Author Topic: Dark Heresy campaign discussion  (Read 2485 times)

Ninjaguiden

  • Horse Puncher
  • *
  • Posts: 48
  • Reputation Power: 0
  • Ninjaguiden has no influence.
    • View Profile
Dark Heresy campaign discussion
« on: December 12, 2016, 03:02:34 AM »
Since there wasn't a thread up for this campaign which I really enjoy I thought I'd make one to delve deeper into the darkness our acolytes find themselves in.

First off I'm stoked to see more 40k from DnU and do I think the setting and flavour is captured really well, both my GM and pkayers (such as "We will all die just hope you are the Emperors grace when you do"). I'm also curious if this is still pre-gen adventures or not? Feels like things are flowing more naturally now than in the beginning so if it's still pre-gen it's hidden very well.

Is it a conscious decision to not have any downtime with yhe crew? So far it's straight from the last mission to next with little room for non-mission interaction between the PCs.

Axe

  • Horse Puncher
  • *
  • Posts: 4
  • Reputation Power: 0
  • Axe has no influence.
    • View Profile
Re: Dark Heresy campaign discussion
« Reply #1 on: December 12, 2016, 04:23:55 PM »
Quote
First off I'm stoked to see more 40k from DnU and do I think the setting and flavour is captured really well, both my GM and pkayers (such as "We will all die just hope you are the Emperors grace when you do").

Thanks. Rogue Trader's a great setting, but by design it removes you from a lot of the squalor and decay of the Imperium, and it was definitely my aim to keep the grimdark dial firmly cranked. The Second Edition setting, the Askellon Sector, is explicitly themed as an old, crumbling, barely functional relic, which helped a lot. As did my (at the time) recent play-through of Bloodborne.

We also had a very nice spread of personalities and character types, and the players were on-board with the themes and tone in a big way, riding the very careful line that keeps 40k from being a farce while still being satire.
Quote
I'm also curious if this is still pre-gen adventures or not? Feels like things are flowing more naturally now than in the beginning so if it's still pre-gen it's hidden very well.

The Novabella sessions are a slightly edited version of Seeds of Heresy, the free RPG day adventure for DH2. I added some Medical intrigue with the heavy metal poisoning because we had a dedicated Chirurgeon, and did the usual GM-fills-in-gaps-in-pregen business. As I mentioned at the conclusion, it's one of the best canned adventures I've ever seen, and I would heartily recommend it to anyone running DH2 for their group.

The Desoleum sessions are a heavily edited version of Desolation of the Dead from the Game Master's Kit. I basically used the hook (body-processing noble dies surrounded by zombies, clutching a weird alien device) and the set-dressing/NPCs provided, and fleshed out the Desoline xenos, which are only mentioned in passing by the book.

The Ossuar sessions are still ongoing, but they're based not off of an adventure, but from one of the provided Story Hooks in the splatbooks. They give you a basic problem, a few possible story beats, and some enemy statblocks if needed. They're all pretty good, and as a bonus, they give you the planets they're based on as Alternate character options - your character can be from Ossuar and get a different bonus than a normal Shrine Worlder.

Quote
Is it a conscious decision to not have any downtime with yhe crew? So far it's straight from the last mission to next with little room for non-mission interaction between the PCs.

For the most part, yes. Downtime was handled during sessions (during Warp travel, traveling to the xenos ruins, etc) rather than as sessions of their own due to the planned length of the campaign. I felt that a 6-10 session campaign didn't justify an entire off-episode.

Ninjaguiden

  • Horse Puncher
  • *
  • Posts: 48
  • Reputation Power: 0
  • Ninjaguiden has no influence.
    • View Profile
Re: Dark Heresy campaign discussion
« Reply #2 on: December 13, 2016, 04:22:32 AM »
Quote
Thanks. Rogue Trader's a great setting, but by design it removes you from a lot of the squalor and decay of the Imperium, and it was definitely my aim to keep the grimdark dial firmly cranked. The Second Edition setting, the Askellon Sector, is explicitly themed as an old, crumbling, barely functional relic, which helped a lot. As did my (at the time) recent play-through of Bloodborne.

We also had a very nice spread of personalities and character types, and the players were on-board with the themes and tone in a big way, riding the very careful line that keeps 40k from being a farce while still being satire.

Haha, I've played a lot of Bloodborne at a friends place and the aesthetic is very much in line with lots of 40k stuff, mainly the witch hunters of course. Askellon sector really does seem like particularly bad place even by Imperial standards.


Quote
The Novabella sessions are a slightly edited version of Seeds of Heresy, the free RPG day adventure for DH2. I added some Medical intrigue with the heavy metal poisoning because we had a dedicated Chirurgeon, and did the usual GM-fills-in-gaps-in-pregen business. As I mentioned at the conclusion, it's one of the best canned adventures I've ever seen, and I would heartily recommend it to anyone running DH2 for their group.

The Desoleum sessions are a heavily edited version of Desolation of the Dead from the Game Master's Kit. I basically used the hook (body-processing noble dies surrounded by zombies, clutching a weird alien device) and the set-dressing/NPCs provided, and fleshed out the Desoline xenos, which are only mentioned in passing by the book.

The Ossuar sessions are still ongoing, but they're based not off of an adventure, but from one of the provided Story Hooks in the splatbooks. They give you a basic problem, a few possible story beats, and some enemy statblocks if needed. They're all pretty good, and as a bonus, they give you the planets they're based on as Alternate character options - your character can be from Ossuar and get a different bonus than a normal Shrine Worlder.

About what I figured, will be interesting to see were all this ends up!

Quote
For the most part, yes. Downtime was handled during sessions (during Warp travel, traveling to the xenos ruins, etc) rather than as sessions of their own due to the planned length of the campaign. I felt that a 6-10 session campaign didn't justify an entire off-episode.

Totally makes sense, not all campaigns are, nor should be, cut from the same cloth in how they are structured.

Any chance for a player-PC list to have a reference?

Axe

  • Horse Puncher
  • *
  • Posts: 4
  • Reputation Power: 0
  • Axe has no influence.
    • View Profile
Re: Dark Heresy campaign discussion
« Reply #3 on: December 13, 2016, 01:53:53 PM »
Quote
Any chance for a player-PC list to have a reference?

Sure. This is from memory, so I might get a thing wrong here or there, but I believe it's...

Kevin - Lady Ursa, the Adeptus Astra Telepathica Mystic from a Research Station dedicated to studying the warp-storm Pandemonium.
Sam - Ferran Samaha, an Adeptus Administratum Seeker from a Forge World.
Josh - Johannes Theodosius Wolfram Von Glandring, a Feudal World Warrior whose abnormal musculature marks him as a Mutant.
Alex - Constantius II Claude, a Shrine Worlder Heirophant from the Adeptus Ministorum.
James - Zarkov Drake, a Chirurgeon from a Mechanicus Forge World on the Biologis track.

Ninjaguiden

  • Horse Puncher
  • *
  • Posts: 48
  • Reputation Power: 0
  • Ninjaguiden has no influence.
    • View Profile
Re: Dark Heresy campaign discussion
« Reply #4 on: December 20, 2016, 03:56:31 PM »
I honestly can't believe they came out all alive and sane vs a greater daemon, good hustle. Sooo, Bloodthirster for the maybe followup game? Gotta bump up that difficulty!

Really liked this shorter, more contained format, long campaigns are great too but I think format provides it's own advantage both story-vise and perhaps for you as a GM? The minds-eye part with Ursa was really cool, I remember that kind of scene from Eisenhorn and Ravenor (fantastic inquisition novels if you haven't read them).

Lastly, thank you for reminding me to go replay Bayonetta (again).