I am running (or will be shortly) a campaign that takes acolytes through all of the layers of a hive city. They will begin in the upper hive level and will spend about a week there establishing cover and making contact with the inquisitions local representative. However I want to run some encounters while they are in the upper section of the hive. I'm of course going to do the classic las pistol duel, but I'm looking for other options. Also as a note, by encounters i dont mean exclusively combat. Can anyone help me out? Has anyone else done anything similar or could they perhaps provide some non combat encounters that have worked well for them in the past?

[Encounters in the High Spires of your generic hive]

[Poor Poor Cleaners]
The PC pass through a park like section with a domed glass roof, opening up to the stunning sight of the sky above and flood the area with natural light. They see strange shadow on the ground. Looking up, they will notice a team of people crawling along on the outside of the glass ceiling. They seem to cleansing the window panes from the outside, each one equipped with air masks and secured with long cables. One of the local high-born notices the PC watching up…but misunderstands the PC attention. He (or she) comes over to the PC (followed by a small entourage) and chats the PC up with “Awful, isn´t it?”

Any PC with the “Noble” Origin or who passes an easy(+30) test for CL:Imperium will know that it is very unlikely that this statement has anything to do with the conditions of the workers. In truth, the NPC is put up by the fact that the workers above spoil the beautiful view with their presence. “They should be ordered to do the task at night”.
This scene is just emphasizing a nobles disregard for the effort others have with their lifestyle and the only thing the players need to do her is to roleplay their reactions.

[The Joyous Choir]
In a public area a small group of pavilions (complete with attached ivy) has been set up. Some nobles sit inside and talk to robed persons. A group of string players accompanies with light, uplifting music.

These is a group of the Joyous Choir, looking for attendants. If you have already played through “Rejoice! For you are true” this is the “cleaned” version of the Imperial Cult. If you are not in hive Scintialla, this is just a small off-shot of the group who is nurtured by a local noble who visited Scintilla a while ago and was found of the Choir and its teachings.

While the members of the choir welcome everyone coming to their pavilions, they do not approach passer-bys. This would both be seen as very unpolite and rude and is in fact unnecessary: most of the jaded nobles look for some distraction. Those who might be swayed will approach the pavilion sooner or later.

[The acrobat girls]
A group of acrobat girls was allowed entrance to the high spires to perform a show for the residence. They perform artistic stunts at an artificial chasm, complete with a small waterfall and a white marble bridge spanning the gab. Many nobles watch from the balconies of their surrounding estates or from the alcoves and benches of a nearby garden. They are pleased by the show, spend well-mannered applause and from time to time a group of them beckons one of the tow hat-men (the only present male, fellows in bright yellow bodysuits and jackets with black boots, black gloves and huge black top-hat) to come close and receive a contribution from a nobles wallet.
Just as the PC pass by, a women moving in flic-flacs across the balustrade of the bridge slips and falls, hitting her head hard against the marble. Her fall is stopped by some liana which are part of the artificial chasm but she seems to be unconscious and the liana start to give.

While the nobles are startled their first shock quickly turns into excited chatting: will she fall? The hat-man and her fellow artist rush to her aide, but all of them are much further away from her then the PC. Securing the acrobat girl asks for a climb test. The nobles will applaud to those who come to the rescue, but will not have raised a finger themselves and will react VERY poorly to anyone lecturing them on that.

The artist group on the other hand will be thankful. If the PC talk to them (the show will go on, but one hat-men will pause to see after the companion) they might learn a thing or two about the spire (while the artists do not talk to the nobles, they can tell the PC what they have seen or whom they have seen with whom. They sometimes get invited to perform at private parties as well).

As a side note: the “girls” are in truth all about 24 to 26 while at first glance they still look like 16 or 18. A part of their hard-earned money goes into certain chemical treatments that keep their bodies from maturing, keeping them a nymph like appearance. But by end of 30 their chance of developing cancer becomes drastic. ‘This bright life has it´s shadows.

[Playful]
A group of young nobles (late teens or early tweens) play childish game where one of them is blindfolded and need to catch on of the other. The other are only allowed to move in pirouettes and need to sing “lalala-LA!” while they do. The game is played in wide space but in the midst of normal daily business of the spire yard.

- the pc might end up “caught” by the blindfolded player and now the group urges them to join for a game (Perception based test to catch one)
- one of the other youngsters accidentally slaps one of the PC while moving around unless the PC pass a Dexterity/Dodge test. If the PC looks highborn himself, the young noble will apologize (and the PC might play things up or use this to ask the noble one or two questions. He will answer since he is out of his wits at the moment. A successful blather test might yield even more information)
If the PC looks like a commoner he will be ordered to “stop standing in our way”.

[Dutiful Guardsmen]
The PC come across a group of watchmen on patrol. Since they have never seen the PC before they approach them and ask for their cognomen (or other incridentials). While one of the group (it should be three of them) checks the credentials using some electronic devices which machine-spirit is communicating with a cognomen-stack and waiting for answer the Guards will politely ask some inconnus questions ("Enjoying a visit to this spire, sire?…oh, well, I just ask because none of us has ever seen you before"). If the PC are under cover, the scrutiny of the watchmen might challenge this cover.

Thanks a lot!! I was actually planning doing something with the cognomen or some sort of ID badge. Perhaps this'll happen if (when) they are out in the middle hive at night, this would be after they have established their cover of course. It'll be good for making some tension if the scanner is taking a long time or I could have one of the guards lean in to one another while looking at the results. Also I'm ABSOLUTELY going to use the acrobat Idea. It's enough excitement, and the opportunity for loss of wounds with a botched roll is there.

Generally, having encounters in the upper hive spires is problematic. This is where the wealthy, noble and mighty are. The streets are unlikely to be dangerous or even crowded. It is unlikely that you will be harassed by vendors or that somebody drunk is spilling a drink on you. I won´t even be easy to chat somebody up, most of the people might either be strotting around with a complete entourage or might be servant/personal of somebody and actually be on errant to do something.

Check out these links: (the text in this first link will need to be highlighted to read due to an error on the part of the contributor, but trust me, it's a gold mine) http://www.darkreign40k.com/drjoomla/ index.php/background/general-background/315-hive-random-encounter-tables'> http://www.darkreign40k.com/drjoomla/ index.php/background/general-background/315-hive-random-encounter-tables and http://www.darkreign40k.com/drjoomla/

I use them all the time

Enjoy hours of blessed house rules, adventure ideas, NPCs, etc.

Oh wow! Some amazing tips in here! I had always been a bit intimidated by using a hive spire as a setting but some of these make me want to try now. It's a different side to 40K, and doesn't always get explored too much.

In the upper spires have you considered the Casino Royale encounter. The premise requires that the players want to meet with some one. It goes like this.

1. The person they want to meet it turns out is a notorious high rolling gambler.
2. They can only meet with this person by getting to a VIP lounge for other interesting players.
3. In order to be "interesting" one must play with a lot of thrones.

In the upper Hive Spires the "VIP" lounge could be a whole district from which the contact never leaves. If they want to meet they must play. To play means getting caught up in various games of chance, bumping elbows with crooked nobles of all stripes, and obviously encountering the femme fatale. Also because every thing in 40k is in the extreme the "encounter" could take place over days. Cut in to various talking scenes and dramatic card duels played out over the course of a half hour.

I did this for a game awhile back where the players wanted to extort a noble but instead ran it for a full session.

Garner said:

Consider this idea "nicked". As a slight update, they probably wont be doing the scenario I originally had planned but they WILL be in the hive spire (and perhaps many hive spires) throughout the course of their campaign.

Clutch_Halthos said:

by the way: what is this scenario of yours all about?

Two other encounter ideas:

[The doors, the doors!]

The group of acolytes run across a man in the upper hive that seems somewhat out of place. Perhaps he's dressed less flashy than the surrounding crowd, or perhaps he smells like he's from a lower hive (or perhaps he's also an acolyte for another master). In any case, he recognizes the group as not from the spire and brings them into conversation. His tone is frightful, and somewhat paranoid. He keeps mentioning about the doors in the upper hive, how they close too fast, and that plenty of people disappear once the doors to a building close. He keeps glancing over his shoulder for something, mentioning that it's best to stay in the plazas and parks- go inside, and you'll vanish without a trace.

If pressed, he can reveal some relevant plot information, or mutter how 'everyone walking into a building is suspicious', or "keep a pistol ready crossing a doorway". He will attempt to excuse himself or walk quickly away from some unseen stalker.

If the acolytes actually care to look, they notice that the doors on the upper hive do close rather quickly. Not so quick that one's clothes get stuck, but just enough that one minute they're at the doorway, the next moment they're not, as if they were never there. Even though everything seems bright outside, the buildings' ominous outsides make it seem like they're hiding something. Shadowing someone in the upper hives may become tricky if this is the case.

[stop thief!]

As the acolytes are walking, a someone nabs a purse in broad daylight and begins running through the crowd. No one attempts to stop him, except perhaps a few low-ranking Arbitrators. If the thief is arrested by the arbitrators and wrestled to the ground, the crowd will boo as if in disappointment. If the arbitrators shoot the thief, several bystanders applaud as the corpse falls to the ground. If, however, the thief suffers a critical hit like an arm flying off, or their head explodes, there will be a good amount of cheering and applauding for the shooter, minus the few whose clothes were ruined by the blood.

If the acolytes attempt to stop the thief in similar fashions, they will be congratulated in a similar manner, although they will get annoyed looks from any arbitrators nearby.

If the acolytes elect to look inside the stolen purse is a collection of fake money and costume jewelry. Returning it to the owner brings a slightly bemused smile from the victim. Asked why there was nothing valuable in the purse, the victim will say: "I wanted to see scum cleaned up today."