TEXT: Telling Tall Tales...
  Or: Running a Campaign
  By Ruaridh Dall
  The running of an Inquisitor campaign can be a very daunting prospect for new players of the game, and there are  
  probably more than a few people out there who have bought models, played a game or two, and then put them back on  
  the shelf because they felt unable to come up with a bunch of exciting scenarios with which they could test the mettle of 
  their characters, and the characters of their gaming group.  I would of course recommend that novice players and GMs 
  take part in a few stand-alone games with simple objectives to learn the rules, but once players have a good grasp of the 
  game mechanics, it’s so much more rewarding to have one’s characters thrown into a campaign with many obstacles to 
  overcome before their final victory (or indeed defeat).  A campaign simply has more gravitas than a single game, and 
  allows characters room to grow, alliances to form and bitter enemies to come to hate each other all the more.  A well-run 
  campaign has the potential to raise what is simply a game of toy soldiers into a finely woven tail of heroism, treachery and 
  grandstand action that can be told for years to come.  A badly run campaign however can last only a couple of games  
  before players get bored, drop out and begin to think twice about ever playing Inquisitor again.  This piece, while not a list 
  of do’s and don’ts, should hopefully give an insight into how to run a campaign that will enthral players and keep them 
  champing at the bit for more thrills as the campaign reaches its exciting  (and usually bloody!) conclusion.
  Campaigns
  There are essentially two kinds of campaign: the narrative, 
  story-driven campaign, and the linked, or ladder campaign, 
  where the outcome of each game leads directly onto the 
  next.  A narrative campaign typically is one where there is 
  a goal to complete, but the paths to that goal are open to 
  interpretation.  Usually, the Games Master (GM) will have 
  come up with a scheme that the players ultimately must 
  put an end to (or facilitate depending on their desires), and 
  then gives  the players  a number of leads to follow, or 
  throws them into a fight, from which leads may appear 
  (who were the mysterious attackers, what are the symbols 
  on their robes, etc.).  The players can then choose where 
  to go, and the GM can come up with the next scenarios in 
  the chain, tailoring them to the parties involved.  As the 
  players complete scenarios they may gather information 
  which they can choose to follow up as and when they like. 
  Events may occur in games that force them to do other 
  things,  such  as  negotiate  the  release  of  a  captured 
  comrade, or forming alliances.  Narrative campaigns have 
  the potential to ramble on for a long time with players 
  getting no nearer to their initial goal, instead they can find 
  themselves  exploring  particular  facets  of  the  world  the 
  campaign  is  set  on,  getting  into  all  kinds  of  peril  that 
  nevertheless keeps the players happy.  Some campaigns 
  can  indeed  end  essentially  “uncompleted”  but  with  the 
  characters  involved  in  some  new adventure  which  can 
  spawn another great campaign.  As every Inquisitor player 
  should know, the story is more important than the outcome 
  of any individual games, and that is why the near infinite 
  possible outcomes of narrative campaigns can bring such 
  joy to those who partake in them.
  A linked campaign is a series of scenarios that naturally 
  follow on from each other to guide players to their goal 
  (which often needs a flashy, super-violent final scenario to 
  achieve).   The objectives  of  each  scenario  are  usually 
  clear, but players who do not achieve them are usually 
  allowed to progress to the next game, albeit with some 
  disadvantage  that  makes  completion  of  the  campaign 
  harder.  Some GMs go to the length of making a secondary 
  “path” to the final goal for players that fail to complete a 
  scenario  that  may  be  longer  or  again  result  in  some 
  disadvantage for the final showdown.  As the players are 
  effectively on a conveyor belt towards the final outcome, it 
  is up to the GM to pander to their needs, such as allowing 
  recovery from injuries to replenishing ammunition between 
  games.  Of course, some campaigns are written so that the 
  scenarios  are  literally  happening one after another and 
  therefore there’s no need for this.  A campaign with a time 
  span of a few hours “in character” also has the effect of 
  corralling  the  players  so  that  they  can’t  send  their 
  characters off on side-missions, and this is one of the main 
  differences between linked and narrative campaigns.  A 
  linked campaign provides the GM with much more power 
  over the proceedings, but with such power comes a great 
  responsibility  to  his  players  to  make  the  campaign  an 
  exciting affair that is not simply five purges of mutie hovels 
  in a row, but a variety of scenarios that each give a sense 
  of reward and desire to see what happens next.
  Dark Magenta is an unofficial fanzine and is not endorsed by Games Workshop Group Plc in anyway. Text and layouts are © Dark Magenta and its proprietor. Artwork and characters are the property of 
  their respective owners. No part of this magazine should be reproduced in any form without the express permission of the Editor-in-Chief. Dark Magenta is a non-profit-making organization and with the 
  aim of promoting the Inquisitor game, products and hobby.
  
  Page 2 of 4
  To Be Narrative or Not?
  On  paper,  the  narrative  campaign  seems  the  more 
  attractive as there is potential for anything to happen – any 
  particular belief of any character could be explored, and 
  any in-game occurrence could change the direction of the 
  campaign.  If a group of players has experience with the 
  game and more importantly there isn’t a limit on the time 
  the campaign can run for, narrative campaigns can be very 
  rewarding  for  players  and  GM  alike.   In  a  narrative 
  campaign,  the  very  depths  of  the  background  can  be 
  explored,  and  every  minor  detail  uncovered  by  the 
  characters can be exploited – perfect for those veterans of 
  decades in the hobby.  However the GM should be under 
  no illusions that they will be in for an easy time.  The 
  running of a narrative campaign requires the GM to be able 
  to  come  up  with  solutions  to  each  and  every  players’ 
  desires, often on the wing.  It can be difficult at times to 
  accommodate every player, and bending over backwards 
  to let a Genestealer cult go about their business while the 
  Witch Hunters decide they want to team up and purge a 
  nest  of  psykers,  while  allowing  the  Recongregators  to 
  acquire explosives and so on can prove a real headache. 
  Some players may inevitably go a few sessions without a 
  game, and that can lead to some of them dropping out. 
  Narrative campaigns can be great, but require a lot of effort 
  to make worthwhile and continually exciting.
  The idea of a linked campaign often doesn’t appeal to 
  players.  The fact that they will be unable to explore each 
  and every corner of the world that the campaign is set on 
  often puts off the adventurous player who likes to send his 
  characters off on missions that aren’t immediately obvious 
  to the GM.  The main aim for a GM when crafting a linked 
  campaign  is  to  think  about  the  characters  that  will  be 
  involved and try to tailor it to them so that they player does 
  not feel that he is being pushed down an unnatural route. 
  Sometimes of course, especially when lots of players are 
  participating, it may be that some will still feel like they are 
  being shoehorned into something, but if the GM can make 
  the affair exciting, then there should be little dissent.  If a 
  campaign fits the characters that are involved, and there is 
  a clear goal, players are less inclined to go off on a tangent 
  and  the  campaign  will  run  smoothly,  letting  the  GM 
  concentrate  on  the  games  and  not  about  trying  to 
  accommodate one player’s desire to find special rounds for 
  his boltgun.  Linked campaigns therefore are much easier 
  entities for a GM to keep under control as there is very 
  rarely the need for the kind of improvisation required to 
  keep a narrative campaign going.  By having the scenarios 
  presented to them with clear objectives players are much 
  more likely to stay focussed and interested in what awaits 
  them in the next scenario.  Also, no player is likely to go a 
  few sessions without a game while another branch of the 
  campaign is resolved, and finally, linked campaigns also 
  have the distinct advantage of being quick, punchy affairs 
  that can fit into a day of gaming or a few gaming sessions 
  at the local club.
  As  you  can  probably  now  tell,  I’m  in  favour  of  linked 
  campaigns for the kind of Inquisitor I play – time and space 
  was often at a premium in my local GW’s gaming room so 
  short campaigns fitted in better.  Also, with my university 
  course weighing me down, I ran out of free time to devote 
  to writing scenarios for long-winded narrative campaigns 
  and I usually found I had to artificially curtail them when 
  exam season struck, which was always a pain for myself 
  and  the  players.   With  the  advent  of  gaming  days  at 
  Warhammer  World  organised  by  members  of  The 
  Conclave,  it  became  obvious  that  having  a  pre-written 
  campaign allowed for more time with our characters on the 
  table instead of working out what the next step should be. 
  I’m sure we all much prefer playing the game than standing 
  around working out what the next scenario should involve. 
  All that said though, narrative campaigns can be fantastic 
  fun  if  pulled  off  correctly,  but  the  note  taking,  player 
  juggling and scenario writing can be a lot of work.  Some 
  people though thrive with that kind of pressure, and some 
  players  really  don’t  like  the  artificialness  that  a  linked 
  campaign can sometimes project, and to them I say go 
  forth and enjoy your narrative campaigns, but to everyone 
  else, especially the newcomers to the game, let me share 
  with you the secrets of writing a linked campaign.
  Writing a Linked Campaign
  Before any potential GM writes a campaign it is important 
  to know how many players will be involved, and what sort 
  of warband they will be bringing to the table.  If there is 
  only going to be one player then the campaign can revolve 
  around an objective that his characters would be interested 
  in achieving – a staunch Puritan of the Ordo Malleus would 
  want  to  give  his  all  in  ridding  a  world  of  a  daemon-
  worshipping  cult,  while  a  Ordo  Xenos  inquisitor  with  a 
  slightly  more  open  philosophy  could  be  interested  in 
  meeting with a Tau ambassador.  If however there are 
  more players, then a slightly less specific objective should 
  be  considered.   Perhaps  a  political  movement  is 
  threatening  the  stability  of  a  world  –  this  allows  for 
  supporters and detractors of the change to take part, more 
  than likely facing off against one another at some stage. 
  Perhaps a rumour abounds that a dangerous Xanthite has 
  been  spotted  in  the  depths  of  a  mining  world  –  many 
  inquisitors will want to put an end to him and his dastardly 
  schemes,  but  some  will  be  interested  in  observing  or 
  stealing  his  works.   If  however,  you  are  putting  on  a 
  campaign  for  any  number  of  unknown  warbands  (as 
  happened to myself at a recent Warhammer World meet 
  up), then it necessary to come up with a campaign that just 
  about any group could partake in.  This is no easy task, but 
  with all the various shades of grey that exist in the 41st 
  millennium, it is by no means impossible.  A schism within 
  the  ranks  of  the  Inquisition  in  a  particular  sector  can 
  
  Page 3 of 4
  instantly  involve  all  players  who  have  an  inquisitorial 
  warband,  and  xenos,  Rogue  Trader  or  Adeptus 
  Mechanicus warbands can be supposed to have some link 
  to a particular inquisitor that has pitched them into the 
  mess.   Once  you  have  a  rough  idea  of  how  many 
  participants there will be and their characters’ desires you 
  can get onto the writing stage.
  Finding a Goal
  There is one key part of every campaign, the Goal. This is 
  what the players must hope to achieve to complete the 
  campaign,  and  it  can  be  literally  anything.   A cooked 
  breakfast makes for a dull objective, but the head of an 
  apostate Cardinal or the secrets of a forbidden tome do 
  not.  Once your goal is decided the best thing to do is to 
  come up with the scenario that lets the players achieve it. 
  This  is  usually  the  final scenario  of  the campaign,  but 
  needn’t always be.  For example, the last scenario may be 
  the  escape  to  the  spaceport  with  the  forbidden  tome 
  liberated  from  the  Chaos  Sorcerer  in  the  showdown 
  beforehand.  Wherever in the chain it occurs, the scenario 
  will  often  involve  outfighting  and  outmanoeuvring  the 
  opposing characters and seizing the objective, either by 
  locating it, decoding a mysterious sealed box, or in the 
  case of that pesky Cardinal, beheading him!  
  This scenario should typically be the biggest and most 
  exciting one, and therefore a liberal dose of special effects 
  and  gnarly  NPCs  should  be  thrown  in.   However  it  is 
  important to remember that the players will probably have 
  fought long and hard to get there and should be rewarded 
  for  their  efforts  with  some  generous  GMing,  such  as 
  fudging  the  dice  to  get  a  more  exciting  outcome  to  a 
  combat, or having the big bad guy pause before delivering 
  the  coup  de  grace  to  one  of  the  principle  characters, 
  allowing a lucky shot to pitch him into a vat of mutagenic 
  acid.  Once the dust has settled on this one (unless there’s 
  an escape to come of course) it’s important to have a wee 
  passage to read out to sum up the day’s events, and to 
  give an inkling of what happens next; i.e.
  “With the death of Cardinal Rex, order was restored to the 
  Varonian Diocese.  However, rumour persists that it was 
  not Rex that perished in the Cathedral of Salvation, but a 
  mere body double, and he is already plotting his return...”
  If after completing the Goal scenario there is to be an 
  Escape scenario then the main choice you will have to 
  make is how will the protagonists be escaping, on foot, or 
  by vehicle?  Both can be a scintillating end to a campaign, 
  and can be made into something more than a simple race 
  to the edge of the table by placing un-leap-able chasms on 
  the table, or road blocks on the main thoroughfares.  A 
  rooftop  chase  that  forces  characters  to  either  take  a 
  winding route across gantries or risk leaping the gaps in 
  the buildings poses a nice dilemma on the players, and a 
  vehicle chase can be prolonged by having the terrain on 
  the table move instead of the vehicles to represent a rapid 
  chase  (the  rules  for  a  “Rolling  Road”  like  this  can  be 
  adapted from those presented in the GorkaMorka scenario 
  “Da Chase”, in “Da Uvver Book” available for download 
  from the Games Workshop website).  One final way to 
  spice things up is to have a time limit to get off the table 
  before the shuttle leaves/orbital bombardment begins.  If 
  you imagine that each turn is about 10 seconds of time for 
  the characters, and that on average a speed four character 
  will sprint 20 yards a turn, you should be able to work out a 
  reasonable length of time for the characters to get off the 
  table to safety.
  How to Reach Your Goals
  So, with the Goal and any potential Escape worked out, I 
  find it best to then go and think about how the characters 
  would have reached the Goal scenario – would they have 
  just fought through a horde of cultists, or did they have to 
  sneak into an Administratum facility and access a cogitator 
  to get the last piece of evidence?  Perhaps there are a few 
  ways that seem logical, and that’s often perfect if there are 
  two or more players as it lets you keep them apart before 
  the final showdown, and being shoe-horned into a team 
  can seem unnatural and may even be entirely illogical – a 
  Monodominant inquisitor wouldn’t team up with an eldar 
  ranger except in the most unusual of circumstances.  Once 
  you have settled on this Final Step, the scenario should 
  come easily as it should just be a case of taking the idea 
  and making a game out of it.
  A fight against a horde of cultists is a simple case of lining 
  up the Player Characters (PCs) on one side of the table 
  and the cultists on the other and having them duke it out. 
  This kind of scenario can be made far more interesting with 
  a little effort.  A pair of belt fed heavy stubbers on 360˚ 
  traversing mounts in the centre of the table or the controls 
  to open a giant water pipe onto the cultists’ stronghold 
  hidden amongst the detritus take the mundane gunfight 
  and turn it into something much more exciting.  A covert 
  break-in to an Administratum building allows use of the oft-
  ignored  Awareness  rules,  exploiting  infra-sights  and 
  auspexes,  and  making  players  rely  on  brains  and  not 
  bullets for once.  Having a few guards that must be evaded 
  on the way to a keypad locked cogitator chapel can be a 
  very tense and fun game, quite different from the norm.
  Facilitation
  With the end of the campaign out of the way, it’s time to 
  turn  your  attention  to  the  beginning.   I’d  suggest  that 
  another two scenarios are needed, and that four is about 
  the limit for keeping the pace of the campaign.  These early 
  scenarios should be considered to represent the beginning 
  of  the  PCs’  investigation,  the  evidence  gathering  or 
  Facilitating scenarios that introduce the players to the plot. 
  These  games  should  be  short  and  snappy  with  clear 
  objectives,  and  ideally  shouldn’t  be  too  testing  for  the 
  
  Page 4 of 4
  players (that comes later!).  The point of these games is to 
  reward successful players with evidence that paves the 
  way to the later games.  This can either be provided by 
  simply telling the players that they have come across a 
  paper trail/trail of bodies and advance them to the next 
  game, or can be made slightly more involved by providing 
  an encoded message they must crack, or the piece of a 
  puzzle.  On completion of the Facilitating scenarios the 
  players  will  ideally  have  all  the  information  required  to 
  solve the puzzle/crack the code/come up with a suspect 
  and  with  a  bit  of  brain  power  work  out  the  answer. 
  However, it’s sometimes best to assume that not everyone 
  will successfully complete all the games and bodge the 
  puzzle a little to allow simple luck or a bit more thinking on 
  the player’s part to solve it.  It would be fairly dull if they 
  had to give up at this point before the real fun begins!  You 
  could of course slam some penalty on them for the final 
  game, such as more enemies to take down, or in the case 
  of a multiplayer campaign have them arrive late on the 
  Goal table.
  Suggestions  for  these  scenarios 
  include  meeting  a  contact  in 
  crowded  squares  and  using 
  Willpower  to  convince  them  to 
  come  with  the PCs;  capturing a 
  local crime lord for interrogation; 
  planting or defusing explosives – 
  the aim is to keep them simple, 
  but still dramatic enough to enthral 
  the  players  before  the  real 
  excitement of the later games.  If 
  you  have  a  few  players  in  the 
  campaign feel free to rotate them 
  through  the  scenarios  or  even 
  design some of them to allow two 
  or more players to take part at the 
  same time.  Try to give them separate objectives though to 
  keep things more interesting – instead of a fight over the 
  same piece of evidence how about having one side aiming 
  to locate the evidence while the other is attempting to blow 
  up  the  whole  area?   There  is  such  a  huge  variety  of 
  objectives  for  these  games  that  with  a  little  thought  it 
  should be easy to accommodate two separate objectives 
  into one gaming space.  Also, by informing the players of 
  their objectives covertly, the ante can be upped as neither 
  player will know what the other’s characters are up to and 
  can immediately make things tenser.
  Once the Facilitating scenarios are written the only thing 
  left to do is link them to the Final Step scenario, by telling 
  them they have the location of the cult in their hands/code 
  to hack the cogitator chapel door/whatever it is they need 
  to progress.  The campaign is now essentially complete. 
  All  that  remains  is  fleshing  out  the  story  and  some 
  housekeeping to make sure things run smoothly.
  Penning a Hook
  Every story needs a beginning, middle and ending.  The 
  latter two are covered by the campaign itself, so you only 
  need come up with the beginning.  This introduction should 
  revolve around the eventual Goal, and why the players 
  should care to achieve it.  Perhaps the Goal is threatening 
  the lives of  billions, or holds the key to turning Chaos 
  against itself.  Perhaps a mysterious transmission from the 
  Holy  Ordos  has  summoned  them,  or perhaps  the  PCs 
  have  simply  found  themselves  in  the  middle  of  an 
  unspeakable set of events only they have the power to 
  end.  Whatever it is, the introduction should not be overly 
  long, but give just enough information to whet the appetites 
  of the players.  Typing this introduction and delivering it to 
  the players in a sealed brown envelope is a nice touch. 
  You could even go to the length of reading the introduction 
  aloud, taking on the persona of an Inquisitor Lord perhaps, 
  but a hard copy for each player is always a good idea to 
  help  them remember the finer points of  your no doubt 
  Shakespearean performance!
  Housekeeping
  The housekeeping mentioned earlier involves a couple of 
  things.  If the campaign is for a lot of players and is to be 
  squeezed  into  a  frantic  day  of  gaming,  then  having  a 
  couple of co-GMs onboard will mean that a number of 
  scenarios will be able to be played side-by-side, cutting 
  down on the total playing time, meaning more games can 
  be ran, which is always good.  Giving these co-GMs the 
  scenarios  beforehand  is  a  good 
  idea as it allows them to ask any 
  questions they may have and will 
  make the games run smoother.
  If  the  campaign  has  a  puzzle 
  element to it, or if the players are 
  to receive written clues from the 
  Facilitating scenarios, taking time 
  to  make  them  as  professional-
  looking as possible is well worth it.
  Finally, as I alluded to earlier, you 
  will need to make a decision as to 
  how  long  there  is  between 
  scenarios  for  the  characters  – 
  hours, days, years even – as this 
  will have  an  effect  on  the  likelihood  of  whether  or not 
  characters are going to be able to recover from wounds or 
  replenish their ammunition.  If there are a couple of months 
  between games then it would be likely that the characters 
  would have sought out supplies and medical care in the 
  intervening period.  If they have minutes before the next 
  swarm of plague zombies hits, it’s unlikely they’re even 
  going to have time to pray.
  Fare Ye Well, Inquisitors...
  That’s about all the wisdom I have to impart.  Hopefully it 
  has made sense and is of some use to you all.  I hope I’ve 
  inspired  some  of  you  to  get  on  and  come  up  with  a 
  campaign of your own; I’d like to think that there are plenty 
  of ideas nestled in these last few pages and the many 
  Games Workshop publications out there that have got your 
  imagination running wild.  No one is asking for a twisting 
  plot of Machiavellian intricacy to baffle your gaming group, 
  but simply an exciting story that draws them in and games 
  that excite.  Happy gaming!
  About the Author
  Ruaridh Dall is a newly qualified dentist working in Elgin in 
  the north of Scotland. While not filling teeth he can be 
  found working on far too many modelling projects at once 
  and thinking about grown up stuff like buying a house. He 
  goes by the online moniker Van Helser.
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Warhammer/40k/Inquisitor Skirmish/Articles/Telling Tall Tales.pdf