Greetings, fellows.

The Black Sepluchre is not of my taste. Whenever something is not to my taste, I try to offer improvements. I will use this thread to make these available, perhaps somebody thinks like me & has use for my ideas.

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The following table of Psychic Phenomena is meant to be used as an alternative to the rather mild/harmless occurances of the table provided in “The Black Sepluchre” (p. 21).

01-09 The Rotting
Prominent patches of the Psyker´s skin begin to decay within seconds and
slough away. While only the upper layers are affected, it leaves the psyker
with 1d5 wounds (no reduction from TB or Armour).

10-18 His Voice
The Psyker and within 3d10 meters of him hear a horrible, drawn-out screech, similar
to a bird and at the same moment totally different (Fear 2; consequences of a failed
result last for (6-WPB) scenes.

19-27 His wounds
Within a moments notice, the Psyker´s left arm begins to wither and becomes useless!
The Psyker must test Toughness. The limb remains withered for an hour (plus another one for every level of failure).

28-36 Black Feathers
The Psyker´s underarms begins to itch painfully. If the pc looks at them, s/he will
find that about a dozen of Black Feathers sprouted on each underarm. The pc suffers
one point of corruption.

37-45 The Cathedrals retaliates
The GM chooses the Psyker or another pc within 5d10 meters around him (random or
the one without a Charm on him). Some part of the Cathedral breaks away and falls on
the pc which needs to pass a difficult(-10) test for Agility or Dodge. Otherwise, the pc
will suffer 1d10+5 points of damage.

46-54 The Litany
The Litany of the Razorwing (p.25) pops up in the head of the Psyker and every pc within 5d10 meters of him. They need to test for Willpower, as described on p.25 of the module.

55-63 The Birds! The Birds!
Out of nowhere, a flock of bleary black bird forms and attack the Psyker and everyone
2d10m around him. The Psyker and everyone within in ranged is stunned for 1d5+1
rounds and must pass a Willpower test or will gain an Insanity point from the experience.

64-72 You are mine….
The Psyker is assailed by the presence of the Dei-Phage (counts as a possession attack;
use the wounded Dei-Phage´s profile). The Psyker and Daemon make an opposed
Willpower test. If the Daemon wins, he will have control over the Psyker for 1d5+1
turns plus another one for every net success. After that, the Psyker is free again, but
will suffer a point of Insanity and a point of Corruption for every turn the pc was
possessed.

71+ As in the table in the book (they are quit good, I have to admit)

[The pets]
I think it is very unlikely that the pets will do any damage to regularly armoured pc. After all, the attacks are primitive. Actually, I think about the following rules for the creatures (replacing the "Lock Jaw" rules as written in the module & their overall method of attack).

[Lockjaw]
If the pets succeed on an attack with 3 more levels of access, the beast locks it´s jaws around the body part and tears/crushes. It will gain the "Unnatural Strenght x2" trait (since it jaws are really strong) in regard to its locked jaws and the damage will profit from the heightend damage bonus & the Tearing quality. From this point on, the creature is "grabbling" with the pc (so the pc might have one or two arms free for regular attacks).

At the beginning of his/her following turn, the "locked" pc by must win an opposed Strength test against the best (here, the Unnatural Strenght does NOT count) or the pc will lose half an action since the beast ist tearing at him. If the pc loses the test with there or more levels of failure, s/he will fall prone and will not be able to stand up as long the beast is grabbling.

If the beast dies, the jaws will still be locked. It takes an ordinary(+10) strength test to force the jaws open.

hiyas!

Cool alternatrivers, thanks!

Is the entire adventure not liked by thou?

L

Hi Lete,

yep, I do not like this adventure "as a whole". It could live with the fact that is basically a "dungeon crawl" (enter the room, slay the monster, get the key, go on), but itt although has this "cobbled together" feel to it. Things seem to happen in a certain way "because it has to be like that for the adventure to function", without making to much sense otherwise. I would not advise to buy it. If one really feels like, so, I would advise the PDF. I spend the money for the book and I regret it.

Anyway, back2topic.

The opening shootout with the three houseguards
For pc of 1st rank, this low-brow wannabe-guards will/might be adequate. For GM sharing my feel that houseguards of a noble heretic with a collection of maligne artefacts should be at least on par with "Scum" (see core rules), I advise the following.

Exchange the profile (but not their equipment) with "Kill Squad Troopers" (DH core rules), but reduce the wounds to 8 to represent the fact that they have already been wounded from in combat with the PDF troops storming the place. Leave all the rules about their surrender in place, so. They might be professinals, but they are not paid to fend of an Inquisiton-Assault.
For experienced groups or those enjoying a good fight, their number could be to match the number of pc or even to outnumber them slightly.

Since the pc might not be coming near the Servitor to disable him via the Kill-Switch, the pc could successfully order "surrendering" houseguards to disable it if they succeed on (perhaps ordinary or challenging) test for Command .
Instead of just allowing the knowledge to a pc with at least Tech-Use+10 , the knowledge should although be automatically available to pc with at least Common Lore(Tech)+10 or for a pc passing a (ordinary or challenging) Test for Common Lore (Tech).

The dead priest
The scene only makes sense if the dead priest actually wore the Dei-Phages hand and was killed in combat. For this to have happend, either add some killed PDF guards to scene (who tried to storm the chapel but where killed, but managed to give the priest a deadly wound) or give the priest some wound by a powersword (or las pistole) and perhaps give some wounds to Thrugg (he killed the Priest to obtain the Hand from him). In that case, Thrugg has only recently fled through the Cathedral (as the assault has begun).

Or you could leave this scene out entirely. If you enclude it, do not dish out insanity for a corpse with an arm torn away. Unless you are very "generours" with handing Insanity to your pc. Instead, make it a non-combat Fear test. If the pc do not make it, they will sufferm from the penalty when they face Thrugg.

Hiyas!

I just bought it & have only skimmed it but do not think it's that bad, IMHO . As a starting adventure it's quite rewarding (the end). Also, it's a nice "change of pace" - like a "locked-room mystery" W40k style.

It reminded me of a very old WFRP adventure about a "haunted house", which was unlike any other WFRP adventure before or after it. I can't remember it's name but I believe it was in From the Vaults supplement (2nd Ed).

But your burst of "alternate stuff" is excellent as always... Very cool.

L

Great stuff, I really like your ideas for the adventure. Especially the improvements for the pets are good! Will definitely use it! Thank you!

@Lete
The following is one example why do not like the adventure

@The Dead Priest, the Dei-Phage & the Appendix
The scene makes one assume that the Dei-Phages´s Hand was actually worn by the priest. This is impossible. The "diary" of Thrungg makes clear that he was wearing the hand for at least a couple of days (see the last two entries & their "time stamp"). Thereby, the arm of the priest was removed by.....whatever (since the Hand would have only come off of Thrunggs if had have been killed..see rules for the Hand).

Advise: Keep this scene out. He might / will have simply died by a (stray) shot. My alternative scene does not make much sense this way, either.

@Thrungg´s barricade
While handing the pc a key is very convinient at low leve (as well as battering the door down), allowing the pc to bypass the lock with a successful Tech-Use or Security test (if it is an electronic ward / a classic mechanical lock) could be nice as well. This test should be less difficult as using brute Strength to get in.

Instead of just saying that a pc will gain fatigue if he cannot bare down the door, one could use the following option instead (see below) and decided that they pc can try as long as they want to. Each attempt is one round (Strength) or 3 rounds (Security/Tech-Use), so

@Thrunggs final stand
Thrungg has one of his entourage (an advisor) with him, a foul wizard (uses the stats of the Cult Magos). The pc will not know it, but at the point that they break through the ceiling of the chapel, the magos is about to complete a summoning ritual within 10 minutes (roughly 100 combat rounds, if you wish to count it that way). You can shorten this time, if you please.

As the pc enter the Menagerie, have the scene as the described but add the information that they hear some male voice chanting in a high-pitched, frentic way. The Magos is positioned on the other side of the hill and stands above the recently throat-sliced & gutted remains of one of the household servant (regular Fear test; combat!).

What happens if the Magos is not killed before the summoning is completed?
Good questions! Depending on the Strenght of your pc I would suggest an Unclean Spirit (Weak!), perhaps possessing the Magos(!). Otherise, a Dispayrer might do. I would not use any stronger daemon, since the pc might alread be quit busy with Thrungg and his pets. After all, they did not managed to kill the magos, did they?.

Area 2: The Hall of Ancestors
So, their is a hall which is ablaze and perhaps about 30m long (based on the fact that the pc where about 30m away from enemy troops that happend to be in the chapel when they landed in the chapel; p. 10). I think "unable to breath" is not the only condition that is a problem. Being surround by amounts of flame ( "ablaze" ) is a condition people tend to react with fear...or at least stress. Since we are talking about acolythes, let´s talk about

Stress
A pc entering the burning Hall of Ancestors needs to test for Willpower (routine or ordinary; GM´s choise). If the test is failed, the pc is -10 to all tests not based on Strength or Toughness due to stress.

@Breathing
Here, a Toughness tes to avoid Fatigue could be asked for... unless the pc just hold their breath and dash right through the hall. They have keys to open the door and could simply ignore the cabinett-blocked-door.

@Cabinett and Chambermaid
I would reduce the Strength Test to move the cabinett to Routine..or perhaps forget about it as soon as two or more pc join forces to move the thing. I like to pesker my players with dice roles as much as everyone else, but sometimes it is just "you can do that". Base on the Appendix, Thrungg was wearing the hand for a couple of days already. So, I think the first success on the "communication test" should reveal "the Hand" while the second should reveal the "pets". In my experience, people tend to forget remind people of things that are completely common (everyday sight) to them if their is something else freaking them out (the recent fall of their master to total, utter heresy by wearing a disgusting non-human hand.

@Talking the beasts...
The info is not giving any benefit to the pc since Thrungg is standing on top of a hill with the two (or more) big pets. The info could as well be given "for free", yelled by the women once the pc dash away to stop Thrungg.

@The barricaded door (Part II)
Okay, I should have read this part more careful. Base on the adventure, it takes one of the keys, a security test or a demolitions test to open the blast door. Forget about Strenght test. Not against a blast door. Never ever. .

Hiyas!

Lili by lil, I read the adventure.

Tweakin' Gustavus:

I would permit Gustavus to use his "ethereal" Trait for attacks also. Seems silly that such an haughty, angry & sadistic entity would only use this incredible advantage for defense.

L

LETE said:

Yeah, I remember exactly that one. It was a fun change of play style, but I doubt it would be as fun after the first session of play (i.e. it is better started and finished in one session).

Now, before I have read the adventure, I am sure I will need a good tactical map of the whole location to run it properly and accurately.

The Cult of the Razored Wing

This whole thing does not make sense to me. This cult worships the Dei-Phage because he promises them things in exchange for servitude and their souls. Same cult attacks the pc because they got visions granted by the Dei-Phage about the pc … but the Dei-Phage does not want them to attack the pc.

a) If they are a cult serving the Daemon, …why are they not obeying his wishes?
b) If the Dei-Phage does not want them to mess with the pc…why is he granting them these visions at all?

My suggested changes:
During their worship, the cult slowly puzzled out that their God-Master is residing in the Haematite Cathedral. That´s what their drug fueled visions of madness made them believe. So, they recently travelled there and erected a tent camp behind some hills/stone outcrops not far from the Cathedral (and thereby not visible from the road or the Cathedral grounds). They walk around the Cathedral in prayer, at least once a day. They stop at certain points and spend some time with murmuring chants to “The Angel of Revelation”. The Dei-Phage does not have much control over them, so. It is the rogue Psyker (who got the visions more by "accident" and grew mad and deluded) who started to build this small cult.

As the pc arrive, the small group stands at a spot close to the shore. If the pc pass a difficult (-10) hearing based Perception/Awareness test they might hear this murmurs over the sound of the waves. The pc could very well mistake them for some kind of pilgrims, but a successful test for Common/Scholastic Lore (Imperial Creed) (+30 or +20; as the GM decides) should tell them that these is not a sanctioned cult.

Changing the combat stats:
I advise to add “Weapon Jinx” to the power of the rogue Psyker. This makes this combat much more interesting. If the GM feels like, he could rule that one of the mutants does carry a simple shotgun. Perhaps there are even more mutants in the camp. Perhaps they hear the sound of combat (gun shots are much harder to overhear at a sea shore then murmurings). In that case, give the remaining mutants at least one hunting rifle (which they have with them to hunt for food for their camp).

Last but not least, the “last mutant standing” could fall into a frenzy (see the Talent list in DH core). In that case, play this last mutant “to the hilt”. Go all the way down the critical damage table and ignore any effect that does not include “instant death”. Perhaps this might scare your players a bit.

Hiyas!

I know where you coming from Greg, but here's

•Couple of lame excuses/answers defending a forced combat encounter - I know:

• Mebbe the Dei-Phage is of two minds about things...

• Mebbe being locked up in the cathedral has confused the poor bastard...

• Mebbe the visions were badly interpreted, by design or accident... Something like you stated.

• It's a Chaos thing, you know, you would never understand Chaos!

L

LETE said:

So, it is what the author has written. Which is pretty contradictionary and has "this happens because the game needs it to happen" spilled all over it.

Hey there, don't despair! Coulda been worse...Coulda been White Wolf.

L

Hiyas!

MORE SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS...

Come to think of it, some things in this narrative maze me - maybe I'm slow of mind, like a certain Wanderer... Help in clarifying stuff wouild be greatly appreciated!

How come it's called a "cathedral" when laymen used it for a living space? Shouldn't it be called a "manor" instead?

I thought the Black Sepulchre was to be within the cathedral, but it ain't... & I don't see it's purpose detailed. Maybe I haven't gotten that far into the adventure, & this becomes more apparent later, so we'll see.

What's up with Hadria? Why is an astropath in the cathedral when the Hekate dynasty hasn't had dealings with rogue traders & their ilk in what, centuries? Looks like she was "part of the family/a guest" for some reason. It's illogical for her to be there in the first place, even if it was a couple of decades ago. Without a clear timeline of events things like this are confusing.

Koronath Hekate seems like this year's biggest candidate for red herring wannabe... I still don't quite understand the why he's described like he is... I understand why he's (& all Hekates are) there, from the design point of view (to be an obstacle for the keys), but his writeup is the lamest, IMHO.

For now, signing off,

L

Having played through the adventure, some issues with the plot are really bugging me. I'm also curious about a few things, and would like to hear others' opinions about them.

SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT

First of all, the timeline. It would have been very very convenient to have a timeline, or at least a rough estimate published. For example

Regarding the Zanatov/Hekate family : Hadria Hekate appears as a corpse in one of the rooms, having been murdered by Gustavus Hekate. This means she and Gustavus is contemporary. At the same time, she seems to be contemporary with Barabus Zanatov (who is, as we learn, the original Hekate) as well, in the role as his Astropath. Disregarding the fact that it would be somewhat unlikely that a Rogue Trader would have one of his own family as an Astropath aboard his vessel, wouldn't this make Hadria Hekate extremely old? The plot says that the incident with Inquisitor DeVayne and Rogue Trader Zanatov took place "several hundreds of years ago". Hadria was, according to her own notes, aboard the Rogue Trader vessel, as it was carrying the Black Sepulchre to Barsapine. Is it assumed that she then stayed with the Haematite Cathedral? Wouldn't she be privy to more of it's secrets (like, y'know, the fact that the Cathedral is really an Imperator Titan) if she was a Hekate, perhaps even knowing what it was that Barabus Zanatov/Tauron Hekate was trying to do? I am under the impression that life-prolonging drugs/treatments are mostly something that the extremely wealthy and influential have access to. Are we to assume that she indeed had access to such items, being part of a Rogue Trader dynasty?

Also, why did Zanatov come to stay with the Dei-phage and the Haematite cathedral? Was he a custodian? If he and the tech-priest magos imprisoned the demon, after learning that they couldn't defeat it, it seems odd that he chose to keep his dynasty on the spot for so long. Even more so since he seems aware of the fact that the demon can still influence him, despite being trapped.

The three apparitions : Were Gustavus, Nikea and Koronath contemporary? It hints that they were, but I can't make out if they actually lived at the same time or not. Hadria Hekate was murdered by Gustavus, so unless she is 300+ years old, was Gustavus a somewhat direct descendant of Zanatov's (child or grandchild)? Outside of the Haematite Cathedral is a cave with week-old corpses. Are we to assume that Gustavus was alive just weeks prior to the Acolyte's arrival, or that his apparition is killing people? The Cathedral seems to be long abandoned, why would scores of people have appeared there, only to be butchered by Gustavus?

It hints that Nikea lived about a decade before the Acolytes find the Haematite Cathedral. If she did, was Koronath contemporary with her? If Nikea is the most "recent" Hekate, and not contemporary with Koronath, why would she keep the Sanatorium walled up, keeping lots of mutants in one wing, while trying to entertain nobles in the other? At first, it says that Nikea was just a seneschal of Zanatov's (again, seemingly making her very old – referencing the part where the actions of Zanatov and Inquisitor DeVayne took place "several hundreds of years ago" and Nikea's guests were invited just a decade prior to the PCs arrival), then it tells us she was intent on restoring her dynasty's power, making her a part of the family. This hinges somewhat on what exactly a "dynasty" refers to, of course. The clothes on the bodies that the Acolytes find are no more than 10 years old, thus it seems Nikea was alive and well (if mad), just a decade prior to the Acolyte's arrival. Did Gustavus come later, and if so, was Hadria Hekate there all along?

Koronath is mentioned as attempting to continue Barabus' work, by studying the stars. Here, it seems as if the Black Sepulchre isn't finished, and that the stars themselves are the cypher. It can be reasoned that Koronath is mad, confused by the Dei-phage, and unaware of Zanatov's true work.

A timeline would certainly have helped, if only to give the GM some perspective on the story. While me and my gaming group certainly had fun with the adventure, it had a feeling of being done by several writers, who weren't talking with each other. It seems very stitched together, sadly. With the (mostly) high quality of the rest of the game line, this was something of a let down.

Hi BrotherSurge,

I actually stopped to try to get some sense into this. I stumbled over some (not all) of your points as well...and about some more.

I gave up on this one, I write it off as a loss of money. The infos on Baraspine where nice, but hardly worth the price of the hardcover book.
The only thing I actually imagine myself to do with it is to remove the first part (House Thrungg), remove the Dei-Phage and the Titan and the Sepulchre and all and turn it into a "Ghost Busters" mission where some Acolythes try to clean and re-sanctify the Haematite Cathedral so it can be used again by the Ecclesiarchy (and stops being a constant threat to Imperial Moral on Baraspine).

In that case, the mission is over after all rooms and ghost have been cleared and all of the hidden unclean items have been found and removed.
And some re-sanctioning takes place.

Perhaps, the first part can be kept if the cellar is changed from "part of the Titan" to "unclean dungeon" (the door is very resistant against meddling as long as all three damned souls are not banished) and the "Dei-Phage" being a once-summoned and now captured daemon.. a prisoner to the Daemon-Worshippers.

...something like that.

Up till now, I don't believe the adventure is a total write-off. Fixing some extremelly pesky & absurd NPCs & encounters (like what I wrote before, about Hadria), in lieu of a decent timeline, (also, like I said before), suffices. The rest is pretty cool stuff!

L

LETE said:

Indeed, and my group had fun with it, despite it being mostly a dungeon crawler. But like Gregorius21778 pointed out, the adventure needs a lot of work on the part of the GM. Some reworking is expected with a published adventure, you need to make it fit your own storyline, but when you have to rework almost every encounter, because of balance issues, or conflicting information, it makes you wonder why you paid money for it.

But it does have some really cool moments.

Hiyas!

& some of the weird/bad stuff is VERY EZ to spot. I mean, you don't even have to go out of your way to catch it. A cool editor woulda spot 'em right away. They need better personnel in that Dept.

This only seems to be happening in the Dark Hesery line, for some reason.

L

I too have been stuck on the timeline issue. If this all started with an Inquisitor vid-taping the birth of the Maledictors and the shocking secret baddie who is now very high up in the church... how old is the Cardinal Iggie??? There is "several hundred years ago" and then events "centuries later" and then some time to the present. This Cardinal is going on a 500+ years old?

Any FFG peeps please help out here. This is supposed to be the start of an epic adventure and it seems broken already. I like the adventure overall but it don't particularly like to fix the discrepancies and then wonder of part 2 will compound the problem.

-Cynr

Cynr said:

Hi Cynr,

you won´t get any answer from or will be noticed by writing on the forums

Please have the look at the following link
http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_contacto.asp

Their is a point for "rules questions". While this is not "the right way" either, I think it might be your best bet.

Know I'm late to this party, but there's at least one bit that I can provide some clarification on. Regarding the age of people being in the hundreds of years, that's not out of character for humans in the 40k universe. Inquisitor Eisenhorn for example is a few hundred years old. Basically it depends what level of medical tech one has access to. So it wouldn't be out of the question for the Cardinal to be many hundreds of years old, or Hadria for that matter.

That being said, this adventure does have some logic/timeline holes in it that need plugging, but is still a pretty cool adventure overall. I think the fact that the acolytes wake up a freaking Titan is pretty awesome.

Ahadiel said:

...one of it being large enough for a Battle-Titan to get encased into cliff. Like "praehistoric dinosaur".

Gregorius21778 said:

Thanks for this, I missed the entire encounter due to setting up a post Dark Sepulchre plot. Having the cultists camped out nearby the Hemetite Cathedral (along with the players) and neither side noticing the other until the next morning makes a lot more sense than having the cultists attack the players as they leave the Gilded Cathedral.