There's a time when a player decides to be GM, when the actual GM is tired of being GM all-the-time.

This is how I came to be a GM, with little experience but well-intentioned. I presently have an Arbitrator, an assassin and an adept as PCs. All of which started at rank 1-2, since I did not want to fuss over who had what and who knows what/who. Since at rank 1-2 you basically start with not much skills and talents it made it easier for me to prepare a simple yet sophisticated game-plan.

So far I would like to say it's been smooth on my end, I wouldn't know about theirs. I'd like to think I have made them struggle through the load of information, trying to find which is important and which isn't. I'd like to think it wasn't as simple as watching a CSI show and know the end because the computers do the work for them. Of course, I have to say that I have watched CSI's, criminal minds, NCSI and all the jazz, and I have nothing against those tv shows(only that sometimes I get tired of how scenarios are made up). So it gave me a basic understanding of how investigations could be handled.

My players didn't really give me anything at all for backgrounds, which is a disapointment and more job for me, in a way. I mean, I had to basically build everything from scratch, and since I normally have good ideas for one character, when it comes to the others, I really have a hard time trying to find something as ''cool'' or interesting as my original's. I would deff need help regarding that, any tips is appreciated...

Anyway, with a tiny bit of where I come from, I do not have all the rulebooks and all the adventures and any new information is like candy for me. I want/need information on Planet dusk, the only information that I could find was on feral alternate( dusk worlder) starting world. And a little bit of the fauna from mobs in the DH rulebook.

I would kindly take ANY official OR fanmade information on that subject.

It says that Dusk worlder are a superstitious bunch and have dusk folklore. What say you? have you ever thought of the folklore they would have? I have some ideas of my own but I like to overdo-it.

Thanks in advance for any help provided.

Hi Luaire,

unfortunately, there is not much about Dusk. If you own DH Core and IH (which you seem to do since you refered to the Dusk Feral World origin) you have what is known. The adventure "Dead Stars" had an impromptu ending on Dusk, but next to nothing is revealed (besides some stats for a typical "Dusk Guy" or a "Dusk Rogue Psyker/Witch").

Some information about the "Dusk Hag" and the cannibalistic "Saynay Cult" is splattered around in some other books, but this is hardly something that helps to perceive the world

You are pretty much on you own, unless you are asking for unofficial ideas and concepts.



I had one group playing on Dusk from Rank 3 (where I let them start) to Rank 5 and portrayed the place as Blackpowder with some Technology from recent colonization attempts.



By the way: what are you looking for? Flora and Fauna? Society? Illnesses? Plot Hooks? I used to plow the same route and could provide what I made up myself and/or other in this forum gave me.

"Always keep the light burning or the mists will take you."

"Leave food out at night or the mists will take you."

"Give firstborn to the mists or the mists will take you."

"Leave the sick to the mists or the mists will take you."

"Leave what the mists have taken to the swamp dwellers or the mists will take you."

"Listen to the heedings of the old ones or the mists will take you."

"Never invoke the The One on Terra's name loudly or the mists will take you."

"Leave one kill from every hunt to the mists or the mists will take you."

"The mists come for you in the end. The mists will take you."

***

As you can probably tell, my Dusk had lots of mirky swamps with clinging cold fogs hanging around small mossy mounds and naked black trees. Plenty of normal beasts and some diseases as well, but those can be handled with musket, Rancher rifle, lasgun and fire. But the reoccuring mists.. Sometimes a whole house is just empthy after they pass. The enemy is never given form. The enemy can never be stopped.

My Dusk had little villages huddling togehter for protection and always keeping fires and generator lights burning. But Dusk will take her due.

The best effect was when the Feral Assassin from Dusk heard the mission would take him to Dusk. The fearless man just retreated completely into himself, resigned that fate had finally decided to take him back to Dusk for the mists to take - No-one escapes forever. This scared the players (and their characters) a thousand times more than any Obligatory Fear Test.

I am looking for anything and everything! any new ideas would be welcomed!

and I already thank you for posting

Well, tech wise we know they have blackpowder weapons, and if the snippet of Duskers from the Dead Stars book is any indication, crossbows as ranged weapons seem to be preferred if not widespread. So that could indicate blackpowder weapons are rare. So primitive melee and ranged weapons (if that isnt painfully obvious enough). I picture overalls or padded/armoured hip-waders, wide brim hats.

I imagined that the architecture would range from louisiana biyoux/ southern american plantation type buildings (moss/vine covered, paint chipped, etc, to cabins, to stone fortifications or churches on hills/solid ground for people to flee to/congregate to during troubling nights. Swamp skimmer type boats, plank walkways and bridges. Beast drawn carriages maybe? No electricity for regular Duskers, relying on either wood or oil for heat/light/etc. Some richer settlements may have generators, but i'd like to think most do not.

The spaceport/shuttleport (which dusk should have one) should be one of, if not the most technically advanced complex on Dusk for obvious reasons. Heavily fortified, defended by PDF forces, most 'modern' weapons and accoutrements would be located here.

From the description of the Dusk Hag's house, it would also not be a stretch to find some settlements built around long dead crashed spacecraft.

Beast wise, eel-y, crocodile-y things would be good for the wet areas. Large mosquito type bugs, feline/canine predators for the more mundane stuff. Warp based entities and spirits of varying degrees of difficulty for the 'thin' areas. Mutants, and larger and deadly mutated beasts to be the "urban legend"/folkloric monster villains that parents warn their children of.

The Dusk Hag, whatever 'she' is, has the ability to distort the landscape around her home apparently, (whether it was intentional or if it was just a quick plot device to get the players to the Haarlock finale) able to bring people to her very quickly or (by its reverse) cause them to be lost in the misty swamps.

It is not supposed to be a nice place to live, but there seem to be descriptions of other planets that are more immediately dangerous to live (like Phyrr). I think of it more being one long psychological horror show. One minute things are going happy go lucky, the next minute your great grandfather is hanging from the rafters clawing at you while the walls ooze pus or blood, then everything snaps back like nothing happened. So maybe if you are running games on Dusk, you could have hourly psychic phenomenon rolls as the 'veil' is thin.

One final question: What do you intend your pc to be ordered to do on Dusk?

This is always good to know. All advise for "travelling in the wilds" would be kinda wasted if you plan them to be dropped at some strange ruin to investigate it and get pick up again after 9 days...

What I did: Generally, I sendt them forth to check a number of villages for the level of mutation both in the residents and the newborn. Making them aware of the rise of an old cult.

What is your "main theme"?

Mister Zipangu said:

Brilliant, this!

Something to sicken your pc

[spoiled food]
Food spoils oh so easy on Dusk and there is a chance that a ration the pc eat might be spoiled (either through environmental effects or due to bad preperation of the food itself). However, there is a chance that the pc consuming it will recognize the strange taste of it. If not, a test for Toughness is in order at the end of the meal

Perception(Taste) Toughness
+10 -20
+0 -10
-10 +0

If the test is passed, the pc will only suffer from bowl movements and nausea 1d5 hours after the meal (and will gain a point of Fatigue).

If the Toughness test is failed, things become more sever due to an infection triggered by bacteria/germs in the food. The pc will loose 1d10 point of Strength and Toughness 1d5-2 hours after the meal and has to repeat this test once a day, for (6-TB) days. If another test is failed, the pc looses 1d10 points of Strength and Toughness and will experience impared sight and "heavy lids". (-10 on all test based on Perception or BS). If Strenght or Toughness drops to zero, the pc must burn a Fate point or will die from cardic arrest or an heart attack.

If the duration of the illness is over and the pc survives it, he will regain 1d5 points of Strenght and Toughness each day until all loss from the illness is restored.

[Cold Fevercough]
Droplet Infection. An ordinary(+10)* toughness test must be passed each day (modified for "taken measures" and severity of the contact).

Duration & Course:
The illness takes its course over (14-TB) days. Each day, the sick person must take an ordinary toughness test. Failure results in the loss of 1d5 points of Toughness (+1 for every level of failure).
After the first test is failed, the sick persons suffers from fits of painfull coughs, the described sputurn and shakes, resulting in a (5-TB) penalty on all roles (second stage of the illness). After three failed tests, the sick person is prone to rapid exhaustions (Toughness test after TB-Minutes of strenuous activity and after every combat; if failed, a level of fatigue is gained) (third stage of the illness).
If the figure is in the second or third stage of the illness, three tests passed in a row will bring the figure back to the previous stage.

Recovery:
Once the illness is over, a number of toughness points equal to figures TB is recovered after each day.

[swamp fever]
Infection: Anyone travelling through a swamp for at last three hours or who lives to close to one can get the infection. Normally, each day the conditions are met and the pc are exposed to a suitable amount of bloodsucking insects (GM´s choice) the (n)pc in question has to pass toughness test. The difficulty ranges from +30 (mild exposure to such insects) to +0 (midst of a swamp in the insects main season). Boni can be granted for protective measures against insect (unguents, special clothes, etc.). Sleeping under a suitable netting grants +10 or +20 (depending on the exposure during the day).

Course of the illness:
Each day after the infection, the pc will feel weak, hot and/or cold, will sweat and suffer from other symptoms which might include shakes, impaired senses and perhaps hallucinations. The (n)pc in question has to check toughness+10 each day (+0 if not resting and –10 for exhausting activities!). On a failure, s/he suffers one point of temporary attribute damage and another for every level of failure. In addition, s/he will lose one level of fatigue and another one for every two level of failure (one during noon, others 1d5 hours after standing up and/or after noon).
If a test is failed by five levels or more, the pc suffers from 1d5 fits of hallucinations over the course of the day. Role on the table for Hallucinogen Effects (core rules p.137) and apply the results for
Swamp fever lasts for (8-TB) days after which stats are regained one point per hour.

[Dampmite cough]
Infection: The infestation is automatic, breathing through clothing or other protection helps. However, recognizing an infestation before the coughing starts is rather difficult [Perception –10; n/pc has to be in the know about dampmites (CommonLore-Dusk+30)].
Course of the illness: Depending on the severity of the infestation, the coughing starts after one to three days the n/pc spend in the infested area. While the mites are hardy, they will eventually die inside a body. The cough will last between one to three days after the n/pc stopped breathing dampmites. Till then the n/pc suffers must pass a toughness+30 check each day. If he fails, the coughing is so bad that he is –3 on all non-combat physical test and his movement counts as one point lower for the purpose of long term travel. Otherwise, he just coughs a lot (easy test for willpower or toughness if he is not to cough for a period of [matching attributes bonus x2] minutes

[Pale Foot]
If the pc travell through the wilds for more then a day, ask for a Survial(+20). Perhaps only to be taken by a "guide". If the test is failed, the group might have failed to ensure that they have a way to dry there socks. This might result in a fungal attack. The Dusk kind of fungal attack. Ask for Toughness(+10) from all group members

At the first day, the space between toes becomes sour and hurts. The skin might be pealing off or is at least tearing easily. Reduce AGB by 1 in regard of movement calculation. Role for Toughness at the end of each day. Three successfull roles in a row means the foot is cured. The same result is achieved if the foot can be kept dry and cared for three days long. But sum up all the levels of failure.

3 levels of failure = half movemnt (instead of reducing AGB by 1)
5 levels = The pc has to test Toughness(+20) each day. If failed, the pc develops fevers, enters delirium within 1d5+(TB) hours and has to test four Toughness(+10) each time. Failure leads to death. If the foot is not taken off within (TB) days but the pc survives, the howl leg has to be removed. After (2xTB) days without an amputation, the pc dies unless a miracle happens (burnt fate point, but the leg is useless forever).

wow, you guys are incredible! many thanks

To explain in a resume, I have a forge born who started remembering things he shouldnt( meaning hes been mind cleansed) I have a whole background covered on that, but because he started remembering things, his safekeeper thought it would be best to remove him from harm's way and just give him what his father had left him on an agri world. where he met my two other PCs, while on a trip he has to deliver a case, upon arrival to destination of that said agri world, he is caught up in his father's story.

the case he's supposed to deliver to an adress, he can't deliver since the place has been burned down years ago. and little record of what happened is known or not black-out on the reports.

Then since I have an arbitrator and an assassin, I send the 2 of them investigate a murder, all the while-> my adept/forge born pc, goes to look for work at the administratum, and there they point him towards a job to digitalize the records of the adeptus arbites.. which finally brings him to act as a page for the arbitrator.

on scene, with the murder keeping my arbitrator and 'sin, the adept is shown the opened computer of the master of the house(whose evidently dead), on which he can see designs for cybernetic implants and binary codes, for the first time he sees what it looks like. but for sum reason ( he succeeded in his CL tech) there is way too much data around the cyber implant, and he starts thinking.. herezy.. heresy.. herezia.... Uncertain if he should share that information with the rest of the team, he tries to hack the computer, wich evidently starts the selfdestruct, then brilliant Idea, he plugs the dead guy to the computer to gain full access, xcept there's a timer and not much he can do. evidently he stumbles upon the name of the shemes hes working on. improvised a bit and told him that was Mark XIII and there was another file called Mark XIV..the video tells the enhancements done to the cybernetic implants and that it should properly be used on a servitor but until the technology is safer and upgraded, the material used was too costy to mass reproduce, and so the dead guy tells the camera that he sent a copy of said Mark XIV and that he awaited results and feedback to make sure he doesnt deleete the whole project for good.

and so while my busy arbitrator interrogates the members of the house hold, my adept grabs the files and tries to get advice from an older mind, he asks to see the master adept of the world and conveniently was told to wait until called upon. a week later the meeting. he explains to the adept in charge what he found and if there was a point to pursue the matter with the tech-priests of the omnissiah, learning a bit more of his father on the way, the adept returns with as much questions when he gets out then when he first got in.

in the case/big box is the Mark XIV, my adept'S curiosity led him to open it, that triggered the awakening of the bio form in front of him..

the adept is stil unsure if its a well conceived servitor or a little girl wich they have implanted the technological ''heresy'', she has no memories, a message from his father and talks like a robot(no fluidity) now.. my adept couldve sent the whole thing to the master adept but curiosity....he keeps the ''girl''... no clothes...the whole event sent the adept flying for clothes and acting strangely during the presence of the 2 other pcs. he made her watch tv while he started scrambling a story of why the heck she is here...

my player started saying I had put a chobits in his hands.( it's an anime)

Again, for security reasons the master adept this time, sents the whole team to investigate how he has no news of his pupil, and at the same time, nourishes the curiosity my adept in the group has, for his father's work.

since I didnt have much to work on when I first started, I was about to throw them in a world where colonies have decided to use dome for protection against the wild, and how an noble suddenly had a bigger interest to the planet and funded the new colonies to build those domes. Still I would of made the planet use primitive weapons and muskets as said in the template. moving from city to city was another matter. I havent told the group exactly what they have to do on dusk, I was hoping the new ''scenario'' I built would last more than a few ''nights''

i always saw the creatures in the mist as those from the poem beowulf; they come with the mists, kill everything that crosses their path, then fade away again without trace.

otherwise, i'd personally use a bastardised form of shamanism/voodoo to represent both their folklore, and their planetary specific psychic powers/history

Here some older threats I used to have where other people proivded Dusk-related input as well

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_foros_discusion.asp?efid=101&efcid=3&efidt=323708

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_foros_discusion.asp?efid=101&efcid=3&efidt=411587&efpag=0#411891
http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_foros_discusion.asp?efid=101&efcid=3&efidt=398282&efpag=2#403497

Forum Search is your friend. The keyword is "Dusk" (in the topic)

I wonder what would happen if you sent an Untouchable to fight the Dusk Hag?

She would make a tree fall on him.

My take on Dusk is very similar to what others have mentioned. The mist thing in particular.

However, I have a reason for it: Dusk was one of the Yu'vath holy worlds...and as such, it is particularly close to the warp. Although not quite a daemon world, the veil is still so thin that the line between legitimate fauna and warpspawn can be very difficult to discern. Case in point is the Dusk Stalker which is some freaky looking human-spider hybrid thing.

The humans living on Dusk are basically the dregs of the slave population held in thrall by the Yu'vath and freed during the Angevin crusade, and the last shreds of the initial garrison forces left there that went feral. After 3-4 thousand years of having a tribal society where most of the local history and legends are only maintained by a verbal tradition a great deal has been forgotten, and the constant struggle for survival taking precedence for most Duskdwellers.

The upshot is that the vast majority of the planet is a vast, haunted swamp. And the haunting is quite literally not an exaggeration in the case of Dusk..

The only "city" is located around...or more accurately...beneath the only spaceport. Port Victory is a huge, oil-derrick-esque platform on vast metal stilts that's the last relic of the Angevin Crusade's presence still left on Dusk. As the top and internal areas are all reserved for Imperial and Adeptus Mechanicus personnel, the local's cluster together in a ramshackle shanty town along the legs and underneath the vast, rusting metal struts of the platform. This barnacle cluster of a "city" is the safest area on the planet, at least when it comes to the horrors in the swamp. But with space at a premium, competition is fierce and "makin' it in tha big city" is a lot harder then star-eyed young Duskdwellers could ever imagine. Syndicates and all manner of criminal organizations compete for the Beast Trader contracts, and the rare off-world hunters out to try their skills and their luck. The death rate is quite probably higher in Port Vic's underbelly then it is in the swamp villages.

Anyway, that's a very short intro to my Dusk =).

Dusk seems designed as a Creepy Haunted Forest in Space. As such I would adapt things from German and Scandinavian and British medieval folklore, the Wizard of Oz, Blair Witch Project and a billion other horror movies, anything with a Creepy Haunted Forest.

bogi_khaosa said:

Gregorius21778 said:

I am quit suprised to hear Wizard of Oz being quoated in one line with "horror movies" and "creepy haunted forest".

Living trees.

Old Topic, I ressurect thee! Serve me as you did serve thy creator! [Note to myself: learn better English for summoning]

Hi again,

not my topic, but since I found it rotting around I gues the creator might not mind me taking it

Anyway…any news on Dusk? I start to be quiet puzzeled by now.

While first sources depictured a primitive world of twilight, fog, walking nightmares and sickness in all it´s forms their seems to be some technologie

Edge of the Abyss (RT) speaks of the Saynay Clan as agroup one whom has stolen themselves away as Pilgrims on a voidvessel to leave the world into the Expanse..kidnapping a whole ship! Not a feat one could pull of muskets and feral cunning alone.

The Lathe Worlds (DH) mentions the orbital research station of Galomn II as "second of two stations anchoring above Dusk" (now completely missing/stolen, involvement of Ordo Malleus suspected).

Do we know somethinig of this other station? Or any other hub of technology regarding Dusk? Something in a novel or another sourcebook I do not own?
Thanks for all sources you might be able to quote!

Here are all of the Dusk references that I could find in my (still incomplete) ENCYCLOPEDIA CALIXIA index:

DUSK-
Feral World; Malfian Subsector
Brief description DHRB:324
Brief description of The Dusk Hag DHRB:224
Descriptions of Dusk Hag and other details DS:54
Dusk Stalker DHRB:347
Nightwing DHRB:348
Visited by Elana the Unseen (saint) IH:208
Mention of Saynay Clan under Necrophagic Cults DotDG:25
Mentioned under Warp Touched background package RH:39
Eater of the Dead (Seven Devils of Dread Calix) mentioned RH:97
Mention of Dusk’s ‘Black Hunt’ DotDG:86
“-death of Witch Hunter Fhendahl and his kill-team-“ A:197
Background package IH:22
Glo-Slugs of Dusk IH:103
Ration Grub IH:155
Night Dust IH:129
Dusk Lotus GM Screen:31
Ripsaw Scuttler DotDG:89

This doesn't include anything from Daemon Hunter , the last two books of the Apostacy Gambit , or The Lathe Worlds . Or anything from Rogue Trader .

I must say, I really liked the hints of the Saynay Clan in DH books (cannibal space pirates from a feral world? Perfect pulp-style villians!), but I hated their portrayal as powder-wigged, effete aristocrats (from a swampy feral world?!) in Edge of the Abyss . In my campaign, the Saynay Clan were swamp-dwelling savages who were press-ganged into service by a pirate ship which had lost a lot of crew and couldn't be picky about where the replacements came from. The Saynay were put to work in the ship's lower decks, where they drummed ancient tribal rhythems on the machinery as they toiled. The overseers thought nothing of this primitive behaivor and allowed it to continue unchecked, under the theory that it kept the savages content. These haunting drum-songs- actually venerations of the Ruinous Powers- reverberated throughout the ship, slowly sowing the seeds of corruption amongst the pirates, who eventually learned the debased language of the Saynay, that they may learn the meaning of the endless drumming that haunted their dreams. The witchdoctors of the Saynay thrilled the pirates with tales of absorbing the strength of their enemies by consuming their flesh. Eventually the temptation grew too great, and the pirates gave in to the influence of the Saynay, reveling in unspeakable acts of depravity in the name of the Chaos Gods. Decades have passed, and the pirates have thuroughly intermarried with the Saynay, their numbers growing until they control a small fleet of reaver vessels, the terror of the Calixian void and Koronus Expanse. Old voidmasters like to tell landlubbers that, if their ship is ever attacked by pirates, listen: if they hear only the sounds of battle, then they may yet survuive to see another day. If, however, they hear the beat of primitive drums over the din, then they are better off putting their pistol in thier mouth then and there- for a quick death is infinitely preferable to being captured alive by the cannibalistic Saynay Reavers…

I actually like your version much better. Think of it as adapted to my personal gaming world…and thank you for this!

Adeptus-B said:

Gregorius21778 said:

D'oh! I think you are right- I'll have to double-check, but I think that's a typo…

Adeptus-B said:

Fair enough, but I personally enjoy that portrayal. It ties into how I view Dusk as being very much like the Old South and the Louisiana bayous back around the late 1800s and early 1900s, with the faded remnants of the old plantation-owning families clinging to memories of past glory and lording it over everyone else because their grandpappy was the wealthiest man in the county and a colonel in the Civil War and so forth. I think that fits perfectly into the portrayal of the Saynay Clan leaders as debauched, disenfranchised "nobility" that still think their bloodlines make them better than everyone else, letting their resentful arrogance feed into their madness.

Meanwhile, the commoners of Dusk would be like the residents of the bayous or of Appalachia around the same time period---insular and superstitious. You might have family feuds like space-Hatfields and space-McCoys that have been fought for generations, and a general distrust of outsiders or anyone attempting to impose an external authority. Concerning Chaos, there's an unbelievably rich tradition of ghost stories and superstitions from Appalachia, Louisiana, and the Old South that fit very well into the setting with minimal effort. And you could have such fun with the local dialect…Appalachian slang is hilarious.

Good point- the Antebellum South is an interesting source of insperation for a 40K setting- but I disagree with applying it to a Feral World; it would make more sense on a Frontier World, Agriworld, or even a Feudal World.