So, I'm quite new to Rogue Trader and the 40K universe as a whole and as such, I don't really know what goes and what doesn't lore-wise. Right now, I'm planning out one of the first things my players'll encounter; a ship that was previously thought completely lost returned through a warp-rift. The entire ship now has a strong taint of the warp surrounding it, but the promise of ancient technology is the hook that'll make the players investigate this ship regardless.

Basically, the ship is a cargo ship rebuilt into a luxury hotel, made by a rich noble in an effort to escape the terrors of the 41st century by constructing his own private paradise. With him, he brought about a hundred other people who, like him, were tired of the endless conflicts and chaos in the world.

The thing I need some help with right now though is the crew. I was thinking of having the crew be hi-tech servitors made using ancient technology from the dark age. These servitors are supposed to be more intelligent than a normal drone, at the expense of being more narrow in what they can do. The entire crew basically consists of specialized servitors, most of wich have broken down or gone insane by the time the players find the ship. I'm wondering if servitors like these are even possible in the 40K-verse? Any feedback on my idea of a derelict, tainted hotel ship in general?

D3

Overall sounds like a fine idea. Maybe instead of a ship full of servators it could be full of underhivers who long ago were made into hotel staff, that way they can be corrupted by their extended stay in the warp. Perhaps the PCs enter the ship/hotel and are greeted like arriving guests, even offered access to the casino and the spa. Then they quickly realize that the staff all have been driven completely insane and are trying to hold on to whats left of their sanity by playing out their jobs by rote. Clearly some powerful demonic entity is at work under the facade, and would like nothing better than some fresh souls to bend to his will.

In the Eisenhon novels one of his best allies was an eccentric merchant captain Tobias Maxilla who's ship was almost (or) completely run by servitors so there is precedent in the 40k novel line.

And like I always say, it's your game, if you think something will be cool then go with it.

Interrogator Z.

These kind of servitors are called monotask servitors and are pretty common. They aren't just programmed to do only one thing, they're also physically altered to do just that.

I think the Janus simulacra servitors would be cool on a hotel ship. They are mentioned in one of the Dark Heresy books. Finely sculpted clockwork "living" statues: ridiculously expensive objets d'art/playthings of the rich. Such a tiny amount of living matter in them that they practically step over the line into tech-heresy.

They sound like the perfect creepy thing to meet on a derelict pleasure-ship, tasked as waiters, attendants, pleasure-companions, etc. I imagine a whole "uncanny valley" thing going on with their perfectly-sculpted yet unsettling carnival mask-like faces.

Of course these would just be the high-end servitors designed to interact with the passengers. The servitors actually working the ship would probably be more like the normal kind. I plan to have my players run into some of these Simulacra in a crime baron's manor on Grace, mindlessly still tending their long-dead master (along with some nasty automated defences designed to keep outsiders' grubby hands off the riches within). As they have clockwork hearts I figure they come in pairs and are programmed to wind each other up (to get around the fact that otherwise they would be inert after all this time).

Wow, thanks for all the feedback! Now lesse if I can respond…

@ Tron_18: Yeah, that was sort of what I had in mind for the staff. Servitor's who are insane and delusional to the point where they keep tending to their duties even though the passengers are long since dead. The staff will also be completely oblivious to the scores of bodies littering the ship as well as to the many warp-induced anomalies that occur from time to time. Hopefully this'll be enough too creep my players out.

@ Zakalwe: Alright! Then my idea isn't as far-fetched as I first though. Awesome!

@ eBarbarossa: Ooh, so they do exist in the 40K-verse already? Fantastic!

@ Plynkes: That's a great idea! I'm definitely gonna make the "high-tier" staff Janus Simulacra-type servitors. To keep with the theme, I'm probably gona have the staff "grunts" still be more elegant than normal servitors, with gold and brass-coloured parts arranged to be more aesthetically pleasing than your average "Hairless body shoved full of tubes and metallic thingummy's"-servitor.

This is sort of what I had in mind design-wise: www.designyourway.net/diverse/robots/Steampunk_by_PReilly.jpg

Basically, a sleeker and more elegant servitor that still looks very rough compared the Janus Simulacra, yet doesn't come off as crude or ugly to the passengers. All visible flesh would be covered up by metal plates so as to not draw any attention to the fact that these "grunts" are living, modified beings.

D3

A little off topic, but from the first time I read this thread, all I could picture was when the Servitors go a little, shall we say, bat **** crazy, they end up acting like the Splicers in Bioshock. @Plynkes, your carnival-mask description kindda brought it together, but if you think about it, it might work, depending on what type of servitors you have planned.

Sarvus von Blod said:

Well, my entire concept of a derelict crazy-hotel was actually inspired by Rapture from Bioshock and Starship Titanic (A spinoff of the Hitchiker's guide to the galaxy. It's basically this grand, luxurious space-hotel ship that goes haywire and blasts off into deep space with no goal in mind but complete annihilation of itself.).

The servitors on my ship aren't as batshit as the splicers though. They're just horrendously delusional…for the most part. Hmm…my ship needs a name. Any suggestions? xD

D3

DDdreamer90 said:

Mawdyrn

Mind you, there is a reason that the Imperium uses Servitors and not droids. They rely on the biological components to do the thinking as they learned the hard way what happens when you allow AI's to develop. So your pleasure ship could well be Tech Heresy and cause all sorts of problems with the Adaptus Mechanicus as well. Plus they might have a point, perhaps there is something terribly wrong with these servitors and they are hell bent on destroying the humans because of something that seems trivial. For example, walking over the red carpet with muddy shoes or drinking the precious wine form their former captains personal storage. It might even be that the presence of the humans goes against their ultimate goal, running a clean well structured and logical ship, the humans could be seen as vermin that needs to be removed.

Sister Callidia said:

Yeah, that's an excellent idea! As long as the players play along with servitor's delusion, they're left unharmed, but if they ever stray out of their role as guests, the staff freaks out. I think this'd make for an interesting choice for the players. Do they play along and act like higher-class guests or do they try to destroy the staff by force? Of course, this creates a dilemma within the dilemma where the players might not want to destroy the staff because it means they'd destroy great amounts of expensive dark age technology, which'd of course sharply reduce any profits gained from the venture.

Thank you everyone for helping me flesh out the entire concept! I think I'm gonna enjoy playing out this scenario and hopefully my players will enjoy it as much as me. If you have any other tips or ideas, go ahead and post them. I'm always open for suggestions!

@ Drohz: Hmm, sounds a bit too…brutal for a luxurious hotel ship. I can imagine a warship named Mawdyrn though.

D3

For extra weird/atmosphere play up the fact that most of them are mono -task servitors that have very little awareness outside of their job description. If one part of the cleaning service breaks down you could have the delivery staff putting a breakfast tray in front of passengers doors in the morning but not being retrieved. Let your crew decide if they want to find another way around or dig through a whole corridor of rotten food.

On a similar theme; go into the spa area and find one of the passengers somehow died in their chair. No-one capable of recognising this has come along so the spa staff are still performing chemical peels and deep tissue massage on a long-dead body. Or have the barber 'bot finally fixate on finally having some work and follow them down the halls trying to trim and shampoo them. Can either be played purely for laughs or have it on the fritz and being a little gung-ho about the application of its chain-clippers.

Don't know how much you want to play the malfunctioning/sinister servitors angle, but the explorers won't be on the guest registry and may be recognised as intruders (depending on how intact the security system is). And servitors last a long time but flesh does eventually wear out. With holes appearing in the staff roster there may be a few 'recruiters' on the prowl looking for non-passenger biologicals to convert into new workers. They may even be programmed to present it as a wonderful job oppertunity: who wouldn't want to work in such a luxurious establishment and be outfitted with all the finest in precious metal cybernetics? Plus you never have to worry about those niggling doubts about your place in the universe after your lobo-indoctrination is complete. Apply now!

I don't know about anyone else, but I'm probably going to use at least some of the ideas from this thread now.

Possible names: Gilded Lilly, The Pinnacle, All That Glitters

[For extra weird/atmosphere play up the fact that most of them are mono-task servitors that have very little awareness outside of their job description. If one part of the cleaning service breaks down you could have the delivery staff putting a breakfast tray in front of passengers doors in the morning but not being retrieved. Let your crew decide if they want to find another way around or dig through a whole corridor of rotten food.]

Yeah, I actually had something like that in mind. After all, the staff is completely oblivious to the state of the ship, so stuff like this'll be somewhat commonplace. Was thinking of having a bar where the counter's covered with broken glasses and liquor of all kinds. The cause being the barkeep who still hasn't noticed that the patrons are long since dead. Hence, he keeps making and serving drinks, although he ran out of liquor and intact glasses long ago, so he's just making the movements, not really accomplishing anything.

[On a similar theme; go into the spa area and find one of the passengers somehow died in their chair. No-one capable of recognising this has come along so the spa staff are still performing chemical peels and deep tissue massage on a long-dead body. Or have the barber 'bot finally fixate on finally having some work and follow them down the halls trying to trim and shampoo them. Can either be played purely for laughs or have it on the fritz and being a little gung-ho about the application of its chain-clippers.]

Great ideas! Probably gonna use them or variations of them. The spa staff idea was really creepy actually. Now I'm trying to imagine a well-scented corpse, worn down through repeated massages and peeling procedures. Hey, at least it'll smell fantastic!

[Don't know how much you want to play the malfunctioning/sinister servitors angle, but the explorers won't be on the guest registry and may be recognised as intruders (depending on how intact the security system is). And servitors last a long time but flesh does eventually wear out. With holes appearing in the staff roster there may be a few 'recruiters' on the prowl looking for non-passenger biologicals to convert into new workers. They may even be programmed to present it as a wonderful job oppertunity: who wouldn't want to work in such a luxurious establishment and be outfitted with all the finest in precious metal cybernetics? Plus you never have to worry about those niggling doubts about your place in the universe after your lobo-indoctrination is complete. Apply now!

I don't know about anyone else, but I'm probably going to use at least some of the ideas from this thread now.

Possible names: Gilded Lilly, The Pinnacle, All That Glitters]



Well, I was thinking of having the staff be able to only tell staff from passengers. The only servitor who'd have access to the guest registry would probably be the check-in clerk, who'd probably be too delusional to realize that the players aren't registered guests anyway. Also, I think The Pinnacle sounds like a great name for the ship. I think the definite form makes the ship sound more special. It isn't just "Golden Peacock" or "Aga's Spear", it's THE Pinnacle. I think it emphasizes what the builder saw the ship as. I think I'll name the spa "Gilded Lilly" though.

Now, what establishments would the ship have… Spa with pool, Resturant, Bar, Wieving deck, Casino, Art Museum, Gymnasium, Several cafes, an auditorium for music performances and plays, an arboretum and park, a smoking lounge…

Feel free to come up with more ideas for what there could be on this ship. It's pretty large, so there'll be room for a lot of stuff.



D3

EDIT: Couldn't get the quoting tags to work correctly, hence the brackets and italics to distinguish your text from mine.

Your idea reminds me not only of Bioshock but also the old doctor who episode Paradise Towers which was about a hotel created by an architect who didn't want people to live in any of his buildings because he thought they would ruin them so he ended up putting all sorts of death traps in order to eliminate the residents including claws that dragged people into the garbage disposal chutes as well as killer robotic crab in the simming pool.

DDdreamer90 said:

I have a habit of naming luxury liners/star galleons and the like after scifi writers in my games. Heinlein, Asimov, et cetera. That or I crib horrendously from the Halo or Culture universes, banging phrases together to make something that sounds poetic but ultimately means nothing(Pillar of Autumn, for example).

Hmm. How about the Elysium Ascendant ?

Snap (kind of).

I was going say Elysium .

Naw, mess with their minds. Have it officially named Elysium Ascendant but have everyone refer to it as Asylum Ascendant. Say it's a quirk of accent and then look away and snicker whenever possible. They'll all be slightly worried headed in.

Hmm, Elysium or Elysium Ascendant does sound nice! *adds to list*.

Asylum Ascendant, eh? Might have some port scum refer to it by that name in passing, just to give the players an idea of what most spacefarers think of the place. If I use it too often it might reduce the surprise of having the ship be a nightmarish, insane hotel of death. =P

D3

DDdreamer90 said:

Hmm, a game hunting preserve sounds nice, although it'd have to be quite big to really work. xD

I have a few thoughts about the servitor-animals that'd act like the game actually. Since the ship is supposed to be a self-sufficient little world of it's own, killing or destroying actual game during hunting sessions would probably put the ship in a tight spot where they'd have to either shut down the game hunting or get new game from a planet somewhere, breaking their secrecy and isolation. I think it'd make more sense if every game hunting weapon fires a small electrical round that stuns whatever part of the servitor-animal it hits. When the hunt's over, park will simply unstun the servitor who'll go on to become game for another day. That way, you can hunt as much as you'd like without wearing the servitor-reserves thin. What do you think?

D3

The ship used to be a nonsecretive right? So, why not have quite a few beasts in stasis? You can store quite a lot of them and replenishing is a matter of visiting homeport where all sorts of perishables will be loaded. Think food, drink, parts and beasts. As soon as a party walks into the game reserve, probably thinking that ist is a nice garden of sorts, the doorservitor asks "What is your pleasure master?" and points to a board telling that the direction is not responisble for any injuries, failing to give a correct answer it will then based on the weaponry of the explorers drop one or more appropriate hunting basts into the reserve. A beast ravenous and eager to kill.

Yeah, I guess they could make port under the pretense of still being a cargo freighter. As for the beasts, they'd probably not be anything too hulking and/or hideous. After all, the establishment is there for pleasure, not life-threatening activities. The beasts will have probably gone quite insane due to the warp taint though~

D3

Oh, by the way, does nayone know of maps or other resources that details the general layout of a typical 40K cargo ship? Would be nice if I could base the interiour of the ship on an actual cargo ship.

D3

DDdreamer90 said:

Here is a cargo hold map and here are some other maps.