Help me put together a chapter for a campaign I’d like to run.

So it’s out of the way, I’m not going to follow canon very strictly. It’s a campaign where Roman legionnaires (or auxiliary or other parts of the Roman military) are selected to join a space marine chapter. They are going to be taken in between 18 and 25 (so they can all have accomplished something and been noticed for their greatness) and finish the process about five years later than they start it (this will not cause any “real” problems…none of the implants will fail, for instance). The problems will come when some of them have to start choosing between the Brotherhood and their families.

The chapter’s name will be “The Brotherhood of [something]”. Something will most likely be Hercules unless I can come up with something better (and still Hercules related).

The campaign will begin on a world where there is a nation of men surrounded by a world of chaos mutants. For all intents and purposes, this nation can be considered an idealized, hyper militarized, version of how Imperial Rome would look in the 40K universe. The people have a polytheistic religion where many of the gods can been seen as reflections of the Imperial Faith of the Empire of Man. These gods still have their Roman names. There is sorcery and such on the planet and it is viewed as corrupting and dangerous, but the powers of the gods also flow through some chosen few (psykers).

Tech has advanced a little (repeating crossbows, heavy crossbows, better metallurgy), but we’re not dealing with firearms or steam engines. This is the world where the chapter takes its aspirants from.

With the exception of the emperor, and a few members of his staff, the empire knows nothing of the Imperium of Man. The chapter has a few agents on planet (one fist), looking for prospective members and maintains a small watchfortress which the locals believe is a path to the underworld/afterlife. This fist will have a mythology built up around them and what they do.

When the chapter has become depleted (or when omens dictate new recruits are needed) a ship is dispatched and the emperor makes an announcement that the brotherhood has issued a call. All of the greatest soldiers in the legions are to respond immediately to the capitol for assessment.
Once there, they will be assessed by the emperor himself (who knows what he’s doing…more on that later) and broken up into units known as hands (as in Hands of the Emperor or Fists of the Emperor…or something similar…one’s from Star Wars and the other is too much like the Imperial Fists…so I’ll have to keep working on the name of the unit). For now, it’ll be “the Brotherhood” for the chapter and “the fist” for the unit. This is the basic unit of the chapter. Five men. No more, no less. They succeed, or fail, as a group. That is the way of the chapter. All will be given their gladius by the emperor, a great honor, for the blade is truly exceptional (it’s their SM combat knife, but they don’t know that yet).

After seen who bests compliments who, the Brotherhood puts together as many fists together as it can (any extra qualified applicants are kept for replacements in the early rounds…and to use to test the fists) then tasks them with quests which mirror the trials of Hercules (the Roman stories). If a member of a fist dies and/or the mission is failed, the fist is broken and its members scattered. The surviving members, if they are still deemed worthy, may be put with some of the extra recruits from before to form a new fist and try again.

As they go through these tests, the aspirants are given hints about the true Emperor and the true nature of the galaxy. When they have completed a test, they will undergo a ceremony where they are given a “blessing,” which is, of course, one of their implants (I’ve divided up the trials of Hercules and matched them up with space marine implants which share a theme, I’ve also added a couple of extra ones).

At the end of the campaign the PC’s will have succeeded (because they’re special like that) and there will be one left over guy. He gets to be the new emperor. The triumphant fist gets to get into a thunderhawk and fly off into the galaxy where the real training begins (which will be a training montage).
When the montage is over, I’ve got 5 shiny and new space marines. The purpose of their chapter is to explore for, recover, and destroy artifacts for the empire (like the Iliad and Odyssey…I’m stealing everything here) until they run into the United Federation of Planets (not really, but as close as you can make them in 40k) and all hell breaks loose. They won’t actually be the Deathwatch, they’ll all be from the same chapter, doing chapter business, but I’ll use the Deathwatch advances for them (hopefully they’ll put out some rules for “generic chapter” games).

I’ve got the story. So, now what?

Should I just use an existing chapter and “paint over” them, making a few cosmetic changes?

I’ve tied the trials to SM implants, so I need them for the story, which kind of makes them being an Imperial Fists successor not possible. I really don’t want them to be an ultramarines chapter (but the Ultras are definitely the most Romanesque of the chapters) so, by the steps:

Demeanor: Brothers in Battle and Uphold the Honor of the Emperor both seem appropriate
Gene-Seed: All good, no problems or mutations (I need the stuff for my quests)
Flaw: Eye to Eye. The fists are trained to lock shields and cut down their foes. After the initial volley, the blades and spears come out.
Characteristic Modifier: With the importance of fighting together as a cohesive unit (81-90) that is seen in the fists, each character gains +5 Weapon Skill and Fellowship
Combat Doctrine: Close Combat

I want the squad mode abilities to relate to fighting in a phalanx, holding ground, then counter attacking. Force Shields and Power Spears (which are supposed to be two handed…but I’m going to ignore that) . I’m going to keep the legionnaire way of fighting.

It's probably most fitting if you say their progenitor is the Ultramarines, since those are the closest to what you have written. You could say that the Chapter doesn't know who it's Primarch is though, and make that an integral part of the Chapter identity. The Blood Angels are another choice, but honestly, the Flaw doesn't seem to fit in with what you wrote.

I don't understand what you mean by saying they can't be Imperial Fists. You mean the gene-seed of the Chapter is pure, no mutations? In that case, they could still be successors of the Imperial Fists with repaired gene-seed.

You should say that the Chapter prefers close quarters, but won't shy away from a ranged battle if that is what is necessary, instead of unleashing a single volley then charging. There are a lot of situations in battle where that strategy is going to them killed very quickly.

javascript:void(0);/*1318235993011*/

A player created some rules for the White Scars, and it feels like the Flaw he created is close to what you are thinking for your Chapter. If it isn't precisely what you want you can modify it to fit. You could also have a Flaw that relates to the Brotherhood within the Chapter, where increasing levels make them more distrustful, similar to the Black Templars Flaw.

Here are some ideas for Chapter abilities.

Wall of Steel [Defensive Stance]

Sustained: Yes

Action: Half

Cost: 2

Effect: Brothers of the chapter adjacent to one another gain a bonus of +10 on any parry and dodge tests, and the penalty for the Counter-Attack action is reduced to -10 rather than -20. The players loose this benefit if they take more than one half move action in any direction, or move away from adjacent squares. Two or more battle-brothers adjacent to each other can take the same half move action in the same turn if they choose to. This counts against the allotted actions for each player.

Improvement: Rank 3: The penalty for a Guarded Attack is reduced to 0. Rank 5: The penalty for the Counter-Attack action is reduced to 0. Rank 7: Parry and dodge tests gain a +20 bonus instead of a +10 bonus.

Bond of the Brotherhood [Attack Pattern]

Sustained: Yes

Action: Half

Cost: 3

Effect: If a two battle-brothers are adjacent to each other when this ability is active, the brother of the Chapter may choose to use a single Standard attack action during the turn of an ally.

Improvement: Rank 4: The allied player gains a +10 bonus to parry and dodge tests.

Bulwark of Steel [solo Mode]

Effect: The Brother may treat any shield with the Defensive trait as though it had the Balanced trait instead.

Improvement: Rank 3: The battle-brother use his shield as a weapon as if he had the Two Weapon Wielder [Melee] Talent, even if he does not have the Talent.

Another idea: you could rename combat roles in the Chapter so that they relate to the types of soldiers the roman empire used. For example, scouts could be called Velites. In the Roman army (according to wikipedia), Velites were lightly armored skirmishers.

The first company might go by Praetorians, Captains by the rank of Princeps and so on. you only need to find the name of the Roman counterpart and apply it where it fits for the role of the Space Marine.

Good stuff. Thanks.

What kind of ship would be used to fly 5 marines all around the outskirts of the galaxy? A gladius?

Is there some sort of scout ship in the setting that a SM chapter might have?

A Gladius frigate or any of the other frigate patterns used by Astartes would work.

You could make it a special Gladius frigate, sort of like the special Grey Knights strike cruiser from forgeworld .