Planning Your Campaign
A one-shot only needs a threat and a reason for the Agents to face it. A campaign needs more: a reason this particular group stays together, a power level that suits the stories you want to tell, a place to set them, and a plan for how the Agents grow. The revised Wrath & Glory core rulebook gives you a tool for each of these, and this page walks through them in the order you'll need them.
What This Page Covers
- Frameworks: Why this group of Agents works together
- Tiers: How powerful the Agents are, and how big the threats get
- Setting: Using the Gilead System, the core book's default home
- Structure: Adventures, arcs and Objectives
- The economy: Wrath, Glory and Ruin over a session and a campaign
- Growth and cost: Experience, Ascension, Corruption and injuries
The labels under each band are only a rough guide to scope. The core rulebook doesn't name its Tiers; low-Tier Agents deal with local trouble, and top-Tier Agents face threats to an entire system.
The Building Blocks of a Campaign
1. Pick a Framework
Before session zero SetupWhy are these people together? Frameworks, added in the revised core rulebook, are guidelines for a party concept. They answer the question that wrecks so many 40K groups: why is a Guardsman sharing a dropship with an Ork?
Example Frameworks
- An Inquisitorial warband, with Acolytes, a Sage and whoever the Inquisitor needs
- A Rogue Trader's retinue, where almost anyone fits if the Rogue Trader vouches for them
- A squad of the Astra Militarum, cut off from its regiment
- A Mission of the Adepta Sororitas and the Ministorum
- An underhive crew of Gangers, Scavvies and Desperados
Running It
- Pick the Framework with the players, not for them
- Use it to say who gives the Agents orders, and who they answer to when things go wrong
- Keywords such as [ORDO], [REGIMENT] or [CHAPTER] tie Agents to their factions, so the Framework also shapes what they can requisition
2. Set the Starting Tier
Before session zero SetupHow powerful are the Agents? The revised core uses four Tiers. Agents start with 100 XP per Tier (100, 200, 300 or 400), and can take any Archetype whose Tier is no higher than the campaign's.
What Each Tier Opens Up
- Tier 1: Imperial Guardsman, Ganger, Inquisitorial Acolyte, Inquisitorial Sage, Ministorum Priest, Sister Hospitaller, Ork Boy, Aeldari Corsair
- Tier 2: adds Sister of Battle, Death Cult Assassin, Tempestus Scion, Sanctioned Psyker, Skitarius, Rogue Trader, Space Marine Scout, Scavvy, Aeldari Ranger, Ork Kommando
- Tier 3: adds Crusader, Imperial Commissar, Inquisitor, Tech-Priest, Tactical Space Marine, Desperado, Aeldari Warlock, Ork Nob
- Tier 4: adds the Primaris Intercessor
Running It
- Tier 1 is the classic "ordinary people in a terrible galaxy" campaign
- Tier 3 lets a Space Marine fight beside a Guardsman who has survived far longer than he should have
- A mixed party works best when every Agent has a job the others can't do
- Optional Advanced Character Creation gives each Agent Tier × 10 bonus XP
3. Use the Gilead System
Before session zero SettingWhere does it happen? The core rulebook's default setting is the Gilead System, in the Imperium Nihilus on the far side of the Great Rift. It is cut off from Terra: no reinforcements, no reliable astropathic contact, no easy way out. Whatever the Agents don't fix, nobody will.
Worlds and Hooks
- Gilead Primus (hive capital): politics, cults and gang wars
- Avachrus (forge world): Mechanicus secrets and forbidden technology
- Ostia (agri world): famine, rebellion and the food the system depends on
- Nethreus (knight world): noble houses and old oaths
- Enoch (shrine world): pilgrims, relics and the Order of the Sanctified Shield
Running It
- Use the book's patrons, such as the Rogue Trader Jakel Varonius, as the people who hand out missions
- Let the isolation bite: supplies, ammunition and trust are all limited
- You don't have to use Gilead; any sector works if you keep the same sense of what is at stake
4. Build Arcs and Objectives
Ongoing StructureWhat is the campaign about? Most campaigns work best as a chain of adventures (one to three sessions each) grouped into arcs, with a larger threat building in the background.
A Simple Structure
- Adventure: one problem, one location, one main threat
- Arc: three to five adventures that reveal a bigger enemy
- Campaign: two or three arcs, ending in a confrontation with that enemy
Running It
- Give each Agent a personal Objective tied to their faction; completing one is a good moment to award Wrath
- Let consequences carry over: the cult the Agents ignored in one arc is running the planet in the next
- End every session with one unanswered question
5. Run the Wrath, Glory and Ruin Economy
Every session PacingHow does tension rise and fall? Three currencies give you a pacing tool you can see on the table.
The Three Pools
- Wrath: each player starts each session with 2, and earns more for good roleplay, glorious acts and completed Objectives. Spent on rerolling failed dice, small narrative declarations, or recovering Shock.
- Glory: a shared pool that starts at 0 each session and caps at 6 or players + 2, whichever is higher. Filled by Wrath Criticals and shifted Exalted Icons; spent on bonus dice, extra damage, worse Critical Hits or Seizing the Initiative.
- Ruin: yours. You start with one per player. Spend it to Seize the Initiative, let Elites roll Determination, and power threat abilities.
Running It
- Hand out Wrath openly and often; it rewards the play you want to see
- A big Glory pool means the players are about to do something spectacular, so put a worthy enemy in front of them
- Spend your Ruin; Ruin left unspent at the end of a session did nothing for the story
6. Plan Advancement and Ascension
Between sessions Long termHow do the Agents grow? You award XP at the end of sessions, and players spend it on Attributes, Skills and Talents. Moving up a Tier is a separate step called Ascension.
Two Ways to Ascend
- Ascension packages: the revised core offers six to choose from
- Archetype Ascension: the Agent steps into a higher-Tier Archetype, such as a Guardsman becoming a Commissar
Running It
- Decide with the group how fast you want to advance; a short campaign might stay in one Tier
- Make Ascension a story event: a promotion, a reward from a patron, or a terrible price paid
- When the Agents Ascend, raise the threats too; a foe who was an Adversary at Tier 1 may be little more than Troops at Tier 4
7. Track Corruption and Consequences
Long term Long termWhat does victory cost? In a long campaign, the scars matter as much as the XP.
The Tools
- Corruption: a Conviction test against the Warp's influence; falling short of the DN adds Corruption equal to the shortfall, and enough Corruption brings mutations
- Memorable Injuries: gained when an Agent falls Dying; a story scar
- Traumatic Injuries: lost limbs and eyes taken while Dying; augmetics can replace them, but more than Tier + 1 of them kills the Agent
Running It
- Talk about character death and Corruption at session zero so nobody is surprised
- Let Corruption tempt rather than punish: offer power that comes with a price
- Bring old injuries and old enemies back; they are the campaign's memory
Four Campaign Shapes
🔍 The Investigation
Framework: An Inquisitorial warband
Good starting Tier: 1 or 2
In Gilead: A cult hiding in the administrative spires of Gilead Primus
Feel: Clues, paranoia and the question of who can be trusted
⚔️ The Warzone
Framework: A cut-off Astra Militarum squad, perhaps with Sisters or a Commissar attached
Good starting Tier: 1 to 3
In Gilead: Holding a line on Ostia while the harvest is brought in
Feel: Missions, attrition and hard choices about who gets saved
🚀 The Expedition
Framework: A Rogue Trader's retinue
Good starting Tier: 2 or 3
In Gilead: Charting what lies beyond the system's edge, and what has come in from outside
Feel: Discovery, deals with dubious allies and xenos ruins
🔧 The Underhive
Framework: A crew of Gangers, Scavvies and Desperados
Good starting Tier: 1
In Gilead: Surviving the depths of Gilead Primus while something worse rises from below
Feel: Scarcity, rivalries and small victories that matter
Supplements and Further Reading
📚 Core and Adventures
- Wrath & Glory Core Rulebook (Cubicle 7, 2020): the rules, the bestiary and the Gilead System
- Rain of Mercy: a free introductory adventure
- Litanies of the Lost: four scenarios for Tiers 1 and 2
🎭 Player Options
- Forsaken System Player's Guide: Ogryn, Ratling and Kroot Agents, new archetypes and Endeavours
- Aeldari: Inheritance of Embers: Aeldari options, including a Tier 5 archetype
- Church of Steel: vehicle rules and vehicles
👹 Threats
- Threat Assessment: Xenos
- Threat Assessment: Daemons & Heretics
- Redacted Records: extra rules and setting material
🤝 Beyond the Books
- Black Library novels: the best way to absorb the setting's tone
- Lexicanum: a fan wiki for lore questions
- Online communities: Wrath & Glory players on Reddit and Discord share scenarios and house rules
Campaign Prep Checklist
Before You Start
Tick these off as you go. Nothing on this list needs to be perfect; it just needs to be decided.
Before Session Zero
- Chosen a Framework (or two to offer the players)
- Chosen a starting Tier
- Decided on the setting: Gilead or your own sector
- Sketched the campaign's main threat and what it wants
- Prepared an opening adventure
At Session Zero
- Agreed on tone, content limits and how dark the game will get
- Built Agents together so the party fits the Framework
- Linked every Agent to at least one other
- Explained how character death, Corruption and Ascension work
- Given each Agent a personal Objective
Every Session
- Reset Wrath to 2 per player and Glory to 0
- Set your Ruin to the number of players
- Recapped the last session
- Awarded XP and noted any Objectives completed
- Ended on a hook for next time
Between Arcs
- Checked whether any Agent is ready to Ascend
- Rescaled threats for the party's current Tier
- Brought back an old enemy or an unresolved consequence
- Asked the players what they want more and less of