Hi All,

I am a new Deathwatch GM and I am about to start a campaign and have a question for other 40K players/GMs.

The gaming group I am part of are all experienced role-players, however, most are unfamiliar with the 40K universe and I was wondering how best to deal with player knowledge versus character knowledge. After all, in the corerule book it states that all marines have encountered Orks/Tyranids/Chaos etc before - so when the Kill-team (ie the players) meet something their first response may well be - "If we have met this before, what are its strengths and weaknesses, etc".

So my question is - would a Space Marine automatically know basic information about a certain enemy or would they have to a make Lore check, or is it GMs call depending on character background (eg a Tyrannic Veteran may get a bonus on Tyrannid Lore checks)?

Any help/thoughts would be appreciated

Thanks

Depends what you consider "basic information" but yes a deathwatch marine would easily know "That's a Tyranid Warrior, that one is a Lictor, thats a Tau XV-88 Battlesuit with twinlinked railguns and missile systems."

They would probably know stuff like that, the basics about what it is, some of its common attack patterns and basic strengths/weaknesses without needing a skill check. They are Deathwatch Marines so this is their job description. Even a bog standard space marine would also know something about it. Anything specialised though such as the specific caste, hive fleet specific mutations or markings, actions of various Ork clans and you might struggle which may require a lore test at your discretion. You shouldn't so much need to tell them the strengths and weaknesses as some of it is pretty obvious:

Tau - Hit it up close.

Tyranids - Aim for the big ones

Orks - Worst accuracy ever

etc.

Greetings!

This type of Tests is normally reserved for special knowledge that would not be obvious to everyone. However, with Space Marines, you can assume that they know at least a little about almost any foe they might encounter, simply because of their intense training, hypno-indoctrination, and the knowledge preserved by the Chapter. Not to mention that the characters in Deathwatch are already somewhat experienced and so may have met one or two of these enemies personally.

In short, I'd say no Test for the most critical and generalised information (stuff they'd have been told simply because it may be considered common knowledge amongst Astartes), but do demand Tests for questions about detail. For example, every Space Marine might know that Orks spread as fungus, but they might not know how long it takes for one to grow or how quick an infestation might spread.

[edit] eldar'd!

Remember that much of a Space Marine's knowledge is implanted with hypno-conditioning.

That makes it perfect for you to impart the knowledge to the PCs in a cool/thematic way, despite them not knowing about it in real life.

"The hulking form of the Xenos monstrosity triggers an implanted memory, you recall that this is a <insert name of fiendish creature>."

Then you can give them an edited description of the creature(s) from the books, including a note on any weaknesses or strengths. (if they make a Forbidden Lore (Xenos) check)

I would assume that Deathwatch PCs have very extensive knowledge about any major xeno race. I would reserve Forbidden Lore (Xeno) tests for things such as very rare or new unit types for the major races and for knowing basic things about minor races.

Alex

Guess I'm the only one who goes fairly strict. As I rule it you only got what you've got the crunch for. The Astartes will probably know about Chaos Space Marines but without the correct Lore he won't have a clue about different Legions etc. of them. A character without the Forbidden Lore: Xenos would for instance not know that the Orks spread by fungus, even if its a Space Marine.

I do however agree that rolls should only be required for either details. So just having the Forbidden Lore: Traitor Legions/Chaos Space Marines would allow one to identify the nine traitor legions and their primarchs, but thing like Ahriman or the Planet of Sorcerers would required a test in regards to the Thousand Sons.

Well every Deathwatch marine gets FL: Xenos for free, as part of the Deathwatch mandate training (which makes a lot of sense).

Yeah about CSMs, I agree completely, especially since new warbands rise and fall constantly.