So, I’m leading a game in the distant future of Warhammer 40K, where the only constant is war, and the knowledge that demons will gladly eat your soul if you’re weak or unwary. If you’re unfamiliar with the setting, then go here. I’ll wait.
I like this setting because you get to play the role of the Inquisition. The players are sort of the bad guys. Hero is subjective. Lots of grays. And I truly enjoy putting my players into moral dilemmas, which I don’t really care how they react as long as they’re consistent. The ends justify the means is totally the theme, and I often have a powerpoint of 40K quotes cycling in the background to get everyone in the mood. Like such.
"Blessed is the mind too small for doubt." - Inquisitor Glessman
So my group of investigators work for a heartless moderate Inquisitor who gives them a long leash, as long as they continue to produce results. He’s been known to react to failures by turning the unproductive into servitors where they can be more useful. You get the idea. Serve or die, and you better serve well.
Oh, also he’s a demon-hunter, so this team is pretty much used as investigators to flush out cults, blasphemers, nere-do-wells, forbidden lore keepers, and of course...demons.
They’ve been given a 5 paragraph order to travel to a distant planet, because some local Battle Priest has requested their assistance. Demons or something.
The three central characters are a Psycher, a Techpriet, and an Abbot. The Psycher is a tall, bald, weird dude with pale skin, who dispatches cultists with lightning fingers. The Techpriest is a neutered, rebreather-wearing, gadget fixer, who likes to blast bad guys with his trusty hellpistol.
And the Abbot is a female 17year old zealot, who doesn’t have time for heretics. She has a 44 magnum. Itty bitty girl in big stompy boots. Think of a blond River Tam, I suppose.
The story starts with our three adventurers, being placed into cryosleep, aboard a small warship named the “Garfish”.
Cryosleep isn’t in nice sanitized, Aliens pods; but in oversized, rusty, cylindrical iron tanks. Springing from the tanks are all manner of pipes, wires, hydraulics, gears, and dials that are no longer readable. Probably steam coming out of some tube, and many couplings are leaking. The three must enter the tanks, which fill up with not-quite-clean water/gel and freeze solid. (I make a few checks for fatigue/damage based on random malfunctions and toughness.)
I think the process pretty much harms everyone as they wake up. They collect themselves, board their Aquilla Lander...
... and descend to the planet’s surface to do the Emperor’s work.
6 comments:
Warning: incoming nerd-rant!
I feel it necessary to point out your "Garfish" is NOT a little ship - that's a Lunar-class cruiser, pride of the Imperial Navy. As with most Imperial Cruisers, she carries prow torpedoes described as being over a kilometer long, each.
;)
(By the way, Battlefleet Gothic is a great game!)
/nerdlisp
Back on topic - I envy you. The 40k universe has such a lovely depth to it, and so many ways to indulge your evil GM'ing tendencies. Are your players familiar with the setting, or did you luck out as much as Cory, with his Warhammer-ignorant players?
Nice post! Nothing like starting a campaign in media res, like aboard a decrepit, barely-functioning dropship heading to a planet that's probably teeming with heretics!
One nice thing about 40K is that the art is so flippin' awesome, though sometimes I get overwhelmed with all the frayed and yellowed scrolls people wear on their clothes in the future. They really need to find a 'Lamination STC' on some forgotten magazine-producing world, so they can protect their important scribblings better.
The Garfish is the ship is the lower right corner of the pic. Hahaha. Actually, I couldn't find a good pic of a small Imperial destroyer, that wasn't a model.
"Are your players familiar with the setting"
No, they weren't when we started, and the first time I described a cherub, they looked at me like I had mental problems. "Well, you see...you lobotomize a baby, hook up a small cognigator and some anti-grav unit... And now you have someone to light those candles up high!"
*look of horror*
One of my biggest problems is to maintain the dark oppressive mood when my players are cracking jokes.
Also the cryo tanks were right up my alley. I thought about having one of them fail. I don't kill the players throuh no fault of their own, but it's A-OK to harm them.
"I don't kill the players throuh no fault of their own, but it's A-OK to harm them."
If the dice were to arbitrarily kill 'em due to a cryo tank failure then they obviously just weren't devout enough to the Emperor. They should pray harder.
Do you switch campaigns so soon? What about your Gathering storm campaign?
Hey Plutonick, I didn't stop playing Warhammer or anything. We share this blog between a few DM buddies and their campaigns. You can filter them by label if you want. Brando (this post's author) is running Dark Heresy for his group (40K), while I'm running Warhammer for my group (WFRP), and Kevin is running D&D 4e for his group (DND 4e).
Post a Comment