So, my campaign has been running for a little while now, with my players forming their first compact (A simple goal of taking over a scavenger city on a pseudo feral world with 4 secondary objectives) and their about ready to lay siege to the city and take it. Things are going pretty good so far in that department, however I've kind of stumbled onto a bit of a predicament I'm worried about.

Namely, the rate at which my PC's gain corruption and infamy compared to Experience. So far I've been using the abstract method of 500 experience for our 4-5 hour sessions (Inwhich they tend to complete a secondary objective every time) and adjusting it for some special cases, and right now they're sitting on 2.9k experience before they've completed their first Undertaking, and have yet to gain any corruption (Aside from like 1 ritual they performed earlier when they had a Sorcerer). I'm worried that they're escalating too fast and without fear of corruption, so that's why I'm here to ask what do I do? Am I worrying for nothing? Is this normal of BC? I' e never ran it before but I have played it online on play by posts which are considerably slower in nature then live sessions. I'm just looking for elder GM experience in this regard, any advice I can get would be appreciated.

Well when you complete a Compact, you gain 1d5 Corruption by default if I remember correctly. Glorifying Acts (which could be classified as any awesome thing they do, like give 95,000 people a plague or kill everyone in that Scavenger City) give Infamy, usually about 1-3 Infamy and 2-4 Corruption. You could also, if you feel like roleplaying the Dark Gods, give people 1 Corruption Point when they do something that their god (or indeed another god) would like, like cleave through a hundred guards by yourself or corrupt a semi-important individual. Finally, if you feel they're still far outpacing their Corruption total, give them small amounts of Corruption when they complete Secondary Objectives, to represent the Ruinous Ones "smiling" on their deeds.

The thing to take in mind is that in order to get anywhere they need Infamy at least so that they can become exceptional figures of renown and ruthlessness across the Screaming Vortex. They also need corruption though if they wish to shed the fragile bonds of mortality and ascend to the mantle of daemon prince, free of lesser concerns.

Having a large amount of experience points is not too big a deal, yes it makes them stronger characters but in the end they are still nothing without Infamy, corruption or contacts to further progress. You are worrying too much about it really. Look into things and you'll find loads of ways for players to gain oodles of corruption such as more rituals, performing acts in the name of their gods, warp exposure etc. There are plenty of ways you can easily shunt them onto the right track!

and remember, as you scale up the enemies they'll be burning both infamy and gaining corruption to live....and then spending some of that xp to get the corruption back down.

You could also, if you feel like roleplaying the Dark Gods, give people 1 Corruption Point when they do something that their god (or indeed another god) would like, like cleave through a hundred guards by yourself or corrupt a semi-important individual.

You don't need to RP the gods, I just say "Tzeentch is pleased by your deception, take a Corruption Point".

Also, I hand out Corruption when they do something that their god would disapprove of (a Slaanesh cultist putting off immediate gratification, a Tzeentchy one being forthright and concise, and so on), but it counts as a Failing.

For a comparative experience, I went to around the same amount of exp. without gaining any corruption. Meanwhile, some of my fellow players had gained 10-30 corruption in the same span of play.

Currently though, I have managed to gain 30-40 corruption myself, and we have one player who hasn't even hit a corruption point yet since we started.

Basically, there are things players seek out that gives corruption, and there are things that give corruption that players avoid - it's all personal preference. That said, burning infamy is possibly the best equalizer, as doing this lowers your infamy and raises your corruption. So if you feel they're advancing too quickly, do what my GM does and kill that player.

So, I'm going to be starting a Black Crusade game fairly soon, and I want it to be political intrigue. The premise is that a Black Crusade "liberated" a hive world and has since left to attack other Imperial planets, and now the denizens must work to restructure the government. Any imput and suggestions would be great.

I suggest ripping off Game of Thrones; just rename the characters and nobody will notice.

I'm not even joking; Hive political structures are an archaic thing, akin to medieval courts, with noble houses and all that jazz. Just don't make it too obvious; no lions and wolves and stags, etc., or calling them "Cannisters, Harks, and Aratheons".

It's not incredibly original, I know, but it offers an excellent jumping-off point for you to work with. These things tend to evolve on their own, so while your foundation might be a rip-off (I prefer homage, personally), the end product (ie: your campaign's close) will be entirely unique.

So, I'm going to be starting a Black Crusade game fairly soon, and I want it to be political intrigue. The premise is that a Black Crusade "liberated" a hive world and has since left to attack other Imperial planets, and now the denizens must work to restructure the government. Any imput and suggestions would be great.

I suggest ripping off Game of Thrones; just rename the characters and nobody will notice.

I'm not even joking; Hive political structures are an archaic thing, akin to medieval courts, with noble houses and all that jazz. Just don't make it too obvious; no lions and wolves and stags, etc., or calling them "Cannisters, Harks, and Aratheons".

It's not incredibly original, I know, but it offers an excellent jumping-off point for you to work with. These things tend to evolve on their own, so while your foundation might be a rip-off (I prefer homage, personally), the end product (ie: your campaign's close) will be entirely unique.

I was reading this *total* Game of Thrones ripoff story the other day in which they barely bothered to change the names at all. Instead of "Lannister" and "Stark" they called the houses "Lancaster" and "York". How lazy can you get.

So, I'm going to be starting a Black Crusade game fairly soon, and I want it to be political intrigue. The premise is that a Black Crusade "liberated" a hive world and has since left to attack other Imperial planets, and now the denizens must work to restructure the government. Any imput and suggestions would be great.

I suggest ripping off Game of Thrones; just rename the characters and nobody will notice.

I'm not even joking; Hive political structures are an archaic thing, akin to medieval courts, with noble houses and all that jazz. Just don't make it too obvious; no lions and wolves and stags, etc., or calling them "Cannisters, Harks, and Aratheons".

It's not incredibly original, I know, but it offers an excellent jumping-off point for you to work with. These things tend to evolve on their own, so while your foundation might be a rip-off (I prefer homage, personally), the end product (ie: your campaign's close) will be entirely unique.

I was reading this *total* Game of Thrones ripoff story the other day in which they barely bothered to change the names at all. Instead of "Lannister" and "Stark" they called the houses "Lancaster" and "York". How lazy can you get.

Would you have been reading a history book circa the war of the roses there?

Would you have been reading a history book circa the war of the roses there?

That was indeed the implication I was going for.

More generally, I tend to find you can get a lot of inspiration for 40K material from history. The Mongol Hordes made the average Khorne warband look like a bunch of gutless wimps. The Wars of the Roses make Hive politics look straightforward and transparent. The medieval church was way stranger and more Byzantine than the Ecclesiarchy.

So, I'm going to be starting a Black Crusade game fairly soon, and I want it to be political intrigue. The premise is that a Black Crusade "liberated" a hive world and has since left to attack other Imperial planets, and now the denizens must work to restructure the government. Any imput and suggestions would be great.

I suggest ripping off Game of Thrones; just rename the characters and nobody will notice.

I'm not even joking; Hive political structures are an archaic thing, akin to medieval courts, with noble houses and all that jazz. Just don't make it too obvious; no lions and wolves and stags, etc., or calling them "Cannisters, Harks, and Aratheons".

It's not incredibly original, I know, but it offers an excellent jumping-off point for you to work with. These things tend to evolve on their own, so while your foundation might be a rip-off (I prefer homage, personally), the end product (ie: your campaign's close) will be entirely unique.

I was reading this *total* Game of Thrones ripoff story the other day in which they barely bothered to change the names at all. Instead of "Lannister" and "Stark" they called the houses "Lancaster" and "York". How lazy can you get.

I'd say that he could make it alot cheaper, like for example having the events play out exactly as it did in WotR. But they don't and there are enough characterization, development and plot-twists to make this series stand head and shoulder and more over the picture you try to paint of the series.