Both approaches you mentioned sound equally attractive. If you can't decide, why not merge them as different steps of your campaign? Maybe they'll do the guerilla fighting after first having to figure out how to escape their captors, for example.

And a cracked Daemon World in the midst of the Warp sounds like an intriguing campaign location. You could have it be a former Imperial world, maybe even a Shrine World (your DA should feel right at home there ) that shouldn't exist anywhere near the point the Marines got sucked into the Immaterium, but this being the Warp, time and distance of course have no meaning.

The planet itself is split up into several continent-sized chunks barely held together by unnatural gravity, with kilometer-wide chasms separating them. Some of them are connected via gigantic chains that can be used as bridges, whereas elsewhere a sudden gravitational shift would allow the Astartes to simply leap across. Needless to say, crossing these chasms presents a good opportunity for being attacked by various creatures and servants of Chaos, either from the "air" or one of the ridges.

The heroes would pass ancient ruins of gothic architecture, shrines and cathedrals, at times desecrated and overgrown by strange fleshy growths, other times strangely untouched.. The air itself may be clear in one area, and a misty haze laden with finger-sized pollen in the other. An endless subterranean labyrinth of corridors creates a maze of traps. Insert various mutated creatures that simply "exist" rather than intentionally pursuing the characters, although some of them may see them as food, whereas others will ignore them completely. And think of various factions that may exist on this world, daemons and mutant cultists locked in an eternal struggle for power and the favour of their dark gods.

Supplies and ammunition shortage may be an issue if the Marines stay for longer. Three options present themselves: lots of melee combat, salvage of enemy equipment (including potential for spiritual corruption), or stumbling across Imperial equipment. 6E Codex: SoB mentioned the Shrine World of Piety that was dragged into the Warp, and an expedition of Battle Sisters went there when it briefly reappeared to recover a couple relics. Perhaps the Marines will come across the slain remains of this expedition, allowing them to salvage their bodies for ammunition? Aside from conveniently scattered "ammo drops" like in some FPS game, this would also allow you to settle your campaign into a niche of printed fluff.

(sidenote: Piety was ultimately bombarded with cyclonic torpedoes just as the remains of the expedition evacuated, but maybe that's why the planet broke apart?)

Good luck!

Wow, thanks Lynata! You always have a ton og GREAT ideas!! I really like the floating continents part. And I had planned to throw them a bit smack in the middle of something - but it might be even "worse" for them if it starts out all eerie and deserted, and suddenly they realize it has plenty of activity..

I had definately planned on having them really need to conserve ammo and what precious resources they have available.

Sidenote: Are there rules for librarians and using psychich powers in the warp? I have the Black Crusade books, but cant recall if they mention applying only for corrupted psykers or not.

the inferno comic did a series called ''bloodquest'' about a bunch if blood angels traipsing thru the warp looking for a misplaced sword. Spoiler. Most get kilt.

Thanks Professor. I'll see if I can scrounge it up somewhere

I think the Relictors chapter was fond of going to daemon worlds and using chaos weapons against chaos marines.

Not to mention Kaldor Draigo fighting a one man (well grey knight) war against chaos.. in the realm of chaos itself!

the inferno comic did a series called ''bloodquest'' about a bunch if blood angels traipsing thru the warp looking for a misplaced sword. Spoiler. Most get kilt.

That the one where they take on a chaos titan ?

Ever heard of the Abyssal Crusade? http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Abyssal_Crusade

Maybe your chapter is one of the 30 sent into the warp, or they are sent to recover traces of those lost chapters. Maybe any of them are still fighting in there.

The Wulfen (space wolves 13th company) were fighting the long war inside the warp, and while most of them returned to realspace in recent events (Curse of the Wulfen) it's possible some stragglers remained behind. Will these feral space wolves be friend or foe?

The daemon world could be a crone world (eldar planet, sucked into the warp during The Fall.) with lots of broken eldar architecture, eldar devices and weapons, maybe the shades of dead eldar or something worse...

Maybe it has a sealed webway portal that leads to a planet outside the warp. providing a way out for your players. Of course using the webway might cause it's own problems: What if the Harlequins find out the webway has been breached by space marines? They won't be happy. What if the gate leads to an imperial world- and it can't be shut down, and now the world is being overrun by daemons? What if it leads to a xenos held planet?

What would happen if the characters are approched by an intermediary for the Alpha Legion? They are willing to supply you with weapons, ammo, information, if you do them a favor: Kill the local ruler (a Word Bearers demagogue)

the inferno comic did a series called ''bloodquest'' about a bunch if blood angels traipsing thru the warp looking for a misplaced sword. Spoiler. Most get kilt.

That the one where they take on a chaos titan ?

Yep, climb up on it's leg, get on the knee, rig up a few krak grenades and melta bombs to it, cause it to collapse and take out the wall of the"arena" they were trapped in.

I suppose the fact it was possibly ''only''(choke) a mere reaver titan was supposed to make it more plausible.

Interesting locations:

The city of skulls . A hive city made of skulls, bones, brass and blackened iron

The vale of deception : a mist shrouded valey where nothing is as it seems.

The red jungle : A fetid jungle populated by a group of heavily mutated Kroot mercenaries

The broken hulk : The twisted remains of a crashed spaceship. A human spaceship- from the dark age of technology. In fact one of the first warp capable spaceships. What ancient wonders and dangers lie inside?

The forbidden menhir : A giant stone slab, it's bottom half, discolored as if by strong acids. Around it lie the broken skeletons of hundreds of mutanst and traitor marines. On the menhir is a rough inscription, only three words: " Russ was here."

The black sands: A large barren plain of black sand, studded with burned out husks of tanks and drop pods. Eery voices drift on the wind, no louder than a whisper, the wail in torment: " Istvan! Betrayal! Behind us! Protect the primarch! We are betrayed!"

The bathhouses of Nurgle: Yeah, not gonna describe those. I hope the PC's armor is still sealed.

The Altar of Night: A bloodsoaked altar with a (hideously powerfull) daemon weapon imbedded in the stone.

The Amber fortress : A castle made of yellow/orangish stone. You can see human (or eldar or other) figures suspened inside the stone. (And the figures could still be alive and moving inside the stone.)

Griswold's forge: a hellforge where daemons and dark mechanicum invent, create and test new weapons.

The Slave city: an enourmous warren of slave pens, corrals, cages, giblets used by some faction (emperor's children, iron warriors) to house a Thousand (or million) strong population of slaves.

New Deshea: a small encampment of yurts and tents, dyed red with the blood of the slain. These are the encampments(s) of a group of slaves who broke free from the fighting pits and have slaughtered any force sent against them so far.

Well, let's not forget a deathwatch marine squad is AKA a " Kill Team ", so pardon me for playing chapter master Obvious here (First one to create a chapter master Obvious picture dies screaming) but how about a loyalist marine team sent into the warp to kill something?

Suppose someone or something in the warp has either done something so heinous that the HLoT demand it's destruction or the Inquisition grand office demands it be ended?

Now, I admit, so hold onto the criticism, that if the HLoT could order anything in the warp killed they'd likely want to start with good ol' Abbadon himself. But, Hear me out!, Abbadon is simply too big and tough and well guarded to kill that way. Sure the imperium would off Abby if they could, probably by shoving the talon of horus up his ass sideways, hooking it to a motor and spinning it like a propeller, but he's just too big and powerful,has too many guards and forces, and the warp protects him too well.

So, we need a villain, a target, who is grievous and heinous enough to warrant a deathmark from the grand poobahs themselves, but still not so powerful that they can't be hunted down and killed. Someone who will become a huge pain in the imperium's ass if not taken out now , before they become unstoppable.

So yeah, create a villain who can just barely be stopped now and sic a kill team on it. You could add a Grey Knight daemon hunter as team leader and NPC if you have the stats for grey knights in deathwatch.

If you want an idea for a villain....let's see, something dark, warped, twisted, sick and vile that must be destroyed in the name of all that is decent. Oh, come on! This isn't even a challenge for me!

Say we have a relatively minor daemon, could be slannesh maybe or tzeentch. Call him "Ikthuloth the exquisitely endowed" or something. He digs up the body of a beloved imperial saint who was known for converting billions to the imperial cause with her beauty, passion, charisma, sincerity of voice, etc. Ikthuloth violates her long dead corpse and his powerful, warp tainted seed forces life into her dead womb, and a daemon child is born in the image of the dear, beautiful, dead saint, but of course is twisted with the power of the warp and seeks to convert worlds to the cause of chaos. Imperial psykers, the tarot,etc (maybe even a few well placed words from eldar farseers) make the imperium know that Ikthuloth plans to gather followers to him thru his daemon child, rise in power as billions give their souls to him, and became possibly a new chaos daemon lord, or even a chaos god.

Nope, gotta be taken out. Now. Him and his beautiful, saintly looking, sweet voiced daughter.

So a grey knight is sent as he is skilled at masking his presence from the daemon while smelling them out. A full team of GK would be detected too easily. He takes a regular kill team with him and together they seek to save the sector from a horrific war as the perverted image of a beloved saint seeks to lead it into chaos' ever open and welcoming arms. if not stopped, soon ikltultoth will become the dominant power in the sector. So they have to go into the warp to get the pair.

Hope that helps.

Lot of great ideas from you all!

Reagarding the Relictors, there is a bit of that story to the Marines Chapter (It is actually a custom made sub-chapter to the Consecrators. They are mainly trying to take down Fateweaver, who has been a lurking presence for many years in the campaign. To this end they are now allied with an Inquisitor and his retinue on a star-fort. They then try and find as much knowledge on Fateweaver as they can, including parts of his true-name. In here comes the part that is in a very grey area of what the Imperium allows, as they bind daemons into hosts for questioning after destroying them in the real world).

But Fateweaver being their primary enemy, they also have aquired a few more. And one of those will most likely trick them onto a space hulk (that they have previously been on), and then it will be torn into the Warp. So it should only be the 4 Player Marines, and at most a handful of others.

So they are being sent there as punishment and to die. Hopefully that will not come to pass, but it should still be a very harrowing and probably long experience (in the meantime, plenty of time will pass in their chapter, - some for good, and some for bad).

Ever heard of the Abyssal Crusade? http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Abyssal_Crusade

Maybe your chapter is one of the 30 sent into the warp, or they are sent to recover traces of those lost chapters. Maybe any of them are still fighting in there.

The Wulfen (space wolves 13th company) were fighting the long war inside the warp, and while most of them returned to realspace in recent events (Curse of the Wulfen) it's possible some stragglers remained behind. Will these feral space wolves be friend or foe?

The daemon world could be a crone world (eldar planet, sucked into the warp during The Fall.) with lots of broken eldar architecture, eldar devices and weapons, maybe the shades of dead eldar or something worse...

Maybe it has a sealed webway portal that leads to a planet outside the warp. providing a way out for your players. Of course using the webway might cause it's own problems: What if the Harlequins find out the webway has been breached by space marines? They won't be happy. What if the gate leads to an imperial world- and it can't be shut down, and now the world is being overrun by daemons? What if it leads to a xenos held planet?

What would happen if the characters are approched by an intermediary for the Alpha Legion? They are willing to supply you with weapons, ammo, information, if you do them a favor: Kill the local ruler (a Word Bearers demagogue)

Never heard of that crusade, but it fits very well into my campaign with some of the backstory here. Thanks!

I had considered reading up on the new Wulfen books, but they didnt seem to get that much praise, so didnt get around to it yet. But perhaps I should.

Re: Alpha legion. They have had a minor brush with those, but this could be a great idea, as they (of course) HATE dealing with Chaos, but have had to make some hard and questionable choices sometimes.

Interesting locations:

The city of skulls . A hive city made of skulls, bones, brass and blackened iron

The vale of deception : a mist shrouded valey where nothing is as it seems.

The red jungle : A fetid jungle populated by a group of heavily mutated Kroot mercenaries

The broken hulk : The twisted remains of a crashed spaceship. A human spaceship- from the dark age of technology. In fact one of the first warp capable spaceships. What ancient wonders and dangers lie inside?

The forbidden menhir : A giant stone slab, it's bottom half, discolored as if by strong acids. Around it lie the broken skeletons of hundreds of mutanst and traitor marines. On the menhir is a rough inscription, only three words: " Russ was here."

The black sands: A large barren plain of black sand, studded with burned out husks of tanks and drop pods. Eery voices drift on the wind, no louder than a whisper, the wail in torment: " Istvan! Betrayal! Behind us! Protect the primarch! We are betrayed!"

The bathhouses of Nurgle: Yeah, not gonna describe those. I hope the PC's armor is still sealed.

The Altar of Night: A bloodsoaked altar with a (hideously powerfull) daemon weapon imbedded in the stone.

The Amber fortress : A castle made of yellow/orangish stone. You can see human (or eldar or other) figures suspened inside the stone. (And the figures could still be alive and moving inside the stone.)

Griswold's forge: a hellforge where daemons and dark mechanicum invent, create and test new weapons.

The Slave city: an enourmous warren of slave pens, corrals, cages, giblets used by some faction (emperor's children, iron warriors) to house a Thousand (or million) strong population of slaves.

New Deshea: a small encampment of yurts and tents, dyed red with the blood of the slain. These are the encampments(s) of a group of slaves who broke free from the fighting pits and have slaughtered any force sent against them so far.

Wonderful ideas all - thanks! Will print this for when I sit down and make my own list of locations for inspiration (and blatant copying)