Hi all,

As the topic title suggests i'm planning on starting our ascended DH campaign with a bit of a bang, by having the Tyrant Star visit Tranch whilst the newly minted inquisitor and his party are investigating the Pale Throng. Has anyone got any suggestions for inflicting the Tyrant on a planet (we've played Tattered Fates so the group have seen it before), or advice for using the Tyrant Star to its full effect?

Thanks

Surak

I would probably do a couple of things if I were to that particular bomb on Tranch:

1) Huge mutant riots, in the streets, in the underhives, pretty much every where.

2) Pretty much total breakdown of the Guard's ability to keep the situation from becoming a disaster. The troops on Tranch are in one of worst imaginable warzones. It is officially a pacified planet, but in reality it is not. Attacks from mutants have likely already got them jumpy to say the least. With the effect that the Tyrant Star traditionally seems to have in terms of madness, violence etc, I could almost see one two alternatives with the guard, mutiny or a brutal pogrom of mutants and anyone suspected of being a sympathizer.

3) The ensuing chaos would be too good of an oppurtunity for any remaining members of the Pale Throng to pass up. And given that the Tyrant Star brings out the worst in everyone it touches, their actions would likely be horrific in the extreme.

4) Add into this, mass hysteria, armageddon preachers, and the whole "its the end of the world" sentiment, and its pretty much total chaos.

5) Which of course is the perfect sort of high stress enviroment for any number of nascent psykers to manifest.

Thanks for the inspiration Nakano,

The party arrived on Tranch last night and I really cranked up the tension and sense of doom. Its quite helpful that the party started there DH campaign on Tranch 6 years ago (in-game time obv) and so they were constantly making comparisons, which usually ended with "how the heck has it gone this far down hill since we were last here"

Entertainingly the current theory amongst the party is that the nids are about to invade.

I'll keep people posted as we keep going - but any extra ideas will be welcome

If you have Deathwatch or at least the demo booklet then I suggest making liberal use of the "horde" rules. Have the muties running wild, obviously. Add to that panicky civilians... civilians that have managed to survive in an urban battleground that has been simmering and raging on and off for years! Takes alot to make those people panic... and panic makes these natural survivors dangerous... As the Tyrant Star begins to make it's presence felt have some of the Guardsmen get a little "twitchy", starting with the rookies. After a while the veterans start to get a bit spooked and erratic, while the rookies start to flat-out loose it! After a while the only things that the team can depend on are themselves and perhaps a stalwart platoon of Brontian/Cadian/Mordian Imperial Guard if they can be convinced of the team's authority. Lots of crashing buildings, explosions, senseless violence, strange Warp phenomena, rampaging muties, overwhelmed Guardsmen... Make it EPIC!

Of course you do not have an epic story until you add one (or more!) ODD characters that are drawn to the events that surround the Tyrant Star's appearance.... Perhaps they even played a part in making the appearance happen? Maybe it is some super-genius arch-villain who schemes to watch the sector BURN, thus turning an entire hive city into an enormous dark ritual to summon something BAD! Or maybe the villain is some strange Twist who's psychic powers have run out of control (think AKIRA) and their terrified Warp-touched mind is manipulating events so that maybe their dead family might come back to be with them again... and the voice of the Black Star makes such tempting offers!

Offer them possible paths to solutions that tread the sure and solid ways of Orthodoxy, paths that embrace questionable Radicalism and paths that are just plain RUTHLESS. See what they choose... Or do they reject all and make their own way? The very act of MAKING such decisions marks them out as worthy of consideration for higher office within the Inquisition.

Zilla as always some fantastic ideas

I've already hit them with a magnitude 60 or so horde (using the demo book) of mutants which they dealt with very easily (holocaust + the other 8 people in the group.)

Looks like I need to up the stakes.

Surak

Que the song "It's the End of the World As We Know It".

Other than that, mass anarchy, looting and panic on the streets............ in short, and not meaning to sound offensive, a worldwide scene of L.A. riots when the Lakers Win and Hurricane Katrina rolled into one big mess for just background work. As for the other big players, I've never used Tranch, so I honestly am not big help there.

Thanks for all your input people.

We have now more or less finished with Tranch and what a mess the planet is in now.

The Pale Throng had been infiltrated by the Pilgrims of Hayte (lead by a certain person from a certain Haarlock trilogy) and one of the clans turned to worshiping the dark powers.

They then tried to infiltrate one of the loyal hives to rig its reactor and sacrafice the entire population as an offering to the Tyrant Star. This attempt was stopped by the inquisitor and his party.

The Inquisitor then followed the Pale Throng lead back to its source and infiltrated one of his team into the Soot Warrens while the rest of the cell prepeared for a Full assault.

Needless to say an armed assault into the heart of the Soot Warrens was seriously contested, to the point that Astarties and Inquisition re-enforcements were called in. The inquisitors party fought there way to the centre of the corrupted clans terretory to find two un-bound daemon hosts and that a large part of the Soot Warrens had been turned into a sacrifical pentagram, which the inquisitors allies were feeding with there slaughter of the mutants. Just as Komus was starting to rise the inquisitor made a very difficult call and set 6 atomic warheads in the soot warrens and then evacuated his forces. The resulting explosion killed 2.4billion mutants, but did destroy the summoning ritual at the last possible moment causing the Tyrant star to vanish, however alot of damage had been done to the planet at that point.

Surak