Hello all you may realise that I am pretty new here. I am also new to being a GM. All of my RP experiences have to date been as a player. But I finally decided that I wanted to GM and I thought what better gaame then Dark Heresy seen as all of my gaming buddies play or have played 40K.

But I have run into a few problems. I thought I could start with the campaign in the book Illumination, then move on to the one that you get in the GM pack that also has the Alien Generator. I made my own alien race that I plan to use at a later stage in the campaign. I even have an Inquisitor design (background and all) but I can't seem to come up with all the fillers for quests.

For the first campaign I am doing of my own creation the players are told to assasinate a leader from an Alien race that is getting a bit violent towards the Imperium. They are to pose as ambassadors. Then find some way to kill the guy and get out. Kinda like in the book Kill Team by Gav Thrope. Except this race is four legged. Their technology is crude like the orks they have no warp capabilities and are naturally strong and deadly fighters.

The problem as I said earlier is doing all those Inquiry test and the like I don't know what to add to give the campaign that little extra flair. Can anyone help me out here?

I say you may have something but i wouldnt go too far with that. I am sure that the inquisition will slap that planet or race with EXCOMMUNICATE TRAITORIS. You may what to rethink that, If the Imperiumin cant advance in any way they will just smoke it or them, throw in a twist maybe their homeworld has some type of ore or somthing that the imperiumin needs or wants. There Misson could to be to recover it and if they want it or can bering it back alive they will sent in the Guard

Ambassadors? The imperium? lol

The imperium doesnt deal with alien races, they kill them. The only reason, like kane said, is if they had something valuable. Then they would avoid nuking the whole planet, to take it and then kill them.

Humans dont deal well with humans who are slightly wierd (navigators, mutants, psykers, ogryns, squats, ratlings etc) let alone a completely alien race. Inquisitors have a whole devision who hunt aliens and anyone associating with aliens, or using alien tech.

One thing you can do to liven things up a bit, and this goes for any campaign you design, is toss in another interested party. Sure, two opposing factions such as hideous four legged xenose guys and the PC's cell, can make some tense, interesting, and dynamic scenes, but just think of what a three-way would be like.

Toss in another faction who's goals run counter to both of the other factions involved. That will keep things from being a clear cut us-against-them situation by adding another layer of complications to the situation. Now, not only would the players have to worry about executing their target, but also worrying about those Other Guys and what they're doing. This will also open up options for temporary alliances with an enemy against an even worse enemy, opportunities for scheming players to play one side against another, etc.

Like the idea, but one thing:

No Ambassadors. The Imperium dosn't have dealins with xenos They kill them ^.^

Anyway, the rival idea is a good one., In my current campaign the PC's will keep clashing with a team of Malleus Acolytes, but if you want to go with the Ore idea, then a Mechanicus team sent down as well would be interesting, The mechanicus would have to learn a few things from the players if they want to get the ore back to Mars. Naturally, the Mechanicus' interests are far more important than the Acolytes petty concers. The guard? Hah, why armour a dead body? Our idea is far more important!

Cool thanks for the hints.

As for the ambassadors I think I will stick to it as a cover story for the acolytes. But while I do agree that the Imperium just destroys Xenos everywhere unless they have something they need (the ore idea) the Imperial Navy can't be everywhere. Besides remember the real mission is the assasination of the leader.

I really like the idea of having them run into another acolyte group. The Inquisitor I have made was once Ordos Xenos and is now Ordos Hereticus but he sometimes goes back to his old ways (as in this campaign) so I think I should make the other acolytes Ordos Malleus.

I'll let you know how things go. But the campaign isn't starting till the summer as I have exams but thanks for the advice. I'll keep it all in mind. If you have anything else I would be gratful (my spelling sucks).

Thank you once again.

Varius said:

yes, Imperium have ambassador! Adaptus Astartes they are call

cowthulhu said:

Thank you. The Imperium is know to negotiate when neccesary. They have done so with the Tau and Eldar on many occasions.

Shoulda read the post before reading it shouldn't I have....... ****.

Hmmm... the ambassador idea is not a bad one. See the Last Chancers thing about Ambassadors killing the planet's leader and then an invasion force coming in.

I'd say the best way to keep your Acolytes on their toes is having them do their best to try and *NOT* get themselves killed with Faux Pas. Have it that there are certain things that get lost in translation and certain topics that are considered taboo. Also, maybe make it that this race, being a bit on the barberic side, has all heated arguments decided with a duel to the death. If that doesn't liven things up (maybe have one of the race openly looking for said duel to the death) I don't know what will . Of course, this duel should be done so that things are in the alien's favor... just to make life a little more interesting .

The Baron said:

That is exactly what I was thinking. I thought that they could be accused of something and are to go to court. They are told on among them must represent them in the court's. Naturaly the person with the most Int/WP will stop forward (he is a psyker) but it's combat based. Ofcourse if they guess this it kinda ruins the suprise. I was also thinking that winning the duel would gain the guys some prestige which they can use to gain access to the guy they need to assasinate. kinda lioke a toast dinner or something. But I was wondering how I could play that out. Would I seperate the victor so he had to do these things on his own. But then that would leave the other characters out.

but if all of them were there the story wouldn't be believable and he would have to have bodygaurds and trust me this race is REALLY strong base str is 53. I was thinking that I could have the entire court thing happen early to change the pace of the game a little. Meaning the rest of the group is cut off from the fighter. They then have to go around and look from him with the nessecary test, like Inquiry, Charm (more likely Intimidate considering the race). And the story practically writes itself from there doesn't it.

Ok thank you all for the advice if you have anymore I will be glad to hear it (Emperor knows I need it). I have a campaign to write.

You may want to think a bit more on your starting set up of why the Imperium is even wasting the time to deal with these Xenos and not sending in a squad of Astartes backed by the Guard.

If they have no warp abilities and only crude tech then why would the =][= even deal with them? How are they a 'threat'? Are they all natural psykers (or even worst... an entire race of blanks)? How strong are they and how are they strong (meaning are they just brute-ish or do they have natural resistances/massive regen abilities)? Would they be a match to an Astartes?

If it is just ore that they hold, what is stopping the Imperium from just wiping them out and taking it without having to deal with debased Xenos. You need a reason why the acolytes shouldn't be good little Imperials and put a bolter to these creatures as an afront to humanity (don't forget to enforce if your acolytes take Hatred: Xenos!). Perhaps the 'ore' is a by-product of their bodies digestive system (killing them would mean no more ore)?

The reason that the Tau and Eldar are delt with is simply that the Imperium doesn't have the time to get tied up in a fight with them. The Tau are strong enough to give the Imperium a bloody fight and (for the most part) stay away from Imperial contact when they can. The Eldar are a dying race and spread too thin to really be worth the time and effort it would take to track them all down. With the horrors spewing forth from the Eye of Terror at a an ever increasing rate, ork hulks dropping from the warp to plunder worlds, Tyranid hive fleets sucking the life from entire systems, and Necrons awakening... why should the Imperium be worried about this race?

Ok in answer to the majority of Shadowkat's questions:

While the race is still behind on the technology front they have proven to be more than equal to the task in almost any combat situation. They first met the Imperium more then two hundred years ago as they explored their small region of space. They respected the strength of the Imperium and kept their distance. But reccently the Imperium is showing signs of weakness. This race (strange I don't have a name for them yet) took advantage of that weakness once they saw their openning. They started to attack some poorly protected planets retreating from large Naval Fleets.

Sometimes they resorted to combat on ground. Here they proved to be equal in strength to that of almost any Space Marine and their speed and combat skill made them more deadly. The race has numbers and strength on it's side. Recently a new leader has emerged and is really starting to steer things up. He is calling for an all out attack on the nearby human worlds claiming that the "council" has been acting cowardly. Having gathered a great deal of support he launched an assault against a Navy vessel. By some miracle their crude weapons and tactics their mission was a success. They were able to capture the vessel. Their plan is to use this vessel as a spearhead in their next assault hoping that they can capture more such machines and maybe even create a warp drive of their own.

Due to the nature of their race though there is dissent in the ranks. The troops are itching for a fight and their new leader doesn't seem to be providing. He has already had to face down two challenges. This is the imperiums greatest weapon. The Inquisitor believes that by "cutting off the head" the rest of the aliens will fall into a chaotic horde of infighting. Thus bringing about an easy peace (kinda). The Navy doesn't have any ships nearby to help out at the moment so it is also a stall tactic because the nearby planets aren't very well defended and could be turned into manufactoring worlds with relative ease. This would put a new enemy on the Imperiums map and it is not something they have time to deal with right now.

That is the basic story behind the campaign poke holes if you want or think they need to be. I'll be back tomorrow. Well actually it is tomorrow.... 3:20 A.M. is not a good time for me.

If they belive that this will work as a Short term "peace" they will do this to to give the fleet time to show up and then smoke the planet. The death of a few good men for the prices of imperium resources the wouldnt even think twice send them in.

Actually, I think sending in an assassin squad to take the leader out is just the thing to do to a race that is definitely not important and not an immediate threat. Once they become too important or too strong, then, yes, the Astartes, the Gaurd, the Navy, and all other forms of military brought hell should rain down upon the xenos. But while they are unimportant, those same Astartis, Gaurdsmen, and navy ships are too busy blowing space hulks up, fighting orks, and defeating the doings of chaos. So what about those dirty but ultimately pathetic xenose over there in the corner? Er, send in some plumbers with guns and see if they can take out the leader... if that doesn't take care of the xenos problem, well, it just may stall them until the orks are dealt with, chaos is pushed back, and all those hulks are blown to bits and the big guns can finally be freed up for some R&R on a nice simple easy purging of some pathetic xenos. At worst, the Imperium loses some poorly trained plumbers with guns...

Thank you Kane88 and Graver. I thought I was the only one the understood how tied up the Imperium's army is. Practically everyone else was saying the Navy should just blow up the place and be done. Some even said the race didn't merit fighting at all. But I follow you sentiment exactly. Send in plumber with guns. The Inquisition doesn't value their acolyte any more the value one Imperial Guard. This doesn't actually apply to more trusted acolytes ofcourse but no one is above the Emperor and everyone is expendable.

I can see the assasination plot as holding water (not too sure I would go with Ambasadores, maybe a tactical hit team) how much cheaper, less time consuming, easier to cover up and less resource hungry is it to do a small squad assasination =)

I would also give them the secondary mission of recon, should they find that the race is a bigger threat than intended.

then..here come the Astartes!

the whole idea is to keep the interferrence to a minimum if the race find out the imperium is begind the assasination it will cause the entire race to fight not just this single faction. Ambassadors are quiet and shouldn't cause too much suspicion if all goes to plan