So what do y' all expect from Dead Stars, the final installment of the Haarlock's Legacy trilogy?

Here's hoping for at least some answers to the Haarlock enigma, what he set out to accomplish and how he fared.

I am wondering if the return of Haarlock will be covered, somehow I am not counting on that! I do want some degree of finality to the story though. There's always a lot of loose ends and deeper mysteries and riddles within riddles in W40K and Dark Heresy fluff, but I am hoping this does not lead to an easy way out for the writers to leave out all explanations.

PS for speculations on the Haarlock mystery please go to this spoiler-warned thread instead!

My opinion is I would like a definite end, such as Haarlock returning. I also expect more information on worlds in the Calixis sector. Mara would be an obvious answer, but I was hoping for a world that is more travellable to (assuming Mara still has raging daemons or what have you running around), such as Malfi. I feel the relatively small write up does it no justice.

I would like to see more flavour of the Inquisition, maybe a little more view into Marr's goals. I think that would be a nice touch, but not exactly necessary.

That's my opinion anyways.

Well, firstly, i am really hoping it will maintain the quality we saw in earlier harlock legacy books. Damned cities is really very good, and while tattered Fates is flawed, it has the makings of a wonderful opening to the haarlock campaign.

The book look thicker than the earlier books in the haarlock legacy, so i am hoping we will get details on both planets included in the adventure.

I am hoping it will be aimed squarely at Rank Eight PCs

As far as a conclusion goes, I would like the adventure to climax with a clash with the dark traveller, but i hope any victory will be transitory.

While some answers must be given, such as exactly what haarlock is trying to achieve, i hope lots of loose ends are left, especially with regards to the nature of the tyrant star.

The Laughing God said:

Since Dusk is mentioned as part of the story, I HOPE we will get some coverage of this world and a "final" on the surface and inside the marshes of this deathworld.

Talking "the End" and "Haarlock", I firmly believe that it will somehow end with Erasmus Haarlock getting lost in time and space through the actions of the pc.. (countering a final rituale?) so everyone has this figure "up his sleeve" if he thinks he/she need to play it out again.

Since the "Spectral Sun" and the "Colleague Tenebra" where part of the last adventures, the "Spectral Sun" will be part of what ever will happen on Dusk (perhaps it was their where his wife was killed?).

Gregorius21778 said:

why the Psychneuin?

@Why Psychoneuin
As far as I got my "puzzle pieces" right, they hail from Mara. The stats given in the Core rules are for the "Mara Strain" and as far as I remember both core rules and RH, they might be the reason why Mara is quarantined in the first place. I even go so far that the "Mara Landing Massacre" was the "battle" of the stranded Guardsmen against the Pyschoneuin attacking them (therefore, the IH packege offers psy resistance: only those survived which where lucky ANDp proofed resistant to the possesion and the powers of the Psychneuin.

I expect that as the pc land on Mara to find the Tesseract, they will sooner or later be confronted with Psychoneuin. Since the core rules point out that those come in different "strains" (evolving warp predators? *shudder*) I would not be surprised if we the book contains a "new strain". After all, it has been quiet while since the Mara Landing and this little nightmares had some time to re-invent themselves.

If "natural selections left" only the fittest human survivors from the IG, I would guess that only the fittes (or fitter?)t Psychnonein got their share of the "fodder" and prospered, so there might be something slightly differenting waiting for the new intruders now.

I hope there's a chance for any Haarlock-blooded PCs (or cunning unblooded ones) to seize control of the Haarlock dynasty, for all the power, wealth and doom that will bring them.

Snidesworth said:

Like, switching from DH to RT?

That was one thought, though sticking with DH (and moving up to Ascension) is also viable. The Haarlock charter itself is an invaluable tool for any Inquisitor, especially one who wishes to act beyond the boundaries of the Imperium. Investigating and destroying/retrieving the various holdings of dynasty could be the basis of an entire campaign.

zombieneighbours said:

Well in fact I have some difficulties with Damned Cities. As a whodunnit it's agreeable enough, but it has absolutely nothing to do with the Haarlock story, except from a very weak link. In this respect I like Tattered Fates better, even though flawed.

The Laughing God said:

I think that the link to the Haarlock-Story isn´t that heavy in TF, either. After all, the first third of TF is about the pc espacing from the Pilgrims. The Second part, it is them stumbling around town to get their feed back on the ground and to find the "White Scholar" so they can get a clue about what is going on (for Emporers sake!). If it wouldn´t be for the chance-encounter (!; it is pure luck/game design that they take a job from a criminal that want´s her removed) with the Spiderbride, they would never be "pushed" into this one big fight scene at Gabriel Chase (which has a load of "Haarlock", but no real clues for anything ongoing).

Okay, they got "kidnapped" since one of them is Haarlock blood and the Pilgrims want the Widower, alright. But both parts are more or less "chance encounters leading to Haarlock connection". Which is fine for me, it sparse me from running TF. But if you are fine with TF, it is quiet a shame that DC does not even have the OPTION / ADVISE to change the briefing from "random strength murders...please investigate" to "supernatural murders... and the Haarlock Clan used to have holdings their. The tower is clean & taken over by Arbites, but perhaps there where other holdings...Could be nothing...could be something like the Widower. Go and have a loo, we cannot take chances here"

...hmm...perhaps YOU could play it like that?

I don't know about the rest of you, but my guess is they are setting old Erasimus Haarlock up for some bizarre Doctor Who style time/space/fate monkey-work. As mentioned earlier, the book looks ALOT thicker than the first two, so I maintain my hopes that the book is truely epic in scope! More planetary data on Mara, Malfi or **** near anywhere else is desperately wanted.

ZillaPrime said:

Yep. But this is just like the burgers on display in your favorite fast-food-chain. They ALWAYS look bigger on display. Don´t get exicited here.