Silenced Voices: A Dark Heresy Campaign

As some of you know from my other blogs, I'm about to move down to Kent. As one method of keeping in touch with my gaming buddies, I'll be running a Dark Heresy campaign via Skype. While I don Inquisitorial robes and speak through a green light filter at one end, my image will be presented on a wide-screen TV somewhere in Glasgow, where the players will be gathered to partake in the Grim Dark future that is the 40K Universe.

Player's Introduction:
"Your contact is late. Three hours late. Intelligence indicates he is residing in room 4306, on the thirty-first floor of the Irridium Rest House. It is outside this door that you stand. Now. Looking at the shattered mag-lock slowly melting melting into the floor. Wondering at the smell of blood. The ozone of warp-taint lingering in the air. Behind the closed door, you can hear the faint sounds of movement. Something unnatural occurs within..."

The Crone Sector:
The setting will be the Crone Sector, in the galactic south east. A newly re-conquered Sector, returned to the Imperial Fold a scant fifty years before, it lies on the very edge of Imperial Space . The Inquisition keeps the Imperium's newly-conquered subjects extremely ignorant (even by the standards of the Imperium) or other worlds within the Sector.

Only the handful of Chartist captains (and a good half-dozen Rogue Traders) operating within the Sector have any real comprehension of the Imperium beyond their home world.

The Voidship Penumbra's Ghost

The Sanctum:
The Sanctum is a modest manor house in the mid-levels of the Central Spire in the Rubiantum Mega-Hive of the twilight-shrouded world of Penumbra. Although none of the Acolytes are aware of it's exact location, it a small but significant location in Shard's net-work and the operational base of Shard's cell-network on Penumbra.

Rubiantium Hive, Penumbra.

It is where the Acolytes received their brief, orientation training. It is the (some-times) home of Inquisitor Shard (albeit not for nearly half-a-century) and the dwelling place of their "handle"r, Explicator Sand.

Inquisitor Shard:

Inquisitor Sharde, according to a 50 year old Portrait in the Sanctum

A shadowy figure, Shard rarely allows his acolytes to meet with him directly, instead operating through a network of "handlers" - senior Acolytes, Explicators and Interrogators, who carry out the actual field work while under his command. Shard seemingly belongs to no specific Ordos and directs multiple lines of inquiry simultaneously from some secret lair hidden deep within the shadows of the Crone sector.

Explicator Sand:

Explicator Sand enjoying work on his latest project

A somewhat macabre and distant figure, Sand is the Explicator who undertook your painful (and invasive) induction into Inquisitorial Service. A former Munitorium Surgical Adept, Sand invariably dresses in soiled, blood-stained surgical gowns and green plastic aprons when conducting Inquisitorial business. He displays an unnerving and somewhat disturbing affection for his many surgical devices, knives and implements of torture, keeping them spotlessly clean while at the same time neglecting his own appearance and hygiene. Sand's voice is a silky velvet caress, somewhat disarming at times, but capable of discussing the most painful acts of torture in entirely dispassionate tones.

The Explicator has never raised his voice in your presence, but you have heard whispers among the distaff that those juniors who raise his ire seldom re-appear as anything but the newest addition to his installations seemingly endless supply of servitors.

Sanctum Encounters:


Aside from the ubiquitous Servitors and Servo-skulls, a handful of pallid, aging former acolytes act as house servants. All are former Acolytes themselves, though many seem to have failed their master in some way, leading to their re-assignment and "retirement" to the Sanctuary. Their bitter pronouncements of near-certain death with regards to the Acolytes and their glee in laying odds on each individual Acolyte's chances of survival can be somewhat unnerving.

Former Acolytes serve even in death

Most unnervingly, each of these servants, male or female, bears an indentical, grafted face. All without exception must be addressed as "Zorius".  

Other hooded Acolytes, hurrying too and from briefings with Sand occasionally cross your path. Communication between members of active Acolyte cells is, however, forbidden, upon pain of mind-wipe or surgical lobotimisation.

Inquisitor Shards Rosette and Seal

Character Creation: 

 Shard is know to despise conventional means of recruiting Acolytes to his service - having neither the patience nor inclination to recruit and train novices only to see them falter and die due to inexperience. Therefore, he draws his followers exclusively from veteran members of other Imperial agencies and Adepta, choosing those who have, through a combination of luck and skill, stumbled onto heresy and survived where others who chose to take action have not.

An Acolyte Cell

The Acolytes have faced heresy and adversity and survived. While they have been subjected to only the briefest hypo-indoctrination techniques, they are now sufficiently acquainted with Inquisitorial doctrine and practices as to be unleashed, under the careful observation and direction of a distant "handler", into the Crone Sector.

Acolytes begin play at rank 4, with 4000 points of experience to spend on creating their character. Starting funds equal what they would have received at rank 1 multiplied by four. They can buy any item they can afford (subject to DM approval) regardless of rarity, provided they can afford to purchase it with their starting funds AND purchase the skills required to make use of it.

Legal Books for Character Generation:



The beginning character may follow career paths and acquire skills, talents and equipment made available in the following rulebooks. Purchase of Heretical items is not permitted during character generation.

The Dark Heresy Rulebook.
The Inquisitor's Handbook (except Sisters)
The Book of Judgement
Blood of Martyrs (including the rules for Sisters)
 The  fan-produced Commissar career path.













Important Note on Character Backgrounds and Portraits:
Note that at least a paragraph of background information explaining how the character came to attention of the Inquisition is expected, as is a character photograph. If a player does not provide a background and an image for their character, then his character will be docked a full rank or experience and begin play with enough XP to have attained rank 3.

Manflesh Madness

I don't know why this is funny.... but it is.

You Know Your DM is Ex-Military When.....

1. The orc hordes you encounter have sergeants and medics.
2. Healing potions also restore tattoos.
3. Your Horse won't run until you do a full safety inspection.
4. The dungeons are patrolled by MP's that keep asking 'Who started this fight?'
5. If you don't state that your character is performing scheduled weapons and armor maintenance after each combat, they rust to powder in about a day.
6. Elves give directions with using mils rather than degrees or directions.'
7. You learn to retreat from any monster with a "Who Dares Win" tattoo.
8. The curses attached to some treasures include KP Duty and Full Kit Inspection.
9. You can't stop for a night without submitting a complete "stag-list" for the characters in camp.
10. New players joining after the adventure starts show up with Transfer Orders.
11. The kingdom has a number of trolls, minotaurs and giants caged in silos on the border. The thread of MAD (Monster Assured Destruction) seems to keep the peace.
12. No matter what sort of area you adventure in, or what background culture dwells there, or what the dominant race of the surroundings is, every town, keep, village, city or fish camp you enter has at least one bar, two brothels, three pawn shops, a tattoo parlor and a barber shop.
13. The Healing Cleric always makes you wait for two hours before trying to send you away with a pair of toadstools and forced fluids.
14. After the goblins pass by, all the dungeons have a fresh coat of paint
15. A mysterious figure, the Arseesem, appears every time you make a mistake. Don't make mistakes. Just don't.
16. Saying 'we tie him up' always starts a 20 minute discussion of knots, with 4 skill rolls.
17. Guard Dogs are not just hit points that bark...they're chain saws with fur.
18. If captured by the monsters, your character always gets put to work digging latrines. Even if held by ethereal beings that don't use them.
19. Magic Users have to account for every ounce of equipment or supplies they carry, in careful attention to the rules for burdens. Blooded warriors can put 'One Piano' on their character sheet and it's just assumed they can 'handle the load.'
20. Every advancement to a new class level involves a trip to a tattoo parlor. 

If anyone knows who originally came up with this, please drop me a line so that I can properly attribute it. I found it on my PC and have no idea who wrote it. It certainly wasn't me. I do remember modifying some of the entries so that they related more to the British military experience though.

Review: Vinyl Maps from Signs on the Cheap

First, the disclaimer: SignsontheCheap.com approached me a week or two ago with the offer of creating a free vinyl map or similar gaming related item in return for a placing a review on my blogs. However, there was nothing in the deal that suggested this had to be a positive review.

But it's going to be pretty damn positive anyway. Just take a look at this:

Although I never thought to include anything for scale, what you're looking at here is a 3 high vinyl map of the Empire and Kislev from the Warhammer World. Despite the quite considerable magnification to go from the original image here:

...to the image printed on the vinyl, all the place names, rivers, mountains and other terrain features are clearly discernible and readable, with only minimal blurring. Someone more pedantic than myself might consider tidying up the place names with a permanent marker but there's really no need. The map is entirely readable even in quite dim light and frankly, looks pretty damn amazing too.

You'll notice that the image printed here is slightly truncated north-south when compared to the original image. That's because the guys at Signs on the Cheap noticed that the original file I downloaded from the web-site was corrupt, and had a band of randomly coloured pixels just south of where my map ends (you can see it on the original image if you look closely). They kindly suggested a number of options and we eventually decided simply to end the map just before the corrupt segment.

Delivery was extremely fast and proofs were emailed promptly only a day after I sent the map image. Anyone considering such a campaign map should certainly give signsonthecheap.com a good look.

I'm even considering trying to commission a proper vinyl battle-mat or two just to see how they turn out. I have a lot of old Classic Battletech hex-maps that I'd particularly like to see reproduced on a material considerably more durable than paper or cardboard. Watch this space and I'll let you know how I get on.

Age of Anarchy: War of the Roses Campaign.

After a few hiccups getting started, the War of the Roses campaign begins tomorrow. Using the OSRIC rules, the adventurers will attempt to acquire fame, plunder and status in the wild-lands left ungoverned by the deaths of mighty lords and now-plagued by creatures of the Wild-wood.

"It's dark. Damp air envelops you like a cloak, old, stagnant water soaks your ragged, torn clothing. Your ears hear the faint rustle of rats moving through the rank straw and the not-infrequent screams of your fellow prisoners. For what purpose are you held here? Indeed, how did you come here? Of how your present state of being came to pass, you know nothing. Not even the identity of your captors...."

BATTLETECH RPG-LITE: THE FOXHOUNDS

One of the guys over at my local group decided to run a Battletech campaign. Given that so many players were interested, he decided that instead of giving us a lance each, he'd divide us into two mercenary lances, with each players controlling just a single pilot. Over time, as we earn more cash for the war-chest, we'll be able to recruit other pilots and mechs but, at least to begin with, we're just one pilot each. 

Playing Battletech as an RPG-lite wargame will be a brand new experience for me, although Battletech campaigns that use this format seem to be quite common (Paint it Pink is running one right now). As you can tell, I'm quite excited. At the moment, both lances are on Galatea in the year 3025. Dougal (the DM) is running us through training scenario's at the moment, with the best performer from each lance getting first pick of the available Mechs.

All the Pilot Profile Images were whipped up by William, one of the players, based on character art and profiles submitted by the pilot's player.

Here's my Lance:

 "The Fox Hounds".

 So far the Fox Hounds have performed well in the training scenarios. Notable, they completed the Reconnaissance scenario against a Heavy Mech Lance without firing a single shot and losing only a single ton of armor between them. Two members of the lance counted coup of enemy Mechwarriors during the scenario and all four proceeded to leave the training area in style (walking backwards) despite being under fire.

RANGER:

Played by Craig. Zachary Fox served for over two decades in the House Davion Military before being badly wounded in a training exercise where a captured Zeus was erroneously loaded with live autocannon rounds. Having had more than half of his body replaced with bionics, Fox was medically discharged due to his wounds. Unwilling to give up the only life he has ever known, he has traveled to Galatea to find work in a new Mercenary Unit and to train his new body in the skills required of a Mechwarrior.

Skills:

Gunnery: 4

Piloting:5

Training History:

Ranger has completed 2 of the four designated training missions, participating in a close range city fight simulation in Scenario 1 and completing a an efficient reconnaissance in Scenario 2. 

[*] Moonwalked out of the training area while under fire upon completion of Scenario 2. Counted Coup on an enemy Mech. Did not fire a shot.

SCARLETT:

Played by moi, Lishka is a former Agromech pilot from Gunzberg in the Draconis Combine. As both as woman and a farm-hand, she was repeatedly refused entry to Combine Mechwarrior gymnasiums. Determined to become a Mechwarrior, she sold her farm, home, agrimech and livestock to purchase passage and training at Galatea, the Mercenary Star.

Lishka  is surprisingly well-educated, given her home-schooling, and (even more surprisingly, given her clipped, Raslahague accent) possesses a singing voice trained to many styles and disciplines. She has used her funds to acquire an elegant -if revealing- wardrobe, her one extravagance, the rest of her fortune having been dedicated to the pursuit of her new profession. Deadly serious despite her fondness for clothing other female Mechwarriors would consider "frivolous" she is as cold and calculating in the cockpit of a mech as she is brash and brazen outside it.

Skills: 

Gunnery: 4

Piloting: 6

Training History:

Scarlett has completed 2 of the four designated training missions, participating in a close range city fight simulation in Scenario 1 and completing a an efficient reconnaissance in Scenario 2. 

[*]Personally destroyed a Whitworth while piloting an Enforcer in the City Fight Scenario.

[*]Scanned three out of four enemy Mechs in the Recon scenario without firing a shot Cicada, Griffon and Banshee). Counted coup on one opponent piloting a Cicada by tapping it under the chin and proceeding to moonwalk out of the training area. Total damage sustained: lost a 1/2 ton of armor on the right arm. Did not fire a shot.

DOMINO:

Played by Ken. Formerly of the 3rd Oriente Hussars, a young graduate from the Allison Mechwarrior Institute.  After being hounded out of her unit by a senior officer, Domino elected to follow in her fathers footsteps by becoming a mercenary. Her brother, with whom she has an unpleasant relationship at best, continues to serve in the Mark military as an Aerospace Pilot.

Skills:

Gunnery 4 

Piloting 6.

  

Training History:

Domino has completed 2 of the four designated training missions, participating in a close range city fight simulation in Scenario 1 and completing a an efficient reconnaissance in Scenario 2.

[*] Moonwalked out of the training area while under fire upon completion of scenario 2. Did not fire a shot.

VICK:

Played by George. Foa has revealed little of his past, save that he comes from a periphery world. Given his Viking-like styles of dress, speech and mannerisms, certain of his colleagues believe he originally belonged to a band of Periphery Pirates. Foa, characteristically, is silent on the matter.

Skills:

Gunnery: 4

Piloting: 6

Training History:

Vick has completed 2 of the four designated training missions, participating in a close range city fight simulation in Scenario 1 and completing a an efficient reconnaissance in Scenario 2

 [*] Moonwalked out of the training area while under fire upon completion of scenario 2. Did not fire a shot.

 NEXT: The rival Merc Lance, "The Steel Legion".

OSRIC: Religion, Morality and Alignment

One thing's for certain, I really need to find a new name for my War of the Roses OSRIC campaign. Something a little catchier. OSRIC: Age of Anarchy, perhaps. What do you guys think?

Anyway, one of the (slightly) different things about this campaign is the way I'm treating alignment. Rather than doing away with the concept altogether, except for extremes of good and evil (as I often do) alignment with be replaced by moral codes and religions. This is still a work in progress at the moment, but the options at present are:





Religious Alignment Choices:

• Medieval Catholicism
• Medieval Islam
• Medieval Druidism/Paganism
• Medieval Judaism
• Medieval Orthodox
• Servant of the Dark One (NPC Only)

 The religion based alignments are the most nebulous of all in a very real sense. For example, most of the major religions have a variant on "though shall not kill". As mentioned in a previous post though, Catholics believe that only humans have souls, so this rule only counts towards killing humans. That being said, for a Catholic it's perfectly acceptable to kill a human if he (or she) is a non-christian, or if you're a member of the knightly and noble caste (because god has ordained that you are born into a role that requires killing) and have a fairly good reason for doing so.

So, these five choices aren't quite the straight-jacket they might first appear to be.

Then we have the (sometimes) more restrictive, properly fixed moral codes:

Rashi, perhaps the best known medieval Rabbi and Scholar

Moral Alignment Choices:

• Athiest/Agnostic
• Chivalric Code
• Humanist
•  Irreligious
• Secular Devotion

The Humanist and Chivalric moral codes are perhaps the most tightly restrictive in a sense that they have fairly well defined limits. Like everything else, of course, there are loopholes to exploit, but the Chivalric code especially is fairly well defined. The irreligious and atheist/agnostic alignments give the greatest freedom of action of all, perhaps equivalent to true-neutral in the traditional D&D alignment spectrum. Basically, such people are limited in their actions only by the actions and the beliefs of the authorities around them.

Lastly, we have Secular Devotion, which implies an utter adherence to an NPC secular authority such as the King, a Duke or Earl or even simply a friend or loved one. The limitation here is that the character won't do anything to act against the interests of the object of his devotion, but at the same time the character would be reluctant to disobey any instructions from this same NPC, regardless of how abhorrent. Most of the lower-end bad-guy NPC's in this game will have this alignment, which is very similar to lawful neutral in many respects.

Finally, we have good and evil

Salahadin: A great example for Islamic Paladin characters

Good and Evil:
Good and Evil, Law and Chaos no longer exist in an alignment sense, but they do still have a place in the game world. Generally, for a creature of being to be affected by such as a spell, they must have a history of routinely acting in a certain way. For example, angels and demons are always affected by spells that affect good and evil creatures respectively. A knightly character who consistently acts to uphold the law and maintain stability in the land (regardless of his actual alignment) would be affected by spells such as Protection from Law. A robber-knight on the other hand (or one notorious for changing sides during the Wars) would be affected by Protection from Chaos and so on.

Alignment and Clerics:

Clerics, strictly speaking, can be of any alignment, not just the alignment of their religion. However, if they wish to retain their spell casting abilities, they had better ensure that their actions remain consistent with the tenants of the religion they represent. Thus, a Catholic cleric might have the Secular Devotion alignment, and be devoted to the service of his brother, an NPC Lord. He might politic and preach on his brothers behalf without effect, but if he arranges the assassination of his brother's enemies, he can kiss those clerical abilities of his good-bye.

This helps to explain why so many priests in the historical time period (and setting) can act contrary to the interests of their religion and still remain priests. In a gaming sense, the ones that manage to obey the tenants of their religion can perform minor miracles. The ones who betray their religious beliefs in favour of more secular or personal concerns, lose their powers. Often very early in their clerical careers. The few who manage to exist in the secular world and remain true to their faith are essentially minor miracle workers, moving to become widely recognised as living saints (or prophets) at higher levels.

Pope John XXIII. A fine example of a priest who most definitely would have lost his cleric powers in this setting.

 All these concepts are just skeletons at the moment, in need of a great deal of fleshing out. But that's where the alignment system remains at the moment.