So the PCs are on this planet and they need to get an important message across to their Inquisitor. A report on their investigation, a warning, a request for aid, whatever. Suppose the world is big and important enough to have Astropaths that can send messages across space, how much would it cost?

Can anyone who can afford it request their services?

And how exactly would the Astropath, this telephone operator of the 41st millennium, go about his business of sending messages?

Curious to your thoughts! The problems of communicating across the vastness of space keep resurfacing when I write adventures.

Some info on astropaths can be found here:

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Astropath

what isn't mentionedthere, but in several of the novels, is that astropaths send their messages like a series of images which have to be interpreted by the receiving astropath in order to get the meaning. the receiver then translates these back into the actual text of the message.

also, the way i see it, most planets would have one or more astropaths available at a central place, which then would handle most of the interstellar communication. and there don't seem to be any restrictions on using the services of an astropath, as long as you can afford it and there is nothing else to hinder them (like a warpstorm, or some kind of emergency, in which case i think their services would be restricted for official use only).

Any idea how much it would cost the Acolytes if they go chatting via Astropaths?

Depends on how secure and competant you want the astropath to be really. I seem to recall (might be wrong here) in Eisenhorn, he had to spend a hell of a lot to get a secure Astropath

I've got two answers.

Astropaths may charge per word, or based on the complexity of the message and how many astropathic relays it may need to pass through to reach it's destination. As for the price, I don't know. Since interstellar communication is a luxury and necessity for the ruling classes, perhaps 3 or so thrones per word.

My second answer:

It's free. The planet's astropathic temple is maintained by the Adminustratum and the Scholastics Psychana, who also take care of the needs of the local astropaths. They, in return, send messages for the ruling classes and certain "persons of interest and merit." Anyone can petition the astropaths to send a message. Of course, if you donate a sizable sum to the local astropathic choir, I'm sure they will consider your request far more seriously. The upshot of this arrangement is that if an individual has a massage that must be sent, weather they know it or not, the astropaths can send it at no cost.

Depends of course if the Acolytes have some Inquisitorial authority behind them or if they are supposed to be covert. If they can go to the Astropathic Choir and say "Urgent Inquisition business, authorisation Psi-Delta-Quodis, send this toot-sweet" then its free as official business. If they are undercover and sending their message in code, then they may have to pay anywhere between 100 to 10,000 Thrones.

SJE

Astropath are very directly controled by the IoM. They aren't really the type you go to and hire out. Now i suppose if you had enough cash (More then any acolyte should ever see) you could bribe one into sending a message.

If you are working for the inquisition though and things are dire enough to need an astropath, then you could probably just demand access to one using your inquisitorial connections as a way to get it. If things aren't dire enough, then arrange for a ship to take the message.

With a gameworld where there is civillian interstellar operation (reads: trade houses), their must be a way of civil interstellar communication.

I do not expect it to be free. Otherwise, the imperium would have a Astropath-Spam-Problem . I would use about 20% of the cost of an actual passage to the world where the message shall be received. Factors that should be taken into account to find a price

- Asking for a senior astropath (which will deliver the message with a greater reliability!)
- Length of the message (5% = 5 uncomplicated sentences. +1 Sentence = +1%)
- Of course, how man astropaths are hear anyway and how many people ask for service. "Offering & demand"

Their might be something like "urgent message", speeding up the delivery. Otherwise, the message might be "in queque, it will be sended about next week..(!)

How do you GMS solve the problem of long range communication?

Do the Acolytes return after every mission to their HQ where they will hear their new mission from the Inquisitor or his go-betweens?

Or are they constantly being herded across space, receiving messages and missions as is needed and where they are wanted?

From reading novels, messages seem to take some time to reach destination. Do we know how long it takes a message to get there?

The Laughing God said:

I think that would depend more on you. Do you want this to cost the players a lot of money? Do you want it to be cheap? Then, once you've answered that, how much money do the players have? How much money have you been filtering to them in the form of pay, bonuses, and valuables found/kept? If there are no specific rules for the price, it's really up to you to decide how you want Astropath services to cost.

Cheers!

Dak

Another thing to keep in mind is that not all astropaths are the same. Some are "freelance" astropaths, generally found on backwaters.

Eisenhorn's astropath in the second book was one of these. She was a low-level psyker making her living as a severely over-worked astropath.

To answer your question, I would probably go with a cost that was easily covered by a stipend from your inquisitor, if you are giving your players a stipend. Otherwise, I would make it a cost that would be easily fronted and then replaced by the inquisitor as this is the purpose of payments made from the inquisitor to the acolytes. Kind of like a petty cash idea.

If you want to make this sending of the important message for difficult, I wouldn't suggest the funding to be the source of that difficulty. Limited access to the planet's astropaths, administratum red-tape, and other events could make this goal more difficult.

Money is hard to come by for your PC's, generally, and they would all much rather spend it on gear, I'm sure. You'll do well to keep that in mind when thinking of prices for "necessary" expendatures.

This is why my Inquisitor gives a stipend AND keeps a slush fund type account available.

I would make it pretty expensive, maybe 1000 thrones per word. Most communications in the Imperium go by post, only vital comms go by astropath.

but I run my players cash flow pretty fast and loose, might be trickier if you're bean-counting to have it so expensive.

The Laughing God said:

Normally, they have a "contact" on a world they are sent to operate. This "contact" will receive messages (via astropath) and give them. Otherwise, they will have money they can use...and they know that they need to keep some for astropath transmission.

Otherwise, the mission briefing normaly states where they have to go/what they have to do after mission. So they know where to "wait for further instructions".

On some mission, a "flight home" will already by arranged, so they only have a set "time window" to accomplish their mission (like: three weeks standard).

I give them (well, actually just the Prime) a basic operating budget, normally a couple thousand thrones, which can be used for emergency gear, but they know they'd better keep some back to establish a cover, arrange for extraction and to cover astropathic costs. That said, if they are operating on a world where their Inquisitor already has standing resources (such as Scintilla or Solomon, for mine), then they have the option of leaving a message with that (although that imposes a greater time delay on the message's receipt) for free (or at least, only the cost of a message using whatever local communications organisation is common: vox-servitors, courier guilds, servo-post skulls using pheromone traces, etc).

So far, they haven't actually tried to use either the local guild astropathicus or the covert message channels provided, but they are due to do so at the start of next session, and I'm essentially waiting for the report the Prime is writing.