Last night I finished running the Desolation of the Dead campaign from the GM kit and it was an awesome experience. Naturally, some of it needed to be fleshed out from what was presented, but we got a good 35 hours of play out of it. In total, there were three player character "deaths" (well, burnt fate points). They were:
1. The Imperial Guard Medic, Thaddeus got sick of Father Lucindia (the male priest ended up rolling a female name) being all fire and brimstone, ruining the group's subtlety (it's recovered a bit now, but by the campaign's end it sits at 30). This resulted in him attacking the priest in a fury as the priest was sleeping, removing a leg below the knee in the process. The priest burnt a fate point, was taken to Cog Lostok for recovery but the player decided he wanted to roll a new character anyway. He enjoyed playing the priest but wanted to try a gunslinger. Father Lucindia was retired and shall make a return as an NPC of mine (he will stand in as the wandering preacher in Forgotten Gods!).
2. The assassin/untouchable was mauled to death by the zombies in gantry, a burnt FP ensured he survive and he was rescued by Thaddeus.
3. Thaddeus, who I've had a real hard time hurting at all with any mook NPCs was boiled alive with his own blood by the Herald. He is covered in third degree burns from the inside and his eyes popped. Frankly I don't know how the Emperor was able to stop Thaddeus from dying, but blessed is he who sits atop the Golden Throne.
I'm happy with this result. Thaddeus is a fantastic medic and with FPs refreshing in between sessions, he was doing a great job keeping people fighting fit to the point they were almost becoming blasé in their fights.
After taking a bit of a break, we're going to conclude the story arc with Forgotten Gods, however there's a few things which will happen in the background in between campaigns and I need your advice in how I should proceed!
1. The group's subtlety is pretty low now, enough that all the major authourity groups on Desoleum know of the Inquisitions presence. Seeing as his main base of operations is on Desoleum, the Inquisitor (monodominant witch hunter) will probably abandon subtlety on Desoleum and start holding mass pyres to set an example to would be heretics. I'm not sure how the Trade Consortium will react to having an Inquisitorial bastion, similar to the one on Scintilla (just smaller) on their doorstep. What do you think?
2. To provide characterful reinforcement characters, and also because the Inquisitor is shocked (even by his standards), at the levels of heresy in the sector, he is aiding the setting up of a new Ordo of Adeptus Soritas on Desoleum using battle sisters from Juno (I play by the 40k 3rd edition fluff that the Soritas are still the militant branch of the Hereticus as well as the ministorum). Following the debriefing at the end of the campaign, the Inquisitor will probably send a squad of battle sisters to torch Ferrue's temple to the ground. This has two implications: Gantry, a town full of criminal scum will probably be torched to the ground as well if they try and stop the sisters (their numbers are also massively depleted and Vornas is dead) and two: in the temple I had hidden one of the profane artifacts from enemies within. Specifically the ebony candles. The group were spooked by them, took one of the candles and left the rest behind. Should they be destroyed in the fire or should Tormus retrieve them before it happens? The latter is more interesting admittedly but is it double punishing the players considering it's looking like Gantry will be burnt down? (Much to our arbitrator's disgust, the war and established a rapport with the Red Walk).
3. So how exactly should I bring back Thaddeus considering he died from being boiled alive. He'll need a new heart and new eyes at the very least. Haemorrhage is a nasty power. Also, how should I go about providing him with bionic replacements? If he fails the requisition roles he's provided with average or poor quality ones instead? I also need to consider that the inquisitor would have heard about Thaddeus attacking the priest in the group...
Your thoughts are appreciated!
Eisenhorn
P.s apologies for any grammar mistake, I typed this out on my phone during my commute on the train!