Hello all. If you are a player in any DW scenarios - stop reading NOW - this text contains spoilers.

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I am struggling with my gamemastery in The Emperor Protects scenarios. About a month ago
me and my players (four of them) finished the first installment, "The Price of Hubris" and both
they and I thought it was a lot of fun! The scenario on the planet of Aurum was quite good with
lots of situations beside the usual "my bolter is the answer to all problems".

So, it was with renewed vigor I set about preparing for the second installment "A Stony Sleep".
And I had read it through earlier, thinking "I'll probably like it more when it's time for it". But no -
I didn't like this scenario the first time I read it and certainly not now, the second time.

My brain said to itself "Who is the ****** bag(s) that've put this pile of loose ends together, and
dare call it a "Deathwatch scenario"?" It's like the team making "The Price of Hubris" didn't even
communicate with the ones making the second part of TEP. It felt unfinished.

So, I tried rewriting it, and over a length of time I thought I got somewhere, or was able to see a
new version emerge that was to my liking. But no, my thoughts just wouldn't grow!

AND THEN: today, I started thinking about the other scenario, incorporated in the GM's Kit:
"Shadow of Madness". My thoughts began connecting with how that scenatrio was planned.

Then it struck me! Why not link the Chaos Sorcerers search for decavane crystals and plans for making
the silent ship with the alien tech of the Delirium Trellises?? I was thinking that the Vinculum Proselytes
somehow got wind of the Trellises and wanted to experiment with the alien tech. This was the reason
the Trellises activated in the first place. After that the Chaos Sorcerer got in contact with them and they
started making tests with the extracted material of the Trellises. I know, they're hard to even detect, but if
you really want something, nothing is impossible.

So, somehow they find that these Trellises are contructed, among other things, with decavane crystals.
And they know so little about how the material work, but understand that it can make things invisible to the
naked eye and even to detection instruments. So they instead try to imitate the general contruction pattern
and make their own version of this material - with decavane crystals.

So they hunt for the crystals (hence the happenings on Aurum) and now they're nearing completion - and
BOOM! Their own contruction explodes and vapourizes several proselytes and huge amounts of materials
- and they're back to square one.

So what now? They must return to Baraban to extract another Trellis. And that's when the marines enter...

What do you think? I'm not ready with all the finer parts of this version, but is it useful? All inputs are welcome!

Definatly not a bad Idea, not at all. I finished running Stony sleep 2 weeks ago, its not AS bad as I figured it would be, but an accurate tomb map would be appreciated. we started the last one in TEP and so far so good, though the group has missed a couple of things, this is his first time in command and hes very punctual. I may be able to slip the Treillises in there but ive already found a way to make these 3 missions part of my bigger picture and I dont know if that all will fit in.

BTW shadows of madness was the worst mission weve played so far.

One caveat is that future Deathwatch products may highlight a campaign arc that is in conflict with homebrewn stuff. Not an earth-shattering problem but one to consider.

Stony Sleep... I haven't given up on this yet. They key make it work to me is the Crons, mechanical undead, so-to-speak. I imagine running lots of Ministry and industrial during that part of the mission. Also the "Black Templars" is a nice foil but it requires the GM to put a lot of thought into how he has to portray the trail to make his players initially convinced they are actually following Black Templars and not impostors.

Also I think all 3 missions have the same author, Andrea Gausman.

Alex

Tunnelhckrat said:

Thank you for your kind words! Interesting that 'Shadows' was the worst scenario in your experience. Was it because the shortage of maps and the like?
I had to make a LOT of maps to the first part of TEP, and also illustrations of all the main characters. One player thought they where useful, so he wanted them for his own gaming and is planning to run TEP with another group next summer. I'm planning on making the maps and other stuff for 'Shadows'.

Also very interesting to hear you have a bigger pic. Can I possibly ask what it is? Or is your players stalking this site?

ak-73 said:

Aha, some gleanings from a possible future! Thanks for the warning, I'll see if I use this then. I think Crons are too much of an annoying red herring even for me as a GM. I don't like too many forks in the stew, so to speak. But as you say, the "Black Templar" thing is very useful. At the same time, doesn't the PC's - as DW marines - have full insight into what exact chapters are participating in the Achilus Crusade? Just cross-indexing solves this.

What do you mean by the "running lots of Ministry and industrial during that part of the mission"? Sounds intriguing.

A couple of my pcs lurk here or there, but its a fairly long story arc ive been planning from the beginning, we are almost rank 7 now and I hope I can finish before we max out at 8, but I dont think it will Happen. Is there a way to send PM on this forum?

As for the PCs' knowledge of all chapters in the Crusade, you could ask for a Common Lore (Jericho Reach) or something like that (make it easy or something, cause clearly the Marines in the Deathwatch have been hinted, but it's not automatic).

When my group played through TEP, my character knew that there were no Templars involved. Of course, it gives a twist to the scenario But it was cool.

And I'll second the fact that The Price of Hubris is absolutely awesome. I would have loved to do another mission on Aurum. Just because the Aurans are cool, and because it's a world where we - as Deathwatch Space Marines - could really matter and change its future. Packed with cool.

Tunnelhckrat said:

I don't know. You could send a message to my own email address: [email protected] if you wish. I'm not afraid of showing it here.

Stormast said:

Good tips! And yes, I don't know anyone that didn't like the Aurum scenario. Surprising that all three TEP scenarios are written by the same person.

I've only glanced over TEP but I think I have a fairly good idea of what's being discussed here. I ran the Shadows of Madness adventure and my players thoroughly enjoyed it, managing to steal the Manta at the end and level the Tau base. Baraban is now falling to the Imperium by the time of my Jericho Ascension campaign.

Anyway, the Trellises would certainly be of interest to Hereteks in any case if they knew about them. Let alone if there's some specific material to be had. The voidspace above Baraban would be a contested mess to my mind, with both Imperial and Tau stealthed sensor arrays and starcraft over most if not all landmasses. However, both sides can sneak in small units so neither sensor network is perfect. A chaos ship could go on silent running further out in the system and launch a shuttle or three to stealthily land on Baraban. Perhaps using information from Imperial traitors or Tau prisoners? A rogue Inquisitor leaking information to their heretechnological allies?

Decessor said:

I too feel this could be useful, especially after suggestions in line with your thoughts. Nice thinking about those sneaky starcrafts.

And definately heartwarming to hear that not everyone has had a bad experience with "Shadows of Madness". I would love to hear more details about how you handled the scenario. Did you make maps for the different areas? I'm set on making some myself, and also drawings of the main characters like the general they can rescue. Some small changes like drafts of reports from the field with adhered picts and the like.

But, also, I'd like to incorporate some elements from "A Stony Sleep", so as not to abandone it totally. Like some small settlement where the PC's can meet people that've seen the "Black Templars" and stuff.

A rogue inquisitor may not be too far from the truth, in my first scenario Diaz Lan got infected (and the players think he's cured) so I'll use him instead.

dracopticon said:

Just saying that FFG seems to have an over-arching plot. Same reason why I wouldn't bother flesh out who lured the Nids to Avalos in the Final Sanction demo. I'm pretty sure that it is bound to come up in some DW product sooner or later.

dracopticon said:

You have to get in the right spirit I guess. Mechanical terror, living dead. As I said, it's a good enemy to provide a goth/industrial feeling if staged properly.

dracopticon said:

The BT are always on a crusade and worse even a BT marine probably will not know if there aren't some Black Templars in the reach after all, given how fractured they are as a chapter. Heck, especially with the Templars they might even be from before the Reach was lost. Hinting at that might excite any BT player. And lead to massive disappointment later on.

dracopticon said:

I mean as they are getting closer to the Necrons. I don't think I'll give my players the handout with the artifacts at the start of mission. I'll have to play it down/describe them so that they'll just think it's some indecypherable alien artifacts (which is what they are to the PCs), a la "The Watch Captain gives you a bunch of artifacts in various shapes and forms, none of your can make heads nor tails of them right now, even after thorough inspection". Giving them a detail descrption or the drawing will only invoke player knowledge. Of course I mentioned one or twice well in advance already that the Necrons are still fairly unknown at the time of DW. Hehehehehe.

The point is in letting it slowly dawn on the players who they are up against and once it hits them its too late. They'll enter the tomb and I'll try to run it like one 40K version of a fantasy tomb... industrial will fit that dungeon's flavour fairly well, I think.

Alex

Sorry I haven't answered this in such a long while! You gave very good answers, so here's some replies back to you.

Just saying that FFG seems to have an over-arching plot. Same reason why I wouldn't bother flesh out who lured the Nids to Avalos in the Final Sanction demo. I'm pretty sure that it is bound to come up in some DW product sooner or later.

Now that's some interesting thoughts! I didn't grasp that much, but as you say - it seems the scenario constructors probably have some overall great plot, and I would really like to see some more of it SOON! It sure must have been some help from the "other guys" for the Tyranids to get to all those worlds so fast. And there I once again get the basic question in my mind: is the Tyranids something brewed by Chaos from the beginning?

You have to get in the right spirit I guess. Mechanical terror, living dead. As I said, it's a good enemy to provide a goth/industrial feeling if staged properly.

That's right, I lack the feeling for those Nec guys, and I feel it too early too spring a n o t h e r type of adversary on the Imperium.

The BT are always on a crusade and worse even a BT marine probably will not know if there aren't some Black Templars in the reach after all, given how fractured they are as a chapter. Heck, especially with the Templars they might even be from before the Reach was lost. Hinting at that might excite any BT player. And lead to massive disappointment later on.

Errr... Aren't you making an thought mistake here? If the same BTs were in Jericho Sector before it was lost, wouldn't that make them horrendously old?

I mean as they are getting closer to the Necrons. I don't think I'll give my players the handout with the artifacts at the start of mission. I'll have to play it down/describe them so that they'll just think it's some indecypherable alien artifacts (which is what they are to the PCs), a la "The Watch Captain gives you a bunch of artifacts in various shapes and forms, none of your can make heads nor tails of them right now, even after thorough inspection". Giving them a detail descrption or the drawing will only invoke player knowledge. Of course I mentioned one or twice well in advance already that the Necrons are still fairly unknown at the time of DW. Hehehehehe.

The point is in letting it slowly dawn on the players who they are up against and once it hits them its too late. They'll enter the tomb and I'll try to run it like one 40K version of a fantasy tomb... industrial will fit that dungeon's flavour fairly well, I think.

As much as it sounds like a good idea, I once again must say that IMHO springing the Nec threat on the DW is just making too many leads that will make the players ever more confused. I believe in simplicity. Keep the clues down to no more than a max of four.

I will try to make a report of how good the "Shadow of Madness" scenario was to use instead of "A Stony Sleep" as TEP number two. I'm planning to run this in late August.

Good luck!

MILLANDSON said:

Thanks! Right now I'm struggling with the mix I want between the original "A Stony Sleep" and "The Shadow of Madness". It is planned to be GM'd by me in the late august. We'll see how it goes and if the players like it. Hope so!