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You are here: FFG Forums / Roleplaying Games / Dark Heresy / Dark Heresy Gamemasters

Dark Heresy Gamemasters
GMs discuss your campaigns here.

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A Preview of The Lathe Worlds, the Upcoming Dark Heresy Supplement

Heirs to the Throne, a new Campaign

Santiago

Published on 22 November 2008 - 04:28:22

Hi,

Since my players have done the Inquisitor thing we've deceided do the political thing, I always liked the Dune series and the original move had some great scenes which inspired me to this.

This is the basic history for the campaign:

[quote]
Welcome young pupils I was expecting you, my name is Adept Gregorius of the Adept Monks and I’m here to teach you some of our history and ways.

Our people left Holy Terra some eight and a half thousand years ago with three ships and a handful of escorts right after the event which was than called the Horus Heresy. Holy Terra was in turmoil and we needed a new place to start over.

The three ships of the Desolator Class were called The Righteous, The Vigilant and The Fury, the three ships together carried a bit over three hundred thousand souls.

We entered the Warp guided by the Astropath Navigator on the Fury, what exactly transpired on The Fury after we entered the Warp is mostly unknown, but from the few Data Stream rapports we did receive we suspect it was a mutiny.

What we do know is that the Astropath Navigator was killed and that we were expelled from the Warp totally off course and with our Gellar shield beyond repair. To make the matter worse The Fury crashed unto the only inhabitable planet within range almost totally obliterating the southern hemisphere and poisoning the atmosphere for over 400 years.

So for the centuries after the crash we endured in our two remaining ships, our numbers dwindled and when our geologists and atmosphere surveyors finally declared the planet inhabitable there were only one hundred thousand descendants left of the original settlers.

The settlers settled on the northern continent, a landmass approximately the size of what we used to call Europe on Holy Terra.

Of the original three greater noble houses and 12 lesser noble houses there were now only 2 greater and 5 lesser houses left.

The greater houses are House Gheiron and of course House Carseirron, the lesser houses are Diaspora, Myratha, Noxia, Satehra and Sibulla.

Our people were sick all the years in those defective ships had left a trace; our people didn’t age well any more and few survived the rightful age of thirty, most died of virulent forms of cancer and with too little medicine to go around our number increased only slowly.

But eventually we managed grow and become the marvellous society we are today.

But there were more sacrifices than just human lives; the technology supplied by the Red Priesthood was unfortunately also lost for a great part along with the means to reproduce it.

Though the noble houses and their armies are still well armed and supplied, though less than that normally would be the case the peasant population has to rely on more primitive technology if you would prefer to call it that. Prometheum powered vehicles are still around though the fuel used to power them is all but depleted, what we have is what we have left from the supply we took with us from Holy Terra all these years ago.

The noble houses wouldn’t be noble houses if they wouldn’t war among themselves, the ruler ship of Terra Secundus changed hand several times over the last eight thousand years. For almost one thousand years House Carseirron has ruled and your father King Verden Carseirron XVII is the current monarch.

To prevent the wholesale slaughter which is caused when greater houses go to war we instated the Law of Vendetta, a knife duel between nobles to decide who is right if now other agreement can be found, though the disagreements can quite childish if I may be so bold.

The greater house that can muster the most of the lesser houses to its side has the right to choose the rightful monarch and is the thus the defacto rulers of Terra Secundus.
[/quote]

To facilitate my players I've designed this special homeworld, I know it is not blanced but since all my players will have it it will not matter

Heir to the Throne

Skills:

You begin play with the Charm (Fel), Deceive (Fel), Literacy (Int), Speak Language (High Gothic), Speak Language (Low Gothic) and Wrangling (Ag) skills.

Traits:

Art of the Blade:

Over the centuries the art of vendetta has fought out with knives to prevent escalation and thus war. Knife duelling has been taught to every childe by both the great noble houses and even to several of the minor houses.

Effect:

You gain an effective +5% to WS when fighting with knives exclusively; you also always start out with the Melee Weapon Training (Primitive) talent and may buy the talent Blade Master talent for 100xp.

You also add the Vendetta Blade to your inventory.

Vendetta Blade
Class	Range	Damage	Pen	Special	Wt.
Melee	-	1d5+4	2	+10% WS	0.8kg

The Vendetta Blade is a ceremonial weapon, drawing this blade on someone of noble blood is the same as a direct challenge, once drawn it may also never be sheathed again before drawing blood. This 30 centimetre long, wickedly curved blade excels in cutting through light armour, flesh and bone. The blade is made of the best steel and by the best craftsman, some variations even have secret poison reservoir in the hilt, secret because the use of poison in a duel is seen as dishonourable.

Wealth:

Being an heir to the throne comes with some additional advantages, a very healthy allowance.

Effect:

Your family’s wealth allows you to buy most normal things up till 150 thrones without question. Anything above said amount will require authorisation.

Vendetta:

The noble houses have opposed each other for hundreds of years, the Adept Monks managed to prevent most open engagements but the jealousy, distrust and hate still ensues.

Effect:

The other noble houses prey on your mistakes and though this will not be a constant knife in the back you should be weary.

Heir to the Throne Careers:

Adept:

Chroniclers and lore-masters, they are the intellectual backbone of the family.

Arbitrator:

The castellans of the family who safe guard the holdings with brute force if need be.

Assassin:

Masters of the duel and the poisoned blade, self glorified hunters or just honest to god backstabbers.

Clerics:

Religion is a noble calling and whether genuine or not a great way to power.

Guardsman:

Officers and knights, commanders and conquerors, they rule the military of the house.

Imperial Psyker:

Feared and treasured, though this gift was long frowned upon nowadays it is used, abused by those who wield this deadly power.

Scum:

Murderous rakes and dandy charlatans, even the courtiers can’t be trusted.

The rest of the world:

Most of the the other inhabitants of Terra Secundus will be crafstman and farmers, working so that the high and mighty can continue with their petty games, they will die at a young age due to the cancer. They are generally unhappy but since the noble houses are well armed they can't do anything to overthrow them.

Campaign Themes:

* Betrayel

* Settling disputes in a Gentlemanly fashion

* Backstabbing and scheming

* Murder (Poison and more creative things)

* No cantact with the rest of the Imperium

* Corruption

This is a basic run down, please let me know wht you think or feed me some more ideas...

GrtZ,

Santiago...

"A dirty mind is a joy forevera terrible thing to waste"

"Innocence Proves Nothing"

Page 1 of 1 (3 messages)

Konrad von Marburg

Reply #1 | Published on 22 November 2008 - 17:50:06

I find your campaign idea to be rather interesting. I wouldnt mind running something similar myself. A general warning is that campaings of this type can become dry and tiresome, but with your imaginative abilities to create this campain, I am sure you will keep it interesting.

Some questions that came up for me:

Is Terra Secundus completely cut off from the Imperium at large? If so, are the Imperial Psykers more like witches (perhaps operating under the sorcery note on page 337 of the Core Rule Book) since they have not been picked up by the black ships and taken to Terra for testing?

What exactly are the Adept Monks? Do they function seperate from the houses or are they an organisation that connects and regulates the houses from within?

I hope these questions help you out some.

I am sure you will have fun no matter how it goes.

"Ketzerei ist wie ein Baum. Ihre Wurzeln liegen im Dunkel, während ihre Blätter sich in der Sonne wiegen, und den Arglosen erscheint sie verführerisch und angenehm. Wahrlich, du kannst ihre Äste zerschneiden oder sogar den Baum bis zum Boden abschlagen, doch er wird erneut wachsen, stets stärker und dem Auge gefälliger als zuvor. Und immerfort wachsen die Wurzeln, dick und schwarz, nagen an der bitteren Erde, ziehen ihre Nahrung aus der Finsternis, werden immer länger und krallen sich tiefer und tiefer. Von solchem Wesen ist die Ketzerei, und deshalb ist sie so schwer zu vernichten, denn sie muss mit Laub und Ast, Stumpf und Stiel und Wurzel ausradiert werden. Sie muss völlig ausgetrieben werden, oder sie kehrt umso stärker zurück, immer und immer wieder, bis sie zu groß ist, um sie noch vernichten zu können. Dann sind wir verdammt."

Unbekannt

whisperer in the vault

Reply #2 | Published on 22 November 2008 - 18:43:03

Konrad von Marburg took the initiative and addressed all of the questions i had, but i am wondering what role does the Cult Mechanicus play in your campaign? Good luck, have fun and keep us less creative gms know how it goes.

Without signature

Santiago

Reply #3 | Published on 23 November 2008 - 04:28:22

Well,

I forgot to add the Adept Monks, well they are technacally a mix between the Clerics of the God Emperor and the normal Adepts, they live in a mountain Monastery and write down the history of Terra secundus, Safe Guard the most important traditions.
Being totally cut off it seemed logical these two groups would join up into one order

Techpriest are there but very rare, they are employed by the nobles to maintain their technology as far as possible, but if something, say a Walker is lost, it is realy lost.

The idea is to get a medievil campaign where the nobles (adn their armies) still have some technology, the best the peasants will have is either an heirloom shotgun (from the original space ship arsenal) or a flintlock rifle (at max).

GrtZ,

"A dirty mind is a joy forevera terrible thing to waste"

"Innocence Proves Nothing"

Page 1 of 1 (3 messages)

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