Sunday 15 January 2012

In the Emperor's Name: Campaign Proposal

Over at G3, my local gaming group, a bunch of us have been looking at starting up a short narrative campaign for "In the Emperor's Name". There's been a lot of humming and hawwing over it, given that the campaign model provided tends to assume that one players warband (normally an Inquisitor's) will take on the central role in the narrative. This model, which I'll be proposing to my fellow gamers, gives everyone a central role. Read on:

The Malegaunt STC:

For six thousand years, the Malegaunt system and it's Standard Template Construction device -one of the few intact STC's left in the known galaxy- has been interdicted from normal space by a colossal warpstorm.

Until now. Three days ago, warpstorm activity in the system abruptly ceased. Orbital scans from a passing Inquisitorial ship reveal hundreds of relatively intact yet deserted settlements below. If home's and buildings have survived the mind-rending effects of the Warp intact, then chances are good that the STC has survived also. Alas, your not the only warband to learn of this opportunity. Dozens of warbands from Imperial and Alien factions alike are converging on the system and it's single inhabitable world.

Who will find the STC first and claim the prize?

Victory Conditions: 
Be the first warband to successfully investigate all five objectives for clues and thereafter capture the STC from it's inhuman defenders.

Premise:
  • Every player begins with one 500point warband. He must complete a roster of all members of his warband and provide it to myself (the DM).
  • Every player will be allocated to one of the five available objectives at the beginning of the campaign.
  • The five objective sites are: The Adeptus Administratum district, the Inquisitorial Forces, the Adeptus Mechanica district, the Librarium of the Planetary Universitat and the Adeptus Arbites Precinct House.
  • Every month, each player will play  one game against all the other players at his clue site. There will be only one battle per clue site per month, so these games will often involve multiple warband's fighting against one another. 
  • The player can fight as many additional battles each month as he wishes. Just bear in mind that any losses incurred in optional games will count. But then, so will any character advancement gained. I imagine the most common reason for such a game will probably be to steal a the location of an objective from another player (I'll devise a scenario for this) or else to rescue a captured member of your warband.
  • The warband (or allied warbands) left in control of the objective at the end of the game may each use the investigation rules to obtain a clue to the location of the STC. A successful investigation will also identify the location of another (randomly determined) objective. The player may move their warband to the new objective and take part in the next battle at that location. If the investigation is unsuccessful, the warband must fight to retain control of the same clue site again next month.
  • The player may select up to 250pts from his warband list for each game.
  • Casualties may be recovered as normal. However, no reinforcements are available to any player unless he can capture an opposing model and convince it to change sides. Yes, this means a warband may be eliminated from the campaign through sheer attrition. 
  • When a casualty result determines that a model survives being removed from play, the model may not be fielded again until after the rest of the warband has participated in it's next monthly objective battle.
  • The first player to obtain all five clues will earn the right to try to claim the STC for himself by playing against a very powerful NPC warband. If he captures the STC, he wins the game. The defending NPC warband will also begin with a set number of points which can be whittled away by multiple attacks on the STC and by guest appearances in other games. The player is allowed to field his entire remaining force in this game and enlist the aid of any allies he wishes in order to secure the STC (assuming the player is willing to share the Glory).
  • Note: this defending force or other native gribblies might make occasional unwelcome appearances in random battles throughout the campaign. In such instances, the DM (that's me) will play the NPC forces where possible.
  • In order to form an alliance, both warbands must be compatible allies in accordance with W40K canon. While a radical Inquisitor might be able to justify allying with Chaos forces,  a Sister's of Battle or Space Marine warband never will.

3 comments:

  1. That sounds like a cool campaign. I'm looking forward to more.

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  2. Right, good news. So far I have six players signed up with ptoentially two more to come. Campaign will start in February.

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  3. Up to a dozen players now. Looking good a start in Feb.

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