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++ SPACE HULK: DEATHWATCH RPG ++ ++ THE DESOLATION OF INNOCENCE ++ "A space hulk is a danger like no other, a myriad of twisted passageways and tanged buttresses. It is a conglomerate of smashed and hapless ship carcasses, where the silent screams of dead men echo in halls without light. To look upon such a thing is to defy understanding, to board one searching for treasure is to defy sanity. And yet the treasure is real, guarded by the glowing eyes of fiends, and the chittering of claws scraping in the dark." - Lord Juliard Langstrom, Master of the Patrol Vessel Acheron. + Welcome to the Hulk! + Space Hulk: RPG is a blend of the board game of Space Hulk, Space Crusade and a few other games to give a tactical, action-heavy roleplaying game which allows for short, intense scenarios players can pick up and put down. It is designed to try and capture the essence of stalking down corridors which have been airless and lightless for centuries, and the darkness is watching - filled with abominations by the score. Campaign Premise: Each player starts out with a Deathwatch RPG Character at Rank 4, wielding some of the most powerful arms and armour the Imperium can provide, with full access to a suite of Skills, Abilities and Talents which will make them better, stronger, faster and harder to kill. They'll need it. Arrayed against them is almost every enemy of the Imperium you can imagine. Genestealers, Cults, soulless Automatons, the forces of Chaos and more - for all is to be found in the depths of the Hulk. There is no grace or mercy, there is only the Desolation of Innocence. Structure: This is flexible. DoI is designed as a setting to facilitate a series of one-shot scenarios which follow a narrative, cohesive overview. The scenarios can include simple, or multiple objectives, depending on the forces committed. For this purpose, the Character Thread containing all the background and histories for the PC's will be known as the Mission Roster. Each PC can choose to enter the mission being played. It is modular and adaptable in scale, even to supporting a single player. This means that GM's can hopefully get some games finished! A Threat Cannot Be Ignored: The Deathwatch are Mankind's elite, premier combat troops against the Xenos, but everyone is in their sights. The local Watch Fortress Commander has marked the Near-Space Anomaly designated Object XB-203991 (Coderef: Desolation of Innocence) as a Primary Grade Threat, and so the hulk must be investigated, and purged with righteous courage... +++++++++++++++++++ A Contrivance of Fate: Watch Commander Cordovan ignored the hushed gasps of relief as the Strike Cruiser Hecate's Bane escaped the grip of warp translation. Whatever horrors lurked behind them in the immaterium were dealt with, but here, the terror of something every sane commander feared: A space hulk. He lifted the dataslate to consult it. Whatever Mechanicus or Ordo references screed up the glazed holographic projector were irrelevant. This was Primary Threat - Absolutio Extremis - to the security of this sector, and the lives of the Imperial citizens on the planets in its shadow. He peered through metres of armoured window pane, out across the bow, glowing as the doors opened ready to hurl the Thunderhawks forth as a close-space security picket. The warriors in the cells and sacred halls below were girding themselves for the most intense combat a veteran of the Astartes would ever see. The boarding of a space hulk was a mix between dreadful battle in the tight confines of the most dilapidated hive city, and void war. Opening a door on such a hulk could reveal an enemy, hard vacuum, a dead end - or all three. With limited resources, he would have to rotate his men, but the fate of this sector could well rest upon the broad shoulders of the Astartes. The galaxy had done so since the Emperor bent the heavens to his will. "How will you proceed?" The words cut across his thoughts, the bow of an unwelcome vessel prowling a wake in his mind. He half turned, clad only in robes, where the figure who demanded his attention was harnessed in fine, human scale power armour, a red robe cascading over the silver filigreed plating. "Carefully," Cordovan rumbled in bass timbre. "Very carefully." He let the Inquisitor decide what that entailed. ++ KILL TEAM REGENT ++ ++ STAND BY FOR INCOMING PRIORITY TASKING ++ "Serve the Emperor today, for tomorrow is written with your Sacrifice." You have been hurriedly assembled, along with other hand-picked brethren of your Veteran Company. As the newest Initiates to this austere formation, you have proved yourself numerous times within the sight of such peerless warriors, and yet more tests remain, for trial is to a Space Marine as breathing. It seems those trials have arrived. The alert notices to take your wargear into the belly of Hecate's Bane see you fresh from the training cages, and now you are here - materialising at a place and time of the Watch Commander's choosing. You will know this is no small thing - there are over two-hundred other Astartes aboard, from Deathwatch Scouts, to members of the Reclusiam. Word spreads quickly amongst the assembly. You have tasked with assaulting a Space Hulk - and not just your own Kill Team, but every soul who wears the sable and quicksilver. The whispers spill from knowing lips about an Inquisitor who has petitioned the Xenos-slayers for aid... +++++++++++++++++++++++++++ A Contrivance of Spite: The growl was wet beneath the helm as the object of the visions came into view. Lord Executioner Tyrox allowed his irritation to show in the slow rap of his fingers across the arms of his command throne. The headache was undimmed. A lightning strike of white hot pain behind his eyes. His ship, the cruiser Carrion King pulled into long augur range. Signals from the hulk showed it was being boarded by another ship. +Identify!+ The slave on the augur array, a recent captive from one of the raids Tyrox's warparty undertook, flinched as though lashed across the shoulders. "Un...unknown, Lord. It is an Astartes vessel, but their IFF's are scrambled." Tyrox absorbed this, anger at the incompetence of these worthless subordinates held in abeyance over the urgent need for camouflage. +Engage shadowshields. Let us see if the Magos' gift was worth the effort..+ The bridge stirred from meagre white light, to arterial red. An alarm sounded to signal the change. +When we pass through their augur envelope, launch our Thunderhawks. We will reap a bounty under their noses!+ The Hulk was a cursed boon. It would provide supplies and potential slaves or materiel for repairs. It would provide answers for the...visions. ++ KILL SQUAD KHYROPTERA ++ ++ STAND BY FOR INCOMING PRIORITY TASKING ++ "By the strength of your arm it is yours. The weak surrender to the Strong." ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ This is just to start some RP to get the juices flowing. How do you feel about the missions ahead, what emotions or thoughts does a space hulk stir in you? Revulsion, determination, perhaps ambition to win glory in the crucible of battle?