Hello, I am a new gamer to DW and have found some of the rules a little... confusing. So anyways my question is do any of you other gamers leave certain rules out? I was thinking about leaving out the pinning rule for example, and to a greater extent cohesion, squad, and solo mode. I suppose it would also be worth mentioning that i play with a very very small group consisting of one of my younger cousins(sometimes 2) and me not only gamemastering but also playing a character for support in combat.

The great power of Astartes is not their higher Characteristics, their traits, even their wargear.

It's being able to significantly alter the action economy via Squad Modes, or provide themselves with limited but otherwise-unavailable buffs with both Squad and Solo Mode abilities.

As to Pinning, yeah I could see leaving that out. The big benefit to it is tactical uses and, to a certain degree, immersion: having a large volume of fire focused on your area believably makes you dive for cover and have trouble resisting doing so. Pinning IMO is more of a GM tool to lock down the players for flanking than something most players will think to do to affect their enemies (or at least that's what I've seen).

I think the question to ask is why you want to leave these rules out? Admittedly, FFG's 40kRPG system is not rules-light. If your cousins are young to a point where dealing with these systems is boring or frustrating for them and for you, FFG40kRPG may not be the gameline for them for them to play even though playing an SM is pretty **** cool. But there are certainly better/less important rules to ignore than Squad Mode.

Thanks for the answer, and yes to my great misfortune my cousin is of a younger age. We actually have only played two game sessions and are currently getting acquainted with the games more basic rules(combat mostly).

Deathwatch is the most complicated of the 40k RPGs, even moreso than Rogue Trader with its ship combat. It's because you need to roll a large amount of info into one type of combat.

It'll take some practice, my group needs to be reminded at the start of every mission to take an oath. They need to be reminded about solo and squad modes, and they always forget about squad cohesion. There are a number of player aids to help with this, like the squad/solo mode sheets printable off of FFG's website.

As the others have said, some of the rules (and the compounding bonuses) can get out of control confusing- especially for the uninitiated or the young.

Squad Mode abilities, IMO, were one of the most confusingly written parts of the game. There are plenty of threads across the forum that back up my claim here. If I were to pick out a section of the game to remove due to heavy overhead, it would definitely be them.

A trick I would suggest is to read, then re-read, then test out, the combat rules in general. Get very familiar with them. If you have questions, ask the forum- plenty of helpful people here. Then run your game and start with simple encounters (shooting, charging, melee attacks, dodging, parrying) and slowly start introducing the more complicated combat actions. Supressing fire. Overwatch. Grapple. Feint. Disarm. Despite DW being kind of the high end, the epic level if you will, of the 40k RPG line, you can still start out simple and ease your way in. And if easing in doesn't completely work, as a GM you can simply tone down the encounters to a level that your player's style and capabilities can defeat. You don't have to use the more complicated rules to have a good time killing xenos.

Glaiber said:

My personal views on this are that you can leave as many rules out as you want or put as many rules in the game as you (or your player group) wants. The rules are only there to guide you along when playing your game and to decide on the outcome of certain actions and situations. If some rules are confusing, too difficult or hindering the pace of your game, just leave them out. Don't forget that it is your game, you will not get any bad points from FFG if you have not followed or used every rule from the book.

Or you could do it like I did in our group. I made sure that my group understood the basics first (which is combat in my opinion) and gradually added more and more rules over the different games (like squad and solo modes).

Yeah, the rules are a sticky mess.....I'm afraid to read thru them again, as I'm sure we've house-ruled/glossed-over so much.....it seems to me that Albus has the right idear: use the rules as a loose guide; and for the Emperor's sake, have fun!!! Do not let rule worries derail yer good times. Leave out the confusing crap until yer ready to take it on; and feel free to change it at will. I think it's safe to say that all of us playin' the game are more interested in the background setting than the rules system....hell, i've been half-assed converting this beast over to classic s.w. d6 just for kicks (and man does she play fast in d6!)

Remember: if yer havin' fun, yer doin' it right.