So, I'll be honest. I'm pretty new at GM'ing, but have been a role-player for about 10 years now.

What is about to follow is merely my scribbles and thoughts on my campaign idea, and I welcome all you veteran GM's to give me your criticism. Remember, this is meant to help me with things I may have not even thought about, or round out the ones I have.

Player one the Space Pirate:

After many years of raiding and looting His Holy Emperors fleets and settlements, the Warp Cutter he was Quartermaster for was boarded by the navy, scuttled, and all crew who survived picked up and delivered to the nearest penal colony for processing. As the gears of the Adeptus Administratum turn ever slowly, he was left to his own devices within his cell block for the better part of a decade. As it so happens, the cell block was roughly the size of a small city, and the skills one learns as a pirate Quartermaster make one especially wealthy and influential within said environment.

Due to a uprising in another cell block, the Guard was called in to establish some order before the whole colony was reduced to utter anarchy. The 'War of District 16' was short, and bloody in part due to the slick negotiation and betrayal of our man to the Guard of key locations, personnel, and typical cache points used by the rebels.

Enter the Inquisition. (I haven't figured out a name for the Inquisitor yet, so we'll call him Bubba.) Bubba just so happens to be related to the Colony's Governor-Warden, and when he hears about this issues a pardon to our man 'In the name of the Holy Ordos' as he desperately needs 'Just the kind of expendable inventive feth heads like him for what I have in mind.'

Fast Forward 3 years and 5 months from then.

Our man finds himself at Port Wander: After having wheedled and cajoled, bribed, and when all else failed worked his way to said port with the only instructions to 'Dig in, and wait to be contacted'. That was 5 months ago, with still no formal contact from Bubba.

(Player 2 still hasn't really given me much to work with as far as her BG goes. It's going to be a smallish group, since I cant commit to anything more then a couple times a month)

So far, the story arc entails them infiltrating the criminal underground, and installing sleeper agents into key positions to get the Inquisitor the means of accessing resources and personnel he would rather not have to go through official channels for. Since that part of space is relatively new, and he has some form of relationship with the Reclaimers Chapter ( The players and their characters wont find out about that for a while. I figure it gives the Inquisition a great reason to be so far out in wild space. I can see investigations on newly reclaimed planets for artifacts or information relevant to the Chapter)

The Inquisitor can be considered a radical as far as some more puritans go, in so much as he believes new technology and information is needed to help the stagnating Imperium and is looking to get a foot hold for his Ordos in the sector. (I haven't decided which Ordos he should be primarily working for. Maybe Heriticus as it would allow him to seek out the very people he wants to learn from?)

So far this is really all I have, since as you all know 'Everyone has a plan until you get punched in the face' - Anne Frank....or something.

So, I'll be honest. I'm pretty new at GM'ing, but have been a role-player for about 10 years now.

What is about to follow is merely my scribbles and thoughts on my campaign idea, and I welcome all you veteran GM's to give me your criticism. Remember, this is meant to help me with things I may have not even thought about, or round out the ones I have.

I'm not really sure what you are looking for. You seem to have an idea about the campaign you want to run (however, what that is, is not clear to me). You want advice on possible encounters for your players (while infiltrating the underworld), or do you want help with the story-arc (connecting the radical inquisitor with the players & the space marines)?

What Astelan said

Knowing about your plot would be nice, if you have any.

- do you have None and want one?
[Edit: okay, TECHNICALLY you have one..but is there already an "achieve X and you have done it" condition?]
- do you Need NPC? Places? Encounters? An Inquisitor?

If you just Need some random stuff and ideas that might hook you, please have a look at the following link. The forum member Lustcraft once asked for some additional stuff to add to Port Wander (to the Pit of Voices and the Xenosium, to be precise).

http://community.fantasyflightgames.com/index.php?/topic/42204-the-pit-of-voices-and-the-xenosium/?hl=xenosium

EDIT: I made something wrong with the link, cannot copy&paste with the browser at work. Please search for "Xenosium" in the Gamemastersection of the RT forum. I will try to "patch" that link later

Zandros, the severed could be an NPC the characters try to add to their Network, for one reason or another. Both The Ecckreaon Dom & The Flock of Tearings (Traders of Suffering) could be the target of an Inquiry. Or the characters might be taksed to shadow those that VISIT these places.

Further thoughts:
Do you have already decided on which elements of Port Wanders underworld you want them to meet? I remember that there was a nice Little "sum up" in one of the RT supplements (I guess it was "Hostile Aquisitions", but let me double-check that till my next post). It will be good to have some thoughts about that.

Style of play: do you prefer to have stringent Story with a red line the plot move along or do you want to build a "sandbox" and see what the characters do? Are you PLAYERS familiar with the 40K universe so they can handle themselves without very direct orders/Targets? I found out times and times again that the 40k-setting is so odd to those not routed in it that General Intuition tends to fail the Players rather then help them along.

Regardless of play, you might want to give them characters some general aims to fulfill (keeping up to date with local rumour, get some informants among the dock workers, find People that can give you mercenary Connections etc.) Have a small list of about 5 such Targets. Think about ways how the character can go about and find at least two Groups for each case that would be an enemy/rival/obstacle in such an attempts. These Groups can and SHOULD re-appear in the different five (or seven) "Goals" the characters are aiming for. This assures that the characters have chances to interact with the same NPC at least twice. Such things give your game a feel of continuity and makes your world feel real. Plus, the first instance this happen ensures that the characters might think twice about how they deal with anybody.

In all instances, think about consequences to firefights and death to npc, both in regard to mooks getting slaughtered as well to Major NPC getting killed. This should NOT be a "outright punishment", as killing a rival should ot be all to uncommon in a place like that. But there should be consequences to such things... and if it gets out of Hand, those should become BAD for the characters. That is spaceport. A rough one with privateers, roguetraders and their ilk, but even this 40k equivalent of Port Royal will Need a Minimum of order to function and thereby will have powers that will start to act in Union if something causes to much of a mess.

A possible list of 5 goals

- slowly establish yourself to get an "in" into the rumour mill
- find a relieable middle man to get mercenary for deniable dirty work
- establish a reliable Informant Network along the dock workers
- learn about the black market and establish yourself as a potential customer of high risk/high value goods
- find out which xenos Groups are PERMANENTLY at Port Wander and what their aims & contacts are

Good questions.

I suppose some context is needed.

One of the players in question happens to be my old GM. He's the one who introduced me to 40K RP. Both players have an intimate knowledge of the setting and rule set. They also happen to be husband and wife. I'm not terribly concerned about Wife, as shes always been a player. Husband...now there's where my ideas sort of stem from.

A lot of our previous games ended in us killing the 'Heretics' because well. That's what you do in the Inquisition. I cant remember how many times a problem was solved by using Exterminatus, and then simply moving on to the next session. This was back when we had 4-5 of us playing, and Wife was typically a Sister Sororitas and solved everything with a flamer.

Now. To be fair, I don't want to deprive them of the fun they want to have. But lets see if they cant find other amusing ways of solving their problems instead of simply killing it. Starting them off on Port Wander with little to no Inquisitorial support to speak off (At least for a little while) might kick start that idea.

The Reclaimers are going to be an excuse to send them off to new and exotic planets that have little to no real reason for an Inquisitorial Acolyte being there. I mean seriously. If the Ecclesiarchy has not had a chance to convert the population totally, how fair is it to send a team there to 'hunt heretics'? Send that same team there on the basis there happens to be a old text referring to some artifact (Reclaimer influence) and contend with the population who do not see the Light of the God Emperor yet however......that sounds like a chance for some interesting Role Play if you ask me.

Finally, here is the link I talked about

http://community.fantasyflightgames.com/index.php?/topic/42204-the-pit-of-voices-and-the-xenosium/?hl=xenosium

Dock workers. Never even crossed my mind as a source of information. I like that.

Part of the problem stems from the fact that I do not have access to the source books, as they belong to the husband and not me.

I'm planning on using 'Mook' rules. Aside from Antagonists, and the Villain everyone will be a 1 hit kill. This is to stream line combat, and reinforce better role playing.

Aside from the couple 'suggestions' Bubba has made, the players will be on their own to figure out exactly how achieve their goals. The Arbities (Or what passes for the Arbities) will not know they are there, and even if they did would be so corrupt would most likely sell them out at the first chance. He will not assist in any way, until they have established themselves and proven are capable Acolytes. This also gives him plausible deniability if they are caught before then.

The Ecclesiarchy has yet to gain any significant foothold in the area, and are regulated to a distant floating section that has no effective influence. But it IS there.

The AdMech have a small Cabal of priests working the area, as hey. Alot of RT ships put in that need repairs, and what better way of gaining new tech and knowledge then to trade it for labour?

I think I want a couple criminal clans to operate in the area, making it difficult for the players to gain a monopoly on information if/when they do finally complete their goal. Any ideas on what organisations would be operating that far out?

Hi "Brother",

are the two of you close enough that you might ask him to borrow you those books? Otherwise, I could advise to buy them as PDF over at drivethrurpg.com. By the by, I was -not- talking about Hostiel Acquisition. I will need to check which book I meant, sorry!

Regarding mook rules, I advice to use the "two hit" rules (unless it was more then 10 damage flat in one attack). At least for people that are meant to have been in a fight once.

Oh, and sit down and make up a NAME or even better a THEME for the Inquisitor! If you keep call him "bubba" all the time you will stop taking him serious yourself. That cannot be good for the game

@Source you should read
The Rogue Trader Supplement "Into the Storm" contains a (smaller) section about Port Wander. If you want to run a game based there & want to go along with the established material, this should be considered a "must have". Especially since it does depcict some of the (criminal/rougish) Groups that have established themselves there.

If it is worth BUYING the book if that is all you want might be questionable. After all, you are not running an RT campaign so a lot of the material (like: alternate careers) might be a loss to you. If "the husband" owns the book ask him to borrow it and familiarize yourself with the said Segment. That should not take to much time. Even if you just have a read through & just make notes on a Piece of paper places and Groups of interest, you should benefit from it.

The AdMech have a small Cabal of priests working the area, as hey. Alot of RT ships put in that need repairs, and what better way of gaining new tech and knowledge then to trade it for labour?

I think I want a couple criminal clans to operate in the area, making it difficult for the players to gain a monopoly on information if/when they do finally complete their goal. Any ideas on what organisations would be operating that far out?

* You could organize your criminal clans around criminal activities (or even have multiple competing clans on one such an activity). The Black Snakes, the 88's, Mingan's Boys, ... are all suitable names. They could be active in drugs, gambling, extortion, gladiator fights, smuggling, Xeno trade, prostitution, ... They could even be hitmen for hire.

* You could upgrade one of the gangs by giving them a high level sponsor. A noble always makes for a good "behind the screens" boss, but if you're talking about corrupt enforcers (personallly, I'd shy away from corrupt arbites since they are the last real bastion of order), you could make sergeant Harris the brains behind one of the clans, providing them with better weapons, intel on enforcer raids and what not.

* The Rogue Traders you mention could have a local agent that is the contact in the city to fend smuggled goods or stolen goods. This agent would have created a large network of contacts to make sure he can sell his goods at the best of prices when the ship of his dynasty arrives.

* The Adeptus Mechanicus isn't known for it's strong adherence to Imperial law when it comes to acquiring new tech. Seeing this as a frontier town, a somewhat ambitious techpriest, especially an explorator, could use this city as it's base of operations.

* It never grows old to throw in a rival inquisitor (or a rival interrogator if you feel that part of the subsector is too small to warrant the presence of an inquisitor). There are numerous reasons for an inquisitor to have agents in far off systems. It could just be "gathering intel", but it might be a warband looking for a fugitive heretic or an interrogator looking to recruit acolytes. Below the city might be an old Xeno site which the warband is checking out.

* Last but not least, you could consider any agent of Chaos to reside in the city. They would have every reason to exploit the local gang networks since their deals are kept in the shadows. Again, you can invent any number of reasons for the agent to be there, be it to start a Chaos ritual or to use the frontier city as the starting point for an epidemy.

Cheers