. I’m thinking cult initiates (p. 337 Dark Heresy) for the cultists (very original, I know), but I’m not sure what to use for the feudal warriors. This is a world that is, technologically, figuring out the ways in which mass blocks of musketeers change warfare, but I’m not sure what to do for these.

Finally, I need to know about our erstwhile friend Claudius. He is meant to challenge, and possibly kill, a party of 5 tier three characters accompanied by 4 feudal soldiers. How bound should he be?

Here is the information my players have:

Caligula
Population: 3 billion (estimated)
Tithe Grade: Exactus Minimus
Geography: Two small continents with plentiful island chains. Most of the larger island chains are populated, as are the continents (Tropical forests with mild rolling hills, several arid regions in between larger hills).
Government Type: Feudal
Planetary Governor: Her Baroness Quintilla Odessa
Adept Presence: Moderately low. Choir Telepathica in Odessa’s capitol city of Nero. One Adepta Sororitas Abbey in Clementia. Administratum (Port Catellus).
Military: Large armies in the control of the feudal lords and ladies. Odessa is the Governess by right of might of arms, for her forces control the lands surrounding Port Catellus. Three platoons of Donian IV Guard troops (The 7’s ad-hoc rifles) ensure that no lord or lady gains delusions of grandeur and attempts to seize the port by force of arms.
Trade: Caligula has deposits of promethium, as well as vast mineral resources that may be exploited when the asteroid mines of Sinxsta are depleted in M43. Its current largest export is fighting men of the Caligulan 1st and 2nd.

Message from Toth: Greetings. I trust that you are prepared and ready for an undertaking in the Emperor’s name. Soon, a shuttle will arrive in port with the word “Gray” somewhere in its name. You are to proceed to this shuttle which will transfer you aboard the freighter “Misericord,” bound for Caligula. There you will meet the rest of the cell to be dispatched to Caligula. Normally I would entrust this to a more cohesive unit, but unfortunately, none of my more cohesive groups are in the area. This being so, I must rely on whomever is along the route of the “Misericord.” You will meet your fellow travelers onboard, and arrive on Caligula in approximately 5 days time. A friend by the name of Claudius will meet you when you touch down in Port Catellus. He’s a large bore who will talk your ear off if you give him half a chance, but he’s the best ear to the ground we have on Catellus. Please find enclosed a collection of items you might need.
-Fide est tua scutum, ira, tua ensis. Modo en morte officium finis.

Hi Casmiricus, welcome to the GM fold.

Just some friendly advice. If you're looking for help, you'd be better to summarize the background and cut to the question. That's an awful lot of text for people to wade through to get to the question of help with combat stats.

Thanks Aethel. I'll just put them separately here:

1) What level Daemonhost would truly threaten a party of 5 1000exp characters

2) What would people reccomend for statlines of feudal warriors from a world that has recently discovered blackpowder weapons?

3) How many Plaguebearers would challenge a party of 4 1000exp characters?

1) Every level of Daemonhost would seriously threaten them to say the least...

2) I would use the Heavy stats from the Rulebook or the stats from the adventure in the Game Master Screen.

3) One Plaguebearer should be sufficient to challenge them (depends on the weapons of the characters though) as at least half of them would most probably fail their fear test..

Casmiricus said:

Hey there Casmiricus. Hope you don't mind me not reading over all that... it's late in the day and the like. I will give it a good look-over sometime in the future. That said...

1. Even the thrice-bounds will most likely slaughter off the entire group. Keep in mind that the 12 Toughness Bonus (remember the Daemonic TB/SB x2 modifier!) means that unless they get some *REALLY* good Righteous Fury rolls or holy weapons... though re-reading through your post, I see they're accompanied by four feral soldiers. 9 vs. 1 even the odds a bit, but there's also the psychic powers to take into account. I'd say if you *REALLY* have your heart set on a Daemon Host, use the thrice-bound, but be ready to have some "Deus Ex Machina" to save your characters from certain death (This Deus Ex Machina possibly involving said Daemon Host escaping, in favor of killing the Acolytes, setting the scene for a second Scenario ). Unless you're group is very well equipped (which I doubt due to this being a Feral World), they're probably going to need said DEM.

2. I'd recommend using the Cultists/Heavy statline (most likely Heavy seeing as how Feral/Feudal Worlds breed a whole different type of toughness into its inhabitants) and just switch everything in their lines with Muskets/swords/stuff from the Feudal Section of the Inquisitor's Handbook.

3) One should be more than enough of a challenge, though pending how they're equipped maybe two or three. I'll never forget throwing a Horror at my first RP group (there were 7 of them at 1k experience) thinking they'd struggle with it and the only issue being one of the Scum players "accidentally" blowing off the arm of the other Close-Combat scummer with his Autopistol (Full Auto fire while the other guy was in close combat). Between the two of them though, they bought a bionic arm for the scummer who lost it seeing as how he didn't feel like "burning a faithpoint on something as minor as a lost limb" . In fact, thinking of that... I'd say two Plaguebearers would probably be more in the challenging range, since they might flatten one. Maybe have a third there, though make sure you have some type of "balancing" factor in case they end up getting into deep trouble.

Of course, if those Plaguebearers materialize very close to the Acolytes, then you might want to stick with one... I'm assuming with this that they're getting a turn or two to try and gun down said Plaguebearer(s).

1) I am dead-set on the final baddie being a Daemonhost. Note, though, that they don't need to kill it, just slow it down. Thank you very much for reminding me about the unnatural toughness bit-I had completely forgotten to note that down. The good news is that I rolled snakeyes for the toughness, so it only has a TB of 4.

Also, at least two members of the group have Autoguns with drum mags, and the Baroness's bodyguard is carrying an inferno pistol (What? Spoils of war. He's a kick-ass fighter. He's fought all across the segmentum. It was a gift from a commissar whose life he saved. You can't prove anything different. I HAVE SPOKEN!), so they're not going in without a hope or prayer. Also, assuming that they do the best thing and rescue the Baroness and snag a few feudal warriors, their *ahem* honor will not be satisfied without a buying-time-for-the-important-ones-to-get-away-last-stand-charge if things go very badly.

Also, if they rescue the Baroness, I'm subtracting 1d5 wounds from it, to represent the damage the Imperial Soldiers outside would have done to it.

I'm not partucularly worried about their continued survival (Hell, if only two party membes make it, that's fine), since this is only a one-shot adventure and school is about to let out for the Summer, liteally scattering the party all across the west coast.

2) How does this strike peple as a statline for the wariors? Adapted in equal parts from Felatrish's musketeers and the Heavy.:

WS BS S T Ag Int Per WP Fel

30 26 45 40 25 20 25 30 20

Movement: 2/4/6/12 Wounds: 10

Skills: Awareness (Per), Common Lore (Calugula)(Int), Speak Language (Low Gothic)(Int), Speak Language (Caligulan)(Int), Carouse (T),

Talents: Basic Weapon Training (Primitive), Melee Weapon Training (Primitive), Frenzy, Double Team, Unshakeable Faith

Weapons: Sword, Axe, Spear, or some other primitive CC weapon. Musket (30m; S/-/-; 1d10+2 I; Pen 0; Clip 1; Reload 5 Full)

Gear: Uniform, Tribal garb (2 body, 2 legs, 2 arms), 5 shot and powder, Charm

3) I think I'm going to go with three plaguebearers. The baddies are going to step out from the behind three different pillars at three different distances, so they should have time to take them down. Also, *cough* the players might get a situational PlotDevice bonus to their fear checks if they start rolling very poorly. Hee. THEN (or if they roll very poorly) they'll need to run like hell.

Also, I just noticed that the Misericord is actually a name of a ship in the Dark Heresy book. Whoops.

1) They have AN INFERNO PISTOL!?!?! Good god man . In that case, a Daemonhost is a perfectly acceptable final enemy. Are you sure that rolling Snake-eyes only gives it a TB of 4 when the Daemonic trait is added? I could have sworn it started with a bit more than that as base Toughness... ah well, wouldn't be the first time I'm wrong . What kind of psychic powers are you kitting the thing out with? That makes quite a difference in how you're going to play the DH and how much damage it will be capable of doing to the group.

2) Why the low agility? I can see intelligence seeing as how these guys probably aren't selected for their ability to think and reason, but I'd say their ability to get out of the way of harm (and musket balls) might make them better warriors. Other than that, I'd give them the "Survival" skill.

3) Have them only make a single fear test to even things out a bit. This way they won't have a high probability chance of running away and gaining corruption points. You may also want to have them be allowed to use some of the "special RP bonuses", like having a cleric begin spouting out prayers to bolster their backbone and what have you.

1) They only have an inferno pistol if they rescue the Baroness. This isn't assured, since on of them is playing a Penal Legionairre who raped a senior officer-He's also the only one with the drive skill, so he might ignore the rest of the party and just break for home. Daemonic is like unnatural toughness, except holy weapos, force weapons, and psycic powers (Hello psyker's chance to shine).
So far the only two powers I've decided on are bloodboil and regenerate. Perfectly wlling to take suggestions on powers, since I've never played a psyker, never taken damage from a psyker, and the only psyker I played with got shot in the face and then gored by a rampaging grox, and then eaten by an alien, burning through all of his fate points.

2) I've given them a low agility because current battle tactics are to stand in a line and shoot the hell out of each other, with no real emphasis on dodging. Other than that, Survival(int) added.

3) I was only planning on having them take one fear test from the start-I'm evil, not cruel.

Hello there Casmircus. Im not sure if this reply is too late to help but in the psychic power department i have found that Catch Projectiles works rather well for a daemonhost as it is rather intimidating to see your incredibly expensive and custom made Hand cannon useless. Also my personal favourite is Compel as a few players i happen to know have rather weak willpower seeing it as an all to redundant feature and instead prefer to go for high BS, i teach them the error of there ways by shooting there comrades with there increadibly good BS. Plus it is just hilarious.

Hope this helps in anyway.

Kyron, you're not too late at all. In fact, I was just filling in the last of his psychic powers. Hee!

Glad to of been of some assistance after all then.

I just wanted to thank everyone who helped on this. The one-shot was a stunning success. One of the players who is graduating wants to try to play via webcam next year!

And I have to say that the finale was awesome. They couldn't get the Daemonhost down in one round of fighting. Luckily, however, the last person in initiative (the Daemonhost was first) was the techpriestess who had the keys to our guardsman's explosive collar. They had him down to 5 hitpoints, and she pushed the plunger. The daemonhost took maximum damage AND THEN SOME because of the Emperor's Wrath! Then they ran to the suttle and evaced just ahead of the horde of baddies.

Awesome.