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Just a few things going through my head, some friends and I are running a bit of a kitbashed/tweaked version of the Deathwatch RPG on Sundays and we're looking into moving toward something like this. Just all of us kind of digging for various things to use.

We're looking at doing some kind of mission on a world in the midst of a Genestealer Cult uprising. Now, we obviously don't want Tyranid splinter fleets raining down from the skies during the mission, and we'd like them to kind of have quite some distance so we can do this story arc. I don't have any of the books about GSC, or their Codex, only some access to the familiar online resources.... so I have some questions and you guys may be able to help us with this.

1- At what point prior to the Tyranids' arrival would an uprising take place? Would it be 'just as it's about to happen very soon', or could it be something done with a significant amount of time prior to the world being devoured?

2- To what degree would the planet/hive city be 'tainted' with GSC before they staged an insurrection?

3- Considering the planet/hive we're trying to do this arc on is supposed to be in the midst of major insurgency and chaos- what reason would the Imperium try to reclaim a planet like this? Would it be something as simple as them believing that it's just a political rebellion?

Not only would I like some help in answering these, but I'd like to hear some cool ideas from you folks as well. Anything is appreciated, even share your own RPG stories if you want.

1. If the Genestealers managed to infiltrate the higher levels of society, there might not be a violent uprising. Some high ranking guy could just shut down the orbital Lascannons and let the Tyrannids in without a fuss. It could be your mission is to stop an individual you know to be a member of the cult from sabotaging a world like this.

2. Since it takes 4 generations of Genestealers before the next Purestrain Genestealer is born, I would say anywhere past that point. Once you start getting 50 genestealers running around, you have an insurgency that is incredibly frightening, with at least a few hundred+ comprimised PDF troops and any number of 'safe houses' prepared throughout the hive.

3. Their first response would be to put down an uprising with the PDF. Reports would take time to route up, but once they understand it is a Genestealer cult, they will send in shock troops of some kind (Tempestus, Space Marines/Terminators, Sisters of Battle, etc.). If the situation becomes uncontainable, the Hive City could be bombed from orbit. If there is a ship currently docked at the Hive City, or the cult has infected multiple cities, it could be grounds for Exterminatus or a planetary Quarantine. Genestealers CANNOT be allowed to travel between worlds to infect more cities.

In Cult of the Spiral Dawn over 50 years pass between the initial landing of genestealers and the insurrection. The insurrection also happens because of provocation. There's no mention of the Hive Fleets being en route as far as I can remember.

There's a bit more to it in the book, but it shouldn't affect the cult behaviour much.

phillv85 wrote:
In Cult of the Spiral Dawn over 50 years pass between the initial landing of genestealers and the insurrection. The insurrection also happens because of provocation. There's no mention of the Hive Fleets being en route as far as I can remember.

There's a bit more to it in the book, but it shouldn't affect the cult behaviour much.

50 years given the whole genesteler generations thing is possiably too short, on the other hand it boggles the mind that even in the IoM a genesteler cult could fester for 200 years before it was noticed

'Outer Dark', by Robbie McNiven is pretty good on genestealer stuff.

BrianDavion wrote:

phillv85 wrote:
In Cult of the Spiral Dawn over 50 years pass between the initial landing of genestealers and the insurrection. The insurrection also happens because of provocation. There's no mention of the Hive Fleets being en route as far as I can remember.

There's a bit more to it in the book, but it shouldn't affect the cult behaviour much.

50 years given the whole genesteler generations thing is possiably too short, on the other hand it boggles the mind that even in the IoM a genesteler cult could fester for 200 years before it was noticed

It is a bit short, but they're provoked into action. It also mentions the gestation period is very short.

It is very likely that hybrids grow up much faster than normal humans, meaning a full 4 generational cycle can happen if a few decades.

Also in the same book the Patriarch manages to organize an uprising against the Sisters of Battle in a few days by simply infecting a vast amount of people. A genestealer cult can grow surprisingly fast as there is no limit to amount of people the genestealers can infect.

Also the IoM is very bad at detecting Genestealers Cults, as it is mentioned in the codex that for every cult discovered, hundreds more avoid detection, some of them growing to be small cancerous empires within the IoM.

Oddly enough-

And I'm not posting this as 'news' because I know already someone's beaten me to the punch...

https://www.warhammer-community.com/2018/08/12/coming-soon-new-models-and-a-new-battle-in-a-box/

This actually has some helpful fluff information in the video.

 Adeptus Doritos wrote:
Just a few things going through my head, some friends and I are running a bit of a kitbashed/tweaked version of the Deathwatch RPG on Sundays and we're looking into moving toward something like this. Just all of us kind of digging for various things to use.

We're looking at doing some kind of mission on a world in the midst of a Genestealer Cult uprising. Now, we obviously don't want Tyranid splinter fleets raining down from the skies during the mission, and we'd like them to kind of have quite some distance so we can do this story arc. I don't have any of the books about GSC, or their Codex, only some access to the familiar online resources.... so I have some questions and you guys may be able to help us with this.

1- At what point prior to the Tyranids' arrival would an uprising take place? Would it be 'just as it's about to happen very soon', or could it be something done with a significant amount of time prior to the world being devoured?

2- To what degree would the planet/hive city be 'tainted' with GSC before they staged an insurrection?

3- Considering the planet/hive we're trying to do this arc on is supposed to be in the midst of major insurgency and chaos- what reason would the Imperium try to reclaim a planet like this? Would it be something as simple as them believing that it's just a political rebellion?

Not only would I like some help in answering these, but I'd like to hear some cool ideas from you folks as well. Anything is appreciated, even share your own RPG stories if you want.

The answer to the first two really depends on local factors. If everything is going seamlessly and the Tyranids don't show up, the GSC will infect everyone and spread offworld to infest neighboring worlds. Typically,they run into a roadblock like a competing chaos cult, a tenacious Arbites agent or the Inquisition uncovering the cult. Then they'll start their uprising in a combination of self defense and to use the chaos to infect IG or other vectors heading offworld. There are stories about GSC's rising up hundreds of years before the Tyranids entered the Galaxy.

As for 3, maybe the planet in question supplied something the Imperium can't just write off, providing Leman Russ targeting sensor lens housing flanges for the entire sector or something like that.