As the year M41.999 draws to a close in the benighted Askellon Sector, many of its inhabitants agree that this is indeed the Time of Ending. That this ancient portion of human space will soon be lost.
Many. But not all. Even in this region, rife with corruption, struck by xenos, and threatened by the Pandaemonium warp storm, there are watchers, guardians who plan and act against such a fate.
One of these guardians has selected you for an unknown task. Whether through skill, specialist knowledge, or sheer fortune, you have come to their attention and they brought you into their plans. You have left your prior world on his command, your transport the Imperial Navy destroyer "His Enduring Light", and a data-slate awaiting with more detailed instruction...
"Come, for the Emperor has work for you."
- The Inquisitor, to each of you in the recent past.
*************************************************************************** ***********
Hello there! I'm going to run the Seeds of Heresy adventure for DH 2e. If that goes well, I aim to also run Dark Pursuits and Forgotten Gods.
Hangs sign that reads "Invitation Only."
Setting: The agri-world of Novabella in the Askellon Sector. Pre-Imperial colonisation in the Segmentum Obscurus. Largely isolated from the wider Imperium thanks to the enormous Pandaemonium warp storm. When events kick off, the cell of acolytes will be in the Novabella system on board His Enduring Light and informed of data-slates left by the Inquisitor.
Game themes:
Starting in the dark as very new Inquisitorial acolytes, learning as they go.
Investigation, but with a broad enough definition to include extremes of subtle and open action.
*************************************************************************** ***********
Character Creation
I am fine with any of the homeworlds, backgrounds, and roles that have been published in official 2e books. There are in-universe reasons why wildly different characters might be selected to work together.
A very straightforward online character creation tool. Cheers to Grumbaki for finding that!
A pair of house rules, to make Leadership a more relevant aptitude in character creation. The only real change is to make Willpower and Fellowship potentially cheaper.
House Rule 1: The aptitudes for the Willpower characteristic are now Willpower and either Leadership OR Psyker.
House Rule 2: The aptitudes for the Fellowship characteristic are now Fellowship and either Leadership OR Social.
Equipment is
a) Choose homeworld - Where is your character from?
There are examples given in the books but there are scores of undetailed worlds in the Askellon Sector, so feel free to pitch a world at me.
b) Points buy for characteristics: 25 in most of the 10 characteristics. Any characteristics that your homeworld have as "+" start at 30. Any that start as "-" start at 20.
You have 60 points to divide between the characteristics as you like, but you cannot start with more than 40 in any one characteristic after points are spent.
(DH2 Core Book p31)
c) Choose background - What did you do? (This also determines starting equipment)
d) Choose Role - What is your core essence?
e) Spend starting experience - 1,000xp - on characteristic advances, skill advances, talent purchases, and/or elite advances.
A note on elite advances: You generally can only have at most one and most are awkward to acquire past character creation. They fit some character concepts better than others and may or may not be worth the xp.
f) Roll for divination. I have no issue with this being done before spending starting xp.(DH2 core book p84-85)
g) Details: Name, physical description, clothing style, mementos, etc.
h) Questions:
1. What does the acolyte desire?
2. What does the acolyte hate?
3. What is the acolyte willing to sacrifice?
4. How did the acolyte meet the Inquisitor?
5. What does the Inquisitor mean to the acolyte?
6. How does the acolyte see themselves in regards to this cell and their colleagues?
*************************************************************************** ***********
To assist with that last bit, here is what you all know IC about the Inquisitor:
1. The Inquisitor is a soft-spoken, very average-looking man with slightly chemical-burned skin visible outside of concealing robes.
2. The Inquisitor keeps his secrets close, at least to you.
3. The Inquisitor seems quite willing to overlook certain personal flaws if he believes the person in question is willing to serve him to do the Emperor's work.
*************************************************************************** ***********
Notes:
Influence is a measure of your regard in the eyes of the Inqusitior and the wider Askellon Sector. It can be used for many purposes, including acquiring services, gear, and investigation. It can be gained through connections, favours, and reputation. It can be lost through failures, hard use, and sacrifice. THe Inquisitor has his own Influence score, which you can attempt to draw upon if you dare. (DH2 Core Book p268-270)
Subtlety is a group statistic that will begin at 50 for Novabella. This will be raised or lowered depending on the actions of the acolytes but will not be openly revealed. Subtlety is tracked by the GM and all parts of the scale have pros and cons. (DH2 Core Book p271-276)
The success or failure Social Interaction and Investigations are often determined by NPC personalities and how the acolytes approach them. (DH2 Core Book p277-284)
*************************************************************************** ***********
Hopefully that will be enough to get you started. Any questions, feel free to ask here and I will get back to them as soon as possible.
Also feel free to dot and delete in the gameplay thread, but let's save proper posting until the cell is ready.
