Hey everyone, GM new to Dark Heresy, with an 8-man (literally ) group and looking to run a homebrew adventure. If advice could be given, it would be much appreciated.

Story as the PCs know it:

They've been picked up by the Inquisition for various reasons (individual to the characters, some know they are working as Throne Agents, some not) and left in clean, relatively comfortable but cramped individual habs on a space station for a few weeks, during which they haven't been allowed out but have been provided with exercise equipment and various useful data-slates. One day they're taken to a groundcar with blacked-out windows, and once they're let out, they find themselves in a a luxuriously appointed conference room with nobody else around. Here's their first chance to get to know each other and chat for a bit before a man identifying himself as "Interrogator Delta" enters the room and invites them to sit down. Cue him welcoming them to Throne service and detailing in brief what will be expected of them before assigning them their first mission, which he declares a milk run (experienced players at this point should begin groaning). Before they leave, he designates their team "Delta Dagger" and issues each of them a single-frequency comm-bead in dermal patch form, informing them that the only time they will ever hear their team name is from another Throne Agent, who will likely be senior to them, and that the only sources they will hear their name from are a face-to-face conversation and communications through the hidden comm-bead.

They will be deployed to the agri-world of Camilla in the guise of merchants there to set up advance deals for various exotic and quality fabrics that will be arriving behind them on a Charter ship, just in time for the festivities for Lord Arael's (planetary governer) announcement of his successor between his two sons Dominic and Albrecht. What they really are there for, of course, is to make sure things go smoothly and keep an eye on planetary unrest. Through some contrivance or other, they are invited to dinner with the Lord and his family, where they get to know the ruling family.

Lord Arael: personable, social, dedicated...in general, a good ruler. Under his hard-working rule, the planet has prospered. The only luxury he allows himself is hunting the planet's native and highly dangerous game, a pastime that he prides himself on. He has been found to be hunting more and more as the stress of having to choose between his sons begins to add up.

Lady Arael: slightly cool, but just as intelligent and dedicated as her husband. She acts as the voice of restraint to his over-enthusiasm at times, as well as providing more scholarly knowledge to compliment his social intuition and experience. Naturally, her preferred place to spend the day is the palace's well-appointed library, and she maintains many book exchanges to various places of learning on planet.

Prince Dominic: the elder brother, takes after his mother. Calm, collected, and bookish, he prefers intellectual exertion over physical. In light of this, his decision to fulfil his mandatory service to the planet in the PDF was received with curiosity. However, his intelligence served him well, qualifying him for promotion to officer ranks after completion of his service, and he is currently a captain of the infantry, leading a rifle company.

Prince Albrecht: the younger brother, takes after his father. Loud, boisterous, and confident, he enjoys good food, good drink, good company, and good music. His service placement of choice was as curious as his older brother's, as he requested a posting in Skywatch (think Coast Guard), a post known for its lack of excitement due to a dearth of space travel in the system and its distance from warzones.

Princess Iomedae: the youngest of the siblings, her age disqualifies her from selection as the next governor. She's quite shy around those she dubs as "scary people", but is very bubbly otherwise. Both her brothers dote on her, often taking her out at night past her curfew and bringing her treats.

Plot, GM version:

Basically, I want there to be hints that both parents are beginning to crack under the pressure to choose the heir, as many people they speak with will mention that the Lord and Lady have both seemed quite distracted and not particularly themselves. I'm thinking that they will be accosted by criminals looking to rob some rich-looking merchant types as they search for lodgings.. A nearby enforcer notices and comes to arrest the criminals, but is knocked out by a hidden one. Reinforcements arrive just in time for the PCs to polish off the last of the gangers and begin first aid on the enforcer. Suitably impressed, the precinct captain reports the incident upwards, where it goes high enough for the ruling family to notice and invite the Acolytes to dinner, then later to live in their household until their ship arrives. Here, one of the princes notes that most merchants aren't nearly as well armed or unconnected on-planet that they have no other place to live, leaving the implication to hang in the air. Shortly after, the PCs' groundcar is ambushed, with the attackers retreating after resistance and removing their dead and wounded.

This is meant to draw suspicion onto one of the brothers, who the PCs should think are trying to remove any possible interference from a coup attempt should he not be chosen. The Princes are in fact innocent, but neither of them are stupid and will recognize suspicion from the PCs for what it is, and react in an unfriendly manner. As the PC's suspicion rises in the process of their investigation (perhaps a few angry words between the suspected Prince and the Acolytes, or bureaucratic obstacles in the way of the Acolytes placed by the Prince in question), the Princess dies in a tragic accident at the palace. This should dispel any suspicion in the Princes and confuse the PCs. That night, the family eats dinner alone, while food is delivered to the PCs. They overhear a conversation between two servants about how the Lord and Lady were acting suspicious earlier in the day. With the ceremony in two days, the Acolytes must redouble their efforts at covert investigation, and the crisis hits fever pitch on the last day when both Princes are attacked by an unknown and placed in serious medical care.

Whichever one they suspect turns out to in fact be innocent (say, if they bust down the Lord's door with accusations flying, they instead find the Lady over his cooling corpse...). If the actual killer is the Lord, he has been corrupted by Slaanesh, using his pride in his hunting skills as a backdoor. Slaanesh began by whispering about his perfect shot into his ear through his rifle (now a Daemon weapon), and as his own mental fortitude cracked as the day of succession approached, its whispers turned towards his successful reign and how neither of his sons would be rulers as good as he. If the actual killer is the Lady, she has been corrupted by Tzeentch, who saw a ready convert in her belief in scholarly knowledge. She became even more reclusive, as well as becoming stingier with her books, a particularly strange occurrence as she had previously shared them willingly. The voices in her head began to talk about how she was the true power on the planet, the loud buffoon being merely the mouthpiece for her masterful plans, and about how she would lose much of that influence upon the succession of one of the brothers, who would no doubt seek their own advisers. Cue boss fight music here.

Any thoughts on the overall plotline of the campaign, places where things could go off the rails, cliches, good ideas, etc etc? Any advice is much appreciated.

All and all the mission seems very thought out. The big question from me is how are you setting the system, (realism, 40k style, John Woo action)? This can really make a huge difference in the game. In my personal opinion, realism can really make things very interesting (ex.-how much ammo can I carry, fatigue, your cover being blown because someone was careless about tossing names) and make the game challenging. There were times I seen in games that the PC group will gun there way through majority of the game. Don't get me wrong that can be fun but really defeats the purpose of the investigation if you gun down prime suspects with no real cause. Also what decisions and actions they carry out can effect the investigation down the road, (ex. interrogating a high level gang boss which could kill him do to his "heart condition", if he dies you lose very important information to aid the investigation), throwing realistic risk into the game can really make the tense in a fun way.

Now for the group being 8 people can/will be challenging for you. Try to lay some ground rules about how to conduct themselves during the game, nothing serious, like speaking in turns, not talking over other PC's/GM (unless it dialogue between characters,), excessive talking/distractions that can hinder the game play. It seems little kindergarten teaching method but sometimes you have to break it down Barney style to get things done, especially a group that size. For example, my group is 6 people and every once in a while when the group gets rowdy either keep talking to thous who are paying attention and if the missed what I was talking about, well too bad should of listened. Or my favorite, just stop talking ad remain silent for a while(30 seconds) you do this once or twice the players will start to police themselves without you say a word. Sounds weird and well...weird, but it works; just think it this way you are taking your own personal time to create a universe that all can enjoy, and let them know that. If one person isn't cooperating with and the group crack some skulls and continue on the game, just be in control of the game.

Another thing that will help you is trying research the 40k universe, not all of it, just key things like the Inquisition, the Calxis Sector, things that will be crucial to help set up the game and cover some of your bases if players want to try things or theme for their characters. And one last note, make sure you have each game session set up before hand so your not making stuff on the fly and contradicting yourself on the story line. Hopefully this helped you out and if you have any other concerns just reply back and I can help you to the best of my abilities. Happy gaming.

Hey, thanks for the feedback! I've been playing 40k since 3rd ed, so rest assured, I'm fairly well versed in the fluff As for how I intend to run the game, the general theme will be "expendable, not The Expendables". One-third direct action, one-third subterfuge, and one-third seat of the pants would be how I like the game to go. They are only a newly formed Acolyte team after all, certainly a step above average humanity, but they are still mortal men, and their actions have consequences.

One particularly evil idea I had was that the dinner after the death of the Princess would actually BE the Princess, unknown to the Acolytes - the murderer (either Lord or Lady) killed her because she saw too much, and is hoping to attack the PCs indirectly through a combination of human flesh and witchcraft. At that dinner, I ask all the PCs to roll me a d10 and record the result. Cue final confrontation, the heretic forces the Acolytes to their knees with nausea without any visible indication of psychic powers (at least one Psyker in the party, they will be able to tell). That d10 roll? Yeah, consider that the result of both insanity and corruption rolls, applicable immediately. Should allow the villain to get in some nice gloating time, while putting some real horror into the players. T or WP (take highest) check until passed to be able to take full actions, otherwise only a half action each turn.

I like that evil idea, but I would definetly choose who the villian is no matter what before that to set the approriate mood for the chaos god.

Example: Slaanesh at dinner could be highly extravagent with gilt edged everything, the food smelling so delicious but with a -20 Awareness (Smell) to notice the rank smell of cooked human flesh. The -20 coming from the musk and incense that is coming from hanging cylinders.

Tzeetch at dinner: Each acolyte has a plate with their homeworld's favorite dish, everything smells delicious with only a psyker having the chance to roll to see the witchcraft for what it is.

its stuff like that makes it oh so delicious.

DrgnScorpion said:

Hmm...I've been getting the "pick who the villain is" from some other people I've asked as well, so assuming I go with that, which one should I go for?

Also, witchcraft to make food smell/taste delicious reminded me of Prestidigitation from D&D

Well, it all depends on what your overall meta-arc is going to be about. Slannesh or Tzeetch. I would go with Tzeetch because its more investigation into the strange and weird. Slaanesh is cool but it could lead your characters that faster down the path of corruption since pleasure shouldn't be all that bad....could it?

Fair warning... Rank 1 characters are really, REALLY weak. They're going to need to use cover & supporting fire to survive any real combat.

Otherwise not a bad start. Should be a fun game.

Well, we did Chargen today, as well as "dream sequence" individual combats to introduce them to the tactical system. Wow, I knew level 1 DH characters were bad, so I gave them all an extra 100 XP, but still...they are BAD. The Arbites whiffed three times in a row with his truncheon against a drug dealer, the Assassin nearly got turned into swiss cheese by a single rent-a-cop with an autopistol, and the Cleric...oh, the Cleric.

On the plus side, the points I wanted to get across to them were gotten across. Automatic fire is good, armour is great, cover is best.

firestorm said:

All true when appropriate. For the more skill and precision oriented characters there is the conceal and observe or take cover followed by an aim action and a single very precise shot method... Quite satisfactory when employed with an Accurate weapon since the quality of the shot +20 to +30 turns into alot of extra damage (Potentially +2D10). Plus if the target is unaware of the attack then the shot is at an additional +30 to hit and will not be attempting a dodge reaction... And a hunting rifle is within most starting character's budget.

Shotguns at 1-3m range are also popular with low level agents due to the extreme salsification of targets.

Variant skill-monkey method: Stealthy or cautious approach of known enemy position followed by a charge into melee with some unpleasant implement of DOOOOOM! Lower level shooters are unlikely to be much good in a sword fight unless they specialize in pistols, as they are unable to fire basic or heavy weapons without disengaging somehow. Expect either a one handed balanced weapon, simple one hander and a shield or a greatweapon from this guy. This is also what John Woo gunslinger characters do when there is minimal cover.

Well, the Acolyte team consists of:

Noble Born Arbites (ranged combat and face), Schola Guardsman (ranged combat), Imperial Psyker, Void Born Psyker, Hive Assassin (Moritat ninja), Forge Techpriest (heavy muscle), Hive Scum (face and sneak), and Imperial Cleric (Redemptionist chainsword nutcase). All in all, these guys should be fairly tough in a fight as long as they take it seriously.

I thought Accurate was just +10 to hit? Where does the +1d10 damage come from?

firestorm said:

The description of the Accurate quality on page 128
should include the addition “When firing a single shot from
a single Basic Weapon with the Accurate quality benefi ting
from the Aim action, the attack gains an extra d10 of
damage for every two degrees of success to a maximum of
two extra d10.”

Make sure to read the errata .

ItsUncertainWho said:

Aah, thanks.

Hi Firestorm,

is it already to late to add some ideas to your mission?

Setup & Cover:
I would change the task at hand to "secretly make yourself a picture of the potential new governeurs. Give us a report afterwards. Discretly illiminate any candidate that has obviously heretical tendencies. Be careful and do not expose yourself". As cover, the pc could still be the merchant mouthpieces you want them to be PUT they have offers for his Lordship directly. This will ensure that they will be "guests of the family" and will thereby be able to talk to the future candidates for governeur (since they are proposing long term contracts and would like to secure that the succession autocrats will not simply cancel the deals out of spite).