I have Deathwatch and Rites of Battle. I'm aware that there's an adventure in the back of the rulebook, but I want to know what adventure or campaign is probably the best for players who are only vaguely aware of the lore of 40K and Space Marines and who haven't played any 40K RPG before. I've played a little bit of Dark Heresy and didn't care for the low power levels, so I was hoping I could cut my teeth on Deathwatch with an adventure that can illustrate to all of us, referee and players alike, how Deathwatch is "supposed to go".

This could be an entire 3-book campaign or just the adventure in the back of the book, and I understand that I probably won't get a unanimous answer since, y'all know, subjective opinion and all.

Still, a simple "I like X, wherein Y happens, because Z" is a perfectly fine answer, and I appreciate any help that comes my way.

The Emperor Protects is a 3-module set that is really good. You get a little bit of everything - Tyranids, Chaos Space Marines, Dark Mechanicus, daemons...intrigue, investigation, and lots of combat.

I like the adventure at the end of First Founding, but it requires a lot of GM work - it's mostly bullet points rather than a fleshed out mission, and lacks maps.

The missions that are supposed to show how to run DW are Extraction from the Rulebook and Final Sanction/Oblivion's Edge from the Support section here. As well as the mission from the GM Kit.

They are quite heavy on fighting. Basically, Deathwatch is a mixture of politics and epic combat with a strong emphasis on the latter. To run it "accurately" a GM would probably need a very good understanding of the 40K universe, a strong understanding of how politics works and how warfare on the company/batallion level works. Only die-hard, simulationist fans would take it that far though, which means you have to cut back somewhere from that - dumb it down the way Hollywood dumbs down subjects. To make it accessible and interesting.

And here's where you personal likes come in. You probably know a bit about Space Marines... what would you think how the life of an Astartes would be like? What would you like to explore about? You can DW soldier-style or you could stress the chivalrous aspect of many Space Marines. Not stressing so much the soldier-side but more the (knightish) hero-side. Most groups have players who like to explore the clash of personalities of their very different PCs. Dumb down the things that you consider boring. Accentuate what interests you about the Deathwatch. For me, I like the narrative of starting out as very different brothers and then growing together as a team. "Forging the Bond" is in my mind partially based on a post of mine here back then.

As for a starter mission, I like Final Sanction. I would advise you to flesh-out it out though. Both rule-wise, as well as interaction-wise (add some whacky/interesting NPCs for PCs to encounter, add a side-mission and maybe a false lead). Watch out for Genestealers, your players must know in advance that Genestealers in melee combat equals dead PCs.

Alex

PS I love the first The Emperor Protects mission but it is very atypical. Which makes it so interesting.

I'll say I ran Final Sanction. Hated it except for the final fight, which was a lot of fun to run. The fact that it was free was both a positive and a negative for reasons that I think would be easy to deduce.

Had a lot more fun with TEP part 1, probably the most fun thing that's ever been done with Tyranids. Most stuff with Tyranids imo gets pretty boring since there's no interaction with them possible beyond shooting.

While for GMs it is obvious that the training wheels are still on, my players enjoyed Final Sanction pretty much - both because of the interactions, and because it lets them play with whole PDF squads. I allowed them to play generals, and the experience was rewarding.

What I'd suggest besides the official free adventures and TEP is Righteous Fury, a user-made mission available at the same official website where you can get Final Sanction. The beginner missions are too much Tyranid-oriented, and Orks are a welcome change of scenery. It worked well with Rank 1 marines, too.

I was a player in Final Sanction/Oblivion's Edge and had a blast. There are interesting player choices.