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Inquisitor Layton Demo Game

Started by Alyster Wick, April 07, 2010, 07:29:37 PM

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Alyster Wick

In a few short hours I will be putting together my first demo game (yay!) at GW Layton.  Below I've pasted the intro story which everyone will get and the three briefings for the potential warbands (hopefully this can be a useful template for others looking to start clubs in their area).  I'll post a full report with (poor) photos in the coming days (may also be more of a highlight reel, I'm hoping to run the scenario 3 times).  It's long and there is no summary, enjoy!

"My thanks techpriest, you've been most helpful."
   Inquisitor Dryden turned his back on Magos Narcis, the craven priest sniveling in the corner as the Inquisitors minion continued to stare at him with its milky eyes. 
   "Renner," he said to the thing, "alert Cixe and Monk, send them the coordinates.  They will arrive in advance of us."
   "You are...leaving?" Narcis asked, wincing slightly as the pale psycher turned to follow its master.
   Dryden stopped at the doorway.
   "Yes, unless you'd like me to leave my friend here with you."
   Narcis jumped back as the creature hissed at him.
   "No, of course not."
   "You're a fool Techpriest, but fools are not heretics.  The only blasphemy I've seen is your insufferable bureaucracy.  Rest assured, if it ever prevents supplies from getting to the front lines of the crusade, I'll be back, and then you'll see what my minion is really capable of. But your biologus on the other hand..."
   Trailing off, Dryden walked out the door with his psycher in tow.  As soon as it shut Narcis spoke the words of incantation and there was the loud clamp of the power locks activating.
   Ganymede, he thought.  That fool, what has he done?
   The chief Biologus of Centurai Prime had been scarce of late, allegedly working on a master crafter servitor for the Lord Forges, but the presence of Dryden had proven this a lie.  The Inquisitor Lord Marshall did not leave the front lines lightly.
   No matter.  Dryden may have put a freeze on my Imperial resources, but there are enough on Centurai who owe the mechanicus dearly...
   As Narcis snatched up his vox communicator and began to speak, the sound waves echoed throughout his chambers, coming to rest in a small rectangular unit, no thicker than a piece of leather and no larger than a lasgun trigger.  This unit sent the sounds through the air, passing out the Magos's chambers and 100 feet up in the air over to the baroque ultra-highrise next to it, where a receiver led to an ear piece trailing into a sweaty shaven head.  The man rubbed his scalp as his mechanical eyes narrowed on the priests window.
   "Inquisitor Wick," he spoke into the receiver on his vest. "This is operative Zero, Lord Marshall Dryden peeled enough information from the techpriest's mind to hunt down the Biologus."
   There was a raspy cackle on the other line.
   "More fun then.  Dispatch my bodyguard and the boy.  Tail them to make sure the package is secure before Dryden's stooges arrive.  Once I get what Ganymede was working on tell the Grinning Man to have his fun."
   "And if Dryden arrives?"
   "Don't touch the Inquisitor," Wick hissed. "I will take care of him, in due time."
*   *   *
   Miles outside the hive in the ruins of the old city, Ganymede worked in silence, his eyes intent on the display screen attached to the carrying unit.  He pressed a button and a brass rattling echoed from within its confines. Ganymede pressed his palm to the machine's door and cooed calmly.
   "Do not worry. You are my perfect creation, and your time is coming shortly."   
The Forces of Inquisitor Dryden:
Dryden is the newly appointed Lord Marshall of the sector.  He is a devoted Amalathian of the Ordos Malleus

Interrogator Silus Monk-
   Silus Monk has been serving Lord Marshall Dryden for nearly half a century.  He clawed his way up from the Schola Progenia, eventually becoming a Commissar in the Emperor's Imperial Guard before garnering the attention of Inquisitor Dryden's Master at Arms, Cixe.  While his battlefield prowess was exceptional, Silus's focus since joining Dryden's retinue has he has shown his true talent to be in investigative work (especially as Dryden's new position of Lord Marshall in the southern rim crusade has kept him on the battlefield in recent years). 
   While he is a loyal follower of Dryden to the end Silus has a fierce hatred of the mutant and distrust of the psycher hailing back to his days as a commissar.  Dryden's recent addition of the pale faced psycher and a rather large mutant to his retinue has made him unsettled.

Operative Cixe-
   Operative Cixe was the son of the Master at Arms on an Imperial Battle Barge (the Master at Arms role was to train and maintain the discipline of the storm troopers assigned to the ship).  All he knew growing up was the rush of battle and the rigors of training.  To him all time not spent fighting was spent preparing.  In addition to marksmanship and hand to hand combat, Cixe became keenly aware over time of the need to work as a unit.  No matter how much he excelled personally he was always awed by the coordination it took to man the barge during conflicts. 
   Eventually Cixe grew up to succeed his father and during an extended conflict then-Interrogator Dryden was assigned to Cixe's ship as a base of operations.  Dryden spent more of a decade aboard the ship, either in combat of being ferried from planet to planet to keep up with the crusade.  Over time a friendship developed between the two and when Dryden was raised to the level of Inquisitor he brought along Cixe with him as his personal Master at Arms to train potential acolytes. 
   Recently Dryden's focus has shifted from investigative positions to commanding the forces of the current crusade.  Cixe has taken up the position of chief advisor to Silus Monk, now leading Dryden's investigative teams.

Current Mission: The Root of Evil
   Heresy is the root of all evil and is has reared its ugly head on the sub-Forge of Centurai Prime.  Techpriest Narcis is a capable Magos but his new promotion after the rapid deaths of the Lord Dragon and his successor has given him more than he can handle.  In the absence of rule one of his lessers, Magos Biologus Ganymede, has dipped into some manner of heresy. 
Goals- Locate Ganymede and:
   -Bring him in for questioning
   -Recover or destroy whatever abomination he is working on
   -Detain any coconspirators until Inquisitor Dryden arrives
Special Armaments: Both Cixe and Silus are equipped with one melta-charge

The Forces of Inquisitor Alyster Wick:
Inquisitor Alyster Wick follows no formalized rule of inquisitorial though.  Some have considered him an Istvannian while other accounts tie him to the Monodominant Philosophy (though many have said this is a lie because of the company he keeps).  Regardless, Wick is a much lauded (if not controversial) member of the Ordos Hereticus.

The Grinning Man-
   The mutant known only as "The Grinning Man" was the sole survivor of Wick's purge of Animus Hive, where the heretical government was using the blasphemous creatures as labor until they began to revolt. The Grinning Man was born into an environment of fear and brutality, first from the men who enslaved him, then from the mutants who conscribed him into service. Fear was power, that was the only strength that mattered. Fear kept him as a slave. When his people stopped fearing, then they revolted. But with Inquisitor Wick, he saw a different side of things.
   It wasn't Wick's ability to cause fear, which was undeniable, but the fact that the Inquisitor feared nothing. To follow him was to follow a leader who would never be powerless because no one could impose that power upon him. Growing from a scrawny and malnourished runt, the Grinning Man learned well from his master, gaining strength from his example. Now a brute of a mutant, the Grinning Man knows the power of instilling fear into his victims, and he wears his deformity proudly. 

Le'Enfant Terrible-
   Le'Enfant is a creature of dubious age.  Dreamt up by a sadistic member of the mechanicus at the orders of *RECORDS EXPUNGED*, no one truly knows whether Le'Enfant is a human pumped full of hormone repressors or a savage imp of a haemonculus.  Regardless, reports have circulated for nearly a century about the small skull-faced child appearing in the nightmares of Imperial royalty and their children days, weeks, or even years before their brutal assassination.
   Those who have heard tell of Le'Enfant know that his appearance heralds death.   

Current Mission: The Final Piece
   For months the Magos Biologus Ganymede has been working on a project for Inquisitor Wick under the nose of his superiors.  With this creation he will be able to set his plot for Centurais Prime in motion, if Techpriest Narcis or Inquisitor Dryden don't stop him first.  The project must be moved from its hiding place in the ruined outer city into a more secure location.

Goals:
   -Recover "the package" from Ganymede and take it to the board edge you started from
   -Take Ganymede with you, whether he likes it or not (Wick will need him to complete his project)
   -Grinning Man- You've heard that Inquisitor Dryden's forces may try to break up this meeting, if you see Silus Monk make sure to "leave your mark" on him, you owe that mutant hating scum



The Forces of Magos Narcis:

Narcis is a techpriest as cunning as he is craven.  Through years of careful planning he positioned and bureaucratic plotting himself in the line of succession as Lord Dragon as a mere administrative tech.  Much to his delight (and surprise) he was able to ascend rather quicker than expected after the mysterious deaths of the Lord Dragon and his first successor couple with the disappearance of the third in line.  Now he is finding that the crown lies very heavy.

The Wanderer-
   Many rumors circulate about the mercenary known only as the wanderer.  Some say he's a treasure hunter, others that he's a broken man with a vendetta, still more whisper that he's the fallen acolyte of a sadistic Imperial Lord.
   Regardless, two things are certain. His eyes always narrow at mention of the Inquisition and he has been known to kill men whose eyes linger too long on his scars or bionic arm.  He works for food when he needs it and information when he can afford it.  Exactly what information few are willing to divulge, but the rogue trader seen dropping him off on Centurai Prime made mention of a dead family and a lust for revenge.

Current Mission: No Respect
   Magos Biologus Ganymede has gone too far!  It doesn't matter how talented he is or what the Lord-Forges want him for, Ganymede will pay in spades for the indignity caused to Narcis by Inquisitor Dryden.  He will find out what Ganymede has been doing and make a public example of him

Goals:
   -Gather evidence against Ganymede for use at his public trial
   -Capture Ganymede and escort him to your board edge
   -Wanderer: If you encounter any agents of the inquisition make sure to attach one of your three tracking beacons to them.  You owe Narcis for your new arm and can't afford to botch this mission, but opportunities to track the Inquisition are few and far between.

Inquisitor Cade

Sounds like fun. I like how each group have multiple objectives, some of which are vague, so it's not just go here, kill each over, and maybe have a token objective to grab.

I wanted to do something similar, but it'll have to be at the flat as the local GW refuse to allow specialist games to be played there.

Have fun.
*Insert token witticism*

Brother_Brimstone

Sounds like a well thought through and interesting mission. Great characters, motivations and objectives, as Cade said; it's much better than a simple smash and grab (which can be fun, but lack the flair of missions with more compelx goals). I too suffer from the problem that my local GW won't allow any specialist games in store  :(

Alyster Wick

Just to give closure to this thread, an unfortunate incident occurred.  While I was out of touch with my GW shop for a couple weeks my two new friends who were helping my promote the game got laid off from the store, resulting in the Demo Game falling through. 

No battle reports (for now) but at least the heavy lifting of creating a scenario and character sheets is done!

Glad you all liked the secondary goals. The thought came to me as I was trying to find ways to "force" players to act in character (since I was assuming that most would be confused 40K gamers) and that having secondary goals was a good way to reward characterful play while everyone got the hang of it.  Over time I think (should I ever get a campaign off the ground) that the secondary goals may become a secret way to decide who "wins" a game by disbursing points based on heroic and characterful acts that are successful (not that I'd ignore the main objective, but when things go completely south in a game you'd like to give a player at least some dignity).