Dark Heresy

Been away too long. TOO LONG.

Last night, I started up a Dark Heresy game. My intention is to run the players through pretty much all the official Dark Heresy adventures, with occasional "one-shot" sidelines of Only War and Deathwatch that tie into the events of the campaign.

My general approach to pre-fab modules is to the read them over and try to break down where there might be points of decision for the players. One of the downsides to a module is that they tend to have a single through-line of events which can make things feel railroady. By plotting out this through-line, I can usually find places to turn the railroad into more of a highway, with possible points where the players can get off the main path and explore other options. Hopefully, I'll share some of my analysis on here. Fingers crossed.

The session last night went really well. There was no combat, just a lot of role-play between the players and scene setting. For mood setting, I had a bunch of Hans Zimmer and Ramin Djawdi movie tracks on in the background, which gave a nice martial and epic feel to the proceedings, even though nothing much happened. I introduced them to their Inquistor (Darias Cyrene, Ordo Hereticus) and got them down onto the planet and to their destination. The Inquistor, Darias Cyrene, is basically a female riff on The Shadow at the moment. She marks her Acolytes with a ruby ring, dresses in a dark cloak and hat with a red scarf. Wields twin automatics, etc. She's Traditionalist, but I'm going to have her flirt with Radicalism as the campaign goes forward.

Our Acolytes are:

Conscript Klightus - survived the Mara Massacre and has spent the last while in custody of the Inquisition. He's been released to work for Darias.  Has a quirk that he hears a strange buzzing sound, and only cat-naps, so has a constantly tired look.

Trooper Havelock - working the Scintilla gangs, Havelock came to Darias attention when he spotted a murder in the style of the Calixian Pattern Killings.  He's a bit like Bud White from LA Confidential; he's a pretty good detective, but he's been stuck working gangers because that's what everyone thinks he's good at.

Novice Nihlus - ship-born orphan, he ministered to a gun crew on the BFC Damocles. After witnessing an Exterminatus order being executed, he had his faith shaken. He's seeking redemption in service to Darias.  Tries too hard to be a pious man, to cover up his wavering belief in the God Emperor.