Fall from Grace: Campaigning in Warhammer 40.000

[Tema69]

EDIT: Campaign log starts on page two! :)

So, I'm gonna be GMing some 40k in GURPS, Inquisitor-style. We've done it before, using Dark Heresy, but having since converted to GURPS, we're giving it a try. I thought I'd drop by and share what I've got so far (we haven't started yet, we're running a steampunk thing with some more buddies alongside). Names aren't in place yet, neither locations nor PCs, so you'll have to do with the assigned provisory ones. :P

NOTE: If any of my players stumble across this thing, hit backspace, alt+F4, and buy me a beer! :)

Group Synopsis:

• An aspiring Inquisitor (with Interrogator rank) and his loyal and trusted bodyguard (ex-Guards officer, Gland War veteran, greatly augmented with various bio-enhancements), both agents in Ordo Xeno with an extensive amount of experience. GURPS wise, they are built on 400 points. They have an assortment of contacts and allies, from tech-support and armourers, to a handful of Kroot Mercenaries, and similar hired-muscle.
• As GM, my primary focus will be disgracing the Interrogator before he achieves Inquisitor rank, and exploring the consequences of being excommunicated and rejected by the Imperium. Will they work for the good of the Imperium while eluding capture, or will they turn against the ones who betrayed them, and risk corruption?
• IRL, both are experienced gamers, and we've been gaming for between 5 and 7 years. None of them are prone to whining, and while the one playing the Inquisitor is more mature (and thus be more ready to have his character's dreams fiddled with, and work with that), the other has a character that fits his personality well – he's in it for the ride, protecting the inquisitor.

Campaign Synopsis (so far):
Planet Alpha is currently threatened by a Tyranid invasion. Alpha is undertaking a massive evacuation of key personel and troops, to perform a regroup at Planet Bravo, out of the Tyranid's current reach, to stage a defensive.
Star Fort Charlie, a lost in the Warp and forgotten imperial battle station capable of laying waste to entire fleets has been reported entering the system, presumably under Chaos control (as it has been destroying every ship it encounters). It is currently roaming space between the Planets Alpha and Bravo, threatening the evacuation with annihilation.
The last known records of the Star Fort lie in storage on Planet Delta, a lone remote planet on the fringe of human space that has, due to an Administratum error (the planet being listed as destroyed), not been resupplied for 600 years, having been left to run it's own course. In these 600 years, civil war has erupted, both side claiming loyalty to the Emperor, blaming the others for heresy. The winning side emerges, believing that the Imperium has been destroyed (the reason why there has been no contact), while the losers assume a mistake has been made, and that contact must be established. The winning side quickly establish their rule on their assumption, and all outsiders that might happen to arrive or bring news are eliminated and covered up. All psykers are executed on accusations of heresy and chaotic influence (in reality, to remove contact to the outside world). The losers retreat, and wage a small guerilla war on the new rulers from remote forrests. Technology deteriorates (running out of supplies, spare parts, etc...), Tech Level reduces itself to a mix of late middle ages, with some high-tech gadgets still in wide use (especially by the rulers and in the military). GURPS TL3 to 4 (depending on locations) + 5 (some communications, rare medical facilities, etc...). The rebels have much lower access to high-tech gadgets, and remain generally on TL3-4. Having once been a planet of knowledge and science, most important buildings are guarded by complicated systems of robotic defense, automated gun towers, and the like. While a few were saved during the civil war, most of them were activated and went to full alertness, and while several attemps were made to enter them, none were successful. It so happens that the data about Star Fort Charlie lies inside an abandonned city (abandonned due to automated defenses killing anything that moves), in a large Administratum tower-complex (also heavily defended).

Making planetfall on Planet Delta near major settlements will see the Pcs attacked and pursued. Contacting the rebels will give them a warmer welcome, but they'll still be sceptical before offering their assistance. The Pcs will be required to go through a series of trials before being offered assistance. The first of these trials will be a trial by combat (until a combatant yields) in an underground abandonned factory, among moving platforms and electrified areas.
Then, the Pcs will be asked to demonstrate their loyalty to the rebels (or at least that they aren't affiliated with the rulers), by directly damaging their opponents. This can be a sabotage mission, an ambush, a raid, or whatever the Pcs figure out is the best way to do it. Finally, the rebels will need a promise that the Pcs'll send Imperial reinforcements and reestablish communications and supply drops with the planet. This'll lead the rebels to inform the Pcs that what they seek probably lies in one these automated data-storage-facilities. The established rulers will have most of these facilities under scrutiny, fearing that rebels or outsiders might gain access to them, and have forces standing by to respond to any activity (especially if outsiders have been recognized and reported, landing or attacking). The Pcs still don't know which facility houses the data they need, so they may need to explore several of them (although accessing just one of them should reveal information about where to find the Star-Fort-data), before being able to make a run for the real deal.

Once having acquired the data, it'll reveal a minor design flaw in the design of the Star Fort, which allows a skilled pilot to fly a relatively small craft inside undetected, through an exhaust vent that only vents once an hour. Once inside, a large enough amount of explosives placed against the central core should be enough to detonate the entire thing. Escaping is another matter.




Random Ideas:
The warrior noble caste of Delta is known as the Angels of Death (wearing heavy armour adorned with feathers), because it's an ancient Blood Raven recruitment planet (trial by combat, selecting the fittest warrior nobles to join the Astartes ranks). A warning to the Pcs that they will face the wrath of the Angels of Death (hopefully, they'll believe them to be Astartes, possibly renegade), should freak them out. An ensuing battle should have them breathe out a sigh of relief, until they realize that this warrior elite is quite a capable force.
Star Fort Charlie's crew, Astartes personel from the Horus Heresy, aren't corrupted by Chaos, but have gone quite mad in their years in the Warp, believing every Imperial to be an agent of Horus (fearing a total victory by Horus) – thus attacking anything in sight. They shouldn't be able to be reasoned with, but such ancient warriors are valuable assets (opening up for the aspiring Inquisitor's disgrace upon debrief).
Each data-storage facility should have it's own twist, depending on weather, approaching enemy troops, defenses, etc... Ideas include; area infested with local dangerous wildlife; an underground facility where heavy rains are flooding it slowly, which luckily disables most of the defenses; enemy troops having converged on the area, but have low morale, fearing the facilities and their strange enemies; a fully functional defensive facility (probably the last one), with increasingly deadly defenses – pepperballs, tazers, gas, explosions, gun turrets, mobile gunservitors, along with laser-grids that regularly seal of areas.


Edit:
The reason I'm posting, is, of course, to allow my fellow forumdwellers to praise and critisize as they see fit. I'm always looking for improvement! :)

Edit2: Yes, I am very aware that the plot is a huuuuge Star Wars rip off ;)

[Valadrim]

You may find this very useful for running your game. http://forums.sjgames.com/showthread.php?t=67296

[Tema69]

Thank you very much. :) I've been discussing various things in his thread, but overall, I'm happy to be able to use it as inspiration and reference material for our game. Stats for races, etc seem to work fine, but I do disagree on some equipment items.
But I am thinking of running the campaign as a slightly non-standard 40k game, with the TL4 human civilization as the main enemy (to be fought), thus only leaving real 40k stats for the PCs, and perhaps the Astartes of the Space Fort.

[Jasonft]

This could get nasty in so many, many ways. And it probably will.

Question - Does the Inquisitor in question have the connections to call on the Adeptus Mechanicus or the Grey Knights?

The Adeptus would certainly be extremely interested in the Star Fort - and might be willing to kill anyone and everyone they can get away with (including the PCs) to make sure they and they alone get access to the holy secrets of the Machine.

The Grey Knights might or might not get involved on their own if they think there is a way to get inside the Fort. An intelligent Inquisitor will almost certainly try to call on them for the boarding action you describe. Given as they seem to be the *only* group in the 40k universe not infiltrated by Chaos the testimony/ records their surviving members give might be the only chance the Fallen Inquisitor has of clearing his name...

Other than those two groups I think you can assume every Chaos agent in the sector is going to be actively undermining your PCs and each other. If you need a starting point for your countdown timer assume that once the Inquisitor has the information on the vent that the Chaos astrologers and such notice them specifically and start to work against them.

For your boarding action you are going to need Space Marines in any case. Specifics good and bad would depend on which Chapter(s) gets involved.

If you need a specific ultimate villain I would suggest someone on Mars. Someone so well entrenched that digging them out risks opening Mars itself to accusations of heresy.

And last but certainly not least there is that Tyranid Swarm. Sooner or later they are going to brush up against the Fort and recognize it as a threat to their invasion. The possibilities of a dramatic finale on board a Fortress under siege by bugs without and Chaos corrupted (knowing or unknowing) Mechanicus and Space Marine boarders within are endless.

About all that could make things worse at that point would be someone the PCs trust turning out to be an avatar of the C'Tan god know as the Great Deceiver. Hmmm.....

[Tema69]

Very good points, all of them. I'll adress them separately. :)

Being an Interrogator, and not a full fledged Inquisitor, PC1 doesn't have the authority to call anyone. He might requisition local PDF or guards on a planet, then having to write full reports to higher ups. Apart from that, he's radical Ordo Xenos, which aren't really in good standing in most of the Imperium, since they are known to affiliate with aliens. Also, more importantly, the mission is theirs since they're the only ones in the area with knowledge and skills to perform it. I'm thinking they are already involved (before gamestart) with the Tyranid Invasion, helping evacuate/preparing the Planet Alpha for the Tyranid assault (like, I dunno, boobytrapping the hell out of everything, and killing all lifeforms so as not to give anything to the Xenos... That sort of work :P ), when the Star Fort starts threatening their evac...

The Grey Knights will surely prove a valuable asset to prove their lack of corruption, but I'm not sure they'll be involved so early in the process. They might have to call upon them at a later time, after having been disgraced.

As for the Chaos agents, how do you suggest work with that? Sure, they'll be interested, perhaps even the orchestrators of the Star Fort's appearance (even if the crew isn't corrupted), but how do they appear? Do they attack the PCs, block the vent, or what?

NB: as far as I've understood, Star Forts were crewed by a mix of Astartes, Imperial Fleet, and Mechanicus personel, so all it takes is the leader of one of those factions to be corrupted or tainted by Chaos. Then all crewmembers are valid targets (but might not be recognized as such in the debrief).

Space Marines... Gotta love 'em. If we assume the PCs have worked with, say, Salamanders (or whatever, really, I was just namedroppin'), on Planet Alpha, securing evacs etc, they might be able to convince them to help against the Star Fort. But the Fort is really gonna be a massive threat to any ship larger than a shuttle (incidentally, the PCs have a few small shuttles), so an all out attack might prove a devastating defeat.

However, the prospect you've laid out, with a climatic battle inside the Fort, timers running, Tyranids pouring through the hull, chaos agents and mechanicus joining the melee to get their hands on the Fort, is simply too good to pass up. We're just gonna have to figure out what's going to happen, because it risks becoming incredibly confusing (off game, ingame confusion is awesome).

BBEG-wise, a high-up in Mars might be interesting, but I'm not sure how to link this to the campaign? Perhaps he, after the destruction of the Fort, blames the PCs for the loss, ultimately contributing to their excommunication?

And the C'tan has gotta wait, I'm simply not that into Necrons yet. :D

[Jasonft]

Thought of a sure fire way to bring in at least one Space Marine group. You said that planet which was presumed destroyed was once an Astares recruitment world? If there are any units of that particular SM in the system when your nascent Inquisitor finds out that world still exists he'd be a damned fool not to notify them - the level of ****** off they would be finding out after the fact would be astronomical.

For Chaos you could in fact be completely random in assigning motives for both individuals and factions. Write up all of your major players or groups in the system for various social strata such as Administratum, Merchant Princes, Imperial Guard, etc - and then give each person a random percentage chance of secretly working for some covert faction that might or might not be Chaos.

A great way to do this (if you feel comfortable with it) is to draw two or three Tarot cards for each individual *after* you have written them up. Doing the cards after can lead to some surprising bits of creativity or so I have thought - it is good to let your universe surprise you sometimes.

Minor arcana are plot elements important to that individual (romance, financial involvement, a missing relative) that probably mean nothing in the larger scheme of things but are very important to that individual. Major Arcana means that in some way one or more major plots that will affect the larger course of action will impact this individual - but they might not know it themselves. Upright cards are generally positive while reversed cards are of course the opposite.

Always keep in mind that they don't have to be working for Chaos to make life difficult for the PCs. And that Chaos isn't always your worst immediate enemy.

As to the Necrons - I put them up because they are one of my favorites in the 40k universe. If you don't know them feel free to disregard.

[Tema69]

Sure thing, the Blood Ravens who lost a recruitment world through Administratum errors will surely be furious. Perhaps they should be the ones in the vincinity all along (helping out with the evac of Planet Alpha, etc), to simplify things for the PCs? :)

I'm really not familiar with tarot cards at all, except from name? But if I understand what you're saying, I could use them as a random assigner of character traits and motives for the NPCs?

Honestly, I like the Necron concept, I love their background story, but I don't think they have been well executed visually (too Terminator/Robot-Zombie for my taste). And for me, that's a big issue (I'm very visual, I draw and paint alot, etc...). Also, I know that both of my players aren't into Necrons either (I know pretty well what bad guys they're gonna wanna fight - Chaos, Nids, Orks, Heretics/Renegades, eachother, etc... Some of the weirder aspects of 40k are off-limits due to their interpretation of the rule of cool. Dark Eldar are too emo and spikey, Necrons are too robotzombieish and look like Arnold from terminator, etc...).

[Jasonft]

Keep in mind the necron and the C'Tan are two separate things. The C'Tan are old and powerful enough that they look at the Chaos gods as upstarts. They also have one huge advantage when fighting Chaos - they have no presence in the Warp and thus are extremely difficult to predict when looking into the future.

And Mars was one of their worlds millions of years ago. That right there should make you shiver a little.

Sorry to fanboy a little there. I just love the concept that much.

[Tema69]

You're right, forgot about the C'tan story. I'll look into that for the next adventure! :)

As for now, I've been looking at your idea for a grand finale aboard the star fort with a friend, and I'm thinking:

The troops that are to be evacuated will be the ones turning to Chaos (after the PCs leave them for their mission, corrupted by agents of Chaos while on their way to Planet Bravo). They'll try to take the Star Fort for themselves.

So we've got a boarding action by the PCs, interrupted by Tyranids (who, following the evacuation fleet, suddenly find the Fort a much larger edible target), AND renegade Imperial Guard regiments. While aboard, the PCs will fight their way through quite a diverging array of enemies (one big free for all), and when they at some point get in over their heads (I'll make sure they do), and are about to get pwnd bigtime, the local Blood Raven battle company boards, and rescues the PCs. The twist will be (and to avoid a feeling of Deus Ex Machina), the Raven commander will step up and thank the PCs!
...for rediscovering their lost recruiting planet (Planet Delta). The Ravens heard about where the PCs went, got curious/furious, and went to do a recon in force of the planet. Met with hostility (they aren't supposed to exist, if you follow the local indoctrination, thus they're probably Chaos), they withdraw (not wanting unnecessary bloodshed among their ex-allies), find the Imperial-friendly rebels, and hear about the PCs and where they are. They leave a small contingent to protect the rebels, and head out to help/thank the PCs, while also wanting the data they collected).


On another note, I've elaborated on what's gonna happen on Planet Delta:
The PCs will have to succeed in a one-on-one fight (one each) against the rebel's champions in an abandonned factory (interesting location). Then, having been accepted as warriors, they'll have to be accepted as loyal (or at least enemies of the ruling state). A rebel elder/intellectual leader, one who might happen to know the answer to the PCs' questions, has been captured along with other rebels when their main base got attacked and overrun. The PCs will both prove their thrustworthiness, and get the info they need, by either extracting the prisoners and/or retaking the camp. A very succesful outcome for this mission will result in added gratitude and more help from the rebels (guides, transportation, supplies, etc...).

The elder will be able to tell the PCs about the various data storage facilities, but not which one houses what they need. He'll tell them that they're gonna need someone with the knowledge to access the information. They're gonna need to take a prisoner, and not just anyone. Someone with that kind of knowledge.
[Here, I'm not sure how I'm supposed to do this. Should they infiltrate a city, ambush a convoy, etc?]
...and they're gonna have to drag that unwilling prisoner around to each facility, protect him, and force him to help them. Also, perhaps they need some kinda gear as well. Another raid will be necessary.

Then they can start exploring the facilities. I'm thinking about throwing in some sort of rewards if they are willing to raid more facilities than strictly necessary. Perhaps giving them a chance to gain certain bypass codes for the main datafacility (like, a one-shot deactivation of all defenses for 90 seconds or something). Any thoughts?

Then, I got worried about the PCs being able to wade through all local resistance (remember, the locals are TL4 + TL9-10 gadgets, so we're talking plate armour, melee weapons, etc). First, I figured that to make things interesting, the planet had relatively low oxygen levels. Second, it was subject to sudden changes in weather (fog, rain, storm, etc, all obscuring sight, and thus reducing their firearm-related advantage). Then, I figured (with help), that perhaps the planet's atmosphere contained a small trace of acidity, which would damage things like firearms and other complex gadgets in the long run (increasing Malfunction by 1 every day or whatnot). Then, to bring them down a few Tech Levels, that the residual effects of weapons employed during the planet's civil war, some sort of EMP thing, would render electrical gadget unusable at times/areas.
...then again, that would mean they'd be in for a world of trouble inside the facilities, so I decided that those facilities incorporated force shields, warding against the EMP effects. Thus, gadgets work inside.
All these effects would come to an end when they leave the Planet (to go raid the Star Fort), since they have access to spare parts to fix their weapons in their shuttle.

Ideas? Suggestions? Criticism? :)

[Jasonft]

Low tech levels and any degree of accurate technical and/or historical knowledge (especially in a regressed 40k planet) is probably going to be a monastery.

I really can't see any capability of cyberware surviving, so you are going to end up with is a much diverged descendant of the Mechanicus running a 'Canticle for Leibowitz' type of thing - the monks keep all these records and diagrams and have no clue what they all mean, but memorize them all anyways believing that eventually the Emperor's holy machine spirits will return to lift them back to the sky.

Find the monk with the right knowledge and convince or coerce their aid. You will still have to fight the auto defenses but not all of them.

The Blood Ravens catching up with the PCs at the big finale works. Especially if the PCs were in such a hurry they only had time for a quick Astropath message to their main chapterhouse before leaving for the lost planet.

If you really want to ratchet up the angst have the crew of the battle-station seemingly be clean of Chaos taint when the PCs get there. But wait, what about that *other* ship that got in just before the PCs but was empty when they checked it. Who was on that one and why are they sneaking onto the station? How did they know about that vent? Oh no! Something got onto the station and suddenly everyone is going insane or falling ill or something. And the Tyranids are coming this way!

Want a really evil twist? Nurgle worshipers are actually helping the PCs covertly the whole time. That part of the evacuation fleet trapped in the system by the fort is carrying a plague with a long incubation period and they want it to leave before the illness becomes obvious.