The Imperium fights with regiments, fleets, Titans, and Space Marine strike forces.
Even so, many important missions require only a few capable individuals.
Small parties can:
Enter places armies cannot reach
Act before formal orders arrive
Avoid attracting enemy attention
Investigate uncertain threats
Negotiate with unusual factions
Recover sensitive information
Make decisions without a long chain of command
Operate where political denial is useful
A handful of characters may not win a planetary war alone, but they can determine which side enters that war prepared.
A party may consist of:
Inquisitorial agents
Deathwatch operatives
Mercenaries
Scouts
Explorators
Relic hunters
Rogue Trader retainers
Bounty hunters
Smugglers
Soldiers separated from their units
Xenos allies of convenience
Survivors pursuing a shared objective
Mixed parties are often formed by crisis rather than trust.
Their members may disagree about loyalty, faith, methods, and the value of the mission.
Mercenaries work for payment, protection, supplies, legal status, or access to restricted regions.
They may be employed by:
Noble houses
Rogue Traders
Planetary governors
Guilds
Inquisitors
Merchants
Colonies
Criminal factions
Military commanders
A mercenary contract may include clear objectives while concealing the employer’s true motive.
Independent operatives may survive by accepting work that regular Imperial institutions cannot perform openly.
Mechanicus Explorators seek lost knowledge, ancient machines, vanished colonies, and Standard Template Construct data.
An Explorator expedition may include:
Tech-Priests
Skitarii
Servitors
Scouts
Archaeologists
Guards
Pilots
Sanctioned specialists
Hired adventurers
Explorators may value knowledge above comfort, diplomacy, or human life.
They can be powerful patrons, rivals, or dangerous companions.
Relic hunters search for sacred objects, archaeotech, military artifacts, xenos devices, and evidence of forgotten history.
They may serve:
The Ecclesiarchy
The Mechanicus
The Inquisition
A Space Marine Chapter
A noble house
A Rogue Trader dynasty
Themselves
Recovering a relic does not settle who owns it.
The party may escape the ruin only to face competing claims, accusations, and political pressure.
Ruins may contain the remains of:
Lost colonies
Destroyed cities
Abandoned fortresses
Sealed laboratories
Ancient manufactorums
Xenos settlements
Forgotten shrines
Collapsed underhives
Battlefield bunkers
Pylon complexes
Ruins should tell a story through damage, architecture, remains, machinery, and incomplete records.
Not every ruin must contain treasure. Some contain evidence, survivors, contamination, or threats best left sealed.
Space hulks are vast masses of wrecked ships, debris, and ancient structures fused together through Warp travel and collision.
They may contain vessels from different eras and civilizations.
Possible dangers include:
Genestealers
Orks
Daemons
Rogue machines
Mutants
Hull breaches
Radiation
Unstable gravity
Traps
Dormant weapons
Competing salvage teams
A space hulk can function like a massive dungeon with shifting routes and several independent factions.
A successful party benefits from several kinds of expertise.
Useful roles may include:
Scout
Soldier
Medic
Tech specialist
Psyker
Investigator
Diplomat
Pilot
Survival expert
Heavy weapons specialist
Characters do not need rigid assignments.
The strongest parties overlap skills so one injury or absence does not end the mission.
Expeditions may require characters to manage:
Access routes
Air and environmental protection
Light
Ammunition
Food and water
Medical supplies
Repair tools
Navigation
Secure rest
Extraction plans
These resources should matter when they create choices.
Routine accounting should not overwhelm exploration.
Useful discoveries may include:
Weapons
Armor
Data
Maps
Relics
Machine parts
Evidence
Survivors
Biological samples
Navigation records
Faction secrets
The most important reward may be information rather than equipment.
A recovered message or map can redirect an entire campaign.
The party may not be alone.
Rivals may include:
Mechanicus teams
Chaos warbands
Ork scavengers
Genestealer cultists
Inquisitorial agents
Rogue Traders
Criminal salvage crews
Aeldari seekers
Necron guardians
Other mercenaries
Rivals may attack, negotiate, race the party, or become temporary allies.
Their goals should not always require immediate combat.
Characters may suffer injuries that continue beyond lost hit points.
Examples include:
Burns
Broken limbs
Sensory loss
Radiation sickness
Psychic trauma
Bionic replacement
Scarring
Infection
Exhaustion
Long-term injuries should create story and recovery choices without making a character permanently unplayable unless the player accepts that outcome.
Treatment may come from:
Field medics
Chirurgeons
Tech-Priests
Military hospitals
Underhive clinics
Xenos healers
Bionic specialists
Psychic intervention
The quality and philosophy of treatment may differ.
A Mechanicus surgeon may replace what another healer would attempt to preserve.
Not every failed battle needs to end in death.
Possible consequences include:
Capture
Separation
Loss of equipment
Debt
Forced service
Injury
Reputation damage
Mission failure
Enemy advancement
A rescue operation
Defeat should change the campaign rather than simply stop it.
Death should remain possible, especially in dangerous battles and hostile environments.
It should not be arbitrary.
Franz should make major risks understandable and allow players opportunities to retreat, prepare, negotiate, or seek help.
A character’s death can affect:
Allies
Faction reputation
Ongoing quests
Ownership of equipment
Party morale
Local history
The ambitions of enemies
A replacement character should enter through the ongoing story.
Possible introductions include:
A survivor rescued from the same mission
A reinforcement sent by a patron
A former rival
A prisoner
A local guide
A member of a relief force
A relative or comrade of the fallen character
An operative pursuing the same enemy
Replacement characters should begin with equipment and competence appropriate to the party’s current level.
They should not be treated as inexperienced simply because they are newly introduced.
A fallen character may leave behind:
Equipment
Debts
Allies
Enemies
Unfinished goals
Family
Reputation
Secrets
A memorial
A disputed legacy
The new character does not need to inherit all of these connections.
Their arrival should continue the campaign while creating new relationships and choices.
This lore can support:
Exploration
Skill challenges
Downtime recovery
Hirelings
Faction reputation
Salvage
Long-term injuries
Replacement characters
Retreat and surrender
Mission-based advancement
Small parties should succeed through preparation, specialization, alliances, and decisive action rather than by matching entire armies in direct battle.
This lore can support adventures involving:
Exploring a lost fortress
Boarding a space hulk
Recovering an STC fragment
Racing a rival expedition
Rescuing a trapped survey team
Escaping after a mission fails
Replacing a lost limb
Introducing a replacement character
Recovering a fallen companion’s remains
Deciding whether a discovery should be revealed
Armies control territory.
Adventurers discover the truths that determine what happens to it.