Warhammer 40K: A Rogue Trader Styled Campaign Part 3: Mission 1 and 2

One thing to do when setting up your campaign is to have fun missions full of fluff for the PCs to go on.  Being a semi RPG players may, can, and WILL mess up all your plans with backstabbing, machinations, bad die rolls, or being ingenious SOBs who ruin everything you carefully set up because of inspired ideas.

So these missions have to generally be a rough guideline and have options as to what to do if the glorious band of idiots you will love to hate known as YOUR PLAYERS ignore the obvious.

NOTE TO MY PLAYERS:  DON'T YOU DARE READ THIS BLOG POST.  SHOO!  SHOO I SAY!

Which they will.

It is part of the fun.  No, really.

To be sure if the players choose to not go on the missions you assign them there is little you can do, but most RPG campaigns have enough of an unwritten social contract where they will at least try to work with you.

So let's get on with the first 2 missions!  I have a Player side and a GM side so things like background events, secret things happening, and ideas on how to proceed if the script gets scrapped when your Plot Train gets derailed happens have a place.  Show your players the Player side and keep the GM side for your own evil ends...

I haven't listed the basic plot of these early missions because this would give people options to make it their own.  But in general this is my rough layout:

1-6:  PCs get together to train.  Mad Arbite commander decides to rebel and most planetary forces join him.  PCs fight to get to Techmarine Landale who will lead them out of the training fortress through some tunnels as a presumably loyal Arbite screws them over.  They will then escape the planet in a dropship to get to the Revenger of Vengeance.

7-11: PCs retake the Revenger.  Make a beachead, free loyalists on board, capture weapons, engineering, and then the bridge.

12-24: Planets in Need: Two different planets ask for help against other rebellions.  One by what will be found out to be a Genestealer Cult, the other Chaos.  If the GS Cult is taken on first, it means the Chaos rebellion ends up having to be fought second as Chaos Marine and Demon forces.  If Chaos, the GS Cult is instead Tyranids.

25-30: Retake original planet:  The Arbite commander needs to be stopped, as does the Imperator Titan he will be unearthing.  The final fight should be in the Titan's control room.  Defeating him should lead to his puppetmasters arriving and making things miserable/letting players know they didn't really accomplish anything.  Your choice based on what sorts of minis you have access to.  Tau?  Eldar?  Dark Eldar?  More Chaos?  Incredibly clever Orks?  A powerplay by a couple loyalist Marine factions to take over the Ultima Segmentum for its own good?

Oh yeah.  Scenario 1 and 2.  In image form so you get a sweet 40K type font for the fluffy bits.  (Casablanca Antique)

I am guessing my first two scenarios will make for an evening's play.  Hell, the first one alone might do it!  But just to be sure I have the second ready to go.  I might even get 3-4 written tomorrow just to have them ready.