I'm sure this topic has been posted before. If it has a link would be awesome.

Anyway, I'm having trouble thinking of an organic way to bring my characters together, obviously the inquisitor is an "easy" way out, just have him take them. But I would like it better if it happened naturally.

Your stories?

Any suggestions?

Honestly, I stay away from any other way then "you have been brought together by the =I=.

Most of the players make a big show of distrust everytime they see an oppurtunity for it.

On the other hand... is their good reason to believe that the players meet each other before they work for the =I= ? Twin death cult assassins besides, most cells I know from fluff (WH40K-Inquisitor-Kodex; Cell from the TTG "Inquisitor"; Eisenhorn-Novells) consist of individuals from all over the imperium. It is not like the =I= would recruit "en mass" (like the Guard) so that "all able men from town X" would wind-up in the same team.

I had my characters working in various roles for the Imperial Guard on a given planet. The Cleric was sent there as a preacher or chaplain to assist the troops in their spiritual needs and command a squad of the Penal Legions. The Guardsman was one of the Penal Troopers (and the other PCs won't help him get his explosive collar removed ). The Imperial Psyker was assigned to a lieutenant to help him ferret out rebel forces and find their hidden bases. The Tech-Priest, finally, made his own way to the planet and requested access into the wartorn interior of the jungle world for a mission on his own. It was then and there an Inquisitorial representative picked them together for an inpromptu team of specialists for their first mission.

I had my players run through small "adventures" individually to establish what it was that drew the attention of their Inquisitor (Astrid Skane from the rulebook). Then I had the Arbites turn up to work and recieve orders seconding him to Inquisitorial duty. Sitting in his office in manacles was the Scum, who was to be escorted to the Tricorn Palace. Introduced an enemy in the form of a corrupt senior Enforcer officer to set up adventure 2. After some hi-jinks avoiding the corrupt Enforcers they boarded a Transit Train and set out. I then proceded to introduce the rest of the Acolytes one by one as they boarded the train enroute to the same meeting. (I reasoned there would not be too many trains going to the Tricorn Palace as most people avoid the Inquisition like the plague!). So on hopped the Guardsman, Adept, Psyker and finally the Cleric. (More forshadowing with the cleric having to deal with a Redemptionist parade of "sinners" near the station. She did this by haranging them and set up adventure 3 nicely for me with no forcing the situation by GM fiat). They duly arrived and were inducted into the Inquisition. (I had got the players to give me an image of their character before hand when I did the character generation session. I used the Inquisition ID cards available at Dark Reign, pasted on the images and laminated them prior to the first adventure session. The players were quite happy to recieve their Inquisitorial Rosettes)

After Inquisitor Skane went through what she expected of her acolytes and revealed something of her character, she sent them to the Templum Mori with instuction to seek out Interrogator Sand for their first mission (Edge of Darkness). On the way out I had an incident between Skane and Inquisitor Rykkhuss to set up a rivalry with a simular group of new acolytes.

From here the session ran in to the start of Edge of Darkness

Now this seems like a lot of time (about 2.5 hours of game play) to do what the start of Edge of Darkness does in one paragraph of GM narrative, but I always try to start a campaign with a "mini-adventure" detailing how such a strange mix of people get together. I find the players appreiciate the effort, even when you are using a published adventure.

The down side is that you have to split the start of the campaign into a character generation session, then take about a week to go through their character choices to figure out what each player is aiming for and tailor your intro mini-adventure to your requirements. But I think the final effect is much better than "you meet these six guys in bar and go adventurin"

I always run prequels for each player.

One of the players is a clone slave assassin owned by the inquisitor, although they don't know it. The previous clone loses the plot and escapes the inquisiton, who put a bounty on his head to flush him out of the Malfian underhive. Against all expections, one of the PCs actually manages to capture him, deeply impressing the Inquisitor, who then drafts her into the Inqusiition. Meanwhile the crazed clone is killed and a new one created. Both character still think it is the same person. The other character is a noble born guardsman who saved the Inquisitor's life and was appointed to lead the small cell.

Avast! Here be spoilers if you're a player in "Demise of the Diocletian"

My players' Inquisitor isn't one for much wet work; not in the belly of a hive anyway. To keep from getting tangled in the strands of my own plot, I'll keep it simple. The players' Inquisitor sent his most trusted scribe to recruit a new cell of acolytes to find a certain item on the hive world of Tephaine (Tephaine system/Adrantis subsector/Calixis Sector). While onboard The Glory of Belacane , a certain young Arbites trooper displayed great courage and determination and was immediately picked for the acolyte cell.

Thanks to his limited funds, the scribe (who is currently acting as the cell's handler) has only recruited another acolyte for the cell (I only have two players... eh, it suits me); a local from Tephaine and an ex member of the planet's PDF. This trooper caught the scribe's attention because of the nature of his honourable discharge from the PDF.

So really they were thrown together. One was seconded by the authority of an Inquisitor (aboard The Glory of Belcane) and the other was picked up by an administratum auditor as a guide. Of course, his job suddenly became much more interesting than just showing a void born around the local hab domes.

My group started with an prequel-adventure which led them to be recruited for the inquisition. They found themselves for different reasons on board of a huge land train bound for the main hive on Scintilla (the guardsman having spent some time of-duty on Scintilla, the Arbiter transfering from one station house to another in another hive, a space marine scout in stasis-transfer to the Tricorn (known to the player, but not to the character so far) due to some "special encounters" with a demon during his last mission, a psyker on duty for one of the noble houses and an assassin sent to kill the leader of a cult also travelling aboard incognito).

i had each of the characters play a little bit of their own parts and then started the main plot of the adventure: a group of nurgle cultists in disguise as ecclesiarchy members sabotaged the train and tried to infect the passengers with a virus that would transform them into zombies eventually. their plan was to set them loose once they reached the train station. The Inquisition had already taken note of their activities and sent a cell of accolytes to stop them. unfortunately the cultists proved to be more than a match for the accolytes, eliminated them and started to spread their plague a little ahead of their schedule.

meanwhile the assassin took out his target (which happened to be one of the leaders of the cultists, as they found out later) and the characters had to deal with the chaos and mayhem caused by the cultists on the train. then the first zombies appeared and the characters had to fight for their survival. eventually they joined the rest of the survivors in one of the strongpoints normally used by train security to repel raiders from the ash wastes and, on command of one of the surviving security officers, they formed one of the teams trying to reestablish control over the train.

afterthey also found the remains of the npc accolytes and learned of the instructions given to them by their inquisitor while confronting more zombies and eventually some of the cultists. from these they also learned that the cultists wanted to summon a plague demon to complete their plans (and more effectively control the horde of feral plague zombies on board) and so the PCs were sent to stop them before the train reached the hive.

also, they managed to inform the hive about the problems on the train, which lead to the inquisition awaiting the train with a complement of stormtroopers in case the PCs failed to stop the cultists. and so they set themselves up for being recruited as a team.

I was going to do a mini-adventure with each player to recruit them and get them into the cell, but due to one thing and another (amazing how distracting a girlfriend can be ), I didn't get round to writing those. I did, however, have a back-up plan, based vaguely on a scene in the Judge Dredd movie: all of the characters were approached by a squad of men in full carapace carapace armour (matt-grey, no markings or insignia) and asked by name (and, where appropiate, rank and/or title) to come with them. Any hesitation or prevarification was to be taken as a sign of resistance, and they would get shot in the neck by the undercover point man they didn't spot with a needler, and pass out. If they agreed to go with them straight away, they would be escorted to an unmarked vehicle (either a matt-grey APC, or a cargo-8, or possibly an Arvus or a customs dromon), a bag put over their head, and then be clubbed unconscious.

They would all wake up with splitting headaches, manacled to steel chairs in a bare rockcrete chamber, with the acolyte next to them just in their peripheral vision. Any attempt to speak or turn their head and they would all be whacked by the guards standing behind them (in perfect unison). Once they were all awake, they would have the manacles removed, and be escorted at gunpoint through increasingly sumptious and busy corridors and cloisters to the inquisitor's study, ushered in by the guards who would wait outside.

Inside the study, they would be treated like old friends- invited to sit in comfy chairs, offered brandy and cigars, etc, before being informed that they are the property of this particular inquisitor, and they will do their tasks well, without screwups, and eventually they may even be trusted in his presence without being discreetly watched by gun-skulls (and to emphasize his point will say a command word to bring the skulls down and shove their muzzles in the Acolytes' faces, before dismissing them back to their overhead watch points).

The whole point was to brutalise them before they were taken to see the boss to try and drive into their heads that they are disposable property- useful, but not indispensable, as well as give them the feeling that they were now part of something vast, powerful and influential. The Inquisitor was deliberately nice to them to underscore the casual brutality they had received up til then, and also to try and make them feel loyal and grateful to him personally (as opposed to the Inquisition as a whole- the study he used to meet them was evidently off the main paths, and so presumably he wasn't in charge of all the impersonal beatings and kidnapping). All wonderfully manipulative and orchestrated, of course, but it worked with at least three of the five acolytes (for a while, at least, I haven't tried to interrogate the players on it recently, but then they're on a mission).

Had an idea of letting them come up with their own backgrounds and having them get "activated" for a simple job. Of course, simple job not so simple and group continues on. I think this will allow me to add eliments to their background as I see fit to make for more interesting and intrigue driven plot lines. I also plan on having the Inquisitor as a behind the scenes guy. One that is not KNOWN to be an active player. But I plan on giving them ideas that they are being watched closely, that begger giving you information seems oddly familiar, etc. etc. etc. I want to use this to add more suspense and create some paranoia in the group in the hopes that it will make them talk things out together, in character, to come to a conclusion as to who/what/why/how the Inquisitor brought them together.