Hello everyone, I think this forum don't get much traffic, but I'm really jazzed about the game I just played so I thought I'd post up a little report.
For the longest time I've been forming a multi-arc campaign in my head that I eventually plan on starting with our group sometime next year (need to write it first). But I wanted to introduce everyone to Dark Heresy and learn the rules without 'wasting' my campaign idea teaching everyone. To this end I thought about inventing little mini-campaigns in order to teach the others and myself some rules, and tell stories that are connected if not directly related to my overall plot.
The first of these was played a couple of months back, where it was just a friend of mine playing two characters (a Scum and an Assassin), and myself
GM'ing. It went well, and while I did do a bit of railroading at the end (Genestealers are an excellent plot device against low against level characters!!!), it went quite well. We got to see how the rules worked and got the basics down. And the story itself involved two minor characters, one of which will show up as an
NPC later down the line in the campaign proper.
This time around, with three people to play the game besides me, I needed to expand a bit more, and introduce some of the characters that will be in the main campaign. So I came up with another intro mini-campaign for them to play. The basic plot was an Arbite named Mason Roth (Player 1) was recently transferred out of his Precinct Bastion and ordered, by an Inquisitor he's never met, to meet up with a contact of his on a far distant planet. The Arbite did so, and met an Assassin named Syara Xan (Player 2). The Assassin explained that one of the Inquisitor's newest and most promising acolytes, an Imperial Psyker named Lord Sigmund Castus (Player 3), had been arrested by the local Arbite authorities. He was too valuable to be allowed into the brutal Imperial penal system (where his identity as a psyker would no doubt be revealed and he would be burnt), so he had to be rescued at all costs.
The Arbite and Psyker were both started at Rank 3, and the Assassin at Rank 5 (the Assassin will be an
NPC in the campaign proper, and ‘better’ than the actual Player Characters).
Player 1 was initially against the idea, as it meant killing fellow Arbites, but four different plans of attack were presented:
1. Talking - The players could choose to talk their way in and essentially bluff their way into the cells, then free the psyker and run like hell.
2. Deceive - The 'Chewbacca' method, have the Assassin pretend to be a prisoner and have the Arbite lead her into the cells and then free the psyker and run like hell.
3. Shoot - The more direct approach, just go in shooting, free the psyker, and then leave.
4. Outflank - Use the abandoned sewer network that backed onto the Precinct Bastion to enter the Bastion from the rear, sneak in, free the psyker, and run like hell.
I used a number of tiles from the Doom board game to represent the Precinct Bastion, with several rooms set out for various areas (Main entry/reception, parade ground, the cell block, the Provost's office, the Barracks/Living quarters, the Armoury and the Evidence Room/Custody Office). The armoury was filled with ammo and guns, and if the players searched through it they'd find lots of cool stuff. The Custody office had all of Player 3's equipment, so they had to go there and get it back, but there were also heaps of other things in there they could pilfer (confiscated weapons, drugs with a high street value - even a statue of a four-armed Emperor). The sewer network was made up of the D&D sewer tiles, which are perfect and have squares about the same size as the doom tiles. I made the water itself difficult terrain, and players who searched the sewer thoroughly would find that under the water were many, many bodies of people who had been executed and just left there to rot.
Player 3 didn't have to sit tight either, he could try and break himself out, but that would render any deception that Player's 1 & 2 were using useless. To help Player 3 out, there was an
NPC Scum named Zek in the cell opposite. And there was a big twist planned if everything went off without a hitch.
Now this is the second time I've
GM'ed, and I found the first time that it worked best when I gave the players the freedom to come up with creative solutions to the problems I've set up. So I presented them with the four options of entering the Precinct Bastion and instantly they came up with a different way of doing it. The Assassin would enter via the sewer network and go to the door that led into the Bastion. The Arbite would walk in through the front door and attempt to bluff his way inside, and then he'd try to let the Assassin in from the inside. I thought this was a clever idea, so let them run with it.
Player 2 was smart and moved through the sewer network slowly, making perception checks as he went to see if there were any traps set up. There were none, but he discovered all the bodies under the water, discovered sealed crates full of clothing and other belongings, and discovered that all the people had been executed, beaten and restrained - clearly something was 'up' with these Arbites, and they weren't the squeaking clean outfit everyone thought they were. Eventually Player 2 reached the door that led into the Precinct Bastion and wanted to do a Perception Test to check for any traps. Rolling a 2 or 3, I decided that not only did the Assassin not find any traps, but also realised that this type of security door was one she was very familiar with, and that she could ignore the –30 Intelligence for cracking it open. Of course none of that mattered, as what happened next made things all the more awesome.
Player 1’s Arbite walked in and got into a conversation with the Arbite at the front desk, a violent thicky named Proctor Strang, leader of the Precinct’s Riot Team. The conversation followed that he was under orders see the prisoner and that he was unable to take no for an answer. As everyone was on orders from their Provost not to release Player 3’s character, but to refer any requests to the Provost himself, Strang had little choice but to lead Player 1’s Arbite to the Provost to discuss this further.
Strang led Player 1 towards the Provost’s office, but as they neared the entrance to the sewer network Player 1 said he wanted to quickly grab Strang’s Plasma Pistol from his holster and point it at his head. At the same moment Player 2 got the door open and grabbed the Strang’s helmet so that he couldn’t call for help across the comms. They made their tests so successfully that I let them do it flawlessly. They bundled Strang into the sewers, shut the door and locked it, and then proceeded to first intimidate the Riot Team leader (pistol whipping, breaking his fingers) and then interrogate him, first about the dead bodies, and then about what their orders were.
Again, some very successful tests led them to find out that the dead bodies were people they had killed to same time and paper work, and that everyone except the guy who looked at the cells was in on the murders. Strang also revealed that any details on Player 3’s arrest were sealed, and that they didn’t know any more. Stripping him of his armour (Player 2 took it to impersonate Strang), they bound Strang’s hands with manacles, knocked him unconscious, and left him in the sewer.
As Player 1 already looked like an Arbite (he had Carapace Armour), and now Player 2 had stolen Strang’s, they proceeded to head towards the cells in order to free the psyker, and for a moment it looked as if virtually no combat was going to take place.
But then things started going wrong.
Player 3, not content to just sit there and wait, decided he wanted to help himself. The first thing he did was attempt to read the mind of the other prisoner there, Zek the Scum. Successfully passing his psychic test, Player 3 was blasted across the room as within Zek’s mind all he saw was a hideous maw of jagged teeth surrounding a evil looking lizard’s eye. He found that a bit strange, but didn’t really think to do much else. Zek kept egging Player 3 on, saying that they could break out if they wanted. Player 3 decided this was a good idea, despite what he had just seen, and coming up with the idea to combine the use of his Blather skill and his Common Lore (Imperial Creed), he would challenge the beliefs of the Arbite guarding the Cells (Proctor Vern, the only good Arbite in the place!). It worked, and before long Player 3 and Vern were locked in a screaming match about the Ministorum. Zek used this opportunity to stab Vern through the bars on his cell, nearly killing the Arbite. With the guard down they busied themselves with freeing themselves.
Player 1 and 2 arrived at the cells and found a nearly dead Arbite there. They wanted to avoid killing anyone, so Player 2 attempted to use Medicae to save the Arbite. Two EPIC fails later the Arbite was dead (yes, in their attempts to save his life they managed to kill him! Player 1 made the best of a bad situation and took the dead Arbite’s Heavy Stubber. Knowing that they’d soon be caught, and with Zek loudly begging to be let out, Player 1 and 2 doubled back to the entrance to the barracks and tried to set up a trip wire with a Frag grenade. They failed that as well, but not by too much, so I said it failed, but the grenade didn’t go off – the pin was out, and it may go off, just not yet. They ran like hell and resumed trying to get Player 3 out.
An Arbite leaving the barracks discovered the grenade and realising that the pin was out threw it down the corridor where it exploded. Suddenly the alarms went off and the party realised they were going to have to shoot their way out. Player 1 and 3 dragged the dead Arbite guard’s body into the custody office and then went to search for Player 3’s belongings.
Player 1 then decided he wanted to search for the Custody Office’s manifest. Seemed like a good idea, so I let him search for it. He found it, and rather than slowly discovering all the items in there, they now just had a list. They took what they wanted (a third of the valuable drugs, all of Player 3’s stuff, the Hellpistol) and got ready for a fight, as Arbites were now beginning to move.
Next Player 1 decided that they could direct the Arbites towards the front entrance and away from the cells by using their own comm network against them. Using the helmet he had taken from Strang, he spoke to the Provost in charge of the Precinct Bastion. He tried to talk him into believing that an attack on the Bastion was imminent and that everyone needed to get to the front to defend. The Provost wasn’t really believing this, but the explosion made it sound like something bad was about to happen. He ordered his Breaching team to the front, and ordered the Riot team to the Armoury to gear-up and prepare for an attack. This presented a problem as the armoury was on the other side of the cellblock, so the three Riot team members would see them all, including the Psyker, and things would just get worse.
Player 2 came up with a clever way to stop this. Still dressed as an Strang, the leader of the Riot team, he headed to the Armoury. The quartermaster, expecting members of the Riot team to arrive as per the Provost’s order over the comm network, ushered him in and then turned back to await the arrival of the rest of the Riot team. The Assassin then drew his power sword and stuck the Quartermaster from behind. With Dual Strike and a Power Sword, Player 2 cut the Quartermaster down in such a spectacular fashion that he exploded, taking his Flamer ammo with him. Now everyone knew that something was going on
inside the Precinct Bastion, so things were going from bad to worse.
Player 1 got back on the radio to stall for time. The Provost was having none of it, saying the attack wasn’t coming from inside but that it had already started and was inside the Bastion.
Player 1 and 3 got out of sight in the Custody office as the Riot team ran through the Cellblock and towards the armoury. Player 2, again, still disguised as an Arbite, ushered the Riot team inside, then casually walked out side, primed a grenade, threw it in, and slammed the heavy door shut. The shot was bang on target, and while it did little damage to the Arbites in their Carapace Armour, it did detonate the ammo and grenade stores, obliterating everyone within the room.
That was the Riot team dealt with. 6 Arbites down, another 9 to go.
With no illusions that an attack was coming from the front, 4 of the Arbites (Grenade Launcher, Plasma Gun, and two Combat Shotguns) pealed back towards the Cells. Player 1 got into a good firing position with the Heavy Stubber he had taken. Player 3 hid around a corner waiting to pop out and use his psychic powers.
Player 2 was making his way back to the cells when he ran into by the Provost. Player 1 used the radio again to try and distract the Provost, but it did little, and the Provost dodged the Assassin’s attacks before fleeing to the other side of the cellblock (the cell block was made using the BIG Doom tile, a 10X10 room that allows for a lot of movement).
The four approaching Arbites reached the door and opened it, but that was the end of their turn. Player 1 opened up with the Stubber, nearly killing the Plasma Gun guy. The Arbites entered the room and took up firing positions, one Combat Shotgunner jamming his gun, the Grenade Launcher guy choosing to use his Laspistol, the Plasma Gunner missing and the other Shotgunner causing slight damage to Player 1.
Throwing caution to the wind Player 2 charged the Provost again, gutting him and causing him to explode (Power Swords rock!). Player 3 decided to take a pot-shot with his Laspistol, did nothing, so used a free action to cast Distort Vision to make himself invisible.
He rolled a Psychic Phenomena (oh no!).
He managed to roll Perils of the Warp (oh crap!).
He rolled a 99 (holy gak!!!) – and now had to fight off being possessed by a Daemon.
Being a Very Hard test, he needed to roll a 12 or under on a D100 (ie. a 12% chance of success). He had Resist Possession as another Minor Power, which he quickly cast (as a Reaction). And then made his roll.
He rolled a 1.
So he fought off the Daemon, scored himself a healthy amount of Corruption Points in the process (although did not suffer from them luckily), and was somehow still alive. The colour in Player 1 and 2’s faces returned, and they all stopped holding their breaths. The Psyker hadn’t accidentally summoned a Daemon that killed the party (yet), although he had come very,
very close. Combat continued, with the Plasma Gun guy going down hard, the Grenade Launcher guy getting gutted by Player 2’s sword, and Player 1 finished off the other Arbites with endless Heavy Stubber fire. Eventually all the Arbites were dead except for the Plasma Gun guy who was bleeding and unconscious on the group (and took like 25 more rounds to die – for some reason I could not roll the 10 I needed for him to finally succumb to his wounds).
Two other Arbites started heading their way, these two armed with Bolters, and they played a clever game of Half-Action to open door, shoot, then the other one shoots and uses a Half-Action to close the door. Using delaying actions, Player 2 started lobbing Krak Grenades at them whenever they opened the door, but after one of the Bolters jammed they stopped opening the door.
At a stalemate, Player 1 decided he’d have to break the door down, and opened up at the door (Toughness 40, 30 Wounds, Armour 6). He rolled amazingly well, and brought the door down in two rounds of shooting. Player one then charged in caused enough damage to cause one of them to black out from Fatigue, and I had the other just turn tail and run back towards the final two Arbites who were holding a big barricade.
Player one snagged Arbite as he was running away with a really good shot, causing enough damage to rip the Arbite’s leg off and scream so loudly that I rolled Willpower Tests to see if the remaining two Arbites held their nerve. One of them did, and turned to face the attackers, and the other didn’t, running screaming out of the Bastion. Player 2 cleaned up, putting the Assassin’s Power Sword through the Arbites head, causing it to explode.
While they were doing this, Player 3 had walked off to rummage through the Provost’s office/personal quarters. He found a fancy great coat, which he kept, and a cryptic note on the Arbite’s desk that was an order to go out and arrest Player 3 and hold him in the cells, not letting anyone take him no matter what. It was signed ‘D’. Player 3 pocketed the note in case it was useful.
He then spent literally 8 rounds (while all the fighting was going on) really going over the room to see if there was anything else. Most of that was spent epic-failing loads of perception tests while he stared at two pieces of artwork in the Provost’s room. Finally he passed the test and noted that one of them was slightly ajar, and behind it was a safe. By this stage (yes, it really took that long), combat was done with, so Player 1 used some Melta-Gel he found in the Custody Office to break into the safe, revealing lots of money and several charge packs for that Hellpistol they found. I had never planned for safe to be in the Provost’s office, but they spent so much time in there looking that I felt I had to pay off their perseverance.
With the Arbites dead and their mission accomplished, they decided to leave, but not before going to kill Zek, who they were very wary of after Player 3 recounted what he saw in the Scum’s mind. Here I sprung the twist.
With a deep and booming ‘
I’m tired of waiting!’ the bars on Zek’s cell burst forward and Zek transformed – his skin beginning to glow, raising off the ground several feet. Yes, Zek was really a Daemon Host, just waiting for the Arbites to die before coming forward. Screaming ‘
Your soul is mine!’ in his best Mortal Kombat impersonation, the Daemon Host went right after Player 3’s psyker.
Player 2, being the crazed Assassin that she was, dove forward and challenged the Daemonhost head on. The power sword proved very useful here, cutting deep into the Daemonhosts hide. Player 3 ran like hell, knowing that with very little in the way of offensive powers he didn’t stand a chance. Player 1 spent two rounds aiming (I let him do it) so get a perfect shot. After those two rounds, the Assassin got out of the way, and Player 1 opened up, ripping the Daemonhost’s body to pieces. They had slain the Daemonhost, and were free to leave. On the way out Player 1 went and collected Strang who was still tied up in the sewers, and brought him with them to answer for his part in the executions of so many prisoners.
The final twist was when they arrived back and met with the Inquisitor. He saw the note and laughed at his own handwriting. Turns out he knew about the Daemonhost all along, and specifically sent the psyker there to be arrested as bait for the Daemonhost. Then he sent in his other two agents to ‘rescue’ the psyker, in the hope that the Daemonhost would reveal itself and they’d be forced into destroying it.
Everyone had a blast, learnt how the game works, and now we’re roaring to go with the main campaign. Just need to write the damned thing…
I’d post the scenario I wrote here, but I’ll get a C&D from
GW if I do. Sorry. :(
