Hello, I'll quickly introduce myself here.

I'm a Warhammer 40k miniature player, and LARP'er, and after seeing many friends enjoying pen and paper RPG, I decided to buy the Black Crusade book.
Many of my friends would like to play it, but want to finish their campaigns first.
They also want me to DM it, for the reason that I love Chaos (almost an obsession, Black Library books, Minatures, Codeci, ...) and when I organise something, I give it my all.

Now I know DM'ing is a hard job, and it isn't recommanded to do it when you never did a pen and paper RPG, but I don't want to let them down.
I've got some time now, so I'm already working out some possible plots for when we start.
I would like your suggestions and critisism as you'll probably have more experience then I do.

My current project is the 'Base of Operations'.
I want to PC's to make the dicision themselves if they do want one or not.
If they do, to they want multiple small ones, or a big one? Do they want a building/fort on a planet or a ship.

Lets say they want a big Base of Operations, either a fort or a ship, how do they get it?
- My idea was to create a 'commander' type NPC wich they can try to become allies with or kill him.
This commander has a ship/fort wich the PC can take control of.
Killing the NPC will asure that the will be no possibility of rebelion against the PC (from that commander) but will make it more difficult to manage all the logistics of the base.

The base is not a fully operational thing, and has been in disuse for quite some time, it needs to be repaired.
Possible chambers are:
- Bridge / command deck
- Medicae Chambers
- Dark Mechanicus Cult Chambers
- Training Hall
- Armory
- Weaponry
- Traitor Guard Chambers
- Servitor Storage
- Temple
- Library
- Summoning Room
- Navigator quarters (ship only)
- Cantina
- Reactor / engine room
- Launch Bay
- Storage room

These rooms are not a MUST-HAVE, but will give small bonusses to the PC's when constructed
Example: Weaponry they can restore weapons, the Dark Mechanicus Cult Chambers lets them craft items more easily, the Cantina is for the Traitor Guard so they make loyalty tests more easily.
Ofcourse, some rooms may not be constructed. If the PC's are more of the Khorne type, Libraries and Temples will not be build, etc etc.

I also would like to create some NPC's that will live inside this base.
- Commander
- Navigator
- Ship builder
- Weapon crafter
- Ship master
- Logistics master
- Librarian (human)
- Priest
- Summoner
- Armorer
- Medicae

These NPC's will also give bonusses to the players, but will never leave the base to follow the PC's (unless they are moving everything to a new base)
They will be roaming the Screaming Vortex, and the PC's will have the possibility to try to gain their trust and services.
It is also possible to 'upgrade' these NPC's if the player brings the right amount of tools and materials.

PC's have the possibility to get hordes into their base.
A horde of Servitors, wich will shorten the time it is needed to clear and build new chambers, or a horde of Traitor guard who defend the Base.
Likewise, if the PC's find a shipment of lasguns, they can try to ship it to the base to equipt the Traitor Guard.

Now all this seems like it will make the lives of the PC's like a piece of cake, so I would like to find some negative influences of the base.
My ideas are the following: When you have a ship, you have a possibilty of being borded by enemies. The more resources you have on your ship, the more chance you have of being borded by increasingly stronger foes.
You also don't gain infamy as fast. People may be scared of your big fort on their planet, or a sight of your ship entering the system, but the Gods have seen it before. You will have to do great acts to impress them.

Sorry for the long post, and the spelling mistakes that I might have missed.
My question to you is now, what do you think?
Do you have any remarks or suggestions?
More negative influences if you have Base?
How should I calculate the time needed to clear and build a room?
How should I calculate the time reduction for have a set of Servitors?
Anything else?

Thank you for your time and help.

Caboose

I would personally suggest you start smaller, if you are new to PnP games, and build up to that level of power - that way your players can earn, through play, that which they want, and it'll mean that it means all the more to them - meaning they'll be worried if a rival's ship appears in orbit and threatens to flatten their volcano skull fortress, because they've worked hard to get it.

Taking a small fort should not to be hard from some low level tech or basic NPC. makes a nice little intro in your setting, the player may be the new power in town, etc.

As Mallli said, just don't go over the top right away.

I think I explained it wrong. The PC's will not start with this kind of base, it was more planned mid-game to encounter the posibility to have it.

Rouge Trader would be a great supplement for what your wanting to do man.

I second that, as it looks like you're planning on giving a decent sized ship to them at some point, and RT (along with Into the Storm and Battlefleet Koronous) have great ship creation rules and decent example ships.

Caboosebe said:

Ahh, fair enough!

But I second getting Rogue Trader and Battlefleet Koronus for some of this - if for no other reasons than the parts for ships would be very useful for you, in both ship creation (which Rogue Trader has) and building a base planet-side.

Thank you all for the advice, I will try to get my hands on those books and make good use of them.

Thanks again.