I've seen a lot of threads about the order in which to play the trilogy (tetralogy?) of Haarlock stories. But, comparatively, there's little about how to expand the trilogy to make it feel a little more complete.

There's so much bound up in the rise and fall of the Haarlock dynasty, especially with the other factions competing against the Acolytes, and the scattered fluff mentions of other Haarlock holdings (the tomb of Lythea Haarlock, for example) that you'd think a GM could get a lot more out of the story. Perhaps it would be worthwhile to show the two sides of Erasmus Haarlock, in an attempt to make him more of a three-dimensional character, rather than a distant enemy over the horizon.

So, this is a thread to appeal for ideas in how to expand the Legacy to make it more appealing - I think doing so will increase the players' attachment with the character of Haarlock, and make it a greater dilemma when they're presented with the choice of bringing him back (or not.)

Thanks in advance for any advice!

One idea I had details more on the Haarlock Dynasty than Erasmus himself. The default setting for Deathwatch is where the founder of the Haarlock Dynasty came to prominence in the Age of Apostasy before being granted a Writ of Warrant himself for his "heroic" deeds. I was thinking you could just put it down to fate that Solomon Haarlock ended up coming to the Dread Calyx Expanse as fate seeing as there is a warp gate connecting the two areas that are the start and end of the Haarlock Dynasty... but what if it wasn't fate. What if Solomon or one of the other Haarlocks had stumbled across this warp gate and used it, expanding their holdings into the Calyx Expanse and possibly the Koronus Expanse if they found a stable warp route. If he latter runs into Imperial worlds and other Rogue Traders he could have just said that he was blown off course by a warp storm.

Having a hidden back door into the Calyx Expanse leading to other holdings of his would have been profoundly useful, until of course the Jericho Sector was lost but even then it'd give him a nice bolt whole to run too. Maybe only the inner circle of the Haarlock family knew of it's location but when Erasmus went on his killing spree nobody wanted to tell him and so the location of the warp gate was lost again... except of course for the one or two Haarlock Scions who escaped to the Jericho sector, now in disarray to escape his blood vengeance. The players could always be sent to investigate a noble house or group of pirates or some such recently spotted in the Jericho sector with either the Haarlock name or something connecting them to the Dynasty such as the family crest. Maybe the PCs will need to find a true Haarlock descendant as part of trying to stop Erasmus's return as the blood of scions is important in several points of the trilogy. Convincing them to help or if it's even possible could be troubling, maybe they'll scratch the players back if they scratch theirs. Quests to help them reclaim some relic or defeat a foe.

One possible objective could be to gain information about the Spear of Destiny Erasmus' Cruiser which he will likely return with, state that it apparently had a number of interesting design points when first commisioned by the Haarlocks... on the Forge World of Samech. Samech is a forge world that has become corrupted and consorts will vile xenos and uses blatantly heretical technologies. This could lead to an interesting game as the players navigate this corrupted world and identify who has this knowledge before bargaining a price, either in slaves or forbidden lore. So the players can send honest folk to their doom, possibly attack recidivists and chaos worshippers to gain slaves or gain some piece or knowledge perhaps in the form of an ancient tomb or sample from a xenos life form or piece of technology, or through force of arms or use of deception steal the information. Maybe the vile magos wants the corpse of a genestealer or lictor or perhaps even a chaos space marine for study.

I had a repository of the spoils hidden on a world in the Koronus expanse the players never got to, perhaps players could be put on the trail of such a thing and have to find it's exact location in hazardous local conditions and when they find the tomb it has logs containing the last days of the dynasty, surely they wouldn't be the only ones interested in it though, Haarlocks servants both mortal and other may yet protect it, treasure hunters may seek it for it's wealth, cultists may seek it for it's vile lore and any number of factions might seek it for a single item in it's holds (a few soulstones plundered by the Haarlocks could bring Eldar into the mix). The Nostromo family might hire mercenaries as could other factions like other Rogue Traders with the hope that their may be lost navigation charts detailing lost worlds the Dynasty kept secret. Enoulians, Kroot and some other Xenos could of course be used as mercenaries.

I included a world called Hope in my Koronus Expanse that the Haarlocks had visited, on his last visit Erasmus had in a rage augmented a giant xenos caterpillar like creature and unleashed it on the world to hunt the inhabitants who had wronged him...

Some interesting ideas there, thanks!

I like the idea of the party's Inquisitor trying to track down some of the extant branches of the Haarlock line. If the group doesn't include a scion, it might be a great way to include an NPC scion. Perhaps you can imagine a normal man weighed down the burden and legacy of the Haarlock name... Certainly interesting. It might be a use for the Sisters Famulous, tracking down the gene-lines of the Haarlock dynasty. The House of Dust and Ash includes Lorelei Dekanta, an NPC Sister who you could use as an Inquisitor's aide. Perhaps during his purge, Haarlock forced a sister to trace his gene-lines so that he might complete his hideous mission.

It would certainly be interesting to explore some of the actions Haarlock took to wipe out his relatives - visiting more of the Haarlock holdings might be really good. I know that there's obviously the House of Dust and Ash, Gabriel Chase and Haarlock's Folly, but visiting some more of his holdings - now since fallen into disrepair and filled with many traps - might be a good approach. I always thought an ideal mission would be to visit the tomb of Haarlock's wife and child (then again, perhaps he keeps them on the Spear of Destiny ...)

Also, the mention of the Nostromo family is a good one. Perhaps tracking another member of the Nostromo family might be interesting. Perhaps there's a unique ability in the Nostromo family which means they're the only ones able to locate and travel to the world of Mara. (Who knows?) In order to reach the Tesseract, the acolytes would have to convince (or coerce) one of the Navigators to travel with them to the dead world.

One option I thought of was to a mission to recover one some of the Artifacts that have been sold to Third Parties during "The House of Dust and Ash"

Assuming that any third part was able to leave the place with a Haarlock-related item at all....


This would give sense and meaning to the "hook" of the adventure (having an eye on who is buying what).

If the item was not outright heretical in the first place, the acolythes would have to find out where the item is being kept (Investigation) and then go about stealing the item. It could be fun for a group with some scum and/or assasines in the group.

The pc might end up entering a noble holding (or wing of...or some "sommer home residence" or special building on a vast noble estate). This could include some stealth, security/tech use, awareness and finally a lot of running (and perhaps some fighting) when the inevitable alarm goes of and the cyber-mastiffs are released.


the item might not even be WORTH all the trouble... but the Inquisitor does not want to take any changes and wants this item removed.

I had two more ideas that might be useful. The Clockwork Court on Synopia Magna could be the basis of it's own adventure, the PCs being sent back there to investigate the world due to their prior experience there. It doesn't have to be obvious it's related to the court at the start, the PCs may very well have investigated it thoroughly in Damned Cities but now that a certain event has occured or such the clockwork guardians and some intelligence has set about a task. Perhaps the Haarlocks trapped some Xenos/Demon/etc in the core of the clockwork courts cogs and gears waiting for it's release from the device.

Abominable Intelligence seizing control of the flow of water in the city or redirect power from the power plant, the clockwork courts servants abandon their roles to gather parts... all in an effort to create a new body for itself- or maybe for all the people of the world in a twisted act of kindness to "Prepare them for his return". Perhaps look towards the Cybermen from Doctor Who for inspiration. Maybe the machine targets the tech priests first? Perhaps in order to stop the machine the players will have to side with another faction who has the technical know how, a group recently and quietly return- the Logicians! The players forced to take the hard road alone or knowingly work with heretics to stop the machine in a simple matter of survival.

A Xenos entity possibly working for or against Haarlock's plans used as a power source for the clockwork court or a medium to control and co ordinate it's servants. You could actually have it trying to help the PCs and see if they can see past their natural xenophobia to help it stop the clock before it strikes thirteen and "They Rise!" Zombie armageddon on Synopia Magna if the PCs fail to stop the machine with the aid/hindrance of the ancient xenos (if possibly an ally it could be useful source of information regarding Erasmus or other Haarlocks).

Daemons... well I usually find daemons are easier to come up with plots regarding, possibly Khornate due to the mechanical nature what it's bound to, themeatics and all that. Blood dripping from clock faces as it strikes the hour, servants going berserk.

Perhaps the Haarlocks kept someone sustained by the machine driven mad by it's ticking and grinding over the centurties. Perhaps the clocks stop and this deranged person (maybe once a loyal servant of the Haarlocks or the Imperium) is released wishing to still the disorderly noises of the city and restart the clock.

I also had the idea that an interesting mission could be to go aboard the ruined hulk of one of the other Haarlocks Erasmus killed, the ship not salvageable but perhaps having a stale atmosphere or just making the acolytes wear void suits, information gained here could be very useful. You could use this to provide plot hooks to send the players to other locations, maybe a few at once. Perhaps the Haarlock in question was actually once very close to Erasmus but was not spared his wrath. They could find picture put into storage of the ships captain and a younger Erasmus as a brilliant young man with so much promise. The captains journal could detail earlier adventures they had together as allies and trusted friends before ultimately leading to the last entry telling how Erasmus had changed so much, even from a short conversation held over vox before the final battle begins. Perhpas play up the Captain of this ship as maybe having abandoned the battle where Haarlocks wife died and Erasmus never forgiving him, let the story paint Erasmus as the hero. The journal could have entries of regret by the captain of regrets, if he had stayed maybe he could have consoled his friend and avoided this bloody minded madness.

There are some excellent ideas in the last two posts. Thanks to both of you. The idea of the "log of the cousin" really ties into my desire to flesh out Haarlock more. I think the trilogy paints him as this terrible, fearsome figure, always over the horizon - but they never really get to experience who he is, who he was, and that diminishes him somewhat, I think. So good work on that front!

Obviously I don't entirely like everything in this thread, but I'm hoping that others can be inspired by it too! As a result, here's some of my ideas.

The Wife and the Daughter

Given that Haarlock's wife and daughter are so hugely important to his motivations, we know very little about them. We see them getting killed in the Blind Tesseract but, to the best of my knowledge, we don't even know their names. I think it would be important for the Acolytes to spend a contemplative moment visiting the tombs of the wife and daughter. You can easily imagine Haarlock sparing no expense to trap them in a stasis field, so that they can be revived when he finally has a cure for them.

The Sisters of the Sacred Heart

Shortly before Haarlock disappeared, he begged forgiveness from the Ecclesiarchy. He paid for a convent to be built on a remote world. Presenting the heart of a long-dead saint to them, the Ecclesiarchy stored the sacred relic within their crypts. The convent became the base of operations for the Adepta Sororitas. Unbeknownst to them, the heart is actually Haarlock's - he has cut it out as part of a dark ritual, and so long as it remains safe, he cannot be killed. The holiest warriors in the Imperium are unknowingly guarding a dark artefact! Of course, they won't just believe a group of acolytes who turn up demanding the heart; the Acolytes are imprisoned, and must pass tests of purity and resolve to prove their veracity and escape with the heart - and their lives.*

Return to the Burning Isle

The Acolytes must sift through the wreckage of the House of Dust and Ash in order to recover an ancient artefact of great import. The chambers are clogged with ash, and the atmosphere is barely breatheable, forcing the Acolytes to wear thick environmental suits as they descend. Who knows what still lives - or what has been released?

* You could lay the groundwork to this at the House of Dust and Ash - one of their sisters is there, sent to recover an ancient artefact the Haarlock family took. She has a modest sum of money, but will be totally outbid. If the Acolytes buy the item and present it to her, they will have made a powerful ally - both in the fighting, and later on in the Legacy.. .

I have been thinking of doing something similar to this for the Haarlock legacy. I want to set up to have the player arriving at mara at the ascension level. So I have been trying to think about how to flesh out the legacy. So I was thinking of the characters having to follow in Haarlock's footstep. I like investigation his family and the Haarlock dynasty. For reading through things it seems the Haarlock disappeared into the Kronus expanse after his family was killed for 10 years, then returned to unleash his revenge. Then I think after he wiped out this dynasty he set to learning how to revive his wife and daughter. So I was thinking of having the characters follow through this foosteps to find out what he learned to destroy this family. In fact I was thinking of transitioning it to a rogue trader game centered around a race to uncover the Spear of destiny.

Salcor

Salcor said:

To me, I think this is key. Taking the players on a similar journey to that of Haarlock will let them have a deeper understanding of the Legacy, and what kind of man Haarlock was (and has become.) They need to become intimiately familiar with Haarlock and his deeds in order that they can really get some meaning out of the events that occur.

In my game I actually did transition it to Rogue Trader, we started out with the house of dust and ash after a few sessions and in it the guys discovered that they were all distant relations in the Haarlock family that their Inquisitor had sent as bait "just in case" Haarlock might still be bumbling around. One of the players playing a Templar Calyx sanctioned psyker raised on the ships of battlefleet Calyx asked the gilded widow (was that the right name?) what his real name was smuggly as he hadn't even told the other player characters to test it's divinatory powers... its head turned and it said "Haarlock". The player was blindsided even asking me if I had made a mistake. He became the target of attacks later which kept things interesting.

I let them spend xp in a dark heresy class and a rogue trader one, with the cheaper of the two advances from the stat advances used. They were very powerful... they had a Templar Calyx/Rogue Trader, Metalican Gunslinger Assasin/Seneschal, Commisar (Arbite)/Seneschal, Scum/Archmilitant, Cleric/Navigator (weird science and oddness here including having to fake the clerics death) and a Tech Priest/Magos (this last one had the player perviously playing a sanctioned pysker but he wasn't feeling the love so the psyker was held back by the Inquisitor as part of plan B). They still served the Inquisition and the players with the backing of their Inquisitor's very hefty influence managed to get recognised for claiming the warrant and as it's only apparent heirs.

They got their ship the cruiser "Pandorica" which had a history of it's own in the Haarlock Dynasty but the players never uncovered all of it's secrets, sooner or later in a campaign someone will. As his acquisition the assasin wanted to have an assasins guild or something, after a sit down we talked it over and I presented him with a slightly more powerful option but riskyer. I had rolled for a death cult to be on the ship. They singled him out abducted him and perform divine rituals to conclude that it was indeed the return of the chosen one, the Haarlock and right hand of the God Emperor... unless of course he made them ever question this. We had some great scenes in the bowels of the ships of cultists screaming "Hail Haarlock! Hail Haarlock! Hail Haarlock!" and cutting their hands to prove their devotion. In out of the way cargo bays on long journeys they would ritually duel to the death at times for his entertainment- the assasin was a bit bored on these so never asked them to stop.

On that point I always thought that more cults based around Haarlock and his dynasty would be fun. Maybe you could have some ancient tome your players uncover suggest that a Haarlock (Erasmus/Solomon/etc) placed something of great value on the ship x. Sure you could have it be ruined somewhere floating in space or captured by pirates or something but what if this little transport ship got sold off at one of the recent auction, maybe actually at the House of Dust and Ash and let the players try and remember who bought it! Getting admittance to the ship might require sneaking, bribery etc but you could always make it as simple as buying a ticket at one of its points. The new command crew might seem gaunt and tired, the upper decks suspiciously well lit. They are the masters of the ship but they know truely that this is a lie, they steer its course but they are careful where they walk. Perhaps they've suffered a few deaths and had a small civil war on the ship though more of cloak and dagger kind but in the end when the first mate became captain a ceasefire and kind of accord was set up without negotiation... the cult would take care of it's own while these strangers toe the line. Not knowing who of the original crew is a member makes the captain paranoid. The players might have to navigate/fight/negotiate/flee through these areas of the ships before getting to the location of their quest... coincidentally the centre of the cult, almost as if they were set to guard it! In their divine task they will defend it.

Yeah I am not really sure how I want to accomplish it. I am kind of thinking of parrallel campaigns starting with the first adventure and having different groups exploring different parts of the haarlock legacy. The DH group exploring the legacy in the Calixis sector, the rogue trader group exploring the Haarlocks in the Kronus expanse, and a DW team exploring the connection to the Slaught.

Salcor

Gaius said:

First, though I do like the idea of a bound Khornate daemon, I don't think mechanical exactly plays into the theme of Khorne, especially for what I'd be planning for in terms of an investigative story, rather than a flat-out combat mission. I liked your idea about a daemon trapped inside the clockwork, possessing servitors, so I've decided that if I carry out a game based on that it's going to be a Tzeentchian daemon Haarlock defeated but refused to banish, instead binding it's will and warp-power into the machines against its will. The whole 'clockwork kiss to steal you heart' quote of Sinophia from the Inquisitorial Handbook could play into this, as the daemon quietly plays out its machinations, carefully controlling the servitors to aid its plans.

As for the second part, I enjoy that idea for a scenario as well, and I'm surprised I never thought about investigating ANY of the non-Erasmus/Solomon Haarlocks. Hell, I even forgot about the tomb! Investigating Haarlock's ship was also a very good idea... I may have to steal quite a few of these ideas for my campaign...

Just as planned...

Elias Holt said:

I think in some of the older stuff he was more closely associated with tech than the others but even then it was a little weak, the only big mechanical thing that he does that is still around are the juggernaughts. Look towards groups like the Blood Pact for inspiration on non berserker fun Khorne followers. I could see a Tzeentchian Daemon getting very frustrated with the predictable grinding of the gears in constanle repititive circles. A daemon from any god could work in the end... or actually just an idea maybe a good old fashioned ghost? The Haarlocks bind the soul of a hated enemy to the machine, maybe the Rogue Trader Solomon built the court to spite, having bound her to it later.

Do remember Haarlocks ship might be gone but they detail it a little in Dead Stars.

I think there is still scope in the 40k universe for followers of Khorne who aren't beserkers. If you think of Khorne in his aspect as a blacksmith in the midst of a forge of brass, his followers can be quite canny and can construct sophisticated items. That said, I wouldn't want to distract too much from the central focus of this thread.

I've discussed in other threads my ideas about transitioning to Rogue Trader (using the basis of Lure of the Expanse and The Frozen Reaches ) to detail the hunt for Haarlock after he is released from the Tesseract. That said, I wanted to stick a little closer to the original idea - the search for Haarlock, when the Acolytes begin to realise that events are in motion and that Haarlock is returning. How to expand this and make it more interesting and involving?

The idea of the servants of Haarlock forming some sort of Cult dedicated to bringing about his return is a great one. I also like the "Hail Haarlock!" - perhaps you could argue in a Horusian or Thorian way that he is possessed by something greater. Definitely a cool concept. SUch a group might be both antagonist and ally.I think the role of Spectre Cell 17 could also be expanded, to have them competing alongside your Acolytes to really emphasise the factional nature of the Inquisition. Of course, they'll have to end up in the Tesseract (and may well end up dying very messily there!)

The most interesting aspect of the whole Haarlock story is the family tragedy that is at the core of it. So I want my players to puzzle out what kind of tragedy, vendetta, and internecine warfare has taken place over the centuries with these 'Kennedies of the Calyxis Sector'.

I will introduce a document written by an Order Famulous sister about the Haarlock bloodline. A genealogy and family tree in one, kind of like one that a noble family would have. Ofcourse Erasmus wanted to procure the document when he set about eliminating all his family members as it made it easier for him to track everyone down. And now, a century later, the document would help identifying any remaining Haarlock relatives whose forebears escaped the purge, and who could be used to help claim the Legacy ...

The Sororitas know of this document but would not readily divulge its location or maybe they just know about it as myth. Both the =I= and the factions fighting to claim the Legacy would kill to obtain it.