Hey everyone. I have a small problem I'd like to get some advice on. Last night's session went spectactularly well in entertainment fashion, but was a horrific failure for the PC's. To cut a long story short, the PC's vessel - a Dauntless Class - was hammered by six Yu-Vath void wasps. That, addmitedly was a significant error on my part, as I had vastly underestimated the power of the Yu-Vath ships. The PC's ship, the Bismarck, suffered several critical hits including damage to its manouvering thrusters and its external augers, the crew were dying in droves, fires were breaking out and the PC's were failing every role they could possibly make.

To make matters (possibly) worse, when they realised that the Yu-Vath were slaughtering them, they decided to make a blind warp jump, inside the inner system (surrounded by lots of asteroids) and with no Navigator to help them out. The surviving crew rioted... and won. Then the fire broke out of control. It killed everyone aboard apart from the PC's (who all spend fate-points). The fire also gutted the Gellar field generator whist they were in the Immaterium. I rule that the intercession of the Emperor, from the Fate Points, hurled the vessel back into real-space.

My problem is two-fold. 1) How in the name of Terra are they going to get out of this mess and 2) How much of a bastard should I be to them given the sheer disaterous nature of what's befallen them. I must point out that I actually feel sorry for them after all this. I do want them to have the opportunity to get some crew and repair their ship, but the Bismarck is in a hideously bad way (all componants are either damaged of subject to crits an they only have 7 Hull Integrity left). Any advice on how to get them out of what is essentially a Daemon haunted, frozen tomb in deep space?

Cheers!

You could have another RT find their ship drifting into space and rescue them, which would be a way to introduce a new NPC. He might be kind enough to haul their ship to drydock. Of course, refitting the ship and recruting a new crew will send their Profit into the nth circle of Hell and they will be indebted to the NPC. If they later have to compete with this very same RT on a treasure run for an obscene profit, it might create a nice moral dilemna.

I was thinking along similar lines to Kyorou: have another RT come and pick them up, then expect some sort of payment. Being in debt to another RT is pretty galling punishment, but has lots of RP opportunities. Alternatively, some other manner of vessel could pick them up. Xenos, for giggles? Or maybe they could be drafted by an Imperial Navy vessel, and have to somehow survive long enough to prove their identity and get back to their holdings!

The possibilities are legion. Sounds very exciting to me. Though I do also feel very sorry for your players for getting into that pickle in the first place.

Well...

If there is no crew the vessel can't operate at all. They could take a lighter to a populated planet/planetoid nearby ( be kind and create a naval outpost of some sort nearby) or a patrolling vessel could find them by astropathic beacon (do they have a living astropath?). Those are two ways out. The Navy is likely to help them with a tow (their warrant of trade can get them help from the authorities when in need) to a dock somewhere IF they can get their geller field repaired, Once there...they can start shedding cash to get the old girl in shape and replenish crew (green crew with no experience would be less than competent). Adventures at or near the location of their ship's repair could occupy their time for a while.

Also, you could have an Imperial Flotilla show up (as if they were in pursuit fo the Xenos) and lend a hand to the RT without any required action on the part of the players.

An alien race could show up and help.....ick.

Cheers for the replies! I think that there is some good stuff here, so thank you all for the help. On consideration, I'm thinking of having the ship turn up in a vast ship's graveyard. The nice part of me is leaning toward the Battleground. The not-so-nice part is thinking the Processional of the Damned. I think a shipboard adventure is very much in order for the next session. Life support, power and other essential systems are all off line and the PC's are scattered throughout the vessel. This calls for lots of Navigate (Surface?) challenges with some nasty mundane obstacles like void-opened areas of the ship, compartments flooded with plasma fire and hard radiation and some heavily mutated former crew to contend with. The not-so-mundane threats occur when I let my imagination run riot with the thousands of corpses on the ship that have been exposed directly to the Warp. Oh, and the now mysteriously missing Halo artefact that is on-board. I'm thinking that the next session is going to draw on a lot of tropes associated with ghost-ships and survival horror.

As for fixing up the ship and getting some new crew, I think I'll draw on the old favourite of having some of the wrecks nearby being home to warring factions of ships ratings and colonists. Chuck in some heretics and an implacable Xenos horror for good measure and we might have a nice political game the following session, replete with mad cultists and high stakes decision making.

Another question: do any of you have any suggestions on how cripplingly expensive it should be to get the vessel ship-shape again (no pun intended)? The Dynasty is only into its first endeavour and they have a measly PF of about 22 at the moment. Perhaps a 5 point to 17 might be in order to build up their ship and crew again, because of the massive amount of favours and assets they'll have to sell off to get things back up to scratch again.

nos4artu said:

A long time, I think, and a lot of negotiations and promises made, given the low PF.

My RT is currently having a wrecked Lunar-Class Cruiser reassembled and fitted, and it has been taken away to the Calixis Sector for the work. He did some pretty heavy dealing with the Mechanicum to secure the work at all, and I don't think he'll be seeing it for a year or more. That is a vast ship, though, and probably even worse off than your PCs' vessel.

Rather than just laying out some PF and having it done, maybe it would be more interesting to roleplay them getting different components from different sources, and arranging someone suitable to get it all put in? It really depends on how your players feel about it, though. If they're going to be miserable without a ship, maybe a big layout of PF and some time-lapse would be kinder.

The cost for components is all in the main rulebook, so perhaps use that as a guide (depending on what they want) and then add cost for labour and berth somewhere while it's carried out?

Taking a hit to their PF given it's so low already is a bit much for the group to survive. As a GM I'd prefer to have a single group agree to repair the ship. The obvious groups are the Inquisition, the Admech, and the Navy. Other more interesting groups might be Hax (sp?) the sector governor, or even a planetary governor. Then build an arc around the PCs undertaking an Epic journey/quest/whatever to pay them back.

I like the graveyard, and procession. If you have the Lure book there are lots of details there for the Procession. The intro adventure Forsaken Bounty if you haven't used it could be tied in. There are enough surviving crew on the Bounty to crew either ship enough to get back to port. And the PCs could scavenge either ship to repair the other. If you have used Bounty, but haven't used Dark Frontier (see support section of FFG RT page) there are certainly enough ships for parts, and several stranded crews.

Yeah, in hindsight I agree with the PF hit being pretty nasty at this level. As a bit of background which make the players reluctant to head into Imperial space (and which makes it all the more tempting for me to set up as part of an Endeavour to get the ship working again) is that they fled a rather nasty incident in the Lathes in the first few sessions. To cut a long story short, its a convoluted tale. The gist is that the PC's were inadvertently caught up in some serious political wrangling by several groups within the Adeptus Mechanicus (all the players have some sort of tie to the Priesthood of Mars). As a consequence, a vastly souped up Schismatical threat was turned loose across Hesh (this being a series of Schismaticals that were so potent they could compromise the Machine Spirits of Imperial Titans). This was combined with an assasination attempt made upon the Fabricator General by parties that looked identical to the PC's. Then there was the Daemonhost that publicly acknowledged the Lord Captain as its 'master'. Oh and the Rogue Trader making a show of getting pally with the leader of a Logician splinter sect probably didn't help much either. Rather than stay and defend themselves against charges of Tech-Heresy, apostasy and recidivism the Lord Captain (going against the advice of his Seneschal and Explorator - the two other PC's) decided to flee into the Koronus Expanse with a drunk and Obscura addicted Navigator at the helm... It's only got worse from there!

So, the PC's are terrified that the Inquisition, the Cult of Sollex and the Imperial Navy all want their heads on poles. The Seneschal and Explorator thought that their only defence would be to hunt down and purge the Logician and cleanse his unholy works, as well as conquor a few star systems and prosecute the purging of several xenos-tainted worlds. That might buy them some slack with the Calixean authorities. Alas they currently have little to show for their plans other than a derelict ship, a dead Astropath, a possibly tainted Navigator, a derranged and perpetually drunk Lord-Captain and Throne-knows-what horrors that lurk in the lightless and airless dark of their void-ship. I sense a great endeavour coming on...

nos4artu said:

Well. that's yer (ironic) problem right there!

I love the pickle your PCs have gotten into... I say make it worse before it gets better!!

For instance - have them show up in the Processional of the Damned. They could meet up with the small group that also wants to get the hell out of there and battle the others whilst trying to salvage the ship... Then have pirates turn up and salvage their vessel and enslave all humans they can find... Take them back to iniquity where they are put on the slave gangs fixing their own ship! You can see the options here... can they lead a slave revolt against the corsairs of iniquity to recover their ship? If they win they will have a brand new ship, a fanatically loyal crew and a cargo full of slaves... if they loose... well, make sure they have plenty of fate points left!

MKX said:

That's so true! To make matters worse, the Lord Captain - whose player chose the ship's name - was absent from the game. When my friend can't make it online we just rule that the Rogue Trader is in his chambers with his catamites and other assoted malcontents and ne'erdowells addled out of his mind on obscura and amasec. Still, at least he went down with his ship, so-to-speak...

Giaus Novus Khan said:

You know what, I love that idea. I was considering having them fall into the hands of Krawkin Feckward at some point myself... I might shift the action to the Battleground though, since they havn't yet even made it through the Maw. The NPC Navigator (who is now dead) monumentally cocked up every roll he ever made. I think this is going to make a brilliant Endeavour.

The first part will be set on the hulk of the Bismarck, with the PC's trying to reunite with one another and a few other major NPC's who survived. All the while they have to negotiate around the mountains of corpses, raging plasma fires, void flooded holds and null-gravity to try and get some power to the vessel. Naturally, given the massive balls up of the warp translation there will be something suitable horrible wandering the corpse-choked corridors bringing a hideous half-life to the remains of their crew. I'll let them meet each other up, let them get a feeling of safety, maybe even throw in some fake vox signals from the warp animated remains of the crew to lull them into a false sense of security. Then I'll hit them with the 'Dancer at the Threshold of Eternity', my pet daemon. Then it'll be a running battle through the dark, to try and get life support and the main engines on-line before the oxygen runs out and they join the hungering dead.

The second part will come when they find out where they actually are. I'm planning on having the free-trader captain from Dark Fontier having been stranded in the Battleground. I'll also chuck in the Brotherhood and the other group as ship-lorn voidsmen, waring with one another while something malevolent picks off both sides for its own inscruitable purpose. The free-trader's ship is heavily damaged and lacks a functioning warp-drive. Naturally she'll see the Bismark as a vast prize, which may even enable her to claim a Warrant of Trade for herself. Cue boarding actions, fleeing or being taken prisoner, cutting deals and doing their level best to survive the thing that's hunting them all down. The climax is where Fekward steps in. Perhaps using the PC's to deal with the implacable threat (as a test to see how good they actually are) before launching his piratical raid.

The third part is where they are dragged off into his holds and taken to labour on the Bismarck and his other new 'acquistions'. This will give some fantastic chances to unify the slaves, defy the slavers, deal with traitors and overthrow Krawkin's enterprises. Beautiful stuff, cheers everyone!

Glad I could help! I like brining in Feckward as the bad guy - but I wouldn't give them the chance to flee or curt a deal - just enslave them! Also now they'll have to get on side with the Navigator on Feckward's ship and bring her/him around to their side (great onboard endeavour).

Giaus Novus Khan said:

I would try to make sure the bad guy survives this first confrontation with the PCs so he can come back later with a vow of vengerance for their 'mutiny' and stealing of 'his' ship (maybe he doesn't stay to overwatch the repair of the PC's ship and just let some of his men behind to do the job, including his sadistic second, of course). Actually, I don't remember this Feckward character. Where does he appears ?

You know, the classic is always the best. They jumped blind... So they will appear who knows where, and who knows WHEN! It would be quite fun to take them to another adventure (even if they already played it!!! XD) where they could even repair their ship.

Or... They can stumble into a deserted alien installation, or base, or a deserted planet... I remember a Star Trek's Enterprise episode where they found some sort of authomatized drydock in space which made all repairs to their ship nearly for free... and a crewmember (this without telling, of course...). And there is also the possibility that the Geller Fields works... a little. In Dawn of War 2 a group of Blood Ravens managed to survive inside a Space Hulk wandering across the warp... with Tyranids and Daemons... until... well... that could spoil the game, so let's say they kept the adventure a secret, because just with that the Inquisition would have made questions.

nos4artu said:

Man, that captain is going to be pissed. " How in the name of Holy Terra did I sleep through all of that?" "'Twas a mighty fine party, Lord Captain." "Well that explains the hangover. And w hy does everything smell like off bacon ?"

In the future, they should avoid ships with names like Bismarck, Titanic, Brittanic, Lusitania, etc. They were practically asking for something to happen.

Kyorou said:

Krawkin Feckward is a rather nasty piece of work who appears in Lure of the Expanse. He's a criminal overlord made 'good' from profiting from the slave and cold trades. He's possibly one of the few NPC's I've seen in a book that actually makes the PC's look like nice chaps...

CthonicProteus said:

He is indeed! Still, the player knows he can't leave me alone to just let things tick over those sessions he's not there. Something always happens to throw a spanner in the works. Usually that something is me, but hey that's the fun of being a GM . I have to admit I did raise my eyebrow at the ship's name. I was suggesting things like 'His Divine Right', 'Sword of Terra' or 'St Drusus' Wrath'. It'll be a hell of a hangover, especially with the warp zombies and total lack of life support!

Argus Van Het said:

Yeah, thats why I was considering dropping them into the Processional of the Damned, but I want to save that for when we play through Lure of the Expanse. Plus I don't want to play my hand too early with the fact that despite the opinion of the players, they havn't even actually made it out of the Maw yet. In game they have only gone into the Warp twice. The first one botched horribly, hence they have no idea where they were and the second was the blind jump they just made.

I'm definately having them taken as slaves. I'm definately introducing Krawkin as a recurring villain, who won't be at all easy to kill off (you've got to love Touched by the Fates). I like the battleground as its not a completely unknown quantity and it seems plausable that damaged ships might turn up there due to the amount of shipping which passes through the Maw. I rather like the idea that Fekward has spies in the vicinity who keep an eye out for fresh meat. I imagine a prize like the Bismarck, no matter how heavily damaged, is something that is incredibly tempting to scum like Feckward.

nos4artu said:

I hate to break it to you, but "The Dancer at the Threshold" is the name of a daemon from the adventure at the back of the Dark Heresy Core Rule Book.

I love your ideas for the adventure, but seting a daemon loose on your players after all that has happened to them does seem a little cruel. Zombie crew members or insane psykers would be much more survivable, but still give you that survival horror feel.

Dren Kre''lar said:

Oddly enough, I noticed that this morning whilst browsing through Dark Heresy. It seems the title had lingered in my subconcious, waiting to rear its head. You're right though, a daemon would be too much. The zombie crew are in, as is the posessed former Navigator (ripped off from Forsaken Bounty). The Navigator will be a bit more chatty than the one in the free adventure, if only so can chew up scenery and cackle insanely when he tells them that they "won't need eyes to see, where we're going". I think I'll hit them with some horrible scenes from the ships recent past, moments where they can see burning crew in the distance (despite it being hard vacuum), vox ghosts repleat with screams and prayers for mercy and bulkheads buckling under the onslaught of a owerful but unseen force. The warp zombies will be tangential to the feeling that there is something unseen on the ship that wants to drive them mad before it makes them join with it. It'll start out very subtly. I want them to think that there are people alive on the ship, when they in fact are very much dead. Then gradually work up the weirdness factor.

CthonicProteus said:

Now, see, ironically, in BFG, my Long Serpent class battlecruiser (for those not owning a copy of BFGM issue 02, it's fast and powerful, but takes big critical hits and explodes like 12 hit BB) the Graf Spee , was not destroyed in over twenty engagments. Until it met the necrons and blew up, wiping out half it's escorts.

That said, it sounds like the party had problems with Whispers on the Storm. Don't worry, mine did too.

On the point of Profit lost from this disaster, it shouldn't set them back anything at all unless you decide to introduce a Misfortune in the course of returning the ship to full operating status, remember that that the Rogue Trader already owns the ship and his dynasty dosen't suddenly become less influential because his ship got shot up.

That said the Rogue Trader might need to work his way around a Mechanicus extortion attempt as they try to extract as much land and money from the dynasty as possible during the ship's next refit cycle, or have some pointed words with corrupt Adepts on Port Wander, as rumors begun to spread that the Bismarck was destroyed in deep space and a rival siezed the opportunity to start clandestinely comandeering their assets.

In short, damage, even catastrophic damage, is not an appropriate reason to just take Profit away, but it's a good time to introduce the possibility of losing Profit through the medium of Upkeep Rolls or a Misfortune event, either of which may reduce or temoprarily penalize their Profit Factor. Even with a low Profit Factor, Rogue Traders are Gajillionaires, even buying a new ship isnt' enough to reduce their Profit Factor.

And on the name thing, by Him on Earth they were inviting disaster! They need a less unlucky, more Imperial-sounding name, my fleet has ships with names like the Intolerance , the Diligent , the Merciless , the Righteous and the Ciaphas Cain, with the Divine Sanction serving as the Admiral's Flagship. In our Rogue Trader game we serve on a Crusier called the Ascent of Iron , commanded by a Rogue Trader from a Death World. He's a bad, bad man.

Ok, I haven't read all of the responses. I would play through the ship for a session, give them challenges to overcome to get enough systems back up so that everyone doesn't die. With corridors exposed to Vaacum and life support down, sensors inoperable and no idea of current location you could play it up as a tense crawl through a dark ship to try and force their way to the bridge in order to find their location and attempt to contact help.

To have them stuggle through a whole session to find themselves in the Processional of the Damned could be a really interesting and atmospheric game.

Then have them deal with something in the processional before having them rescued. Perhaps have them pick up a ship on long range augers only to find that they have no way of hailing them. Have the ship heading to the jump point accelerating away faster than a shuttle could help them resulting in them having to board another ship and either use that ships vox systems or salvage parts in order to fit them to their own ship depending on whether they have an Explorator or not. Put a time limit on the whole thing to ramp up the tension. If they fail, thats when things get interesting.

The price of being saved should be pretty bad but try and not hit their profit factor any more. Being in the pocket of another Rogue Trader with less than honorable intensions should be bad enough. If you really want to be cruel mix in the Armanthine Syndicate and the Slaugth .

This can be the basis of a really interesting and unique experiance for the players so I would embrace it. Take the consequences to their full conclusion and ask them how far they are willing to go for profit? How far is to far?

Kaihlik