I've run a campaign in Dark Heresy and I'm considering the idea of running a game in Black Crusade. The basic idea behind the campaign is that the group were fighting in the Horus Heresy on the loyalist side when the planet they were on was engulfed by the Warp. After a month of fighting, the planet reemerged in the 41st millennium, with the party as the only survivors.

Rather than running a prologue session, I want to talk to the players about their characters and how they escaped the Imperium and ended up in the Screaming Vortex. After all, the Inquisition would be uncomfortable with completely the party's views conflict with current Imperial Creed. They are heretics by obsolescence rather than by rejection. They are outcasts in every sense of the word, sharing kinship with neither the heretics nor the loyalists.

The idea is that they face damnation by gradual steps rather than by actively chasing it. I intend to run the introductory adventure at the back of the Black Crusade book as the starting adventure (which almost seems written for a party like this. But then, I suppose that's the point behind its ambiguity.)

To allay any concerns over the group being prepared for an adventure of this scope, they are. Only one person in the group is not deeply familiar with 40,000 lore, and she was in the Dark Heresy campaign, so has some foundation on the universe. Curiously, she played a Sanctioned Psyker very convincingly.

Any particular thoughts on the campaign? Anything I should watch out for or traps I could fall into that I might not see?

You'll want to spend a fair amount of time reading through the section dealing with Compacts- you have "getting the group together" taken care of, "keeping them together" (for mutual survival, intra-PC loyalties, etc) might be difficult if the Players aren't given a fairly clear understanding of the campaign's intent. What is their ultimate goal? As neither Heretics nor Imperials, what goals (Compact Scope) could they (or, more importantly, will they) set for themselves? Is it merely survival, the ability to laugh in the face of adversity? Or is it to seek vengeance against those two groups who leave them cast-outs?This is where the new group of PCs (with help from the GM) set the Infamy goal(s) that determine spawndom or apotheosis. And once one PC teeters from Unaligned to Aligned, there could either be disparaging differences in PC mortality scale, particularly if one Player wants cool guns and his very own pet Juggernaught and another wins the fight (at least for one more day) against the lure of Alignment. Or, simply put, the PCs may advance faster than you had anticipated. It might even occur that one PC quickly acquires Skills/Talents while another's progress is lethargic, all at the same time, and all because one goes for the glory, while the other denies the destiny of all those touched by Chaos.

Also, give some thought to how Infamy and Corruption awards can be made a bit more lean, but without making the Players feel like they're "going nowhere", otherwise you may find their rate of increase too quick for the pace of game you suggest.

Some excellent points, Orpheo. I appreciate the feedback. The starting motivation they have is survival. I was hoping to twine the prophecy to their fates, and was curious if they would flee, fight or embrace their destined roles.

I hadn't even considered character progression as an issue. For some reason I assumed that the players would select abilities within their character concept, without considering the alignment. I'll certainly have to discuss what the players have in mind for their characters to smooth out any power differences they may face.

A really unique and interesting idea, I'd love to hear out it plays out once you get it going. It would be very interesting to see how the characters react to the way things have changed.

It would be almost worth having them fight their way out of the Screaming Vortex to be confronted with an Imperium nothing like the one they left behind, the Emperor's vision of an united humanity bound together by enlightenment and knowledge having been replaced by blind superstitious fear and dogma. Worse still the Emperor himself sits trapped upon the Golden Throne helplessly as his great vision is corrupted and warped.

It may seem as though the Chaos Gods have already won leaving the characters to think "where do we go from here"!

I guess one thing to consider is that Black Crusade already assumes you've reached the 100 corruption point value from the other lines, whether this be by actively seeking to aid the Ruinous Powers or simply having accumulated it unwittingly through their actions throughout their careers.

Have you thought about why the PC's may already be at this level (as opposed to being space marines starting off more like those in Deathwatch, albiet with a different mindset)? Could it be that the planet engulfted into the warp has caused their bodies to take in more corruption than most loyalist bodies would be expected to deal with? Or is it a case that you will ignore this particular fluff on corruption to suit the game you are running?

Anyway good luck with it and as I said above would love to hear how it progresses.