I'm finishing up a short, three session Dark Heresy game and pondering ideas for a longer run. As I pondered how to further expand on what I ran so far, I started thinking about how to tie in some of the table top wargame concepts into Dark Heresy. so I thumbed through my copy of the Chaos Marine codex and starting to wonder why 'marks of chaos' never made it into the DH game.
Now, granted - the chaos marines have a unique history. And it's entirely possible that the concept of 'marks of chaos gods' could be limited to the elite servants of those gods, which means the 'normal humans' found in the DH version of the setting might not qualify for such an exalted 'honor'. So I can certainly see why the chaos gods might not want to grant such a mark to anyone NOT a chaos marine....but that said, should I wish to incorporate such a concept into my game I wonder how i'd go about doing it. It seems to me that a straight up stat increase would suffice for most of the marks (some marks grant a +1 to a stat line item in the wargame, which should easily translate to a +10 bonus in DH)...but given that we can be much more descriptive in the RPG, it seems to me that a mark of chaos could/should have some colorful effects on anyone who bears such a mark. so I was just wondering if anyone had used something similar in any of their DH campaigns.
/begin Boring Campaign Journal stuff
The acolytes have been sent (exiled?) to Sinophia. they were given vague directions to speak with their Inquisitorial contact, a tech priest located in an abandoned PDF bunker along the northern rim of Sinophia Magni. finding the contact proved somewhat daunting, and shortly after landing at the starport they were accosted by some local street gangers. After busting their heads and establishing some 'street cred' for themselves, they get directions from the locals, which got them close. some fiddling with their auspex got them the rest of the way, and they make contact with their nominal boss.
The Tech priest seems stranger than most of his ilk, providing minimum information to the team. they are given a short mission briefing, told to infiltrate/ransack an abandoned noble estate some 40 klicks outside the city of Sinophia Magni, and to not ask questions about the mission. looking about, they find the tech priest has a beaten up old skimmer that sort of works...so they spend a day getting the skimmer into shape. They do some recon on the target, charming the local street toughs into telling 'em a tale about a smuggling network using the noble estate as a drug manufacturing/storage center. they also find that the Tech Witches of Ammicus Tole are operating fairly openly in the local market place, as are the narco gangs and some tech heretics.
Choosing instead to concentrate on their primary orders, they leave the minor heretics alone (for now!) and proceed to the mission. after the skimmer is repaired, they take flight and flying NOE, they recon the estate. somewhat appalled at the neglected conditions of the countryside, they easily find their target. Auspex reveals no life signs on the landing field, but there is something inherent to the estate main building that blocks their scans. locating a suitable nearby place to set down discreetly, they land the skimmer and proceed to the airfield on foot. a visual search confirms that the landing field is indeed empty....almost eerily so. In one of the hangars though, they find a gruesome sight - a body strung up on some sort of improvised scaffolding. Medicae tests indicate the victim was slowly skinned alive over a period of some hours, apparently for the amusement of a number of guests. there is evidence that several couples sat around on cushions and consumed various drugs and liquor while watching the victim being slowly murdered.
now convinced that whatever is going on is certainly worth further investigation, they quietly proceed to the main estate building. Over time, the out buildings have fallen into extreme disrepair largely because of lack of maintenance. the main house is also largely unlivable, having west and east wings collapsed in on themselves. the core of the building remains solid however, and they find an unguarded entrance on the west side. Opening the door quietly, they enter and see....
...one hell of a party! music, flashing lights! the soft sighs and...the coppery smell of blood! in fact, near the door, they find a pair of cultists heavily engaged in a frenzied activity involving lubricant, a couple razor blade and narcotic substances that made the 'burn on sight' list a couple hundred centuries ago. As they close the door, the male sighs/screams softly and stops moving. the woman rolls off him, stands up and sees the party. licking her lips, she whispers 'more!' and charges!
And with a prayer to the Emperor on their lips they purge the heretic with enthusiasm and las shots. The cultists dancing on a dais in the center of the room, scream in ecasty and charge. the scum character unlimbers her inferno pistol and lets fly with righteous fire! But the cultists are in a frenzy and continue the charge! Sadly for the cultists, they didn't make it quite close enough to the Acolytes to engage in hand to hand combat, and the group is able to hit them with the inferno pistol once more. writhing in pleasure, they collapse in a heap of burned, abused flesh at the feet of the party's sanctioned psyker...who promptly loses his lunch (i.e. failed a fear check).
And...that's where we're at right now. I think it's going well so far, but i'm only going to run one more game before we call this one quits.
But as far as introduction of Pacts/Marks is concerned, you can make them find some mystical and occult tome or even make them unconscious, don't remember anything from their past for a short while and force them to participate in some Dark Ritual. 
