Hello all

I ran a successfull Dark Heresy campaign for five players last year (first time GMing, in fact first time RPGing) - buoyed with this success and the fact that the reason I stopped (My Daughter) is slightly more manageable - I thought I'd try out DeathWatch.

I now have 3 players coming tomorrow, one who has run his own big Rogue Trader game, but due to life getting in the way (daughter included!) I've barely had time to read the rules or think of a scenario

I hate to let people down, or look unprofesional so I really could do with some tips!

a) Most important things to know about DW on top of DH?

b) Got an off the shelf scenario that will take 4-4.5 hours all in for slow players?

I really, really appreciate any help - thanks in advance!

Run the scenario that comes with the Core Rulebook.

Or, read through the section on types of missions, it helps. Pick an enemy, decide the objective (retrieve data core, assassinate xeno commander, etc.). Sometimes if I'm out of ideas, I think of an obscure movie or tv show plotline I like and just substitute all the characters.

Use Extraction at the back of the rulebook. It's enough fun for an evening's session.

Go with any of these suggestions, or the sample scenario that you can easily download.

As I've tried to explain to our GM many times, simple is best when you're starting out. The thrill of playing a space marine and blowing away dirty xenos is by itself more than enough to carry the first mission. Choose a simple plot (respond to colony/outpost in distress, kill all attacking xenos, protect survivors) and just let the dice roll. First time marine players want to feel awesome, so let them blow stuff up and be heroes.

Tetsugaku-San said:

That it's a system in an of itself and you're all going to be learning the rules together.

Read over the horde rules as they're different from your standard combat. Then if you think it'll come into play in a big way, read over squad/solo mode (and the eratta).

When I ran Final Sanction for my group we knew we were getting into uncharted waters and so I was simply honest that the new ruleset would be just that- new, and that we'd all have to figure it out together. We also didn't mess much with squad/solo mode the first session, we were busy staring wide eyed at the amount of damage the marines were dealing and soakng.

And that brings me to the next point: The power level is cranked to 11, your PCs will find ways to one shot your bad guys you thought were super tough. But as Direach says you're there to feel awesome so let them do it . You also may find yourself in a position or two where your NPCs have the capability of unleashing ridiculous amounts of damage on your PCs based on some lucky rolls. This can lead to unanticipated TPKs, so be prepared either for a high mortality rate, to pull punches, or to just retcon in the open as you go citing the group's inexperience with the ruleset as the source of the time dilation.

I'll also back up the others here, for your first session, keep it simple. A handful of very clear objectives and some bad guys in between the marines and their objective.

Really I guess I’m just agreeing with what others have said but the story in the back of the core book isn’t a bad way to go. The biggest difference between the two games is the feel of the game. Just to reiterate what others have said, marines are much more powerful than acolytes or Rogue Traders. They are the Angels of Death and they are MIGHTY. They should get a chance to feel that, a team of Astartes can shift an entire war by feat of arms alone. I know the book mentions this but, think of ancient heroes, Achilles or Hercules, that’s the kind of power level we’re talking about. It’s quite a change from the very fragile DH characters where the actions of the characters may have large ramifications but well “the galaxy is a big place and you will not be missed.”

If there is one other rules section I would suggest you look into (after hordes) it’s the “squad mode and solo mode” powers, as well as demeanors. Those rules give a nice impression of some of the abilities of and tactics of a team of Astartes. Good luck with your game, have fun, and tell us all about it.