Hey

So, my last post didn't get a lot of replies- so I guess I will try to keep this one shorter, maybe get a bite.

I am going to be taking my players to Kenov 3, a death world (p.39 of the Creatures' Anathema). The book describes it as one of the more dangerous death worlds.

I have two encounters planned:

1) After going trough some trashing bushes, they encounter a clearing with low grass- very odd, compared to the rest of the world. It ends up being a giant fly eater type plant which devours them. Follows some damage rolls and str rolls to try and escape it before its digestive fluids fill it.

2) The Lab they are headed towards is surrounded by a thick-forest. They just have to cross to get there- when the trees come alive: ripper whips, attracted by the action in the lab (the bagos who uses is avoids the forest by taking a shuttle, has his own landing pad on the top of the lab.)

Anybody got any other ideas or is that enough?

The trick is not to make the trip into a chore, but I'd like to reflect the horrible danger of a death world so that next time players visit they'll have a better understanding of WHY these things are called death worlds. Maybe the characters (& the players ), gasp, curse and cry little as they pray for a chance at survival.

Thanks for the help.

My view of Death Worlds is there should be a constant threat. This does not need to manifest as constant encounters, but from a narrative perspective there needs to be a general sense of unease and weariness from the party.

Some suggestions: Giant insects, aggressive plants, packs of creatures stalking the group from the shadows, hearing the death struggle of some unknown thing echoing through the woods.

All of these can be used to add a sense of danger and tension purely as narrative elements.

Hi Saldre,

renegade bio-labs on Kenov III sound like a good idea. You do not just so happen to write a mission regarding the Beast House, do you? Anyway...

As "ItIsUncertainWho" (DUDE! this is a mouthy name) said, given the surrounding a tense and alarming description will suit your needs much better then three combats could... but on the other hand, what is a romp through a deathworld like Kenos III without matching "wildlife encounters"?

Important question: how long do you expect the PC to have to travel throug the wilderness of Kenov III? And what keeps them from landing just next to the lab? My normal excuse would be "superior air defense" in form of a rocket tower so that they need to cross about 6km of the planets surface. On foot.

Airbourne Sap
Describe a small breeze that will "fresh up" during their travel. The describe this yellow mist like cloud coming their way. If they aren´t already wearig Respirators, know is the time to ask for an Agility test. By the way, IF they keep wearing Respirators for the whole duration of a march, I think it could be considered to ask for an easy(+30) Toughness test to avoid a point of fatigue at the end of the march. I have been told it is not easy to breath through a gas mask and that it its fatiguing. But I do not know since I never served in the military nor as a firefighter.

Anyway, ask them for at least difficult(-10) or better hard(-20) Toughness test. They WILL wear respirators, so one better takes the +30 and re-role into account. Everybody will have an odd taste/smell in the most mand might experience problems while breathing. Those failing the test will loose 1d5+1 points of Toughness and another two for every level of failure. This loss will start after about 10 to 15minutes after they encountered the sap.

PC passing a hard(-20) Test for either Forbidden Lore(Xenos) or Medicae will identify the possibility for Sap-Infection of the breathing apperatus. If those who failed their tests are not receiving a certain chemical treatment within 1d5+TB hours they need to pass a difficult(-10) Toughness test. If they fail, the GM is free to have some fun with them. Lowering the Toughness by -3 permanently, coming up with rules for a very bady cough and sap infection periodically returning or even a constant -10 penalty for all test to avoid Fatigue. All of that permanent or until the lunges are exchange for a bionic breathing apparatus.

Species XJ36N
A flyer above or a ship in orbit tells the group that one of this giant ballon things is heading their direction. If they do not take the forced march action (see DH core rules) it will cross their path. Its getting dark as the thing blocks out the sun and hundreds of tentacles from above are searching for food sources that are easily uprooted. Extended Agility/Dodge tests (+10) are need to avoid contact. Each time their is contact, their is a grabble that needs to be won quickly. Otherwise, somebody needs to place an attack(-20) to sever the tentacle. The longer it takes, the further the drop from above becomes!

More soon...

Infected Wounds
Nothing says "Death World" like some kind of wound infection. The fluff for Kenov III talks about seedling that root up wounds. So how about

Tic-Leaflings
These little buggers look like normal leaves...and like anything on Kenov III they ARE partly plant. But they are able to "smell" open wounds they start from tree branches above (they are so small that most of the larger tree-creatures simply ignore them) in a spiral-like flight with the intent of latching onto the wound. A human can easily out-run them.. if s/he notices them at all! If successfull, the Tic-Leavling will instantly "root" into the wound. The victim might pull away the upper, leavelike body of the thing but this won´t help. The "head" will already be buried in the open wound and suck in the body fluids. In a matter of hours, it will have enough to produce eggs for new Tic-Leavling and will fall off. But the wound will likely be infected.

At least difficult(-10) Awareness test to identify an incoming Tic-Leafling. After that, it is an easy(+30) Agility test to get away or brush it away. Otherwise, a difficult(-10) Toughness test is need to determine if their is an infections. The most usual result of an Infection is a rash, sudden fever and shakes. The PC will suffer from one point of Fatigue till s/he got medical treatment.

Root-Vores
Root-Vores are the larva-form of one of the animal-plats ofe Kenov III. They are an odd cross of a maggot and a mole, growing to the size of a rabbit. The dig tunnesl about 30cm below the surface to reach the roots of other plants, eating them. After enough roots are consumed, the Root-Vore puppeteers and becomes a true plant.. profiting from the fact that other plantlife in the surround is reduced to the root-eating.
Root-Vores are very territorial in regard to their tunnels and anyone accidentily breaking into one with his/her food better gets it out quick. Otherwise, the stupid root-vore will attack with a savage bite (1d5+3; PEN: 2). A bitten food will result into -1 AGB in regard to movement.

Insect swarms are a good way to unnerve PCs used to just shooting the bad guys. These can be anything from clouds of mosquito-like flying insects that are simply a nuisance (say, -10% to all rolls while being swarmed, due to the constant distraction), to a 'carpet' of flesh-stripping ants, a la Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crytal Skull (see the Xothic Blood Locust from Creatures Anathema for inspiration on how to stat up threats like this).

Plants with bulbous growths which burst when disturbed, spraying acid in all directions, are a nice, simple threat for a Deathworld- just use land mine stats from the Inquisitor's Handbook.

Something I've been neaning to use, but haven't yet, are 'lakes' composed of heavier-than-air poisonous gasses, wiih the PCs haveing to don resperators and walk through them to reach their objective; naturally these gas-lakes will have their own ecostsyems, dominated by floating jellyfish-like predators.

If you have the Deathwatch supplenemt Mark of the Xenos (or know someone who can copy some pages from it), there is a giant crocodile called a Crotalid that would be a prefect predator for a Deathworld.

I don't recall seeing scalding gysers (like in Yellowstone Park) used as a hazard in 40K- could be entertaining...

Thank you for the ideas guys, I love them!

So the key is atmosphere & surprising the acolytes with threats they don't normally deal with but that can be just as deadly. One of my players has a flamer, so adding those bug-ticks that cling to people might make him think twice about using it, lest he take out the rest of the team as well... hehe

Saldre said:

Most important: prepare strange descriptions?
Saying "you walk through this alien jungle as..." is a waste of potential. Remind yourself that a Gamemaster is sometimes a narrator. Do not hesitate to write down and read from a sheet or make yourself a list with expressions & sights you will describe (if you are good at free speech). Between each scene their should be a slow and colourful descripton of the different kinds of landscape the PC move through. For every description that is the opening to the next threat, their should be at least three description that are as detailed but just intend to set the scene and the mood.
If your Players interrupt you, allow them. They WILL want to interact with their environment, might like to check for dangers. Allow them and present them with dangers they can easily deal with or avoid altogether. I think this should work good and give you and your players a couple of scenes to remember

While Adeptus-B is talking "acid"
The PC hack their way through some very fleshy vine-like growth that seems to chocke some spaced tree-like growth. The trees are dripping with fluids and the vines do not only twitch and "bleed" when cut. No, their is a weeping noise from somehwere in the growth. The vines slowly start to move to the pc, but not enough to be an actual threat. But after a while progress gets strenous. Ask for Strenght(+10) test. At least two of the group needs to make them. Those who fail them will suffer from fatigue. As the PC leave this patch of strange growth, they will be covered with plant fluids.

About an hour later, ask for the touch-based Perception tests (-10). The fluids are actually softening up components that are not metal or ceramite, so everyone in flakk or mesh even less durable armour will be in for a bad suprise. If they recognize this are able to clean this off (did they brought water with them? Will they take the time and the Survival-Test to search for a lake? What will be THERE?) with the next three hours everything is fine. Otherwise, all their armour of the mentioned types lose one step in quality and might get a hinderance due to the now ill-fitting nature (pieces used to fasten the different parts together will naturally give first!)

Descriptive smells are a great way to add flavor, so to speak, to a scene.

Smell is the most potent sense we have and is closely tied to memory. If you can give a great description of what a place, area, or thing smells like you can trigger memories of those types of smells in your players which will add to your visual descriptions.

Rotten eggs, large dumpsters full of garbage, baby diapers, paper plants, stagnate swamps or ponds, feed lots, large animal farms, sewers, that bathroom at the gas station that hasn't been cleaned for three weeks, you should know you players well enough that you know what smells they know, based on your area and with that knowledge you can add a lot to scenes.

Hacking your way through a jungle can become more of a chore when the sap from the vines they have to cut through smells of a freshly run over skunk mixed with cloyingly sweet flowers that only gets worse as more and more sap gets on them. Forcing toughness tests to keep down your last meal and avoid fatigue.

Maybe the smell is bad enough that it will help them because it drives off the swarms of insects or even some of the bigger predators, if they can take the stench themselves.

Maybe the smell drives off the big predators, but there is a certain type of small creature that is attracted to it because they eat the fruits of that particular plant. These creatures try to make off with small items, grenades, clips, other small things attached to the characters thinking they are fruits. What havoc can be caused by a small xeno-lizard-monkey running off with what might be a live grenade? Will it fling the grenade back at them when it figures out it can't eat it?