Hello All:

Recently I have undertaken the task of running a Deathwatch one-shot whose plot is very simple:

An ancient and very special Land Raider that was in the hands of the Tech-Priests on some far flung world or other. They had it because they were deep in meditation over its secrets. Then some detestable Xeno wave (probably Orcs just to keep everything nice and easy) showed up and overwhelmed the garrison on that world and they called for help.

Because that Land Raider is so special, the call went to the Deathwatch - that Land Raider MUST be recovered! Not only because it is a priceless and irreplaceable artifact, but also because of precisely why it is special.

It is special because it was one of a series of vehicles that were used to experiment on hooking up a pilot directly to the control interfaces - the same way they do with Dreadnoughts. Of course that technology was lost, indeed all the means to direct-hook a pilot to the vehicle was lost except for the method used in Dreadnoughts.

So, the Land Raider is very old, and it contains the still living but slumbering body of a very old Space Marine. And that's why it's special and must be recovered.

What do you think? Any thoughts? Any pointers?

Such a machine in the imperium in most cases would be heresy, unless the tech priests of mars were doing expermients to see how close they could meld machine with flesh.

Being a dreadnaught is a badge of honor amongst marines. Not every marine wounded in combat is turned into a dreadnaught, in fact most are allowed to die so their gene seed can be passed onto the next aspirant. Very few marines are encased in dreadnaughts, and if you look at the design of one, it is a tomb with arms and legs.

Whatever you decide to do is up to you just keep in mind how chaos tanks work, with a demon trapped inside and no pilots.

Like Warhawk X said, this could be viewed as a heretical experiment. And entombing a space marine like that without chapter approval would really, really, annoy any Space Marine. A few mechandendrites would fly afterwords. A good way to play this might be for the Mechanicus to alert the Deathwatch to them having 'found' an ancient Land Raider on a xenos occupied planet. The Mechanicus generously offer a explorator or other mechanicus ship for transportation of the Deathwatch. After recovering the Land Raider (and learning its terrible secret) the players return to the Mechanicus ship with the unfortunate Land Raider/Marine alive, or end his tragic and eternal suffering and take his geneseed. Either way, the mechanicus attempts to take the Land Raider and leave the Kill-Team to die on the planet. They have to make it to a hidden watch station on planet, where they call request pick up and then call it a day, safe in their sanctuary.

Good Luck!

I disagree, I think it could work, and is an interesting idea. It's definitely an aberration, but assuming it's a Loyalist Marine who was a willing part of the project, it's not necessarily heretical. Mars would almost certainly want to get their hands on it, but it's not like a MIU is that strange a technology; really, there's no reason apart from aesthetics (and tradition, etc) why a Marine couldn't be entombed in a modified Land Raider or other tank instead of a Dreadnought.

As Direach said. Use an Iron Hands space marine, he would be overjoyous to be part of this experiment probably.

I agree that some Marines would probably be happy to take part in such an experiment, and that it is quite possible with the technology of the Imperium. But in the Imperium change is usually viewed as bad, and any such drastic alteration of the Land Raider probably wouldn't be looked kindly upon by the Inquisition or many space marine chapters.

There is actually background that supports some tank crew members being hardwired into their vehicles as a matter of punishment. This doesn't replace the machine spirit, in most cases, but that, as many things, is up to GM tweaking for the purposes of the game.

i am sure theres a landraider like this in the fluff somewhere i think for crimson fists but not sure i remember seeing something about a sentient landraider

I would be hesitant in doing so only because if you look at most of the ever changing GW fluff, Dreadnaughts when awoken tend to be cantankerous (no pun intended) and confused. Being a solo unit on the battlefield is one thing, spouting off some long diatribe about a battle from long ago instead of transporting X number of troops where they need to go could be a problem.

Right now, as far as I know, other than Dreadnaughts, Titans are the only "machine" that is hard wired into an individual. And as Direach said Mars would definitely try and get their hands on it . . . which could be an interesting story arc of someone "interfering" with said mission.

Hardrainfalling said:

If memory serves, the Crimson Fists Landraider was controlled by it's machine spirit after being blasted free of their Fortress Monastery during the Ork invasion. It had a merry old time killing orks for a while thereafter.

As opposed to the people that classify something like that as heretical, i would like to point out that space marines are special. And since we aren´t talking about the tabletop, a lot of stuff can happen.

A highly decorated marine that has a knack for maneuvering heavy tanks and probably hasn´t done anything much else in his combat career (aside from getting out of the tank to mop up). And: He´s a iron fist, so very prone to accept technology. And now imagine he gets shot at by an anti tank missile, losing his legs, gets badly charred and maybe some nerve damage. Clearly he should have the honor of being entombed into a dreadnought, but we all know they are prized artifacts and new ones are hard to build. Every dreadnought the chapter has is already in use, and the occupants are not willing to be kicked out.

Yes, a constructed case, but where to go ? The emperors grace is a little harsh, and the chapter would lose a dedicated tank specialist. A tech priest mans up and makes a suggestion, maybe even loses his head. Then they think a little over the idea and do it anyway.

Would be hell of a special character, and i don´t see it too disruptive to the background as long as its not a full company of dreadnought-tanks.

PS: Transporting someone would be out of the question. That would diminish the honor of the marine. This tank would be completely closed.

PPS: This story would actually be more interesting if the marine in question went mad/chaotic and massacred his fellow marines. This would be unknown to the player squad.

Ikkaan said:

I don't think there is a chapter out there with a 'surplus' of land raiders that they would be willing to permanently seal so that Bob, that really cool marine we all like could drive around and shoot stuff. To die in the service of the emperor is expected, to be horribly maimed just means its time for some bionics, or the emperors mercy.