Seasons greetings to all. I am currently running a DH campaign that is set up for a long run and has a number of planned missions/adventues in it which mostly relate to a plot that I have.

I am finding it hard to think up things that I can use to make as missions/side missions that dont relate to the main plot. Id really like some general ideas that you have found to be exciting and fairly short/shortish that would take up a single 4 hour or so session (possibly stretching to 2 at most). Any ideas are welcome, thanks.

If you need something in-between session, you could make use of the warp-travell once or twice.

If you own "Creatures Anathema" it might be a good idea to have a warp-incursion, inserting a Lady of the Voids into the section of the ship the pc are transported in. The section will be sealed an the PC will know that the section will not be-unsealed as long as the Lady of the Void is at large. Thereby, the PC will have to locate her and destroy her. The Ships Bane-Speaker (a Psyker Caste) will notice that the presence is gone and the Lord-Captain will
order the section to be unseald again.
In the meanwhile, the pc will have to deal with other crew and passengers maddend by the song, try to unify and motivate the other survivors.
Some Tech-Test might be in order as well.

Otherwise, a warp-turbulence could lead to first nightmare and madness and then to Ghilliam and Hullghast surging up in manical rage.
As the one above, but this time it is about getting out of the area. The 4 hours might be very well played to contain 4 hours of time (or less!)
as the pc struggle to reach the incoming ship security before the pc are overrun by the mutants from the black holds.

Attempts at Assasination

Basically, the players are just waiting for their next ship to leave the planet. Onfortunately, this one is delayed and nobody can
tell them for sure when it will arrive. Unfortunately for the PC, some enemies that they made had put a bounty on their had and now diverse
bounty hunters are trying to earn the money by capturing/killing them.

The fine part: you do not even need to prepare much! Just have a general understanding/feeling for the world/city/surround places and start to
hunt the pc.

Black Aquisition

Do you player go for some illegal equipment like Xeno Tech or something heretical? Well, if not then their Inquisitors once them to
obtain such an item... an elliminate the source aftewards.

So, the pc have to search for a contect to the recidivist peddling in such items (they know that their is one), set up a deal, appear to the
meeting point, acquire the item... and then start to kill their way backwards. Oh! And remember to elliminate all the middle-men!

There was one lone survivor of a cult massacre led by an infamous Arch-Heretic whom the Inquisition has been hunting for decades, but have had no success because he never leaves any witnesses. The Acolytes are sent to transport this witness back to the Tricorn where the Inquisition's psykers can extract an image of the Arch-Heretic (Kolos The Executioner?) from his mind and thus Dowse his location. Naturally, the Arch-Heretic sends wave after wave of nasty surprises to prevent the Acolytes from delivering their 'cargo'.

An outbreak of warp activity has been traced back to a mysterious drug that activates latent psychic abilities. The Acolytes are sent to infiltrate the local criminal underground to locate the supplier (possibly xenos?) of this strange new drug.

On a sparsely populated Frontier world, settlements are being attacked by a man with seemingly supernatural powers. Assuming he is either a psyker or mutant, the Acolytes are sent to put an end to his rampages. It turns out, he is niether a psyker or a mutant, but a farmer who found a Halo device while tilling his field and has been taken over by its power. If your players are anything like mine, this will lead to an interesting... discussion about who gets to keep the artifact...

Sent to investigate reports of a warp entity in an Imperial bascillica, the Acolytes eventually discover that the entity is the 'ghost' of an Imperial official who is frantically trying to warn people that he has been assassinated and replaced by a doppleganger with sinister plans.

Alright good sir what we have here is all story no distractions problem. Not saying you did anything wrong, just you maybe over looked a couple ideas believe me it happens.

To start of if you have not made any side missions that detreacted from the plot but want the side missions I would suggest making a few "wash, rinse, repeat" missions. Small little cases or encounters that you could probably deal with in about 1-3 hours and they can be endless. Example a heavy repair servitor goes on a rampage and its going to kill everyone in the room if its not stopped. Or Bounty hunters are after your players heads. The possibilites are endless with simple stuff like that.

But on the other hand some players might loose focus in the main plot at some point (as they always do). I would also suggest maybe desgining one or two branch off stories, They don't need to be long or anything but make it take a couple sessions. Example the mechanicus wish to hunt down a heretek on a forge world and are willing to pay anyone good money to hunt him down. These require alittle time to think on and prep with the appropriate source material, but hey they provide small stories the players caan give their characters in the main plot.

Its really all up to you, ah the joys of being a gm .

Hey thanks for the input guys, all great suggestions.

@Matt. Sorry I didnt explain myself maybe as well as I could have. I have bounty hunters and all other kinds of escapades within my campaign as well as side characters and almost 'red herring missions' that dont relate to the main plot as such bt will occur from other external circumstances. Im really looking for ideas for one off missions that are paticularly removed from the main crux of my storyline. I think lots of small sentences/words to give ideas might be good. Almost like film concepts

E.g:

1 day/2 days/1week/2 weeks of darkness on swamp planet with gribblies.
Wrecked alien vessel and time limit
Moon of silath and Feral stalker moonlight hunt (twist on Werewolf tale/or vampire)
zombie infestation (survive the night and escape)


etc....

How about the good old body snatchers style scenario? Acolytes are called to a shrine world where the bodies of the Imperiums finest are laid to rest. However many of these bodies have been going missing upon arrival, culminating in the loss of a space marine captain...

Your group is tasked by your Inquisitor with the recovery of this hero whom he has had personal dealings with. the trail leads to a mortuary with a particularly goulish undertaker...

Upon discovering a secret passage within the crypts under a chapel, you discover a group of cultist feasting on the bodies of the dead. They believe it brings them closer to the deamon whom they worship. you have interupted the culmination of there work, the deamon being summoned into the body of the dead spacemarine.

simple enough to play itself (almost...) plenty of investigation and inquiry not to mention a boss fight. should fit into 4 hours easy and can be made more complex.

Awesome stuff, thanks guys. Anyone else have any more ideas?

"Moral Threat"

There was a daemonic incursion (or some other "Moral Threat" like an escaped Xenos creature tearing a troop of PDF to shred before going down or something the like). While the threat have been dealt with, two weaks later rumours about the inccident are still about.
The pc are task to investigate the rumours, find some of the major rumours mongers (and perhaps the one or the other "eye wittness")... turn them in. Not like "getting killed in public" but adubcting them and bringing them to a "Jail Master" of the Inquisition. This disappearences are supposed to shut down the rumours mills and reduce the ongoing moral threat to a minimum. Of course, this needs to be "unofficial" so everyone knows what is going on AND the Enforcer will leave them alone (at least the bosses know what its up).

Some of those the pc are abducting will be questioned and tortured, both physically and mentally. They will be asked what they have heared (or seen) and afterwards will be told that this is "not the truth". And then the "truth" is told to them. Either an different story or "you have seen nothing". This will bring the message across. In addition to those that will never ever be seen again.

Besides some normal Joes and Janes, one of the rumour mongers is the son of a wealth merchant and enjoy good security. Two of them are Enforcers whom do not keep their mouth shut. While their bosses are informed and will keep their hands stil, the two still need to be caught and might be kinda tough. AND one their friends might decide to solve thing themselves, dirty-harry-style. And last bu not least, one of them is a daughter of grand-family. Only daughter which is normally supervised by one of her older brothers. Now, they are three of them where-ever she goes. Did I mentioned that the family belongs to the Redemption Cult?

The Acolytes are sent to chase down an unsanctioned psyker who has stowed away on a ship. He uses a drop pod to get to the surface of an unexplored planet (possibly a Death World). When the Acolytes follow him down and eventually pick up his trail, they find that he has been taken in by a race of primitive (stone or bronze age) xenos, who have mistaken him for a god. Bust out the Lizardman figures, and introduce the party to Horde rules...

Loss of Face

On an imperial world (NOT a hive world) on the same planet the PC happen to be a larger city suffers from a series of nightly defacing of prominent saint statues. After the first two, Enforcer where ordered to patrol the streets more heavily and a rabble of Zealots started to take up the vigil themselves, striking camps at the feed of the statues.

For one night, everything was fine. The other night, one of the Zealots group was found slaughtered at the feet of the statue they were guarding. Besides the moral threats the accusitions about whom could it have been start to run wild and the Zealots could very well start lynching soon. The PC are called in to investigate.

Solution: The attackers are maltek constructs similiar to the "Bronzen Malifects" (see CA or the preview for it in the FFG catalog section). They come in from the rooftops (with some "springheel-limbs which have been added") and are on a mission to deface the statues and kill everyone who might give witness to them. With their unnatural senses, they cleverly dodge the Enforcer Patrols.

The Culprit behind them is a megalonmanic noble and hobby-inventor whom came into possession of a tome containing the instructions for the creation of Bronze Malefects. He know controls a number of (two less then the actual group of PC). His villa inside the city has an particular high tower used to contain the towns clock but it now out of use.

Clues/Redherings: If the pc do not only search the site of the attack but althoug the surround-by streets they might at some point start to note broken roof tiles on the ground. The cobbles of the places around the statue show cobbles as well. The buildings around these places (all market places) are commercial or sacral only (comtors, stores, etc), nobody actually lives in them. Nobody really lives under the roofes (this is a place for storage) but diverse people might have heard "some rumbling above at the night that the poor (guys/boys) got killed". This will might lead to the lynching of somebody living in the uppermost floor for things like "you are the one who transforms into a werewolf at night who slaughtered the people!" or things like this. If the PC could stop the Lynching they will have a story from the innocent victim confirming the rumbling, but hearing it to come from the roof.

Once they check the roofes, they can follow the damage the Malifects left their to the villa of the maltek inventor (lets call him " Baron Scheriver ") whom will try to hide in its workshop inside the old clockwork tower. If the mob simply sets fire to the affair, the springheeled malefects will be unleasehd from above (guess that a MOB is present if the PC did not keep things calm) and start slaughtering. Otherwise, the Baron will have his last stand inside the clockwork tower.

On Solomon, a band of mutants and malcotents seem to have gained the assistance of a rather mighty Rogue Pskyer and now mount frequent raids from the industrial interior zone. Attempts to put an end to this by heavy handed means (like armed raids by the PDF and/or the local Arbites) met failure which is taken as an indicator that this roving band has good scouts and is able to disperse as soon as massed forces arrive.

The pc are tasked to sneak find the encampment, get in and assasinate the Rogue Psyker (who went into "the Zone" since he is able to feel the presence of all people with 4km and it is driving him INSANE). The only reason that he is willing to work with the bandits is that they do provide him with a constant source of drugs to numb his mind (to the point where about about 30 to 60 people around him do not bother him any longer). The Rogue in question is a Telepath with devastating telekinetic powers. The PC could sneak in to assasinate him or try to go in undercover and then ensure that he overdoses.

Without having read the entire thread, how about picking things from your player characters past as sidestorys? Players usually LOVE having a session that revolves almost entirely around their character, when they can shine and really play their part. It makes them feel appreciated by a (most of the time) cruel GM, which overall adds to a good gaming atmosphere. Most player generated preludes offer plenty of hooks for scenario ideas. And as it is personal, the player(s) will be highly motivated to divert from the main quest path.

Thanks, and yes ive added these into the 'campaign' already. Two people have recently joined and i am working on some things related to them. Its is very much a case of looking for missions that could pretty much be slotted into anyones sets of games. Im looking for ideas that dont necessarily relate to my acolytes

A shuttle transporting identified psykers up to a Black Ship is struck by lightning and crashes in the wastlands outside the hive. Everyone who can hold a gun (the Inqiusitorial Stormtroopers responsible for security on the Black Ship, all available Armsmen, and the PCs, who were 'hitchin a ride' aboard the Black Ship) are sent down to hunt the survivors, each of which has wild, powerful, barely-controlled psychic abilities.