So, I’ve got 2 players for a Death Watch game- playing a Tactical Marine and an Apothecary and I’m wondering about the best way to handle their small group size.

For preference, I’d run it as just the 2 of them- perhaps as bodyguard to an Inquisitor or on some detached investigative duty (Apothecary testing for Tyranid genetic deviance in the population, tactical bodguarding him). However this does make rather a joke of squad mode, and combat would be a bit more limited as one man down from a lucky hit could doom them all.

Alternatively, they could be with a 5 man squad (perhaps leading it) and have the other 3 Marines as NPC’s/redshirts.

Incidentally if anyones in Krakow and fancies an English-speaking game, let me know.

THx.

SJE

SJE said:

If you let them start out higher ranked and give them a bit better equipment plus 1 npc, you can run the official answer as normal, I think. If you find that they are outclassed, hand them terminator armour. Actually that might be interesting 2 pcs (without npc) in terminator armour instead of 4 or 5 normal DW marines.

If you have a space marine codex, you could calculate the respective point values and try to make them match with the point value that a normal PCs kill-team would bring to the field.

In fact one could rate DW scenarios based on the tabletop game points. 'The following scenario is meant as 150 points mission.' Lol.

Alex

Unfortunately i do not have my rulebook yet, however i percieve the squad mode as individuals acting in perfect synchrony with each other, as they are trained to coordinate their actions to the limit. Hence, i dont think it really matters whether there are 2 or 5 players, if you pick the right squad mode abilities. However, i d not really no the extent to which you can pick those

As to the Mission Ideas, if you do have an Apothecary on the Team, some Geneseed extraction missions would be nice, and you can go full covert with a two man team, eshchewing power armor for stealth and agility. You can also start with the two being sole survivors of a full Kill team, trying to fight their way out of a desaster.

Substituting additional Kill team members with NPCs is a viable option. Running one additional character is not that tedious, two is more difficult, but still possible as well.

I seriously recommend reading 'Wolfblade' of William king. It's the 4th novel in the Space Wolf series, but I think it would be right up your alley. Basically Ragnar is sent to Earth together with his friend and battlebrother to act as bodyguards to a Navigator Guild as part of an ancient exchange pact between the SPace Wolves and that particular Navigator dynasty. So you have two marines having adventures of political intrigues on Holy Terra. The flavour of that book is incredible and can serve as a great inspiration for 2-party rpg's...

With two players, you can go much more covert and undercover than with a party of 4-5 people. Sneaky guerilla tactics, bold and sneaky assassinations, in-depth bodyguard duties or negotiations. The possibilities are endless, endless I say!

alternatively, multiple characters each.

Have the 2 players choose a primary protagonist for the investigation and general rp stuff, then have them take 1-2 npcs for cannon fodder etc.

Schizophrenia and Multiple Personality Disorder are sole GM privileges

There is a lot of fictional precedent in 40K for two-man or solo Space Marine adventures: the aforementioned 'Wolfblade', the Ultramarines novel 'Dead Sky, Black Sun', the first story in 'Brothers of the Snake', among others. You can definitely run a two-man team, you'll just have to keep a more steady hand on the tiller and make sure your heroes don't get overwhelmed (RPG stories rarely turn out as smoothly as a plotted, written, and re-written fiction story). Giving your guys an abundant and interesting cast of NPC's to work with (or against) will help too.

What about giving them maximum hit points 23?, and Maximum fate points 5? Then toss in tripple (9 of each) Frag and Krak Grenades. Perhaps someone with a book could post the stats for a grenade launcher, and you could outfit them each with one of those.

Also you could start them with duel wielding (pick melee or ranged, go with ranged) [500 XP] that means they can attack with a weapon in each hand at -10. But the weapon cannot be a heavy weapon (not sure if a grenade launcher is). But then they would be able to throw two grenades each per turn. If the grenade launcher is heavy then outfit them with two bolters. That would rock.

Double attacks in a starter mission is almost as good as double the marines. So you would be golden.

Frag Grenade: Damage: 2d10 X; Penetration: 0; Range: SBx3; Blast 4
Krak Grenade: Damage: 4d10+6; Penetration: 10; Range: SBx3; Blast 1

Meph said:

I would definitely go this route. Space Marines are already Special Forces to the power of ten, so put them into special missions, too.

I can already see the scene:

A single marine laying still, hidden beneath a camo-cloak, with bolter in his hands. A second one, equipped with hypodermic needly and bolt-pistol hidden in a huge pile of trash near a road. A Tau vehicle column enters the scene. The first vehicle drives into a mine and a single bolter shot through the engine stops the middle vehicle. The trash-pile moves with lightning speed, injecting powerfull sedative into Tau ethereal while the bolt pistol makes short work of the bodyguard. Holstering the bolt pistol the huge form of a power armor, still covered in trash, carries the unconscious ethereal away. Everything is over in seconds.

Hear! Hear! A most excellent example.

i would definitely avoid maxing out stats, giving overpowered gear, or making the players über in any way. Not only does it feel a bit like cheating but it will also eliminate the growth process of a character, which is a major part of the fun for any RPG.

With two players you can really open up storytelling opportunities and delve into character development and deep interaction with NPC's. WIth 4+ players it's always a balance to give enough attention to each character and combat is always a lengthy affair. So basically you'll be able to get more done in a gaming session, which is a boon as well as a curse. It's good to be able to go deeper in the storytelling but you'll have to make sure you'll have enough material for the sessions. Since you'll have less players to interact between each other, it'll be up to you to provide well thought out NPC's.

I can easily see these two Deathwatch marines being dispatched to a colony which has has caught the eye of teh Adeptus Mechanicus (possible STC or ancient artefacts or ruins) to keep an eye on any xenos influences or activities. Perhaps the colonists are up to something, or the Adeptus Mechanicus Magus is willing to stretch the boundaries of what is accepable when tryign to get to the prize. Maybe a Rogue Trader has caught wind of the valuable and is racing to claim them as his own. Perhaps switching that statuette from that pedestal with a carefully weighted sack of sand does not work out exactly as planned as walls start crushing, giant balls start rolling and sleepy Necron awake with drums in the deep!

and if you create a normal kill team and split the various mission in various part?

for example:

" Ok, send Harald and Gunner to shutdown the generator....

Hrolf, you guard the entrance...

and the rest of us go to disable the shield system.

we meet again at the entrance chamber at 17.00 "

then you can report what appened to rest of the kill team by the vox sys...

Or you could up-power the game a little and make each player that 'commmander' of a combat team. Run a 2 kill team game with each player giving orders to 3-4 NPC marines who gain xp at a slower rate than the PCs. I tried a variation of this with Rogue Trader when it first came out and we wanted to run the demo adventures. There were only 3 of us available to play so we had one GM and each player commanded some NPC armsmen for the ground combat portions of the mission.

Note: I dont have my book yet.

1) Advance 500 XP for Duelwield
2) Advance 200 XP? for 2 Extra Wounds
3) Max Wounds (19 min, 23 max?) . . . a team of four would have 38-46 more
4) Max Fate points (3 min, 5 max) . . . a team of four would have 6-10 more
5) Make sure they requisition extra bolters and grenades (I don't think the quick-start rules have requisitioning in them, but "normal" missions allow for this)

I still would wager doing the above would be doable, but less powerful than four marines. I also think one marine should be a medic.

Well the formerly injured Sgt. Invictus of the Ultramarines and Wolf Priest Arnulf of the Space Wolves are in an orbiting strike cruisers Apothecarium and have just been told that their kill team has been team has been ambushed in the forest of the contested world of Barabas. Orbital augeries have shown Kroot in the area and the Wolf Priest/Apothecary must recover their comrades geneseed before it can be desecrated by the vile xenos. If they can fulfill the orginal teams primary mission of eliminating the Taus Trinary Command post, then all the better....