Fall from Grace: Campaigning in Warhammer 40.000

[Tema69]

Ex-Adept Mechanicus might work as the ones with tech-knowledge. I guess surviving members of the Mech Cult might have integrated with the emerging civilization (post-civil-war), and have become somewhat different during the generations.
But they (and perhaps the top echelons of the government), might be the only ones with any real access to military grade high tech gear (and decryption devices for the data facilities). Thus, snatching one might prove dangerous.

I really like the whole nurgle-worshipping-agent-helping-the-pcs-secretly idea, but to minimize (my) confusion, perhaps we should slap that idea on top of the what's-that-ship-that-just-boarded idea. How about said Nurgle worshipper(s) boarding after the PCs to create a psychic beacon for the now-corrupted troopships to home in on, while for the first time taking active part in the whole thing, by preventing the PCs from blowing up the Star Fort.

Also, to give the PCs a hint of Nurgle influence, they might discover whole areas killed off by Nurgle Plagues (Chaos agents helping the PCs with eliminating local lifeforms) while the PCs are rounding up civies in extermination camps (keep in mind the inspiration for the Inquisition is stuff like the Gestapo and the KGB) and virus bombing forrests etc, to deny the nids any advantage they might gain from attacking the planet. That might not make any sense to them at first, but they might connect the dots later on (if not, I'll be sure to insert some sort of debrief, one way or the other).

[Jasonft]

If you haven't already, go pick up a copy of 'Warriors of Ultramar'. The descriptions of a system under Tyranid siege (as told by an Ultramarine) are exactly what you are going to need.

Don't be too obvious about Nurgle helping the PCs. Remember that there is a lot going on in that system at the moment, and even Chaos is going to have trouble making specific responses to specific needs. There should be hints of course - how about a local physician who seems to be completely helpful and devoted to the Imperium but has really bad 'allergies' (claims that with the invasion he can't get his meds but still really wants to help...).

[Tema69]

Yeah, Warrior of Ultramar will be a good book to reread before this game. :) It's really one of the best Ultramarine novels IMHO. :)

Meh, my PCs are really oblivious to discreet hints, but I do like the corrupted medic idea :D

[BlackLiger]

Originally Posted by Tema69

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?

RE this: For the first one: Let them decide how they are going to grab someone with that knowledge. Give them the options of raid the city, ambush the convoy, trick the bugger out, etc.. I've run many a session where 90% of the session has consisted of the players trying to work out HOW to accomplish their objective.

The more facilities they explore, the more hints and clues they have A) for boarding the fort (say one has the timings for the vent and the engineering plans, but another had a crew manifest. The third one they can find useful stuff in has appropriate era control codes, and yet another (allowing for further hints of corruption in the side currently in control of the world) has an accurate sensor feed from the battlestation that can be downloaded to a dataslate and tied in.


I'd reccomend the Ciaphias Cain novels. Not for their "Cowardly Commissar" (though he contributes) but more for the solutions used. "How do I get through a wall" is often "Insert Melta-gun here."

[Tema69]

Good point regarding letting the PCs figure out how to deal with the situation, and rolling with it.
And I like your ideas for what's in each of the facilities.
I won't have time to read Ciaphas Cain in time for the game (we've started), but I've considered picking them up when I've been going down to buy my Astartes-books-fix :)

I'll do a resume of what the PC's have done so far ASAP and post it. :)

[Tema69]

+++Chapter Zero: In the 41st millenium, there is only war!+++
Standing by a large window in the top floor of a quickly abandonned Hab block, two men stare silently at the city below them, the rising sun's rays licking the buildings like fire. The biggest of the men, standing nealy seven feet tall and broad-shouldered enough to hint to his bio-mechanical enhancements, wears a black carapace armour and a large amount of webbing and equipment. Holstered on his hip is a huge revolver, a legacy to his relatively primitive native planet Lostok. Slung across his back is a small rocket launcher, and in his hands he carries a modified and shortened grenade launcher. His head is bare, scarred and weathered, except for the radio headset and the dark mohawk on top of his skull. A tattoo on his chin indicates his former rank as a Captain in the 23rd Lostok Regiment. The other man, a smaller, more lithe warrior, wears a black ornate cuirass, a matching long, heavy cape, and carries his helmet in the crook of his left arm. A long, elaborately decorated staff rests in his right hand. Both men wear the white I of the Inquisition on their armour with pride, and their weapons and gear are blessed with purity seals. Below them, a few clicks toward the center of town, a massive crowd of civilians are flocked, numbering in the hundreds of thousands. Although invisible to the naked eye, a perimeter of Vostroyan heavy weapons teams all signalled their active status on the two mens' cogitators. Usually, such a force would be arrayed in a defensive circle around the city, but these were not usual times. A great threat, one that cannot easily be defended against without accepting huge losses, was approaching. The Xeno race of Tyranids were bearing down on the planet, a splinter fleet of bio-ships having entered the system only a few days earlier. If they make planetfall, they'd eat any biological matter, bring it back to their bio-ships, which in turn would allow them to spawn even more alien monstrousities on the next planet they attack. The only solution would seem to remove anything biological located on the planet. Whilst the local troops were being evacuated onto a fleet in orbit, along with any Administratum or Echlesiarchy personnel of importance, there weren't enough ships to evacuate the entire planet's population of 3.5 billion souls. Dark are the thoughts of the aspiring Inquisitor, Altáir Idaeos, Interrogator rank of the Ordo Xeno. Interrupted by the telltale noise of multiple pulse weapons opening fire, his attention is diverted to the building opposite, where his Kroot mercenaries are in position. As no flashes came from there, he immediately checks the status of the handful of Tau warriors located on the ground floor of this Hab block. A voice chatters in the radio, and after a quick series of status reports, one of the Tau warriors acknowledges having opened fire on running foot mobiles trying to cross the perimeter. A few civilians had tried to get away. Three of the Tau had popped out from their concealed positions and gunned them down. This was discipline. There could be no wavering in the Inquisition. The orders had to be followed. Still, it didn't feel right with the young Interrogator. Behind them in the corridor, they hear the doors of the elevator open and close with a hydraulic hiss, and a moment later, a short silhouette appears in the doorway. His distinctive facial features, his small size, and his hooved legs mark him as a Tau, but his black armour's white Inquisition symbols mark him as part of the team. His fatigues are, in contrast to the others', not dark, but camouflaged in a desert-brown tigerstripe pattern, a relic of his past with the Tau Empire. The lho-stick in the corner of his mouth dances as he reports all clear to Idaeos, in a friendly tone that might suggest experience more than real rank or status. Shas'ui Saik, steps into the room, and draws an ornate command staff that looks like it's been through the Warp and back again. Behind him hovers a saucer-shaped drone with a large communication array and multiple scanning gadgets and optics. Saik points the staff at the window, and with a click of a hidden button, he shoots a blast of flechettes that splinters the window and send broken pieces plummeting down. He smiles at the two humans, reload and holsters the shotgun-staff, and all in his own time, unslings a Pulse Carbine with a Markerlight designator and aims it out the window. He then proceeds to speak a few words of Tau into his radio, and after receiving the acknowledgement he was waiting for, he looks up at the men and speaks into his headset, letting his xenotech cogitator translate his chirps into Gothic:
"All set, Altáir. Weapons hot, waiting for your order."
Altáir looks out the window one last time, absorbs the view of eight hundred thousands souls about to die, and nods silently. He motions to his bodyguard, Kareek, and taps his radio. The former Captain contacts the Lieutenant leading the Vostroyan company, and informs him that splashdown is moments away, so his troops are to keep their heads down and make sure their equipment is well-sealed. Saik grips his carbine tightly, and presses the designator beam activation button.
"Piranha Two, this is Seeker Actual, thermobaric rounds, fire one."
"Stand by, Seeker Actual. Missile away. Impact in four seconds."
The linguistic cogitator translated the exchange for the two humans, but the tone was unmistakable. A moment later, the white trace of the missile appears, and the feared silhouette of the shark-like missile hammers down in the midst of the crowd, it's explosion releasing a fuel that ignites even the air. The civilians panic as they watch their friends, family and neighbours go up in flames, and suddenly, it's a stampede. Tumbling over eachother, a large portion make way for the main street, but seconds later, another missile impacts there. Saik had anticipated the rush, and now proceeds to mark all possible exits in order, while missiles box the survivors in and in a matter of minutes reduce them to ashes. Saik picks up his carbine, pulls out a new lho-stick from his pack, smiles and says, both to Altáir and into the radio:
"Full impact on target, job well done." and then, more to himself "...easy-made money.".
+++End Transmission+++

Hope you liked it. I've got Chapter Two: First Contact coming up ASAP. :)

[Jasonft]

Nice. Some definite potential there. Kinda wish I was in it. :(

Nitpick if I may? How is your aspiring Inquisitor explaining to his bosses the fact that he is still using Tau troops? The Inquisition is known for being unforgiving and fanatical about doctrinal error - and a central part of Ordos doctrine is that aliens are at a minimum not to be trusted.

I had not considered this in the earlier comments I made in-thread.

[Tema69]

Well, we ran an Ordo Xeno game with another game master (my character was Shas'ui Saik, the Tau team leader) a few years back, and there really wasn't any real excuse as for why most of us played aliens. We just liked the idea. :)
But really, alien involvement could be explained by the Inquisitors (the ones the Interrogator answers to) being somewhat radical (like Malleus using Daemonhosts, etc etc...), as well as a limited knowledge by the higher ups who might frown upon such things.
As far as I could read in the Inquisitor rulebooks, a lot of stuff is so undercover that the Inquisitors have quite a lot of freedom - even though a revelation of their activities might have him suspended or excommunicated (which is exactly where I'm trying to go with this anyway). As for being discovered by locals, the Tau and Kroot are excellent at stealth, and if the sh*t hits the fan, they'll hide out in the vehicles (which have thermo-optic camouflage). Worst case scenario, they are Inquisition, they'll just kill any dude who happens to see wtf is going on.

Edit: Also, the numbers of xenos involved is pretty low. IIRC, there are 5 kroots, a shaper, 4 pathfinders, and their team leader, Saik.

[Tema69]

+++Chapter One: First Contact+++
The lead skimmer, a modified Tau scout speeder called a Tetra, slows down. The convoy, consisting of a Piranha skimmer, a modified open topped troop transport and a rear-guard Piranha, adjust their speed. They'd been racing from city to city for most of the day, leaving thermobarically ignited ashes behind, and a few hundred Guardsmen in chemical warfare suits to deal with the rest. The road they've been following runs through the burned out skeleton of a once proud forrest, its decimated tree trunks jutting out of the ground like a thousand blackened fingers. Suddenly, the black clad captain, now acting bodyguard of the Interrogator, jumps out of his rear seat in the Tetra, slams into the ground with an impact that would have crippled a lesser man on the spot, gets up and sprints into the forrest, a large grenade launcher in his huge hand. Altáir screams a few orders at him, and orders battleformations: "Contact, 3 o'clock, possible Tyranid organism!" A Piranha smoothly slides by the Tetra to take the lead, while the passengers of the troop transport all bring their weapons up and scan the surrounding forrest for targets. What follows becomes a confusing mass of gunfire and thermooptic organic camouflage. After a few seconds of running more or less aimlessly, Kareek suddenly changes course, and opens fire with his grenade launcher on the move. The grenade impacts som thirty yards away, and an alien hissing scream of pain erupts. Still invisible to the rest of the team, the wounded Lictor comes to and starts a hellishly quick sprint towards Kareek. The latter, undisturbed, perhaps even thrilled to be joined in melee with the creature sooner than expected, fires a few more rounds before clashing with it. The Lictor jumps, crushing the treestump it used as a stepping stone, and twists its body in midair so as to bring both it's huge talons to bear against Kareek. Not a big fan of dodging, the Gland War Veteran is still firing when the claws hit him. The force of the impact send him flying several yards, during which he manages to fire of three shots at the creatures face - none of which explode due to the proximity setting - which send the Tyranid staggering back a bit, and performs a perfect example of the landing technique known as "more luck than grace" as he comes crashing down, landing on his feet. Firing the last shot, he drops his launcher, and while walking towards the Lictor, draws his combat blade, a weapon taken from a tau commander he slew in personal combat years back. Crawling on top of the Lictor's chest, he hammers the blade into it's face, repeatedly and violently while screaming "Revenge! Revenge for Dantis III, Xeno scum!". Covered in alien blood, he now looks to his own wounds. Finding none but a bent breastplate, he suddenly becomes aware of the voice in his radio screaming at him to get back to the vehicles.

+++End Transmission+++

There's more to come, I'm behind on my writing! :)