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Hey all,

I'm putting together a campaign for Deathwatch, which will overlap with a regular 40k campaign, played by our group. The missions that the kill-team goes through could affect, in either a positive (for the goodies) or positive (for the baddies...I'm a glass half full man), the 40k part of the campaign. They'll get their own ruleset I'll make up to rock up in the final apocalypse battle at the end. The reason I'm writing this is I am keen to hear any tips you guys have in regards to GMing relatively simple games of DW. I will be keeping it simple so I don't drive them away initially, and so I don't get overwhelmed by GM duties (overwhelmed may be the wrong word, but you get what I mean). Also, if you have any really cool thoughts about a mission involving nids, orks or tau, and a really neat way that could cross over into a 40k battle (like if they kill the hive tryant, it starts with 1 less wound, if they stumble across a daemon cult and stop them summoning, the chaos player gets some negative, like no daemonic possession on his vehicles, if they fail, then chaos guy gets a free unit of summoned daemons as they are drawn to the bloodshed near their summoning area). Things like that. Thanks

I suggest a 'deux a machina' moment for example: when things aren't looking up for the kill team, have their watch commander pop out of no where and help to a certain extent them mysteriously disapear

DMPC = Bad.

Don't do that.

DMPC? im not up with deathwatch slang...

DMPC isn't Deathwatch slang, it's generic RPG slang.

It stands for "Dungeon Master Player Character". It can be listed as GMPC as well. Basically it means that there's a character controlled by the GM/DM, and this character is usually better than the players and does everything for them, robbing them of their fun and even some realism.

Oh right. No, I was going to keep myself excluded, apart from rolling for the opposition and what not (it would be silly if the deathwatch marines rolled for their opponents afterall). Cool, thanks Hebemucah

Oh yeah, you still roll for the adversaries and any friendly NPC's that might be present (there's nothing wrong with allied forces). Just avoid having a character that overshadows the players.

If the group is small or there's an obvious and vital hole in the groups capabilities then a DMPC can be useful. Specifically things like healer in a combat focussed game.

But any DM using one has to be careful. The DMPC should only be good at the hole he's intending to fill. He should be seen, but not heard. They should never fulfil the role of party "face", as you'd end up roleplaying out a lot of conversations where the players sit and watch you essentially talk to yourself. Generally you'll only be looking at using one for a behind the scenes role such as medic or bookworm.

Any DMPC's I've had have been kept on very short leashes. During a Dark Heresy game I had the party come across a Space Marine, and that Space Marine helped them out for the rest of that section.

Now, Space Marines are dauntingly powerful, especially compared to Dark Heresy Acolytes (even high level ones). These guys were mid-level, so the Marine (a Tech-Marine) was far and above them as far as power levels go. However he had a leash - a second Space Marine that was heavily wounded. The unhurt Space Marine would not leave his brother's side, so even when it would be adventageous for him to rush forward and do all the killing he didn't, because he knew that his very hurt comrade was moments away from dying and could not be left alone.

Another one was a Feral World Psyker who distrusts the Acolytes. I gave the players the choice of having her tag along. Her presence gives them bonuses to the random event table I created for whenever they move cross country, but if she dies she dies. She's a good pyro, and hasn't overshadowed anyone (damn near died in one encounter), but there are reasons not to bring her and reasons to bring her, all of which I leave up to the players.

H.B.M.C. wrote:Any DMPC's I've had have been kept on very short leashes. During a Dark Heresy game I had the party come across a Space Marine, and that Space Marine helped them out for the rest of that section.

Now, Space Marines are dauntingly powerful, especially compared to Dark Heresy Acolytes (even high level ones). These guys were mid-level, so the Marine (a Tech-Marine) was far and above them as far as power levels go. However he had a leash - a second Space Marine that was heavily wounded. The unhurt Space Marine would not leave his brother's side, so even when it would be adventageous for him to rush forward and do all the killing he didn't, because he knew that his very hurt comrade was moments away from dying and could not be left alone.

Another one was a Feral World Psyker who distrusts the Acolytes. I gave the players the choice of having her tag along. Her presence gives them bonuses to the random event table I created for whenever they move cross country, but if she dies she dies. She's a good pyro, and hasn't overshadowed anyone (damn near died in one encounter), but there are reasons not to bring her and reasons to bring her, all of which I leave up to the players.

This is good advice (and great examples) for any RPG. The player characters are the stars, and the GM already gets the fun of creating the opposition, the scene, etc.

Also, if you need to demonstrate the lethality of an encounter, DMPCs make for good fodder. Although you shouldn't do that too often.

In my person experience, don't underestimate Space Marine's power, I did this, and my PC blazed through the first part of my campaign. Not that I want them to die, but a little challenge makes the story better.

I had to run a GMPC in my gave to fill a role (Apothecary) that was left vacant when one of my player could not attend. He was a Dark Angels named Gabriel (I know, "oooo...clever"), so he didn't talk much, always gave his less gear then the PCs had and had him hold back till some one needed medical attention. Ironically, my players like him, and is is a good way to nudge the players in a direction I want then to go if they get lost.

Speaking of power, make sure you use the weapon stats (or at least the Bolter stats) from the Deathwatch errata. It'll make the game way more fun.

I think, if the situation is set up right, using the Legion of the Damned would be an awesome use of GMPC. I think it works because they are mysterious, show up out of nowhere, do what they showed up to do, and then they leave. I know this is a VERY brief description... but I got the idea to use the Legion after reading Legion of the Damned by Rob Sanders. It's one of those big white Space Marine Battles novels. It's probably the best in the series so far... and without being a spoiler, the way the Legion is described was simply put... AMAZINGLY FANTASTIC!! I was so inspired that I have started writing a mission which will feature them...

I would be very careful about using Legion of the Damned NPCs (and I'm shocked that you liked the novel as I thought it was the worst I've read since the same author's last attempt, lol). If you do decide to use them, augment the deathwatch team but don't surpass them. Give the team some collection of nearly unachieveable goals like defending two areas at once or doing something at one while attacking the other. If they split up (less ideal solution), have the LoD back them up so that each prong in the attack has a full complement of power (with the PCs leading the attack and the LOD as support). If they hopefully decide to attack the objectives sequentially instead, have the LoD take on the second one while the team fights for their lives/mission at the first (with some sort of vid transmission or NPC report from the other location describing what's going on). Don't end up sending too much at the team and having the LOD simply save them like they're a bunch of guardsmen.