So my players want to play a deathwatch campaign, but want to play without being in the Deathwatch. They would like to all be from the same chapter, and I would like for them to start as scouts and work their way up. There are a couple of areas I'd like to get some advice and suggestions about:
First, is there already a resource that I can access that has this idea already worked out? Failing that…
The DW Rulebook is designed so that characters start out as vet marines in the Deathwatch. I would like to eventually use the DW advancement tables, but not until after they've gone up some ranks as non-vet marines. I was considering doing this by scaling back skills, talents, and characteristics that characters start with, and adding them into a table for scout advancement. Does anyone have input on this area?
What I'm not sure about here is what should I do after scouts, but before vets? I've always thought that the DW starting character package better represents a "normal" marine better than a 200-year-old combat veteran. <rant>Also, It's apparent that either the British combat forces operate very differently than US ones, and/or Matt Ward has no fing idea how introducing new soldiers to these units works. According to C:SM, marines graduate from Scouts, to Devastator, Assault, then Tactical squads. This makes no sense to me, as when I was in the 82nd for 8 years, we always went from trainees to (equivalently) Tactical, then we'd either stay in Tactical Squads, or go to Devastator or Assault squads respective of our aptitude in any capacity. With that being said, I'm changing the fluff in my campaign.</rant> I was considering here, allowing access from all of the rank 1 advancements (and maybe 2) for all specializations, excluding some of the librarian and techmarine advancements. This would be as if marines are not, in fact, elite or specialized until after rank 2 (and thus would be ineligible for DW or 1st company service until this point), and that they are introduced to all capacities of the combat roles before rank 2. After rank 2, they would be required to "specialize" and would be restricted to choosing advances from their specialization from rank 3 on. I'd have to figure out what the characteristic advancement table would be for this level. Any foreseeable complications I've overlooked?
Another possibility for handling the in-between ranks would be to just call the specializations something different. It would be more like a combat style preference, not the position that they fill in squads, for instance, Tactical would become "Leader", Devastator would become "Heavy", Assault would become "Melee" and so forth. This would kill 2 birds with one stone. I wouldn't have to develop a characteristic advancement table for general marine ranks 1 and 2, and I wouldn't have to explain why an Assault Marine is in a Tactical Squad, or a Tactical Marine is in an Assault Squad. Thoughts?
The floor is yours.