I'm curious, what exactly are the themes of Deathwatch? What exactly is it that you do in the game?

You may play as a bio-engineered superhuman (Astartes) of the Ordo Xenos Chamber militant "Deathwatch" Chapter of Space Marines. Together with your fellow squad members you make up what is called a kill-team; Fighting xenos, in an action packed narrative driven story created by the GM, based in the Jericho sector of space somewhere in the ultima segementum.

Wanna play as a space marine? Getting involved in secretive missions given by the inquisition? Fighting alien monsters and taking names! Then welcome to deathwatch!

Kael said:

Epicness. That is the common theme to all. Beyond that individual chapter and individual marines have their own epic story. Tragedy. Sacrifice. Glory. Aspirations. Redemption. Revenge.

Ross Watson was right in looking at the Knights of the Round Table for inspiration, that's the flavour that it is about.

Alex

Being epic.

Deathwatch is the greek legends with less sex and more power armour.

Hmmm ok. A friend was mentioning how he had problems seeing Space Marines as a playable character type. The book is on my list to get when I have more cash though.

Kael said:

This rpg is probably the most combat oriented I have ever played. In this game you dont just kill an ork, you kill a horde of orks and keep on killing until there is nothing left to kill, then you chat with your marine buddies how fun it is to kill. One way I have kinda gotten around this aspect is to use more Dark Heresy, and Rogue Trader material and use more Elite type enemies in my campaign. Still this isnt a heavy role playing game like world of darkness or legend of the five rings as much as a rpg version of a table top game based on war.

Nimon said:

That being said, Space Marines are not the one dimensional characters the stereotypes will have you believe. They're not the mindless murder machines they were in older editions of the tabletop. They have individual personalities and demeanours, as well as a demeanour based around their chapter. The role-playing comes about less so in the characters interacting with NPCs, though this certainly can happen, especially with inquisitors and other ultra-high ranking members of the adeptus, but instead from the interactions between the different chapters of the players. Within-party interaction is where the heart of roleplaying in Deathwatch can be found.

jareddm said:

That is true, the interactions between the characters is probably the best time for roleplaying. That being said there really isnt a whole lot of animosity between chapters with the few exceptions in the DW book. Black templars hate librarians, Space Wolfs and Dark Angels have some animosity or a strange bond after a ritual duel, and Dark Angels have some secrets. UltraMarines set the standards. For someone well versed in 40k, you could role play these situations well, but if someone is asking "What is Deathwatch About?" they are probably going to have to get some experience in the universe under thier belt befor this becomes clear enough to roleplay well. Even so, this system does not strongly support roleplaying interactions compaired to the ones I offered as a basis of comparison, L5R or World of Darkness. So if you are looking for those types of experiences this might not be the game for you. If you enjoy games with a bit less rp and alot more focus on battles and tactics then give it a shot.

Pure, unadulterated Power Fantasy. Like one of the dudes making the Space Marine video game says,

>>>>This is really about being that forceful hero, that confident character striding forth on the battlefield, being very conspicuous in bright blue and gold armour, being constantly surrounded by your enemies and having them know that you are coming and kind of having it strike fear in their hearts.<<<<

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/seamlessness-interview-warhammer-40-000/713054

We need to be talking about the Core Fantasy of being a Space Marine, an eight foot tall posthuman demigod clad in shining powered armour, taking the fight to the enemies of humanity.

If you are not talking with breathless enthusiasm about how cool it is to be a Space Marine you are doing it wrong.

--

Beyond that, marines are some combination of

-Greek Hero

-Special Forces Operator

-Knight

-Monk

The Illiad should be require reading for anyone involved in a Space Marine campaign. The stories of Achilles, Hector, Odysseus, Big Ajax and Little Ajax and the rest are stiring stuff. Beyond reading The Illiad, I recomend looking at

Hellas the RPG - http://www.hellasrpg.com/ Greeks In Space!

Agon the RPG - http://www.agon-rpg.com/ competitive roleplaying in ancient greece The players compete to prove that their character is the most glorious. This competition could be a strong element in Deathwatch gaming. All Maines are ultramacho, and will want to demonstrate that their chapter, and indeed themselves are most worth of the Emperors gaze.

Also Dan Simmons Ilium and Olympos books, for their mixing of Greek Myth and Science Fiction. And Uylesses 31 for that matter.

And really you need to watch 300 and read the comic before attempting to play a Space Marine. Probably more than once.

Being Knights, any Pendragon adventure should be adaptable to Deathwatch. Say the Marines are having a feast (it is the Spacewolfs idea), and a Marine in green armour appears. He challenges the PCs to take a swing at his unprotected neck with a poweraxe - but they must then, in a year and a day, allow him to take a swing at theirs. Obviously, not being cowards they take him up on the offer. He kneels down and the PC duely lops off his head. The Marine then gets up, picks up his head and reminds the PC that in a year and a day they must travel to a distant, Green World so the Green Marine can take his swing. Not being a *****, the Marine eventually sets out and has many adventures while attempting to reach the appointment. Along the way he - look, this is Gawain and the Green Knight. The poem is dead good, and also required reading for anyone involved in a Marine campaign

For the Monk part of their makeup, we can look at Cadfael or The Name of the Rose. Every campaign should feature a monastic sleuth Marine who solves murders wherever they go. Beyond that, Marines can get involved in monk type activities - this includes bringing The Word to new people, arguing Theology with their brothers (The Name of the Rose features an important debate centering around wether Christ owned property, and if it was therefore alright for Monks to own property - debating different interpretations of the Codex Astartes, and whether mounting little chainsaws on your boots and going skating through enemies is acceptable in the eyes of the Emperor could be a fine activity) and researching and writing new literature on matters important to Space Marines (I see a quest to travel around and document the history of their chapter or the Deathwatch. They can interview witnessess of key events, and possibly uncover, and then cover up a Dark Secret).

AluminiumWolf said:

Angelic Warrior-Monks. Warrior meaning Special Forces soldier, right.

Unless you have been a long-time Space Marine it will take you time to get into the game, be it as GM or player. It doesn't come natural.

But those who claim that DW doesn't work as a RPG are wrong. They are likely among those who gave up on the game (or never tried) before being able to get into it. It does work but it doesn't come naturally to many people and needs some work to get into.

Alex

We've been playing the original WFRP for 20 years. I finally managed to get the group to switch to 40K with the promise of playing Space Marines. It was also my turn to GM for a while.

We had aleady looked at DH and RT, but didn't get that interested until DW came out.

We are however using ideas from the other games to flesh out the roleplaying aspect of Deathwatch. As GM at the moment i will award bonus XP's for good roleplaying.

AluminiumWolf said:

Especially the homoerotic stuff, since we are talking Tom of Finland in Space here.