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I'm currently thinking up a custom campaign for my dark heresy group.
I have had experience as a GM, but often I find my games.... too free.
I don't want to railroad the campaign, but I think it will more fun for me and my group if I kept it more streamlined.

The name of the campagin is....

Dark Heresy: Ad Infinitum

(wrote this while it was fresh in a mind, lots of grammar mistakes)

Dark Heresy:

A team of psychic acolytes must investigate the rumor of a false black ship.
The team must infiltrate the ship, discover the mastermind, and report to the inquisition immediately.

Plan for campaign:

Part 1

• Acolytes go to a nearby forge world under disguise as civilians who have just discovered their pskyer potential
• Acolytes are picked up by the Black Ship
• Black Ship takes them to an unknown feral world
• Transported by a small shuttle, the shuttle soon crashes due to a malfunctioning error
• Feral world is under control by a cult which is using the inhabitants to gather the dangerous toxins that only the inhabitants are immune to
• The Cult is working for the Infinite Initiative, an organization devoted to chaos
• When ingested, the toxin warps a psykers mind, making it a perfect vessel for the Mara Strain, which the cult is breeding through the captured psykers
• The cult plans to use the Mara Strain to destroy the imperium once and for all
• Turns out the cult was being tricked by the Infinite Initiative and their leader Foolzon
• Foolzon is a chaos sorcerer (lieutenant in the Infinite Initiative) who had planned to use the Mara Strain as bait to summon to summon his master (a daemon bound to his soul)
• The sorcerer knew that he could not kill his master, only summon him, so he started the rumor of the black ship in order to get the inquisition involved knowing that only they could had the power to “kill” a daemon instead of banishing it
• During the summoning of the daemon the acolytes will receive a call an unknown Inquistor lord, who demands they shut down a distruption beacon
• In the final battle, the gray knights teleport in and help the acolytes defeat the daemon (if they look up at the now destroyed ceiling, they find a black sun hovering in the night sky), but will find the sorcerer trying to escape
• Chasing the sorcerer down, the acolytes will find him weak and feeble
• He will talk about the Infinite Initiative’s plans, but will then be sucked directly into the warp
• The acolytes will then be greeted by the inquisitor who congratulations on their success

But…

Part 2

• turns out a single Mara Strain has escaped the planet and the team is capture it at all costs with a holy prison
• soon the team finds themselves on the planet, Ambulon (Ambulon has a demilitarized emperor titan with a city on its back)
• the acolytes will find that the Mara Strain has infected a witch (a member of the Infinite Initiative)
• they will discover that the witch plans to cause the emperor titan to self-destruct
• By doing this, she will feed the Mara Strain thousands of souls to consume, allowing her to become a being of unparalleled psychic power.(during final battle, acolytes will notice a black sun)
• The Acolytes must foil her plan and trap the strain within the holy prison the inquisitor gave them
• Afterwards, the Acolytes will transport it back to the inquisitor and discuss what has happened
• Where did the Infinite Initiative get the Mara Strain? How could they control it? How far does the influence of the Infinite Initiative extend? Who is their leader?
(if the acolytes bring up the black sun, the inquisitor will change the subject or tell them that’s it not important)

• Inquisitor calls his lord and talks to him about what is going on.
• The inquisitor lord Xerxes has been having similar trouble with this Infinite Initiative and is unsure of their plan and power.
• Inquisitor lord tells inquisitor to hold for now until he devise a plan.
• Inquisitor tell the acolytes to take a break and train for now until he receives further orders.
• A mother later the inquisitor gets a call from the inquisitor lord.

Part 3

• The lord demands that the inquisitor’s team investigate a dead world named Remaris, which was invaded by the necrons years ago. Ships have been sighted landing on the planet, but no ship has ever reported landing there since the invasion.
• Acolytes are transported Remaris and land their safe and sound
• After exploring the planet, the acolytes will come upon a small hive city that is deep within a cavern (similar to WW2 destruction)
• After investigating the town, the acolytes will find themselves under attack by a group of renegade guard.
• If they kill all the guard, they will find a journal describing who they are. If they capture a guard, he will tell them who they are.
• Originally the 8th regiment of the Bar- El Penal Legion, him and his men staged a rebellion a mutiny on their ship after a crazed commissar threatened to crash the ship into Remaris mysteriously.
• The commissar was killed, but it was too late.
• The ship crashed upon the world and without any way to contact high command, they were stuck.
• Forced to survive on this dead world, the guard ate each other in order to survive. All in hope that someone would notice an entire regiment missing in action.
• When no help arrived, they lost all hope, but then a miracle occurred.
• A black sun emerged on the horizon, gifting several of them with psychic powers.
• Utilizing their new abilities, they pulled water from deep within the planets core.
• Now they live here happily and never want to return to the imperium.
• The acolytes can do anything at this point (no matter what, they will investigate the town)
• They soon come upon the town, which is filled with people
• The acolytes will soon find the corpses of other off worlders, mostly pilgrims
• The acolytes will also find that this is only one of the thousands of towns on this planet
• After a while, one of the citizens in the town will get sick. Soon 25% will get sick.
• The outsiders will be blamed and must now escape the town with their lives
• After escaping, the acolytes will soon come across the crashed ship
• Inside the ship they will find the guards story true,
• The commissars personal files in his quarters will reveal him to be part of the Infinite Initiative
• The Infinite Initiative had planned to use this dead world as a place to breed the Mara Strain, by using the power of the Tyrant Star to transform the entire planet into psykers, eventually introducing the Mara Strain
• If the acolytes try to contact the inquisitor, they will find all communications jammed.
• One way or another the guard will allow the acolytes to return, as they find that it was not their fault for the sickness. (sickness is now much worse)
• The acolytes will then be directed to the main capital where the original psykers created the first water source. (the psykers are now the planets leaders. Called the Infinite Eight)
• If the acolytes warn the leaders about the sickness… the acolytes will soon find out that planet had the sickness before… it killed everyone, but a few who were immune. Soon, those were immune, repopulated the planet.
• The acolytes can then do whatever they want, but eventually one of them will get sick.
• The acolytes will eventually find that their nothing they can do to cure him or her
• Soon a mysterious stranger will come to them, telling them to follow him
• The stranger will reveal himself to be a traitor of the Infinite Initiative
• Their leader, Xerxes uses this planet as a wiping site. He lures people here and uses an ancient Necron relic near the planet’s core to prevent anyone or anything from leaving the planet. The disease kills everyone here except the natives and the process restarts.
• The stranger will also reveal that the Tyrant Star is actually the original body from which all Mara Strain are created from. A daemon of incredible power, its planet sized body is surrounded in black flames. The flames release an energy which causes warp signatures to elevate to extreme levels. Thus, anyone effected by the flames either awakens as a psyker or becomes so corrupted by warp that their minds give birth to the Mara Strain.
• He is unsure as to why the disease is now infecting the locals, even those who were once immune to the disease
• After some time the acolytes will find the entrance into a series of tunnels which will lead them into the entrance of the Necron catacombs
• Still dormant, the Necrons will not attack the acolytes, but their will be scarab swarms still active.
• After navigating the catacombs and surviving the traps the acolytes will find the overlords tomb
• In the overlords tomb the acolytes will discover the device (they are free to do whatever they want with it)
• The acolyte who is sick will find himself healthy again while bathed in the devices green light (but will gain insanity)
• After the device is disconnected (or destroyed) the tomb will slowly awake as the overlord turns online
• Warrior after warrior will turn online as the acolytes must escape the catacombs with their lives (warriors won’t attack them, but the scarabs will)
• After leaving the catacombs, the acolytes will find the necrons waking up across the planet.
• The first village the acolytes go to will be destroyed with no survivors, only letters written in fear of the necron attack
• The second village the acolytes go to will find the villagers fearful of the acolytes since they thought the acolytes were the one to do it. They will hate the acolytes for the disease and the destruction of their homes
• A small squad of scarabs will then attack the village, allowing the acolytes to convince the villagers
• The acolytes then have three options, they can either escape on their ship, defend the planet until the space marines arrive, or they can use villagers to repair
• If the acolytes escape, they will be immediately be confronted by their inquisitor, who is not happy

Part 4


• The acolytes are brought to into the council room. Surrounding the middle of a stage covered in runes are 12 inquisitors, including, Inquisitor lord Anton Zerbe, , Inquistor Lord Xerxes and Inquisitor Lord Fyodor Karamazov on his Throne of Judgment
• Acolytes and inquisitor introduce themselves, but Karamazov stops them and says he knows who they are…. his agents killed the daemon on the feral world
• He demands they explain or they will be declared traitors to the imperium
• Throughout the explanation, Inquisitor Lord Fyodor will show great displeasure
• Soon the council will erupt in discussion about Xerxes’s choice
• After a couple accusations and evidence of possible heresy from Xerxes, Xerxes will disappear into thin air
• Furious that Xerxes is now a heretic, Karamazov will give the acolytes their final mission; find the Infinite Initiative, stop their foul plan, and kill Xerxes, at all costs.
• The acolytes are then to go to any world in order to get any information on where the Infinite Initiative might be hiding


For those who do not know, the Mara Strain is daemon that acts like a parasite. In its larval stage, it can infect a person and live in their psyche. Slowly devouring their mind, the Mara Strain grows until it goes through metamorphosis and becomes an adult. Adults are incredibly powerful daemons which lay eggs in people’s minds. Once the larva hatch, the process repeats as the larva search for a mind to infect.

How Team of Psykers Will Work:
Everyone is allowed to purchase minor powers
Only the Imperial psyker class may pursue a discipline






Will also use soundtracks for the battle scences and sound boards for effects
Sound board example:
http://gin22.deviantart.com/art/Imperial-Guardsmen-Soundboard-205164546

Sounds fun... My only real concern is making sure that in the final battle the GK don't overshadow the player characters.

Balance wrote:Sounds fun... My only real concern is making sure that in the final battle the GK don't overshadow the player characters.

The GK are supposed to be kinda like a mix between the cavalry and the men in black at the final battle. They help the acolytes and then leave.... mysteriously.


My only concern right now is figuring out how to get the acolytes aboard the false black ship without breaking the lore of the game.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
any ideas?

Generalian wrote:
The GK are supposed to be kinda like a mix between the cavalry and the men in black at the final battle. They help the acolytes and then leave.... mysteriously.

I'd consider this a 'warning sign' but it's your game. Basically, make sure the GKs don't make the player characters feel useless or secondary in the plot, even fi they're not the msot powerful.

Maybe plan to have a scene where one Gk breaks from the cold, emotionless, almost robotic attack and says "thank you" to the acolyte team?

Alternatively, have them holding a bridge or chokepoint and sending the Acolytes in to do something the GKs can't.

Generalian wrote:
My only concern right now is figuring out how to get the acolytes aboard the false black ship without breaking the lore of the game.

I'm not super familiar with the details of the whole black ship thing. Potential psychics are identified and kept in holding until a ship is available, correct? Which could be years or decades in some cases, right? The simplest answer would be the Inquisitor, possibly through a cut-out (an imperial bureaucrat or officer of some type) says "Here's a bunch of psykers. Put them on the ship."

After all, no one questions an Inquisitor... Not often, anyway. And rarely twice... A lot fo the detaisl can be hand-waves as an Inquisitor setting plans in motion years or decades in advance. He may even (here's a possible opening for an intro adventure if needed...) have to pull some strings to get his hand-picked group of acolytes ahead of the route for a Black Ship. So he's got to get them on some other ship that si going where he needs it and has a good chance of getting their before the Black Ship he needs to infiltrate.

GK's will overshadow Acolytes in virtually every way. I've only ever used 1 Marine (not even a Grey Knight) with my players, and I put a pretty big leash on him (he had another wounded Marine that he needed to protect, so he couldn't go off running into combat and killing everyone himself).

An actual squad of GK's would make the Acolytes look like ants and so they should from an in-universe perspective, but that's bad from an in-game perspective as it reduces your players to background actors.

I had an idea of having a squad of Deathwatch show up and 'save' the players in the latter stages of my campaign, but abandoned that idea pretty quickly. Instead I'm going to have them play as the Deathwatch kill-team in a sort of 'one shot' mission so that they still get to do all the heroic things, rather than the GM saving them. So maybe rather than having the GK's and Acolytes fight alongside one another, give the Acolytes an objective related to the Grey Knights eg. their enemies have some sort of interference generator that is stopping the GK's from teleporting down, and the Acolytes have to take out that generator. Once done the GK's can teleport in - somewhere quite separate and different to where the Acolytes are - and the players can actually play as the GK's and do the really heroic combat-heavy portion of the campaign themselves.

H.B.M.C. wrote:GK's will overshadow Acolytes in virtually every way. I've only ever used 1 Marine (not even a Grey Knight) with my players, and I put a pretty big leash on him (he had another wounded Marine that he needed to protect, so he couldn't go off running into combat and killing everyone himself).

An actual squad of GK's would make the Acolytes look like ants and so they should from an in-universe perspective, but that's bad from an in-game perspective as it reduces your players to background actors.

I definitely feel they should be background elements to make the last big fight scene epic. Have them as part of the last battle, but not the Acolyte's part directly.

If this was a video game cut scene, they'd be the ones shown attacking, getting killed (Showing that the main battlefield is not really a place for squishy acolyte types), etc. off tot he side, then the PCs are told "Oh, since you're here maybe you can break up the stalemate between the EVIL and the GK by climbing through the sewers or some other taks eight foot tall guys in power armor can't do."

(To paraphrase a Star Wars novel: Grey Knights (like Jedi) are shining heroes that are symbols as much as anything else. The PCs, as Acolytes, are the less glamorous but also necessary knives int he dark that can do things the GK can't or won't do.

GK aren't (in my mind) really OK with ideas like holding their nose and letting a lesser evil escape destruction because it'll make it possible to score a big win against a bigger threat. Acolytes can do sneaky stuff.

"their enemies have some sort of interference generator that is stopping the GK's from teleporting down, and the Acolytes have to take out that generator. Once done the GK's can teleport in"

I like it! I could have the daemon chasing them throughout the complex as they try to disable a generator that is preventing the GK's from teleporting in.
Sounds exciting. Almost like a science fiction version of Friday the Thirteenth.

Personally, I can't wait to see my team use their psychic powers in cool group combos.

Just updated the campaign. Still working out the plot holes.

updated

While it's great that you have a lot of ideas, it seems way too on the rails for me. Also, no battle plan survives contact with the enemy, you'll need to be prepared just in case they ignore a part of your huge plot!


Kind Regards,
Vladsimpaler

Vladsimpaler wrote:While it's great that you have a lot of ideas, it seems way too on the rails for me. Also, no battle plan survives contact with the enemy, you'll need to be prepared just in case they ignore a part of your huge plot!


Kind Regards,
Vladsimpaler

Some people like a railroad compaign more so then a completely free campaign. It not only allows the game master to create amazing scenarios for the player, but also allows the players to have a clear goal. For example, I played a campaign about 4 months ago where my party was presented with a planet to investigate. it was fun, but it took nearly 5 weeks before we even go into the plot and even then we had no idea what to do or where to go.

The campaign will absolutely have free choice, but if the acolytes fail to complete the objective laid before them, they will fail

Take for example, in part 1 of the campaign when the acolytes are stranded on the feral world. I don't care what they do or how they do it, but at least they know what they must do.

Open ended campaigning and planned campaigning can exist at the same time. When I run games I have an over all campaign concept running in the back ground. For each session I decide what important information the group needs to come in contact with and I fit it in with what they choose to do, within reason of course. No matter what the player's do the background concept is still ongoing. If the players choose to waste 2 in game months doing nothing, that doesn't mean the bad guys have done nothing in those 2 months either. Just keep in mind that as soon as you spell out every step of an adventure in detail you are shooting yourself in the foot as a GM because the likelihood of the players following the exact path you have set for them is almost nil. Yes in an established campaign you can have a rough idea of how the players "might" respond, but you don't know until they do respond. Much better to put down a framework for an adventure and then leave yourself enough wiggle room to make the adventure happen no matter what the players do.

Also as with other folks comments, you have to be really careful with putting in NPCs that will make the PCs insignificant. Played in a high level Rifts campaign years ago where all the characters were highly powerful (my character, a Cosmo Knight, was meant to fight entire space fleets on his own and win), but it seemed every critical battle situation we found ourselves in we couldn't deal with it ourselves and some overpowered NPC would have to step in and fix our problems for us. Got to be really boring and really irritating to never be able to resolve our own plot lines, despite the excessive power level of the PCs in the first place.

Skriker