I tend to agree with the sentiment of giving the players a small non-warp capable ship like a guncutter or the shuttle from Innocence proves nothing. But the lack of immediate interstellar travel is one of the things that contributes to Dark Heresy's pulp espionage feeling. Look at campaign setting like Call of Cthulhu or Indiana Jones. Part of the character's adventure is transitioning from one location to the other. The characters should have adventures enroute, although probably minor adventures like the acolyte cell in the Dark Heresy novels that lost their equipment to thieves. Or you could perhaps use a smaller warp capable vessel. Perhaps your players are working for a Ordos Xenos Radical who is using a recovered micro warpship that is controlled by an Abominable Intelligence. That could make things very interesting.

Salcor

It all depends on how much attention your players want to draw to themselves. Unless you use your GM powers to alter the setting, the Han Solo / Millennium Falcon version of space travel would be so unusual that it would draw a huge amount of attention. Also EVERYONE else would want their ship, and want it enough to kill the current owners/operators... and the crew... and well anyone and everyone who happened to be nearby, to get it.

Unless one of your players is an inquisitor they would not have the political clout to fend off official requests / demands the ship be turned over to the (ADMech, Battlefleet, Other Inquisistors etc) interested parties.

They also would need to be an inquisitor to have the resources to fend off the "unofficial" requests for the ship. You know the ones, the ones usually delivered at the point of a gun.

Keep that in mind when deciding on what you want to do. Making small warp capable ships commonplace (to avoid the above problems) would drastically alter the setting (thus necesitating a lot of work on your part to patch up the holes).

MILLANDSON said:

I stand corrected than...I still think I might suggest to the Throne Agents recruiting a Navigator. Even though they can't use him on a Gun-cutter it could open a lot of doors for the group...Navigators are always in demand: and while the majority of chartist and merchant ships are probably sub-light generation ships, there are probably quite a few with some rudamentary drive capable of very short jumps. Having a Navigator would greatly speed up their trip which could pay for passage in itself.

Right, now taking into account what everyone has said (especially the things about Border Security, for I hadn't thought of that, and that could add in an awesome new element to the game, such as the Acolytes taking on small smuggling jobs, as well as adding in a more criminal link for the Acolytes) I have decided on giving them a smallish non-warp capable ship which they can use to piggy back onto larger ships.

This will give them the ability to fly around the planet they are on, to fly to the moons and other planets in the same system, and to have a level of autonomy with their own cargo holds. As well as this, they will be able to make warp jumps with the bigger ships, and also an incentive to do the 'darker' jobs on board the big ships (I.e. The captain allows the Acolytes onto his ship for free, if the Acolytes will go into the dark holds and find out what is eating all his men).

Thank you everyone for your suggestions and advice on this subject. That being said, I don't think the conversation should end, as the discussion on border security has just begun!

On that note, what sorts of security systems exist? Does the Imperium have access to X-Ray systems and scans etc on their larger spaceports? If so, what are the ways around these? Bribing the controllers, or are there scan shields that can block the scanning abilities of some machines? Discuss!

Well, for what its worth I think you made the right choice.

On the topic of security, its really, truly varied. Everything from a disinterested inspector on some backwater world who is easily bribed all the way on up to chem-sniffing cyber dogs on a Forge World.

My advice (to your players) would be to consider their purpose on a planet/location. If they're there undercover, telling the landing and inspection authorities that they serve the Inquisition is not a good start, as these branches are often compromised by criminal or heretical elements. In such a situation it might be a good idea to let them have secret storage holds, carefully hidden, hermetically sealed. This would give them the option of still being free in what they can bring...but due to the time it takes to crack the secret holds it means they have to carefully decide what to hide away and what to keep close at hand. Its all about giving the players meaningful choices.

As a GM, I think I would use Border Security not as a block but rather as a tool to set the theme of the story arc. Is it going to be James Bond/Where Eagle's Dare? Heavy action ala Space Hulk smash and grab? Something in between?

Lots of good things to think about.

Lightbringer said:

Lightbringer said:

Hmm yes, "it depends" is of course always the right answer, if not always the most useful

SO to be more specific, I'm talking about travelling from Scintilla (Hive Sibellus) to Sinophia (S. Magna). Both worlds are fairly advanced, and the former probably has high security being the Sector Capital World. (According to RT travel times estimation that is well over 100 days!). The latter is a frontier planet with alot of smuggling, so I'm guessing it's border control is limited if at all.

Now we know that Scintilla has a large spaceport/station in low orbit over the planet, IIRC over Hive Tarsus. Warp-capable ships will have to dock here, while smaller spacecraft take down supplies, passengers and whatever else to the planet below.

I think it's fair to assume that passenger ships and chartists vessels coming to Scintilla vill be checked for illegal merchandise, and the spaceport might have it's own rules and regulations regarding this. Of course, anyone bearing the Seal will be exempted from this, and likely also members of the Adepta. Thus getting through customs is no problems for Acolytes - unless their Inquisitor expects them to travel incognito as civilians...

Ok, now back to the new discussions of security devices:

I think the Empire has a a good bit of scanners and whatnot to aid in finding restricted materials. Just in the core rulebook there are:

Infra Red Thermal goggles - to see in the dark and discover living(warm) beings hiding.

Auspex/Scanner: Detects energy emmissions, motion and biological lifesigns. The Marionette Cylinder pistol in IH is specifically said to be able to pass through Scanners and Auspexes without detection, being made with no metallic or powered components and easily broken down into unidentiable parts.

Our GM "gave" us a ship. We had a chance to strike a deal with a rouge trader that we pay him ten percent of any money we get (selling items, monthly pay, ect..) and his ship is at our disposal. It is nice to have a home base to regroup and plan in and the air support form the ship has come in handy several times. It also allowed for an interesting mission where our ship was boared by a cult on the planet we were investigating and we had to rush back to save the ship. We also have a funny plot line were my character trained the armsmen of the ship before we arrived on the planet and every since they are so full of win it is not even funny.

You know though, with a real live crew you have more story potential; chaos infestations, plague outbreaks, attempted coups, genestealers, heresy, moral choices, crew events (the crew are not automatons after all, they will have the occasional social event to keep their spirits up), the occasional need for leave and to cycle in fresh blood, the potential of giving the group a private batch of devoted followers who - while useless in battle - can bolster player morale by how they react to the good deeds the players do. (or vise versa) The possibilities are virtually endless if you treat the crew as a living, breathing thing capable of adding personality and a sense of familiarity to the ship, rather than a burden to be ignored and worked around.

i suppose the idea of a small ship with small crew is to avoid unwanted attention. Having a Rogue Trader PC or NPC to cart the party around might work out better than you think. True, a RT might be considered high profile but he can dock in places with out issue in comparison to a inquisitorial ship.

the other artical is that a RT have a vast number of resources that could aid the party in the long run, after all how can you say no to some one who can buy just about anything