I do the same thing with lolbertardian politics any time I need a bad guy politician.

I rest my case!

Although to be fair, It's equally valid either way! There are plenty of lunatics on both sides of the Isle!

In my original scenario, said Apostate was only able to gain as much power as he did because the Imperial governor, while technically "true" to the Imperial creed, was basically an incompetent idiot! (And yes, there was an obvious underlying commentary there!)

I rest my case!

Although to be fair, It's equally valid either way! There are plenty of lunatics on both sides of the Isle!

In my original scenario, said Apostate was only able to gain as much power as he did because the Imperial governor, while technically "true" to the Imperial creed, was basically an incompetent idiot! (And yes, there was an obvious underlying commentary there!)

Ha ha. I can just picture the fool declaring "war on corpse starch" after being served a bowl during a visit to a factorium.

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! )

Okay, let's kick this one around a bit...

The planet Satiricus IV has an unusual founding charter; the Imperial governor is chosen each decade by popular vote and the election is enforced by imperial arbiters.

For centuries, the rich decided the elections, using their workers as vote cattle. They created a large, disenfranchised underclass, held in thrall by a few superrich nobles. And as usual, declining bloodlines led to stupidity at the top. Satiricus IV became a planet which habitually sent off its soldiers to far off sectors to fight unimportant wars while it overproduced goods so the excess could flow back into the coffers of the rich. All this would have continued if not for the rise of a well spoken adept named Omaha. He managed to offer hope of change the people could believe in, a future beyond exploited servitude. Multiple cults arose to assist this adept Omaha in a grass roots revolution.

The rich nobles were slow to recognize the danger and were swept away at the polls as for the first time ever, the exploited underclass voted their own choice instead of the preferred choice of their masters.

The governor and his cronies were eager to dispute the results but were cede power by the arbites. Now they are reduced to hysterical posturing on vox network as they criticize Omaha.

Satiricus IV is now ruled by Omaha and change is being enacted. The troops have been recalled and demobilized (leaving several bush wars to go unattended as other planets must now see to their own defence instead of relying on Satiricus IV) and industrial production is lowered as the underclass slowly starts enjoying free time, decent pay and public health care.

All this does not sit well with the sub sector authorities. Satiricus IV could be relied upon to provide troops and underwrite the cost of local wars in their sub sector and now that tap has been shut off. In addition, the call for change might undermine other planets in the sector.

Investigations by two inquisitors have failed so far. A local heretical cult named ISCIS (Immediate Support for Change in Satiricus) killed both of them. It is unclear of Omaha is behind ISCIS or not as it has been impossible so far to fully investigate the surprising political change on Satiricus IV and if it weakens the Imperium.

Mission briefing:

The acolytes are sent to Satiricus IV undercover as overt Inquisitorial presence leads to attacks by ISCIS which seems very well informed and financed. They are to investigate Omaha. He is said to have been born in Wahai (island chain) but rumours persist he was actually born in Kenyana, a different continent entirely. The acolytes are to determine the truth of this and then investigate his place of education and finally the first cult that arose to support his political rise....What does public health care actually provide and why are citizens injected with some unknown substance? Why is Omaha's old school guarded by ISCIS?

And yes, all of this will lead to Tzeentch, change and a deamon behind the scenes.....

All in good fun, folks.....

I've been watching The X-Files on Netflix and pretty much any episode would make a good hook for a DH game.

And yes, all of this will lead to Tzeentch, change and a deamon behind the scenes.....

Ungh... The proposal was cool right until this point. The "change should be Tzeentch because grimdark" is such an overused cliche, the players are going to unveil the whole plot just from the briefing .

Why not something unique, for a change of pace? For example, Omaha is just the face of a group of well-intentioned renegades led by a former Ultramarine veteran. These guys just want to make a difference, because they had enough with the Imperium's sh*t, and now they are working together to turn the planet into a nice place where people can live in prosperity and harmony. Yeah, it is just one planet, but it is still better than nothing. They used the election system to take control, they have improved the living conditions of the populace, they have eliminated the parasitic nobility, they have cut the industry to prevent enviromental damage, and they are doing lots of nice stuff to the planet. The ex-magos biologis of the group has developed a serum that makes psykers and other warp-infested people stand out, and now they are distributing this to control the psychic corruption. They are also reorganizing the military with some Codex Astartes goodies, and they plan to redeploy the planet's renewed armies soon.

Of course, below the surface, the group still controls the planet with iron hand. People might disappear there and there, the all-new citizen surveillance system sees everything, and some must make certain sacrifices so that the many may prosper. Problem is, the agents if of the Inquisition belong to the "some" as the group cannot risk being caught.

It is also worth noting that what the group does with the planet is not necessary bad or even punishable. They are paying the levies (and they even throw in some extras), the psyker output for the Black Ships has skyrocketed, and the Imperial institutions are still fully functional on the planet. However what they are doing... isn't what they are supposed to do in the grand scheme of things, and some guys around high places took offense on this, so they must fall and the planet must go back to the old ways.

And yes, all of this will lead to Tzeentch, change and a deamon behind the scenes.....

Ungh... The proposal was cool right until this point. The "change should be Tzeentch because grimdark" is such an overused cliche, the players are going to unveil the whole plot just from the briefing .

Why not something unique, for a change of pace? For example, Omaha is just the face of a group of well-intentioned renegades led by a former Ultramarine veteran. These guys just want to make a difference, because they had enough with the Imperium's sh*t, and now they are working together to turn the planet into a nice place where people can live in prosperity and harmony. Yeah, it is just one planet, but it is still better than nothing. They used the election system to take control, they have improved the living conditions of the populace, they have eliminated the parasitic nobility, they have cut the industry to prevent enviromental damage, and they are doing lots of nice stuff to the planet. The ex-magos biologis of the group has developed a serum that makes psykers and other warp-infested people stand out, and now they are distributing this to control the psychic corruption. They are also reorganizing the military with some Codex Astartes goodies, and they plan to redeploy the planet's renewed armies soon.

Of course, below the surface, the group still controls the planet with iron hand. People might disappear there and there, the all-new citizen surveillance system sees everything, and some must make certain sacrifices so that the many may prosper. Problem is, the agents if of the Inquisition belong to the "some" as the group cannot risk being caught.

It is also worth noting that what the group does with the planet is not necessary bad or even punishable. They are paying the levies (and they even throw in some extras), the psyker output for the Black Ships has skyrocketed, and the Imperial institutions are still fully functional on the planet. However what they are doing... isn't what they are supposed to do in the grand scheme of things, and some guys around high places took offense on this, so they must fall and the planet must go back to the old ways.

Well, I was going with the original view of 'change we can believe in', but your idea is fine too. Perhaps even better

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! )

Okay, let's kick this one around a bit...

The planet Satiricus IV has an unusual founding charter; the Imperial governor is chosen each decade by popular vote and the election is enforced by imperial arbiters.

For centuries, the rich decided the elections, using their workers as vote cattle. They created a large, disenfranchised underclass, held in thrall by a few superrich nobles. And as usual, declining bloodlines led to stupidity at the top. Satiricus IV became a planet which habitually sent off its soldiers to far off sectors to fight unimportant wars while it overproduced goods so the excess could flow back into the coffers of the rich. All this would have continued if not for the rise of a well spoken adept named Omaha. He managed to offer hope of change the people could believe in, a future beyond exploited servitude. Multiple cults arose to assist this adept Omaha in a grass roots revolution.

The rich nobles were slow to recognize the danger and were swept away at the polls as for the first time ever, the exploited underclass voted their own choice instead of the preferred choice of their masters.

The governor and his cronies were eager to dispute the results but were cede power by the arbites. Now they are reduced to hysterical posturing on vox network as they criticize Omaha.

Satiricus IV is now ruled by Omaha and change is being enacted. The troops have been recalled and demobilized (leaving several bush wars to go unattended as other planets must now see to their own defence instead of relying on Satiricus IV) and industrial production is lowered as the underclass slowly starts enjoying free time, decent pay and public health care.

All this does not sit well with the sub sector authorities. Satiricus IV could be relied upon to provide troops and underwrite the cost of local wars in their sub sector and now that tap has been shut off. In addition, the call for change might undermine other planets in the sector.

Investigations by two inquisitors have failed so far. A local heretical cult named ISCIS (Immediate Support for Change in Satiricus) killed both of them. It is unclear of Omaha is behind ISCIS or not as it has been impossible so far to fully investigate the surprising political change on Satiricus IV and if it weakens the Imperium.

Mission briefing:

The acolytes are sent to Satiricus IV undercover as overt Inquisitorial presence leads to attacks by ISCIS which seems very well informed and financed. They are to investigate Omaha. He is said to have been born in Wahai (island chain) but rumours persist he was actually born in Kenyana, a different continent entirely. The acolytes are to determine the truth of this and then investigate his place of education and finally the first cult that arose to support his political rise....What does public health care actually provide and why are citizens injected with some unknown substance? Why is Omaha's old school guarded by ISCIS?

And yes, all of this will lead to Tzeentch, change and a deamon behind the scenes.....

All in good fun, folks.....

You're not really that far off. Of course my perspective was slightly different:

Obammus Rabb was an adept who saw the corruption and caste based system of the Imperial hive world of lind as manifestly unfair to the huge masses of underhivers. Seeking to improve their lot, Obammus sought the knowledge necessary to change the system by conducting extensive studies of the Administratum's vast data stacks. Rabb was nothing if not determined and intelligent so it is no surprise that his research led him into the forbidden lore sections of the stacks. Diving deeply into the forbidden works of the sorceror Alynskus Solus, He learned to manipulate peoples minds through ritual and sorcerous word. Additionally, Dark pacts were forged with the daemon Billayerous to further his dark powers of persuasion and Manipulation. Despite his conviction that what he was doing was for the good of the people, Obammus' corruption of the soul was even faster than the meteoric rise of the cult that supported it. So fast was it in fact, that the Imperium did not even know of it before the Astartes Strike cruiser "Spear of Macclannon" was fired upon by orbital defenses while attempting to make port for resupply.

In what would later be referred to as "Uncharacteristic restraint" by Sector governor Hax; The Space marine Captain "only" chose to annihilate the governing Noble spire and the surrounding area from orbit before landing his Battle company and summoning Reinforments from IG forces elsewhere within the system. Unfortunately for brother Captain Mckannus, The problem was not that the Nobles had tried to secede but rather that the now dead Imperial commander and the local imperial court had missed the Cues of the brewing unrest beneath their very nose! The Space marines quickly found themselves surrounded on all sides by howling hoardes of ravenous mutants and cultists as they fought door to door trying to restore order! (Insert Narrator's voice from "Dawn of war while reading this last part! )

The Acolytes are sent in with an incoming regiment of Imperial guard to ascertain the uncanny ability of the rebels to organise and coordinate attacks despite there being no apparent central authority or command structure.

(Obammus Rabb was statted out as a 12000 pt BC Apostate aligned to Tzeench [Obviously])

I've been watching The X-Files on Netflix and pretty much any episode would make a good hook for a DH game.

When you finish with The X-Files , you should check out the series that inspired Chris Carter: Kolchak The Night Stalker . The character of the monster-chasing reporter appeared in two TV-movies before getting his own (1 season) series. It's very 1970s, but that's part of the fun...

EDIT: I recently found out that some episodes were written by David Chase, creator of The Sopranos !

Bleh to doing political satire of contemporary figures. It's the story/plot equivalent of a slogan t-shirt out of a truck stop gift shop. Do some historical figures that are dead or have been out of politics for a while. Make a campaign about planetary governor Wudro Weelso and his 14 points plan to involve multiple planets in a peace coalition that threatens to cause a sector to collapse to invaders. Make one about Andrinnius Jaxon aka "Old Alloy" and the acolyte's needing to keep him safe from the constant duels he's starting. I guess it's just my personal preference, but bringing your political beliefs into an rpg campaign seems kind of juvenile.

On the other hand, doing things like Mag Uruk Thraka if you're running the classic satirical 40K would be just fine. It seems like most people on the forum seem much more keen on taking the setting pretty seriously, though.

On the other hand, doing things like Mag Uruk Thraka if you're running the classic satirical 40K would be just fine. It seems like most people on the forum seem much more keen on taking the setting pretty seriously, though.

I had NEVER spotted that until recently... A quick bit of googling suggests it was a coincidence, but if you ascribe to Alan Moore's philosophy on ideaspace you'll agree that coincidences like that happen very often! I used to love that in WFRP v1 and v2, the subtle hints to British pop culture. I always remember there was a bodyguard in one of the adventures called Bruno Frank, for instance...

Anyway, adventure hook. I always wanted to run this as a one off, and may still get the chance.

The Inquisitor asks the Acolytes to go undercover at the auction of a heretical artefact, not to win, but to find the winning bidder, who the Inquisitor suspects will be a notorious heretic bidding by proxy, and tail them after they collect it. Half way through the auction, though, an Arbites squad turns up, armed to the teeth with combat shotguns and cyber-mastiffs, lead by a strict monodominant Inquisitor. The penalty for even being here will surely be summary execution! However, making things more complicated, several other Inquisitors had the idea of sending their own representatives here; is it even possible to tell if any of the bidders are genuine heretics or are they just stuck in a firefight between groups of other Inquisitorial acolytes?

I've been watching The X-Files on Netflix and pretty much any episode would make a good hook for a DH game.

When you finish with The X-Files , you should check out the series that inspired Chris Carter: Kolchak The Night Stalker . The character of the monster-chasing reporter appeared in two TV-movies before getting his own (1 season) series. It's very 1970s, but that's part of the fun...

I saw episode 1 of that show; against Jack The Ripper.

Obama

You missed the part where his elite personal protection force is actually a woefully mismanaged, inept organization. This will lead the players into a comedy of errors where they just infiltrate the Domus Blancus by wearing Groucho Marx mustaches and slapping post-its with "CLEANERS" written over top their rosettes.

...well, if his mooks miss you enough with thier guns, you can start playing him as a Saturday morning cartoon villain, like Cobra Commander "You may have won this this Acolytes, but next time I will have my revenge!" *Shakes fists as the gun cutter leaves slowly the scene of the heresy without being stopped.*

...well, if his mooks miss you enough with thier guns, you can start playing him as a Saturday morning cartoon villain, like Cobra Commander "You may have won this this Acolytes, but next time I will have my revenge!" *Shakes fists as the gun cutter leaves slowly the scene of the heresy without being stopped.*

This reminds me the case when in one of our games, the Big Bad escaped via a VTOL dropship, mocking the party that they had failed to stop his menace as he flew way. Our answer: the hacker hacked an anti-air missile fired a few minutes ago (as part of the actual boss fight) and redirected it towards the fleeing dropship, making a bull's eye hit into the cargo hold . Many LOLs were had.

Speaking of which, here is a plot hook from our GM:

A warp storm clears up in a backwater sub-sector, and in its wake, trouble arises. Many worlds in the sub-sector experience a sudden influx of trade from strange, technologically highly advanced humans who claim themselves the "People of the God Emperor" and make a big deal about how the sub-sector should secede from the "False Imperium" and join the "True Imperium" (their empire). These guys are actually remnants from the Great Crusade, sealed away from the rest of galaxy for 10k years by the warp storm. For them, only 80 years has passed since the Emperor visited their planets with his Great Armada, and they think that the Imperium of Mankind is some sort of renegade empire the warp storm spew out. They are oblivious to the fact that the IoM is their Emperor's Imperium and they are also in a pretty big denial, preferring to believe in their false perception rather than accept the grim truth.

The Acolytes and their Inquisitor are sent to the sub-sector to find a solution to the problem. There are elements in the True Imperium who are willing to accept the harsh reality (and join the Emperor's flock again peacefully), including the head of the leading council, but there are many others who are adamant than their Imperium has nothing to do with that primitive heap of tyrannical barbarism that is the IoM.

Obama

You missed the part where his elite personal protection force is actually a woefully mismanaged, inept organization. This will lead the players into a comedy of errors where they just infiltrate the Domus Blancus by wearing Groucho Marx mustaches and slapping post-its with "CLEANERS" written over top their rosettes.

To be fair; While my personal political slant is pretty obvious, I did not play Obammus as some kind of comedic anything! He was, in my game, a master manipulator who sat at the middle of a web of assassins, cultists and other elements. This is how he got as far as he did! He formed a shadow council that actually undermined the planetary government without ever really firing a shot! (It was actually the Astartes strike cruiser that touched off the rebellion!)

This is more of an encounter which can be dropped in a session than a full fledged plot but here goes:

A cold trader has been raiding an eldar 'graveyard' and is selling the spirit stones to nobles. The eldar found out and are desperate to retrieve the spirit stones and punish the trader.

They don't want the mon-keigh's to realize the value of the spirit stones to them so it will be a full scale attack to act as a cover to the retrival operation.

This can ideally be situated in a hab-block of a hive city or any other urban environment.

The acolytes are in the neighbourhood when they here sounds of panic, fighting etc. Soon they encounter panicked citizens fleeing as fast as they can. They will stumble on an eldar slaughtering either a family or an enforcer patrol. If they kill him, they find a pict grab of a woman and an address (the cold trader).

Going to the address will likely trigger some minor encounters as they encounter more fleeing citizens, dead citizens and marauding eldar.

At the address, they find a small squad of eldar lead by a suitable eldar leader doing one of three options:

1) fighting against the cold trader guards.

2) ransacking the cold trader establishment.

3) pursuing a fleeing cold trader down the hab tunnels, dodging traps, gangs, cults, dangerous wildlife etc.

The acolytes will now have to decide to fight the eldar, help them and send them on their way or try to get the spirit stones/cold trade items for themselves.

I'm not a big fan of using blatant current political and social issues in games. Gaming is a chance to come together with my friends, all of whom are on different places on the political spectrum. It's not about hitting my friends over the head with my own views. If something weighs on me that much that I must include it in one of my outlets to get out of reality for awhile, I really try hard to filter it through a lot of 40K themes.

For example, I once ran an adventure where bodies stared coming up missing different organs. At first that's not something that will attract Inquisitorial involvement, until other strange attacks started to happen that involved some very very strange assailants. Still not necessarily a big I thing until a scrambled vid of one from a personal device captures hazy images of a skinless bipedal amalgamation of gory parts surfaces. With the hive (in that case, Ambulon) in full panic mode, the acolytes have to contend with surly Arbites, panicked citizens, a very angry and fractured governing council, and a race against time to find out the who's, where's and why's. All while under great scrutiny and pressure from news media, their Inquisitor and rivals.

It was inspired by a news report of some grizzly murders a few years ago.

Another idea from one of our Only War adventures:

World X has major population problems, so all women on the world are herded together and used as breeding stock/baby factory to solve the situation. Some of the women grow desperate enough to turn to a strange entity for help, and World X turns dark shorty after.

Upon arrival, the acolytes notice that the world is now populated only by pregnant women, and children. The entity is a greater daemon of Nurgle, an incarnation of a... less known aspect of the Chaos God of Decay: "she" is a daemon that represents life and fertility, shaped like a perfectly healthy human woman (with slight Eldar features) with antlers sprouting from her forehead,and a large, swollen stomach (looks like she is pregnant with at least four children). Life around her goes haywire, and she can shape any living being at her whim with her touch. She is unbeatable, but not necessary harmful: in her own twisted ways, she is benign and causes no harm - to the point where she tends to revive creatures who dies because of her actions. Her followers (the women on the planet) are all in top health, and the children (born with the daemon's blessing) possess superhuman physique.

The real nature of the problem might elude the acolytes, as it is possible that they can't even pinpoint the actual threat until it is too late. The children grow up supernaturally fast (within a few weeks), and the women fall pregnant all by their own quickly after they give birth, so the characters will find themselves in the middle of a superhuman army soon if they can't catch the truth. I assure you, this setup can surprise even veteran 40k players .

1

A classic locked-room mystery; an imperial noble has been stabbed - hacked to shreds, to be fair - inside a supposedly impregnable vault-chamber. Just to make matters worse, the wounds appear to be forensically clean of anything but his own blood and clothing fibres from the garments he was wearing at the time.

He'd been increasingly agitated and paranoid for several days - afraid of something - and had almost all the (ludicrously expensive) furniture stripped out of the vault-chamber, doing millions of thrones of damage to priceless antiques.

A background check reveals he was connected to a criminal gang which recently and very suddenly attained a dominant position in the Desoleum downhive, and that two other individuals believed by the cog-cops to be connected were killed by untraceable blade-wielding killers in what were, with hindsight, suspiciously similar manners (albeit not "murder lock'd in"). Is someone gunning for the gang's hierarchy? Who? Why? Above all....How?

2

Heretic Reavers, attacking imperial shipping, siezed and boarded a pilgrim transport carrying thousands of passengers. A tragedy regardless, but hidden amongst the pilgrims and preachers was an Inquisitor. In his possession were two servitors, each loaded with one half of a detailled map of part of the Imperial Palace.

The Inquisitor was killed by the pirates, but his astropath confirmed that a saviour pod containing the servitors and one of his surviving acolytes was jettisoned before the Reavers overtook the ship, and - so far as is known - made it down to the surface of the frontier world the ship was orbiting. The possiblity of that map falling into the hands of any but the inquisition is unconscionable. Take a stormtrooper detachment and find those plans!

3

An arch tech-heretek is believed to have arrived on Desoleum, fleeing the distant Calixis sector. He is known to be a Mech-empath, gifted in the art of corrupting and manipulating complex mechanical devices. The thought of what he could achieve in a hive where wealth, laws, and even identity and personal history are dependent on inter-connected oathcogs doesn't bear thinking about.