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A friend gave me Deathwatch for my birthday. Really cool book, beautifully made.

I'm a little unsure what to do next, however. I'm an experienced 40k gamer and RPGer, but I feel like 40k and D&D have strong, in built communities that Deathwatch and the other 40k RPGs do not. I'm really not sure what to do. Should I invite my non-40k playing friends to a session and brief them as best I can, or try and set up a game at my local 40k club?

Are there any online resources about setting out from first principles?

Could do with some generic advice- I know this is a bit vague but I'm not sure what my first step should be.

Trying it out with friends seems like a fine idea.

From my rather brief experiance with the pen and paper RPG crowd they seemed a very adaptable lot. If there is a club in your area you might hit it up and meet some people.

Maybe tryout the deathwatch website for tips and things?

Your non-40k playing friends should be able to pick up the system and setting pretty quick. My DW group had a few guys that had never pen and papered or done anything with 40k. If they can figure it out then I'm sure your friends wouldn't have a problem. As far as resourses I don't really know of any, maybe fantasy flight has a forum dedicated to it?

Don't forget to download the erratta/faq as it does significantly address some balance issues (I'm looking at you heavy bolter devastator!). As for non-40kers playing, I'd say they're fine as long as they're not new to tabletop RPGs as well. The DW system is a bit older 80's feel with some looseness in the rules and no inherent grid combat system so people that only played D&D 4e will be a bit surprised by that. If anything, I'd recommend doing a super short intro adventure with pregenerated character so everyone gets a taste of the rules before sitting down to make their own characters. FFG has both adventures and marines for download on their site. Hope that helps.