These are old news of course. We knew for quite some time that after Dark Heresy and Rogue Trader a third rulebook on the Warhammer 40,000 universe would be in the works. We even knew that it would be dedicated to space marines and be called Deathwatch.

The actual news, then, is a full announcement replete with prospective page art and more. You can find it here, though I will post the entirety of the announcement in the remainder of the OP. So who's going to pick this up?

-------FFG ancouncement-------


Join the Brotherhood  - Announcing Deathwatch, a new RPG set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe!

Published 26 February 2010

"You will watch in the dark places where evil slumbers. You will hold back the night. You will bring justice and war to the malevolent Xenos. You will annihilate the alien and bring unto them the judgement of Mankind. You stand as the bulwark upon which the Imperium persists, from now until the end of time." - Excerpt from the Deathwatch Apocryphon Oath

Greetings Initiate -

At long last, the time has come to walk a new path and fulfill your destiny. After years of successful, unfailing service in the name of your Chapter, your Primarch, and the Emperor - your exploits and successes have revealed you to be a most worthy candidate. Now that the oath has been spoken and the ritual painting of your power armour is complete, it is time to assume the mantle of service beyond the concerns of your single Chapter, and unlike any you have ever known.
Welcome to the Deathwatch!



Fantasy Flight Games is proud to announce the upcoming release of our latest roleplaying experience, a game set in the grim darkness of the 41st millennium!

This summer, Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay will charge into the front lines with Deathwatch an experience that centres around elite, special-missions style action involving some of the greatest heroes and deadliest opponents the Warhammer 40,000 universe has to offer.

Deathwatch is a roleplaying game in which you and your friends take on the roles of the bio-engineered super-soldiers known as Space Marines, undertaking the most dangerous special missions in the universe. Join an elite warrior brotherhood and face hostile aliens and foul daemons in the Jericho Reach, a region of the Imperium devastated by war and on the brink of annihilation!

As a Deathwatch Space Marine you have been selected as an exceptional candidate from amongst the finest warriors of alive. United in this newly forged brotherhood, all Deathwatch Space Marines must learn to put aside their differences and work together to succeed in the most extraordinary of missions — or face the threat of total annihilation when confronted by implacable alien foes.

During your missions for the Deathwatch, you and your fellow Space Marines will earn renown, advance in experience and prestige, and garner special wargear only entrusted to the the most honoured and trustworthy battle-brothers.

Head over to our description page to learn more, and this summer, prepare to charge to the front line!

Deathwatch is a roleplaying game in which players take on the roles of the bio-engineered super-soldiers known as a Space Marines. United with their battle-brothers, players will complete extraordinary missions involving some of the greatest heroes and deadliest opponents the Warhammer 40,000 universe has to offer.



--------------------Product Info: ----------

Deathwatch Core Rulebook [Prospective Price Tag: $59.95 ]

Welcome to the front lines, Battle-Brother!

Deathwatch is a roleplaying game in which you take on the role of a member of the Adeptus Astartes - the devout, bio-engineered super-soldiers also known as Space Marines. After many years of exemplary service within your own chapter, you have been singled out and selected to join one of the most unique and specialized collectives of Space Marines - the Deathwatch.

Only the most exceptional candidates from the fighting forces of the Adeptus Astartes are invited to join the mysterious Deathwatch; to take on a new oath to safeguard the Imperium from the darkest of threats. You will now be called into service to hunt down and destroy hostile xenos forces, to seek out and crush the root of heresy and sedition, and to continually fight against the foul daemon menace that crawls forth hungrily from beyond the Warp. You are at the fore of Mankind's war for survival against an extremely hostile universe.

For centuries, the Deathwatch have maintained their silent vigil over the ancient ruins of the Reach, but now you find yourselves on the front lines of a grand Imperial Crusade that has been launched to reclaim this vast region of space from darkness and heresy.

The fate of billions rests in your hands!

I Check for traps, and praise the emperor.

I spend my xp on praising the emperor and contemplating praising the emperor.

Hmmm....interesting.  Hope they got more nifty pictures of Space Marines doing Space Marine stuff.

Thing is, the two lines released so far seem to be the best in terms of roloeplaying possibilities (all the while working for the Emperor; praise the Emperor!).  In terms of differing character flexibility, I mean.  

Playing Space Marines, to me, is going to be railroading at its finest.  

We shall see.

To be honest, the Deathwatch are the perfect grouping for a Space Marine RPG. They're an elite force drawn from different Space Marine chapters, so I suspect character creation will involve picking a "home chapter" rather than a homeworld. So you could use the Deathwatch RPG to play all kinds of different Space Marine themed games - just make them all come from (say) the Blood Angels and viola! Instant Blood Angels campaign!

Incidentally, has anyone been keeping up with the advanced careers that are coming up in Ascension, the next Dark Heresy rulebook? It looks like that book will cover most of the ground that Rogue Trader doesn't in terms of character concepts - basically Ascension seems to have the high-level non-Space Marine characters who would be closely tied into the Imperial power structure, whereas Rogue Trader has those who would be free agents.

It strikes me that if you wanted Pundit's ideal "complete" WH40K RPG you'd need the entire DH core book (for the low-level characters), plus the Sisters of Battle material from the Inquisitor's Handbook, plus the careers and starship rules from Rogue Trader, plus the careers and any extra rules from Deathwatch, plus the careers from Ascension. And you'd probably need to add monster details from Creatures Anathema, equipment from various sources, the rules on sorcery from Disciples of the Dark Gods and the Radical's Handbook... even if you tried to be as minimalist as possible, you're still looking at quite a page count. I'm now less surprised that they did it this way.

I have a feeling they are going to be doing something very mission focused with this game, judging by the description.  There first game was a rather low level gritty game of scum and villainy.  Then we had a rather high level virtually unlimited resource based game and now I think the third one will be balls to the walls in terms of what you can take on at an individual level but it's focus will be likely tighter then the other two.

lets hope they manage to incorporate the squad based tactical warfest that WH40k battle game can be. Oh that and normal role-playing nonsense.

Quote from: Warthur;363408It strikes me that if you wanted Pundit's ideal "complete" WH40K RPG you'd need the entire DH core book (for the low-level characters), plus the Sisters of Battle material from the Inquisitor's Handbook, plus the careers and starship rules from Rogue Trader, plus the careers and any extra rules from Deathwatch, plus the careers from Ascension. And you'd probably need to add monster details from Creatures Anathema, equipment from various sources, the rules on sorcery from Disciples of the Dark Gods and the Radical's Handbook... even if you tried to be as minimalist as possible, you're still looking at quite a page count. I'm now less surprised that they did it this way.

I think the incompleteness charge leveled at the 40k line is valid, from the reference point of a WH40k RPG.

A WH40k RPG line to be complete would have to follow a more traditional release schedule.  FFG is going the oWoD route.  First Vampire, then Werewolf, then Mage, three games that weren't originally intended to be run together.

The FFG games are really all different games set in the 40k universe, each one focusing on a particular aspect as opposed to simply providing information on that topic for a common system.  It's really more of a new school design technique, kind of making a game about "that one thing" instead of a more simulationist sandbox.

The thing is, the setting info in the 40k wargame over the last couple decades has been painted with such a broad brush and such thin coverage that everyone trying to tell any kind of story in 40k is basically using "My 40k" anyway.  To shift from that to a series of extremely focused (and by definition limited) games rubbed a lot of people the wrong way.  They didn't want a focused view, they wanted tons of detail they could ignore or use as they saw fit to plug into the 40RPG in their heads that they've been wanting to run for 20 years.

I never saw much roleplaying potential in playing what, to my mind, is not much different from a battle robot. Strapped down in all respects by drug induced religious zeal... a monk with a gun... you're either fighting or praying.

The comparatively liberated Chaos Marines seem like they'd be a lot more fun to play.
Still, I'll probably buy the book for the added rules and details usable in the other games.

Quote from: CRKrueger;363435The FFG games are really all different games set in the 40k universe, each one focusing on a particular aspect as opposed to simply providing information on that topic for a common system.  It's really more of a new school design technique, kind of making a game about "that one thing" instead of a more simulationist sandbox.

The thing is, the setting info in the 40k wargame over the last couple decades has been painted with such a broad brush and such thin coverage that everyone trying to tell any kind of story in 40k is basically using "My 40k" anyway.  To shift from that to a series of extremely focused (and by definition limited) games rubbed a lot of people the wrong way.  They didn't want a focused view, they wanted tons of detail they could ignore or use as they saw fit to plug into the 40RPG in their heads that they've been wanting to run for 20 years.

I just can't agree with you here. Dark Heresy is pretty good for any game based around the lower echelons of Imperial society, to my mind - the Inquisitorial focus gives the game a hook for people new to the setting, but it isn't even slightly hardwired into the PC classes. (I know people on here have used it for Necromunda games, for example.) RT is the same for higher level members of imperial society. If people really can't see how to use one of the current WH40K RPGs to model "their" 40K, then they're suffering from a severe lack of imagination.

And you can't get more sandbox than Rogue Trader.

If it can allow me to get some "Space Marines D&D" going on, i.e. emulate the feel of Space Crusade games, and/or expand on these games to build a whole campaign around it, then I'm going to get this game.

If not... *shrug*