I am about to run my 1st sesion of DH with some friends of mine. This will be our 1st time playing DH, but we are all experiance Roll Players, having played Warhammer, D&D, Werewolf, Shadowrun so on and so on. I am normally a player though and not a GM (I felt sorry for our normal GM who never gets to be a PC). As you have probably figured out from the Topic Title, the classes my players have chosen are an Arbitrator, a Gaurdsmen and an Assasin. I was thinking of running the senario that is included in the GM kit (cant remember the name of it and i dont have the book with me) but was wondering if anyone out there might have some insight as to weather this is a good idea or not. My players have expressed an interest in xenos as a possible enemy and a hive as the setting . i know that this game is set in a Fedul world, but i figure you dont always get what you want and the senerio seems like a good one for us to get our feet wet.

any thoughts?

Another qestion regarding senarios (keep in mind i dont have the books with me).

The senerio Rejoice for you are True from Purge the Unclean requires the Acolytes to go undercover and only 1 of my 3 players has any skill at all in lying to others, in fact the other 2 have almost no social skills at all other than intimidation and overt violence. Is there any point at all in running the senerio with them? i really like the other 2 in the book (from what little i have managed to read so far) and seeing as they are all kind of tied together i want to do all 3, but not if there is little to no chance of them suceeding.

'Maggots in the Meat' is not a very well written adventure in my opinion. I'd recommend to try 'Edge of Darkness' or 'Illumination' first. I feel that they are much better scenarios, and not very hard to go from being first time GMing.

Another scenario to watch out for is 'Shattered Hope' because that's what it pretty much is to the players.

e/As well, with the small chances of succeeding, that's the point of adding modifiers onto the rolls, to resemble the circumstances. Say, they are talking to a normally overly-trusting NPC. Maybe a +10 or +20 to the roll? Etc. etc. As well, that's the problem of people picking more combat-way classes. I'd recommend to somewhat take them on more combaty missions to get them more experience before they could infiltrate.

The Guardsman can turn out to be rather okay for infiltration is he goes the Commisar route. Never be as good as the Arbitrator, but wouldn't be bad. The assassin will pretty much always be a combat monster, at least until the last three tiers where he can choose to be go a more social route.

My suggestion... would be to try and change the assassin from an assassin to a Scum. Let him take some of the alternate pathes from the Inquisitor's Handbook, and he'll be a very good combat monster as well as having access to arguably the best social skills in the game.

If they insist on sticking to their classes, well they get what they asked for. Run the scenerios, and if they fail its their fault, you did warn them.

Fideru said:

Thanks for the advice guys, you both make exellent points.

about the Edge of Darkness senario, where can it be found?

The Dark Heresy part of the Fantasy Flight Games website. I find it odd I cannot link. Look up the Catalog>Dark Heresy>Support>Scenarios>Edge of Darkness.

Just because your PC's don't have much of anything in the way of the socials department such as lying doesn't mean they won't be able to infiltrate cults and deceive ner-do-wells. Remember, lying to someone is an opposed test (as are most social tests). This means that, really, the PC's lying really only has to be better then the NPC's scrutiny.

This would mean that your average no lying PC would have a 15% vs. say a Cult Initiate or Magos who also only have about 17% for scrutiny. If the PC's have some official type papers or other things backing up their lies they could get a 10-+20 depending on circumstances. If their marks were preoccupied or intoxicated when ever the PC's speak with them earning them a -10 to scrutiny checks that would skew odds in the PC's favor.

It's not great, but it's quite doable.

Talking about "Rejoice", the fact that only one of them is a "deceiver" will not hurt

WARNING! SPOILER AHEAD!!!!

In rejoice, the group will have to mime a group consisting of one noble and his "entourage". It is described in the module that those chosing to act as a "bodyguard" won´t have any chance of interaction while in the courts while those playing the noble won´t be able to nose around in the hive (for information) without getting his cover damaged.

So, the "social player" will come up as the noble naturally while the guardsmen will act as the bodyguard. What the assasine will be is quiete a good question. Entertainer of some sort. Perhabs he is the nobles "duelling pet"?

ONE STRONG ADVICE:
Stay away from using "Maggots in the Meat" without sorrow reading and A LOT OF MODIFICATION. The module has good background, but the storyline and "chain of evidence" is a little "forced" in my opinion.

...i meant to say/write "throrough reading".

The module might be a reason for sorrow, my "ability" to exchange words that sound alike (while writing!) is for sure.

I have decided to take Federu's advice and run Edges of Darkness. I read it about half way through last night and i agree that it is a MUCH better senario. depending on how that goes i will most likely start the adventures in Purge the Unclean, Unless something betting comes along. Thanks for all the help everyone!!!!