Greetings,

in my next DH game, I plan to have the gellar field flicker only briefly enough to have one daemonic entitiy appear on Navy Vessel the characters are currently traveling with. As this entity will "somehow"' appear in the same section as ..some large artefacts... the characters will have been brining along in seald containers, the security is likely to inform them (so that I have a reason to have THEM getting involved in tangling with the entity).

My question is: how is a vessel of the Imperial Navy likely to react to a (minor) warp Intrusion?
For those who know DH1st, it is a modified "Lady of the Void" (for those who don´t: some kind of gruesom siren-thing).

I guess the section will be sealed first (closing bulkheads) in hope of "containing" what ever it is. But what will be the -active- response (not taking the characters into account)? Gathering a group of priests for banishing the thing back, adding a retinue of armsmen (to protect them from phyiscal harm while they do so)?

Are the RT game rules including anything -official- on this matter?

Thanks for sharing your knowledge with me.

Not rules, but fluff:

I don't recall any official rules regarding such breaches (assuming you are looking for stuff like damage effects to ship stats or crew conditions rather than just standard combat encounters against daemonic entities), but as I've only played a single campaign of RT so far, other players are likely much more knowledgeable than me.

In terms of narrative consequences, this will obviously depend a lot on individual interpretation - both because ship managemant and "onboard culture" may well differ heavily between vessels depending on its leaders and where its crew was recruited from, as well as obviously the franchise lacking a cohesive canon for such details.

However, personally I'd actually use your idea the other way around, and focus on armsmen fighting the daemon with one or two clerics to back them up. The armsmen would be equipped chiefly with shotguns, flamethrowers and melee weapons (blades and shock batons) as their primary purpose is crowd control and to prevent excessive collateral damage. Obviously, with such weaponry, combat against a daemon would likely be a massacre, but then again 40k is all about bloodshed and heroic sacrifices -- plus, this gives your players an ideal opportunity to ride to their rescue.

Sidenote: I'd also say it could be fitting for the armsmen to bring along a heavy stubber as a crew-served weapon not normally intended to be used within the ship but rather for landing parties (think real world 19th century naval infantry) -- they just break it out this time as an exception because a daemon is kind of a big deal.

The ship's Confessor(s), meanwhile, would fill a double function of both inspiring the armsmen as well as wielding their faith against the daemon. The effect of the latter would be fairly negligible, however, as otherwise it might (a) resolve the encounter too fast to actually be something of note and (b) makes the daemonic threat feel a lot less threatening in general if any random priest can just make them stop dead in their tracks. The NPC clerics would still believe their words make a difference, it's just that this does not necessarily have to convert into an actual mechanical effect rather than being superstition coupled with lucky shots by the accompanying waves of armsmen.

For atmosphere, I would expect boarding alarms to sound throughout the ship, gellar field warnings to cascade through automated vox casters, and the ship's choir to begin chanting litanies to the Emperor on every open vox channel they can. Expect terrified ratings, random glitches in servitors crewing basic systems, and techpriests chanting arcane binary that would only be understandable to someone versed in voidship maintenance.

To add to it, you could have the entire ship drop in temperature (or, alternatively, get very hot), and the smell of ozone to spread through the corridors. Bulkheads and controls might be covered in thick condensation that turns to sticky miasma on touch.

These effects can spread as far as you want throughout the ship, but you can definitely bet that the crew will be panicking in the background as the PCs go about their business.

(Rules-wise, it would be like the ship's crew rating taking a fear test against a demonic opponent; which it would most certainly fail)

Question: Do the PCs have the right to walk around the ship at will? If not you could have crew/ratings/armsmen insist they remain/return to in their quarters. That would give the players a chance for some roleplaying/ social interaction.

What if a daemon possesses an npc and then instead of going on the usual rampage hides and starts sabotaging stuff. Pretty soon people start to get paranoid and maybe suspect the players?

And when they finaly find out who's possessed the daemon will fully manifest as some horrible nightmare thing of flesh and madness.

Don't forget the shotcannon. It's a ship's go-to-weapon in case of monstrous attackers.

For Robin,

Aren't the Player Characters the Peers of the actual Rogue Trader (i.e. his partners not his servants); with that a given - my players can do anything the Rogue Trader can do within their respective department on board the vessel...

Example; the character's voidship was heading to an asteroid that was populated with something they wanted (choosing to omit details), anyways as they get closer and closer the voidship begins to groan and squeel as unseen joints and plating buck and fold under a mysterious stress; so out Missionary decided "hey I want the ship to stop" - so at first he issued in his command(failed the roll), which was then subsequently followed up by him going in person to the ship's bridge in order to get the voidship to stop. When he arrived - the bridge officers and relevant crew acknowledged his presence (bowing, saluting, whatever).

So the MIssionary goes "how come the ship is still moving?!" afterwhich they offered to submit themselves to confession - as per the rationale - Missionary mad = must be looking for taint (regardless of whatever he wants - thought process defaults firstly to that for thr crew lol)...

It is in this way - I not only hope to show how a Peer works (i.e. the limits of his power) while providing a moment of Grim Dark entertainment!

Back to your question:

When a Warp Event takes place that is out of the scope of puny armsmen, guards, and or the like - that's when the subordinates (i.e. the whole crew of npcs) calls in - up the chain of command and relinquishes the issue to them - the Peers (i.e. the player characters who should be getting their hands dirty - heck is it a role playing game, err risk vs reward and the like - but that's another discussion lol)

Hope this helps

Stay GAMING

Morbid

Question: Do the PCs have the right to walk around the ship at will? (..)

What if a daemon possesses an npc and then instead of going on the usual rampage(...)

Hi Robin,

the characters "mobility" is of no big impact to the scene I plan to have. As roughly outlined in the initial post

+ the characters are travelling on a vessel of the Imperial Navy (not an RT)

+ they have brought an "artefact" along that needs to travel with them

+ during the journey under the warp, I want a Daemonic entity very similiar to a "Lady of the Void" (Creature Anathema, DH1st) manifest on the ship, in the same section as the artefact is stored in (no coincidence).

+ the security officer (or whatever it is) will count two and two together and inform the acolythes. We are talking about a cell including a Sister of Battle, they would not be out of place in a "cleansing party"

What I needed/wanted was to check if the RT fluff has some "official procedures" for such a cleansing attempt.

At this point, big thanks to LoneKhornivore for the fluff-text. I think I can go on as planned

Massively depends on the experience of the crew and the equipment available.

The reaction could range from experienced teams of old sea dogs led by confessors and naval commissars sealing off a section of the ship and then scouring it with anointed flamers and battle hymns to full blown panic and morale failure culiminating in mutiny.