Hello.

It is good if you know the storyline from Mass Effect 1 to get the most out of this post.

I am converting the storyline from Mass Effect 1 for Dark Heresy/Rogue Trader (and possibly Death Watch). It will be a campaign with just one player. We are starting from scratch and one of the theme of the campaign will be exploration of both the 40K universe and Player Character. The PC will go through the normal transformation from "zero to hero".

Now, one question I am pondering quite a bit is; why will the PC be thrust into this particular storyline? She is a zero after all so she must have some unique quality that makes up for her relative inexperience and which is the reason behind why an Inquisitor recruits her to begin with.

I am leaning towards her being an Untouchable but I am far from certain and since the universe is such a big place I thought I would ask around.

The real crux isn't really why the Inquisitor choses her to begin with - he'll see she has the Right-StuffTM - but why his Inquisitorial collegues will give her command after his untimely death (her Inquisitor will play the part of Nihilus).

Any suggestions are, as always, welcome.

Thank you.

Remember that a rank 1 acolyte is already above and beyond the average citizen. There are plenty of people more powerful than they are but they show that spark that means they can go far further than the majority of people.

The zero's are the ones who will never make it to rank 1

Or, you can go with an old but always good cliche of 'getting back to form'. The character could be a loooong-retired vetaran that needs to get back into his old self. Or, better - after a really nasty, near-death situation s/he needs to fully heal, i.e. get all the skills back.

The campaign could start with a climactic battle between the hero and one of villains (although, since the outcome would be more or less pre-determined, I'd do it without any rules/dice rolls, just a narrative of both player and the GM).

And please - it's not about being realistic, what such a hero would really remember and what not - it's about great backgroud:) Heck, if it's going to be a one-player game, I'd give him some lore skills for free...

If you have the Inquisitors Handbook, you could use one of the Backround Packages from it, for example "The Mara Landing Massacre" would work great as the "Sole Survivor" background from Mass Effect (at least in my oppinion). You could also design your own version of it with th Player, or at least get inspired by some of those ideas.

Along the background package line, you also have the option of the character having been mind wiped. Perhaps they already -were- an Inquisitor, they saw something so terrible, defeated a heretical plot so malign that after it was all over their mind snapped, yet they were rescued and given their value an attempt to 'fix' them made, the only way to let them recover from the horror they saw was a complete mind wipe.

This neatly explains why perhaps they are inexplicably trusted by their mentors colleagues, these people -know- that once upon a time the character was one of them and sacrificed their very being for the Imperium, loyalty like that can be repaid by their trust. It's also a perfect way for you to introduce GM 'hints' if need be, tiny fragments of past memories from dealing with similar situations before.

Thanks guys, I've got the perfect start now I feel.

I guess the Necrons would make good Reapers

Yea, that one is a no-brainer.

All in all the story line from Mass Effect lends itself quite well for a Dark Heresy/Rogue Trader campagin I feel.

And the Tyranids will be the Rachni? Yikes.

guest469 said:

That has ocurred to me but it is a far worse fit than Reapers-Necrons since Shepard manageds to have a conversation with the queen. I haven't yet played out the entire storyline for Mass Effect 2 and have a feeling they will make an appearance there before long so the Rachni will probably have to be "Xenos".

I wouldn't make the main character a null if they're supposed to be a great hero by the end. People hate nulls, I love them (Frakka from ravenor was BAMF!) but I don't live in the 41st millennium

I am going to tone down the story so it's not quite as universe shattering as in Mass Effect. Just 40k shattering.

And anyways, the true heroes of 40K dies alone, unsung and unremembered (and generally hated by everyone and everything just to top it up).

By the by, I really like how the organisation Cerberus is portraid and used throughout the two games, especially the twist in the sequel. Initially I were thinking to come up with my own 40K-version but after research it seems that the Logicans would be a near perfect fit!

Well the hero is a bit of sue by definition so a unique background package is fully justified.

I had a campaign idea where a protag was an Mindcleansed ex-Cult Magus of a Tzeentchian Cult. The Inquisition kept him around to eliminate the remains of Cult who have gone to ground. The char was meant to hunt down and kill all the friends and family of his previous life. The Inquisition intends to reward him with a bolt round in the head when the final Cultists have been accounted for.

>Logicans would be a near perfect fit!
I'd prefer Radicals. They are sufficiently ruthless, well resourced, near heretical loyalists already. I regard Cerberus as more of the ugly dark side of the Alliance rather than an enemy of the Alliance. Logicians spend most of their time shooting at Imperial agents and experimenting on Imperial citizens.

guest469 said:

Well, from a certain viewpoint the Logicans are just another, if slightly more, radical organisation, but I can see your point. I have been thinking about Oblationists as well but I feel Logicans are the better choice.

MASS-EFFECT 2 SPOILER BELOW

Exactly like in Mass Effect 1 Cerberus/the Logicans will be an enemy to the PC at first (Edge of Darkness) but after the defeat of Saren and Shepard more or less being forced to go renegade himself they become an ally. The PC, should she choose to accept the mission, will be given near unlimited recourses by the Logicans. The trade-off will of course be to become a heretic in the eyes of her erstwhile allies, probably even having to fight the good guys at times.

It's still a work in progress though and I might come around to the Oblationists before I'm done.

Thank you for your input.

you could always say that the attack hasn't happened yet, and all you PC finds is and empty colony, and then the attack happens. You could spice up the Eden Prime mission with some objectives like, reactivate the orbital turrets, restore power, etc.

You see with this route, your acolyte gets to feel important, but the task doesn't seem to be too far out of his capabilities. You could also start the character at rank five. I would recommend this if it is a single player campaign, as it means you don't have to create a million little npcs to complete each little task.

Ac4189 said:

Those are some good ideas. Especially the "bonus objectives". I am not to keen to start at rank five already, even though it makes more sense, within the context of the story, than to start at rank 1. My main argument for this is simply that it's fun to get xps and build your character. Another, more serious argument is that the player, my wife, will need time to learn the system and all the different talents and what not. A rank 5 character already has loads of stuff tacked on and I do not want to throw her into the deep end. That said I might increase the amount of xp earned per hour/session etc.

Thank you for your comment.

Suthainn said:

This right here. This is perfect. Perhaps go with Interrogator instead of Inquisitor, but the idea is fundamentally the same. I would avoid making the "special" character a blank since they have CRAP fellowship and that general "aura of creepy" that haunts their every move like Michael Jackson at a Cub Scout meeting.

I would have a little fun with the occasional NPC who knew the character in their pre-wipe days asking about their health. "You don't seem quite yourself today. Feeling ok, ma'am?"

The other trick you can pull out of your hat later if needed is the latent psyker elite package in IH. This is a potentially useful tool if the character's "old self" was a psyker but the full mind cleanse has caused their powers to "go dormant". More fun foreshadowing and mystery could include the (presently non-psyker) character discovering a Sanctioning Brand somewhere on their naked body but having NO idea how or why it got there, or perhaps even what it means! At a certain point the character's psyk stabilises (when they ascend or pick up a "real" Psy Rating from Adept or Imp. Psyker.) and after some very secretive testing, their old Sanctioning status is restored, records are placed under Inquisitional seal, Telepaths arrange for some scribes to forget certain parts of their day and the Imperium is safe for another day.

So, I am not quite sure which organisation is the best choice for Cerberus. At first I were thinking of the Logicans, especially for the adventure Edge of Darkness but after reading through all the major radical factions in the Radical's Handbook I am not so sure anymore. The main antagonist of Edge of Darkness could be easily replaced anyways. Almost any radical faction could work but currently my list looks like thus:

The Logicans (p.40 DotDG)

Phaenonites (p. 117 RH); Maltek stalker (p. 52 RH) and Mark of the phaenonite (p. 72 RH)

Recongregators (p. 84 RH)

I'd love to hear your thoughts on the subject.

I don't know, the "used to be an inquisitor but was mind-wiped" thing sounds just like the plot of knights of the old republic.