Ok this post will be rather long as some context is needed. If my players, Andy, Ben, ste or Dave in Burnley Lancashire are reading this… stop now!

My group, a sniper assassin, a moritat assassin, a tech priest & a Psyker, are currently rank 6 and in a rather sticky situation. They were tasked with investigating a Rogue Trader house named Lux, their chief seneschal Pallidus Chan to be specific, as there were allegations that they were clandestinely involved in the Cold Trade. I planned on it being a sandbox style game set in Hive Sibellus as I thought it’d be more fun for the players and a test for myself. They were given a few clues to start with and expressly told to keep a low profile and that their Inquisitor expected a long investigation while he went off-world to deal with a more pressing matter.

They started out really well with a low-level clandestine investigation of the Lux offices in the noble hive, they were staying with Lauren Strophes from RFYAT, when they decided to try and bug the cogitator bank hoping to uncover more evidence to inform their decisions. The mission was, to put it bluntly, a cluster **** though they did recover the seneschals itinerary. They took no precautions about possible detection during their roof-top insertion and were shocked to find out the cogitator banks were monitored. Things didn’t go well! The Moritat got captured when he got gassed and the psyker triggered 2 psychic phenomenas blowing out all windows with 1km and causing vivid nightmares in the same area during the rest of the groups escape at which point I ended the session.

My thoughts were that such an act would attract the interest of a witch-hunter, Rykehuss to be specific, especially when Lux, using its connections in the media, announced they’d been attacked by dangerous heretics and, thanks to the psychic interrogation of the Moritat they knew exactly what the group looked like and what their specialities were. The target was also aware, thanks to aforementioned mind ****, that they were operating undercover and that their Inquisitor was off-world.

Rather than pull out or ask for help the group decided to grab their target then torture a confession from him and they were more confident when the Moritat returned… and all the while Rykehuss was hunting them.

Armed with the targets itinerary they hired some mercenaries and set an ambush on his route. The ambush went very well and they captured their target and took him back to the Tricorn Palace where the psychic interrogation started… on a decoy that was psychically trapped to become a ravening warp bomb similar to a vortex grenade which blew a large hole in the middle of the Tricorn Palace. At this point their Inquisitor returned and learnt of what had happened. While he was angry at how they’d rushed their investigation he recognised that Lux had just struck against the Inquisition and needed dealing with. There was a full out assault on the Lux compound in the mid-hive and the group finally confronted the seneschal who, in desperation, had donned the Hand of the Dei-Phage*. The combat was brutal, with the Moritat being possessed and forced to fight on the targets side, and fate points were burnt until they finally triumphed.

Triumphant they returned to Laurent Strophes mansion as he’d loaned them some equipment only to find it blasted open and Lauren tortured to death for harbouring “dangerous radicals” and he’d been declared “Traitorus Excommunicatus”. They’d left too much evidence of their involvement behind at the ambush and Rykehuss tracked the mercenary company down, interrogated them and the group had been silly enough to get picked up at the Strophes Mansion just prior to the ambush so the mercs could direct Rykehuss straight to their ‘home’.

The group didn’t like this one bit and wanted revenge so I offered them an opportunity. They had previously saved Lady-D on the Twilight and she contacted them telling them she had information they’d be interested in. Apparently she’d been keeping as close an eye as possible on the group and knew of what had happened and overhead someone, Thrungg (yes I nicked the name) speaking of “gutting that heretic Strophes “. She gave them Thrunggs location and without wondering why she’d tell them this they went ahead… without contacting their Inquisitor or one of his Interrogators. They managed quite easily to capture thrungg, the way they did it was rather ingenious, and took him to an abandoned Hab-Block as they were going to torture some information from him then kill him in the exact same way Strophes was killed.

Unfortunately for them it was a set-up. Thrungg was being closely watched and when they grabbed him they were followed, at no point did they check if they were being followed, and after a few hours they were themselves ambushed by a cadre of acolytes and a squad of arbitrators complete with bloodhound cyber-mastiffs and surveillance drones. The sniper got away thanks to Syn-Skin and some extremely lucky dice rolls, but the rest got captured and are currently en-route to a secret location for ‘enhanced interrogation’. That was the last session we had.

Unbeknownst to them they’ll be rescued from execution at the last minute when their Inquisitor avails himself of the psychic ‘tracker’(Stolen from The Inquisition War) he had seeded in the Acolytes brains and tracks them down. Then there’ll be a trial scene where they’re found guilty of murdering a throne agent but innocent of radical heresy and there’ll be minor punishments, including the wearing of a special Celise for the psyker, it basically causes 1 wound whenever he triggers a psychic phenomena and that wound cannot be healed psychically, for 1 solar year.

Now as the title posited… have I been and am I going to be too harsh? Their Inquisitor has warned them of overweening arrogance before and they’ve seemingly ignored him so part of me thinks he’d welcome something which might teach the group some humility rather than thinking they’re beyond and above restrictions.

I recognise this post is rather rambling and log. If I’ve missed anything or been less clear than I should just say and I’ll try to clarify the best I can.

*I plan on running the group through a very heavily modified version of The Black Sepulchre where the Dei-phage was a tool Haarlock used as part of his revenge thereby bringing them into the Haarlock legacy, oh and I've written the Slaugth in too.

I should add as well that my group don't see a difference between what Rykehuss did, interrogating then executing Strophes in the course of an investigation, and what they did, namely kidnapping, interrogating (dismally as they rolled pathetically) and then killing an Inquisitorial agent in cold blood.

Personally I see a difference but I'm willing to admit I'm wrong!

Actually, I think that, for all intents and purposes, the game is going very well!

You've managed to give it that "Inquisition conspiring against itself" feel, a lot of intrigue, heretics actually fighting back. The game seems very alive, both in terms of plot and player reactions, actions and consequences. I don't think you're being harsh, I think you're playing the game just right- a lot better than me, that's for sure.

At rank 6, the players should except this level of opposition, both from heretics and inquisition agents. Hopefully they've learned their lessons now and they'll start playing the "game"- Paranoia is the word.

I will attempt to learn a few things from your games in order to improve my own.

Keep up the good work!

Thank you Saldre.

I was worried as I can sometimes get carried away and the look on the players faces when they got cornered and captured was very sulky! I'd been thinking for a while of how I wanted some inquisitorial infighting but I didn't want to force it, when the group acted in the way they did I almost thanked them for giving me a reason to bring Rykehuss into the fray. The psyker still doesn't think Rykehuss would turn up for something minor but my opinion is that what he did wasn't minor, he caused a psychic event in the middle of the noble section of the hive but… well… that's the good thing about GM fiat!

It's just a pity I didn't get to use all the events I'd written for the adventure as there was some fairly cool stuff coming up. Once we have a break, and we will be having a few weeks with no games soon, I plan on putting all my notes into one document and uploading it so I can post a link here. After all I've got so much from this community it's time I put something back!

I will have to agree. You are doing it right. It would be different if they were acolytes of lower ranks. However, as was stated before, they have some experience under their belt and seemed cognizant of their actions at the time.

However I must play devils advocate for arguments sake, did your players express any dislike of the situation they were in? Yes it is the grim future, but without the players the GM is only half completed. If the players dont mind the situation they are in, and if they see this as a challenge then you have actually succeeded in your pursuits.

I know if i was playing I'd be wetting my pants with anticipation, which in my opinion, is the mark of an excellent GM.

Cheers Clutch.

The players did sulk a little bit and one said it was a railroad… until I brandished 6 pages of notes I'd written covering all the eventualities I could think of once they took it upon themselves to torture an inquisitorial acolyte to death! I think part of the reason for them sulking was for a while they've had it relatively easy as I'd consistently under-estimate their capabilities and ingenuity so they'd breeze through bits that I thought would be a challenge. Worried I might have alienated the group I talked to them all yesterday and thankfully they all said more or less the same thing, paraphrased of course, "I thought it was s**t at the time but now I can't wait to see what happens next"… torture for some of them then an eventual trial under Inquisitors Kaede, Soldevan & Marr.

I've just realised The Trial will be the first session i've ran with no combat. Hope the combat munchkins, for I have 2 of those, won't be too bored!

I think it should be interesting maing them defend their actions. They have chosen to do a lot of stuff as part of the investigation and they should be able to say why they did them. I wonder if they will be able to justify torture of Thrunng who they knew was an acolyte because just saying "well he murdered our friend" doesn't warrant what they did IMO.

I think possibly the only harsh thing was the exploding duplicate. If you gave them a chance to work out it was a trap then fine. In my groups I prefer it if the group have setbacks. I've often found players to be at their most ingenious when they have suffered a defeat of some kind!

Too be honest it sounds like an awesome game I would love to be on the recieving end of such actions.
Only thing I find too "harsh" is the thingy you were planing on slapping on the psyker. I find the damage justified, but not being able to heal the wound for an entire year is kinda.. ouch.. specially since you can get unlucky with them rolls really fast..

The only reason I would say you might be unfair, is if the players thought they were making characters for a game with a heavy direct combat theme. Sniper/Moritat leads me to believe this is possible, but a Tech Priest and Psyker have a much broader utility (and if the psyker actually went the scholar path, it would sound like hes not quite as fighty).

Past that, it would sound like they got to rank 6 the normal way (and therefore are not just arriving at this power level on their own). They should at least have an understanding that there are threats out there that they don't know anything about (i.e. the galaxy is filled with terrifying things). The point with that is they should know to be careful, and it sounds like they are behaving brashly.

Personally, I would have not done the "captured dude is a body double trap" without allowing for some significant hints that its a trap. Beyond that, it sounds like a game I wish I had run.

Interesting. I had a similar issue where the party felt really dejected after running into another Inquis Cell and it did not turn out well. They basically fled and were put under a tribunal in the Tricorn. There are a lot of similarities but my party is really used to roleplaying over combat. I love this stuff, and yes sometimes it seems weird to be conspiring against the players and they can feel put out, they usually come to their senses and see that their actions can have far-reaching consequences beyond just rooting out heretics. I say "bravo" just as many others have. Sounds like a fun game to me! Some players want to act like this is a videogame, and they're the biggest BAs around, but this is the wrong game for that kind of attitude, in my opinion.

Sorry for the late reply guys, it’s been a busy few days including the most recent game. (my tech-use sucks so if this post ends up a mess I've jsut betrayed my feral world origins again)

Faern said:

Thank you Faern, I should have clarified the effects of the Celise, the wounds inflicted by it do heal naturally so he won’t be carrying the wounds for a full year as that indeed would be too harsh and would be a death sentence for the character. During the trial scene just as the punishments were to be decreed the Psyker character asked for permission to speak and begged the court to punish him as he was the designated cell leader for the mission so the responsibility, and blame, was his alone. Which I liked!

BrotherKane said:

The players did well in justifying their actions to Varaak, I forgot to mention that he's their current Inquisitor*, when he debriefed them at least in regard to the mission itself, though he did tell them how disappointed he was and how angry he was at them nearly sparking an Inquisition war.

In regard to the duplicate it was a rather nasty trick however I couldn't think of any clues to drop, as they'd only seen him in person once from a distance, that wouldn't be too obvious and thought they might either check him elsewhere or request a telepath to verify they'd bagged the right guy. Strangely none of the group objected to that little trick as they figured out fairly **** quickly exactly what had happened.

*They started off under Inquisitor Thoran, the first of Varaaks acolytes to ascend to Inquisitorial status. They were seconded to Varaak when Thoran went to investigate the Halo stars in his obsession with the Slaugth, he'll be making a return soon with a few revelations…

KommissarK said:

The game has been fairly balanced, though I'm biased of course, with a mix of combat and investigative missions and the have indeed done things the hard way, except for the sniper who came in at rank 4 and the psyker did go down the scholar route as he wanted the skills seeing as the player wants to try and take the character to full Inquisitor rank.

In regard to brashness I'm hoping the events of the last few games might have taught a lesson adn they were talking very differently about their next assignment than usual and there's been a sudden upsurge in the sniper and moritat taking non-combat skills.

Jeff Tibbetts said:

Cheers Jeff, as I said earlier they do seem to have learnt a lesson about the impact their actions can have. i blame myself partially as a lot of the earlier adventures were semi self contained, with a liberal sprinkling of seeds for alter in the campaign to make me look really organised, and the characters weren't around for the after effects whereas this time they were and you're spot on in your last sentence.

Now I just need to heavily modify The Black Sepulchre for next Thursday, heavily modified as the Apostasy gambit doesn’t impress me that much and the thought of an Imperator Titan walking with no crew to work it strike me as very wrong. I do however like the haunted cathedral and instead it’s going to tie into the Haarlock which I’ve been foreshadowing for a while. The Dei-Phage was sent by Haarlock to kill off a branch of his family that had built the cathedral and then somehow bound into the very structure of the building until some missionaries came 5 years ago to reclaim it for the Emperor little knowing what it contained…

I’m going to portray Baraspine, which I’ve moved to the Malfian sub-sector as that’s where the Slaugth are infiltrating in numbers, as a lot more run down. Kephistron Altis will be a smaller city with many abandoned buildings and tensions, stirred up by the Slaugth of course, are mounting between the northern and southern polar cities and Kephistron Altis is stuck in the middle! The one safe haven the players will have is the Gilded Cathedral which is also where they’ll get some information about a mysterious coastal cathedral revealed to them in a vision when they defeated the Seneschal. There’ll probably be a fight with the Slaugth in the city, they don’t like outsiders coming in and will send a mob after them accompanied by 1 infiltrator who will flank the group as they kill the mob. Then I have a vision of a relentless high speed chase through the desert and mountains to reach the cathedral ahead of the pursuing Slaugth and then a 3-way battle between the Acolytes, Slaugth + lackeys & the rising dead (I’m using a weakened form of the Risen from Damned Cities who will be controlled by the daemon). Then there's the potential for a Spectre Cell to be on the planet for extra fun and games and there’s also the potential for some political fun as the acolytes try to stop a civil war breaking out, if the group so wish…

lots to be cracking on with!

funkwit81 said:

I should add as well that I offered the Psyker the option, which he took, of using the Rogue trader rules for manifsting psychic powers as an elite advance for 500xp rationalising it as him being taught control by the more experienced Psykers employed by his Inquisitor so his chances of manifesting Psychic Phenomena are lower unless he tries to Push.