Hi there!

After some time fleshing out my ideas for an Ordo Xenos campaign I think that I have a working formula for it and will post it here for some peer review. My thoughts on it is that I'll get the basics hanged here before I try and go into details or stat out NPC:s and stuff.

Setting: An Imperial world that is has some advanced machinery guarded by an enclave from the Adeptus Mechanicus, the most important is the local Spaceport. Otherwise the technology is mostly in the civilian department in the 19th century style. The planet is populated by mostly humans with a caste of Untouchables in the form of mutants who are either worked to death on plantages and in certain base industries or mostly just trying to stay the hell away from the humans' law enforcement unites.

The planet is divided between the old nobility, in style like 19th century American gentlemen while they are challanged by the growing power of certain merchant houses, guilds etc. who are more akin to the 19th century industrialists of Europe and America. Beneath them are the serving majority that works on plantages, industries and similar. Its far from the more tyranical Imperial planets but hardly a place of freedom either.

Main antagonist: is a Rouge Trade and Xenophile under alien influences who is deeply involved in the Cold Trade and is the single source of supply for alien relics and weaponry to the planet. He also smuggles aliens onto the actual planets for the right fee. He is a brazen man with a considerbal arrogance and a dozen bastard children sired on his crew members. His crew consists of mostly Void-born and a few Xenophiles and anti-Imperial fugitives. The more outstanding members of his crew are the following:

* A renegade tech-priest and heretek who uses Xeno-tech in forbidden ways and have even made Xeno-tech implantments into himself and some of the Rouge Trader's crew members.

* A Xeno-hybrid that is the result from the tech-heresy of making a union possible between and alien and a human. It looks mostly human but with some changes and with an utterly inhuman mindset.

* A Xenophilic scholar who loves and admires the ways of Xenos far above that of mankind

* An anti-Imperial rebel fugitive who is ever ready to strike against the hated Imperium

* A Xeno-tutored psycher governed by strange taboos, bans and commands imprinted into the mind during the aliens' training

* A Navigator who don't think himself as human but surrounds himself with a small court of mutants and similar foul creatures, some of them having been the subject of the tech-priest's Xeno-tech experiments.

So that's the major opposition that will challange the characters during their investigation on the planet. My main idea for investigations is that they will eventually lead to information regarding the Rouge Trader and his identity itself. This would then lead to a final show-down against him and the Acolytes can break the main source of Xenos-related problems on the planet.

Stuff to investigate

* A mutant cult that is following a mad prophet calling for all to join him in service to the Grey Angel and tear down all the humans for a world where the mutants should be elevated in glory over their oppressors. The Grey Angel is of course a Xenos and a member of the Aeryx species (which is one of my own creations). The prophet has been smuggled to the planet by the Rouge Trader to make some basic work for a eventual establishment of the Aeryx themselves, and they are gathering resources to buy weaponry from the Rouge Trader and local amorale arm's dealers, as well as recruit as many mutants as possible into their ranks.

* A noble that has in his possession a mask taken from Xenos ruins that grants biological immortality but with some hideous draw backs, which I've yet to determin in detail. He bought this mask from the Rouge Trader because he wouldn't want to die of old age and so is isolating himself in his mansion. I was thinking of maybe changing it to a Halo Device, but I feared that it might be a bit to powerful for a fresh band of Acolytes to tackle.

* An lower Arbiter officer that owns a Xenos blade he uses to keep the local mutants in check, and he is protected by his extremely loyal comrades. He confiscated the weapon from a mutant, who had gained it from the Rouge Trader, but the officer decided to keep it rather than leave it ini order to turn the weapon of the enemy upon themselves.

* Some nobles who have bought a few reliefs and statues from Xenos ruins from the Rouge Trader for the prestige that it would gain them among their peers. These things are not dangerous in themselves but will lead the Acolytes on the trail of the local Cold Trade.

* A man who lost everything to the Imperials because his brother turned out to be a heretic, and driven over the edge decided to dedicate the rest of his life to vengeance. He uses terrorist tactics to try and kill as many Imperial officials regardless of civilian losses as he can. My idea is that he'll get on the characters' trail at some time and follow them and try to kill them since they remind him of the Acolytes who killed his brother.

* A heretical preacher who have formed a heresy which says that the Emperor intended for mankind to co-exist along with selected species of alien races. They are at present starting to recruit beyond a small circle, seeking contact with the Rouge Trader to get their hands in Xeno-tech and making direct contact with aliens to make their judgment if these are intended by the Emperor to live along with humans.

* An alien bio-construct that have been created by a race of Xenos to act as a replacement for a abducted Imperial official. This bio-construct in itself does not have any other purpose than to mask the abduction at present, and thus operates with the victims memory and personality implanted into it. Other constructs of similar design can sometimes be employed for infiltration, spying or assassination by these Xenos, and thus the Inquisition would dearly like to see it flushed out and captured before any hidden commands implanted into it is activated. While it looks just like a human, its internal physiology is entirely different and its thin white ichor which is has instead of blood is probably the part that is most easy to detect. The aliens were aided in getting to and from the planet, by the Rouge Trader.

* A smuggling ring that is buying stuff from Ork pirates and also selling the greenskins fuel, ammunition, weapons and other items that are used to harm the Imperium. This smuggling ring is actually headed by a bastard son of the Rouge Trader and they have close contacts with the Rouge Trader himself.

* A rouge psycher who lives the life of a bandit but mostly just wants to stay alive in opposition to the Imperium's demand of his destruction. The problem is that he murdered a woman with a trinket that turned out to be a Xenos artefact which became activated by the psycher's attention to it. The trinket was sold by the Rouge Trader and its feared that it is cultivating Alien influence over the psycher's unprotected mind.

For back-up another Inquisitor also has a band of Acolytes on the planet that can be contacted, but only at the price of a future favor to those Acolytes and the ire of their own Inquisitor who is on bad terms with the other Iniquisitor. He/she certainly don't want his/her own Acolytes to own favors to the Acolytes of his/her rival. This is mostly if they really get stuck with something and their own contacts and allies fails them.

This is some basic idea I've been playing around with. I've yet to decide the details regarding the Acolytes own Inquisitor but most likely its a somewhat more Puritan than Radical, but not among the extreme Puritans. I'm mostly thinking of keeping him/her relatively aloof and secretive at the start.

Ideas and comments are welcome.

The setting sounds good - quite colorful, very 40Kish.

What I really like i the main antagonist and the other opponents. It's refreshing to see a Rogue Trader being the main villain - and having hereteks and xenophiles in the mix.

What I'd consider is how much protection a Rogue Trader has from Inquisitional inquiry. Presumably the players will find lead pointing to him eventually and will want to do something. But where is the line drawn? He's a Rogue Trader - he there to deal in stuff and do thing that is heretical for lesser men. He's even supposed to be able to hawk his ill-gotten gains, xenos artifacts and all.

I would play up on that once they are on to him. They might KNOW he's a heretic, but for once they really have to prove it.

Seems like you have a good heaping multi-course meal of heresy to feed your accolytes, so I think you are on the right track here.

Re the noble and mask: I would not shy away from the Halo Device in this case, as it is pretty much perfect for what your story seems to be calling for. Is it powerful? You bet! This is NOT a person who they will be taking down at rank 2 unless they are REALLY cunning and creative, and in that case they deseve to be rewarded for their deed. This makes for a nice long-term villain for the campaign without running the risk of his downfall terminating the story early (since the BIG bad is the heretical Rogue Trader!).

I like having the rival Inquisitor's accolyte cell as a potential fall-back. It gives them a possible life-line if they botch the heck out of things but not without a price. VERY nice touch!

Re the Rogue Trader and authority: That is also a good component of this story. YES, Rogue Traders are sanctioned to operate outside of Imperial boundaries and can even trade and posess xenos goods thanks to their charter. The complication here is that this is an IMPERIAL world, still subject to Imperial Law and authority. The Rogue Trader is entitled to posess and trade in xenos goods, but the local nobles and clergy are NOT entitled to such under Imperial Law, to say nothing of common citizens and filthy muties! So by trading proscribed goods with Imperial citizens that do not bear a Writ of Free Trade on an Imperial World the Rogue Trader is indeed guilty of serious (in this case Capital) crimes. A particularly bold Arbites Lord Marshal or Judge might be able to pursue this case, but they can only do so within the bounds of their Authority (in this case, the Imperium!). Therefore the Rogue Trader can simply fly past the borders and be free... The Inquisition has no such restrictions, but the accolytes will need to build a solid case of evidence for their Inquisitor first, because only by his Authority can they hope to bind a Rogue Trader over for Judgement.

Given the theme of your game I would place the location of this planet near the Halo Stars or the Koronos Expanse. Something on the literal fringe end of the already backwater Calixis Sector. This sets things up nicely for your story since this planet is not going to see frequent visits by the Chartist Captains and is simply too unimportant to merit a Navy garrison. It borders wildspace, so the Rogue Trader can tapdance on the border to flaunt justice and the "filthy xenos" of the unknown reaches have a relatively unchallenged approach to the world. As riddled with corruption and xenos-artefacts as this place is, your planet definately needs this trait.

Recommend the team is at least rank 4-5 before they start crossing the Rogue Trader's crew and direct minions, since a "base" RT character is about Rank 5 equivalent. Of course if the story calls for the team to suffer a severe but non-fatal ass-beating then obviously disregard this. Humiliation can build pathos if it is allowed to build towards an eventual "horrible retribution" that the accolytes can work towards.

One fun GM tool is to make a campaign-themed "Elite Package" that features a few skills and talents that are considered "staple" to the campaign. Considering the type of world they are being based on include things like Wrangling, Wrangling +10, Pistol (primitive), Basic (Primitive), Melee (Primitive), Secret Tongue (Accolyte) and anything else that their Inquisitor "strongly encourages" his agents to know, possibly even unlocking Forbidden Lore (Xenos) after they meet some prerequisite story development (AKA the Inquisitor now trusts you with this information!). Set relatively cheap prices (100-300xp) for the stuff on this list and then get the game rolling!

Thank you for your comments

About the Halo Device I will take up the idea of introducing it instead of the mask, although the Halo Device may itself have the form of a mask or something like it. Most likely the owner will try and escape, probably with the Rouge Trader to some Xenos-filled haven, or maybe even escaping into some abandoned part of the ship to dwell among mutants and the like. An idea would be to perhaps allow the Rouge Trader's vessel to return later on as a space hulk (provided it isn't blown into pieces or something like it), inhabited by a colony of Ghiliam mutants and crazed remains of the crew, dominated by a former human in the tertiary stage of transformation from a Halo Device whom the mutants may perhaps worship as some kind of malignant deity or ruling over them as an horrific tyrant. Or it (not he or she) may escape into the planet's wilderness to hide in the dark corners of that world - festering and growing its inhuman machinations.

You are entirely correct that the Rouge Trader will work pretty well as an opponent that can't simply be walked up to and shot, not without serious consequences. Working up a case before their Inquisitor before they are given green lights is a very nice concept and will give some stability to the campaign. My idea is that they will finish a few investigations where the characters sees the handy work of the Rouge Trader and then maybe make contact just as a deal, or several deals, are carried out and gets to take on one or more of the Rouge Trader's henchmen down which could give the final clues that leads to them having proof against the Rouge Trader. A scenario I very much would like to see happen would be to have the Acolytes and a unite of Arbiteres, commissioned by Inquisitorial demand for the Acolytes' use, board the vessel to take the Rouge Trader into custody, only to find themselves on the vessel as it leaves the system and heads out into space away from Imperial territory. The Arbiteres will work as a magnate to draw most of the lesser crew away, to allow the Acolytes themselves to infiltrate the ship and take on the most important antagonists themselves and not get overwhelmed by hundreds of armed crewmen coming down on them.

Setting the world at the border to the Halo Stars sounds like a splendid idea to me. I will use that. I very much like the idea of the Rouge Trader working as a kind of channal to alien influences upon the planet.

In regards to the Rouge Trader, I don't actually own the Rouge Trader rulebook but was thinking about stating them out using the Dark Heresy system. I hope that won't provide a problem but I figure that it should work well enough.

The idea of having an elite package to represent increasing Inquisitorial trust in them is something that I like alot. I'll definietly look into it and write out on of them for my players and allow them to make ready to engage.

Sounds great! I'm sure your players will enjoy this. And I have to agree with the Green Knight - the antagonists are lovingly fleshed out, so much so that I had to think of potential Black Crusade characters when reading some of their descriptions.

As far as the Rogue Trader and his partial immunity is concerned, I think this will be a neat gameplay element. Apart from gathering more clues and having to secure some more support than usual (both politically as well as militarily), it may also provide some pressure for the Acolytes in that they have to capture/eliminate him before he ventures beyond jurisdiction. Like some modern thriller with a foreign diplomat who is about to leave the country.

Maybe the Rogue Trader even makes it out alive and comes back at the players later? Or the player characters get commissioned for a "special operation" beyond the borders of Imperial space to take care of him regardless of the writ. At least according to the FFG books, it would not be the first time that some Inquisitor would have taken care of a Rogue Trader out in "wild space"...

A lot of potential.

Lynata said:

Thanks for the comments!

I've happy to hear you liked my merry band of heretics and Xenophiles . In regards to the Rouge Trader it is certainly an very interesting prospect to have him turn up again to do unsavory dealings with Xeno-artefacts again or try to get his revenge on the Acolytes. Not to mention, of course, the building of a case against him before they can move on him. Unless they are really close and all that, I will probalby not let them do a special operation in deep space to get him, unless they bend their backs into the work and drives that chart themselves.