So I suddenly came to think about an alternative setting for Deathwatch and one that I would like to share and see what you think about it. Most likely the number of plot holes and logical gaps will take it down, but I thought that I should bring it out at least.

The basic setting is as follows:

- All the 18 Legions are still loyal as such but are missing their Primarchs

- None of the Primarchs fell to Chaos and there was no Horus Heresy

- Instead of Horus wounding the Emperor the Void Dragon awoke on Mars along brought about the fall of the Emperor and his entombment in the Golden Throne (and potentially with the Eldar playing a part as well)

- With the loss of the Emperor's guidence the Primarchs more or less fell on each other, driven by ancient rivalries and conflicting visions for mankind's future, and in their struggle the Legions destroyed the Imperium that the Great Crusade was origionally formed for, and most of the Primarchs were slain during these wars

- Finally the last Primarchs agreed to truce to uphold mankind's defense in the face of mounting threats to the Imperium, and this includes the adoption of the Codex Astartes to prevent such horrific internal wars among the Astartes from ever recurring again (thinking about skipping the Codex Astartes part…) before also they went missing over the next millennium

- With the loss of both the Emperor and the Primarchs Chaos wormed its influence into the hears of mankind and started making inroads in significent ways, including making large numbers of Adeptus Astartes fall to the Ruinous Powers

- The Deathwatch was formed as a way of trying to bridge the great distances and bitter hatred that existed between the Legions sine the great war between the Legions, in addition to the tasks they recived from the Ordo Xenos

Any comments, ideas, suggestions and critics are of course welcome.

There's a lot of interesting ideas in here - my personal favorite being the involvement of the Void Dragon.

The idea of any rpg is to take what you want, change or throw out the rest.

That being said - a lot of players take great issue when timelines/setting elements are changed from what they expect (after all, many of these things were what attracted them to play in the first place). As long as your players don't mind the alterations, I think the alternatives you've planned out sound like interesting concepts to explore.

Keep in mind one thing though when running campaigns like these - changing of one event will lead to changes in untold amounts of other events through the rest of it's history. You're going to have to be able to extrapolate a lot of changes to the Imperium in your own written games (and be able to think fast on your feet for running published adventures).

All in all - good stuff. Always nice to see people thinking outside the box.

I quite like the idea. If it were me, I'd change the name of the organisation; instead of Deathwatch, maybe Chapter Watch, Legion Watch, just something to take it out of the Inquisition's hands and clearly mark it as an Astartes endeavor. Being formed to bridge the rift between Legions it should be an Astartes driven foundation.Some Legions could choose to opt out, creating interesting Astartes politics. This could mean that Deathwatch-specific Skills/Talents/Traits would not be applicable, of course, unless you molded them to be Player choices…an example would be one Legion Watch member auto-confirms RF on Daemons, another on Xenos, another on Heretics. If you wanted to have inquisitorial involvement, you could have it be at the sufferance of the Legions, meaning this organisation aids the Ordos when they been petitioned but prosecute the Missions as they determine and without interference. And not limiting it to any one Ordo, but allowing all Ordos to petition the organisation for aid.

There are many fan-made House Rules for the so-called "Traitor" Legions bobbing about these forums that could help you flesh out Player choices. I can see it now…

Ultramarines working side-by-side with the Word Bearers or the Alpha Legion, while the Dark Angels and the Night Lords get all chummy.

It would put a new spin on Space Marines engaging Space Marines: "They're not Traitors, they're Primarch smelled of elderberries and I don't like 'em. Open fire!"

Thanks guys.

Marine interaction will absolutely be different and making it a broader Astartes driven organization sounds pretty good to me, but as mentioned I will probably change the name of it as well to drive home its nature better.

I agree that alot of changes would have to be made but I think that I should hopefully be able to bring the setting roughly on track with the present Imperium's structure. Or at least I will try to fix it!

Some thoughts will of course have to go down on how to mend the Legions but the "loyalists" can probably go on pretty much as they did while the "traitors" will need some extra work.

Dark Angels and Imperial Fists will need some alteration. Many of their chapter advances have to do with their experiences with traitors.

I had an idea for an alternative setting where the Emperor was struck into near death by the Ork warlord at Ullanor. So Malcador the Sigilite had to spill the beans on Chaos to the eighteen Primarches and by a series of "lucky" events (such as the tragic deaths of Erebus and Kor Phaeron) they all stayed loyal. The better angels of their nature are encouraged and the worse aspects are kept in check. Chaos Gods attempt a last ditch effort, throwing up warp storms and corrupting a handful of marines and companies but nothing like the might of the Traitor Legions. So a rebellion is attempted and is crushed utterly.

The end result? An Imperium is forged. The Emperor sits on the Golden Throne, unresponsive but still guiding the Astronomicon. The Administratum is far weaker than it would be otherwise, acting as a useful middleman and neutral party for "The Eighteen". Who have varying degrees of official and unofficial power in the Imperium. Some focus on expanding the boundaries out of a sense of duty to mankind or barely suppressed bloodlust. Others play the great game of power while others seek answers or solitude.

It is the dawn of the 32nd millennium and a secretive group have met. They have put a few pieces of the histories together and suspect someone or something has manipulated events to engineer the current situation. And their goals may not be altruistic…

It's an interesting concept, but I would check and make sure your players are interested in using an alternate setting before putting too much work in developing it. As a fan of the 'true' 40Kverse, I know I would have little interest in playing in someone's radically altered version. -But if your players have expressed an interest, then by all means go for it!

Thanks for all the great input. I am also a great fan of the canon setting but I felt that I had to get this idea out and see what people thought about it.