The "Living 40k Campaign"

[MorbidDon 178]

Soo back in the day TSR had this thing called Ravensbluff which was a "living campaign" whereby player events were recorded and posted - so that different playing groups could in essence hear about each other exploits and of course change the lay of the land for others. Granted I never went to a CON myself so I dont know how indepth they actually got in terms of groups effecting one another / including conflicting with each other directly?!

 

The expansive nature of the 40k Universe (err Galaxy) I feel could lend well to this idea plus keep interest in the RPG alive in the days and perhaps years to come until we all know of a certain new publisher / game system perhaps.

 

With the migration to the new website and all I just wanted to throw this idea out there and...

 

If anyone is interested in doing so > I'd be as well tho my "campaign background" differs from vanilla 40k (AKA I run an "alternate dimension" of 40k then whats standard fair aka "the Morbidverse" as someone here on the forums coined it lol)

 

Thoughts?

 

Stay GAMING

Morbid

[TheWorldSmith 49]

It's a pretty cool idea. Do you play in the Askellon Sector?

[MorbidDon 178]

Yes > I'm doing Askellon...

 

I've only detailed 2 worlds of my own so far - ATM I'm trying to use the content provided to the utmost > its all been low fantasy for me thus far - mostly dealing with human & admech heretics with my players so far...

 

 

How about yourself Smith? Whats been doing?

[TheWorldSmith 49]

Running two campaigns. One about to start on Dark Pursuits, and one finishing (with the intent of running them through Desolation of the Dead, a custom campaign, and then Forgotten Gods.), although there's a fair bit of custom sections in there.  As with you I'm trying to stick with the provided material as much as possible before creating duplicates to serve my needs. I'm very interested in the already-established stuff.

Edited October 28, 2016 by TheWorldSmith

[Gregor Eisenhorn 139]

Id be interested in this, at least for inspirations sake. We've all started playing in Askellon already so I'm sure there are going to be some incompatible differences between the groups

[TheWorldSmith 49]

Planning can certainly occur, at least!  What contradictions have people gotten up to? Anything against what's already set out?

Edited October 29, 2016 by TheWorldSmith

[Alex Cube 5]

So we know where You guys play and that's cool, but when do You play?

Meaning that for consistency-sake You'd also have to say what's the date in-game.

 

This is a VERY powerfull idea, but it needs cooperation between GM's in question and some more work on their behalf too, yet I know of a large group of players and GM's (120+ people in total) who have played WoD that way and it was absolutely amazing in each and every aspect, I truly believe that if handled correctly this may result in the same massively multiplayer PnP game

[TheWorldSmith 49]

Well so far I have played with the idea of being in M42, Segment 128, although that has certainly never come up in game, nor has ever been a crucial part of it. No events outside of Askellon are yet to effect the sector in my games.

 

I imagine that's the same for everybody else? If not, it is hardly set in stone.

 

I do believe it more crucially important to know if there have been any alterations made to Callixis or Askellon? Or any of the nearby sectors in this end of Obscurus?

Edited October 30, 2016 by TheWorldSmith

[Gregor Eisenhorn 139]

Planning can certainly occur, at least!  What contradictions have people gotten up to? Anything against what's already set out?

 

Nothing massive, just potentially different from what have occured with other players. My group so far have only completed Dark Pursuits and Desolation of the Dead (Forgotten Gods should begin in about two or three weeks). Things that could conflict with other groups are:

 

1. The Red Walk have been completely wiped out.

 

2. The group have been so bad with their subtlety, their Inquisitor effectively decided to come out and announce the Inquisition has returned to Desoleum and Askellon at large with a very public mass burning of heretics in the Pinions (Upper Hive area of Hive Desoleum). There is now an Inquisitorial Bastion set up on Desoleum in the Upper Hive (its relatively small, about the size of a city block) which is hidden from the public, but the message has gone out to try and bring any other Inquisitors operating in the area out of hiding and to make contact with the group's Inquisitor. My Inquisitor has reestablished the Ordos Askelline but has just stopped short of establishing himself as Lord Inquisitor of the sector. 

 

3. For what it's worth, the current year in my ongoing campaign is towards the end of 860.M41, this puts it roughly 120 years (I believe) after the defeat of Hive Fleet Behemoth  (so as a frame of reference, the Tyranids are a new threat to the Imperium and most people haven't heard of them, but they are definitely a known factor to some of the Inquisition).

 

4. There's one event in Askellon's past (I'm not sure of the exact date if I'm honest) that I'm probably retconning to take part at some point in my campaign. That is the occurrence of hundreds of Space Hulks appearing all at once across the sector before mysteriously vanishing again. I'll be using this eventually to begin my group on the Purge the Unclean adventures from DH1 as well as to first introduce them to the Deathwatch (my group are Ordo Hereticus which means in my interpretation, they don't instantly have access to the Death Watch). This also provides a link in to when I start running Deathwatch with my group, which will be set in Askellon and form part of the ongoing narrative. Suffice to say, I'm planning to run the published adventures of both DH1 and Deathwatch but adjust them to occur in Askellon.

 

5. Our individual interpretations of what the Pandaemonium is may conflict, but I've had a good discussion over at rollforheresy.net as to what the Pandaemonium is exactly, so personally I'm happy with my interpretation of it. I'll go into it here if people are curious

Edited October 31, 2016 by Gregor Eisenhorn

[TheWorldSmith 49]

5. Our individual interpretations of what the Pandaemonium is may conflict, but I've had a good discussion over at rollforheresy.net as to what the Pandaemonium is exactly, so personally I'm happy with my interpretation of it. I'll go into it here if people are curious

 

It hasn't come up ingame as of yet, although I have always believe it to be a warp storm, simply, but is being inflamed and fuelled for growth by an approaching Tyranid fleet. Genestealers and Lictors would appear to be present on one world, as well as in the nobility, and that's where my assumption went.

[MorbidDon 178]

I will flesh out what exactly the Morbidverse entails:

 

Disclaimer: Lovecrafts's Old Ones differ from 40k's Old Ones; the first are like god things while the latter are super lizard people

 

From the tipty top of the cosmic order!

 

Mythos "things" are at the top (from the Old Ones to whatever "god" things there are - not counting servitor races)

So yeah the nuclear chaos exists - tho no one knows such deep mysteries (Azathoth)

Yog Sothoth + Nyarlathotep + Etc

 

These "beings" don't really matter - they just set the stage for the flavor to come...

 

Then we have the Ruinous Powers (thats what I'm calling them so yeah)

Khorne + Nurgle + Tzeentch + Slaanesh

 

I define them as Cosmic "Horrors"

http://earthdawn.wikia.com/wiki/Horrors

 

Of that it explains why these four things have the confirmation of man (aka a head , two arms & legs, plus etc)

Plus - why they only exist in the Milky Way Galaxy - the Morbidverse does "play" with other Galaxies; though rarely and mostly as a Mcguffin... also I play with time travel ~ go figure

 

And why they are soo symbolic (aka runes, glyphs, and the like on all their followers like badges - which I always found as stupid but hey I figured out a reason herein as to "why")...

 

The horrors (aka Ruinous Powers) are the only thing that mankind can commune with - all else is too alien, grand, and or foreign either to care to deal with humans, orks, eldar, + whatever - or to even acknowledge such existences (whens the last time you acknowledged the existence of "ants" in the Amazon from your comfy chair?)

 

Then we get into servitor races

Think "the ocean" > aka all that percusor stuff that cam before land animals > thats what the servitor races are on the cosmic / dimension scale of things

 

Now we get into "40k's Old Ones" aka the Life Molders and Makers (same fluff no changes)

From them we the stage is set in the familiar fashion that you all know as 40k...

 

Some changes to the familiar...

 

- Eldar; today they look they way they look - this is due to "glamour" - in fact they look something more along the lines of Tall Pole Thin Bipeds...

Of that - the glamour as it stands now does 2 things > first it keeps Slaanesh away (think occult charm / protection or disguise) granted it doesn;t work that well and in keeping with the fluff from that point on nothing i changed between them and Slaanesh; second - it keeps all the other races of 40k from outright attacking them - their natural form "looks" weak and inhibits "aggro" to those who view them in their natural state - think auto space rabies...)

 

With that minor "secret" change - nothing is known (deep mystery perhaps even most eldar dont know anymore of their truer form) and it goes well in alignment wit occult lore and practices tied to "faerie glamour"... loose yet telling connections

 

- The Emperor of Mankind > he's an aspect of Nyarlathotep - nuff said (I dont need to explain why "it's" doing what its doing)

 

- Orks and Waaaagh (aka their "magic") - this is consensus magic; something covered in great detail in Mage The Awakening / Ascension RPG (by Whitewolf publishing); the basis being if people believe in something > it comes to pass / life... for me this is explained thusly without getting too much into it.

 

- The Servitor Races on Earth; most have been eliminated and or gone into hiding or torpidity... nuff said (aka they are now written out of Earth)

 

From this framework I sought to introduce and explain away all that is 40k via sciences and occult lores - granted 40k is without Space Marines and the like Call of Cthulhu 40k with just different window dressing - Achung Chtulhu or or Delat Green anyone?

 

What does this do?

 

For me - this allows me to introduce both weird science and horror to a game whereby most players aren't scared in the least other than the "stats" they know of from either the tabletop or RPG experience...

 

I've ran things in RT alone such as "a Colour from Space" being held in some sort of stasis field the players therein discovered and tangled with to MiGo by which the players found in a rescue mission to recover survivors of a crashed ship - even had the "Yeti" as transformed humans being used as a labour force in and on an atmosphere devoid moon (aka you see naked white furred men like things ambling about from a far upon the lunar landscape - that weirded the players out good that day)...

 

Again tis is my own campaign variant - in the vein that Ravenloft was to Dungeons and Dragons

 

For those interested in the Morbidverse / Living Campaign - let me know and I will dev and post - otherwise I will not mention this campaign again - in either case I can and will submit to the Living Campaign those things that are only applicable to a vanilla 40k setting

 

Why doesn't anyone know?

 

Alhazred learned...

King Kuranes, the greatest of all recorded dreamers learned from some sort of Sentience(s)

 

The Ultimate Abyss
From Limbo the Ultimate Gate leads to the Ultimate Abyss, the Last Void outside all worlds. This gate is guarded by the Ancient Ones and Tawil at’Umr, avatar of Yog-Sothoth. The Ultimate Abyss is hell in the strictest sense of the word: Yog-Sothoth’s hole or hidden place.

 

Concepts such as shape, time, matter > have little to no bearing the further one goes into the Warp for the Final Answers - prices are paid and thus "characters" are forfeited upon such a deep understanding (like AL & the King)

 

Of Time Travel

So the end of time (not 40k but well beyond the 41st millennium billions of years in scope forward) I use Dune / Fading Suns as my analog therein - again McGuffin time - things may stem from this but this isn't to over shadow the 41st Millenium in anyway - think more along the lines of random events, castaways, and plots that may reach this far therein... (they come here / you dont necessarily go there)

 

Thoughts?

 

Stay GAMING

Morbid

Edited November 3, 2016 by MorbidDon

[MorbidDon 178]

Ohh P.S. sidenote: I use Marienburg fluff to detail out the Footfall in Rogue Trader - if looking for ideas for your campaign (especially since "they" THE PUBLISHERS abandoned WHFRPG)

[Gregor Eisenhorn 139]

I'm a huge fan of the Cthullu Mythos, particularly the Call of Cthullu interpretation of it. I have most of the board games and I plan on running the CoC RPG, especially as thematically its very similar to Dark Heresy, honestly though I prefer keeping it as a very distinct thing from 40k. What you've done is cool though