I'm not going to write out my whole mission here, but I also didn't want to start three separate threads for different ideas I had, so I'm putting all the rest of my concepts not discussed elsewhere (IE Faking a Psyker,) here.

Idea one:

My mission plan takes place in the desert, and so to avoid the most cliche tropes I thought it would be interesting to make the desert cool and safe in the daytime, but hot and dangerous at night. So, here's my plan: The sun is fairly distant, and does little to warm the planet, but their moon is radioactive. I'd add some sci-fi-mumbo-jumbo to explain that the solar rays counteracted the mild radiation during the daytime, but whenever the moon was out and the sun was down, the desert becomes a dangerous wasteland unless you're under cover.

The rules I worked out were:

During the day, the temperature is a cool 65F, but at night it raises to well over 100F.

For ever hour you're in the open desert at night-time, you take one point of Toughness and Strength damage.

If under some kind of covering (A tent or similar) this damage is halved.

If under protection designed to keep you safe from radiation, (IE a rad-tent) this damage is reduced to 1 point per night.

Lastly, if in a permanent habitat (A mansion, inn, tavern, etc.) it's assumed to have radiation shielding and no damage is taken.

This damage heals normally, but you have to stay out of radiation for 24 hours before you begin to heal.

Does this seem fair? Or cool? Or even something you'd touch with a ten foot pole?

Next Idea:

(This is the one I'm least confident about.)

Essentially, the resolution of the plot is a hunt for treasure. After reconnecting and fixing the electronic map, it will lead you to the location of an ancient Space Marine relic. (The mission was not actually to find the relic, and therefore it's loot, the mission was just to find a man. The man, in turn, had fled to the desert looking for the relic.)

The relic was actually part of a Space Marine Psyker's armor, countless centuries ago, on the same planet as the desert. He was vastly powerful, and helped fight off the chaotic forces stationed there, eventually paving the way for the planet to be colonized by imperials. However, in one of the final battles, his life was lost as he was crushed by a Daemon Prince... But not before delivering one final blow to banish the Daemon back to where it came from. His body was presumed lost, and indeed most of it was. All that remained was the battered, weathered gauntlet from the arm which had wielded his force axe. This isn't too important, it's just how the relic got there. Anyways, over the years it was worn down, mistreated, stolen, lost, and rebuilt, but it still contains a spark of the power from its original owner. If worn, it gives 3 points of armor to the left arm, and allows the wielder to test Willpower to resist Psychic Powers. (If the wielder can already do so, they get a +20 instead. If the wielder is a Psyker, they instead get a +2 to manifest.) Additionally, the Gauntlet gives one Fate Point per session which cannot be burnt, but can be spent just like any other. (Blessed by the Emperor and what-not.)

This relic has been in a cursed town for the past five hundred years, however, its own righteous energies being beaten back by another relic. This is where I need advice... I was vaguely inspired by Halo Devices here, and this is what I had in mind:

The evil relic (Some kind of helm or crown) suppresses all Psychic Energies, essentially counteracting the effects of the Gauntlet. However, it's own evil nature also suppresses the will and humanity of those around it, slowly turning them into mere shells of their former selves. If worn, the bearer becomes inhumanly strong and durable, and those around the bearer experience a far more minor version of these mutations and effects. I don't know what buffs are fair against level 4 and 5 players, though.

The idea is that the relic was placed on the planet to begin sewing corruption and insanity, so that the planet would fall from the inside and be ripe for invasion by evil forces. However, it found it's way into a small village in the desert where a group of pilgrims had taken to worshiping the gauntlet as a relic of the Imperium. The Gauntlet's power and spirit were able to shield the rest of the the planet, suppressing the effects of the evil relic to the town alone... And the townsfolk were driven insane and mutated into inhuman beasts. The townsfolk now believe that both relics are gifts from the emperor, and that one day a great warrior will come along who can wield both into battle, the mind and fist of their deity, crushing all opposition. In reality, wielding both is impossible without being utterly consumed and quickly dying from the conflicting forces.

Does any of this make sense? I tend to ramble a bit after I've had a few vodka gimlets... ;P

Well...

For a start radiation is another name for corruption.

I'm not saying you shouldn't give stat damage, but mybe tone it down and crank up the corruption. Especially in a evil radioactive death desert.

As for physical temperature it'd go with the normal hot days but have freezing nights full of radioactive goodness. If only so you can have the cliche think of the PC's complaining about taking heat-fatigue and a local says "you think the day is bad? You wait 'til the sun goes down."

A librarian's gauntlet would be immense, far too large for any unaugmented human to wear as anything but a pofoundly heavy medallion think Flavour Flav with a giant steel hand dragging on the ground from a chain around his neck.

The powers of the gauntlet, even in 40k these things are better left as rumours and superstitions than hard facts. There is nothing else in the fluff that does anything like this without attatchment to a big name.

I don't want my players to be screwed over with massive amounts of corruption points because their car broke down in the desert and they weren't within walking distance of the town. Since there's no real way to get rid of corruption points (Besides spending a ludicrous EXP fee to get rid of it,) I don't want them to end up with a bunch of party-wide mass damage they can't heal from.

My idea with the desert is that the radiation was what kept the planet hot. Otherwise, the rather wealthy baron who pretty much runs the entire world would have done something about it to keep the moon from devastating the environment every night. As it is, the destructive and hyper-dangerous force is also the only thing keeping the planet alive and not an ice cube...

As for the Gauntlet, I had to write rules for it in case the players got a hold of it and didn't decide to tell their Inquisitor about it (So they could use it for themselves). Keep in mind that it's been retrofitted, rebuilt, repaired, and modified dozens of times over the centuries. It's also lost much of its plating and wiring, and is in many ways only the original gauntlet in spirit. (Sort of the riddle about the axe .) That's why it provides such meager protection armor-wise and can fit a human.

And another thing... Space Marines are big, but a Space Marine's forearm isn't the size of a man. An average Space Marine stands about 7-8 feet tall, 9 in Power Armor. A biggish human could wear his armor, no problem, if there was no need for a Black Carapace. A normal sized human obviously couldn't fit in the armor, but he would still be able to get his arm in a Space Marine Power Armor gauntlet without too much difficulty. It would come back past the elbow, and it'd be heavy, but he could still wield it with some difficulty.

If you don't like the core corruption then look at the Radical's Handbook suggested corruption track. They don't get bad until much later.

I'm simply saying corruption is the intended mechanic to show radiation's effects on the body longterm it's barely ever an issue unless your characters sunbathe in a reactor or get lost in a radioactive wasteland.

A challenging T test or one corruption point for a few hours exposure shouldn't be crippling but it would give a reason not to go outside at night if you value your purity.

Nor is corruption something you should be trying as a GM to avoid it's one of the major thematic devices of the game.

Some GMs I know give insanity for stalling the action and corruption for OOC talking during sessions. It never hurt our characters much.

Space marines are huge, a gauntlet built for such a giant simply wouldn't fit a normal human (for a start the fingers would be spaced too far apart and the cuff would fit around his bicep) and how would it be attatched?

A human hand would rattle around in an astartes gauntlet like a child's.

I'm simply saying corruption is the intended mechanic t o show radiation's effects on the body longterm (...)

DHcore says on p.238 that corruption points "through exposure of the warp, dark rituals, cursed artefacts, and daemonic influence". No entry for radiation here . The example for "Moral Threats" do not list "Radiation exposure" either.

Radiation is listed as a cause of mutation (p. 334, first paragraph, same book), but that does not mean that the intended game mechanic for radiation damage is corruption. There is this one strange "transgenetic blasphemie" section in RH that has a ritual splicing xenos-genes into the human form producing cp as well. But I would simply disregard this the same way as the "CP for non-warp-based immorallity in PurgeTheUnclean" (hence it was later explained away as "the writer not being familiar with the actual rules in regard to this).

EDIT: Furtthermore, there is that weapon name a "rad-cleanser" (IH; p.133) who is using "massive radiactive contermination" ...but no CP

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In regard to idea one (RAD-Moon Desert Planet):

Regular tents do nothing to fend off radiation & I strongly suggest to keep it that way for your “moon radiance”, too. You might get that kind of safety if you are under something more massive…the roof of an old ruin or something like that.

If the radiation coming from the moon is (after reaching “the earth”) still strong enough to do noticeable harm, a simple piece of clothing or plastic should not stop it. Yes, 40k isn´t hard scifi. No, you should try to make it a tat more believable, mate

I understand that you want travel to be possible. “Place” some small ruins and/or caves here and there that do the trick. Of course, the ruins will be frequented by nomads and mutant raiders as well… and perhaps some local wildlife , too. Good excuse for an encounter, isn´t it?

In addition, you should consider some permanent attribute damaged. I suggest a daily toughness test at the start of the characters “healing process”, penalized by the total amount of attribute damage. If the test is failed, make him lose one permanent attribute point, plus one for.every degree of failure. Feel free to pick any attribute you like.

In order to avoid “grudge” with your players, you can offer all kind of pseudo-medicine to give boni to the test so that your players don´t fret… if they have the bugs and the access. My personal favorite of for such a thing are the “anti-radiation cigarettes” from the 80s/90s SciFi-Movie “SCREAMERS”.

Why having a hammer at hand while offering them a shield at the same time? Because you want the effect to be that they want to take care not to lose the shield, that is why! =)

Needless to say, your desert will be either lifeless or include some species with a high resistance to that radiation. Or include a lot of life forms that burrow deep into the earth to survive the night.

@Evil Chaotic Relics of Chaos and the P-word

You don´t need an "evil plan" behind the presence of said relic It is a relic of chaos. Chaos does have plans, yes. Plans are good. But it is the thing that is the easiest to wave aside if Chaos is involved. Trust me.

Your “Space Marine Relice” is more of problem. If it is still reocgnizeable as a “SM Relice” and is thereby worshipped, nobody but an SM will be able to wear it. Full stop.

If it was “tampered, tinkered and re-sized” I (personally) would not count it as a Relic to be worshipped anymore. It was tampered with and is thereby not "untouched" anymore. I lack the English term here. The term for "it lost its holiness due to be treated in non-holy ways". Like having a church being used a a dung pit.

How about cutting out the SM Relic, concentrating on the crown instead and turning it that way that up to now nobody is WEARING the dreaded thing. Those who do would need to pass a Daemonic Mastery test (by the by: do you have one of the FFG books giving rules suggestion to those things? I guess it was DotDG and the RH)..but if failed it means 1d5 points of CRITICAL Fire Damage to the head plus one for every degree the test was lost by. Also none as "this crown will melt your face and cook your brain if you cannot master it!"

If you want, I can try to work up a suggestion for such an item.

But, most important: what was the GOAL for your players with that two-relic-plan of yours? What was meant to be the “solution” (or possible solutions) they head to achieve? Find an bring back? Find and destroy? Just finding “the man” and returning him? If it is the later, you can work with one Relic alone. This “crown” would justify a “secret map” and a treasure hunt in its own right. Especially if “the man” they search for is a heretic *s*

I can't really place caves everywhere, seeing as they're in a desert... Plus, I am trying to go combat-lite on this mission since we'll be just finishing up a massive conbat mission. Maybe the normal tent won't do anything, but the Rad-Tent is lead-lined and weighs a few hundred pounds.

What if I changed the Radiation rules to this?

For every hour spent unprotected at night, the player must take a Toughness test. (With a -5 For each subsequent hour spent out.) If the player fails, they take two points of Toughness and Strength damage. Failing by three or more degrees causes an additional point to be taken.

If a player suffers more than ten points of damage, they must test Toughness or suffer a minor mutation.

If in a rad-Tent, the player must only test once every three hours, and gets a +10 to their roll.

This damage heals normally, but only after the player says free of radiation for 24 hours.

As for the relic...

What if I just made it a weapon instead of a Gauntlet? A one-handed blade to any Space Marine, but a two-handed broadsword to a mortal. (The same effects as above, but instead of providing armor it functions as a Great Weapon or something. It's still old, and therefore not as powerful as it could be with full restoration, but it would still be a strong weapon.)

As for my intention...

Aside from giving my players a chance at the dark side, (If they tap into the powers of the Chaos Relic,) my idea is to help the players along with taking initiative. The other GM in our team tends to railroad a bit, and even my last mission was pretty straightforward... So, this mission intends to resolve that issue. The players will have a variety of options instead of just one, a branching path of places to go to, and a goal beyond the obvious one given at the beginning. There are six towns to go to, each of which is filled with clues, and which they can go to in any order. The relics exist to give them a motivation to take initiative, doing something they aren't under orders to do. The dual relics are there so a bit of ambiguity can exist as to which is the 'Good' one, and add some moral dillemas.

I can't really place caves everywhere, seeing as they're in a desert..

(...)

What if I changed the Radiation rules to this?

(...)

As for the relic...

What if I just made it a weapon instead of a Gauntlet? A one-handed blade to any Space Marine, but a two-handed broadsword to a mortal.

@The tent

OH, that was a missunderstanding! I am really fine with "anti-rad-tents"..I was under the assumption that a normal tent should mend the radiation. THAT what was I was speaking out against

@the new rules

...sounds like more dice rolling. I always advocate for less of it "when push comes to shove", so better stick with your old ones then *s*

@Bastard Sword? Not really...

Sorry, but this will not work this way. The main problem is the handle/grip... and the balancing that comes about with it. Think about it. The sword is made so that a SpaceMarine IN SERVO ARMOUR would be able to handle it. There is no way that a human could ever use it as intended. The grip would be to awkward and the weapon unmanageable. Why not going for a regular relic instead? One made for human hands?

@The Tent,

In my original post I did say that a normal tent or covering (I was assuming thick material, not a flimsy 21st century design) would mitigate the effects partially, and a Rad-tent would heavily reduce things.

@ The Relic...

How about we make it a Power Armor Gauntlet again, but one that belomged to a mere mortal champion? An Inquisitor, perhaps, one with Psychic control far greater than most mortals. (Someone of Coteaz's strength or similar. A ML6 human.)

I believe I'll toss in my two cents again. Perhaps this:

There aren't two relics. In fact there is only one. There was rumored to be a great weapon a champion once used on the planet, a weapon of some sort. Have there be multiple rumors so that the players can think it is anything, and that the man they're hunting went after it still.

Have it be the crown (or gauntlet if you wish, maybe it requires both pieces to function properly), if you have True Faith, then have it function as you wanted the gauntlet to function, if you don't then have it be the chaotic device you wanted.

Explanation? It's a xeno device, explanation enough until you come up with something more concrete. Maybe it works off a soul screening device and focuses energy through a "pure" soul. Maybe slightly Eldar in design.

@ The Relic...

How about we make it a Power Armor Gauntlet again, but one that belomged to a mere mortal champion? An Inquisitor, perhaps, (...)

Everything als long as it is not "SpaceMarine" AND something you expect your group to wield I would not go for an Inquisitor here, so. Unless that one was very "public" in his doings...public enough to become a Saint after death. That is what most relics are about: they are the belongs (or remains) of people (or things) that were that either were declared "Saint" after their death (Drusus became a Saint after his successfull crusade) or if they were involved in some miracle.

Pick as you wish.

Okay, in that case...

What type of imperial citizen would be an open warrior, (Someone who just fights on battlefields, not like an Inquisitor,) who would be a Psyker, who could be declared a Saint after sacrificing his life to stop an evil monster being, and who would wear power armor? I'd go with a Sister of Battle since there's an Adeptus Sororitas presence on the planet, but they have no Psykers...

Whoever it is, they were powerful enough that a few thousand years ago, they managed to take on a Daemon Prince who was leading the armies of chaos on the planet. They obviously died, but managed to strike him down in the process.

Anyone can become a saint. Saint Sabbot was just an animal herding peasant before she took up the calling and led a crusade in the emperor's name.

Sisters of Battle can have psuedo psykers, it's a background choice in Radical's Handbook. They're kicked from the order however if not just killed. Maybe a Sister Repentia who asked forgiveness after finding out she was a naucent psyker?

Literally anyone can become the Saint that you want. It doesn't have to be a saint, as I suggested as well, it could just be an artefact that does what you want it to.

Anyone can become a saint. Saint Sabbot was just an animal herding peasant before she took up the calling and led a crusade in the emperor's name.

Sisters of Battle can have psuedo psykers, it's a background choice in Radical's Handbook. They're kicked from the order however if not just killed. Maybe a Sister Repentia who asked forgiveness after finding out she was a naucent psyker?

Literally anyone can become the Saint that you want. It doesn't have to be a saint, as I suggested as well, it could just be an artefact that does what you want it to.

I like that idea. An Adeptus Sororitas captain who discovered, some years after joining, that she was a Psyker. After being barred from the order, she donned her armor, loaded her Bolter, and raised her Chainsword for battle to make penance for her witch-powers. With nowhere else to go, she walked without fear towards the Chaotic forces, dispatching what scouts and guards they had with ease. Upon reaching their camp, she challenged their leader to single combat. Expecting to take her out like squashing a bug, he accepted... At which point she unleashed a barrage of holy Psychic energy, draining her own life force to destroy him. (I'm thinking she used the equivalent of Fire Bolt or Fire Storm or something... And with the Emperor granting her unnatural Willpower X3 or X4, she then used Corpus Conversion a ridiculous number of times. Not that I need a rules explanation, but it seems bitching that she used 20+ points of toughness to get something like 25 Manifestation dice +20 or more, dealing about thirty bolts of fire or maybe just 200+ damage...)

At which point she unleashed a barrage of holy Psychic energy, draining her own life force to destroy him. (I'm thinking she used the equivalent of Fire Bolt or Fire Storm or something...

One word: Holocaust

At which point she unleashed a barrage of holy Psychic energy, draining her own life force to destroy him. (I'm thinking she used the equivalent of Fire Bolt or Fire Storm or something...

One word: Holocaust

Touche. She used Holocaust. Sounds good.

Two points.

1) If she was barred from the order she wouldn't have been allowed armor, or her guns, just her sword. That's the point of Repentias, they're allowed little more than ragged cloth, have their hair ritually removed, and sent off to kill until dead.

2) Don't stat it out, a story like that works better if you just say it happened because of reasons.

Again, if Holocaust were to have been used then the items would've all been destroyed. It's the effect of the power if I remember correctly.

Again, if Holocaust were to have been used then the items would've all been destroyed.

No more than in case of a Fire Storm , I think.

Fire Storm only deals damage to people and items in it's effect radius with more damage for overbleed.

Holocaust apparently on the other haund burns with effectively warp fire causing a dizzying amount of energy damage and permaslaying anyone killed by it. That's what he'd want to perma kill the daemon lord. Firestorm has a chance of the thing not only living but coming back.

The half-forgotten saint of the abandoned shrine in the mountains, defeated a great evil, saving the planet from destruction.

Subsequently your players discover the saint was an alpha-psyker who saved the planet fom himself/herself by locking themselves away in stasis before his/her uncontolled powers destroyed the planet in the escalating series of suitably biblical calamities that turned the world into the radiation soaked desert it is today.

Maybe the stasis field is collapsing, and relics of the calamities are returning.