Hello Fellow Battle Brothers,

since I have gamemastered a couple of sessions on conventions I try to imagine what encouters could be non-combativ. From Final Sanction and Extraction I have seen a lot of possibilities how to kill rebel troops and tyranids.

I must confess that I see the demeanour as a great chance for roleplaying. Right from the start every player chooses two demeanours (personal and chapter) and thus the GM knows what to expect from his players in several occasions. But how to trigger them in a mission?

Maybe we could gather some ideas? I am eager to see what WH40k veterans come up.

I try to start:

• Black Templars: Maybe a mission where a psyker is an ally and during the mission the space marines are not that sure anymore that the psyker is on their side. Can the Dark Angel withstand to not shot the psyker on the first given opportunity?
• Dark Angel: First, in the corerulebook is written that they hate non-humans. Maybe they found a cult, which prays to the emperor - but the priest is an eldar or ork. Second they seem to be very secretive and know a lot (see the chapter skills). Let's assume the DW defends a planet versus foul xenos creatures like the orcs. And the Dark Angel finds out that at the heart of the planet lies an artifact from a traitor legion - and thus the reason why this planet is attacked!

Best regards,

TechVoid.

Why not have them run into a long-lost human colony that's been untouched by the Imperium but did come in contact with the Tau and they're now willing partners for the Greater Good.

Y'know, humans that are truly enlightened and open-minded and harbour no hostility towards the Marines as they never came into contact with the small-minded and Xenophobic Imperium. That's be an interesting premise and the perfect opportunity to test their duty and faith in the Imperium or will they let their conscience speak?

TechVoid said:

Missions involving assasination- while there IS combat when you perform the killing blow, what events go on leading up to it? Is infiltration required? Is casing the location involved?

What about VIP duty- DW marines are said to sometimes escort Inquisitors? On an early early thread someone mentioned the adventure idea of having the KT go on a diplomatic mission with an Inquisitor to the Tau, then during the mission they witness something that requires their intervention- do they act and put their diplomatic mission at risk, or do they follow their duty and directly intervene? Or do they come back later?

What is the 'moral' compass of the group- are they radicals or are they purists? What if they encounter commands, inquisitors, etc. that are the opposite of where they are on the spectrum?

Tempt them with Chaos! Classic situation where you provide them (subtlety is a must here or they might catch onto you) hints about some sort of artifact or item that appears to be old human tech that could give them great power over their enemies. Turns out the weapon is essentially corrupt, but failure to use it ensures the deaths of a ton of people. Do they take a step down the corrupt path to save millions or do they take the high road and let innocents die?

As for demeanors specifically, I just plan on spicing up adventures with different type of encounters- like the governor from Final Sanction being totally incompetent- how to the marines deal with someone like that? They can come across guardsman who have fought bravely against the tide of enemies. Or perhaps they find a group of them that have broken and fled? How do they deal with that?

The majority of missions undertaken by the DW should be 'non-combat'.

Their 'kill-team' aspect is only a small part according to the limited fluff available pre-DW release.

DW personnel are typically employed by the Inquisition as they ahighly experienced and loyal, and therefore can resist the lure of the xenos far better.

Remember also that there are hundreds of other types of xenos breeds beyond those we see in the tabletop game

Their missions should include;

Infiltration . Insertion to and monitoring of a xenos world. Typically this will include establishing observation posts, watching the locals, monitoring their potential threat or benefit to the Imperium.

Ambassadorial liaison . For known xenos worlds, to act as imperial ambassadors to liaise with and assess the xenos threat. This will include dipolmatic missions, treaty negotiations, etc.

Asset extraction . For xenos identified as having useful technology, or other assets, the extraction of such technology (especially construction data) for the Adeptus Mechanicus.

Threat assessment. Specific missions to assess the combat capabilities of xenos identified as a serious threat to the Imperium. Such missions will concentrate on assessing strategic threat, identifying key leaders or primary sources of threat including insipid cultural influences or overt political heresy.

Counter-insurgency . Many xenos are tolerated within the Imperium (Orks, Eldar, Jokaero, Hrud, Demiurg, countless others). However, their position is under constant surveillance to ensure that the Imperium is not threatened by xenos ideas. DW will engage with this monitoring and liaison-based surveillance to conduct counter-insurgency operations.

In conducting these activities, the DW will always report their findings back to the Inquisition, perhaps with recommendations for action. they are well aware of the limited resources available and the potential for sparking unneccessary conflict, so are likely to recommend hostile action only where needed.

Combat action. Only IF any of these activities uncover xenos that are evidently posing a threat (such as for example the cultural spread of the Tau concept of the 'Greater Good') will the DW kill-team 'go hot', don the armour and break out the bolters...and in those situations i think we're looking mostly at surgical strikes, interdiction missions, command decapitations, etc.

Only if things go wrong or if there's really a need for open battle suppression with the DW step into the front line (typically if other more expendable resources such as the IG are unavailable).

i like the idea of threat assessment maybe they are first contact with a new xenos their mission to get close , assess eg think Avatar (ducks eggs being thrown) to impress and learn more the deathwatch have to capture and tame wild beasts (maybe leading to new skills) environmental challagenes etc to get trusted to be taken to the holy place which maybe an ancient artificat or source of rare ore , the xeno could even be exodite eldar who have lost contact with their craftworld kin thousands of years ago