Newish Gm requesting Input and Opinions (A rather long post...)

[Saldre 44]

Hello All!

Bear with me, this is going to be a LONG post.

I am pretty much a First Time Gm, who I guess got REALLY lucky because my players are -loving- the game.

I am gming a Play by Post game (on a forum- here’s a link to it if anybody’s interested in reading trough it: Part 1, Part 2, granted- it’s gotten pretty massive.) that was originally supposed to last, oh say 20 pages at most- but it quickly got out of hand!

After reading the Castemere Look, on Dark Reign, which in itself is based on Shadow Over Innsmouth, I decided I wanted to give a scenario like that a try.

The premise is simple- Acolytes reach a creepy town with a dark secret, discover a Genestealer cult- and either destroy it, or escape to let the world know. Granted, I was aiming more for the escape part- but we’ll get to that in a moment.

To get the people on the planet, I decided to go with the Potential Alpha Psyker excuse (when I thought about it later, I figure it wouldn’t make much sense because the Tyranids block the warp- a plot point later on.)

The acolytes find the Psyker, and are almost going to capture him- when a random dice roll changes everything, and the plot simply takes off running. You see, as they are fighting him- the kid rolls a Phenomena that causes him to POUF, vanish- at which point I decide he reappears in Biltem, the cult infested town.

Now the acolytes are forced to investigate the nearby creepy town of Biltem, as they suspect the child has ended up there somehow. When they reach Biltem- things are going so well, I keep on adding layers and layers to the Investigation. From the Mysterious Crystals that they produce in the Town’s mine, to the Rogue Trader who owns the city and is seemingly responsible for bringing back the taint with him.

As the adventure progress, the acolytes uncover a plot that was never there to begin with- but seemed to good to pass up: What happened was (Relatively speaking) simple: This Genestealer cult in particular is special- What’s so special about it you ask? Well, the town of Biltem sits upon a large deposit of warp channelling crystals that enhance the influence of the Immaterium and causes it to flow copiously around town- fortunately; the Tyranid presence is so entranced that already the Shadow Over the Warp conceals this anomaly.

Unfortunately- the Patriarch has spent the last 16 years sitting in a deposit of these crystals, and- as one of the few tyranids actually open to the warp, broadcasting a signal, he’s mutated far beyond anyone’s expectations and turned into an eldritch abomination.

Now this cult has been ready to receive the Hive fleet for a long time- but for some reason, it hasn’t gotten here yet [This is where I decided to add another Scenario on Dark Reign, Basically- Dormant Gargant Hive Ship)]. The Genestealer is unaware that the Hive Ship is dormant, and as such- are constantly broadcasting the signal. One happy day, a little alpha psyker pops right in-front of the magus. Seeing his chance, and being rather fanatical at this point, the Magus Captures the psyker- and decides to feed it to the Patriarch so as to enhance its warp signal [whether or not this would have actually worked is irrelevant ].

Cue the Acolytes, having uncovered this plot (without the fact that the Gargant ship still exists somewhere) and going on a roaring rampage across town; slaughtering genestealers, giant worm-like creatures, Lictors, Daemons, and Chaos-infused abominations- all while trying to find Timmy (the Kid Psyker), and rescue as many civilians as possible (most of which they ended up shooting themselves )

Now the Patriarch is dead- but what started as a one shot has already evolved into a campaign- and this is where I really need your help, input and ideas!
Though the Genestealer cult has failed to awake the Gargant Hive Ship, it is by no means defeated. Truth be told, the Rogue Trader responsible for the this entire mess did not put all of his eggs in one Basket- and when he retreats from Biltem, taking with him two psykers (One of the Players who was Nascent, turned NPC now and the Alpha) he flies straight to a remote space station where he can try something else.

Aboard the abandoned station, a crazed Tech-priest (most probably a Phaenonite and his group) has taken over- and he is in league with the genestealer cult, most probably an infected member himself. The station itself has been converted into something more: a weapon of disturbing proportions- Think giant Callphean Psy Engine. The Tech-priest’ aim is simple: when the Rogue Trader arrives aboard with the Psykers, they will be placed into the machine, which will then fire upon the Gargant ship- awakening it a la "Frankenstein". (Or so he believes- with the added bonus of mutating it massively.)

Locations aboard the Space Station-

Upon scouring the net for cool pictures, I was mostly able to find a single source: Dead Space. So all of the locations I currently have reflect the Ishimura, though I avoided the Pictures with NPCs in them, I think I can use them too- On the bright side, they are all great Visual aids for locations; on the other hand, Dead Space influence on this peculiar game will be extremely difficult to hide- not that it really matters, I doubt any of the players have played it- and even if one of them did, I know he’d love to play along.

Current Locations-  Bridge, Engineering, Hydroponics, Flight Hanger, Living Quarters – Including Executive quarters, Medical Ward &The (Detailed) Insides of a Wrecked Shuttle.

Either way, I am sure I need a lot more locations for what I have planned- but I can't really think of any: Perhaps Communication Room, an Armory, a broken down church to the Emperor and... hmm... Ideas? The problem ends up not with the Location really, but with Objectives- why do the players need to visit this place? Sidequests and getting bonuses to the Final Objective would be a start.

Potential Complications:

Lots of things are going in the space station, the first part of the Mission lasted several months, and I intend the second part to last about the same- as such, there has to be lots of things to do: lots of enemies and some allies, to give those High Fellowship characters a chance to use the skill.

First- The Phaenonites themselves: I’d say there’s going to be four of them, each controlling a sector of the space station. They will have various robotic Servitors, (Think Big Daddies) patrolling the station.

Second- The Phaenonites’ warp crazed tyranid experiments. In other words, the Necrophobes Those are going to be running loose around the station- fits with the theme of the General campaign, adds to the horror of it, and makes for some pretty cool boss battles.

Third- The Tyranids. Good old regular tyranids- I am also combining the Scenario “Sight Unseen” by Tadeusz Cantwell, which involves the growth of a Tyranid Vanguard drone that will burst the station apart.

Fifth- Xenos: Dark Eldar, Orks or Regular Eldar- I haven’t decided yet. These won’t be the main villains, but perhaps the Orcs ship crashes into the Space Station looking for rubble, and up finding more then what they bargained more- or perhaps they run into a farseer that here’s to prevent these horrors, or better yet- make them happen, but aim them at human settlements. In other words, I see lots of potential for some extra moral choices here (ally with the xenos, or fight them as well?).

Sixth- Allies: Inquisitor Jezehell, who was dispatched to investigate the station by Ordo Xenos and was captured by the tyranids, and used to feed the vanguard drone. Her troops and her crew have secured a small section of the station which will be the safe zone of the acolytes- it was her astropath that managed to send out the message with the Location of the station in the first place.

Objectives:

Now this is where it gets interesting- and this is where I need help (ironically, this is the most important of the entire thing!)

I don't have a problem with the Main Objectives: a) Recover the Psykers, b) Stop the Tech-priest and c) Destroy the Tyranid Pod.

Its getting there that's the problem: I have the locations, but I am missing the objectives to go with them- and though I have a general idea of what the acolytes are supposed to do- I’d much rather give them objectives as they move along, and ideas for locations they can visit, instead of throwing them in the free for all.

Most of the station is going to be locked down, protected heavily by the Phaenonites security system- so I can see giving the players the option of visiting, Engineering in order to manually shut down the system. Furthermore, wanting to toy with the players, the Phaenonites can flood the air vents with poisons and fear toxins, requiring a visit to Hydroponics in order to manually reset air quality.

Why would the players head to Medical Ward? I do have the picture of a Doctor’s main office and the morgue, and I’d like them to have a reason to go down there- but I can’t quite think of any.

Flight Hanger is where they land, and like Dead Space, and I can see them needing to restore power to the trams before they can freely move around the station. But I am stumped when it comes to everything else- I can see them heading to the Armor to get more ammo, and stronger weapons, perhaps going to the communications room will allow them to control some cameras, heading over to robotics will give them a chance to shut all of the servitors...

Either way- If anybody has survived this rather lengthy post, I’d like your opinions on the general idea- and if you guys have some suggestions, input- pretty much anything.

I am fairly certain I am in over my head- but the players are enjoying the game so much, and I don’t want to disappoint them!

Thanks for your time!
 

[Gregorius21778 249]

Funny thing is, you could have wrapped up the first half of your truly epic post into about five to seven sentences to deliver the information about the adventure that is already over. Would have heightend your chances of giving you any reply. By the way... what was your question again?

Anyway, I see some problems/possible contradictions in what you wrought

@Orks/Eldar still on the station
In that case, that must have been a rather recent crash. No matter what the odds would be on both sides, the outcome would be a bloody battle that would be over in about a couple of hours or days (at the maximum). Unless you had a station with thousands of combatants and thousands of invaders arrived and both sides fought each other to a stalmate. For some reason. I would not choose Orks, in that case. They do not tend to sit there and wait if a good fight is just one bulkhead away.  Unless we are talking about a surviving population of sneaky commandos in some airducts or something.

@Overdoing it
Phaenoties, and Tyranids and Mutations and other Xenos and and and and....  don´t you think you could leave this additional xenos out alltogether? I wonder why you want even more xenos if you already have warp-mutated Tyranids controlled by a Phaenotie (or the other way around). Awesome outshines awesome at times, and if one awesome is outshined you can as well leave it out. Otherwise, how do you want to top this next session? My two cents

@The Larva inside the Frankenstein-Station
In my opinion it is a little unlikely that the Phaoenite has two major projects goin on in one star base (hatching the larva AND reviving the mother ship). First of all, it is hard to pull off two major projects at the same time. Second, why hatching the larva? As soon as the mothership is re-animated it will be able to hatch this things on its own. Would it not?

@Lasting a month
If you have planned an Investigation part before they find the station this might take some month in game. Especially the travelling will. But once at the station, the sanest thing an acolythe could do if faced with a mothership of Tyranids is to call for the Marines. Literally. Unless they have some crazy order from a crazy Inquisitor to do something crazy onboard the ship themselves.... which would mean the crazy =I= of theirs would know about the existence of the ship in the first place.

In my opinion, a little less would be much more. Simply concentrating on the Tyranid-Infected Phaeonite-faction trying to revive the Mother-Ship should be enough.

[Saldre 44]

Hehe, yeah- as you might have noticed, I have the bad habit of going overboard!

On the Xenos-  Yeah, I figured it would be a rather recent crash, but instead of the Orcs which would be too contrived (Haha...) I actually like the Idea of Eldar there trying to pull strings to change stuff, it would make some thematic sense- and would add a twist that would involve something other then "Shoot it!"

But your right- these things, if they even end up there, need to fill a niche that the bad guys don't fill: so they can't be horrifying, hungry, pointlessly violent- etc etc, in other words, they'd need have their own little corner...

As for the Larva and the Phaenonites- I hadn't planned on the larva hatching being a part of the Phaenonite's plan; mostly because its pure tyranid- I'd planned it to be more of a Xanathos Gambit on the part of the Hive mind- Its presence would force them to destroy the station after-wards.  But if you think about it, your quite right- its sort of a double mission: I could be fleshing out the main plot instead of adding a pointless side-plot: push comes to shove, i can show the drone at the very after the Phaenonites are defeated as a gloat, which at this point would cause the party to decide to self-destruct the station before it hatches...

As for the Investigation- They are going to finish it, and learn of the existence of the station- during this first game. Their inquisitor will also know about the existence of the station, and will send them there right away-  I should mention that these guys are rank seven, so they weren't born yesterday so to speak, they are quite strong, and quite capable of handling monsters

Either way, I wouldn't mind them going off to call the marines- that might even be one of the Objectives: but all in all, In character time- the scenario should happen quickly, they should be on that station no more then a week- so the marines wouldn't have time to get there before the Gargant ship is awakened. I wanted it to last long in real-life, and not have it wrap up in two "sessions".

So I remove regular tyranids all together- which makes sense, because the third and final part of the scenario will have them going down onto the Gargant ship most probably, and they can fight regular tyranids down there. But I'd really like to add complications to keep the wild mass guessing going- would you reconsider the Eldar if they fit a different niche: in other words, sometimes helped the acolytes; sometimes accidentally tried to kill them- which makes the acolytes constantly wonder on whose side they really are.

Now, my original question pertained to Objectives- stuff to do while actually  on the ship; I am trying to give them a reason to go say, to the medical ward- and other such rooms, but I am not having a lot of success with that!

Thanks for the help by the way, I really appreciate it.

 

[Gregorius21778 249]

Hi Saldre,

okay, I think I got you right now.

But there is still one thing...
If the Bioship is still "out of order" and needs to be "revived", how does it come that there are still Tyranids active? One options ist that they turned feral. The whole ship is actually wounded by its own "crew" as they feed of the ediable parts and it devolved all in all into an eccosystem on a down spiral: The Tyranids cannot "feed" themselves but need the stuff gorged up by the devourer swarms. Those are left alone by the remaining species. Since the devourers are out of control, they feed and gorge, but not at the points they are supposed to. The other Nyds roam the ship, looking for pools of puke to devour. The devourers ...well, they are looking for wounded and/or weak Nids to feed upon.

@The Eldar
So, the Craftworld Eldar want the Nids to be destroyed. Fine and fair. There opening attacks on the pc could be based on a simple misassumption: that they do belong to those Mon-Keigh already on the station.Just as the pc´s action are noticed, the Eldar will see that they acted rash...and might need to reconsider how to deal with the pc.

Just to get things complecated: Space Combat
As the pc arrive in the system, they are noticed. The Eldar make good start here. The ship is attacked by the Eldar, but they underesteminated the ship the pc arrived in. After a short battle, they disengage. Although they would have won if they had fought to the bloody end (which the Seers on the Eldar ship deemed onwise since they had omens that some other combat would come).

The pc thereby start with a damaged ship that will perhabs need days to repair the warp drive.

Objective: Opening a docking bay
Spare parts are needed. The pc need to enter the station with an assault boat, need to (find and) destroy the power lines for some of the light defence turrets (so guncutters could be docked with the station) and later need to seize and take control of a hanger.  The thing that needs to be secured could simply be reactor plasma since to much leaked out and they need full power for...whatever reason.
 

[Saldre 44]

That is genius! I will  write up changes to the plan then, but for now- gotta go to work!

Thanks a lot

-Saldre