Last Chancers Campaign

[RichBlake]

Hey everyone,

I'm probably going to be starting an Inquisitor campaign at my local gaming club and just thought I'd ask for some advice.

The campaign is based upon the Last Chancer novels, which for anyone who hasn't (but should have!) read them the basis is this:

Colonel Schaeffer works for the Inquisition (Ordos Xenos I believe) and what happens is when there is an emergency, some sort of suicidal mission that seems impossible, Schaeffer will draw up a regiment of like 4000 penal troopers, some of which he personally chooses, and march them into suicidal scenarios until there is only a handful left, who will then finally carry out their final mission.

I plan on doing 5 missions, the first 4 of which are 40K scale, simply because I intend on throwing lots of enemies at my players, who will also be accompanied by various generic last chancers (I do not plan on rolling properly for all these, I'll be simplifying the rolls for "background" fighting). The final mission will be Inquisitor scale.

Players chosen their character by picking a crime at the start of the campaign, they are then handed a sheet with their character's stats and equipment on and will be expected to play in character.

By the end of the game I expect the warband to be successful, but dead. Schaeffer and Kage wont have a problem here as they are not only GM controlled but they are totally awesome (and arguably, insane). I've promised if anyone manages to survive the last mission, then I'll personally make them an official pardon to absolve them of their sins.

In all it's meant to be fun, and challenging for the players. However it will be my first time GMing.

So, any tips for GMing and also any ideas for the first 4 missions?

They don't have to be complicated, and they cannot be impossible, but hard is good. For the last mission I'm thinking the survivors should take on some Necrons, I'm thinking a Wraith, a Scarab and 20 Warriors, while blowing up a warp gate that will be bringing more Necron forces.

For the first 4 missions though even something like "They are in trenches, being assaulted by wave upon wave of tyranids" is fine, but remember it has to be interesting too. Also it cannot be all "sneaky" or behind the scenes, it will be like a group of 50 Last Chancers, so they've been whittled down but not quite enough to reach the stage where they take on their final covert mission. Also the first four missions do not, and should not, be connected. As far as the players are concerned they shouldn't be asking questions. The first 4 missions could even be things orchestrated by Schaeffer himself, for example in the first novel "13th Legion" Schaeffer deliberatley crashes the shuttle they are all in in order to test them all.

Oh and the missions don't necessarily have to be about the major races of 40K, they could be simply trying to survive on a Death World for example.

Also if anyone has any questions out of curiosity i don't mind answering them :)

[Nasha]

dude i love the last chancers novels and cannot believe how Anhilation squad ends
im liking the idea at the moment mate but i think you need to make the missions hard but doable if certain things are chosen
like putting a tank into the enemie list whilst no one has any demo charges etc
apart from that good luck
kerby

[Daredhnu]

okay so will you be using 40k rules for the first 4 games and then use inquisitor for the last game or something.
if you good luck running those games, 50 last chancers and an equal amount of enemy troops will bog down the game to no end.

if i were you i'd simply have their main mission take up those 5 games instead.

they still wouldn't have to face the same enemy all the time, they could be on a war torn world which is being assaulted by orks trying to capture a eldar farseer who is guiding the orks actions. whatever you decide though, don't try to play inquisitor with 100 models on the table, it will never work.
10 models on the table will already slow the game down a lot.

[Nymie_the_Pooh]

There used to be some rules in 40K for the Last Chancers. You could take them either as a unit in an Imperial Guard army, or use a separate set of rules to where you took just them as your army. I'm not sure if there is an updated version of them or not. It probably won't help much, but it's something you might want to look into if you're curious about how GW handled the Last Chancers on the tabletop.

[RichBlake]

dude i love the last chancers novels and cannot believe how Anhilation squad ends
im liking the idea at the moment mate but i think you need to make the missions hard but doable if certain things are chosen
like putting a tank into the enemie list whilst no one has any demo charges etc
apart from that good luck
kerby

I thought the ending was OK, I'd have preferred more novels but as a way to tie up the series it was pretty good.

Yeah making the missions hard but not impossible will be the key thing. The first four are mainly designed to kill off the NPC Chancers, the last will try to kill the players.


okay so will you be using 40k rules for the first 4 games and then use inquisitor for the last game or something.
if you good luck running those games, 50 last chancers and an equal amount of enemy troops will bog down the game to no end.

if i were you i'd simply have their main mission take up those 5 games instead.

they still wouldn't have to face the same enemy all the time, they could be on a war torn world which is being assaulted by orks trying to capture a eldar farseer who is guiding the orks actions. whatever you decide though, don't try to play inquisitor with 100 models on the table, it will never work.
10 models on the table will already slow the game down a lot.


To clarify, the players would be using =][= rules for the first four games, but as GM I'd be directing the flow of battle using the NPCs and some other sort of simpler system. The only time the enemy NPCs would be using =][= rules would be in the last mission.

The effect would be, from the players point of view they have just killed a target (or targets) in their turn, then the 80 or so NPCs would do their turns really really really quickly.

It sounds more complicated then it is though.



There used to be some rules in 40K for the Last Chancers. You could take them either as a unit in an Imperial Guard army, or use a separate set of rules to where you took just them as your army. I'm not sure if there is an updated version of them or not. It probably won't help much, but it's something you might want to look into if you're curious about how GW handled the Last Chancers on the tabletop.

Yeah the ones I could remember off the top of my head have made it in, if in a different form, to my last chancers list. I didn't copy any of them straight over however.