Hi,

I'm currently putting together an adventure based, loosely, on the 2008 computer game Dead Space.

During the previous adventure, The hunt for Duvos Fuller, the acolytes found a datum drone with information about a spacestation in orbit around Scintilla where….something…is taking place. All they know is that it is connected to whatever higher powers were backing the small time heresies of Duvos Fuller.

So, here's what I've got.

Before they arrive at the station in their loaned Arvus Lighter they are ordered to land on a traffic control station where they are met with Controller Cran Abroask and a Commander from the Imperial Guard.

These gentlemen inform that the station they are headed towards has been declared off-limits and quarantined as a result of the loss of contact with the Arbitrator strike squad sent over there some hours earlier.

In order for the acolytes to gain permission to board the station in question they will have to reveal that they are, in fact, inquistorial agents and that Controller Abroask and the Commander do not have the authority to stop them.

So these authorities decides to help them instead.

The first is that the acolytes will have to discard any and all explosives they might carry, because you can't bring explosives onto a spacestation filled with arcane secrets from the Adeptus Mechanicus. They also equip the acolytes with void suits, because their instruments inform them that there's no lifesupport in the parts of the station where you can dock/land. This puts the further torn in their plans in that it renders their SP weapons useless in these areas until they restore lifesupport (Because yes, I really am that mean!) First question then, why is there no lifesupport and who shut it off? This part will not be that difficult because there'll be little, but not much, combat, but mostly skill checks.

When they get to the station the group psyker will quickly discover that he can't channel the empyrean as easily as he usually can. This is due to the "Psychic dampeners" installed in various places on the station. So second question, why did the tech-priests feel the need to install such arcane devices?

Here the trick is that they were installed because the biological (and highly heretical) experiments the TPs were running on the station. So whenever the acolytes destroy or shut off a dampener to help their progress they also help the enemy. (The enemy of course, being based on genestealer broods with an active hive mind being suppressed by the psychic dampeners)

There will of course be various bulkheads that needs to be cut through with lascutters. Again, this also allows the enemy freedom of movement.

Should the acolytes return to the Arvus Lighter they will find that the pilots have been slaughtered, so that's not an option for escape. Should they try to call for help they will discover that communications are being jammed/disrupted/shut off/whatever. So they'll have to find a way to restore that aswell.

As they progress they will find the remnants of the Arbitrator strike squad scattered here and there with their armour conveniently destroyed and most weapons either carried off or unusable. Though some weapons/gear will be available.

The acolytes will also discover that it soon becomes more about surviving and escaping that to actually discover what the hell is going on.

The experiments that the TPs, or hereteks if you prefer, have been running have been to discover a way to weaponize the genestealers and turn them on the enemies of the Imperium. So the higher power backing this is in reality a Xanthite Ordo Xenos Inquisitor.

So, any suggestions, criticisms, ideas, what do you guys think?

Reminds me of a scenario I subjected my players to based on the move Event Horizon. It also took place on an abandoned space station with initially no power or life support, where Really Nasty™ Experiments had been carried out.

Their ship was damaged, pickup weeks away, and death around every corner.

It was GREAT! Everyone had a blast

Heh I like the WYSIWYG title. You've hit the nail on the head… and at least, I offer my creativity for (almost) free.

Well… You've given me ideas as well. My Next Scenario is similar to this.

Firstly… To me it looks like the Logicians are involved, especially if it's about 'Weaponizing' Genestealers. I hope your Acolytes are of sufficent level, stealers are very, very tough. How did the Logicians end up controlling a Registered Station? Perhaps the Station Govenor was… coerced. perhaps the Governor's aide meets you at the dock door too, and trys to have your PCs 'accidentally' flushed into space during their mission?

So… Your first objective is to connect a few small-fry heresies to a space station. What exactly did they find in the Datum Drone? Docking plans? Manifests? Geo-locator information? Small-Fry Heresies could be anything from delivering pastries to shipping dodgy motor-oil. Perhaps… perhaps this small-fry heretic was a parts-shipper. Gellar fields usually need lots and lots of platinum and silver coils… psy dampners will require very intricate power sources. Or Perhaps… Nulls? Nulls, semi-cyberised into modified cargo containers, and used a puppet sheilds through mechanical coercion… and perhaps one failed slowly, causing the slowly re-focussing genestealers to escape… and wreak havok to free their bretheren.

No explosives - fine. SP Weapons… maybe too much. Modern explosives for shells and bullets contain their own oxidiser and can fire in space and low-air environments, but the mess of gravity and air could cause jamming more frequently. also… shotguns are the order of the day- SP weapons could cause a hull breach… As could maybe las weapons? It's up to you. Fighting in a void suit will be horrific.

Next is you have to figure out where the Scenario goes. the final objective… relate the data to the data core? obtain the docking logs? kill the creatures? find out the logicans psy-tech? is it even the logicians, or is it a wannabe Tech-priest who HATES The Divine Light of Sollex? Why does he hate them?

Darth has a good point - Check out 'Event Horizon' for more Ideas. CHAOS FROM BETWEEN THE PLANES OF REALITY! have the psyker in the opposite trouble - it's toooooo easy to sense the warp, and Spawns of Chaos lurk in the ducts…

There's always 'Pandorum' as well, a sure-fire favourite of mine.

Howzat?

Them are some excellent links, Darth Smeg. I especially like the one where turning on the power also turns on the experiments and that the station would slip in and out of the warp. However, that will have to be for another adventure in the future. This one has Genestealers.

Not to worry about the rank of the acolytes, I've made my own, powered down, genestealer brood based on the fact that they are experiments in cross genetics created by the TPs on this station. It's also contagious, but that little fact should not bother the acolytes I think….or maybe it should

I'm keeping the SP weapons won't work until lifesupport is turned on thing, because I want to be mean and this is going to be a massacre! I'm thinking missing limbs and organs when the adventure is over. Perhaps even an infected acolyte or two. Yeah, that sounds like fun.

Jeans_Stealer, the part about the heretic, Duvos Fuller (who was an advocate for secession from the Imperium who had simply gotten involved with some bad people) is over, for now. The acolytes think he's dead (he's very much alive, but that's not relevant now) What exactly was on the Datum Drone isn't really that relevant, it was just one of the various adventure seeds I left for them.

I do this so the players can help me shape the game and what path it should take, though I do have an overall plan. Another seed was heresy in the Enforcer ranks. Another was a bounty hunter who had been hired to find something for the aforementioned Duvos Fuller. They chose the Dead Space seed and will have to live with the consequences of that choice.

I'm thinking that the reason they have a space station is because it's an secret radical faction of Tech-Priests who control it under the guise of being ordinary TPs. So they're doing very "hush-hush" stuff up there behind the front.

Once finished and played, I can endeavor to make the adventure available for anyone who wants it. I just have to find a scanner and some other stuff for the maps.

I have to say too, Darth, The Event-Horizon-based campaign looked amazing and thoroughally horrific in the best kind of way. I would run that in a Heartbeat (but 'The Pit of Madness' would have to come first…)

Powered-down genestealers? excellent. Can't wait to see your notes, where were you thinking of putting them? And your plans for some badly-injured acolytes is quite troubling, as it's a mindset I'm yet to use.

AH so the small-fry is a nothing, and a plot-seed granted a tether-less connection. Gotcha. Well! "investigate and Respond accordingly" is a good mission objective!

Secret Faction of Tech-Priests… yeap, sounds like the Head Magos is a Logician (and has 'corrupted' the research for his cell.) Course There could be other Tech-Priest Sects - anyone know of any in the Canon?

Yeah, the Event Horizon scenario is one of those we keep talking about, even years later.

As for SP weapons in the Void, I believe the Inquisitors Handbook has a description (and stats) for Void Rounds?

Theres a biologis heretic named Umbra i think. If im correct he made some sort of bioforging that is in Radicals Handbook. Im pretty sure he spawned some Tech cults somewhere down the line.

Bassemandrh said:

If it helps you find the details, the character's name is Umbra Malygris.