Another thought on the inquisitor. The DW core book has a bit to say about radicals and puritans on p317 and notes that "extremists tend to moderate their position when working with, or making requests of, the Deathwatch". That suggests an Inquisitor who is too brazen on either end of the spectrum would court trouble. Inquisitors do not act with caution unless they have reason to, *especially* the extremists. If this radical is being so blatant about his actions then perhaps his allies won't miss one who acts with such incaution and who brings them into disrepute with the powerful Deathwatch.

 I am simply suggesting that maybe the Inquisitor does have radical beliefs in how he perceives both Chaos and Xenos.  The inquisitor justifies his actions as few resources are at their disposal at this time and would prefer having Xenos fight with chaos or amongst each other for the better of the Imperium.  I talked about the idea of a radical inquisitor with one of the players and he believes it would be more interesting to have a more conservative Inquisitor rather than a Radical.  The player (more knowledgeable about 40k than me) had said that Deathwatch use Xenos technology against the Xenos.  I was confused as they would be completely opposed to all Xenos.  

Lokan said:

It is pretty easy to play a narrow minded, xenophobic, warmongering, fascist bigot in 40k and say that you are just playing your character. Some probably even think that is part of the fun, although you probably shouldn't admit that to your mum.

'An open mind is like a fortress with its gates unbarred and unguarded' and all that.

As ever, 'I was just playing my character!' is not really an excuse for doing stuff that another participant doesn't enjoy.

So I don't know. If the guy consorts with Xenos most of the Imperium and a hefty fraction of the Inquisition itself are going to think he is irredeemably corrupt, so you could just write him off as a bad guy. If you were feeling especially kind he could turn out to have been turned by the Tau or an Eldar infiltrator simulacrum all along, and well done the players for figuring it out.

But, I mean, part of the problem is that as a player the only NPCs worth killing are the ones the GM doesn't want you to kill, so the problem may rear its head again even if you give in.

 On the issue of using Xenos technology against them, this is indirectly addressed in the core rule book in the form of  the Masking Screen, which is derived from Tau stealth technology. Additionally, the Forge Master in Rites of Battle features both fluff and mechanics that support the possibility of begrudging use of Xenos tech, so I wouldn't say it never happens.

 Well…this guy is an inquisitor so he is very radical and has lots of "friends". I have a saying the best way to deal with radicals is with more radicals. Get the ordo hereticus to try him for hearsy. I would have the pc's do some personal favors for the imquistor trying him to ensure he is found guilty. Could make this favor be any sort of seemingly moraly wrong thing the kill team wont feel great about doing and if you do it right they might even feel regret.

AluminiumWolf said:

Wolf, what you never seem to get when it comes to questions like this, is that people are usually trying to come up with an answer that generally makes sense within the universe. That is, using as little Handwavium in the situation as possible. What makes your advice so.. counter-productive is that comments like the above suggest they using 100% Handwavium. Being the PC's (or Space Marines) doesn't automatically give them a get-out-of-jail-free card for killing an Inquisitor. If OP had decided upon that already, they wouldn't have really made the thread.

Now with that done. Space Marines are one of the wild cards of the Imperium, Chapter Masters being a Peer of the Imperium (that is, roughly about equal rank as Inquisitors, Rogue Traders, and other high up muckity-mucks). Aside from some general guidelines, rather than hard and fast rules, they have the freedom to tell other parts of the Imperium to go screw themselves, if they want to. In the case of Space Marines, this includes matters of discipline and censure (so the Inquisition can't order a Chapter Master to execute this soldiers). And while some Chapters have been excommunicated, with few exceptions it's been for good reasons (by the fluff). Even more importantly to the current topic, Inquisitors doing investigations on Astartes Chapters who enjoy their privacy (like the Dark Angels) have been known to have 'accidents', with no further apparent reprecussions for the Chapter.

As for the Radical, well honestly it depends on how Radical they are. Summoning daemons and that sort of thing is definetly going to earn them a bolt round to the brainpan. But tricking Xenos and Chaos in to decimating each other instead of the Imperium? Well, that depends on how tight he appears with either side, but in general only the most extremely puritan would call that heresy (some Inquisitors would call it genius).

Blood Pact said:

Thing is, it does depend on who you think is cooler. 

What does the Universe (especially from a storytelling perspective) respect more - the Inquisitors Authority or the Marines personal combat prowess and direct lineage to the God Emperor?

And, I mean, surely in a game where what the PCs have is personal combat prowess, it should turn out that that is a pretty cool thing to have.

 Is this an inquistor or a lord inquistor because the importance is a big factor. If he is a normal inquistor even then he is a highly valued and well restected member of the imperim. You cant just go around killing inquistors willy nilly even if you are a marine and to think so is just plain dumb. Find a more legal way to take care of him becuause if you dont than the inquistion is comeing for you and you are screwed.

'Carte blanche' is boring. It's much more interesting from a storytelling perspective for PCs to have to carefully consider the consequences of their actions.

Adeptus-B said:

I find my self in agreement with this. That said, there is difference between realistic consequence, fun consequence, and asshole GM consequence.

In this case what would might be interesting would be Kill-Team to be gathering evidence before they make there move, and then presenting the information to their Watch-Captain. Either before the deed and get the Watch-Captains approval, or afterwards at an inquiry performed by the Deathwatch.

The key here, is too neither allow playing to run wild as cowboy cop marines but at the same time encourage them to take an active interest in what NPCs do.

Essentialy by playing smart and being prepared the players should be able to avoid most reprecussions for the act.

 I think it is important to remember that the goal, in the end, is to provide an example of why it is totally awesome to be a Space Marine.

So maybe they off the guy, it looks like there is going to be tension, and then a mission comes up that only the Kill Team can acomplish, and suddenly everyone is begging for their help.

AluminiumWolf said:

Well… the goal is more to have a totally awesome storyline that makes people want to high five after each mission. Sometimes, that requires you to explore why it sucks to be an astartes.

The Kill-team murder an inquisitor. They claim it is due to his heretical practices, but the Inquisitors allies within the Ordos call for censure of the Astartes. Stripped of their armour and weapons, the Kill-team are exiled, banished from the light of the Imperium. Stranded and alone, the Kill-team have an option - give in to despair and join the renegades and traitors that lurk on the edge of the Light of Him On Earth, or to find a way to clear their names and cut out the cancer riddling the Ordos that dared to cast out His most loyal servants. Finding that the herestical inquisitor they destroyed is just the tip of the corrupt iceberg, the Astartes use all their skilsl to find the master of the Inquisitor that betrayed them and put them down for good.

 BAM! Awesomeness. It has everything you need - betrayal; redemption; putting the characters into unfamiliar situations; filling your players with fear as you make them play through a section of the game with no armour, black market weapons they can scavenge from wherever they're dumped, and no backup; and a bit of a shake up from the standard Deathwatch storyline. Perfect. Hell, I might do it to my players.

 I think it's i could balance to strike would be that sure they can kill the inquisitor, but first they need to get their facts straight. Maybe, the Watch-Captain "exiles" them but really sends them off on covert op with the intention of sending them away while the politics of the situation.

AluminiumWolf said:

To me the goal is to have an internally-consistent setting where the player's actions have consequences. Even if they do totally awesome things, a single squad of Space Marines is hardly the biggest, nastiest thing on the block in all circumstances. Especially social ones.

You want Space Marines to be Exalted. They're not.

Kshatriya said:

Although even I have to admit that the Imperium of Man invading Creation would be one hell of a hilarious and awesome game!