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So it happened. I didn't think I'd be running a Dark Heresy game but now I do. The players are veterans and most have played 40K before so the fluff and so on is known to them. We actually started this on inspiration from the "all guardsman party" so the first few missions are just to see if the randoms the Inquisition picked up are even worth keeping. Their acolytes have done two (well, one + a two-part) missions for the scary Hereticus Inquisitor and have shown their ability to improvise, prioritize and get results faster than expected. Many small leads connect to form a few bigger pictures, and the most alarming would seem to be someone as yet unidentified (but with lots of resources) stealing away psykers on a hive world. Everyone can probably agree that a hive world is exactly the place you absolutely DON'T want someone collecting a group of rogue psykers on.

I'm wondering if this would be when the Inquisitor offers them the choice of a blue or red pill - get a cozy but out-of-the-way assignment or dive into the deep end of the Inquisition's work. Retirement would be somewhere whatever info the acolyte has is worthless (so some backwater). Going full in would mean swearing allegiance to the Inquisition in front of a cabal of Inquisitors, or at least two of their master's peers. It would be a chance for a player to select another character class, if he's really not happy with his Imperial Guard for example. It would also bind the remaining characters by oath, making them more invested (more responsible if they mess up) and provide an excuse to assign them some extra hardware. Plus it would make a cool backdrop for their Inquisitor keeping a speech about the next mission, his excellent background research on it and why it's so important. ;-)

Just wondering if that seems really off for 40K grimdark and the Inquisition, offering a way out that is.

Wouldn't an Inquisitor or Interrogator's acolytes already have sworn allegiance to the Inquisition (and probably wouldn't need to due to being indoctrinated into the IOM)? It's a rather silly thing to give sensitive data and missions to people you don't already trust. In any case swearing allegiance to a thing probably isn't that momentous an occasion for an acolyte to warrant a career change.

Regarding the retirement option, I'm not sure I understand you. Do you mean they get booted back to civilian life, or do you mean they get another assignment (which would not be retirement)?

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If you're looking to provide an opportunity for a character's career change, you could do it like any military would: provide training modules. At rest intervals where the party is allowed some leave you could give them an option to train as a kind of specialist, maybe they take a Marksmanship course to be better at sniping, or perhaps take an Escape & Evasion course. They could even be given instruction on surveillance or data monitoring techniques.

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I do like the Red/Blue pill scenario, but both choices need some weighting. Perhaps the party is told that there is a choice to either go deeper and solve the mystery, or to simply be reassigned. The mission is beyond their current abilities, and would require training. This training would reveal to them methods and information that the general population is not permitted to know, and would mean that once taken in, this is their path for life. There is no backing out. There is no way home. They leave only on death. Reassignment to another mission allows them to retain some greater agency, and they can "opt-out". Retaining the party in that scenario is not a priority for the Inquisition, and they will receive less scrutiny. But they will also not get cool top-secret doodads, and they miss out on a greater mystery.

The "choice" here is not actually a choice, however. The party will choose to pursue the mystery deeper, and will find the alternative boring. It does present a good "character tweaking" option, however.

Alternative take: The IOM is highly authoritarian, and acolyte personal agency probably doesn't really mean anything. It could be an interesting narrative dynamic that the Inquisition simply tells them what they do next, forces the Redpill scenario, and sends them into the breach without so much as a pat on the back. This would give the party a conflict to slowly work with - they are loyal to the IOM, but it treats them like an abusive father.

Spetulhu wrote:
Just wondering if that seems really off for 40K grimdark and the Inquisition, offering a way out that is.

What my GM had our Inquisitor do was something similar. She basically said, "Working for me is going to be rough. You will probably die in your service to the Emperor. If you feel you are unfit for this, I need to know now. I cannot promise you much, but I can at least have you stationed somewhere out of my way so I can find better Acolytes."

For more grimdark:

Blue pill option:

"Your refusal to serve is treason and heresy against the God-Emperor!" *BLAM!*

"You wish to rest? Here take this pill." *acolyte dies from literal poison pill*

Less grimdark option:

"You have served well. Go receive your reward from the Emperor." *BLAM!" (or quieter death by poison pill)

The acolytes haven't really collected any great secrets so far, nothing that would be damaging to the IoM. They've only done some legwork for the Inquisitor, checking out a few things he wanted more evidence on. There was backup available and vox connection if they needed advice, so kind of "let's see if they can follow orders and be useful" sort of work. The bigger picture will be explained to them before the next mission where they'll be on their own for real.

"Retirement" would be reassignment to some less demanding duty, yes. Not a place of their choice either, probably something like "guard this listening post on planet Ass-Backwards, the garrison is resupplied every ten years if someone remembers it". And the Inquisitor isn't going to listen to complaints or - Emperor forbid! - demands for a better post... ;-)