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Hello all, I am trying to get some tips for starting my gaming group on Dark Heresy / Rogue Trader. I have never been a GM before but by default that role is going to fall onto my shoulders. I have a copy of the core rules on order and in the mail... any tips for starting players/gms? Any thing aside from the rulebook (and some different types of dice I imagine) that I'll be needing for my play group? Can I use 28mm models from the 40k range? How is it different from the old specialist game Inquisitor?

Any help would be much appreciated!

--FP135

Glad to see someone new taking a crack a GMing. The system is rather simple if you want it to be. That is the big thing with being a new GM. Keep it simple. Between making your story, and managing the players you will have a hard enough time.

A good way to go about it is use a pregen to get your first game going. If you have a great idea for your own plot have at it! Just remember. You are the Gm. You have the POWA! I don't mean abuse it, but if your players are killing everything fast and easy add a few HPs to your bad guy. If they are getting stomped scale it back. Also, DON'T BE AFRAID TO LET PEOPLE DIE. It is a dark dirty universe. It happens. No one likes dieing in the game, but if your players feel like invulnerable gods the game looses the edge.

Reward creative play as much as possible. You have a hard enough time moving the story along. If a player is really in character and moving the story along give them a XP treat.

40K models work great if you can find ones that fits your purpose.

You can find battle mats online all over. The ones that can have two side so you can choose the layout. Good examples here http://www.chessex.com/mats/Battlemats_MegamatsReversible.htm

Hope some of this helps. Good luck with the game.

Ok those are great tips... I did have a great idea for a plot so I could use my space hulk tiles as the rooms/halls etc, but I don't know how good it is. Only way to get better is with practice, right?

Here's my first attempt at a rough-draft for a scenario, up for your review and criticism.

A little note before reading it: I did try to make this scenario very linear, to keep first-time-RPG'ers on track. So if it is more a total railroad than the Oriental Express, that is why!

(If the pictures fail to load as they should -imbedded in the document, that is-, then notify me and I will upload them manually)

FoxPhoenix135 - I'm in the exact same boat as you right now, except I have 3 games under my belt now. Let me tell you what I've learnt for myself so far from those three games.

1. Read the rulebook. Don't just skim it - read it.

That's almost a direct quote from the GM section of the Dark Heresy rulebook and it is absolutely true. I’d even go so far as to download the Shattered Hope introductory scenario from the Fantasy Flight Games website and read that first before you even open the rulebook, as that will give you a condensed and more ordered version of how the game is meant to be played and how the various rules interact with one another.

Once you’ve done that, then open the rulebook and look in the contents for the section entitled “Playing the Game”. Ignore ‘Character Creation’ and the Armoury, Skills, Talents and Psychic Powers and just go to Playing the Game and the sections for GM’s. Read them. Read them again. Get into your head how combat works, the various actions you can take in combat. Even if you have experience with RPGs (I didn’t), make sure you understand these basics of combat and out-of-combat interaction. It’s all very important.

2. Scale & Models.

We use 40K models for our games. I’m lucky enough to have both an extensive 40K collection, and a huge Necromunda collection, giving me a wide variety of unique models to use as adversaries as well as Player Characters (I’ve even got the full suite of Limited Edition Tech-Priests for players who want to play as a Tech-Priest that looks like a Tech-Priest). The bigger and more varied your collection of miniatures, the better you can approximate the types of adversaries you will fight. If you only play Eldar or Marines in 40K, this could present a bit of a problem.

I also have a fairly sizable collection of varying tile types – all three editions of Space Hulk, Warhammer Quest, the DOOM board game (which I bought specifically for its tiles), virtually every D&D tileset they make, SW miniature game A1-map sheets, plus oodles of 40K terrain. I mention this because scale is important. Everything in Dark Heresy is measured out, so if you’re going to say that 1 metre = 1 square, that can lead to some issues.

Look at your Space Hulk tiles. Notice how all the corridors are 1-square wide. Now look at the ranges for some of the weapons – Lasgun, 100 metres, Autogun, 90 metres. These are quite long ranges, and if you’re getting 1 square = 1 metre, then everyone will spend the entire game at short range! In the last game I played we made each square = 2 metres. It meant it was a bit wonky for things that could walk 3 metres a turn (we rounded up), but it instantly increased the size of the board without needing more physical space.

And you don’t have to use miniatures at all. You could draw out a map on a grid and use tokens. I prefer using 40K minis because it just adds to the atmosphere, but don’t feel limited because you want to do a cool scenario hunting down a Chaos Cult, and you’re proxying everything with Orks and Tyranids.

3. GM vs the Players.

One thing I stipulated very early on to my players (there are five of them) is that Dark Heresy shouldn’t be about them trying to beat me, and nor should it be about me trying to defeat them. As the GM you are simply the facilitator of the story, an adjudicator (and sometimes executioner) and someone who keeps the game flowing.

Furthermore, things will break down fairly quickly if the players are constantly trying to find ways around the scenario you’ve devised, or if they stop playing (ie. you present them with a corrupted chapel to enter in where a Chaos Cult lies… and one of your players decides he wants to lie down and sleep rather than go into the chapel – he’s stopped playing the game, and the scenario is stalled). It’s very much a ‘give and take’ style relationship – you have to give them the scenario and the boundaries in which they can act, but you can let them take everything for granted and will have to reel them in from time to time.

4. Don’t waste your cool ideas in your first game.

In my head now I have had two epic 5-part campaigns that span a bunch of different worlds and slowly reveal a plot of deception, intrigue, corruption and betrayal. If I’d started all the players out in my first act, we would have spent far too much time learning the game than we did concentrating on my carefully crafted plotlines. For that very reason, I created three different scenarios that would allow me to teach the players (and myself) the ins and outs of the rules whilst giving them a small taste of what was to come.

To put it another way, if you have your heart set on a grand scenario where the players infiltrate their way into the depths of a corrupted city, seeking a high Magos that’s been leading an uprising, and you want the final confrontation to be that the Magos is actually a puppet for an Alpha Legion Sorcerer – that’s great, go for it! But don’t make that the first game you play, otherwise you’ll spend so much time figuring out how everything works (and making mistakes – and you will all make mistakes) that you’ll miss all the cool ‘plot stuff’ that you invented.

So, as an example of how I did it, my first game involved none of the characters that the players will be playing as. I came up with two low-level Hive dwellers, using the Scum and Assassin archetypes, and put them in a ‘Chase’ scenario where they had vital information they had to get to the Arbites in the Hive but they were being pursued by a bunch of unknown gangsters. The first part I made about navigation, traversing difficult terrain and climbing (using Cities of Death terrain and loads of barricades and ruins) using ‘narrative time’ to work out when bad guys would appear. The longer it took them to navigate the maze I’d set out, the more time they’d spend fighting people.

Once they were over that, the next section was a ‘last stand’ scenario where they had to fight off waves of bad guys for a period of time. This was more of an open area with lots of cover to move and fight between. Finally the last section was after they got into an abandoned Arbites Precinct Bastion, and fighting off more waves of guys with the help of an Arbite NPC, this time using some old Space Hulk tiles (specifically the Genestealer expansion tiles, as they’re 3 squares wide rather than 1 square wide, allowing for bigger rooms). Then they all died when I threw three Genestealers at him.


The second game was the best one by far, as it was a ‘Break Out’ scenario where one of the players started off stripped of all his equipment and stuck inside an Arbite Precinct House and the other two players had to get into the Precinct House and break the valuable psyker Acolyte out. I gave the players four different ways of entering the precinct, and they actually came up with a fifth way by combining two of the four ways I’d given them. They cleverly got in, grabbed one of the Arbites, interrogated him got more information, used the Arbite’s armour to masquerade as an Arbite.

Of course, the player stuck in jail wasn’t about to just sit there and await rescue, and with the help of his NPC cellmate killed a guard and broke free. Then all hell broke lose as the alarm was sounded and they had to fight off about 15 Arbites through whatever manner they could (best example where was one player pretended to be a friendly Arbite and lured a squad of 3 Arbites into the armoury before throwing a grenade at their feet, hitting the button to close the door and dived out of the room – the explosion killed the three Arbites, but the big heavy armoury door wasn’t destroyed by the explosion, saving the life of the Assassin Acolyte.

Then I threw a twist at them, turning the cellmate of the psyker into a Daemonhost once all the Arbites were dead. Turns out the Inquisitor had misled all his Acolytes, had intended for the psyker to get captured to give them an excuse to go into the Precinct House to both kill the corrupt Arbites and expose (and destroy) the Daemonhost. This game was played using a combination of the excellent DOOM board game tiles, and the D&D sewer system tiles.


The last game we played was the least successful, and highlights two things I will explain in further detail in a minute. This time it was a game centred around a small space sort (think Mos Eisley space port from Star Wars – four big open bays for smaller cargo craft, that sort of thing – actually used a Millennium Falcon model as one of the ships docked at the port! ). Two of the players, a Guardsman and a Priest, were awaiting transportation as they had been summoned by the Inquisition but did not know why. The third player, a Tech-Priest, was just the Tech-Priest who worked at the Space Port, and had no connection with the other two. Next thing you know the control tower has exploded and a ship full of pirates arrived, coming to attack the Space Port and plunder it of its cargo. With them came a number of Blood Axe Orks Kommandoz, working with the pirate leader!

This used a combination of 3rd Ed Space Hulk tiles to make up the interior of the Space Port, and two sets of ‘Halls of Kings’ D&D tiles (I think that’s what they’re called) to make the large out-door paved areas where the larger ships were. It started with the Tech-Priest and his small gaggle of Servitors, which I let him control, fighting the Orks (including a Kommando Kaptin w/Power Klaw). The Guardsman and Priest eventually got back to their small barracks to collect their weapons then rushed to the aid of the Tech-Priest (in actual fact they were going towards the noise of fighting – they had no idea who they’d be helping).

Once the Orks were dealt with they teamed up to get rid of the rest of the pirates, who by this stage were starting to break into the underground vaults. As waves of pirate scum and a few left-over Ork stragglers came at the three players, they used a big U-shaped corridor to hold them off. The Tech-Priest and his remaining Servitor (w/Melta-Cutter) decided to cut into the vault via the wall on the other side, so they could break through and meet the pirates just as they busted in. This didn’t end up happening as the Priest’s Hand Flamer proved to be so damned effective in the confined corridors that he finished off most of the Pirates himself (at once stage even setting one on fire, then running up and using his sword to cut the pirate’s head off in a way that sent it sailing down the corridor ‘Happy Gilmore’ style – I made the Pirates that saw the flying flaming head all take fear tests, and most of them failed and ran away!).

This one wasn’t as successful for three reasons – interpersonal conflicts, scenario structure and encounter balance. There’s nothing you can really do about interpersonal conflicts if the people playing have certain idiosyncrasies that get on one another’s nerves. The best you can do here as GM is to act as a sort of diplomat and do things to avoid those situations cropping up in the first place. Also don’t sit them next to one another… But the other two items I will talk about.

5. Encounter Balance.

This is something that I feel I’m yet to get right. In the first game I had a bunch of ‘mooks’ that worked fine – they caused good damage, but died to just about anything. I also created a few ‘Big Bads’ to spice up the combat, but I made them far too weak, and their pitiful 10 wounds were eaten through in a single round of combat most times. The Genestealers, on the other hand, were nigh-unstoppable, and only a liberal use of Krak Grenades saw two of them felled before the final one got the last character.

In the second game the Arbites were a little tougher due to their armour, but they were still a bit on the weak side (Power Swords are frickin’ awesome… especially on a WS50+ Assassin who gets to attack twice per turn). Not many Fate Points were used and they were never in too much danger. Even the Daemonhost was a bit of a pushover, but that was mostly my fault.

- - As an Aside, I should mention that all characters in these scenarios were pre-generated. In the first scenario I started the characters at Rank 2, in the second two of them were rank 3 with the Assassin at Rank 5, and the second game with all three at Rank 3, this was to avoid them just getting utterly destroyed by the first Stub Gun-wielding Scum they came across - -

The third game was even more strange with the Orks at the start proving to be unbelievably tough (Toughness 40 w/Unnatural Toughness X2 makes them very hard to kill), so it game down to the Tech-Priest’s axe and the Servitors Melta-Cutter before they won that confrontation (and the Tech-Priest was in Critical Damage by this stage, and that was only with me being nice and not attacking him for one round with the Power Klaw Nob and instead killing one of the Servitors). Then the lesser pirates were a complete pushover, with them dying in droves to accurate Lasgun, Shotgun and especially Hand Flamer fire (look up the rules for the Talent ‘Cleanse and Purify’ once you’ve read the rules for how Flamers work… that’s a great ability).

The point I’m making here is that encounter balance – as in how dangerous or pathetic each of your combat set pieces are – is a very difficult task that will take lots of trial and error before you get it right. I don’t think I’ve got it right yet, and my next scenario involves mostly Zombies, tougher Zombies, and then some more technical enemies towards the end. Not sure whether to swarm them with low level mooks like in Left 4 Dead, or make them really tough Zombies that you have to destroy utterly before the finally stop moving (like the Warp Zombies from the Purge the Unclean scenario book). I’d start by making things a bit easier than a bit more difficult. If everyone dies during the first few encounters people will stop having fun.

6. Scenario Structure.

If you’re going to be making up your own scenarios, you must structure them out. You need to be flexible, but if you don’t define things that could be important (like how tough doors are), it will lead to situations where the game play stalls as you try to think of things.

In my second game I defined exactly what the players were trying to do, gave them suggestions on how they could achieve that, and defined all the important things that could come in handy (ie. what was in the evidence room, where the psyker’s equipment was, what was in the armoury, what was in the Provost’s quarters, how tough the doors were, etc.) and also tied a lot of things to tests (ie. if they searched the evidence room, depending on how well and for how long they did it they found more stuff).

In the third game I kind’ve hit a creative wall and didn’t define a lot of the things, and the objective was far looser. This lead to a situation where the players didn’t have much of a direction or a drive, and so things stalled and lurched back and forth between slow and fast.

You don’t have to think of everything – I didn’t expect them to spend so much time looking through the Provost’s quarters so made up a hidden safe to reward them for looking so hard – and there will always be situations that you don’t anticipate, but make sure you define the world the scenario takes place in an all the elements that you think could become critical to the story.


And that’s my experience from the three games and lots of brainstorming that I’ve done so far. You’ll find your way through eventually – just be sure to read that rulebook carefully.

As to what else to buy, the GM’s Shield is great not because you can hide stuff, but because of the big summary of weapons and common actions and tables it has. Very useful. The Inquisitor’s Handbook is a great booked with loads of additional weapons, expanded uses for skills, and alternate ranks for various character classes. The Creature’s Anathema is great if you want to include a few more classic 40K units like Orks, Eldar and Tyranids in the game, plus loads of other aliens and daemons and mutants and so on. The Radical’s Handbook is good if you’re interested in having your Inquisitor (which usually represents you as the GM) have a more radical bent, so you can have Tainted Priests and Daemonhosts working for you. And soon Ascension will give you access to higher level characters as a starting point, like Vindicare Assassins, Crusaders, Storm Troopers and so on.

Have fun!

Wow H, that was a GREAT post. That must have taken you forever to write it!

A couple topics of discussion you hit on that I have questions about:
1) When planning scenarios, how thoroughly should you plan them? How scripted is too scripted, becoming a movie that the players watch more than a game in which they interact?
2) Is starting out players at Rank 1 a bad idea? Are they going to be creamed by most baddies that have anything more powerful than a club?
3) Is it neccessary that I COMPREHEND all the rules in the playing the game section? I read all of it, but there are times that it doesn't quite seem clear to me how it is supposed to pan out. I got the gist of it, but should I really try to memorize all the rules from that section before trying to GM?

Thanks for the help, BTW, it is really useful.

Also, any words of wisdom to improve my scenario I posted, if you have time to read through it, would also be appreciated!

FoxPhoenix135 wrote:
1) When planning scenarios, how thoroughly should you plan them? How scripted is too scripted, becoming a movie that the players watch more than a game in which they interact?

You should plan them thoroughly enough that there is a logical way for the players to go from start to finish but not so thoroughly as to create only a single path from start to finish. Each step in the adventure should logically follow the previous one.

For instance, lets say your group needs to find out that something weird has been happening at the Cathedral outside of town. You might be tempted to have a single NPC have this info and then drive your players into that NPC or make him come to them, don't. If an NPC would logically know that something is weird let them say so. Let important information flow from alternate sources. However don't go overboard and have every schlub in the city know every detail of what's going on. Keep it logical and if they need more information gently nudge them towards the appropriate source.

Just be flexible.

This is going to be a constant challenge for you and the players. They're going to do as they please and you have to try and make sure that 'as they please' moves the story along. From time to time you really do need to put them on some tracks and railroad them for a bit but try to keep it minimal and only when things are starting to get stupid.

2) Is starting out players at Rank 1 a bad idea? Are they going to be creamed by most baddies that have anything more powerful than a club?

There's nothing wrong with starting at Rank 1. I've done it in some of my games, other's have started a few thousand XP along. It all lies in giving your players the tools they need to win and not going overboard on the mobs. Giving the players cover is a good idea as it can dramatically reduce the number of successful shots on them. Also, anyone who can get it should have dodge.

I strongly recommend a trial combat encounter. Make up some generally weak mooks and see how your party handles it. Right now my IG game is fighting off mobs of poorly armed rioting civilians and gangers to let me see how they do and how the large groups of mooks I'm tossing at them work.

Don't be afraid to do real damage to your players though, especially if they do something stupid. If an unarmored acolyte stands in the middle of the street, ignoring cover, firing his revolver at a mob of autorifle armed gangers don't be afraid to have them riddle him with holes. If the dice say someone takes a shotgun blast to the face let it happen. Don't go overboard though. In a game where I was just a player the GM's big bad boss had a weapon that did 2D10+10 damage and 5 pen that would instantly kill you if it did any critical damage at all. That's an instant kill weapon to a level 2 or 3 acolyte 2/3rds of the time. To top it off the big bad had 20 wounds, 8 toughness (unnatural toughness) and 4 armor all around. Most of the acolytes could only hurt him if they rolled 10's for damage and then scored on the righteous fury rolls. Needless to say the only way the acolytes could stay alive was to avoid direct confrontation with the enemy, something we only learned AFTER we stormed the church he was in and got one member of the party turned to ash and watched out return fire harmlessly plink off him.

3) Is it neccessary that I COMPREHEND all the rules in the playing the game section? I read all of it, but there are times that it doesn't quite seem clear to me how it is supposed to pan out. I got the gist of it, but should I really try to memorize all the rules from that section before trying to GM?

I don't think you need to memorize them but you do need to be familiar with them and know where to quickly find the appropriate rules in the book.

Also, any words of wisdom to improve my scenario I posted, if you have time to read through it, would also be appreciated!

Nothing to add really. Looks pretty straight forward. The fight against the 'Stealer has me a bit concerned. With a toughness of 5 and an armor of 4 the players will be having to roll high on the damage dice to have any hope of wounding the thing. Tack on dodge and the need to inflict 23+ wounds on the thing to kill it and your acolytes are in real trouble. Also, given that this is your first mission it's unlikely that everyone is wearing high quality rmor meaning they'll be taking the brunt of those powerful claws. I can see this going very bad very quickly for the acolytes unless it takes the 'stealer a while to kill off the ratings.

Thanks, Tyyr, that helps clear things up a bit!

The fight with a stealer also has me concerned. At this point, I think I was just looking for a quick conclusion to the scenario (as I spent the majority of the day writing it up and creating the maps to accompany it), so I think I need to go back and fix that part of it. Maybe replacing the 'stealer with a small mob of "brood brothers" would be more appropriate.

FoxPhoenix135 wrote:Wow H, that was a GREAT post. That must have taken you forever to write it!

I got off work early yesterday so had a bit of extra time on my hands.

FoxPhoenix135 wrote: 1) When planning scenarios, how thoroughly should you plan them? How scripted is too scripted, becoming a movie that the players watch more than a game in which they interact?

Before I wrote my first scenario I did a lot of research into how to run games, looking at examples from D&D and other things. There are a number of terms that came up, but the one that struck me the most was the concept of 'Railroading'. Essentially what railroading is when you put the players on a path that they cannot escape no matter what they do.

Now, be careful, railroading doesn't mean that you've given them an objective. For example, if your scenario calls for your Acolytes to hunt down and kill a Cult Leader before he finish the ritual that will free a Daemon Prince from an Eldar Webway Prison, that is not Rail Roading. Having an objective is not in and of itself railroading. If you then drew up a big city map, explained it to them and then let them find their own path (having set up various encounters along the way), that's fine. If you drew up a big city map, explained each part to them, then told them that they had to move down a certain path and took away the choice from them, that's railroading.

Here's a further explanation from TV Tropes:

So, you're the Game Master of the campaign. You've got this awesome idea for a plot for the game, full of action and intrigue, which the players are sure to love just as much as you do. There's only one problem: the players are the ones who control the protagonists, not you... and they don't seem to be taking the bait, instead latching onto some unrelated background detail you mentioned offhand.

What's a GM to do? Force the Player Characters to play his way. Make sure that everything outside of your plot is boring, put in a prophecy so every NPC insists that the party must do what the GM wants Because Destiny Says So, litter the landscape with Broken Bridges (invisible walls) and Beef Gates (impossibly hard monster that stops progress 'off' the rails), pull out Schrodingers Gun (turn someone good into someone bad when the players are starting to vary from what you had planned), trap the PCs in a Closed Circle (self-explanatory), even stuff in But Thou Must (force the issue) and Deus Ex Machina (it happens because or ARBITRARY!) situations if need be.

Lots of railroading or over railroading is widely regarded as a sign of a poor GM, as forcing the players along a single path defeats much of the purpose of a Tabletop Game in the first place. If players wanted that, they'd just play a console RPG instead. (Or just play a PC game and instead take the driver's seat insisting it's nonlinear.) That being said, a subtle GM who knows his players, makes an effort to maintain at least an illusion of free will, and really does make stories that are That Damned Good can sometimes get away with herding cats. (PC games do it all the time)

It's also worth noting that a good railroading can sometimes be the only way to get difficult or unimaginative players to do something as simple as leave the first town. (Or keep the players from making a complete turnaround) It can also do wonders to speed up game pacing. Most Game Masters know to only use it when the game slows to a grinding halt and the players just aren't having fun anymore. Railroading players when they are having fun doing what they're doing is a good way to not have players anymore.

Subtle GMs can railroad players without their awareness, by employing Schrodingers Gun. Let's say that the GM spent a lot of time preparing a dungeon to the North of the players, but the players want to go Off The Rails and decide to go South instead. Guess what! The dungeon has suddenly moved to the South (or rather, suddenly the dungeon was to the south all along). By keeping enough of the game world unknown to the players, the GM can place the next stop on the railroad wherever the players move. This is called "Railschroding". This is probably the most effective way to employ railroading, since the players think that they are driving the train - it just ends up in the same place no matter which way they go. Of course, the advantage a GM has over a PC game is that his players probably aren't going to replay the game and realize he was leading them by the nose the entire time.

Good railroading may also help in the event of players running into a brick wall and having absolutely no idea what to do next. Rather than simply forcing them to play, you just prod them in a direction and hope they can play it.

I railroaded my player in the first game by suddenly throwing Genestealers at him. I put him into an impossible situation so that he could not win, no matter what choice he made. But, by contrast, I didn't do any railroading in the third game, and it was a disorganised mess for most of it.

Finding a middle ground is very good.

Generally speaking, if you have your heart set of a specific sort of encounter, or idea, set up your scenario to allow for that to happen, but offer multiple ways of achieving that same result. My second game had 4 possible ways of completing it, and they created their own 5th way. There was even a point during my second game where I honestly thought they'd get out of there without firing a shot.

FoxPhoenix135 wrote:2) Is starting out players at Rank 1 a bad idea? Are they going to be creamed by most baddies that have anything more powerful than a club?

Not at all. I did it I've had the ideas for the 5 involved characters for quite some time, and didn't want them dying in the first encounter. Starting at Rank 1 though means you have to be careful with your encounters (don't swarm them, or halve the bad guys' base wounds or even use the 'Mook' rules from the Creatures Anathema) and you also have to make sure your players understand from the get-go that combat is dangerous, and death can happen VERY quickly.

FoxPhoenix135 wrote: 3) Is it neccessary that I COMPREHEND all the rules in the playing the game section? I read all of it, but there are times that it doesn't quite seem clear to me how it is supposed to pan out. I got the gist of it, but should I really try to memorize all the rules from that section before trying to GM?

Comprehend yes, not memorise. That's why I suggested reading the Shattered Hope demo scenario PDF to start off with as it does things in a logical order as far as gameplay is concerned, so read that as an 'intro' rulebook, then look into the full rulebook.

FoxPhoenix135 wrote:Also, any words of wisdom to improve my scenario I posted, if you have time to read through it, would also be appreciated!

I'll take a look for you.


The other thing is striking a balance with combat and non-combat bits. I'm a big fan of Diablo, so I naturally write scenarios that have a heavy combat bent. However, at the start of the campaign proper, as I'm basing Act 1 off of the Shattered Hope booklet, the first place they go is a Guard Encampment where there's nothing to fight.

For this I will actually set up, using my Guard army and some choice bits of terrain, a small Guard Encampment. I'll treat it like a Diablo town, where they can talk to various NPC's (or even ignore them), and some might offer extra opportunities for roleplaying/rewards and whatnot (eg. in the camp there will be a crew participating in some minor repairs on a Leman Russ - it can just be something in the background, but if the Tech-Priest wanders over and helps out, he might get something for his troubles - maybe some EXP, or even an item). There will be things they have to do (they have to speak to the Commissar to work out exactly what their objective is), but the other parts of the encampment (the wounded Guardsmen, repair crew working on the Russ, the Quartermaster, the gruff Sergeant, the makeshift holding area for the cultists, and so on) are optional, but there if the players want to get involved.

Also helps to have a reason why everyone is there. In our group, the Preacher is the one who's good at speaking, so sending him to speak to the Commissar makes the most sense. That doesn't leave much for the Guardsman in our party to do, as the Commissar will likely just look down on him as another lowly Guardsman. So what's a Guardsman to do? Well, there's a struggling low-level Medic tending to a few wounded soliders, maybe he can help - he's got his own medical kit. Or perhaps he can track down the young conscript they met earlier and see if he has any more useful info. Meanwhile the Arbite can wander over to the holding area and try to squeeze some info out of the scared and insane cultists, or get the uncooperative Guards to talk. And the Psyker can help anyone really - plus he can read minds.

And it's after that they'll head down to the mines and be swarmed by horrific Plague Zombies.


And here is my second scenario if you want to see an example of where I put a lot of effort into defining the world the game took place in.

Just thought I would throw this into the thread:

I just found a FREAKIN GREAT resource for DH-

http://www.darkreign40k.com/

This site has a ton of user-created content, including character generation HTMLs, custom scenarios, etc etc. Definitely worth checking out.

Their big rules PDF for Space Marines is very well done, and I'll be using that in my campaign for when they run into a few Techmarines-in-training on a Forge World.

Well welcome to the big fun and scary GM world. Be careful, if you get good at it you may never get to be a PC again.

I've had some truly amazing DMs over the years, and am basically stuck as full time DM these days. Oh well.

A few tips:
On railroading: avoid wannabe author syndrom. You are NOT an author, director, or playwright. You're not writing a novel. Keep this in mind: This is THEIR game not YOUR game.

The best way to think of being a DM is as an act of service to the rest of the group. Help them do what they want, provide a fun/scary/exciting experience.

Your job is to facilitate an engaging world that they can believe in. I saw a new GM the other night have a breakdown because the group was RUINING his story. Threw a total hissy fit. And the group was having a great time, role playing, interacting, developing characters, and didn't even know there was a problem. Some railroading is necessary, but I have noticed that the better the DM the less he needs to. Prepare well, understand the rules, and have a well designed play area full of interesting NPC's and areas and you will be able to generate a lot on the fly if necessary.

Prepare characters, plots, dungeons, intrigue, flow, but NOT solutions and conclusions. The best games I have been in have always been in unexpected directions. My players have provided the most cinematic moments on their own.

A couple quick examples: I have them in lovecraftian temple and have arranged for them to be in a big final fight with the twisted slanneshi like horrors. Instead they absolutely FREAK OUT, come up with a complex plan to hold them back with force fields and flame walls as the bodies outside the door pile up over the force fields, they awaken an eldrich horror, have a running firefight down a cliff, cause a self destruct, escape the collapsing cavern by the skin of their teeth, only to run right into the clutches of an old nemesis.

Example two: We are at the end of a long campaign, this should be the climax. They will unwittingly release an ancient god of chaos, big fight, good times all around. What do they do? Freak out again and stab the helpless 10 year old boy who is imprisoning the chaos god with a poison dagger, killing him...what the crap guys?!? This turns into an awesome four month campaign where REALLY this was ALL part of the chaos gods massive "just as planned" scheme to release more discord into the universe. Reavers, cthulu, raising up elder gods of order, psychic duels where the half demon girl gets unhinged then headbuts an ancient elvin sage...Awesome stuff. "Just as planned." My players are in awe of my planning, of my magnificent villians and epic plots. Yea, I'll just let them keep thinking I planned that all out. Suckers.

Final story: Big british style fleet coming in, way more than the players could handle with their lone ship of the line. I've provided some options: they could make allies with the pirate lords for help, sell them out and save themselves, bluff their way out, call in some favors, etc. How do they handle it? Setting up hundreds of cannons hidden on cliff faces, loosing oil slicks to burn, hiding long boats full of powder and oil, and setting up the most devilishly dangerous killzone you have ever seen. It turns into the most epic and fun two hour long battle I have ever played. The wizard is setting off oil slicks and fire ships, the cleric is calling in storms and dashing ships on rocks, ships are dashing into eachother, boarding actions, epic explosions, and in the end they capture a third of the fleet and a fifth of the crew join them, setting up for another epic leg of the adventure.

In conclusion:
There are too many variables, and you are not as good a planner and story teller as you think you are. Play it fast and loose. Be prepared, like others have mentioned. Only when you either A) know the rules inside out or B) Have DMed so much that you feel comfortable making up rules and rolls on the fly can you really give them the freedom necessary for truly epic things to occur. This is NOT a video game, don't make it feel like one. Make them feel like hero's/villians. The more rope you give them, the more ways they will find to hang themselves with it, and the funner it will be.

Keep the group size DOWN. 4 or 5 is perfect, six is doable, seven and up is a deal breaker, DON'T DO IT!

Oh, and finally, DON'T be afraid to roleplay. It is ok if they have a hard time, but you are the DM. Do not say, "The scurvy old man is not impressed and doesn't look like he is going to tell you where the hideout is."

Get into it, use a scratchy voice, squint your face, and look the player RIGHT IN THE EYE and say, "Arrr, ya little sea squig, I've been ter hell an back, an seen horrors the likes o which ye can't imagine, an by the Emperors BOWLS, it'll be a COLD DAY IN SLANNESH'S BED CHAMBER BEFORE AH'LL BE INTIMIDATED BY A SLACK JAWED, SQUIG LIKKIN, DUNG HEAP LIKE YE, YA CAN BE SURE!!!!"

You've got to be brave to be the GM.





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I've got a ton more I'd love to share, but I've been doing this for 15 years, and I know it gets old hearing people give advice. But I think those tips are the ones that have by far made the biggest difference in my games.

So to that I will just quickly add:
Don't over power them.
You are not one of them, their success is not your success. Your success is a fun game, which requires tension and drama, not constant success.
Never make it obviously you are exercising power over them. That DMs screen (even if you don't use one) hides a lot, they never REALLY know what is going on
Never do the DM "fiat", that is, "fine, a dragon eats you!"
Always have a bag of useable and interesting characters on hand (as you DM more some good ones will get established)
Remember, you can fudge dice rolls, just don't let them know
Make them FEEL! Cool, helpess, terrified, angry, excited. Of course this could be a whole article, there are so many tips for this.
Make it cinematic. Don't dungeon crawl, gah how dull.

H.B.M.C. wrote:Their big rules PDF for Space Marines is very well done, and I'll be using that in my campaign for when they run into a few Techmarines-in-training on a Forge World.

I'd recommend the Tyranus Conclave rules, but with reservations. While they are pretty decent for the most part you really have to look at the character progression paths and be ready to make some tweaks. For instance, assault marines can't wield plasma pistols with these rules. Apothecaries obtain the ability to use chain weapons and power weapons at the same level, but power weapons are 100 point talent and chain weapons are a 300 point talent. Oh, and the weapons are absolute gak, I threw the whole thing out there and started over.

So far its going well.

Last night I had our first trial into the DH, using the Shattered Hope scenario. It went over pretty well, if ending a bit quickly (the supposed 4-hour session took us just under 2 hours, after we had created our own characters). We plan to play The Edge of Darkness next, and maybe even the Illuminations game from the core rulebook before setting out and making my own scenarios. Some of the tips you guys gave helped immeasurably, so thanks!

I just got my Inquisitors Handbook in the mail yesterday, as well as the Techpriest model that I am going to paint up for the DH game. If we are lacking players, I may use him as a NPC to help out in combat and other non-problem-solving situations.

Tell us more about how you ran Shattered Hope.

The first game of our campaign proper is basically a re-written Shattered Hope, changing up a bit of the map (the Dreadful Gap and whatnot are included in the Shatters, and I'm using D&D Cave & Great Hall tiles to make the Shatters map, so it's not exactly like the map), but I'm trying to keep the encounters as similar as possible (rebalanced for Rank 3/4 characters, of course). There's also a bit more to do in the Guard encampment (a Medic the Guardsman can help for some EXP, a broken down Leman Russ the Tech-Priest can help repair, and some other things).

How did the basic scenario work for you? Were some bits not working/too deadly/skipped over/posed no challenge at all/etc.

Did anyone get horribly mutated by the Antithesis Stone?

Well, my greatest idea while running this game was to use sheet protectors and dry-erase markers to keep track of things, instead of having to mark physically on the paper or some such thing. I also made generic ammunition counter sheets that went into the protectors, as well as each individual's character sheet. This was a couple of the player's first time playing a pen and paper RPG, as well as my first time GMing, so we didn't modify the adventure radically. In fact, I chose to omit some things that seemed rather pointless, such as the climbing test on the way to the shatters proper. I didn't want to bog down the excitement with a bunch of mundane tests, and that is exactly what that test seemed to be.

For a first adventure, I was surprised at how lethal some encounters could be. Ironically enough, the PCs had the most trouble with the 4 mutants that had the snub pistols, rather than the Plaguebearer at the end. The Plaguebearer only lasted a few short rounds due to some amazing concentrated fire from the guardsman, the arbites, and even the psyker's laspistol. The mutants, however, got surpise on the characters, then they jumped out from behind that pillar and popped off some pretty dangerous shots. Only the application of some fate-points saved the psyker from being blasted in the 2nd round of shooting.

The characters at level 1 seem to be quite inept at everything, thus why I would cut out skill tests here and there because there was a high likelihood of failiure that would slow down the pace of play. It really takes some lucky rolling in the character creation process to get anything useful. In the next adventure, we will probably throw out the characters and start from scratch, but start them at around 600-800 xp instead. Additionally, now that the players know what aspects of the game they are partial to, this allows them to choose what roles they want to fill and thus they can create group synergy. The last play group was predominately combat oriented, and that definitely won't fly when I run the Edge of Darkness scenario next time.

And no, nobody got mutated by the stone (the only batch of good rolls to be had that night, it seems!)

Starting at Rank 2 or 3 allows you avoid some of the initial 'wiff fests' that the starting ranks have. We also boosted the stats of everyone just a little, so they're not all sub-20's to low 30's, but rather sub 30's to low 40's. They still have less than a 50% chance of doing anything (before bonuses), but it's better than aiming for a full action and finding that your shot still has less than a 45% chance of hitting.

Armour will also help keep people alive. Armour changes things quite dramatically.

And I'm guessing you didn't use 40K miniatures?

No, no miniatures yet. Like I said, I kept track of EVERYTHING on paper in protective plastic sheet-holders, and used dry erase markers to write on them. I just printed out the downloadable map from FFG that doesn't have the encounter numbers on it, and used that as our game board.

When I start writing my own scenarios, we'll make the switch, but for now its less to worry about if we don't use the minis.

You're right - without the need to worry about what model you're using to represent what, you can just get on with the actual game and get people used to that before moving on. For me, despite being crazy (as I'll demonstrate in a second), the models are one of the main reasons I got into 40K (hardly a new concept - I'm sure most people started because of the models), so using the models that I have just adds an extra layer. Plus my players seem to respond better to having models they can see, move around and fight with and against.

Of course, it does add some problems when it comes to maps. I can't recreate the Shatters map using the terrain I have, so I did an approximation using the excellent D&D tiles (they are an amazing product, and very cheap for what you get).

I'll get my friend who owns a decent camera to take a photo of the setup once we play through it (which will be at the start of Feb), but for the time being, to show how crazy I am, here is the digital version of the map. I started by laying out the pieces until I found a layout that would represent most of the major parts of the Shattered Hope scenario, added a bit more, then drew what I had come up with, and then made an Excel version of that and started putting numbers in. My Shatters has a few more locations of interest than the published version, and has a very different ending (no Plaguebearer - they're not fighting Daemons in this campaign), but a lot of the main ones - a Dreadful Gap, Charnel Pit, Blood Bath, Lost Miner (or Guardsman, in my case), Fuel Tanks (the circular room), the Mutant Ambush (point 9!), plus lots of extra ones, like location 6 with represent unearthed crystals that were shook loose with the seismic activity caused by the Antithesis Stone - they can ignore them, but they're worth quite a bit to the mining company on the planet, so could net them some extra cash.

I generally treat the Acolytes like the workers in a Chinese Sweatshop - they earn money from me, but everything they want has to come out of their own pocket. Therefore, the odd way of making a bit of extra cash is always welcome (I had them find some confiscated drugs in an Arbite evidence locker which they could sell, but would gain corruption points for it - the Arbite chose not to, being the law abiding citizen that he is, but the Psyker wasn't so scupulous ).


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Ok, I'm going over your scenario now.

Heh. The first line made me laugh already:

"Introduction, in which we learn the game mechanics and introduce NPC informants."

I wasn't as kind when I said that in my intro scenarios...



"They can take a charm test to get him to talk more, at a -10 penalty."

I like the set up for this already. I get a very clear image of what's going on in my head. Very nice. Just one comment about the line I quoted:

One of the great things about the Fantasy Flight Guys (and the Black Industries guys before them) is that unlike Games Workshop, they actually know a think or two about writing rules. An example of this is their use of 'Defined Terms', so unlike GW, where they play fast and loose (and stupid and inconsistent) with their wording, the 40K RPG books are filled with defined terms.

So when they say to take a difficult test, they usually write something along the lines of if the players decide to take a Difficult (-10) Charm (Fel) Test, ensuring that 'Difficult', 'Charm' and 'Test' are all capitalised to show a defined term. That may seem a little anal, but it ensures that you always know when you're reading an actual rule.

Additionally, given I want to engage with my players and not sit there reading too much text to them, I've taken to highlighting, underlining etc. the important things Difficult (-10) Charm (Fel) Test so that it 'pops' on the page and I can see it, read it quickly and go back to the players.

Love the use of the maps, and the way they have to search around. Tell me, did you lay it out at the start, or only lay out what was in the party's LOS, adding more as they moved along down each corridor?

"------100 XP for killing the genestealer."

I'd give 'em a bit more than that. Genestealers are nightmarish creatures that can slice someone apart in a single round of combat. Of course, that depends on the amount of Acolytes. If there are 2-3 of them, give 'em more, as they might lose some of their number. 4-5, a bit over 100. More than 5 and they have a much better chance - my suggestion is Krak Grenades. They do a number on a Genestealer's natural armour.

That said, you have slightly different Stealer rules to the Creatures Anathema (I think... I might be wrong). If you want I can transcribe the actual Genestealer stats for you to give you an indication of just how dangerous these guys can be.


Beyond that, I think it's a simple scenario that should work very well. It's got a bit of combat, a healthy bit of investigation, and would be quite fun to play and run. My only concern is that fighting only three people (besides the Genestealer) could be a bit of a pushover. I'm not saying swarm them with Hybrids, I'm saying be careful about making it too easy. If any of the characters have decent armour, shots from most basic weapons do little in the way of damage.

But yeah, I like it. Very nice. Good use of the Hulk tiles as well.

I have this program that may help you to make maps: it is called AutoRealm (google searching it should turn it up, I don't recall exactly how i got it but I bet that I found it in google somewhere). It can overlay several different types of grids, has basic shapes, and even stamps of commonly used symbols used in RPGs. It also has neat features like creating fractal lines (randomized jagged lines) and stuff like that that is really worth checking out. You can change the size of the grid, so you could potentially make a gameboard by printing sections of the map and pasting them to a backing. I don't have the ink in my printer to do this, but maybe after payday I will try it!

I'm trying to get my group through all the provided scenarios first, to get the hang of GMing and to get the players into figuring out RPGs, but once we are through the scenarios that I have you can bet on me making up some crazy space-hulk inspired missions, or dead world missions exploring derelict cities, or excursions to desert planets (as these are all the terrain I can make available).

That is interesting that you have alternative ways to provide monetary income. I have a player that is a tech-priest (uses the model too, a gorgeous thing) and he is going to need some big bucks to do all the neccessary bio-enhancements and cybernetic work to replace his "weak flesh". I may work that into my "Edge of Darkness" scenario, which we just started the first session of which tonight.

We made it through the first two sections, though to my chagrin the players skipped over nearly all the investigation and kind of stumbled into the location of the Churgeon's hideout. There was a pretty great moment at the Hostel they were staying at, where some dregs tried to break into their rooms and the players all passed their awareness tests. The ensuing carnage was pretty entertaining for all, with the tech-priest cleaving in the head of his assailant with his staff and the arbites blasting a monstrous hole through the other with her shotgun.

I definitely would love to start making my own scenarios, because even though others think that the provided scenarios are too "railroaded", I find that the open-ended ones like the Edge of Darkness are TOO open ended for beginning RPGers. They take a lot of prodding to get going in the right direction, and I kind of feel like I am giving them too much info. They are reluctant to do anything unless I lay it out as an option. How can I get my players to be more creative thinkers? Is it kind of like, they either are or they arent, or can I influence or instigate more creative thinking?

I'm also wanting to set up an RPG group, but I have only played the Dungeons and Dragons board game with my brother before. Can anyone give me advice on sorting out how often, how long, basicly everything

Well the DH book suggests that sessions last around 4 hours long, and that most scenarios take 2-4 sessions to complete, depending on the size of the adventure. You probably would want to have a session once a week, if you wanted to finish a particularly involved scenario within a month.


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I've made a new blog dealing with my WIPs for character models:

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/272825.page

As has already been stated, remember it's the players game, not yours. It's your template and your world, but they will be living and playing in it.

Also, if something seems way complicated, simplify it. I had a very simlpe version of the Combat and XP systems running through my first games, as it was more a Mystery than an all-out frag-fest.

And models aren't neccasary (and TBH, neither is a map) so lnog as you can paint a scene in a vivid enough way and your good at keeping track of the action, the entire thing can play out in your players imagination.

And finally, be entirely prepared for the unexpected: in one of my early games, the story was there was a mysterious Drug Cartel in an Imperial Hive with links to a Chaos Cult. The team decided to split into three parts, with two of them heading to the Arbites Depot to 'acquire' a valuable prisoner. What should have been an easy stealth mission (at least in my mind) turned into a mental runaround with the pair of them knocking out two Arbite Guards, taking their clothes and dumping the naked Arbites in a nearby sewer. They then strutted around the precinct imitating gruff male hivers (both the players were female, as were their characters) and was, for all intents and purposes hilarious and fun!

Always be open to the story bending and evolving, and really allow your players to experiment I find its rewarding for everyone involved when it evolves naturally and unexpectedly.

Dark Lord Seanron wrote:As has already been stated, remember it's the players game, not yours. It's your template and your world, but they will be living and playing in it.

I take real umbrage with comments like that. It's not their game, it's everyone's game. I'm playing it no more or no less than they are.

H.B.M.C. wrote:

Dark Lord Seanron wrote:As has already been stated, remember it's the players game, not yours. It's your template and your world, but they will be living and playing in it.

I take real umbrage with comments like that. It's not their game, it's everyone's game. I'm playing it no more or no less than they are.

Ah, but there is a fine line HBMC. If you take severe ownership of it (ie: make it YOUR game) then you dictate everything and it isn't fun for the players. Also, if you let the players do anything and steam right off the path that you want to set, then it's no fun (or reward for yourself). The key is balance, a game that you set up for others to lpay and be a part of. You yourself as GM aren't really playing the game, you are dictating its course and its rules. That is why it is more the players game, and not the GM. And that is no bad thing, as GMing (and GMing well) is a massively rewarding experience.