Wednesday 11 September 2013

How to build a better....

Hello people,

After a number of false states and postponements we got back round to Dark Heresy last Thursday night and finished off our occasionally culinary adventure.

Following on from last time's entertainments this particular instalment was relatively tame. With many of the hive nobles answering some pointy questions about xenos-people-drug wine we headed back to casa Strophies for some well needed rest prior to our flight out to Ambulon, the ancient tech city that probably never sleeps and definately never stops mining.

Assigned our own guest wing we were, eventually once enough of passed Awareness checks, awoken during the night by a full on assault by some ex guardsmen types. Fighting them back to the breach in the wall of the apparently easy to access Strophies manor Fearful Aura did a better job of holding them back than anyone expected whilst we filled them with various types of projectile. The tipping point came when Lord Strophies himself appeared through a Scooby Do secret door and took down a couple to see the remainder flee. 
 As a couple of us set to interrogation our Assassin, against the odds and much to Mr C's chagrin, tracked the last couple across the apparently unguarded estate to the breach in the apparently unguarded outer wall at which point they scattered into the "winding" upper hive corridor beyond. Despite unlikely dice followed by no dice all the baked goods stayed put :)

Questioning went better as one lad spilled his guts about the merc firm he worked for and the employer, Doc Oc from earlier, for this overt assault on a noble house of the upper hive. At this point his works sci oxide device activated, all ISO 40'000 compliant I'm sure.

Strangely his Lordship was unperturbed waving away our plans to take these mercs down and secure the buckets of evidence they likely held. Taking the hint, for once we sighed and went back to bed.
Arriving on Ambulon we had been provided with cover stories and a contact who quickly pointed us in the direction of the local branch of the Joyous Choir and disappeared into the background.

In short we rocked up at the church found Doc Oc's evil People-Drug-Wine lab and quickly blew him to bits with a couple of critical shots to the face. We then went to rescuing our damsel in distress to find out that she'd been converted into a mindless servitor which was kind of a let down. 

Admittedly this last bit was somewhat hazy for me as I was having trouble staying awake, long week at work rather than Mr C ;). It turns out I wasn't really needed and upon failing my servitor fear check my hangover worsened to a minus 20 mod to everything and I soon discovered that the lab was a psychic null. I did try burning the place down, our habit, but nothing flammable could be found!

Winding down XP was dished out and Mr  C asked around for feedback as he always does, which is a good thing. The general feeling was a decent adventure with a strong enough start that ran somewhat downhill to a bit of an anti-climax

To his credit, he is actually a mate and we do appreciate him running the campaign for us, Mr C agreed as he hadn't realised the end would fizzle like that though lucky dice helped that along. He did however mention that he took out Doc Oc's minions because "we only had 40 minutes left and I wanted to finish tonight". Have to admit that's not my way of doing things but then I'm not the GM and need to respect that.....honestly! :)
 I've made various commentary about pre-written adventures. I think they can be a good core story that can always be altered and fleshed out to suit. I feel that you need to get off  the railroad every now and then  without it becoming an issue. That's what I see as the real skill of a GM. 

As much as Mr C gets a bit of stick from all of us he always does his bit and asks us what would gave improved things. Those golden GM skills are a learning process for all involved and maybe gaming groups should be a bit more aware and supportive of that.

Hug a GM week anyone?


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