Hi there!

I'm starting a new game of Dark Heressy 1st edition and I've decided to start the campaign with Illumination. It's fast, it's lethal, the setting is interesting and most importantly, I'm pretty sure I can pull it in one 8 hour session.

I do have some issues with some parts of it though.

1- The Brazen Sky chapter is boring as hell. I've already added in some fluff to make it more enjoyable but I'd be curious to know how other GMs handle this particular chapter.

2- I'm not sure if there are enough clues for the players to figure out the plot before it's spelled out for them at the end. Also, the plot is just spelled out for the Acolytes at the end.

3- Speaking of clues: Anyone have any ideas on how to hint on the way to kill the Skae thing without being too obvious.

4- I don't know if I read this right but are there really 3 combat encounters in one day!? I can't really see how a group of 3 acolytes armed with pea shooters are supposed to live though that.

5- Anything you've added in that you felt proud of or that really added a little something to the adventure that you'd like to share would be nice.

The game should start on saturday and I've already got some ideas for how I'm going to work with these issues (and I know there are probably others I've missed) but I'd like to hear it from people who have actually played or GMed it before.

Thanks!

Well... No one seems to be answering so I'll just go ahead and list a few of the things I've already prepped for my game so far.

Getting on board the Brazen Sky: The Acolytes will arrive a bit late for the boarding of the ship and they'll have some difficulty finding who they need to talk to in order to get on board. Either they find the captain themselves or the captain will come and scorn them if they take too long. They'll then be handed over to Deckhand Dixxon who'll end up being the only friendly crew member on board.

Perils of the warp: Nothing too original here, just going to roll some warp encounters from the RT rulebook and see where it goes from there.

Dixxon gets bullied: Deckhand Dixxon isn't the most popular crew member on board, especially since he's been seen speaking to outsiders as the Acolytes will notice while making they're way back from the Mess Halls (or whatever). It's up to them to see if they want to risk helping him. If ever the situation escalates too far (as it mostly does) the PCs'll be taken to the brig until the ship reaches Iocanthos where Dixxon will be exiled.

Port Suffering
Mostly going to keep it as it is except if Dixxon ends up an exile. Then I'll try and see if maybe the players want to carry him around until the poor kid turns up dead. Maybe use him as a clue or something.

On the way to Stern Hope
Nothing much here either, except I thought I could maybe introduce King Skull for later adventures. Maybe some of the merchants they met on the Brazen Sky get swarmed by a huge dust cloud Mad Max style while the PCs can do nothing but watch.

And... That's it for now. More to come later!

" 4- I don't know if I read this right but are there really 3 combat encounters in one day!? I can't really see how a group of 3 acolytes armed with pea shooters are supposed to live though that."

What kind of encounters are they? I am not yet familiar with this adventure, but I'd like to know the kind of ennemies and terrain they'l be facing.

Because most groups should be able to survive 3 encounters, even if they don't powergame. Do they use any tactics?

It really depends on what happens. Dark Heresy isn't a resource management combat system like D&D, so if combats go well you can find players are barely affected at all, or they can be severely severely wounded even by a relatively minor encounter (especially as Dark Heresy is a pretty deadly combat system).

The attack on the Cathedral is the only real "combat", and depending on who does what shouldn't be too hard, as it is a series of mini fights the players can get involved in, and the enemies' focus is not on the,. However, with bad luck people can still get screwed. If you keep most enemies armed with melee weapons (as I think they are), you will probably not do too badly (a lucky burst with an autopistol can ruin any unarmoured PC's day very quickly, while as if the enemy mostly have cleavers the acolytes can shoot many of them before they are a threat). Then there is the fight at the old crone's place. They are not meant to get in a fight with the tribe members there, as they screw themselves royally if they do. If they then have the fight with the crows, they shouldn't suffer too much, except if they don't have any equipment which suits taking on the swarms (ok... I may have forgotten about the Fear rating they have when I ran the game, though I think I may have forgotten Bestial as well, which probably evened things out overall). The main reason for that whole incident is to get the players away from the Cathedral. You could probably do away with the fight (unless the players push the point) entirely without affecting the plot much (I guess you get slightly less of the whole bird daemon theme if you do).

The final fight isn't really a fight. It amounts to a Fear check that can really screw the party (Fear check at an effective -20? For starting, or very low level characters? 4 out of the 6 players in my party failed that, one so badly he sufferred permanant Willpower damage and didn't participate in the entire fight), and if they survive that, either they die (if they didn't work out the rather nosensical clues, especially if they end up killing the crone before she can give her clue), or they shoot the eyes out of the deamon thing and survive. There is very little chance that a starting party can fight the thing in a "fair" fight. TB 10, with 37 wounds and Regeneration, SB 10 and Swift Attack? Even with only brute strength as a weapon this can take a character out in a round (ok, Guardsmen will probably take a while, thanks to their effective armour 8 all over), while PCs will struggle to hurt it in any meaningful way with anything they will have at this level.

Personally: The Brazen Sky is only intended to be as much as your players intend of it (I think it might even say as much in the book). If they want to engage in roleplay on the ship you can spend half a session or so on it... or you can have it mostly pass by in a sentence of description. It isn't meant to be a major thing, just an opportunity to introduce the PCs and the players to the setting and get them where they need to go.

I wouldn't necessarily make the clues regarding the deamon's weakness any less obvious (though I do accept it is one of the major weaknesses of this adventure). Until the crone's clue the reasoning is actually slightly nonsensical (so it pecks out other creature's eyes, so it's own eyes are its weakness?). The crone's clue does tip it over to the obvious, yes, but the thing to remember is that Players are often less prone to be aware that something is so obvious,as they don't have all the information, making it hard to tell what is relevant and what isn't. Slightly too obvious is generally better than too hard, as the former allows the players to progress and feel they are getting somewhere, thile the latter is just plain frustrating (and in this case pretty much lethal to PC survival, Fate Points aside).