(Dark Heresy) Had a crazy idea for a Space Marine campaign.

[Imperialus]

I've crossposted this on a few forums now with good feedback, so I figured I'd put it up on ENworld too. I'd love to hear what people think of it.

So I just finished writing a final and came home. Figured I'd watch some TV to unwind. Robotech was on and for some reason it just clicked with the whole Logans world idea from Rogue Trader and gave me a crazy idea for a 40K campaign. Even better it would be a way to work Marines into the game as PC's.

Now I'm assuming that Space Marine chapters are constantly splitting and new ones are created on a fairly regular basis. Not every chapter survives, there are constant stories of dead chapters, new chapters need to be created to replace them.

Now the way I'm thinking this happens is this:
All chapters crusade. The Black Templars are best known for this but they all do it. They also rarely do so as a full chapter. They'll send a company or two, a few squads from first company and stuff like that but not the entire chapter. The main chapter continues to produce new recruits and if a crusade is particularly long eventually the crusading portion of the chapter begins to do the same, just to replace their losses. Gradually however both the chapter and the splinter begin to grow. The splinter eventually become large enough that their chapter banner is returned to their old homeworld and they create their own chapter.

Now the first task of these new chapters is to secure a homeworld. It is a sort of test, a life and death coinflip for the new chapter. Sometimes they find worlds that are easily pacified and offer excellent recruits but other times they encounter hostile forces that destroy them completely. Chapters will often spend decades or even centuries conquering their homeworlds. This is because they must do it completely on their own. They can have no support from the Imperial Guard, other marines, the navy, the inquisition, no one. They lay claim to a single planet anywhere in the Imperium, conquer it and claim full responsibility for it. Unless the chapter itself become suspected of real heresy or corruption itself they're on their own, and if they are suspected of heresy the Imperium is coming to wipe them out too.

Now lets say the PC's are members of a brand new (100 or so years old) chapter. They have recently reached their new homeworld and commenced the assault on it. It's largely human populated but it's completely dominated by something. It doesn't matter what that something is, xenos, chaos, even an massive genestealer cult that is keeping human civilization alive on the planet as a food source. Whatever flavour of baddie you want.

Now the game begins as the PC's participate in a disastrous assault on the planets surface. The assault fleet is blown apart and the marines are scattered across the surface of the planet. The PC's are new recruits. They can either be scouts or newly promoted from scouts. Their dropship lands/gets shot down far away from any surviving comrades.

The basic premise would be that it's up to the PC's to track down other survivors, rally any scattered resistance groups and topple the enemy dominance of the planet with nothing but their bolters and their wits. The planet itself has a kind of mad max post apocalypse feel with scattered groups of humans eeking out a living and trying as best they can to keep their heads down. They don't know anything about the Imperium apart from a few scattered legends spread by rogue traders and stories past down over generations. The enemy dominates their lives and quells most resistance making much of the population itself hostile to the Marines.

The cool thing about this is it really lets the players be the stars and IMO that's what a good RPG is. The PC's get to affect the course of their chapters development in its earliest stages letting it adopt aspects of their personalities, their decisions could affect the weird 'quirks' that every chapter has. This is the one thing that's normally missing in DH. The PC's can't make a difference in a normal game of DH. The 'new chapter' idea however ties them intimately to a single world and by having the rest of the Imperium take a hands off approach it allows them to control their own destiny. It could let them rise up the ranks of their new chapter over the course of the campaign and eventually conclude with them taking the helm of the chapter.

The biggest difficulty I see in this is figuring out how to supply the PC's. If it was a 'traditional' outcast world in the Imperium the tech level would suck ass. While it might be cool to have the PC's destroy a bunch of axe swinging barbarians but what will they do when the run out of ammo? What kinds of marines don't own power armour? While you can keep that going for a while by having them come across scattered drops of destroyed ships, dead comrades and the like you can't keep going like that forever.

One possible solution I could see is having them not completely cut off from the Imperium. The Tech Priests of Mars and their parent marine chapter do help them out with supply drops and some technical assistance but they do not intervene in the fighting. As they reach progressive 'stages' of the campaign and become more self sufficient themselves their contact with the rest of the Imperium slowly increases. For example, once they start gathering their own recruits and providing them with their geneseed they might get a shipment of power armour to equip them. The shipments might begin as drops of ammunition and other bare essentials delivered by daredevil rogue traders willing to dodge orbital fire to reach a hot LZ while eventually entire shiploads of goods will be delivered on landing strips controlled by the PC's.

Anyhow, I've rambled on long enough. I mostly wanted to write this down so I wouldn't forget it. Comments, advice, criticism, and yoinking are all welcome.

 

[Spatula]

I don't know about the chapters splitting thing. Doesn't each SM chapter have its own unique genetic something-or-other, taken from its Primarch? But that's not really necessary anyway, they could be cut off from the Imperium for any number of reasons - warp storms are always a handy excuse.

What kind of marines don't own power armor? Scout marines don't, I thought. Or they have a weaker version of it. The marines should have their own supply of equipment, in any case. You don't go to war without replacement ammunition & gear.

 

[Imperialus]

Well there were 20 founding legions each with tens of thousands of marines, of those 10 (or so) joined with Horus. After that the legions were split into 1000 chapters of approximately 1000 marines each. The initial chapters that were founded came directly from the from the legions, for example the Blood Drinkers were an offshoot of the Blood Angels, they still used the same geneseed as the Blood Angels taken from Sanguinus but over the centuries it has mutated and become their own. Since the Horus Hersey there have been (according to lexicanum) 26 foundings where new marine chapters are created. The 26th founding took place in 738M41. That isn't that long ago when you figure that the 40K timeline places 'today' at somewhere between 900M41 and 1M42.

It also doesn't make sense (to me at least) that the number of chapters would remain static. The Imperium is constantly at war, and although marines are damn tough they aren't invulnerable. Chapters do die off, sometimes they get corrupted by Chaos, sometimes they are simply wiped out. The surviving chapters splinter to fill the dead loss. The PC's chapter could either be a late 26th founding chapter or one of the first new chapters created in a 27th founding. *edit* actually looking more at lexicanum it appears that "13 chapters have been lost in the warp, 21 destroyed through irrecoverable battle losses, nine destroyed by gene-seed failure, four by inquisitorial purges and 16 lost through other circumstances." So it would appear at least that there is space for new chapters to be created */edit*

You're right, scout marines don't own power armour and the PC's would begin the game as scouts but as the campaign progresses they're going to want better gear. Heck, they'll need better gear since they're going to start physically outgrowing their scout armour. A fully mature marine is generally described as being between 7'6" and 9 feet tall.

As for the other equipment issues remember, the initial assault on the planet went very badly. They won't have the support structure of an entire chapter of marines because most of their brothers have been turned into space dust in lower orbit or splattered across the countryside. Their replacement gear is likewise either destroyed or inaccessible. They'll find other survivors, and possibly crashed landing pods and the like containing equipment but that's about it. Also when the new chapter first assaulted the planet they were far from full strength. They were a single fleet, that was until that point simply a battlegroup belonging to their parent chapter. It probably consisted of no more than two or three hundred marines.

 

[doghead]

general - dark Heresy

Its sounds like it could be a interesting campaign.

But it seems like an extremely inefficient, wasteful even, way to create a new chapter. Sure, if the Imperium is secure in its domination of the galaxy and nothing else to do with all its spare geneseed and space marine equipment, it might make sense. Its an awful lot of resources to risk in order to 'build some character. It would make more sense to pacify the planet (planetary bombardment from orbit is usually effective), secure control with a combined force landing, establish a base, then put new chapter to work saving humanity's butt.

Besides which, 1000 marines are not going to have the juice to take over a planet. Not by force anyway. 1000 marines would be hard pressed to hold even a single city, especially if the natives have even rudimentary gunpowder weapons.

I would have the characters part of an initial landing party that is cut off from the main fleet somehow - a warp storm engulfs the planet for example. This fits in much better with your whole 'the whole thing went to hell in a hand-basket' type scenario.

Hunting down and securing key resources would be the first stage. Then perhaps establishing a base of operations. Then perhaps expanding their power and area of influence.

doghead
aka thotd

 

[papa_laz]

This sounds awesome! I've always loved the story of the marines. The history of the Horus heresy is just so friggin epic.

Personally I think you'd better off not having them rely on highly specialised weapons and power armour. According to the fluff, even 6 marines fully equipped is a match for a small army of any other kind, and I don't think a scenario like that would make for great roleplaying. Also it doesn't provide for very interesting or original weapon upgrades; bolter to heavy bolter to plasma gun etc...

Having the PCs rely on their own genetically enhanced strength and intelligence sounds like a much more exciting option. Obviously this world will have weaponry, and it will be up to the PCs to do the best with what they can find. We can assume even a small planetary defense force would have access to various sorts of assault rifles, rocket launchers etc, and if there is a cultist or xenos presence god knows what other weapons are available. Check the Necromunda weapons list, theres all sorts of cool stuff like needle rifles, webguns and eviscerators. If the planet has a black market then the possibilities are endless.

Also don't forget that marines have been trained as leaders, infact even the lowest ranking marines will have leadership skills far greater than anyone the average citizen will have encountered in their lifetime. The marines are stuff of legend, and on the world you've described I think there would be plenty of opportunity for the PCs to build militias or even take over control of the regular army if it exists.

I hope this has been useful and I'll be interested to see what you come up with.

 

[Imperialus]

But it seems like an extremely inefficient, wasteful even, way to create a new chapter. Sure, if the Imperium is secure in its domination of the galaxy and nothing else to do with all its spare geneseed and space marine equipment, it might make sense. Its an awful lot of resources to risk in order to 'build some character. It would make more sense to pacify the planet (planetary bombardment from orbit is usually effective), secure control with a combined force landing, establish a base, then put new chapter to work saving humanity's butt.

I agree it's inefficient and wasteful but then again what about the Imperium isn't inefficient and wasteful. The adept entry of in DH describes "entire devisions of the administratum being lost in red tape and buracracy for generations and that's on Terra, the seat of Imperial power. Not only that but remember Space Marines are independent and sovereign. No one helped out the Ultramarines in their defense of Macragge when Hive Fleet Behemoth nailed it and that was an entire hive fleet, quite a bit nastier than some chaos cult or Dark Elder who've succeeded in taking over some po-dunk planet.

Besides which, 1000 marines are not going to have the juice to take over a planet. Not by force anyway. 1000 marines would be hard pressed to hold even a single city, especially if the natives have even rudimentary gunpowder weapons.

I'd argue this, at least if you go by the fluff (which is more my intention) rather than the wargame itself which needs to be balanced so that SM's don't dominate everything. Remember SM's have 19 genetic implants that force them to grow to between 7'5 and 9 feet tall, their ribcage has ossified into a solid mass, they have two hearts, they can survive a hard vacuum unprotected for a short while, they can spit acid from their mouths and even gain the memories of the dead by eating their flesh. Marines likely spent their formative years in a warrior culture that makes the Mongols look like a bunch of National Guardsmen and then proceeded to be indoctrinated into a culture that is so militant it's incomparable to anything we've come up with so far. A bare ass nekked marine with a sharp rock and a stick is more dangerous than an entire unit of todays best special forces soldiers.

And that's all before you even get into their gear. Astartes power armour renders them effectively immune to small arms fire. Their boltguns are discribed as having recoil so heavy it will dislocate the shoulders of any 'normal' person who tries to fire it. Again, this doesn't translate into the actual game because it is nice when other armies have a chance but RPG's aren't about balance between the PC's and individual NPC's.

Not only that but they are descended from, and carry the genetic code of the Primarchs. Primarchs managed to conquer their homeworlds after having been flung across the galaxy as infants onto some of the most feral deathworlds in the galaxy. Marines have a drive to conquer and subjugate hard coded into their DNA that is just as strong as a dogs desire to lick it's butt or a lizards to lie in the sun.

I would have the characters part of an initial landing party that is cut off from the main fleet somehow - a warp storm engulfs the planet for example. This fits in much better with your whole 'the whole thing went to hell in a hand-basket' type scenario.

Hunting down and securing key resources would be the first stage. Then perhaps establishing a base of operations. Then perhaps expanding their power and area of influence.

Not a bad idea but I really like the idea of having the PC's view the planet as something special. The nice thing about the homeworld conquest is that the PC's will have a real desire to conquer it but to do so without annihilating their future recruits. It also lets their decisions affect the ultimate 'feel' of the chapter. If the planet is controlled by Dark Eldar for example they might become much more accepting of xenos technology than is normally acceptable by the Codex. If the planet is controlled by Chaos they might take a slightly more radical view towards mutation simply because many of their supporters might be mutated in one form or another.

The basic timeline you laid out is similar to the one I was going with. Conquering an entire planet will take a bloodly long time but this is where handwaving the passage of time and a Marines extended lifespan will come in handy. I could for example say:

"Six months pass as you train the villagers in guerrilla warfare. In the meantime, a shipment of Laz weapons and Flack armour arrives from the Adeptus Mechanus to equip them. The baddies tracked the landing craft however and shortly after receiving your new equipment a *rolls on encounter table* unit of their army shows up to investigate. After the firefight you have a fairly secure home base. Now what? You've heard rumors about an ancient vault used as a supply depot for another chapter years before the invasion. It likely has more advanced repair and maintenance facilities than you have, possibly even a few suits of power armour and maybe some real armoured vehicles. The same rumors also say it is protected by an impenetrable network of automated defenses and servitors.

 

[Imperialus]

Personally I think you'd better off not having them rely on highly specialised weapons and power armour. According to the fluff, even 6 marines fully equipped is a match for a small army of any other kind, and I don't think a scenario like that would make for great roleplaying. Also it doesn't provide for very interesting or original weapon upgrades; bolter to heavy bolter to plasma gun etc...

Having the PCs rely on their own genetically enhanced strength and intelligence sounds like a much more exciting option. Obviously this world will have weaponry, and it will be up to the PCs to do the best with what they can find. We can assume even a small planetary defense force would have access to various sorts of assault rifles, rocket launchers etc, and if there is a cultist or xenos presence god knows what other weapons are available. Check the Necromunda weapons list, theres all sorts of cool stuff like needle rifles, webguns and eviscerators. If the planet has a black market then the possibilities are endless.

Yeah that'll be a tough balancing act. After all a Marine without his bolter and power armour doesn't really 'feel' like a marine but at the same time I want the PC's to make use of what is available. One thought that was suggested to me on another board was to have the planet formerly have been used as a supply depot for another more established chapter. Think of how cool it would be for the PC's to break into that vault I mentioned in my previous post and find an ancient suit of Mk II Crusade pattern armour. Or a suit of Dark Angels Deathwing armour. Or a slumbering Blood Angels dreadnought. Would you even want to wake that thing up? What's it going to do after going thousands of years without anyone maintaining it? Is it still sane? Has the Blood Rage taken over? Will it help us? Or will it try to kill us on sight?

As far as weird weapons goes I was even planning on dusting off my copy of Rogue Trader and using stuff like the Jokarto Didgi-Weapons to add a bit of spice.

Also don't forget that marines have been trained as leaders, infact even the lowest ranking marines will have leadership skills far greater than anyone the average citizen will have encountered in their lifetime. The marines are stuff of legend, and on the world you've described I think there would be plenty of opportunity for the PCs to build militias or even take over control of the regular army if it exists.

I hope this has been useful and I'll be interested to see what you come up with.

I wholeheartedly agree with this. I expect that a major part of a Marines training is going to focus on the maintenance and use of staple weapons like Laz Rifles even if he never expects to use them in combat. He needs to be in a position to train others in their use however, something like the US special forces teams in Vietnam teaching the mountain people (who's name I forget) how to fight the VC.

I'm developing the PC handout on the planet itself right now. I'll post it when I'm finished.

 

[Calico_Jack73]

I'd play it!

If I were running it once the PCs have played a significant portion of the campaign and feel all nice and cozy in their new homeworld I'd have a force of sleeping Necrons awaken and begin to stage a campaign of eradicating the living from the planet. Nothing would announce the presence of the Necrons... at first the PCs wouldn't hear from some outlying villages. They'd go to investigate and all they'd find are burnt out buildings. Nothing living would be present... not even insects.

 

[Imperialus]

I'd play it!

If I were running it once the PCs have played a significant portion of the campaign and feel all nice and cozy in their new homeworld I'd have a force of sleeping Necrons awaken and begin to stage a campaign of eradicating the living from the planet. Nothing would announce the presence of the Necrons... at first the PCs wouldn't hear from some outlying villages. They'd go to investigate and all they'd find are burnt out buildings. Nothing living would be present... not even insects.

That might be a cool idea. I'd have to research it more (I stopped playing 40K shortly after the Necrons were introduced) but it would definitely shake things up a bit.

 

[Imperialus]

Here's the first draft of the player handout for the planet itself. NewChapter is a placeholder name for whatever chapter name the players or myself eventually come up with.

CLASSIFIED VERMILLION A43: Copies provided to the Administratum Xenos, Officino Planetarium, and the NewChapter.

KAYAN
Kayan was once a vibrant Imperial world with a highly productive economy and several valuable trade networks with other worlds in the sector. Unbeknownst to Imperial agents on the planet however there was a significant Genestealer cult operating at the highest levels of the planetary government. The Magus succeeded in drawing the attention of a Tyranid Scout Fleet during the invasion of Hive Fleet Behemoth. Planetary defence forces engaged the attackers but were betrayed from within by the Genestealer cult. Despite being overwhelmed, the PDF was able to damage or destroy nearly all of the warp capable vessels in the fleet. Arbites formed a rallying point and defences among loyal units were co-ordinated. It is believed that human resistance continues to this day. Interestingly there is no evidence of extermination of human population that typically carried out by Tyranids. It is theorized that due to the isolated nature of the Scout Fleet the Hive Mind realized it was trapped and began using the planet as a permanent food source while it gathered strength. The planet is classified as Quarantined by the Ordos Xenos. It presents no threat to neighbouring assets and the resources required to retake the system or perform exterminatus are not justified.

<<<Recent Addition to File>>>
Recently the NewChapter, a new founding chapter descended of the Ultramarines has requested permission from the High Lords of Terra to return the planet to Imperial control on the condition that they are permitted to lay claim to it as their homeworld. The Ordo Xeno of the Inquisition has challenged the petition on the grounds that the unusual behaviour of the Tyranids requires further study. The Inquisition measure was defeated by the Ecclesiarch of the Adeptus Ministorum, the Grand Provost Marshal and the Lord Commander Militant on the 89,438th public debate of 41M. During the same debate the approval was given to the petition of the NewChapter and Kayan was officially struck from the Imperium registrars and declared the independent and sovereign territory of the NewChapter. The Inquisition was given 10 years to study the behaviour of the Tyranid forces on the planet before handing it over to the NewChapter. An interesting development was noted. It appears that the Tyranid Hive Mind has fragmented into two, possibly three separate entities. There is evidence of conflict among the Tyranid forces and the colour patterns on the xenos suggest further division.

GALACTIC POSITION: 94-72/SU/SE

CLASS: Quarantined World. Tyranid invasion.

POPULATION: estimated at 10,000,000. Last available census in 578M41 claimed 9,000,000,000

CLIMATIC PHENOMENON: Temperate climate, located approximately 1.1 AU from nearest star. Approximately 70% of the planets surface is compromised by light to heavy radioactive fallout.

OCEANS AND CONTINANTS: 6 continents and 4 major oceans.

GOVERNEMENT PRESENT: Planet is xenos infested and a Genestealer cult dominates most human affairs. Tithes of animal and plant material are gathered from human settlements and if they are insufficient then sacrifices from among the population are demanded as well. There appears to be a human resistance group operating on the northern continent. Orbital images suggest they are the descendents of the Arbites and loyal PDF forces. Planet is classified as XH, Non Tithe Paying by the Officino Planetarium of the Administratum.