Hello there! I could really use some help tying some elements of my campaign together into a cohesive whole. Since I'm not very familiar with the 40K verse it's kinda hard for me to think up deeper, more elaborate plots since I'm not very familiar with the source material.

Here's the deal: The main objective of the players will be to track this individual called Saint Paros. Now, Saint Paros was more or less a crusader who was dead set on "purifying" the Koronus expanse, slaying it's vile xenos and converting/slaughtering every infidel he'd come a cross. To back up his lofty goals, Saint Paros had a small army of especially pious and faithful space marines called the "Saint Paro's Angels", who'd decided to fight for the propagation of the ecchlesiarchy above all. (I hope this doesn't go against 40K-lore. Since there are plenty of devoutly religious people in the 40K-verse, I figured there'd be extremely religious space marines as well.) However, he and his army disappeared into the expanse about fifty years ago, leaving no traces behind…almost.

Here's where I encounter the first problem. I need a hook for the players to bite on. I was thinking of having the game start with the Rogue Trader receiving the warrant of trade in exchange for the task of tracking down the remains of Saint Paros and bringing them back to an imperial ship so that they can be interred on holy Terra. Dunno if that'd a good way to start things off though. What do you think?

Second problem I have is that I want the search to lead the players to at least two specific places. One being a derelict cargo ship refitted into a personal paradise (mentioned in an ealier thread of mine) and the other being a planet in a previously uncharted system in the dark Demesne, which is where Saint Paros and the Angels are located. What could I use to make the player voluntarily visit these places? Especially the cargo ship, since it's more or less unrelated to Saint Paros.

D3

DDdreamer90 said:

Not totally sure you can get Space Marines to do that; they aren't quite so religious, being a bit more in the know of things, and they don't usually work under other people. Usually, the trick is there aren't enough Space Marines for anything other than the worst stuff; you call in Space Marines when other efforts have already failed. However, it's a flexible game, and there are many different types of Space Marines, so I suppose it COULD happen…

Second, I'm not sure, but you don't usually get the WoT for going to do something; it's for stuff you have already done. I can certainly see a new newly minted RT, having just received his Warrant, and preparing to depart for the boonie lands, receiving a giddy message from one of his contacts. The Ecclesiarchy, having heard of your recent elevation (and knowing that you thus have nothing pressing, yet), have proposed that you search for the remains of this Saint, and his data. Where you are going, having a few more prayers said for you can't hurt, and friends in the Ecclesiarchy are good to have (build for Peer/GR [Ecclesiarchy]).

If it is mandatory that they visit the ship, have a record of where Paros went on it. If it's not his, then he had dealings with who it does belong to. Even if it is now derelict, info might still be obtainable. Once there, they know to go to a planet; maybe the right one, maybe another in a chain of "where's Paros?" pictures. If your party is greedy enough, or devout enough, to be playing Rogue Trader, the little clues will get them looking, and they'll get where they need to go; money talks.

[Not totally sure you can get Space Marines to do that; they aren't quite so religious, being a bit more in the know of things, and they don't usually work under other people. Usually, the trick is there aren't enough Space Marines for anything other than the worst stuff; you call in Space Marines when other efforts have already failed. However, it's a flexible game, and there are many different types of Space Marines, so I suppose it COULD happen…]

If not Marines, then what about the Adepta Sororitas? They are nothing if not devout, and kick ass in a similar way to the Marines.

I don't think I've heard of them before and if I have, I've already forgotten about them. ._.

Gonna give them a looksee though! They do sound promising! Thanks!

D3

Try this page:

wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Adepta_Sororitas#.T9c0nJhcd8E

There's quite a bit on them in some of the Dark Heresy books (I find myself buying the Dark Heresy source books even though I have no intention of playing it, as they are filled with stuff you can use in RT, and also, well, I just enjoy reading the atmospheric fluff).

Check them out here. http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Adepta_Sororitas#.T9dEyZjJaUQ They would work out better than Space Marines (SM) IMO. For more info on SM's, go here wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Portal:Space_Marines#.T9dFvJjJaUQ.

As for your idea of Rogue Trader's having sponsor's / backers that delegate what they will initially do upon receiving their warrant, if follows the fluff. Refer to page 321 Rogue Trader (RT) rulebook, under "Backing." It reads

"Upon receipt of the Warrant of Trade, a Rogue may be granted command of significant military resources. In many cases these are provided directly by the highest levels of the Imperium, but equally, they may be provided by backers with an interest in the profits the Rogue Trader might bring. As such, many Rogue Traders owe a portion of their profits to these investors. Of course, there are plenty of Rogue Traders who conveniently forget all about this as soon as they pass beyond the Imperium, though these explorers may well find substantial rewards placed for their subsequent capture."

Right there gives a reason why Saint Paros was granted the Adepta Sororitas and why your PC's are going after him now. Mind you, they don't have to be sent to kill Saint Paros, but merely to rescue him or retrieve a holy relic(s) that the Ecclesiarchy bestowed upon him with the Adepta Sororitas. Of course, if you really want SM's, this can also be worked in there according to fluff. Not going to quote it this time, but refer to page 330 RT, "Colony XK-119" for reference.

Mind you, the Warrant of Trade doesn't have to be granted to you because of your deeds. It could of been granted to you because of your families past deeds that you had no part of, and are simply the heir after everyone else is long dead. So hence, a brand new Rogue Trader Warrant has been created and you are the first in your Dynasty. This, of course, should be a rare event indeed for PC's.

I also recall reading in one of the RT books (though I can't find it) that a RT was issued a Warrant and asked to do something on behalf of a powerful individual or group in the Imperium. The RT decided not to accomplish this deed and instead committed atrocious actions, so, the individual/group issued another Warrant to an up-standing Navy Officer to go after this renegade. After three years hearing little to no word, the Navy Officer RT and a fleet of ships he acquired attacked the malicious RT and defeated the renegade fleet. So, Warrant's can also be issued to individuals to be utilized as puppets in a far grander scale than he/she can imagine.

Your main concept for you campaign is brilliant, IMO. To assist you fleshing out endeavors here's a way I imagined you going about it.

PC's get the Warrant of Trade and are "asked" to investigate Saint Paros last known whereabouts, which leads them to system A. At system A, all the PC's find are pieces of destroyed ships (Imperium and Xeno), mostly over a planet, named Alpha. Further investigation of planet Alpha shows a crashed Imperial ship (Transport, Raider, whatever you like it to be) with a few human survivors living in a mountain region away from the crash site. Reason for this is Xeno's (could be the same Paros was fighting or Orks, Rak'Gol, etc.) have infested the ship and claimed it as home. In order to find to next location of Saint Paros and his fleet, the PC's must get to the bridge of the crashed ship. This information leads them to a repair / supply yard (could be Footfall, Breaking Yards of SR-651, one you create, etc.).

Once at the repair / supply yard, the PC's have to bribe people, break into information vaults, etc. to get the info they need. This rewards them with information leading to System B (or maybe to Systems B, C and D because Saint Paros only knew an estimated area of where the Xeno race was located and not an exact). If the PC's bribed the right people or received 3+ successes on acquiring this information, they heard rumors that Saint Paros visited the derelict paradise ship you mentioned, before they arrived at the repair / supply yard.

Visiting System B could be where Saint Paros is still fighting the vile Xenos. Or maybe Systems B and D are dead ends, with only destroyed xeno ships and colonies, where other RT's/Pirates have set up Cold Trade routes and don't look kindly to the PC's asking questions about stuff know nothing about. While System C contains an Astropath Beacon outpost on a void station, either manned or dead, leading to System X where Saint Paros is located, still locked in battle or stranded. If you wanted, you could have information here at the Astropath Station, instead of at the repair / supply yard, leading to the derelict ship. This information could be very old, way before Saint Paros entered the system.

Heh, now that I said all this, I'm going to create my own endeavors out of it. Thanks for the info DDdreamer90. Hope this helps you as well.

Plynkes said:

You beat me to the punch dear sir. I tip my hat to you Plynkes.

Wow! That's a really in-depth plotline you've got there. Many thanks! It does sound really good, making the campaign feel more open-ended than in my original drafts. Definitely gonna use this as a framework! Anyway, as for S:t Paros, he's actually long dead when the campaign begins, the players just don't know it yet. His "crusade" led him to a planet inhabited my a prolific Eldar scientist and his servants. They bit off more than they could chew though when they decided to root out this scientist, greatly underestimating his powers and abilities. As a result, Paros and almost all of his troops were killed and turned into bizarre, powerful servitors under the command of the scientist. I'm thinking of having the players encounters some of the still living sisters who might be able to give them a heads-up of what the players are actually up against.

The scientist himself is a chaos-worshipper and a self-admitted servant of Tzeentch. Obsessed with freeing himself from the Eldar "curse", this scientist seeks to appeal to the power of the (to him) mightiest chaos god, Tzeentch to dispel the curse. Now he's working non-stop to produce a perfect army for his god through advanced biology and cybernethics. If you know anything about Phyrexia from Magic: the Gathering, he's sorta like that, striving for perfection through horrible amalgams of flesh and metal. He's the main villian of the entire endevour and is completely insane.

D3

DDdreamer90 said:

Ahh, I like your style DDdreamer90. Bless-ed may be the endeavors of your unenlightened PC's, for the powers of Tzeentch are mighty indeed. (P.S. Made it rhyme by accident).

Massive kudos to you. I can see this being a good campian for DH as well, maybe ever DW. *tips his hat*