Hey all!

During our last game, my players interrupted a Daemon summoning ceremony, and after making short work of the cultists, discovered the book they were using for summoning and binding, possibly something that could also be used to make Daemonhosts.

It's not a HIGH level book for doing these sort of things (the cultists were a bit amateur, and the characters are only Rank 1), and the Seneschal hid it from the more puritanical members of the party to 'study' it later, possibly with the help of the Explorator.

Do you have any suggestions for how I should handle this once they get the book unlocked? Corruption? Insanity? Learning things Man (and Woman) Were Not Meant To Know?

I AM the GM, and should probably know some of this stuff, but unfortunately I assumed they would burn the thing...*SIGH* Yes. I am a Noob.

L-

I would suggest starting off simple:

While using the book, the character to treat Forbidden Lore (Daemonology) as a Trained Basic Skill. Using the book in this manner to make a Test inflicts 1 Corruption Point plus 1 additional Corruption Point for each degree of success the character achieves on the Forbidden Lore (Daemonology) Test. Once the character has consulted the book for (10 - Intelligence Bonus) such Tests, he treats Forbidden Lore (Daemonology) as an Untrained Basic Skill even when not consulting the book. At this point, I'd also allow him the option of purchasing Forbidden Lore (Daemonology) as an Elite Advance, with the base cost starting at 500xp and then reduced by 50xp for each Corruption Point gained from using the book.

Since HappyDaze already gave you a very good concept on how to handle a Grimoire, I will give you a suggestion on a small Transcript/Manuscript could be handled.

The thing itself does not cover to much pages, it is more akin to a lot of written partchments and notes collect in an otherwise empty book.

A pc reading it counts as having ForbiddenLore(Daemons) at Basis level. No level of success can be gained from this book, and it is only helpful for the summoning, the binding of and the warding against daemons.

A pc with viewer then 10 points of corruption will gain a point from it. Otherwise, the source is to weak to spoil him further.

Corruption in gme is a hoot. But i've always felt that the player (rather than the character) should know exactly what they are getting into. You have to make it tempting though.

Tell the players that a brief skim through seems to indicate it is a book of daemonic true names, rituals and random knowledge. A good read will give them Forbidden Lore: Daemonology without spending ANY XP. However, they will get a number of corruption points. Be upfront about this, even if you leave the numbers out (i.e. "Reading this book properly will grant you a forbidden lore skill relevant to its contents but its going to corrupt you a bit). Hit them for 5-10 corruption points.

Once they have read it once tell them that they now know how to perform some simple rituals which the books author says led him to greater knowledge and power. They can practice some of the smaller rituals quite safely (i.e. summoning the smallest and most puny of daemons into a massively warded circle) and thereby increase ther ability, maybe even learn a little from the daemon, all guided by the book. This will put their forbidden lore:Daemonology up to +10 but will cost 100xp and 10 corruption points.

Once they've done this, make it clear to them that there is a Daemon clearly named in the book who the authro had previously summoned. This is an intelligent daemon, capable of reasoning and sharing knowledge in exchange for ritual sacrifices (blood, health, youth, something classic like that). By summoning this daemon and conversing with him across a period of time, maybe binding him into a knowledge sharing pact, they can put their forbidden lore:Daemonology up to +20 but it'll cost 200xp and 10 corruption.

At this point of course, they are fully fledged daemon summoners and you can have all kinds of fun. Let them make a pact (see Dark Heresy for more on this) bind a Daemonhost, gain a familiar, learn sorcery, etc. And everytime let them know clearly what the next step could be and that it'll cost them corruption points.

You must make it tempting though. People do this in the 40k universe because its a shortcut to real power. The costs should start small and gradually build up. You could get some epic roleplaying out of this too, as the malignancies build up, trying to hide it from the rest of the PCs, etc.