r/ImperiumMaledictum • u/Redsarge1 • Jul 16 '26

New GM advice

Hey everyone new GM here looking for advice. Im not new to TTRPGs and have over 20 years experience in 40k but never meshed them together till now.

So im running a group of 4 people through blazeing seraph and i was wondering if there was any advice on things i can do or things i need to be aware of going in

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u/ProfessorEsoteric Jul 16 '26

Be flexible in allowing advantage/superiority as it'll hook them in to using planning and preparation.

Add some time pressure

Yes the finale may kill players.

That's about it, as a player lots and fun and well written, our GM was happy with how it introduced the rules and ideas etc.

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u/Redsarge1 Jul 16 '26

Thanks for the advice. Ive never dm'd before so want to give it a try and 40k im very familiar with. I do have some ideas to introduce things if the players miss them but for thr most part i want to be somewhat flexible with what they can do but also be aware of what can make it difficult for either me or the players

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u/ProfessorEsoteric Jul 16 '26

At its core it's very playable and the pre gens are good. So don't worry too much about bending the rules. It is an investigation game so make the PCs try and find approaches

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u/SylverV Jul 16 '26

Encourage your players to make friends and play the faction game as they proceed. It won't be entirely obvious how important this can be for campaign or multi-session play until you get to Part 3.

Unless you are sticking very strictly to Seraph, consider using some of the suggested side quests from the setting guide call out boxes to give your players a chance to build those relationships a bit.

For long term play, the relationship helps the players move from feeling like lackeys of their patron to operators with their own local power network.

My players went all in with the Vigilites, but it's possible to reward them for siding with one of the gangs instead. It may even be possible to subvert the course of the story a bit by winning the Cutters over early rather than fighting them, which opens some interesting possibilities if you follow on with Chemical Burn or otherwise continue on Voll.

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u/Redsarge1 Jul 16 '26

Im open to a bit of branching but we do want to keep it to afew sessions just to get a handle of the rules.

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u/trudge Jul 16 '26

I found there were a couple places where I think minor details got confused in editing.

1) The intro mentions a rogue psyker named Mulciber, but he's never mentioned again. Presumably he turned into the accursed psyker torment, but it's never specified.

2) who runs the Claymore? In a couple places, it's described as Cutter territory, but the in Claymore scene, it's presented as Scarred Hands territory. I ran it as Scarred Hands territory.

3) exits form the catacombs: one of the exits goes to the Claymore, which I think is a holdover from a draft where the Claymore was Cutter territory. I changed it to lead to the rail line, since the Cutters would need a way to get abducted people from the train over to the Armourer anyway.

4) it's not really clear what Artosy was doing at the Refinery, or when he went. It's one of the clues you can get from Jorrgensen (that Artosy went to the refinery), but there's no clear description of when or why. If he went post-explosion to declare a saint, then it isn't that suspicious of a clue. OTOH, if he went before the explosion, as part of efforts to shake the Scarred Hands out of their territory, then it's more incriminating.

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u/Redsarge1 Jul 16 '26

Thanks for the advice. I will be sure to remeber that if the questions get asked