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Pre‐intro text proposals

Galactic Chimp edited this page Oct 12, 2023 · 2 revisions

(Created by Blogaugis)

  • Pre-Intro -

Aboard the [insert ship name], the group of [insert numbers/names/specialities] marines is preparing for a journey to [insert name of SS/SH]. Scout probes have already been deployed and are scouting around the entity. Options: [Proceed to the intel report] [Change the team loadout and/or composition] [Abort the operation]

  • Intel Report -

[General overview] [if psyker present][use psychic power - scrying] #basically recon using psykers. [if artifact available][use artifact] #If certain artifacts can work as reconnaisance technology (like recon drones). [Landing zone selection] [insertion zone selection] #idea of insertion zones is - the player can unload marines into it and load them on, but there is no way for them to trade heavy equipment (like vehicles) [Change the team loadout and/or composition] [Abort the Operation]

  • General Overview -

-- Age/origin information --

The [SH/SS name] appears to be of [old Imperial/Ad-mech design/Alien design (Eldar/T'au/Ork/other/unknown)/ mashup of several designs, [list if/what's identified]], dating to [pre-heresy/heresy/post heresy - or some other age nomenclature] times.

-- Status information --

It shows [no/minimal/moderate/full/questionable/unkown] signs of functionality. [if no] No signs of life support, or mechanical and electronic operation can be detected. It appears completelly dead. Excpect environmental hazards. [if minimal] Minimal signs of life support,/mechanical and/or electronic activity. Whatever entities are present there, they are not likely to be numerous. The SS/SH appears to be in low power mode. [if moderate] Signs of organic life,/mechanical and/or electronic activity have been detected. They might be numerous. The SS/SH appears to be functioning in cruise mode. [if full] Strong signs of organic life,/mechanical and/or electronic activity have been detected. They are likely to be numerous. The SS/SH appears to be fully operational. Thunderhawk pilot has been instructed to perform evasive maneuvers, if necessary. [if questionable] Signs of activity on board are erratic and unreliable. Source - [intense radiation/warp activity/unknown material composition/structure of the S/H]. Proceed with caution. [if unknown] Nothing can be detected beyond the surface layer and the few possible landing zones. Proceed with extreme caution. #Generally should apply to alien ships and space hulks heavily infested with daemonic and other activity. Though, stations near black holes could be a contender. [if S] The function of this station [if no] prior to deactivation, [/] identified as [research/construction/mining/utility/battlestation/unknown]. [if H] Majority of vessels, forming this hulk, appear to be [civilian/warship/unknown] vessels. Identified number of landing zones - [number]. Identified number of insertion zones - [number].

[if psyker present][use psychic power - scrying] [Landing zone selection] [insertion zone selection] [Change the team loadout and/or composition] [Abort the Operation]

-- Psychic power - scrying --

The [insert psyker specialization, name] attempts to see what is present on the ship... [Critical success] And he sees [reveal a selected and neighboring squares of what is present]. [Success] And he sees [reveal a selected square]. [Neither] With some difficulty, he sees [reveal a random square]. [Mild failure] Sees vague shapes, showing [organics/machines/age/traps] #Basically, would be vague details about location, or additional information about the ship in general. Maybe, could be false info? [Critical failure] Fails to see anything. #Or maybe just loses consciousness, making him unable to take part in the expedition? #Or, perhaps all of them in a way, so that the player has no idea if what the psyker sees is reliable.

-- Landing zone selection --

Identified number of landing zones - [number, possibly display on terminal]. [LZ-Hangar] Is an enclosed hangar, giving the possibility to land for a thunderhawk. [LZ-Biological] Is a biological formation, possibly supporting the weight of the thunderhawk. [LZ-Open_room] Is a room, exposed to vacuum. It is possible to land with a thunderhawk. [LZ-Open_room_biological] Is a biologically formed room, possibly exposed to vacuum. It possibly supports landing of thunderhawk. [LZ-Open_LP] Is a landing pad, that is exposed to vacuum. [LZ-Hangar_daemonic] Appears to be a landing pad, though heavilly infested with daemonic matter. [LZ-Open_room_daemonic] Appears to be a room exposed to vacuum, but is heavily infested with daemonic matter. It may or may not be exposed to vacuum. [if strike cruiser/Battle Barge/other ship having orbital bombardment weapons] [Use the SC/BB/OS to breach a room]. [if techmarine/techpriest present #Or maybe just the ship?] [Attempt to construct a landing pad]. #Generally, not a good idea to try this when the SS/SH shows signs of being fully operational - weapon systems can be online.

[confirm LZ selection] [Switch to IZ selection] [Change the team loadout and/or composition] [Abort the operation]

-- Insertion zone selection --

[show the surfaces of the hulk/station, highlight compromised sections] Currently, there are [number] of compromised sections on the SS/SH, which can act as zones of insertion. Alternativelly, We could create new breaches in several ways, [techmarine/techpriest present] using techmarine/techpriest skills when on the surface, [armed ship] using space weaponry to create a breach, [plasma bomb/other explosive] plasma bombs and other explosives can also be used, if the material in question is thick.

[Confirm IZ selection] [Switch to Landing Zone selection] [Change the team loadout and/or composition] [Abort the operation]

-- Final checks --

With the LZ/IZ set, the marines [display names/specializations] are now aboard the thunderhawk, ready to begin their mission at Your command. [Begin the operation] [Select a different LZ or IZ] [Change the team loadout or composition] [Abort the operation]

  • Begining the operation -

And with Your order, the thunderhawk lifts off and proceeds to the LZ/IZ... #Should there be options during flight to change the LZ/IZ?

  • Flying peaceful -

The thunderhawk with marines on board successfully reaches their destination with no incident. #Normally should be when no or minimal life signs are detected.

  • Flying warning signs -

As the thunderhawk approaches the landing zone, a few activity spikes could be detected in various parts of the SS/SH. It is likely that whoever is on board has been alerted to our presence. Be on Your guard. #moderate typically, but a rare thing could be with minimal

  • Flying under fire -

The thunderhawk is under fire! It attempts evasive maneuvers. [pull back or try reaching the LZ?] #Generally should be full operation and with hostiles.

  • Flying tractor beam (strong or weak) -

As the thunderhawk approaches, a tractor beam attemps to pull the ship in to [insert LZ]! [pull back or try reaching LZ?]

  • Flying welcome -

[if hangar] As the thunderhawk approaches the LZ, the hangar bay opens, with all the indicators assisting with landing. Seems that locals are friendly...

-- SH/SS Hangar intro --

The thunderhawk successfully lands. Your marines [names of the still alive folks, if the thunderhawk was under fire] are now on board the SS/SH. [if warning signs] It might be a good idea to get moving, or, prepare defenses. [if under fire] The defense systems are probably still online, thunderhawk won't be able to safely return to base, unless they are disabled. Otherwise, it would be a good idea to fortify our position. #Assuming there are spare thunderhawks, perhaps another mission could be organized? [if tractor beam] With the recent attempt to tractor beam the vessel, it is unlikely that we'll be able to leave the SS/SH safely. We should seek to shut it down. Otherwise, it would be a good idea to fortify our position.

  • SH/SS Chaos Taint -

The hangar however shows signs chaos taint. Several pentagrams and other symbols, that are obviously not the aquila can be seen. [if loyal] It is safe to say, that we might be facing heretics. Keep your guard up. [/] [if renegade] There might be heretics, and currently we have no way of knowing if they're friendly to us. [/] #I suppose pro-chaos interpretation is more or less how renegade would do it. [if has psyker] Your lexicanum/codiciery/epistolarie/librarian/chief librarian [insert name] has identified the marks. They are: [Khorne mark]. Fair guess that they are going to be aggressive. [/] [Tzeentch mark]. There may be traps. [Slaanesh mark]. They may use distractions. [Nurgle mark]. Hopefully psychic powers can help resist the influence.[/] [if apothecary present] Otherwise, apothecary may also help. [/] [if hospitaler present] Lastly, hospitaler may be able to help. [Chaos mark]. Signs of chaos undivided worshipping. [Unknown mark]. Possibly indicating lesser deities of the warp.

[if loyalist and Chaplain present] Your marines, with chaplain's encouragement, scrub them clean. Soon, aquilas replace them, sanctioned by the chaplain. Your marines are ready to claim it in the name of the Emperor! #morale boost. Generally, removing them should reduce potential corruption. Also reduce chance of perils. [If renegade and Chaplain/Apostle present] The Chaplain/Apostle inquires whether he should the marks be resanctioned, or removed. Possibly replaced with aquila. #An option what to do. [If chaos and Dark Apostle is present] Your marines, with Dark Apostle's encouragement, proceed to add the marks of [Khorne/Tzeentch/Slaanesh/Nurgle/Chaos/other?]. May the patron deity(ies) guide us to victory! #Perhaps there could be an option to venerate it to the primarch/chapter master/other marine? Or maybe a faction?

  • SH/SS Aquila -

The hangar shows signs of being filled with beings loyal to the imperial creed. Several aquilas and other associated objects can be seen. [if loyalist] Which is reassuring.[/] [if renegade] Which can be worrying.[/] [if chaos] Which is pathetic.[/] [If loyalist and Chaplain present] He resanctions the aquilas. #morale boost [If renegade and Chaplain/Apostle present] The Chaplain/Apostle inquires whether he should resanction them, or remove them and add a mark instead. #An option what to do. [If chaos and Dark Apostle is present] He removes the aquila, instead adding our associated marks. Death to the loyalist scum! Glory to [patron deity's/primarch's/warmaster's/warlord's/other title's name]!

  • SH/SS Decay -

In addition to being mostly empty, it seems that it also has been looted, if not sabotaged quite a while ago. [if techmarine present] No signs of electrical currents or similar activity. The room is dark.

  • SH/SS normal, servitors -

The hangar appears to be in working order - several servitors/service automatons appear to arrive to service the thunderhawk that the marines arrived upon. [if techmarine/techpriest present] the techbrother/techpriest checks what they are doing. [Normal operation] And it seems they are proceeding with the standard instructions. No need to tweak anything. [if under fire] Which is weird, considering our brothers were under fire a moment ago. Perhaps there are errors in certain parts of the system, or maybe there are more than just 1 faction on board..? [Erratic operation] And notices erratic patterns - it is fair guess that they won't be servicing the ship properly. [order to shut down? Or just open fire?] Techmarine/techpriest proceeds with the attempt to shut them down. [success] - they deactivate. [failure] - they go haywire. #self destroying themselves, attacking each other, and/or maybe your marines. In latter case, roll initiative. [if now clear or success, under fire] It seems whoever has occupied this facility haven't configured the servitors properly. [If normal operation or success][Extract map?] You order the techbrother/techpriest to scan their memory drives. [Success] - gain a map of the surrounding area. [failure] - error: data corrupted. Whatever memories they once had are now inaccessible. #I suppose it could be possible to gun them down anyway, and then eat the brains, or their leftovers the old(er) fashion way. [if servitors are still alive][reprogram the servitors].

-to [Select further course of action]-

  • SH/SS normal, PDF/Guard -

On the hangar, your marines notice a [PDF/Guard] post. It is: [dead] [if loyalist, PDF/Guard faction also loyalist] a gruesome sight - corpses of various imperial personnel could be seen. [if renegade and loyalist] an obvious sign of a battle earlier - the [traitor/loyalist] militia were slaughtered. [if chaos and loyalist] a sight to behold - corpses of the ones who worship the corpse! [if chaos and renegades/both renegade] noteworthy sign - corpses of the potential allies... [if both chaos] Noteworthy sign - fellow cultist corpses. [who killed them] Your marines identify a few [select faction] corpses, they likely have been the result of the [PDF/Guard] resistance. We should be on the lookout for more of them.[/] [if no signs of killer] Your marines could not find any corpses of a different faction. Either there were extremely powerful, or the [PDF/Guard/Cultists/Militia] started fighting amongst themselves. [if no signs of killer, but apothecary or hospitaler available] Your [apothecary/hospitaler] examines the corpses. [He/She] determines, that the [killers faction or fighting amongst themselves]. [if amongst themselves] Lasgun, bayonet, and other weaponry typical to the imperial troops could be seen. [amongst themselves advanced] However, the kind of damage caused to the guard seems quite indicative of a certain faction - [Admech/Sororitas/Inquisition/Astartes]. [if admech, killed loyalist, skitari/techpriest present] The [techpriest/skitari] speculates that these must be hereteks, if not the dark mechanicum. [if admech, killed renegade/traitor, skitarii/techpriest present, but renegade or chaos] The [techpriest/skitari] speculates that these must be the narrow-minded loyalists. [if sororitas, killed loyalist, and sister/hospitaler present] To the confused [sister/hospitaler], it now seems that they may have some traitors to deal with. [if sororitas, killed traitor/renegade, renegade or chaos and fallen sister/hospitaler] The [Fallen sister/hospitaler] nods several times, no doubt anticipating the excitment of facing off against the weaklings that once were her sisters... [if inquisition] Seems inquisitor's retinue, or perhaps one inquisitor him/herself have went through the post violently... [if astartes] It appears our... cousins have decided to go in guns blazing. We'll have to see if they won't fire at us too... if they are still on-board, that is. [Xenos] It is clear, that the killers were [Orks/Tyranids/T'au/Eldar/other].

-to [Select further course of action]-

[dead but no bodies] Empty. Although, your marines notice blood stains and the related smell in the air... [if apothecary/hospitaler] Your [apothecary/hospitaler] attempts to identify whose blood that is... [human] Seems it is the usual human blood. Lack of corpses may mean that there is chaos sorcery going on... [human and xenos] In addition to human blood, there also appears to be blood of aliens... [xenos] Strangely, the blood is not of human origin. [Or, fought that faction earlier and won] Your marines recognise the smell - it is [insert faction].

-to [Select further course of action]-

[Gone, but equipment remains] Empty, aside from weapons, armour, tools and boxes lying around. Strange, as if the troops disappeared right where they stood... [if chaos] Tzeentch works in mysterious ways... Your marines proceed to sift through the remains, to identify anything of danger, and value...

-to [Side stuff found]-

[Half-empty] Half-filled with the guards. Some minor signs of battle could be seen. #with a speech check, get some or maybe all hirelings; if renegade/chaos speech check or psyker them into neutral state, otherwise gun them down, and if still alive, sacrifice or make into cultists/renegade troops. Or just shoot them all down.

[Fully functional] And it is filled with guards... it seems [PDF/Guard] got here first with, pretty much all their might. #Pass through, or face a VERY HARD battle.

  • SH/SS normal, Admech -

  • SH/SS normal, Inquisitor -

  • SH/SS normal, Sororitas -

  • SH/SS normal, other astartes -

  • SH/SS normal, several imperial factions -

  • SH/SS normal, Xenos -

-[Side stuff found]-

[Lone, dying survivor] In a pool of blood, your marines see a lone, dying guardsman. [Question the guardsman] [if psyker available][read his mind via psychic power] The [psyker] reads the guardsmand's mind... They were attacked by [insert faction], and he was [insert rooms, add them to the map]. [if apothecary/hospitaler available][administer some painkillers and other substances for questioning] After inserting some medication to guardsman, he tells his story: They were attacked by [insert faction], and he was present in [insert rooms, add them to the map] [if apothecary present][or, has psyker, and has psychic power - biomantic healing][Patch him up, and turn into neophyte] The guardsman was patched up and put to sleep. [if thunderhawk present] Within moments, he is now asleep on board the thunderhawk. [if thunderhawk not present] He should be delivered to the thunderhawk when possible. #or perhaps the entirety of this object explored? [Mercy kill him] Your marines proceed to end the guardsman's suffering. [if mutation of hyper-stimulated omophagea present] Your marines couldn't resist eating his corpse [gain health?][also gain intel, as his brain is eaten]. [Leave him alone] Your marines move on, leaving the poor sod alone.

[Artifact among the dead] Amongst the corpses, your troops find an artifact [describe preliminary qualities]. We have several options - we could gift the artifact to the [PDF/Guard/renegade or traitor militia, cultists?] governor, strenghtening our [disposition - diplomatic or planetary]. Or we could take it for ourselves, loading it into the thunderhawk. We'd need to deliver it to the ship in either case. [if wearable] Alternatively, we could order one of our marines (allow sororitas/admech hirelings?) to equip it. [/] What are Your orders? [Load to thunderhawk] #if we want to make it simple, we could have 2 options to take or gift right here. I think it may be better to decide after the thunderhawk departs. If gift - provide disposition bonus. [if equippable] [Equip the artifact] [go to team loadout/composition screen again...] [Leave it alone].

What to do with the remains? The [techmarine/officer] estimates the requisition value extracted if salvaged - [number]. [Salvage] Your marines collect anything of value from the battlezone. [if thunderhawk present] The [number] requisition has been loaded on the thunderhawk, taking [number] places. [Leave for now] Your marines leave it here. This way, Your marines can use them as defensive positions.

-[Select further course of action]-

[Move on] #select the next square (or hex) on screen. [Hold position] Your marines proceed to hold the ground, taking more defensible positions. [if techmarine/techpriest] Your [tech] proceeds to use the spare parts and his skills to quickly assemble barricades and other forms of cover. #bonus fortifications, if You decided not to salvage them. #Perhaps unloading the requisition from thunderhawk could also be an option to convert into fortifications? [if thunderhawk present][Order to board the thunderhawk] [Order thunderhawk to leave] The thunderhawk takes off and returns to the [ship/fleet]. It will be able to bring more marines to this or other location. [But, if under fire, and defense turret/fire control system are still online] My lord, it would be a very risky move to attempt to return the thunderhawk to our [ship/fleet] - the [defense turret(s)] on this side are still operational, and we would risk losing the thunderhawk. Are You sure You wish thunderhawk to attempt the return anyway? [Attempt to return anyway] [Order to stay] The thunderhawk stays in the hangar. You can load it with the acquired treasures found. It also has a few weapons to help in the defense. [Switch over to the operation overview] You return to the operation overview, You can - if we have the equipment - to form another expedition.

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-- SH/SS Other kinds of LZs/IZs --

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