I've been running DH at a local game store for a couple months. So far the group has proven to be worthless as far as investigation and role-play goes. They like to run around blow stuff up and set things on fire. So I've adapted the story for that. I've pretty much deep sixed the story I wanted to do and went with the bad guy of the week and lots of things to kill approach. And yes, I die a little inside when I run this group.

At any rate in a last ditch attempt to bring some class and intrigue to the game I introduced them to their Inquisitor. He's a former Adept turned Radical Inquisitor. He understands that he is an evil hypocrit but is willing to sacrifice his purity, and his soul, for the good of the Imperium. So naturally, the PCs want to kill him for being a sorcerer.

So on the eve of the Radical's Handbook release - any suggestions for dealing with Puritan Acolytes wanting to take out their Radical Inq? If they'd do it in a subtle or clandestine way I'd be OK with that. Instead these guys are going to run into the room guns blazing. Most likely the Inq will live through the first couple of rounds and I'm sure he'll kill a couple Acolytes before he goes down, but I'd rather not let it come to that.

How radical an inquisitor are we talking here ?

What weapons does the party prefer to use ?

I'll need those answers so I can try to suggest a way for him to defeat, but not kill, the acolytes.

The other option is to let them arrive at where they think their inquisitor is. But he isn't there, instead there is a group so puritan that they want to kill the acolytes.

Another way to do it, is to let them kill the inquisitor - thus ending the Acolytes' careers - execute them, and disolve the group. Then find some other guys to play with, that really appreciates a good role playing session.

AND introduce the original group to DnD 4 ed. or Savage Worlds. A lot easier for anyone who wants a lightspirited game not filled the irritating things such as intrigue or roleplay.

LordofEndTimes said:

I have a funny feeling they're already quite well acquainted with 4th edition D&D...

Damek66 said:

I'm curious how and why you introduced your apparently Xanthite Inquisitor so openly to the acolytes. Such an individual wouldn't take such blundering oafs into his confidence. He'd keep using them as the blunt instruments they are. I can only assume you're looking to end the game via in-game events...

I'm assuming you've made them aware of what the consequences of a cell of acolytes turning on heir Inquisitor will be. Unless they have irrefutable proof that he's been consorting with daemons, they will all be tortured and executed. Even if they have proof it likely won't end well for them. The Inquisition isn't going to want to set a precedent that lowly acolytes can take matters into their own hands like that.

In other words, your campaign is pretty much on it's way to a massive, fiery demise. But I get the feeling that's what you want deep down.

Damek66 said:

By the Throne! Does EVERY GM go through this?!? My guys are the quintessential "thugs", regardless of the game. All I can say is good luck. I am planning once again to try and convince them of the error of their ways, but I have little hope it will succeed.

Sister Cat said:

Unfortunately many players have been tainted by the heresy of D&D.

I must be one of the lucky few GMs, who has over the many years of running games, had very few 'thugs', 'gun bunnies' etc in my games. My current DH players are all ROLE PLAYERS. Praise be to the god emperor!

i have been as lucky as Old Timer. my group are exceptional role players and its a big group 8 players all told and they are fantastic. all of them having started off as players that new nothing to very little of Dark Heresy or 40K. bashing DND seems to be the norm amongst many ppl here, but nearly all of may players barring 1 comes from a DND background., having played nothing else. a role playing game is what anybody wishes to make of it. and DND can easily be played with any amount of intrigue and darkness - it takes an imagination and resourcefulness. nuff said about that.

i think age might be a factor. i may admittedly be half-assed in saying this there is ALOT to be said for maturity and the upper years. all of my players are between 35-40. i would never play these games with young ppl out of fear as to what might happen. now if a number of you that have complained about these problems are gaming with an older group...i'm at a distinct loss for words. and you have my condolences.

give the Acolytes one last mission. with the Inquisitor expressing his displeasure about their overt brutality and this will be a test to prove that they can be covert. if this fails and most likely it will. make it a real cock-up. if they happen to do well, give them some solid praise and reward the effort. this is the kind of work i expect from my agents. if not...

set up that meeting.have the Radical Inq show up with his hard nails bastard self. his Ogryn ex-Guard bodyguard. a Kroot mercenary. a Cadian Kasrkin. maybe 2 of them. a real nasty piece of work hive scummer. and an assassin stalking from the shadows that doesn't commit until any potential action is well underway. tell them that you are unimpressed with their work. that you have tried to get them to understand subtlety but they are blunt instruments at best, and have no place within his organization.

the Puritans should be hot enough about seeinga Xenos breed amongst his number and may very well take umbrage to the Inqs harsh words. FIGHTS ON.

as an alternative. have him show up with his Ogryn bodyguard. with the others in concealed positions laid out in a carefully orchestrated ambush.

Personally I'd let them encounter a "Puritan" Inquisitor who will help them kill their boss. Then send them on various quests to stop horrible cultists/whatever, and obtain various items for containment/safe destruction. Of course in due time they discover that their new "Puritan" needs the stuff to complete a ritual. A ritual he got from their former boss after the PCs killed him.

Why in the God-Emperor's Name did the Inquisitor let the fire and brimstone acolytes learn what his true leanings were? he ad to know what their response would be. After all, he recruited them into his service and watched how they conducted themselves (through spies, reports, or what-have-you) so he had to know what their response was likely to be. That being the case, perhaps their response is exactly why he reveled himself to them in the way he did.

Perhaps the Inquisitor they've been speaking with is a mindscrubed and surgically altered agent made to be a stand-in for the Inquisitor who is desperately needing to fake his own death to move is radical plans to phase B. In order to do this, he formed the most unlikely of cells that, once his true allegiance is reveled, he's sure would turn and burn him. So, he dose such, places the Fall Guy in the room behind the door they're about to kick, and gets ready to implement phase B.

Phase B, of course, will involve the acolytes being captured by another Inquisitor, possibly a rival of his who never could drum up the needed support to kill the radical strait out without suffering severe fallout from the other Inquisitors of the conclave. Now, however, these acolytes of his managed to do just that, so he comes in, captures them, tortures every last drop of info out of them and then uses them as blood-hounds to sniff up other hidden things the radical has left behind. All the while, one of them has been mindscrubed (tough he never knew it... chose the character with the least fleshed out background for this roll) who has a compartmentalized brain which is recording all it can about the rival Inquisitor, his operations, his network, and anything else the now hidden radical Inquisitor could use. The mind-scrubbed mole could also be programed to leave coded reports at various dead-drops for the Radical to pick up as well.

All of this is, of course, building up to phase C. What that is, I'm not sure, but it definitly has something to do with the radical Inquisitor getting rid of his rival, possibly by framing him. Perhaps the trail the Puritan has the blood-hound acolytes (bonus points if they're made to wear spiked explosive colors complete with leash chains) on was laid out by the radical in such a way that, eventually, he'll be able to activate the mole blood-hound to lay down some crucial bits of evidence that makes it look like the puritan was behind the heresies they had been tracking all along thus expunging the radical inquisitor in is peers eyes -after all, it would then look like the Puritan Inquisitor was trying to frame the Radical one all along and the Radical one would be able to get rid of is rival through the use of other Inquisitors and is hapless acolytes.

In other words, if they don't play the intrigue game, then it will play them.

Atheosis said:

On this note I have another idea. The inquisitor lets the acolytes know his apparent location and arranges them transport to that planet. But when they get there, instead of the inquisitor, they find a group so puritan that they believe that anyone who uses the warp must be purged. This includes the acolytes since they are offworlders, meaning they used the warp to get there. So they have to fight their way out.

If they win, the inquisitor apologises for the trickery, but thanks them for getting rid of a growing threat*, even if the threat was only limited to that system. Maybe say a bit about how going too puritan is also a problem, just not as bad as going too radical.

*Once they built up a large enough force, they were planning to try and cut the planet off from the 'heretical' warp using Imperium (Yes, they are hypocrites). While their rebellion would fail, stopping them now is for the better.

I'm starting a new group of D&D players on Dark Heresy soon. Mixed into this bunch are a few of my original DH group.

I am expecting it to be a kill team kinda thing. There's nothing wrong with playing it like that. I get plenty of fun out of combat scenarios and crazy action, and we do have lots of moments of hard investigative goings on...

Besides the point of this campaign is that the Inquisitor ends up dead. It's already been mentioned in my previous DH game (in 815.M41) this game take place in 785.M41. It's kinda like my Prequel Trilogy. The players don't know that yet...

the liegekiller said:

It's not about bashing D&D as much as recognizing that D&D (particularly 4th ed) is more about killing and looting stuff than roleplaying. Such a mentality generally doesn't translate well to 40K Roleplay. The people I've had the hardest time getting to adapt to the nature of DH are those who have only played 4th ed D&D. While I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with it as a game, I do feel that it often causes players to have a video game attitude with the way they play pen and paper games.

Hit the PC's hard and fast early on. First session they faced an Ordo Sicarius Kill Squad and an entire planet under the control of a meglomaniac Govenor, by third session an Evesor Assassin had been sent to kill an NPC they had been charged with protecting......

Needless to say the PC's are now very interested in investigating the situations they find themselves in just so they know who wants to kill them and why......

As for Radical Inquisitors I think the best way for a PC to take him out would be to ethier betray him to a Puritan Inquisitor or lure him into a trap.

Visitor Q said:

Err...an Eversor Assassin would likely be able to kill a squad of Space Marines. They are only sent after the most dangerous targets (arch-heretics, powerful sorcerers etc.), as they are the most deadly killers in the galaxy. It's your game, but I can't help but point out the complete violation of the fluff here. Even a team of maxed out acolytes would be shredded by an Eversor, and seeing as it was only the third session I'm pretty sure they weren't maxed out..

If you really want to end this with a massive blaze...

as the idea has already come up. the acolytes find out where 'R'(Radical) is. They go to confront/kill. Strangely, he's there. They start having a chat/firefight/whatever. 'P'(Puritan) and entourage comes from concealment and opens fire on R and party. This could allow for some over the top combat between the =][= as the acolytes are engaged by the entourage. In P's mind the party is tainted by association. R and the party should be a little weakened before P adds his fire. R goes down and P begins his soliloquy as the party is decimated.

'innocence is no defense', etc...

as a Puritan it would likely be a superior firepower thing more than a psy fight.

Okay, I am not sure if the players have grasped the fact that the Imperium won't look kindly on anyone rising against =][=. If they haven't its perhaps time to educate them. Also, if they don't play the intrigue game, there is still no reason why the game won't play them. So, I suggest following:

Warn players that what they are planning to do is highly dangerous and might result in them all being executed as traitors to the Imperium.

If they don't then make a good, intrigue-filled plan on how to dispose of their master without getting executed then let them suit up for their raid.

Just as they are about to leave their home base to attack their master have a battalion of Adeptus Arbites show up with heavy weapons, rhinos and dozens of assault troopers, informing them that they are being arrested for planning an open, armed rebellion against an Imperial Agent and demanding that they give themselves in.

If they comply, throw them all to prison. If they don't give up have the Arbitors launch a full-scale attack which will porbably leave several Acolytes dead and the rest thrown in prison.

Now, you have two options:

1) If you feel like ending the setting and start again with new characters let them play out their prison time up to the point where all of them have either perished trying to escape impossible situation or have been sentenced and executed. Yes, its cruel, but it serves as a very vivid reminder that Imperium has and will kill anyone who opposes its might.

2) If you feel like giving them one more chance, assuem that the Acolytes are now exactly where =][= wants them to be... in the prison where he has detected some very nasty deviant activity. Too bad you don't get to carry bolters inside an imperial supermax facility, eh? I guess you have to figure out some other way to cleanse these heretics...

Atheosis said:

And even if they did somehow miraculously take out the Eversor, they probably don't know that Eversor assassins explode when they die...

DocIII said:

LOL...yeah forgot that bit...

Eversor = Party wipe