Just got this idea in my head, and I would like some feedback, ideas for improvement, and general development of the idea.

Okay here is the idea: a rogue trader (npc) has aquired his warrant for the dual purpose of colonization and pirate hunting. This rogue trader gathers the players as his command crew. The players all know the captain from somewhere but can never remember the specifics. The captain is a rather mysterious figure. Wearing voluminous robes and staying hooded continuously it is hard to tell much about him. One thing he makes no secret of though is the mutation an encounter with the warp left him with, clawed hands. The deep disturbing voice the issues out from beneath the hood is equally adept at commanding legions as it is at charming diplomats and negotiating prices.

The game would pick up as the group starts on an endeavor to establish a colony on some random world. The idea is to see how long it takes the players to realize they are members of a genestealer cult, the rogue trader is the magus, and they have been seeding genestealer cults across the expanse. Then see how the game goes from there. (My players 50/50 on wheather or not they would just go with it or try to put things right.)

So what do you all think?

this would be extremely atypical behavior for a genestealer cult.

As I recall, Genestealers spread by infection/infiltration. why would they take on crew that ISN'T infected? My read is that they'd take on new crew, infect 'em and then put them to work (in between random breeding sessions of course). they wouldn't take on new crew, put them in a sensitive position on board ship…and then NOT control them. that doesn't fit to me.

My thinking is that they would be infected, but not even realize it, until the players figure things out. At that they would have the chance to break free. This would be the atypical behaviour, but heros get special things like that that normally would be impossible. The idea would be that the dynasty got infected by the cult and is pretty much entirely taken over, with the current magos being the actual offspring and dynastic heir of the last holder of the warrant, allowing this expansion of the cult into a much larger form than the typical cult would be.

Cryhavok said:

It might be more interesting to have them wake up on a slab in a medicae bay, wounds healing and an Ordo Xenos inquisitor standing over 'em telling them that they're now human again but that he's got a mission for them….

or if you REALLY want to mess with their heads, have a daemon of Tzeench or Eldar farseer come to their rescue, leave them with all the information necessary for them to strike back at the magus…then just vanish into the void. do they go after their revenge? what will the results of their actions be? how will this further then ends of chaos and/or the Eldar…?

On another note, why do you keep reporting threads, Cryhavok?

The only threads I ever reported were double posted threads of my own. That was way back when I thought these forums were moderated, and I thought they would remove the excess posts to clean things up, like in other forums Ive used. Why? What threads did I supposedly report?

Sorry, autocorrect. *Repost*

my players *hate* Eldar and daemons of Tzeench. they never know what's actually going on…daemon shows up, gets them out of a bind, puts them back on track…it drives 'em nuts! the Eldar are worse - they KNOW that the Eldar only work to benefit themselves, so when an Eldar ship appears outta nowhere, cripples a wolfpack raider that was about to ambush 'em, and then vanishes without saying a word…they start wondering how this helps the Eldar. But they often feel as if they have no choice but to play along. they hate it, but at the same time it's their main goals so they keep pushing.

I could probably fit in just about any xenos into that role. Eldar would have some mysterious agends (although it might have something to fo with all the genesteeler cult colonies the group will have been seeding.) The necrons could have any number of agendas for doing it, none friendly though, and the players would then have to escape thier clutches. Tzeentch deamon of cultists could have an agenda or just be screwing with you because they are bored. The rakgol could be expirimenting trying to find a way to enslave a genestealer cult to its technomages, escape before they finish and eat you. An orc mad doc could be preping the way for a soon to be waaagh, and is using you to rile up as many interesting oponents as possible to put in the way. Strixis trade out your enslavement to the cult for enslavement to them, then sell you. Inquisitor tells you to redeem yourself or he will redeem you. Kroot shaper sensed the taboo within you and rescued you from your dire fate, then offers you his tribes services for a price.

Those are just off the top of my head. im sure with some thought behind it we could come up with actual good reasons for **** near anyone to rescue them.

Oh how about this one: while setting up a colony they stumble into a yuvath mechanism that frees them by implanting some unknown yuvath device in them. Que the doom timer.

I wonder if I could get the group separated and apply multiple different rescues to the characters? Or do you guys think that would be a bit much?

Just recently I've become enamoured with having one or more players unknowingly infected with a genestealer’s seed. This seed alters their perceptions so that things that would normally give them pause (such as genestealer hybrids) seem normal to them. If fact they would be described as normal humans. That way they could be part of an infected ship that is spreading the genestealers through the expanse but not be aware of it.

They’d still have control of their actions and act rationally but what they see might not be what is actually happening. Any implants they have however would be constantly ‘having errors’ and sending ‘false warnings’ about a foreign body and if they ever left the ship (say to get new cybernetics that aren’t available onboard) then the people they interact with have a chance of detecting the taint… Of course the players would believe they’re fine and their altered perception might make them think those they encounter are the heretical ones. I’d love to see how far it could go before a player somehow breaks free and has to come to terms with what has been happening.

Just recently I've become enamoured with having one or more players unknowingly infected with a genestealer’s seed. This seed alters their perceptions so that things that would normally give them pause (such as genestealer hybrids) seem normal to them. If fact they would be described as normal humans. That way they could be part of an infected ship that is spreading the genestealers through the expanse but not be aware of it.

They’d still have control of their actions and act rationally but what they see might not be what is actually happening. Any implants they have however would be constantly ‘having errors’ and sending ‘false warnings’ about a foreign body and if they ever left the ship (say to get new cybernetics that aren’t available onboard) then the people they interact with have a chance of detecting the taint… Of course the players would believe they’re fine and their altered perception might make them think those they encounter are the heretical ones. I’d love to see how far it could go before a player somehow breaks free and has to come to terms with what has been happening.

That's a really awesome idea!! Never even thought to implement something like this in RT. I did a "stuck in the Matrix" thing for SR with some players one time, and it took about one and a half sessions before they figured it out. Remember to leave subtle hints, like maybe their reflection in a mirror out of the corner of their eye, and when they look directly at it they appear normal. And if u add the gene stealer in the mix, it could appear as a succubus, an old high ranking tech-priest/official, a visiting relative, or maybe even a child or another pc. What i did for this was give the player a note card with what i wanted him/her to say/do, and it appeared as if they were doing it to the other players. Man, you have my head swarming with ideas now. If you require any assistance let me know. Best of luck to you and your crew also!!

Santiago has made & posted, IMHO, a nice rules for Genestealers, Hybrids & Cult in this forum post