One of my favorite Threads in the DW Forums is the ' Deathwatch Mini Idea Dump ', where people post plot hooks for 'stand-alone' scenarios. I thought it would be fun to steal that concept for DH2 . Here are a couple to get the ball rolling:

IT WAS A DARK AND STORMY PLANET

The Acolytes' Inquisitor has received a communique from a member of another cell, stating that he believes one of their members has been turned by Chaos and murdered the party leader. Ordering that group to 'hole up' in an abandoned manor house in the ash wastes of a hive world and wait for further instructions, the Inquisitor dispatches the PCs to suss out the potential traitor.

Shortly after arriving at the manor, an ash storm whips up, trapping the PCs and the other group of Acolytes inside until it blows over. Only the Acolyte who contacted the Inquisitor (an elderly Adept, kept alive with extensive augmetics) knows who the PCs are and why they are there. As they investigate the suspects, clues begin to pile up that each NPC in turn may be Corrupted.

Unknown to the PCs, the real culprit is the 'helpful' elderly Adept, who wants to collect the parts to a dissembled Chaos artifact that his group discovered on their last mission and divided the parts up amongst themselves to neuter its power. He lucked into a situation where he could kill the party leader, but is too decrepit to risk a confrontation with the rest of the combat-optimized group now that they are alert to danger. So, he is trying to arrange for another group to do his dirty work, planting clues to cast suspicion on his (loyal) team-mates. To insure the conflict turns bloody, he is also planting false clues that the newly-arrived Acolytes are in fact a disguised assassination team sent by the Inquisitor's arch nemesis...

SIGMA PRIMUS

The Acolytes are charged with locating the anonymous bidder who purchased a book of necromantic lore in a black-market auction. They eventually discover that the bidder is a decadent nobleman whose residence is an orbiting station dubbed Sigma Primus. Entering the seemingly lifeless station, the Acolytes discover that it is riddled with deathtraps, some mechanical, some sorcerous in nature. He also has a menagerie of illegally-acquired xenobeasts that he keeps in special containment facilities with automated doors which unleash them upon intruders. If the Acolytes succeed in crawling through the numerous hazards of this orbiting dungeon, they will discover that the warp-dabbling nobleman used the necromantic rituals contained in the forbidden book to put himself beyond such petty concerns as 'life' and 'death'...

Is it just me or should " a dark and stormy planet" come with premade characters, suchs as:

Colonel Mustard, Imperial Guardsman warrior

5C4RL3TT, adeptus mechanicus sage

Reverend Green, adeptus ministorum hierophant

Mrs white, adeptus administratum chirurgeon

Mrs peacock : adeptus astra telepathica mystic

Is it just me or should " a dark and stormy planet" come with premade characters, suchs as:

Colonel Mustard, Imperial Guardsman warrior

5C4RL3TT, adeptus mechanicus sage

Reverend Green, adeptus ministorum hierophant

Mrs white, adeptus administratum chirurgeon

Mrs peacock : adeptus astra telepathica mystic

You forgot Proctor Plum: Adeptus Arbites Arbitrator (or whatever the name is for the gumshoe)

You can shoehorn that in by saying the other Inquisitor doesn't want the names of his agents to be known and they've all taken aliases.

Bonus points if you can work in the Dark Brotherhood scenario from Oblivion where you kill them one by one and they get increasingly paranoid and eventually all turn on one another.

You can shoehorn that in by saying the other Inquisitor doesn't want the names of his agents to be known and they've all taken aliases.

Bonus points if you can work in the Dark Brotherhood scenario from Oblivion where you kill them one by one and they get increasingly paranoid and eventually all turn on one another.

So sneak in a corner and shoot an arrow at someone when the group is not looking? Sounds easy enough...

You can shoehorn that in by saying the other Inquisitor doesn't want the names of his agents to be known and they've all taken aliases.

Bonus points if you can work in the Dark Brotherhood scenario from Oblivion where you kill them one by one and they get increasingly paranoid and eventually all turn on one another.

So sneak in a corner and shoot an arrow at someone when the group is not looking? Sounds easy enough...

Then have all the NPCs freak out for 30 seconds then go back to complaining about filthy mudcrabs while tripping over the corpse. Occasionally one will notice the body and scream about a murder and the cycle will repeat itself.

An interesting idea, I like the color codenames, the players should pick up on it quickly enough and have a decent laugh. I think ask the adept gets more desperate he should use what pieces of the item he has to put more and more evidence against the rest of the party.

You can shoehorn that in by saying the other Inquisitor doesn't want the names of his agents to be known and they've all taken aliases.

Bonus points if you can work in the Dark Brotherhood scenario from Oblivion where you kill them one by one and they get increasingly paranoid and eventually all turn on one another.

So sneak in a corner and shoot an arrow at someone when the group is not looking? Sounds easy enough...

just don't shoot them in the knee...

It was proctor Plum with the chainsword in the Chapel of our-lord-the-Emperor!

Those are both great, though it isn't really how I would have done it.

Anyone else want to post some Plot Hooks? Please?

If your group is anything like mine, the first plot will never work. My players distrust all NPC’s in general and the more helpful and likeable the NPC acts, the more they distrust him….

As to my simple plot:

A small mining village has not sent its tithe to the planetary capital and doesn't respond to vox hails. A team of arbiters is sent to break some bones and extract the tithe, only to fall silent too. Instead of sending yet another team of arbiters, a team of acolytes is sent to find out why the village is not responding and what happened to the arbiters. The authorities suspect that the notoriously independent-minded villagers might have rejected the trappings of the Imperium.

As they acolytes reach the remote village, they find everyone gone with great pools of dried blood to suggest a massacre of some kind. Perhaps the local church looks like it was the scene of a last stand.

So what happened?

This can be tailored to the GM’s preference. Perhaps feral Orks attacked the village, killed the inhabitants and dragged their corpses away as food. Locate the ork village and call in the air cavalry…

Eldar corsairs/dark eldar might have attacked the village to capture slaves. Locate the villagers and help them escape before the foul xenos manage to leave with their human captives.

My personal favourite: The nearby mountains house a research facility filled with tyranids. Naturally, the tyranids (gaunts & 1 synapse creature) escape and slaughter all the researchers & guards. They then roam the surrounding area, trying to amass sufficient biomass for their synapse creature to evolve to a next stage and be able to call the hive fleet splinter. Enter the research facility and stop the synapse creature.

My personal favourite: The nearby mountains house a research facility filled with tyranids. Naturally, the tyranids (gaunts & 1 synapse creature) escape and slaughter all the researchers & guards. They then roam the surrounding area, trying to amass sufficient biomass for their synapse creature to evolve to a next stage and be able to call the hive fleet splinter. Enter the research facility and stop the synapse creature.

I like this idea very much. I was looking for a way to introduce Tyranids in a small way.

In the GM section is a section called "campaigns for share" maybe my post there helps you. I explain 3 new enemies for my group at the end of post 1.

I've had an idea floating in my head since I read the description of that rogue trader in the npc section, the female one that visits Desolum.

Something along the lines of:

Your inquisitor has been contacted by Lady Desolum herself, said rogue trader who visits her on occasion (I can't remember her name I don't have my book in front of me.) acted very strangely the last time she was planetside almost demanding information on a specific ruin.

Her finding no reason not to give her the information let her have the coordinates. She left with a crew and hasn't been heard from for nearly a week.

Lady Desolum wants the rogue trader found and the reasons as to her concern about the location discovered.

A good chance to flesh out two npcs that I find really interesting, and the ruins of Desolum's xeno sites.

What happens? Why does the rogue trader seem so intent on it? That's up to you. It can go either way, but I'm thinking the ruins are Eldar in nature and the Rogue trader has been having visions. Maybe a faulty webway gate.

Again not that fleshed out.

The acolytes are sent to planet {insert name of choice} to destroy certain information deemed too heretical to be freely distributed. As the information is in written form, the acolytes need to physically locate it and then destroy it, preferably by burning (evoke book burnings here). They are warned that the planet is notoriously uncooperative with such demands, even from the Inquisition.

Once on the planet, the acolytes learn that the planet’s hives are linked by the information superhighway, an elevated road crossing the wastelands between the hives. Large wheeled convoys (akin to massive road trains) carrying stacks of books, ledgers, manuals, scrolls etc. travel from hive to hive, delivering information to be copied by local scribes and picking up new information.

The acolytes must locate the right convoy and then try to get their hands on the information. The convoy belongs to the local transport guild and they are oathbound to defend the information. In addition, the wastelands are populated by biker gangs and feral mutants….(think mad max, convoy and any suitable car chasing a truck/train movie….)

The characters start in the distant past when the Emperor still ruled over men. They live and fight through the ending stages of the Hours Heresy. As they look to defend the Imperial Palace, the Golden Throne becomes damaged. In the time it takes Malcador to temporarily get it under control, the Warp does what it does best, react randomly.

The characters awaken from ancient archeotech cryogenic units. They spill from their pods disoriented and confused. Looking around, they conclude that they must be aboard some type of space vessel but it is completely unrecognizable. Little do they know, they are in modern times and aboard a ship (space hulk or recently attacked vessel). The lights are flickering and the crew has been violently murdered by who knows what. Details are up to the GM.

The characters start in the distant past when the Emperor still ruled over men. They live and fight through the ending stages of the Hours Heresy. As they look to defend the Imperial Palace, the Golden Throne becomes damaged. In the time it takes Malcador to temporarily get it under control, the Warp does what it does best, react randomly.

The characters awaken from ancient archeotech cryogenic units. They spill from their pods disoriented and confused. Looking around, they conclude that they must be aboard some type of space vessel but it is completely unrecognizable. Little do they know, they are in modern times and aboard a ship (space hulk or recently attacked vessel). The lights are flickering and the crew has been violently murdered by who knows what. Details are up to the GM.

Nice but this is a campaign (start) not a stand alone adventure a GM could drop in between sessions....

The good ol' ultra violence

The accoliytes are hunting renegade psykers in the underhive when they get attacked by a Cloud boys gang dressed in outlandish decortated carapace armor and wielding lots of exotic and dangerous weapons. Is this a chance encounter with a gang of thrill killers or were they sent to get rid of the inquisitors team?

Something goes bump in the hive

The ordo xenos has picked up rumours of people in the lower hive levels dissapearing, only to be found torn apart with inhuman strenght. They fear a Genestealer might be responsible and send the acolytes to investigate. What they find it is not a genestealer or even tyranid, it is their worst nightmare, dressed in dark blue power armor... Night Lord.

Malal the renegade god

The acolytes are surveying the activities of a chaos cult, just as they are about to engage and take down the cult, another group dressed in black robes and with black and white face paint storms into the cultists location and slaughters them in a matter of seconds. The acolytes hear the leader shout "For Malal! Death to the followers of chaos!"

(This is the cult of Malal, a chaos god who wants to destroy the other chaos gods)

A present from the laughing god

While one the acolytes is alone a unknown webway portal opens, out steps a Eldar Harlequin, who hands the acolyte a small laqured wooden box, tied with a red ribbon and a note in gracefull high gothic that says "do not open". Then the harlequin vanishes into the webway and the portal closes. What now?*

* I hearby encourage the Gm to treat the box as one of Jokey Smurfs exploding presents when somebody opens it up.

The Truly Evil

The Acolytes are sent to investigate a minor discrepency in preparation of the Pillar of Penitence, a Black Ship of the Adeptus Astra Telepathica. A single unregistered but reported psyker has gone missing from the roll call, and only one previously made entry bears his name. The report, filed by one Adept Tullius, leads back to the murder of the Imperial Servant. Something is obviously amiss.

After thorough investigation, the Acolytes soon uncover a web of deception that has its roots deep with the Enforcers of the world. The unregistered psyker turns out to be the daughter of the High Marshal, whom the majority of Enforcers have grown to love, and are fiercely protective of. The psyker in question, after having to confront resistance (and fighting) with the Enforcers, turns out to be a sweet and endearing soul who is devouted to the Imperial Creed.

Psychic powers for everybody!

The acolytes must stop the alpha legion from lacing imperial guard ration packs/ hive city water supply with Spook.

If the AL succeeds things will get very intresting.

Our new ruler- The Emperor!

The acolytes have tracked down a renegade Inquisitor named Goldman. Goldman was declared excomunate traitorus for trying to clone the Emperor. When you track him to a backwater planet and confront him in his mansion full of walking dead, you find just how far he has fallen. "Welcome friends, I have been expecting you." He sais as you enter the room. And he is not alone, with him is a daemonhost masqurading as a horrible parody of the Emperor. "Dogs,of the inquisition, time you made a move" Goldman smiles.

Who're You Going To Call?

The warp bleeds into reality across the city, with spectres and daemons emerging to terrorise the populace. As the situation grows increasingly dire, it becomes apparent that everything is focussed around a single building, designed by an insane architect seeking to bring about the apocalypse.

And yes, that is the plot from Ghostbusters. Turns out, both the Ghostbusters movies make really good Dark Heresy stories...

Who're You Going To Call?

The warp bleeds into reality across the city, with spectres and daemons emerging to terrorise the populace. As the situation grows increasingly dire, it becomes apparent that everything is focussed around a single building, designed by an insane architect seeking to bring about the apocalypse.

And yes, that is the plot from Ghostbusters. Turns out, both the Ghostbusters movies make really good Dark Heresy stories...

Partially because both movies actually got the same plot..

Inquisitor: "Ok, i'm gonna open the warp gate, don't look directly in the warp!"

Acolyte: "I Looked in the warp sir!"

Daemon: "are you a god?"

Acolyte: "... euh no."

Daemon: "then DIE!"

Inquisitor; "Acolyte, when someone asks you if you are a god, you say 'yes'!"

Acolyte: "but sir isn't there only the Emperor?"

Inquisitor "shut up and blast that chaos b*tch!"

WORMWOOD

A warp storm disgorges a Space Hulk, code-named Wormwood, dangerously close to an inhabited planet. Its trajectory is deflected by the planet's upper atmosphere, but the 'near miss' scrapes matter off of the Hulk, which rains down onto the planet's surface in the form of warp-tainted meteors which trigger daemonic incursions at their impact sites.

The Acolytes must aid the local Arbites and PDF in quelling these incursions- a task made more difficult by the fact that a local demagogue has whipped the populace into a frenzy with his end-time philosophy, convincing them to 'embrace the horror' as a necessary requirement for the return of the Emperor.

The Acolytes are sent to investigate it burgeoning rebellion. Apparently, a local adept has gotten an impressive number of the population slavishly devoted to his mantra of "Change we can believe in". This Adept's Ideas of change are disjointed, unachievable and generally illogical but it doesn't seem to matter. His followers are ready to tear down the very fabric of Imperial society to achieve them!

The Adept in question is of course a full blown Apostate who serves Tzeench! The Acolytes must hunt him down and deal with his many followers from the howling cultists of "Occupy Desoleum" to even some official groups who have been deceived by the Apostates false promises!

(Fair warning: If you have any hard core liberals in your group this scenario will raise some hackles! )