So, after a few campaigns that didn't go anywhere, my group and I are trying to formulate something that will work on a single session per adventure basis. (something like Mouse Guard for those that have read that game).

I'd like to get some experienced GM's thoughts on some single mission archetypes that could be recycled with subtle changes.

Thanks in advance.

SS

Would THIS help?

Graver said:

Graver,

That almost made me want to gouge my eyes out... Until I realized it's a random "adventure" generator. But, honestly, if you had seen what I had seen, I think you have to agree. I mean... Laundry Duty ?!? With a "naive" Slaugth Overseer? Wow... Just, WOW.

Otherwise, pretty nice utility.

-=Brother Praetus=-

Brother Praetus said:

****, the one you came up with sounds like pure comidy gold! And thanks. If you're wondering I didn't write it with the most serious of intentions in mind, but then I never do anything with the most serious of intentions in mind. ;-)

As randomness goes, my top two favorite combo's I've gotten to date have to be "an extravagant Deamonite with a Heart of Gold who is really beautiful but no one sees it because she keeps her hair pulled back in a pony-tail" and "nosey Bloodletter who solves crimes and who wanders the galaxy righting wrongs." While I ended up not using the Daemonite in the story i was brainstorming for, the time I got the Bloodletter, after a bit of thought it eventually became a Bloodletter bound to a Handcannon called The Vengeance Gun, a blasphemous daemon weapon which changes from one hand to the next always seeking out one of the overwhelming number of souls who seethe with a need to avenge themselves for one reason or another but feel powerless to do such until the gun comes into their lives... of course it always ended with a massive bloodbath, an insane shootout, and countless dead with the guns wielder being among them with the gun vanishing through random chance to find anouther hand to weild it and die for vengance.

The generator is more of a springboard for ideas, you never know what combination will spark an idea and figured something like this might help out the OP. I wrote it up initially when i was doing something similar to what he is wanting. I pritty much ran short one session mission vignettes almost for a summer with it giving me the ideas for each session. It worked out rather well and, after almost a year of heavy crazy intricate plots, have a bit of a hankering to get back to that style for a spell.

It looks like this generator was originally writen for the Over the Edge RPG but it is actually quite inspirationnal.

"A brutal Gretchin who sees people as valuable individual snowflakes and who is secretly a mover in the Inquisition"... priceless.

Thanks for pointing me in that direction, it definitely generates some interesting results!

from france

seem good but can't read it.

This is Great!

A normal Random Beastie who is a member of a genestealer cult and who is a quadruple amputee
~and~
A moody False-Man of Nomen Ryne who doesn't trust anyone and who has an eye for the opposite sex

This is almost as good as They Fight Crime

http://www.theyfightcrime.org/

The investigative sort of game that is Dark Heresy's forte can be very tricky to conclude in one sitting. To make sure the plot winds to a close in a given time almost demands railroading, thus effectively nullifying the joy of discovery for the players. What's worse, it would make the players complacent, and probably very bored, to know that the GM will eventually force feed all the clues and solutions just so he doesn't get bored. That's why I tend to go for the open-ended, sandbox type of game.

To answer your question, though, military-type missions tend to be pretty nice and compact. The Acolyte cell is given a clear set of objectives by an authority figure who has the power to crush them (such as an Inquisitor), and a time-frame for doing it.

One single session game I GMed I prepped like this:

1. I used a planet generator to come up with a setting, then placed an objective there (a forgotten temple, in this case).
2. I came up with a McGuffin for the PCs to recover
3. I took an empty US military mission briefing form from GURPS Special Ops and defined the mission parameters (time and mode of insertion and extraction, rules of engagement, estimation of enemy forces, etc).
4. Started the game.

That made for a neat, tense one-off game. Having an in-game time limit for the mission really helped the pacing along - no dithering by the PCs for fear of missing their extraction!

All in all, I think it's all about the time limit and the sense of urgency it instills. The adventure itself could revolve around anything, the military operation just tends to particularly time-sensitive.

I try to mix things up to keep the game more exciting and interesting for both myself and my players. One mission might find them locked in furious battle with "bad things" while packing heavy armour and military ordinance, following hot on the heels of a mission that had them in evening gowns and best-behaviour. Next in line might be a good old fashioned "gumshoe" detective story, or perhaps it is some freaky X-Files episode with some 40K window-dressing? There is definately a good reason why most of Inquisitor Ravenor's agents preffered the reinforced bodyglove as personal protection, seeing as they fit into so many different potential roles and are at least semi-discreet.

One mission I like useing (note I have changed this concept to be original in my using but it is blantently stolen from the author Dan Abnet). You have a rogue space station (how it came to be can be anything, a hollowed out asteroid, something the warp spat out you name it). What makes this space station unique is that it is in a system that is almost impossible to ge to as it is surrounded by warp storms. As a result only small space craft can reach it, small ships with a crew of less than 100, generally space freighters and wat not. The reason for this that within the warp storms there is place which rogue traders refer is surfers run. Basically a small enough ship can ride the outside of the storm which has a temporal effect the ship allowing it to travel and insane speeds. A run which normally take 3 months going around the stroms is cut down to 8 days(7 in reality but the traders make a stop in the system with the space station so their poor navigator can recover from the hell that is sufers run).

Now either by bad luck or choice someone sets up a permeanent shop in the storm surrounded system. In my version a rogue trader with a fleet of 4 small ships suffers horrible damage and lands/crashes on an asteroid. After they canabalize their ships they are stuck on an asteroid with nothing but void shields protecting them. The captain wants to go get parts for repairs but knows that his ships will be cannabalized if he leaves; and because only small ships mainly crewed by rogue traders would use a dangerous route like this cheap or safe help is hard to find. The captain after much deliberation decides to try and batter for parts by being a storage vessel. Most ships that use this route also like it because larger imperial ships can't enter the system and so use it as a means to smuggle illegal goods. At first everything is going good the captain holds illegal goods for various parties (examples would be slaves, drugs, weapons, anything that they got a good deal on but are afraid that they may have attracted some unwanted attention) and charges a small handling fee. Then he gets his big break a rogue trader who uses the run to transport meats (In the hive world the wealthly pay top dollar for food that is held in cold storage and has not been frozen or put into stasis) shows up and says he wants to sell some contraband but has no buyers. The captain think hey I have contacts and so for a small fee he is the go between for the deal. Fast forward 70 years later, the asteroid is hollowed out and is now decked out with top of the line void shields and power plants. Officially it is held by the imperium the captain pays a much higher tithe than other faciilties that size. Unofficially it is a smugglers dream, it is allowed to exist by the inquisition due to the fact it is a gold mine of information and that way they can keep tabs on various rogue traders; ensuring they deal in things that are only illegal on various planets and not the inquistion.

In my missions the acolytes go there to do business and gather information. One thing I stole from Abnet is that only short range weapons are permitted within the facility. This is fun as it forces my group to use close combat weapons (I have a few people who love to carry 5 guns all the time), and it allows for all sorts of neat plot hooks.